Statins Are Your COVID-19 Friend: Keep Taking Them — The Skeptical Cardiologist – Updated 09.24.20

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Statins remain our safest and most effective drug for primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease. However, a cult of statin deniers has taken hold on the internet and their efforts often result in patients inappropriately stopping statins, an outcome which can have lethal consequences. Early in the pandemic a patient of mine in…

Statins Are Your COVID-19 Friend: Keep Taking Them — The Skeptical Cardiologist

Thank you doctor.

Note to my readers: I encourage you to follow the link and read the entire post and the comments to fully understand Dr. Pearson’s message.
And if you’re a statin denier don’t bother reading the full post because we’re not here to engage in an argument or to change your opinion on this medication.

Update

University of California – San Diego. “Statins reduce COVID-19 severity, likely by removing cholesterol that virus uses to infect.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923164603.htm (accessed September 24, 2020).

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200923164603.htm

Life Insurance In The Age Of COVID-19

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

“I just didn’t think I needed it yet, and I’ve committed most of my financial resources to my business,” says Silkoff, 31, the president and co-founder of MyRoofingPal.com, an online marketplace that connects property owners with roofing contractors.

COVID-19, though, forced Silkoff to consider his mortality. “I don’t want to leave my wife in debt should something happen to me,” he says. “Also, during the slowdown, I had more time to do the research.” So Silkoff purchased a 10-year term life policy with $500,000 of coverage for about $30 a month.

Life Insurance In The Age Of COVID-19 — https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/life-insurance-in-the-age-of-covid-19?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=life-insurance-in-the-age-of-covid-19#.X1PyadR7nb0

A life insurance policy is an act of love.

Think about it.

Russia’s coronavirus vaccine elicits immune responses in Phase-1/2 trials — Science Chronicle

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines for novel coronavirus have been found to be safe for a period of 42 days and capable of inducing antibody responses in all the 42 participants within 21 days. But the Phase-1/2 trials were open, not randomised, did not have a control group, and included totally 76 participants.

According to the authors, the unpublished data of animal studies show “robust humoral and cellular immune responses were elicited in non-human primates, providing protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection”. They also write that the vaccine showed “100% protectivity in a lethal model of SARS-CoV-2 challenge in immunosuppressed hamsters”. No antibody-dependent enhancement of infection was seen in vaccinated animals.

Russia’s coronavirus vaccine is safe, elicits immune responses in Phase-1/2 trials — Science Chronicle

Safe? 76 humans and an undisclosed number of hamsters.

Why am I not impressed?

The Latest in COVID-19 News: Week Ending 09.05.20 – NEJM Journal Watch

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Click on the link for the NEJM Journal Watch weekly update.  NO paywalls on any of the links in this article.  (paywalls bother me). There are some really good links in this week’s edition. https://www.jwatch.org/fw117010/2020/09/05/latest-covid-19-news-week-ending-sept-5

Meanwhile in South Carolina…

Shortly after opening its doors to students, the University of South Carolina has recorded 1,026 positive coronavirus tests and in the past week saw a test positivity rate among students and faculty of 26.3 percent, according to its COVID information dashboard.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/university-south-carolina-records-1-026-covid-cases-n1239174

Clusterfuck!

What Is Your Chance of Dying From Covid-19 in Indiana? — The Skeptical Cardiologist

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Data on the recent true infection fatality rate (IFR) of COVID-19 have been difficult to come by. Investigators writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine today have, however, provided us with a solid estimate of the Covid-19 IFR in the state of Indiana for those over the age of 11 years and not living in…

What Is Your Chance of Dying From Covid-19 in Indiana? — The Skeptical Cardiologist

Again, thank you Dr. Pearson. Interesting statistics.

College Clusterfuck 2.0 – “It’s a Dystopian Hell” – Updated

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Update 09.05.20

What could be worse than being stuck at home with Mom and Dad for months on end isolated from friends, activities restricted?

Going back to Mom and Dad to be stuck at home for even longer because you got expelled from college AND telling them they just paid for a year of college and housing for nothing.

The students were part of a special one-semester program for first-year students and according to Globe, the prepaid $US 36,500 cost for the semester won’t be refunded. Students won’t be able to take courses from home but are eligible to return in the fall.

11 freshmen at Northeastern were dismissed for violating COVID-19 rules. Their $35,000 tuition won’t be reimbursed. — https://www.businessinsider.com.au/11-northeastern-students-dismissed-breaking-covid-19-rules-party-2020-9

jordanschachtel.substack.com — America’s college students are returning to campus for the Fall semester, and many are finding themselves in an environment that no longer resembles an academic institution, but something closer to a correctional facility for young adults. It’s not just a handful of schools that are pursuing extreme restrictions and punitive measures in the name of “stopping the spread” of the coronavirus, but something that has become a nationwide norm.

Tales from America’s COVID college campuses — https://muckrack.com/jordan-schachtel/articles

College campuses have transformed into some of the most restrictive environments in America.  After hearing about these conditions, I sent out a post on social media asking for testimonials from students, parents, and educators. The responses below are some of the many replies I received discussing what students are experiencing in colleges and universities that have allowed for students to return to campus.

Tales from America’s COVID college campuses — https://jordanschachtel.substack.com/p/tales-from-americas-covid-college

From what I can tell Jordan Schachtel is an investigative journalist. If you follow the link in the second quote above you’ll find a bevy of quotes from both students and parents on college life 2020 pandemic edition. What you’ll read is absolutely jaw dropping. A lot of prison analogies…

This is not going well nor will it end well. Online education will become the new operating model for higher education sooner rather than later. See my earlier rant Post Pandemic Changes in Consumer Behavior for Professor Galloway’s opinion. He says it’s simple math.

Funny to think how colleges and universities will succeed now that they all have to focus on education and teaching their students. Not sports. No longer modern day fiefoms that exist solely to enrich the clueless intellectual elites. My Dad always told me the purpose of college was to teach you how to think, not what to think. High time to get back to what a “higher” education should be.

College Town Clusterfuck

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Across the United States, at least 36 states have reported positive cases at colleges and universities, adding more than 8,700 cases to the country’s tally. Almost 6 million infections have been recorded in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

36 states report a total of 8,700 Covid-19 cases at colleges and universities — https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/health/us-coronavirus-sunday/index.html

No one could have predicted this…said no one. Clusterf**k at UNC was merely early out of the gate.

Minimizing the Social Cost of COVID-19

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

East Asian countries were the first to be infected, meaning they had little, if any, time to prepare. And yet many of them are among the countries that have reduced COVID-19 cases to near zero. The difference comes down to attitudes: what role and responsibilities each society attributes to government, and to what extent it expects the community to act as a collective agent of the common good.

In the US, there is a long-standing emphasis on personal freedom. “Small government” is a commonly heard refrain, with many arguing that individuals acting as self-interested participants in markets and in social and political processes will naturally produce positive outcomes. Government intervention – even in the event of a pandemic – infringes on individual rights and, indeed, on the very meaning of being an American. Protests over shelter-in-place orders and mask mandates reflect this view.

Minimizing the Social Cost of COVID-19 — https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/east-asia-covid19-successful-responses-institutional-arrangements-by-andrew-sheng-and-xiao-geng-2020-08

Meanwhile SD reported another triple digit increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases, as 380 new positive tests were recorded Sunday.

Sturgis resident here, the 5 days before the event were much bigger this year than normal because people had the wrong dates and then just kept those reservations instead of switching (or couldn’t switch because the places were full.)… The official count is around 460,000 and I’d say there was another 75-100 thousand the week before.

You Tube comment on a Tectonix video on cell phone migration patterns exiting Sturgis SD