Coronavirus thread

[Karl Henning]

Hi Karl,

I looked into that a bit and found a Newsweek article.  It's a bit more complicated than that apparently.  According to the article, it's for all this year (so far) and also includes non-Covid deaths.  https://www.newsweek.com/texas-newspaper-prints-43-page-obituary-section-coronavirus-deaths-soar-1517297  It's thought that it was to help people grieve when they couldn't attend a normal funeral.

Do you know anything further/elsewise?

Best wishes,

PD

Thanks for the added color, PD!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks for the added color, PD!

You're welcome Karl!

Still a lot of deaths though!   

PD

[JBS]

An Israeli researcher thinks an anti-cholesterol drug may help fight Covid19.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/existing-drug-may-downgrade-covid-threat-to-common-cold-level-jerusalem-study/

If this theory about the virus increasing lipid deposits is correct, we may know why so strokes, heart attacks, and other circulatory/neurological problems are found in virus patients. [It would also help explain the diarrhea some people experience.]

[André]

I read today that the coronavirus attacks the endothelium (inner layer) of blood vessels, essentially weakening the tissue and its elasticity. The whole vascular system becomes 'old' in just a few days.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

An Israeli researcher thinks an anti-cholesterol drug may help fight Covid19.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/existing-drug-may-downgrade-covid-threat-to-common-cold-level-jerusalem-study/

If this theory about the virus increasing lipid deposits is correct, we may know why so strokes, heart attacks, and other circulatory/neurological problems are found in virus patients. [It would also help explain the diarrhea some people experience.]

Interesting JBS.  So, maybe added incentive to lower ones bad cholesterol levels asap?  Any comments about how those with low numbers to begin with do when hit by the virus?  Scary thoughts re the virus in any event.  Hope that they're onto something!

I read today that the coronavirus attacks the endothelium (inner layer) of blood vessels, essentially weakening the tissue and its elasticity. The whole vascular system becomes 'old' in just a few days.

Eek!! 

PD

[Gurn Blanston]

An Israeli researcher thinks an anti-cholesterol drug may help fight Covid19.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/existing-drug-may-downgrade-covid-threat-to-common-cold-level-jerusalem-study/

If this theory about the virus increasing lipid deposits is correct, we may know why so strokes, heart attacks, and other circulatory/neurological problems are found in virus patients. [It would also help explain the diarrhea some people experience.]

That is seriously interesting!

[Herman]

Make that seriously scary!

[T. D.]

From Bloomberg (their non-paywall coronavirus page):

Trump Officials Order Hospitals to Bypass CDC on Virus Data (7:58 a.m. HK)
The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to send data on coronavirus patients to a central database and skip the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move some public health experts say will allow the data to be manipulated for political gain, the New York Times reports.

The order, effective Wednesday, was posted on the Department of Health and Human Services website this week and came after a tense conference call between virus response coordinator Deborah Birx and hospital officials, according to the report.

And from CNBC:

Trump says U.S. would have half the coronavirus cases if it did half the testing
President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. would have fewer coronavirus cases if it conducted less testing — even as outbreaks continue to surge across the nation and deaths begin to pick up pace.

"Think of this, if we didn't do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases," Trump said at a press conference at the White House. "If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always testing."

He said that if the U.S. didn't test people for Covid-19, then you wouldn't have "all the headlines" because the nation has one of the lowest mortality rates. While the U.S. has conducted more testing than any other country, it also has the most fatalities — 136,300 of the world's approximately 576,800 deaths. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

[Karl Henning]

From Bloomberg (their non-paywall coronavirus page):

Trump Officials Order Hospitals to Bypass CDC on Virus Data (7:58 a.m. HK)
The Trump administration has ordered hospitals to send data on coronavirus patients to a central database and skip the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a move some public health experts say will allow the data to be manipulated for political gain, the New York Times reports.

The order, effective Wednesday, was posted on the Department of Health and Human Services website this week and came after a tense conference call between virus response coordinator Deborah Birx and hospital officials, according to the report.

And from CNBC:

Trump says U.S. would have half the coronavirus cases if it did half the testing
President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. would have fewer coronavirus cases if it conducted less testing — even as outbreaks continue to surge across the nation and deaths begin to pick up pace.

"Think of this, if we didn't do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases," Trump said at a press conference at the White House. "If we did another, you cut that in half, we would have, yet again, half of that. But the headlines are always testing."

