COVID-19 Update: Friday, March 12th

It's a little heavey today. Astra-Zeneca troubles, vaccines and asymptomatic spread, vaccine-related deaths, rising cases in the EU

1. The Astra-Zeneca vaccine, (not yet approved in the US) is posing some questions in other countries. After reports of possible blood clotting issues, many countries are pausing the use of the vaccine to determine if the issue is related to the vaccine itself or something else. Stay tuned for more on this.

2. Real-world data is suggesting that both Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines are preventing asymptomatic spread. Results are very much preliminary but it is super promising. You may recall that stopping vaccinated people from being able to spread the disease is the pinnacle of vaccine function so this is a really promising thing. Again....too soon to say for sure, but this is potentially very good news. You can read one related study here: https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab229/6167855

3. The tragic story of a woman in Utah dying after receiving her second dose of vaccine is making its way around so I just want to offer a reminder that vaccines are medications and like all medications, some people may have an adverse response and some may have severe reactions. This is why it is very important that we allow each other the freedom to make our own choices. Currently, there are no discernable patterns among those who have died - so we can't say, oh, in some people it causes xyz which can lead to death- because the xyz is different in each case. The current risk of dying is (0.0018%).

4. Cases in the EU and Brazil are on the rise. The situation in Brazil is pretty bleak and they are poised to surpass India in total cases which I anticipate will happen either today or tomorrow. That will move Brazil into 2nd place for the most cases behind only the US. France too has seen a significant spike in cases and hospitalizations.

5. Another VOC (variant of concern) has been identified in England - so far only 10 cases of this new variant have been identified in the UK.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This morning I sat six feet away from a woman whose brother had just died of COVID. She wept as she shared her story with me and my heart broke open for her. I longed to hug her and let her tears fall on my shoulder offering some feeble sense of condolence and comfort. But COVID stole that too. Instead, I sat 6 feet away and listened as she struggled through strained voice and weeping to share the tragic story. The story of her brother, a manual laborer with 5 children and a loving wife. A man who called her with his last bit of breath to say goodbye and ask her to care for his family. A man who came to her house every Saturday night for dinner. A man whom she loved and would miss horribly. A man who had been hospitalized for 2 months. His family is now faced with astronomical medical bills, financial challenges, and a life without him. Sorrow dripped from her eyes onto her mask and I was reminded yet again that this....this was COVID. This was the story of 2.6 million people world-wide. This was the story of over 500k Americans. COVID has robbed us of so much over the last year but I beseech you, please do not let it rob us of our humanity. No matter how many times I have sat in that chair and heard that story, it does not get easier and I don't ever want it to. I don't ever want to forget that every single number in this whole sordid mess represents a real person. Please please be kind to each other. Hug anyone you can. Pour out love as if it were free and in abundance because people need it, desperately. Have a great weekend full of laughter and love and BBQs and hugging.