US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said that senators from both parties are making progress on stimulus talks and more meetings are scheduled for later on Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to speak later on. The S&P 500 Index has returned to positive territory after trading lower earlier in the day. Mnuchin has said that senators from both parties are making progress on stimulus talks and more meetings are scheduled for later on Thursday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is set to speak later on.
Stocks Drop, Bonds Rise Amid Stimulus Stalemate: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell on concern that prospects for a stimulus deal remain elusive amid the most-intense negotiations over a Covid-19 package since Election Day. The S&P 500 also dropped after data showed applications for U.S. unemployment benefits surged last week, topping most estimates. Technology shares continued to underperform, with Facebook Inc. slipping further as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission took a major step toward a possible breakup of the social-media giant by filing an antitrust lawsuit. Airbnb Inc. will start trading Thursday after DoorDash Inc. supercharged investor expectations by almost doubling in its frenzied public debut. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have given no sign yet that they’re ready to directly engage in negotiations to sort through competing pandemic relief proposals — a step that many lawmakers say will be necessary to complete a deal this month. Meanwhile, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNBC that he sees a deal done next week. Elsewhere, the euro rose after policy makers escalated their efforts to shield the region from a possible double-dip recession with another burst of monetary stimulus, while cautioning that it may not use up all the new firepower. The pound fell as negotiations between the U.K. and the European Union were seen on course to end without a trade deal. Surges in Doordash Inc. and C3.ai Inc. on the first day of trading were in keeping with rising speculation for U.S. stock investors, according to Jonthan Krinsky, chief market technician at Bay Crest Partners LLC, who cited the Renaissance IPO and IPOX SPAC indexes. Renaissance Capital LLC’s gauge of initial public offerings rose 32% from a late-October low through Tuesday. In a similar period, IPOX Schuster LLC’s index of current and former blank-check companies climbed 40%. The IPO index fell 3.2% Wednesday even as Doordash gained 86% and C3.ai jumped 120%. The SPAC index rose 0.3%.
More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic
The coronavirus recession has been a relentless churn of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. The government stimulus that kept millions of Americans from falling into poverty earlier in the pandemic is long gone, and new aid is still a dot on the horizon after months of congressional inaction. Hunger is chronic, at levels not seen in decades. The result is a growing subset of Americans who are stealing food to survive. Shoplifting is up markedly since the pandemic began in the spring and at higher levels than in past economic downturns, according to interviews with more than a dozen retailers, security experts and police departments across the country. But what’s distinctive about this trend, experts say, is what’s being taken – more staples like bread, pasta and baby formula. “We’re seeing an increase in low-impact crimes,” said Jeff Zisner, chief executive of workplace security firm Aegis. “It’s not a whole lot of people going in, grabbing TVs and running out the front door. It’s a very different kind of crime – it’s people stealing consumables and items associated with children and babies.” With Americans being advised to brace for a difficult winter amid skyrocketing coronavirus infection rates and the economic recovery nearly stalled, the near-term outlook is grim. More than 20 million Americans are on some form of unemployment assistance, and 12 million will run out of benefits the day after Christmas unless new relief materializes. Though lawmakers have made progress this week on a $908 billion bill, details are still being worked out, congressional aides said. Meanwhile, an estimated 54 million Americans will struggle with hunger this year, a 45% increase from 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With food aid programs like SNAP and WIC being reduced, and other federal assistance on the brink of expiration, food banks and pantries are being inundated, reporting hours-long waits and lines that stretch into the thousands. Several federal food programs that have provided billions of dollars in fresh produce, dairy and meat to U.S. food banks also are set to expire at the end of the year. The largest among them, the Farmers to Families Food Box, has provided more than 120 million food boxes during the pandemic and is already running out of funding in many parts of the country. With the United States now registering more than 150,000 new cases a day, some communities are reintroducing restrictions in an effort to contain the virus. Most of California is now under strict stay-at-home orders, for example, while states including Nevada, Maryland and Pennsylvania have issued new indoor occupancy limits. Such orders tend to hit already vulnerable workers in low-wage service jobs in restaurants, retail and bars the hardest. Nearly 26 million adults – or 1 in 8 Americans – reported not having enough food to eat as of mid-November, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau. That figure has climbed steadily during the pandemic, and has hit record highs since the government agency began collecting such data in 1998.
