DEVASTATING—A contact tracer says North Dakota almost given up tracing: “unless pregnant, we don’t gather any history. Unless their job is health care, or work/attend K-12 schools, we don’t notify their employers”. 🤦🏻♂️
2) “This is what an emergency looks like in North Dakota: Every day seems to break a record for new infections. Even if hospitals have beds, they don’t have enough staff; the governor recently proposed allowing HC workers who test positive to continue working in #COVID19 units.”
3) please think of all the healthcare workers risking their lives too. So many have died. Beg you, please.
NEW—Trial of Hydroxychloroquine post-exposure in Spain for prevent onset of #COVID19: results found a big fat null. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Again. Checked many subgroups too.
We have wasted so much energy and time goose chasing this. But important to debunk. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
2) I’ve spent what feels like eternity now debunking HCQ. So here it is hopefully for the last time... thread 🧵 on all almost trial studies HCQ.
2) we honestly shouldn’t hold any Thanksgiving gatherings. But if you must, or already committed (never too late to cancel), make sure you ventilate your home sufficiently—but this is not zero risk. The better option is outdoor gathering only.
3) Personally, I’m not gathering for thanksgiving. But if I were to, I would only do it outdoors. That is the safest honestly. Wear jackets and use heat lamps.
📍BAD UPDATE—14 morgues—El Paso has to expand another 5 mobile morgues & plan to build a new refrigerated warehouse w/ **3000 square feet of refrigeration** to handle the surging of deceased bodies that need medical examination, amid the #COVID19 surge. 🧵 kfoxtv.com/news/coronavir…
2) “I don’t know what else we could do. I’m really focusing on a moral appeal to our community,” El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said.
“As soon as we get one solution, it’s not sufficient,” Judge Samaniego said.
3) “The deadly impact of COVID-19 on El Paso reached an all-time high on Monday, with more than 250 bodies now being held at the county morgue, part of over 480 total deaths under investigation for the coronavirus.”
My take—I personally think the Oxford AstraZeneza #COVID19 vaccine at 90% efficacy (with its half-then-full dose regimen) simple refrigeration vaccine that costs $2.5-4/dose is superior. Cheaper + much easier to ship ➡️ means save more lives worldwide.
2) For the record, we need to stop quoting the 70% efficacy number. It’s a mix of regimen 1&2, which is not possible in the real world. You only take either 1 or 2, not both. Thus it’s either 90% or 62%. Many new outlets made this error, which I myself at first read. 90% folks!
3) Eventually, I think all 3 vaccines might be in the 90% ballpark for efficacy once more data comes out. Also Oxford vaccine reported also asymptomatic infections. While Pfizer did not—only symptomatic. Because asymptomatic can also spread it, I think that is key.