Drowning in Coronavirus Research, Part 89

This article does a better job than I can in explaining testing issues.  (LS Article)

How can this be–a country actually dared to let kids go to school without masks!!  And they aren’t seeing any cases?  The must be using plastic bubbles, right?  No, it is just a country with a halfway rational government that follows real science, not the politically driven version we have here in the US.  Denmark’s schools are having no problems being open and operating normally.  (Denmark Article)  No panic over cases, no nonsense about the kids infecting everybody else.

This study compared viral shedding and antibody response.  (Medrxiv Paper)   36 hospitalized patients were examined.  Four had PCR test-detected CV-19 and those persons had low antibody numbers.  These patients had been symptomatic for an extended period and had severe disease.  But as you might expect, for patients who did have a measurable antibody response, infectiousness ceased.

Kind of an interesting approach to determining prevalence.  Life insurance applicants typically have to have a blood test, so researchers looked at those samples for prevalence. (Medrxiv Paper)   About 50,000 samples were tested and an overall prevalence of 3% was found.  Obese people had higher rates.  New York had a rate of 17%.  The researchers estimated based on this survey that there were about 4 times more actual cases than detected ones.

This is a good article discussing why the geographical pattern in the US seems so odd.  (Geo. Article)   The authors note that some latitude and other geographic factors may be responsible.  The most interesting part may be another indication that lockdown stringency makes no difference.

I don’t place much stock in this, but in keeping with my general negative attitude toward masking, here is an article that claims that wearing a mask for long periods of time may be linked to dental problems.  (Mask Article)

Finally, I hate to keep beating on this, but unfortunately these people get a lot of media visibility.  Michael Osterholm continues to spread doom and gloom about an impending wave of cases and deaths.  I am not even going to bother to link to the interview, you can find it if you want to.  It is apparent he is just mailing it in and not actually looking at data or thinking about what may actually be going on.  It is sad actually.