COVID-19 Update, Friday, September 18th

Numbers, a look at our immune system, and an unrelated outbreak in China.

1. Numbers in some areas that were previously declining are again on the rise. Europe saw 300k new cases last week, The Czech Republic’s new cases have increased from the hundreds to the thousands daily, France set a record last weekend, Spain saw their highest deaths since June and the UK is contemplating another lockdown. Meanwhile, in the US, numbers for the last couple of days have crept up a bit (from the 30k range to the 40k range) but we are still lower than a month ago. Something to watch is the rate at which we hit 7 million US cases. If we hit it before Monday ends, we are moving to fast again. If we hit it at the end of day Monday, we are holding steady, and if we hit it Tuesday or later, we are slowing down.

2. We think we may now know why some people get so sick with COVID while others do not. This is a big breakthrough but should be viewed with caution as additional research is needed to verify. In a research article published in Cell – it seems that a coordinated immune response between the varying “divisions” of the immune system is what makes the difference. Think about your immune system as 2 teams. Team 1 = your first responders, they rush out as soon as something is detected. They are running your recon for you. Identify the threat, kill it if you can, and send out a signal to the other team if you need them. The signal (those cytokines you have been hearing so much about) serves as a rallying cry to the rest of your immune system. Team 2 is the adaptive part of your immune system, these are the specialists designed to attack specific targets, different types of immune cells have different jobs and attack in different ways, so the cytokine storm calls for them based on what team1 found.

One division is antibodies which are the neutralizers of the group. They are the second ones on the scene. Their job is to find and neutralize the virus itself, typically they will work at this for a few days before deciding if they need to call in the T-cells (Team 3). T-cells are straight-up killers. They seek and destroy any infected cells, not just the virus. T-cells have helpers that come with them and direct traffic, coordinating the work between the antibodies (neutralizing the virus) and the killer T-cells (kill all infected cells). The trouble seems to be when the process is not as coordinated as it should be and that appears (at least based on these early findings) not with the cytokine signal (as we previously thought) but with an uncoordinated T-cell response or any breakdown in the way the process should flow. This is pretty big news and should prove helpful but remember, we are at the early stages of learning here, so we need to dig deeper.

Worth noting that we are looking at all of these areas as treatment options etc. Work is being done with T-cells, antibodies etc. So each little bit we learn helps us focus those efforts.

3. In completely UNRELATED to COVID news…. a bacterial infection is reportedly spreading in China due to a laboratory fail. I wanted to mention this here because it has the potential to make headlines and/or incite panic, so I wanted to share the facts as we currently know them. Roughly 4k people in China have tested positive. The bacteria were accidentally released in fumes from an animal vaccine lab which has since been shut down. The bacteria travel in the air and unlike viruses, bacteria do not need a living host to multiply. The bacteria are most commonly found in sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, and dogs and cause Brucellosis. The disease can be transmitted through consuming undercooked food or unpasteurized milk, breathing it in, or through the mucus membranes or wounds. Currently, there are NO reports of it spreading outside of China. This is not something I would worry about, I am monitoring it so if it becomes something significant, I will let you know, but I didn’t want the headlines to worry anyone.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Well, we made it another week. Life threw a lot at us this week, but we have persevered and here we are. As always, I want to encourage you to take a break from the media, all things COVID, politics social media, etc. over the weekend as much as you are able to. Paint a picture, have a picnic on your living room floor, or go for a hike if you can. Play horseshoes in the back yard, take a long bath, bake cookies, and scarf them down while they are still warm and gooey, build a castle with legos. Watch a movie with your family – live or via Zoom. Whatever it is that you do, find something fun, low stress, and relaxing to do this weekend. Renew. Rejuvenate and Relax – because Monday is coming and with it, there is sure to be dragons because this is 2020. So sharpen your sword this weekend and I will see you back on Monday.