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Hi everyone, this is John Mandrola from the Heart.org Medscape Cardiology and this is this week in

Cardiology for September 25th, 2020. This week COVID guidelines run amuck, beta blockers, and academic overreach.

As far as COVID, I'm just going to say it is still bad, really bad. Every time I see pictures from last year I feel a wave of sadness.

I miss seeing my colleagues. First topic today is about sports participation after COVID-19 infection. The American Academy of Pediatrics

released guidance on return to sport after COVID-19. This is a well-meaning document, but it is a mess, and it is potentially dangerous

to youngers.

There are specific lessons and general ones, but first, I want to say that sport is a hobby, perhaps even addiction of mine, and I have made

every dumb mistake one can make returning to sport activity.

Now some basics. SARS-Kovi 2 is a virus. Viruses create inflammation.

Inflamm is how we survive as a species. Without inflammation we would have no defense against pathogens.

Sometimes the needed inflammation affects the heart. This is stochastic

meaning it's a random event that may be analyzed statistically but cannot be predicted precisely.

An example of a stochastic event.

A cardiologist is exposed to a lifetime of radiation and more radiation exposure associates

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