Category: Infectious disease

How masks are like your underwear

1. Both masks and underwear exist to contain badness. Neither works 100 percent, but they’ll curb the worst of the spill. 2. Don’t borrow someone else’s, no matter how cool they look. 3. Keep them on around strangers, unless you’ve both been tested. 4….

A COVID-19 vaccine: 5 things that could go wrong

According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, a coronavirus vaccine could be ready for distribution within months. “We feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year, and as we go into 2021,…

Incremental risk amid COVID-19 re-openings: What do we value most?

Julian (his real name) has been extremely careful for many months, working from home, foregoing seeing friends, and avoiding stores. But his new puppy Rufus requires “socialization,” so by his own admission, he is being less careful as he/the dog inter…

Could antigen testing be the key to safely reopening the nation?

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on every aspect of life. With over 5 million cases and 167 thousand deaths in the United States, COVID-19 has caused the nation to shut down. During the pandemic, social distancing and masks have been crucial in controlling t…

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing end-of-life care. We’re not ready.

The last thing Jessica said to John, her fiancé of 10 years, was, “I love you” before he drove to work. Hours later, after suddenly experiencing a cardiac arrest at the office, he was in an ICU bed attached to a ventilator. He was pale and unresponsive…

A no visitors policy at your facility? Here are 4 crucial tips.

One of the most harrowing challenges of COVID-19 has been the “no visitors” policy virtually all institutions were forced to implement. In order to protect our patients, our staff, our communities, we’ve had to put these visitor limit…

With COVID-19, a need to deregulate buprenorphine prescriptions [PODCAST]

  “With COVID-19, we have both the unique opportunity and need to deregulate buprenorphine prescriptions. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA) recently updated guidelines for buprenorphine prescriptions. The…

Why are COVID antibody tests of questionable relevance being marketed to the public?

It started mid-March with the sensation that I had cut one of my knuckles. Within two weeks, several fingers were swollen like sausages, and my fingertips had developed painful, burning spots. Soon thereafter, my husband noted one red, swollen toe. We …

Medical education and engaging children in wearing masks [PODCAST]

“Children are being encouraged to take on the superhero persona and help protect others.  They do this in true average-person-as-the-superhero style by wearing a facemask alone, without any superhero powers or words.  Just as wearing a facemask i…

Why spiritual health so important for medical students

A tale of two pandemics: Around the time of the coronavirus outbreak, 2019 also marked a full century since the death of Sir William Osler, who revolutionized medical training. Despite some lingering debate over whether Dr. Osler’s pneumonia-related de…