Saturday Stories: Bill Gates' Hopeful Thoughts, COVID Mythbusting, And #COVIDZero

Bill Gates, in his blog GatesNotes, explains the science of why 2021 promises many more advances in the treatment and prevention of COVID and science as a whole.

Gid MK, in Medium, busting 20 myths about COVID

Devi Sridhar, in The Guardian, on how the notion of learning to live with the virus rather than eliminating it is a horrible mistake.

Saturday Stories: Caring For Patients With COVID, Side Effects, And Science

Olivia Veira and Joshua M. Sharfstein, in JAMA, with a roundup of healthcare workers' candid thoughts on caring for patients with COVID.

Maryn McKenna, in Wired, on the importance of talking about the vaccines' side effects.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how COVID has changed the face of science.

Saturday Stories: How Pfizer's Vaccine Works, School Closures And Life Expectancies, And Your Place In The Vaccination Line

Jonathan Corum and Carl Zimmer, in The New York Times, explain how the Pfizer vaccine will work inside of your body.

Melissa Davey, in The Guardian, digs past the alarmist headlines and breathless tweets and speaks with epidemiologist Gid MK to explore that study suggesting school closures shortened kids' life expectancies.

Jordan Kisner, in The Atlantic, on the calculus behind the lineup of when and who should be vaccinated first and last

Saturday Stories: What We Should Be Doing While Awaiting Vaccines, How To Make The Best Of Vaccines, And Our Shameful Failure With Our Racialized Neighbourhoods

Zain Chagla, Sumon Chakrabarti, Isaac Bogoch and Lynora Saxinger, in The National Post, on what we should be doing with vaccines on the horizon.

Helen Branswell, in STAT, on how we might make best use of the vaccines once they arrive.

Jennifer Yang, Kate Allen, and Andrew Bailey, in the Toronto Star, with our shameful failure to protect our racialized neighbourhoods from the second wave.

Saturday Stories: Rapid Home Testing Could Save The Day, Pandemic Winter Rules To Rule Them All, And Yes, Kids Transmit COVID19

Michael Mina, in TIME, on why he thinks cheap, rapid, testing could dig us out of our holes long before vaccines start going into arms. 

Rachel Gutman, in The Atlantic, with the most important rule to follow to protect yourself from COVID this winter. 

Zoë Hyde, in The Conversation, covers what we now know about kids, schools, COVID, and transmission.

My #Movember Alex Trebek Tribute Moustache And Why I Almost Didn't Bother

Plainly, 2020 has been an awful year.

And I know that I haven't been blogging, but it just feels wrong to be writing about nutrition, medicine, or weight management in the face of our tragic new realities.

I do hope this post finds you and yours healthy and spared from the pandemic's impact, but I don't know that any of us have been spared, and for some of you I'm sadly sure, the costs have been beyond horrible.

Consequently I debated whether or not I was going to do Movember this year or send out this post. I'm still not convinced it's the right thing to do as people have given up so much, many have seen their incomes drop dramatically, and if an option, charity can certainly be metered out more locally and urgently (for instance we chose back in March to have a standing monthly donation set up with Ottawa's Food Bank). 

With that said, no doubt charities are hurting too, and the causes they fund haven't gone away which is why in the end I decided to throw my moustache in the ring. Contrary to what some believe, Movember is not simply a prostate cancer charity, and though some of its funds do go to prostate cancer research and treatment, Movember funds multiple men's health initiatives including those involving mental health, suicide, body image, eating disorders, substance use disorders, testicular cancer, and more. 

As a show of respect for Alex Trebek, I've done my best to shape my moustache accordingly, and as a thank you for donating, I'll send the top 3 donors a bottle of my homemade, home-grown, 6 week fermented, mesquite smoked red habanero and carolina reaper hot sauce (pictured below at the start of the ferment and ready to be bottled next weekend).

If you'd like to donate to my Movember efforts, simply click here and it'll take you to my donation page, and of course donations are all tax deductible, can be made anonymously, and every dollar counts.

Thank you and stay safe out there.

Yoni

Saturday Stories: Antarctically Cold Vaccines, Cancelling Thanksgiving, And How Vermont Succeeded

Selinia Simmons-Duffin, in NPR Shots, on why Pfizer's vaccine needs to be kept at temperatures lower than an Antarctic winter.

