Staying on the positive train….

10 million tested in Wuhan https://apnews.com/70fd3d4ecbb5882ca0ddd50f4f7532ca

“It identified just 300 positive cases, all of whom had no symptoms. The city found no infections among 1,174 close contacts of the people who tested positive, suggesting they were not spreading it easily to others.”

“virtually everyone above the age of 5 in the city of 11 million people has been tested, said Li Lanjuan, a member of a National Health Commission expert team.

“The city of Wuhan is safe,” she said at a news conference with city officials.”

“The industrial city on the Yangtze River in central China spent 900 million yuan (about $125 million) on the tests, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing a Wuhan official.”

Amazing results – the percentage is amazingly low plus just because you have it even close contacts are not getting it now – likely a result of awareness and preventative actions. This also means that social distancing and lockdown are not needed IF the ones closest to you are not getting it. Perhaps simple cultural habits and awareness is all that is needed to limit the virus.

Vaccine trials for Moderna Phase 3 covid-19 vaccine will being with 30K individuals – https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2020/06/02/fauci-modernas-phase-3-covid-19-vaccine-trial-will-include-30000-young-and-old-individuals/amp/?

It will be hard to test as the numbers decline in the US.

HCQ front

The Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS) filed a lawsuit, AAPS v. FDA, against the Food and Drug Administration to end its arbitrary interference with the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ),

https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/association-american-physicians-surgeons-aaps-182000674.html?

“Two million doses of HCQ are being sent by the Trump Administration to Brazil to help medical workers there safeguard themselves against the spread of the virus. But at the same time the FDA continues to block Americans’ access to this medication.

HCQ has been approved as safe by the FDA for 65 years, and the CDC states on its website that "CDC has no limits on the use of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention of malaria."

More than 150 million doses have been donated to the strategic national stockpile controlled by the federal government, but unjustified FDA restrictions limit its use to only hospitalized patients for whom a clinical study is unavailable. Hospitals are even returning HCQ to the stockpile because they are not able to use it effectively.

"It is shocking that medical workers in Brazil will have access to HCQ as a prophylaxis while Americans are blocked by the FDA from accessing the same medication for the same use," observes AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient, M.D.

"There is no legal or factual basis for the FDA to limit use of HCQ," states AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly. "The FDA’s restrictions on HCQ for Americans are completely indefensible in court."

Many foreign nations, including China, India, South Korea, Costa Rica, United Arab Emirates, and Turkey, use HCQ for early treatment and prevention of COVID-19, AAPS points out.

"Entrenched, politically biased officials at the FDA should not be allowed to interfere with Americans’ right to access medication donated to the federal government for public use," Schlafly says. "By preventing Americans’ use of HCQ as a prophylaxis, the FDA is infringing on First Amendment rights to attend religious services or participate in political events such as political conventions, town halls, and rallies in an important election year."

"FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn states that the FDA does not interfere with physicians’ ability to prescribe HCQ, and yet at the same time the FDA denies access by millions of Americans to 150 million doses of it in the national stockpile," Schlafly adds. "This irrational hoarding by government is an abuse of power."

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has represented physicians of all specialties in all states since 1943. The AAPS motto is omnia pro aegroto, meaning everything for the patient.”

Blood will be on the hands of several – https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/mysterious-company-s-coronavirus-papers-top-medical-journals-may-be-unraveling

“the questions swirling around the Lancet paper have left leaders of the halted chloroquine trials weighing whether to restart. “The problem is, we are left with all the damage that has been done,” says White, a co-investigator on a trial of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 prevention that was halted at the request of U.K. regulators last week. Headlines proclaiming deadly effects will make it hard to recruit patients to key studies, he says. “The whole world thinks now that these drugs are poisonous.”

“The controversy has been an unfortunate distraction, Hernán adds. “If you do something as inflammatory as this without a solid foundation, you are going to make a lot of people waste time trying to understand what is going on.”

Chaccour says both NEJM and The Lancet should have scrutinized the provenance of Surgisphere’s data more closely before publishing the studies. “Here we are in the middle of a pandemic with hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the two most prestigious medical journals have failed us,” he says.”

Not so positive on the data as the weekend lull is catching up. Brazil tops the death chart at 1262. US 1031

This time it is not NY – in fact NY is not even on the top 5. IL tops at 113.

Cass N. Dakota is popping up in our County view for deaths. A quick google search does highlight nursing home issues. Seems like nursing home

Shelby TN popping up for confirmed cases. A quick google search did confirm county officials are concerned – https://wreg.com/news/memphis-shelby-county-covid-19-joint-task-force-gives-daily-update-11/

“The spike comes a little more than a week after Memorial Day. Randolph said he was not aware of any specific event on that holiday that might have led to an increase, but said more people were out and gathering over the weekend, which might have an impact on numbers. The number of people tested in Shelby County is 78,104, Randolph said. The positivity rate for those tests is 6.8%, while the fatality rate from COVID-19 in the county is 2.1%”

Our global testing source is stagnating in its update so I would hold off on believing any testing metric (non US).

Mexico and Brazil still holding flat. India and Russia still on rise. Egypt is accelerating in deaths – from the trajectory likely to be the next hotspot to be discussed.