Brokers have learned that changing the margin requirement and blowing you out in the middle of the night tilts the field towards them. Imagine if your margin requirement was 5% of what it is now. Imagine if the contract never expired. Then the trading field is leveled again and you’re fighting the market, not broker tricks.
I’m in the information business. I have to take in to put out. These are incredible times that we could describe as explosive. As you know we closed out one of our major trades on Thursday. On Friday I wasn’t looking so smart but on Monday and Tuesday if we would have stayed in we would have been creamed.
The top U.S. public health agency said Monday that the coronavirus can spread more than 6 feet through the air, especially in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces. But agency officials maintained that such spread is uncommon and current social distancing guidelines still make sense.
However, several experts faulted the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. They said the virus can spread more easily than the CDC seems to be indicating, and suggested that the public should wear masks even in prolonged outdoor gatherings when they are more than 6 feet apart.
In interviews, CDC officials have also acknowledged growing evidence that the virus can sometimes spread on even smaller particles called aerosols that spread over a wider area. In the update posted on its website, the agency again acknowledged recent research showing people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than 6 feet away or shortly after an infected person left an area. CDC officials called those ”limited, uncommon circumstances.” In those cases, spread occurred in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces where people were doing activities that caused heavier breathing, like singing or exercise, CDC officials said. People can protect themselves by staying at least 6 feet away from others, wearing a mask, washing their hands, cleaning touched surfaces and staying home when sick Last month, the CDC ignited controversy among experts when it quietly posted an update that seemed to suggest the agency’s position had changed, and then within days took it down again. The short-lived post said the virus can remain suspended in the air and drift more than 6 feet, and officials emphasized the importance of indoor ventilation. It also added singing and breathing to the ways the virus can go airborne. Federal health officials later said the post was a mistake and that it had been released before full editing and clearance was completed. They said there was no major change in the agency’s position, but they would finalize a post to clarify the CDC’s thinking. That’s what was posted Monday. A small group of researchers — including Milton — on Monday published a letter in the journal Science that called for clearer public health guidance about how coronavirus spreads in the air. They said health officials need to use clearer language in talking about the size of airborne particles and droplets that can spread the disease, and be more straightforward about the role that viruses in small aerosols can play in infecting people. Masks and good ventilation are crucial indoors. But they can be important outdoors too, said Linsey Marr of Virginia Tech.
he pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has claimed a drug known as a monoclonal antibody helped COVID-19 patients get rid of symptoms faster than those on a placebo. Eli Lilly said data collected from an ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial provided a proof of concept that giving LY-CoV555 to COVID-19 outpatients with a mild-to-moderate form of the disease also appeared to make them less likely to need hospital treatment, and cleared the virus faster. The interim findings of the ongoing trial were not published in a scientific journal, meaning they have not been through the rigorous peer review process. The company said it plans to publish its results in a peer-reviewed journal. Antibodies are proteins that are part of the immune system. Made by white blood cells, they recognise pathogens, like viruses or bacteria, and stick to them. They ultimately help the body neutralize and clear invaders. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made molecules that mimic our natural antibodies. They are used to treat conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease, Crohn’s disease, psoriasis, and ulcerative colitis. The drugs are relatively expensive and difficult to manufacture.
The on-going trial involved 452 participants, 302 on the monoclonal antibody and 150 placebo patients. The company hopes to enroll 800 participants in total.The rate of hospitalization and emergency room visits for coronavirus among participants was 1.7 percent for those who took LY-CoV555, and 6 percent for those who were given the placebo, amounting to a 72 percent reduction in risk in the participants, according to Eli Lilly. The majority of patients, including those taking the placebo, had almost totally cleared the virus by day 11. But participants given a 2,800 mg dose of LY-CoV555 saw their viral levels drop by day three. The patients taking LY-CoV555 appeared to see their symptoms improve faster than those given the placebo. No serious adverse side effects were reported, and the drug was well-tolerated, the team said.
