I filled today’s update with some much needed good news.
It is heartening to see a Democratic state representative from Detroit crediting both hydroxychloroquine and President Donald Trump, who touted the drug, for saving her in her battle with COVID-19.
State Rep. Karen Whitsett, who learned Monday she has tested positive for COVID-19, 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.”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. She is still experiencing headaches, she said.Whitsett said she was familiar with “the wonders” of hydroxychloroquine from an earlier bout with Lyme disease, but does not believe she would have thought to ask for it, or her doctor would have prescribed it, had Trump not been touting it as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
Trump acknowledged Whitsett via Twitter.
Whitsett was a guest on Fox News Channel’s Ingraham Angle to discuss her experience:
Whitsett isn’t the only one praising hydroxychloroquine. A Los Angeles doctor said he is seeing significant progress in prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc to treat patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.
Dr. Anthony Cardillo said he has seen very promising results when prescribing hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc for the most severely-ill COVID-19 patients.”Every patient I’ve prescribed it to has been very, very ill and within 8 to 12 hours, they were basically symptom-free,” Cardillo told Eyewitness News. “So clinically I am seeing a resolution.”Cardillo is the CEO of Mend Urgent Care, which has locations in Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys and Burbank.He said he has found it only works if combined with zinc. The drug, he said, opens a channel for the zinc to enter the cell and block virus replication.
Former FCC commissioner Robert McDowell credits a combination of antibiotics and hydroxychloroquine for saving his life from the effects of COVID-19.
New York may be seeing a possible flattening of the curve of infections.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) suggested Monday the state may have flattened the curve of the coronavirus outbreak, but cautioned that it is too soon to tell.Deaths related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, have stayed flat for two days, he said, while the total number of new hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions are down.”Those are all good signs and again would suggest a possible flattening of the curve,” he said during his daily press conference.To flatten the curve of an outbreak means to slow the rate of infections and prevent an influx of patients from overwhelming hospitals and the health care system, potentially leading to fewer deaths.
Tennessee also sees a flattening of the curve as well.
New projections for Tennessee predict a significant flattening of the curve of COVID-19 cases expected in the coming weeks.Among the new factors included in the latest version: the potential impact of Gov. Bill Lee’s stay-at-home order.Rather than facing a critical shortage of hospital beds and ventilators, the new model suggests that the Volunteer State will easily be able to meet the expected demand at the peak of the surge in mid-April.“This is the most impactful moment of our last couple of weeks in this battle because we see, if we act decisively to mitigate the virus, we are going to make a huge impact on the future of our state,” said Dr. Aaron Milstone, the Franklin pulmonologist who led the push for a statewide mandate.
California is in such good shape, curve-wise, it is sending ventilators to other areas that look like they could use them more.
The White House said Monday that 500 ventilators on loan from California will be shipped to Nevada, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam as the nation faces a crush of coronavirus-related hospitalizations.California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced earlier the nation’s most populous state would share some of its ventilators, a necessary tool to keep struggling patients breathing, with the national stockpile even as it hunts for more of its own supplies. Newsom suggested that New York may be one of the states to receive the ventilators, but he said the federal government was best poised to decide where they were needed most.“We’re very proud to be able to extend a hand of support with those 500 ventilators and send them back east,” Newsom said during a news conference.
Many people chose poorly during the coronavirus crisis.
The governor of Louisiana said Sunday that he wasn’t told to cancel the massive Mardi Gras celebrations at the end of February, even though governors were briefed on the coronavirus threat weeks earlier.’There was not a single suggestion by anyone – a doctor, a scientist, a political figure – that we needed to cancel Mardi Gras,’ John Bel Edwards told CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning.’Rather than look back, I am focused on today and going forward,’ Edwards continued.Although concerns over coronavirus and its ramifications didn’t manifest until March in the U.S., U.S. governors were briefed February 9 at the National Governors Association Winter Meeting by members of Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force on the growing threat of the respiratory virus.
Iran has also made many poor choices…especially in terms of friends and allies.
Iran’s health ministry spokesman has backtracked after he described China’s official figures on the coronavirus outbreak as a “joke”.Kianoush Jahanpour made the remarks at a press conference and a tweet on Sunday, adding that China had given the impression that coronavirus was like influenza but with fewer deaths.His tweet led led to a reproach from the Chinese ambassador to Iran, Chang Hua, who said China’s health ministry had held a press conference every day. “I suggest that you read their news very carefully in order to draw conclusions,” the ambassador said.
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