[conspire] (forw) Re: Imperial College London COVID-19 COVID-19 Response Team report

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Ross Bernheim (rossbernheim at gmail.com):

> Seems the Europeans have a possible therapy that works.
> 
> https://medium.com/@ngough_bioserendipity/a-combination-therapy-that-eliminates-the-covid-19-virus-4e4c6e3864af
> 
> Not a vaccine, but it could save a lot of lives if proves out in further testing.

You may not have noticed, but this is the one about which Rich Kulawiec
just got through quoting Dr. Ryan Marino (emergency medicine/toxicology)
making rather damning comments, such as noting serious methodological 
flaws -- and concluding:

    TL;DR: this study does not actually support any treatment
    intervention for COVID19 and is very flawed and limited.
    Further study may be warranted, but practice implementation
    should not be recommended."

As Rich notes (citing Dr. Marino), there is also the serious problem
that hydroxychloroquine is seriously toxic, hence _at best_ would need
to be administered under careful medical supervision, as shown by
multiple cases of _fatal poisonings_ that have recently occurred,
apparently inspired by the Toddler's babblings in his pressers.


And that brings me to a broader point:  In the current situation where
there are deeply worrisome holes in our understanding, it's tempting to 
post 'Hey, here's an experimental treatment that's being tried (for 
possibly scientifically uncontrolled values of "tried") somewhere in the
world, and it might work.'  

I would suggest, and politely ask (but am not insisting) that people sit
firmly on that urge and avoid posting such things.  If/when there are
_scientifically validated_ treatment modalities, we'll know.  We don't
need to be told six months before the fact that one _might_ pan out.


A housekeeping reminder:  To play fair with everyone here, I use a
typological convention to distinguish the _very_ rare occasions when I'm
speaking as listadmin from the norm, of me speaking as just another
subscriber.  If I don't use 'listadmin' pseudo-tagging, then feel
welcome to argue with me and call me a benighted idiot all you want.

<hat="listadmin">This is how I indicate that I'm wielding listadmin
authority and that you ignore what I'm saying to do or not do at your
peril.  Any other thing, I'm just speaking as a fellow subscriber.</hat>