COVID-19 Megathread 4: Grandma Got Run Over by the Dow Jones

[Person Man]

Trump has direct money interests in promoting Hydroxychloroquine.   Surprising no one.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-stake-company-hydroxychloroquine_n_5e8c41d7c5b6e1d10a696280

President Donald Trump reportedly owns a stake in a company that produces hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug he has repeatedly touted as a coronavirus treatment even though his experts say there’s no strong evidence it works.

Trump “has a small personal financial interest” in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine, The New York Times reported Monday.

Can anyone discern how supposedly small this small personal financial interest is? I can't read the Times article due to the pay wall. The link Huntington Post article says that the three Trump family trusts each have Holdings in a mutual fund, the largest investor in which is Sanofi. That leaves a lot of interpretation.

But even if the investment is in fact very small, first, Trump has shown that he will do anything to squeeze and milk the office of the presidency to get even a few hundred thousand dollars more into his business organization. This is exhibit 2719 as to why Trump absolutely needed to, and still should but of course never will, the best of self of his interest in create blind trusts for Asset Management while he was president.

It's all a graft, and if you still support him, you're culpable.

His supporters say "he can't be bought" when in reality he is the one buying.

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani/status/1247349014980440066
Whitmer screwed up big by trying to stop a drug that saved the life of one of her fellow Democratic lawmakers life. She even said the President saved her life. Thank you President Trump!

This is such a reliable source /s

https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1247902663452135426
She said on TV too

This wasn’t exactly Whitmer playing partisan politics, as she was actually requested by the Michigan Senate Majority leader (R) to warn doctors against using hydroxychloroquine because the side effects were worrisome. As a matter of fact, Michigan is currently running one of the largest hydroxychloroquine tests in the country to see if it is safe and effective. Honestly, I wouldn’t have done what Michigan did, simply due to the crisis, but there is reasoning behind it.
Also I wish Trump would tout Remdesivir more, as it is safer in humans and is likely more effective.

So fake news?

[Person Man]

Futures jumped about 200 points within the release of the unemployment numbers. 

Because the hedge fund managers are expecting more free money?

[Person Man]

I'm literally f__king CRYING of laughter. This guy is funnier than any comedian ever has been or ever could be.

https://youtu.be/zi_qX50zv7k

Who ever said evangelical Republicans were good for nothing?

Looks like he can barely container his own laughter

Its funny until you realize he's worth $760 million.

Ugh. This figure made me look him up on Wikipedia. Turns out I was completely wrong giving this jackhole the benefit of the doubt. Turns out he is of course the walking embodiment of stereotypical ignoramus fleecing televangelist. That's right down to spreading anti-vax nonsense several years ago, and even recently proclaiming covid-19 basically cured by his spiritual war with the devil, Etc.

What a bastard.

And no fuzzy, don't whine that this is anti fundamentalist bigotry. Surely you agree this a****** digs his own grave in that regard.

Fundamentalists can not like other fundamentalists.

[Person Man]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/08/coronavirus-latest-news-2/

German antibody study indicates fatality rate of 0.37 percent

BERLIN — The preliminary findings of an antibody study by German virologists published on Thursday indicates a covid-19 fatality rate of 0.37 percent, information expected to inform government decision-making about lifting restrictions.

The study by researchers at the University of Bonn involves testing 1,000 individuals in the hard-hit district of Heinsberg in northwestern Germany in an attempt to ascertain the number of people who have been infected without realizing it.

The preliminary findings were based on results from 509 individuals, the researchers said in a news conference on Thursday.

Some 14 percent of the sample had antibodies for the disease, and an additional 2 percent had current infections. A death rate of 0.37 percent is well below the 3.4 percent case fatality rate cited by the World Health Organization last month and at the lower end of the 0.3 to 1 percent range that has been estimated by scientists.

Trump's hunch was right.

3.5% of Chinese died.

Of those infected, only 20% showed symptoms and went to the medical testing stage. This was determined through modelling.

The left a base mortality rate of 0.7%.

Now if the German antibody test was conducted on a similar population, that means for every 301 people exposed to the virus:

• 1 person died.
• 60 people developed symptoms which required medical attention and testing.
• 90 people got sick but showed limited to no symptoms.
• 150 people silently developed antibodies to their exposure almosy immediately.

