Great reporting! Too bad your recommendations are preaching to the choir on Medium. I wish we could publish your article on Right-Wing-Evangelical-Daily News if there was 1.
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In the JAMA study, 1 out of 5 asymptomatic patients developed coronavirus symptoms 6-9 days after isolation. So, even if you are asymptomatic, you have a 20% chance of developing symptoms and become more contagious in a week.
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Essentially, Alexandra is trying to say everyone who tests positive for SARS-COV2 essentially has the same about of viral mRNA whether you are feeling sick or not. Whether that mRNA transcribes to infectious proteins have yet to be discovered. The test for that would not be practical for all America. We can’t get testing for our farm-workers. We reject rapid PCR tests in Tx, not for their lack of accuracy, but bc politicians couldn’t stand the blood on their hands like Pontius.
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What do differences in the amount of viral mRNA mean between asymptomatic & symptomatic people? Are they contagious? It depends on the target of the PCR tests and whether it is directly correlated to higher virus inoculum. Most use either an RNA polymerase, the envelope, or nucleocapsid genes as positive markers for COVID-19. In this study, mRNA of these genes all fade away as we recover from the flu to undetectable levels by day 30. Essentially this study was repeated 3 different ways using 3 different viral genes. The scientists got the same result each time. Meaning, it's pretty solid data. Also, the data is skewed more toward women and the middle of our lifespan.
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Finally, the mRNA Ct (>30) numbers show that 14-day isolation may not be enough as the CDC and other health org. recommends. I was surprised that the Ct was so high in SARS-COV2+ patients. This means you only need a teeny-tiny amount of viral mRNA in ONE cell compared to the rest of the HUMAN genes in that ONE cell before an infection starts. Bottom line, like the body the cell doesn’t need to make many mRNA copies to start a war. As a cancer biologist, it wouldn’t be a great target but the amount of virus in the sample was not abundant.
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More importantly, there is still a lot of viral mRNA at 14 days compared to the day of diagnosis & testing. A safer length of isolation appears to be 3 weeks when the viral mRNA is more than 100 times less than 2 weeks! Of course, 30 days would be even better by Ct. And a lifetime like Howard Hughes is best with a loved 1 nearby, zero viral inoculum.
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The end result is as Alexandra says:
1) WEAR a mask
2) KEEP your distance
3) WASH your hands
4) Keep your kids SAFE no matter what the governor says
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It's so simple like ABC or 123. If only we could listen to the steps and obey our common sense, but we're Americans with 160 million left feet give or take those amputated by diabetes. Our motto is DO NOT TREAD on me or you'll get a fat can of whoop a*s on your black & blue masks the rest of u foreign nations. The symbol of the Gadson Flag symbolizes the spirit of America in our fight against both the Redcoats and the coronavirus. This battle for independence and rebellion against SARS-COV2 will end in preventable innocent deaths rather than warriors & worriers dying for the wrong cause at the birth and moral death of a ONCE-great nation..
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Every other nation is doing the 123? Why can't America do the right thing? The evidence cannot be encrypted and mis-informed any longer. The evidence and significance are becoming too real. We have all the data, but no common sense to interpret the writing on the wall. Unlike spin, data can only be spun so far. That’s why scientists peer-review their work openly as a prime directive. We used to be the peer-review for our government, once upon a time. Now, what are we as a supposedly Deomactric nation under COVID-19?
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How can Americans call their country great when our nation kills more Americans each day by SARS-COV2 than other nations? The mortality stats are undeniable even to the Prez, but he and other Americans are in denial about science reporting. They now lump news from the CDC with CNN, more fake news. What’s left? Fake people? Fake America? Fake Democracy or rather Real Mob-oh-crassy?
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We have killed fewer Americans by COVID-19 than the American Revolution by 50K today. We have, not just the President, infected more good Americans than killed soldiers after WWI. It’s just 3 million shy of those forgotten during the Vietnam War. You might say I’m comparing apples 2-oranges, but I say blood & dead crimson r the same if they no longer flow unpolluted.
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That’s today’s stats folks. Can’t deny i.t. By Winter, I’m sure AmeriCans can trump the mortality stats above the Spanish-American War. Let’s beat the Spanish Flu in deaths? Morbid. Trump can't make it great again. SARS-COV2 can have America for all I care. I'm done with making it better or letting someone else fix my boo-boos. Only U & U.S. can carry my torch now; I’ve given up. The Bullies forced My logic to let it all fall, including the U.S., 2-go to Hell & I’m in the Devil’s handbasket with the rest of the dying AmeriCan’ts. .
Pure vulpine wildness is refreshing, Mr. Trump. Let America R.I.P. by our own hands. America & China killed my mothers & children and divided my nation just for an arms wrestle between Red, White & Blue flags & coats. The children separated or dead by American soldiers do not care about America or SARS-COV2 any longer. Y should I?
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Carry the torch, wear a mask, or send your kids to the frontlines of the pandemic without shields or arms. IDC, SADLY.
(One word I hate most in this Post-Truth Lexicon: “SADLY”. It means nothing to ACT sad while driving a Tesla with tears & on-top of the world with multi-colored people below U. It means something to be sad while burying your chocolate child in the poop colored soil under American Blue skies when u have nothing but the coronavirus and hate-all-around your sad hue.)