I have been lax in writing lately. Maybe my posts about mental health have given you a small clue about why? Not so subtle hint… In the background, I’m still reading some news and research, but most of the links I find interesting just end up in a notes file loosely titled “pandemic.” Today, I decided that I could at least go back and share the stories I’ve found interesting enough to save over the last month. Some might be a little out of date, but I know you’ll excuse me.
Double Masking
Most recently, the CDC annouced some shocking news (to me!) about masking. According to this NPR article, “Double Masking Offers More Protection,” with the most common combo being a cloth mask over a disposable (paper) surgical mask. This apparently helps the masks fit tightly and seal any holes that might exist to keep out any stray aerosols. When both people in an “exposure” during research wore their mask according to newly recommended CDC standards, transmissions of covid was reduced by 95%. This is AS EFFECTIVE AS THE VACCINE.
So, wear a mask, or even better TWO MASKS!
A Covid Cure?
Monday, January 25, a group of scientists from UCSF announced promising research into the cancer drug Aplidin, currently only approved in Australian to treat multiple myeloma, but currently on limited trial in Spain for covid19. The anti-viral drug is 30 times more potent that the current standard treatment remdesivir. Aplidin, generic name plitidepsin, was discovered in a sea squirt called Aplidium albicans off the coast of Ibiza, Spain but is not commercially available in most of the world.
Read more about the research at “The UCSF-led team racing to find a COVID cure may have found a promising candidate“
Will Covid End Homelessness?
This is the question Emma Gray Ellis asks for Wired Magazine in the article “The Lasting Impact of Covid-19 on Homelessness in the US.” She explores programs like California’s Project Roomkey, which utilized unused hotel rooms to house homeless people to curb the spread of covid among the homeless population by simply getting them off the street. And then the how the plan has transitioned to Project Homekey, which is attempting to turn these places into permanent housing for the homeless. Will attempts across the country to prevent widespread covid in the homeless population actually result in long-lasting change and housing? I really hope so, and some signs point to yes.
January in Santa Clara County ICUs
Its only February and yet January seems years away. It was a horrible post-holiday surge, and in the Bay Area, Santa Clara County was one of the hardest hit–as it was at the very beginning of the pandemic as well. This article about what it’s like inside the ICUs during the surge is fascinating reading, if you’re into that kind of thing.
