Australians seem yet to grasp the Federal Government’s newly-imposed social distancing measures.

Thousands of beachgoers came under fire on Friday for flocking to Sydney’s Bondi Beach despite Prime Minister Scott Morrison banning outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people and non-essential indoor gatherings of more than 100 people.

Their behaviour left the rest of the world – and many Aussies – dumbfounded, and prompted NSW Police Minister David Elliott to temporarily close the beach.

The move comes after Health Minister Greg Hunt on Friday slammed the beachgoers and local council for not following self-isolation directions.

“Around the country people are generally taking enormous strides but what happened in Bondi was unacceptable and the local council must take steps to stop that occurring,” he said.

“Our message to local council is this is all of our responsibilities, each of us as individuals, groups and families.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and health authorities have been urging Australians to observe social distancing by staying at least 1.5 metres apart.

Read more:

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-no-one-abiding-by-socialdistancing-measures/news-story/

According to Donald Trump's latest theory, millennials are to blame for the spread of the coronavirus. But as DW's Joel Dullroy argues, it's precisely that generation which is making sacrifices for today's baby boomers.

The only welcome victim of coronavirus will be the myth of the 'entitled millennial.' Let us hear no more accusations of individualism, selfishness and over-avocado-eating from older generations. Many baby boomers now owe their lives to the selflessness of the young.

The civic restrictions introduced across Europe in recent days are intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, and keep hospital beds and respirators available for critical cases. But this lock-down will also rob a generation of education and income. Even if the restrictions last only a month as planned, the effects will linger in the economy for years. Jobs have already been lost, businesses shuttered and careers curtailed.

This coronavirus lock-down is a massive demonstration of inter-generational sacrifice. While the virus affects people of all ages, it is most dangerous and deadly for the weak, the ill and the old. We are consciously overreacting to save the lives of the most vulnerable. And so we should. But let us be clear — many young people are giving up their livelihoods so that the old may live.

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-coronavirus-has-killed-the-entitled-millen...

As an old drunken (what else is there to do in a lockdown situation?) kook, Gus says thanks to the millennials that we have pampered like rotten kids and given everything they know to press buttons with... Now, where did I hide the aspirin...?

The character, named Susana Distancia (a play on the words 'healthy distance'), appeared in a government health video, urging citizens to keep at least 1.5 meters from each other in public places.

The character is represented in a see-through bubble of a "healthy distance," being attacked by sinister-looking coronaviruses. The germs, however, fail to penetrate the distance bubble while Susana Distancia urges people to follow her advice.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/483766-mexico-coronavirus-distance-mascot/

Read from top.

Yesterday (March 19), President Donald Trump boasted about the "very encouraging results" of two drugs called chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for the novel coronavirus, claiming that the medications have "gone through the approval process" and that "we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately."

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) swiftly issued a statement to clarify that, no, these drugs are not approved as treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Both drugs are approved to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, but must still be assessed in clinical trials before being declared a safe and effective COVID-19 treatment. Doctors in the U.S. have wide latitude to prescribe drugs "off-label," meaning for conditions beyond their initial FDA approval.

"We understand and recognize the urgency with which we are all seeking prevention and treatment options for COVID-19. FDA staff are working expeditiously on that front," FDA commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said in the statement. "We also must ensure these products are effective; otherwise we risk treating patients with a product that might not work when they could have pursued other, more appropriate, treatments."

So could drugs for malaria and lupus actually cripple the novel coronavirus? 

Possibly — and here's why.

—Coronavirus in the US: Map & cases 

—What are the symptoms? 

—How deadly is the new coronavirus? 

—How long does virus last on surfaces? 

—Is there a cure for COVID-19? 

—How does it compare with seasonal flu? 

—How does the coronavirus spread? 

—Can people spread the coronavirus after they recover?

First developed in the 1940s, chloroquine earned FDA approval as a malaria treatment in 1949 and long stood as the go-to treatment for the disease, according to the DrugBank database. 