James Hamblin, in The Atlantic, on honouring the meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday by cancelling it this year.

Julia Belluz, in Vox, on how prioritizing supporting the vulnerable has led to Vermont's standout success in controlling COVID.

Photo By TUBS - Own work This W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Adobe Illustrator. This file was uploaded with Commonist. This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file: Usa edcp location map.svg (by Uwe Dedering). This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file: USA Hawaii location map.svg (by NordNordWest). This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file: Canada location map.svg (by Yug)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15949669

Saturday Stories: We Know How To Control The Virus, There Is No Casedemic, And There Won't Be Natural Herd Immunity

Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, explains what could be done by countries like Canada and the US to control the virus if they actually wanted to do so as evidenced by the successes of Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam

Gideon M-K, in Medium, explains why the concept of a 'casedemic' is misguided and wrong.

Jon Henley, in The Guardian, discusses how the surging cases right now in Sweden demonstrate that herd immunity through infection is not going to happen.

Saturday Stories: Complacency's Price, and Minks

Andre Picard, in The Globe and Mail, on the price we're paying for complacency with COVID.

Helen Branswell, in STAT, with some reassurance on Danish COVID minks. Yes minks.

Saturday Stories: The Election, The World Series, And The Expectations

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, predicts what the future of COVID in America will look like following a Biden or a Trump election win.

Jeff Passan, in ESPN, discusses how this year's World Series was a metaphor for 2020 America.

Helen Branswell, in STAT, on how now might be the time for us to reset our expectations of when vaccines will pull us out of this mess.

Photo By TonyTheTiger - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62897879

Saturday Stories: Respecting Uncertainty, Rapid Home Testing, And Herd Immunity

George Davey Smith, Michael Blastland, and Marcus Munafò, in the BMJ, on how when it comes to COVID, certainty is a red flag.

Amy McDermott, in PNAS, on how it'll likely be rapid home COVID testing that brings back some sense of normalcy - it can't come soon enough

Christie Aschwanden, in Nature, on the false promise of herd immunity.

Photo by By Tkarcher - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56760604

RDs! We're Hiring! Looking To Fill A Full-Time Permanent Position With My New Venture Constant Health (Telecommuters Welcome!)

Since 2004, Constant Health’s expert team has been at the forefront behavioural weight management, and now, by leveraging the best that technology has to offer, the goal is to share that expertise while eliminating geographic boundaries. Our headquarters are in Ottawa, but our team stretches across Canada from Halifax to Vancouver.

We believe that there is no one best way to lose weight, but rather that every individual has a healthiest life that they can enjoy and Constant Health is there to try to help people cultivate theirs and in so doing, help them to find their best weights.

Using the latest research into weight management, behavioural psychology, and nutrition, Constant Health’s data driven approach provides the regular feedback required both for clients to improve their weights, but also for our team to continually improve our technology.

In addition to our strong clinical team, we have a team of experienced professionals with deep expertise in mobile design, development, integration, and project delivery for iPhone, iPad and Android platforms.

If you have a passion for health, fitness, and technology we'd love to hear from you.

Job description

Constant Health, a dietitian delivered chronic disease management company that utilizes its own proprietary behavioural intervention technology tools is looking for a permanent full time dietitian to join our professional and unique team.

We are looking for an individual who loves working with people and technology, is great at multi-tasking, is a team player, thrives off of challenges and responsibility, and wants to utilize his or her skills in making a dramatic positive difference in people’s lives.

Responsibilities will include:

• Collaboration with interprofessional team members.
• One-on-one virtual counselling sessions via Constant Health’s proprietary platform to motivate and help patients live the healthiest lives they can with an emphasis on diabetes and/or weight management
• Design individualized nutrition plans based on each individuals’ unique lifestyles, and dietary likes and dislikes.
• Write for Constant Health’s different social media outlets: Website, blog, vlog, and monthly newsletter.

