COVID-19, Part 5 - the beat goes on.

[Boston Red]

Could be kinky.

[Larkin Fan]

If you Google “wearing masks and high blood pressure”, the first hits are to the NCBI and there are several papers there. There will also be other sites with various studies. I’m not a doctor, so I can’t vouch for the sources. But that’s why I was curious, and measured it myself, and there was a noticeable difference. I’m not claiming any definitive proof, and just wanted to mention in general that if somebody has high blood pressure, to keep an eye on it a little more because it could be pushed into the danger threshold if you are starting at a higher level than I was.

Using that search criteria, the only relevant article I found was "The physiological cost of wearing a disposable respirator" from 1991. It was a small study of 10 subjects using an N95 respirator, not all types of masks. I didn't see any studies regarding non-N95 masks and definitely nothing that would cause me to warn patients with hypertension against regular surgical-type masks.

I think it is a bit of a leap to tie the differences in your blood pressure readings to mask use unless you were using an N95. There are a number of reasons that your blood pressure could have been higher, including primarily the fact that blood pressure naturally rises throughout the day until it peaks in the early afternoon.

[Kingspoint]

Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Dem, has been lying and fudging the numbers for political purposes since the very beginning. Even the highly left-slanted Oregonian reports of repeated incidences of this:

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavir...that-data.html

"The state health authority has withheld statistics even in instances where counties have released the same type of data.
I t’s part of a broader pattern by state public health officials to limit the flow of information about the pandemic."

Concern for the welfare of the public has always been the last thing on Oregon leaders' minds:

"The Oregon Health Authority’s guidance still does not encourage widespread testing in long-term care facilities. That’s not as aggressive as federal guidance to test all staff in nursing homes every week. Residents should also get tested weekly in facilities with even one suspected infection until the virus is gone, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Testing capacity in Oregon is estimated at nearly 38,000 a week, although fewer than half that many people are typically being tested."

And, now, she has recommended that any non-white people should get tested for the virus even though only those of african ancestry show a genetically linked reason to do so.

https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavir...-the-list.html

"Migrant or seasonal farm workers, when they arrive in Oregon

Oregonians who are black, African-American, Latino, Latina, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Asian-American or Pacific Islander

People whose first language is not English"

[Sea Ray]

At this point I don't believe anything we're getting on C19 anymore:

Governments and WHO changed Covid-19 policy based on suspect data from tiny US company

The World Health Organization and a number of national governments have changed their Covid-19 policies and treatments on the basis of flawed data from a little-known US healthcare analytics company, also calling into question the integrity of key studies published in some of the world’s most prestigious medical journals...

Late on Tuesday, after being approached by the Guardian, the Lancet released an “expression of concern” about its published study. The New England Journal of Medicine has also issued a similar notice.

An independent audit of the provenance and validity of the data has now been commissioned by the authors not affiliated with Surgisphere because of “concerns that have been raised about the reliability of the database”.

This includes that HCQ study:

On 22 May the Lancet published a blockbuster peer-reviewed study which found the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which has been promoted by Donald Trump, was associated with a higher mortality rate in Covid-19 patients and increased heart problems...The negative findings made global news and prompted the WHO to halt the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global trials...The New England Journal of Medicine also published a peer-reviewed Desai study based on Surgisphere data, which included data from Covid-19 patients from 169 hospitals in 11 countries in Asia, Europe and North America. It found common heart medications known as angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers were not associated with a higher risk of harm in Covid-19 patients.

Whoops...this sure is a red flag:

But only days later Guardian Australia revealed glaring errors in the Australian data included in the study. The study said researchers gained access to data through Surgisphere from five hospitals, recording 600 Australian Covid-19 patients and 73 Australian deaths as of 21 April.

But data from Johns Hopkins University shows only 67 deaths from Covid-19 had been recorded in Australia by 21 April.

Ya think?

Lancet editor Richard Horton told the Guardian: “Given the questions raised about the reliability of the data gathered by Surgisphere, we have today issued an Expression of Concern, pending further investigation.

So...the HCQ study is back on:

At a press conference on Wednesday, the WHO announced it would resume its global trial of hydroxychloroquine, after its data safety monitoring committee found there was no increased risk of death for Covid patients taking it.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...oxychloroquine

This is further evidence that the decisions our politicians and their health directors have been making for us has been based on false data. Not good. Not good at all. Heads should roll over this

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...oxychloroquine

[Sea Ray]

Including KP's post, here's the third post in a row that questions what we've been fed on C19.

About those comparisons to the flu...they're doing it with flawed numbers and here you go. Often times they're giving us death rates of confirmed C19 rates/deaths but on flu it's not confirmed, it's estimates/deaths. If they used confirmed fly rates/deaths, the flu mortality rate would be a whopping 10%.

However, comparing the rate of individuals who died from the flu to the number of individuals who were confirmed to have had the flu is around 10% (22,000/ 222,552) much higher than the actual estimated rate of 0.1%. This is based on actual data similar to the rate for the coronavirus above.

