Good morning! I have not seen a peach blossom in a long, long time and I can’t even remember their color of blossom, but the header made me think of that. Then I thought maybe flowering quince? Do we get to guess un tut il we get it right?
It is beautiful to this flower lover’s eyes ♡ Good capture, Cheryl!
Sorry about that stutter. I was trying for the word ‘until’ but you all knew that without my explanation.
I had the joy of cooking eggs for Art this morning. He is hanging in there and has finished what needed doing on two small business entities but is still working on the largest and then will do ours. The situation is that during tax season the accounting work gets behind which is usually okay. But then he had do catch up on accounting. I try not to consider how much I could have helped if my eyes were better. At least Miss Bosley is here.
Last night at around 9PM I started getting texts from Wegmans that my order was being prepared. I thought that was weird because we weren’t supposed to get it until Wed. At 9:30, they said it was on it’s way. Sure enough, I got my groceries at 10PM last night. 🙂
They had to substitute some stuff, which we OK’d. A few things were refunded because they were out and there was no substitute. But I got my ham for Easter, and the ingredients to make my pineapple stuffing were all there, so I’m good. 🙂
It is a flower, but a tiny little one you wouldn’t even notice, except that you might notice that the tree overall has some color. It’s on the maple tree that would be in our yard if condos were considered to have their own yards. If you look how large the dainty little twig is in the frame, you get an idea of how much bigger than life size it is.
A few months ago a fellow photographer on Flickr (from South Africa) mentioned that I might enjoy the Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Snap-On Lens and that it works with my camera. I checked it out on amazon, and it got super good reviews and the photos people posted as examples were impressive. And it was only about $60. So I got it, and my specific interest was wildflowers that are too tiny to photograph well, and also tiny little insects. It turns out I had time to play with it before spring arrived, and so I got shots of frost and snowflakes and other winter beauties. But now spring is here and I am indeed having fun with it with tiny spring beauties–including the wildflower called spring beauty that is blooming this week!
I sent AJ a varied assortment of such macro shots. I don’t know why they are called macro rather than micros, but at any rate they are shots that are much larger than life and allow you to see a lot more detail than you would otherwise notice. This was actually one of the harder ones to photograph and get in focus well and I got a lot of bad and mediocre shots in the attempt. The more you zoom in, the more likely it is to blur, both because of the possibility of the least little bit of wind and because it’s hard to hold the camera still enough. It really needs a tripod for objects so tiny, but I’m still doing it handheld.
Great to hear about your macro lens, Cheryl. Maybe it is called macro because it makes big the small world. I love macro shots. They show all the details in God’s awesome creation.
I just got to watch Art’s church offering to the community online. It has some elements of a service but overall has the peaceful feel of a good devotion/meditation. There is a reading of a Martin Luther prayer and it is used some in the homily. The first part of the video shows the small beautiful church which is where I worked as a preschool teacher part of the time while I homeschooled Wesley. I am posting the link for anyone who might have time to watch. I found it all to be uplifting. https://vimeo.com/404180111
Lutherans may especially be interested because of the prayer used.
Good morning.
I was at work most of yesterday. There are a couple of things from yesterday’s thread that I would comment on.
Kizzie, the FB friend who talked about deaths for this pandemic being according to God’s will is unconsciously echoing the fatalism of Islam. The making of plans in Islamic cultures is generally predicated by the word Inshallah, meaning if God wills it. It is not spoken in faith of a good God who cares for his people as a father, but of an impersonal, distant God, whose very intentions regarding the eternal destination of even the most faithful are in some doubt. Pastor A was a missionary to Somalia in East Africa, which has a far stricter and sterner interpretation of Islam than where I was in West Africa, and he often related how that fatalism stifled prudent actions. When they counselled people to harvest the high grass that grew in the rainy season to provide fodder for the animals in the dry season, they were met with the numbing reply of, “If it is God’s will we will have enough, and if we do not have enough, it is God’s will.” Christians who talk of God’s will as if he were arbitrary and detached from his Creation, have the wrong God.
