COVID-19, let's put updates here

[Heisman2]

Good contributions above. Hopefully a vaccine pans out; no guarantee it will at this point. Some viruses mutate so quickly and there are so many strains that no good vaccine has been made (ie, rhinovirus), influenza mutates and thus a new vaccine comes out each year and frequently isn't very effective, some are stable and have a good vaccine (ie, measles). We'll see.

Analysis showing how undocumented infectious cases can cause much more widespread dissemination: https://science.sciencemag.org/conte...VvZmsb31R2dDrA

Another analysis showing predicted effects of different mitigation strategies (scroll down to the graphs if you don't want to read). Of note, if you read the whole text this paints a rather grim picture of the entire situation. https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imp...FMMRI1icJciq3o

A youtube video that can be shown to people who aren't taking this seriously and who respond more to emotional than fact-based appeals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

For people who work in hospital settings, some protocols: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...FEVPu27XJzoaVo

University of Minnesota is putting together a rapid trial for healthcare workers who were likely exposed to the virus to help prevent infection. This will be interesting to follow as if it works that may give us a way to help prevent infection in the future after known/suspected exposure. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04308668

New York is activating all licensed/retired workers in the Medical Reserve Corps for the impending increase in healthcare utilization. Various states are doing various things and I don't want to try to touch on all of them so I'll leave it there but point is a lot of states are taking this extremely seriously.

Radiologically it appears a chest x-ray is not sensitive enough to pick up findings all the time (it will sometimes) relative to a CT scan of the chest: https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/ryct.2020200034 . CT scans are more expensive, harder to obtain, and generate more radiation, so they are far less ideal to use than a chest x-ray.

Looking at the major societies dealing with blood pressure pretty much all agree with continuing ACE inhibitors and ARBs at this time stating there is no substantial evidence of a negative impact on COVID-19 when using them. Here is one example: https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardio...ts-in-covid-19

WHO now recommends NOT taking ibuprofen if you have COVID-19: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/u...9-symptoms-who They recommend using tylenol instead. I will say I have seen no strong evidence whatsoever that ibuprofen causes harm and I would not be surprised if we end up saying ibuprofen is fine, but at this point to be safest may be best to preferentially treat fever with tylenol. I'll remind everyone that fever itself is not a problem generally; you only need to bring it down for your symptoms. So if you feel like crap and bringing it down will make you feel better then do so. If you are having any breathing issues with a fever then bring it down as when your fever goes down your respiratory rate and work of breathing should decrease some which will make it easier to breathe (fever leads to a higher metabolism in the body, this generates more carbon dioxide that you have to blow off which is part of the reason respiratory rate increases when febrile)

It looks like COVID-19 can remain viable in aerosols for at least 3 hours and on some surfaces for at least 3 days: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJ...kHan1GqqL-XA2g

This came out 1 week ago but just found it; unfortunately it appears testing in China was not super sensitive. Just look at the table for the numbers. Who knows if the tests we use here will be better. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...XvBAhWoKRk4_l0


Lastly, the biggest frustration for healthcare workers as a whole currently from what I can gather is a lack of PPE (personal protective equipment). We are short on just about everything nationally. Some people are using 3D printers to make more supplies which is great. A ton of nurses feel like they are putting themselves at unnecessary risk due to lack of preparedness. When this all calms down I would expect a big push to address this issue if at all possible. Other big frustrations still stand (ie, our testing mishaps).

[hardyboysare]

Looks like they’re already starting human tests on a vaccine:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/victori...ne-in-seattle/

I saw this which is obviously good news and some evidence has suggested that current treatments utilised in treating influenza maybe useful in helping the spreading and damage of the COVID-19 both being tested by the US and China (two different drugs):-

https://www.sciencetimes.com/article...oronavirus.htm

Obviously caution must be taken with having too high expectations that a vaccine will be made soon as most scientists are suggesting that it will take around 12-18 months to get full approval vaccination to be manufactured. Although its clear treatments methods are rapidly being investigated.

