Wonderful speech by the Queen last night, offering tributes to the NHS and all of the other British citizens and residents working hard to save lives.
The speech dovetailed with the shocking news that Boris Johnson has been taken to the hospital due to persistent coronavirus symptoms. His partner Carrie, who is expecting a baby, is also suffering from coronavirus, but she is recovering at home.
Let's continue the conversation.
Comments
What an awful situation - I'm praying for him and for the NHS team responsible for his care.
See https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12322956
Not good news
Open your windows and cover your mouths, basically.
🇮🇩 In Indonesia we're being advised to sunbathe during safe hours (during non-skin-cancer hours) since it boosts the immune system (this is what my autoimmune doctors told me to do when I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency). While maintaining a safe distance, of course.
We're also being told to consume lots of turmeric, ginger, and the like.
good morning one and all
MiamiVice - you mentioned that people can become reinfected. Do you have any links to that? I thought it was still in the unknown category.
thanks
Now Sweden is in the same quandary with doctors begging government officials go to institute a lock down and politicians waffling.
good morning one and all
MiamiVice - you mentioned that people can become reinfected. Do you have any links to that? I thought it was still in the unknown category.
thanks
This piece of information has been widely reported:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/27/822407626/mystery-in-wuhan-recovered-coronavirus-patients-test-negative-then-positive
... about 5%-10% of patients pronounced "recovered" have tested positive again
However, I do have questions:
1. How accurate is the testing equipment?
2. What were the testing conditions?
3. Could the virus have dropped to below detectable limits and then grown in strength again?
Buried in the reports is also this information (which contradicts the information above):
Some of those who retested positive appear to be asymptomatic carriers — those who carry the virus and are possibly infectious but do not exhibit any of the illness's associated symptoms — suggesting that the outbreak in Wuhan is not close to being over.
4. There is a difference between asymptomatic carriers and those who are ill and recover. The reports do not separate the two groups statistically.
5. The study seems to only include 4 people but perhaps it is being reported incorrectly.
6. Chinese scientists are saying that the tests are not always accurate (only 30-50% accuracy) and this anomaly of a person recovering, testing negative and then testing positive later is because of false negative results.
In a nutshell, once you have been infected and your immune system fights off and expels the virus, you have immunity and will not be infected with the virus again (unless it greatly mutates, as does our 'regular' flu virus, which takes more time than a couple of weeks).
They recognize asymptomatic people can spread the virus. Awesome!
They approve "alternative PPE" due to the shortage for working with confirmed positive or suspected COVID patients.
Am I a fool if I don't leave my job? It's like they're giving us permission to work with less but be at more risk.
However, here is another genetic possibility:
Abstract
The host cellular environment is a key determinant of pathogen infectivity. Viral gene expression and viral particle production of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)–deficient and G6PD-knockdown cells were much higher than their counterparts when human coronavirus (HCoV) 229E was applied at 0.1 multiplicity of infection. These phenomena were correlated with increased oxidant production. Accordingly, ectopic expression of G6PD in G6PD-deficient cells or addition of antioxidant (such as α-lipoic acid) to G6PD-knockdown cells attenuated the increased susceptibility to HCoV 229E infection. All experimental data indicated that oxidative stress in host cells is an important factor in HCoV 229E infectivity https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/197/6/812/919467
Hmmmmm. Who has G6PD deficiency? An estimated 400 million people worldwide have glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. This condition occurs most frequently in certain parts of Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. It affects about 1 in 10 African American males in the United States.
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase-deficiency#statistics
Now, I know that the coronavirus being studied was not COVID-19. Perhaps a cousin of the lethal virus may use the same methods to get into cells. This condition only affects males. It could explain why Iran, Italy, Spain, and China were hit so hard. I wanted to throw out for consideration that we in the USA seem to be having an out of proportion to the percentage of population number of deaths in the black community both in northern and southern states. I will also add the following caveats: Our black population has higher rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiac conditions, all conditions that point to a poor outcome from the infection. Some blood pressure medications *may* make a person more susceptible to contracting the disease as well.
I believe that one of you Nutty Viral bloggers pointed out that the majority of the deaths in London were from older muslims who, due to their modest dress, could be getting hit by a double whammy of vitamin D deficiency (females) and G6PD (males).
