Covid news

 Last Thursday 12/10/20, the FDA approved emergency use for the Pfizer Covid 19 vaccine.  

Today they started to ship from Michigan.  This week my hospital will start vaccinating staff.  (I am not in the first tier, because if you are sick from Covid you are supposed to stay away from my clinic!)  I think I am 2nd tier because I am with patients for more than 15 minutes at a time.  3rd tier at my hospital are people who don't work directly with patients for more than 15 minutes at a time.  The hospital is not requiring the vaccination, but I hope everyone takes advantage.

Right now, Anna won't qualify for vaccination because she is under 16 years of age.  (not that the release will get to young people anytime soon)  1st the people who are most at risk!

Anna and Joel are back in school hybrid-style and the Iowa case numbers have gone down.  It looks like we might have missed getting a Thanksgiving bump.  Iowa is still 3rd in the nation for cases per million population.  Sigh.  Our governor resisted taking many measures until the hospitals pleaded with her.  I feel like now we are doing what we should have been doing all along.  So at least we are hopefully going to start heading in the right direction.

(I'm not a fan...although I was in March and April and I voted for her.  Her line was, "I trust the people of Iowa to do the right thing."  Her trust was misplaced and she often did not do the right thing herself.  Even people I otherwise respect made bad choices until the choice was no longer theirs to make.)

To end on a positive note...researchers think that the Flu is much lower than normal this year and we might not have a "twindemic" as some feared.  Last January the flu was so bad in Iowa that we had to stop some outpatient procedures because the nurses were so busy with inpatient flu patients.  Masking and hybrid learning, might have helped us here!  (and increased flu vaccinations!!)