As a physician epidemiologist and former public health official, I find myself confused by people’s perceptions of risk related to coronavirus, particularly as we struggle to reopen our economy amidst a surge of cases. I’ll meet an older ad…
Category: COVID-19 / coronavirus
No, I won’t play politics. I’m a doctor.
Sneeze, and you miss it: the public’s love for health care workers. This relationship has felt like a true Coronacoaster. Pre-COVID: physicians were disparaged for the sins of insurers and hospital C-suites. COVID appears: I was gifted a yard full of s…
A COVID-19 conversation with 2 cardiologists [PODCAST]
“Trainees like myself travel great distances from home in pursuit of higher edification. Yet the coronavirus makes us worry about the aged family we leave behind – parents and grandparents. A WhatsApp message ensuring they’ve stocked up on acetam…
Envisioning the delivery of true primary care telehealth
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted how we deliver primary care to patients. Before the pandemic, telehealth seemed to be a way to deliver urgent care for acute issues to a select group of tech-savvy patients. Now, at least…
COVID and schools: Our only certainty is uncertainty
Amidst the tangle of mail consisting of grocery ads and a retirement fund quarterly report and the membership renewal form for the botanical gardens, I spot a small manilla envelope emblazoned with the return address of my children’s school. This is wh…
How medical students can contribute during the pandemic [PODCAST]
“We do not have to continue to blame external forces for the stresses upon us now. By organizing, mobilizing, and finding solutions to the problems facing us and our adopted community today, we can meet the current challenge to be of help, howeve…
How will future generations remember COVID-19?
When my son was in third grade, his class took a field trip to the Spanish Military Hospital Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. This was a military facility that operated in the late 18th century. It operated at a time when St. Augustine changed hands f…
A physician had a mild case of COVID. Here’s her story.
No matter what kind of day you are having, when you open up your email and see that subject line, it takes your breath away. While it could be a notice that Jeni’s is out of salted caramel ice cream, you know that’s not likely the topic. So, you take a…
It is not OK for physicians’ anxieties to harm their patients [PODCAST]
“It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients. As we tackle the numerous crises created by the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s acknowledge our fear and draw on the logic and clinical reasoning that we have spent yea…
How many people need to be infected to achieve herd immunity?
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson. Gov. Andrew Cuomo believes that New York has vanquished the virus by good policy. Never mind that New York’s mortali…