The skills you’ll need:

• Exceptionally strong motivational counselling skills.
• Must have excellent listening skills, empathetic and sensitive to patient’s needs. We do not ever utilize negative reinforcement in our counselling.
• Able to adapt nutrition advice to recent scientific research with thoughtful critical appraisal and for a wide variety of diets – from keto and intermittent fasting, to balanced deficits, to plant-based whole foods, to everything in between, because at Constant Health we recognize that the key to long term success is actually enjoying your chosen diet.
• Must be innovative and give patients realistic and helpful nutrition advice.
• Positive and non-restrictive approach to weight management.
• Comfortable giving presentations.
• Possess sound professional judgment, initiative and enthusiasm.
• Good time management skills and ability to organize.
• Excellent computer skills, and comfort with social media
• Strong cooking skills.

The requirements we’re looking for:

• Minimum one year of clinical experience
• Registered Dietitian
• Member of the College of Dietitians of Ontario and in good standing (or willingness and ability to join).
• Master level clinicians and/or Certified Diabetes Educators are preferred, although not required.
• Previous experience working in weight management and diabetes care is an asset.

Because we are looking for the best candidate our wages are highly competitive with those in the community ($59K - 70K/year depending on qualifications) and after the 3 month probation period, medical and dental benefits are part of our package.

Interested candidates can send along their CV to careers @ constanthealth.ca

We look forward to hearing from and meeting with you.

Saturday Stories: The Scamedemic, The "Great" Barrington Declaration, Sweden, And The John Snow Memorandum

 

Tony Scott, in SFGate, on how he used to call it the 'scamedemic'. He doesn't anymore. 

Marc Lipsitch, Gregg Gonsalves, Carlos del Rio, and Rochelle P. Walensky, in The Washington Post, on the why the so-called Great Barrington Declaration is far from well named.

Kelly Bjorklund and Andrew Ewing, in Time, cover the disastrous truths of COVID in Sweden.

And as a response to renewed interest in herd immunity and that Great Barrington Declaration comes a competing declaration, the John Snow Memorandum, which explains why herd immunity strategies are dangerous and why, and unlike the Barrington document, does not include the signatures of Dr. Person Fakename, Professor Notaf Uckingclu, Dr. Johnny Fartpants, Dr. Very Dodgy Doctor, Dr. Brian Blessed Doctor in Winged Flight (truly, they are actual Barrington signatories)

Saturday Stories: Vitamin D, The New England Journal of Medicine, Toxic Masculinity, And Super-Spreading

Gid M-K, in Medium, tells us what we do and don't know about Vitamin D and COVID

The Editors of and in The New England Journal of Medicine, on with paragraphs of fire regarding the coming American election.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how toxic masculinity is insufficient as a COVID treatment

Zeynep Tufekci, in The Atlantic, on super-spreading.

Saturday Stories: Vaccine Chaos And What Did You Expect?

Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on why vaccine chaos may be looming

David Frum, also in The Atlantic, asks, what did you expect?

Saturday Stories: Vaccine Collaboration, Racism and COVID Coverage, and Nonsensical Athletes

Julia Belluz, in Vox, on the 156 countries teaming up on a COVID vaccine (without the US and China).

Indi Samarajiva, in Medium, on the overwhelming racism of COVID media coverage.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar, in the Los Angeles Times, on athletes, COVID, and nonsense

Saturday Stories: Considering Risk and Great Fences

Aaron E. Carroll, in The New York Times, with a useful read on how most of us have been considering and responding to risk backwards.

Tomás Pueyo, also in The New York Times, on the need for great fences.

Photo: Ongayo / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Saturday Stories: COVID Winter, Circular Errors, Mutations, And Obesity

Irfan Dhalla, in The Globe and Mail, on COVID and the rapidly approaching Canadian winter.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on the recurrent errors being made that hamper progress on COVID.

Edward Holmes, in The New York Times, covers the mutating SARS-CoV2 virus and why we needn't be worried (yet).

And in case you missed it, I had the chance to chat with some friends from McGill's Science in Society division about COVID, obesity, moral panics, and more:

Mark Earnest, in The New England Journal of Medicine, on becoming a plague doctor.

James Hamblin, in The Atlantic, on why herd immunity isn't a strategy.

Jesmyn Ward, in Vanity Fair, on losing her husband to COVID. 

Jon Cohen, in Science, interviews Moncef Slaoui, the head of operation Warp Speed who says he'll quit if politics trump science on vaccine safety and distribution.

