John Manubay, M.D., LLC

Today DOH released the latest revised #COVID19 vaccination plan that includes people who are 65 and older + those 16-64 with certain underlying medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to the disease. This expands vaccination eligibility to ~3.5 million Pennsylvanians. You can complete the short vaccine eligibility quiz to determine if it's your turn to get vaccinated: https://www.pa.gov/guides/get-vaccinated/... Have questions about the updates to the vaccination plan? View the frequently asked questions: https://www.health.pa.gov//Gu/Vaccine-Expansion-FAQs.aspx/

A grim week and Covid Vaccine associated deaths? It’s the start of a grim week. It's been 1 year since the first SARS-Cov-2 was officially diagnosed in the US. The reality is that it was here many weeks before, we just didn’t know it. We have surpassed 400,000 deaths and almost 25 million cases. LA county alone has surpassed 1 million cases and someone dies there every 8 minutes. Yet there are still people who think it’s a mild flu, a hoax, and most selfishly, an infringemen...Continue reading

Just an FYI.... How long are you immune? A study just published from Britain indicates that after having Covid-19, regardless of the severity of the infection, immune protection is as high as 83% and lasts for a minimum of 5 months.... This study was conducted on about 20,000 healthcare workers so the numbers are significant. From everything we know about the vaccines thus far, this is almost as good as what has been seen with the Pfizer and Moderna, 2 dose vaccines and better than the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is at about 70-75% efficacy. On the flip side, there are people, even asymptomatic ones, who are having long term side effects and health consequences which will continue well into the future. SO, if you have gotten sick, you have a decent amount of protection however, you still DO NOT WANT TO GET SICK. It’s better to get your immunity from a vaccine. Also, if your illness was more than 6 months ago, the present recommendations are to get vaccinated anyway. At least for now until we have more reliable numbers. ALSO, even though you may have protection, either through previous illness or immunization, this does NOT mean that you can ease up your mask wearing or distancing. You can still catch and transmit the virus to others. By the way, I read that there are over 150 different vaccine trials going on worldwide. Pretty astounding. Stay safe.

DRINK MORE WATER and DRINK IT OFTEN! The SINGLE most common recommendation we make to our patients, regardless of why they are in to see us is to not only drink more water, but to take small sips as often as possible. Even more so in the era of Covid. Your best line of defence against the virus, other than not being exposed, is an intact and moist mucus membrane and thin, well flowing secretions and those are the first to be impacted by even minimal dehydration. You can go da...ys, weeks, even months without food (in fact periodic fasting is extremely valuable to human health) but only a few days without water. It is crucial to life and even a minimal drop in hydration impacts on all aspects of our physiology, including mental function. A little dehydration impacts our kid’s test-taking abilities. You lose fluids fast, especially during the cold, dry winter months. Just by breathing and perspiring, you lose 1 liter/quart while you sleep alone. Dehydration contributes to many things in the ENT realm including headaches, including the sinus headache We see all the time. This is just a variant migraine and rarely an infection or allergy. It also contributes to tinnitus, dizziness, skin dryness and irritation, the dreaded post-nasal drip, coughing, hoarseness and throat clearing. In other parts of the body, it contributes to constipation, kidney stones, muscle cramps and even dry skin. Healthy skin comes primarily from within. The simple fact is that the longer the virus stays in your nose, in contact with the mucus membranes, the greater the chances the virus can attach, replicate and infect you. If the virus is cleared quickly into the stomach, the stomach acids will kill it off. That’s also assuming you are not taking acid reducers. Also, focus on frequency rather than volume of water. In your 20’s, you swallow spontaneously about 1000 times a day. It’s half that by your 50’s. The consequence of not swallowing as often is that secretions stay around longer, dry out and lead to symptoms like post-nasal drip. Once again, the longer the secretions stay around, the greater the chances of the virus taking hold. It’s better to drink a big glass of water slowly over the course of an hour rather than down a glass every hour on the hour. By focusing on more sips, you;ll get the volume and in the process, increase your swallowing improving clearance of the 1/3rd of a gallon of nasal secretions and of a gallon of saliva everyone generates daily. Stay safe and be well.