On ivermectin, now there is a medication I have not heard mentioned since I was in West Africa. There it is given in a single does once a year to children, as it is an antiparasitic, and parasites in developing countries lead to malnourishment and stunted growth, and all the litany of health problems that ensue. Ivermectin is a powerful drug, and like all anti-parasitic drugs, is not to be taken lightly or unadvisedly. Like, chloroquine – which is not used often in West Africa, as most Malaria falciparum, the endemic malaria in West Africa, is now resistant to chloroquine – ivermectin has dangerous side effects and is deadly if taken at the wrong dose. The anti-parasitic drugs are in a different class than antibiotics, they are likely to become toxic far more quickly.
Furthermore, viruses outside a host are easily destroyed. Soap and water, alcohol, and Lysol all summarily wipe out this current virus when it is present in the environment. But, consuming, for example, alcohol, internally, does not do anything to effectively treat an infected person. As has been observed in experiements with chloroquine on a number of viruses, which were being studied long before this new virus appeared, what takes place in a lab setting does not automatically transfer to the outside world. I will let a quote from this article explain: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/covid-science-express-malaria-drugs-and-mutations
“But cells in a culture flask and laboratory animals are not the same as human bodies, and we start running into problems when we simplistically extrapolate virus-fighting powers from one model to another. For example, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can block the growth of the SARS virus in cultured cells but not in mice. The drugs do not work to prevent humans from contracting the flu, nor are they useful as a treatment for dengue. And then there’s the worrying paradox of what chloroquine does against the chikungunya virus. In Petri dishes, the drug looked promising, but it turns out that it makes the disease worse in primates and humans, possibly by slowing down part of the immune response, something which can’t be tested for with simple cells in the lab. A recent commentary on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 summarized the drug’s virus-fighting abilities quite pithily: “To date, no acute virus infection has been successfully treated by chloroquine in humans.”
I know several people who have inadvertently had a dose of ivermectin when a calf moved as they were giving the shot. They all lived through it but strangely did not have parasites or flies buzzing around them. Probably not a good idea for the general population. Unless , of course, you have a fly problem. 😉
My groceries come on Thursday, but after AJ’s post maybe they’ll come earlier. With that, I’m set for a while, though I will have to think about toilet paper eventually; I still have 5 rolls left.
Looks like there’s some hopeful news in that some areas are seeing a downturn in numbers in the past couple days. We’ll see if it continues. It would be wonderful if this could be mostly behind us (for now) sometime in May.
Just being out driving yesterday helped my outlook. I’ll have to go to the Post Office today to mail the property tax, but I plan to go to a facility that has an outside, drive-by box. Then I’ll take care of the rest of the bills online or by phone.
So I received my federal income tax back online with instructions to sign and return. I’ll need to call the new tax guy, I’m still trying to get used to his way of doing all this which is different from my old guy’s pattern. Do I print them out, sign them, and return them to him as a hard copy? Or is there an e-signature process I’m not getting? And he’d originally told me he’d do the state first as that’s the one that brings a refund with it.
I realize this is a weird year for everything, so maybe he’s just had to scramble more than usual and it all is getting done later. I’m not too worried as there’s an extension on the filings this time, but ? My former guy would e-file but then would send me a hard-copy to sign and mail back to him. He’d also turn them around in about 2 weeks, this one took about a month.
Morning! My first thought opening the blog and seeing the photo? Life emerging…just like me after two cups of coffee 🙃 thanks for sharing that photo Cheryl…it does bring hopes of tomorrow….
Good Morning Everyone or for some it is afternoon.
It has been a busy morning…. I managed to save a deal that almost fell apart last night. The buyer bought the mobile home sight unseen for $35,000 cash. I kept telling her over the phone that I did not want to oversell it and that it was a total rehab, but her uncle went and looked at it and encouraged her to buy it. She drove in yesterday and saw it. Dismayed is too light of word for the way she felt. We renegotiated price and she is closing at 3pm.
“A recent commentary on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 summarized the drug’s virus-fighting abilities quite pithily: “To date, no acute virus infection has been successfully treated by chloroquine in humans.””
Over on the news thread that seems to be refuted by the State Rep. Karen Whitsett of Michigan, and the fact that NY State has already used it on over 4k patients. Why would they if it showed no benefit?
