Covid II: Medical Info and Implications

[ksfisher]

Intermountain Healthcare research: Clear link between COVID-19 and heart disease

By Jed Boal, KSL TV | Posted - Aug. 19, 2020 at 8:22 a.m.

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MURRAY — Researchers at Intermountain Healthcare said there is growing evidence of a link between heart disease and COVID-19 after examining several published studies.

We’ve known since COVID-19 emerged that the virus can do severe damage to the lungs. Now, there is mounting evidence that COVID-19 also damages the heart, raising concerns for any patient with the virus.

“There’s clear evidence that COVID-19 can cause heart disease,” said Dr. Kirk Knowlton, director of cardiovascular research at Intermountain Healthcare. “The virus can infect the heart itself and can also stimulate clotting. It does not affect all patients, but affects around one in five patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.”

Article continues

https://www.ksl.com/article/50008006/intermountain-healthcare-research-clear-link-between-covid-19-and-heart-disease

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, Amulek said:

Just based on personal observation, but the people I know who wear bandannas tend to be those who would just as soon not wear any face covering at all, but want to be seen as being compliant with the law / social norms. They don't want to go so far as to make an affirmative political statement against wearing masks - unlike, say, those who have been making face coverings out of lace - but they don't really care that strongly about wearing masks either, so the intent is to do the minimum amount necessary in order to remain compliant and be seen / perceived as being supportive. 

 

In my experience it's not even about being seen as being supportive (because many of them don't want people to think they are supportive of wearing masks), but solely about being compliant with mandates or store rules.

[pogi]

9 hours ago, Calm said:

I hope Pogi pops in and lets us know if there is any talk about this:

https://news.yale.edu/2020/08/15/yales-rapid-covid-19-saliva-test-receives-fda-emergency-use-authorization
 

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.03.20167791v1
 

https://www.everydayhealth.com/infectious-diseases/coronavirus-alert/

Good, good news if true:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.01.20166553v1

https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0092-8674(20)31008-4

I was not aware of the saliva test.  Thank you for sharing.  That has potential to be a game changer!

Both of these news events are really, really good news and give me hope. 

[Calm]

From the Everyday Health Alert link....using that as WSJ doesn’t give access to the article without subscribing: 

Quote

Clinics grow to treat survivors with long-term symptoms. An investigation published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday detailed how hospitals are increasingly establishing specialized clinics to care for COVID-19 survivors with symptoms that linger for many weeks or months after getting sick. Some who fell ill due the virus earlier in the year are still struggling with symptoms such as muscle aches, memory problems, and sensory impairment (including loss of smell, taste, and ringing in the ears).

Beware of a contact tracing scam. State officials and federal agencies warn there’s a new phone scam circulating, according to NPR. Callers posing as COVID-19 contact tracers try to pry credit card or bank account information from unsuspecting victims. The Montana attorney general’s office said, “Unfortunately, there are scammers trying to profit from the confusion and fear surrounding the coronavirus. Don’t give out any financial information, and never pay someone who claims to be a contact tracer. Legitimate contact tracers will never ask for payment.”

I think I may have been called by these guys but hung up too soon as I heard a name including Tracers and it ticked me off a spammer would use that label to increase their importance.   More understandable if a scammer.  
 

NPR link:

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/08/20/903664222/how-to-tell-a-real-covid-19-contact-tracers-call-from-a-scammers

Quote

Legitimate tracing calls might be preceded by a text message, notifying patients of an upcoming call from the health department. Then, in that initial call, the legitimate tracer will seek to confirm an address and date of birth, especially if you are the COVID-positive patient, Watson says.

"They ask about your identity," Watson says, "to make sure you are the person they are trying to reach so they don't disclose potentially private information to the wrong person." 

Given the prevalence of scammers, it's good to be initially suspicious of such a call, until you've sussed out its source, health officials say.

"Anytime someone calls you for information, you should be concerned about who is calling," says Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "If they are legitimate, you can say, 'Give me your name and phone number' and you can always call them back" after doing some checking.

One thing to consider: Did the caller ID indicate the call was from a health department? Some, but not all, states are including that information. For example, Virginia's calls are from the "VDH COVID Team." Call the health department if you have any questions.

Be discerning, but don't avoid genuine help. Real contact tracers can also help people who must isolate or quarantine by connecting them with resources, such as food or medicine delivery.

"Some can even provide you with a separate place to quarantine safely" if, for example, you live in a multigenerational house with no separate bathroom or bedroom in which to isolate, Watson says

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Calm

[Calm]

Quote

WASHINGTON — Last week, just as the Food and Drug Administration was preparing to issue an emergency authorization for blood plasma as a Covid-19 treatment, a group of top federal health officials including Dr. Francis S. Collins and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci intervened, arguing that emerging data on the treatment was too weak, according to two senior administration officials.

