Today, with dark skies, you may have been
waking up
(Rise
Up video) thinking:
another day of worry, anxiety, concern and
sadness. I am asking you to remind yourself
this is a war the likes of which we have
never been challenged to. Yet, because we
are a resilient, tough nation, we will rise
up. We are resourceful, determined,
innovative people who are rising up. And
this will pass and we will find silver-lined
clouds in the not too distant future. We
will prevail.
The numbers:
US: 104,837 cases
1,711 deaths 1.63%
fatality rate
South Korea: 9,478 cases
144 deaths 1.5% fatality
rate
Germany: 53,340 cases
395 deaths 0.74% fatality
rate
Maryland: 992 cases
5 deaths 0.5%
fatality rate
As we test more, the number of cases will
continue to go up. Our death rate remains
low for now.
Here are some things to put in perspective:
Maryland has a population of 6 million
people. The island of Manhattan is 34
square miles and has 8 million people
(23,000 people per square mile). The New
York metro area has 20 million people. The
task of social distancing is enormous.
Therapeutics:
-
Just reported in
an 80 patient French study gives
weight to the hypothesis of the
Columbia/Oz study. It's nice to see a
clinical impact of therapy.
Importantly, we are now putting it to
the test with a randomized double-blind
study.
-
The
Columbia/Oz trial: it is a combination
of a good clinical idea and scientific
method to look for a remedy. It's a
10-day study so the earliest we will
know anything will be the first week of
April.
-
The use
of passive immunity to fight sick
patients using blood (actually plasma)
donated from recovered patients was used
in 5 patients and showed encouraging
results - reported yesterday in JAMA.
What else?
We don't like uncertainty, it leads to
anxiety. Get a more in-depth understanding
of how our brains react from the link below.
"Uncertainty acts like rocket fuel for
worry; it causes people to see threats
everywhere they look, and at the same time
it makes them more likely to react
emotionally in response to those threats."
The remedy: have a plan and stick to it.
Get your rest, exercise and eat well.
De-stress with pleasurable distractions. I
started watching Homeland last night!
On a musical note (no pun intended):
And on a lighter note
to make you smile: (thanks
JF!)
