Posted on 03/26/2020 10:51:51 AM PDT by GulfMan
There is nothing more important to the American public than knowing the answer to these questions:
1) Do all hospitals in America have a supply of Hydroxychloroquine (HC) ?
2) Are they actively using HC on all assisted breathing cases?
3) Why are people still dying?
I submit that these are the only three questions the media need ask the President in his briefing today.
The reason that I didn't add "Does HC work?" is that we already know the answer.
https://texags.com/forums/84/topics/3102444
Clinical Pearls Covid 19 for ER practitioners
I think we vastly underestimated the transmission of this (R0) and vastly overstated the mortality. A doctor blog from NYC said his group randomly tested all patients (most non-respiratory, and NOT serological test but RT-PCR) at their hospital earlier this week and found just over half were COVID positive, despite many having no symptoms. I think many have already been exposed in many places, but because the rate of serious complications is actually fairly low (1 in 5000?) and the rate of infection is reduced in sparse populations as well, you are only seeing problems in very densely populated areas where 1 in 5000 needing critical care in a short time frame instantly overwhelms the local healthcare infrastructure.
The retail name Z-pak would not be used in the hospital environment.
” We are also using Azithromycin, but are intermittently running out of IV. “
“Ginger or Maryann???”
YES! ;-)
Jennifer or Bailey?
“Jennifer or Bailey?”
Same answer: YES! ;-)
On a related note, Forbes has a summary of the small Chinese study which reported no efficacy for hydroxychloroquine compared to other treatment.
It was all over the media yesterday. But the Forbes article reports that:
"It took those in the control group between 1 and 4 days from the start of treatment before testing negative for the disease. It took those in the hydroxychloroquine treated group between 1 and 9 days from the start of treatment before testing negative."
That looks like poor experimental design to me. If the control group recovered in a period of less than 4 days it seems like they were nearly recovered at the point the experiment began. Somebody 1 day prior to having a negative virus test is essentially cured already. So adding any medication would not be expected to make much of a difference.
More data for the piles.
FDA probably has something to do with it - along with current supplies...expect it to “loosen” up as things move on.
Just an observation,
Theoretically, "...it may have some prophylactic properties but so far it is difficult to see the benefit to our hospitalized patients, but we are using it and the studies will tell."It is clear that they are only working on patients that are already acute and beyond prophylactic help.
The obvious takeaway is that you have to get the "Trump Meds" before symptoms become critical.
Another comment caught my eye:
"Also, some of these patients have incredible IL-6 levels. I've never seen numbers this high even in my AIDS patients with KICS. One guy had a level above assay which were pretty sure has never been reported by our lab before."This other doctor commenting indicated that the COVID-19 had the same cytokine storm as the Spanish flu from one hundred years ago. It's the flu, bro!"Obviously we dont know what they were for Spanish flu patients 100 years ago but the cytokine storm was the hallmark of that disease. We're seeing something similar here."
Wow! You just teleported me back to six years ago when I had three PC's on my desk all day. One belonged to our customer inside their firewall. My Work PC inside our corporate firewall, and the other was this one that I still have. Wait, actually this is an updated replacement to the one I had then. Thanks for the kicks.
No one is ever going to create a perfect system. If you can then do it, until then we all just have to live with realities. Imagine living a 100 years ago, when little was available and was not forthcoming. Be thankful that progress has been made, instead of complaining that immediate gratification is out of your reach.
But seriously how do we even know that this hoarding going on in hospitals by doctors is a reality, or even better that it is a widespread reality. While I'm certain that there are selfish doctors out there, I think they represent a small minority of the doctor population. However, I would prefer that hospitals are keeping some in supply for hospital staff, for they are on the front lines in this battle. If too many of them perish it won't matter much what might be available, because we may need lifesaving treatment from some other life threatening event, and no one will be available to save our lives in that event.
Just calm down, and protect yourself as well as you can.
I am a 67 year old man that had the top node of his right lung removed due to cancer from the 53 years of smoking that I stupidly engaged in. On top of that I have COPD and emphysema, yet I still don't want to die. I have friends and family that I still want to see and be engaged with. Worrying and panicking does absolutely no good, in fact in does more harm. But the main thing it has never solved any issue anyone faces.
Right now demand far outweighs supply, so unless there is an immediate need and you have no symptoms you are going to be denied.
Let's turn it around. Let's say they just hand these items out to the first that come in and request them. Now you come in and you have symptoms and by golly you unfortunately are confirmed. However, they are sorry to inform you that there are no more because their supply has been exhausted. You leave angry because all these people got what you needed though they did not need it. This way you have a far better change of getting what you actually need, now.
