Dr. Pradeep Arumugham is a Greenville, NC, cardiologist and faculty member at East Carolina University. Used with permission.
Internationally – total confirmed cases 5,270,244. Deaths 340,116 Gives a death rate of 6.45%. That is 64.5 people out of 1000 confirmed cases died with this virus.
United States – total cases 1,612,786 Deaths 96,582 Gives a death rate of 6.0%. That is 60 out of 1000 confirmed cases died with this virus.
North Carolina – total cases 22,725 Death 737. Gives a death rate of 3.24%. That is 32.4 out of 1000 confirmed cases died with this virus. 589 hospitalizations.
Surrounding counties.
Lenoir – total cases 182 death 7
Jones – total cases 28 death 2
Greene – total cases 64 death 2
Pitt – total cases 254 death 2
Onslow – total cases 94 death 2
Beaufort- total cases 32 death 0
Bertie – total cases 109 death 3
Craven – total cases 177 death 4
Carteret – total cases 35 death 3
Wayne – total cases 980 death 18
Duplin – total cases 597 death 12
Nash – 174 death 4
Wilson – 309 death 9
**ANTIMALARIAL DRUGS**
A large scale study has finally been reported on antimalarial drugs in COVID-19 patients. Almost 100,000 patients.
Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext
96032 patients – treatment group (14888) + control group (81144)
14,888 were in the treatment groups – chloroquine -1868. Chloroquine + Macrolides abx – 3783. Hydroxychloroquine – 3016. Hydroxychloroquine + Macrolides abx – 6221.
Compare to
Control group – 81144
Deaths.
Control group – 9.3%
Hydroxychloroquine- 18.0%
Hydroxychloroquine with a Macrolide (Azithromycin) – 23.8%
Chloroquine – 16.4%
Chloroquine with a Macrolide (Azithromycin) – 22.2%
Cardiac rhythm abnormalities (Ventricular arrhythmia)
Control group – 0.3%
Hydroxychloroquine- 6.1%
Hydroxychloroquine with a Macrolide (Azithromycin) – 8.1%
Chloroquine – 4.3%
Chloroquine with a Macrolide (Azithromycin) – 6.5%
This large study shows that there is increased chance of death and cardiac rhythm abnormalities with the use of antimalarial drugs in COVID 19.
Physicians started prescribing this based on a 20 person study. Now I hope they will stop prescribing with almost a 100,000 patient study. The physicians I know already have thankfully.
**Remdesivir**
The Remdesivir study has been reported as a preliminary report in the New England journal of medicine.
Remdesivir for the Treatment of Covid-19 — Preliminary Report
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007764?query=featured_home
Patients with lower respiratory tract infections like pneumonia due to COVID were recruited.
1059 patients were randomly divided into two groups
538 were given Remdesivir
521 were given placebo (think sugar pills)
Remdesivir patients had an average recovery time of 11 days.
Placebo patients had an average recovery time of 15 days.
Death in the Remdesivir group was 7.1% while the placebo group was 11.9%. This was not statistically significant which in laymen terms mean that this difference could just be due to chance. We will need a much larger study specifically designed to address this question but the trend is in the right direction.
New Bern Now
Fantastic, very comprehensive article. Thank you so much.