Saturday Stories: Racist Pulse Oximeters, Convalescent Plasma Politics, Rapid Testing, And Immunity

Amy Moran-Thomas, in Boston Review, on how pulse oximeters, integral to the care of a COVID19 patient, encode systemic racism.

Craig Spencer, in The Atlantic, discusses convalescent plasma politics from his very unique vantage point as both a New York ER physician, and as someone who received convalescent plasma (to treat Ebola) as an experimental treatment.

Katherine Harmon Courage, in Vox, with the lowdown on how inexpensive rapid testing might bring back a semblance of normal sooner than vaccines.

Helen Branswell, in Stat, with 4 different types of immunity and their ramifications.

Saturday Stories: 7 Months In, Magical Thinking, Long Haulers, And Weighing Kids In School

Andrew Joseph, Helen Branswell, and Elizabeth Cooney, in STAT, review all that we currently know about COVID-19 and the pressing questions that remain

Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, on the mortal need to resist magical thinking.

Ed Yong (god he's fantastic), in The Atlantic (who can't be paying him enough), on the need to understand the COVID long haulers to truly understand the pandemic.

Me, in Medscape, on why I think it's an incredibly awful idea to weigh kids in schools (as is the plan in the UK) to track their COVID gains.

Saturday Stories: Kids And School, The Immune System, Russian Vaccines, And Sharpies

Zoë Hyde, in a pre-print in The Medical Journal of Australia, with a review article covering what we do and don't know about the risks of kids, COVID, and school.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with what we do and don't know about our immune systems and COVID.

Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, in The Guardian, with what we do and don't know about the new Russian COVID vaccine.

Jen Coleman, in McSweeney's, writes about Sharpies (don't miss this one)

Saturday Story: Just One This Week. A Must Read If You Haven't Yet

Ed Yong, in the Atlantic, with the sadly all too believable (yet still unbelievable) story of how SARS-CoV2 defeated America

Canada's Obesity In Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline, Released Today, A Huge Step Forward

I'm proud to have played a small part in the release of today's Obesity In Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline as it is the first (I think, though I'm biased) to truly take a patient-centred approach while simultaneously treating obesity like a chronic disease

Not a small endeavour, this years long effort includes chapters never before seen in any other obesity treatment guideline including those on weight bias and stigma, virtual medicine, commercial weight loss programs, living with obesity, as well as issues specific to indigenous peoples.

It explicitly steers away from diet culture (but does speak to the need for individualized medical nutrition therapy), teaches readers that neither BMI nor weight measures the presence or absence of health and introduces them to the concept that obesity should be considered a chronic disease only when excess adiposity impairs health, and it recognizes that obesity is anything but a choice.

While going through the entirety of the guideline isn't doable in a short blog post, here are the guideline's overarching summary points:

• Obesity is a prevalent, complex, progressive and relapsing chronic disease, characterized by abnormal or excessive body fat (adiposity), that impairs health.
• People living with obesity face substantial bias and stigma, which contribute to increased morbidity and mortality independent of weight or body mass index.
• This guideline update reflects substantial advances in the epidemiology, determinants, pathophysiology, assessment, prevention and treatment of obesity, and shifts the focus of obesity management toward improving patient-centred health outcomes, rather than weight loss alone.
• Obesity care should be based on evidence-based principles of chronic disease management, must validate patients’ lived experiences, move beyond simplistic approaches of “eat less, move more,” and address the root drivers of obesity.
• People living with obesity should have access to evidence-informed interventions, including medical nutrition therapy, physical activity, psychological interventions, pharmacotherapy and surgery.

Kudos to all of my fellow authors and especially to Dr. Sean Wharton the project's chief cat wrangler.

To have a peek at the CMAJ's published guideline summary, click here.

To access the guideline in its 19 chapter entirety, click here.

Saturday Stories: Vaccine Reality Check, Early Warning Failure, And Maybe We Should Talk About Ventilation

Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, with a vaccine reality check.

Grant Robertson, in The Globe and Mail, on how Canada's pandemic early warning system failed with COVID19.

