March 31, 2020

Anybody remember Fountains of Wayne? Adam Schlesinger is in an induced coma due to coronavirus

https://twitter.com/JanetMaslin/status/1244855490850553858


More awful news. Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger is in a medically-induced coma due to COVID-19. He is 52.

Jonathan Demme, with his glorious ears, used this Kinks cover in “The Manchurian Candidate.”

Schlesinger, 52 and a Montclair native, has reportedly been on a ventilator for two weeks since becoming infected with COVID-19.

Schlesinger co-founded Fountains of Wayne in 1995 and released five albums with the band.

He is a three-time Emmy winner, having worked in television — from “Sesame Street” to “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” — and has written and produced for other bands, including his projects Ivy and Brooklyn-based Fever High.

He was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe in 1997 for writing the title track from the Tom Hanks film “That Thing You Do!” He was also nominated for two Tonys in 2008 for “Cry-Baby” the musical.

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/03/fountains-of-wayne-band-founder-nj-native-adam-schlesinger-in-coma-from-covid-19.html

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE- Better Things via
@YouTube


Here's wishing you the bluest sky
And hoping something better comes tomorrow
Hoping all the verses rhyme
And the very best of choruses, too
Follow all the doubt and sadness
I know that better things are on the way

March 30, 2020

Oh, ffs, the My Pillow guy at the coronavirus task force briefing.

Is he going to be making shitty face masks?

March 27, 2020

Treatment of 5 critically ill COVID patients with convalescent plasma (JAMA)

https://twitter.com/rkwadhera/status/1243612614975873024

*Preliminary* #COVID19 study in
@JAMA_current

- 5 critically ill pts. on mechanical ventilation
- All treated w/ convalescent plasma w/ #SARSCoV2 antibody
- In 4/5, SOFA score⬇, viral loads⬇, ARDS resolved
- All 5 stabilized, 3 at home
* Need an RCT

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763983?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=032720#.Xn5LBtcTflo.twitter

March 27, 2020

Stay-at-home order issued for North Carolina

Gov. Roy Cooper has ordered North Carolina residents statewide to stay at home starting at 5 p.m. Monday.

The order also bans gatherings of 10 or more people, Cooper said during a news conference on Friday afternoon.

Cooper called it “truly a matter of life or death.”

In North Carolina, there are more than 800 cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, in two-thirds of the state’s counties. Four people have died.


https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241469211.html?

March 27, 2020

Good news on the 206 antibodies scientists isolated from 8 COVID patients

https://twitter.com/davidrliu/status/1243377007016251400?s=21

Study of 206 monoclonal antibodies against #SARSCoV2 isolated from 8 #COVID19 patients. Some antibody clones are highly effective at neutralizing live SARS-CoV-2 virus in cells, suggesting that we now know human antibody sequences that would be effective COVID-19 drugs.

In addition, the authors observed interesting cross-reactivity of antibodies against SARS-CoV & MERS-CoV trimeric spike protein, but not against SARS-CoV & MERS-CoV spike receptor-binding domain, suggesting unusual antibody response viral specificity (2/2) biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Yes, very good news. There are now multiple reports of monoclonal (we know exactly which protein sequence needs to be manufactured) human (should be quite safe as drugs) antibodies that block the #SARSCoV2 virus that causes #COVID19. Same strategy as was used to treat Ebola.



https://twitter.com/davidrliu/status/1242958063243534336?s=21

Annotated table of current #COVID19 #COVID2019 therapeutics and vaccines in development, listing developer, clinical phase, timing, & sources, assembled by the @MilkenInstitute. Current tally: 71 therapeutics in development, and 47 vaccines in development. milkeninstitute.org/sites/default/…

March 26, 2020

Why is the Trump administration outbidding states on medical equipment?

https://twitter.com/LiamWBZ/status/1243252795966402561


NEW: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker emotionally rips into the Trump administration for out-bidding states on medical equipment: "I have had confirmed orders for millions of pieces of gear evaporate in front of us, and I can't tell you how frustrating it is." equipment




He told the Governors to handle it and when they do, he swoops in and outbids them. Wtf?

