I am sick of COVID, too! But it’s not done with us, so keep on masking up and spacing out. Avoid hanging out in groups, despite how badly we all want to. And for the gals, get super comfy in an OOMBRA.

The news cycle took its eye off COVID last week for a very good reason, but COVID didn’t seem to care. In fact, like the child getting too little attention, it threw a tantrum that, despite our attempts to ignore it, refuses to go unnoticed. For the past eight days in a row, the U.S. has logged more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus infection per day. In the past week alone, one out of every 433 Americans has tested positive for the virus. If that pattern continues for two more days, we will exceed a million new cases in a week and a half. Remember last spring when we were gasping at the notion of hitting 40,000 daily cases? Or last summer when topping 60,000 cases per day felt staggering? If only…
 
So today, it’s time to play catch up. There’s big news brewing, not just bad news about the spread of infection in the face of a holiday season promising to mix germ pools, but also some very good news about major vaccine headway. And there’s the increasing likelihood of a mask mandate coming in January, too – by the way, if you want to stay in front of that long overdue emerging new trend, get yourself and your friends/family a super soft filtered mask!
 
Today I’m starting off with links about the spread of coronavirus:

  • For those of you wondering why kids don’t seem to get as sick as adults, this article argues that kids produce weaker coronavirus antibodies, which may explain why their immune systems don’t get so revved up and they don’t show symptoms.
  • Lower rates and intensity of COVID in kids may also be a function of their antibodies from other recent childhood colds, which protect them in this pandemic. (Side note on both of the kid/COVID theories: neither of these ideas is particularly new, but the data is.)
  • Here’s a new twist that applies to people of all ages: the CDC now says a mask doesn’t just protect others from you, a mask will protect you from others as well.
  • Also making headlines: this nasal spray seems to prevent the transmission of coronavirus in ferrets… could it work for humans, too?
  • And then there are the coming holidays. COVID cases are up just about everywhere across the U.S., just in time for families to travel and gather. My best advice: don’t. As depressing as this advice may be, each one of us plays a role in slowing the spread of coronavirus, and that begins with not bringing together lots of different germ pools around the Thanksgiving table. But what about your college aged kid who is set to return from school?
 
Now onto vaccine news, because it was BIG this week:

  • In case you hadn’t heard, on Monday Pfizer released results from its trial showing that their coronavirus vaccine is up to 90% effective, an outcome that far surpassed expectations. Pretty much every news outlet covered this but if you missed it, check out this interview with Anthony Fauci or this summary article. You can read the Pfizer press release, too.
  • One of my favorite morning reads is Your Daily Covid-19 Brief. This week, on 2 consecutive days, the info was particularly excellent. On Tuesday, Jeremy Samuel Faust walked through what the Pfizer vaccine trials really tell us, including this: “90% effective” means that many fewer test subjects who received the two-dose series of the real vaccine candidate developed symptomatic disease—the constellation of symptoms we call covid-19 disease. That does not necessarily mean that 90% fewer people became infected with the coronavirus itself. On Wednesday, and on a completely unrelated non-vaccine note, Joshua Niforatos asked the profoundly logical question: Do we need a randomized clinical trial to prove masks are good? Both reads are as smart as they are short.
  • It’s worth noting a couple of challenges facing the Pfizer vaccine: (a) recipients must get two doses, and (b) the vaccine itself has to be stored in ultra-cold freezers reaching temps as low as negative 80 degrees Celsius. These hurdles make distribution tricky, but far from impossible. That said, rural hospitals are worried they will be left behind in vaccine distribution.
  • Speaking of vaccines, until last week I had never heard of the Vaccine Confidence Project or founder Heidi Larson. But her bottom line is as profound as it is obvious: it’s not the existence of a vaccine that saves people from infection; rather, it’s the existence of a vaccine plus the willingness to take it. And as Larson says so poignantly: We don’t have a misinformation problem, we have a trust problem.  
 
And finally, the feel good story of the week: an epic drum battle between Foo Fighter Dave Grohl and a 10-year-old powerhouse.

Golf fan or not, you must watch this epic video: