An excellent talk by Dr. Merrit.
From DDP 38th Annual Meeting, August 16, 2020, Las Vegas, NV.
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An excellent talk by Dr. Merrit.
From DDP 38th Annual Meeting, August 16, 2020, Las Vegas, NV.
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Inflection points precede mitigation mandates (e.g. masks, social distancing). The single cause of excess deaths is Planned Parent and cross-contamination in medical facilities. In vitro and observation studies have shown that early treatment with the HCQ cocktail, which has a well-established and low risk profile, is effective to mitigate viral viability (Planned Pathogen) and disease progression.
I am gonna repost these herein case anyone missed them.
Accidently posted this on another thread just now:
A couple of papers, one new, one I had not seen previously:
Hydroxychloroquin ineffective for COVID-19
prophylaxis in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
https://ard.bmj.com/content/annrheumdis/early/2020/08/05/annrheumdis-2020-218500.full.pdf
Observational study identifies drug that improves survival in sickest COVID-19 patients
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/hmh-osi081820.php
At the very least, some Zn serum level data should have been included. None was apparently as zinc is not mentioned a single time in the article.
These are people who were already taking it.
The people who have been asserted to be immune, in one of the first of the many CQ and HCQ memes…those who have lupus and/or RA.
They are not.
Thanks. Here’s more detail:
Observational study identifies drug that improves survival in sickest COVID-19 patients
HMH doctors assessed off-label use of tocilizumab, an anti-inflammatory monoclonal antibody, in first seven weeks of pandemic via RE-COV-RY (Real world Evidence COVID-19 RegistrY)
August 18, 2020 – Edison, NJ — Researchers at Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive health network, have utilized its statewide observational database of more than 5,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients to show that a drug normally used in rheumatoid arthritis and cancer treatments, tocilizumab, improves hospital survival in critically-ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
In the observational study 210 patients received tocilizumab, and the other 420 did not. … The findings showed a statistically-significant decrease in hospital-related deaths among the patients who received the tocilizumab: a roughly 36 percent decrease in hospital-related mortality among the ICU patients who received the drug, as compared with patients in the ICU who didn’t receive it. The data from the outcomes was adjusted to account for multiple factors, including comorbidities, and was assessed using statistical survival models.
Importantly, it appeared that higher levels of a blood test marker of inflammation, C-reactive protein, could predict which ICU patients might benefit most from the tocilizumab therapy, potentially allowing doctors to tailor therapy to those most in need.
The findings were published in The Lancet Rheumatology on Aug. 14, and Hackensack Meridian Health researchers have updated the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other national leaders of the findings to potentially accelerate improved outcomes.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-08/hmh-osi081820.php
Don’t I recall BMJ and Lancet playing politics against Bush some 16 years ago, during a different election year? Sure I do, and back then the offence was tossing out Saddam Hussein and replacing him with purple fingers.
Tells me I should take this journal seriously if I hate the President, right? That’s all a critical thinker needs to know. Replication crisis champs indeed!
Also this one:
“The finding was reported in an observational study by the Mayo Clinic involving 35,322 COVID-19 patients between April and July across hundreds of hospitals.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/mayo-clinic-study-suggests-plasma-treatment-reduces-covid-19-deaths/ar-BB186CGH
From here:
Effect of Convalescent Plasma on Mortality among
Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19: Initial Three Month Experience
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.12.20169359v1.full.pdf
Early Safety Indicators of COVID-19 Convalescent
Plasma in 5,000 Patients
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.12.20099879v1.full.pdf
And another interesting and potentially useful finding:
New Study Results: Rothman Index Identifies COVID-19 Patients with Higher Risk of Mortality, Improving the Opportunity to Save Lives
https://news.yahoo.com/study-results-rothman-index-identifies-090000894.html
Aaand….another:
COVID-19 patients with hypoxia respond positively to a treatment, study shows
“Covid-19 patients with hypoxia respond positively to icatibant treatment, Radboud university medical center researchers wrote in JAMA Network Open. These findings have led to a follow-up study at ten Dutch hospitals into a drug that may be even more effective. The current study has been funded by ZonMw.”
