Georgia State U says it has a drug that blocks Covid transmission

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-oral-drug-blocks-sars-cov-transmission.html

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Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection with a new antiviral drug, MK-4482/EIDD-2801 or Molnupiravir, completely suppresses virus transmission within 24 hours, researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University have discovered.

The group led by Dr. Richard Plemper, Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State, originally discovered that the drug is potent against influenza viruses.

"This is the first demonstration of an orally available drug to rapidly block SARS-CoV-2 transmission," said Plemper. "MK-4482/EIDD-2801 could be game-changing."

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Well the coronavirus test I took Tuesday came back positive yesterday. I started getting an what I thought bad case of allergies last Wednesday. Very bad headache lasted around 52 hours, body aches, diarrhea, draining head. Friday my church buddy texted me Friday and asked how I was doing and he said terrible. He said his wife, our pastor and several others were tested positive and he was getting tested on Monday. I called my doctor and they put me in the system and gave me a number to call to schedule a test. By Friday I knew I was positive as a couldn’t smell or taste anything at all. My friend and I both got our positive test results back yesterday. 8 people that we know of tested positive so far from our church. One or more of the 25 that attended a thanksgiving service the Thursday before Thanksgiving brought it in. Those people got sick Monday and those of us that caught it Sunday got sick Wednesday or Thursday. My temperature never went over 99 but I suffered chills and spells that I got hot flashes. I live in the country so I walked with a mask on working on keeping my lungs clear taking vitamins and allergy meds. At almost 65, heart attach in 1999 losing 1/4 of my heart, over weight, on sugar meds I feel great and honestly could do about anything but they said to stay home for 14 days. The worst part so far was losing my Spence of taste and smell which I still don’t have. I feel a big part of me not getting real sick was I’ve walked 2-5 miles 5-6 times a week since 2015. I raced all summer, walked, fished, went to church all year in Ohio and Pa I tried to use my head but got careless at my local church and we finally got hammered with it in my area. I’m sure glad I didn’t stop living my life over this.

I am sorry that you are having to go through recovery.

Treatments that you can buy without a prescription are

PepcidAC (generic name Famotidine) 4 tablets taken three times a day. Take some Miralax along with Famotidine because there can be constipation.

Melatonin two 3 mg doses per day.

You could ask your MD to prescribe
Luvox (generic name Fluvoxamine)
which has been found in a clinical trial to help Covid-19 patients who are recovering at home.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-fluvoxamine-illness-covid-patients.html

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Researchers compared the outcomes of those treated with fluvoxamine to the outcomes of those given an inactive placebo.
After 15 days, none of the 80 patients who had received the drug experienced serious clinical deterioration.
Meanwhile, six of the 72 patients given placebo (8.3%) became seriously ill, with four requiring hospitalization.

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It might be helpful to have someone buy for you a cheap fingertip oximeter

https://www.walmart.com/search/?query=oximeter

so you could check to make sure the oxygen level in your blood is not dropping too low.
If it drops low go to the ER.

The “trend” of Covid in each state

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/tracker/overview

Hospital contacted me today to see how I was feeling and to see if I had any questions. They told me to finish my home stay and I should be free to roam out on Monday. No further testing needed

Hope you are feeling better. Do you have your sense of smell/taste back yet?

The loss of taste and smell started last Friday and I can’t smell anything at all. I had an Atomic Fireball yesterday and could slightly taste it yesterday. I also had buttered toast yesterday and it tasted slightly salty to me so hopefully that returns soon. My appetite has been non existent.

Gotcha. Fireball, good test, lol.
With no taste and no appetite , be careful not to neglect the body of nutrition.
Since you can't smell or taste I would eat the healthiest thing you'd never eat since you can't taste it

U. of Florida finds that three common antihistamines, including over the counter
Benadryl/diphenhydramine
inhibit Covid-19 infection of cells

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-antihistamine-drugs-effectiveness-covid-virus.html

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Next, the researchers tested this group of antihistamines for their ability to inhibit the coronavirus in a combination of human and primate cells.
Three of the drugs—hydroxyzine, diphenhydramine and azelastine—showed direct, statistically significant antiviral effects on the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Hydroxyzine, sold as Atarax,
and the nasal spray azelastine are prescription medications
while diphenhydramine is sold over-the-counter as Benadryl, a treatment for cold and allergy symptoms.

The drugs were tested at different concentrations to measure how much is required to inhibit the virus.

While the findings are encouraging, Ostrov cautions against self-medicating with antihistamines as a COVID-19 prevention or treatment. So-called "off-label" use of medications should only take place after a detailed consultation with a physician, he said.

