Category: Health

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NY Times Prints 1000 COVID Obituaries On Front Page

(image via New York Times)
The front page of today’s New York Times lists one-sentence obituaries of 1,000 people who have died from the COVID-19 pandemic here in the United States. With the death toll about to cross the 100,000 mark, those names represent a scant 1 percent of those lost in just over 3 months – an average of 1,100 deaths a day. From the New York Times:

Instead of the articles, photographs or graphics that normally appear on the front page of The New York Times, on Sunday, there is just a list: a long, solemn list of people whose lives were lost to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the death toll from Covid-19 in the United States approaches 100,000, a number expected to be reached in the coming days, editors at The Times have been planning how to mark the grim milestone.

Marc Lacey, National editor, had warned Tom Bodkin, chief creative officer of The Times, that the milestone was coming. “I wanted something that people would look back on in 100 years to understand the toll of what we’re living through,” Mr. Lacey said in an email.

There’s an interactive article on the Times‘ website expounding on the list of those lost and included on the front page. As the Times was prepping its cover story yesterday, Donald Trump played golf at his National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. According to reports, he is playing another round of golf again today. CNN notes this is his 358th visit to one of his properties and his 266th trip to one of his golf clubs since he took office in January 2017. The Biden campaign noted the widely divergent perspectives on the gravity of the COVID-19 threat.

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Thousands Forced To Leave Ford Assembly Plant On Day Two Of Reopening

(screen capture via CBS 2 Chicago)
Day two of the reopened Ford assembly plant in Chicago came to a stop for many when an employee tested positive for COVID-19. CBS Chicago’s Charlie De Mar spoke to many employees who are conflicted about their working environment.

“I’m worried right now,” said employee Timothy Shy. “This is the second day, and we are already hearing about this.”

Production was temporarily halted at part of the facility and the main plant.

“Social distancing doesn’t really work,” said employee Billy Cowart.

There are changes, from the social distancing reminders outside to temperature checks and re-configured work stations inside. Ford provided a video highlighting some of the updated health changes COVID has brought along to their plants

“All these people are crowded and on top of each other,” said Michael Hopper while wearing his Ford issued face mask.

“I lost a brother to coronavirus May 6,” Hopper said.

Hopper along with others describes an experience inside the plant that doesn’t sound or look like the polished video.

“I cleaned my own workstation myself,” said Hopper. “How our jobs are set-up, if one person gets in the hole that would affect the person behind him.”

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Study Shows Injectable PrEP Taken Every Two Months As Effective As Truvada

(image via Depositphotos)
Could this be PrEP 2.0? A large-scale clinical trial found that the injectable antiretroviral drug cabotegravir administered once every 8 weeks resulted in fewer new cases of HIV than daily doses of Truvada taken as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Begun in December 2016, the study involved more than 4,500 participants around the world. All were deemed to be at risk of contracting HIV and randomly assigned to receive either a daily dose of Truvada or an injection every eight weeks. Those in the injectable group also were given a placebo pill, and those given Truvada received placebo injections. After conducting an interim review of the trial, the study’s results clearly showed cabotegravir actually reduced HIV infection rates more than daily oral doses of Truvada. According to Science Magazine, 12 infections occurred in the cabotegravir group versus 38 in the group that received Truvada. Both control groups were of the same size. Statistically, that represents a 0.38% incidence in the cabotegravir group versus 1.21% in the Truvada one, a 69% difference in new infection rates. The results were deemed so impressive that all participants, including those receiving placebos, will be offered the injections beginning this week. Science Magazine reports the apparent success (the results of the study haven’t been published in a peer-reviewed journal yet) could be a more attractive alternative than a daily regimen of pills which has proved difficult for many people. One drawback to the daily oral dose of Truvada has been the difficulty for some people to stay on schedule. A missed dose here or there can reduce the regimen’s effectiveness. On the flip-side of that equation, though, those who choose to use the long-acting injectable medication might miss a scheduled clinic visit which could reduce its effectiveness. (source: ScienceMag.org)