The authorization is on hold for now as more data is reviewed, according to H. Clifford Lane, the clinical director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An emergency approval could still be issued in the near future, he said.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/us/politics/blood-plasma-covid-19.amp.html

[Calm]

Quote

Limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children is of particular concern as schools plan for re-opening. Our findings suggest that it would be ineffective to rely on symptoms or temperature monitoring to identify SARS-CoV-2 infection. Instead, infection control measures should minimize the possibility of viral spread, with focus on strategies including social distancing precautions, mask use, and/or remote learning. Moreover, schools could screen all students for SARS-CoV-2 infection and establish routine screening protocols. Without infection control measures such as these, there is significant risk that the pandemic will persist, and children could carry the virus into the home, exposing adults who are at higher risk of developing severe disease. This risk is particularly high in lower income communities where household size may be larger with multi-generational co-habitation and greater housing density. These recommendations contradict previous reports from the initial phase of the pandemic, which found children to be less likely to be the index case for viral transmission within a household(23). However, in our cohort, nearly 20% of acute SARS-CoV-2 infections and over half of the MIS-C cases did not have a known household exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Although transmissibility was not assessed in this study, children with high viral loads and non-specific symptoms including rhinorrhea and cough can likely transmit SARS-CoV-2 as easily as other viral infections spread by respiratory particles. If schools were to re-open fully without necessary precautions, it is likely that children will play a larger role in this pandemic.

Our initial findings show that although a low expression of ACE2 in younger children (<10 years of age) likely corresponds to reduced infection rates, children of all ages, once infected, can carry high SARS-CoV-2 viral loads. Symptom monitoring is an ineffective strategy for identifying infected children. Children can develop severe illness during the post-infectious stage with a hyperinflammatory antibody response. Potential transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between children and families should be considered when designing strategies to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(20)31023-4/fulltext

Edited August 21, 2020 by Calm

[The Nehor]

On 8/19/2020 at 9:38 AM, ksfisher said:

Intermountain Healthcare research: Clear link between COVID-19 and heart disease

By Jed Boal, KSL TV | Posted - Aug. 19, 2020 at 8:22 a.m.

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0

• 
• 
• 
• 

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MURRAY — Researchers at Intermountain Healthcare said there is growing evidence of a link between heart disease and COVID-19 after examining several published studies.

We’ve known since COVID-19 emerged that the virus can do severe damage to the lungs. Now, there is mounting evidence that COVID-19 also damages the heart, raising concerns for any patient with the virus.

“There’s clear evidence that COVID-19 can cause heart disease,” said Dr. Kirk Knowlton, director of cardiovascular research at Intermountain Healthcare. “The virus can infect the heart itself and can also stimulate clotting. It does not affect all patients, but affects around one in five patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19.”

Article continues

https://www.ksl.com/article/50008006/intermountain-healthcare-research-clear-link-between-covid-19-and-heart-disease

There is also evidence of minor changes in heart muscle construction but it is unknown whether it is dangerous. Another growing phenomenon is continuing problems with sexual functioning such as erectile dysfuction that continue after the symptoms pass but that may be tied to the general exhaustion many experience even after they have mostly recovered. Research is still ongoing.

The changeover from reporting from the CDC to the HHS department in the federal government was reversed presumably because it was a complete disaster. There have been several resignations.

There are growing concerns that without access to general at-will testing for Covid when flu season hits that less serious flu cases may eat at medical resources. Some areas still have turnaround times for tests of a week or longer. On the plus side the current social distancing and limited lockdowns (both enforced and voluntary) will probably reduce flu numbers but no one is sure how much. Information from Hong Kong at the beginning of the year suggests that general face mask wearing can pretty much cancel flu season but the US is not that strict and there may be other factors in play.

Many schools have contract penalties for teachers that quit shortly before the school year starts. Some jurisdictions are waiving them but some are not. There may be some interesting legal cases ahead as to whether a pandemic constitutes a change of circumstances sufficient to invalidate the contract or that the dithering back and forth and waiting until the last minute to decide whether to do in-person or virtual could invalidate the contract.

The school outbreaks are in full swing. I seriously imagine that after looking at how other reopened schools are going this is the rationale for reopening:

I was talking to a teacher friend and she is thinking about quitting. Her comment is that she has students in her school yanked out of class for Gestapo-like inspections to make sure their clothing goes close enough to the knee and for wearing spaghetti straps under a shawl but that requiring mask wearing is somehow interfering with personal choice. The current joke amongst her colleagues is calling this semester an "experiment with mortality". Anecdotal but I am hearing a lot of anecdotes.

That being said some of the school reopenings in Europe and Asia are going okay but most nations have had to shut down at least some schools and it is worth noting that their infection rates are generally much lower than the US rate. As a German friend of mine pointed out Berlin has had to shut down more schools than South Korea has active cases so the difference may be in the prevalence of infection and, of course, dumb luck.

