Coronavirus Updates

[Free]

First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA

Health care workers and first responders have first dibs.

www.theverge.com

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued the first authorization for an at-home COVID-19 test kit. LabCorp, the diagnostics company producing the tests, says it will give first access to health care workers and first responders.

With this test, people who are eligible can swab their nose to collect a fluid sample, but they will still need to send it to a lab for testing. Self-sampling sidesteps the need for a clinician to perform the test, reducing their exposure to symptomatic patients. It also frees up more personal protective equipment, which is in short supply. The test costs $119.

 

[Govi]

Wait, so he thinks that it's time to re-open everything, "liberating us all" while endangering people but he wants to also suspend immigration because of Covid-19? How could this be seen as anything but him using it as an excuse to do what he's already been wanting to do?

I guess it will save lives, those of any potential immigrants.

He probably doesn't think this will do much to control the pandemic in the USA. However, it's red meat for his supporters who are wildly enthusiastic about any xenophobic thing he says or does. So, it improves his chances of retaining voters and -- all important! -- winning in November; "I stopped all immigration! A perfect wall around America! No more foreigners coming to our shores." <sounds of chanting: "Send them home! Send them home!...>

 

[Govi]

First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA

Health care workers and first responders have first dibs.

www.theverge.com

Sending it off to a lab... Through the mail? Dropping off in person? It's fraught with opportunities for the usual human screw-ups to infect a perfectly innocent person. Hopefully soon, they will have something similar to a home pregnancy test. We shouldn't hold our breath for that, though.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

He probably doesn't think this will do much to control the pandemic in the USA. However, it's red meat for his supporters who are wildly enthusiastic about any xenophobic thing he says or does. So, it improves his chances of retaining voters and -- all important! -- winning in November; "I stopped all immigration! A perfect wall around America! No more foreigners coming to our shores." <sounds of chanting: "Send them home! Send them home!...>

Yeah, this is the most likely scenario.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

The question I have is: Are we now releasing all of those we have held in cages and immigration facilities? I would imagine those facilites are incubators for the virus. I'm also guessing not since it means profit for those who oversee them? Profit means more to them than lives. Hell, even beforfe this virus became an issue, they refused to give flu shots to those that are held.

It's a good time to see whether or not your govt values profit over lives and whether or not they think illegal immigration deserves the death penalty.

From a guy who wanted to put up spiked fences, alligators and electric fences. What do you think the odds are? He din't just want to dissuade illegal immigration, he wanted to make them pay the ultimate price. Did he suddenly become a humanitarian? We need to look into this. We cannot forget these folks.

I'm thinking that now, with so many concerned with the virus that these people are being left to the vultures.

 

[Sovereignty]

Practical Information from Dr. Roger "MedCram" Seheult -- what he does to protect himself and people around him

 

[danielravennest]

Wait, so he thinks that it's time to re-open everything, "liberating us all" while endangering people but he wants to also suspend immigration because of Covid-19? How could this be seen as anything but him using it as an excuse to do what he's already been wanting to do?

I guess it will save lives, those of any potential immigrants.

The E.O. is going nowhere, and he knows it. A federal court will put an injunction against it taking effect, like when he tried to ban people from Muslim countries.

Given that the U.S. has by far the highest number of cases in the world, there is no rational justification for suspending immigration. Now, if they required immigrants to be tested for COVID-19, and perhaps a two week quarantine, that could pass legal muster. This is just raw meat he's throwing to his base, because his approval rating is plummeting after the smallest "rally around the flag" bump in recent history. If he starts losing his base, because people they know are sick and dying from the disease, he's done for politically.

 

[Soen Eber]

I used to work for Lab Corp, but only for a few weeks. You never got dinged on accuracy when performing data data entry, they're all about speed (you need 15K/hour to keep your job, whereas most d/e jobs range from 8K to 12K). This means a lot of errors, and a lot of creative interpretations of hand writing with no time to get a closer look.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I got to thinking about even our people that we have in prisons. No doubt most do deserve to be there, but most are probably not there with the punishment of the death penalty.

So..are we okay with some of them effectively getting just that, the death penalty? because they live in close proximity to each other?

 

[bubblesort]

First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA

Health care workers and first responders have first dibs.

www.theverge.com

I can't imagine swabbing myself correctly. The videos I've seen of it being done look like the human block head trick. I'd probably be researching on YouTube about how that trick works to make sure I'm doing it right, LOL

 

[Kara Spengler]

Hmm, so maybe wearing some sort of mask even after this will become the norm?

 

[Kara Spengler]

Wait, so he thinks that it's time to re-open everything, "liberating us all" while endangering people but he wants to also suspend immigration because of Covid-19? How could this be seen as anything but him using it as an excuse to do what he's already been wanting to do?

