Due to technical difficulties, some you may not have received yesterday’s Daily Update and some of you may have received it twice; this explains why you’re seeing today’s update from a new email address.  If you didn’t receive yesterday’s and want to view it or any of my previous updates, please see the link included at the bottom of this email.  If you received it more than once, we apologize!

 

COVID-19 Mental Toolbox – Our Mind:

The mind is so powerful.  We can invent elaborate scenarios from one small thought and have it blossom.  My cousin, Andy Abramowitz, is a lawyer as well as an up-and-coming author.  He has written two books; his debut is called Thank You, Goodnight.  It is about an aging former lead singer of a one-hit wonder 90s band, Teddy Tremble, who tries for one more swing at the fence.  As he re-lives his success, he briefly reunites with the band’s female bass player, Mack.  His mind imagines something different than reality with Mack.  I love this quote from the book and I tease Andy about it, “I’d seen one flower and invented a jungle”.  Yup, that is how the mind works.

 

In Andy’s second book,  A Beginner's Guide To Free Fall,  which takes place primarily in Baltimore, the protagonist, Davis Winger, goes through the loss of his job and almost his marriage.  After he works through anger, fear, panic, rejection, and sadness, he trains his mind and he emerges as an enlightened superhero to his family, friends, and co-workers.

 

If you are looking for a pleasurable distraction, check out both of these books.  Yes, this is a plug for the books, but more importantly, it’s a plug for some mind-candy.  Honestly, I really laughed out loud many times; thinking about it now makes me smile.  It is just what we all need now:  to know that really tough times end, and gives us a bigger view of what is important.  After I read Andy’s second book, I asked Andy, “How do you make this crazy sh*t up?”.  He just laughed.

 

Today, I want you to remember when you are climbing up a mountain path that is overgrown and full of brush and weeds, you have to do a lot of bushwhacking to get to the top to see the view.

 

The numbers:

Even though the numbers are going up, in NYC, new hospitalizations, ventilator use and death rates are decreasing.  The US deaths are predicted to peak on Sunday.  Remember, the projected total death count is currently 25% (61,000) of the original projected total (250,000).  I don’t mean to minimize these numbers, but what we are doing is working and I predict the death rate will be even lower if we keep the pressure on.  Our intervention is working!

 

 

Governor Hogan recently designated Howard County as a ‘hot spot’.  This means that we are facing an escalating outbreak and allows the county to become a priority site for federal assistance.  I have been unable to find the exact statistical information that is required to be designated as a ‘hot spot’.

 

Diagnostics and Therapeutics:

• Hydroxychloroquine (HC) was recently tested as well as a variety of other re-purposed drugs; HC was shown to have the best anti-viral activity in the test tube.
• The Federal Government’s red tape paralyzed early testing efforts and the same issue is true with trying to get attention from the FDA about a new innovations. See what Dr. Marc Siegel has to stay about the antiquated FDA regulatory issues.

 

On a musical note, a one-hit wonder by Edison Lighthouse to celebrate Teddy Tremble in Thank You, Goodnight:

Love Grows Where my Rosemary Goes

 

And on a TGIF lighter note: (thank you MM for this and your CA Leadership!)