COVID-19 Updates

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[quote="Moose" post=387333]I'm a little tired of hearing about the vaccine. The more important development is TREATMENT. I know they are working on it and we had Trump and his favorite drug and some others mentioned. But that's more important because the world and this country specifically still has too many anti-vaccers. Finding whatever teh elixir is to combat this when you contract it is to me more important especially as we look to get through the fall/winter.[/quote]

I think vaccine still by far the best option. None of the treatments thus far seem to be working. Viruses are notoriously hard to treat and even remdesivir, while it might shorten things a little bit, isn’t the magic pill and they had been working on that for a long time to combat Sars etc. Even with tons of anti-vaxers, a vaccine would wall of the spread a ton and be the most helpful solution we would have. I don’t see much promise in the treatments thus far, but if course it’s early.
 
president of marquette currently on cnn...

saying he was on call with WH and VP Pence....

says feds are not giving clear guidance on how to open schools...

he say's school is still planning on opening in fall....
 
[quote="redmen4life" post=387340]president of marquette currently on cnn...

saying he was on call with WH and VP Pence....

says feds are not giving clear guidance on how to open schools...

he say's school is still planning on opening in fall....[/quote]

I think colleges are going to have to open up a bit. It will certainly be a risk for teachers etc. For e students, the risk is low of serious illness but staff of course must figure out the best way to teach students in this environment.
 
[quote="Knight" post=387281]I heard a report this morning,
COVID-19
More than 84,000 people have died in the U.S.
Of the total, 459 of the deaths are attributed to those under the age of 35,
973 between 35-45.
Seems like the focus to “protect” should be addressed to the elderly and infirm.
Let the economy return to normal.[/quote]

1.8% of the deaths attributed to those under 45.
 
[quote="redmen4life" post=387336][quote="Moose" post=387333]I'm a little tired of hearing about the vaccine. The more important development is TREATMENT. I know they are working on it and we had Trump and his favorite drug and some others mentioned. But that's more important because the world and this country specifically still has too many anti-vaccers. Finding whatever teh elixir is to combat this when you contract it is to me more important especially as we look to get through the fall/winter.[/quote]

you 100% need a vaccine. there's no way around it.

all the current 'treatments' are intravenous. which means that if you come down with it, you're spending a few days at the hospital. multiply that by potentially 10s of thousands of people, we overwhelm the hospital system and we're back to where we were in march. and a treatment only 'treats' it, which means you can likely get it again. AND you can still pass it on...

imagine a scenario where you have to travel to another country, be it for vacation or business. are you going to be okay with you or a loved one, having to spend time in a foreign country to receive the 'treatment'?

we need a vaccine.[/quote]

An effective treatment may be decades away, or may never be found. Vaccination is the best way to eradicate this. We are now three decades into HIV, and while drug therapies can get viral load down to undetectable, it hasn'tcured the disease. Even then treatment options are still incredibly expensive.

While they may be a race to fund a drug to treat this, the truth is that many companies would shy away, because it could cost as much as $5 billion to invest in finding a treatment, and by the time research yielded any results, the pandemic could be over, or greatly contained. Ebola was a crisis, so was SARs.

Its not a sure thing to find a cure. The best we can hope for is a drug therapy that will contain Covid long enough for the body defenses to kick in and defeat it.

Early in my career I workled for Hoffman LaRoche, the pharmaceutical giant. At the time we had bot Valium and Librium still under patent, and they were the #1 and #3 most used drugs in the world. Due to clever legal maneuverings, they were able to get 22 years of effective patent life (law was 17, but the clock starts upon the granting of an NCE) Their patent expired in 1985 and just prior to that Reagan signed a bill called the patent restoration act, since by the time new drugs got to market there were only 4.7 years remaining on them

[URL]https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-02-28-mn-12685-story.html[/URL]

The point is Roche was desperately searching for another home run drug or drugs, and despite investing billions, couldn't find one. When I was there, they invested tons of money in Inteferon. It eventually went to market and is used to treat HIV, Hep C, and some forms of leukemia. At the time they were hoping it could cure cancer. Still not bad, but many other research efforts go in the toilet.
 