The State Rep is anecdotal. Mild cases of COVID-19 occur. It is quite possible the Rep recovered spontaneously and her taking the chloroquine was merely coincidental. The use of chloroquine on 4000 patients is what would be expected of a treatment trial, and I bit nderstand that it is a treatment trial. However, the results are not yet in. We do not yet know the outcomes of those patients. The majority of those with COVID-19 will, of course, recover, so the results of any such a trial always need to be analyzed to see if it was in fact the chloroquine that made any difference, or just the natural fact that more people will survive than die of COVID-19. There is always a need for caution with trialing any new treatment. The statistics show that COVID-19 is most deadly for those with heart problems. Chloroquine can have serious side effects on the heart. So, while it would probably be safe to experiment with chloroquine treatment on those who are otherwise healthy, who are most likely to recover from COVID-19 in any case, using it to treat those who are already vulnerable to the virus could actually increase their risk of dying.
DJ, since all preparers have their own requirements and procedures I can’t inform you on that. The tax office where my brother works does things quite differently than Art. Some of the difference relates to having long term relationships with clients. So text your guy to verify his procedures. Your questions are good for him as others probably are wondering, too. If you don’t get an answer after several days then ask me again and I will try to ask Art what he thinks.
I just had a ‘working from home’ moment. The registration software for camp was doing some updates and I was excited that those on the waitlists would now be able to complete all their forms. I logged in to set it all up and could not find it. I searched and searched and attempted a registration where the forms weren’t available. Finally I phoned. The release of the updates is TOMORROW. I have no idea what day it is… sigh.
While there is no specific scientific study to point to, nearly 20 some countries are conducting testing right now according to a Google search. And there are numerous instances of Drs in countries all over the world that say it works. Anecdotal? Sure, but I doubt they’re lying. While we have to wait for the studies to show for sure, there is evidence it’s working and not simply coincidental to people who just happened to get it and then recovered.
I gave myself permission to skip a zoom meeting this morning. I have a two hour zoom Bible study tonight and that will be enough for the day. Besides this one this morning is just a get together and they are not doing the lesson.
“Trump-backed anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is the most effective coronavirus treatment currently available, finds international poll of 6,000 doctors
Majority of 6,200 doctors from 30 nations said malaria drug was most effective
Doctors across Europe, the US and China have been given licence to prescribe
But the UK is dragging its feet until clinical trials show it is safe and effective
World Health Organization claims that no medicine can prevent or cure virus”
—
“The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is the best coronavirus drug currently available, according to an international poll of thousands of doctors.
Of 6,200 physicians surveyed from 30 countries, the majority (37 per cent) said it was the ‘most effective therapy’ for the virus.”
The Real, in these exceptional circumstances, rules of safety and efficacy are being bent. The FDA relaxed it’s guidelines for unproven medications to be trialed, but it really is a case of desperation, of trying anything that might possibly work. But, in doing so, they are increasing the danger for some. Azithromycin, the antibiotic that is sometimes being used with chloroquine, is not actually recommended for use alongside chloroquine, due to previously established guidelines, that were made before any of this happened. Chloroquine and azithromycin interact with each other, increasing their side effects on the heart. In times of desperation, even doctors throw caution to the wind, and they are under incredible public pressure to do so right now. But, there really is very little evidence to have started these large scale trials, none of the quality that, in less extraordinary circumstances, would have allowed these larger trials to proceed. From the link I shared above:
“First, there was a research letter about the drug’s effect on cells in the lab, not in humans. Then a news briefing from the State Council of China mentioned positive data on over 100 patients but so far, these data have not been released. There have been expert opinion statements and guideline documents weighing in favour of the drug (as summarized here), but these pronouncements are not data points. At least twenty-three Chinese clinical trials on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 are currently on-going but, to date, no result has been released. This leaves us with a pair of papers from a team in France.”
About a week or so ago, I talked about how the French study of chloroquine was seriously flawed, as it did not follow those trialed who had to stop treatment due to having to receive ICU treatment (World reported on ithttps://world.wng.org/2020/03/seeking_treatment). If a researcher eliminates those on whom the medication did not work from their test results, then their results are going to be skewed and inaccurate. Indeed there are serious questions about the French studies:
“The lead scientist behind these studies, Didier Raoult, has himself come under scrutiny lately. He has apparently co-signed 3,000 scientific papers, a feat that raises many eyebrows. It has been reported that some of these publications contain questionable figures that may have been altered using image-editing software.”
