Coronavirus

[Bicycle Bill]

BSG, I still consider the NY Times to be legitimate, responsible journalism and suspect that the articles you link to are well worth reading, but not all of us are willing or able to subscribe to the Times in order to get past their paywall.  Perhaps in future you could copy-and-paste the article, or at least the relevant parts of them?

-"BB"-

[Gob]

Is the virus racist?

There is "emerging evidence" to suggest coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on people who are black, Asian and minority ethnic.

Research suggests that more than a third of patients who are critically ill in hospital with the virus are from these backgrounds.

It comes after Labour called for an urgent investigation into why these communities are more vulnerable.

The government said it was committed to reducing health inequalities.

Only 14% of people in England and Wales are from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to the 2011 census.

However, the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre found that 34% of more than 3,000 critically ill coronavirus patients identified as black, Asian or minority ethnic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52255863

Or sexist?

This experience is familiar across the country. As Covid-19 cases surge, a startling report from the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) reveals that men account for 73 per cent of the more than 2,000 most seriously ill patients admitted to critical care units.

Outcomes for these patients, aged between 52 and 70, are not yet known as many remain in hospital. But this is not just a British phenomenon. Global Health 50/50, an initiative which campaigns for health equality between the sexes, has been collecting information on male and female coronavirus cases.

So far, it has reliable figures from 18 countries. In each, the proportion of men and women testing positive for Covid-19 remains roughly equal. But overwhelmingly more men are dying.

In Greece and Peru, 72 per cent of those who died with the virus are male. In Italy, 68 per cent of the deaths have been men, along with 64 per cent each in China, Denmark and Germany.

The UK data has not been updated since the end of March. However, it, too, seems to reveal the same stark picture – 61 per cent of more than 6,000 deaths have been men.

[MajGenl.Meade]

BSG, I still consider the NY Times to be legitimate, responsible journalism and suspect that the articles you link to are well worth reading, but not all of us are willing or able to subscribe to the Times in order to get past their paywall.  Perhaps in future you could copy-and-paste the article, or at least the relevant parts of them?

-"BB"-

Either I'm on my 3 free looks for the month - or the NYT coronavirus stories are free. Did you try a click?

[Lord Jim]

The NYT coronavirus virus articles are free; ditto the Wapo...

But not the WSJ, or the Boston Globe..

[Bicycle Bill]

Either I'm on my 3 free looks for the month - or the NYT coronavirus stories are free. Did you try a click?

I did and that thing popped up from the bottom and blocked the page; I assumed it was the paywall screen telling me I'd had my three free articles and it was time to pony up some cash.  Then I read about the coronavirus articles and info being available at no cost; just provide your e-mail and register — so I did.  Of course, this undoubtedly means my inbox will blow up with reminders to upgrade (and pay) for full access to everything .....

Although it looks like they only want a dollar a week, and the amount of money I've saved on gas by working from home and not having to drive in daily to the call center (as well as not stopping at the pub on the way back!) just in these past three weeks would no doubt easily cover subscribing for the rest of the year.

-"BB"-

[RayThom]

This is a sickening read - but one every good US citizen has an obligation to digest, I think. He Could Have Seen What Was Coming

Our Orange Mussolini did see it was coming. He just chose to ignore it knowing that he could easily blame the impeachment proceedings for distracting him.

The Chinese virus was all a Democrat plot to make the Big Grifter look bad in an election year. Everybody knows that.

[Lord Jim]

While many municipalities are reporting that at least one positive side-effect of the stay home orders has been a signficant drop in street crime, in Chicago gang bangers apparently see themselves as essential workers:

Despite a statewide shelter-in-place order to help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the city of Chicago is still facing high levels of gun violence.

“It’s like a double whammy. We are catching it double. We have the virus and the violence to worry about,” Rodney Phillips, a violence prevention outreach worker in Chicago tells TIME. “It’s just an uphill battle.”

Some police departments have seen crime rates fall since outbreaks emerged in their cities. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) reported a 20% dip in crime over the last two weeks of March after declaring a state of emergency over COVID-19. Los Angeles has also seen an 11% decrease in crime over the month of March.