Which gives you a 0.34% fatality rate. Great news.

Wait 'til Donald finds out.

Mr. Trump will indicate he personally found it out in a sense he personally "down negotiated" the eneomy to kill less Americans. Ergo, these Americans owe him total devotion.

Provided that there are no difference in strains or that we fully understands how this virus works.

[Person Man]

There would be no point to have had a quarantine in the first place if we open too soon. Then there is the point that quarantine failed. The objective of quarantine is to not get to the point where thd health care system is no longer seeing anyone new. Even if there's an outbreak but the hospitals stay open, it worked

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/shadihamid/status/1248664536078483462

It’s bit disingenuous not to be comparing their death rates to Italy, Spain, France, UK, etc. The reason they aren’t is because it would ruin the narrative...

So if we did what Trump wanted to do, things would go to a whole new level of sadness.

[Person Man]

Why are there morons in the UK destroying 5G towers believing that 5G causes Corona? Beyond stupid. That behavior better not spread to the US in any meaningful way.

Why are there morons in the US who believe that Jesus had a pet dinosaur and the earth is flat?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizotypal_personality_disorder

[Person Man]

https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1249767683802923016

We are all going to be getting very sick very soon.

[Person Man]

So he doesn’t have the power to shut down the States, but he has the power to reopen them? What dumbf**kery

Barr could argue about states with Shelter in Place orders having violated the doctrine of the Inverse Commerce Clause applies also has an analog in the Executive Branch or something about Trump being C iC and the decision being part of his National Security powers.

So yeah, there are mental gymnastics available for this. Can't say they are good.

[Person Man]

My girlfriend got her Trumpbux wired to her account yesterday.

And oh. Looking through the generic homepage tabloids, I found this:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/hyped-malaria-pill-doesnt-help-clear-coronavirus-in-study/ar-BB12EEbv?li=BBnb7Kz

[Person Man]

Different, recent trial results on a clinical trial of chloroquine diphosphate.

The high dose CQ arm presented more QTc>500ms (25%), and a trend toward higher lethality (17%) than the lower dosage. Fatality rate was 13.5% (95%CI=6.9-23.0%), overlapping with the CI of historical data from similar patients not using CQ (95%CI=14.5-19.2%). In 14 patients with paired samples, respiratory secretion at day 4 was negative in only one patient. Interpretation Preliminary findings suggest that the higher CQ dosage (10-day regimen) should not be recommended for COVID-19 treatment because of its potential safety hazards.

Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but it seems like this study had no control/placebo group, and was basing it’s conclusions on an extremely small sample size.  Each dosage group had ~40 participants, and they conclude the high dose is worse based on 7 deaths in that group versus 4 deaths in the low dose group.  But are either better than no treatment?

I could see the lack of controls being an issue but thats a large enough sample size to make significant findings.

[Person Man]

Midwest Governors Announce Partnership to Reopen Regional Economy

- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Ohio
- Wisconsin

https://twitter.com/MollyBeck/status/1250856108807221248?s=20

They clearly are not on the same page, since Evers just extended the shutdown to May 26th, while DeWine is trying to open up on May 1. DeWine was doing so well, and now he's just doing Trump's dirty work once again. It's simply idiotic to open up such a big state again in 2 weeks, especially when Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and nearby states, are still not doing well.

Its almost a last ditch gambit where the party elders are gambling the lives of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people and the health of tens of millions more in order to prove that tehlibz overreacted and that Trump is a good president.

[Person Man]

Why are case rates rising so much?

I wonder...

[Person Man]

Why are case rates rising so much?

While NY has somewhat peaked, other states (particularly in the Midwest now) have begun to exponentially grow. IL alone almost registered a growth of 2,000 cases today.

In two weeks, expect another big spike in the Midwest thanks to those 'wonderful' rallies Trumpets are having.

And that's Altright by me!

[Person Man]

The anti-quarantine protests by rightwingers and Trump and the Republican Party's support of them are radicalizing me against the GOP.

How much more radical can people get nowadays without strapping on vests?