In more entertaining news here are two people threatening to beat each other up but only in a socially responsible way (warning: profanity):

 

[Tacenda]

I personally know a gal that is a special education teacher. I guess her son got covid and so she did too...right before school would begin. She has no symptoms but because her son had it, she needed to see if she had, and she did. Now with the new changes coming down from the CDC on not having to test if you come into contact with someone with covid because you show no symptoms, proves this is insane. If this gal had not got tested she would have exposed a whole lot of people at the school. 

I think I live in a surreal reality while I watch things like this take place. What is wrong with people????

[The Nehor]

24 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I personally know a gal that is a special education teacher. I guess her son got covid and so she did too...right before school would begin. She has no symptoms but because her son had it, she needed to see if she had, and she did. Now with the new changes coming down from the CDC on not having to test if you come into contact with someone with covid because you show no symptoms, proves this is insane. If this gal had not got tested she would have exposed a whole lot of people at the school. 

I think I live in a surreal reality while I watch things like this take place. What is wrong with people????

https://apnews.com/d36e698786f971658301d2cf4f83ad61

[Calm]

Wearing masks may lower severity of Covid for the wearer if they get infected:

https://apnews.com/16cc7a31a327820b9bd1e56a89df5d49
 

Quote

While some droplets may still spread out, wearing a mask could reduce the amount, providing a benefit to others. Research shows people don’t get as sick when exposed to smaller amounts of virus, said Dr. Monica Gandhi, a virus expert at University of California, San Francisco....
 

And masks may protect the people wearing them by reducing the amount of droplets from others that might make contact with them.

In two U.S. food processing plants where masks were required and infection clusters occurred, Gandhi noted that most workers who developed COVID-19 had mild illness or no symptoms.

Research on a different coronavirus has also found low infection rates among people who frequently wore masks in public.

 

[longview]

On 8/19/2020 at 8:58 AM, bluebell said:

In my experience it's not even about being seen as being supportive (because many of them don't want people to think they are supportive of wearing masks), but solely about being compliant with mandates or store rules.

Dr. David Samadi, MD   @drdavidsamadi

 

As of today in America, 3,378,859 people have recovered from COVID-19. The media only reports the deaths and new case numbers, but please remember that the vast majority of people do survive. We must always be hopeful rather than spread negativity.

11:30 AM · Aug 29, 2020

[Tacenda]

One extended family member and another ex family extended posted or "liked" this meme! I can't even!

[pogi]

7 hours ago, longview said:

Dr. David Samadi, MD   @drdavidsamadi

 

As of today in America, 3,378,859 people have recovered from COVID-19. The media only reports the deaths and new case numbers, but please remember that the vast majority of people do survive. We must always be hopeful rather than spread negativity.

11:30 AM · Aug 29, 2020

Hope is good.  But realism (which sometimes includes negative facts ) is sometimes in order to squash the reckless influence of false hope like we see below:

21 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

One extended family member and another ex family extended posted or "liked" this meme! I can't even!

 

[longview]

2 hours ago, pogi said:

Hope is good.  But realism (which sometimes includes negative facts ) is sometimes in order to squash the reckless influence of false hope like we see below:

As Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, et all have demonstrated, instead of it being Defcon 5, now it is Defcon 1, and we all can get back to the business of living normally.  Now that the death rate is at 0.1% or lower.  Next time lets NOT allow the feds to give financial incentives for reporting "Covid" deaths.  It has become a joke.

[pogi]

1 hour ago, longview said:

As Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, et all have demonstrated, instead of it being Defcon 5, now it is Defcon 1, and we all can get back to the business of living normally.  Now that the death rate is at 0.1% or lower.  Next time lets NOT allow the feds to give financial incentives for reporting "Covid" deaths.  It has become a joke.

So you’re cool with #covidisover?

[Tacenda]

3 minutes ago, pogi said:

So you’re cool with #covidisover?

Pogi, now my friend posted this: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/08/30/heres-the-shockingly-small-number-of-people-who-died-from-just-the-coronavirus-n2575306?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=08%2F30%2F2020&bcid=d390945c18ca6e3375a961f72cd44b19&recip=5446182&fbclid=IwAR0aKhM4CG-c0fswar2pldauLG47MtrZa5CgdflNb83cSz6HlwZkgL8Gpdg

Do you know how true this is?

[pogi]

39 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Pogi, now my friend posted this: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bronsonstocking/2020/08/30/heres-the-shockingly-small-number-of-people-who-died-from-just-the-coronavirus-n2575306?utm_source=thdailypm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=08%2F30%2F2020&bcid=d390945c18ca6e3375a961f72cd44b19&recip=5446182&fbclid=IwAR0aKhM4CG-c0fswar2pldauLG47MtrZa5CgdflNb83cSz6HlwZkgL8Gpdg

Do you know how true this is?