These are extraordinary times, and as in every other worldwide plague, from the plague of Athens that killed Pericles to the plague of Justinian to the Black Death to the Spanish flu, experimental treatments will be tried. Some, such as Jenner’s vaccination against smallpox, will eventually be shown to have worked. Others, such as bloodletting to cure the Black Death, simply increased the danger. The jury is still out on chloroquine and other drugs.
There are far more than 6,200 doctors worldwide. There is a shortage of doctors yes, but there are still an estimated 10 million in the world. So, 6,200 is a very small percentage of the total. And only 37 percent of those 6,200 surveyed thought chloroquine was the most effective treatment currently available. 37 percent is a minority. That means 63 percent of those doctors surveyed did not believe that chloroquine was the most effective treatment available.
I had my 3 mile walk alone. Husband had taken the dog on a bike/run jaunt and was too long in returning for me! (Husband on fat tire bike, Lula on leash running and sometimes pulling him along…she’s crazy!…they went 17 miles!)
Kim evidently our governor has mandated no showings of homes allowed which will give one of my neighbor’s heartburn because they need to sell their home and just listed it yesterday. I don’t know of anyone who would spend five thousand shy of a million on a home without going inside 😞
My neighborhood is almost too quiet. I hear birds, lots of birds. I do hear a little street noise in the background from the connecting busy Atlanta streit that goes to expressways. A lot of medical personnel travel that these days.
Working from home is becoming almost as exhausting as when I did it before. I am less exhausted going into the office. Maybe it has to do with being in the house and feeling like I am not working if I am not in here in the office. At work I get to roam around.
Little Miss came this morning and will be with us until Thursday afternoon. She has kept her Papa hopping.
I think a hot shower is calling my name. I would say it was time to change into my evening pajamas, but we have been doing 9 am “coffee” via zoom so I have been getting up and getting fully dressed with hair done, make-up, and jewelry. It does make a difference in how I feel although this will come as a shock to some of you who have met me, for the last few weeks my hair mostly stays in a pony tail and out of my face.
For your listening pleasure as we contemplate what this Friday means to us. One of my favorite hymns, done a cappella, in a living room, with a thunderstorm in the background. I think it was 1978 when Amy Grant released this album.
I finally finished the obit I was working on, I refuse to do those in a slap-dash manner so it took more time than I’m sure my editor would have liked. But you need to talk to their friends, get the “stories” — and in this case, I also knew the person. Most likely a coronavirus death.
Then I had to call a couple convalescent centers to ask the details of why they’d shown up on the county’s positive test list. I was not a very popular caller, but the one administrator said at the end that I seemed “like a nice person.”
Earlier, the neighbor kid came over to show me his new pit bull, named “Corona.” Terrific.
Significant snow is expected in SoCal mountains this week, however SNOWPLAY IS PROHIBITED IN BIG BEAR VALLEY. Ski resorts, snow play areas, public lots and on-street parking in the City of Big Bear Lake are closed. Follow Gov. Newsom's order to shelter in place. #SaferAtHomepic.twitter.com/xY4sjNEuo2
Ah we are set to get DJ’s rain thus turning to snow but tomorrow it will be in the low 60’s and I shall soak in all the warmth and sunshine I possibly can! 🌞
We had a zoom meet up with small group tonight. We had troubles getting in as more security measures had to be put in place. It was good to see our friends but it makes me so sad not to gather together in person!
Wandering Views 
Is that a close-up of the virus? It’s creepy.
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I’m pretty sure it’s a tree budding. 🙂
Plus, it’s kinda the complete opposite of the virus. The virus is death and sickness.
This is new life, a renewal, and the promise of better things to come.
Look at me, Mr. Optimist this AM…. 🙂
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Good morning! I have not seen a peach blossom in a long, long time and I can’t even remember their color of blossom, but the header made me think of that. Then I thought maybe flowering quince? Do we get to guess un tut il we get it right?
It is beautiful to this flower lover’s eyes ♡ Good capture, Cheryl!
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Good morning it is. Birds are singing, roosters crowing, husband snoring, and it is expected that the sun will rise.
According to my reading in Revelation this morning, Christ is coming back!