He said that if the U.S. didn't test people for Covid-19, then you wouldn't have "all the headlines" because the nation has one of the lowest mortality rates. While the U.S. has conducted more testing than any other country, it also has the most fatalities — 136,300 of the world's approximately 576,800 deaths. — Noah Higgins-Dunn

All part of a pattern of suppressing the data.

[T. D.]

Honestly, reading that s**t renders me completely speechless.
I can't do anything beyond posting the news items, because expression of my thoughts would not get past the moderators.

[Karl Henning]

Honestly, reading that s**t renders me completely speechless.
I can't do anything beyond posting the news items, because expression of my thoughts would not get past the moderators.

There is that.

[drogulus]

     The CDC has knuckled under to Trump. Redfield will not utter a twerpish peep about the diversion of data. What he has peeped is that the present virus surge in the South probably mainly came from vacationing northerners who infested bars and restaurants in Texas, Arizona and Florida. Higher taxes and LGBTQ indoctrination will come later.

     So, it comes down to Dr. Redfield isn't a reliable mangler of data for Trump, and all he can be trusted to do is keep his mouth shut about it. Well, that's not nothing.

[T. D.]

https://news.yahoo.com/aide-posts-cartoon-mocking-fauci-123717928.html

Classy gesture by one of the Orange Swindler's "most trusted advisers", who happens to be...drum roll... the OS's "former golf caddy who has been by the president's side since the 2016 campaign, is one of the few aides who has Trump's confidence."

Hey, here's a suggestion for Coronavirus Czar:

[steve ridgway]

We got a leaflet through the door today suggesting we mark 72 years of the NHS by for example baking 72 cakes or cookies, selling them and giving the NHS the money. Presumably to fund dealing with the subsequent diabetes and cancer .

[T. D.]

Previously public data has already disappeared from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website after the Trump administration quietly shifted control of the information to the Department of Health and Human Services.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/16/us-coronavirus-data-has-already-disappeared-after-trump-administration-shifted-control-from-cdc-to-hhs.html

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Previously public data has already disappeared from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website after the Trump administration quietly shifted control of the information to the Department of Health and Human Services.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/16/us-coronavirus-data-has-already-disappeared-after-trump-administration-shifted-control-from-cdc-to-hhs.html

I'm a bit confused here.  I did hear the story about the CDC no longer receiving the data directly, but thought that that had been changed back?  Are they now supposed to be getting the data from the HHS directly vs. from the states and is that why they no longer will be posting it? 

PD

[T. D.]

I'm a bit confused here.  I did hear the story about the CDC no longer receiving the data directly, but thought that that had been changed back?  Are they now supposed to be getting the data from the HHS directly vs. from the states and is that why they no longer will be posting it? 

PD

Might be a fluid situation, but this is the latest news I read from CNBC (emphasis added):

5 HOURS AGO [1:30 PM EDT July 16]
CDC restores some hospital data, but will no longer update
After CNBC reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed data on the availability of hospital beds across the country from its website, the agency has republished some of the data through Tuesday, but said it will no longer provide updates.

"The following downloadable file contains national and state estimates from the NHSN COVID-19 Module," the CDC says on its site. "This file will not be updated after July 14, 2020 and includes data from April 1 to July 14."

The move comes after the Trump administration directed states to stop reporting the relevant data directly to the CDC, and to instead report it through a portal with the Department of Health and Human Services. In the future, HHS spokesman Michael Caputo said, HHS will provide "more powerful insights."

"Yes, HHS is committed to being transparent with the American public about the information it is collecting on the coronavirus," he said. "Therefore, HHS has directed CDC to re-establish the coronavirus dashboards it withdrew from the public on Wednesday." —Will Feuer


As I read it, the CDC "restored" "some" data covering April 14 through July 14, but will not provide the data from July 14 going forward. So they've terminated public access to the data effective July 14.

Time will tell whether HHS provides comparable information, but I seriously doubt it.

[T. D.]

This story might be blocked by a paywall, but it deserves attention:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-17/georgia-massaged-virus-data-to-reopen-then-voided-mask-orders

[steve ridgway]

This story might be blocked by a paywall, but it deserves interest:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-17/georgia-massaged-virus-data-to-reopen-then-voided-mask-orders

Thanks, it read fine in Reader View. It just goes to show how statistics can be misused, people should be more sceptical and decide for themselves if they want to go to bars etc. What puts me off here is the thought of giving my ID then getting ordered to isolate for a fortnight because someone else has caught the virus. Then it happening again and again.

[Todd]

From Nature: Coronavirus research updates: Antiviral antibodies peter out within weeks after infection

Hopes for a vaccine may be overblown.  Hopefully not.