Just a few interesting articles I have been reading which may interest people:-

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0317175442.htm - COVID-19 is a natural pathogen and not a manufactured one as some myth rumours are spreading around on social media (no surprise there).

Also mainly for UK readers (probably other countries whos governments may be following similar models) as we haven't adopted mass city lock downs (yet) comes form the approach of South Korea in combating COVID-19:-

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...et-its-success

They haven't introduced city lock downs and seem to be effectively reducing the effects of the epidemic through effective testing and isolating the infected individuals and not isolating everyone as some countries have adopted.
I am not saying this is the solution as its way too early to make conclusive answers but it would be important to view different measures for treating this pandemic and not jump to panic based on what the media is portraying because we aren't doing what everyone else is doing.

[TolerantLactose]

Obviously caution must be taken with having too high expectations that a vaccine will be made soon as most scientists are suggesting that it will take around 12-18 months to get full approval vaccination to be manufactured. Although its clear treatments methods are rapidly being investigated.

A lot of labs are simply restarting the work they were doing with SARS (also a coronavirus) that was shut down when fears of a pandemic back then abated.

[hardyboysare]

A lot of labs are simply restarting the work they were doing with SARS (also a coronavirus) that was shut down when fears of a pandemic back then abated.

Yeah I imagine they are I saw this article into how they are utilising SARS treatment methods in the use to combat COVID-19 and much of the similarity are present (not surprising really being the same family strain).

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...129-8/fulltext

Seems the main difference is the virulence with COVID-19 being a lot more transmissible I am sure some pathological structural difference exists as well such as variance in transmembrane helical segments. This seems to make treatment a lot harder as it will be transmitted easier but again research suggest the global scale of infection can't be avoided but effective isolation and treatment would be the best course of action by utilising methods of containment and mitigation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554776/

Just another piece on immunity of COVID-19 a small study on Macaque monkeys made some indication that some form of immunity maybe present after exposure to the virus. Not very reliable at all but it is step in the direction of vaccine immunity and its overall effect as well as steps as 'herd immunity' could be a possible short-medium term action.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....990226v1.full

[Heisman2]

It's getting hard to keep up with everything so I decided to make a post tonight and might start making 2 a day to make this more manageable.

Really nice link showing US outbreaks: https://infection2020.com/?fbclid=Iw...eh4cIfC5q3uPWM

Reminder that this is a great link to obtain country specific data: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ Of note, Italy has now plateaued in new cases per day and deaths per day so looks like the containment measurements are having a big effect.

Overview of what different countries are doing: https://www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj....TIm8W6vdBhi-sA

New analysis looking at the genetics and giving more evidence that this was not made as a bioweapon and rather occurred naturally. https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...u1bSwc4mIDtRsc

New study showing that in a subset of patients gastrointestinal symptoms can be the predominant or even only symptom: https://www.biospace.com/article/rel...m-of-covid-19/

Some hope that warmer temperatures and higher humidity will help slow the spread of the virus: https://www.yahoo.com/news/study-say...213034915.html


In the healthcare world, still tons of changes everywhere. My hospital system is just about on the verge of cancelling all non-essential things (many already are cancelled). We are moving to telehealth as much as possible. I am VERY curious what long term ramifications this will have (I completely envision in the future people saying "If you could have just handled this over the phone during the coronavirus pandemic why do I have to come to clinic now?"). This could very easily accelerate the process by which people move more towards telehealth nationally as there are ways to even listen to a heartbeat and look in ears from a distance, but I digress. Otherwise, there are growing shortages of needed personnel and needed personal protective equipment, and many healthcare workers who were previously told things like "Don't wear a mask room to room" are now being told "Wear the same mask until it gets soiled" due to supply shortages... that doesn't really build up the confidence of medical staff. Still going to get worse before it gets better.

[boo99]

Thank you again Heisman for all your contributions here.

I had another question.

If someone who had COVID-19 recovers then in the future a non ever infected person has contact with them, can they get COVID-19?

Or does it just inactivate and go away?

I mean is it going to be like HIV where you have to ask.....are you HIV+ or HIV- ?

