“I am thankful to you SARS-CoV-2 virus as you allowed me to be human again, to make mistakes, and learn from them. You taught me to slow down so that I could reset and redefine my goals. You allowed me to have time for myself, to dream again, and…
Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus
Why won’t unproven COVID treatments go away?
A recent conversation among a group of physicians gave me a fair amount of distress and discomfort. The topic was an unproven treatment for COVID-19. The discomfort was the disinformation — in my opinion — being shared. The distress was that the discus…
Knowledge is power: Why science and health literacy matters
As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I’m constantly struck by the sheer amount of disinformation that spreads related to COVID-19. I’ll routinely encounter myths about how masks actually cause viral spread. Or I’ll be told t…
Why COVID PCR tests aren’t as accurate as you think
Recently, I started suspecting that RT-PCR testing was not foolproof at ruling out COVID disease after seeing a fair number of patients with typical signs and symptoms but a negative PCR. I have encountered some patients hospitalized with typical COVID…
Long-term sequelae of a life in medicine
It’s a Friday in January 1997. Another two-week block of nights behind me, 75 hours a week with a weekend off in between. However, working 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. means waking at 4 p.m. to dress, grab 15 hours-worth of food, drive 20 minutes to the parking de…
I feel more alone than ever before
I am an internist in private practice in a community west of Milwaukee, and my commitment as a physician is to keep my patients and community safe and healthy. Throughout the pandemic, I have worked hard to learn everything I can about COVID-19, have …
The failure of COVID-19 vaccine distribution confirms government incompetence
The COVID-19 vaccine has failed. I don’t mean that the vaccine itself doesn’t work—far from it. I mean the ineffective way such an important lifesaving, pandemic-ending vaccine is being rolled out. The slovenly effort is putting the lives of millions o…
Why flu vaccines are more important than ever in this pandemic [PODCAST]
“The flu vaccine can strengthen your immune system, prevent the disease spread among those closest to you, protect your children, and reduce the health care system’s burden. Protecting ourselves and others as we traverse a pandemic is paramount i…
The vaccines brought a feeling of hope, but the distribution reality is quickly shattering that
I am angry and frustrated, and these feelings mixed with exasperation have led me to write this. In the U.S., we failed to contain the virus like New Zealand; we failed to mitigate it like Singapore; we failed to test for it like South Korea. We maybe …
Another stab in the back for primary care during pandemic
I am on the primary care front lines in this pandemic. I help to do COVID testing for our community of patients 5 days a week. I don and sweat in my PPE during these appointments and during preventative and sick visit appointments. And up til now, t…
