https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/10/06/coronavirus-vaccine-fda-standards/
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A fourth White House press aide has tested positive for COVID-19
It looks like Kayleigh, who said the virus would never come to America. is spreading it to her entire staff, because she has refused to wear a mask.
“Trump came home from the hospital prematurely on Monday night after it was revealed that he had spread COVID-19 to at least two housekeepers. It was announced Tuesday morning that a military valet also tested positive. The Joint Chiefs of Staff are also in quarantine.”
Some GOP commentators are suggesting silly things like it’s part of a Democratic plot because why aren’t more Democrats being infected? Democrats, and the CDC, Trump’s own doctors, and Dr. Fauci have been begging Trump and the White House to wear masks and social distance for about nine months now.
It’s not rocket science. It’s not difficult to understand. It’s a well known process experienced many times in human medical history.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fourth-white-house-press-aide-220952567.html
For the Secret Service, a New Question: Who Will Protect Them From Trump?
https://news.yahoo.com/secret-protect-them-trump-185434832.html
The plexiglass barriers that will separate Harris and Pence at the debate probably won’t stop coronavirus-laden aerosols
"To understand how the spread of coronavirus aerosols might look if they were visible to the naked eye, think of cigarette smoke.
That’s how Linsey Marr, a leading aerosols researcher at Virginia Tech, thinks about them. Imagine a group of people, she said on Monday: "What if all the people in that situation are smoking? Are you going to be exposed? Will you end up breathing a lot of cigarette smoke?
“If the answer is yes,” Marr continued, “then you need to do something to change that situation, to reduce the risk.”
To follow that analogy, imagine Harris and Pence smoking cigarettes onstage for 90 minutes. A plexiglass barrier might stop some of that smoke, and 13 feet of distance would help, too. But plenty of smoke could still get around and above the barriers."
“To truly make the debate safe, Marr said, she would require all attendees to wear masks – especially Harris and Pence.”
And who is it insisting on there being plexiglass?
LLY’s antibody treatment has preliminary good results out, and they’re seeking an EUA for their use.
he difference in viral load was statistically significant at day 11, unlike some doses of Lilly’s single-antibody cocktail. There was also a statistically significant reduction in viral levels three days and seven days after infection.
The treatment also improved symptoms, according to a scored questionnaire, and resulted in fewer hospital and emergency room visits. Visits to the hospital or ER were made by 5.8% of patients in the placebo group, but just 0.9% of those who received the antibody combination. That difference, however, was just barely statistically significant.
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Coronavirus can survive on skin for 9 hours
It’s still not the flu…
"SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remained viable on samples of human skin for about 9 hours, according to the study. In contrast, a strain of the influenza A virus (IAV) remained viable on human skin for about 2 hours.
Fortunately, both viruses on skin were rapidly inactivated with hand sanitizer."
““When they reduced his sedative and he came around, they said to him, ‘Do you know where you are? You’re in the coronavirus ward,‘” Zaraabel recounted. “He said: ‘It’s not possible, there’s no coronavirus; it’s just politics.’ They replied: ‘So what are you doing here?’””
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“In the FAIR Health data on coronavirus patients over 60, a quarter face charges less than $26,821 for their hospital stay. Another quarter face charges higher than $193,149, in part because of longer stays.”
" Air ambulances are expensive and often not in major health insurance plans’ networks. The median charge for an air ambulance is $38,770, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs published this year. When the helicopter trip is out of network — as about three-quarters of them are — patients are left with a median charge of $21,698 after the insurance payout.
Taking two helicopter rides, as Mr. Trump did, could plausibly result in more than $40,000 in medical debt for patients without access to their own aircraft (though of course most people do not leave the hospital by helicopter)."
