Odd Lots
- The major social networks are now suppressing any mention of research that supports the effectiveness of ivermectin and HCQ against SARS-CoV-2. I’ve given up, as it’s a bad use of my time to try to slip information past those insufferable busybodies. So I guess I have to be content with Contra here and MeWe, which so far hasn’t given anybody any grief about discussing COVID treatments and related issues. Feel free (in fact, I encourage you) to spread these links around any way you can.
- There’s what looks like a very good free PDF guide to home treatment of COVID-19, from The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. It aligns with the reading I’ve done of peer-reviewed research on the topic.
- Another very good site for laypersons on COVID-19 treatment is The Front Line COVID Critial Care Alliance, a group of physicians who are trying to make sure people have someplace to go for information that isn’t vetted by a cadre of arrogant billionaires whose sum total of medical experience is putting bandaids on their owies.
- I read a book last week from an Arizona physician who gathered over 500 medical research papers on topics that bear on the COVID-19 issue. The Defeat of COVID is sometimes a bit of a slog, but the citations are solid gold. If you have more than a passing interest in the topic, I encourage you to get it. You’re sure not going to see any of this research linked on the social networks.
- One thing you have to remember is that the panic-porn industry is talking solely about cases. A case is a positive test. Period. A case does not have to be symptomatic. They aren’t talking about deaths because deaths don’t seem to be rising. Certainly deaths in Arizona are not. (Click through to the graph and it’ll be obvious.)
- The CDC is withdrawing its support from the PCR test, which can be “cranked up” to absurd sensitivity. Here’s a direct quote from an article in the British Medical Journal: “Another problem with relying on PCR testing alone to define a COVID-19 case is that, owing to the sensitivity of the test, it can pick up a single strand of viral RNA-but this doesn’t necessarily equate to someone being infected or infectious.”
- There are a fair number of studies of ivermectin as treatment for COVID-19. Here’s one from Antiviral Research, a journal published by Elsevier.
- Ditto HCQ. Here’s one from the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, with this money quote: “Risk stratification-based treatment of COVID-19 outpatients as early as possible after symptom onset using triple therapy, including the combination of zinc with low-dose hydroxychloroquine, was associated with significantly fewer hospitalisations.”
- To close out this COVID-19 issue of Odd Lots, a blatantly obvious bot-distributed hoax campaign on Twitter was not flagged by their supposed fact-checkers. I just did a Twitter search on “I just left the ER. We” and got quite a few laughs out of people making fun of the hoax, and (by implication) Twitter itself. Really, go look. It’s hilarious.
- Had to fetch down a sample of the merriment:
“I just left the ER . We are officially back to getting crushed by vegetables. Arugula is running rampant and it’s MUCH more transmissible than the original lettuce. 99% of our ICU admits did NOT eat a steak. Virtually ALL of them wish they had.”
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(Many thanks to Bill Meyer for some of these links.)
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: COVID-19 · health · social media
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Social media is, and always has been, a sewer with good people trying to talk to their friends in it.
Now it is a monetized, politicized, propagandized, and weaponized sewer.
Joseph Wiesenbaum (creator of ELIZA), wrote in the 1980’s that computer technology was a Faustian bargain, where we trade a little of our soul in order to gain convenience and efficiency. At the time, I thought he was too pessimistic. Now, I fear he was right all along.
Jeff, how about mirroring your Twitter postings here on your website so non-twitterers like me can read them? I sometimes see them by accessing
https://mobile.twitter.com/JeffDuntemann?lang=en
but I think that gives twitter.com accesses and is of value to those scumbags.
It may not be necessary. I’m pretty pissed at Twitter and haven’t posted much there recently. Given that a lot of my recent research is about COVID, and they’re nuking anything that isn’t porn panic, there’s a lot less reason for me to post there at all. I am on MeWe, which is modeled more on Facebook than Twitter, and I’m putting more posts there these days than on Twitter. I don’t know if you can read MeWe without having an account there. Give it a try. My user name there is (surprise!) Jeff Duntemann and the quick link to find my wall is:
https://mewe.com/i/jeffduntemann
Apparently, you can’t. All it shows is an invitation to sign in / sign up.
Bummer. I think they’d get more members if they allowed people at least a taste of what goes on over there.
A couple of people created accounts there just to read me (and a couple of others) without necessarily posting themselves.
Well, you do have a habit of coming across like a conspiracy theorist. You have enthusiasm for views that are not widely accepted, Mr. Contrapositive. Were you expecting applause?
Having enthusiasm for views that are not widely accepted is one of the jobs of a contrarian. Why think like everybody else? Groupthink is perhaps the biggest barrier to human progress there is.
Alas, the notion of a conspiracy theory is gradually morphing to mean anything the ruling party disapproves of. I don’t believe strongly that conspiracies happen, at least not as often as people claim. It’s hard to hide conspiracies long-term. Secrets leak.
I never expect applause. But I’ll take it when I get it.
Jeff,
I very much appreciate your willingness to look at many aspects of many topics. Something that scientists often seem very reluctant to do. I just came across a youtuber that goes by DrBeen, that had an article 8 months ago that I just came across. He reviews a study that shows the effectiveness of Honey and Nigella Sativa (Black Cumin seed). If this interests you check it out at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOwa6-EOohI&t=1s
He posted this about 8 months ago, but I and many others have just seen it. He’s one of a few doctors that are willing to show studies that show alternative info.