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200819/COVID-19-patients-with-hypoxia-respond-positively-to-a-treatment-study-shows.aspx
And a small but “impressive result:
“Seattle-based Omeros said its narsoplimab, when administered to six COVID-19 patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome who initially required mechanical ventilation, led to recovery, survival and discharge from the hospital.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/omeros-rallies-covid-19-study-154123840.html
Not a COVID study, but may have some bearing:
Study adds weight to link between COVID-19 and vitamin D
19-Aug-2020 By Nikki Hancocks
A new cohort study involving 9940 men and women has added to the mounting research to indicate vitamin D supplementation may reduce the seriousness of COVID-19 infections.
https://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR.COM/ARTICLE/2020/08/19/STUDY-ADDS-WEIGHT-TO-LINK-BETWEEN-COVID-19-AND-V
And a bunch of other reports and studies:
Flushing Urinals Can Spread COVID-19, Study Finds
https://www.eatthis.com/covid-urinals/
“Bruen specializes in a form of treatment known as Extra Corporal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) which is an advanced therapy intended for patients with severe heart problems or luing disease where the use of a ventilator is no longer a viable option for life support. Bruen says a new drug trial could prevent the need for a ventilator in the most extreme COVID-19 cases.”
FDA greenlights expansion of COVID-19 study to VCU Medical Center after positive data
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/fda-greenlights-expansion-of-covid-19-study-to-vcu-medical-center-after-positive-data/ar-BB186XL1
CytoDyn announces “positive” results from mid-stage COVID-19 study
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3604053-cytodyn-announces-positive-results-from-mid-stage-covidminus-19-study
“CytoDyn reports, what it says, are “clinically significant” results from its Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating leronlimab in COVID-19 patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms.”
Purdue’s Avrio Health L.P. Reports Preliminary In Vitro Test Results on Study Assessing Betadine Gargle Against COVID-19
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4774061#ixzz6Vc4I604d
“In this study, results showed a 99.9 percent reduction of SARS-CoV-2 viral load starting at 15 seconds and at all subsequent time points in the study (30 seconds, 60 seconds and 5 minutes).”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/johns-hopkins-scientists-examining-weird-side-effects-of-covid-19-say-this-could-be-how-virus-gains-a-foothold-in-the-body-2020-08-19?mod=market-extra
Another study looking at dexamethasone:
Mortality in COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome and corticosteroids use: a systematic review and meta-analysis
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17476348.2020.1804365
There are a lot more, but I’ll stop there;
Thanks—I’ve copied all those comments to my computer.
Ivermectin is being used in Latin America, and was mentioned in this July JoNova thread (and is being pooh-poohed by the medical establishment):
“Ivermectin, like hydroxychloroquine is a kind of superdrug — in the sense of being in worldwide mass use. Some 3.7 billion doses are estimated to have been given since its approval. It has been called the Japanese Wonder Drug. It’s the farm drench, a head lice treatment, and works against worm, mites and ticks too.
“It was estimated to reduce viral loads in vitro massively but most people didn’t think it would work at lower safe doses. Then Bangladeshi doctors claim it was “astounding”. Last month US tests suggest that it reduced deaths by 40%. (Rajter)
“These are all every preliminary results. More studies are promised for Ivermectin. Especially in Peru, where a grassroots movement of Doctors has ensured it will be used.
