There are now more than 3.2 million global cases. The US gained more than 27,000 since yesterday, for a total of 1,063,351. There have been over 2,300 deaths in the US in the last 24 hours. There have been nearly 228,000 deaths around the world from the pandemic virus.
It’s possible that recovered COVID-19 patients who later tested positive again were not in fact re-infected or reactivated, but were false-positives. It may be that traces of the virus (viral RNA, for example) which were no longer active or infective were throwing off the tests. This would be good news. We’ll see if it holds true.
This is a pre-print, so take it with a grain of salt until it goes through peer-review, but it may be that vitamin-D deficiency plays a role in the severity of illness in COVID-19.
Gilead says remdesivir is working and helps patients recover faster. The study was run by NIH. Data will be released soon. Many studies on remdesivir are running concurrently. Meanwhile, Fauci seems to be impressed:
Dr. Anthony Fauci provides drug trial update: "Remdesivier has a clear cut significant positive affect in diminishing the time to recovery…We think it's really opening the door to the fact that we now have the capability of treating…it's going to get better and better." pic.twitter.com/u4Amor0xJ5
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 29, 2020
The FDA plans to greenlight remdesivir use post-haste:
BREAKING NEWS (via THE NEW YORK TIMES): FDA to Authorize Emergency Use of a Virus Treatment (Remdesivir) Following Successful COVID-19 Trial
(Note: *Only* take this drug under a doctor's supervision.) https://t.co/dYxO6OD0dY
— Seth Abramson (@🏠) (@SethAbramson) April 29, 2020
Costco wants you to wear a mask when shopping starting Monday. You’ll need to bring your own, they won’t be supplied to you.
The US Government says that the virus may have originated in a Wuhan lab. This is an incendiary accusation, and it’s entirely possible. The first question is how we think we know this to be true. The next question is whether it is verifiable. The third question is whether it is actionable—and if so, just what are we going to do about it? If the details are murky and unverifiable, on what grounds do we act? What actions could we take to make a thorough investigation?
The death toll in Africa is relatively low. Do we have reason to hope? The testing level is also relatively low. Less-dense populations, relative heat and humidity, and younger average ages may be helping.
Will meat processors actually show up when federally mandated back to work? Perhaps not. It’s also not entirely clear that the Defense Production Act can be used to make a mandate like this. It looks like this might shape up to be a battle:
President Donald Trump orders U.S. meat-processing plants to stay open despite concerns about coronavirus outbreaks, drawing a backlash from unions that said at-risk workers required more protection https://t.co/WcBsmFYOwX @jeffmason1 @tpolansek pic.twitter.com/E0SAtTjMQN
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2020
