I second John Stiller's comment, from the point of view of an 80-year-old, in treatment for prostate cancer for the past 22 years and ongoing today. My wife and I will continue masking (N95 only) and hand washing/sanitizing - not, as our unfriendly critics claim, out of fear, but simply good sense.
It is axiomatic that wearing quality masks correctly under certain circumstances can decrease the risk of spreading infections. We don't need a Cochrane review to understand that. I will be interested in your take as I am passing on reading it!
I agree wholeheartedly with the comments by JS and JL. I know what I’m going to say is an empiric observation. I used to get one nasty cold at least yearly. It would flare my reactive airway and frequently required a Medrol Pack to get it under control. My last big, lousy cold was in May of 2019. I was using two inhalers, was on prednisone, drinking coffee, and working hard at the office with a full patient load. One evening I was watching an exciting episode of Star Trek with one of my daughters. My heart was razing! I suddenly felt occasional skipped beats. I fired up my Apple Watch, and did an ECG, and found myself for the first time in AFIB, secondary to the truckload of meds I was on for my nasty cold/reactive airway. However, I like to joke the AFIB was Star Trek-induced. The final frontier, literally. I know I’m making this story longer than it needs to be. The bottom line is the pandemic arrived, and I have been wearing an N95 almost all the time I’m indoors with strangers and for sure when seeing patients. I still have an almost daily patient showing up with a positive COVID test or URI symptoms. How many nasty colds have I had since the onset of the pandemic? Zero? Exacerbations of my reactive airway requiring a Medrol pack? Zero. Also no additional episodes of AFIB, and yes, I have watched other episodes of Star Trek. Stay safe and do what you must, even if the world around us won’t.
I second John Stiller's comment, from the point of view of an 80-year-old, in treatment for prostate cancer for the past 22 years and ongoing today. My wife and I will continue masking (N95 only) and hand washing/sanitizing - not, as our unfriendly critics claim, out of fear, but simply good sense.
It is axiomatic that wearing quality masks correctly under certain circumstances can decrease the risk of spreading infections. We don't need a Cochrane review to understand that. I will be interested in your take as I am passing on reading it!
I agree wholeheartedly with the comments by JS and JL. I know what I’m going to say is an empiric observation. I used to get one nasty cold at least yearly. It would flare my reactive airway and frequently required a Medrol Pack to get it under control. My last big, lousy cold was in May of 2019. I was using two inhalers, was on prednisone, drinking coffee, and working hard at the office with a full patient load. One evening I was watching an exciting episode of Star Trek with one of my daughters. My heart was razing! I suddenly felt occasional skipped beats. I fired up my Apple Watch, and did an ECG, and found myself for the first time in AFIB, secondary to the truckload of meds I was on for my nasty cold/reactive airway. However, I like to joke the AFIB was Star Trek-induced. The final frontier, literally. I know I’m making this story longer than it needs to be. The bottom line is the pandemic arrived, and I have been wearing an N95 almost all the time I’m indoors with strangers and for sure when seeing patients. I still have an almost daily patient showing up with a positive COVID test or URI symptoms. How many nasty colds have I had since the onset of the pandemic? Zero? Exacerbations of my reactive airway requiring a Medrol pack? Zero. Also no additional episodes of AFIB, and yes, I have watched other episodes of Star Trek. Stay safe and do what you must, even if the world around us won’t.