Well, this is encouraging
Not a controlled study, but still it’s good news:
Dr. Stephen Smith, founder of The Smith Center for Infectious Diseases and Urban Health, said on “The Ingraham Angle” on Wednesday night that he is optimistic about the use of antimalarial medications and antibiotics to treat COVID-19 patients, calling it “a game-changer.”
“I think this is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. I’m very serious,” Smith, an infectious disease specialist, told host Laura Ingraham…
Smith, who is treating 72 COVID-19 patients, said that he has been treating “everybody with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin [an antibiotic]. We’ve been doing so for a while.”
He pointed out that not a single COVID-19 patient of his that has been on the hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin regimen for five days or more has had to be intubated.
“The chance of that occurring by chance, according to my sons Leon and Hunter who did some stats for me, are .000-something,” he said, adding that “it’s ridiculously low.”
The article also describes a Chinese study.
One of the many effects of this pandemic is a feeling of intense impatience at the seemingly slow pace of research on this and other drugs such as antivirals, as well as the vaccine. And that’s even though I know that such processes are actually being speeded up because of the crisis, and medical researchers are working their butts off. There’s just such a strong feeling that time is of the essence.
It’s of the essence for so many reasons. Some are personal: I’m in the particularly-at-risk population, and of course I also worry about my loved ones, whether they are or aren’t in that group as well. Some my reasons are broader: I want this disease to become very treatable and/or preventable ASAP, so it can cease to be all that much of a concern, the death toll will fall precipitously, and we can all go back to mild OCD rather than full-blown OCD.
I very much want the economy to start to recover, and the sooner that happens the better.
And I want the Democrats and the MSM to be revealed as smaller and smaller and meaner and meaner and wronger and wronger in their continual attacks on Trump’s handling of the crisis.
I was on WattsUpWithThat the other day and the thread I was reading devolved into a lot of frankly supercilious snark about people who didn’t understand or care about the importance of controlled studies, etc. People commenting on how little evidence there was for HCQ’s efficacy and how there had never been any evidence that this drug had any effect on viruses generally, a side conversation about the differences between a “study” and an “experiment” and ethical concerns, dismissal of other commenters because they had made disqualifying remarks in past threads on other topics – that sort of thing. I found it discouraging at first, because the commenters seemed to be very knowledgeable in areas both relevant to the question and lacking in me.
But then I caught the tone, and it made me feel better. It sounded as if these people were personally offended by the lack of rigor involved in just “trying something.” It wasn’t proper science being done – it was battlefield improvisation, like the episode of M*A*S*H in which Hawkeye had to talk Radar through doing an emergency tracheotomy using a ballpoint pen and a pocketknife, over the radio.
The trials will continue. But as long as doctors actually fighting this disease are free to try this drug cocktail (and others that have a similar pedigree – are known to be generally safe or have known risks that can be mitigated), then it may still be possible to accelerate the timeline. People will do what works even if the proper science hasn’t caught up yet.
“And I want the Democrats and the MSM to be revealed as smaller and smaller and meaner and meaner and wronger and wronger in their continual attacks on Trump’s handling of the crisis. ”
Amen, Sister Jean!
The Governors of NY, NV and MI banned doctors from using HCQ and then the Governor of MI changed her mind. All Dems. All doing just the opposite of Trump in the service of “science.” This is a crisis! We need to act.
I’m also very tired of the tyranny of models. The UW model predicts 442 deaths in Nebraska. It won’t even be 100 and I think less than 50.
And once people wake up to how models really work, the CAGW scam is finished. Finished!
Well, we just passed 1,000,000 confirmed cases worldwide.
“And I want the Democrats and the MSM to be revealed as smaller and smaller and meaner and meaner and wronger and wronger in their continual attacks on Trump’s handling of the crisis.”
Fun dayn moyl in gots oyern.
“…smaller and smaller…”
Well yes, certainly; but look out! Iceberg ahead:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-creates-new-house-committee-for-coronavirus-oversight-with-subpoena-power
I don’t believe that any novelist, sci-fi writer, or horror-flick screen writer would ever have been able to imagine anything as sick—as ethically perverse or morally monstrous—as this woman…
The only word is “unbelievable”. (Well, there are other words, too….)
The official trials in NY haven’t even started! I understand about random trials and controls, but people are dying in NYC! Stop the nonsense and give them the drugs. The feds sent them a large supply. USE IT.
Then Democrats are already trying to organize a “9/11 commission” to investigate Trump’s response.
Look at the comments.
