Tincture may be (mostly) on a hiatus, but the coronavirus pandemic calls for special attention. We highlight any COVID-19 perspectives that Tincture published last week, as well as other non-Tincture COVID-19 articles that founder Jordan Shlain and editor Kim Bellard thought you should see.

Jordan’s Takeaways

Jordan was thinking about non-COVID topics this week (like this: Identifying “ugly ducklings” to catch skin cancer earlier)

Kim’s Takeaways

Interesting. People Who Have Had Covid Should Get Single Vaccine Dose, Studies Suggest

Too bad we didn’t know sooner. PFIZER AND BIONTECH SUBMIT COVID-19 VACCINE STABILITY DATA AT STANDARD FREEZER TEMPERATURE TO THE U.S…

With all that has been going on, I’ve been remiss in reflecting on General Motor’s big announcement a couple weeks ago: it is going to have an all electric, zero emissions fleet of “light duty” vehicles (cars, SUVs, pickups) by 2035, and be carbon neutral by 2040. One of the largest manufacturers of internal combustion vehicles for over a hundred years is recognizing that its past is not its future.

Of course, I immediately wondered what the equivalent move in healthcare would be, and from whom.

In the announcement, GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra declared:

General Motors is joining…

Tincture may be (mostly) on a hiatus, but the coronavirus pandemic calls for special attention. We highlight any COVID-19 perspectives that Tincture published last week, as well as other non-Tincture COVID-19 articles that founder Jordan Shlain and editor Kim Bellard thought you should see.

Jordan’s Takeaways

NO BENEFIT. Effect of High-Dose Zinc and Ascorbic Acid Supplementation vs Usual Care on Symptom Length and Reduction Among Ambulatory Patients With SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Think of vaccines like software — we’ll need to update our immune system like we update our computers every so often. AstraZeneca expects updated COVID-19 vaccine by autumn

One more…

Here’s a damning opening paragraph from an article in The New York Times about the frustrations that COVID-19 vaccinations are causing:

For a vast majority of Americans, a coronavirus vaccine is like sleep for a new parent: It’s all you can think about, even if you have no idea when you will get it.

Because, as Kaiser Health News reported: “Many states don’t know exactly where the doses are, and the feds don’t either.”

Think about that: in 2021, we can’t — or don’t — track something as vital as where vaccine doses are, in the midst of the pandemic…

Tincture may be (mostly) on a hiatus, but the coronavirus pandemic calls for special attention — even on Super Bowl Sunday. We highlight any COVID-19 perspectives that Tincture published last week, as well as other non-Tincture COVID-19 articles that founder Jordan Shlain and editor Kim Bellard thought you should see.

Jordan’s Takeaways

Well done, FDA. SARS-CoV-2 Reference Panel Comparative Data

Question: Why do we name variants after geography (U.K., Brazil, South Africa, Spain) and we do not call the original, wild-type virus by it’s geography..Wuhan ?

Thanks Ashish Jha for the clear concept of the safety of vaccines.

By all rights, I should be writing about the battle between Reddit forum WallStreetBets and Wall Street hedge funds. Depending on one’s point of view, it’s hilarious, frightening, or a searing indictment on stock trading — maybe all three.

But I’m going to let Elon Musk and Elizabeth Warren handle that one. Instead, I want to talk about quantum computing — and why healthcare needs to looking ahead to it.

Let’s start with this: for the low, low price of $5,000, you could have your very own quantum computer. Spin Q Technology, a Chinese company, has recently introduced its Spin…

Tincture may be (mostly) on a hiatus, but the coronavirus pandemic calls for special attention. We highlight any COVID-19 perspectives that Tincture published last week, as well as other non-Tincture COVID-19 articles that founder Jordan Shlain and editor Kim Bellard thought you should see.

Jordan’s Takeaways

Is this why people on statins do better with COVID? SARS-CoV-2 needs cholesterol to invade cells and form mega cells

Kim’s Takeaways

Then there were three. J&J one-dose Covid vaccine is 66% effective, a weapon but not a knockout punch

Oh, come on, people! Dodger Stadium’s COVID-19 vaccination site temporarily shut down after protesters…

I spend most of my time thinking about health care, but a recent The New York Times article — How the American Unemployment System Failed — by Eduardo Porter, caught my attention. I mean, when the U.S. healthcare system looks fair by comparison, you know things are bad.

Long story short: unemployment doesn’t help as many people as it should, for as much as it should, or for as long as it should.

It does kind of remind you of healthcare, doesn’t it?

The pandemic, and the associated recession, has unemployment in the news more than since the “Great Recession”…