Category: Infectious disease

What are the limitations of COVID-19 testing?

COVID-19, first identified in December 2019 and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has taken a toll on everyone around the world. After months of varying levels of lockdown and quarantine, people are developing pandemic fatigue, and craving huma…

COVID-19 will kill 500,000 Americans. Here’s why.

Among the questions I’m asked most often as host of the podcast Coronavirus: The Truth are: “How have other nations effectively contained the pandemic?” and “Why can’t the United States copy their success?” For months, health experts have answered thes…

COVID-19 anosmia: Unmasking a new dark “twist”

A 4-day-old term, formula-fed male infant with an uncomplicated prenatal course and no ABO set up or other identified cause of excessive jaundice was admitted to the hospital for phototherapy treatment of hyperbilirubinemia with a peak bilirubin of 19….

The impact of COVID-19 on resident burnout and how we can combat it

Despite the pervasiveness of mental illness and burnout among medical providers, only in the past decade have providers begun to acknowledge and explore the psychological distress so many struggle with. As a resident, I have observed how COVID-19 has f…

COVID-19 misinformation is a public health crisis [PODCAST]

“Government officials, regardless of political affiliation, should seek sound medical advice before communicating with their constituents. Appropriate public health information should be shared so that constituents are not harmed by following mis…

Research in the midst of a pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists, physicians, and public health epidemiologists have come together, and there has been a surge in research worldwide. Basic science research has been leading the way in developing vaccines and genome sequencing t…

A hospitalist’s COVID reflection

Amidst the height of the COVID pandemic in New York City, I turned to Netflix to find morsels of yesterday, which seemed so distant then. During this time, I discovered Mindy Kaling’s creation, Never Have I Ever. The show tries to tell the story of a p…

Thank a health care worker. Get a flu shot.

I evaluated the patient in one of our designated exam rooms for persons under investigation (PUIs) for COVID-19, fully doffed in personal protective equipment (PPE): an uncomfortable, resonant face shield over my surgical mask, looking like Big Bird in…

A young doctor’s thoughts on our disaster response system, and why we need to change it 

That first day of mid-March in the call center that was later to become the headquarters of our student lead COVID-19 hotline, the disorganization and confusion were almost palpable. I remember the other fourth-year student at the time, Eda, trying to …

Medical students are benched during the pandemic [PODCAST]

“There is no single culprit responsible for this shift in medical education. However, two, in particular, should be noted. The first is the culture of defensive medicine, or more bluntly, CYA (cover-your-ass) medicine. This culture has been insid…