Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #44

"It sounds like he hasn't been incubated, which is obviously is a good thing."

A&E Doctor, Kishan Rees believes Boris Johnson has been moved to an intensive care unit so he can receive a "higher degree" of monitoring.


Sky News on Twitter

 

I had a really strong reaction too. I was prepared for some major figure to get this, but, well, Boris was so cavalier about the whole thing and then it seemed he had a mild case and was unconcerned. Someone here pointed out yesterday that he had it for about 7-8 days - which is when so many cases turn serious.

He will get the best medical care available in UK, of course.

 

Me too. His politics are about as far away from mine as they could be, but he’s done an amazing job since it became clear this was a serious issue - I am really scared he’ll die. A friend tells me the chances of anyone getting out of ICU are slim. She’s pulling up a graph of percentages so if I get it before I head to bed I’ll post it here. Meanwhile, oh gosh just thinking how his poor fiancée must be feeling.

 

My Daughter was prescribed hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) for an autoimmune disorder. It worked well for that. Hopefully it will work as well against COVID-19.

 

I agree. The idea of the Queen making an address to the nation had been talked about for weeks and I think the timing was more to do with our peak period that we are in / are approaching now in the UK.

I so wish he had just taken time off straight away, rested up and got better. Trying to carry on has really not helped.

 

They haven't put him in an incubator?

 

There is a difference between being helped with oxygen in ICU, and being intubated on a ventilator with the virus. Let's hope it's the former, because the survival rates of the latter are only about 33%.

 

Grocery workers are beginning to die of coronavirus (Washington Post)

 

Iran Unveils COVID-19 Pneumonia Diagnosis System | Iran Front Page

The COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosis system is capable of detecting abnormalities which cannot be spotted in CT scan images in the early stages and can calculate the volume of the infected zone.
...
“As we made progress in the production of diagnosis kits, now, with this new technology, we developed a new method using artificial intelligence, a mehod which is even more precise than the kit in certain stages of the disease,” said Sattari.

A prominent professor at Sharif University of Technology also weighed in on the achievement.

“At the moment, there are numerous methods in the world to diagnose the COVID-19 coronavirus disease, but what is proven and has been confirmed by the American Board of Radiology is that the best way to diagnose infection with the virus is to take a CT scan image of the chest,” said Hamidreza Rabiei, the head of the Advanced Information Technology and Communications Research Center of the Sharif University of Technology.

“Currently, there are two systems similar to this in the world: one in China and another at Stanford in the United States,” he said.

 

I think this is speculation, but it may be true.

Being a major world leader, they are going to take special precautions. I think that would mean moving him to the ICU before they would move most people (in case things really get bad).

The counterpoint to that is I would expect the British government to both downplay his condition, and delay informing the public of his condition.

This wouldn’t be secrecy for the sake of secrecy, but because there are important national security (and other) concerns here.

So I’d take any announcement with a grain of salt.

ETA: I’m sure that Tweet meant to say “intubated.”

 

Well, it's not surprise. Some stores weren't even allowing their employees to use PPE, let alone providing it. They should have been treated from the start as first responders and provided with PPE and trained on how to use it.

 

Yes, that's usually what it means and that's what the Russian press is reporting - they've been right so far. (I have someone who is fluent in Russian reading the news for me in real time).

Sounds like information is leaking out to the various media pretty quickly.

 

Agreed. I hope I am wrong, but I can’t help but feel I’ll be waking up to some very bad news tomorrow morning. I really, really want to be wrong.

 

Yea, I know. It's intubated, not incubated. But most likely they moved him to ICU because he is probably going to need to be intubated (if he already isn't).

 

My son keeps telling me not to worry because he's taking zinc. I said that's no protection. He has to keep working, so I worry a lot.

Whereas, hydroxychloroquine I take for RA, and have for years, but I don't normally take zinc.

There must be something to what we keep hearing. Let's Hope!

LA doctor seeing success with hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19

"He said he has found it only works if combined with zinc. The drug, he said, opens a channel for the zinc to enter the cell and block virus replication."

 

Well, he is relatively young, and presumably is getting best medical care UK can provide. They are not going to rip off his ventilator (if he needs one) to give to some younger guy.

 

But that was a pretty funny typo!

 

People were suggesting to take zinc lozenges from the start to protect against covid. I purchased some.

 

Boris the PM of the UK is in ICU....sad

 

I just read that...awful!