But wait! Andrew McCarthy is onto it—with a heroic attempt to neutralize the hydra:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/490694-just-say-no-to-typical-washington-move-a-9-11-commission-for-coronavirus
Then there is his, on YAHOO. Don’t like FOX, then don’t watch. The letter really does not like Trump before the cameras everyday.
HuffPost
Professors, Journalists Call Out Fox News’ Coronavirus Misinformation In Scathing Letter
Look at the comments.
I was too disgusted after the first few.
Nine COVID19 deaths so far in Iowa, a drop in the bucket compared to seasonal flu. Yes, COVID19 should be taken seriously and I pity the people of NYC, but their ‘leaders’ ignored it for weeks. They told people it was not a serious threat and that they should go about business as usual, including going to Lunar New Year festivities in China Town. Now the mayor whines that they need assistance from orangemanbad. Elections have consequences doncha know.
It wasn’t proper science being done – it was battlefield improvisation, like the episode of M*A*S*H in which Hawkeye had to talk Radar through doing an emergency tracheotomy using a ballpoint pen and a pocketknife, over the radio.
Response: “Don’t you know there’s a war on?”
Who thought up the idea of using hydroxychloroquine for covid-19 or how did it come about?
This article showed up at the WSJ a few days ago, written by the former governor of Kansas, Jeff Colyer, who has also been a practicing physician.
An Update on the Coronavirus Treatment
This paragraph does not say that the Chinese lost control of covid-19 in this hospital, but it sounds like this is the tone of the events described. Why else would it be surprising that a sizeable group of patients in a dermatology wing proved to covid-19 negative?
It would have been nice if the Chinese had informed the rest of the world that the infection can easily sweep through a hospital. On the other hand, it sounds like they did some nice detective work in understanding that particular outbreak.
We have made Scientism our new religion and have permitted a self-regarding, over-credentialed arrogant ‘elite’ to lord it over us for too long. Now we pay the price.
There are still good people in the system, and it’s probably from them that the eventual vaccine will come. This simply because the resources required are so great.
However, during the firefighting phase, look to those who have nothing to lose because shut out of the present globalist/liberalist status ranks… or to those who belong to an entirely different social order which assigns value and merit in ways ours does not (Hello, that Ultra-Orthodox Doctor).
Now NEO, what would your high school English teacher say about you writing “…smaller and smaller and meaner and meaner and wronger and wronger…” ? 😉
jon baker:
My several high school English teachers would have said – or should have said – sometimes it’s fine to break the rules for emphasis, or to write as though you’re talking to a friend, or for creative/poetic reasons.
Like the great Lewis Carroll:
Some of the reluctance over the use of chloroquine centers on side effects — it has the “potential to prolong the heart’s QT interval,” [Dr. Michael Ackerman, a genetic cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic] said, which “increases the patient’s chance for the heart to spin electrically out of control into a potentially dangerous heart rhythm.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/26/northwell-health-ceo-urges-caution-toward-coronavirus-drug-treatments.html
Ann:
That drug is widely administered to patients with auto-immune disease and has been for decades. Doctors are well aware of the risks in those patients and monitor them for it, and understand what to look for. If the drug is commonly used for things like rheumatoid arthritis, which is a common and awful disease but ordinarily not fatal, I find it hard to believe that the possible side effects would be a more serious drawback for use in COVID-19, particularly serious cases in danger of death. What’s more, those auto-immune patients are chronic users of the drug – and the treatment for COVID lasts 5 days, a very short time. And all the ICU patients are probably on heart monitors already.
Several Dem leaders have forbidden people in their city or state or whatever to take the drugs… even more after the leftist fish tank deaths…
Cornhead,
I was aware of the Nevada and Michigan governors banning the use. When did Cuomo ban the use of the treatment in question? I loathe the man but every reference I found to the drug and Cuomo was the governor Talking about his hopes that it would work. My wife has seen it in use here too, for people with the Wuhan virus.
Here’s another innovative ventilation device – they are coming out of the wordwork from all kinds of original suppliers modifying their machines for medical use.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/texas-business-helmets-requested-for-covid-19-treatment/
FYI: NYC has a population of 8.4 million. According to the Johns Hopkins Covid web page, NYC has ~52,000 confirmed cases.
That gives NYC 6,190 cases per million — quite high. If NYC were a nation, its cases per million would make it the third highest in the world.
De Blasio, Cuomo and Schumer have little to brag about and much to live down, for those paying attention.
That said, I imagine the real numbers out of China would stun everyone.
AesopFan: I’m enjoying all the good old-fashioned American can-do spirit which Covid is bringing out in us. At our best that’s what we do.