Scientists raised the possibility that chloroquine and its derivative hydroxychloroquine might be effective at treating COVID-19 after reviewing a 2005 report published in the journal Virology, which examined the related virus SARS-CoV, Dr. Len Horovitz, an internist and pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told Live Science. The study revealed that chloroquine could prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV virus, which caused severe acute respiratory syndrome nearly 20 years ago, in primate cells grown in culture.

Chloroquine interferes with the virus's ability to replicate in two ways. First, the drug enters compartments called endosomes within the cell membrane. Endosomes tend to be slightly acidic, but the chemical structure of the drug boosts their pH, making the compartments more basic. Many viruses, including SARS-CoV, acidify endosomes in order to breach the cell membrane, release their genetic material and begin replication; chloroquine blocks this critical step.

The drug also prevents SARS-CoV from plugging into a receptor called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2, on primate cells, according to the 2005 report. When the virus inserts its spike protein into the ACE2 receptor, it sets off a chemical process that alters the structure of the receptor and allows the virus to infect. An adequate dose of chloroquine appears to undermine this process, and in turn, viral replication in general, the authors noted.

"It was thought that whatever pertained to SAR-CoV-1 might apply to SARS-CoV-2," Horovitz said.

Related: 11 deadly diseases that hopped across species 

In February, a research group led by virologist Manli Wang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences put the idea to the test and found that chloroquine successfully stopped the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in cultured human cells. Preliminary reports from China, South Korea and France suggest that the treatment is at least somewhat effective in treating human patients, and some hospitals in the U.S. have begun administering the drug, according to The New York Times. In addition, the FDA is organizing a large clinical trial to formally assess the drug's effects, the Times reported.

However, due to a short supply of chloroquine in China, and the fact that an overdose can lead to acute poisoning or death in humans, Wang's team also investigated the closely related drug hydroxychloroquine. Though it shares a similar structure, hydroxychloroquine shows lower toxicity in animals than its chemical cousin and remains widely available as a treatment for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, the authors noted. 

Wang's team tested hydroxychloroquine in primate cells and found that, like chloroquine, the drug prevented SARS-CoV-2 replication, according to a report published March 18 in the journal Cell Discovery. As of Feb. 23, seven clinical trials had been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry to test the drug's effectiveness against COVID-19 infection, the authors noted. 

In the U.S., the University of Minnesota is studying whether taking hydroxychloroquine can protect people living with infected COVID-19 patients from catching the virus themselves, according to the Times. 

Both chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been in short supply since earlier this month, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. But on March 19, the pharmaceutical company Bayer donated 3 million tablets to the federal government, and Novartis, Mylan and Teva are moving to follow suit, according to FiercePharma. 

Although we won't know the results of these trials for some time, the advantage of trying out chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 treatments is that the drugs' safety profiles are well understood, Horovitz said. Both drugs are generally well tolerated at prescribed doses but can cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, headache and more rarely, itchiness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). When taken in high doses over many years, the drugs can cause a rare eye condition known as retinopathy.

Both medications can interact with other drugs and doses should be adjusted to account for drug interactions. Those with psoriasis should not take either drug, the CDC notes. In their current form, the drugs are also not safe for those with heart arrhythmia, or those with impaired kidneys or liver, the Times reported. 

Assuming the drugs are well tolerated in clinical trials and seem effective at treating COVID-19, the FDA will take measures to increase the nation's supply, according to Hahn.

"If clinical data suggests this product may be promising in treating COVID-19, we know there will be increased demand for it," Hahn said in the FDA statement. "We will take all steps to ensure chloroquine remains available for patients who take it to treat severe and life-threatening illnesses such as lupus." 

•  Going viral: 6 new findings about viruses 
•  The 12 deadliest viruses on Earth 
•  Top 10 mysterious diseases 

Originally published on Live Science. 

This is reasonable information. But this Video from February 25, 2020 by Professor Didier Raoult, was censored by the French Ministry of Health.

The French "reference daily" (sic) Le Monde, Facebook France and the French Ministry of Health undertook to censor the video of Professor Didier Raoult, one of the world’s most renowned infectiologists, because by announcing the existence of a proven drug in China against Covid-19, he highlighted the lack of a medical basis for the measures taken by President Macron [6]. The drug in question: chloroquine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=100&v=8L6ehRif-v8&feature=emb_logo

The dosage is important as some "Nigerians" self-medicating with chloroquine "died" of an overdose....

