COVID-19 Update, Wednesday, November 18th

Kids, persistent fatigue, testicular inflammation, wait times, vaccines, Zoom, and some fun.

1. Cases among children are rising according to the Academy of Pediatrics and the AP. Over a million kids have now had COVID with children representing about 11.5% of total cases in the US and the last 2 weeks have seen a 22% increase in cases among children. However, keep in mind that as cases rise nationally it is natural that we would see a rise in cases among kids too - and despite these increases hospitalizations and severe COVID is still low with children only accounting for 1-3% of hospitalizations and 0.2% of all deaths from COVID. Also, keep in mind that different states have different age ranges for what they are counting as "children" so it doesn't always mean 0-18. The takeaway is that while cases are on the rise among children too, the severity in children remains mild to moderate in most children.

2. A study conducted in Dublin found that 52% of people who had recovered from COVID continued to experience persistent fatigue for at least 10 weeks after recovery from other symptoms of COVID. This was true even in mild/moderate cases. So be patient with that piece of things if you get it.

3. In a retrospective study of 142 men who had COVID, 22% of them experienced acute testicular inflammation. Older men tended to experience this in higher numbers. There is growing evidence that the virus infects the testicles but thus far no definitive evidence of long-term reproductive issues. Research is ongoing.

4. The increased number of people getting sick and needed tests means longer wait times to get tested or get results. So be patient and if you suspect you have COVID (i.e. if you are tested) please quarantine while you await your results in order to avoid passing it to others.

5. Not to be outdone, Pfizer has now reported that their vaccine is also 95% effective. 170 people in the clinical trial have now contracted COVID, 162 of those people received the placebo and not the actual vaccine. Thus far Pfizer is also reporting the vaccine is safe. We won't know how long the protection lasts for a while yet as we have to wait and test for antibodies and that takes time. Most experts agree that some vaccine will most likely be available by the end of the year or early January for some people but not the majority of us until spring 2021. We won't have a ton of information or be able to do independent reviews of the vaccine until the companies are completely done and release that data. So we continue to be patient, and optimistically skeptical.

6. For Thanksgiving day, Zoom is removing their time restrictions so families can spend some virtual time together.

7. In some fun news that has nothing to do with COVID, baby Yoda is now in space where he belongs. Mission SpaceX took a baby Yoda with them to the space station. Perhaps, if he is lucky, he will run into C3P0 or R2D2 - a Baby Yoda can dream.

8. And in other fun news, a very limited study conducted by the University of Oxford found playing video games makes you happy. Or at least playing Nintendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons or EA's Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville did. While this study had some fairly significant limitations, I think it is safe to grab hold of this right now, so go ahead, indulge.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Some days I truly feel like I am on the crazy train and there is no exit. The best I can hope for it to stay in my seat and hope we don't derail before we get to the end of the line. And some days, that is probably true. But we are rounding the bend. Hope is on the horizon. Just hold on a little bit longer.