The reason why Trump said HCQ functions as both a vaccine and a cure
The reason why Trump said HCQ functions as both a vaccine and a cure
KevinD (01-17-2021)
Chinese city reports coronavirus found on ice cream, issues recall
The coronavirus was found on ice cream produced in eastern China, prompting a recall of cartons from the same batch, according to the government.
The Daqiaodao Food Co, Ltd in Tianjin, adjacent to Beijing, was sealed and its employees were being tested for the coronavirus, a city government statement said.
There was no indication anyone had contracted the virus from the ice cream.
Indian ice cream is the worst. They have power outages and it all melts and then it gets frozen again with all the bacteria in hibernation ready to kill you
Mid January, 2020. Two Chinese journalists were sent to Wuhan to investigate a mysterious virus outbreak. This is their account of the three days before Wuhan entered lockdown. (youtu.be)
Agence France Presse
China has begun using anal swabs to test those it considers at high risk of contracting Covid-19, state TV reported, with social media users and travellers squirming over the invasive procedure which doctors say can be more effective in detecting the virus.
Officials took anal swabs from residents of neighbourhoods with confirmed Covid-19 cases in Beijing last week, broadcaster CCTV said, while those in designated quarantine facilities have also undergone the test.
Small, localised outbreaks in recent weeks have seen multiple cities in northern China sealed off from the rest of the country and prompted mass testing campaigns - which up until now have mostly been conducted using throat and nose swabs.
But the anal swabs method "can increase the detection rate of infected people" as traces of the virus linger longer in the anus than in the respiratory tract, Li Tongzeng, a senior doctor from Beijing's You'an Hospital, told CCTV.
‘Extreme humiliation’: Internet reacts to invasive swabs
Users of China's popular Twitter-like Weibo social media platform reacted to the method with a mix of mirth and horror.
"So lucky I returned to China earlier," one user wrote.
"Low harm, but extreme humiliation," another said, using a laughing emoticon.
Others who had undergone the procedure chimed in with dark humour.
"I've done two anal swabs, every time I did one I had to do a throat swab afterwards - I was so scared the nurse would forget to use a new swab," one Weibo user joked.
CCTV said on Sunday anal swabs would not be used as widely as other methods, as the technique was "not convenient."
As cases rise around the world, China has imposed stricter requirements on international arrivals in an effort to keep domestic transmission close to zero.
All arrivals into the country must have multiple negative test results and quarantine for at least 14 days in a designated hotel on arrival, with many cities and regions imposing additional home observation requirements.
This is just an exercise in how willing NPCs are to be humiliated at this point
China is enforcing strict new measures, including anal swab testing, as COVID-19 cases surge ahead of Lunar New Year, a time of high travel for the country.
Key points:
Chinese health experts are divided over using anal swab testing for COVID-19
Authorities are imposing quarantine periods of up to one month for foreign arrivals
The Chinese Government is discouraging travel for Lunar New Year
Groups deemed necessary for "close monitoring", including international arrivals, are being subjected to four tests — a nasal swab, a throat swab, a blood test and an anal swab.
"Applying extra anal swabs can improve the detection rate of infection and reduce missed diagnosis," Li Tongzeng, associate director of respiratory and infectious diseases at Beijing's You'an Hospital, told state broadcaster Central Chinese Television (CCTV).
Dr Li said because anal swabs were not as convenient as oral swabs, they were only being used for people under quarantine in major hotspots, including Daxing district in Beijing.
lost in melb. (01-27-2021)
shhh, he's too busy counter-FBDposting
By Vandana Rambaran | Fox News
New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the state Department of Health underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50%, according to a report released Thursday.
The report holds New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's feet to the fire for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic in the early months, after he directed nursing homes in the Empire State to accept patients who had or were suspected of having COVID-19. The decision created an onslaught of COVID-19 cases that infected thousands of elderly patients and resulted in hundreds of deaths among the state's most vulnerable population.
Cuomo has defended the nursing home policy as in-line with guidance from the Trump administration at the time.