March 25, 2020

Representative Seth Moulton self-quarantines after experiencing symptoms of coronavirus

Representative Seth Moulton said Wednesday he has been experiencing symptoms consistent with coronavirus and may miss votes in the House in the coming days.

The Salem Democrat said in a press release that he began feeling poorly last Thursday, with a low grade fever and a tightness in his chest “to a degree I’ve never felt before.” He said he also experienced a sore throat, body aches, and “unusual fatigue," though no serious cough. He sought out medical attention and was told that his mild symptoms did not qualify him for a test.

“As the House doctor explained, I am “symptomatic,” but because the symptoms are minor and a test would not change my treatment protocol, my wife and I don’t qualify for tests," Moulton said. “As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, I will follow my doctors’ direction and continue to stay home and self-quarantine until I hit seven days after my symptoms started to improve and I do not have a fever for 72 hours.”


“Because the symptoms were mild that we’re experiencing, their prescription would be just to stay at home,” Moulton told the Globe. “And so that’s not going to change whether it’s coronavirus or something else, and therefore we shouldn’t take a test from someone who might need it more. But the point I’d like to make is that we absolutely should be tested if we’re symptomatic.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/03/25/nation/seth-moulton-self-quarantines-after-experiencing-symptoms-coronavirus/?camp=bg%3Abrief%3Arss%3Afeedly&rss_id=feedly_rss_brief&s_campaign=bostonglobe%3Asocialflow%3Atwitter

March 25, 2020

Scientists Hope Ebola Drug Can Be a COVID-19 Killer

It’s the “one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy” against COVID-19, according to World Health Organization officials. Two patients “near death” who recently took an experimental dose made remarkable recoveries. But it’s not the overhyped antimalaria drug being pushed by President Trump.

In February, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in partnership with the University of Nebraska announced a randomized, controlled clinical study of remdesivir that aims to enroll 440 participants at 37 different locations across the country. The study is aimed at seeing how the drug helps patients who have relatively more severe cases of COVID-19 than those with just mild symptoms. To qualify, participants need to have tested positive for COVID-19 and show signs that the disease has affected their lungs, as evidenced in chest X-rays or other signs of respiratory issues.

At least two of the patients involved in the NIH study were part of a group of 14 Americans (with an average age of 75) who tested positive for coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which had docked in Japan. The NIH characterized the patients as “near death,” but all of them survived after receiving the drug, an outcome that the Institutes called “amazing.” Still, the survival of those patients remains little more than a welcome anecdote and far short of proof that the drug itself was responsible for their recovery.

Scientists had already conducted some research on remdesivir against other members of the coronavirus family, like the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which broke out in 2012, and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome responsible for a 2003 epidemic in East Asia. Studies that took place in labs and on mice and Rhesus macaques found some promise that the drug could stop the viruses from replicating. Those kinds of studies fall short of the randomized human clinical trials that offer the best data about a drug’s safety and efficacy, but the previous research was enough to pique scientific interest in remdesivir’s performance in humans.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/coronavirus-scientists-hope-ebola-drug-remdesivir-can-be-a-covid-19-killer?ref=topic

March 24, 2020

The Gallup poll is just one poll . Their last couple polls have been outliers like Rasmussen.

Trump's approval rating is at 44.4% on 538.



Also, the rally round the flag effect

https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1242566039436754948

It’s called a rally around the flag effect. It’s a known artifact of crisis polling. Patience.

March 22, 2020

So Rand Paul got tested, then went to the gym and swam in the pool before he got his results

https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1241799144559251456

During the Senate GOP lunch today, Moran told colleagues that Rand was at the gym this morning, per two sources briefed on the lunch, and that he was swimming in the pool. Rand got his COVID-19 results back this morning.


https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1241820090804379654

We want to be clear, Senator Paul left the Senate IMMEDIATELY upon learning of his diagnosis. He had zero contact with anyone & went into quarantine. Insinuations such as those below that he went to the gym after learning of his results are just completely false & irresponsible!


Rand Paul is a shit tier human being.