About those models that were thrown on Trump's desk before shutting the country down:

** Dr. Tony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx used the Imperial College Model to persuade President Trump to lock down the ENTIRE US ECONOMY.
** The fraudulent model predicted 2.2 million American deaths from the coronavirus pandemic
** The authors of the Imperial College Model shared their findings with the White House Coronavirus task force in early March
** Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx then met with President Trump privately and urged him to shut down the US economy and destroy the record Trump economy based on this model
** A new critique of the Imperial College Model finds the study is “completely unusable for scientific purposes” — The Imperial College study is a complete sham
** Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx pushed a garbage model on the White House and the American public and destroyed the US economy

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/202...irx-huge-scam/

We now know the model was so highly flawed it never should have been relied upon for policy decisions to begin with.

And, it turns out, the model has serious flaws, which a former software engineer from Google discusses at length in his blog.

The Imperial College code provides different answers using the same inputs. In particular, the same assumptions can provide results that differ by 80,000 deaths over a span of 80 days. The software engineer has noted there are apparently myriad other problems as well—including undocumented codes and numerous bugs.

This isn’t the first time bad models have made their way into policy. As we discussed in our work, statistical models can be useful tools for guiding policy, but they are only as credible as the assumptions on which they are based.

https://www.heritage.org/public-heal...tify-lockdowns

[BernieCarbo]

Using that search criteria, the only relevant article I found was "The physiological cost of wearing a disposable respirator" from 1991. It was a small study of 10 subjects using an N95 respirator, not all types of masks. I didn't see any studies regarding non-N95 masks and definitely nothing that would cause me to warn patients with hypertension against regular surgical-type masks.

I think it is a bit of a leap to tie the differences in your blood pressure readings to mask use unless you were using an N95. There are a number of reasons that your blood pressure could have been higher, including primarily the fact that blood pressure naturally rises throughout the day until it peaks in the early afternoon.

Again, I'm not a doctor. But I'm in tune with my health, and I regularly check my BP, and I haven't seen that before. I asked other guys there if they have noticed being a little more out of breath, and they all said they did, so I checked it a few times during the day and it was noticeably higher. Just putting that out there for others. I'll take my post down if you want.

[North]

Again, I'm not a doctor. But I'm in tune with my health, and I regularly check my BP, and I haven't seen that before. I asked other guys there if they have noticed being a little more out of breath, and they all said they did, so I checked it a few times during the day and it was noticeably higher. Just putting that out there for others. I'll take my post down if you want.

By overthinking about your bp, you can actually cause it to rise. I've been caught up with that several times.

[BernieCarbo]

By overthinking about your bp, you can actually cause it to rise. I've been caught up with that several times.

I'm not overthinking. I'm not that kind of person. It was an observation, but if it's unreasonable to think that placing a face covering over your face that will restrict breathing and make your heart work harder could affect blood pressure, that's fine. I have a very healthy BP and don't worry about stroking out, and just wanted to note what I saw in case someone else might be on the upper fringe of health.

[North]

Speaking of masks, I was waiting for a grocery pick-up at my local Meijer's yesterday (they put them in the trunk...I haven't been in a store for months) I counted folks entering and exiting with and without masks.

The final tally was 62 with, 41 without.

[North]

Coronavirus: Hope in the science of 'superspreaders'

https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-ho...ers/a-53670169

[mth123]

At this point I don't believe anything we're getting on C19 anymore

Finally something we can agree upon. We have politics on both sides spinning the story for their personal benefit and media, primarily CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, who take that "information" and spin, sensationalize or downplay it based on whatever agenda they are promoting. We're relying on a lot of conflicting interpretations of data that is collected in small samples under conditions that no longer reflect the reality of life. The only thing we know is that we really don't know very much.

Where the conflict arises is that one group thinks this lack of any reliable information is the reason everyone should be cautious, maintain distancing and do things that may help stop the spread like wearing a mask in public where you can't control whether you'll be close to some one. Others think that since nobody seems to know, we should just go about life as normal.

[Boston Red]

Missouri Health Director says no new cases from the Lake of the Ozarks partying. Obviously fantastic news if true.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...mpression=true

[Sea Ray]

Again, I'm not a doctor. But I'm in tune with my health, and I regularly check my BP, and I haven't seen that before. I asked other guys there if they have noticed being a little more out of breath, and they all said they did, so I checked it a few times during the day and it was noticeably higher. Just putting that out there for others. I'll take my post down if you want.

No need for you to offer to take your post down. It's your opinion and your observation. My guess is there hasn't been much or any research into what you've described. As we've seen on numerous C19 related research, even when it's done, it often changes and debunked. I wouldn't rule anything out at this point

[Sea Ray]

Speaking of masks, I was waiting for a grocery pick-up at my local Meijer's yesterday (they put them in the trunk...I haven't been in a store for months) I counted folks entering and exiting with and without masks.

The final tally was 62 with, 41 without.

I think that's pretty typical here in Ohio. If you were in SE Michigan, it'd be about 100%

[mole44]

I think this mask kick has gone way too far:



https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/couple...mpression=true

I think not:

Attachment 16127

Like my wife needs me to end up MORE out of breath.