All Good News

This past Labor Day weekend, I spent an evening hanging out in my backyard with a long-time friend. (Side note: As we all get on in years, I have learned to stay away from calling them old friends!). The sun had set but my phone’s weather app still registered the temp as 91 degrees. Now this friend happens to be a comedy writer, but that’s not necessarily what makes him funny. I laugh hardest when his gullibility gets the best of him, like that time a few weeks ago when he asked if his kid needed to fly back to college in a hazmat suit – in the 30 seconds between my text with a link to a $1,000 neon green outfit complete with space helmet and my second text reading HAHAHAHA, he had already put the hazmat suit into his virtual checkout cart. This past weekend, he told me he reads every one of my newsletters, which I took as high praise. (Then again, I was also delirious from the heat). He followed the compliment with a declaration that every single one of them either scares him to bits, depresses him, or both. But thanks for the great info – I love it! he threw in at the end. Was he kidding? Who knows, he’s a comedy writer after all. But I took the note and have written an issue dedicated to him, filled only with good news…or at the very least a glass-is-half-full spin on the most recent research and headlines.

The good news is that people are really into getting the flu vaccine this year. Small hiccup: many doctors’ offices don’t have it in stock just yet – but be patient or go to your local pharmacy that does.

Also on the vaccine front: it’s nice to know that all of the companies in the race to manufacture a coronavirus vaccine have made a joint safety and efficacy pledge. (Side note: Would be even nicer if they would do this all the time!)

Another silver lining: this year there’s no room for hemming and hawing about whether someone is too sick to go to work or school – the new mantra is going to be When in doubt, sit it out. That’s partially because it’s going to be nearly impossible to tell the difference between a garden-variety cold and COVID.

Speaking of school, it’s great to read that love of learning can continue – and even blossom – when school is happening online.

Meanwhile, without in-person school, COVID is shining a light on the issue of childcare – which seems a good thing because it forces a reckoning that many think is way overdue.

While understanding how coronavirus wreaks havoc inside the body doesn’t sound very positive, the discovery of new mechanisms – and therefore new potential treatments – sure does.

And on the non-pandemic front, there’s something reassuring about this: the reason why kids find the taste of beyond-super-sweet drinks and candies appealing has to do with their perception of flavor, and yes, this mellows with age.

It’s not a meme today, it’s an alert I received this morning from the app Citizen. Ummm… is trunk-or-treating a thing?!