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Funny thing is that I am supposedly immune but doctors told me to continue with the quarantine, wearing a mask, and washing hands just to be sure. That doesn't make sense.
Do it anyway. If I was recovering from COVID I would do everything the doctors told me to do.
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Remember all those exponential graphics? Bout time to go start looking at updated ones. Yikes. I'm only gonna say this once about the masks. All we need is 90 to 95% of us to mask up and this thing truly dies down. Karen, I fear, will not let this happen. Karen easily makes up 15 percent of the US population.
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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...



I don't care how"bad" it looks in Brazil right now. Even they have health care. I bet they don't even end up with half the deaths that we do in the US.
Do the poor people in the favelas have health care?



Do the poor people in the favelas have health care?
Yup. They have a national health care system. You can even be from a different country and receive free health care. Even Brazil sees healthcare as a basic human right.



So far Brazil's death rate is almost exactly in line with ours relative to population. Whatever the merits of universal care, I'm not sure this is the kind of area where those (real or perceived) advantages show up. Italy has universal care, for example, and they were utterly devastated by this.



I just seen this news story, very sad and very maddening

High-Risk Florida Teen Dies of Coronavirus After Going to 100-Person Church Party


Carsyn Leigh Davis, 17, had already battled several illnesses in her short life, including cancer and an autoimmune disorder, but it was COVID-19 that led to her death on June 23.

But a newly-released report from the medical examiner, shows a different side of her death. According to the report, Davis contracted COVID-19 after attending a 100-person party at First Youth Church, where attendees were not required to social distance, and she did not wear a mask.

And after Davis developed COVID-19 symptoms, her parents treated her at home, waiting nearly a week before taking her to a hospital. Her mother, a nurse, and a man identified as her father in the report, a physician assistant, gave Davis azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration that it caused virus patients to die more rapidly.



So far Brazil's death rate is almost exactly in line with ours relative to population. Whatever the merits of universal care, I'm not sure this is the kind of area where those (real or perceived) advantages show up. Italy has universal care, for example, and they were utterly devastated by this.

Yep, point.
The only advantage would be cheaper or no bills of treatment. For example, we have part universal healthcare. But people can opt for private hospitals. The difference in charges is massive (like 200-300 times more expensive at private hospitals).


But in a pandemic even a government hospital can (and will) be overwhelmed.



This is a complaint I have with so many news articles: reporting that leaves us question begging...

Hydroxichloroquine is a prescription drug. The article says the mother was dismayed no doctors would prescribe it for her daughter, but earlier it says the mother gave her daughter the drug!

So where did the mom get the drug? Did someone end up prescribing it for her daughter? Was the mom giving her daughter someone else's drugs? Was she feeding her daughter fish tank cleaner?

I got a strong sense of further politicization around HCQ from this report, but like most politically-driven reports that have turned the drug into some sort of political sledge hammer, it comes up short with pertinent facts.

Just for the record, HCQ has only been shown to be effective when used in early stages of Covid19 in some studies - it is a drug that can only be prescribed by a doctor. To use any prescription drug without a prescription is illegal, and to misuse prescription drugs (either with contraindications to other drugs, in the wrong amounts or for the wrong illnesses or at the wrong stages of illnesses, on your own outside of a doctor's care) can lead to disaster.



This is a complaint I have with so many news articles: reporting that leaves us question begging...

Hydroxichloroquine is a prescription drug. The article says the mother was dismayed no doctors would prescribe it for her daughter, but earlier it says the mother gave her daughter the drug!

So where did the mom get the drug? Did someone end up prescribing it for her daughter? Was the mom giving her daughter someone else's drugs? Was she feeding her daughter fish tank cleaner?

I got a strong sense of further politicization around HCQ from this report, but like most politically-driven reports that have turned the drug into some sort of political sledge hammer, it comes up short with pertinent facts.

