Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Interesting. I'd love to get an antibody test. On my Antarctic trip there were a dozen or more folks from China, Singapore and Hong Kong. One guy I spent time with was really sick for the first three days of the voyage. But he'd flown for 44 hours to get there, and we all thought the travel had worn him out.

When the antibody test is available here I'll cut in line somehow.

My doctor was encouraging it on their weekly video call today, if for no other reason that to help scientists figure out how to do it right and to contribute to the data. They said that it is too early to tell how accurate they will be and said there is potential for false readings as we have all been exposed to a lot of coronaviruses in our lifetimes that aren't that aren't THIS coronavirus. Not all tests are being designed to look for the same thing. My doctor will have 2 available next week, the first being a blood test that needs to be sent to a lab. It is testing for 5 proteins. They also have an in-office 15 minute test that tests for one protein. They have more faith in the first one, but are interested in how they will both work. So they are asking patients who testing positive for covid to come back and get both antibody tests to "test the tests". It's all so new, I think it's all an exercise in trial and error right now!

I haven't found a lot of people discussing the role density plays in CA's success. Manhattan has 67,000 people per square mile. Santa Clara county has 6,300 per sq. mile. Plus CA is much less reliant on public transportation than NYC is. Both play a huge role in how many viral shedding people the average person could potentially come in contact with in a day. Add on the few extra days of stay at home orders and that could only help matters. I've never been more thankful for our pathetic lack of public transportation!

Both are HUGE factors.

There's a great site out there called CityLab.com that focuses on population density worldwide. Their recent coverage is very interesting re population density and epidemiology.

Some of y'all might enjoy their articles and coverage.

Several friends of mine traveled on a Mediterranean cruise in late October of last year. At the end of the trip (last part in Italy, then flying home) ALL of them ended up with an illness whose symptoms were exactly like COVID19. They should probably get antibody tests when available.