Corona Virus

[Judge Jude]

a good friend of mine owns a tiny, one-product pharmaceutical company - a nasal spray.

some researchers think it could be helpful, but of course under FDA guidelines you can't even hint at that in any advertising.

his sales are well up anyway. word of mouth - or in this case, nose

[chancellor]

A recent study showed very counter-intuitive results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA4L6CHO_4c&ab_channel=WION

It says that asthma sufferers, instead of being more susceptible to the effects of CV-19, actually are less likely to be affected because of the effects of asthma medications. So, I guess, try to get ahold of some asthma medication to provide extra protection against CV-19?

These types of pseudo-medical conclusions pass for "science" today, and it's sad.

The data showed a strong correlation: Asthma sufferers who contracted COVID were 70% less likely to die than non-asthma sufferers.

The conclusion, as you noted: Asthma medications mitigate the impact of COVID.

The conclusion is unmerited. The patient population isn't tested to see which, if any, asthma medications they take, nor which, if any, generates a higher level of positive or negative outcomes. There's no real analysis of whether the asthma patient population is on quick relief meds and/or a long term med. And among the long-term meds, there's a wide variety of medicine types.

Now, if they used the original study to drive to a further study that looked at corticosteroids versus other asthma meds, then we'd be getting somewhere.

[TranaGreg]

These types of pseudo-medical conclusions pass for "science" today, and it's sad.

The data showed a strong correlation: Asthma sufferers who contracted COVID were 70% less likely to die than non-asthma sufferers.

The conclusion, as you noted: Asthma medications mitigate the impact of COVID.

The conclusion is unmerited. The patient population isn't tested to see which, if any, asthma medications they take, nor which, if any, generates a higher level of positive or negative outcomes. There's no real analysis of whether the asthma patient population is on quick relief meds and/or a long term med. And among the long-term meds, there's a wide variety of medicine types.

Now, if they used the original study to drive to a further study that looked at corticosteroids versus other asthma meds, then we'd be getting somewhere.

rule #1 for any data analyst - correlation does not equate to causation

[The Feral Slasher]

rule #1 for any data analyst - correlation does not equate to causation

I thought the first rule of data analytics was don't talk about data analytics

[Ken]

I thought the first rule of data analytics was don't talk about data analytics

I thought so too, but that turned out to be a coincidence.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I thought the first rule of data analytics was don't talk about data analytics

How would we lay folk really know IF you were talking about data analytics?

[rhd]

These types of pseudo-medical conclusions pass for "science" today, and it's sad.

The data showed a strong correlation: Asthma sufferers who contracted COVID were 70% less likely to die than non-asthma sufferers.

The conclusion, as you noted: Asthma medications mitigate the impact of COVID.

The conclusion is unmerited. The patient population isn't tested to see which, if any, asthma medications they take, nor which, if any, generates a higher level of positive or negative outcomes. There's no real analysis of whether the asthma patient population is on quick relief meds and/or a long term med. And among the long-term meds, there's a wide variety of medicine types.

Now, if they used the original study to drive to a further study that looked at corticosteroids versus other asthma meds, then we'd be getting somewhere.

Yeah, I just watched the video, didnt read the study so I cant evaluate it. But I mentioned it to a medical professional today and he said it stood to reason but recommended against non-asthma sufferers from using asthma medications.

[madducks]

Utah ranchers have lost at least 8,000 mink to an outbreak of Covid-19 among the animals known for their silky, luxurious pelts.

The virus first appeared in the creatures in August, shortly after farm workers fell ill in July, according to Dr. Dean Taylor, state veterinarian of Utah. Initial research shows the virus was transmitted from humans to animals, and so far has not seen any cases of the opposite.

This is the first outbreak among mink in the United States, though other cases have been detected in the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Mink, which are closely related to weasels, otter and ferrets, appear to suffer similar symptoms to humans. Difficulty breathing and crusting around the eyes are usually seen, but the virus progresses rapidly, and most infected mink are dead by the next day, according to Taylor. It’s unclear what makes mink such a susceptible species, while others appear to be unaffected.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/...38983abc07a1b3

[Kevin Seitzer]

Utah ranchers have lost at least 8,000 mink to an outbreak of Covid-19 among the animals known for their silky, luxurious pelts.

The virus first appeared in the creatures in August, shortly after farm workers fell ill in July, according to Dr. Dean Taylor, state veterinarian of Utah. Initial research shows the virus was transmitted from humans to animals, and so far has not seen any cases of the opposite.

This is the first outbreak among mink in the United States, though other cases have been detected in the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Mink, which are closely related to weasels, otter and ferrets, appear to suffer similar symptoms to humans. Difficulty breathing and crusting around the eyes are usually seen, but the virus progresses rapidly, and most infected mink are dead by the next day, according to Taylor. It’s unclear what makes mink such a susceptible species, while others appear to be unaffected.

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/...38983abc07a1b3

So...otters are affected, or no? Asking for a friend.

