COVID-19 – Coronavirus
A Week with COVID-19
09/04 – I got my first Covid-19 shot.
09/09 – I rode into work with a co-worker. Unknown to both of us at the time, one of their family members was infected with Covid.
09/10 – My co-worker started getting sick in the PM.
09/12 – I was laying out in the sun and began coughing sporadically. By 1530, I had the beginnings of what felt like a fever. By 1630, I was in bed with the covers pulled over me. It was a long night and I ended up with an extremely high temperature. Perhaps, the highest temperature I had ever had.
09/13 – Felt pretty good except still had the cough. Felt a little chilly.
09/14 – Now we have a boatload of congestion. Needed to take PMs to make myself fall asleep. Feverish off and on but nothing like the first night.
09/15 – Pretty much the same thing as the day before.
09/16 – New problem. Now, I can’t smell or taste anything. Took a sample and sent it to Amazon Labs for analysis. Should have results in 24 hours. Kim picked it up and dropped it off at UPS for me.
09/17 – Still can’t taste or smell. I am able to breathe through my nose which has been hit and miss the whole time. Received a message that the lab has received my sample. I should know within 24 hours what the results are. Pretty sure it will be positive.
**Update: 09/24** – *Results of the test were positive. I expected no less. My sense of smell and taste has slowly been returning. Two days ago, I caught a faint whiff of my shower soap and then could barely smell my deodorant. This morning, I can taste coffee. I can smell my chapstick. Today, I’ll see if I can find out about returning to work on Monday.*
Miami Re-Opening Casinos
Miami-Dade mayor reopening casinos Monday, banking on COVID continuing to improve
I’m guessing, it won’t.
From the Newspaper…
Can’t say I am upset about it. During a pandemic, sports should be the least of our problems.
Bad Ideas – Version 7,412
New York (CNN Business)Cinderella Castle has sat silent for 116 days.
That’s how long Walt Disney World has closed its doors because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, Disney will welcome guests back to its flagship theme park in Orlando, Florida, and reopen a cornerstone of its business.
The Disney (DIS) resort plans to begin a phased reopening on Saturday for its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks, followed by EPCOT and Hollywood Studios on July 15.
Although Disney is implementing several measures to reopen safely, the reopening of a dense theme park roughly the size of San Francisco comes with risks, questions and criticisms as cases are spiking in Florida.
Not in the way bad ideas could be like..”oh, well that was a mistake but at least no one got hurt.”
A bad idea in the form of “oh, shit! People are dying and we are helping to facilitate it.”
The Truth About Hydroxychloroquine
If you are looking for evidence to suggest that this drug helps with COVID-19 treatment, you’d be hard pressed to find it. You can draw your own conclusions from the following…
From the BBC…
The death rates of the treated groups were: hydroxychloroquine 18%; chloroquine 16.4%; control group 9%. Those treated with hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine in combination with antibiotics had an even higher death rate.
via BBC
From MySanAntonio…
The dangerous side effects of the drugs are much better known. Most seriously, the drugs can trigger arrhythmia, which can lead to a fatal heart attack in patients with cardiovascular disease or who are taking certain drugs, including anti-depression medications. Doctors recommend screening with an electrocardiogram to prevent the drug from being given to the 1% of patients at the greatest risk of a cardiac event. The drugs also can cause vision loss called retinopathy with long-term use, and chloroquine has been associated with psychosis.
via MSA…
From The Journal of the American Medical Association…
Findings In this phase IIb randomized clinical trial of 81 patients with COVID-19, an unplanned interim analysis recommended by an independent data safety and monitoring board found that a higher dosage of chloroquine diphosphate for 10 days was associated with more toxic effects and lethality, particularly affecting QTc interval prolongation. The limited sample size did not allow the study to show any benefit overall regarding treatment efficacy.
Meaning The preliminary findings from the CloroCovid-19 trial suggest that higher dosage of chloroquine should not be recommended for the treatment of severe COVID-19, especially among patients also receiving azithromycin and oseltamivir, because of safety concerns regarding QTc interval prolongation and increased lethality.
via JAMA…
And last but not least, from the New England Journal of Medicine…
Of 1446 consecutive patients, 70 patients were intubated, died, or discharged within 24 hours after presentation and were excluded from the analysis. Of the remaining 1376 patients, during a median follow-up of 22.5 days, 811 (58.9%) received hydroxychloroquine (600 mg twice on day 1, then 400 mg daily for a median of 5 days); 45.8% of the patients were treated within 24 hours after presentation to the emergency department, and 85.9% within 48 hours. Hydroxychloroquine-treated patients were more severely ill at baseline than those who did not receive hydroxychloroquine (median ratio of partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen, 223 vs. 360). Overall, 346 patients (25.1%) had a primary end-point event (180 patients were intubated, of whom 66 subsequently died, and 166 died without intubation). In the main analysis, there was no significant association between hydroxychloroquine use and intubation or death (hazard ratio, 1.04, 95% confidence interval, 0.82 to 1.32). Results were similar in multiple sensitivity analyses.
via NEJM…
Cool & Inspiring
I needed this reminder today so I thought I'd share in case you needed it, too. pic.twitter.com/HDRB43MM8Y
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) May 3, 2020
Good Advice
This is from my web hosting company. I was with another hosting company for about 10 years before I needed to switch away from them. I found Dreamhost and never looked back. This company is amazing.
Nope. Not getting paid to say that. They are wonderful.
COVID-19 Thoughts
This is unlike any outbreak I’ve experienced in my lifetime. Movie studios, entire towns, and businesses are shutting down. Supplies in local stores are running low as people freak out. Unless you are a “prepper”, of course and you’ve always seen something like this coming.
The business I am in is shipping and order fulfillment. People that can work from home will still be able to be paid and will continue to order things online. Unfortunately, there will be other people who are not so lucky. Their jobs could be at risk because they are unable to work from home.
This can only get worse as time goes on.