These people you see falling in the streets have had symptoms for days, not hours. I mean if you are given a test today, supposedly from what I have heard, it takes 5 days to get the test results.
I place my faith in the Lord, not mankind to protect me. So far He has. 8>)
He did say they were doing it but have run out a few times.
Same answer: YES! ;-)
I think that's what Bert said.
Yes, ALL the rich and impotent are already well taken care of. Tens of millions of tablets are tucked away in the medicine cabinets of their luxury bath suites or with their personal physicians. The same thing happened 20 years ago during the anthrax scare, when anyone who was connected had plenty of Cipro in their medicine cabinet, while people who actually needed it struggled to find it.
I wonder if Bayer will make as much from HCQ as they did from the Cipro Boom?
Now there is a home testing kit available.
At-home coronavirus tests now available, companies say (Fox News)
As coronavirus testing in the U.S. continues to lag behind that in other highly affected countries such as South Korea, several domestic startups are reportedly launching the first at-home tests.
The products have been greenlit by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under new expedited guidelines to help combat the virus, according to Stat, a health care industry news outlet.
One such test provider is Nurx, a San Francisco-based company best known for home testing products for sexually transmitted infections and birth control, now offers testing kits for COVID-19 through the mail for $181 after prospective customers fill out an online form with their symptoms.
“We don’t look for the severity of symptoms, only the presence of them. They can range from mild to severe,” Nurx spokeswoman Allison Hoffman told SFGate.com. “But, people with truly severe symptoms should also seek immediate care. … In terms of temperature in particular, we determine a fever is 100.4 [degrees] plus.”
After filling out the online survey, Nurx will determine if testing is necessary based on the person’s symptoms and will mail the test via expedited shipping.
Nurx can give customers lab results within 48 hours of receiving the test, SFGate reported.
“We are pivoting from our prior service lines to make this available,” Chris Hall, senior clinical adviser for Nurx, told Stat. “It’s a heavy lift, but we think it’s important.”
nurx@nurxapp
Today we are introducing the first #COVID19 home testing and online consultation service. We’re eager to safely connect people with certain symptoms and risk factors with testing and medical care.
COVID-19 At Home Test Kit - Nurx ™
Nurx and its longstanding home testing lab partner, Molecular Testing Labs, are launching telehealth consultations and home testing for people who may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Yea, this doctor’s anecdotal, but first hand take on HCQ’s efficacy is concerning, but there have been quite a few others who’s experience was that it was very effective. I hope nawlinsag’s experience is an outlier.
But that isn't the real problem. The actually problem is, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"?
Who will watch the watchers?
I'm 67 also but still able to get along with aches and pains, yet nothing critical or debilitating. Just well controlled Diabetes Type 2, some calcified arterial plaque that I'm working on decreasing but here is a Scots toast to us agesters.
"There's g'aye few like us...
...and they're all dead."
Why step in when the opposition (Biden, Bernie) is destroying itself!
The answer has always been the press, but those times no longer exist.
Diabetes put you into the critical category along with me.
While it smells like socialism, it is really just realities. As adults we both realize the difference. Those with symptoms should be tested first until supply catches up to demand, which should improve on a daily and weekly basis. Socialism never changes its priorities, but when circumstances exist the common man will be ignored, and the elite will be tested first, period. In our circumstance, those who are exhibiting symptoms, are tested before those who do not exhibit any symptoms. This is done for 2 reasons. The first being that they be in more urgent need of having medical assistance. The second being that identifying those infected means they can be removed from the general population thus curtailing additional spread by that infected person. The quicker they can be identified and quarantined means on less source of spread. At least in theory that is the most obvious tact to take.
of course there are problems even following that mandate. For there are people that will lie about their symptoms and are adroit at being able to successfully mimic certain symptom. Those who exhibit one or more symptoms, but tests results come up negative because they have the flu for example, and not Covid-19.. So there the tests were a waste, while the person who shows no symptoms is in fact infected by Covid-19 goes untested and is released back into the general population to infect others.
Thus my contention that a perfect system cannot be developed. 8>)
Someone else responded to me saying that there are now do it yourself tests for at home application. But there are issues with that test as well. First it has to mailed to you and even if it is overnight that is a day lost. Not bad but still causes a delay. Then the test is not one where the result can be determined at home. It requires a lab. So now you have to return the sample back to the company, another day lost even if it is sent overnight. Then they guarantee 48 hours to deliver. So at best you have cut a 5 day result period to just a 4 day result period. In addition it costs 181.00 which may be out of reach for some, while others may be too incensed to spend the money. furthermore, you have to describe to them your symptoms and then they will make a determination if your symptoms warrant receiving a test kit. So basically you are back to where you started from. 8.)
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