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Fox News Guest: Epidemics Like COVID ‘Last About Five Weeks, We Have Immunity, We Don’t Have To Think About It Anymore’

Dr. Knut Wittkowski
In case you don’t watch much Fox News, although a lot of people do, take a listen to recent guest Dr. Knut Wittkowski, an epidemiologist who told viewers Monday night that epidemics like the ongoing COVID-19 threat are usually over in around five weeks, we gain immunity and “we don’t have to think about it anymore.” “Respiratory disease epidemics, and this is just one of those, they come and last about two weeks,” said Wittkowski during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle.” “They peak, they go for about two weeks – in a large country it lasts a bit longer, in smaller countries a bit shorter. After three, four, five weeks the whole thing is over. We have immunity, we don’t have to think about it anymore.” More from Fox News:

A renowned epidemiologist told the “The Ingraham Angle” on Monday that a video he posted on YouTube questioning the effectiveness of widespread lockdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic was removed for violating “community standards.”

Host Laura Ingraham noted that his video was viewed nearly 1.5 million times and asked Dr. Knut Wittkowski why he thinks “there is so much pushback to your line of thinking?”

“Because I think so many people have invested so much of their ego and so they have a problem acknowledging that maybe it was a little bit too much,” he said in response. “This in itself is restricting freedom of speech,” he continued.

In the YouTube video referenced above, Wittkowski declared, “With all respiratory diseases, the only thing that stops the disease is herd immunity. About 80% of the people need to have had contact with the virus, and the majority of them won’t even have recognized that they were infected.” So, 80 percent of the U.S. would need to be exposed to the virus and POOF! it will be gone…? Umm, no. At this writing, that virus has killed 91,750 Americans. And that’s in two and a half months, which is a lot longer than ‘five weeks.’

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Biotech Companies Share Upbeat News On Experimental COVID-19 Vaccines

Some prominent biotech companies report upbeat indications regarding possible coronavirus vaccines that have begun human trials around the world. Biotech firm Moderna, based in Massachusetts, saw its stock jump 20% on news that their experimental vaccine showed considerable efficacy. From the Washington Post:

The eagerly-awaited data provide a first look at one of the eight vaccines worldwide that have begun human testing. The data have not been published in a scientific journal and are only a preliminary step toward showing the experimental vaccine is safe and effective.

The company’s stock, along with the Dow Jones industrial average, soared on the report that eight participants who received low and medium doses of Moderna’s vaccine had blood levels of virus-fighting antibodies that were similar or greater than those in recovered covid-19 patients. That suggests, but doesn’t prove, that it triggers some level of immunity.

An effort led by the University of Oxford, in partnership with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, plans to have millions of doses of vaccine available by fall. Last week, those researchers disclosed that more than 1,000 patients had already enrolled in the initial trial of its vaccine, which began in late April.

A Chinese company, Sinovac Biotech, recently published a study in the journal Science showing that its vaccine protected rhesus monkeys against infection and is currently being tested in 144 people. Two other safety trials are ongoing in the U.S., led by Pfizer and Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Vaccine experts have said that these accelerated development timelines are theoretically possible, but extremely optimistic — and depend on everything going right. They stress that it will be crucial to gather convincing data the vaccines are safe and effective before using them broadly — and the new data are promising but preliminary, from the earliest phase one trials that test safety in healthy people.

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Florida Man Was Skeptical Of COVID-19 Threat Until He & His Wife Got It

Brian Lee Hitchens (screen capture/WPTV)
A Florida man thought the coronavirus health threat was “a fake crisis” that was “blown out of proportion” and “wasn’t that serious.” And then he and his wife contracted COVID-19. “I thought it was maybe the government trying something, and it was kind of like they threw it out there to kinda distract us,” Hitchens told local news station WPTV. In a lengthy Facebook post, Brian Lee Hitchens shared how the pandemic affected he and his wife’s lives.

Many people still think that the Coronavirus is a fake crisis which at one time I did too and not that I thought it wasn’t a real virus going around but at one time I felt that it was blown out of proportion and it wasn’t that serious.