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My son is going to be a sophomore in college in NC and he and I were just talking about the logistical challenges the school will face in opening up. School has indicated they'd do periodic student testing but question arises what they do with students who test positive during a semester and live on campus. Do they quarantine student in dorm room until they test negative and if so, where do they put any roommate assuming roommate tests negative? Do they send student home which of course can put older family members at risk? And what if student lives too far away to go home other than by plane or train?
Will be very interesting to see how schools handle it.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=387348]My son is going to be a sophomore in college in NC and he and I were just talking about the logistical challenges the school will face in opening up. School has indicated they'd do periodic student testing but question arises what they do with students who test positive during a semester and live on campus. Do they quarantine student in dorm room until they test negative and if so, where do they put any roommate assuming roommate tests negative? Do they send student home which of course can put older family members at risk? And what if student lives too far away to go home other than by plane or train?
Will be very interesting to see how schools handle it.[/quote]

Schools, including SJU are grappling with this kind of thing now. It will be an evolving process. They would be well advised to have a plan to either quarantine students in single rooms, or have an informary that can hold more students than current.

This is one reason why people are doubtful in person classes wont happen in the fall.
 
[quote="redmen4life" post=387336][quote="Moose" post=387333]I'm a little tired of hearing about the vaccine. The more important development is TREATMENT. I know they are working on it and we had Trump and his favorite drug and some others mentioned. But that's more important because the world and this country specifically still has too many anti-vaccers. Finding whatever teh elixir is to combat this when you contract it is to me more important especially as we look to get through the fall/winter.[/quote]

you 100% need a vaccine. there's no way around it.

all the current 'treatments' are intravenous. which means that if you come down with it, you're spending a few days at the hospital. multiply that by potentially 10s of thousands of people, we overwhelm the hospital system and we're back to where we were in march. and a treatment only 'treats' it, which means you can likely get it again. AND you can still pass it on...

imagine a scenario where you have to travel to another country, be it for vacation or business. are you going to be okay with you or a loved one, having to spend time in a foreign country to receive the 'treatment'?

we need a vaccine.[/quote]

We of course need a vaccine. But the original talk was 12-18 months from March and that was record speed. How many corners would be cut to match that record speed. When you speed up something like that where what it usually takes over 5 years you have to question just how effective it will be. Not saying the treatment is more important but its more important NOW. As we try to get through the next fall/winter without another surge. Then again if in reality 20% of the population got this already then the hospitalization fears will be driven down a bit.

I know Oxford seems to be the clubhouse leader and they are saying maybe September. But then its the how much can they produce, how quickly, who get it, who doesnt, how much, yadda yadda. Opening up the medicine cabinet and finding the elixir is important to mitigate as best we can. Interesting to read the different potions being concocted by different nations. But too many combinations and no clear direction.
 
[quote="MCNPA" post=387337][quote="Moose" post=387333]I'm a little tired of hearing about the vaccine. The more important development is TREATMENT. I know they are working on it and we had Trump and his favorite drug and some others mentioned. But that's more important because the world and this country specifically still has too many anti-vaccers. Finding whatever teh elixir is to combat this when you contract it is to me more important especially as we look to get through the fall/winter.[/quote]

I think vaccine still by far the best option. None of the treatments thus far seem to be working. Viruses are notoriously hard to treat and even remdesivir, while it might shorten things a little bit, isn’t the magic pill and they had been working on that for a long time to combat Sars etc. Even with tons of anti-vaxers, a vaccine would wall of the spread a ton and be the most helpful solution we would have. I don’t see much promise in the treatments thus far, but if course it’s early.[/quote]

MCNPA or anyone who might know. Regarding Remdisivir, since it is an anti-viral medication, wouldn't it be more effective if prescribed very early in the infection? I know the trial that showed some promise was conducted on patients with advanced disease.
 
[quote="Knight" post=387343][quote="Knight" post=387281]I heard a report this morning,
COVID-19
More than 84,000 people have died in the U.S.
Of the total, 459 of the deaths are attributed to those under the age of 35,
973 between 35-45.
Seems like the focus to “protect” should be addressed to the elderly and infirm.
Let the economy return to normal.[/quote]

1.8% of the deaths attributed to those under 45.[/quote]


To be objective, the only reason the United States statistics look as bad as they do is because of 5 or 6 democratic run states that not only mismanaged their own state budgets but they mismanaged the pandemic response and they are now refusing to reopen their economies further digging their economic health into the ground.
I always find it ironic that civil servants who never had a real job on the production end of the economy deciding how long to keep the economy closed. They will always continue to be paid for producing nothing.
Entire countries closer to China have controlled the spread of the virus better than New York.
The island of Taiwan, which is 100 miles from mainland China—the outbreak’s origin—has reported only 440 cases of Covid-19, and just seven deaths.
 
