COVID-19 Update: Thursday, August 20

Convalescent plasma, masks are working, no reporting for schools, and misinformation.

1. Convalescent plasma (where we use the antibodies from people who have had and recovered from COVID to treat people with COVID) is not getting FDA approval at this time. The science hasn’t been strong enough to support that it works.

2. As more and more places wear masks, our numbers are moving in the right direction! This is great news.

3. There is no centralized tracking of school-related outbreaks and some states are opting not to make that information public.

4. A study published in JAMA yesterday tested 64 samples of breast milk from women who were positive for COVID to see if there were transmittable levels of the virus in the breast milk – there was not.

5. According to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, misinformation is pretty prevalent and not just in the US. They analyzed 2,311 reports etc. in 25 languages from over 87 countries and found that roughly 1800 of them were misinformation. Be leery.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Some days are hard. Some days are harder yet. In those days, we must trust that we are equipped and able to manage the battle before us. We have to lean on others and allow them to do the same, but when the day is done, we are the ones who have to walk into the fire. Slow deep breaths help. Asking for support and help when you need it is critical. Offering a hand to those who are struggling is love. If today is a harder day, reach out and let someone support you. If today is only hard, lend a hand to those who struggle. And breathe, slow, deep, cleansing breaths. You have done so much and worked so hard. It’s ok to be tired. It’s ok to be weary. It’s ok to be worried or nervous, or frustrated or over it, or even angry. Slow, deep breaths. It’s ok.