“The results reinforce our conviction that neutralizing antibodies can help in the fight against COVID-19,” Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, said in a statement. “
These interim data from the BLAZE-1 trial suggest that LY-CoV555, an antibody specifically directed against SARS-CoV-2, has a direct antiviral effect and may reduce COVID-related hospitalizations.” Experts not involved in the research welcomed the findings. Andrew Preston, an expert in microbial pathogenesis at the University of Bath in the U.K., told Newsweek the findings were positive but preliminary. “A treatment that helps to reduce the severity of COVID-19 disease is very welcome,” he said. Preston said: “The trial contained only small numbers of patients who progressed to more serious disease, as only 6 percent of the control group reached this endpoint. This suggests that the trial tested the treatment on those with relatively mild disease, or that other treatments administered to patients were effective at preventing disease progression. Other discussions of MAb [monoclonal antibody] therapy have focused on its use to treat the most ill patients, this has yet to be tested. “Interestingly, only one dose proved to have significant effect and it was the middle dose, not the highest dose. It will be important to determine why the high dose was not effective, as it appears that giving a specific level of antibody is important and it’s not clear if this level varies among individuals.” Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told The New York Times the results were “really compelling” and the trial seemed to be rigorous.
President Trump said Monday that he would leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center later in the day, after spending three days there battling COVID-19.
“I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center today at 6:30 P.M.” he said on Twitter. “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!”
At a press conference, Trump’s physician Sean Conley said that “he may not be entirely out of the woods yet,” but that he was cleared to return to the White House.
The announcement comes as a growing circle of Trump advisers have tested positive. On Monday morning, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, announced that she had tested positive. CNN reported that two of McEnany’s aides had also tested positive.
Trump’s blood oxygen levels dropped twice over the course of his treatment, Conley said at a press conference on Sunday. He was given supplemental oxygen, as well as a variety of drug treatments, including Remdesivir and an experimental Regeneron antibody cocktail.
Trump released a video on Sunday thanking the staff at Walter Reed and saying that he had “learned a lot” about COVID.
“I learned it by really going to school,” he said. “This is the real school. This isn’t the ‘let’s read the books’ school. And I get it. And I understand it. And it’s a very interesting thing and I’m going to be letting you know about it.”
Trump took an SUV tour outside the facility on Sunday afternoon to wave at supporters who had gathered there, drawing criticism for needlessly exposing Secret Service agents to the virus.
Doctors were to decide Monday whether to discharge Donald Trump from hospital but news that the president’s spokeswoman had also tested positive for Covid-19 underlined the out-of-control spread of the virus through a chaotic White House. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced her positive result in a statement saying that she had tested negative ever since Trump’s own diagnosis last week but “I tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning while experiencing no symptoms.” McEnany — the combative, main public interface between Trump and the media, giving daily television interviews and holding frequent briefings — said that no journalists were believed to have come into close contact with her. The news rammed home just how infected the White House has become. Cases now include Trump’s wife Melania, his close aide Hope Hicks, his campaign manager Bill Stepien, and more than half a dozen others from the president’s circle both inside and outside the White House. Despite this, Trump made clear he’s itching to get out of hospital and back to the campaign trail with the clock running down on his hopes of beating Democrat Joe Biden on November 3. The 74-year-old Republican is doing everything to try and project strength and health, despite his hospitalization Friday at the Walter Reed military hospital just outside Washington. Early Monday, a stream of election slogans, all in capital letters, filled his Twitter feed. Late Sunday, he drew criticism from independent medical experts by making a brief sortie in an armored SUV to drive past a crowd of supporters gathered nearby. The White House published photos over the weekend of Trump working in his hospital suite and he tweeted two videos in which he talks about his recovery. Doctors treating the president and aides say he is in good spirits and eager to return to the White House, where a large medical team is permanently on hand. Chief of staff Mark Meadows said this could happen Monday. “We are still optimistic that based on his unbelievable progress and — and how strong he has been in terms of his fight against this Covid-19 disease, that he will be released,” Meadows told Fox News. “But that decision won’t be made until later today.” The rosy image built up by Trump is running up against snippets of more alarming information given by doctors, including that he is being given the steroid dexamethasone and two experimental drugs — a cocktail more usually associated with serious Covid-19 cases. White House doctor Sean Conley also said in a Sunday briefing that Trump had indeed been given extra oxygen after a “rapid progression” of his illness and falling oxygen levels on Friday. He said he had initially held back this crucial information to reflect the “upbeat attitude.”