See also:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article209501.html

A Florida man diagnosed with coronavirus claims he was saved from certain death by an anti-malaria drug touted as a possible treatment by President Trump.

Rio Giardinieri, 52, told Los Angeles’ Fox 11 that he struggled with horrendous back pain, headaches, cough and fatigue for five days after catching COVID-19, possibly at a conference in New York.

Doctors at the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in South Florida diagnosed him with the coronavirus and pneumonia and put him on oxygen in the ICU, he told the outlet.

After more than a week, doctors told him there was nothing more they could do and, on Friday evening, Giardinieri said goodbye to his wife and three children.

“I was at the point where I was barely able to speak and breathing was very challenging,” Giardinieri said. “I really thought my end was there.”

Then a friend sent him a recent article about hydroxychloroquine, a prescription drug that’s been used to treat malaria for decades and auto-immune diseases like lupus.

Overseas studies have found it to be promising as a treatment for COVID-19, though it hasn’t been approved by health officials.

Trump last week said he was instructing the FDA to fast-track testing of hydroxychloroquine and a related drug, chloroquine, as treatment for COVID-19.

Giardinieri said he contacted an infectious disease doctor about the drug.

“He gave me all the reasons why I would probably not want to try it because there are no trials, there’s no testing, it was not something that was approved,” said Giardinieri.

“And I said, ‘Look, I don’t know if I’m going to make it until the morning,’ because at that point I really thought I was coming to the end because I couldn’t breathe anymore,” Giardinieri continued.

“He agreed and authorized the use of it and 30 minutes later the nurse gave it to me.”

After about an hour on an IV with the medicine, Giardinieri said, it felt like his heart was beating out of his chest and, about two hours later, he had another episode where he couldn’t breathe.

He says he was given Benadryl and some other drugs and that when he woke up around 4:45 a.m., it was “like nothing ever happened.”

He’s since had no fever or pain and can breathe again. Giardinieri said doctors believe the episodes he experienced were not a reaction to the medicine but his body fighting off the virus.

Giardinieri, the vice president of a company that manufactures cooking equipment for high-end restaurants in Los Angeles, said he had three doses of the medicine Saturday and is hoping to be discharged from the hospital in five days.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/03/22/florida-man-with-coronavirus-says-drug-tou...

Read post above and from top. If you wonder why Wuhan has been re-opened and that China has not any new cases of coronavirus to report, it is because rather than spent time on searching for a vaccine, they tested various "old" drugs, including chloroquine and other derivatives such as hydroxychloroquine...

------

..."The Council of State therefore took matters into its own hands. It forced the population of Hubei’s capital, Wuhan, to remain confined to their homes. Within days, it built hospitals; sent teams to each house to take the temperature of each inhabitant; took all potentially infected people to hospitals for testing; treated those infected with chloroquine phosphate and sent others home; and treated the critically ill with recombinant interferon Alfa 2B (IFNrec) for resuscitation. This vast operation had no public health necessity, other than to prove that the Communist Party still has the heavenly mandate."

Read more:

https://www.voltairenet.org/article209501.html

The way Italy registers deaths explains their increased coronavirus case/fatality ratio, according to one expert and a report from Italy’s National Institute of Health (ISS).

Citing this report (in English here), Professor Walter Ricciardi, scientific adviser to Italy’s minister of health said:

The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus […] On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 per cent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 per cent of patients who have died have at least one pre-morbidity – many had two or three,”

This has been reported widely, it was even in The Telegraph, and yet no one seems to be engaging with it.

The president of the Italian Civil Protection Service actually went out of his way to remind people of the nature of Italy’s fatality figures in a morning briefing on 20/03:

I want you to remember these people died WITH the coronavirus and not FROM the coronavirus”

What does this actually mean?

It means that the Italian death toll figures could have been artificially inflated by up to 88%. If true, this would mean the total number of Italians who have actually died of Covid19 could be as low as ~700. Which would bring Italy, currently a statistical outlier in terms of Covid19 fatalities, well in line with the rest of the world.

