March Madness and Covid-19

[stormspencer]

Market finishes up 1,627.46 to 22,679.99. It hasn't been this high since March 16th. In my extremely amateur viewpoint, it will likely continue to fluctuate.....but hopefully the overall curve will incrementally continue to creep up.

 

[sheepdogs1]

Market finishes up 1,627.46 to 22,679.99. It hasn't been this high since March 16th. In my extremely amateur viewpoint, it will likely continue to fluctuate.....but hopefully the overall curve will incrementally continue to creep up.

Even Janet Yellen said there was a possibility of a V shaped recovery during summer.

 

[coolm]

Chris Sloan, the attorney KWTV OKC ran a story on about covid-19, checked out of the hospital a few hours ago.

 

[WTSooner]

Market finishes up 1,627.46 to 22,679.99. It hasn't been this high since March 16th. In my extremely amateur viewpoint, it will likely continue to fluctuate.....but hopefully the overall curve will incrementally continue to creep up.

Good. I don't know much about investing, never really been all that interested, but I put a little money into Robinhood a couple of weeks ago. I feel pretty good about what I invested in over the long haul, but it'll be up and down for quite a while I suspect.

If we have a bunch of folks that invest or know a lot about it, we should start a thread on the off-topic board and bounce ideas off each other. Would love to have some brains to pick.

 

[hoopsaustin]

Good post. Spot on. Youre a strong guy

 

[AdaSooner]

NOTE: SoonerinNC’s post has been moved to the Campus Corner forum.

 

[stormspencer]

Good. I don't know much about investing, never really been all that interested, but I put a little money into Robinhood a couple of weeks ago. I feel pretty good about what I invested in over the long haul, but it'll be up and down for quite a while I suspect.

If we have a bunch of folks that invest or know a lot about it, we should start a thread on the off-topic board and bounce ideas off each other. Would love to have some brains to pick.

MJSooner has some good thoughts on the market. I think that may be his background.

 

[mict085]

Half the country hasn’t done too well with this social distancing thing. I’ve seen some encouraging news about medications that might be able to fight the virus. Of course, any medication regimen and/or vaccine is still a long ways off. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I don’t think we’ll be able to continue the shutdown beyond the end of April. People are going to revolt and they will not comply. I do t think it’s realistic to expect them too, either.

You can argue all day long about what we should do. The fact remains, 330+ million people will not continue to shelter in place for long. They will revolt or they will go underground and break the law to find employment and do what they want to do.

 

[jmizzy4ou]

chris sloan, the attorney kwtv okc ran a story on about covid-19, checked out of the hospital a few hours ago.

awesome!!!!!

 

[SoonerJK12]

I feel like the last 48 hours has been a lot of good news. NYC has peaked (in my observation) ahead of when they were supposed to. Hospitalizations way down, discharges way up, daily intubations down, daily ICU admission way down. Deaths per day stagnant/down slightly. They are trending in the right direction. There will no longer be a bed shortage or ventilator shortage.

We are testing more and more patients nationwide each day and fewer people have tested positive even with increase in testing.

Also, in Oklahoma, when you include private testing, we have done over 13,000 tests! Which per capita places us in the middle of the pack compared to other states.

I still don't understand most the models. If we track along like Italy is tracking (but 2 weeks behind), we will only end up with ~30,000 deaths. Maybe they are projecting we are going to much worse than Italy? I just don't see it.

 

[sheepdogs1]

I feel like the last 48 hours has been a lot of good news. NYC has peaked (in my observation) ahead of when they were supposed to. Hospitalizations way down, discharges way up, daily intubations down, daily ICU admission way down. Deaths per day stagnant/down slightly. They are trending in the right direction. There will no longer be a bed shortage or ventilator shortage.

We are testing more and more patients nationwide each day and fewer people have tested positive even with increase in testing.

Also, in Oklahoma, when you include private testing, we have done over 13,000 tests! Which per capita places us in the middle of the pack compared to other states.

I still don't understand most the models. If we track along like Italy is tracking (but 2 weeks behind), we will only end up with ~30,000 deaths. Maybe they are projecting we are going to much worse than Italy? I just don't see it.

And good news is good news.

 

[MsProudSooner]

NPR had a segment on vaccine development yesterday. It sounded like several different approaches are being taken. Hopefully, the vaccine will be able to be administered to people whose immune systems are compromised.

 

[BoulderSooner]

NPR had a segment on vaccine development yesterday. It sounded like several different approaches are being taken. Hopefully, the vaccine will be able to be administered to people whose immune systems are compromised.

vaccines are a year off at best

 

[BoulderSooner]

some pretty interesting stuff in this

https://news.yahoo.com/sweden-found-solution-coronavirus-103003618.html

 

[coolm]

I'm at a loss to understand some of the push people have for hydroxychloroquine. It's NOT some mystical drug that's only being held back by government red tape and bad press.

It's an intense immuno-suppressant. It keeps your body's natural immune system from going into overdrive and attacking healthy tissue and systems while "fighting" a foreign invader. In coronavirus cases this stops the accumulation of fluid as the virus replicates then kills cells in the lungs' lining. However, this is merely curtailing a symptom of the virus thus a zpack (azythrimycin?) is still used to actually fight the virus itself.

