Wednesday, April 7, 2021
One office visit and four follow-up text exchanges over three weeks is the work required to change the mind of one of my vaccine-hesitant patients. He texted me that he is getting the J&J vaccine today. Fortunately, I successfully balanced the "I care about you" messaging with the "Why is my kidney doctor stalking me?" vibe.
And, my plants are still alive at hour 38.
-----Latest Data---
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
I neglected to share that the CDC updated travel guidelines for vaccinated people. I am still reluctant to visit or return to a household where not everyone is vaccinated, but this is a step forward.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0402-travel-guidance-vaccinated-people.html
Yesterday in a group discussion, a loyal reader asked, "Are there negative consequences to wearing headphones all day?" This question turns out to be complicated. Not a lot of data to support the various hypothesis floating around, but here is what I can find:
-Earbuds themselves do not typically lead to more wax production, per se
-Earbuds can alter the airflow in the ear canal, which can lead to wax buildup
-The more you manually clear the ear canal, the more you may impact the wax or irritate the skin.
-The more you irritate the skin, the more likely you are to damage or risk infection.
https://www.wellandgood.com/do-headphones-increase-ear-wax/
I am surprised we have not better leveraged this data in fighting the battle against vaccine hesitancy and promote mask-wearing. Here is Preliminary evidence of the association between erectile dysfunction and COVID‐19.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/andr.13003
commentary
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/948788
Here is some additional discussion about complications from COVID you do not want:
https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1379735702733225984
Data from Ireland describes the relative safety of outdoor events. With a low density of people, there is a very low risk of outdoor COVID transmission. (but not zero!)
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/outdoor-transmission-accounts-for-0-1-of-state-s-covid-19-cases-1.4529036
Discussion
https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhi9/status/1379619581396926466
Infographic of the day: Fontaholics Anonymous
As someone with thousands of fonts on my computer, I found this infographic almost helpful and very indicative of the decision-making I face due to too many choices.
https://julianhansen.com/#/so-you-need-a-typeface/
----Bonus Round - Quick Film Review
My kids are on their spring break this week, and we are watching movies at night. Mank on Netflix was last night's showing. It was fantastic. On the surface, it is a biographical sketch of the self-destructive writer behind the movie Citizen Kane. But it touches on revenge, power, and politics. I did not know Upton Sinclair ran for Governor of California in the 1930s nor about the rancorous dispute over Citizen Kane's authorship. The most compelling aspect of the film is that the story mirrors Citizen Kane as it recounts Citizen Kane's writing. I found that to be very clever. There are some factual issues with the storytelling - the characters' actual histories, motivations, and events are more complex than the film portrays. Nevertheless, it was a delightful movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mank
Spoiler article to read after watching:
https://slate.com/culture/2020/11/mank-movie-accuracy-david-fincher-upton-sinclair-netflix.html
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
One office visit and four follow-up text exchanges over three weeks is the work required to change the mind of one of my vaccine-hesitant patients. He texted me that he is getting the J&J vaccine today. Fortunately, I successfully balanced the "I care about you" messaging with the "Why is my kidney doctor stalking me?" vibe.
And, my plants are still alive at hour 38.
-----Latest Data---
CDC National Hospitalization trend data
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#hospitalizations
Global-View:
https://www.ft.com/content/a2901ce8-5eb7-4633-b89c-cbdf5b386938
Nationally:
https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=usa&areas=gbr&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usfl&areasRegional=ustx&areasRegional=usco&cumulative=0&logScale=0&perMillion=1&values=casesf
The U.S. Regionally - N.Y. Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Vaccine Tracker
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccination-trends
-----
I neglected to share that the CDC updated travel guidelines for vaccinated people. I am still reluctant to visit or return to a household where not everyone is vaccinated, but this is a step forward.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0402-travel-guidance-vaccinated-people.html
Yesterday in a group discussion, a loyal reader asked, "Are there negative consequences to wearing headphones all day?" This question turns out to be complicated. Not a lot of data to support the various hypothesis floating around, but here is what I can find:
-Earbuds themselves do not typically lead to more wax production, per se
-Earbuds can alter the airflow in the ear canal, which can lead to wax buildup
-The more you manually clear the ear canal, the more you may impact the wax or irritate the skin.
-The more you irritate the skin, the more likely you are to damage or risk infection.
https://www.wellandgood.com/do-headphones-increase-ear-wax/
I am surprised we have not better leveraged this data in fighting the battle against vaccine hesitancy and promote mask-wearing. Here is Preliminary evidence of the association between erectile dysfunction and COVID‐19.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/andr.13003
commentary
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/948788
Here is some additional discussion about complications from COVID you do not want:
https://twitter.com/florian_krammer/status/1379735702733225984
Data from Ireland describes the relative safety of outdoor events. With a low density of people, there is a very low risk of outdoor COVID transmission. (but not zero!)
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/outdoor-transmission-accounts-for-0-1-of-state-s-covid-19-cases-1.4529036
Discussion
https://twitter.com/MonicaGandhi9/status/1379619581396926466
Infographic of the day: Fontaholics Anonymous
As someone with thousands of fonts on my computer, I found this infographic almost helpful and very indicative of the decision-making I face due to too many choices.
https://julianhansen.com/#/so-you-need-a-typeface/
----Bonus Round - Quick Film Review
My kids are on their spring break this week, and we are watching movies at night. Mank on Netflix was last night's showing. It was fantastic. On the surface, it is a biographical sketch of the self-destructive writer behind the movie Citizen Kane. But it touches on revenge, power, and politics. I did not know Upton Sinclair ran for Governor of California in the 1930s nor about the rancorous dispute over Citizen Kane's authorship. The most compelling aspect of the film is that the story mirrors Citizen Kane as it recounts Citizen Kane's writing. I found that to be very clever. There are some factual issues with the storytelling - the characters' actual histories, motivations, and events are more complex than the film portrays. Nevertheless, it was a delightful movie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mank
Spoiler article to read after watching:
https://slate.com/culture/2020/11/mank-movie-accuracy-david-fincher-upton-sinclair-netflix.html
Clean hands and sharp minds,
Adam
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