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.