James' report said that government guidance requiring the admission of COVID-19 patients into nursing homes may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities and may have obscured the data available to assess that risk.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) asked 62 nursing homes to provide data about deaths in their facilities.
In one example, a facility reported five confirmed and six presumed COVID-19 deaths at the facility as of Aug. 3 to the Department of Health, yet reported to the OAG a total of 27 COVID-19 deaths at the facility and 13 hospital deaths — a discrepancy of 29 deaths.
The report, which revealed the findings of an investigation into allegations of patient neglect and other "concerning conduct" that jeopardized the health and safety of both patients and employees, said that some facilities failed to comply with health protocols to stop the spread of the virus.
Nursing homes that had low U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Staffing ratings were found to have higher COVID-19 fatality rates.
In addition, lack of sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) equipment for staff, as well as low availability of testing, could have also increased the patients' risk of contracting the virus, the report said.
About 70 percent of the nearly 35,000 COVID deaths in New York were people aged 70 and older, according to state data as of Jan. 28.
Investigations into more than 20 nursing homes whose reported conduct during the first wave of the pandemic presented particular concern are still ongoing, James added.
"As the pandemic and our investigations continue, it is imperative that we understand why the residents of nursing homes in New York unnecessarily suffered at such an alarming rate," James said in a statement. "While we cannot bring back the individuals we lost to this crisis, this report seeks to offer transparency that the public deserves and to spur increased action to protect our most vulnerable residents."
KevinD (01-29-2021)
I hope they televise Cuomo's noose session
By Joseph Curl - The Daily Wire
Passengers on a flight from Changchun to Beijing in China were reportedly ordered to disembark after officials said one came from an area deemed as high risk for COVID-19. They were then brought to a hotel “where health workers took nose and anal swabs, said a passenger who asked to be identified only by his last name, Wang,” The National Post reported.
“Some people arriving into Beijing are being asked to undertake anal swabs as well, with one traveler who came from Hong Kong a few weeks ago telling Bloomberg News she was told to do the swab herself while in mandatory hotel quarantine,” the Post wrote.
The latest report comes as health officials across China have begun using anal swabs to test its residents for COVID-19, “a method that experts say is more accurate and raises the chances of detecting the virus,” the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
“To collect test samples, the swab needs to be inserted about three to five centimeters (1.2 to 2 inches) into the rectum and rotated several times. After completing the motion twice, the swab is removed before being securely placed inside a sample container. The whole procedure is said to take about 10 seconds,” said the U.K. paper.
The Mail cited Li Tongzeng from Beijing’s You’an Hospital, who said on state broadcaster CCTV that traces of the coronavirus are detectable longer in the anus or in feces than samples taken from the throat and nose.
“We found that some asymptomatic patients tend to recover quickly. It’s possible that there will be no trace of the virus in their throat after three to five days,” Li said. “But the virus lasts longer from the samples taken from the patient’s digestive tract and excrement, compared to the ones taken from the respiratory tract.”
“If we conduct anal swabs for nucleic acid testing, it would increase the detection rates of patients and lower the chance of a missed diagnosis,” the expert said.
The new method of testing began just recently, The Washington Post reported.
“Some Chinese doctors say the science is there. Recovering patients, they say, have continued to test positive through samples from the lower digestive tract days after nasal and throat swabs came back negative,” said the Post.
“Yet for many, it seemed a step too far in government intrusions after a year and counting of a dignity-eroding pandemic. ‘Everyone involved will be so embarrassed,’ one user in Guangdong province said on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, on Wednesday. In a Weibo poll, 80 percent of respondents said they ‘could not accept’ the invasive method,” the paper wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says “for initial diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2, CDC recommends collecting and testing an upper respiratory specimen.”
“Sterile swabs should be used for the collection of upper respiratory specimens. This is important to preserve both patient safety and specimen integrity. Please note that nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens are not appropriate for self-collection.”
I had to look twice to make sure this wasn't from the Babylon Bee.