Trustworthy and accurate health info for moms like me! Monday updates
I’ve been banging my drum about wearing face masks for the last few weeks, but let’s not forget the other simple steps that we all need to take to control the COVID-19 pandemic: social distancing, hand washing, and cleaning high-touch surfaces. This week, I’m focusing on social distancing.
I’ve decided to break my Monday-updates schedule to address a developing COVID-19 story that I’ve gotten a lot of questions about this week.
This week, 239 scientists signed off on a commentary calling for increased attention to the possibility that COVID-19 might be spread by airborne transmission. Yesterday, the World Health Organization released an updated scientific brief acknowledging that COVID-19 might be spread by airborne transmission. If you’re anything like me, then you’ve probably seen a lot of headlines about this, and overheard a lot of discussions about it. So what does it mean?
I hope you all had a safe and healthy 4th of July, and that you keep making safe choices to keep yourself, your loved ones and your community healthy. COVID-19 cases keep rising in the U.S., particularly in states that either don’t have face mask requirements or aren’t enforcing them. A vaccine is months away at best, so until then it’s up to us to control this pandemic as best we can using the few tools we have available. Face masks have been proven to reduce the spread of COVID-19; everyone over 2 years old should be wearing one anytime they are out in public or around people who don’t live in their household.
Now that face masks are finally catching on, there are so many to choose from. It can be hard to choose which kind is right for you. Fortunately, the AIP Physics of Fluids published a fascinating study visually comparing the effectiveness of various kinds of commonly worn face coverings.
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.
A lot of my friends, both online and in “real life”, have asked me whether it’s safe to send their kids to camp this summer. And the answer is… it depends. On the type of camp and where it’s located.
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