It means thousands of deaths currently widely attributed to Covid19, and being used to justify the introduction of measures equating to medical martial law, may not have died of covid19 at all but of their serious chronic co-morbidity (cancer, heart disease etc.).

This statistic is not a secret, or in any way controversial, it was in The Telegraph after all, but people seem to be ignoring it, or reading around it, or perhaps simply not understanding it.

We reported on these statistics a few days ago, and many people who should know better simply reacted to the headline without either reading the actual article or understanding the statistics.

Given the bill that is having its second reading in the UK parliament today, it is important this information is spread widely and quickly.

Read more:

https://off-guardian.org/2020/03/23/italy-only-12-of-covid19-deaths-list...

For the moment, the scientific committee "excludes any prescription in the general population or for non-severe forms", assured Olivier Véran.

Chloroquine can be administered to patients suffering from "severe forms" of the coronavirus, the High Council for Public Health ruled on Monday, according to Minister of Health Olivier Véran. "The High Council recommends not to use this treatment in the absence of a recommendation, with the exception of serious, hospital forms, on a collegial decision of the doctors and under strict supervision", announced the minister Monday evening during a point press on the evolution of the coronavirus in France.

The scientific committee "excludes any prescription in the general population or for non-severe forms at this stage, in the absence of any convincing data", he underlined. A decree framing precisely the use of this treatment, which is controversial, will be taken "in the coming hours", said the Minister.

Read more:

https://www.sudouest.fr/2020/03/23/la-chloroquine-desormais-autorisee-po...

Old Gus — having had malaria, despite daily quinine and novaquine tablets before getting the dreaded disease, and some Chloroquine treatments as prevention and "cure" afterwards — takes a small minute amount of quinine daily in his gin and "tonic"... Actually, there is no gin in it. and a bold warning on the schwepso bottle: CONTAINS QUININE... Touch wood, it might be why I don't get the flu anymore... unless it's the red ned...

THIS AFTERNOON, the Food and Drug Administration granted Gilead Sciences “orphan” drug status for its antiviral drug, remdesivir. The designation allows the pharmaceutical company to profit exclusively for seven years from the product, which is one of dozens being tested as a possible treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Experts warn the designation, reserved for treating “rare diseases,” could block supplies of the antiviral medication from generic drug manufacturers and provide a lucrative windfall for Gilead Sciences, which maintains close ties with President Donald Trump’s task force for controlling the coronavirus crisis. Joe Grogan, who serves on the White House coronavirus task force, lobbied for Gilead from 2011 to 2017 on issues including the pricing of pharmaceuticals.

“The Orphan Drug Act is for a rare disease and this is about as an extreme opposite of a rare disease you can possibly dream up,” said James Love, the director of Knowledge Ecology International, a watchdog on pharmaceutical patent abuse.

“They’re talking about potentially half the population of the United States,” said Love, adding that “it’s absurd that this would happen in the middle of an epidemic when everything is in short supply.”

The 1983 Orphan Drug Act gives special inducements to pharmaceutical companies to make products that treat rare diseases. In addition to the seven-year period of market exclusivity, “orphan” status can give companies grants and tax credits of 25 percent of the clinical drug testing cost. The law is reserved for drugs that treat illnesses that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S. But a loophole allows drugs that treat more common illnesses to be classified as orphans if the designation is given before the disease reaches that threshold. As of press time, there were more than 40,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S, and some 366,000 worldwide.

The distinction could severely limit supply of remdesivir by granting Gilead Sciences exclusive protection over the drug and complete control of its price. Other pharmaceutical firms, including India-based pharmaceutical firm Cipla, are reportedly working towards a generic form of remdesivir, but patients in the U.S. could be prevented from buying generics with lower prices now that Gilead Sciences’ drug has been designated an orphan.

Today, Gilead abruptly announced that it would no longer provide emergency access to remdesivir, telling the New York Times that “overwhelming demand” left it unable to process requests for the drug through its compassionate use program. Hours later, the Food and Drug Administration gave the drug orphan status. Almost immediately, Gilead’s stock price shot up. Gilead did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House, on behalf of Grogan, declined to comment on the record.

