COVID-19 update, Wednesday September 16th

Food, asthma, substance abuse, AstraZeneca (again), theories, and a video.

1. One of the FAQ's regarding COVID is if you can get it from your food. The answer is no. Food does not transmit the virus. I suppose, if you half-chewed some food and then gave it to someone else to finish up, or licked a piece of fruit before giving it to someone, you could spread it that way...but that is typically frowned upon. By all normal standards, you cannot catch it from food.

2. A study reports that asthma does not increase the severity of COVID. You can read more here: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/937131

3. Substance abuse can contribute to more severe COVID response - you can read more here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7138334/

4. In the world of vaccines, things are picking up pace. The FDA says that while the UK approved AstraZeneca to resume their clinical trials they have not yet approved them to resume in the US. They are still reviewing the adverse effect reported last week. China has already approved several vaccines and started giving them to front line workers as has Russia and now the UAE has approved the use of the Chinese vaccine.

5. New reports suggest COVID may have reached the US as early as December 2019 and was mistaken for other respiratory illnesses. This is just a theory and has not been proven. In related news, some experts are predicting we may be managing this outbreak until 2022 - that too is just a theory.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Let today surprise you and when they arrive, in whatever form, try to accept them, to find the good in them, and to pay it forward. People in the gulf coast are hunkered down battling the hurricane, people on the west coast are battling fires, people all over the world are battling the virus. Every one of us is also battling our own personal struggles, some of them quite overwhelming, some just enough to drive us batty. But today, try, amid all the smoke and rain and wind, try to find some small glimmer of hope. Cling to that and share it with others.

I can't remember if I shared this previously, but this is a great video that explains some of the science behind how the SARs-Cov2 virus causes COVID-19 and pneumonia. It just gives a short overview of what happens in your body as well as a basic overview of how vaccines work. Its about 7 minutes long.