COVID Transmissions for 7-19-2021
How often does COVID-19 hospitalization lead to complications?
Greetings from an undisclosed location in my apartment. Welcome to COVID Transmissions, now entering its second year.
It has been 610 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19. In 610, Heraclius overthrew the Eastern Roman Emperor. He soon changed the official language of the Empire from Latin to Greek, which is an event that led to the Empire being called the “Byzantine” Empire by 18th century historians after that year. The citizens of the Empire themselves, though, continued to call themselves “Roman” until their nation disappeared.
Today we’ll discuss a study about complications from COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.
Bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
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Now, let’s talk COVID.
Approximately half of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 experience at least one complication
The unambiguous and irreversible nature of death means that it is often the outcome that gets the most focus in any disease. However, there are other negative outcomes, and the people who experience them are often lost in the messaging of case totals and mortality.
The same happens with COVID-19, to the point that many seem to think that if you are not in an age group at high risk of death, you have nothing to worry about. This simply isn’t true.
Many people who are hospitalized for COVID-19 end up experiencing serious impacts. As an example, a recent study from the UK demonstrated that around 50% of hospitalized patients experience at least one complication from COVID-19: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)00799-6/fulltext
Interestingly, this study looked at a wide range of ages, and while complications were less common among younger patients, there was no age group where they were entirely absent.
There’s a lot more to dive into there, but I think the message is clear: you don’t want to get COVID-19 or leave yourself vulnerable to it.
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Tisha B’Av
Yesterday was a fast, for the Ninth of Av, a day that in Jewish history is full of terrible events, including the destruction of our Temple in Jerusalem…twice. A number of other awful things have happened on this day, but primarily the fast is in mourning for the destruction of the Temple.
Fasting and spiritual reflection are interesting experiences, but something that strikes me about fasting in particular is that it may have a number of health benefits. There are certain cell processes that are actually kicked into action by resource deprivation, and people in Western society rarely find themselves in that kind of situation. This is one of the reasons that intermittent fasting diets—wherein people avoid eating for a period of between 8 and 16 hours in a day—are thought to have particularly positive impacts.
I told myself that a lot yesterday when I wanted to eat. Hopefully it’s actually true!
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No corrections since last issue.
See you all next time. And don’t forget to share the newsletter if you liked it.
Always,
JS