[TolerantLactose]

Yeah I imagine they are I saw this article into how they are utilising SARS treatment methods in the use to combat COVID-19 and much of the similarity are present (not surprising really being the same family strain).

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...129-8/fulltext

Seems the main difference is the virulence with COVID-19 being a lot more transmissible I am sure some pathological structural difference exists as well such as variance in transmembrane helical segments. This seems to make treatment a lot harder as it will be transmitted easier but again research suggest the global scale of infection can't be avoided but effective isolation and treatment would be the best course of action by utilising methods of containment and mitigation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554776/

Just another piece on immunity of COVID-19 a small study on Macaque monkeys made some indication that some form of immunity maybe present after exposure to the virus. Not very reliable at all but it is step in the direction of vaccine immunity and its overall effect as well as steps as 'herd immunity' could be a possible short-medium term action.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....990226v1.full

It was a different world back then. It took hundreds of labs many weeks to even find out it was a coronavirus. Our lab even resorted to using an electron microscope to look for particles that may be the causative agent.

In the healthcare world, still tons of changes everywhere. My hospital system is just about on the verge of cancelling all non-essential things (many already are cancelled). We are moving to telehealth as much as possible. I am VERY curious what long term ramifications this will have

In our system, there's an expectation that the number of organ transplantations will decrease for the near future. Coronavirus NAT has been added to the infectious disease screening panel for deceased organ donors ahead of guidance from the Canadian government.

[hardyboysare]

It was a different world back then. It took hundreds of labs many weeks to even find out it was a coronavirus. Our lab even resorted to using an electron microscope to look for particles that may be the causative agent.

Very true which of course is encouraging news and it seems large organisations are stepping up and support the need to open treatment strategies instead of localising the availability with Bayer donating a potential effective drug chloroquine.

Saw that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine (anti-malaria) treatment has been consider as possible effective treatment measure and with the fact that remdesivir is very much in 'testing' stage the use of a proven clinically approved drug will hopefully speed up treatment methods.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41421-020-0156-0

Interesting to read (although complete expected) that COVID-19 suffer from increase levels of high concentration of cytokines meaning a possible link between too much production of immune cells and their activating compounds causing too much damage then required especialy in the lungs similar to extreme versions of the flu.

In our system, there's an expectation that the number of organ transplantations will decrease for the near future. Coronavirus NAT has been added to the infectious disease screening panel for deceased organ donors ahead of guidance from the Canadian government.

We are having similar investigation in the UK, my work organisation is now implementation a restriction on the individuals who can donate blood products for anyone who is either had infection symptoms or travelled from highly infected countries to wait 28 days before donating blood. We are yet to see any transmission through blood transfusion and the chances of plasma derivatives containing any part the virus are very low due to the process of manufacturing.

https://haemophilia.org.uk/wp-conten...t-Update-4.pdf

[Heisman2]

Thank you again Heisman for all your contributions here.

I had another question.

If someone who had COVID-19 recovers then in the future a non ever infected person has contact with them, can they get COVID-19?

Or does it just inactivate and go away?

I mean is it going to be like HIV where you have to ask.....are you HIV+ or HIV- ?

Most likely it will inactivate and go away as that is what typically happens with coronaviruses (the general type) and other upper respiratory infections. Can't promise you that but that's my guess.

Good posts above. As indicated there are some potential treatments being researched: https://www.mediterranee-infection.c...O0t0DNDZq1b4Uw and https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article.../_pdf/-char/en and https://www.nature.com/articles/s414...MYNyXxDTD8R93w and https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.105...gSll0IyeNXFxYA (not effective)

Young people can definitely be hit hard by this: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...younger-people - please note the numbers are likely very skewed as we are not doing widespread testing so nowhere near as severe as stated but it's foolish for young adults to just assume they will handle it just fine (they likely will but no guarantee).