The special orphan designation to remdesivir was granted despite hefty support by the government for the development of the drug.

Gilead Sciences’ remdesivir was developed with at least $79 million in U.S. government funding, according to a paper published last week by KEI. The origins of the drug came after the 2014 Ebola outbreak in western Africa, which spurred research into potential antiviral medications to control future potential pandemics. Early promising results from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease revealed that Rhesus monkeys infected with Ebola survived after undergoing an antiviral treatment using GS-5734, the compound now known as remdesivir.

The U.S. National Institute Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) continued providing significant taxpayer funding to subsidize the development of remdesivir. NIAID grants to Columbia University, Vanderbilt University, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and the University of Alabama subsequently found that remdesivir prevents virus replication in a range of coronaviruses in human lung cells.

Although the Orphan Drug Act was designed to solve a real problem — a lack of treatments for uncommon illnesses — pharmaceutical companies have for years exploited it for gain. Rather than treating AIDS or HIV infection, drugs were framed as treating diarrhea or tuberculosis in HIV-infected people, thus narrowing their scope. And companies have extended their exclusive marketing rights by repurposing drugs that are already patented for other purposes to treat rare diseases. Orphan drugs now generate more than $100 billion in annual sales, and even though companies are increasingly using the law, more than 90 percent of rare diseases lack treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Orphan Drug Act has helped pharmaceutical industry profits soar. In 2018, the median cost for a year of treatment with an orphan drug was $98,500 compared to $5,000 for drugs that don’t have the designation, according to Gerald Posner, author of “Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America.”

Grogan, who in 2016 earned over $800,000 in salary and bonuses at Gilead, came under scrutiny in 2018 for his work, also at Gilead, on a Medicare payment model for a cancer treatment.

The company has also come under fire for its pricing schemes. In 2014, Gilead sparked a controversy over listing its hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, for $84,000 for a 12-week course therapy. The company had purchased the patent from another firm and proceeded to nearly triple the price. Gilead also sells Truvada, a drug to help prevent the transmission of HIV, for almost $2,000 a month despite the fact that it costs only $6 to manufacture.

Gilead Sciences presented earlier this month at the Cowen & Co. Annual Health Care Conference, an investor event for major pharmaceutical and health care corporations. The Intercept previously reported that investment bankers at the event quizzed Gilead Sciences executives over whether they could develop a “commercial strategy for remdesivir” in the near future.

In response, Johanna Mercier, executive vice president of Gilead, noted that the company is focused on increasing capacity to meet demands for patients and government access. “Commercial opportunity,” Mercier added, “might come if this becomes a seasonal disease or stockpiling comes into play, but that’s much later down the line.”

“Gilead probably feels like now’s the time to cash in before somebody comes up with a better drug or a vaccine is done,” said Love. “They’re going to be very aggressive in how they go after this.”

Read more:

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/23/gilead-sciences-coronavirus-treatmen...

Read from top.

See also: in the fishbowls of the world...

As of midnight tonight, beauty services will close, but hairdressers will still be able to operate.

Personal training can go ahead, but with no more than 10 people, outdoors, and observing physical distancing rules. 

You'd be forgiven for being confused by the Federal Government's second stage of restrictions.

Let's unpack them with five quick questions.

• Supermarkets (including convenience stores)
• Pharmacies
• Banks
• Petrol stations
• Freight and logistics
• Food delivery
• Bottle shops

Shopping centres will remain open, although physical-distancing rules still apply. That means there needs to be at least 4 square metres available for every person in the area. 

In real terms, you should still be trying to keep 1.5 metres away from people at all times, and avoiding any handshakes or physical contact with people outside your family.

Retail premises will need to display a sign saying how many people can be in the store at one time.

So if you're thinking about ducking down to a shopping centre, consider whether it is essential.

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/what-is-open-or-closed-in-austral...

Read from top.

See also:

more side-effects...  

amusing creative side-effects of your panic...

