It’s Been (Another) Long Week
It’s been another long week, another head-spinning round of breaking news. In honor of Friday, I’m keeping things simple: no big opening statement about the state of the world, just links to articles I found impactful over the past few days. The links are pulled from the tabs I keep open way too long--so many and for so long that my computer will sometimes slow to a crawl and my kids more than sometimes mock me for being a tab-packrat. It’s not so much an inability to close them out as it is a need to keep them in my line of sight until I have shared. So here you go. My desktop looks so much nicer now.
Some of the most compelling coronavirus articles this week:
A New Generation of Fast Coronavirus Tests is Coming. So many of you have reached out to ask about testing: where to get it, why the delay in results, does the swab really need to go so far back it feels like it’s tickling my brain? But the most common question I have received this week is about point-of-care testing, those tests that offer results in 15 minutes. This piece looks at two different versions: one seeking coronavirus antigens and another using Crispr.
Three minutes on How to Make Sense of Coronavirus Data. Just watch this video.
From Anti-vax to Anti-mask: School Districts Brace for Parent Resistance. This one scares the hell out of me. And it pains me on behalf of the victims of anti-maskers, some of whom, inevitably, will contract COVID. Remember: my mask protects you and your mask protects me. So, when I wear a mask and an anti-masker doesn’t, I am protecting them while being left vulnerable. That math isn’t right. (P.S. Need a mask? OOMASK has you covered!)
The Danger of COVID Aerosol Transmission and Why Masks are Key to Protection. The antidote to the article above and you can listen to it! (P.S. After listening, you may really want an OOMASK.)
One more mask piece. This one is a tweet that’s actually a couple of weeks old: What does a mask do? Amazing visual follows if you click the link.
Adolescent Behaviours Toward COVID-19 Driven by Perception of Disease Severity. This is data from a survey done in March, so there’s a solid argument that outcomes might look very different today. Or not. In this study, the more teenagers followed news about coronavirus, the more likely they were to engage in things like disinfecting and social distancing, and overall the more social responsibility they reported. Which proves the age-old saying ignorance is bliss, except it’s decidedly not blissful for the people who get COVID from the teens who don’t take the pandemic seriously.
The Pandemic Has Exacerbated an Under-the-Radar Health Disparity: Period Poverty. Here’s a long-standing struggle faced by the economically strapped, made worse by the pandemic, but now made better by not-for-profit organizations aimed squarely at periods. There’s much more to be done, though, especially at the legislative level.
Articles about anything other than coronavirus, both of which would have made splashy headlines a year ago:
Birth Month and Influenza Vaccination in Children. It looks like kids born in the fall and early winter, especially those between ages 2 – 5, are less likely to get sick with true flu than kids born other times of the year. One explanation? That they show up for their annual check-up visit around their birthday, and along with other routine vaccines, they are immunized against influenza. Those spring and summer birthday kids, who tend to celebrate with a visit to the pediatrician, only get flu vaccine if they make a concerted effort to go into the doctors’ office for it. Interesting.
When Do Sex Differences in Testosterone Levels Appear? Answer: by age 12! Which is not at all surprising to me, especially given the research I did for Decoding Boys. While this article focuses on the lessons of diverging testosterone levels as they apply to gender-segregated sports, it also touches on issues around gender dysphoria and transitioning.