Ivermectin And Doxycycline To Treat Mild/Moderate COVID-19: Randomized, Double Blinded, Placebo Ctrl
https://youtu.be/5MNsM-ZhRS4
This video we will discuss and review a trial from ClinicalTrials.gov that have reported their results, but not published them. It is a randomized, double blinded, placebo control trial out of Bangladesh comparing treatment with Ivermectin and Doxycycline with standard care (tylenol, vitamin D, steroids as needed, oxygen as needed, etc) versus standard care alone. Their reported results were quite impressive. They reported increased clinical improvement at 7 days, decreased clinical deterioration at 30 days, and decreased viral loads at 14 days in those who received IVM and Doxy! Were there any adverse effects? Check out the video for all the details! Link to the study below:
Called a Miracle Anti Viral Ivermectin
Ivermectin Works For COVID-19 – LATEST STUDIES
https://youtu.be/V4fEBK1inj4
Use of Ivermectin Is Associated With Lower Mortality in Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019
Link Here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.10.009
Original in-vitro study about Ivermectin https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…
A study from bangladesh found that Ivermectin + Doxyclyclin significantly reduces mortality and morbidity in COVID-19 patients. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/s…
A systemic review of the antiviral activity of Ivermectin https://www.nature.com/articles/s4142… https://journal.chestnet.org/article/… PDF for the above study after it was accepted
https://journal.chestnet.org/article/… Pre-print of the above study https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.11…
A search of various Ivermectin studies for your reading pleasure https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/result…
Iota carrageenan and Ivermectin oral drops https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/r…
Here is a index of the Clinical studies I have reviewed their are 44 of what i call suppressed studies. Think about it big Pharah has been given world wide 250 billion for the various vaccines. The medicines in the studies cost pennies a dose. Big Pharma wins the and over 2 million people dead have lost. they did not have to die:
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=Covid19&term=ivermectin&cntry&state&city&dist
Breakthrough Ivermectin used to treat COVID-19
https://youtu.be/Tq8SXOBy-4w
Pierre Kory, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at St. Luke’s Aurora Medical Center, delivers passionate testimony during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on “Early Outpatient Treatment: An Essential Part of a COVID-19 Solution, Part II.”
- Ivermectin has been trialled in treating the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19.
- The trials so far have shown ivermectin reduces the number of cell-associated viral RNA by 99.8 % in 24 hours. This was an in vitro study which means they were testing cells in a laboratory and not in a living organism.
- Studies are now needed to be done on ivermectin on people or animals to see how well ivermectin works against COVID-19. This is in vivo testing.
- Ivermectin is currently a FDA approved medicine for treatment of intestinal worms, Strongyloides stercoralis and Onchocerca volvulus. It has been established as safe for human use.
What is Ivermectin?
- Ivermectin is currently used to treat parasite infections such as intestinal worms, lice and mites.
- Recently ivermectin has also been studied to treat a range of viruses.
How does Ivermectin work on COVID-19?
- For the SARS-CoV-2 virus to make you sick, it has to first infect your cells.
- Then while inside the cell, the virus makes heaps of copies of itself, so it can spread around your body.
- The virus also has ways of reducing the way your body fights the infection.
- During the infection of the cell, some viral proteins go into the cell nucleus, and from here they can decrease the body’s ability to fight the virus, which means the infection can get worse.
- To get into the nucleus the viral proteins need to bind a cargo transporter which lets them in.
- Ivermectin can block the cargo transporter, so the viral proteins can’t get into the nucleus. This is how the scientists believe Ivermectin works against SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- By taking Ivermectin, it means the body can fight the infection like normal, because its antiviral response hasn’t been reduced by the viral proteins.
Is Ivermectin an approved medicine by the FDA?
Ivermectin tablets (Stromectol) is an approved medicine by the FDA for use in intestinal worms Strongyloides stercoralis and Onchocerca volvulus
As Ivermectin is already a FDA approved medicine we already know that it has been established as safe for human use.
