Dr. Stuart Weiss: COVID-19 Update Friday 7-August-2020
Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP
August 7, 2020
Today’s topics: Face coverings work, can we stop talking about this already?
| Face coverings work so wear one As I conduct webinars and talk to people across our country, I am still amazed by folks who ask me pointed questions about whether face coverings actually work. They point to the fact that at first the CDC said they weren’t important and then changed direction when further facts were understood. They point to some made up constitutional right to infect others freely. They talk about other unproven ideas. Tonight, I hope to put this debate to rest thanks to the state of Kansas. Kansas conducted a perfect face covering experiment. Last month, Governor Kelly put a mandatory mask mandate in place. The Kansas legislature thought that they knew more about medicine and public health than the health department passed legislation that overrode the Governor’s mandate. As a result, some counties kept the mask mandate in place and others did not. In fact, 15 counties kept the mask mandate in place and 90 counties abandoned it. The interesting fact is that the 15 counties that kept the mandate are the more urban counties where there are more minority workers and a denser population. These counties have more ethnic minorities who in general are more likely to become infected. Whereas the 90 counties that abandoned the face coverings tended to be the more rural counties with less population density. So we had the perfect experiment. We had a control group that didn’t wear masks and an experimental group that did wear masks. Now some of you might be saying that this is not an accurate experiment because the groups weren’t matched well. The experimental group had a much higher chance of catching CoViD so there was bias in the experiment. So let’s see what happened. Here is a chart of the seven day rolling averages of daily cases per 100,000 population. |
| The blue line, the one that held steady with new CoViD-19 cases, is the No-mask group. The rural folks who don’t want to wear masks. The yellow line is the inner city group who should have been much more susceptible yet their number of new cases dropped significantly. Face coverings help break the chain of infectivity. Whether its because it traps droplets or it prevents people from touching their faces or for some other reason we haven’t discovered yet, they work. Other countries that have reduced their infection rates know this and now we have our own experimental data. This discussion should now be over. People who refuse to wear masks are selfish and stupid (unless they have a real medical condition like emphysema or brittle asthma). Its the one simple thing we can do right now to slow down viral transmission. If you see someone not wearing a mask in a situation where there is inadequate social distancing, ask them politely to put it on. Grim Numbers Yesterday, the US passed a grim marker. Over 160,000 Americans have now lost their lives due to a bungled Federal response to this pandemic. Today that number is 161,248. The new forecast by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) predicts that we could reach nearly 300,000 dead Americans by December 1st. When are we going to hold the leaders who are making bad decisions and killing Americans accountable? As a physician and someone who has tried to prevent injury and death my entire career, this is painful and intolerable to watch. 161,000 DEAD AMERICANS. Be well and take care of yourself. There are storm clouds on the horizon.- -Dr. Stu |
COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY
| Coronavirus update for August 7, 2020 World Wide Updates France reports more than 2,200 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours Italy records most new coronavirus cases in a single day since May Libya reports record increase in cases Two German schools shut again after new cases Virus cases are soaring among younger people, WHO says Italy prepares to return to school by chopping up the furniture Hong Kong to launch voluntary universal coronavirus testing Young women more likely to experience poor mental health in lockdown, UK study suggests A South Korean NGO is sending Covid-19 test kits to North Korea Germany reports more than 1,100 new coronavirus cases Pakistan relaxes lockdown measures as Covid-19 case numbers fall 80% from peak The novel coronavirus may suppress key immune cells, study finds Africa surpasses 1 million cases of Covid-19 Australian troops knocked on more than 1,100 doors Thursday China recorded 27 locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 on Thursday India has surpassed 2 million cases of Covid-19 Peru reports highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases President Jair Bolsonaro says Brazil is “going to get on with life” as it nears 100,000 Covid-19 deaths Japan has now identified more than 900 cases of Covid-19 for 10 days in a row Canadian pastor who claimed that Christians were immune to COVID-19 sentenced to prison in Myanmar for defying coronavirus ban Britain says it will junk 50 million masks over safety worries EU removes Morocco from safe list of countries Norway advises citizens to avoid all travel abroad Beirut: hospital capacity falls and PPE destroyed Total Cases Worldwide: 19,479,423 Total Deaths Worldwide: 721,884 Total Recovered: 12,474,800 US Updates US stocks open lower Arkansas to allow absentee ballots for Covid-19 concerns, governor says Houston municipal courts to suspend all jury trials through September due to the pandemic Georgia reports more than 4,100 new coronavirus cases California tops 10,000 coronavirus deaths Covid-19 vaccine before the election is “highly unlikely,” senior administration official says Fauci says he’ll repeat the importance of public health principles “until I’m exhausted” Massachusetts governor tightens restrictions indefinitely after “slight uptick” in Covid-19 cases All New York school districts are authorized to open for in-person learning, governor says Illinois issues new emergency rules to enforce mask mandate compliance Florida reports another 7,600 new coronavirus cases Trump adviser says potential executive action on payroll tax cut “basically completed” US economy added 1.8 million jobs in July — but it’s still down nearly 13 million during the pandemic CDC shuts buildings after virus shutdown leads to Legionnaire’s disease risk Hawaii reinstates inter-island travel quarantine as Covid-19 cases surge Georgia school district announces virtual classes after more than 90 staff members were placed on quarantine 5 former CDC directors call for increased leadership in the coronavirus pandemic Key coronavirus model projects nearly 300,000 people could die in the US by December Tennessee 6-year-old dies after contracting coronavirus 116 students forced to quarantine in reopened Mississippi school district after coronavirus outbreak Total US cases: 5,079,383 Total US deaths: 163,681 Total Recovered: 2,591,710 Total Tested in US: 59,652,675 Total cases in CA: 544,863 Total deaths in CA: 10,078 Total cases in FL: 518,075 Total deaths in FL: 7,927 Total cases in TX: 489,731 Total deaths in TX: 8,116 Total cases in NY: 448,252 Total deaths in NY: 32,819 |
| YouTube Channel |
| The Doctor Stu YouTube channel is up and running with many videos answering your questions. A new video goes up each day so subscribe. Go to www.DoctorStu.org to submit questions. |