But suppressing ones' immune system comes at a cost. It's not just political red tape and ideology stopping it from being a preferred treatment regimen. There still exists a myriad of problems such suppression can create - the depth of which we can only opine unless we conduct studies.

 

[AdaSooner]

vaccines are a year off at best

While most agree with you that vaccines are a year or more in our future, there are some encouraging signs progress is being made.

Here is one of them. Saw this scientist in an interview on television yesterday.

https://news.yahoo.com/synthetic-antibodies-might-offer-a-quick-coronavirus-treatment-132122036.html

 

[steverocks35]

I'm at a loss to understand some of the push people have for hydroxychloroquine. It's NOT some mystical drug that's only being held back by government red tape and bad press.

It's an intense immuno-suppressant. It keeps your body's natural immune system from going into overdrive and attacking healthy tissue and systems while "fighting" a foreign invader. In coronavirus cases this stops the accumulation of fluid as the virus replicates then kills cells in the lungs' lining. However, this is merely curtailing a symptom of the virus thus a zpack (azythrimycin?) is still used to actually fight the virus itself.

But suppressing ones' immune system comes at a cost. It's not just political red tape and ideology stopping it from being a preferred treatment regimen. There still exists a myriad of problems such suppression can create - the depth of which we can only opine unless we conduct studies.

This article provides some answers to your question and explains why the initial French study was so flawed.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug

(I have no idea why people think an antibiotic (Z-pack) fights viruses, it does not)

 

[coolm]

This article provides some answers to your question and explains why the initial French study was so flawed.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug

(I have no idea why people think an antibiotic (Z-pack) fights viruses, it does not)

It wouldnt surprise me if I have part of that wrong. I typically flip the virus vs. infection thing. can't remember which fights which. not my field but I am trying to learn.

As I understand chloroquine it traps potassium inside the cell preventing xfer across the cell's fatty layer and, thereby. stopping things such as neurons firing or muscles relaxing or hormones secreting. there are definitely a myriad of potential problems including heart damage and neuro issues to evaluate. please advise where I am mjistaken.

 

[SoonerJK12]

The thing about hydroxychloroquine is not that it is a mythical drug, but it has shown in vitro activity "killing" the virus, and it also has immunomodulation properties which may tamper down the immune/cytokine response -- most people who end up dying from COVID do so because of a type Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) which is not the virus killing you, it's the body's overwhelming response to virus killing you. So the immune system is actually the problem in a disease like this. It's why doctors have also tried steroids, but those don't show much benefit so far.

Azithromycin is not added to fight the virus. People with viral pneumonia often develop a super infection from a bacteria, which the antibiotic would treat. Any antibiotic that treats bacterial pneumonia could be used in its place. But that French guy used it, so there we are.

Hydroxychloroquine is cheap and has widespread availability. During a mass pandemic, that's a great option when you have little else.

I can confirm that hydroxychloroquine is part of the standard treatment protocol for COVID patients at 4 different academic centers (including the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center where I work, University of Kansas, UT Southwester, and Washington). Probably many more, those were just the first places I checked because I know people there.

And there is red tape holding people back from using it. Some states have kept doctors from prescribing it outpatient (where it is probably best used) and limited it to only inpatient. Completely asinine. Doctors prescribe medicine for off-label uses all of the time. No one should be telling the doctors they can't prescribe it for their patients. It has become political, which is unfortunate.

We need better data on it. But there is A TON of stuff in medicine that we do that does not have sufficient data.

People are getting confused by Fauci saying "it's not a magic bullet and we need more evidence." I agree with Fauci, but I also believe we should be using it. You can think both of those things at the same time.

Dr. Fauci was asked if he would prescribe it for one of his patients. What did he say? Yes.

https://townhall.com/columnists/lar...ne-to-patient-suffering-from-covid19-n2565678

 

[steverocks35]

It wouldnt surprise me if I have part of that wrong. I typically flip the virus vs. infection thing. can't remember which fights which. not my field but I am trying to learn.

As I understand chloroquine it traps potassium inside the cell preventing xfer across the cell's fatty layer and, thereby. stopping things such as neurons firing or muscles relaxing or hormones secreting. there are definitely a myriad of potential problems including heart damage and neuro issues to evaluate. please advise where I am mjistaken.

You're right about that, that's why it can cause arrythmias because the heart depends on a precise potassium gradient. Several patients undergoing the trials had to be removed from the trials because of a prolonged QT on EKG (this just means that an arrythmia is probably developing).

As far as antibiotics go, they are used to treat bacterial infections. I've been a bit puzzled why they are combining azithromycin with the hydroxychloroquines in the studies. Azithromycin is a broad spectrum antibiotic. I assumed it was to treat secondary infections, but I don't know.

Normally viruses are treated with antivirals or other therapies. HIV is treated with protease inhibitors. Of course antibiotics and especially anti-fungals are useful in HIV patients because of the risk of secondary infections.