The rodeo goes on, while Covid cases surge in Alberta. Yeee-hahhh!

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly is here to keep on informing you through Q2 of 2021. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. 

⇒ Issue #185 (In numerology, 185 is independent and persistently expresses its sense of personal freedom.)
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 05/06: 155,250,838*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 05/06: 3,243,744*
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 05/060: 1,266,249*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 05/06: 24,437*
⇒ Number of vaccine doses administered to Canadians as of 05/06: 14,568,067*

May 6, 2021—Howdy and welcome to the Thursday CurveFlattener, pardner. It’s your old buckaroo, editorial director Allan ‘Hopalong’ Ryan, at the reins of the buckboard today, as we take a gander at the going’s on over in Alberta province—--and it sure ain’t purty.

Premier Jason Kenney is facing a revolt on several fronts. While Alberta now holds the dubious distinction of the highest number of Covid-19 cases per capita in North America, Kenney has been unable or unwilling to tamp down protests against mask-wearing and business restrictions. The Alberta government did issue some new directives on May 4. Still, observers—especially those in the medical community—believe the moves are too little, too late to stem the surge of cases in the province.

This past Saturday and Sunday, a bunch of righteous cowgirls and cowboys thumbed their collective noses at the premier by holding a rodeo in Bowden, Alta., about 30 km south of Red Deer. Billed by organizers as an anti-lockdown protest (endalbertalockdown.com) and held in defiance of public health restrictions, the rodeo was attended by about 2,000 mask-less bandits carrying anti-vaccine signs and proclaiming that Covid-19 is really just a hoax. Alberta Health Services (AHS) reports it is now exploring legal options against the brainiacs behind the rodeo. Still, some wonder how the event was ever allowed to proceed in the first place. AHS inspectors reportedly notified rodeo organizers in writing that they would be breaking public health restrictions if the event proceeded.

“It is disappointing that the organizers ignored this information and went ahead with their event, knowing it was a clear breach of the current public health restrictions,” AHS said in a statement.

They write: "In addition, it is extremely concerning that people would knowingly put their fellow Albertans at risk by ignoring the restrictions, particularly with increasing cases and the subsequent pressure on our healthcare system."

It's not known if there were any barrel racing or bronco-busting records set at the rodeo on Saturday, but on that same fateful day, Alberta reported it did establish a new record for the third day in a row, clocking 2,433 new Covid-19 infections.

Dr. Christine Gibson, a Calgary-based family physician, told CTV News the increase in cases is a worrying trend.

"We’re currently the highest number of cases per capita, so when the health system crashes, it’ll crash tremendously," said Dr. Gibson.

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The National Pharmaceutical Congress organizers are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Brenda Irwin, Founder and Managing Partner of the Relentless Venture Fund. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 05/06/2021

• A new study published in JAMA concludes that a single high dose (200,000 IU) of vitamin D3 does not appear to affect the length of hospital stay in patients with moderate to severe Covid-19. The randomized clinical trial results, report the investigators, indicate the use of D3 in these patients is not supported.
  
  
• Delayed second doses of Covid-19 vaccines may present particular concerns for people who have been prescribed anti-TNF therapies for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, according to new research published in GUT. In the study, researchers showed that patients taking infliximab demonstrate attenuated serological responses to a single dose of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. “Anti-TNF drugs are not just used for [people with] IBD, but also for millions of other [people] with arthritis, psoriasis, and other inflammatory diseases. Our data suggest that prompt access to a second dose of vaccine might be a better option for immunosuppressed [people],” study co-author Dr. Nick Powell of Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, told Medical News Today.
• Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) may be a symptom of long-haul Covid-19, according to a clinical case study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology Case Reports series (JACC: Case Reports).
  "As reports of Covid-19 patients being impacted by long-term symptoms unrelated to their original diagnosis continue to grow, it's important to raise awareness of POTS as a possible long-term complication," said Madeleine Johansson, MD, Ph.D., an author of the case report that assessed three patients in Sweden. "Much remains unknown about the specific mechanisms responsible for the POTS-like symptoms in post-Covid-19 patients or how long these symptoms will last, but chronic symptoms are expected in a subset of patients based on this initial clinical experience."

TODAY CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON 

Chronicle.Academy is announcing a new program in Direct-to-Consumer Marketing for Canadian life science professionals. The program will be offered in three interactive modules, concluding with a live seminar. Find out more about this innovative structured learning opportunity by clicking here. 

WHAT WE’RE LISTENING TO TONIGHT

Sticking with the cowboy theme of today’s report, here’s an oldie from singer/songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. Over his long career, he has recorded six gold albums, including one for Cowboy Songs (1990), which was the first album of cowboy music to reach gold status since Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins in 1959. 

Some readers may recall Murphey’s version of this title song from the 1989 TV mini-series Lonesome Dove directed by Peter Bogdanovich and headlining Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. The movie was based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986. McMurtry, who had other books made into box-office winners such as The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment, died in March 2021 at age 84. 

SALUTE TO FRIDAY

Tomorrow, publisher Mitch Shannon will be back at the helm. On Monday, watch for the Skin Spectrum Weekly e-newsletter, and on Tuesday, the NPC Healthbiz Weekly will be distributed when the rooster crows at 6 a.m.