In the week before the stay-at-home order was announced, 25 shootings were recorded in Chicago. In the first week since, there were 41 shootings; in the second week, there were 40. (In 2019, the same period — March 30 to April 5 — saw 28 shootings.)

https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2020 ... le-village

[BoSoxGal]

This is a particularly sad story of coronavirus which isn’t getting much airtime but NYT (which I think we resolved is allowing access to all coronavirus stories for free) has a good piece on it. Since this was published just a few days ago the numbers have jumped alarmingly.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytime ... n.amp.html

I’ve travelled through the Navajo Nation a few times - it’s stunningly gorgeous geography and really special people. I dearly hope the population isn’t devastated by this fucking virus.

[Bicycle Bill]

-"BB"-

[Lord Jim]

I've been trying to log into my bank (US Bank) on line this morning, and for awhile I was getting timed out, but now a message comes up saying they are experiencing "technical difficulties"...

I suspect that the number of people trying to log into see if they received their stimulus deposits (the first batch are supposed to have gone out on Friday) may have crashed the system...

[dales]

I've been trying to log into my bank (US Bank) on line this morning, and for awhile I was getting timed out, but now a message comes up saying they are experiencing "technical difficulties"...

Oh-Oh......that's who I bank with. Is my $1.98 safe?

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

I've been trying to log into my bank (US Bank) on line this morning, and for awhile I was getting timed out, but now a message comes up saying they are experiencing "technical difficulties"...

Oh-Oh......that's who I bank with. Is my $1.98 safe?

"Sorry, our system is currently unavailable. Please try again"

[dales]

WHEW!

I was just able to access my account info.

My $1.98 is safe!

[Lord Jim]

My $1.98 is safe!

Is that the money you won in the beauty contest?

[Joe Guy]

My guess is that $1.98 was the pay off he received on his Charles Manson life insurance policy.

[BoSoxGal]

This is worth 11 minutes of your time - just ignore Joe and Mika and hear what Dr. Osterholm has to say.

[Econoline]

While many municipalities are reporting that at least one positive side-effect of the stay home orders has been a signficant drop in street crime, in Chicago gang bangers apparently see themselves as essential workers:

Despite a statewide shelter-in-place order to help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, the city of Chicago is still facing high levels of gun violence.

In the week before the stay-at-home order was announced, 25 shootings were recorded in Chicago. In the first week since, there were 41 shootings; in the second week, there were 40. (In 2019, the same period — March 30 to April 5 — saw 28 shootings.)

Social Distancing: Extreme Sports Edition.

[BoSoxGal]

Brazilian researchers stopped a small study of the potential Covid-19 treatment, Chloroquine, after patients developed fatal heart complications.

The study of 81 patients in the Amazonian city of Manaus, saw half receive a high dose of 600 milligrammes of chloroquine twice daily for 10 days, while the remainder received 450 milligramme doses over five days.

Researchers began noticing heart arrhythmias in patients taking the higher dose after three days, and by the sixth day of treatment 11 patients had died, according to a report on medRxiv, an online pre-publication server for medical articles that have not undergone peer review.

While it was unclear if the deaths were from the coronavirus or the Chloroquine, the study was suspended and the surviving patients placed on the lower dose of chloroquine. The sample size was not large enough to determine the effectiveness of the lower dose.

“Preliminary findings suggest that the higher [chloroquine] dosage (10-day regimen) should not be recommended for COVID-19 treatment because of its potential safety hazards,” researchers wrote. “Such results forced us to prematurely halt patient recruitment to this arm.”

In the report, researchers said that despite being a safe drug and used for more than 70 years for malaria, Chloroquine might be toxic in the dosages recommended by Chinese authorities.

In addition to Chloroquine, all patients received the antibiotic azithromycin. Researchers were not able to independently assess the toxic role of azithromycin “because all patients were already using this antibiotic as per hospital protocol”.

“In a unique pandemic situation, health professionals have to choose between offering medical assistance and generating and reporting reliable data, a dichotomy that compromises the generation of good quality evidence for clinical management,” the report said.

“Global recommendations for COVID-19 are being made based on unpowered studies, however, and due to the chaotic urgency, such drugs are being prescribed in a compassionate manner given the severity of this disease.

“Our study raises enough red flags to stop the use of such dosage worldwide in order to avoid more unnecessary deaths.”

Thoughts, Darren?

[Bicycle Bill]

-"BB"-