March 18, 2020

Inside the Singapore lab on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus- Richard Engel

Richard Engel has been doing excellent reporting on COVID. Worth checking out his series On Assignment



https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1240231542804353025

Inside the Singapore lab on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus.

https://www.msnbc.com/on-assignment/watch/inside-the-singapore-lab-on-the-front-lines-of-the-fight-against-coronavirus-80361541527?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma




German laboratory ramps up production of new COVID-19 test

http://www.msnbc.com/ali-velshi/watch/german-laboratory-ramps-up-production-of-new-covid-19-test-80488517979

March 18, 2020

Taiwan started preparing for COVID19 in December. Only has 67 cases

The reason they started so early is because there are many hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese working in China, which means there is a high frequency of flights and travelers between the country and Taiwan.


Taiwan has 10 million masks a day, widespread tracking, and just 1 death despite being close to the outbreak.

From the article: Taiwan took measures early on, including inspecting plane passengers coming from Wuhan starting Dec. 31, banning Wuhan residents on Jan. 23, suspending tours to China on Jan. 25, and eventually banning all Chinese visitors on Feb. 6.

Recognizing that it had to ensure an adequate supply of medical equipment, including face masks, for health professionals and the public, Taiwan’s government stopped exports of surgical face masks on January 24 while requesting local companies to step up production. Daily production is set to reach 10 million soon, divided between the public, medical, and industrial sectors.

The government also took control of face mask distribution from the private sector on Jan. 31, ensuring there would be no hoarding of supplies or exploitative pricing, as has happened in other places such as Hong Kong. Taiwan also implemented a purchasing policy on Feb. 6 in which every Taiwanese can buy a certain amount of adult and children’s masks per week from pharmacies and clinics for NT$5 ($0.17) each. And to allow for easier distribution and prevent long lines outside clinics, Taiwanese can now start ordering their masks online and pick them up at a later date.

To ensure coordination, Taiwan set up a unified command center, led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which manages resources, holds daily briefings, and is in control of public messaging. The authorities have also moved quickly to track down infected persons and map the cases to show the sources of infection. Educating the public on the risks of the illness and precautions to take through television notices and posters is also a big part of anti-coronavirus efforts.


https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/16/taiwan-china-fear-coronavirus-success/

March 18, 2020

Non-essential travel is going to be suspended between here and Canada

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1240099950299578371


The United States and Canada are preparing to issue a joint statement in the next 24 to 48 hours to suspend non-essential travel between the two countries, a Trump administration official says

March 18, 2020

NYC now has 923 cases, 10 deaths

De Blasio is on MSNBC and said they got a 100 new cases today.

March 18, 2020

Univ. of Minn. has launched a clinical trial studying a drug for those exposed to COVID19

https://twitter.com/boulware_dr/status/1239944721386164225

Healthcare worker exposed to COVID-19? Sharing a home with someone with COVID-19? Our Univ. of Minnesota team at the has launched a clinical trial studying a drug that may help prevent infection in those exposed to coronavirus. Email us at covid19@umn.edu to enroll.#IDTwitter

March 17, 2020

Pentagon is giving 5 million respirators, 2,000 ventilators to HHS

https://twitter.com/Walldo/status/1239995731349590024

(AP) — Pentagon says it will give 5 million respirators, 2,000 ventilators to Health and Human Services for virus response.

March 17, 2020

Hundreds of Scientists Scramble to Find a Coronavirus Treatment

In an ambitious international collaboration, researchers have “mapped” proteins in the coronavirus and identified 50 drugs to test against it.


By Carl Zimmer
March 17, 2020, 1:25 p.m. ET

Working at a breakneck pace, a team of hundreds of scientists has identified 50 drugs that may be effective treatments for people infected with the coronavirus.

Many scientists are seeking drugs that attack the virus itself. But the Quantitative Biosciences Institute Coronavirus Research Group, based at the University of California, San Francisco, is testing an unusual new approach.

The researchers are looking for drugs that shield proteins in our own cells that the coronavirus depends on to thrive and reproduce.Many of the candidate drugs are already approved to treat diseases, such as cancer, that would seem to have nothing to do with Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and at the Pasteur Institute in Paris have already begun to test the drugs against the coronavirus growing in their labs. The far-flung research group is preparing to release its findings at the end of the week.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/science/coronavirus-treatment.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

March 17, 2020

Brief update regarding COVID19 and ibuprofen- no evidence as of yet

Kai Kupferschmidt
@kakape
science journalist. molecular biologist. curious.
Contributing Correspondent at
@sciencemagazine
, reporting on #covid19.
Interested in all things #blue

https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1239893291375775744


Really brief update on the situation regarding #covid19 and ibuprofen, since there are now news circulating that
@WHO
is warning against using ibuprofen. I just got off the phone with them, and to say they are warning against using ibuprofen is at best stretching the truth.

https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1239893492878446594

Official statement is that they are aware of concerns. And: "WHO is gathering further evidence on this issue before making a formal recommendation, but after a rapid review of the literature, is not aware of published clinical or population-based data on this topic."

To be clear: I was told by WHO that this all goes back to the Lancet letter, which as I pointed out earlier suggested a hypothesis but has zero data to back it up. WHO is saying that in a first look they also have not found any evidence.

Let’s wait and see what their formal recommendation will be. They could still end up recommending against using ibuprofen out of an abundance of caution, but doing that with no evidence sets a dangerous precedent in an evolving epidemic.

There may still be data from France or elsewhere that tips the balance. I haven’t seen any data and there has been plenty of time now for people to present it. (Remember: What used to be one hour in our previous life is a whole day in CST - Covid Standard Time.)

For now what is being interpreted as a warning against ibuprofen is just their “holding line” while they evaluate the evidence. Essentially they are saying: We have no evidence of any risk, but if you have not been prescribed ibuprofen, you might as well use an alternative



I'm ignoring all "hypotheses" from Lancet articles from now on.

March 17, 2020

Latest Statement from DeWine

https://twitter.com/AndrewCassNH/status/1239719860369842184


Statement from DeWine and LaRose

March 16, 2020

Andy Slavitt, head of Medicare, Medicaid, ACA under Obama is working on using ships as hospitals

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1239678365390569477

Hold on— call from Armed Services Committee. Give me a few.

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1239682387119931399

I’m back. Getting the DoD to bring hospital ships to the major ports is part of the answer. (Hence the call.) But even with hospital beds we need the workforce there. And we need ventilators. 11/


One tech company is undertaking an effort to build 100,000 ventilators in a month.

I’m sure there is a ton more great innovative stuff happening.