I guess it will save lives, those of any potential immigrants.

But of course. His big fear about this was it would not be an immigration issue.

 

[Kara Spengler]

First at-home COVID-19 testing kit authorized by the FDA

Health care workers and first responders have first dibs.

www.theverge.com

I am not sure how well it will work if it is like how the tests were described, ie, that you really needed to get far up there. It will be like a gag reflex to most people.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Hmm, so maybe wearing some sort of mask even after this will become the norm?

Possibly, but while the article discusses air pollution in general, it suggests that high levels of nitrogen dioxide, a gas, are a particular cause for concern

The research examined levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant produced mostly by diesel vehicles, and weather conditions that can prevent dirty air from dispersing away from a city. Many studies have linked NO2 exposure to health damage, and particularly lung disease, which could make people more likely to die if they contract Covid-19.

“The results indicate that long-term exposure to this pollutant may be one of the most important contributors to fatality caused by the Covid-19 virus in these regions and maybe across the whole world,” said Yaron Ogen, at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany, who conducted the research. “Poisoning our environment means poisoning our own body, and when it experiences chronic respiratory stress its ability to defend itself from infections is limited.”

 

[Beebo Brink]

Some interesting and very specific advice on how we can better treat COVID-19 patients, as well as how we can better anticipate who needs help before it's immediately obvious. Well worth a careful read.

Opinion | The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients

There is a way we could identify more patients who have Covid pneumonia sooner and treat them more effectively — and it would not require waiting for a coronavirus test at a hospital or doctor’s office. It requires detecting silent hypoxia early through a common medical device that can be purchased without a prescription at most pharmacies: a pulse oximeter.

Pulse oximetry is no more complicated than using a thermometer. These small devices turn on with one button and are placed on a fingertip. In a few seconds, two numbers are displayed: oxygen saturation and pulse rate. Pulse oximeters are extremely reliable in detecting oxygenation problems and elevated heart rates.

ETA: I've just ordered a pulse oximeter for our household.

 

[Romana]

Study finds people who watched Sean Hannity were more likely to die from COVID-19

Anew study from the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics found that "greater viewership of 'Hannity' relative to 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' was strongly associated with a greater number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the early stages of the pandemic."This article...

www.rawstory.com

 

[Clara D.]

Surprise, the drug promoted by T-Rump and "Doctor" Oz is completely ineffective, if not downright dangerous.

Researchers did not track side effects but noted hints that hydroxychloroquine might have damaged other organs. The drug has long been known to have potentially serious side effects, including altering the heartbeat in a way that could lead to sudden death.

Earlier this month, scientists in Brazil stopped part of a hydroxychloroquine study after heart-rhythm problems developed in one-quarter of people given the higher of two doses being tested.

Many doctors have been leery of the drug.

At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, “I think we’re all rather underwhelmed” at what’s been seen among the few patients there who’ve tried it, said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control and prevention.

Hydroxychloroquine as treatment for COVID-19 shows no benefit and more deaths in VA study

President Trump has frequently touted the malaria drug as a potential breakthrough in the ongoing coronavirus fight.

www.marketwatch.com

 

[Romana]

Surprise, the drug promoted by T-Rump and "Doctor" Oz is completely ineffective, if not downright dangerous.

Hydroxychloroquine as treatment for COVID-19 shows no benefit and more deaths in VA study

President Trump has frequently touted the malaria drug as a potential breakthrough in the ongoing coronavirus fight.

www.marketwatch.com

Well, I dunt give a flying fk what Dump and Oz say, or some study in Brazil either.
My brother is a rheumatologist who's been seeing patients on Plaquenil for years, and none of them have had heart attacks or died from it.
There have been and still are studies ongoing with varying results, but of course they're going to give the most coverage to the ones they can be dramatic about.
I will continue to listen to my brother, and if I get the damn virus and get very sick I will not hesitate to take it if I get the chance if it can keep me alive and off a ventilator.

 

[Anya Ristow]

ETA: I've just ordered a pulse oximeter for our household.

I need one for monitoring a heart condition, and mine just died. I've had to order one now while they are becoming unobtanium. Ugh. Prices are up 50% and you can't just get one from Amazon anymore. That article is just two days old and the major retailers are cleaned out. I expect them all to disappear today. Ugh.

Fortunately my unemployment check is being enhanced by Uncle Sam so I can afford this.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Some interesting and very specific advice on how we can better treat COVID-19 patients, as well as how we can better anticipate who needs help before it's immediately obvious. Well worth a careful read.

Opinion | The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients



ETA: I've just ordered a pulse oximeter for our household.

I am not about to give them traffic if it is false. I am already trying to convince someone in our building not to use our tennant list to promote magic cures that are described as pseudoscience. What is the url to the study they base the statement on?