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/483891-covidiots-coronavirus-debate-totalitarian/

Alcohol sales are set to be restricted across Western Australia to prevent panic buying during the coronavirus outbreak, with limitations on how much bottle shops can sell to patrons coming into force this morning.

Under the new restrictions, daily limits will restrict people to purchasing the following:

three bottles of wine
one carton of beer, cider or premix spirits
one litre of spirits
one litre of fortified wine

But people will be able to purchase across two of those categories under the rules, which will come into force at 10:00am.

Coronavirus update: Follow all the latest news in our daily wrap
That means that people would still be able to buy a carton of beer and three bottles of wine per day, for example.

A litre of spirits and a carton of beer would also be permissible.

The restrictions are described as being enforced as “per customer per day” in an attempt to cut down on any bulk buying of alcohol.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/coronavirus/2020/03/25/wa-alcohol-restri...

Read from top.

March 16, SMH (pre-virus)

Mathew Hounsell, a researcher at the University of Technology's Institute for Sustainable Futures, said commute times could be rising because growing population density in many areas is putting additional pressure on road and transport networks.

"The road system in Sydney has become saturated and more investment in needed in heavy rail and metro alternatives," he said.

"If we provide people with a faster, reliable alternative to driving, we'll get them out of cars and commute times will start to go down to something more reasonable."

Residents of Strathfield, Pittwater, Cronulla, Bankstown, Blacktown North, Mount Druitt and St Marys spent at least 25 per cent more time getting to work than they did five years ago.

"If we stop people from getting out of the house, commute times will start to go down to something more reasonable, like zero."

Residents of Strathfield, Pittwater, Cronulla, Bankstown, Blacktown North, Mount Druitt and St Marys can’t get to work, thus spend FAR LESS TIME ON THE ROAD than they did five years ago.

ROAD RAGE HAS BEEN ELIMINATED (despite a climb of toilet paper rage in shopping centres).

Police have abandoned plans to install road blocks through the back streets of Coolangatta following the introduction of Queensland border restrictions that came into force at midnight.

• People living south of the border can get a crossing pass
• Police warn delays and checks will continue for "quite some time"
• The Byron Shire Mayor wants southern travel restricted too 

The restrictions caused traffic gridlock along the southern Gold Coast this morning, but police said motorists were cooperating for the most part.

Officers will instead carry out random patrols and licence checks in the area as part of efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus.

A police road block was set up on Griffith Street in Coolangatta but it was unmanned this morning, with police urging all drivers to use the Gold Coast Highway and M1 (Pacific motorway).

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-26/coronavirus-traffic-banks-up-as-q...

Read from top...

As many as 4,000 seriously ill coronavirus patients in New York are being treated with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, state health officials say.

President Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential life-saver, although there is no widespread scientific evidence to date showing it helps battle COVID-19.

But Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month said healthcare providers in the state would be using the drug in combination with the antibiotic Zithromax, or azithromycin, for some last-ditch cases, based on potentially promising research.

“Time is of the essence,’’ said Albany University Public Health Dean David Holtgrave, who is on the state’s research team, in a statement.

A state Health Department official said the DOH has shipped doses of hydroxychloroquine to 56 hospitals across New York, distributing enough “to treat 4,000 patients to date.”

Patients have received doses as part of four- or 10-day regimens, officials said.

The University of Albany’s School of Public Health is observing the drug’s impact on the patients, and its preliminary study could come back in weeks instead of the usual months, officials said.

There are also clinical trials being conducted to see whether the drug can help block transmission.

NYU Langone Medical School is conducting a random trial with a $9.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Currently, there is no proven way to prevent COVID-19 after being exposed,” said Anna Bershteyn, an assistant professor with the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and the study’s co-principal investigator.

“If hydroxychloroquine provides protection, then it could be an essential tool for fighting this pandemic. If it doesn’t, then people should avoid unnecessary risks from taking the drug.”

The RX has long been used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Read more:

https://nypost.com/2020/04/05/ny-coronavirus-patients-being-treated-with...

Read from top.

Not as elegant as Gus' solution... See toon at top

Former head of state Nicolas Sarkozy rushed to the aid of Marseille microbiologist Didier Raoult, who is the subject of a complaint lodged with the Order of Physicians by the French-speaking Society of Infectious Pathology.