Bottom line
- Clinical trials in the laboratory (in vitro) on ivermectin show that ivermectin reduces the number of cell-associated viral RNA by 99.8 % in 24 hours, for the SARS-CoV-2 which is the virus that causes COVID-19.
- Ivermectin is already a FDA approved medicine for some types of intestinal worms
- It is known that ivermectin has a good safety profile.
Dow Turns Red as Tech Slips, Stimulus Talks Stall
(Dec. 9) Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made a surprise re-entry into talks on a 2020 pandemic-relief package with a $916 billion proposal that opened a potential new path to a year-end deal despite objections from Democrats over elements of the plan. After largely leaving the task to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell since Election Day, Mnuchin pitched a $916 billion stimulus plan to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a Tuesday afternoon telephone call, more than a week after she and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer retreated from their previous insistence on a $2.4 trillion bill. Mnuchin’s offer was a joint proposal supported by McConnell and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who called it “a great offer.” Mnuchin said he had conferred with President Donald Trump, whose support will be needed to get any deal through the Republican-controlled Senate. Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement that it marked “progress” because it brought McConnell closer to the $908 billion framework unveiled last week by a group of Democratic and Republican lawmakers. But they said its omission of supplementary jobless benefits was “unacceptable,” and backed the continuing bipartisan effort at crafting a compromise. The Mnuchin plan differs in important ways from the alternative that Pelosi and Schumer endorsed as a basis for fresh talks. It includes $600 stimulus payments to individuals, which could win support from both Republicans and Democrats, but it pays for that in part through cutting the bipartisan proposal for $300 a week in supplemental unemployment aid. It also includes what Mnuchin described as “robust” protections for employers from Covid-19-related lawsuits, something Democrats have opposed. Negotiators on the bipartisan plan had been working on a proposed moratorium that offered potential for a compromise. It does have $160 billion in aid for state and local authorities, much the same as the bipartisan plan. Mnuchin’s pitch ties state and local aid together with liability protections — the two key roadblocks to a deal so far — so they can either be removed or stay in together, according to McCarthy. McConnell earlier Tuesday had floated the idea of setting aside those two issues, but Democratic leaders quickly rejected dropping aid to states and localities. Meantime, the bipartisan group continued their own negotiations. Their work over the weekend and early this week on turning the plan into legislative language had slowed amid the persistent disagreements over state and local aid and the Covid-19 liability protections that McConnell in particular has championed. The Mnuchin offer, which was made to Pelosi in the 5 p.m. call, was essentially a joint proposal from the White House, McConnell and McCarthy. That marks a turnaround for McConnell, who since the election has stuck with pitching a smaller-scale effort that Democrats had previously blocked. That focused mainly on renewed Paycheck Protection Program help for small businesses — something that’s in both Mnuchin’s and the bipartisan plan — education aid and funding for vaccine distribution and other Covid-19 initiatives. Asked about Mnuchin’s plan, a spokesman for McConnell said the leader had no further remarks beyond his statement earlier Tuesday. But a person familiar with the matter said it represents a joint proposal supported by Mnuchin, McCarthy and McConnell. Lawmakers from both parties have said that any Covid-19 relief deal would be attached to a government-spending bill. Current stopgap funding for federal agencies runs out Friday night, and the House plans to vote Wednesday on a new seven-day continuing resolution to avert a shutdown. The Senate aims to take that up thereafter. That would give another week for talks to continue on both the stimulus front and on an omnibus spending bill to fund the government into 2021.
First signs of Thanksgiving COVID-19 wave emerge
Absolute lymphocyte count is a prognostic marker in Covid‐19: A retrospective cohort review
Introduction
Methods
In this article, we perform a retrospective cohort review study on patients admitted to one academic hospital for Covid‐19 illness. We analyzed basic demographic, clinical, and laboratory data to understand the relationship between lymphocytopenia at the time of hospital admission and clinical outcomes.
