Los Angeles - here it comes
The next couple weeks will be an intense period in the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County has ramped up testing, and is very likely to begin identifying 1,000 new cases per day as early as next week... the number of cases has held steady in recent days, a sign that social distancing is working.
The spread of the disease has begun making its way through the county’s nursing homes, treatment facilities and jails. Currently, county health officials are investigating outbreaks in 67 institutional settings where 321 staff members and residents have been sickened.
cases: 4,566
hospitalized: 1,018 (22%)
lost: 89 (1.9%)
Drug Trials
Malaria drugs aren’t the only ones on the shelf that might help coronavirus patients
Favipiravir was tested in a group of 340 COVID-19 patients in China whose illness was not severe. Half of the participants in the randomized controlled trial got favipiravir, and they cleared the new coronavirus in a median time of four days.
The other half of study participants got the drug Arbidol, an antiviral medication widely used to treat flu patients in China and Russia, and it took a median of 11 days for them to clear the virus.
In addition, lung function improved in 91% of those who got favipiravir, compared with 62% of those who got Arbidol.
Favipiravir is now being tested in patients with moderate COVID-19 disease at 11 sites in China, along with the antiviral tocilizumab, a biologic drug that dampens the immune system in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.