Covid-19: FDA allows emergency use of antibody drug Regeneron
The drug, developed by Regeneron, will be allowed for use in people who have tested positive for the virus and are at risk of severe illness.
Studies suggest the therapy is effective when administered early after diagnosis, the company says.
Emergency authorisation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows use of a treatment while studies are carried out to determine safety and effectiveness.
The Regeneron treatment is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies - potent, laboratory-made antibodies - which mimic our own immune response. They physically stick to the coronavirus so they cannot get inside the body’s cells.
Regeneron said it expected to have enough doses for about 80,000 patients by the end of this month and 300,000 in total by the end of January. The treatment will be provided for free but patients may have to pay for having it administered.
The FDA said the treatment was not authorised for Covid patients who are in hospital or require oxygen.
With those limited numbers, I would guess that the cost of “administration” will limit the drug’s availability to the wealthy only:
US Housing Secretary Ben Carson said he believed he was “out of the woods” after being “extremely sick” following his positive Covid diagnosis earlier this month.
On Facebook, Mr Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, said Trump “cleared me for the monoclonal antibody therapy that he had previously received, which I am convinced saved my life”. As with Trump, the role the drug played in his recovery is unclear.
El Paso inmates help move bodies into morgues as Covid deaths soar in Texas
In footage which spread rapidly on social media, nine inmates wearing the striped jumpers of the El Paso county jail helped move bodies into mobile morgues.
The sheriff’s office said the use of the inmates began on 9 November, on a volunteer basis. El Paso county said the inmates were tested and provided with personal protective equipment by the medical examiner’s office, and would face a two-week quarantine once the program was over. They were being paid $2 an hour.
“It was just a temporary focus, and we’re waiting for the Texas national guard to help us out with that,” said Samaniego, in response to outcry on social media over the use of inmates rather than trained medical professionals.
A spokeswoman for the El Paso county sheriff’s office told the Guardian the inmates’ work would “end when the national guard arrives”. Samaniego, however, wasn’t sure those troops were coming. “It has not been confirmed that they would be able to take over the demand that we have at this time,” he said.
The El Paso county public health department has confirmed more than 800 deaths since March. Another 400 are under investigation. El Paso has called in more mobile morgues in recent days, up from six to 10.
Authorities in El Paso fear a dire situation could get much worse. Facilities are overwhelmed: 1,100 people are hospitalized with Covid-19.
Meanwhile, Trump is hunkered in his bunker, oblivious to the chaos that he’s allowing to happen and the deaths that are overwhelming the US … :!:
Trump news – live: Another Giuliani contact tests Covid positive
Boris Epshteyn was at the Trump legal team’s press briefing less than a week ago after which Rudy Giuliani’s son tested positive. Trump’s lawyers have a “hearing” scheduled this lunchtime at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Barsa, a Trumppolitical appointee, has been regularly going to the office and holding meetings, including with officials from the White House, without a mask.
Barsa’s diagnosis joins a list of coronavirus cases within the Trump administration and President Donald Trump’s circle in recent weeks as the pandemic continues to surge nationwide.
100,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with Covid-19
As of today, 100,226 Americans are currently hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project.
This is the highest number yet recorded, and nearly twice as many people as were hospitalized at the peak of earlier coronavirus waves in April and July.
Nearly 20,000 of those hospitalized patients are in the ICU, and at least 6,855 are on ventilators.
As of Dec 2, 2020, the USA has sustained 14,309,138 COVID-19 cases and 279,845* COVID-19 deaths thanks to Trump’s response to the pandemic …
Donald Trump says his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for Covid-19.
Mr Giuliani, who has been leading the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to the 2020 election results, is the latest person in the president’s inner circle to be infected.
Nearly 14,600,000 people have been infected with Covid-19 in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University, and 281,234* people have died - the highest figures of any country in the world.
* Equivalent to the population of Hackney, London, UK.
