20 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – September 11 2020”

  1. Joshua, during the vaccine trials, is the testing done mainly on sick people or a combination of both sick and healthy?

    As much as I would personally like to see a vaccine by the end of today, I just hope this isn’t going to be rushed. According to recent surveys, most would not take a vaccine right away. Certainly not until government officials (including the president) take a shot first!

    1. Good questions, Philip. I agree re first round. I think govt officials should be first by a physician that is honest so we know what they are getting is the vaccine. But then front line folks, especially medical

      As an aside, the ICU physician wife of Macs cousins son as of last I heard did not get covid from him. I’m praying this holds, but also my sins GF did not get from my son. Both have small apartments and of course were quarantined in them

      Joshua, I know with massive research that it all has to be conducted in priority order. Do you know is folks who are in closest exposure are being tracked to try and understand why they don’t get covid.

  2. Philip, while Phase 3 drug trials include sick people, Phase 3 vaccine trials do not. After all, being sick with Covid-19 means you already have the coronavirus. There’s nothing a vaccine can do at that point, other than perhaps make things worse as it adds burden to the immune system.

    Trials involve a mix of volunteers: Young, old, with and without preexisting health conditions, representation of different racial groups, gender, etc …

    Here’s a description from NIH of Phase 3 trials for Astra Zeneca’s investigational vaccine (note, AZ had to halt the trial this week).

    https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/phase-3-clinical-testing-us-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-begins

    1. Thanks Joshua. I didn’t realize that drug and vaccine trials were separate. I just hope that there is enough cultural diversity within the volunteers.

    1. Thanks Joshua. I apologize as had forgotten. Way too much to store in memory now it seems. I’m surprised that sons GF has not been contacted. But know she is only one although with son working for state would have thought more noticeable. Maybe the correlation is only a hope

  3. Observations this week, so far:

    1. U.S. cases are coming down. They’re well below last week’s median. I hope this is a trend. Deaths are down, too. But, we still have had 2 straight days over more than 1,000 deaths.

    2. Europe is seeing a significant spike in certain regions (though not all). France and Spain now surpass the U.S. in terms of population-weighted average of new daily cases. Only Spain thus far has seen a corresponding increase in deaths. But, I have noticed ICU usage and numbers of critically ill are increasing in France.

    1. The fact that she won’t quit means that she clearly has a love for teaching. At least it is certainly an honorable profession, especially during these trying times. I suspect in the foreseeable future it may be difficult recruiting new teachers for awhile so it helps to have the current crop to continue teaching for a bit longer at least.

      I wish your daughter well this academic year…and beyond!

    2. JPD….I’m heartsick. I truly am. I posted but you may not have seen that my olde daughter who is on school committee in her town voted with only one other for full remote only. It of course didn’t pass. They voted this as they attend SC meetings remotely.

      She received literally stacks of letters from teachers thanking her. These were one and two page letters….not just a quick thank you. She cried. We all cried. I am so disheartened with this country right now that I just don’t know what to thing.

      1. JPD…Remind your daughter that she needs to wear a mask in addition to the face shield!

        A face shield by itself does NOT provide adequate protection from what I heard recently on the tv news.

        1. And she should also get a flu shot as well! I have heard that some districts are considering it mandatory for teachers. I believe that is still in the “discussion” stage for now though.

    1. Thanks, Matt. I will read article as well as sourced links in the article and from what I can quickly see also sourced info within those articles

  4. Philip, you asked about Sweden. Some thoughts:

    After a very rocky start, Sweden has been doing better. This may relate to its messaging on voluntary measures regarding physical distancing/hygiene, and mandatory limits (<50) on group gatherings. These have been MUCH more consistent than the US federal government. Throughout the pandemic the Trump Administration has flouted coronavirus guidance regarding limits on gatherings and physical distancing. And, a large portion of the general public in the US has done the same; partying, rallies, and protests.

    Sweden has been stricter in enforcing physical distancing/crowd limits than most US states. From the outset Sweden shut down bars and fined restaurants for physical distancing infractions, and ensured crowd limits were complied with.

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