‘The Swiss Cheese Model For Combating Covid-19 Multiple Layers of Pandemic Defense.’ appeared in the print edition of the Wall Street Journal November 14, 2020, Written by Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, a social scientist and physician at Yale University who conducts research in the fields of network science, biosocial science, and behavior genetics. Dr. Christakis is the author of “Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live” The Swiss Cheese Model to dealing with the Coronavirus Recent author of a book The Arrow about living with Pandemics. We summarized his article below. …
Author: Brett Johnson
A newly released study in the academic journal Annals of Internal Medicine casts more doubt on policies that force healthy individuals to wear face coverings. To conduct the study, which ran from early April to early June, scientists at the University of Copenhagen recruited more than 6,000 participants who had tested negative for COVID-19 immediately prior to the experiment. Half the participants were given surgical masks and instructed to wear them outside the home; the other half were instructed to not wear a mask outside the home. Roughly 4,860 participants finished the experiment. 42 people in the mask group, or…
Dexamethasone: The treatment that Trump received for Covid-19 has side effects. Forbes writer and highly credential science and health expert Bruce Y. Lee, offers an entertaining and insightful look at the Dexamethasone and its side effects. Lee points out that it is a corticosteroid, which is a class of steroid hormones that also includes prednisone, methylprednisolone, and hydrocortisone. Dexamethasone has shown promise in decreasing the risk of death for patients with more severe Covid-19 coronavirus infections. But getting dexamethasone isn’t like eating baked ziti. Corticosteroids can have significant side effects, including mood, behavioral, and cognitive effects. The rationale for dexamethasone as…
The Rockefeller Foundation has taken leadership on developing strategies to deal with COVID-19. They have created the position of Managing Director, Pandemics and appointed and expert in the field, Dr. Jonathan “Jono” Quick MD to fill the position. Quick is author of a book entitled “End of Pandemics.” They also have funded an initiative at Arizona State University called The COVID-19 Diagnostics Commons to build a comprehensive database on testing resources. And they have funded a national action plan, the National COVID-19 Testing and Tracing Plan which is described below. Pandemics sicken and kill people in three ways: first by…
The Contagion Conference on Testing will look at the critical issues and challenges posed by COVID-19 and will present technologies and approaches that can enable society to open and avert the need for lockdowns. The Virtual event will be broadcast from New York City and will feature panels on The Conference will present the latest research findings on how testing can control the spread. It will present promising technologies seeking strategic partners to accelerate their development. Presenting firms will include those which received NIH Funding as part of the RADx “Shark Tank” competition which has awarded $437 million in contracts to the…
NEW YORK | October 14, 2020 –A new report by the Duke-Margolis Center provides the first application of a detailed framework to provide guidance on how best to screen for, and stop or reduce the spread of, Covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2) in schools. The report, Risk Assessment and Testing Considerations for Reducing SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in K-12 Schools, is the first-of-its-kind to offer a risk assessment and testing guidance that can be adapted to reflect the risk of Covid-19 in a school’s community. It also considers the benefits of transmission reduction alongside the costs of testing and of managing “false positive” results. As…
Fluidigm COVID-19 Campus Safeguard Program Improves Availability of Noninvasive, Saliva-Based SARS-CoV-2 Tests for Higher Education Institutions. SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 08, Fluidigm Corporation (Nasdaq:FLDM), announced a program to expand availability of Fluidigm® COVID-19 tests for U.S. colleges and universities. The Fluidigm COVID-19 Campus Safeguard Program will provide millions of noninvasive, saliva-based tests for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to qualifying institutions at a cost as low as $5 per test. The Advanta™ Dx SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Assay on the high-throughput Fluidigm Biomark™ HD system features an integrated testing platform and a reliable supply chain and can be easily combined with commonly available…
Ending Pandemics. Rockefeller Foundation is taking a leadership role in addressing the Pandemic, putting lots of money in and bringing in an individuals with good credentials and a plan as outlined in his 2018 book. Jonathan Quick MD. What is interesting that so many had predicted this. Had our leaders been heeding the warnings in this book, the ravages of COVID might not have happened. It is clear were we were woefully unprepared. Dr. Quick has identified 7 things that if done, we all live happy together. If we don’t he paints a grim picture, pointing out that we are…