[quote="JohnnyFan" post=387379][quote="MCNPA" post=387337][quote="Moose" post=387333]I'm a little tired of hearing about the vaccine. The more important development is TREATMENT. I know they are working on it and we had Trump and his favorite drug and some others mentioned. But that's more important because the world and this country specifically still has too many anti-vaccers. Finding whatever teh elixir is to combat this when you contract it is to me more important especially as we look to get through the fall/winter.[/quote]

I think vaccine still by far the best option. None of the treatments thus far seem to be working. Viruses are notoriously hard to treat and even remdesivir, while it might shorten things a little bit, isn’t the magic pill and they had been working on that for a long time to combat Sars etc. Even with tons of anti-vaxers, a vaccine would wall of the spread a ton and be the most helpful solution we would have. I don’t see much promise in the treatments thus far, but if course it’s early.[/quote]

MCNPA or anyone who might know. Regarding Remdisivir, since it is an anti-viral medication, wouldn't it be more effective if prescribed very early in the infection? I know the trial that showed some promise was conducted on patients with advanced disease.[/quote]

Since Remdisivir can only be administered intravenously in a hospital it goes without saying that you are not likely to be admitted to a hospital in early stages of infection.
 
SJUFAN2, I am absolutely saying this was politicized. If common sense was used here, most would be getting back to work by now with new regulations to help prevent an uptick. They would be concerned about the economy. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not some crazed Trumpite with a big MAGA flag and talking about conspiracy theories. Trump is arrogant and he cannot speak well at all. But, that being said, the one thing that he 100% deserves credit for is a booming and record-setting economy. It was the crown jewel of his campaign. Democrats were very very nervous about this which is why Bill Maher actively rooted for the economy to collapse. Now it did. Obviously the collapse wasn't some conspiracy, but keeping the economy from breathing still at this point when the worst is clearly over reeks of politics. The choice to keep everything closed is political. Georgia was reopened in late April and they are fine. We need to stop acting like this is something fatal to most everyday people. It's potentially fatal if you're over 65 (most are retired anyway) and if you have conditions. If you fall in those groups then by all means quarantine yourselves. But if you are not, it's time to stop living not to get sick. We all get sick and we all fight this stuff off. This is not something that will significantly impact the vast majority of people. Remember, we live in a country of over 300 MILLION. None of us sell our cars because we're scared to get into a car accident. It's call calculated risk and we used to be fine with it. Apparently now we need to let something that's no worse than a cough or headache for most people who get it ruin our lives permanently. Sorry, not buying it.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=387386]SJUFAN2, I am absolutely saying this was politicized. If common sense was used here, most would be getting back to work by now with new regulations to help prevent an uptick. They would be concerned about the economy. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not some crazed Trumpite with a big MAGA flag and talking about conspiracy theories. Trump is arrogant and he cannot speak well at all. But, that being said, the one thing that he 100% deserves credit for is a booming and record-setting economy. It was the crown jewel of his campaign. Democrats were very very nervous about this which is why Bill Maher actively rooted for the economy to collapse. Now it did. Obviously the collapse wasn't some conspiracy, but keeping the economy from breathing still at this point when the worst is clearly over reeks of politics. The choice to keep everything closed is political. Georgia was reopened in late April and they are fine. We need to stop acting like this is something fatal to most everyday people. It's potentially fatal if you're over 65 (most are retired anyway) and if you have conditions. If you fall in those groups then by all means quarantine yourselves. But if you are not, it's time to stop living not to get sick. We all get sick and we all fight this stuff off. This is not something that will significantly impact the vast majority of people. Remember, we live in a country of over 300 MILLION. None of us sell our cars because we're scared to get into a car accident. It's call calculated risk and we used to be fine with it. Apparently now we need to let something that's no worse than a cough or headache for most people who get it ruin our lives permanently. Sorry, not buying it.[/quote] here is the thing though. If it was politicized why had their been such dramatic action taken by other countries. Sweden is not the norm they are an extreme outlier. Traveling a lot and having friends in other countries this along with Austour this is sonedthig I’m extremely familiar with. Let’s use Peru as an example. Imagine a Sunday you ate on vacation in Peru. Their president Vizcarra on a Sunday a week or so before Cuomo closed down at 5pm addresses the nation and says if you aren’t out of the country tomorrow by midnight the entire country is locked down. Airports closed no flights borders closed police in the streets if you walk you dog you get arrested. Then they actually did 3 days a week only men can go to the store women on 3 and sundays no one. This is paradise compared to other countries . And Peru still on modified lockdown till end of month
 
