Third of Big 10 Athletes with Covid have myocarditis, even if they are asymptomatic.

The story is all over Twitter right now.

Myocarditis is a big deal and especially dangerous for athletes. It’s essentially inflammation of the heart wall and it can lead in severe cases to heart failure and sudden death.

These young athletes face losing their health, their lives, and their future careers. https://t.co/dcLPHJVU1N

— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) September 3, 2020

A few words about Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli. He’s also the chief surgeon for Penn State/ Hershey Orthopedics in State College and, as such, doesn’t just work with student athletes. In fact, he did my mother’s hip replace surgery three years ago. And during the surgery, correctly caught that she had previously undiagnosed Atrial Fibrillation (Afib). Thanks to him, we got her into a cardiologist and on medication for the Afib. Saved her life in all likelihood. 

He spent several hours Monday, along with epidemiologists, pediatricians, and infectious disease researchers from Penn State, during a school board meeting answering questions from the board and from the community via Zoom. This isn’t just some PR stunt. This was our community trying to figure out how reopening K-12 schools because the guidance from the federal gov’t is worse than useless.

Here are the comments verbatim from the Penn State doc talking about #COVID-19 and #Myocarditis in Big 10 athletes. https://t.co/yBcJMtmT9V

— Larry Dignan (@ldignan) September 3, 2020