Category: Infectious disease

Don’t let a negative COVID-19 test ruin your Thanksgiving

Mirroring the national surge of COVID-19 infections, this past week, I received a barrage of requests from patients seeking pre-travel COVID-19 tests. Despite urgent pleas from the CDC not to travel this holiday season, Americans seem hellbent on celeb…

Parenting in a pandemic: Making the best decisions for your family [PODCAST]

“You have made difficult choices about your family’s health and safety already. Pediatricians help parents make these kinds of decisions all the time. The shared- decision model for practicing medicine encourages doctors like me to help provide i…

An apology to frontline health care workers

Our country seems to be spiraling out of control. The unending political discord post-election continues to divide our citizenry. The Presidential election is over, accept the results, and move on. There are much more serious issues to have our full at…

A physician’s COVID role reversal

I asked nurses, technicians and secretaries where it was: the iPad for patients who wanted to speak to their loved ones. COVID didn’t allow visitors. A few days into our peak, it was likely this patient had COVID. They were gasping for air, but could s…

Pay attention to science and medicine, or else you may be the next careless victim

I enter the hospital to work again. I must work as I have three small children and a husband presently out of work because of COVID. He is “non-essential.” A violinist is playing at the employee entrance. I know they do this to lift our spirits. But it…

Empty chairs this holiday season

I was sitting in my kitchen this morning drinking coffee, as is my usual routine on a Saturday. On this particular morning, I was looking at the empty chairs around my dining room table. These antique dark pine Windsor chairs are well-loved and aged wi…

Telehealth in underserved populations needs telecommunication expansion

COVID-19 has propelled the nation into widespread telehealth services to provide consumer-based care, especially for those who access this technology. Equity issues arise when using digital communication because many underserved populations lack access…

Will anyone take the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s approved?

Finally, 2020 has offered some encouraging news, with Pfizer and Moderna publishing recent results that provide initial evidence of their vaccine’s ability to prevent COVID-19. With the recent promising results from both vaccine trials, it seems like o…

Physicians fight from the social media frontlines

As of November 2020, there are about 11.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,50,000 deaths from COVID-19 disease in the USA. Conspiracy theories thrive in times of great uncertainty, and the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a petri dish for th…

The 5 “P’s” of a pandemic

Math was never my favorite subject. However, I was lucky to have good teachers who took the time to help me navigate through high school math and graduate with a final A grade. As I struggled with numbers and equations, calculus and fractions, I was to…