[rhd]

Another stats update as of 7:46 AM today. Last stats were from 10/5 at 7:46 AM, exactly 7 days ago. Mortality rate is figured using the current death total divided by the total cases from the update 3 weeks ago (9/21).

- 7,992,932 cases in the US, up from 7,637,066, an increase of 4.66% which is a larger increase than last time (4.31%). At the current rate of increase, the US will have 10 mil. cases by about 11/16. The new cases for this period were 355,866 which gives a 7-day daily average of 50,838, up from 45,086. A comparison w last period's new cases (315,601) gives a new cases increase rate of 1.128, higher than that of the last update (0.999). The current test positivity rate is 4.90%, higher than that of the last update (4.70%) but still is below the WHO threshold figure of 5.0%. Currently, there are only 12 states that have R-naught below 1.0 an increase from the 11 states last update, so the overall US R-naught still must be above the recommended threshold of 1.0. The values for the different states range from 0.84-1.35. Are we starting to see the expected fall spike now?
- 219,706 deaths in the US, up from 214,615, an increase of 2.37% which is a smaller increase than last time (2.46%). The new deaths for this period were 5,091 which gives a 7-day daily average of 727, down from 737. The mortality rate is 3.14% (219,706/7,005,686), slightly lower than last time (3.20% (214,615/6,710,031)). The mortality rate for the week's new deaths is 1.72% (5,091/295,655), lower than last time (2.07% (5,161/249,610)).
- 37,766,210 cases worldwide, up from 35,410,679, an increase of 6.65% which is a larger increase than last time (6.29%). The new cases for this period were 2,355,531, which gives a 7-day daily average of 336,504, up from 299,208. A comparison w last period's new cases (2,094,455) gives a new cases increase rate of 1.125, which is higher than last time (1.011).
- 1,082,604 deaths worldwide, up from 1,042,937, an increase of 3.80% which is a smaller increase than last time (3.94%). The new deaths for this period were 39,667 which gives a 7-day daily average of 5,667, up from 5,654. The mortality rate is 3.47% (1,082,604/31,243,793), lower than last time (3.57% 1,042,937/29,197,386)). The mortality rate for the week's new deaths is 1.94% (39,667/2,046,407), lower than that of the previous period (2.08% (39,580/1,907,456)).

New case rate increases went up for both the US and the world. For the US, the R-naught seems to be roughly the same as last week, and the test positivity rate went up.

Cases continue to surge in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, India, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia, Ukraine, Iraq, Iran, Israel and Morocco. And cases have surged recently in Italy and Russia. India's cases are now 7,122,862 up from 6,626,291, and at the current rate of new cases, India projects to pass the US in total cases by about 11/25.

[madducks]

Alabama football coach Nick Saban and athletic director Greg Byrne tested positive for COVID-19, the school announced on Wednesday.

[rhd]

Very disturbing article from Politico:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/11/exclusive-trump-officials-interfered-with-cdc-reports-on-covid-19-412809

Political appointees Michael Caputo and Paul Alexander demanding to review and change CDC reports to be more in line w the administration's views. I thought that the CDC was an independent org but it actually is under the Dept of Health and Human Services. Be that as it may, not only Americans but people all over the world rely on the CDC to provide critical and reliable info on health issues. It is extremely disturbing that political forces are influencing a major health org, potentially putting many thousands of lives at risk. I'd like to see the CDC display more fortitude to stand up to such attempts at influence but I guess this is pretty hard to do since people apparently would be putting their jobs at stake.

[GwynnInTheHall]

Very disturbing article from Politico:

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/11/exclusive-trump-officials-interfered-with-cdc-reports-on-covid-19-412809

Political appointees Michael Caputo and Paul Alexander demanding to review and change CDC reports to be more in line w the administration's views. I thought that the CDC was an independent org but it actually is under the Dept of Health and Human Services. Be that as it may, not only Americans but people all over the world rely on the CDC to provide critical and reliable info on health issues. It is extremely disturbing that political forces are influencing a major health org, potentially putting many thousands of lives at risk. I'd like to see the CDC display more fortitude to stand up to such attempts at influence but I guess this is pretty hard to do since people apparently would be putting their jobs at stake.

Is anyone really surprised?

[madducks]

Is anyone really surprised?

No, the White House has been trying to exert their influence over Dr Fauci for many months now.

[rhd]

WHO backflips on gov'tal lockdowns (the video is only 1.5 mins):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzaK...mentTVMediaInc.

Just more significant evidence that the world's leaders have absolutely no idea how to effectively deal w this pandemic. This is the same org. that also previously backflipped on the efficacy of mask-wearing. Of course, they claim that it was wasnt a backflip, just pointing out that lockdowns are a temporary way of buying time while gov'ts figure out what to do. We are over 7 months into this pandemic, after countries all over the world have instituted lockdowns, and the WHO is just now saying this. And this guy says gov'ts should institute other measures to combat the pandemic but doesnt offer a single recommendation as to what those other measures should be. I'm curious to hear what Dr. John Campbell has to say about this. I'm thinking his video tomorrow will feature this issue.