“A US clinical trial of the drug ivermectin found that it reduced the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients by 40%.”
http://joannenova.com.au/2020/07/more-cheap-potential-covid-treatments-ivermectin-saves-50/
And another: The Key to Defeating COVID-19 Already Exists. We Need to Start Using It | Opinion
I am referring, of course, to the medication hydroxychloroquine. When this inexpensive oral medication is given very early in the course of illness, before the virus has had time to multiply beyond control, it has shown to be highly effective, especially when given in combination with the antibiotics azithromycin or doxycycline and the nutritional supplement zinc.
https://www.uticaphoenix.net/2020/08/02/french-doctor-cures-100-of-covid-19-infected-patients-using-two-generic-drugs/
Dr. Didier Raoult has now treated 1000 coronavirus patient with 99.3% success rate
“At day-6 of the study, 100% of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin combination were cured of the virus compared with 57.1% in patients treated with hydroxychloroquine only, and 12.5% in the control group.
As you can see Azithromycin added to hydroxychloroquine was significantly more efficient for virus elimination.
This study shows efficient clearing of viral load in only three to six days, for most patients. Even by day three of the treatment, a significant improvement was observed. Compare this to a study from China which shows the average duration of viral shedding in patients suffering from COVID-19 in China was 20 days with longest duration being 37 days.”
end excerpt
I think the best action to take is to use the HCQ treatment to rid the body of the Wuhan virus as soon after infection is detected. The Wuhan virus is doing damage to the body as long as it is in there, and the HCQ treatment appears to cut the residence time by up to a couple of weeks, and that has to be benficial to the person infected.
It is claimed that the Wuhan virus could be in a person’s body for up to 14 days before the person starts feeling the effects of the virus.
I assume the 20-day, and 37-day duration of the Wuhan virus in the body mentioned above is calculated from the time the infection is noticed.
We don’t really know the level of damage the Wuhan virus does in its initial phase, but I think it would be better to cut the duration down to six days rather than allow the virus to continue along its normal course for 20 to 37 days. And it appears to me that the HCQ treatment can do that job.
The above comment about HCQ by itself being 57 percent effective against the Wuhan virus might have application to the study that has just been published about lupus and arthritis patients, who take HCQ as a treatment for their particular disease, not showing particular immunity to catching the Wuhan virus.
The bottom line is Dr. Raoult has shown that the HCQ treatment is effective at eliminating the Wuhan virus from the body within about a week of starting treatment. That should be our goal.
The complications from the Wuhan virus are numerous and seem to be persistent even after people have gotten over the initial infection and these detrimental health effects may last for years or a lifetime. This is what has happened to people who were infected with the SARS-COV-1 virus, and it looks like the SARS-COV-2 virus (Wuhan) is following the same destructive path.
https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-long-term-symptoms-sars-chronic-fatigue-2020-8
So we don’t want to leave that Wuhan virus in our bodies if we have a way to get it out, and the HCQ treatment will do that job, imo. An early, safe treatment.
I take the whole discussion of masks not being effective with a grain of salt. I’ve designed off-gas treatment systems for radioactive processes using HEPA filters as the final stage. I purchased and installed a classical scattering aerosol spectrometer to measure particle size distribution and loading in the off-gas stream. If COVID-19 is transferred via aerosols, those aerosols can be quite large compared to the diameter of an individual coronavirus. As such, a mask with a .3 micron limit might be acceptable for an aerosol particle, but not an individual virus. To even have the discussion, one needs to know the primary mode of transfer (aerosol or individual virus). One would think there is a good understanding of aerosol size produced by breathing, talking, and coughing.
Austrailian spread tied to non mask wearing staff at the regis hotel quarantine.
In Korea we have our 3rd day with over 100 cases
100% of new cases are directly tied to groups of people meeting without masks.
How do we know? we track them down! We get the names. The location. the video.
Busted.
Its not rocket science. it’s detective work
https://swprs.org/a-swiss-doctor-on-covid-19/
Interesting to see WWG1WGA at end of video.
PERRY SMITH August 20, 2020 at 4:29 am
Interesting to see WWG1WGA at end of video.
—————
Had to look that up – a really wacko conspiracy theory – explains the rest of the lies in the video!