Just for the record, HCQ has only been shown to be effective when used in early stages of Covid19 in some studies - it is a drug that can only be prescribed by a doctor. To use any prescription drug without a prescription is illegal, and to misuse prescription drugs (either with contraindications to other drugs, in the wrong amounts or for the wrong illnesses or at the wrong stages of illnesses, on your own outside of a doctor's care) can lead to disaster.
Just for the record, in no way do I agree with what Captain Steel said in his post....I certainly don't want people to think that is why I was mad at the news story. My reason is 180 degrees different.

The reason I was mad is: IMO the parents are idiots & negligent. Both the mother and father are medical professionals who did not take their at-risk daughter in for treatment for a week after she contracted Covid-19 instead they tried home treatment.

I'm also mad at the church for not requiring face mask for all the people in attendance of the church party the teen girl attended.

I'm particularly mad that 'mom and dad' appear to be nut cases that believe wearing face mask is harmful and have said so on Facebook.

The mother’s now-deleted Facebook page, which included conspiracy theories about underground governmental networks, anti-vaccine language and support for anti-mask protests. Davis’ mother also posted her frustration that doctors had refused to give her daughter hydroxychloroquine.
People can love Trump all they want but just because he once touted hydroxychloroquine as a snake oil cure, doesn't make it a miracle Covid drug. That's why the FDA didn't approve it use for Covid after clinical testing. The FDA's decision has to do with medical research, not with politics.



Just for the record, in no way do I agree with what Captain Steel said in his post....I certainly don't want people to think that is why I was mad at the news story. My reason is 180 degrees different.

The reason I was mad is: IMO the parents are idiots & negligent. Both the mother and father are medical professionals who did not take their at-risk daughter in for treatment for a week after she contracted Covid-19 instead they tried home treatment.

I'm also mad at the church for not requiring face mask for all the people in attendance of the church party the teen girl attended.

I'm particularly mad that 'mom and dad' appear to be nut cases that believe wearing face mask is harmful and have said so on Facebook.

People can love Trump all they want but just because he once touted hydroxychloroquine as a snake oil cure, doesn't make it a miracle Covid drug. That's why the FDA didn't approve it use for Covid after clinical testing. The FDA's decision has to do with medical research, not with politics.
I'm not disagreeing with any of that, Rules.

But the article says the mom gave her daughter HCQ, but then says the mom was upset no doctor would supply HCQ. (???)

So where did she get the HCQ? Was it someone else's drugs? Did the mom buy it on the street (and then we have to ask was it really even HCQ)? Did she use a chemical compound that just happened to have similar sounding ingredients as those used in the drug?

Regardless whether HCQ is an effective treatment for Covid or not... it should only be prescribed by a doctor (for whatever a doctor might deem it prescribable for). If it wasn't prescribed, then how was the mom giving it to her daughter?

With these questions in mind, I have to agree with you - it does sound like some negligent or irresponsible behavior was involved, (it sounds like the parents were playing doctor with drugs that may have been obtained who-knows-how and given without a doctor's prescription)... and perhaps this young lady could have survived if under a real doctor's care or if taken for treatment sooner.

My suggestion about the reporting on the drug itself here - is it sounds like this report is using this sad story to formulate another hit piece to try to politicize the drug simply because Trump mentioned it... without looking into all the facts about it and how it may have been misused by non-professionals in this case.

If a drug is misused by people who don't know what they are doing (and that goes for ANY drug), that doesn't automatically mean the drug is no good, or that it is inherently more dangerous than any other drug, or that it is ineffective when prescribed by a doctor for a diagnosed illness.



...the article says the mom gave her daughter HCQ, but then says the mom was upset no doctor would supply HCQ. (???)

So where did she get the HCQ? Was it someone else's drugs? Did the mom buy it on the street (and then we have to ask was it really even HCQ)? Did she use a chemical compound that just happened to have similar sounding ingredients as those used in the drug?...
Good question, I can only guess that as medical professionals they has access to prescription drugs and either pinched it, or wrote a bogus prescription for malaria treatment. That's just a guess.