– Trump singlehandedly ‘defeats’ Covid? – Beset by revelations that he avoids paying almost any income tax and a slew of other scandals, Trump was already behind Biden when he fell ill. But the biggest liability in his scramble for a second term was always his handling of the coronavirus pandemic which has so far killed more than 209,000 Americans this year. For months, Trump has given the appearance of trying to wish away the catastrophe and get back to his reelection narrative of a strong economy. Now, Trump’s transformation into a patient threatens to supercharge his opponents’ own narrative that his recklessness in refusing to wear masks and frequent downplaying of the public danger is what pushed the country over the edge. Facing these extraordinary challenges, Trump looks poised to try and claim that in getting quickly out of hospital he has personally vanquished the virus — and will go on to do the same for the rest of the country. Trump is “battling as tough as only President Trump can,” campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine said on Fox News. An unofficial White House themed gift shop announced Monday it will sell a commemorative coin titled “President Donald J. Trump Defeats COVID” for $100. For all of Trump’s determination to reassert himself, he has already lost several precious days of a campaign that revolves heavily around his large-scale rallies and image of personal strength. On the day he announced his positive test he had been due to hold a rally in Florida. The next day he was to have flown to another important battleground, Wisconsin, ignoring the fact he was to gather crowds in one of the worst coronavirus hotspots in the country. Biden meanwhile has maintained his slow-but-steady campaign which has always emphasized health precautions — a pared-back style that Trump calls weakness and mocked as recently as last week. The upheaval has led to unusual interest in this Wednesday’s televised debate between the vice presidential candidates — Republican Mike Pence and Biden’s pick, Kamala Harris. With the current president sick and Biden turning 78 next month, Pence and Harris find themselves potentially closer to the hot seat than many others in their position over the years. The biggest factor now in the tense coming few weeks will remain Trump’s health, including whether he will be able to take part in the next presidential debate with Biden scheduled for October 15.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Doctors treating President Donald Trump for COVID-19 sent conflicting signals about the severity of his condition on Sunday, hours before the president surprised supporters gathered outside the hospital with an impromptu motorcade. Trump, 74, wore a mask as he waved from the back seat of a black SUV that crawled in a caravan of vehicles in front of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington, while supporters waving Trump 2020 flags chanted: “USA! USA!” Trump, who said on Friday morning he had the infectious disease, was swiftly criticized for risking the health of support staff. It was Trump’s first appearance in public since he was evacuated to the hospital on Friday. “It’s a very interesting journey. I learned a lot about COVID,” he said in a video posted on Twitter shortly beforehand. Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden tested negative again for the disease that has killed more than 200,000 Americans, his campaign said on Sunday. The former vice president, who shared a debate stage with Trump last Tuesday, previously tested negative in two tests on Friday, the day Trump disclosed his coronavirus infection. Doctors said the president was improving, although they were monitoring the condition of his lungs after he received supplemental oxygen. They said he could be sent back to the White House as soon as Monday.
But Dr. Sean P. Conley said the president’s condition had been worse than he previously admitted. Conley said Trump’s blood oxygen levels had dropped in prior days and that he had run a high fever on Friday morning.