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Sorry about that stutter. I was trying for the word ‘until’ but you all knew that without my explanation.
I had the joy of cooking eggs for Art this morning. He is hanging in there and has finished what needed doing on two small business entities but is still working on the largest and then will do ours. The situation is that during tax season the accounting work gets behind which is usually okay. But then he had do catch up on accounting. I try not to consider how much I could have helped if my eyes were better. At least Miss Bosley is here.
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Maybe Cheryl will come along and explain it.
Looks like a worm in a flower to me.
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Last night at around 9PM I started getting texts from Wegmans that my order was being prepared. I thought that was weird because we weren’t supposed to get it until Wed. At 9:30, they said it was on it’s way. Sure enough, I got my groceries at 10PM last night. 🙂
They had to substitute some stuff, which we OK’d. A few things were refunded because they were out and there was no substitute. But I got my ham for Easter, and the ingredients to make my pineapple stuffing were all there, so I’m good. 🙂
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It is a flower, but a tiny little one you wouldn’t even notice, except that you might notice that the tree overall has some color. It’s on the maple tree that would be in our yard if condos were considered to have their own yards. If you look how large the dainty little twig is in the frame, you get an idea of how much bigger than life size it is.
A few months ago a fellow photographer on Flickr (from South Africa) mentioned that I might enjoy the Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Snap-On Lens and that it works with my camera. I checked it out on amazon, and it got super good reviews and the photos people posted as examples were impressive. And it was only about $60. So I got it, and my specific interest was wildflowers that are too tiny to photograph well, and also tiny little insects. It turns out I had time to play with it before spring arrived, and so I got shots of frost and snowflakes and other winter beauties. But now spring is here and I am indeed having fun with it with tiny spring beauties–including the wildflower called spring beauty that is blooming this week!
I sent AJ a varied assortment of such macro shots. I don’t know why they are called macro rather than micros, but at any rate they are shots that are much larger than life and allow you to see a lot more detail than you would otherwise notice. This was actually one of the harder ones to photograph and get in focus well and I got a lot of bad and mediocre shots in the attempt. The more you zoom in, the more likely it is to blur, both because of the possibility of the least little bit of wind and because it’s hard to hold the camera still enough. It really needs a tripod for objects so tiny, but I’m still doing it handheld.
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Great to hear about your macro lens, Cheryl. Maybe it is called macro because it makes big the small world. I love macro shots. They show all the details in God’s awesome creation.
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I just got to watch Art’s church offering to the community online. It has some elements of a service but overall has the peaceful feel of a good devotion/meditation. There is a reading of a Martin Luther prayer and it is used some in the homily. The first part of the video shows the small beautiful church which is where I worked as a preschool teacher part of the time while I homeschooled Wesley. I am posting the link for anyone who might have time to watch. I found it all to be uplifting.
https://vimeo.com/404180111
Lutherans may especially be interested because of the prayer used.
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Good morning.
I was at work most of yesterday. There are a couple of things from yesterday’s thread that I would comment on.
Kizzie, the FB friend who talked about deaths for this pandemic being according to God’s will is unconsciously echoing the fatalism of Islam. The making of plans in Islamic cultures is generally predicated by the word Inshallah, meaning if God wills it. It is not spoken in faith of a good God who cares for his people as a father, but of an impersonal, distant God, whose very intentions regarding the eternal destination of even the most faithful are in some doubt. Pastor A was a missionary to Somalia in East Africa, which has a far stricter and sterner interpretation of Islam than where I was in West Africa, and he often related how that fatalism stifled prudent actions. When they counselled people to harvest the high grass that grew in the rainy season to provide fodder for the animals in the dry season, they were met with the numbing reply of, “If it is God’s will we will have enough, and if we do not have enough, it is God’s will.” Christians who talk of God’s will as if he were arbitrary and detached from his Creation, have the wrong God.
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Thank you for sharing that worldview, Roscuro. What an interesting connection.
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On ivermectin, now there is a medication I have not heard mentioned since I was in West Africa. There it is given in a single does once a year to children, as it is an antiparasitic, and parasites in developing countries lead to malnourishment and stunted growth, and all the litany of health problems that ensue. Ivermectin is a powerful drug, and like all anti-parasitic drugs, is not to be taken lightly or unadvisedly. Like, chloroquine – which is not used often in West Africa, as most Malaria falciparum, the endemic malaria in West Africa, is now resistant to chloroquine – ivermectin has dangerous side effects and is deadly if taken at the wrong dose. The anti-parasitic drugs are in a different class than antibiotics, they are likely to become toxic far more quickly.
