Sunday Reads: #CovidToe
Posted: April 26, 2020 Filed under: just because, morning reads | Tags: #covidtoe 12 Comments
Have you heard of the latest sensation striking the nation?
Covid Toe!
Nah, I didn’t say camel toe …
Seriously, this virus keeps delivering new horrifying symptoms and statistics. We got so desensitized to disastrous news the last three plus years with tRump in office. Covid has increased the monstrosity of the news day with such dire warnings and updates.
Case in point:
Other tweets of interest:
This is an open thread. Stay safe, stay home…
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00502-w
Fresh findings about SARS-CoV-2 and the disease it causes. 24 April — Spit could be the solution to testing shortages. A person’s saliva accurately reveals whether they are infected with SARS-CoV-2, a finding that could make tests for the virus safer and more widely available. The gold-standard test for coronavirus infection requires a long swab to be rubbed against the back of the throat. But such swabs are in short supply, and swabbing can prompt people to cough or sneeze, potentially launching a barrage of viral particles. Anne Wyllie at the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Connecticut, and her colleagues collected both saliva and throat samples from people hospitalized with COVID-19 (A. Wyllie et al. Preprint at medRxiv, http://doi.org/ggssqf, 2020). The team’s testing did not detect the virus in some patients’ throat-swab samples — but did detect it in the same patients’ saliva samples. Saliva testing also showed that two health-care workers who felt fine and had negative throat tests were actually infected.
The false negatives from throat swabs is a huge deal! If the accuracy of saliva tests is better, switch over yesterday.
The saliva test I heard about also delivered results in 20 / 45 minutes (pos / neg result), which is way faster than the throat swabs.
The next best thing to a universally available vaccine would be universal real-time testing with paid quarantine and treatment for anyone who needs it.
n of 16 but very promising. Nasopharyngeal swabs are “how it’s always been done” but if there are enough studies confirming appropriateness of saliva testing let’s jump to that.
Interesting about the “coronavirus toes” sign article in the JAAD journal:
I just saw recently that Catherine de Medici introduced deviled eggs and broccoli, among other things, to France in 16th century. Thank gawd.