The Story of an American Mask Distributor
By SAURABH JHA
Seven weeks before President Trump declared COVID-19 a federal emergency heralding the economic lockdown, Jesse’s customers began cutting their orders. Jesse sells garments and cotton, imported predominantly from India, to wholesalers and retailers, big and small, in malls across the North East corridor. His business had a good January. December was like any December. But February was different. His customers, reassuring him that it wasn’t personal, were predicting a falling demand for their products because of COVID-19. They may be over reacting, but better shortage than glut, they felt.
J...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 13, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy masks Pandemic Saurabh Jha Source Type: blogs
Crimes against humanity
My electricity has been out since Tuesday, and due to the utter indifference and incompetence of our electric company, Eversource, I probably won ' t get it back till next Tuesday. But that ' s not the crime against humanity. Blogging will have to be light nevertheless, because I can only charge up my devices at my neighbor ' s house -- who have a generator -- and then I need to ration my computer use.In any case, in addition to the utter blithering idiocy and downright deliberate mass murder that constitutes the Resident ' s disastrous failure to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic -- and I don ' t need to go over that a...
Source: Stayin' Alive - August 7, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Only In America
Once, it seemed the answer was humanity itself; the question being, how did things get this bad. The imperfection of the human brain was to blame, having created problems beyond its capabilities to solve. Pretending it away, making up conspiracies, it ’s gone into “tilt” mode as self-preservation. But that can ’t be the explanation. Every country but ours has been addressing climate change, and, now, attacking the pandemic successfully, as virtually all their citizens accepted responsibility. The problem, in other words, isn’t humankind. It’s us. Only “we” pulled out of the climate accords. “Our...
Source: Surgeonsblog - July 30, 2020 Category: Surgery Authors: Sid Schwab Source Type: blogs
A bizarre right wing obsession
As we know, Resident Dump is prone to magical thinking -- whatever pops into his head, that he says aloud, becomes true by the God-like power of his words. Three million illegal aliens voted for Hillary Clinton. His inaugural crowd was the biggest ever. The coronavirus is just going to disappear, you ' ll see, it will be like magic . . .I could go on endlessly but you already know that he ' s insane. So one of the nonsensical ideas that popped into his head was that an anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, is actually a miracle cure for Covid-19. That is biologically completely implausible -- it is toxic to the met...
Source: Stayin' Alive - July 28, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Zombie lies eat my brain
Hydroxychloroquine flunks Phase III trial in mild-to-moderate Covid-19The study adds to the growing body of evidence that the drug, promoted early in the pandemic by President Trump, is ineffective, despite its getting a briefly renewed lease on life earlier this month thanks to a retrospective analysis. Results of new clinical trial published late last week have found that hydroxychloroquine – the malaria and autoimmune disease drug that President Donald Trump promoted as a potential “game changer” early in the Covid-19 pandemic – not only failed to improve outcomes in those with mild-to-moderate diseas...
Source: Stayin' Alive - July 27, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
A Complication of the COVID Era
Submitted and written by Gia Coleman MD and Roshan Givergis DO, edits by Meyers and SmithA woman in her 30s was found crawling in the streets, altered on arrival to the ED. Here is her presenting ECG:How would you interpret this EKG and what is on your differential?At first glance, it appears to be a sinus rhythm with PR prolongation at a rate of about 75 bpm. The QRS may appear narrow but is in fact slightly wide (see figure below). The computer measured it to be 136 ms.Perhaps the most striking finding in this EKG is the almost complete loss/flattening of the T waves. The computer calculated the QTC to be 427. Looking cl...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 23, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Equipoise and Its Problems
By MICHEL ACCAD, MD
I recently participated in a debate opposing me to Professor Adam Cifu on the topic of “Evidence-based medicine in the age of COVID.” The debate took place on an episode of Dr. Chadi Nabhan’s Outspoken Oncology podcast. Dr. Saurabh Jha was the moderator and he did a great job keeping us on point and asking for important clarifications when needed. It was a fun and cordial moment and I found it intellectually fruitful. You can listen to it here or on any podcast platform. The discussion strengthened my conviction that the central issue about EBM is the conflation of the role of th...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 8, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice equipoise MICHEL ACCAD Source Type: blogs
The trouble with magical thinking . . .
