If only the Trump team wore masks
President's hostility to this simple, proven public health tool has led to predictable infections - including himself. Greater mask use earlier this year could have saved 10s of thousands.
For a short video version of this newsletter, visit my news page on Facebook.
The news that President Trump, the First Lady and one of Trump’s closest advisors have all contracted the virus that causes COVID-19 has changed the narrative (and the headlines) across the USA.
My personal hope is that this helps persuade more people to wear face coverings. It’s not political. What’s clear from overwhelming amounts of data is that wearing a face-covering not only protects others if you are infected, but even a simple cloth over your nose and mouth reduces the amount of infectious material that can get into your system. That means that even if you get COVID-19, you likely will get a milder case and recover faster.
Here are a few points to ponder as we consider what the path of the pandemic will be from here.
If yesterday was the first time that the president’s test had a positive result, that means that he was most likely was infected via exposure to the virus Tuesday or earlier. The virus generally doesn’t show up on test results until 2-5 days after exposure — and sometimes may lurk in a person’s system even longer before blooming into action. This is why the 14-day isolation guideline is so important. This page from the Harvard Medical School explains this well. The Washington Post is tracking who in the president’s circle has been tested.
Early signs of COVID-19 may be confusion or reduced mental acuity, and the most significant symptoms typically appear in the second week after infection, according to a thorough explainer by STATNews infectious disease expert Helen Branswell.
While testing has improved since the early months of the pandemic, the USA still has many different types of tests in wide use — and no set standards. The “rapid” tests usually check for antigens, which are viral proteins. Tests that require samples to be sent to a lab usually are PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, which amplify the virus’s genetic material so that it can be detected. While PCR tests are highly accurate, they can pick up infections so small that they are clinically meaningless (i.e., not enough viral load to cause illness or risk contagion.) Here’s what is most important: Any test that has a “positive” result is highly likely to reflect actual COVID-19 infection, but a negative result can’t be definitive. That’s because a test run today will not reflect an infection that was acquired yesterday or the day before.
Even though he is in a high-risk category due to his age, weight and other health conditions, President Trump has a high likelihood of recovering well from COVID-19. Unlike many others, the president has access to the best healthcare, including top physicians and — importantly — drugs like remdesivir, which have been proven to work but are in short supply.
Other news:
The CDC reports that confirmed COVID-19 cases surged 55% across the USA and even more dramatically in the Northeast (144%) and Midwest (123%) from August 2 to September 5. Other reports showed increases in cases among older adults followed increases in cases among young adults by about two weeks.
As of today, there have been more than 208,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the USA. The CDC’s “ensemble” model predicts another 10,000 to 20,000 deaths in the next three weeks.
A new study by researchers at the University of Washington adds to the body of research showing that people in lower-income neighborhoods are at higher risk of COVID-19 because they already were at higher risk for underlying conditions such as asthma.
Long-term consequences of COVID-19 are creating a need for specialty clinics capable of treating the many dimensions of the disease. Such clinics already operate in Denver, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, according to Kaiser Health News.