I’m glad the word is getting out on rapid, on-the-spot testing.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/5491744002
Grim news in JAMA Cardiology today. Of 100 recovered covid patients, average age 49, 60% (!!!) had “ongoing myocardial inflammation,” diagnosed by an MRI and various blood tests.
The study participants had tested positive for covid an average of two months before this study was done. These heart problems were “independent of preexisting conditions, severity and overall course of the acute illness, and the time from the original diagnosis.” Oh, and 36% of the participants reported shortness of breath and general exhaustion at the time of the study.
I’ll put that in simple words. The people who hadn’t been hospitalized weren’t any better off than the people who were, and these heart problems don’t seem to be getting better over time, at least in the two month time frame.
This was a small study, 100 covid patients and 100 controls, average age 49. We shouldn’t refine on exact numbers here. The bottom line is **a lot of people who get covid have lingering heart issues. **
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768916
Thanks for the heads up and link to the JAMA article, @“Cardinal Fang” .
Here’s what they had to say about it in STAT news:
The other study referred to above besides the one @“Cardinal Fang” linked to, was an autopsy study which found SARS-CoV-2 in heart tissue: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768914
I sincerely hope that cardiac changes will not persist, but this makes me even more wary of sending my kids back to high school without daily, rapid testing or N95 masks (well fitted, and with kids trained to wear them properly).
I’m not a fan of regular people wearing N95s. They’re so uncomfortable. Regular cloth or surgical masks are fine, IMO.
Agreed…Hard to talk (and be understood) wearing an N95, plus they are still in short supply.
If people want to protect themselves (in addition to others) they should wear surgical masks, as opposed to non-medical cloth masks.
Of course, I’m not a fan of wearing N95’s. But do you think a surgical mask is enough in a closed classroom with a super spreader for hours?
The soft N95’s are not terrible, but they are impossible to find right now.
With social distancing, and the spreader wearing a mask, I do.
The spreader could easily be wearing a paper mask, gaping cloth mask, thin satin mask which ends under the bottom lip, etc.
I was tentatively supportive of in-person school for D21 and S24, but the risk part of the risk/benefit analysis is still unknown. What if the majority of survivors have permanent cardiac changes which predispose them to heart failure at a younger age? Not to mention lung damage, immune dysfunction etc. (Not looking for debate, just thinking “out loud”…)
Someone told me that Air France is not permitting cloth masks (requiring N95? I’m not sure). If I have to be back in the classroom I think I’ll want an N95 plus a face shield. How to find the masks is another question.
Are doctors still seeing shortages of required PPE?
DH is a retired dentist, but still has an account with his supplier. He checked on surgical masks, not N95s, and even they’re on backorder there.( I know places like Costco have surgical masks). But if a dental supplier doesn’t have surgical masks in stock, I can’t imagine it’s that easy for all healthcare professionals to find N95s.
[quote=“fretfulmother;c-22891464”
Are doctors still seeing shortages of required PPE?
[/quote]
My understanding is they are still heavily rationed in hospitals.
Pfizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine gets FDA nod for advanced trial in the US
From CNN’s Maggie Fox
Drug giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said Monday they have approval to start an advanced trial of their experimental coronavirus vaccine in US volunteers.
The companies said the US Food and Drug Administration approved their plan for a phase 2/3 trial of the vaccine in the United States.
“Today, we are starting our late-stage global study, which will include up to 30,000 participants,” BioNTech founder Dr. Ugur Sahin said in a statement.
“Participants will be screened and dosed in the next few days,” a spokesperson for the company told CNN.
Earlier Monday, Moderna started a Phase 3 trial in the United States of its experimental vaccine. Pfizer’s vaccine is slightly different, but also uses an experimental approach that employs genetic material to stimulate an immune response against a key part of the coronavirus.
A Phase 2/3 study looks for a combination of safety, efficacy and optimal dosing of a vaccine or drug.
Last week the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense announced an agreement with Pfizer for “large-scale production and nationwide delivery of 100 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States following the vaccine’s successful manufacture and approval.” The $1.95 million deal also allowed the US government to acquire an additional 500 million doses.
Preliminary data released in a pre-print paper earlier this month from Pfizer and BioNTech said the vaccine appeared safe and elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses in a Phase 1/2 trial. The company had said it could start a Phase 3 trial of the vaccine in late July if it received regulatory approval.
“We selected BNT162b2 as our lead candidate for this Phase 2/3 trial upon diligent evaluation of the totality of the data generated so far. This decision reflects our primary goal to bring a well-tolerated, highly effective vaccine to the market as quickly as possible, while we will continue to evaluate our other vaccine candidates as part of a differentiated COVID-19 vaccine portfolio,” Sahin said. The companies have three other experimental vaccines in the works.
“By the end of the trial, the Phase 2/3 study is expected to be active at approximately 120 clinical investigational sites around the world, including 39 states across the United States and countries including Argentina, Brazil, and Germany. Investigator sites are selected based on factors including scientific expertise and capabilities, the epidemiology of the disease, and prior experience conducting clinical trials,” Pfizer said in the statement.
I just had a long conversation with DH (infectious disease doc) about masks. He has convinced me that a surgical mask, or even a well fitting double layer cotton or cotton/silk mask, will stop the droplets that cause transmission. Six feet of distance is necessary in the off chance that a droplet escapes because it will fall to the floor before traveling that far.
According to DH, the virus is only aerosolized (on tiny droplets that could pass through a regular mask) under specific conditions during medical procedures which are not going to happen at school. It does not aerosolize with sneezing, singing or air conditioning.
So, according to DH, if everyone wears proper masks properly and keeps social distance, N95’s are not necessary in school. I feel slightly better.
Me too!
Inside Medicine — 17 residents at UF test positive after attending a party. https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/after-private-party-least-17-uf-health-anesthesiologist-residents-contract-coronavirus
Smh. Florida.
Sorry, but it is idiotic of them to attend a party. They should know better, you would think, being in medical profession. You don’t need to stay home. Just don’t go to a party or to a bar. That will eliminate most infections.
It’s not just parties and not just Florida. Sick (clinical) hospital employee went to work ( sick, according to the article) and shared it in the (unmasked) breakroom, resulting in 23 medical employee infections and 13 patients on this non Covid floor. Massachusetts. Hopefully this does not seed an outbreak in the area.
So, that anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine is a hoax is itself a hoax?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/doctor-behind-disputed-covid-data-185312270.html
And in my school district, desks will only have to be 3’ apart. I expect plenty of mask exemptions being granted, also.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, none of this suggests that hydroxycholorquine is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19. It just says that he has refused to provide the data that would substantiate the conclusions.
That said, there has been quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that hydroxychloroquine is effective if given early ** and ** in tandem with zinc (allegedly zinc inactivates the virus but needs the hydroxychloroquine to usher it into infected cells). But I haven’t seen the results of any controlled studies verifying these anecdotes.