Month: June 2020

Masks work. So wear them.

Royalty-free stock photo ID: 1693879288 Source: www.shutterstock.com

I had a blog post on another topic half written, but the rise in new COVID-19 cases in the United States over the last 2 weeks is too shocking and dangerous to ignore. Texas, Florida and California are all stepping back reopening plans and returning to previous restrictions. In my opinion, that was the right call to make. But I wish it hadn’t taken hundreds of thousands of cases and 20,000 U.S. deaths in the month of June alone for them to act.

COVID-19 isn’t taking a summer vacation. It hasn’t gone south of the equator to colder temperatures, and despite what some might like you to believe summer UV rays are not killing it. Believe me, I wish this were an ordinary summer, and that my family and I could go about our usual summer vacation activity without worrying about a pandemic. But that’s just not the world we live in anymore. It isn’t. We need to get back to the steps that helped control COVID-19 earlier this year and that will do so again if we stick to them.

The first step I’m going to address is face mask wear.

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Welcome, welcome!

I’m a mom and a public health physician. I frequently find that in both of my roles, people have a lot of health questions for themselves, their kids, their parents and other loved ones. I have a lot of health questions for myself, my kids, my parents and other loved ones too!

I love to read, research and stay on top of the latest public health and medical information. Things change so quickly nowadays that it’s hard to stay on top of things – and a lot of what I find is either jargony, inaccurate, or both.

I hope to be a trustworthy and accurate resource for moms and other people with health questions. I believe in science and logic. But as a scientist, I also know that we don’t have all of the answers to everything – anyone who tells you that they do is probably lying or trying to sell you something (or both!).

I will share plain language, simple explanations of facts and science, counter myths, and explain when we quite frankly don’t have an answer!

This is not a “mommy blog”, with all due respect to mommy bloggers. While I am a mom and may occasionally make reference to my kids, please respect their privacy and don’t ask personal questions about them or me.

I look forward to talking with you more! After these set-up posts, I’m planning on initial Monday updates – or more frequently in the future if I can handle the volume in my busy work and family life! If you have any health-related questions or topics you’d like me to cover, leave a comment here!

🙂 Dr. B

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