Dr. Birx wants Florida to start new ‘Pool Testing’ for COVID-19 The White House Coronavirus Task Force is looking at a groundbreaking way to boost testing and, in turn, identifying positive cases in the state. It’s called “Pool Testing,” which would allow allow large groups of people — like families or students — to all be tested at the same time. Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the task force, says Florida is a great place to try this kind of testing. She says it could bump up testing from 5,000 tests per day to 50,000. “This is groundbreaking for putting…
Author: Brett Johnson
Abstract. A summary of a study provides the first in vivo evidence that zinc sulfate in combination with hydroxychloroquine may play a role in therapeutic management for COVID-19. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the mortality rate rises, as well as significant widespread economic losses. New potential therapies and means of prophylaxis against COVID-19 are urgently needed to combat this novel infection. A new in vitro study out of NYU Langone investigates the outcomes amongst patients who received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin alone compared to those who received triple therapy with zinc sulfate, finding that when zinc sulfate is added in triple therapy…
As Reported in Tech Crunch. Everlywell was one of the first startups to announce that it was working on a self-administered, at-home COVID-19 diagnostic kit, but it initially sought out to ship kits before regulators made clear that this was not in line with its guidelines. Everlywell then became intent on working with the FDA to secure a proper Emergency Use Authorization for its kits before sending any to consumers, and that approach has paid off with the U.S. drug regulator issuing an EUA for Everlywell’s tech today. Everlywell‘s COVID-19 Test Home Collection Kit is the first standalone sample collection…
Hydroxychloroquine cut the death rate significantly in sick patients hospitalized with COVID-19 according Henry Ford Health System. Of 2,541 patients hospitalized between March 10 and May 2, 2020 the study found 13% of those treated with hydroxychloroquine died compared to 26.4% not treated with hydroxychloroquine. The study was published today in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. “using hydroxychloroquine helped save lives,” said neurosurgeon Dr. Steven Kalkanis, CEO, Henry Ford Medical Group. “As doctors and scientists, we look to the data for insight. And the data here is clear that there was benefit to using the drug as a treatment…
In the May 27 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, Dr. Harvey A. Risch concluded that Early Outpatient Treatment of Symptomatic, High-Risk Covid-19 Patients that Should be Ramped-Up Immediately as Key to the Pandemic Crisis. More than 1.6 million Americans have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and >10 times that number carry antibodies to it. High-risk patients presenting with progressing symptomatic disease have only hospitalization treatment with its high mortality. An outpatient treatment that prevents hospitalization is desperately needed. Two candidate medications have been widely discussed: remdesivir, and hydroxychloroquine+azithromycin. Remdesivir has shown mild effectiveness in hospitalized inpatients, but no trials…
Sanofi and Luminostics to develop COVID-19 smartphone-based self-testing solution Sanofi and Luminostics to join forces on developing breakthrough COVID-19 smartphone-based self-testing solution using Luminostics’ innovative technology. a smartphone-based solution that eliminates the current need for healthcare professional administration or laboratory tests. A self-testing could help providemwhether or not they are infected” with respiratory samples in 30 minutes or less. The system involves smartphone’s optics, controlled by an iOS/Android app paired with an inexpensive adapter. It is combination with “glow-in-the-dark” nanochemistry and signal processing artificial intelligence. The diagnostic platform is composed of: an iOS/Android app to instruct a user on how…
A diagnostic test as simple to use as a pregnancy test. Researchers at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. announced in early May a prototype of a quick and inexpensive test for the coronarvirus, at around $6, they hope. This could overcome the shortcomings of the PCR Test. Dr. Feng Zhang and his colleagues posted a description of their device on the website STOPCovid dedicated to their project which. Dr. Zhang and his colleagues hope to fill that gap with tests that are affordable and easy enough to use without special expertise, according to The New York Times, which first…