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Remdesivir and other drug development

The threat of Covid-19 will begin to look a little better when we have effective treatments to offer ill patients. And the sooner they can pass the critical safety and effectiveness tests, the better. Several companies have drugs in varying stages of testing and development. All medications have to run a gauntlet before approval is granted: …

Covid-19 cases surge in states without stay-at-home orders

Public health officials regard nothing happening as a success because that means the measures they put in place worked. Instituted early and followed, stay-at-home orders will significantly slow the spread of an infectious disease. Seattle and San Francisco are examples of the salutary effect of early stay-at-home orders and good compliance. …

Covid-19 is now officially the second leading cause of death

Whoa, Covid-19 is now the second leading cause of death in the US when we look at deaths per week for April 6 to 12. Heart disease 12,626 Covid-19 12,392 Cancer 11,437 COPD 3,279 Accidents 2,911 Next week I fully expect Covid-19 to officially become the official leading …

The CDC–FEMA draft plan to re-open

Lots of chatter about reopening the economy right now. Here is the awesome good and well-thought CDC–FEMA draft document. Below are my notes in order of the document: The stay-at-home mitigation is working to flatten the curve (lower the number of new cases) but the economic cost must be balanced with the need to protect lives. Leaders …

Covid, grocery shopping, and food safety

Vox.com has an excellent interview with a food safety expert Ben Chapman. Here is the link to his food safety podcast. The second source is Dr. Donald Schaffner from Rutgers and his article in sciencealert.com. Both of them agree with the tag line: "Food isn't the problem, people are." The biggest risk is people's contact in the store. To …

This marks the end of the Covid-19 posts and the start of my blog on aging and taking control of our own end-of-life.

Start by learning how long will you live

When people think about their life expectancy, most people remember a number from the US Life Tables. They often remember “life expectancy is 76.1 years for a man and 81.1 years for a woman. That is true for a hypothetical baby born in 2019 and estimating forward using current mortality rates. But you are not a newborn. Take a closer look at …

How will we know if social distancing works?

If social distancing, wearing masks, and shelter in place work, then nothing will happen. No infections, no deaths. Or, at least, many fewer infections and deaths than we would have had had we not practiced social distancing, shelter in place. To be infected, you need to be exposed to someone who is infected. No exposure, no infection. Dr. …

Five steps to hack your own covid-19 vaccine

Covid-19 is a brutal disease that has uprooted our lives. But we need not feel powerless. Most of us do have quite a bit of control over our risk of catching this infection. (Tragically by dint of occupation or socio-economic class or work requirements, not all of us.) Think of these ___ steps as hacking your own (temporary) vaccine. …

What if more people have been infected with covid-19 than we think?

As we begin to think about returning to normal school and business, it is essential that we understand how many of us have been infected, which (hopefully) would give us immunity to future infections. Remember, we need 60% to 70% of a population exposed and infected or vaccinated and immune before we can really be safe. This week's The …

Tests for Covid-19 and why we need them

We desperately need millions of tests and adequate test supplies before we can get ahead of this infection. We need to know who is infected so we can strictly isolate them and to protect our first responders, and we need to know who has been infected and presumably has immunity so they can return to work and so we can understand the spread of the …

How one minimally symptomatic person, a funeral and birthday party led to 12 infections and 3 deaths

From today's Wash Post, required reading on the dangers associated with gathering together or how one minimally symptomatic person attending a funeral and a birthday party led to twelve Covid-19 infections and three deaths. Plus undoubtedly many others who have not yet been traced. Person A1 attended a pre-funeral dinner with the family and …