[DCEite]

Originally Posted by TROOPER

Psoriasis drug Itolizumab, from Biocon has been cleared for limited use in moderate to severe cases.

Can this be good news? Cause it's reported that all patients who needed ventilator support, and administered with this recovered.

"The data is compelling and I am confident that this first-in-class biologic will save lives and help reduce the mortality rate in our country."
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon

https://www.bloombergquint.com/busin...id-19-patients

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com...w/76909667.cms

I am not too excited about these re-purposed drug discoveries any more. We already have had a lot in our kitty - from Hydroxychloroquine to Favipiravir to Remdesivir and what not. If these drugs were indeed working well, there should have been a remarkable drop in fatality rates worldwide. There is no data till now that supports this.

Originally Posted by Lobogris

The just concluded serosurvey in Delhi where around 22,000 samples were tested shows a total infection rate of 15% in Delhi and a rate of 25% in more contaminated zones. This is good news in a way as other major cities like New York, London and Madrid started showing a decline in cases around the same mark. Delhi has also shown a decline in the past couple of weeks. In addition it points to a very low mortality rate. If we take Delhi's population at 21 million, we would assume that around 20% got infected taking a median number between 15 and 25% infection rate. That gives us 4.2 million infections. With a current 3300 deaths, we get a mortality rate of 0.07%. Even if we assume that the actual deaths are double because somehow not all were correctly recorded, we get a rather low figure. That can make us cautiously optimistic.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...0vIIMD7jN.html

Does this serosurvey consist of only the Anti-Body testing ? The reason i ask this question is because, if these results are based on anti-body testing, then the actual number of infections since March could be even higher than what this percentage suggests. Because, assuming the anti-bodies remain in the blood stream for maximum 1 month - we still don't have information on those people who were infected and recovered during the months of March, April and May.

Originally Posted by srishiva

So WHO now thinks its rare that asymptomatic people are spreading the virus. Contact tracing throughout the world provides a different evidence on this topic. Should they just keep quiet ? Are they even looking at the data that is being collected and shared by countries ?

I think its an old piece of news and the statement was later retracted by W.H.O.

[sagarpadaki]

Hope the mask does not hamper the airflow from the front into the engine bay. Otherwise, in pursuit of spreading awareness and advertising, the car may overheat or result in other complications.

[hondafanboy]

There are few cases in the areas where we stay. Is it possible to get tested even if we don't have any symptoms? Has anyone done this ?

[am1m]

Originally Posted by DCEite

We already have had a lot in our kitty - from Hydroxychloroquine to Favipiravir to Remdesivir and what not. If these drugs were indeed working well, there should have been a remarkable drop in fatality rates worldwide. There is no data till now that supports this.

It will take years of data, probably decades before some concrete conclusion can be drawn out of any drug and it's efficacy. I think a lot of the 'flip-flops' on several medical findings we are seeing wrt to this pandemic (drug efficacy, treatment protocol, symptoms, asymptomatic carrier viral load probability, the Sweden model,etc etc) are simply because the media (and a whole lot of us on whatsapp and forums like this) are in a BIG hurry to 'break news' and announce some finding as conclusive. In the early stages of an epidemic caused by a new virus, the findings will change based on data and we are still at an early stage in the whole data collection process. But the political and media pressure to come up with something certain is HUGE.

I remember when my wife had tested positive for H1N1 during that pandemic a decade ago, Tamiflu was prescribed and all of us took it without question. Yet even 10 years later, there is a lot of debate about the efficacy of that drug:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-pers...andemic-deaths

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4375804/

So things will keep developing as we learn more, that's just the way this works. What is undeniable though is the peace of mind some sort of drug (short of a vaccine, of course) that even seems to be working will provide. Back then, as soon as we managed to get our hands on some Tamiflu (and it was a bit hard to get a hold of during that time), we were all calm and stopped worrying. But that may well have been just psychological!

Originally Posted by hondafanboy

There are few cases in the areas where we stay. Is it possible to get tested even if we don't have any symptoms? Has anyone done this ?

Well for Mumbai and Bangalore it looks like you can get tested without a prescription. Mumbai made an announcement to that effect, and a friend in Bangalore has opted to get tested because a family member started showing symptoms last week. They were able to call SRL diagnostics who said they would come to the house and collect samples. So yes, it is possible.

