Tulane Outbreak Daily – October 5, 2020

Trump to Be Discharged – MedPageToday

Well enough to return to White House, but experts remain puzzled about his aggressive treatment. President Trump said via Twitter that he will be discharged from Walter Reed Medical Center on Monday evening and his medical team confirmed it at a press conference on Monday afternoon.

What We Should Learn From The White House Coronavirus Cluster – NPR

6 minute audio – NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks Atlantic magazine contributor and UNC Chapel Hill professor Zeynep Tufekci about coronavirus clusters.

CDC Acknowledges Coronavirus Can Spread Via Airborne Transmission – NPR

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says the coronavirus can be spread through airborne particles that can linger in the air “for minutes or even hours” — even among people who are more than 6 feet apart.

Nine Days in Wuhan, the Ground Zero of the Coronavirus – New Yorker

On my second visit to the site of the former Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, at the intersection of New China Road and Development Road, in central Wuhan, I wore a mask and a pair of sunglasses with a loose frame. It was late August, and three security guards in black uniforms sat at the entrance.

A Doctor Who’s Fought Ebola And Other Epidemics On Handling The White House Coronavirus Outbreak – Forbes

The recent news of the infection of the President, First Lady and increasing numbers of others in the White House circle is made all the more tragic knowing that it was completely predictable and preventable. But let’s move beyond that. This is a national crisis and one that is important for the nation to get past expeditiously and with as minimal fallout as is feasible.

Why Anthony Fauci is happy being the ‘skunk’ on the Coronavirus Task Force – Science Magazine

Fauci, who that week appeared on the cover of Time magazine’s issue on the 100 most influential people of this year, went upstairs and changed into jeans and sweatshirt. When he came down, his wife, Christine Grady—a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center—brought him an India pale ale and salmon sliders out on their back deck, where he sat down for an hourlong, socially distanced interview with Science.

Mistakes, missteps, and lessons learned: How we stop the coronavirus – Science Magazine

Is your hope fading? Don’t let it. Many are justifiably astounded that this coronavirus pandemic simply will not stop. How can a virus that we understand down to the very molecule still evade public health measures and medicines? Whatever we do, it seems to slip through our defenses. A vaccine will eventually come, but it will take months to reach everyone who needs it. What more can we do to stop the spread?

Clinical Considerations

None Today

Official Reporting for October 5, 2020

World Health Organization

Weekly Epi Update October 5, 2020

Cumulative Cases: 35,109,317
Cumulative Deaths: 1,035,341

ECDC

Confirmed Cases: 35 247 104
Deaths: 1 038 069

Johns Hopkins

Confirmed Cases: 35,366,134
Deaths: 1,039,802

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Total cases: 7,396,730
Total deaths: 209,199

Surveillance Headlines

UNITED STATES

Wasington DC: At Least 8 People Test Positive For Coronavirus After Rose Garden Event For Barrett – NPR

Wisconsin: Situation has become alarming – New York Times

New York: New York City to Close Schools in Areas With Covid Clusters on Tuesday – Wall Street Journal

ASIA

India: COVID-19 fatalities top 100,000, behind US, Brazil – ABC News

EUROPE

Spain & Germany: Spain’s Toxic Politics, Health Woes Have Got Merkel Worried – Bloomberg

UK: ‘Eat Out’ Drive May Have Spread Covid in U.K. – Bloomberg

Iceland: Iceland, an early coronavirus role model, closes bars and gyms as cases rise – Washington Post

Science and Tech

Should You Trust the New Apple Watch on Blood Oxygen Readings? – MedPageToday

Although the Skeptical Cardiologist loves his Apple Watch 4 (especially the ECG feature) and thinks a home pulse oximeter can be useful during COVID-19, he hasn’t yet ordered the AW6. Let’s examine why.

Vaccine

White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines – New York Times

The F.D.A. proposed stricter guidelines for emergency approval of a coronavirus vaccine, but the White House chief of staff objected to provisions that would push approval past Election Day.

Published Research

Human respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, circulating in the winter season 2019-2020 in Parma, Northern Italy – International Journal of Infectious Diseases

Co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 and dengue virus: a clinical challenge – Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories

Featured Headlines

Distrust and Conspiracies Arise After Trump Announced Coronavirus Diagnosis – NPR

5 minute audio at the link – NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks disinformation expert Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute about conspiracy theories that popped up after President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

The Most Common Coronavirus Conspiracies Circulating In The Media [Infographic] – Forbes

A recent study conducted by the Cornell University and published in The New York Times NYT +5.7% examined misinformation, falsehoods and conspiracy theories about Covid-19 circulating in the media. The researchers analyzed 38 million articles published in the English language between January 01 and May 26, finding that 1.1 million contained misinformation, representing just under 3% of the overall Covid-19 conversation. Notably, the study found that President Trump was mentioned in nearly 38% of the total misinformation conservation, making him the largest driver of the Covid-19 infodemic (pandemic falsehoods).

Published Papers