This analysis indicates the mortality rate is closer to 5%, though I still believe it is far less given many asymptomatic people are not being tested, but I'm posting it as food for thought: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...sO0fYaefhJWngA

The Chinese have now released a handbook for management based on what they observed: https://www.alibabacloud.com/univers..._en_Mobile.pdf

Nice resource list with lots of links: https://foamid.com/2020/03/17/covid-...p2U_cfERBCMEc4

[TolerantLactose]

We are having similar investigation in the UK, my work organisation is now implementation a restriction on the individuals who can donate blood products for anyone who is either had infection symptoms or travelled from highly infected countries to wait 28 days before donating blood. We are yet to see any transmission through blood transfusion and the chances of plasma derivatives containing any part the virus are very low due to the process of manufacturing.

https://haemophilia.org.uk/wp-conten...t-Update-4.pdf

Funny you should mention that. Once upon a time, Canadian Blood Services (formerly Red Cross) had a ban on blood product donations from people who have been to the UK within the previous 6 months because of mad cow disease.

[MrCarrot]

Well, all schools in England are now closing on Friday, indefinitely.

I am not saying this is the solution as its way too early to make conclusive answers but it would be important to view different measures for treating this pandemic and not jump to panic based on what the media is portraying because we [the UK] aren't doing what everyone else is doing.

The British have always bucked the trend in most things :-)

[hardyboysare]

Funny you should mention that. Once upon a time, Canadian Blood Services (formerly Red Cross) had a ban on blood product donations from people who have been to the UK within the previous 6 months because of mad cow disease.

Lol yep so we can right off another myth as well from COVID-19 in suggesting it all food related diseases comes from Asia seeing as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was formed in Britain from eating mainly cows with Mad Cow disease and that caused major global implication in 80-90's.

Canada's mass blood restriction was not surprising at all from this, as its only this year the British National Blood Service have only just stopped importing neonatal plasma from America donors due to similar fears infecting children in Britain after nearly 40 years.

Well, all schools in England are now closing on Friday, indefinitely

The British have always bucked the trend in most things :-)

Of course that is what makes us British. A few countries are following some similar programs such as South Korea, Japan and others as shown in the link by Heisman on post #35. The overall response from all governments will probably follow cycles of isolation, suppression and mitigation as one individual aspect will likely not being applicable under different stages of this pandemic.

As for the schools I am not sure about the rest of the globe but it seems like schools will still be open for children for 'key workers' and 'vulnerable' within the England and will likely be open during the school holidays as 'day care centres'. In order to allow families within these key sectors to still go to work and help ease the burden of this pandemic and its reaction:-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51956279

As far as I am aware (my partner works in a local mainstream school) they will still be working and open for some students but an announcement is meant to being made this evening. But for everyone else its a long schools holiday

Just a note on children and COVID-19 and another myth circulating on media platforms as Heisman highlighted before children are not immune to fatality rates of COVID-19 with two reported cases in China of under 18's passing away:-

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2005073

That said the rates are extremely low at less then 1% being infected according to the paper and the two that passed away did have underlying health issues.

[AdamWW]

Well, all schools in England are now closing on Friday, indefinitely.



The British have always bucked the trend in most things :-)

In the name of the English, I say "Bloody Hell!"

[TolerantLactose]

Part of a phylogenetic analysis of cases in Canada. It seems that we view Wa. state as hotspot of concern.

[AdamWW]

Part of a phylogenetic analysis of cases in Canada. It seems that we view Wa. state as hotspot of concern.

Yeah, I'm in dat dere ground zero

[Heisman2]

More updates/interesting tidbits:

Seems like some of the sickest patients are undergoing cytokine storms: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...K7fv0jcMAObb_Q

I have no idea if this is legit but if so and it ends up working it would be great to have a test for IgM and IgG antibodies as that would give a good indication if people have been exposed and recovered recently or further in the past. Still likely some ways off before we have a legit test but it's good if people are working on it. https://www.medicaldevice-network.co...rick-covid-19/

General overview of the coronaviruses and SARS/MERS/COVID-19: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...381gNV_G_f1Aic

State by state testing data: https://covidtracking.com/data/

The WHO is no longer recommending against ibuprofen: https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1240409217997189128

The CDC now says as a last resort healthcare workers can use bandanas/scarves if we are out of facemasks. https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-...MGYCjLTNqcbfaU This is NOT going over well, lol. If you have any nursing friends ask them what they think about this and expect a passionate response against it. Would not surprise me at all after this is over if the nursing unions/groups/etc all stand together to demand safer working conditions.

