General Wellness

Despite having only 4% of the world’s population and having the most availability of the Covid-19 vaccine, we have the most cases of Covid overall as well as the deaths. 20% on both counts! And now, we have the most new cases of the essentially new virus, the Delta variant, worldwide! Not India or somewhere in Africa. It’s HERE! It may have started in India, but we now have the most new cases.

Today, 97% of new Covid hospitalizations and Covid-related deaths are in the unvaccinated and 99.5% of the deaths are in the unvaccinated.

The rise in new cases in the last few weeks is greater than at any other point in the pandemic.

Some have been calling this the “pandemic of the unvaccinated” but the problem is that the vaccinated can still get sick and certainly transmit it. And the kids are even more vulnerable, not only because they are unvaccinated, but the Delta variant affects them to a much greater degree than the original form. As mentioned above, epidemiological studies show that it is as contagious as Chicken Pox except with more dire side effects and long-term complications. When is the last time you heard of someone dying or even having any serious complications from Chickenpox? NEVER.

It’s also NOT about “get the vaccine or wear a mask” like some ignorant politicians are ranting about. It’s not either/or. It’s both. And once again it’s about distancing, washing hands, ventilating and still about getting healthy.

I agree that the CDCs guidance has been confusing at times but remember that this is a new virus, and the variants keep renewing it. Our knowledge about it’s behavior changes and evolves as much as the virus changes and evolves.

We have allowed this Delta variant to develop and it is MUCH more infectious than the original form. We carry 1000x more viral load, even if vaccinated, albeit for a shorter time. It is 4x more infectious and causes more severe disease.

Kids are affected to a much greater degree than the original form and pediatric hospitalizations are greater than with the original form. And the saddest part is that kids can’t even get the vaccine, but anyone over 12 can.

It’s simple. Get vaccinated and stop being selfish. If you don’t want to protect yourself, at least think about protecting the children.

Whatever issues you have with the vaccines, educate yourself from reliable sources and get over it. Over 3.5 billion doses have been given worldwide and they are safe and vaccines are the ONLY way that we are going to coexist with this virus with some semblance of what we considered as “normal”.

Whatever issues you are worried about pale in comparison to the side effects you, or someone you infect, can have on your life, both in the short term and the long term.

Stay safe and be well.

AC

As the summer moves along and the prospect of returning to school looms for our kids, we really need to be aware of 3 important facts.

#1 – If you count all the kids under 12, less than 50% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Another 14% or so received one of two shots.

#2 – The last few weeks have seen the sharpest rise in new Covid cases since even the start of the pandemic.

#3 – 99.5% of the Covid related deaths in the last 6 months occured in unvaccinated people.

The simple takeaway points are that 

• this pandemic is not over by a longshot, 
• we may be headed into the same kind of fall we experienced last year and 
• vaccinations are the best, and only way to protect ourselves, our friends and loved ones and to mitigate the progression of this scourge.

Don’t waste time trying to convince the vaccine-hostile people. Nothing will change their minds. They skew the facts to fit their beliefs and not even getting seriously ill or having relatives or friends die is incentive enough to change their minds.

Try to be an example and educate those who are vaccine-hesitant, since they simply need to be made aware of the facts. Some of those facts evolve, but that is the nature of science and experience.

Of course we don’t know the long term side effects of vaccination, but we know the short term risks and we know what can happen if you get sick with covid. At best, you lose out on 2 weeks of your life because you need to isolate. At worst, you can die or pass along the disease to someone else who may be more seriously affected.

Vaccines are safe and effective, even, it turns out, against the Delta variant. 

We have no definitive recommendations yet about boosters. It seems that we have longer term protection than previously expected.

Please enjoy being with family and friends while we still can, since that can all change in the coming weeks. Mask mandates are already starting to creep back in. Just do so safely.

Know your audience. I still wear a mask in any store. Some of it is habit, some paranoia but because of the simple fact that when half the people are not vaccinated and this variant is so much more infectious, I certainly don’t want to catch it or pass it along to family, friends or patients. 

MASK UP when appropriate.

VACCINATE.

VENTILATE. Remember that this is really an indoor disease.

PRACTICE BASIC HYGIENE.

DISTANCE.

GET HEALTHY. Despite the repeated calls for people to work on their weight and health, both seem to have deteriorated for the average American. Remember that simply being overweight, itself a chronic disease, increases your risks of contracting Covid and/or having a worse course of it.

Stay safe and be well.

AC