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Trump hosts Hanukkah events as Covid-19 deaths soar
US President Donald Trump has hosted two Hanukkah events at the White House, defying Covid advice again. Wednesday’s gatherings occurred on the day 3,053 died, according to a tally by the Covid Tracking Project - a new daily record in the country. Video on social media shows Mr Trump at one of the parties with the sound of one person coughing in the background.
According to the Times of Israel, more than 100 people attended each of the events, which were held to mark the Jewish holiday. Among those in attendance was White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who tested positive for coronavirus last month. Images on social media show him at one event without a face covering, shaking hands with other maskless guests.
Almost inevitably, there will be a spate of high-profile Jewish COVID-19 cases …
United States
Coronavirus Cases: 16,023,019
Deaths: 299,614
That’s a city the size of Newcastle-upon-Tyne wiped out … :shock:
By the time he leaves the White House, Trump will have had a hand in the deaths of 400,000 US citizens - that’s equivalent to 200 US Army regiments or 8 US Army Corps in World War II … no general ever lost so many of his own … :shock:
Trump administration ‘had no vaccine distribution plan’, president’s chief of staff says
Joe Biden’s new chief of staff has accused Donald Trump of failing to have implemented a vaccine plan during his time in office.
Ron Klain told NBC’s Meet the Press: “The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House.”
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci, Mr Biden’s top Covid-19 medical adviser, has spoken about the difficulties of working with Mr Trump and warned about new variants of the disease, which he said were “serious situations that we are following very closely”.
Will “Trump’s Legacy” be 500,000 US COVID-19 deaths … :?:
Covid US death toll: Imagining what 500,000 lost lives look like
The US has topped over 500,000 deaths in the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be the latest grim milestone for a country that has by far the highest death toll in the world from the virus.
All because the moronically ignorant Trump made moronically stupid statements and claims about the virus and the pandemic.
– Covid-19 will go away ‘like a miracle’
Since the start of the outbreak, Mr Trump has repeatedly said that the virus will go away. In February, he said: “It’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” He also said in the same month: “A lot of people think that goes away in April, with the heat, as the heat comes in, typically that will go away in April.”
– Covid-19 affects ‘virtually nobody’
During a campaign rally in the swing state of Ohio on September 21, Mr Trump played down the scale of the virus. He told supporters: “Now we know it. It affects elderly people. Elderly people with heart problems and other problems. But they have other problems, that’s what it really affects, that’s it.” He added: “But it affects virtually nobody. It’s an amazing thing.”
–He suggested checking if disinfectant could be injected into humans
In late April, Mr Trump suggested checking whether disinfectant could be injected into humans to combat Covid-19 or if light could be used. He said: “I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute, and is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that.”
– Not wanting to wear a mask
In April, Mr Trump announced guidance recommending that Americans wear face coverings in public to help fight the spread of the virus. However, he followed up the announcement by saying: “I’m choosing not to do it. It’s a recommendation, they recommend it,” Mr Trump said. “I just don’t want to wear one myself.”
– Covid-19 is like flu and should be treated as such
Mr Trump has repeatedly compared Covid-19 to the seasonal flu.
In February, he said: “This is a flu. This is like a flu. “It’s a little like a regular flu that we have flu shots for, and we’ll essentially have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”
At least 70m gullible US citizens (Republicans) took Trump’s words on the pandemic as gospel … :shock:
Fauci says Trump failures and political divide over masks led to 500,000 Covid deaths milestone
As America mourned 500,000 coronavirus deaths, the country’s top virologist Dr Anthony Fauci said political divisiveness in the country and the Trump administration’s “mixed signals” on health guidelines were detrimental to efforts to curb the pandemic.
“There’s red states and blue states that are almost hostile to each other in some respects because of political differences … I think that’s the worst possible ingredient to be able to address an outbreak of an infection that even under the best of circumstances would be a formidable challenge,” Dr Fauci said on Monday.
“And then the mixed signals that we were getting from the White House. I mean, you can’t deny that when you have the medical people saying please adhere to these guidelines and then you have the president saying liberate Virginia, liberate Michigan. That’s not helpful,” he said.