We kept on watching the news and kept on hearing about the spreading of the Coronavirus and to be honest I didn’t really think nothing of it. I still thought it was being blown out of proportion until about 4 and 1/2 weeks ago when I started to feel sick and once I started to feel sick I stopped working and stayed home.

Yes, I came down with the Coronavirus and a couple days later after I started to not feel good my wife started to not feel good and we stayed at home quarantined and my wife did go to the hospital to get tested and they told her yeah you probably have the coronavirus so go home and quarantine yourself.

Well a few days went by and we both started feeling worse and worse and worse to the point where we barely had any energy left to do anything and all we want to do is sleep. So three weeks ago Sunday we decided not to play around with this anymore and I had just enough energy to drive us to the hospital Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and we both got confirmed that we had the Coronavirus.

They admitted us right away and we both went to ICU. I started feeling better within a few days but my wife got worse to the point where they sedated her and put her on the ventilator. I was never put ventilator and started feeling better feeling stronger never had terrible aches and pains just weak and exhausted.

Even now I am feeling better. A lot better then a few weeks ago. I still have COVID-19 and some pneumonia in my lungs and we’ve been here 3 weeks as of yesterday.

As of today my wife is still sedated and on the ventilator with no signs of improving. There were a couple times were they tried to start weaning her off the ventilator but as soon as they’ve done that her oxygen level dropped and they had to put her back on the ventilator full time.

My wife has been sick before in the past quite a few times and she always fought through to get better but now after 3 weeks I have come to accept that my wife may pass away and the peace I have about it is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that she will be going home to be with the Lord.

But I also do believe in miracles and I’m holding on to the chance that she may get healed. But if not I am thankful for her I know we’ve been married for 8 years.

So think about what I wrote and think about if this thing is a fake crisis. This Coronavirus affects people differently. My wife has suffered from different physical ailments which she has overcome before but she sure is struggling and the doctors have said they have had a tough time getting her better.

This thing is nothing to be messed with please listen to the authorities and heed the advice of the experts. We don’t have to fear this, and by heeding the advice doesn’t mean that you fear it – that means you’re showing wisdom during this epidemic time.

Looking back I should have wore a mask in the beginning but I didn’t and perhaps I’m paying the price for it now. But I know that if it was me that gave it to my wife I know that she forgives me and I know that God forgives me.

Whether man forgives me or not that’s out of my control, but as long as I have the assurance that God forgives me and my wife forgives me I am good.

So just think about what I said and if you have to go out, please use wisdom and don’t be foolish like I was so the same thing won’t happen to you like it happened to me and my wife.

In a subsequent post, Hitchins shares that he is continuing to recover. His wife is reportedly stable, but still sedated and on a ventilator. Here’s his interview from his hosptial bed in Jupiter, Florida, with local station WPTV.

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AstraZeneca Aims For 30 Million UK Vaccine Doses By September

The FDA has approved updated versions of COVID-19 vaccines

AstraZeneca plans to make as many as 30 million doses of coronavirus vaccine available to the U.K. by September and has committed to delivering 100 million doses this year. The U.K. would be the first country in the world to get access to the AstraZeneca vaccine. From Bloomberg News:

The vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford will get 65.5 million pounds ($79 million) of funding, U.K. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said today in a statement.

The inoculation is already being studied in humans and could reach late-stage trials by the middle of the year. Another 18.5 million pounds will go to Imperial College London as trials accelerate.

Drugmakers are scaling up to make a Covid vaccine before the shots are fully tested, so inoculations will be ready as soon as possible. No vaccine exists yet for Covid-19, which has killed more than 312,000 people globally and infected 4.7 million.

The U.K. has the second-deadliest outbreak after the U.S.

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NY Barber Tests Positive For Covid After Continuing To Cut Hair

(stock image via Unsplash/Andi Whiskey)
A barber in Kingston, New York, has tested positive for COVID-19 after he continued to cut hair for weeks in violation of the state’s stay-at-home orders. From NBC News:

In a statement Wednesday, the county health commissioner advised anyone who received a haircut in the past three weeks at a barbershop on Broadway in the city of Kingston, about 20 miles north of Poughkeepsie, to seek testing for the coronavirus. The statement did not identify either the barber or the shop.