Of course, we’re also encountering a lot of the new-fangled bureaucratic “you can’t do that” red tape, which seems more about maintaining little fiefdoms of power than taking care of people.
I’m betting on the can-do spirit, at least with Trump in office.
My older sister says there’s a new thing in Boston to put stuffed animals, especially teddy bears, in the front window for children to see when they are out on walks with their parents. Cheer the darlings up.
I wonder what it’s like to be a kid in these pandemic days.
Well, I can tell you what it’s like to be a high school senior in the time of COVID19: boring, frustrating, and seemingly unrecoverable. My daughter had just bought her prom dress when the first school closure notice came out. Back then I thought MAYBE we’d be back in school after the initial extension of our spring break – but it quickly became clear that prom wasn’t happening. Now graduation almost certainly isn’t either, nor her planned trip to Disneyworld with two friends. She can’t hang out with anyone – her best friend turned 18 today and she couldn’t even drop off a card. She is deeply resentful that her senior year has been ripped to shreds.
She’s also a caring kid and knows that other people are suffering much more. But this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to her, and she’s acutely aware that the things she’s missing are one-offs – she’ll never have a senior prom or a high school commencement ceremony. (Someday she’ll know that they’re not necessarily that great, but right now it really stings.)
Of course, she’s also wondering whether she’ll be able to get a job four years from now.
Regarding the real numbers in China:
I would presume that the CIA has estimates of the real numbers. They have all sorts of data on authoritarian countries that completely contradict the “official” data which is largely self-reported and regurgitated by the UN, the WHO, and other international institutions.
My question is, why don’t we just publish this data? Why do we continue to just pretend that the UN and WHO data are accurate, when everyone knows it is not? I am asking this as a broader question of foreign policy, rather than in just the narrow instance of the coronavirus data from China.
We’ve drifted into a culture that prioritizes protecting the greatest idiots among us at infinite cost to everyone else. You see it in the banning of product after product as soon as one idiot finds an astounding way to hurt himself with it. You see it in red tape choking everything imaginable.
I’ve been posting good-news stories whenever I can find them, like the recent apparent vaccine breakthrough from Pittsburgh. I actually get comments saying things like “Vaccines are forever. Please, medical and regulatory staff, take your time.” Right, there’s no urgency of any kind. Business as usual.
In my worst moments I think it’s about perpetuating a lot of Good. Government. Jobs. held by frustrated would-be HOA presidents whose greatest joy in life is to tell people “stop doing that.”
PS, one truly maddening aspect is the continual carping about the lack of proper controlled tests, combined with the concerted effort to obstruct and delay the proper controlled tests.
Well, I can tell you what it’s like to be a high school senior in the time of COVID19: boring, frustrating, and seemingly unrecoverable. My daughter had just bought her prom dress when the first school closure notice came out.
Jamie: You might like Soderbergh’s film “Contagion” about a pandemic much more lethal than Covid, which includes a sub-plot about a high school senior who can’t spend time with her boyfriend and can’t have a regular prom.
Jamie,
In discussions with my kids and their friends we have all agreed this is an awful year to be a High School Senior. I hope your daughter keeps her spirits up.
huxley,
The stuffed animals in windows is quite prevalent in my neighborhood and my daughter who is stuck home from College has festooned most all our street facing windows.
Perspective from another time, but timeless nonetheless:
“Sometimes I feel like a morning dove”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xGHVcxmQ_0
This is not encouraging.
https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/chinese-researchers-find-coronavirus-patient-contagious-for-49-days/
huxley on April 3, 2020 at 2:02 am said:
…
I’m betting on the can-do spirit, at least with Trump in office.
* * *
I thank God every day that Hillary Clinton is not president.
On alternate days, I include all other Democrats and mos of the standard Republicans.
I’ve noticed the “we’ll make decisions based off of science” has been quite popular with my state’s mayor and governor. The governor says it in a relatively arrogant if not sanctimonious way, as if he’s trying to diss Trump. “Well, unlike some heads of state who base their decisions on emotions and greed, we’ll make decisions on ScIeNcE!”
Currently watching Trump’s briefing to the public. There’s one reporter who is complaining why would Trump suggest taking antimalarial drugs when there’s no proof that it would work. Trump says that there’s a chance, going further saying that it might not work or it may work, but the reporter is having non of it, accusing Trump of going against the medical experts. “Why can’t we just let science speak?” asks the reporter. In other words: Trump is making decisions not based on rationality but on gut. This falls right in line with my governor proclaiming that decisions will be based on science. Science. This definitely is a calculated narrative, at least that’s how I view it.