Category: Health

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FDA Updates Blood Donation Guidelines For Gay/Bisexual Men

UPDATE: On April 2, the FDA posted new guidelines reducing the deferral period for men who have sex with men from donating blood and plasma from 12 months to 3 months. In a statement, GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis said, “LGBTQ Americans can hold their heads up today and know that our voices will always triumph over discrimination.” “This is a victory for all of us who raised our collective voices against the discriminatory ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood,” she continued. “The FDA’s decision to lower the deferral period on men who have sex with men from 12 months to 3 months is a step towards being more in line with science, but remains imperfect. We will keep fighting until the deferral period is lifted and gay and bi men, and all LGBTQ people, are treated equal to others.“

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave permission last week for doctors to use plasma from coronavirus survivors as an experimental treatment for patients who become moderately ill from the virus. According to the New York Times, blood from people who have recovered may be teeming with antibodies, proteins created by the immune system to attack the virus. The approach has been used for decades in treating many infectious diseases like influenza and Ebola.

Vineet Menachery, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told the Times, “Four to six or eight weeks after infection, their blood should be full of antibodies that will neutralize the virus and that will theoretically limit the infection.”

Although there aren’t any controlled studies to quantify the treatment, there have been reports from China regarding the approach being used on a small number of patients there. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams and other health officials are asking for increased blood donations due to the ongoing COVID-19 threat, but most gay and bisexual men will not be able to donate plasma to help other patients. Even though we’re in the middle of a health crisis, the FDA still maintains gay and bisexual men who have had sex with men in the last 12 months are barred from donating blood of any type. The ban also applies to women who have had sex with bisexual men in the past year. Those requirements were established years ago due to fears of HIV infection through blood transfusions even though such thinking is now out-of-date with modern methods. The Red Cross has said that “blood donation eligibility should not be determined by methods that are based upon sexual orientation.” And a group of 17 U.S. senators have issued a public letter asking the FDA to review its current policy. The letter, signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, encourages the FDA to “shift away from antiquated and stigmatizing donation policies to ones that are scientifically based.” Additionally, GLAAD and several LGBTQ organizations have launched a petition calling for the ban on gay and bisexual men to be lifted. The petition currently has over 17,000 signatures.

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Poll: Support For ‘Medicare for All’ Hits 9-Month High

(image via Pixabay)
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting not only health care access but costs as well, a new Morning Consult/Politico survey shows support for ‘Medicare for All’ has hit a 9-month high among American voters. From Morning Consult:

The sweeping health reform package championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would provide all Americans with health insurance through the government now has support from 55 percent of registered voters, per a March 27-29 survey of 1,997 respondents, taken as the United States became the global epicenter of the coronavirus.

Thirty-five percent of voters continue to oppose the proposal, putting net support — the share who support minus those who oppose — at 20 points, a 9-point jump from mid-February.

Part of the increase in support came from independent voters who surged to 52 percent in favor of the approach. As economists predict sky-high unemployment in the coming months due to the coronavirus threat, questions have resurfaced about health insurance that, for many, is tied to employment.

(image via Morning Consult)

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NJ: Couple Charged For Holding 40+ Party In Front Yard

(stock image via Samantha Gades/Unsplash)
Folks, stop with the f**king parties. Ok? From NBCPhiladelphia:

Lakewood Police and Ocean County prosecutors said Eliezer Silber, 37, and Miriam Silber, 34, held a gathering of 40 to 50 people in the yard and street in front of their home Sunday. Police dispersed the crowd and charged the Silbers with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count for each of their five kids who were in the home.

“My Office will prosecute any individual who defies or breaks the law, State of Emergency or otherwise. Everyone must respect and follow the law,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a statement.

