week 12

My county is up to 75 known cases now, a big jump of 22 from last week if my previous count was accurate. It might not have been as I checked two different data bases today instead of relying on the Wharton County Office Of Emergency Management which showed a big discrepancy. Apparently the WCOEM has not been keeping us updated. The mayor posted on Friday that we were up to 73.

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In Wharton, people have decided it's over. The last time I went to the grocery store very few people were wearing masks. I was out of town this weekend but my sister reports that at the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning (yes it did start back up) all the tables were crammed together and no one was wearing masks or social distancing. Same thing at the Garden Club's annual plant sale. This at the end of a week that saw our cases jump by 22.

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A Dutch study suggests that Vitamin K1 and vitamin K2 which help regulate blood clotting and helps protect against lung disease might be beneficial in the treatment of covid-19.

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Trump visited one of only two factories manufacturing the swabs for covid-19 testing in Maine after being asked not to come by the governor who refused to meet with him as did the entire congressional delegation including Susan Collins (I imagine Trump will have a nasty nickname for her soon). The factory shut down for the day only running the machines for the time Trump was there because they would have to and did discard all the swabs made during that time because Trump refuses to wear a mask or other protective gear which employees must wear during the manufacturing process.

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Health care officials are warning against the use of and exposure to tear gas during the protests against police brutality saying it could help spread covid-19 through dispersion (coughing and sneezing) and by weakening the lungs.

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Worldwide covid-19 cases are rising faster than ever. “In April, new cases never topped 100,000 in one day, but since May 21, there have only been less than 100,000 on five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Newly reported cases reached a high of 130,400 on June 3.” 

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The Scientist reports that two studies on the use of hydroxychloroquine for covid-19 which concluded that the drug contributed to the deaths of patients have been retracted because the company that supplied the database, Surgisphere Corporation, could not/would not supply the data to an independent audit so that a private peer review could be completed. Consequently the authors of these studies have retracted their reports. The WHO has reinstated the studies of hydroxychloroquine for covid-19

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Current US statistics as of today 6/7/20, 15:18 GMT (last ten weeks' totals in parenthesis): cases – 1,992,453 (1,837,525, 1,685,367, 1,512,267, 1,384,681, 1,168985, 976,403, 741,230, 534,494, 312,223, 123,958, 38,757); deaths – 112,141 (106,190, 99,286, 90,206, 81,724, 67,954, 54,965, 39,103, 20,637, 8,483, 2,231, 400); (no longer care about recoveries).