Posts from Those Nerdy Girls

A: The interventions we use to reduce COVID-19 transmission–such as wearing masks, improving ventilation, and keeping physical distance from other people–don’t target the common cold as well. Unlike the virus that causes COVID-19, which is transmitted through sharing air with infected people, most of the many viruses that cause the common cold–called rhinoviruses–love to hang Read more…

A: TL, DR. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the lives and health of residents of slum communities, or informal settlements characterized by poverty, lack of basic services, crowding, unstable homes. Due to data limitations, it’s difficult to know a lot of detail about the spread of the disease and the impact on mortality. We at Dear Read more…

A: Great question! We Nerdy Girls love our local small businesses and luckily there are lots of ways we can make an added effort to support small businesses today and everyday while staying safe at the same time! Here are some ideas we came up with: -Order delivery or curbside pick-up from your favorite local Read more…

Prevent COVID19 video

Drs. Lindsey Leininger and Malia Jones take your thorny COVID questions in this Live Q&A! If you have a question, submit it at our website! www.dearpandemic.org. This week we discuss: ➡️ Intro…with TV show rec’s! (0:00 – 3:00) Related link ➡️ The latest on quarantine timelines (3:35 – 8:40) Related link ➡️ Handling conspiracy theories Read more…

A: They are VERY different. In short – COVID-19 is more deadly, more people are susceptible to it, we have fewer treatments, and even “mild” bouts can leave long-term symptoms. To address the elephant in the room: **COVID-19 is MUCH deadlier than the flu.** In fact, since December 2019, COVID-19 has killed more people in Read more…

A: Taking care of yourself and focusing on getting better is priority #1! Get rest, stay hydrated, isolate physically but connect emotionally, and watch out for warning signs. COVID19 is widespread and more and more folks are getting sick. Now is a good time to remind ourselves of the basics of self-care when diagnosed with Read more…

A: We can! On this Thanksgiving evening, we want to share the impressive and successful public health response of the Cherokee Nation. Their recipe: strong leadership, early decisive action, data-driven decisions, widespread testing, and a mask mandate. Compared to surrounding areas of Oklahoma State, the Cherokee Nation has experienced much lower case and mortality rates. Read more…

Today, Dear Pandemic celebrates gratitude. We are so grateful to each and every one of you, our readers, for coming along with us on this strange, surprising, and often difficult journey. We’ve grown so much this past year–as individuals and as a community. We are so grateful for our readers and especially all our volunteers. Read more…

A: mRNA vaccines contain a message which instructs your cells to make a protein shaped like a small part of the virus. This does not affect your DNA, and it happens temporarily and locally at the injection site. In your body, your DNA makes messenger RNA to make proteins. Your DNA has all the information Read more…

Un pequeño recordatorio de actividades de riesgo moderado en el Día de Acción de Gracias. Celebremos con cuidado y tomando las debidas precauciones para mantenernos sanos. Cuerpo sano, mente sana. ~ Las “Nerdy Girls” Enlace a la publicación original de Facebook

A: Women are currently leaving the labor force at higher rates than men. Mothers account for the starkest declines. To quote social scientists Drs. Kerri Raissian and Jennifer Dineen: “We need to realize that mothers can’t continue to be our shock absorbers.” Context: The steep relative decline in female labor participation – most pronounced among Read more…

In the United States, hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing homelessness each night. There are many reasons why people might be experiencing homelessness: some people are chronically homeless, some were recently evicted or lost their housing, some are leaving a violent situation, and some are staying with friends or family temporarily but might not Read more…

A: More good news! While efficacy was not as high as that reported in the recent Pfizer and Moderna trials, this vaccine has some important advantages with regard to cost and ease of storage. But as with much of the recent “science by press release,” we’ll be anxiously awaiting further details. For the 3rd Monday Read more…

A: There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection can pass to babies via breastmilk with NEW findings to suggest breastmilk in mothers who have had Covid-19 contains specific SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Insert tiny happy dance here. A recent study of breastmilk in 15 women who had recovered from Covid-19 found specific antibodies to the virus in Read more…

R: Muchas personas están experimentando cambios de peso durante la pandemia. Puede ser difícil subirse a la pesa con todo lo que está sucediendo en el mundo. Pero su salud es más que sólo un número. Aquí hay unas ideas que le pueden ayudar a concentrarse en lo que realmente importa. Tal vez ha notado Read more…

A: Your “bubble” might be far bigger than you think. To figure out exactly how big and who you might be sharing germs with, think like a contact tracer and sketch out your contact network. 🖧 If you need to pull out a piece of paper to figure this out, that’s a whole lot of Read more…

Q: Ok, you convinced me, the vaccine news is good. Yay! But: When do I get my first dose!? Will I be prioritized if vaccine supply is limited? A: Vaccine supply will be limited at first to high-priority groups. The rest of us should be getting vaccine “in arm” starting in the spring and extending Read more…

A: TL; DR Exponential math (think curved line like a J shape graph). Let’s assume that each person infected will infect two other people (in other words, the number of people infected doubles every two weeks). If we start with one case on Week 1 and each individual passes the virus to two other people, Read more…

A. TL,DR: Mouthwash won’t prevent or cure COVID-19. Consistent with several prior studies, a recent laboratory-based study out of Cardiff University found that over-the-counter mouthwash (with active ingredient cetylpyridinium chloride [CPC]) will inactivate 90-99% of the coronavirus after a mere 30 seconds. Sounds exciting! …but don’t get your hopes up. The clinical relevance of mouthwash Read more…