“For me, the adversary is the Covid and not this or that doctor. I am thinking in particular of Professor Raoult ”, declared Nicolas Sarkozy, eliciting some applause from his audience, while he was speaking on September 4, 2020 within the framework of the Entrepreneurs' Forum which is being held this year in Marseille. Each crisis, we must find scapegoats. It is a French disease. “Each crisis, we must find scapegoats. It's a French disease […] I don't understand why there is so much violence against [Didier Raoult], ”said the former French head of state.

Sometimes adored, sometimes vilified, the Marseille microbiologist Didier Raoult has become a leading public figure after having praised the results of a treatment based on hydroxychloroquine in the face of Covid-19, arousing great hostility within the scientific community, which many actors have accused him of protocol failures to advance such results.

As Le Figaro revealed on September 2, the French-speaking Society for Infectious Pathology (Spilf) filed a complaint against Didier Raoult in July with the Departmental Council of the Ordre des médecins des Bouches-du-Rhône.

"The Spilf - which brings together more than 500 specialists in infectious diseases - accuses the microbiologist of having violated no less than nine articles of the code of medical ethics," the newspaper reported. Among other complaints against the director of studies at the IHU in Marseille, the learned society accuses him in particular of having promoted "a treatment which has not demonstrated its effectiveness", carried out "the dissemination of false information to the public ", and to be responsible for" serious breaches of the duty of brotherhood ".

President Les Républicains de la region Paca, Renaud Muselier, reacted to Spilf's complaint by hammering out that Professor Raoult had "only respected the Hippocratic oath". In addition, as our journalist Lilaafa Amouzou notes, "Professor Raoult's support did not fail to point out that the board of directors of SPILF has fairly substantial links of interest":

on the association's website Eurosfordocs, a site allowing to explore the Transparence-Santé database, one finds associated with the acronym "SPILF" more than 850,000 euros of benefits, agreements and various remuneration offered by large laboratories for five years — among which the American giant Gilead.

Learn more on RT France: https://francais.rt.com/france/78493-maladie-francaise-nicolas-sarkozy-s...

Read from top.

Question: does Hydroxychloroquine not work because GILEAD said so? I still take my daily microdose of Quinine...

Pharma Companies Plan Joint Pledge on Vaccine Safety

The statement is meant to reassure the public that the companies will not seek a premature approval of vaccines under pressure from the Trump administration.

A group of drug companies competing with one another to be among the first to develop coronavirus vaccines are planning to pledge early next week that they will not release any vaccines that do not follow rigorous efficacy and safety standards, according to representatives of three of the companies.

The statement, which has not yet been finalized, is meant to reassure the public that the companies will not seek a premature approval of vaccines under political pressure from the Trump administration. President Trump has pushed for a vaccine to be available by October — just before the presidential election — and a growing number of scientists, regulators and public health experts have expressed concern over what they see as a pattern of political arm-twisting by the Trump administration in its efforts to combat the virus.

The companies’ joint statement was planned for early next week, but it may be released before then after its existence was made public on Friday by The Wall Street Journal. The manufacturers that are said to have signed the letter include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.

The pharmaceutical companies are not the only ones pushing back. Senior regulators at the Food and Drug Administration have been discussing making their own joint public statement about the need to rely on proven science, according to two senior administration officials, a move that would breach their usual reticence as civil servants.

Scientists have been rushing at record speed to develop a vaccine that could end the pandemic, which has taken nearly 190,000 lives and infected more than six million people in the United States. Three companies — Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca — are testing their candidates in late-stage clinical trials.

Pfizer’s chief executive said this week that the company could see results as early as October, but the others have said only that they plan to release a vaccine by the end of the year.

Public health experts have applauded the companies’ rapid development of a vaccine, and early results have been promising. But in recent weeks, they have grown worried as Mr. Trump and his allies have begun talking about a vaccine that could be ready before the election on Nov. 3.

