Super Bowl or Super Spreader? This Sunday, it’s the NFL vs. the virus

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly is back to inform you through 2021. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress Winter Webinar Feb. 10, 2021. More info at pharmacongress.info 

⇒ Issue #161 (In numerology, 161 signifies a need to take the lead in a romantic relationship, or a particular domestic situation)
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 02/05: 104,947,762*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 02/05: 2,286,252*
⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 02/05: 798,394*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 02/05: 20,486*
⇒ Number of vaccine doses administered to Canadians as of 02/05: 1,020,066*

February 5, 2021—Good morning to you, dedicated members of the CurveFlattener Society. It’s Editorial Director Allan Ryan plying the QWERTY keyboard this cold February day after what might be described as a bracing morning ramble, with the beagles leading the way.

Coming up on Sunday is the grand finale of the National Football League’s season—the 55th Super Bowl. The NFL is permitting about 25,000 fans, including several vaccinated healthcare workers. to attend the game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Fla., under a Covid-19 protocol. All ticket holders will have to first pass a Covid-19 test and other measures to be able to make their way through the turnstiles (including coughing up an eye-popping average of US$7,589 per ticket, at the last tally). 

The Tampa plan is similar to one unveiled in Buffalo, N.Y. a month ago, where 6,700 fans per game were permitted in the stadium for the local football team’s first two playoff encounters in 25 years, According to reports, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and his Covid committee said allowing attendance at the Buffalo games was a test of a pilot plan to figure out how to safely get fans back into sports venues, theatres, rock concerts, and other live events. 

But, this Sunday, the game itself won’t prove as dangerous for potential exposure to Covid-19 as that other huge threat: Super Bowl house parties. Surges in Covid infections have followed every major holiday in the U.S., and infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC’s Today show: “You don’t want parties with people that you haven’t had much contact with. You just don’t know if they’re infected, so, as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it.”

But the parties will go on. A Seton Hall University poll indicates that while nearly two-thirds of respondents will skip a Super Bowl party this year, about 30 per cent of those polled are still planning to attend a shindig at a house or bar. The numbers are comparable in another poll from the National Retail Federation.

The game is expected to be viewed by over 185 million people worldwide, so there is likely to be much high-fiving, beer drinking, nacho dipping and other activities too disturbing to enumerate. It is another frightening scenario in America, particularly as more highly transmissible Covid variants are identified in communities.

Oh, and the game line? As of today, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by three points. 

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The National Pharmaceutical Congress organizers are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Jim Shea, General Manager of the CCPE. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 02/05/2021

• Two coronavirus studies from the University of Lethbridge in Alberta investigated the use of specific cannabis Sativa extracts as adjunct treatments for Covid-19. Drs. Igor and Olga Kovalchuk found that cannabis extracts high in cannabidiol (CBD) may help prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells and ward off cytokine storms. The articles ‘In search of preventative strategies’ and ‘Fighting the storm’ were published in the journal Aging.
  
  
• According to researchers at the University of Kentucky, Nanobodies found in alpacas could help develop therapies to prevent Covid-19 virus infections. This team of researchers has been conducting studies on alpacas and other camelid family members for the past four years since these nanobodies can also be used against other viruses. 
  
  
• Two new studies support previous evidence that race and low socioeconomic status are significant factors in a person’s likelihood of contracting Covid-19 infection and death. One of the studies, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, was published in JAMA Network Open. The second study, from Emory University, appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine.  

TODAY CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON

We're just six days from the National Pharmaceutical Congress Winter Webinar, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 11:00 am to noon. Speakers include Paul Petrelli of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Carol Stiff of Santen Canada, Jim Shea of the Council for Continuing Pharmaceutical Education, and moderated by Peter Brenders of the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. Ben Parry of Pangaea Consultants and Chronicle's Mitch Shannon will both try to get a word in somewhere. Sponsors are EMREACH Inc., Impres Inc., Healthing.ca, The Pangaea Group, Pharma Consultants, ODAIA, and Peak Pharma Solutions Inc. The event is organized by Chronicle Companies. Learn more at http://pharmacongress.info. Register here.

RIGHT NOW, WE ARE LISTENING TO... 

John Fogerty’s new album, Fogerty’s Factory, particularly the cut "Weeping in the Promised Land0". In that gospel-tinged song, Fogerty, 75, the force behind the ‘60s band Creedence Clearwater Revival, sings about political protest and Black Lives Matter. Lyrics like “Out in the street, on your neck with a knee./All the people are crying your last words ‘I can’t breathe.’ Here’s a link:

Because of Covid-19 and California's isolation policies, the backing musicians on Fogerty’s album are his daughter Kelsy and sons Shane and Tyler.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE WEEKEND?

Please use the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues.

And that’s it for today. Have an enjoyable weekend and we’ll see you next on Thursday, Feb. 11, when Publisher Mitch Shannon settles back into the driver’s seat.