Just read an article from a DR in Tennessee and she said it's estimated that contracting and dying from COVID is about the same odds as dying in a car accident. We used to be in a place where we took calculated risks just 3 short months ago. Now everyone is freaking out and California says they won't ever reopen unless there's a cure. I mean it's real fantasy stuff now. This is like science fiction. I also heard a good line...do you know a healthy person with no complications who tested positive and died? You'd be hardpressed to find one. Now, do you know someone who lost their job? You probably know several like I do and there will be many more the longer this goes. If you know way more people who lost jobs than healthy people under 65 who died from coronavirus then that is a sign things have gone too far. We don't want anyone to die from this obviously, but if it's not COVID, a flu or cold can easily kill an elderly person too. The risk for the overwhelming majority of the population is very low.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=387390]Just read an article from a DR in Tennessee and she said it's estimated that contracting and dying from COVID is about the same odds as dying in a car accident. We used to be in a place where we took calculated risks just 3 short months ago. Now everyone is freaking out and California says they won't ever reopen unless there's a cure. I mean it's real fantasy stuff now. This is like science fiction. I also heard a good line...do you know a healthy person with no complications who tested positive and died? You'd be hardpressed to find one. Now, do you know someone who lost their job? You probably know several like I do and there will be many more the longer this goes. If you know way more people who lost jobs than healthy people under 65 who died from coronavirus then that is a sign things have gone too far. We don't want anyone to die from this obviously, but if it's not COVID, a flu or cold can easily kill an elderly person too. The risk for the overwhelming majority of the population is very low.[/quote]

Roughly 40K Americans die in car accidents per year. Covid-19 has killed over 85K in just the past two months.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=387390]Just read an article from a DR in Tennessee and she said it's estimated that contracting and dying from COVID is about the same odds as dying in a car accident. We used to be in a place where we took calculated risks just 3 short months ago. Now everyone is freaking out and California says they won't ever reopen unless there's a cure. I mean it's real fantasy stuff now. This is like science fiction. I also heard a good line...do you know a healthy person with no complications who tested positive and died? You'd be hardpressed to find one. Now, do you know someone who lost their job? You probably know several like I do and there will be many more the longer this goes. If you know way more people who lost jobs than healthy people under 65 who died from coronavirus then that is a sign things have gone too far. We don't want anyone to die from this obviously, but if it's not COVID, a flu or cold can easily kill an elderly person too. The risk for the overwhelming majority of the population is very low.[/quote]



Wow, thanks for letting me know that myself and others over 65 should be sacrificed for the Greater Good. Unbelievable.
 
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=387387][quote="Mike Zaun" post=387386]SJUFAN2, I am absolutely saying this was politicized. If common sense was used here, most would be getting back to work by now with new regulations to help prevent an uptick. They would be concerned about the economy. Let me preface this by saying that I'm not some crazed Trumpite with a big MAGA flag and talking about conspiracy theories. Trump is arrogant and he cannot speak well at all. But, that being said, the one thing that he 100% deserves credit for is a booming and record-setting economy. It was the crown jewel of his campaign. Democrats were very very nervous about this which is why Bill Maher actively rooted for the economy to collapse. Now it did. Obviously the collapse wasn't some conspiracy, but keeping the economy from breathing still at this point when the worst is clearly over reeks of politics. The choice to keep everything closed is political. Georgia was reopened in late April and they are fine. We need to stop acting like this is something fatal to most everyday people. It's potentially fatal if you're over 65 (most are retired anyway) and if you have conditions. If you fall in those groups then by all means quarantine yourselves. But if you are not, it's time to stop living not to get sick. We all get sick and we all fight this stuff off. This is not something that will significantly impact the vast majority of people. Remember, we live in a country of over 300 MILLION. None of us sell our cars because we're scared to get into a car accident. It's call calculated risk and we used to be fine with it. Apparently now we need to let something that's no worse than a cough or headache for most people who get it ruin our lives permanently. Sorry, not buying it.[/quote] here is the thing though. If it was politicized why had their been such dramatic action taken by other countries. Sweden is not the norm they are an extreme outlier. Traveling a lot and having friends in other countries this along with Austour this is sonedthig I’m extremely familiar with. Let’s use Peru as an example. Imagine a Sunday you ate on vacation in Peru. Their president Vizcarra on a Sunday a week or so before Cuomo closed down at 5pm addresses the nation and says if you aren’t out of the country tomorrow by midnight the entire country is locked down. Airports closed no flights borders closed police in the streets if you walk you dog you get arrested. Then they actually did 3 days a week only men can go to the store women on 3 and sundays no one. This is paradise compared to other countries . And Peru still on modified lockdown till end of month[/quote]



Thanks MJ for your reasoned answer. Too often, it seems as if posters do not take the time to thoroughly consider a point of view they don't agree with. One of the most important lessons that I learned in life is to listen to understand.
 
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