Covid-19 #20: Nowhere to Hide

[The Anti-Targ]

We are now 12 days since a local case was diagnosed, and all current active cases are either overseas arrivals or close contacts of overseas arrivals. So we are just a couple of days from tentatively re-establishing elimination, but still 2 weeks from being able to formally declare elimination.

Annoying events are that 2 sports teams (Cricket teams from Pakistan and the West Indies (Caribbean for those not in the know)) both broke quarantine during their period of isolation, and what's worse is that several members of the Pakistan team have confirmed positive for COVID-19. Kind of pissed off at the attitude there and not respecting the safeguards we have put in place to keep the general population free of disease. Whether you agree with the rules or not, when you go to a country you follow their COVID rules, it's basic respect. If you don't want to follow the rules then piss off back home.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

We are now 12 days since a local case was diagnosed, and all current active cases are either overseas arrivals or close contacts of overseas arrivals. So we are just a couple of days from tentatively re-establishing elimination, but still 2 weeks from being able to formally declare elimination.

Annoying events are that 2 sports teams (Cricket teams from Pakistan and the West Indies (Caribbean for those not in the know)) both broke quarantine during their period of isolation, and what's worse is that several members of the Pakistan team have confirmed positive for COVID-19. Kind of pissed off at the attitude there and not respecting the safeguards we have put in place to keep the general population free of disease. Whether you agree with the rules or not, when you go to a country you follow their COVID rules, it's basic respect. If you don't want to follow the rules then piss off back home.

#StormNewZealand

11 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Kind of like drug laws or freedom of speech laws. Omg, I had to tell one of my friends to FLUSH IT - his Adderall on the plane to Japan. Jesus, some people have no fucking sense, nor have they watched “Locked Up Abroad”.

I'm now left questioning your nefarious activities if you knew to flush something as minor as Adderall....

[Fragile Bird]

Did you hear the news? Dr. Scott Atlas resigned today and is leaving the WH.

I hope the door hits his ass on the way out.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Totally NOT minor in Japan. Adderall or even allergy meds with pseudoephedrine will get you a pretty stiff prison sentence in Japan. NONE of it is legal, even with a valid prescription and doctor’s letter.

Japan had a really bad stimulant problem after World War II, because mostly what they did to keep people working and not feeling like they were starving (because they were starving) was feed them meth.

This continued even through today with stimulants being a problem because of the culture of overwork. 

I can tell you about the drug laws of pretty much every country I’ve been to - for example, melatonin is illegal in the UAE. Though you are safe with a doctor’s letter and prescription, there.

What an excellent argument to show how many countries have completely idiotic drug laws. 

[Fragile Bird]

Donald Trump is furiously tweeting, demanding the FDA immediately approve the vaccines so they can be rolled out.

The delay is being caused, of course, because the FDA has a legal obligation to review the data.

The US is headed for such an ugly situation in the next two months you understand the desire for an instant fix. Of course, it won’t be an instant fix, and I would think skipping the FDA review of the two vaccines would make people even more afraid to be vaccinated.

[Zorral]

A Covid-19 Physician's thread, in which he ponders why they are keeping nazis alive -- one and all of whom beg to kept from dying.  His team is composed of 'diversity' including females and Jews.

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

14 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

Did you hear the news? Dr. Scott Atlas resigned today and is leaving the WH.

I hope the door hits his ass on the way out.

Countdown till this quack contracts his very own covid case. In the next 60 days, I'd bet the farm on it!

[kairparavel]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

A Covid-19 Physician's thread, in which he ponders why they are keeping nazis alive -- one and all of whom beg to kept from dying.  His team is composed of 'diversity' including females and Jews.

 

This is straight out of Grey's Anatomy. Minus the Covid.

https://ew.com/recap/greys-anatomy-recap-season4-episode9/

[Zorral]

2 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

This is straight out of Grey's Anatomy. Minus the Covid.

https://ew.com/recap/greys-anatomy-recap-season4-episode9/

Until I saw the link, I thought you were referring to this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray's_Anatomy

I have a copy on shelf so near to my desk I can see it.  I've had it since I was an undergraduate, as it is also a classic of English literature as well as a classic of medicine.

 

[Zorral]

The mayor's already taken away ALL the sidewalks from me for the sake of the goddamned bars and restaurants and churches, and department stores.  And I do mean all of the sidewalks, and all the sidewalk -- at most we're allowed about 8 inches to walk through blocks of maskless spewing assholes.  And now Christmas trees have taken over the last sidewalk that wasn't now a restaurant.  We can't even go out for exercise as it is!

Because he won't close the bars and restaurants -- we get to suffer for it further.  As if keeping us indoors while keeping the bars and restaurants OPEN will change a goddamned thing about the relentless, increasing numbers and spread. The governor's already begging retired medical professionals to come back to work.

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-nyc-older-new-yorkers-at-risk-20201201-tksdctcdgzawndqnly7nfrushm-story.html

 

Quote

 

With COVID surging and ICUs filling up, the de Blasio administration is urging older New Yorkers and people with underlying health problems to stay home as much as possible.

A Tuesday advisory from city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi says they, their household members and caregivers should stay at home “except … to travel to work or school, or for essential purposes including medical care, grocery shopping or pharmacy necessities.”

 

 

[The Anti-Targ]

21 hours ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Totally NOT minor in Japan. Adderall or even allergy meds with pseudoephedrine will get you a pretty stiff prison sentence in Japan. NONE of it is legal, even with a valid prescription and doctor’s letter.