I can’t verify the numbers, but the article is conflating comorbidities with multiple “causes of death”.  Morbidity does not mean mortality.  If some one dies with obesity, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, smoker (or even former smoker) etc. that is a comorbidity.  So if some one dies of an any infection and happened to be obese, that would be listed as a comorbidity - that doesn’t make it the cause of death if they would have likely lived otherwise.

 The people that are spreading this stuff are either entirely ignorant or intentionally deceptive.   How many people in America don’t have 1 single morbidity?   How many of those people would have died if it wasn’t for Covid?  I’ll leave that up to the doctors and coroners to decide, not these deceivers.

We report flu deaths the same way.  Nothing new here.  Once the death certificates are finalized, the numbers may change some over the next 6 months to a year.  If the person truly died from something else, that will work itself out.

Edited August 31, 2020 by pogi

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, pogi said:

I can’t verify the numbers, but the article is conflating comorbidities with multiple “causes of death”.  Morbidity does not mean mortality.  If some one dies with obesity, hypertension, elevated cholesterol, smoker (or even former smoker) etc. that is a comorbidity.  So if some one dies of an any infection and happened to be obese, that would be listed as a comorbidity - that doesn’t make it the cause of death if they would have likely lived otherwise.

 The people that are spreading this stuff are either entirely ignorant or intentionally deceptive.   How many people in America don’t have 1 single morbidity?   How many of those people would have died if it wasn’t for Covid?  I’ll leave that up to the doctors and coroners to decide, not these deceivers.

We report flu deaths the same way.  Nothing new here.  Once the death certificates are finalized, the numbers may change some over the next 6 months to a year.  If the person truly died from something else, that will work itself out.

Thanks Pogi!

[The Nehor]

16 hours ago, longview said:

As Sweden, Taiwan, South Korea, et all have demonstrated, instead of it being Defcon 5, now it is Defcon 1, and we all can get back to the business of living normally.  Now that the death rate is at 0.1% or lower.  Next time lets NOT allow the feds to give financial incentives for reporting "Covid" deaths.  It has become a joke.

When did so many people join a death cult and is there an option to opt out?

19 hours ago, Tacenda said:

 

I was naive. I once actually believed this post-truth idiocy would collapse in the face of a real crisis that actually impacts people en masse.

I am becoming more and more a believer that the world will end soon. Nibley made the comment once that it is not wickedness that is the great indicator. Wickedness is always around. It is deliberate stupidity that heralds the end. The wicked can repent. What can the stubbornly stupid do?

Edited August 31, 2020 by The Nehor

[Tacenda]

Thanks for the reply @The Nehor Just today another friend posted the second meme directly to me on FB, then I commented with the following link and c/p. I might be losing some friends over this!  https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/08/31/twitter-removes-claim-about-cdc-and-covid-19-coronavirus-deaths-that-trump-retweeted/?fbclid=IwAR2G_SGnScw2awpHJRRpQTiTl-gUojys-BIErN9GQuAxcQzR1o-jE1Im3i4#38e6506f3178 

And this one right below, is a c/p of research done by a scientist. 

 

[pogi]

17 hours ago, longview said:

Now that the death rate is at 0.1% or lower.  

CFR

 

 

[pogi]

3 hours ago, Tacenda said:

 

 

Great graph.  Thanks for sharing!

Of course the current estimation of 183,000 Covid deaths couldn't possibly be accurate and the increase of 196,000 deaths has some other explanation.  West Nile maybe?  Hmmm...  

Being sarcastic of course.

Edited August 31, 2020 by pogi

[bluebell]

2 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Thanks for the reply @The Nehor Just today another friend posted the second meme directly to me on FB, then I commented with the following link and c/p. I might be losing some friends over this!  https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/08/31/twitter-removes-claim-about-cdc-and-covid-19-coronavirus-deaths-that-trump-retweeted/?fbclid=IwAR2G_SGnScw2awpHJRRpQTiTl-gUojys-BIErN9GQuAxcQzR1o-jE1Im3i4#38e6506f3178 

And this one right below, is a c/p of research done by a scientist. 

 

I keep seeing this on Facebook too, but when you click on the CDC link it doesn’t actually say what the meme says it does. It’s stupid. 

[The Nehor]

"The patient didn't die of high blood pressure! Their heart gave out!" - People willing to be credulous idiots if it lets them believe what they wish

[pogi]

2 hours ago, bluebell said:

I keep seeing this on Facebook too, but when you click on the CDC link it doesn’t actually say what the meme says it does. It’s stupid. 

You mean that this guy  is tweeting reckless nonsense of life-threatening proportions:  

Quote

 

Only 6% of the "COVID" deaths are real according to CDC.

Masks OFF

Schools OPEN

 

 

Edited August 31, 2020 by pogi