But unless you think you were in direct contact with the individuals, not sure if testing is required. I wouldn't go in for a test to a hospital and risk catching something there unless someone I was in direct contact with was showing symptoms (or if I was, of course). Neither would I want to cause my neighborhood to panic by calling for a sample collection at home unless there was a good reason . Just my opinion.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by DCEite

If these drugs were indeed working well, there should have been a remarkable drop in fatality rates worldwide. There is no data till now that supports this.

I am sorry that is a wrong statement. There is indeed a lot of data that supports a fall in fatality rates worldwide.

I have written about it earlier here (The Coronavirus Thread)and here (The Coronavirus Thread).

There is a lot of data (mainly from the US) which supports the fact that even hospitalizations rates and durations have reduced, even as the number of cases are risen dramatically.

Treatments indeed are getting better.

[ani_meher]

Originally Posted by am1m

Neither would I want to cause my neighborhood to panic by calling for a sample collection at home unless there was a good reason . Just my opinion.

Home sample collection is quite discreet. The person collecting the swab stops at the entrance door inside the house, dons the PPE Kit and takes the sample. Then he discards the kit in a bag and goes out. The swab collectors are generally on bike/scooter, so it is not an ambulance or anyone with clear identification that people will notice and panic.

[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

The just concluded serosurvey in Delhi where around 22,000 samples were tested shows a total infection rate of 15% in Delhi and a rate of 25% in more contaminated zones. This is good news in a way as other major cities like New York, London and Madrid started showing a decline in cases around the same mark. Delhi has also shown a decline in the past couple of weeks. In addition it points to a very low mortality rate. If we take Delhi's population at 21 million, we would assume that around 20% got infected taking a median number between 15 and 25% infection rate. That gives us 4.2 million infections. With a current 3300 deaths, we get a mortality rate of 0.07%. Even if we assume that the actual deaths are double because somehow not all were correctly recorded, we get a rather low figure. That can make us cautiously optimistic.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...0vIIMD7jN.html

This is great news. I have been constantly maintaining that a lot more people would have been infected (and recovered) in the last few months, than the official count reveals. This survey seems to confirms that.

In general, the media will never publish positive news like this, which should calm the people's nerves down a bit. No, that wouldn't suit either their agenda or vested interests one bit. Only news that is sensational, and tending to cause panic, is published. The positive news is always relegated to a corner somewhere deep inside.

On the other hand, in the last few months, most of the doctors (not the theoretical "epidemiologist" in quotes) at the forefront should be having a lot more firsthand data now, and I would have expected them to reassure most of the generally-healthy positive tested patients with a kindly "don't worry, you should be fine, you are in good health otherwise, the statistics favour you, fatality rate is low, don't get carried away by the selective media hype", and so on. But no, they will still not commit to anything, and still call it dangerous, by extrapolating the total increasing death count in absolute numbers, instead of total deaths per million infected population. Yes, some sections of people are at a higher risk - but this doesn't mean that it's dangerous for every single person.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

On the other hand, in the last few months, most of the doctors (not the theoretical "epidemiologist" in quotes) at the forefront should be having a lot more firsthand data now, and I would have expected them to reassure most of the generally-healthy positive tested patients...

On this (and the related 'lockdown' thread) there have been a couple of doctors who have been patiently answering questions and have been a source of scientific views, and reassuring and positive views. I can think of Dr.Vivek and the doctor who goes by the handle of 'Rationalist'.

But yes, the alarmist and just plain 'better safe than sorry' views are by far overwhelming, stoked as you rightly say by our media. And given the sorry state of our healthcare (not necessarily the danger from this virus), perhaps those are justified to some extent.

But slowly the positive aspects, recoveries, things like that are gaining traction in the media as well.

[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by am1m

There have been a couple of doctors who have been patiently answering questions and have been a source of scientific views, and reassuring and positive views. I can think of Dr.Vivek and the doctor who goes by the handle of 'Rationalist'.

Yes, definitely true, I've read many of their posts, and well appreciated for that

I only wish more such doctors would come forward on this topic, on the print, digital media, and television.

