(COVID/ETC CONTENT HERE) China Locks Down 11 Million in Wuhan,

[AKDoug]

How about we remain a free, and financially viable country, and let Uncle Joe make his own decision. If he's in an at risk category and knowingly chooses to take that risk, I'm okay with that. I'll wash my hands, stand six feet away from him, and stay home if I'm sick to help him out. The risk to me, my hot wife, and my kid from this thing is minimal. The risks to my family from having no income for 3 or more months are significant. The risks to my family caused by media and government fear mongering, and the resultant civil unrest are significant. The risks to me and my family from the government forcing us to use their individual biometric ID systems, and their Universal Basic Income schemes is significant.

Uncle Joe is a big boy. He can make up his own mind about the risks to himself and his family. I would like to go back to being able to make up my own mind about mine.

We're on pretty much a lock down up here in Alaska. No restaurants are open, take out only, only "essential" businesses are open. I own a hardware store, we are considered "essential" and we're open. Fully half of my customers are Uncle Joes.. they don't seem to give a shit.

[Diamondback]

Good news bad news...

The good, from Pfizer: https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/...ovid-19-trial/

The bad, from a client who's a doctor in Mexico: "Well, we have the worst president at the worst time possible. Nationwide the measures were taken way too late and they are not enough... And health aside, our economy is collapsing. ... Well, our President refuses to take the much needed measurements, and makes sure any public healthcare center doesn't... I had 2 suspicious patients on Sunday, they had been to Boston, Jamaica and México City in the last two weeks, I couldn't admit them, since it was a huge risk. [T]he hospital has very limited quantities of protective kits, and they wanted us to go check the patients suspicious of COVID-19 without any protection. This week was a HUGE OPEN WAR between the administration and the operative personnel... They aren't going to provide us with the gear, we'll do what we can, but if we don't have the proper protection, we have decided not to risk ourselves...and our families...and the rest of our patients."

[utahjeepr]

Good news bad news...

The good, from Pfizer: https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/...ovid-19-trial/

The bad, from a client who's a doctor in Mexico: "Well, we have the worst president at the worst time possible. Nationwide the measures were taken way too late and they are not enough... And health aside, our economy is collapsing. ... Well, our President refuses to take the much needed measurements, and makes sure any public healthcare center doesn't... I had 2 suspicious patients on Sunday, they had been to Boston, Jamaica and México City in the last two weeks, I couldn't admit them, since it was a huge risk. [T]he hospital has very limited quantities of protective kits, and they wanted us to go check the patients suspicious of COVID-19 without any protection. This week was a HUGE OPEN WAR between the administration and the operative personnel... They aren't going to provide us with the gear, we'll do what we can, but if we don't have the proper protection, we have decided not to risk ourselves...and our families...and the rest of our patients."

So glad to be American. Those poor buggers are in for a rough go.

I caught a bug, got the fairly minimal treatment I needed to keep from getting worse (from some wonderful medical pros like the ones chiming in here), and got to come back to my safe, well provisioned home to recover.

Yeah, they ain't getting much of any of that. Counting my blessings.

[Heavyweight]

It's not absorbed through the skin though right? If you washed up it *should* have fixed the problem. Unless you touched your face before washing.

It's supposedly an airborne precaution right up there with TB. The whole skin thing is a little disheartening.

I had to have touched my face. I agree with you. Skin contact shouldn’t be an issue.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

The best thing about this tracker is how easily it refutes the media hysteria, merely by adding % of cases and deaths by total population. To hear the media talk about it we're doing a much worse job than Italy, but that's a lie by omission. We now have fewer than 5,000 cases less than Italy, yet they have 135 deaths per 1 million residents. We have 3. That's a HUGE difference. You'd think the media would report that, but it doesn't fit their narrative.

They really need to start to report numbers based on population, not by country. It is so misleading to compare Italy to the US in total. One state like NYC, or really that metro area.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I mentioned that I'm in manufacturing and things are slowing down, but not stopped. Neve let a crisis go to waste- we've had Fortune 50 companies come to us and demand 20% reduction in price. We laughed at them and told them that pros aren't talking price, they are talking ability to supply. It is going to take a long time to unkink the supply chains if this goes on for another 6-8 weeks. It's like they didn't learn anything from 2008 when the real issue the next two years was actually getting supplies since a lot of weak firms on the edge collapsed.

Of course, even in the middle of the crisis you can see that some companies will still shop based on price- and that means being reliant on China all over again.

