There was a bit of news on each of three coronavirus treatment fronts this week: hydroxychloroquine, convalescent plasma, and Remdesivir. Remmdesivir At the end of April, the NIH announced that Remdesivir helps people hospitalized with COVID-19 recover a bit faster. They didn't actually share many details in their press release. Now, the peer-reviewed paper with … Continue reading Coronavirus Treatment Updates

There was big news today in the world of HIV prevention. A large randomized controlled trial demonstrated that a new, injectable drug made people much less likely to contract HIV. The drug, called CAB, built on the last major breakthrough in HIV prevention: Truvada. Truvada is a once-daily antiviral pill taken as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or … Continue reading HIV Prevention Breakthrough

A new study, doctors from the Icahn School of Medicine tested for antibodies in over 1,000 patients who had recovered from mild cases of COVID-19. On a first test, they found that 89% of them had antibodies. Two weeks later, they re-tested about two-thirds of the patients who had tested negative. With the additional time, … Continue reading Over 99% of Mild COVID-19 Patients Develop Antibodies

There have now been two large antibody tests in California to estimate the fraction of the population that has been infected with SARS-CoV-2. This one in Santa Clara County and this one in Los Angeles County. They estimate that 2.5% - 4.2% of Santa Clara had been infected as of April 3 - 4 and … Continue reading Antibody Testing Vs the World

[Update from 4/19/20] Our preprint became available on medRxiv a few days ago here. We've also updated the model with data through April 18th. Abstract  We apply a model developed by The COVID-19 Response Team [S. Flaxman, S. Mishra, A. Gandy, et al., “Estimating the number of infections and the impact of non- pharmaceutical interventions … Continue reading Estimating the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the United States

A long nine days ago, I posted about The Paper from Imperial College London that predicted the US would face 2.2 million COVID deaths if nobody changed their behavior at all. The Paper used a detailed SIR model to simulate how infectious diseases spread through schools, workplaces, homes, and communities in US cities. The headline of … Continue reading New Baseline Coronavirus Model

I'd like to take a moment to sing the praises of Dr. Sara Cody, Director of Santa Clara County's Public Health Department. The San Francisco Chronicle shared a great story about her (stuck behind a paywall here) that I wish had gotten wider distribution. She is, to be frank, an obscure bureaucrat. That sentence may … Continue reading Dr. Sara Cody: Public Health Hero