The Silbers were apparently holding a bat mitzvah in their home, New Jersey State Police Col. Patrick Callahan said at a news conference Monday. Since Gov. Murphy’s executive order, Callahan added, police statewide have dealt with 70 compliance issues and 34 indictable offenses.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is not suffering fools lightly:

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White House: U.S. COVID-19 Deaths Could Range From 100,000-240,000

Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks in the White House press room (image: public domain)
A sobering reality: at today’s coronavirus briefing at the White House today, Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta, “Should Americans prepare for the likelihood that there’ll be 100,000 Americans that will die from the virus?” Dr. Fauci responds, “The answer is yes.” Folks watching the briefing noted Donald Trump handed off the more sobering announcements. You’ll recall on March 9, downplayed COVID-19 saying 37,000 Americans died from the flu last year. Watch below.

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NYC: Homocon Hosts ‘Corona Potluck’ Party During Health Crisis

(image via NY Post)
Gay conservative Lucian Wintrich, who founded ‘Twinks 4 Trump,’ decided the best way for him to cope with the ongoing coronavirus threat was to host a ‘Corona Potluck’ party at his home in New York City’s East Village. “They can’t diagnose us all,” declared Wintrich’s invitation for the March 14 shindig. “Don’t wash your hands. Bring your favorite dish!” The artwork for the invitation included a little boy covered with spots on his face. Note – at the time the invitation was sent the “can’t diagnose us all” part of the invite was true as there was a shortage of COVID-19 tests available. That’s still the case in some parts of the country. “The majority of folks I invited, if they got it, would recover fairly quickly and build up an immunity to the present form of COVID19,” Wintrich told the New York Post. “It was relatively inspired by the chickenpox parties that were all the rage in the 90s.” In the 1990s “chickenpox parties” were a trend among parents as a way to inoculate their children against the chickenpox virus later in life. The idea was to expose their kids to disease while young so they would develop natural immunity, but the practice fell out of favor once a vaccine was developed. Note – Medical experts haven’t confirmed if people develop an immunity to COVID-19 after recovering from the disease. It’s disconcerting that Wintrich says “the majority” of invited friends would recover quickly. So, he invited people who he felt might NOT recover quickly? Admitting the health threat is “serious to a degree,” Wintrich added, “I wouldn’t hang around folks over the age of 50 and risk infecting the more vulnerable.” It’s important to note that while seniors have been identified as being more ‘at risk’ from serious illness due to coronavirus, younger people are not considered ‘safe’ from infection. A 40-year-old attendee of the Winter Party festival in Miami earlier this month died in less than a week from complications due to coronavirus. After founding ’Twinks 4 Trump,’ Wintrich gained dubious notoriety for being briefly credentialed as a White House reporter for the alt-right blog Gateway Pundit. His boss, openly gay Jim Hoft, admitted he sent Wintrich to ask ridiculous questions and basically annoy the White House press corps.
L-R Jim Hoft, Lucien Wintrich (image via Gateway Pundit)
The Post spoke to two attendees of the party to get their perspective on the contrarian approach to the ongoing health threat. One attendee, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid repercussions from friends and co-workers, referenced World War II as part of his rationale for taking part in the event. “When Britain was being bombed by Nazi Germany during the blitz, they kept the f–king stores open. People went about their lives,” they told the Post. “We get a flu … and we shut everything down. … We have completely handed over our civil liberties … and anyone who wants to go out and live a normal life is semi-ostracized.” Brian Alacorn, 24, said he went to the party because “Lucian is my friend and he texted me.” “I thought I shouldn’t, because of the social distancing – but my friends were already outside and I just kinda went.” The event took place after all Broadway theaters had been shut down and the governor had declared a state of emergency. Just hours after the ‘potluck party’ ended the New York City Health Department issued guidelines telling people “even if you are not sick, stay home as much as you can: work from home, study from home and avoid all unnecessary interactions and events.” At this writing, there have been 790 coronavirus-related deaths in New York City alone. (source: New York Post)

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Trump Extends Shutdown Guidelines Past ‘Aspirational’ Easter Target

Donald Trump announced an extension of his administration’s “15 days to slow the spread” shutdown guidelines for 30 more days as the reality of increasing coronavirus infections and deaths set in. Public health officials and governors had urged him to change course from lifting the shutdown on Easter Sunday. Via Axios:

The president set April 30 as the new deadline for the social distancing guidelines in a Sunday evening briefing from the White House.

