Yale
Some epidemiologist at Yale wants to be internet famous, so he wrote an
op-ed in Newsweek
explaining why "the data fully support" hydroxychloroquine as a life-saving drug. He cited about seven small studies that indicated this might be true and conveniently ignored the larger number, including several placebo-controlled trials, that disagreed with his opinion.
He even used that Henry Ford Health System 'study' as one of his pieces of evidence. If you'd recall, that study was a post-hoc review of medical records. So, not a study at all. Of anyone, an epidemiologist at Yale should be able to understand the vast chasm between a post-hoc medical record review and a placebo-controlled trial.
As they all do, he argues that if only this drug were administered at the right time, to the right patient population with the right co-treatments, everyone's life would be saved. How about you quit writing attention-seeking op-eds, get a GoFundMe going and run that freakin' trial then, dude?
Micturation Contest
In a bit of a role reversal, drug makers have thrown a fit and
refused to attend
a Trump-hosted meeting. His trespass? Signing executive order/s linking what Medicare pays drug companies to what those same companies charge health systems in other wealthy countries.
The US health care system has long subsidized all the public health plans throughout the world by paying far higher prices than non-US systems for many drug products. Our opaque healthcare system ensures the end user never sees the drug's price and so no one makes a big stink. Insurance providers just jack up our premiums and we can't do anything about it.
No doubt these executive orders are partly to deflect attention from the dire Covid situation and partly a standard election-year tactic, but this is actually one of the more reasonable executive orders of Trump's tenure. No one should expect Big Pharma/Bio to like it - they would have to revamp their business models if it sticks.
Drug prices are only about 12% of US health spending, so there are far bigger fish to fry in this situation, but no one can reasonably explain why the country that pays more than anyone in the world for
below-average health care
should subsidize other countries whose health systems see much better outcomes.
Turkmenistan
At least according to their own governments, only two countries in the world (plus some small island nations) still have zero Covid cases. One is North Korea, that paradise on Earth. The other is Turkmenistan.
Strange then that when Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov
went fishing recently
he wore a camouflage face mask. Turkmenistan is also halting soccer matches and festivals and the government is recommending citizens wear masks. But why masks if no coronavirus? Because of the dust, of course! The President's fish were donated to an orphanage to help in the fight against the great dust Satan.
Florida
Florida has now passed New York to become #1 in cases east of the Mississippi. Their Health Department recently edited a statistic claiming 30% of children were testing positive for Covid. Turns out it was more like 13%. Initial
explanation
was a "computer programming error".
Oh, is that what they're calling data entry now? They followed up and said "Initially, there was an error in the pediatric reports in which a certain number of negative test results were not included". Yeah, sure sounds like some computer programming was to blame.
Oh well, not like anyone would have used that important statistic to inform their decision to open local schools or anything.
