COVID Transmissions for 9-13-2020
Good morning! It has been 301 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19.
Jumping into this week with some headlines. Later in the week I’d like to discuss bradykinins, and a paper that has been making the rounds about a potential role for them in COVID-19.
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.
Neck gaiters: not the worst thing after all
A few weeks ago I shared a study that looked at a new method for mask testing. I was interested in it methodologically, because I felt it modeled real-life creation of aerosols well. However, this study ended up being used to condemn bandanas and neck gaiter masks, and I don’t think that’s appropriate—there wasn’t a robust, statistically significant assessment of the results in that work.
A New York Times story highlights this, bringing up other work that seems to vindicate the neck gaiter: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/well/live/coronavirus-gaiters-masks.html
Behavior patterns of people acquiring COVID-19
A study in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report looks at the behavior patterns of people who acquired COVID-19 compared to people who did not, and determined the following:
Patients who became COVID-19 cases (“case-patients”) were more likely to have exposure to someone with COVID-19 than control patients (42% vs 14%; no big surprise!)
Case-patients were more likely to have dined at a restaurant (the study did NOT differentiate between indoor and outdoor dining, so please don’t over-interpret) than control patients (by a factor of more than double)
Case-patients were less likely to report that the coffee shops and restaurants that they visited contained people who were adhering to masking and distancing rules
There is no huge surprise here, but there is a word of caution for us all: there are still dangerous situations out there for the transmission of this disease. One needs to be aware of one’s surroundings, and prepared to get out of any situation where it looks like unsafe behavior is taking place.
Read the study here: http://cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6936a5.htm
N95 shortage continues
Healthcare workers continue to report shortages of personal protective equipment, particularly N95 masks. Partly this is because of a shortage of “melt-blown textile,” a critical component in the manufacture of these masks: https://apnews.com/02a0542e8a05176bd5d79757134bc277
Israel enters second lockdown
Due to a resurgence of cases there, the country of Israel has reinstated a national lockdown: https://www.barrons.com/news/israel-announces-3-week-nationwide-coronavirus-lockdown-01600021504
This makes Israel the first nation to reinstate a lockdown. Of course, the numbers being discussed in Israel as a “resurgence” are only a fraction of what we have become accustomed to across the United States.
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Cooking
My wife does not like sweet peppers. So much so that I end up eating them whenever we get takeout food that includes them, and I don’t really love them much either. We recently got some sweet peppers from our farm share distribution, and I prefer not to throw out food. So, we had a problem.
Thankfully, the people of Catalonia have long had a solution to this problem: a sauce called romesco.
I roasted up our farm share peppers, and put together a romesco sauce, via a recipe from Bon Appetit: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/romesco-sauce
This is a SUPER easy sauce that takes a very short time to make. It almost tastes like a pesto, but it doesn’t require parmesan cheese, or any dairy ingredients, which is a plus.
Note: I used apple cider vinegar instead of sherry vinegar, and it was fine.
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Thanks for reading, everyone!
See you all next time.
Always,