Driving the news: With the original 15-day period that was announced March 16 about to end, officials around the country had been bracing for a premature call to return to normalcy from a president who’s been venting lately that the prescription for containing the virus could be worse than the impacts of the virus itself.

“We had an aspiration” of Easter, Trump said, but when he heard the numbers of potential deaths, he realized he couldn’t push a reopening of the economy as soon as he previously had foreshadowed.

Trump explained his turnaround by saying his government’s modeling shows the peak death rate will likely come in two weeks. He said that 2.2 million people could die if the government did nothing and the public didn’t do the social distancing. “Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won,” he said.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci Talks Real Facts About COVID-19

So, if you want to ask the questions about coronavirus you really want answers to from a world-renowned infectious disease expert without an orange cheeto grandstanding, here’s your chance. Lilly Singh chats with Dr. Anthony Fauci on many of the misconceptions about the virus and knocks down a lot of myths about the ongoing threat. If you want the Cliff Notes version, basically: • Coronavirus is not the flu – it is 10x more lethal. Don’t believe those folks comparing it to the flu. • Coronavirus has a short amount of “hang time” in the air but is mainly transmitted via droplets sneezed or coughed into the air that land on you immediately. • The virus can live on surfaces for different periods of time, more so on metal and plastic, less so on clothing. Wipe down surfaces in your home with disinfectant. • Fauci says respiratory viruses, in general, survive better in cold, dry weather as opposed to hot, moist weather. Regarding coronavirus, scientists aren’t sure but Fauci has hope the warmer weather may help. • Face masks can help but aren’t a sure thing. Fauci estimates they help to the tune of 50% prevention. • There is no cure. There will be no vaccine for a year to a year and a half. There aren’t any drugs proven to help protect against coronavirus. • More men are being diagnosed than women, but no one knows why. Perhaps men have more underlying conditions than women…? • No evidence that Advil makes the virus worse. • Because of the size of the United States, there’s no way to tell how long before things go back to “normal.” Expect several weeks Watch Fauci and Singh chat below in more detail.

(h/t Boy Culture)

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Miami Winter Party Attendee Dies Due To COVID-19

Israel Carreras (image via Facebook)
From WSVN in Miami:

Miami-Dade County has reported its first two coronavirus-related deaths, and one of them has been identified as a 40-year-old man with no prior health issues or complications, according to family members.

Israel Carreras was identified as the first death in Miami-Dade, Friday. Later that evening, a 79-year-old man was reported as the county’s second death.

Carreras succumbed to the virus after his friends said he contracted it during the Winter Party Festival in Miami, where several other cases of the virus had appeared.

Carreras’s partner, Franco Conquista, told WSVN he stayed with Carreras at his home, taking care of him for two days, as he also had been infected. Conquista says Carreras eventually found it difficult to breathe so he went to the hospital. But after four or five days the doctors put him in an induced coma because he was really agitated. The sleep state keeps patients who might be anxious about breathing from removing a respirator out of panic. Carreras never regained consciousness. The 40-year-old Cuban native had lived in South Florida for several years, and friends described him as a hard worker who often clocked in around 14 hours per day at a warehouse. He also drove as an Uber driver in order to save money to send to his family in Cuba each month. As Conquista is still self-isolating himself, he wants people to know “this is serious.” “They need to stay at home,” he told the news station. “It doesn’t just kill old people. This poor boy had only 40 years old. It can kill anybody, so just stay home and think of other people. Try to save other people’s lives. Just because you are not affected directly doesn’t mean that people are not suffering from this.”

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Asked If Everyone Who Needs Ventilator Will Get One, Trump Snaps ‘Don’t Be A Cutie Pie’

Donald Trump (screen capture)
A reporter at a press conference asks a question hoping to get a direct question. But that doesn’t happen with Donald Trump. At today’s White House press briefing ABC News’ Jonathan Karl asked Trump, “Are you able to guarantee, to assure these states, these hospitals, that everybody who needs a ventilator will get a ventilator?” “Here’s what I’ll tell you – I think we’re in really good shape,” replied Trump. “This is a pandemic the likes of which nobody’s seen before. I think we’re in great shape. Ventilators are a big deal. We’ve distributed vast numbers of ventilators, and we’re prepared to do vast numbers. I think we’re in great shape. I hope that’s the case. I hope we’re going to have leftovers so we can help other people, other countries.” You’ll note the Trumpster didn’t answer the question. Still looking for an answer, Karl repeated, “Will everyone who needs one be able to get a ventilator?” “Look, don’t be a cutie pie, ok?” snapped Trump. “Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done. Nobody’s done anything like we’ve been able to do. And everything I took over was a mess. It was a broken country in so many ways, in so many ways other than this. We had a bad testing system, we had a bad stockpile system, we had nothing in the stockpile system. So I wouldn’t tell me what you’re — you know, like, being a wise guy.” Still no answer as to if everyone who needs a ventilator will get one. Just a word salad. Watch the exchange below.

After being critical of some states’ governors, Trump was asked what more he wanted the governors to do? Trump answered, “I want them to be appreciative. I don’t want them to say things that aren’t true. I want them to be appreciative.” He added later, “You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.” So, for Americans to get help from the federal government, Trump needs his butt kissed. Got it.

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Gay Man Becomes First Nurse To Die From Coronavirus In NYC

Kious Jordan Kelly (image via Mount Sinai Hospital)
As the number of coronavirus infections has surpassed over 20,000 in New York City, an openly gay man has become the first nurse to die there from COVID-19. Kious Jordan Kelly, 48, who worked as a nurse manager at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan, shared his diagnosis with his sister on March 18 from the intensive care unit via text message. He couldn’t call her because he was on a ventilator. “I’m okay. Don’t tell Mom and Dad. They’ll worry,” he wrote to his sister, Marya Patrice Sherron, according to the New York Times. He passed away less than a week later on Tuesday evening. Sherron took to Facebook to share the news of her brother’s death and express her anger. “His death could have been prevented,” wrote Sherron. “I’m angry, He was healthy.” Kelly’s co-workers also voiced their anger as well posting on social media channels that they didn’t have proper protective equipment (PPE) at their hospital as they worked with patients diagnosed with the virus. Nurses from Mount Sinai shared a photo of healthcare workers wearing black garbage bags as makeshift protective clothing with the caption, “NO MORE GOWNS IN THE WHOLE HOSPITAL. NO MORE MASKS AND REUSING THE DISPOSABLE ONES…NURSES FIGURING IT OUT DURING COVID-19 CRISIS.”
(image via Facebook/DianaTorres)
“Kious didn’t deserve this,” one colleague told the New York Post. “The hospital should be held responsible. The hospital killed him.” Nurses told the Post they were using the same protective equipment as they shifted from infected to non-infected patients since there weren’t any proper gowns available. Lucia Lee, a spokesman for the hospital disagreed telling the Times, “This crisis is straining the resources of all New York area hospitals, and while we do — and have had — enough protective equipment for our staff, we will all need more in the weeks ahead.” Mount Sinai issued a statement regarding Kelly’s death which read, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our nursing staff.” “This growing crisis has already devastated hundreds of families and turned our frontline professionals into true American heroes,” the hospital network said. “Today, we lost another hero — a compassionate colleague, friend and selfless caregiver.” Friends and colleagues have set up a GoFundMe campaign to help ease the financial burden to his family of covering funeral and transport costs. (source: NY Times, NY Post)