[hardyboysare]

Just some more information to consider when you read some of the latest claims of fatality rates and interpretation of statistics:-

https://science.sciencemag.org/conte...cience.abb3221

Basically some studies suggest that for every confirmed COVID-19 case 5-10 cases exist which are undocumented because the patient has none to minimal symptoms. The rate of fatality varies massively depending on the location and available care, testing and strategies. The most reliable seems to be South Korea due to their massive drive for testing. But levels seem to vary from around 0.3% - 3%.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/6/20-0320_article

General overall of recent studies of COVID-19:-

https://www.isglobal.org/en/covid-19...es-cientificas

And for individuals who like video format here is a basic guide to how COVID-19 effects the body and how some measures may help stop the spread (this is a basic video as it doesn't take into consideration the effects of mental health, social, economic or behavioural response of prevention strategies):-

[etet1919]

Hi Heisman! It seems like you're hanging in there just fine!! Us regular folk don't know how you healthcare professionals do it!! Thank you for your service!! I hope you get a break too sometime.

One question: Can dialysis centers potentially pose more of a risk, for both patients and all staff workers, as opposed to the standard reputable hospitals? Many of these centers have always needed to be extra cautionary on a very hypervigilant basis. But still... These patients NEED to go in for dialysis treatment even when sick!! Not good.

[TolerantLactose]

I have no idea if this is legit but if so and it ends up working it would be great to have a test for IgM and IgG antibodies as that would give a good indication if people have been exposed and recovered recently or further in the past. Still likely some ways off before we have a legit test but it's good if people are working on it. https://www.medicaldevice-network.co...rick-covid-19/

These tests tend to have poor sensitivity. Another problem is the number of false positive interpretations due to user error.

[andy0w]

Update of the past

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/u...-outbreak.html

[Heisman2]

Hi Heisman! It seems like you're hanging in there just fine!! Us regular folk don't know how you healthcare professionals do it!! Thank you for your service!! I hope you get a break too sometime.

One question: Can dialysis centers potentially pose more of a risk, for both patients and all staff workers, as opposed to the standard reputable hospitals? Many of these centers have always needed to be extra cautionary on a very hypervigilant basis. But still... These patients NEED to go in for dialysis treatment even when sick!! Not good.

I'm a primary care doc so I am at risk of getting it without question but it's really the inpatient people that are going to be the true heroes of this. They are at very high risk and will be working overtime if this blows up.

From what I have been able to figure out seeing people who work in dialysis centers post is that they are trying to separate the potential COVID-19 patients to an isolated area. If they screen well so they have an idea they may have COVID-19 prior to entering they can put a mask on the patient, ensure he/she doesn't touch anything, and the employees can wear appropriate PPE, so it shouldn't be higher risk than inpatient. Certainly we are all at risk of getting it from asymptomatic sources.

These tests tend to have poor sensitivity. Another problem is the number of false positive interpretations due to user error.

Yeah, will definitely need to see high sensitivity/specificity numbers to be worthwhile. I put a link above in post 31 for the sensitivity of available testing and it is not encouraging.


Reminder of a link I posted above for a quick visual of US cases to see where we are at: https://infection2020.com/?fbclid=Iw...yWB4UEKBhHN0NQ

[Heisman2]

In an example of people coming together, there is now a growing list of placed to donate PPE (for the people who purchased and hoarded a lot completely unnecessarily): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...NEQM-ezIzrBI4#

A link with some podcasts on COVID-19: https://covid.emrap.org/?fbclid=IwAR...HL4IxFsNFVGu10

Another list of links (more clinically oriented): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...eiDz1Q6t_MlMWw

This was from 3/19 but notes from a COVID-19 update at UCSF grand rounds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...ZyyJK1tY5ZSNVI

Apparently loss of sense of smell/taste can be part of the COVID-19 presentation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judysto.../#6f8180a85101