Hopefully the deaths of the elders in London aren't being called racism as has been bandied about by the "news" reporters and even some government officials here.
If you say to yourself "Well, fine, I don't belong to those demographics so I'll just go out into public and enjoy myself!", well, there's still the whole age and viral load issue. Yes, you can still get infected with this and die. Lots of ol' white ladies are dying here as well as young white folks in medical and first responder roles.
The best self help that we can do for ourselves at the present seems to be wearing masks, social distancing, building up our immune system, controlling our blood sugar and *sigh* losing weight.
Just received an email from the state health department. The takeaways:
They recognize asymptomatic people can spread the virus. Awesome!
They approve "alternative PPE" due to the shortage for working with confirmed positive or suspected COVID patients.
Am I a fool if I don't leave my job? It's like they're giving us permission to work with less but be at more risk.
CookieShark, I look upon that message as giving you permission to make the best damn mask you possibly can and they won't say "boo" about it. (There have been people that were refused permission to wear their masks that they or their spouses made to protect them because it wouldn't look good.)
What an awful dilemma. If you can afford to walk away from the job and feel you can be safer and just as useful elsewhere ...
This issue of the asymptomatic carriers is worrisome. Countries just do not seem to have made a plan to have the capacity to test everyone so there are super spreaders who have no idea that they are infected. Even with the lockdown, e.g. in my country it is harsh, they are not testing everyone but are only going into poor and overcrowded areas (makes sense as that is where it will spread fastest and have the most devastating impact) and only testing those who show symptoms (and presumably they are also still tracking down and testing all contacts of people who have tested positive and are ill).
I suppose with everyone abiding with lockdown these super carriers will be identified as the people with them will be infected (unless they are in lockdown on their own).
It's a nightmare!
@SwampWoman: Thanks for sharing the information on the vulnerability of different groups of people. Ironically, as the virus spreads across the world, we get more and more information to use to try and understand the virus and create more accurate predictive models (my country planned for 60% of population being infected, abut 5% needing to be hospitalised and about half of those dying ... but the percentages for hospitalisation and death may have been a bit higher ... 5 weeks later and that is not how the illness is spreading nor is the impact happening as predicted).
Africa is now co-operating as a continent trying to co-ordinate resources but also to use our best resources to get as much verified scientific knowledge as quickly as possible. Africa does have some of the best research, scientists and tried and tested protocols in the world for medicine. For now, we are simply trying to keep people in lockdown, get mobile test kits so that we can do lots more testing much quicker, produce all the ventilators and PPE we are going to need, and call up medical personnel from wherever we can.
I have been the one complaining about the banning of the sale of all tobacco products (only announced well after lockdown was imposed, so no one stockpiled). This is the thug calling himself our Minister of Police who is imposing this and threatening to arrest people if they buy illicit cigarettes or alcohol (we had warning for the latter so while in other parts of the world, people stockpiled toilet paper, we used all our money and free space at home to stockpile alcohol).
https://www.google.com/search?q=bheki+cele+south+africa+minister+of+police&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiUkKy5odToAhUSTBoKHc_eDBIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=bheki+cele+south+africa+minister+of+police&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1D_4whY6PgIYP_6CGgAcAB4AIABoQOIAboakgEHMi0zLjQuM5gBAKABAaoBC2d3cy13aXotaW1n&sclient=img&ei=RF6LXpTeJ5KYac-9s5AB&bih=637&biw=637&rlz=1C1CHBD_en-gbZA782ZA782
Shady-looking guy isn't he?
I am really interested in the mechanics of this, and hope that a lot of good knowledge will be gained in the aftermath. I hadn't heard it was hitting the black population disproportionately 'til I read it here! I think Swamp Woman is right; between 4chan and Reddit, plus the amazing homegrown talent among the Nutties, we could probably crack this case in a weeks' time!
Scandi, how are your kitties?
For those in the non-medical community it is "racist" and "fat-shaming" to discuss the outcome of healthcare issues - based on obesity, diabetes rates, diet - or ancestry
In this case - the G6PD issue (above) is important but also the ACE2 receptor which is actually less prevalent in African ancestry - most prevalent in Asians - and more prevalent in men over women...but becomes "up regulated" in people taking ACE2 Inhibitors for blood pressure control....making the high blood pressure issue worse.
