Covid-19 Discussions & Development

These postponements and "Closed for X months" assume a temporary halt in normal activity till, as President Trump stated today. "it blows through in 8 weeks". I believe that this is a false hope. *IF* we are very lucky, social distancing combined with warmer weather will lead to a drop off in new Covid-19 cases in the USA. But the virus is now firmly embedded into our society. If we let up on social distancing, then cases will exponentially explode again. We will be stuck with social distancing until a vaccine is developed AND about half the US population is vaccinated. Late 2021 is an optimistic hope for when that could happen. Alternatively, the Covid-19 pandemic continues exponential growth but at a slower rate due to warmer weather and social distancing. It will take time for 40% to 70% of the US population to become infected. As the % infected and recovered increases, growing herd immunity will slow the further expansion of the epidemic. When we have enoug...

Some Chinese autopsies of Covid-19 victims showed that they had both Covid pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia. Obviously, having two types of pneumonia could be deadly ! There is no vaccine for Covid-19, and unlikely to be one available this year. But there are two vaccines for bacterial pneumonia. Prevnar 13 that protects against 13 strains (and typically provokes a stronger immune response) and Pneumovax 23 that protects against 23 strains of bacteria. Due to the different ways the two vaccines work, one can take Prevnar 13 first and Pneumovax 23 three months later. Do the opposite order, and you have to wait a year to get Prevnar 13. Up until 2019, both vaccines were recommended for people 65 and older or with special circumstances. It will depend upon your physician, but potential exposure to Covid in later middle age may qualify as a special circumstance. Insurance may, or may not, pay for these vaccinations. We know that the impact of Covid is heavily age dependent. See my...