COVID-19 Update, Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Blood clotting and long-term issues, a global snapshot, a change in reporting, COVID and pregnancy and the MMR vaccine.

1. Autopsies (published in The Scientist) conducted on those who did not survive COVID-19 indicate blood clots are a significant issue. Blood clots were found in organs throughout the body as was damage to the heart and lungs. There have been reports that even mild cases of COVID can cause the onset of heart disease, similar to prior findings that it could cause the onset of diabetes. Potential long-term health effects appear to be a real concern from having COVID even in mild cases.

2. Here’s a look at what is happening globally: Hong Kong is on their third wave which they believe is linked to restaurants. Spain has cluster outbreaks springing up in Catalonia they are working to control, The Philippines loosened restrictions on June 1, and have seen cases triple since they did. Mexico’s death toll is on the rise, South Africa is struggling to manage hospitalizations in some part of the country and has tightened mask requirements and implemented curfews. But in good news, Belgium has reported 0 COVID deaths for the first time since March! That is excellent news and was accomplished through social distancing, and mandatory masks. On a slightly related note, a study out of Belgium published in JAMA found that household exposure is a greater risk than community exposure. Meaning, if someone in your home gets it, you have a much higher chance of getting it than from other sources.

3. COVID data will now be reported to the US Department of Health and Human Services database instead of the CDC National Healthcare database. This is pretty unprecedented. Depending on how this transition is managed it could cause some disruption in official reporting as people change over so don’t be surprised if it gets a little bumpy for a minute. The reported reason for the change is to streamline information and help with allocation of PPE and Remdesivir.

4. New information has come out regarding COVID and pregnancy. You may recall early indicators were that there was no increased risk and we did not believe there was mother to child transmission. Primarily because we hadn’t seen any. That has now changed, and we have seen a few cases of transmission from mother to fetus. In addition, pregnant women are more likely to have negative outcomes from COVID. You can read a case study on one such baby in France from Nature Communications. The good news is that while the mothers tend to have negative outcomes, the babies seem to recover well. Much more research is needed here.

5. More news and research emerge regarding the possible benefits of the MMR vaccine against COVID. A study published in mBio suggests that MMR re-purposing may be a good option for a vaccine against COVID. I know I mentioned this last week too but this is looking good (hopefully it continues to) and is a nice option for people who are concerned about the fast pace of the vaccine development given this is an existing and known vaccine. This is particularly good news as new deaths doubled from Monday to Tuesday in the US.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Sometimes life throws you curve-balls. Sometimes FB bans you for no apparent reason. Sometimes your power goes out in the middle of the night, so you have no AC, no internet, no alarm clock, and no coffee to wake you up. Sometimes you are asked to wear a mask which is hot, uncomfortable (until you find one that fits well) and steams up your glasses. Sometimes you are cruising down the vegetable aisle and realize you are headed against the arrows. Sometimes all of those things happen at once. We call

those times 2020. But seriously. sometimes you are faced with the unexpected and you must decide how to respond. Today, as the unexpected jumps out from behind bushes, slithers across your computer screen or flashes up on your phone, decide to respond with grace, dignity and poise. Chose to hold your head high even when you feel like a wild, hot mess. What is done is done. We cannot change it; we can only move forward. So, let’s link arms and walk forward together. Let’s hold each other up and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Today we slo-mo walk with confidence, boldness, kindness, compassion and strength; unrattled by the unexpected.