Coronavirus

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PrivatePilot said:
On a different front, here's a particularly interesting article well worth the read:

www.scientificamerican.com

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End

Recent epidemics provide clues to ways the current crisis could stop
www.scientificamerican.com www.scientificamerican.com

And this is pretty darned good news if it pans out...which is looking quite hopeful.

www.telegraph.co.uk

University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine: everything we know so far

A million doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccine could be ready as early as September, Oxford scientists say
www.telegraph.co.uk www.telegraph.co.uk

And this is just starting to break right now. Not a cure, but a treatment which could be a very positive situation as well:

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

www.bloomberg.com
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Take that with a grain of salt. Gilead is a relatively new company that was cash rich from its blockbuster hepatitis C drug that it sold for $1000 a pill (massive controversy over this a while back) but a competitor came out and severely undercut the price and knocked the company down a peg or three. Gilead needs this exposure to bolster its share price. The news spin is the bolstering you see.
 
University of Chicago leaked the Gilead story few weeks ago and it looked promising, but premature. China came out and said it didn't work but it was thrown out because China just sucks at doing proper studies. Today we have something that's close to a proper study where the treatment regiment time was reduced from 10 days to 5 days with the same efficacy. So, yea good news. Bunch of other studies are coming out about Vitamin D deficiencies and needs looking into.
Hats off to all the scientists, hope this inspires the new generation towards bio sciences and away from finance and tech.
 
nobbie48 said:
So what now?

www.newsweek.com

Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab with U.S. Dollars

Biomedical research ultimately helps protect public health, Dr. Fauci argued in explaining his support for controversial research.
www.newsweek.com www.newsweek.com
...
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Look how crowded together they are, to all be in the camera at the same time as a faint to solidarity and stupidity.
They must think social distancing is when you don't put your tongue into somebody else's mouth ?
 
Gilead...
Hmmmm.....

Thoughts of the Handmaid’s Tale?
Hehehe.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Trials said:
Look how crowded together they are, to all be in the camera at the same time as a faint to solidarity and stupidity.
They must think social distancing is when you don't put your tongue into somebody else's mouth ?
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When was that taken? Most likely that was before social distancing became standard. You'll see pictures of Trudeau et al. doing the same.
 
GreyGhost said:
Slightly unrelated, still funny.

94404969_10158412505544577_3527628481846312960_o.jpg
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Holy smokes I almost cried laughing...
 
Baggsy said:
When was that taken? Most likely that was before social distancing became standard. You'll see pictures of Trudeau et al. doing the same.
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It's dated yesterday,
and Trudeau has been doing his announcements with a house and 2 trees behind him :|
 
GreyGhost said:
Haha. If we are all robots, that will kill off the virus quickly.
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Linking from the forum seemed to trigger some anti bot thing on the page..but the linkie still works. ;)

sburns said:
Hmm I think they might announce what might happen to the rest of the school year. Number of new cases also still high compared to other provinces.
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I don't know why they're even trying to consider salvaging the school year at this point. There's basically 7 weeks of useful time left at this point given as how the last week of school is typically cruise control for the kids. If it's 2 or 3 more before they decided to open them again, it takes a week to get the kids back in gear and actually learning and absorbing again...that leaves 3 or 4 actually functional weeks for all the effort, and at an increased risk.

Just scrap it. Restart next year. Like many things this year, chalk it up to a loss and move forward.

jc100 said:
Take that with a grain of salt. Gilead is a relatively new company that was cash rich from its blockbuster hepatitis C drug that it sold for $1000 a pill (massive controversy over this a while back) but a competitor came out and severely undercut the price and knocked the company down a peg or three. Gilead needs this exposure to bolster its share price. The news spin is the bolstering you see.
Click to expand...

Well, except there's been independent studies and real world testing done now that have actually shown concrete results, so there's that.

Reality is it's likely going to be fall at the *earliest* before a vaccine is ready, and it may or may not yield long term immunity even then. So, treatments are an important part of things as well - if an effective treatment can be generated that turns this from a life threatening situation for the percentage of the population that get seriously ill into something manageable and survivable for the overwhelming majority of that percentage, it will be a game changer.
 
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Trials said:
It's dated yesterday,
and Trudeau has been doing his announcements with a house and 2 trees behind him :|
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Article was dated yesterday. Photo could be from months ago.