is that it doesn ' t work, by definition.That ' s why they call it magical. Now that Brazilian mini-Trump Jair Bolsonaro is sick with Covid-19 -- though still throwing in some magical thinking about hydroxychloroquine -- his months long dismissal of the virus as " just a little flu " and his continual urging that Brazilians simply ignore it looks, well, completely idiotic.The officially reported death toll from the virus in Brazil is over 66,000 but we know that is a gross understatement. Aerial photographs show mass graves, and we know that poor Brazilians have little access to health care and most certainly do not ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - July 7, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Reality Bites
Matt Shuham for TPMreviews the tragi-comic story of hydroxychloroquine. If you have been paying attention you already know that the FDA has withdrawn its emergency authorization for use of the drug to treat or prevent Covid-19, because the better the evidence gets, the more clearly it shows that the drug is useless. The only reason the agency gave the emergency authorization in the first place, and the only reason such extensive resources were invested in clinical trials for the drug, is because Resident Dump claimed to have magically gained the knowledge that it is effective. What was essentially a hoax resulted in the fe...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 16, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Ethical dilemmas in the pandemic era [PODCAST]
“The donation of hydroxychloroquine, in contrast to the accompanying donation of 1,000 ventilators, is unethical as either humanitarian aid or as a‘research study.’ The United States has a moral responsibility for any human harm that results. We cannot simply send medications off to potentially vulnerable populations without regard for the lives that could be […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 11, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/the-podcast-by-kevinmd" rel="tag" > The Podcast by KevinMD < /a > < /span > Tags: Podcast COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs
TWiV 624: SeXX matters with Sabra Klein
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then Sabra Klein joins us to discuss the effect of sex, gender, and age on viral infectious disease, including COVID-19. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 624 (74 MB .mp3, 123 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Show notes at microbe.tv/twiv (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 7, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology age COVID-19 gender hydroxychloroquine infectious disease susceptibility infectious diseases SARS-CoV-2 sex vaccine viral viral diseases virus viruses Source Type: blogs
It is unethical for the United States to send hydroxychloroquine to Brazil
Much controversy surrounds whether or not hydroxychloroquine is effective in preventing or treating infection with COVID-19. While much of the data so far suggests that hydroxychloroquine is not effective at treating COVID-19, and perhaps that it might even be harmful, multiple clinical trials focusing both on prevention and treatment are ongoing. The controversy around hydroxychloroquine […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 7, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/charles-e-binkley" rel="tag" > Charles E. Binkley, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Meds COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Medications Source Type: blogs
Update
A while back I discussed a study published in The Lancet that found that Covid-19 patients given hydroxychloroquine had an elevated death rate.The Lancet has retracted the study because of doubts about the underlying data. This could be a major scandal because there are suspicions that the company that provided the data perpetrated a fraud. We ' ll keep you posted.That said, many other studies have found no benefit and substantial risks from the drug. Our basic evaluation of it should not change. Here are two new studies in BMJ,Second one here,and an accompanying editorial, that find it is useless and likely harmful. As th...
Source: Stayin' Alive - June 5, 2020 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Chloroquine is not useful for Corona declares this Important study from Lancet … but
The antiviral properties of hydroxychloroquine are well known. The doubt is whether this property works against the pandemic Coronavirus.
Mechanism of HCQ’s antiviral action. HCQ primarily gets concentrated intracellular endosomes, that’s where the virus resides and multiply.
The study, all of us were expecting has come out. It concludes,
While, many of us might think, its end of the controversy, but definitely not.
Why the top medical journal uses a term “unable to confirm” the benefits of HCQ on covid. Why it hasn’t concluded as “No benefit” This is because , they ...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - June 5, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Uncategorized antiviral properties of corona chloroquine for corona hcq for corona Source Type: blogs
TWiV 621: An era of COVID-19 poppycock
Daniel Griffin provides a clinical update on COVID-19, then we review an Ad5 vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, reports on remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine, a drug repurposing study, why some patients infect many others, reducing viral transmission, and much more, including listener email. Click arrow to playDownload TWiV 621 (91 MB .mp3, 152 min)Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, emailBecome a patron of TWiV! Show notes […] (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - June 1, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Uncategorized aerosoltransmission covid19 dispersionfactor droplettransmission facemask pandemic sarscov2 superspreader vaccine viral virology virus Source Type: blogs
