COVID-19 Update: Friday, January 29th

South African variant, masks, new vaccines coming soon and an update from Wednesday.

1. The SA variant is in the US. You may have heard. You probably also heard it was two people in South Carolina where it was detected. A couple of things worth noting, they did not know each other, they had not traveled. This means they caught it from someone else here in the US. And that means other people have it. Of course, they do. We do not trace every sample - meaning we randomly picked samples of COVID tests to do the testing on to see which strain they are. It's a relatively small number of samples that we use for these tests. So if we found two - it is here and there are more. Don't let that worry you, just know it is here. Keep wearing those masks and keep washing those hands.

2. Speaking of masks. You don't need to double mask. You just need one, good quality mask that fits right. Two masks could be quite uncomfortable and make you feel like you aren't getting enough air. I found a great article on how a mask should fit that I want to share today. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wearing-mask-face-contagious-covid-variants/story?id=75516656

3. As an update, they dropped the charges against the physician in Texas who took the punctured vial of vaccine. And in case you missed it in yesterday's thread, the ABOG (American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology) is now recommending pregnant women consider the vaccine on a case by case basis. While the CDC and WHO have not changed their recommendations, the ABOG has acknowledged that in some cases the risk of disease is greater than the risks of the vaccine. This is a case-by-case situation so if you are pregnant and trying to determine what to do (vaccine wise) have a chat with your OB. Everyone's situation will be different.

4. Novavak's vaccine is 90% effective against the UK strain but only about 49% effective against the SA strain. They also suggest that having had COVID won't really protect you from the SA strain - so those 8 months of immunity won't really apply if you encounter the SA version.

5. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is about 72% effective. The good news about this one is that clinical trials included South Africa. In that area, where the SA variant was dominant, it showed 57% effectiveness. So that's a plus. And that feels like enough for today.

FINAL THOUGHTS: How are you doing today? Honestly. I went for a run this morning and I glanced down at my watch to see how many calories I had burned and it was like - 80ish. For some reason that discouraged me so much, I nearly sat down right there and just cried. But I didn't, because I am a woman and women cry in the shower, everyone knows that. ;)

But then a song came on the playlist that made me think of you. Well us really. "Truth be told" in which he says, "I say I'm fine, yeah I'm fine, oh I'm fine, but I'm not" then he goes on to say, "Let the truth be told." So here's the truth. Today I am utterly and completely mentally exhausted. I'm not fine. And that's ok. Sometimes we are warriors. We carry the wounded, we fight for the weak, we battle for truth. We are the storm and we are mighty and we are fierce. But sometimes we are the wounded who need carrying and the weak who need someone to fight for us. Sometimes we need to lay down our proverbial sword and step behind the shield for a minute. And that is what it is there for. That is community. That is us loving each other. It is totally ok to not be ok. Today, I sit beside you in solidarity, if today you are a warrior, thank you for letting me rest behind the shield. And if today you are among the wounded, I sit here with you just the same, exhausted myself. Let the truth be told today.