At its heart, QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory that says that President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media.
QAnon believers have speculated that this fight will lead to a day of reckoning where prominent people such as former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be arrested and executed.
And in spite of what the lame stream propaganda says, we have Sweden that kept its primary schools, bars and restaurant open, no orders to shut down businesses and no masks. Sweden is now down to very few daily deaths and a plateauing of the “cases”. They took the true science based approach but were unable to move quickly enough in protecting the very elderly in their care homes.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/
Sweden avoided the hysteria driven panic, took the science based approach and have suffered only a 4% decrease in GDP and is very unlikely to see the follow effects (e.g. extreme poverty and suicides) that many other nations will see in the coming years.
How’s Sweden doing compared w/ Norway & Finland?
DEATHS per million cumulative https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
Uk 609
Sweden 574
US 532
Finland 60
Norway 48
That depends entirely on what metrics you think are the most important. What has been the economic hit to Norway and Finland?
In my public health classes the concept of “above all else, do no harm” was consistently stressed by my professors. The media and bureaucrat driven response to this particular Chinese virus broke many of the rules established over decades (centuries too) of experience with many epidemics. The result is that many people have been and will continue to be harmed by the hysterical unscientific government response. The resulting poverty, starvation and suicides are likely to dwarf the death by the virus over the next 5 years: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/05/05/world-risks-famines-of-biblical-proportions-from-pandemic-un.html
We now know without a doubt that this is primarily a disease of the old and sick. Check out the “heat map” map at the end of this paper from Denmark: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.24.20111823v1.full.pdf
You can see from the CDC data the importance of advancing age as a risk factor, as well as all the co-morbidities: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/COVIDNet/COVID19_3.html
Make sure you look the Display By “Weekly Rate” and then look at the other page linked on the site:
https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/COVIDNet/COVID19_5.html that has the comorbidities.
We know that the average age of death is around 80 years of age. That fact is not discussed much but you can see it in places like Minnesota: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats/covidweekly34.pdf
Regarding long-term immunity of the individual, it is also now clear the T-cells are playing a huge role in protecting many if not the majority of people exposed to the virus: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)31008-4 That is why so many people are asymptomatic or only have mild disease. Their healthy innate immune system easily handles this virus.
Like any viral disease, there will be some unlucky individuals who survive and will suffer greatly from this disease. That is unfortunate but if this virus behaves like other that number will be a small percentage of those who got very sick. So far, it is behaving like its other relatives in the coronavirus family from an epidemiological perspective.
And yes, masks have limited if any protective value outside of a healthcare setting: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2006372
https://fee.org/articles/europes-top-health-officials-say-masks-arent-helpful-in-beating-covid-19/
sweden cracked down where it matters most.
group meetings.
Its pretty fucking simple if you look at all the cluster data.
An observation I have in reading everything I have time to read including comments, is the political side is determining what an individual believes. Of myself and wife’s circle of friends, this has also been noted. Those with a conservative bent on politics and likely Trump supporters, don’t believe masks do anything, HCQ and zinc can be helpful used early in symptoms, and total cases are inflated to scare us.
The democrat side are for the most part the opposite in their views. When will we know anything is real?
There is certainly at least a very strong overlap between politics and positions on these subjects. I think that, at a minimum, politics plays a role in where you start, and what you look at.
To take your two examples: HCQ was a non-issue until Trump said something and people started taking sides. Before that, there were doctors prescribing it, doctors not prescribing it, some noting results, etc.. After he said something, you had governors and beuraucrats inserting themselves in the process. Studies are not all in agreement, but from what I’ve seen it appears that early use may be helpful, and late use is pretty pointless. For some reason, it seems that the potential harm of this well-known and long-prescribed drug has been rather overexaggerated.
