About the public’s health
Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU): This site is the best source of international data on
COVID-19.
Japanese flu drug 'clearly effective' in treating coronavirus, says China: This story has appeared in several global media outlets: '“Zhang Xinmin, an official at China’s science and technology ministry, said favipiravir, developed by a subsidiary of [Japanese firm] Fujifilm, had produced encouraging outcomes in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen involving 340 patients.
’It has a high degree of safety and is clearly effective in treatment,’ Zhang told reporters on Tuesday.
Patients who were given the medicine in Shenzhen turned negative for the virus after a median of four days after becoming positive, compared with a median of 11 days for those who were not treated with the drug, [Japanese] public broadcaster NHK said.
In addition, X-rays confirmed improvements in lung condition in about 91% of the patients who were treated with favipiravir, compared to 62% or those without the drug.” Japan has 2 million doses. The drug is unsafe for fetuses.
A new app would say if you’ve crossed paths with someone who is infected: “An app that tracks where you have been and who you have crossed paths with—and then shares this personal data with other users in a privacy-preserving way—could help curb the spread of Covid-19, says Ramesh Raskar at the MIT Media Lab, who leads the team behind it. Called Private Kit: Safe Paths, the free and open-source app was developed by people at MIT and Harvard, as well as software engineers at companies such as Facebook and Uber, who worked on it in their free time. “
Severe Outcomes Among Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) — United States, February 12–March 16, 2020: “This first preliminary description of outcomes among patients with COVID-19 in the United States indicates that fatality was highest in persons aged ≥85, ranging from 10% to 27%, followed by 3% to 11% among persons aged 65–84 years, 1% to 3% among persons aged 55-64 years, <1% among persons aged 20–54 years, and no fatalities among persons aged ≤19 years.” This article also includes the CDC’s usual precautions for staying healthy.
Trump to invoke Defense Production Act to boost medical supplies: “Invoking the law will allow the administration to direct factories to produce more face masks, gowns, gloves and other medical supplies.”
New 2020 County Health Rankings Data Added: This interactive site allows you to get health status rankings by each county in each state. Check the criteria fro the rankings. Do you agree or is something missing?
FDA Halts Domestic Surveillance Inspections:”The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday that it has temporarily postponed all domestic routine surveillance facility inspections.” The foreign surveillance was already suspended. Now we have to rely on faith for the quality of our food and health products.
COVID-19 reduces economic activity, which reduces pollution, which saves lives: The author calculates the reduction in pollution from decreased activity caused by COVOD-19 could save 53-77k lives.
Trump ban on fetal tissue research blocks coronavirus treatment effort: “…Kim Hasenkrug, an immunologist at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, has been appealing for nearly a month to top NIH officials, arguing that the pandemic warrants an exemption to a ban imposed last year prohibiting government researchers from using tissue from abortions in their work…The fetal tissue is donated by women undergoing elective abortions, and critics say that it is unethical to use the material and that taxpayer money should not be used for research that relies on abortion.”
Before Virus Outbreak, a Cascade of Warnings Went Unheeded: The Administration conducted a simulation very much like the COVID-19 outbreak from last January to August. But they did not act on the findings. This NY Times article is well worth reading, even if you do not subscribe. Among the conclusions of the federal report:
HHS ’regional staff lack clear guidance on the distribution of federal information management products to state and local partners.
The current medical countermeasure supply chain and production capacity cannot meet the demands imposed by nations during a global influenza pandemic.