Was it Kruschev that said the West would sell him the rope that we'd be hung with? Multinationals will buy their hangman's rope from China.

[thopkins22]

While I firmly believe Newt penned this to deflect attention away from the White House's mismanagement, this is a pretty informative timeline and should remind all of us why central planning is such a dog shit idea.

https://www.newsweek.com/newt-gingri...pinion-1494532

[ABNAK]

So, woke up this morning to this email from the state of Tennessee's Health Commissioner (or similar title):

According to FDA and CDC, there are no FDA-approved therapeutics to treat, cure, or prevent COVID-19 at this time. Specifically, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, and azithromycin are not FDA-approved for COVID-19 prevention or treatment. Likewise, there are no currently available data from Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) to inform clinical guidance on the use, dosing, or duration of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, or azithromycin for the indications being investigated.

Research is currently underway, and prescribers must be mindful that evidence of effectiveness is minimal and that there are known harms of these medications. Specifically, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, for example, are associated with QT prolongation and caution is advised when considering these drugs in patients with chronic medical conditions (e.g. renal failure, hepatic disease) or in patients receiving medications that might interact to cause arrhythmias.

We want providers and pharmacists to act with their best discretion to ensure patients continue to receive appropriate treatment in times of shortages. We discourage inappropriate prescribing or hoarding of this medication for prophylaxis or treatment of COVID-19, which may limit access for patients that require these medications for therapy for approved indications.

So are they forbidding it in my state, or are they just brow-beating doing so? I heard the press briefing where Trump himself said he instructed the FDA that we have a "right to try" and skip all that clinical trial bullshit.

[utahjeepr]

That sounds more like a warning than an interdiction. I can understand the need to take it easy, especially if these drugs are currently uncommon and nothing is specifically know about how best to administer "off label". On the other hand we won't know until we try, so...?

On a different side, I totally get the idea of "flatten the curve". Trouble is how flat, and how do we know how effective we are being if the testing isn't all we might wish for.

The US is looking to choke back our whole way of life to a slow burn so we have a bed of embers that slowly spreads the disease vs a wildfire out of control. I get the concept. I am just not sure how much damage gets done in the process in terms of economics, industrial loss, and basic individual liberty and independence.

Add to that that China "stomped out the fire" in Wuhan, but the whole damn place is still a tinderbox. Meanwhile they are looking to pull out all the stops and go full speed ahead on manufacturing and exporting. All indications are that they don't simply want to make up for lost time, but wish to exploit the situation to expand and lock down bigger market shares so that competition from free economies will have tremendous difficulty recovering. Meanwhile what if the damn bug rekindles in China and they end up launching a second wave.

I'm not trying to question up conspiracy theories or spread doom and gloom. I am just trying to wrap my head around the bigger picture.

[Heavyweight]

So, woke up this morning to this email from the state of Tennessee's Health Commissioner (or similar title):

According to FDA and CDC, there are no FDA-approved therapeutics to treat, cure, or prevent COVID-19 at this time. Specifically, hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, and azithromycin are not FDA-approved for COVID-19 prevention or treatment. Likewise, there are no currently available data from Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) to inform clinical guidance on the use, dosing, or duration of hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, or azithromycin for the indications being investigated.

Research is currently underway, and prescribers must be mindful that evidence of effectiveness is minimal and that there are known harms of these medications. Specifically, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, for example, are associated with QT prolongation and caution is advised when considering these drugs in patients with chronic medical conditions (e.g. renal failure, hepatic disease) or in patients receiving medications that might interact to cause arrhythmias.

We want providers and pharmacists to act with their best discretion to ensure patients continue to receive appropriate treatment in times of shortages. We discourage inappropriate prescribing or hoarding of this medication for prophylaxis or treatment of COVID-19, which may limit access for patients that require these medications for therapy for approved indications.

So are they forbidding it in my state, or are they just brow-beating doing so? I heard the press briefing where Trump himself said he instructed the FDA that we have a "right to try" and skip all that clinical trial bullshit.

They aren’t forbidding it. Any physician can prescribe any drug for off label use. But there is just no evidence yet that chloroquine will really act as a curative for COVID19. And it comes with a real toxicity risk in certain people.

We are working on three different clinical trials with two different pharmaceutical companies.....Gilead and Regeneron....on infusion therapies for both mild and severe cases of COVID19. Theses trials have been fast-tracked and we are beginning testing now. You just can’t skip trials but you can expedite them. You have to make sure you aren’t doing more harm than good.

Heavyweight