Are any of you tired of this 24 hour news cycle? I am. I deleted my Facebook account after watching The Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma ( ok I have only watched 1/2 but that was enough). Anyway, here are my thoughts on recent headlines since everything remains status quo at the hospital and in terms of COVID research in pregnancy.
I think the fact that President Trump caught COVID-19 is not all that surprising, he has been in contact with a lot of people and their refusal to wear a mask means they were all high risk. Some patients have been telling me that others (even other doctors!) have been telling them masks don't work at preventing COVID-19. To that I say, if you are in close proximity with someone who has COVID-19 who is not wearing a mask for longer than 15 minutes a regular mask is probably not enough to protect you. It is a highly contagious virus that the CDC has now admitted can be transmitted via aerosolization ( or through the air). However, if both people are wearing masks and in contact outside or for limited time, masks clearly do help prevent COVID-19. I have been wearing a mask every day for 6 months now and see 20-30 patients a day who are all of them have been wearing masks as well. It doesn't really matter what anyone else says, because I think whatever I have been doing is working and I am going to keep doing it to protect myself, my patients, and my family. And you should too. It's a small price to pay (like wearing a seat belt) that might protect you or someone else.
I agree whole-heartedly with this article written by another doctor:
As glad as I am that he is out of the hospital and recovering, I would like to point out that he had the very best health care available ( none of us would be able to get that) with experimental treatments that have been developed through research and science ( that he has repeatedly discounted and discredited) in the last 6 months and a team of doctors who have only one patient. Did he talk about his hydroxycholoroquine treatment? No, because we know that it doesn't work. Did his doctors talk about dexamethasone, remdesivir, and monoclonal antibodies? Yes, because research has shown those to have some efficacy in randomized controlled trials.
Also, the white house is proving to be a "super spreader" site - because of the disregard for masks and to me, just reflects poorly on the administration that seems to be blatantly ignoring all medical advice and very selfish. For example, if President Trump knew he had been exposed to coronavirus he should have been away from others, or at the very least wearing a mask and social distancing. As my kids are in school now ( YAY!), I would be really upset if other parents sent a kid they know is sick to school! Now we have multiple senators and white house staff who have the virus. Since it behaves so differently in people, who knows whether one of these people will have severe morbidity or mortality from this virus.
I am confused by the people that say this disease is a hoax, it has killed more 200,000 people of all ages and a disproportionate amount of health care workers. This is more than the number that died in the last 5 flu seasons combined and does not even take into account people with all kinds of severe long term complications from COVID that can appear months afterwards. Use common sense, don't get sucked into the rabbit hole of misinformation and protect yourself as best you can.
A little tribute to a 2nd year Ob/Gyn resident, who was 28 years old, recently died of COVID. Breaks my heart. She got it on a rotation in the Emergency Room. RIP Adeline Fagan.
Stay safe, stay vigilant, but also stay sane! Social distance - doesn't mean you can't seen anyone - it means you have to do it in a safe way (see previous posts on how to do this).
