In this Stimulus Thump: Should we be worried about COVID on surfaces? Tools to manage the third wave. A new study suggests there might be benefits from aspirin. Having flu and COVID at the same time increases odds of mortality.
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We Discuss:
Two tools to mitigate mental health impacts of the third COVID wave [01:48];
Dike Drummond from the Happy MD
Circle the wagons and all power to shields. “thank, protect, recharge, feed and nurture - you, your family and your team with any time and energy that is left.
Barry Kerzin, MD (H.H. The Dalai Lama’s personal physician)
The potential pitfalls of empathy in medicine
"Stepping in the others' shoes may indeed not be possible, yet we try. And so doing, it can get us in trouble. Much of the burnout, so prevalent among healthcare professionals, comes from trying to take on others' pain through empathy. When we take on others' pain, we tend to own it."
This might sound harsh because empathy is valued trait. In healthcare, especially the pandemic surge, it may not be healthy.
Consider choosing compassion over empathy in healthcare
Compassion is the wish and the action... when we're able ...to reduce or even eliminate pain and suffering. -Barry Kerzin
Influenza and COVID co-infection increased mortality compared to COVD infection alone [06:40];
Compared to baseline, odds ratio for mortality in a UK study
COVID (+), Flu (-): 2.6
COVID (+), Flu (+): 5.9. A 5.9 fold increase in mortality risk over baseline.
An association between aspirin use and decreased in-hospital mortality, ICU days, and need for a ventilator [10:00];
How long COVID exists on surfaces and does it remain infectious? [14:57]
Virus can last for days on plastic, weeks on money
When virus was collected from surfaces in a COVID ward, it did not appear infectious on further testing
However, collected samples had low viral concentrations (or high cycle threshold)
More.
End Matter
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References:
Stowe, Julia, et al. "Interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza and the impact of coinfection on disease severity: A test negative design." MedRxiv (2020). Full Text
Iacobucci, Gareth. "Covid-19: Risk of death more than doubled in people who also had the flu, English data show." (2020). Full Text
Chow, Jonathan H., et al. "Aspirin Use is Associated with Decreased Mechanical Ventilation, ICU Admission, and In-Hospital Mortality in Hospitalized Patients with COVID-19." Anesthesia & Analgesia (2020). Link
It’s time to talk about COVID-19 and surfaces again Wired Magazine. Oct 20, 2020. Full Text
CDC Page on How COVID spreads
Van Doremalen, Neeltje, et al. "Aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 as compared with SARS-CoV-1." New England Journal of Medicine 382.16 (2020): 1564-1567. Full Text
Riddell, Shane, et al. "The effect of temperature on persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on common surfaces." Virology Journal 17.1 (2020): 1-7. Full Text
Ben-Shmuel, Amir, et al. "Detection and infectivity potential of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) environmental contamination in isolation units and quarantine facilities." Clinical Microbiology and Infection (2020). Full Text
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