Furthermore, viruses outside a host are easily destroyed. Soap and water, alcohol, and Lysol all summarily wipe out this current virus when it is present in the environment. But, consuming, for example, alcohol, internally, does not do anything to effectively treat an infected person. As has been observed in experiements with chloroquine on a number of viruses, which were being studied long before this new virus appeared, what takes place in a lab setting does not automatically transfer to the outside world. I will let a quote from this article explain: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health/covid-science-express-malaria-drugs-and-mutations
“But cells in a culture flask and laboratory animals are not the same as human bodies, and we start running into problems when we simplistically extrapolate virus-fighting powers from one model to another. For example, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine can block the growth of the SARS virus in cultured cells but not in mice. The drugs do not work to prevent humans from contracting the flu, nor are they useful as a treatment for dengue. And then there’s the worrying paradox of what chloroquine does against the chikungunya virus. In Petri dishes, the drug looked promising, but it turns out that it makes the disease worse in primates and humans, possibly by slowing down part of the immune response, something which can’t be tested for with simple cells in the lab. A recent commentary on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 summarized the drug’s virus-fighting abilities quite pithily: “To date, no acute virus infection has been successfully treated by chloroquine in humans.”
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I know several people who have inadvertently had a dose of ivermectin when a calf moved as they were giving the shot. They all lived through it but strangely did not have parasites or flies buzzing around them. Probably not a good idea for the general population. Unless , of course, you have a fly problem. 😉
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Funny the different reactions to the photo. I instantly thought it was the promise of beauty.
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Me too, RK. Spring!!!
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Tuesday
My groceries come on Thursday, but after AJ’s post maybe they’ll come earlier. With that, I’m set for a while, though I will have to think about toilet paper eventually; I still have 5 rolls left.
Looks like there’s some hopeful news in that some areas are seeing a downturn in numbers in the past couple days. We’ll see if it continues. It would be wonderful if this could be mostly behind us (for now) sometime in May.
Just being out driving yesterday helped my outlook. I’ll have to go to the Post Office today to mail the property tax, but I plan to go to a facility that has an outside, drive-by box. Then I’ll take care of the rest of the bills online or by phone.
So I received my federal income tax back online with instructions to sign and return. I’ll need to call the new tax guy, I’m still trying to get used to his way of doing all this which is different from my old guy’s pattern. Do I print them out, sign them, and return them to him as a hard copy? Or is there an e-signature process I’m not getting? And he’d originally told me he’d do the state first as that’s the one that brings a refund with it.
I realize this is a weird year for everything, so maybe he’s just had to scramble more than usual and it all is getting done later. I’m not too worried as there’s an extension on the filings this time, but ? My former guy would e-file but then would send me a hard-copy to sign and mail back to him. He’d also turn them around in about 2 weeks, this one took about a month.
Janice?
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Morning! My first thought opening the blog and seeing the photo? Life emerging…just like me after two cups of coffee 🙃 thanks for sharing that photo Cheryl…it does bring hopes of tomorrow….
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Good Morning Everyone or for some it is afternoon.
It has been a busy morning…. I managed to save a deal that almost fell apart last night. The buyer bought the mobile home sight unseen for $35,000 cash. I kept telling her over the phone that I did not want to oversell it and that it was a total rehab, but her uncle went and looked at it and encouraged her to buy it. She drove in yesterday and saw it. Dismayed is too light of word for the way she felt. We renegotiated price and she is closing at 3pm.
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Roscuro,
“A recent commentary on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 summarized the drug’s virus-fighting abilities quite pithily: “To date, no acute virus infection has been successfully treated by chloroquine in humans.””
Over on the news thread that seems to be refuted by the State Rep. Karen Whitsett of Michigan, and the fact that NY State has already used it on over 4k patients. Why would they if it showed no benefit?
