Lunchtime pandemic reading.
Standard disclaimer: this is a roundup of informative pieces I've read that interest me on the severity of the crisis and how to manage it. I am not a qualified medical expert in ANY sense; at best I am reasonably well-read laity. ALWAYS prioritize advice from qualified healthcare experts over some person on Facebook.
This is also available as an email newsletter at https://lunchtimepandemic.substack.com if you prefer the update in your inbox.
You are welcome to share this.
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Where are we? Globally, we are now at 64.7 million cumulative cases of COVID-19. The United States is at 14 million cases. We passed 13 million cases a week ago - that's how fast we're accelerating. Critically, the US passed 100,000 daily hospitalized people yesterday.
Stay home. Stay safe.
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Supporting citizens pays off. "Unemployment insurance may have short-term health effects through at least 3 pathways,3 as benefit income can meet health-related social needs (eg, food and housing), cover health care access expenses (eg, insurance premiums, co-pays, transportation), and reduce stress, thereby improving mental health. We hypothesized that among those with pandemic-related income disruption, living in a household receiving UI benefits would be associated with lower health-related social needs, better health care access, and better mental health.
Being in a household that received UI was associated with fewer health-related social needs, less health care delay, and better mental health. However, many who reported pandemic-related job loss did not receive UI—particularly Hispanic individuals and those with less education.
Pandemic UI reforms, specifically more generous income replacement and broader eligibility, should guide future UI programs. Future research should examine whether UI's association with health outcomes varies by reason for job loss, race/ethnicity, prepandemic income, and number of children, and how UI benefits may intersect with other programs, such as stimulus payments and Medicaid expansion.
Unemployment insurance benefits may help mitigate economic disruption wrought by the pandemic. As UI reform develops, policy makers should recognize the important health benefits that UI may offer working-age people in the US."
Source: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2773234
Commentary: As the pandemic continues on, households continue to need support. Hopefully the federal government will be able to mobilize more effectively in the coming year.
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Black and Hispanic children disproportionately affected by COVID-19 MIS-C. "We present population-based data highlighting a disproportionate burden of MIS-C among Black and Hispanic children in NYC. It is unclear whether this finding represents a phenomenon distinct from the increased burden of COVID-19 in Black and Hispanic communities, because we also observed a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 hospitalizations among Black and Hispanic children. This analysis is limited by missing race/ethnicity data for most confirmed, nonhospitalized, and nonfatal COVID-19 cases in NYC, which prohibits evaluating the excess burden of MIS-C and COVID-19 hospitalizations among children of color. Furthermore, some patients meeting the MIS-C criteria may have been misclassified or not reported. Larger studies are needed to explore the relationship between MIS-C and race/ethnicity and to elucidate the impact of structural racism in perpetuating health disparities.6 Although MIS-C is uncommon, clinicians should be aware of the potential enhanced risk of this emerging syndrome among Black and Hispanic children."
Source: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2773289
Commentary: The challenge here is determining if race has any causal impact on MIS-C or if it's purely just a function of negative outcomes due to race in general. Either way, it continues to highlight that inequity leads to negative outcomes in all aspects of life.
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Historic risks. "NEW—Dire warnings in WH Coronavirus Task Force’s confidential state report warns “#COVID19 risk to all Americans is at a historic high” and that “we are in a very dangerous place due to the current, extremely high COVID baseline and limited hospital capacity.”"
Source:
Commentary: The only question is, why is the briefing confidential when it clearly should be handed to every citizen so they better understand the risks?
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A reminder of the simple daily habits we should all be taking.
1. Wash/sanitize your hands every time you are in or out of your home for any reason. Consider also spraying the bottoms of your shoes with a general disinfectant (alcohol/bleach/peroxide) when you return home. Remember that cleaners are NEVER to be ingested or injected. If you come in physical contact with others, wash your clothing upon returning home.
2. Always wear a mask when out of your home and if going to a high-risk area, wear goggles. Respirators are back in stock at online retailers, too. When going indoors to a place that isn't your home, wear the best protective mask available to you.
3. Stay home as much as possible. Minimize your contact with others and maintain physical distance of at LEAST 6 feet / 2 meters, preferably more. Avoid indoor places as much as you can; indoor spaces spread the disease through aerosols and distance is less effective at mitigating your risks.
4. Get your personal finances in order now. Cut all unnecessary costs.
5. Replenish your supplies as you use them. Avoid reducing your stores to pre-pandemic levels in case an outbreak causes unexpected supply chain disruptions.
6. Ventilate your home as frequently as weather and circumstances permit, except when you share close airspaces with other residences (like a window less than a meter away from a neighboring window).
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Common misinformation debunked!
There is no genomic evidence at all that COVID-19 arrived before 2020 in the United States and therefore no hidden herd immunity:
Source:
There is no evidence SARS-CoV-2 was engineered, nor that it escaped a lab somewhere.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/29/experts-debunk-fringe-theory-linking-chinas-coronavirus-weapons-research/
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd/
There is no evidence a flu shot increases your COVID-19 risk.
Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/no-evidence-that-flu-shot-increases-risk-of-covid-19/
Source: https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa626/5842161
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A common request I'm asked is who I follow. Here's a public Twitter list of many of the sources I read.
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1260956929205112834
This list is biased by design. It is limited to authors who predominantly post in the English language. It is heavily biased towards individual researchers and away from institutions. It is biased towards those who publish or share research, data, papers, etc. I have made an attempt to follow researchers from different countries, and also to make the list reasonably gender-balanced, because multiple, diverse perspectives on research data are essential.
This is also available as an email newsletter at https://lunchtimepandemic.substack.com if you prefer the update in your inbox.