Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Brushin' the dust off- Coronavirus is here

Wow.  It's been 6 years since I posted here, and an insane amount has happened. It crushes me a bit, but I'm not going to go into it here (But I should have, and for that, babe, I'm sorry).

But we have some important comments to get out.

First, Coronavirus (COVID-19, Novel Coronavirus) is here. As of this morning, it's in all 50 states. We had a bet going on whether it would be reported in WV first, or Madagascar. WV popped today. If you want an entertaining way to learn about pandemics, I would recommend Plague Inc. available on your app store.
If you're looking for a decent, raw stats visualization of COVID-19 spread:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

If you take a look in the lower right hand corner, you can see that we're in an almost explosive amplification phase of the virus. You can also see that China appears to have done a good job blunting the spread there, which is an interesting topic of disucssion.

OK, the main reason I brushed the dust off this page:
https://www.sciencealert.com/who-recommends-to-avoid-taking-ibuprofen-for-covid-19-symptoms
specifically:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(20)30116-8/fulltext


This study was actually released several days ago, but has some good content. The crux is: try to avoid NSAIDs (Ibuprofen, Naproxyn) if you think you may have been exposed to COVID-19. Additionally, as a general rule, you don't want to use aspirin in kids for fever/viral illness due to the risk of Reye's syndrome:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/reyes-syndrome/

So, we're primarily looking at acetaminophen (Tylenol) for aches and pains. This comes with an additional warning to keep an eye out for what's in all of your meds.  Acetaminophen is in a ton of cold/flu/cough/allergy medications. Taking too much of it will damage your liver (A particular concern with my family, being the connoisseurs that they are...).

OK, that's the short post for today.  As always, shoot me questions, comments, and concerns. Throw links up to your own sources, when you have them.  Be safe out there.


3 comments:

Jim Stutz said...

My crippling opioid habit's still perfectly safe, though, right?

Static said...

LOL. Until you really hit the professional stuff, most of those have acetaminophen in 'em!

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