Here's a photo of Trudeau I posted today:
trudeausohiresized.jpg
 
PrivatePilot said:
Linking from the forum seemed to trigger some anti bot thing on the page..but the linkie still works. ;)



I don't know why they're even trying to consider salvaging the school year at this point. There's basically 7 weeks of useful time left at this point given as how the last week of school is typically cruise control for the kids. If it's 2 or 3 more before they decided to open them again, it takes a week to get the kids back in gear and actually learning and absorbing again...that leaves 3 or 4 actually functional weeks for all the effort, and at an increased risk.

Just scrap it. Restart next year. Like many things this year, chalk it up to a loss and move forward.



Well, except there's been independent studies and real world testing done now that have actually shown concrete results, so there's that.

Reality is it's likely going to be fall at the *earliest* before a vaccine is ready, and it may or may not yield long term immunity even then. So, treatments are an important part of things as well - if an effective treatment can be generated that turns this from a life threatening situation for the percentage of the population that get seriously ill into something manageable and survivable for the overwhelming majority of that percentage, it will be a game changer.
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Except for a few things....the drug does not change fatality rates. All it does is reduce the time certain types of patients spend in intensive care from 15 days to 11. That is great news for hospitals. Not as much for patients in those situations.

The reason Fauci is excited is because this may show that a drug can alter the way this virus behaves but this drug is not the panacea. It is not a cure, it will not change your outcomes.
 
Anyone know how accurate/reliable worldometers is?
 
bigpoppa said:
Anyone know how accurate/reliable worldometers is?
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Worldometer’s data is only as reliable as the data being reported by the counties involved. We know that the data coming from Canada is flawed, many people were not tested if they did not meet certain criteria (international travel, knowing someone else who tested positive). The data from China is highly suspect. The data from Russia, Brazil and a few others are pure fiction. While there are certainly missed cases, the data from the US and Western Europe is probably the most reliable.
So, overall, the data is not reliable. However, if we look at it from a metadata perspective (and not quantitative numbers) and assume that the data for most countries is representative in that the missed cases (in Canada for example) are a superset of the reported cases, or that the fictional numbers are proportionally smaller than actual, then we can trust that the trends are a general indicator.
 
jc100 said:
Except for a few things....the drug does not change fatality rates. All it does is reduce the time certain types of patients spend in intensive care from 15 days to 11. That is great news for hospitals. Not as much for patients in those situations.
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Several things to keep in mind:

  • The current amount of data shows the effect on death rates is "inconclusive" even though the effects on earlier discharge from hospitals or recovery was very conclusive. That doesn't mean that an effect on death rates may not yet be realized...it means that more studies are needed.
  • Every day a person spends in the hospital the higher the chances they become sick from something else picked up in the hospital environment or from a complication of being bedridden, so getting out 3 or 4 days earlier on average is a biggie.
  • And as you mentioned, anything that increases the ability for hospitals to treat more people overall as part of the bigger picture is also huge.
In short, we're at the baby step stages of knowing it's effects, but what we DO know at this point is positive.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Several things to keep in mind:

  • The current amount of data shows the effect on death rates is "inconclusive" even though the effects on earlier discharge from hospitals or recovery was very conclusive. That doesn't mean that an effect on death rates may not yet be realized...it means that more studies are needed.
  • Every day a person spends in the hospital the higher the chances they become sick from something else picked up in the hospital environment or from a complication of being bedridden, so getting out 3 or 4 days earlier on average is a biggie.
  • And as you mentioned, anything that increases the ability for hospitals to treat more people overall as part of the bigger picture is also huge.
In short, we're at the baby step stages of knowing it's effects, but what we DO know at this point is positive.
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Absolutely, but I’d liken this drug to those that extend the life of cancer patients by a month or so. Both patients with or without the drug will eventually have the same outcome.

My bigger concern is that Gilead are known for their slightly predatory pricing practices. I'm hoping a slightly less corporately evil pharma company improves upon the structure/activity of the drug and makes it an open source (no patent) item.
 
jc100 said:
Absolutely, but I’d liken this drug to those that extend the life of cancer patients by a month or so. Both patients with or without the drug will eventually have the same outcome.
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Not really an apples to apples comparison there.
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