Among the three medications, azelastine was found to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 virus at a dose that was smaller than the amount prescribed as a nasal spray. The other two antihistamines required higher drug concentrations than currently recommended dosing levels to achieve antiviral activity in cells. That doesn't make diphenhydramine any less of a potential COVID-19 therapy for now, especially considering its ubiquity and over-the-counter status, Ostrov said. Clinical trials will be necessary to establish the drugs' effectiveness in prevention, early treatment and as a secondary therapy for severe COVID-19.

Reznikov said the data suggest these three antihistamines may work by either disrupting the virus's interactions with ACE2 or by binding with another protein that may interfere with viral replication. The protein, known as a sigma receptor, is part of a cell's communications network.

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Phase 1 trial of a “universal flu vaccine” at Mt Sinai Hospital in NY successful

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-advance-universal-influenza-virus-vaccine.html

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Mount Sinai's Phase 1 clinical trial evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine in 65 participants in the U.S., and was found to produce a strong immune response that endured for at least 18 months following vaccination.

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Veterans Admin develops way to evaluate risk of Covid based on sex, age, and existing illnesses using 13,000 VA cases

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-covid-mortality-veterans.html

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The researchers discovered that age is the strongest predictor of mortality, with risk climbing after age 55. Patients under the age of 50 with COVID-19 have only a 1 percent chance of dying. Those 85 and older have at least a 34 percent chance of dying if they get COVID-19.
But another important predictor of COVID-19 mortality is the number of diagnoses a patient has based on the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), a listing of 17 health conditions including diabetes, liver disease, and dementia. "What we found was that the number of these conditions [that a patient had], not one special one, counted," says Dr. King. However, the study also revealed that CCI conditions myocardial infarction (heart attack) and peripheral vascular disease come with their own elevated risk for dying from COVID-19.

The index calculates, for instance, that a 77-year-old man with five pre-existing conditions from the CCI (none of which included those two special risk factors) had a 21 percent risk of dying from the virus. If that same patient had a heart attack in the past however, their risk of dying increases to 29 percent.

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online VACO index calculator

https://www.mdcalc.com/veterans-health-administration-covid-19-vaco-index-covid-19-mortality

Using this VACO index along with
the 534,000 Medicare study in an earlier post in this thread that resulted in the
www.predictcovidrisk.com
website should give an idea of an individuals risk.
At the predictcovidrisk.com site use 1.2% as the fatality risk of a white 65 year old female who has no co-morbidities.

FFP2 mask versus N95 versus N98 mask, what is the difference?

https://www.hoycomoayer.us/ffp2-vs-n95-mask/

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Researchers have shown the most difficult size particle for masks to capture operate through Brownian motion. This does not mean masks filtering 0.3 micron-sized particles are unable to filter smaller particles.

According to research, all six types of N95 respirators can filter particles less than 0.1 microns in size with a minimum efficiency of 94 percent.

Research also showed the FFP2 mask is capable of filtering particles 0.0007 microns in size at 96.6 percent efficiency.

This research suggests the FFP2 mask may be more effective for protection against the coronavirus than the N95 mask.
More research is still required for a definitive answer to the FFP2 vs N95 mask debate.
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Slightly off topic

Blocking just one protein called 15-PGDH in old mice caused their muscles to regain strength similar to youth.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-blocking-protein-strength-mice.html

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The researchers administered a small molecule that blocks the activity of 15-PGDH to the mice daily for one month and assessed the effect of the treatment on the old and young animals.

"We found that, in old mice, even just partially inhibiting 15-PGDH restored prostaglandin E2 to physiological levels found in younger mice," Blau said. "The muscle fibers in these mice grew larger, and were stronger, than before the treatment. The mitochondria were more numerous, and looked and functioned like mitochondria in young muscle."

Treated animals were also able to run longer on a treadmill than untreated animals.

When Palla and her colleagues performed the reverse experiment—overexpressing 15-PGDH in young mice—the opposite occurred. The animals lost muscle tone and strength, and their muscle fibers shrank and became weaker, like those of old animals.

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Also, what should you eat?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-diet-modificationsincluding-wine-cheesemay-cognitive.html

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Here are four of the most significant findings from the study:

Cheese, by far, was shown to be the most protective food against age-related cognitive problems, even late into life;

The daily consumption of alcohol, particularly red wine, was related to improvements in cognitive function;

Weekly consumption of lamb, but not other red meats, was shown to improve long-term cognitive prowess; and

Excessive consumption of salt is bad,
but only individuals already at risk for Alzheimer's Disease may need to watch their intake to avoid cognitive problems over time.

