April 29th: Remdesivir
Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that Los Angeles is now the first American city to offer COVID-19 testing to all of its residents with or without symptoms, at no cost. Well done, LA!
Florida: Not reopening Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and the Keys will remain closed to nonresidents. In related news, cancel your summer vacation to Florida now.
America’s favorite infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci, says that the drug Remdesivir could “modestly speed recovery in patients infected with the coronavirus.” That feels like high praise from Dr. F.
FDA Expected to issue emergency authorization for Remdesivir. Was originally developed for Ebola but not successful.
Trump admin launching “Operation Warp Speed” to accelerate development of coronavirus vaccine.
Most cringy CNN headline today: “ Kushner calls US coronavirus response a 'success story' as cases hit 1 million.” Whether you like him or not, this is a poor choice of words.
Here in Berkeley, businesses offering pizza, wine and meat are thriving. In related news, SF Bay area alcohol consumption up 42%.
In honor of my old friend Marguerite in LA. She saw Dolphins playing in the ocean on her drive home today. Not something you see a lot in LA.
Photo by HAMID ELBAZ
I had a very productive day on the job search. Though I work on it everyday, I think today some extra motivation fueled by pure need and panic set in. By the end of day I had been referred by a friend to a new recruiter in Ohio, emailed several friends to inquire/follow-up on leads, had a new acquaintance refer me to the HR person at her new company after I applied, and finally got paid for a brief research project I completed for a new website.
In testament to the fact I should stay off social media, I saw an old friend from home post the now viral video of two Urgent Care Doctors from Bakersfield, CA in which they said, in summary “"Millions of cases, small amount of death”and insinuating that the death rate in CA is similar to the average death rate from seasonal flu.
I saw later that one of my Cousins posted as well. I completely understand people wishing the virus wasn’t as bad as it is, but I’m stunned to see so many people believe a video from two Urgent Care Doctors in Bakersfield of all places. Real studies take time. They require peer review. YouTube removed it on Monday because it apparently violated community guidelines.
This article states that the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine condemned the opinions in the video. After my friend posted, I felt compelled to post this bit about it being condemned along with the link to the relevant news article. He disagreed with me and started to get a lot of comments on it (some with him, some against). Within the hour I noticed he’d removed the post entirely.
I also know of an interesting study suggesting that certain Fox News coverage lead to the spread of Coronavirus. But guess what? It hasn’t been peer reviewed or accepted for publication at a journal, so it’s really not appropriate to spreading it around.
All I want is for people not to post something they read that simply fits with their opinion, but is not reported by a reputable news source, was not done by actual infectious disease experts, is not a real study, etc. It’s exhausting. I wish all social media was just babies and puppies like in the early days.
Winners of the Internet
My buddy Charles hosted the Price is Right!