We proudly claim many men and women on the front lines of our struggle against the Wuhan virus among our readers — researchers, emergency room physicians, medical school faculty, other medical practitioners, teachers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and other professionals. We have heard from quite a few over the past few weeks and are grateful for their messages.
Yesterday we were delighted to hear from Dr. John Roback, a Minnesota native and, among other things, professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Roback wrote to let us know that he has just published the editorial “Convalescent Plasma to Treat COVID-19: Possibilities and Challenges” with Dr. Jeanette Guarner in JAMA. He thought it might be of interest to some of our readers. We identify Dr. Roback as a Power Line reader with his permission.
Our friend Kevin Roche is the former general counsel of UnitedHealthGroup and chief executive officer of its Ingenix division. Kevin has directed us to The COVID Tracking Project. He directs us to the Minnesota testing data: “Look at the positive rate on testing. Incredibly low.” Kevin wonders what happened to the huge infection rates on which Governor Walz has premised his lockdown order. Well, I think he would say, those were projections that he is taking drastic measures to prevent.
Kevin adds this note to his query: “Now look at the note at the bottom of the Minnesota data: Minnesota stopped providing negative test result numbers on 3/23/20…”
Query: “Why the heck would they do that? Think it has anything to do with Governor Walz’s order and press conference and the numbers they threw out there? Think the Star Tribune will dig into that?”
I conclude with this note. Notes and Queries is a venerable scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to “English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism.” My great Dartmouth English Professor John Price had a dry sense of humor. He told me that it was his aspiration to publish a query that he would answer with his own note in the journal.
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