Zeynep Tufecki, in The Atlantic, wonders why we're not talking more about ventilation

Saturday Stories: COVID Orphans, A Must Read Piece, The Currency of Risk, And COVID19 Vaccine Side Effects

Dr. Anna DeForest

John Woodrow Cox, in the Washington Post, with a heartbreaking story about 3 coronavirus orphans.

Anna DeForest, in The New England Journal of Medicine, with what I would describe as an absolutely must read piece highlighting the crushing devastation COVID is wreaking on front-line physicians.

Maggie Koerth, in Five Thirty Eight, explains how every decision is a risk, and how every risk is a decision.

Hilda Bastian, in Wired, explains why there needs to be frank transparency around any possible COVID19 side effects even if they're minor.

Saturday Stories: Herd Immunity Is Up To Us, #SchoolsBeforeBars, Another Pandemic, And The American Dumpster Fire

James Hamblin, in The Atlantic, with an explainer on how herd immunity might only require 20% of us to be immune (whether by vaccine or infection) if we are diligent with our behaviours.

Paul Krugman, in The New York Times, on how the rush to open bars before schools threatens our kids' education.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, considers what might happen were we to be facing another pandemic before we've figured out how to deal with COVID

Helen Branswell, in STAT, on how to fix the American dumpster fire that is their response to COVID to date.

U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Levi Riendeau / Public domain

Saturday Stories: Is It Airborne?, Exhausted Experts, Sweden, Cancer During COVID, And Schools

Apoorva Mandavilli, in The New York Times, with a discussion on whether or not SARS-CoV2 is airborne and what that actually means.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, covers the toll COVID19 has had on the "not ok" experts covering, studying, and managing it.

Peter S. Goodman, in The New York Times, with the cautionary lesson from Sweden that it's the virus, not quarantines, that devastate the economy.


Bill Gardner, in the Incidental Economist, with his (first on this topic) blog post highlighting the realities he's facing after being diagnosed with cancer, in Canada, during the time of COVID.

Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, Gretchen Vogel, and Meagan Weiland, in Science, summarize the a bit all over the place data on reopening schools around the globe

Photo by Alex Valavanis / CC BY-SA

Saturday Stories: No Heroes In Science, Selflessness, School Reopening, And Vaccine Developments

Stuart Richie, in Unherd, reminds us why there should be no such thing as science heroes.

Wency Leung, in The Globe and Mail, discusses her decision to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger and reflects on selflessness in the time of COVID

Carl Zimmer, in The New York Times, on the phenomenon of COVID19 super spreaders.

Hilda Bastian, in her blog Absolutely Maybe, brings us up to date on all the developments in the race to the first COVID19 vaccine.

Sarah Cohodes, on Twitter (and you don't need an account to read), with a terrific thread on considerations around school reopening.

Saturday Stories: Peer Review, #Masks4All, Talking To Kids, And The Public Health Of Protests

Simine Vazire, in Wired, on the failings of scientific peer review

Kimberly A. Prather, Chia C. Wang, and Robert T. Schooley, in Science, on how to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV2 (tl;dr - wear a mask)

Kate Julian, in The Atlantic, on how to talk to kids about the sad, scary, and unjust issues permeating society today.

Tara Haelle, in Forbes, on why public health experts support Black lives matter protests.

Photo By Mike Shaheen - https://www.flickr.com/photos/63015897@N02/49979513917/, CC BY 2.0, Link

Saturday Stories: COVID And Kids With Disabilities, Racist Statues, COVID Death Mysteries, And Virus Hunters

Hallie Levine, in The New York Times, on how children with disabilities are being left behind while the rest of country slowly reopens.

James Stout, in Popular Mechanics, explains how to use science to topple a racist statue.

Joel Achenbach,  Karin Brulliard and Ariana Eunjung Cha, in The Washington Post, on what we do and don't understand about who lives and dies with COVID. 

Maryn McKenna, in Smithsonian Magazine, on some of the world's foremost virus hunters.

Photo By Quidster4040 at English Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0, Link

Saturday Stories: COVID files

Dr. Stephan Kamholz - Chair of Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center, died of COVID19 on June 11th, 2020. May his memory be a blessing 

Sharon Begley and Helen Branswell, in STAT, spoke with 11 epidemiologists to explore what we need to ensure such that we don't screw up dealing with COVID's inevitable second wave.

Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, on whether we should all be striving to respond more like Sweden?

Jonathan Corum and Carl Zimmer, in The New York Times, with a coronavirus vaccine tracker.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, in The New York Times, moderates a discussion about whether or not a coronavirus vaccine can be produced in record time

Rachel R. Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd, in The New England Journal of Medicine, discuss stolen breaths and racial inequities in medicine.

Saturday Stories: Some Anti-Racism Resources #BlackLivesMatter

May his memory be a blessing

Corrine Shutak, in Medium, with 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.

A non-bylined Google Doc of anti-racism resources for white people.

Quakelabs' collection of Canadian specific anti-racist resource.

Farrah Penn, in Buzzfeed, with 23 Phenomenal Young Adult Books By Black Authors From The First Half Of 2020

The University of Toronto's Office of Inclusion and Diversity with their collection of recent stories and resources on anti-racism.

@antisocialbritt, on Twitter, with her thread of children's books that discuss racism.

@bronze_bae, on Twitter, with her thread of young adult books that discuss racism.

Photo By Lorie Shaull - https://www.flickr.com/photos/number7cloud/49959004213/, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

Saturday Stories: This Week's COVID Selections

Dr. Earline Austin, 63 yo NYC Physician, died on 4/3. Originally from Guyana, she lived in Fresh Meadows and was affiliated with Staten Island University Hospital. Attended Ross University for Medical School. May her memory be a blessing

Emily Chung, in the CBC, with everything you need to know to understand R-naught values.

Andy Larsen, in the Salt Lake City Tribune, with a breakdown of different locations and events and what we know of their risks in terms of spreading COVID.

Kimberly A. Prather, Chia C. Wang, and Robert T. Schooley, in Science, on how if you want life to return to some remote semblance of before's normal, if you're not already doing so, you need to start wearing a damn mask

Clayton Dalton, in The New Yorker, on what we lose when we become numb to mass death.

Saturday Stories: The COVID files

Dr.Sudheer Singh Chauhan, Internal Medicine Physician and Associate Program Director IM Residency Program at Jamaica Hospital, New York, died of COVID19 on May 19th. May his memory be a blessing

Tavis Apramian, in the CBC, on why you must discuss how you want to die with your family.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on how America's patchwork approach to containing COVID19 is likely to challenge any hope of near term success 

Kai Kupferschmidt, in Science, on why only some people are COVID super spreaders 

Natalie Kofler and Françoise Baylis, in Nature, on the perils, pitfalls, and disparities of "immunity passports". 

David Fisman, in The Globe and Mail, on what Canada needs to reopen safely and how at least now, it doesn't appear that we have it. 

Ian Sample, in The Guardian, with a rather depressing piece on COVID19 vaccine related challenges and realities.

And if you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, here's a segment I did with CTV's The Social on the very real impact these scary times has on our physical and mental well being

Saturday Stories: This week in COVID19

Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, UK RN, 28 years old, died from COVID April 12th. May her memory be a blessing.  

Peter Piot, one of the scientists who discovered Ebola, in Science, with his thoughts on COVID, both as an expert and as a survivor.

Erin Bromage, on her own blog, gives you some advice about your risks in various locations once your location's physical distancing rules are relaxed.

Lois Parshley, in Vox, on the long term complications COVID confers to some of its survivors.

Helen Branswell, in STAT, on how yes, cats can catch SARS-CoV2 and that while infected, spew piles of virus and infect other cats. Unclear right now if they can infect people

Kevin Roose, in The New York Times, wonders what happens if we get a COVID19 vaccine but 50% of the population refuses to take it?

Saturday Stories: The COVID Roundup

Dr. Bredy Pierre-Louis, Family Physician, Brooklyn, Died From COVID19. May his memory be a blessing

Caitlin Flanagan, in The Atlantic, on having stage IV colon cancer during the time of COVID19 (if you only read one piece this week, make it this one)

Orac, in Respectful Insolence, discusses Plandemic.

Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, on testing and contact tracing.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, covers whether or not we should be currently worried about coronavirus mutations

FREE Help From My New Venture For Ontarians With Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Or Prediabetes But Stranded By COVID19

Are you an Ontario resident recently diagnosed with either type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes where COVID19 has prevented you from receiving comprehensive support to help manage and understand your new condition? If so, my new venture can help, and better yet, for FREE. Built initially to support weight management, Constant Health, our new digital behavioural intervention, is being re-positioned to help people with newly diagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes who in turn have been left stranded by COVID19.

Constant Health's iOS app (note, this opportunity is currently only available for those with iPhones or iPads as the Android app is still in development), will provide you with 12 weeks of private and secure (PHIPA compliant) access to both a Mayo clinic certified health coach as well as a registered dietitian who together, by way of text messaging and video chats, will work collaboratively with you on your diet and lifestyle to help improve your blood sugar control and teach you about your new condition.

Constant Health's technology includes a robust, open-ended collaborative goal setting engine, a built-in food diary, a searchable and filterable database of millions of the web's most popular recipe sites, along with a proprietary real-time dashboard which will allow our team to applaud and encourage your success as well as to help troubleshoot your struggles.

As with my office's practice (the Bariatric Medical Institute), Constant Health's services aren't limited to any particular dietary strategy, but instead work with you on whatever approach you feel would best suit your life and preferences. From low-fat, to keto, to vegan and everything in between Constant Health can help.

Rest assured, there are no strings whatsoever. Currently, thanks to an unrestricted grant from Novo Nordisk, we have a limited number of spots available to freely offer and plainly, we are not currently accepting paid patients. However due to provincial medical licensing regulations for both MDs and RDs, and the need for physician screening, we can currently only extend this offer to Ontarians.

If you're interested, live in Ontario, and have an iPhone, simply fill out this quick survey and if eligible, our office will contact you to book a consultation with me so that I can explore your medical history and have a peek at your lab results for us to mutually determine if the program is for you.

Saturday Stories: This Week in #COVID19

Arlene Reid, 51, mother of 5 and PSW in Ontario working in LTC, died from COVID19 on April 27th. May her memory be a blessing.

Gid MK, in Medium, with his meta-analysis of reported infection fatality rates for COVID19

Jeanne Lenzer and Shannon Brownlee, in Inside, on the out of control "science" of this pandemic.

Joss Fong, in Vox, with a great explainer on how to understand that graph of all the countries' COVID cases you keep seeing. 

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with a spectacular guide on how to make sense of the all over the place that is COVID19.

Caitlin Flanagan, in The Atlantic, with the 2020 commencement speech you're never hear (but you should so read).

Saturday Stories: The Week in #COVID19 And Some Stories Worth Reading

Angeline Bernadel, LPN at West River Healthcare in Milford, died of COVID19 on April 4th, 2020, may her memory be a blessing

Achal Prabhala and Ellen ‘t Hoen, in The Guardian, on our eventual COVID19 treatment and cure and its inevitable control by the pharmaceutical industry.

James Hamblin, in The Atlantic, on why some people with COVID19 get so much sicker than others. 

Ari Feldman, in The Forward, on how Orthodox Jews are flocking by the thousands to donate convalescent plasma in the fight against COVID19.

Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, on what the world has taught us the dance must look like if we want to open things up. 

Tomas Pueyo, in Medium, on the COVID19 dance steps that you yourself might be able to take.

Maryn McKenna, in Wired, on the risk that COVID19 will worsen the existing crisis of antibiotic resistance. 

Colleen Farrell, in The New York Times, on what to say and not say to those working COVID19's frontlines.

Saturday Stories: This Week's Worthwhile COVID19 Reads Roundup

Dr. Huy-Hao Dao, 44,,who worked at Quebec’s Montérégie-Centre Integrated Health and Social Services Centre in Longueuil and sadly the first Canadian physician to die of COVID19, may his memory be a blessing.

Roxanne Khamsi, in Nature, on the incredible challenges we'll face producing and distributing a SARS-CoV2 vaccine if/when we find one.

Michael Specter, in The New Yorker, with a profile of America's real doctor - Anthony Fauci

Apoorva Mandavilli and Katie Thomas, in The New York Times, discuss what serology tests are, and whether they'll help us all get back to work.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on our pandemic summer and how the only way out is through.

