Where are the testing advancements we discussed about in the beginning – here is another handheld device to test in Covid in minutes – https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/belgium-all-news/health/110770/dutch-company-makes-chip-capable-of-detecting-coronavirus-in-minutes/

These devices are needed sooner than later.

“The company said that their technology, which is not yet ready for commercialisation, has the potential to roll-out large-scale and rapid testing “anywhere in the world, without expensive and time-consuming lab facilities.”

Another commodity boom coming – plasma – https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/11/852354920/market-for-blood-plasma-from-covid-19-survivors-heats-up

Donating is a noble cause – but when they are generating significant revenue and not philanthropically distributing your plasma it only makes sense you at least figure out where you would like to donate.

“global market estimated to reach $35.5 billion by 2023.”

Modifying the BCG vaccine – the article seems to admit the BCG is effective in upper respiratory infections. https://www.dw.com/en/can-a-tuberculosis-vaccine-help-combat-covid-19/a-53388220

“"In controlled studies, it has been shown that BCG can indeed protect against viral respiratory infections. BCG stimulates innate immunity, and this can be used to build a defense against viral respiratory infections. Based on this, we know that our new vaccine should have a similar effect,"”

“"We’re not talking about millions, but about 10 to 100 million doses in a short time. This is also very important, because the tuberculosis vaccine BCG is quite scarce, and the World Health Organization is now concerned that infants in countries with TB will not be able to be vaccinated," Kaufmann says”

“"When the COVID-19 crisis emerged, some scientists looked directly at whether COVID risks were lower in countries where BCG vaccination is mandatory, i.e., whether there were fewer cases of disease than in countries without BCG vaccination. And, indeed, a connection was found here," says Kaufmann.”

The article is not clear why they need to modify the BCG – doesn’t explicity say this modification is better. Shouldn’t they just spend the time and effort to prove BCG is effective and figure a way to scale BCG – it has already been used for decades…

India app focus – https://www-technologyreview-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/07/1001360/india-aarogya-setu-covid-app-mandatory/amp/

“Millions of Indians have no choice but to download the country’s tracking technology if they want to keep their jobs or avoid reprisals.”

“Two months ago, India’s app for coronavirus contact tracing didn’t exist; now it has nearly 100 million users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi boosted it on release by urging every one of the country’s 1.3 billion people to download it, and the result was that within two weeks of launch it became the fastest app ever to reach 50 million downloads.

“We beat Pokémon Go,” says a smiling Arnab Kumar, who is leading development of the service for the Indian government.”

“India’s app, though, is a massive all-in-one undertaking that far exceeds what most other countries are building. It tracks Bluetooth contact events and location—as many other apps do—but also gives each user a color-coded badge showing infection risk. And on top of this, Aarogya Setu (which means “a bridge to health” in Hindi) also offers access to telemedicine, an e-pharmacy, and diagnostic services. It’s whitelisted by all Indian telecom companies, so using it does not count against mobile data limits.

What the app lacks also sets it apart. India has no national data privacy law, and it’s not clear who has access to data from the app and in what situations. There are no strong, transparent policy or design limitations on accessing or using the data at this point. The list of developers, largely made up of private-sector volunteers, is not entirely public.”

“While India is the only democracy to make its contact tracing app mandatory for millions of people, other democracies have struck deals with mobile phone companies to access location data from residents. In Europe, the data has largely been aggregated and anonymized. In Israel, law enforcement focused on the pandemic has used a phone tracking database normally reserved for counterterrorism purposes. The Israeli government’s tactics have been the subject of a legal battle that made its way up to the country’s Supreme Court and legislature.”

One of the best daily death report for US under 1K – but it’s a Sunday lull so don’t get your hopes up. Russia confirmation rises but deaths are very limited. Interesting CNN report on Russia doctors falling out of windows not sure what to make of it – https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/europe/russia-medical-workers-windows-intl/index.html?

NY didn’t even show up in top 3 with only 29 deaths but lead with confirmations.

On the US testing front lots of testing is done (2.6% per capita). Unfortunately most of these testing is done voluntarily and at bulk places not pinpointed and mainly not beyond symptomatic patients. My concern is poor allocation of limited testing equipment – testing counties without any hotspots is a waste as noted in several studies the virus is focused. In addition the test are still not free therefore there is still a hurdle rate for people to take the test. In order to “SMART” test and quarantine making a barrier for testing is not going to help focus and find the areas to quarantine. Interesting that FL and TX are following similar curve. No matter what more testing ends up with more confirmation – so far the lowest in positive/tested with over 200K tested is TN at 6%.

Global View – interestingly Qatar has one of the highest confirmation/population 0.78% – but death rate very small 0.06%

Good news for AZ back off the peak on the 7 day MA daily deaths. WA is going back up. India, Brazil, and Mexico continue to hit new peaks.