People can love Trump all they want but just because he once touted hydroxychloroquine as a snake oil cure, doesn't make it a miracle Covid drug. That's why the FDA didn't approve it use for Covid after clinical testing. The FDA's decision has to do with medical research, not with politics.
Testing/medical research on hydroxychloroquine is still ongoing. Just published in the International Journal of Infectious diseases (7-1-20).

http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1...534-8/fulltext

Some highlights:

- According to a protocol-based treatment algorithm, among hospitalized patients, use of hydroxychloroquine alone and in combination with azithromycin was associated with a significant reduction in-hospital mortality compared to not receiving hydroxychloroquine.

- The postulated pathophysiology of COVID-19 of the initial viral infection phase followed by the hyperimmune response suggest potential benefit of early administration of hydroxychloroquine for its antiviral and antithrombotic properties

- In the present study, multivariate analysis performed using Cox regression modeling and propensity score matching to control for potential confounders affirmed that treatment with hydroxychloroquine alone and hydroxychloroquine in combination with azithromycin was associated with higher survival among patients with COVID-19.

- The benefits of hydroxychloroquine in our cohort as compared to previous studies maybe related to its use early in the disease course with standardized, and safe dosing, inclusion criteria, comorbidities, or larger cohort.

- Later therapy in patients that have already experienced hyperimmune response or critical illness is less likely to be of benefit.


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“Our analysis shows that using hydroxychloroquine helped saves lives,” said Steven Kalkanis, CEO, Henry Ford Medical Group and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Henry Ford Health System. “As doctors and scientists, we look to the data for insight. And the data here is clear that there was benefit to using the drug as a treatment for sick, hospitalized patients.” https://detroit.cbslocal.com/2020/07...19-death-rate/

*****

“In a large-scale retrospective analysis of 2,541 patients hospitalized between March 10 and May 2, 2020 across the system’s six hospitals, the study found 13% of those treated with hydroxychloroquine alone died compared to 26.4% not treated with hydroxychloroquine."

“We attribute our findings that differ from other studies to early treatment, and part of a combination of interventions that were done in supportive care of patients, including careful cardiac monitoring,” he said.

“Our dosing also differed from other studies not showing a benefit of the drug. And other studies are either not peer reviewed, have limited numbers of patients, different patient populations or other differences from our patients.”
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/07...eatment-942329

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"Dr. Takahisa Mikami and his team at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, NY, analyzed the outcomes of 6493 patients who had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in the New York City metropolitan area, according to the article appearing in the Journal of General Internal Medicine[1]
The researchers found that hydroxychloroquine decreased mortality hazard ratio by 47% percent."

"Use of hydroxychloroquine, a drug heavily promoted by US President Donald Trump, came under intense criticism after an article last month in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet raised alarms about the safety of the drug for treating COVID-19. The Lancet subsequently retracted[3] the study after the data used for the analysis came into question."
https://thinkpol.ca/2020/07/03/ny-st...atients-lives/



Yup. They have a national health care system. You can even be from a different country and receive free health care. Even Brazil sees healthcare as a basic human right.
That’s wonderful. At least something works well in Brazil.

So far Brazil's death rate is almost exactly in line with ours relative to population. Whatever the merits of universal care, I'm not sure this is the kind of area where those (real or perceived) advantages show up. Italy has universal care, for example, and they were utterly devastated by this.
Not to mention the U.K., which has the National Health Service.



30-year-old dies after Texas 'COVID party,' thought coronavirus was a hoax

A San Antonio doctor said one of her hospital's patients, a 30-year-old man, died after attending a so-called "COVID party" -- a bizarre trend where young people intentionally get together with someone who's infected....the patient thought the coronavirus pandemic was a hoax.

"...One of the things that was heart-wrenching that he said to his nurse was, 'I think I made a mistake,'" she said.

Many who attend "COVID party" are competing to see who can catch the virus first. During events reported in Alabama, some college students even gambled money to give to the "winner," the one who catches COVID-19 first.
OMG!



Yup. They have a national health care system. You can even be from a different country and receive free health care. Even Brazil sees healthcare as a basic human right.
Yea but their healthcare system is a mess. Nothing good comes without a price.