Keeping perspective during the Covid kerfuffle requires info you can trust

Announcing the National Pharmaceutical Congress Spring 2020 Webinar: "After This Rude Interruption: What the Life Sciences Will Look Like After the Covid Crisis"  Wed., May 20, 11 a.m. to noon (EDT.) Panel discussion of thought-leaders from the Canadian Life Sciences and physician communities to discuss and determine the way forward. Faculty includes: Wendy Adams, Galderma Canada; Peter Brenders, Kontollo Health (lead panellist); Dr. Wayne P. Gulliver, Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador; Robin Hunter, Malinckrodt; Richard Lajoie, Bausch Health; Mitch Shannon, Chronicle Companies (host.) Registration is free but strictly limited to 100 delegates. (Overflow viewing will be live-streamed to YouTube.) Register now at http://tiny.cc/NPC-Spring

May 11, 2020 -- With so many news stories about Covid-19 coming out daily, it can be a challenge to filter out the most important messages from the background hum. I find it helpful to remember that preliminary research is just that -- a first look. The such-and-such molecule was used in the treatment of Covid-19 in 30 people at Hospital X? It might be worth setting up a Google alert to let you know if anything new on that comes up, in case other researchers confirm the findings, but a speedy phone call to a chemical supply house to start your stockpile is premature. (It's Chronicle senior editor John Evans here, writing today's Daily CurveFlattener.)

Unfortunately, this anxious environment attracts opportunists who hope to benefit themselves by providing false information or cutting off information altogether.

This week my social media has been awash with talk of a film titled Plandemic [sic], which claims to be a documentary revealing the Covid-19 crisis is manufactured, exaggerated, and that health authority directives to combat it are harmful distractions.

Several excellent sources have picked apart the falsehoods included in the film's 26-minute 'trailer', but the comforting idea that someone is in charge, (even if they are malicious)  continues to appeal to many.

Speaking of good information, today is World Melanoma Day, and to mark it the Canadian Dermatology Association is encouraging Canadians to take sun-safe precautions while getting some fresh air this Spring. The CDA has also released the findings of the 2019 CDA Sun Safe Behaviour Survey, which has some positive news--Canadians increasingly understand the risks of sun exposure and the harmful effects of ultraviolet UV radiation, and on many measures, they are also changing behaviours to better protect themselves--and some less-good news: Canadians continue to have misconceptions about aspects of sun safety. Findings from the survey can be read here.


COVID CHRONICLE 05/11/2020

• Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico write that they have found that the dominant strain of Coronavirus in the world is actually a more-contagious mutation of the virus which first appeared in the early days of the epidemic. This strain first emerged in Europe in February, they write, and had overtaken its predecessor strain for several infected cases worldwide by March. 
• Some cases of Covid-19 presenting at Arizona State University Health Services in Tempe, Arizona were carrying a strain of the virus which researchers from the university said had a mutation which resembled one that occurred in the earlier SARS coronavirus, which weakened that virus and slowed the outbreak. The paper is available here.
• Last month, South Korean officials reported 100 cases of individuals who had recovered from Covid-19, but who still tested positive for the virus. The good news is that they do not appear to have been re-infected. A World Health Organization spokesperson told Agence France-Presse, without specifically mentioning the Korean cases: "We are aware that some patients test positive after they clinically recover. From what we currently know—and this is based on very recent data—it seems they these patients are expelling leftover materials from their lungs, as part of the recovery phase." It is still not known whether patients who test negative, then weeks later test positive, are being re-infected, though.

STORIES CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON TODAY

My colleague Cory Perla is looking at the current science on contact allergy as he develops an article for The Chronicle of Skin & Allergy.

RIGHT NOW WE ARE READING...

Shadows of Rushmore: South Dakota’s Bold Campaign to Host the United Nations. An article by the design podcast "99% Invisible," looking at one of those might-have-been scenarios. Before New York City was settled on as the site for the United Nations, more  than 200 locations were under consideration. One of those was a site where clean air and good lakes for fishing were considered key selling points.

LATER WE ARE WATCHING...

"Crash Course: Organic Chemistry." The latest in the long-running and widely successful educational Crash Course series on YouTube. This series is launching right alongside Crash Course's new companion app [iOS and Android!], and the flashcards and quizzes in the app may actually help me keep track of the complex nomenclature of Org. Maybe.

TONIGHT WE ARE COOKING...
Spaghetti with TVP sauce. I find soy-based Textured Vegetable Protein to be a convenient (and shelf-stable) ground-meat substitute that works great in a lot of dishes. Add boiling water to the dry TVP in an 8/7 ratio to reconstitute it, and then I add it to my heating tomato sauce. My secret trick is to add a bit of dashi stock powder while reconstituting the TVP, for some extra depth of flavour. And of course, grated parm over top. 


THE WEEK AHEAD

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That's it. Stay in touch, stay safe. Chronicle's Kylie Rebernik will pick things up tomorrow.