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The State Rep is anecdotal. Mild cases of COVID-19 occur. It is quite possible the Rep recovered spontaneously and her taking the chloroquine was merely coincidental. The use of chloroquine on 4000 patients is what would be expected of a treatment trial, and I bit nderstand that it is a treatment trial. However, the results are not yet in. We do not yet know the outcomes of those patients. The majority of those with COVID-19 will, of course, recover, so the results of any such a trial always need to be analyzed to see if it was in fact the chloroquine that made any difference, or just the natural fact that more people will survive than die of COVID-19. There is always a need for caution with trialing any new treatment. The statistics show that COVID-19 is most deadly for those with heart problems. Chloroquine can have serious side effects on the heart. So, while it would probably be safe to experiment with chloroquine treatment on those who are otherwise healthy, who are most likely to recover from COVID-19 in any case, using it to treat those who are already vulnerable to the virus could actually increase their risk of dying.
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DJ, since all preparers have their own requirements and procedures I can’t inform you on that. The tax office where my brother works does things quite differently than Art. Some of the difference relates to having long term relationships with clients. So text your guy to verify his procedures. Your questions are good for him as others probably are wondering, too. If you don’t get an answer after several days then ask me again and I will try to ask Art what he thinks.
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I just had a ‘working from home’ moment. The registration software for camp was doing some updates and I was excited that those on the waitlists would now be able to complete all their forms. I logged in to set it all up and could not find it. I searched and searched and attempted a registration where the forms weren’t available. Finally I phoned. The release of the updates is TOMORROW. I have no idea what day it is… sigh.
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Roscuro,
While there is no specific scientific study to point to, nearly 20 some countries are conducting testing right now according to a Google search. And there are numerous instances of Drs in countries all over the world that say it works. Anecdotal? Sure, but I doubt they’re lying. While we have to wait for the studies to show for sure, there is evidence it’s working and not simply coincidental to people who just happened to get it and then recovered.
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You’re not alone. I need to figure out how to differentiate the days— maybe by what I cook for dinner? #ShelterDay27
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I gave myself permission to skip a zoom meeting this morning. I have a two hour zoom Bible study tonight and that will be enough for the day. Besides this one this morning is just a get together and they are not doing the lesson.
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How many do we need before it’s no longer “anecdotal” evidence?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8184259/Malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-effective-coronavirus-treatment-currently-available.html
“Trump-backed anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is the most effective coronavirus treatment currently available, finds international poll of 6,000 doctors
Majority of 6,200 doctors from 30 nations said malaria drug was most effective
Doctors across Europe, the US and China have been given licence to prescribe
But the UK is dragging its feet until clinical trials show it is safe and effective
World Health Organization claims that no medicine can prevent or cure virus”
—
“The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine is the best coronavirus drug currently available, according to an international poll of thousands of doctors.
Of 6,200 physicians surveyed from 30 countries, the majority (37 per cent) said it was the ‘most effective therapy’ for the virus.”
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The Real, in these exceptional circumstances, rules of safety and efficacy are being bent. The FDA relaxed it’s guidelines for unproven medications to be trialed, but it really is a case of desperation, of trying anything that might possibly work. But, in doing so, they are increasing the danger for some. Azithromycin, the antibiotic that is sometimes being used with chloroquine, is not actually recommended for use alongside chloroquine, due to previously established guidelines, that were made before any of this happened. Chloroquine and azithromycin interact with each other, increasing their side effects on the heart. In times of desperation, even doctors throw caution to the wind, and they are under incredible public pressure to do so right now. But, there really is very little evidence to have started these large scale trials, none of the quality that, in less extraordinary circumstances, would have allowed these larger trials to proceed. From the link I shared above:
“First, there was a research letter about the drug’s effect on cells in the lab, not in humans. Then a news briefing from the State Council of China mentioned positive data on over 100 patients but so far, these data have not been released. There have been expert opinion statements and guideline documents weighing in favour of the drug (as summarized here), but these pronouncements are not data points. At least twenty-three Chinese clinical trials on the use of chloroquine against COVID-19 are currently on-going but, to date, no result has been released. This leaves us with a pair of papers from a team in France.”
