I keep having tabs open in my browser with all sorts of good news stories, so I decided to just dump some of them in this one post so I can finally close the browser tabs.
April 4th: Doctors Rate Hydroxychloroquine ‘Most Effective’ Coronavirus Treatment:
An international poll of more than 6,000 doctors finds that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine has been deemed the most highly rated treatment for the novel coronavirus.
The survey, conducted by Sermo, a global health care polling company, asked 6,227 physicians in 30 countries to find out what is the most effective against SARS-CoV-2. The poll finds that 37% of those treating patients suffering from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 rated hydroxychloroquine as the “most effective therapy” out of a list of 15 choices.
On Monday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave chloroquine and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine, emergency-use authorization, although many physicians were already using the drug.
Azithromycin, known by the brand name Zithromax or Z-Pak, came in as the second-most effective therapy at 32%, followed by “nothing.”
The study I looked at from Science Direct said that the best results are obtained by using a combination of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which is (I think) what Trump had recommended earlier. In fact here’s an example story about a doctor who is using the combination of the two drugs:
April 2nd: Dr. On Malaria Drug: ‘Absolute Game Changer,’ ‘Beginning Of The End Of The Pandemic’:
An infectious disease doctor told Fox News on Wednesday night that using hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat patients that have the coronavirus was an “absolute game changer” and that it was “the beginning of the end of the pandemic.”
The model used by the White House to calculate infection and death rates is being revised downward – twice.
April 6th: Influential Coronavirus Tracking Model Shows Steep Decline In Death, Bed Shortage Projections:
An influential prediction model, referenced routinely by White House coronavirus task for leader Dr. Deborah Birx, has been updated to reflect a major change in death and bed shortage projections, according to the Associated Press.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation University of Washington’s School of Medicine now says they’re COVID-19 projection model shows a sharp decline in anticipated deaths, anticipated bed shortages, and even anticipated infections — a change made as new data about the virus’ real-world spread becomes available and analysts are able to monitor epicenters, like New York City, in real time.
April 6th: White House Coronavirus Model Gets Another Update, Downgrading Estimated Deaths:
A model heavily relied upon by the White House task force responding to the China-originated novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has again been updated.
On Sunday night, a model from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington dropped its estimated death projection for the first wave of the pandemic to 81,766 deaths, down from 93,531.
“The 11,765 fewer deaths would mark a 14% decrease for the model’s target projection, and a 30% decrease for the worst-case scenario,” The Daily Caller noted Monday.
Some countries are starting to scale back their quarantining and social distancing:
April 6th: First European Country Announces Multi-Step Plan To Ease Coronavirus Lockdown:
On Monday, Austria became the first European country to announce its plan to begin easing “lockdown” measures amid signs that it has made it through the worst stages of the initial wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Other European countries are reportedly beginning to look with hope toward taking similar steps.
Austria has experienced “three consecutive days in which the number of coronavirus recoveries have exceeded the number of new cases,” The Washington Post explains. “On Monday, Austrian authorities reported 241 new infections over previous 24 hours, but 465 recoveries.”
Things are going so well, that even the Democrats have taken notice.
April 6th: Thousands Of N.Y. COVID Patients Being Treated With Anti-Malarial Drug Hydroxychloroquine:
As many as 4,000 people in New York are currently being treated with hydroxychloroquine, the New York Post reports:
A state Health Department official said the [Department of Health] 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.
Cuomo has been criticized for prohibiting pharmacists from dispensing hydroxychloroquine outside a hospital.
April 6th: Cuomo: New York Coronavirus Deaths Have Been ‘Effectively Flat’ For Two Days:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Monday that the number of daily coronavirus deaths in his state has been “effectively flat for two days,” which he said may signal the pandemic is beginning to wane.
New York had 599 new deaths, up from 594 on Sunday but down from 630 on Saturday.
“While none of this is good news, the possible flattening of the curve is better than the increases that we have seen,” Cuomo said.
The governor also said the number of hospitalizations and intensive care admissions have also hit their lowest points in more than two weeks.
April 6th: Michigan Democrat With Coronavirus Credits Trump With Saving Her Life: ‘I Do Thank Him For That’:
A Michigan state Democratic lawmaker who was suffering from the coronavirus credited President Donald Trump with saving her life, saying on Monday that his constant touting of hydroxychloroquine is what led her to ask her doctor for the malaria drug.
Rep. Karen Whitsett (Detroit) “said she started taking hydroxychloroquine on March 31, prescribed by her doctor, after both she and her husband sought treatment for a range of symptoms on March 18,” The Detroit Free Press reported. “‘It was less than two hours’ before she started to feel relief, said Whitsett, who had experienced shortness of breath, swollen lymph nodes, and what felt like a sinus infection.”
April 4th: Biden Endorses Trump’s China Travel Restrictions — Two Months Late:
[O]n Jan. 31, the president declared coronavirus a U.S. public health emergency and issued a travel ban between the United States and China. Campaigning in Iowa that day, Biden criticized Trump’s China travel ban, saying, “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia.”
On Feb. 1, Biden again criticized Trump for the move.
[…]Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden now backs restrictions on travel from China — two months after President Donald Trump put them into place to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China.
It took a few months, but the Democrats and their mainstream media allies are starting to credit Trump for taking the Wuhan virus seriously early on.
And of course the stock market was up 7.5% on Monday. I hope you bought the dip in March. I was out of the market since last summer when the markets crossed over the 52-week highs. I just got back in last month. So far, I’m up 10% in my portfolio, and my nerves are steady. It’s a risk I’m willing to take because the reward is worth it.
