Hmmm...some good and not so good news...
Jun. 11th, 2020 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. From the Governor's daily briefing..."Following a spike in domestic violence cases, Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa today issued a report outlining the COVID-19 Domestic Violence Task Force's initial recommendations to reimagine New York's approach to services for domestic violence survivors. The recommendations, which I have accepted, call for overhauling and reimagining a 40-year-old system to meet survivors where they are and to empower them to have the maximum control of their future."https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/governor.ny.gov/files/atoms/files/DVTF-Report-FINAL.pdf"> Task Force Recommendations
2. Newspaper Delivery Man has made 500 Grocery Runs for Seniors in his area during the Coronavirus Pandemic
3. From the NY Times Coronavirus Briefing..
New drugs and a transplant offer hope
As the world anxiously awaits a vaccine, doctors and researchers are making headway on potential treatments for Covid-19 and the damage it causes to the body.
The pharmaceutical company Regeneron announced today that it was starting a clinical trial of an antibody cocktail that may one day treat and even prevent Covid-19. The treatment, similar to one shown to be effective for Ebola, would work like the antibodies that people naturally make when they’re infected. If testing is successful, thousands of doses could be produced by the end of the summer.
For the most critically ill, surgery may now be an option. Last week, a woman in her 20s whose lungs were destroyed by the virus received a double lung transplant, the first known operation of its kind in the U.S. for the virus.
The patient had no serious underlying medical conditions, and the transplant was her only chance for survival, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, who performed the surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He said future transplants could help young, otherwise healthy people whose lungs were permanently damaged by the virus and require a ventilator.
There is also new hope for patients whose immune systems set off “cytokine storms,” causing the body to turn on itself as it fights the virus. At least a dozen treatments and several blood-purifying devices are being tested to calm the potentially fatal reaction. One promising drug from Roche is in several clinical trials, including a late-stage trial in combination with the antiviral drug remdesivir.
And... Moderna Vaccine Trials Moving Fast with Final Study Set for July
Moderna Inc. said it had selected a dose for a final-stage clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine that should begin in July, as the company moves ahead rapidly with its innovative approach to trying to prevent Covid-19.
The final study, which will include 30,000 people, will be conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S. Its primary goal will be to show the vaccine prevents people from developing symptoms of Covid-19, Moderna said in a statement. A secondary goal will be to show the vaccine keeps people from getting severe cases requiring hospitalization.
Shares of Moderna climbed 3.2% to $61.98 at 8:26 a.m. in New York. The stock has more than tripled in value since the start of this year.
The announcement is another indication that coronavirus vaccine trials are moving ahead at a remarkable pace. On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson said it would begin early trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in the second half of July, ahead of its previous schedule to begin testing in September.
4. I'm not sure this is good news, so much that well it's amusing. Or at least I found it to be amusing.
New York State Department of Health's Guidelines on How to have sex and date during a pandemic
Why wasn't this covered in any of the pandemic movies and books?
However, the guidance also acknowledges that not everyone has access to an exclusive sex partner at home. People who are dating or “hooking up” should still try to minimize close contacts. Safer sex during Covid-19 also means wearing a mask and avoiding kissing. “Heavy breathing and panting can spread the virus further,” it says. A recent commentary from Harvard University researchers also recommended that people wear a mask during sex with someone from outside their household.
The New York City guidelines discourage group sex, but give advice for those who do “decide to find a crowd.” “Pick larger, more open, ventilated spaces,” it states, among other things.
Individuals can try to find creative alternatives to traditional sex, such as sex toys, masturbating together and sexy Zoom parties, or they could try to “make it a little kinky,” the guidelines state, suggesting, among other things, people can avoid close contact by having sex through holes in walls or other barriers. “Be creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face-to-face contact,” the guidelines state.
If the language seems surprisingly direct, it’s supposed to be, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Our health department has a really strong record of being very sex positive,” said Dr. Daskalakis. “Abstinence for the duration of the pandemic is not going to work. We tend not to shy away from giving people realistic recommendations. There’s no reason for Covid-19 to be different.”
5...on the not such good news or bad news front...I'm guessing we all have to boycott Starbucks now? Considering the last time I went to Starbucks was sometime in January or maybe December, can't remember really...this is not a problem.
What happened?
Apparently Starbucks has broken with the trend, and forbidden their employees from wearing anything that promotes the Black Lives Matter Movement. Starbucks Coffee Giant Gets Slammed for Banning Black Lives Matter Gear - considering that roughly 85%-90% of their work force in New York City is black, that's probably not the best move.
6. Can't remember if I previously shared this one? Why Ta Nehisi Coates is Hopeful
I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I see hope. I see progress right now, at this moment.
I had an interesting call on Saturday with my dad, who was born in 1946, grew up dirt poor in Philadelphia, lived in a truck, went off to Vietnam, came back, joined the Panther Party, and was in Baltimore for the 1968 riots. Would’ve been about 22 at that time.
I asked him if he could compare what he saw in 1968 to what he was seeing now. And what he said to me was there was no comparison — that this is much more sophisticated. And I say, well, what do you mean? He said it would have been like if somebody from the turn of the 20th century could see the March on Washington.
The idea that black folks in their struggle against the way the law is enforced in their neighborhoods would resonate with white folks in Des Moines, Iowa, in Salt Lake City, in Berlin, in London — that was unfathomable to him in ’68, when it was mostly black folks in their own communities registering their great anger and great pain.
