This looks like a FABULOUS program that will hopefully provide more detail on COVID-19 and autoimmunity than what we heard at last week's CDC briefing.

Hopefully, this link will work (we already registered, and now the regular link is only showing our registration confirmation).

http://ow.ly/V04m50z2qun

If not, visit the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. at AARDA.org for details and registration information.

So far, the feedback we've received is that autoimmune patients as a group are not necessarily in the “high risk” category, although specific circumstances could affect your individual risk - such as if you are undergoing steroid therapy for TED or if your WBC is suppressed due to methimazole.

Hope that everyone is healthy (well, except for Graves', obviously) and not going too stir crazy!

UPDATE: Although we did not get our Graves’-specific questions answered, the audio & slides from this webinar will be posted at AARDA.org. The organizers received over 1,500 questions – and they are working on getting answers to ALL of them!

The presenters noted a specific study that looked at co-occuring (“co-morbid”) conditions and COVID-19, so we are going to look that study up and dig into the data. In general, it seems that what we’ve been told before is still holding up – that autoimmune patients *in general* are not a high-risk group, but those who are immunocompromised because of specific treatments (such as higher doses of Prednisone) *do* have a higher risk. For those who *are* immunocompromised, the statistics were stark. According to one study, 40% of immunocompromised patients were hospitalized (24% non-ICU and 16% ICU).
There was also a helpful number & text option provided for people who are feeling overwhelmed: call 1-800-985-5990 (TTY 1-800-846-8517) or text TalkWithUs to 66746.

We’ll keep everyone posted as the answers to the questions get posted!