Category: COVID

Against all odds: How two cities tackled the COVID-19 crisis

An excerpt from On Medicine as Colonialism. In Central Falls, Rhode Island, where I work, the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard. People who live in Central Falls, the smallest and poorest city in Rhode Island, live in densely packed houses, often eight or ten…

The isolation of the COVID ICU: the need for patient advocates

The COVID ICU is abuzz with monitors beeping and doctors and nurses rushing from bed to bed to care for critically ill patients, most on ventilators. The machines – dialysis, vents, pumps – sound off their rhythmic repetitions; breaths are pushed in an…

Saying goodbye: the tragic impact of COVID-19 on families

“No, no, no! I’m having a nightmare!” She shrieked through the phone. I couldn’t bear to hear it as words fell clumsily out of my mouth. “Your husband couldn’t breathe on his own. We had to put him on a ventilator. I…

Care aides in long-term care were traumatized during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on long-term care in Canada. During the first two waves in 2020, over 80 percent of all Canadian COVID-19 deaths happened in long-term care homes. While vaccination and policy changes have helped to reduce the number…

When contentment falls short

Sliding toward another solstice, I feel myself yearning. I want the daylight to stay a little longer, soft like this, gentle warmth and lovely shadows, lazy breezes, the illusion of contentment. But I am not content. Or perhaps I am, but whereas I once…

Lessons from employer-mandated COVID leave

I saw two positive lines on the home test kit. My body felt like I had been beaten with a jackhammer and the buzzing in my head reminded me of a hangover, the likes of which I had not seen for at least 20 years. Somehow, I organized my thoughts enough …

A physician in denial after being diagnosed with COVID-19

Over the last three years, we have faced the original COVID-19, followed by Omicron, Delta, and monkeypox. It is apropos that on the third anniversary of COVID-19, we are facing the tripledemic of COVID, influenza, and RSV. After almost three years of …

For me, COVID has a face

I’ve moved recently, and in the process of moving, invariably, one discovers old items. This had gotten shelved in the fracas of those years, work changed overnight, changing employers, moving. However, in a discussion with a close friend today, …

The scientific race to defeat a deadly virus

An interview with David Quamman, author of Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus. Rosenberg: After the publication of your 2012 book Spillover, in which the scientists you interviewed talked about expecting the “next big one,&#…

Preparing for fall and winter: Importance of COVID-19 vaccination during the flu season [PODCAST]

This article is sponsored by Novavax. In this special sponsored episode. I’m joined by Dr. Filip Dubovsky, chief medical officer at Novavax, to discuss topics like COVID-19 and influenza in the fall and winter seasons, the importance of education…