About a week or so ago, I talked about how the French study of chloroquine was seriously flawed, as it did not follow those trialed who had to stop treatment due to having to receive ICU treatment (World reported on ithttps://world.wng.org/2020/03/seeking_treatment). If a researcher eliminates those on whom the medication did not work from their test results, then their results are going to be skewed and inaccurate. Indeed there are serious questions about the French studies:
“The lead scientist behind these studies, Didier Raoult, has himself come under scrutiny lately. He has apparently co-signed 3,000 scientific papers, a feat that raises many eyebrows. It has been reported that some of these publications contain questionable figures that may have been altered using image-editing software.”
These are extraordinary times, and as in every other worldwide plague, from the plague of Athens that killed Pericles to the plague of Justinian to the Black Death to the Spanish flu, experimental treatments will be tried. Some, such as Jenner’s vaccination against smallpox, will eventually be shown to have worked. Others, such as bloodletting to cure the Black Death, simply increased the danger. The jury is still out on chloroquine and other drugs.
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There are far more than 6,200 doctors worldwide. There is a shortage of doctors yes, but there are still an estimated 10 million in the world. So, 6,200 is a very small percentage of the total. And only 37 percent of those 6,200 surveyed thought chloroquine was the most effective treatment currently available. 37 percent is a minority. That means 63 percent of those doctors surveyed did not believe that chloroquine was the most effective treatment available.
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I had my 3 mile walk alone. Husband had taken the dog on a bike/run jaunt and was too long in returning for me! (Husband on fat tire bike, Lula on leash running and sometimes pulling him along…she’s crazy!…they went 17 miles!)
Kim evidently our governor has mandated no showings of homes allowed which will give one of my neighbor’s heartburn because they need to sell their home and just listed it yesterday. I don’t know of anyone who would spend five thousand shy of a million on a home without going inside 😞
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My neighborhood is almost too quiet. I hear birds, lots of birds. I do hear a little street noise in the background from the connecting busy Atlanta streit that goes to expressways. A lot of medical personnel travel that these days.
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DJ, here is an interesting article that may give you some article ideas.
https://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional/georgia-fights-coronavirus-kathleen-toomey-catches-spotlight/kMMCcPfQJm8fIMsIZ0EtbM/
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Absolutely beautiful!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3059964224053723&id=193022337414607
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Working from home is becoming almost as exhausting as when I did it before. I am less exhausted going into the office. Maybe it has to do with being in the house and feeling like I am not working if I am not in here in the office. At work I get to roam around.
Little Miss came this morning and will be with us until Thursday afternoon. She has kept her Papa hopping.
I think a hot shower is calling my name. I would say it was time to change into my evening pajamas, but we have been doing 9 am “coffee” via zoom so I have been getting up and getting fully dressed with hair done, make-up, and jewelry. It does make a difference in how I feel although this will come as a shock to some of you who have met me, for the last few weeks my hair mostly stays in a pony tail and out of my face.
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For your listening pleasure as we contemplate what this Friday means to us. One of my favorite hymns, done a cappella, in a living room, with a thunderstorm in the background. I think it was 1978 when Amy Grant released this album.
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I finally finished the obit I was working on, I refuse to do those in a slap-dash manner so it took more time than I’m sure my editor would have liked. But you need to talk to their friends, get the “stories” — and in this case, I also knew the person. Most likely a coronavirus death.
Then I had to call a couple convalescent centers to ask the details of why they’d shown up on the county’s positive test list. I was not a very popular caller, but the one administrator said at the end that I seemed “like a nice person.”
Earlier, the neighbor kid came over to show me his new pit bull, named “Corona.” Terrific.
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If you like the Gettys they are doing a live Facebook concert.
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A few interviews interrupted that way ….
Pony tails — We’ll all have hair as long as mumsee’s by the time this is over.
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Some decent rain today, light, but steady at times. It all helps.
Snow in the mountains.
So glad the work day is (or seems to be) over.
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But you can’t play in the snow.
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Ah we are set to get DJ’s rain thus turning to snow but tomorrow it will be in the low 60’s and I shall soak in all the warmth and sunshine I possibly can! 🌞
We had a zoom meet up with small group tonight. We had troubles getting in as more security measures had to be put in place. It was good to see our friends but it makes me so sad not to gather together in person!
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http://www.bpnews.net/54608/churches-consider-virtual-lords-supper
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Janice, seems like a good plan to me.
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