Only $240,000… (for a typical hospital stay, not walter reed, team of doctors, etc)
I mean the remdesivir runs $3k for a course and I’m not sure what the antibodies run but I doubt it would be more. Most of the rest of the stuff was basically free in terms of his drugs, so then it’s just a hospital stay for a few days. The NYT, never one to avoid a soft pitch for more socialized medicine, mentions the average total cost of an older covid patient as upwards of $50k. Probably true as far as it goes, but
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much of this would be covered by insurance, so while it’s expensive for society at large to treat very sick people, it’s not that much OOP for the patient and much of covid related expenses are covered by the government, and
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the average older person has some moderate chance of ending up in the ICU / ventilated (10% or so), which means their stay would be both much longer and much more expensive.
Clearly the real savings are in giving these new therapies that work fast enough the patient goes home and is healthy enough to start tweeting politics again in just a few days 
.
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True that the larger part of the costs would not be passed to most patients. But still considering many people only have a HDHP, suddenly having to pay the whole $3-10k deductible depending on the plan would be a pretty large financial event for many middle class households. That’s assuming they keep their pay during the hospitalization as well.
The silver lining is most of the patients with the more serious cases (and longer stays) are older so are likely on Medicare and thus their OOP costs are not that high. The deductible for Medicare A is around $1400 IIRC. Drug treatment should be some additional amount but not massive.
Either way, it’s not a trivial expense unfortunately but I agree preventing and early therapies should provide savings as well as better outcomes.
Wasn’t there something in the spring legislation requiring insurers to cover Covid treatment 100%? Or was that just testing?
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" Trump has been given a cocktail of drugs that includes the antiviral remdesivir, an unapproved antibody treatment made by Regeneron and a corticosteroid called dexamethasone.
It’s a combination that, experts say, isn’t just unusual — it’s unheard of. “Nobody gets this cocktail of drugs,”
"…there are reasons that doctors reserve dexamethasone for those who are critically ill. The drugs, according to the Mayo Clinic, “mimic the effects of hormones your body produces naturally in your adrenal glands.” This allows them to reduce inflammation but also can lead to side effects such as “elevated pressure in the eyes (glaucoma), fluid retention, swelling in your lower legs, high blood pressure and weight gain.”
Physical side effects, however, aren’t the only concern. On Twitter, both epidemiologists and critical care doctors warned that psychological effects can be a factor as well. Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency physician at Brown University, says that the president’s mental state could be affected by the drugs. “There is certainly a chance that he could experience side effects,” Ranney tells Yahoo Life. “At least one-fourth of people his age develop mania, delirium or even frank psychosis; and the majority of people getting [this type of corticosteroid] develop euphoria and sleeplessness.”
" “corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disturbances are common and include mania, depression, psychotic or mixed affective states, cognitive deficits, and minor psychiatric disturbances (irritability, insomnia, anxiety, labile mood).”
As a result of these facts, some have theorized that Trump’s exceedingly upbeat mood upon being released from the hospital — including a tweet saying he felt better than he did “20 years ago” — may be a side effect of the medicine. Ranney agrees. “I am worried about both the mental health and physical side effects,” she says."
It’s ironic that Trump is taking a performance enhancing drug after repeatedly lying about Biden taking PEDs.
There is now a good reason to test Trump before any debate.
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How would we tell the difference?
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Come on. The ride to and from the hospital had nothing at all to do with his health care. It wasn’t even a “air ambulance”.
But this is affordable care!
You’re too late.
"It says right on the label: ‘Warning May Cause Donald Trump’ "
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Nearly one-third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients develop brain malfunction, study finds
"Almost one-third of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 developed encephalopathy – a degeneration of brain function – according to a study by Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.
WebMD describes encephalopathy – not to be confused with encephalitis, or swelling of the brain – as a group of disorders that represent “a serious health problem that, without treatment, can cause temporary or permanent brain damage.’’
“Encephalopathy, which is characterized by altered mental function ranging from mild confusion to coma, is the most severe neurologic manifestation of COVID-19,” said Dr. Igor Koralnik, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University who treats patients in the Northwestern Medicine health care system.
Most hospitalized Covid patients have neurological symptoms, study says
“Plus 82% have neurological symptoms. The symptoms range from mild to severe, and can include headaches, dizziness and altered brain function, according to the study…”