This is an update to my earlier show to pull together what we know about the Coronavirus on this date, and what measures we can take. It focuses on the lack of solid information at this point and suggests a prudent course to stay safe. https://www.palain.com/health-topics/coronavirus-update-20200507/

https://www.palain.com/health-topics/scientific-and-medical-reports/

http://hackerpublicradio.org/eps.php?id=2685

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2017-2018.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_models_are_wrong

http://www.healthdata.org/covid/updates

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/86127

https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html

https://www.palain.com/health-topics/coronavirus-update-20200507/

Extracted from Palain.com under the tearms of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Coronavirus Update 20200507

The coronavirus pandemic is continuing throughout most of the world, and I wanted to put down some observations on where we stand today. First, note that I put the date in the title. This is because the situation in some ways changes day-by-day, even though there are continuities. That makes it a dangerous place to be because it is human nature to look for the latest news and jump on it if it looks good. And that is a prime mistake because we do not in fact know enough at this point to be confident in these news reports. I would refer you to my earlier essay, Scientific and Medical Reports, which is highly relevant right now. While I could not have predicted this pandemic when I wrote it, it contains basic principles that are always relevant.

The nature of the press is that it is like the carnivorous plant in the movie Little Shop of Horrors, always crying "Feed Me!" And of course we are all interested if not to say anxious for any news on the course of this disease and where it is taking us. What this means is that you will see a unstoppable stream of news stories touting the latest study on one or another aspect of this. Add in the desire of politicians to spin things to their advantage, and you have a recipe for disaster. To keep sane, remember a few basic principles:

One study proves nothing. There are lots of studies, and many of them are one-and-done without having any effect on medical practice. If there is an interesting result, it merely indicates an area for further study.Study results are only meaningful when they have withstood peer review and have been replicated by other scientists. This process does produce good results, but only with time. Only in movies do scientists go into the lab and come out 24 hours later with the answer.If you really want to know when all of this will end, there are only two answers. It can end very soon with an accompanying loss of life because the virus is