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My pediatrician brother practices in Lake Wood, NJ where he said things are horrible and that the hospitals are at capacity. He said Orlando is going to get slammed when the Passover/Easter tourists come.

Our idiot president.... just literally in response to a question about why we should "reopen the country" on Easter:

"Easter is a very special day for me ... Easter Sunday, and you'll have packed churches all over our country."

I get it now. He's a secret atheist plant and his goal is to get all the dumbest and most religious (sorry for redundancy) of us to die.

Probably just whichever brand the insurance covered to a larger percentage.

Sounds like your wife must be immune to coronavirus then... at least according to Puddin'.

Victor (or anyone with some knowledge), if someone recovers from this virus, are they now immune?
If yes, can a cure/vaccine be developed from their blood or other cells or parts I never heard about?

Sooo.... I git the sister thing right? If so PM me and type slooooow!

Excellent! I've got my carpet bag all packed! I hope you have space roomie! How do you feel about share cropping? I plan to buy up all your land and your neighbors too. Daddy is coming!

On a serious note

Xi’s Disease across United States: FEMA Update

As of 1700 ET 24 Mar, FEMA reported 44,467 (+303) COVID-19 U.S. cases and 550 (+6) domestic fatalities. WHO/FEMA reported 377,801 (+3,025) confirmed cases and 16,441 (+210) fatalities worldwide. POTUS has approved Major Disaster Declarations for IA and LA

The Governors of HI and VT have issued “stay-at-home" orders. Multiple cities in TX, GA, AL, FL, and CO have also now issued similar orders. The Mayor of DC has ordered all non-essential businesses to close. On 24 Mar, during a White House press briefing, a White House official advised anyone who recently traveled to New York City and the New York metro area to self-quarantine for 14 days.

HHS has accepted a FEMA Mission Assignment to support NY and will provide medical staff to augment state and local medical response resources for immediate and short-term medical needs. Effective 0800 ET 25 Mar, FEMA will establish a Food Supply Chain Task Force to analyze the impact of limited Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the Nation’s food supply.

As of 25 Mar, CBP referred 247,754 (+3,660) travelers to CWMD for enhanced screening; including 1,442 (+9) who were referred to CDC for further screening. On 24 Mar, ICE reported a Mexican national in ICE custody at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, NJ, tested positive for COVID-19. The individual has been quarantined and is receiving care. ICE has suspended intake at the facility until further information is available.

On 24 Mar, DOD reported three sailors aboard the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT CVN-71 (underway in the Pacific Ocean) were diagnosed with COVID-19 and were evacuated from the ship.

[rollingeyes]

Prince Charles has been tested and found positive to Covid19. I heard a reporter asked him how he felt about it and he replied "What, Me Worry".

Did he go away MAD?

Right. I wondered if anyone else caught that.

There is a study underway using the blood of those who were a symptomatic. I believe they are or will be collecting blood in NY.

I was wondering why I smelled smoke when you farted.

His nickname used to be "stud" - it was short for Studebaker.

Especially if, as some have said, this virus has been here much longer than the recent China crisis.

The initial plan at work was to have my unit stay "clean" with both staff and rooms attempted to exclude from covid patients so we had critical care beds for other folks like gunshots and heart attacks and stuff.

While they're still going to try to keep the unit clean, they're shifting staff around. Higher risk staff is getting moved to my unit, and lower risk is getting moved to the covid units.

I've been reassigned to covid units starting my next workweek.

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Just as I predicted, more highly positive results of the hydroxychloroquine/azithromycin combo are coming in. The Fox News Channel primetime shows had more patients interviewed last night, including a guy who, just like the last guy they interviewed the other day, thought he was done for, and after getting those two drugs, he's now back home and cured and feeling perfectly normal and great, after being at death's doorstep previously. Because both were discharged from the hospital, that means they both had to have two negative tests in a row.... which means it's a cure.

I also noticed a shift in tone from the professionals being interviewed about it. They went from "well we can't say yet, let's wait and see, beyond that I have no comment" to "let's wait and see but gosh we're starting to see some good results here..."

It's happening, like I said it would. Next week the anecdotal "IT WORKS!" floodgates will probably open much wider.
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And I think your prediction on fox coverage is probably right.

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Yes, I'm aware of that. My analysis rests on multiple and varied pieces of real data and evidence, not on cable news content.

However, the cable news interviews with people who were about to die and then were suddenly cured after taking the two drugs are interesting to watch and do have limited value. It's also nice to hear reports of the two-drug combination being used nationwide "off-label" and hearing from the M.D.s who are doing it.
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Want a private conversation? Do it in private.

But I still hope and pray it works.

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Yup, the placebo effect can be really powerful. Placebo saline injections are documented to sometimes cure even terminal cancer if the patient is led to believe they're powerful cure drugs. In one case, the patient later discovered it had just been saline, and his tumors returned and he died.

If you're thinking, "gee that makes it sound like our current understanding of science is incomplete" then yeah, pretty much. However, mainstream doctors and researchers tend to not want to think about this (addiction to current-era established assumptions/beliefs) and while they'll happily discuss placebos for simpler things like pain reduction that ARE reasonably explainable under our current scientific paradigm, they do the "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" bit and quickly change the subject when you start to point out and ask about the cases that are NOT. These cases, being documented fact, presumably WILL be explainable someday under a future, expanded understanding of science and medicine, but under today's worldview and assumptions they are not.

So sure, placebo could be a big factor here, that's why we do the controlled studies. However, a large number of anecdotal successes still carry some weight, just not definitive weight.

The cool thing is, both these two drugs were safety tested and FDA-approved decades ago, so that part of the process is already done. Effectiveness evaluation for this new use, however, is still pending.

Stay tuned!
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They're finding now that it can work even if you know it's a placebo, with no blinding whatsoever, provided the doctor tells you that it might help anyway.

Interesting stuff.
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The virus is real i don't doubt that... but it almost feels like a test of nation wide behavior...