More studies being done on possible treatments: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...qxxiHiw2Pc5jfE and https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/18/ja...inical-trials/ and https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/...d3e_muOPGLZu0o

More clinical guidelines for treatment; this is a long document but scroll down to page 38-42 for the quick summary: https://sccm.org/getattachment/Disas...VlWWjCluLZuRPw

A couple of days ago but some (non-peer-reviewed) evidence that the coinfection rate is not negligible; this is important as some people were prioritizing tests by saying if you test positive for something else then we won't test you for COVID-19. As COVID-19 becomes more widespread and testing becomes more available this won't be an issue much longer (hopefully). ********************/@nigam/higher-co-...9-b24965088333

New analysis of Wuhan data indicate a death rate of 1.4%. The real death rate is still likely lower than this as many asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic won't be tested, but it also depends on the healthcare abilities where you are. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/coro...140843529.html

Longer read but good overview of mitigation/suppression/etc; there are some critiques in the comments so worth glancing through those if you decide to read the whole thing: ********************/@tomaspueyo/coron...e-be9337092b56

[hardyboysare]

A few more rounds of updates that have been making the papers, science community etc:-

Men are linked to higher death rates then women:-

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...1002/jmv.25757

https://www.latimes.com/science/stor...than-for-women

Summary:- Men are likely to have more lung related damaged due to higher rates of smoking. Some ideas that estrogen may play some part but I believe this is widely speculative at best as the study was on mice and not that reliable.

Liver damage seems limited from COVID-19:-

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...084-4/fulltext

Some of the fiscal effects taking place across the globe to deal with COVID-19 basically its going to cost a lot:-

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-wh...age/a-52816921

Some numbers are out of date with America suggesting more $1 trillion being required.

[Heisman2]

Good links above.

Apparently a new test has been FDA approved with a 45 minute turn around time. Hopefully it's more accurate than the rapid flu test (which is notorious for poor sensitivity): https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-...minutes-2020-3

This study is from several years ago but shows cloth masks are terrible relative to actual facemasks made for healthcare workers; it's going around due to inadequacy of PPE available at this time. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...__ffn_sectitle

[BromanianDL]

Is there any good information regarding the malaria drug that people are claiming will help treat covid-19?

[Heisman2]

Is there any good information regarding the malaria drug that people are claiming will help treat covid-19?

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/927033

One of the specific studies (figures at the end): https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article.../_pdf/-char/en

[TolerantLactose]

This investigation was done in vitro (I skimmed quickly).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/art...ort=objectonly

[Heisman2]

Another seemingly good information source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...NHj3Z1D9Sp1GKg

No idea how accurate this is but could be fun to compare different states: https://covidactnow.org/?fbclid=IwAR...L8PbkiWk--ZUp0

[hardyboysare]

Another seemingly good information source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...NHj3Z1D9Sp1GKg

Very good article have just finished reading it and was about post it but you got there before me :-)

Would advise others to read it as well if interested in COVID-19.

A list and information of the potential promising treatment methods:-

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...rus-treatments

A small article on the effects of isolation on the elderly:-

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...061-X/fulltext

Thought it highlighted some of the basic principles of isolation and how its not always advised to be the direct response to take in pandemics. We are having a lot of people online say that full country isolation so be undertaken straight away but this in itself contain many physical, mental and economic issues. Very important to understand how difficult it can be for the valuable to be isolated completely.

[Heisman2]

I'm taking a bit of a break from reading up on this vigorously to focus on other things, but a few links:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...Ni2pSNcn71Urow - FDA working on using blood from recovered patients as a treatment

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020...qso60JHFtXy1ug - WHO has launched a large trial on potential treatments

https://www.zeit.de/wissen/gesundhei...9X3MSnHbT93N58 - Interview from a guy in Germany suggesting their numbers are better than most and likely accurate because their testing is very widespread. Also he suggests they won't be able to keep up and then the numbers will start to look more like other countries as only the sicker people get tested.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...cDjiCYYMMkGA7Y - a study suggesting viral load does correlate with severity of symptoms

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevorn.../#7e3366c8974f - Population adjusted coronavirus case numbers