Japan had a really bad stimulant problem after World War II, because mostly what they did to keep people working and not feeling like they were starving (because they were starving) was feed them meth.

This continued even through today with stimulants being a problem because of the culture of overwork. 

I can tell you about the drug laws of pretty much every country I’ve been to - for example, melatonin is illegal in the UAE. Though you are safe with a doctor’s letter and prescription, there.

Are you sure it's "illegal". Melatonin is a pharmaceutical product here, which means it can only be sold as a medicine and not as a health / dietary supplement. In our case this was because idiot natural health people were actually making therapeutic claims rather than "may help with" or "may aid in" statements, and our pharmaceutical laws are very strict about therapeutic claims in products that are not registered therapeutic products. Exemptions can be applied for to allow over the counter sale for therapeutic drugs, of which there are many examples, eg ibuprofen, some topical corticosteroids up to a certain %, aspirin, paracetamol. But there is a costly process to go through to get such exemptions, and the manufacturers chose to exit the OTC market than go through that process. My sister regularly imports melatonin by mail because it's way cheaper than getting it on prescription here (the prescription isn't the problem, it's the cost), and she has to show Customs her prescription every time, otherwise they will confiscate and dump it.

Anyway, about COVID-19. Another Pakistani cricketer tested positive here today. The consequence of some of the team breaking quarantine is that they were all confined to quarters. So no risk to the community. For the USA, it seems to be getting perilously close to exceeding the peak of daily deaths from the first wave. Given the lag between case numbers increasing and daily deaths increasing I am guessing daily deaths will hit a new record some time this month. Not much holiday cheer to be had with that kind of prospect. An extra 2000+ families per day spending the holiday season mourning a loved one who maybe did not have to die is truly sad to contemplate.

[Fury Resurrected]

On Monday I go in to do some tests to see if I am eligible for the vaccine trial, which I would very much like to do because the need for data on my particular ethnicity and health status and also because I want to see my grandma again someday.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Kind of a feels good story.

Elton John honors Anthony Fauci on World AIDS Day

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/01/politics/fauci-elton-john-usglc-world-aids-day/index.html

I cannot think of many more worthy of honoring, nor many more cool to give the honors.

 

[The Anti-Targ]

8 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

On Monday I go in to do some tests to see if I am eligible for the vaccine trial, which I would very much like to do because the need for data on my particular ethnicity and health status and also because I want to see my grandma again someday.

I hope you are one of the candidates who gets the vaccine and not the placebo. Props for doing your bit for science and to help your ethnic brethren.

[Filippa Eilhart]

UK approved Pfizer.

[Fragile Bird]

How do you folks in the UK feel about the Pfizer vaccine being approved? I noted the fact Trump had been tweeting demands that the FDA immediately approve the two vaccines. Do you think the British public will look askance at the vaccines?

I saw that the British regulator said it was possible because they use rolling reviews. Canada does too, and has a very good reputation, but we don’t expect approval to happen until the end of December.

Are people being put at risk?

eta: I see all the discussion is in the UK thread

[Pebble thats Stubby]

It's gone through all the checks and balances, it's a safe as they can make it.  Yes there is a slightvrisk I suppose that something that will only show up years  later may cause an issue in very rare cirumstances but that would happen no matter when it was approved.

 

The interesting thing although brexit has not allowed us to approve it faster, but it may have slowed the EU from approving it's use.  This is because  eu vacine and drug approval used to be based in the UK, thus in this matter we had all the experts and facilities, it's now been moved to the Netherlands.  So our procedures and process is exactly the same, we just have more of the experienced staff.

 

This is not a benefit of brexit do the UK as  Matt Hancock is claiming, yes we have done it faster than the EU, but if we were still in the EU would have approved it today because it would have been exactly the same people who approved the it in the UK today.   

[Fragile Bird]

I have some questions for people who know these things. I’ve searched for answers and haven’t found them.

Can you get the vaccine if you have Covid-19? What would happen? With so many people being asymptomatic, presumably quite a few people will get the vaccine while actually having Covid-19. Otherwise they'd have to test you first, which would really slow things down.

What’s the process for a vaccine that has to be stored at -80 C? Obviously it has to defrost first. I assume it is frozen solid. Once defrosted, how long is it good for? A day in a regular fridge? Two days? Five days? Anyone read anything?

[williamjm]

53 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I have some questions for people who know these things. I’ve searched for answers and haven’t found them.

Can you get the vaccine if you have Covid-19? What would happen? With so many people bring asymptomatic, presumably quite a few people will get the vaccine while actually having Covid-19. Otherwise they'd have to test you first, which would really slow things down.

What’s the process for a vaccine that has to be stored at -80 C? Obviously it has to defrost first. I assume it is frozen solid. Once defrosted, how long is it good for? A day in a regular fridge? Two days? Five days? Anyone read anything?

I saw some details on the storage question here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54889084

It seems it can be stored for up to 5 days in a fridge.

I don't know the answer to the first question but I've not seen any mention of testing being planned before giving the vaccine.

[Zorral]

US Timeline for vaccinations:

~~~~~~~~

Quote

Governor announced today that New York expected to receive first batch of 170,000 COVID vaccines by Dec. 15: Cuomo

I think ... that number refers to number of doses -- not numbers of "vaccines."

Maybe it means two inoculations or maybe it doesn't?  Since once has to get two shots for this vaccine to be preventive.  So does it mean 80,000 plus people get the two shots each, or the 'dose' of two shots is calculated for 170,000 people?

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-covid-vaccine-new-york-cuomo-20201202-c4g3md5s6nfrhlvys5vn4d43ze-story.html