Day 247: Stasi Fail

India made the BNO News with 100,000 COVID deaths, though by Worldometer's standards they've been there for a few days now. Nepal, a nation of fewer than 30 million souls (that is, 1.4 billion fewer than China), bordering China (due to the latter's occupation of Tibet), now, somehow, has reached the #44 spot, with more cases than #45 China.

On the because it worked so well for Germany front, the University of Notre Dame's Stasi-style snitch-on-a-classmate website has been repurposed by enterprising students to snitch on the university president for not wearing a mask to the Rose Garden super-spreader event. (It seems the "super" spreading may have happened at the debate prep, instead, where the now-infected Trump, Bill Stepien, Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks, and Chris Christie were present.)

Business Insider is optimistic about President Trump's condition, so here's a little humor about it from "Whiskey Fueled Tirade" at DuffelBlog: Walter Reed medics tell President to return during sick call hours:

Medics and corpsmen at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center responded with the poise and compassion characteristic of their profession when the president arrived at the military’s flagship hospital earlier last evening.

“I told him the same thing I tell everybody when they show up all sad-faced and mopey while we’re closing the clinic,” Spc. Will Farmer, a medic assigned to the hospital, said as he smoked a cigarette near the executive sick call entrance. “Take some Motrin, drink water, and come back at 0430 when sick call starts hours if you really think you need to be seen. I see it all the time. Last week some supreme court lady was trying to get an appointment after sick call hours.”

“He’s probably just trying to get out work, or a debate or something.”

In science news, ProMED reports on several papers suggesting Parkinson's Disease may be one of those allegedly unusual long-term COVID-19 sequelae. Although parkinsonism is better known as as a consequence of other viral infections like the flu, and so far there seems to be only the one case report from Israel, it is something to watch out for.

Massachusetts' cases were up about half a percentage point again today. In other local news, Patriots quarterback Cam Newton has tested positive. Today's game has been postponed until Monday after an opposing team member also tested positive. Also, Worcester has cancelled Halloween, apparently in accordance with CDC guidelines suggesting that virtually-immune children do boring stuff at a distance to avoid COVID instead of trick-or-treating.

Dopamine Agonies

Google Alerts brought me a very odd story from the Kenilworth Weekly News, in which a masked Parkinson's sufferer accosted a British schoolgirl in her home. But it became somewhat less odd when USA Today reported on the weird obsessions of patients taking too much dopamine agonist:

They still don't have hard-and-fast proof, but as the evidence accumulates, many scientists now say the drugs can kick off compulsive urges in certain people.
And they say the side effect is anything but rare.
At a meeting in Toronto last month, Stacy and other experts reviewed the cases reported so far and concluded that the drugs appear to trigger a syndrome of bad behavior that includes compulsive gambling, shopping, binge eating and an unstoppable urge for sex.
"Fifteen percent of all Parkinson's patients might have this syndrome," Stacy says. If he's right, that could mean as many as 150,000 people in the USA are struggling with out-of-control behavior. Even those numbers may underestimate the problem.

The judge refused to jail the unfortunate patient, and the defense attorney gave a rare but unsurprising glimpse into the NHS:

"He finds everyday life very difficult. He can speak but with an almost uncontrollable stammer at times. Even a month in prison in his condition would be inhumane."
Mr Ward added that Guest, who has the support of his family, needs help, and has an appointment with a doctor at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham later in the year.