Asked what tests had revealed about the condition of Trump’s lungs, Conley replied: “There’s some expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern.” Conley’s response suggested the X-rays revealed some signs of pneumonia, said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University. “The expected finding is that he has evidence of pneumonia in the X-ray. If it was normal they would just say it is normal,” Adalja said. Other doctors not involved in Trump’s treatment said there was evidence his case was severe. Trump is being given dexmethasone, a steroid used in severe COVID cases, as well as the intravenous antiviral drug Remdesivir and an experimental antibody treatment from Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) Pharmaceuticals. “It would be very unlikely for him to be out and about, and on the campaign trail in less than 14 days,” said Dr. David Battinelli, chief medical officer at New York’s Northwell Health. Administration officials have given contradictory assessments of Trump’s health. Conley and other doctors delivered a positive prognosis on Saturday, which was promptly undercut by Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. “I was trying to reflect an upbeat attitude of the team and the president about the course his illness has had,” Conley told reporters on Sunday. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.” Trump spent much of the year downplaying the risks of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected 7.4 million Americans, killed more than 209,000, and caused an economic downturn that has thrown millions out of work. He said he had been meeting soldiers and first responders at the hospital, raising new questions about whether he was now directly exposing others to the disease. Critics said personnel who traveled in Trump’s armored SUV during the afternoon motorcade would now have to self-quarantine for 14 days. “The irresponsibility is astounding,” Dr. James Phillips, an attending physician at the hospital, said on Twitter. The White House Correspondents Association objected that reporters had not been told about Trump’s drive-by before it happened. White House spokesman Judd Deere (NYSE:DE) said the trip had been approved by medical staff and that appropriate precautions had been taken. Health officials in New Jersey said they were trying to track down more than 200 people who attended a Trump fundraising event at his golf course there on Thursday. Trump traveled to the event after close adviser Hope Hicks had contracted the virus, and just hours before he announced that he had tested positive. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News that Trump tested positive after that fundraiser, not beforehand. Trump’s illness has upended his re-election campaign as it seeks to fend off Biden in the final month of the race. Several members of his inner circle have also tested positive for the disease, as well as three Republican members of the U.S. Senate. Two members of the White House residence staff tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks ago, and Trump’s “body man” aide, Nicholas Luna, has also tested positive, according to a source familiar with the situation. Biden in recent days has wished Trump a speedy recovery, while also criticizing his response to the pandemic. A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Sunday found Biden had opened a 10-point lead over Trump nationally, slightly wider than it has been for the past two months. Some 65% of Americans said Trump likely would not have been infected had he taken the virus more seriously – a view that half of registered Republicans polled supported. Some 55% said they did not believe Trump had been telling the truth about the virus. Trump’s campaign vowed that Vice President Mike Pence, who would assume the presidency if Trump were unable to carry out his duties, would have an “aggressive” campaign schedule this week, as would Trump’s three oldest children. “We can’t stay in our basement or shut down the economy indefinitely. We have to take it head-on,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Pence, who tested negative on Friday, is scheduled to debate Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Wednesday.
President Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said Sunday that “if everything continues to go well” with the president’s health, he could be discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center as early as Monday. Watch the briefing from the president’s medical team. During a press conference late Sunday morning at Walter Reed National Military Medical Hospital, Dr. Sean Conley confirmed that Trump was given supplemental oxygen on Friday out of concern of “possible rapid progression of the illness,” which the president was adamantly against. Conley said the president had a “high fever,” and his oxygen saturation was dipping below 94%. “Today he feels well. He’s been up and around. Our plan for today is to have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile. And if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” said Dr. Brian Garibaldi.Trump announced in a tweet early Friday morning that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. The president was flown from the White House to Walter Reed, located in Bethesda, Maryland, later that day. Conley said Trump “experienced two transient drops in his oxygen saturation,” one experienced Friday and the other on Saturday. He said he was unable to state whether Trump was given supplemental oxygen on Saturday, adding that he’d “have to check with the nursing staff.” “If he did, it was very limited,” Conley said. “The only oxygen that I ordered, that we provided, was that Friday morning initially.” As of late Sunday morning, Conley added the president’s oxygen level remained at 98% and did not have difficulties breathing. Following Conley’s press conference on Saturday, when he said he was “extremely happy” with Trump’s recovery process after officials described him as experiencing “mild symptoms,” White House chief of staff Mark Meadows issued a statement that described Trump’s state of health Friday as “very concerning.” “We’re still not on a clear path yet to a full recovery,” Meadows said. Conley said the statement was “misconstrued.” Meadows meant to highlight a “momentary episode of the high fever and that temporary drop in the saturation,” according to Conley. “Fortunately, that was really a very transient, limited episode. A couple hours later, he was back up, mild again. I’m not going to speculate what that limited episode was about so early in the course. But, he’s doing well.”
Conley said he didn’t disclose the president received supplemental oxygen because he was “trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, that his course of illness has had” and did not want to provide information that would “steer the course of illness in another direction.”
“In doing so, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true,” Conley said. “The fact of the matter is he is doing really well.” Symone Sanders, a campaign adviser to Joe Biden, said the former vice president is praying for Trump’s continued recovery and is “hoping that he’s medically able to participate” in the next presidential debate scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, Florida. Several of Trump’s current and former top aides and advisers have tested positive for the coronavirus since the president’s diagnosis was made public, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, and others.