Let’s Talk about COVID’s VTE Risk for Women on the Pill – Medical Page Today

Women have appeared protected from COVID-19 in some way compared with men, but how the thrombotic risk shakes out for those on contraceptives, hormone therapy, and in pregnancy remains an important question. Combined oral contraceptives carry a two- to six-fold increased risk for venous thromboembolic events (VTEs), with similar risks seen with oral hormone replacement therapy for menopause and other indications. Pregnancy increases the risk four- to five-fold.

The Mask Slackers of 1918 – NYT

The masks were called muzzles, germ shields and dirt traps. They gave people a “pig-like snout.” Some people snipped holes in their masks to smoke cigars. Others fastened them to dogs in mockery. Bandits used them to rob banks. More than a century ago, as the 1918 influenza pandemic raged in the United States, masks of gauze and cheesecloth became the facial front lines in the battle against the virus. But as they have now, the masks also stoked political division. Then, as now, medical authorities urged the wearing of masks to help slow the spread of disease. And then, as now, some people resisted.

Some U.S. Schools Begin to Reopen With Fraught Results – New York Times

Many schools in Indiana started on Thursday. On Saturday, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation in the central part of the state sent a note thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But the optimistic tone quickly gave way: Staff members had tested positive, and the high school was forced to close its doors and move all students in seventh through 12th grades to online learning for at least a week.

How the Pandemic Defeated America – The Atlantic

How did it come to this? A virus a thousand times smaller than a dust mote has humbled and humiliated the planet’s most powerful nation. America has failed to protect its people, leaving them with illness and financial ruin. It has lost its status as a global leader. It has careened between inaction and ineptitude. The breadth and magnitude of its errors are difficult, in the moment, to truly fathom.

Getting a coronavirus vaccine in record time is hard. Distributing it to tens of millions may be equally daunting – Washington Post

With the Trump administration aiming to deliver 300 million doses of vaccine against the coronavirus as early as January, state officials and health experts say they remain in the dark about key details and, therefore, are inadequately prepared for what is expected to be the largest single vaccination campaign ever undertaken.

[Opinion} Scared That Covid-19 Immunity Won’t Last? Don’t Be – New York Times

Dropping antibody counts aren’t a sign that our immune system is failing against the coronavirus, nor an omen that we can’t develop a viable vaccine.

Researchers identify transferrin as potential contributor to COVID-19 severity – Medical News.net

SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. It is currently not known why some individuals develop only mild or no symptoms when infected, whilst others experience severe, life-threatening forms of the disease. However, it is known that the risk of COVID-19 becoming severe increases with age and is higher in males than in females. Many severe COVID-19 cases are characterised by increased blood clotting and thrombosis formation. Out of more than 200 candidate factors, researchers identified a glycoprotein called transferrin to be a procoagulant (a cause of blood clotting) that increases with age, is higher in males than in females, and is higher in SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. Hence, transferrin may have potential as a biomarker for the early identification of COVID-19 patients at high risk of severe disease. [Related Study]

Clinical Considerations

Preventing complications in Covid-19 patients via airway management systems – Medical Practice News

Covid-19 patients and ventilator-associated pneumonia Preliminary studies and anecdotal evidence from high-burden Covid-19 areas suggest that superinfections are common, and more particularly, VAP.1 Critically ill patients intubated with Covid-19 are at higher risk for developing VAP and other infections typical for all critically ill patients (e.g. central line or urinary tract infections).1 This is most likely due to high viral burden causing immunosuppression as well as the total length of their illness.

Official Reporting for August 3, 2020