Nonessential businesses have been closed since March 22 under an order issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that is set to expire Friday, when certain parts of the state that have met public health metrics will be allowed to begin a phased reopening.

Under the order, barbershops, beauty salons, nail salons and other businesses that provide personal care services are not allowed to be open and operated to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It goes without saying that the state of New York has been the epicenter of the pandemic, the guy knowingly put himself and his customers at risk. The report didn’t mention if the barber followed any safety guidelines like sanitizing or wearing a mask or limiting the number of clients in his shop at any given time. Restrictions in Nevada were lifted this past week allowing for haircuts if such guidelines were followed. I saw my guy, Phil, who has his own one-man barbershop and was doing double-duty on sanitizing and only allowed one customer in the shop at a time.

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Medical Expert: Coronavirus Could Lead To ‘Darkest Winter In Modern History’

Dr. Rick Bright testifies before Congress
Former immunologist at the Department of Health and Human Services Rick Bright, who until recently was leading the agency tasked with developing a vaccine for coronavirus, testifed before Congress today offering a dire message about the pandemic. From the New York Times:

Dr. Rick Bright, the whistle-blower who was ousted as head of a federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, warned Congress on Thursday that the Covid-19 outbreak will “get worse and be prolonged” if the United States does not swiftly develop a national testing strategy and devise a plan for distributing a vaccine.

“The window is closing to address this pandemic because we still do not have a standard, centralized, coordinated plan to take this nation through this response,” said Dr. Bright, who was abruptly removed last month from his position as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

He told lawmakers on a House health subcommittee that the country could be facing “the darkest winter in modern history” if the administration did not act swiftly, as Americans become “restless” to leave their homes.

Bright was removed from his position because he refused to promote an anti-malaria drug championed by Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19. Numerous studies have shown the drug can have negative effects on patients with the coronavirus.

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A New Study Finds Coronavirus In Semen Of Infected Patients

A bill introduced in Oklahoma would make it a crime to text a nude photo to someone

(image via Eddy Billard/Unsplash)
Another reason why it might be a good idea to hit pause on dating apps during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new study by researchers in China found evidence of the coronavirus in the semen of infected men raising concerns that the virus could be sexually transmitted. The study, by doctors at China’s Shangqiu Municipal Hospital, found six men in a group of 38 patients being treated for severe coronavirus infections tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in their semen. Of the six, four men were still infected and two were recovering. The results seem to contradict an earlier study released in April in which no traces of the virus were found in a group of 34 men with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19. The researchers working on the new study say the findings were ‘preliminary’ and based on a small number of patients. “Further studies are required with respect to the detailed information about virus shedding, survival time and concentration in semen,” the team wrote in their study. Independent experts, pointing to the small size of the study group, say the new findings are ‘interesting’ but don’t necessarily mean the virus can be transmitted through sex. Dr. Ryan Berglund, a urologist with the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, told CBS News the report doesn’t “constitute concrete evidence that COVID-19 can be sexually transmitted.” “I think that’s premature,” added Berglund. “You have to look at this as a sign that semen, as along with a number of other body fluids, can contain the virus.” Allan Pacey, a professor of andrology at Britain’s Sheffield University, told Reuters the study didn’t conclusively find whether the virus found was active and capable of causing infection. “However, we should not be surprised if the virus which causes COVID-19 is found in the semen of some men since this has been shown with many other viruses such as Ebola and Zika,” he said. It’s worth noting that earlier studies have found traces of the virus in stool as well, which means rimming could put people at risk. So, when it comes to having sex, keep in mind the guidance from the New York City Health Department when considering having sex. First, you are your safest sex partner as masturbation will not spread COVID-19. Second, the next safest partner is someone you live with. Having close contact with only a small circle of people helps prevent spreading the virus. And remember, kissing can easily pass the virus on to someone else. (sources: CBS News, Reuters)