Lots of interesting reads…

https://time.com/5848949/covid-19-asymptomatic-spread/ – Nearly Half of Coronavirus Spread May Be Traced to People Without Any Symptoms…

“In a study published June 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute reviewed data from 16 different groups of COVID-19 patients from around the world to get a better idea of how many cases of coronavirus can likely be traced to people who spread the virus without ever knowing they were infected. Their conclusion: at minimum, 30%, and more likely 40% to 45%.”

“Five of these studies included follow up testing of the participants; they showed that only a small fraction of people who were asymptomatic when they tested positive the first time then went on to develop symptoms. That allowed the researchers to distinguish between people who are pre-symptomatic—those who test positive but eventually go on to develop symptoms—and those who are truly asymptomatic, and test positive for COVID-19 but never develop obvious symptoms. Among the more than 2300 people sampled in the Vo population, none of the 41% who had no symptoms when they tested positive ever developed symptoms over a 14 day period.”

Scary part

““People who are getting infection without symptoms are actually doing a lot of damage to their bodies and they don’t know it,” says Topol. Another small study in South Korea that studied 10 asymptomatic people from a group of 139 COVID-19 patients supports these findings.”

“Are people infected but not showing symptoms because their immune systems are better at controlling the virus, or because the virus they harbor is somehow less potent? Or are these people asymptomatic because they have immunity to other, more prevalent coronaviruses that are responsible for the common cold and therefore already might already have a level of protection against SARS-CoV-2 as well?

Another question that the data raise involves how long asymptomatic people are infectious. In Topol’s analysis, the cases from U.S. aircraft carrier U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt suggests that they may be able to spread the virus for longer than the presumed 14 days, which would have wide-ranging implications for public health policies focused on reopening cities and states safely—and further support the need for wearing masks in public settings.”

Here is my hypothesis I came up while swimming laps – HOW AND WHERE you get infected is causing the difference. IF you get infected lets say by bringing the virus into your body via a cut or ingestion instead of the lung you are getting infected in a way your body can handle it. IF you get in the lung and the viral load is large you become very symptomatic. Unlike SARS and MERS this virus is not so fatal this allows it to spread as host are surviving. Because of this there is likely no way around the spread. Our ventilation system designs need to be reworked to mitigate lung exposure to covid-19. Given the evitable spread, nursing homes need better designs to protect the elderly. As much as one gets a cold I suspect as much as one could get covid but for the most part be okay.

Blood type driving the differences? – https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.31.20114991v1

Unlike the retracted Lancet study you will notice tons of names on this report…

“The association signal at 9q34 was located at the ABO blood group locus and a blood-group-specific analysis showed higher risk for A-positive individuals (OR=1.45, 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.75, P=1.48×10-4) and a protective effect for blood group O (OR=0.65, 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.79, P=1.06×10-5). Conclusions. We herein report the first robust genetic susceptibility loci for the development of respiratory failure in Covid-19. Identified variants may help guide targeted exploration of severe Covid-19 pathophysiology.”

“with higher risk for A-positive individuals (meta-analysis result OR=1.45, 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.75, P=1.48×10-4)

and a protective effect for blood group O (meta-analysis result: OR=0.65, 95% CI, 0.53 to

0.79, P=1.06×10-5; see Supplementary Table 5 for details)”

Men have higher chances of covid – https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6495/1038

“Epidemiological data from around the world have confirmed the early reports of male vulnerability. In Lombardy in Italy, for example, men comprised 82% of 1591 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) from 20 February to 18 March, according to a JAMA paper. And male mortality exceeded that of women in every adult age group in another JAMA study of 5700 New York City patients hospitalized with COVID-19.”

“Another retrospective study, still unpublished, controlled for age and other medical conditions and got similar results: Of 58 patients with prostate cancer who contracted the coronavirus, the 22 taking ADT were significantly less likely to be hospitalized and to need supplemental oxygen, says William Oh, a prostate cancer physician-scientist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Our conclusion supports the hypotheses that androgen signaling might increase the risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 and that androgen deprivation may limit those severe outcomes,” Oh says.

Two small studies have reported that men with male pattern baldness are overrepresented among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. This type of baldness is associated with high levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a key metabolite of testosterone, in the scalp. An April study of 41 Spanish men hospitalized for COVID-19 found that 71% had male pattern baldness; the background rate in white men is estimated at 31% to 53%. A second study published last month found that 79% of 122 men in three Madrid hospitals with COVID-19 had male pattern baldness.”

So from the two above don’t be blood type A balding man….

More Gilead Science pumping – https://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/remdesivir-stockpiling-could-help-push-covid-drug-into-profitable-territory-for-gilead

“Analysts at SVB Leerink predicted Gilead will announce its pricing plans for remdesivir soon and start selling it commercially in the second half of the year, they wrote in a note to investors Wednesday. The analysts estimate the price will be $5,000 per course in the U.S., $4,000 in Europe and $2,000 elsewhere.

At those prices, remdesivir should bring in $1.9 billion in sales this year, peak at $7.6 billion in 2022 and then fall off from there, SVB Leerink said. The operating profit margin on the drug will peak at 19% in 2021, and governments should start scooping up the drug for stockpiling late that year, the analysts added.

Remdesivir’s contribution pushed SVB Leerink’s estimate for Gilead’s total sales in 2021 up 28% to $30 billion. The firm also boosted its earnings-per-share estimate by 10% for next year to $7.74.”

I guess no thinking vaccine is coming.

Database is not updating today….