The virus attaches to the ACE2 receptor - so the more receptors you have, the more virus can attack...If you take ACE-Inhibitors, your body makes more receptors.
This would be protective (somewhat) in African (sub saharan) ancestry but....for the obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes...may overrule this, particularly since
American African ancestry is modulated by other types (European, Asian, Native American etc)...so..the effect is not as pronounced.
All in all - super, duper complex and difficult to discuss as "race", it turns out - is NOT a social construct exactly.
In a large melting pot population of Asians, Italians, Spanish, middle-easterners, Jews, and Africans/African-Americans, if you read the list of the dead, would you even recognize that they may have the same underlying genetic anomaly? I wouldn't have.
It did concern me strongly enough that I gave daughter the links and the studies to post on Facebook for a heads up to black and Mediterranean family members.
FWIW, the county in Florida with the highest number of cases, Miami/Dade, is roughly 17.9% black/African American, *69.1% Hispanic or Latino, and 13% white alone, not Hispanic or Latino (and I'm thinking that they're including the Jewish and Middle Eastern population in that).
*There are a lot of black Latinos.
Yes, quite complicated and, if we bring it up as just perhaps being relevant, it could result in negative consequences.
Coronavirus patients from black and ethnic minority backgrounds may be at higher risk of suffering deadly complications of the disease, an NHS report suggests.
Despite making up just 13 per cent of the UK population, a third of patients who fall critically ill with COVID-19 are from black, Asian or minority ethnic (BME) groups.
The report, by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, found 14 per cent were Asian, 14 per cent black and 7 per cent described themselves as other.
The study of 2,249 patients has raised fears non-white communities could suffer a disproportionate amount of deaths during the pandemic.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms "worsened", Downing Street has said.
Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise "where necessary", a spokesman added.
The prime minister, 55, was admitted to St Thomas' Hospital in London with "persistent symptoms" on Sunday.
The spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving "excellent care".
A statement read: "Since Sunday evening, the prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas' Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.
Bi"Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital."
It continued: "The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication."
Mr Johnson was initially taken to hospital for routine tests after testing positive for coronavirus 10 days ago.
His symptoms included a high temperature and a cough.
Earlier on Monday, he tweeted that he was in "good spirits".
Last month, the prime minister's spokesman said if Mr Johnson was unwell and unable to work, Mr Raab, as the first secretary of state, would stand in.
Everyone, until they have a CV test and know otherwise, should be treated as POSITIVE. We have to make decisions based on not what we know, but what we do not know, about patients. ALL patients should be cared for in head to toe N-95 PPE until they have been ruled out.
It is just not possible to control all of the opportunities to infect. We can mitigate it by wearing proper PPE. However, hospitals have never ordered PPE because the people who need it are frontline end-users who are not making the choices about it.
Hospitals instead allocate $$$ to fancy buildings, "mindfulness centers"(!!!!!) making upgrades that don't need to be made...but the basic equipment meant to protect doctors and nurses is not there. Admin does not care; they don't have to go work on the COVID unit.
Don't think I'll be able to be take them to the Groomer's soon, by the priority is keeping them healthy so I won't need to take them to the Vet anytime soon (knocks wood).
Take care & be well~ 💜💜
I hope Boris recovers.
The state leader in the positive cases continues to be Miami/Dade with 4,671 cases positive, 287 people hospitalized (cumulative, I believe, not currently), the age range has been from 0 to 103, and there have been 41 deaths. The second largest group of cases in the state is in Broward county, 2075 cases, ages 0 to 98, and there have been 47 deaths and 263 hospitalizations. Again, I believe that is cumulative. The county with the third most cases in Florida, Palm Beach, has 1,082 cases, age range 0 to 104, hospitalizations 176, deaths 51. There's Orange County, the Orlando area, with 754 positive cases, age range 0 to 101, hospitalizations 93, deaths 9.
The natives are getting restless and are shooting each other up this way because that's the only form of entertainment left. Not sure how long this state of affairs can continue.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-odpkmBmWN/?igshid=4d3fr0oq7lrm
This one clearly illustrates a person sitting on their garden bench behind their gates with a book: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-o2MImBemy/?igshid=wzgj1h8nqi2m
So social distancing & staying home is still on, but get some french air & sunshine basically.