Results
We discovered that lymphocyte count is lower (P = .01) and lymphocytopenia more frequent by an odds ratio of 3.40 (95% CI: 1.06‐10.96; P = .04) in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a marker of disease severity, relative to those who were not. We additionally find that patients with lymphocytopenia were more likely to develop an acute kidney injury (AKI), a marker of organ failure, during admission by an odds ratio of 4.29 (95% CI: 1.35‐13.57; P = .01).
Conclusion
This evidence supports the hypothesis that lymphocytopenia can be an early, useful, and easily obtained, prognostic factor in determining the clinical course and disease severity of a patient admitted to the hospital for Covid‐19.
1 INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid‐19) is a predominantly respiratory illness caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus. Data regarding prognostic factors are currently scarce given the novelty of the disease. Prognostic information would aid clinicians in managing patients, who are often left without data‐driven guidelines to make important clinical decisions. It is known that lymphocytopenia, defined as an absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) < 1000 cells/µL, occurs in Covid‐19 and may correlate with increased disease severity1–5; indeed, lymphocytopenia is a common systemic manifestation of many viral illnesses6; in particular, other coronaviruses like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV) and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV) have been demonstrated to cause lymphocytopenia.2 However, few studies have examined whether lymphocytopenia found at the time of admission to the hospital is helpful in understanding the disease course. Here, we set out to study a cohort of patients admitted to the hospital diagnosed with Covid‐19 to determine whether lymphocytopenia, found at the time of admission to the hospital, was associated with disease severity and other clinical outcomes.
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data were obtained for patients admitted to one local, academic, community‐based hospital in Houston, TX, USA. IRB approval was granted by the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. Patients were included if they had a positive diagnosis of Covid‐19 based on a polymerase chain reaction‐based assay to detect the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus or had been diagnosed in the community, were over the age of 18, and were admitted and discharged from the hospital between 03/01/2020 and 05/07/2020. Data were collected and extracted from an electronic medical record system and included many variables, such as demographic, clinical outcomes, and laboratory data. We define severe disease as those patients who required admission to the ICU; non‐severe disease is classified as those admitted to the hospital, but did not require ICU admission. Admission to the ICU was determined by clinical factors, namely respiratory failure and hemodynamic instability. Lymphocytopenia was not part of these criteria. Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is defined as a rise in serum creatinine > 0.3 mg/dL from baseline within 48 hours at any time during admission (if baseline data were unavailable, the lowest value during admission was presumed to be the baseline; if only one value was available, the patient was not presumed to have an AKI).
2.1 Laboratory data
All laboratory data were collected within 24 hours of admission. Laboratory data were analyzed by our hospital’s hematology laboratory. All laboratory samples are typically processed within hour of receipt. Complete blood counts (CBCs) were measured on automated CBC and differential analyzer (X‐N 3000), if the XN3000 could not classify a WBC an attached module (SP10) automatically made the blood smear slides. This blood smear side was manually loaded onto a cell locator imaging (DM96). Technician classified WBC with differential, if technician had difficulty in interpreting results; the pathologist reviewed the slide. Quality control materials were run every 8 hours. Lymphocytopenia is defined as an absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) < 1.0 × 103 cells/µL. Anemia is defined as hemoglobin < 14 gm/dL for men or < 12 gm/dL for women. Thrombocytopenia is defined as platelet count < 150.0 × 103 cells/µL. Leukopenia is defined as leukocyte count < 4.4 × 103 cells/µL. Leukocytosis is defined as a leukocyte count > 11.0 × 103 cells/µL.
2.2 Data analysis
For statistical analyses, the computer program R and accompanying R studio (version 1.2.5033, Orange Blossom) were used to perform analyses.7, 8 R is an open source statistical software program widely used in the academic research community. For continuous variables, a Welch’s two‐sided t test was performed, assuming variances were unequal between samples. To correct for multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni test was performed to adjust P‐values. For categorical data, a Fisher Exact test was used to make comparisons. For all analyses, a P‐value < .05 was used to reject the null hypothesis that either there was no difference between two samples tested or that samples were independent. Odds ratios and confidence intervals were calculated using the package epiR9 in the R‐studio software. Code is available upon request. Figures were prepared using the ggplot210 software in the R software platform.