Maggie Koerth, in FiveThirtyEight, on COVID's destruction of our medical supply chains and how it's not impossible the entire world's supply of medical grade glass (used for vaccine vials for instance) has already been pre-purchased.

Terrie Laplante-Beauchamp, in the Globe and Mail, with her must-read 3 day diary of her experiences volunteering as an orderly in a Montreal based long-term care facility hit hard by COVID19.

William Hanage, in the Guardian, on why he thinks it's incredibly premature to be discussing peaks, second waves, and getting back to normal.

Saturday Story: Only One, Because For First Time in 15 Years, I Accidentally Deleted The Rest

Dr. Doug Bass, may his memory be a blessing, the first physician in NYC to die from COVID9

Sorry to those who enjoy these reads, but by accident, deleted the lot of them save one

Dhruv Khullar, in The New Yorker, on his work as a physician in NYC during the time of COVID19, and adrenaline, duty and fear.

Saturday Stories: Some Of This Week's Most Important #COVID19 Stories

You can follow Dr. Griggs on Twitter

Italian novelist, Francesca Melandri, in The Guardian, writes you a letter to you from Italy explaining what you're about to be facing.

Psychologist Stuart Richie, in Unherd, on why you might not want to trust psychologists on matters coronavirus

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, with a characteristically great deep dive on whether or not we should all be wearing masks.

Harlan Krumholz, in The New York Times, needs you to know there are many false negative #COVID19 tests and why if you have symptoms, you should assume that's what you've got.

J. Kenji López-Alt, in Serious Eats, with the definitive guide to food safety and the coronavirus (a must read if you watched that long, scary, YouTube video about same)

Mary Chris Jaklevic, in HealthNewsReview, explains why you need to consider stories detailing #COVID19 scientific studies with caution.

Saturday Stories: Some Of This Week's Most Important #COVID19 Reads

Jennifer Yang, in The Toronto Star, speaks with 3 of Toronto's health care heroes.

Adam Rogers, in Wired, explains what convalescent plasma is and how it might help treat COVID19.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, being Ed Yong and writing an incredible piece on how this pandemic might end.

David Enrich, Rachel Abrams and Steven Kurutz, in The New York Time, on the sewing army rising up to help.

Helen Branswell, in STAT, summarizing all the we've learned to date about the SARS-CoV2 virus.

Daniela J. Lamas, in The New York Times, writing as a critical care physician in Boston on the unfathomable reality she's facing there.

Siddhartha Mukherjee, in The New Yorker, on how the coronavirus behaves inside of our bodies.

Saturday Stories: Still Just Coronavirus Links - Guessing It Might Be This Way For A Little While At Least

Gretchen Reynolds, in The New York Times, answers questions as to the safety of exercising in the face of COVID-19

Cornelia Griggs, in The New York Times,  a critical care physician in New York, explains why she needs you to know that the sky is falling.

Yascha Mounk, in The Atlantic, tries to explain why people aren't staying home despite incredible risks and ramifications of not doing so.

Ashleigh Tuite and David Fisman, in The Globe and Mail, both infectious disease epidemiologists, with their thoughts on how we might slow the burn of the COVID-19 forest fire.

Aaron E. Carroll and Ashish Jha, in The Atlantic, with their thoughts on how we can beat this coronavirus.

Pam Belluck, in The New York Times, needs you to know that though children uniformly have much milder cases of COVID-19 than adults, some will become seriously ill.

Manny Fernandez, in The New York Times, with a sobering read on how the coronavirus will impact the already impoverished.

Saturday Stories: #COVID19 #FlattenTheCurve #CancelEverything Edition

7 views on why social distancing is so important right now and why we have to "cancel everything". If you think that #COVID19 isn't a big deal, do take the time to read these pieces to learn why you're wrong (ordered solely by way of the order I happened to read them in).

Eliza Barclay and Dylan Scott, in Vox.

Tomas Pueyo in Medium

Yascha Monk, in The Atlantic

Helen Branswell, in STAT

André Picard, in The Globe and Mail

Sharon Kirkey in The National Post

Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic

Also, here's Wency Leung, in The Globe and Mail, on what you should do if you think you have COVID19, and here is the Toronto Star's infographic on what self-isolation should look like if it's determined that you've contracted the virus.

Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris / CC BY-SA