My sister has the same diabetes issue but it is the steroids she’s on to fight COVID that screwed up her blood sugar levels. When the Steroids are done she should be able to stop using the insulin.
Meanwhile a good friend died last week from COVID and he was a healthy 52 year old with no other health issues.
Yes, it’s mentioned in the article that this is a well known side effect of some anti-inflammatory steroids.
The Austrian government announced several adjustments to the lockdown rules today. Shops, museums, art galleries, and zoos will be permitted to reopen on 8 February. Schools will resume in-person lessons subject to periodic testing (presumably for pupils as well as staff). Services such as barbers will also reopen, but customers will be admitted only with a negative coronavirus test that is less than 48 hours old. Restaurants, pubs, cafés, hotels, theatres, cinemas, sporting venues, and the like will remain closed for the time being. The curfew (from 20:00 to 06:00) will remain in effect, but it will be permitted for two households to meet in private. Fines for refusing to wear a mask in public will be increased.
The situation will be reassessed on 15 February to see whether any further tightening or loosening of the restrictions are warranted.
Maybe I’ve said this someplace (I’m losing track), but this closed for two weeks then open in two weeks then closed for a month then open again based on weekly numbers or some such does not seem remotely logical to me.
Have I been giving the impression that things were rapidly opening and closing in two- or four-week cycles? If so, I apologize. As far as I remember, there’s been only two major lockdowns, one which started in March 2020 and which was largely lifted by mid-summer, and another one that took effect in the late fall of 2020 and has remained in place ever since. Within each lockdown, the rules have been adjusted from time to time, but nothing so drastic as opening an entire sector of the economy only to shut it again two weeks later.
No, not at all. I didn’t mean to sound like I was addressing you specifically. Others here have reported these yoyo openings/closings. And I read them in the news, too. Counts are down for a week or two, so let’s open indoor dining! Then counts are back up-- uh-oh! better close indoor dining-- that sort of thing.
Do you have a news story to serve as an example?
Not at the moment. I’ll keep my eyes open for one.
Here’s a nice Johns Hopkins page that does a graphic view of openings and closings by state (this link is to Michigan, despite the title shown, but it’s easy to change the view). It appears to be a simplified view, but it does give the idea of the up and down nature of some states.
A new device is under FDA approval that allegedly can detect the virus. (This doesn’t look real. The website is poorly done, and it sounds pretty incredible. But there’s a news story about it.) If it’s real, it could be helpful.
Website
https://thecovidhunter.com/the-covid-hunter
It’s from South Florida. That means it’s a hoax.
Trust me. I’m from South Florida.
He always lies. Now he’s lying. Which means he’s telling the truth. …
DOES NOT COMPUTE!! {head asplodes} 
Sounds like the fake “bomb detectors” sold to many security outfits that were nothing but a box with a few wires and a circuit board that didn’t do anything. Put those things in a device, and you can claim that it can do practically anything because of the program that’s allegedly on the board.
103,933,598 total cases
2,247,749 dead
75,731,958 recovered
In the US:
26,911,375 total cases
454,213 dead
16,629,530 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
I finally found the PharmaMar press release re the Phase I/II study of plitidepsin:
The patients’ viral load was evaluated quantitatively, at the same center, at the beginning of the treatment and on days 4, 7, 15 and 30. The study has demonstrated a substantial reduction of the viral load in patients between days 4 and 7 from starting the treatment, the average reduction of the viral load on day 7 was 50% and on day 15, 70%. More than 90% of the patients included in the trial had medium or high viral loads on beginning the treatment.
80.7% of patients have been discharged on or before the 15th day of hospitalization, and 38.2% before the 8th day (according to the protocol, they must be hospitalized for a minimum of 7 days). Furthermore, a remarkable correlation has been observed between the decrease in viral load, the clinical improvement and the resolution of pneumonia, as well as a drop in inflammation parameters, such as the C-reactive protein (CRP)…
…With these data, the Company will begin, in the next few days, conversations with the regulatory agencies to define the next phase III pivotal study for plitidepsin in patients with COVID-19, who require hospitalization.
To my surprise, this is actually dated 16 Oct of last year. I’m not sure why results of a preclin study would make this news. Nor can I, for the life of me, understand why there has been no publication of results over the last 4 months (unless I’m still missing it).
Anyone know enough about disease and viral load to say if these results are impressive?
j
Captain Tom passes away.
Godspeed, old chap.
Damn.
I hope that trip to Barbados was worth it.
Yeah, he could have lived to a ripe old age otherwise.
104,393,058 total cases
2,262,795 dead
76,248,475 recovered
In the US:
27,027,347 total cases
457,856 dead
16,750,422 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
So the new infection rate has been trending down nationwide in the US since the big Holiday bump of horror. Vaccination is still moving fairly slow but is happening. Maybe we can reach more reasonable numbers by mid-March.