Read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/science/covid-vaccine-pharma-pledge.html

Should you visit your GP, he or she will mostly advise you that a Covid-19 "vaccine" won't be available before next year and that none of them will be fool-proof... This is the reality being closed doors...

Most likely the Russian vaccine will be better than most... but you won't see it...

We must save "general" Raoult! This is, in essence, the message that 200 doctors from the south of France wanted to convey in a letter that pays tribute to the work carried out by the Marseille professor since the start of the health crisis.

Having become a key figure in the public debate concerning the management of the coronavirus epidemic in France, Didier Raoult is the object of as much aversion as he is of adulation. Nearly 200 doctors signed a letter published in Le Figaro on September 11, 2020, paying tribute to the efforts made by microbiologist Didier Raoult in the context of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The signatories in particular call on their colleagues to "leave the professor in peace", "an important researcher of global stature".

His three prongs are clear: detect, isolate the sick and treat them...

Supporting the massive screenings carried out by the Méditerranée infection IHU, but also the hydroxychloroquine-based treatment touted by Didier Raoult since the start of the health crisis, the 200 doctors specially applaud the strategy — “the three prongs: detecting, isolating and treating patients” — as presented by Didier Raoult, the infectious disease specialist, for whom they feel “consideration and gratitude”.

A researcher whose main fault is to be from Marseilles and often in disagreement with the dominant opinion in Paris “It is not a question […] of affirming with certainty that everything that Professor Raoult says is true, and that everything that his detractors say is false […]

It is a question of affirming, as health professionals of the southern region, that we were able to observe in the field the beneficial effects of what he put in place with all of his colleagues and collaborators”, state the signatories of the letter.

And they deplore the numerous polemics that have followed, one after another, about their colleague and the "incessant attacks" to which he is subjected to. "Nothing justifies this obstinacy in demolishing, in principle, a researcher whose main fault is being a Marseillais, too often in disagreement with the dominant opinion in Paris", they write.

As revealed by the same daily at the beginning of the month, Didier Raoult has been also the subject of a complaint lodged in July by the French Society of Infectious Pathology (Spilf) for "breaches" and "dissemination of false information".

Find out more on RT France: https://francais.rt.com/france/78673-immense-chercheur-dimension-mondial...

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Virus Did Not Bring Financial Rout That Many States Feared

Grim forecasts held up for a few states, but many took in about as much tax revenue as before the pandemic — sometimes a lot more.

Throughout the debate over stimulus measures, one question has repeatedly brought gridlock in Washington: Should the states get no-strings federal aid?

Republicans have mostly said no, casting it as a bailout for spendthrift blue states. Democrats have argued the opposite, saying that states face dire fiscal consequences without aid, and included $350 billion in relief for state and local governments in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion federal stimulus bill, which narrowly passed the House this past weekend. It faces a much tougher fight in the Senate.

As it turns out, new data shows that a year after the pandemic wrought economic devastation around the country, forcing states to revise their revenue forecasts and prepare for the worst, for many the worst didn’t come. One big reason: $600-a-week federal supplements that allowed people to keep spending — and states to keep collecting sales tax revenue — even when they were jobless, along with the usual state unemployment benefits.

By some measures, the states ended up collecting nearly as much revenue in 2020 as they did in 2019. A J.P. Morgan survey called 2020 “virtually flat” with 2019, based on the 47 states that report their tax revenues every month, or all except Alaska, Oregon and Wyoming.

A researcher at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, found that total state revenues from April through December were down just 1.8 percent from the same period in 2019. Moody’s Analytics used a different method and found that 31 states now had enough cash to fully absorb the economic stress of the pandemic recession on their own.

“You can see it’s just a completely different story this time,” said Louise Sheiner, a Brookings Institution economist whose research showed that over all, the states struggled far less during the pandemic than in previous recessions.

Read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/business/covid-state-tax-revenue.html

Now that the Donald is gone, the truth, the horrible truth — that the States did reasonably well out of his policies despite his loony tweets — comes out... Donald was the saviour of the USA! Well, nearly (or more) half a million people died because of statistical Covid-adjusted deaths, but they were not entirely his fault, really... And they were old, etc... And Cuomo helped a bit on this one...

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