General Discussion/Q&A on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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drron said:
Though Norman Swan is a Paediatrician by training and has been working for the ABC since 1982.lots has changed in Medicine in that time and Clinical practice gives you experience that reading can not.

Besides you have to come up with a credible explanation for the widely varying mortality rates.
And the CDC has been recommending testing of the symptomatic and contacts all along.
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None of the points I made were addressed in this response.

And no, “I” don’t have to come up with explanations of mortality rates. It’s not my speciality. There are a lot of “unknown unknowns” in the coronavirus infection rates.

But one of the central points is that if you don’t do adequate wide scale testing one does not have a valid data set to on which to base conclusions.

Interestingly the CDC didn’t use the WHO tests nor criteria for developing their own tests which has been one of their failures.

For those of a scientific background, here’s the WHO protocol details.

 
What is wrong with the CDC coming up with their own test kits?
The problem was not the actual product but that originally they added an extra step that was not needed which confused the results.
Having kits that are now manufactured in the USA is obviously now a plus.Besides there are now privately developed tests in the USA as werll as the CDC kit.

By asking how you explain the differing mortality rates is basically asking why the different rates of testing produce this variation.
One explanation is that South Korea may have been doing some unnecessary tests,maybe even more false positives hence a low mortality rate.
Italy may have such a high mortality rate because although they have done a lot of tests may have missed a lot of mild cases.
The USA having a mortality rate not much different to China and Singapore might mean they are doing the right amount of tests.
Nobody knows.
I am just pointing out that being dogmatic that the USA has done a very poor job is not necessarily right.
 
drron said:
What is wrong with the CDC coming up with their own test kits?
The problem was not the actual product but that originally they added an extra step that was not needed which confused the results.
Having kits that are now manufactured in the USA is obviously now a plus.Besides there are now privately developed tests in the USA as werll as the CDC kit.

By asking how you explain the differing mortality rates is basically asking why the different rates of testing produce this variation.
One explanation is that South Korea may have been doing some unnecessary tests,maybe even more false positives hence a low mortality rate.
Italy may have such a high mortality rate because although they have done a lot of tests may have missed a lot of mild cases.
The USA having a mortality rate not much different to China and Singapore might mean they are doing the right amount of tests.
Nobody knows.
I am just pointing out that being dogmatic that the USA has done a very poor job is not necessarily right.
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The problem with the early CDC kits is that they didn’t work. Simple. This led to a significant delay and current severe shortages in kits and reagents. Not what the pre-Trump CDC were renowned for.

I’m not being dogmatic about the US, just realistic. We have had more infections from US visitors and returning Australians than anywhere else, somewhat because there was no data showing how bad the spread was.

Given the lack of universal health care, no sickness benefits, large number of low paid workers who won’t get tested and risk losing their jobs, I’m very glad to live here rather than the US. Seems to me the US will be a disaster.

YMMV.
 
Sorry but the delay was only days as they didn't have to start production over again just discard the unneeded reagent.
I've already posted the links where the US Government has come to agreement with all medical insurers that there will be no out of pocket expenses for testing and treatment of Covid 19.Medicare and Medicaid are covering those without private insurance.
 
drron said:
Sorry but the delay was only days as they didn't have to start production over again just discard the unneeded reagent.
I've already posted the links where the US Government has come to agreement with all medical insurers that there will be no out of pocket expenses for testing and treatment of Covid 19.Medicare and Medicaid are covering those without private insurance.
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That’s not supported by the available evidence.

This is a pointless discussion.

Let’s see the final outcomes.
 
TheRealTMA said:
Heavens! We agree! Shock. 😻
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If you could be bothered to review my posts :p I said as much way back when we were disputing that stupid doctor going back to work after arriving from the USA.
 
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So can someone explain why the US and Japan having pathetic testing ability by comparison with South Korea as well as the inability to ramp up said testing ability in a timely fashion is not a problem in and of itself?
 
I am appalled at the AFL industry going ahead at this time. $$$$$$$$$ before lives.
The media is uniformly egregious. Self interest rules.
Role models, eh? Beer & skittles at best 🤡
Utter madness.
 
sagittariusdrake said:
I am appalled at the AFL industry going ahead at this time. $$$$$$$$$ before lives.
The media is uniformly egregious. Self interest rules.
Role models, eh? Beer & skittles at best 🤡
Utter madness.
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Or one could also think that morale and some distraction is very important at times like these to offset the massive stress and overload of bad news that is about.

Football is for the average fan not at all about $$$ at all, it is about their club and love of the game.

Personally with the numbers cases and infections still very low I would believe that there is no significant reason not to proceed when the players want to play.
With no spectators the risk of transmission of the case of running vs not running is probably very little different.


If the number of cases become high then things will be different just as they would be with many workers in non-essential jobs.
 
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moa999 said:
French trial of hydroxychloroquine and azrithomycin shown good results in treatment
(Small trial only)
https://twitter.com/x/status/1240274548165169157
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Cutting to the important bit (Caveat was only a very small trial):

Results

Six patients were asymptomatic, 22 had upper respiratory tract infection symptoms and eight
had lower respiratory tract infection symptoms.
Twenty cases were treated in this study and showed a significant reduction of the viral
carriage at D6-post inclusion compared to controls, and much lower average carrying duration
than reported of untreated patients in the literature. Azithromycin added to
hydroxychloroquine was significantly more efficient for virus elimination.


Conclusion

Despite its small sample size our survey shows that hydroxychloroquine treatment is
significantly associated with viral load reduction/disappearance in COVID-19 patients and its
effect is reinforced by azithromycin.
 
I have been taking hydroxychloroquine (plaquenil) for arthritis for 6 months on advice from my rheumatologist. After hearing about this trial (before results) I refilled my script! It is an old drug - previously used for treating malaria.

Apparently Britain has restricted exports of a number of drugs including this one. UK bans parallel export and hoarding of three Covid-19 drugs

India is also restricting exports of a number of generic drugs.
 
UK closing schools and universities from Friday.

How long can our Government ignore the bleeding obvious??
 
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opusman said:
UK closing schools and universities from Friday.

How long can our Government ignore the bleeding obvious??
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Not in England; just Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (unless it's changed since that was announced).
 
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