I don’t want to overstate this, but there are significant swaths of people and communities that are not black, that to some extent have some perception of what that pain and that suffering is. I think that’s different.
As an aside it sounds like someone is lighting firecrackers outside my window. They aren't but it has that crackling sound.
2. Newspaper Delivery Man has made 500 Grocery Runs for Seniors in his area during the Coronavirus Pandemic
3. From the NY Times Coronavirus Briefing..
New drugs and a transplant offer hope
As the world anxiously awaits a vaccine, doctors and researchers are making headway on potential treatments for Covid-19 and the damage it causes to the body.
The pharmaceutical company Regeneron announced today that it was starting a clinical trial of an antibody cocktail that may one day treat and even prevent Covid-19. The treatment, similar to one shown to be effective for Ebola, would work like the antibodies that people naturally make when they’re infected. If testing is successful, thousands of doses could be produced by the end of the summer.
For the most critically ill, surgery may now be an option. Last week, a woman in her 20s whose lungs were destroyed by the virus received a double lung transplant, the first known operation of its kind in the U.S. for the virus.
The patient had no serious underlying medical conditions, and the transplant was her only chance for survival, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, who performed the surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He said future transplants could help young, otherwise healthy people whose lungs were permanently damaged by the virus and require a ventilator.
There is also new hope for patients whose immune systems set off “cytokine storms,” causing the body to turn on itself as it fights the virus. At least a dozen treatments and several blood-purifying devices are being tested to calm the potentially fatal reaction. One promising drug from Roche is in several clinical trials, including a late-stage trial in combination with the antiviral drug remdesivir.
And... Moderna Vaccine Trials Moving Fast with Final Study Set for July
Moderna Inc. said it had selected a dose for a final-stage clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine that should begin in July, as the company moves ahead rapidly with its innovative approach to trying to prevent Covid-19.
The final study, which will include 30,000 people, will be conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S. Its primary goal will be to show the vaccine prevents people from developing symptoms of Covid-19, Moderna said in a statement. A secondary goal will be to show the vaccine keeps people from getting severe cases requiring hospitalization.
Shares of Moderna climbed 3.2% to $61.98 at 8:26 a.m. in New York. The stock has more than tripled in value since the start of this year.
The announcement is another indication that coronavirus vaccine trials are moving ahead at a remarkable pace. On Wednesday, Johnson & Johnson said it would begin early trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in the second half of July, ahead of its previous schedule to begin testing in September.
4. I'm not sure this is good news, so much that well it's amusing. Or at least I found it to be amusing.
New York State Department of Health's Guidelines on How to have sex and date during a pandemic
Why wasn't this covered in any of the pandemic movies and books?
However, the guidance also acknowledges that not everyone has access to an exclusive sex partner at home. People who are dating or “hooking up” should still try to minimize close contacts. Safer sex during Covid-19 also means wearing a mask and avoiding kissing. “Heavy breathing and panting can spread the virus further,” it says. A recent commentary from Harvard University researchers also recommended that people wear a mask during sex with someone from outside their household.
The New York City guidelines discourage group sex, but give advice for those who do “decide to find a crowd.” “Pick larger, more open, ventilated spaces,” it states, among other things.
Individuals can try to find creative alternatives to traditional sex, such as sex toys, masturbating together and sexy Zoom parties, or they could try to “make it a little kinky,” the guidelines state, suggesting, among other things, people can avoid close contact by having sex through holes in walls or other barriers. “Be creative with sexual positions and physical barriers, like walls, that allow sexual contact while preventing close face-to-face contact,” the guidelines state.
If the language seems surprisingly direct, it’s supposed to be, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
“Our health department has a really strong record of being very sex positive,” said Dr. Daskalakis. “Abstinence for the duration of the pandemic is not going to work. We tend not to shy away from giving people realistic recommendations. There’s no reason for Covid-19 to be different.”
5...on the not such good news or bad news front...I'm guessing we all have to boycott Starbucks now? Considering the last time I went to Starbucks was sometime in January or maybe December, can't remember really...this is not a problem.
What happened?
Apparently Starbucks has broken with the trend, and forbidden their employees from wearing anything that promotes the Black Lives Matter Movement. Starbucks Coffee Giant Gets Slammed for Banning Black Lives Matter Gear - considering that roughly 85%-90% of their work force in New York City is black, that's probably not the best move.
6. Can't remember if I previously shared this one? Why Ta Nehisi Coates is Hopeful
I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but I see hope. I see progress right now, at this moment.
I had an interesting call on Saturday with my dad, who was born in 1946, grew up dirt poor in Philadelphia, lived in a truck, went off to Vietnam, came back, joined the Panther Party, and was in Baltimore for the 1968 riots. Would’ve been about 22 at that time.
I asked him if he could compare what he saw in 1968 to what he was seeing now. And what he said to me was there was no comparison — that this is much more sophisticated. And I say, well, what do you mean? He said it would have been like if somebody from the turn of the 20th century could see the March on Washington.
The idea that black folks in their struggle against the way the law is enforced in their neighborhoods would resonate with white folks in Des Moines, Iowa, in Salt Lake City, in Berlin, in London — that was unfathomable to him in ’68, when it was mostly black folks in their own communities registering their great anger and great pain.
I don’t want to overstate this, but there are significant swaths of people and communities that are not black, that to some extent have some perception of what that pain and that suffering is. I think that’s different.
As an aside it sounds like someone is lighting firecrackers outside my window. They aren't but it has that crackling sound.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-12 06:56 pm (UTC)