3 RESULTS
3.1 Basic population demographics
We obtained a cohort of 57 patients who were admitted to and discharged from the hospital between 03/01/2020 and 05/01/2020. The cohort was predominantly male (59%), obese (average BMI of 32.3 ± 1.19 kg/m2) with an average age of 58.2 ± 2.08 years. Our cohort consisted mostly of patients with minority backgrounds (86%). Thirty‐one percent of patients (N = 18) were admitted to the ICU and mortality was 16% (N = 9). Of note, two patients had a diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection. The median Charlson comorbidity index was 4 (1.5‐6), indicating an median 10‐year survival rate of 53%.11 In our study, we found that 50% (9/18) of patients admitted to the ICU required intubation and 38% (7/18) required vasopressors (Table 3). Thus, patients admitted to the ICU were classified as having severe disease given the relatively common occurrence of hemodynamic instability and respiratory failure in this population.
3.2 Lymphocytopenia at the time of admission is related to disease severity in Covid‐19
The average ALC count obtained at the time of admission to the hospital in patients requiring ICU admission was lower (0.8 ± 0.11 × 103 cells/µL) relative to those not needing ICU admission (1.4 ± 0.15 × 103 cells/µL; P = .01; Table 1, Figure 1). Additionally, more patients admitted to the ICU had lymphocytopenia (62%) at the time of admission to the hospital compared to those not admitted to the ICU (32%; P = .04; Table 2). Interestingly, the presence of lymphocytopenia conferred an odds ratio of 3.40 (95% CI: 1.06‐10.96) for admission to the ICU.
| Non‐ICU | ICU | Significance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample size, N | 39 | 18 | — |
| ALC | 1.4 ± 0.15 | 0.8 ± 0.11 | *P = .01 |
| Hemoglobin | 12.9 ± 0.37 | 11.3 ± 0.54 | P = .08 |
| Hematocrit | 38.5 ± 1.38 | 35.4 ± 1.30 | P = .55 |
| Platelet count | 202.8 ± 11.84 | 274.7 ± 20.22 | *P = .02 |
| WBC | 8.8 ± 0.73 | 10.4 ± 1.13 | P = 1.0 |
Note
- Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Welch’s two‐sample t test with a Bonferroni post hoc correction for multiple comparisons was used to compare groups. An asterisk indicates a statistically significant result.
- Abbreviations: ALC, Absolute Lymphocyte Count; ICU, Intensive Care Unit; WBC, White Blood Cell count.
FIGURE 1
Scatter plot for Absolute Lymphocyte Count (ALC)‐based ICU admission status (patient outcome). Red bars represent standard deviation, and red dot represents the mean. Data points are represented by black dots. Abbreviations: ICU, patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit; IP, patients admitted to the In‐Patient unit, not the ICU
| Non‐ICU
No (%) |
ICU
No (%) |
Odds ratio, OR (95% CI) | Significance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample Size | 39 | 18 | — | |
| Lymphocytopenia Frequency | 12 (32), N = 38 | 11 (61) | 3.40 (1.06‐10.96) | *P = .04 |
| Anemia Frequency | 19 (49) | 14 (78) | 3.68 (1.03‐13.20) | *P = .04 |
| Thrombocytopenia Frequency | 6 (15) | 1 (5) | 0.32 (0.04‐2.91) | P = .41 |
| Leukopenia Frequency | 5 (13) | 0 | — | — |
| Leukocytosis Frequency | 9 (23) | 6 (33) | 1.67 (0.49‐5.71) | P = .5 |
Note
- Raw count data are presented as the count (% of total sample size). Anemia, thrombocytopenia, lymphocytopenia, and leukopenia are defined in the methods. Fisher’s Exact test was performed to compare groups above. Odds ratio is reported as OR (95% CI). Sample sizes are listed as above, unless otherwise stated, with the value N adjacent to the data point. An asterisk indicates a statistically significant result.
- Abbreviation: ICU, Intensive Care Unit.
3.3 Anemia and platelet count at the time of admission are related to disease severity in Covid‐19
Nick Note: Your LYM% is key to covid19 survival here is a link to a blood test scoring service. just plug in your test results to the link below:
https://bloodtesteasy.com/eval/