[NPV]

Specialised 1 year coverage COVID 19 Mediclaim policies are being launched and some employers are offering them to employees at subsidised/negotiated group premiums.

Definitely need of the hour and sign of times we're in.

[Thad E Ginathom]

There is a despair for optimism. Very understandable, and even, needed. However, I don't think that the media I read is part of a conspiracy theory to scare us out our wits. I don't think anybody wanted to respond to this, so let me post it again:

Think a 'mild' case of Covid-19 doesn’t sound so bad? Think again

Now I'm going to try my bit of optimism (or shall I call it hope?) on the experts here. What I'm reading suggests that we may be out of luck on long-term immunity after catching this virus, although a subsequent attack might be less bad due to some immune-system memory. What I'm wondering is:

Just a theory and I'm not a scientist, but for those who are... If this virus is going to be around in our environment for the long term, is there any chance that ongoing background exposure might keep the immunity going?

Originally Posted by NPV

Specialised 1 year coverage COVID 19 Mediclaim policies are being launched and some employers are offering them to employees at subsidised/negotiated group premiums.

Whoa! But insurance is a gamble, and the work of underwriters/actuaries is to calculate the odds and bet (fix the premiums) accordingly. This looks like a rather too much likely-to-happen event for insurers' liking.

And I bet they aren't offering it for oldies

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

However, I don't think that the media I read is part of a conspiracy theory to scare us out our wits.

Oh yes, for sure. There is certainly no larger media conspiracy to scare people, it's just the old maxim that applies to any form of media for all time- whether it's village gossip, national news, or whats app: Bad news travels faster/sells better and makes more of an impact than good news, that's all.

Just take this example from today's news:

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/mo...es-860448.html

'City Mortuaries Full', I got scared reading this too, began to wonder if my 'don't panic' attitude was foolish. After all, you can't cover up covid deaths and if the mortuaries are full it must be really bad. But beyond the headlines, the article is referring to the just 150 mortuary slots in government establishments, and that's for ALL kinds of deaths. So I mean while each death is tragic of course, and any single avoidable death due to covid is bad, 150 slots for the whole of Bangalore means this problem was going to crop up irrespective of this covid situation or not. And sure enough, an article from 9 years ago:

https://www.ndtv.com/bangalore-news/...pile-up-443818

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by am1m

it's just the old maxim that applies to any form of media for all time- whether it's village gossip, national news, or whats app: Bad news travels faster/sells better and makes more of an impact than good news, that's all.

Well, yes, that is certainly true. In this instance, though, I'm guessing that prevention/cure/vaccine found for corvid19, if and when they happen, is/are going to be the biggest headline ever.

[PearlJam]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I don't think anybody wanted to respond to this, so let me post it again:

Think a 'mild' case of Covid-19 doesn’t sound so bad? Think again

A ton of questions come to mind:

• How were the people chosen? Were they chosen by random from different geographical areas?
• Why is the mean age chosen (of 53) so high? Couldn't they have slotted the results based on different age ranges?
• All the chosen people had symptoms ("Corona type complaints"). What exactly were those symptoms, in the 1600 odd people? Why did they not include asymptomatic people in the list? Just to prove a point?
• The article mentions that "91 percent have never been in hospital because of Corona". So have they been to hospital due to other reasons?
• Also, "43 percent have not been diagnosed by a doctor". Did they have preexisting diseases or comorbidities in that case?
• Were they smokers? This is a lung institute, mind you, and a google search on the author first gives an article related to smoking.

This is just from the top off my head.

"Intentionally alarmist" is what my brain immediately flagged this article as. I am not dismissing this article. It is just that I find it has a lot of holes, with important details completely missing.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Well, yes, that is certainly true. In this instance, though, I'm guessing that prevention/cure/vaccine found for corvid19, if and when they happen, is/are going to be the biggest headline ever.

First, Covid 19 is already a treatable disease. Worldwide around 150,000 people are recovering per day on an average of Covid. And that number is just going up and up. So don't expect any big headlines for events that have already happened .

Second, never bet on media to really report positive news. Their profession depends on spreading alarm and despondency. More the scared people locked up inside homes, the more is the consumption of the media.