School is restarting and pumpkin spiced everything is hitting the stores. For us, that marks the beginning of the end of summer. We are certainly hoping for a mild autumn, so we can keep enjoying the benefits of physically distanced outdoor social time.
Testing updates
National testing counts this past week averaged a little over 700 thousand per day, down by about 20 percent from the July peak. This falls well short of the recommended 1.2 million daily tests needed to help control the pandemic. Additionally, the positive rate for the US remains over 6 percent, and 15 states have positive test rates above 10 percent.
Locally, daily testing counts continue to decline, but so does the percentage of positive test results ( ~3 percent), indicating that we are doing an appropriate amount of testing for our area. As a consequence of the national testing supply shortage, the wait times for testing in our area are long right now.
We are recommending that patients only seek testing if they are experiencing symptoms or after an exposure to an infected person. An exposure is spending 15 minutes of unmasked, close contact with an unmasked person who has COVID-19.
First confirmed reinfected person
A little over a week ago, we read reports of the first documented, definitive case of a person who has been infected twice with SARS-CoV-2. That report was quickly followed by a handful of additional case reports from around the globe of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. That sounds scary, but it is not necessarily cause for alarm.
Many experts assumed that reinfection was possible, since that is typical for the other coronaviruses that infect humans. One of these early reinfection cases brought good news: the patient did not even exhibit symptoms the second time. It’s unclear whether this will be the predominant pattern; a second patient had a moderate case of COVID-19 from his reinfection. Until we get more data, all we can really say for sure is that it is possible to become infected with SARS-CoV-2 twice.
Convalescent plasma, explained
Convalescent plasma is in the news as a newly approved treatment for patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Naturally, we’ve been getting some questions about it.
Plasma is the portion of the blood that remains after the blood cells are removed. It’s primarily composed of water, and includes essential proteins, glucose, electrolytes, clotting factors, and hormones. The theory behind convalescent plasma is that doctors could transfuse the plasma from people who have recently recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection (and have antibodies to the virus in their plasma) into the bloodstream of someone who is suffering from the disease, imparting a temporary boost to fight the infection.
A Mayo Clinic study of 35,000 people with severe COVID-19 revealed a small, yet statistically significant, reduction in deaths for those critically ill patients who were treated with convalescent plasma. More research is needed before best treatment practices are known, but these preliminary results are promising. Researchers expect that the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA will broaden access to the treatment and speed up additional research, while potentially saving lives.
Interested in volunteering for current or future COVID-19 prevention trials?
Volunteers are needed to join the registry for COVID-19 prevention research. If you are willing to participate in a trial (such as a vaccine trial) then go to Coronavirus Clinical Studies | COVID-19 Prevention Network, and fill out the 5-10 minute questionnaire to be added to the list. People from all around the country and all walks of life are needed to help. They are hoping to have at least half a million people join the registry.
Open wide!
Dr. Dave Dowsett, dentist and friend of the Baskin Clinic, sat down with our own Dr. Heather Baskin for a short blog vignette about what you should expect from your dental office during the pandemic. Enjoy!
As you know, we always like to end with something fun. Watching this video, we can’t help but laugh about just how “Clue”less we were at the start of 2020 about all that was in store for us this year.
And if you haven’t yet done so, please take 3 minutes to share your feedback about the Baskin Clinic pandemic response.
Stay well,
Baskin Clinic