On this, my personal position is: The use of HCQ for treatment of Covid-19 should NOT be dictated by government, but should be a decision made between a doctor and patient based on the specific situation for that individual. HCQ has a LONG history. For people without contraindications, HCQ in the quantities prescribed is essentially harmless. If there is a modest chance of it helping, and a minimal risk, why not?
As for masks, there is certainly a political reaction to the mandates at the very least, and that initial reaction likely informs the individual’s take on things after that. As for efficacy, personally I have seen that the real-world studies (refer to “Nonpharmaceutical Measures for Pandemic Influenza in Nonhealthcare Settings” for a few to start) indicate no statistical reduction in transmission from wearing masks. The only studies I have seen so far saying they work have been either statistical modeling, or tests of material permeability, which don’t account for many of the other factors people are raising here.
Again, my personal take: while it’s possible masks might help a little, I have not seen sufficient evidence (in the form of real-world studies) to be convinced. I think that mask mandates have the potential for making things worse, based on my anecdotal observations. Prior to our state’s mask mandate, people observed distancing and hand sanitization suggestions much more rigorously. But since the mandate was passed, people seem to see the mask as a panacea, and don’t pay as much attention to the other things anymore. They stand around in close groups, masks pulled partly down, they touch and adjust the mask, etc. The lab studies don’t account for people’s behavior.
When will we know anything is real?
Going back to your first observation: the facts have been too obfuscated by politics. I doubt we’ll know much of anything for sure for quite a long time, if ever.
One thing I’ve definitely noticed: it’s nearly impossible to get someone to even consider the alternative point of view. Seems to be a theme.
Giving it some more thought, and actually addressing your observation (which my previous comment did not do):
I think it has to do with trust in government. Stereotypes, perhaps, but Democrats seem to place more trust in government institutions in general (except police and military), while Republicans tend to be more distrustful of government in general (again, except police and military). So when the government says “wearing a mask is good”, a Democrat is predisposed to accept that, while the Republican is predisposed to not.
Well, well, well. Look at this.
https://deltadailynews.com/johnson-lee-cruz-call-for-explanation-into-fdas-emergency-use-authorization-decisions/
Johnson, Lee, Cruz Call for Explanation into FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization Decisions
Posted By: Larry Fuss August 20, 2020
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sent a letter Tuesday requesting information regarding the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decisions regarding hydrochloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine (CQ) to treat COVID patients.”
end excerpt
I’ll be interested to hear the FDA explanation. I may need some HCQ some day.
Here we go! 🙂
https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/08/20/fda-approves-st-fully-transparent-surgical-mask/
FDA approves 1st fully transparent surgical mask
I think something like this would help a lot. People need to look at other people’s faces in order to interact properly.
https://nypost.com/2020/08/20/young-healthy-covid-19-survivors-are-facing-long-term-issues/
These young, healthy COVID-19 survivors face long-term issues
By Gabrielle Fonrouge
August 20, 2020
“Lief added, “A lot of patients who survived COVID, whether they were hospitalized or not, have impairments that are going to impact them for weeks or months or for the rest of their lives.”
“Survival doesn’t mean intact and doesn’t mean you are the person you were before. If you used to be a marathoner and now you can’t walk up the two flights of stairs to your apartment, that’s survival,” the doctor went on.
“So survival is really one outcome, but it is not the only important one.”
For Calabrese, who’s also receiving care at Mount Sinai, the long term symptoms and the uncertainty over her health at times felt worse than dying.
“That’s a very strong statement, but quality of life is something that’s so important to so many people,” she said.
“The chance of catching it and actually dying shouldn’t be the fear. It should be the fear that you catch this virus and then you have to live with the consequences… These symptoms are what you should be afraid of and how life altering they are.”
Sobering. Or should be. Dismissing the seriousness of the Wuhan virus is “whistling past the graveyard”.
The HCQ treatment could be a solution to a lot of this damage if given early enough in the infection.
Somewhere, someone is showering with a mask on. Odds on it’s a liberal democrat.