COVID Transmissions for 10-6-2020
Good morning! It has been 324 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19.
This continues to be a week dominated by President Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis.
As usual, bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
Keep the newsletter growing by sharing it! I love talking about science and explaining important concepts in human health, but I rely on all of you to grow the audience for this:
Now, let’s talk COVID.
Trump’s infection
President Trump was discharged from the hospital today. I don’t care to speculate on whether this means he is genuinely healed, except to say that it would be pretty atypical for COVID-19 requiring hospitalization as well as supplemental oxygen to resolve so quickly. Perhaps it did because of the unparalleled access to care available to the President.
In the time since President Trump tested positive, a large number of his close associates have also tested positive, including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is now hospitalized. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is awaiting the results of a test. It is apparent that a serious infectious cluster has begun surrounding the White House. I hope that there are no deaths.
CDC acknowledgement of airborne transmission of COVID-19
After removing guidance recently posted about airborne transmission, the US CDC has now acknowledged that COVID-19 can spread through the air. Coverage available in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/health/cdc-coronavirus-airborne-indoor-air.html
Decline in cardiac health assessments during pandemic
According to a new study in JAMA Network Open, the pandemic has led to an overall decrease in the quality of routine cardiac health monitoring. Observing a decline in primary care visits overall due to the pandemic, the authors of this study compared the care delivered at in-person visits with telehealth visits and noted that several key cardiac assessments were performed much less frequently. Many of these assessments can’t be performed in a telehealth setting.
This is potentially concerning because COVID-19 can place strain on the heart and circulatory system, but also because heart disease is a leading cause of death around the world. Finding ways to improve the quality of cardiac screenings under this new regime of healthcare seems prudent.
Read the study here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2771191
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Opera
On Friday my wife and I watched the daily Met Opera stream of The Magic Flute, a production designed by Julie Taymor. Julie Taymor should be best known for doing super creative masks and costumes in a variety of different venues, something that is on full display in this production. Unfortunately, she is better known for the colossal exercise in demonstrating the sunk costs fallacy that was known as Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, which did not review particularly well and lasted moments on Broadway when Broadway was a thing.
Her Magic Flute is weird, lovely, and creative. Check it out if you see it streaming again.
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This newsletter will contain mistakes. When you find them, tell me about them so that I can fix them. I would rather this newsletter be correct than protect my ego.
Though I can’t correct the emailed version after it has been sent, I do update the online post of the newsletter every time a mistake is brought to my attention.
Correction: I learned after sending the newsletter yesterday that E-6B flights are apparently scheduled more routinely than I had thought. The US military claims that the E-6B flight noted in the tweet I shared was scheduled before the news about President Trump. Regardless, I don’t think this changes the seriousness with which the government took the news, and I don’t think it makes any conspiracy theories more likely.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
See you all next time.
Always,
JS