That's from the government meteorology/climatology body, by the way. Hence the amount of graphics. The place is run by nerds. 😂😂💜
The majority population in Indonesia are Muslim & cats are more common than dogs (although we do have guard dogs in our neighbourhood) hence less people needing to go out & walk their dogs.
I hope things remain nice & civil here. I've noticed in some countries it's turned neighbours against each other, rattling. So far our nextdoor neighbour asked my dad how he was doing while he was tending the front garden, so it's still nice.
(I'm the ditzy family idiot in charge of the cats. 🤷🏻♀️🐈)
I didn't make it, it's a surgical mask. Asian girls always have surgical masks, they're pretty common. Even before the pandemic.
My cats aren't super dirty like dogs get dirty after a muddy walk to the park. But I think they mainly dirty from being semi-indoor (because the catio is open air). The 3 seal-points look fine, but my cream-colourpoint Himalayan just starts looking yellow if not taken to bathe monthly 😂😂
And totally agree, what would we do without our pets during lockdown?? They do us a bigger favour than we do them when we adopt them. 💜💜 They make me so happy & and all they ask for is to be fed & cuddle with~
In New York City, data from the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development is showing the communities hit hardest by the pandemic are the lower-income communities in the outer boroughs, where a higher percentage of the population is black or brown and many residents work service industry jobs.
In Michigan (one of the few states tracking data on Covid-19 and race) so far, African Americans account for 33% of cases and 40% of deaths.
According to the Charlotte Observer, data from Mecklenburg County (which houses Charlotte) shows approximately 44% of the population with Covid-19 is African American, while the county itself is only 33% black.
Milwaukee County is 27% black, yet the first eight people who died in the area because of coronavirus were African American. As of Friday, 81% of the 27 deaths in the county were black people. Almost half of the 945 cases are African American.
In Illinois, African Americans make up 28% of confirmed cases, and only 14.6% of the population.
In Memphis, most of the screening is missing the poor, black communities and instead is focused in affluent suburbs according to a heat map that shows where coronavirus testing is taking place.
In Philadelphia, the highest percentages of positive tests are consistently coming from ZIP codes that have a large minority population.
Conclusion: It's time to sound the alarm.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-mika-brzezinski-trump-financial-tie-hydroxychloroquine
This is one of the most ludicrous claims yet. Studies have been coming out of S Korea and China with Chloraquine since very early on with this virus and yet clearly our President must have some financial bias for encouraging a medication that could possibly help.
There is coming a day of reckoning for the media and the Chinese government. ‘They have some ‘splaining to do.’
I had to look up the word Chimera, which was quite interesting. I had heard of this concept before, where in a dna test drawn from a woman had Y chromosomes and it turned out that the person had had a bone marrow transplant and thus her blood had the dna of her donor. So interesting.
Since you live in the most heavily-infected area in Florida, are people using any PPE yet? (It is rarely seen up here.)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says that 72% of all Chicago deaths related to Covid-19 have been black Chicagoans.
While presenting statistics on how Covid-19 is affecting black residents more severely than white residents, Lightfoot announced a new Covid-19 patient data order to help combat the virus' effects on Chicago, including in the hardest hit African-American neighborhoods.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady joined Lightfoot at Monday's press conference and said that 52% of the city's Covid-19 diagnoses have been in black Chicagoans.
"72% of our Covid deaths here in Chicago have been in black Chicagoans" even though they make up 30%, Arwady said.
"Those numbers take your breath away," Mayor Lightfoot said.
https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-06-20/h_2464e53dde898df53f90ae3c955af68e
What are their efforts then unquote to support the global pandemic???? Donation? Respirators? PPE help both there for the US's as well as here in the UK?? Nope,?? No mention. But compelled to talk about this charity foundation. Plenty on and about that! Too many celebs,footballers,wealthy people have done little to support this pandemic but greedy for us normals to keep funding their wealth and lifestyle. It's time we cut them off . I don't like any charity that takes more money in admin than helping the cause and sometimes at obscene rates. It remains to be seen and shown transparently if this is one of them. After this crisis all charities will be hard hit as people us normals!! have our lives impacted with financial nightmares and anguish of losing loved ones. Homes and job risks. World will change.
I thought "Jools" from DM summed this nicely. Also, I didn't see one positive comment about their new charity.