General Wellness

There are reports of new Covid-19 cases and deaths seeming to be plateauing or even dropping in some of hardest hit states like Florida and Texas. This may be technically true, but not practically.

I heard someone describe it this way. If you are accelerating a car and stop accelerating when you hit 100 miles an hour, you are still traveling 100 miles an hour and it is still very dangerous. Plateauing should not provide anyone any relief or comfort at all. We have a LONG way to go before we have any control over this disease. We have become numb to the scrolling numbers on the screen. An average rate of over 1000 deaths a day over the last few weeks is insane. In fact, yesterday, Florida had one of its worst days ever both with respect to the number of positive cases, rate of hospital admissions and deaths.

As far as the reports of plateauing in Florida and Texas are concerned, the drop in numbers directly correlates with a decreased number of tests. This is a page out of our fearless leaders handbook. Fewer tests would obviously lead to fewer cases but not fewer infections. The extremely high test positivity rate of over 17% persists in both states. 

The rate of pediatric cases is on a significant rise, most likely related to some schools opening back up. The information about how much kids can catch covid (a little less than adults), suffer significant complications (a little less than adults), carry a viral load (as much as 100x more than adults) and the potential to transmit the virus (probably MORE than in adults) is also becoming clear.

EVERYONE can catch it. 

ANYONE can have complications.

ANYONE can die from this disease.

Age, health status, location, who you interact with… all are important but are no guarantee.

You have to do everything you can to protect yourself and all the others around you.

Again, we will not get past this if we do not adopt an attitude of community and compassion. Please continue all the well-proven basic practices.

WEAR A MASK and wear it properly covering your nose.

DISTANCE if you must go out or are socializing.

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.

WASH YOUR HANDS.

GET HEALTHY!

Stay safe and be well. 

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

All of what is going out there in the world is definitely causing a significant amount of additional stress to our already, over stressed lives. Covid isolation and disease, unemployment and financial worries, racial tensions, academic uncertainty for our kids, continued global warming and political conflict are all adding to the stress in a major way.

You may not realize it, but it’s there. Simmering. I thought I was pretty resilient, but I definitely feel it. I have been a bit of a bear recently but I hate to think what I would be like if I didn’t meditate or run every morning! Remember, we are all always a work in progress.

Watching people behave irresponsibly and promoting completely ridiculous notions has been disheartening. 

This morning was particularly bad for me as I had a very tense surgical procedure I performed on someone who has had 3 different cancers already and this was likely a recurrence of one he had treated at a big university, apparently successfully, 12 years ago. Today’s surgery went well from a technical standpoint but the early diagnosis was depressing and I left the hospital more down and nervous than normal. Nervous because each time I enter the hospital, the hairs on the back of my neck go up as it is.

I decided to stop by Starbucks for a soy-latte, a rare indulgence since I hate the plastic from the cups, try to watch unnecessary sugars along with the added waste because they won’t fill my stainless steel to-go cup because of Covid, but I gave in. I was pleasantly surprised when the checkout barista told me that the person in front of me in the drive through lane paid for my cup. Although this was a small act, it was meaningful, lifted my spirits and I passed the good will along to the customer behind me.

We are ALL experiencing increased stress. We ll need to cut ourselves some slack but most importantly, we all need to look out for each other. No one is an island and we will not get past this, or the next thing, and the next thing, if we don’t work together and look out for each other. We evolved looking out for each other. If we didn’t, we would have not survived and the same is true today.

Be kind and compassionate to yourself and everyone and everything else, including the planet and the animals. We are all in this together. In the meantime:

WEAR A MASK and do it properly covering your nose.

DISTANCE if you are out or socializing with others (a crucial part of de-stressing).

WASH YOUR HANDS.

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.

WORK ON YOUR OVERALL HEALTH

Stay safe and be well. 

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