Category: Infectious disease

A plea from an emergency physician on the front lines

Our lives are quickly changing. Schools are closing; sports are being canceled; people are working from home, Disneyland is closing, toilet paper is in short supply. We are about to hit a real struggle with our health care system. We are about to hit a…

Prevent the spread of COVID-19 with telemdicine

I am a board-certified internal medicine physician practicing in a small outpatient clinic with a highly reputable academic organization in the greater Boston area.  Regarding COVID-19, I am not panicked, but I am concerned– concerned for our pat…

Prevent the spread of COVID-19 with telemdicine

I am a board-certified internal medicine physician practicing in a small outpatient clinic with a highly reputable academic organization in the greater Boston area.  Regarding COVID-19, I am not panicked, but I am concerned– concerned for our pat…

An ER physician’s advice to the general public: How to flatten the curve

Some advice as an emergency physician, daughter, mother, and concerned citizen. Help keep older relatives and neighbors self-quarantined at home. Same goes for those of any age who are immune-compromised (cancer-patients, on immune-suppressant meds for…

COVID-19 coronavirus needs apolitical truth-telling

She is 11, a fifth-grader, as prepubescent as nature allows, and utterly terrified. She hasn’t eaten normally for nearly a month, her mother reports.  She sleeps poorly, reports nightmares, and cleans her hands so obsessively that she is literally blee…

The accuracy of COVID-19 tests

The current COVID-19 epidemic has highlighted the availability and the results of medical diagnostic tests.  As a physician, I treat the results of lab tests like I treat movie recommendations from a friend – I am always skeptical.  For the movies, I n…

Essential clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community

Trusted clinician commentary on COVID-19 coronavirus from the KevinMD community. Continuously updated. The idiot’s guide to coronavirus from an emergency physician COVID-19: Why I’m very concerned I’m an infectious disease doctor and I’m in quarantine …

A previously healthy clinician, now critically ill with COVID-19

A New Jersey physician assistant who was the state’s first COVID-19 patient is speaking out from his hospital bed, calling his illness “severe” and raising concerns about his treatment. James Cai, a 32-year-old non-smoker with no othe…

I’m an infectious disease doctor and I’m in quarantine

Last week, I saw a patient who may have contracted COVID-19. The patient had come into the emergency department overnight due to respiratory distress and overseas travel history. While his clinical picture and history were cause for concern, due to lim…

COVID-19: Don’t listen to the political spin of either side

The U.S. response to coronavirus reminds me of recent disasters when official facts were at odds with the reality I encountered. Governments have a long history of lying to their people about the risks of illness, either as a way to minimize political …