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$0.50 scratch and sniff test to quickly detect Covid could have big impact

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-simple-curb-covid-reopen-economy.html

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For the study, Parker and Dan Larremore, an assistant professor of computer science, teamed up with CU Boulder alumnus Derek Toomre, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine who has developed an index-card sized test that interacts with a smartphone app to assess sense of smell.

Studies show that, when simply asked about their symptoms, only about half of people with COVID-19 report loss of smell, or anosmia.
But when given a standardized test, with no visual clues to alert them to what they're smelling and a range of scents chosen to catch even faint loss of smell, that number rises to eight in 10, even among people with no other symptoms.

That's far more prevalent than fever, which impacts fewer than one in four people with the virus. Anosmia also lasts longer, affecting patients for a week or more while fever may only last a day or two.

While fever is associated with many diseases, loss of smell without a stuffy nose is highly specific to COVID-19, possibly due to the fact the virus tends to enter the body and replicate via ACE2 receptors, which are extremely abundant in cells in nasal passages believed to influence sense of smell.

"Given that we are already broadly screening for temperature at places like hospitals and airports, we asked: 'What would happen if we started screening for loss of smell instead?'" said Larremore.

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U of North Carolina studies masks and ways to improve them

finds most masks around 26 to 36% effective filtering 0.3 micron droplets breathing in.

best masks perhaps 80% effective filtering 0.3 micron particles that are 2X the diameter of the 0.125 micron Covid-19 virus

Has a video on a fast simple tweak to double the filtration efficiency of a surgical mask.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-mask-modifications-covid-.html

The Danish 6000 person clinical trial used simple surgical masks,
so the UNC study partially explains why
at best the Danes in the study wearing surgical masks
were only at best 15% better protected when breathing in,
or (2.1-1.8/2.1)

New John Hopkins Covid-19 Mortality Risk Calculator online

https://covid19risktools.com:8443/riskcalculator

gives your risk in deaths per 100,000 in your zip code

Seems to predict low risks.

For example a 90 year old white female with
prior heart disease, prior stroke, prior skin cancer
has a mortality risk of
1.3 out of every 1000 individuals

even though this is thirteen times higher than “the average risk of the general population in your zip code.”

This risk calculation seems lower than the
www.predictcovidrisk.com
created from 530,000 Medicare patients who had Covid.

A white female 65 year old with no pre-existing illness is what the predictcovidrisk calculator compares everyone else to.
1.2 out of 100 individuals mortality risk
seems to be the healthy white female 65 year old risk in that Medicare patient derived calculator

Do you have a BCG vaccine scar as well as a Smallpox vaccine scar ?

https://vaxopedia.org/2018/09/03/recognizing-old-vaccine-scars/

Universities want funding for center to predict pandemics

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-covid--3.html

I would rather at least 3 private companies compete for yearly prizes given to those who predict best over last 12 months

or maybe “March Madness” where teams from universities compete for a championship

All at home Covid-19 self test with less than 30 min result approved for sale

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-fda-over-the-counter-home-covid-.html

Forehead temperature scans are basically worthless for detecting Covid-19

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-physicians-non-contact-infrared-thermometers-fall.html

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“ As of Feb. 23, 2020, more than 46,000 travelers were screened with NCITs at U.S. airports, and only one person was identified as having SARS-CoV-2," says Wright. "In a second example, CDC staff and U.S. customs officials screened approximately 268,000 travelers through April 21, 2020, finding only 14 people with the virus."

From a November 2020 CDC report, Wright and Mackowiak provide further support for their concern about temperature screenings for COVID-19. The report, they say, states that among approximately 766,000 travelers screened during the period Jan. 17 to Sept. 13, 2020, only one person per 85,000—or about 0.001%—later tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, only 47 out of 278 people (17%) in that group with symptoms similar to SARS-CoV-2 had a measured temperature meeting the CDC criteria for fever.

Another problem with NCITs, Wright says, is that they may give misleading readings throughout the course of a fever that make it difficult to determine when someone is actually feverish or not.

"During the period when a fever is rising, a rise in core temperature occurs that causes blood vessels near the skin's surface to constrict and reduce the amount of heat they release," Wright explains. "And during a fever drop, the opposite happens. So, basing a fever detection on NCIT measurements that measure heat radiating from the forehead may be totally off the mark."

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Smell tests are much more predictive