“Trainees like myself travel great distances from home in pursuit of higher edification. Yet the coronavirus makes us worry about the aged family we leave behind – parents and grandparents. A WhatsApp message ensuring they’ve stocked up on acetam…
Category: Infectious disease
Envisioning the delivery of true primary care telehealth
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted how we deliver primary care to patients. Before the pandemic, telehealth seemed to be a way to deliver urgent care for acute issues to a select group of tech-savvy patients. Now, at least…
COVID and schools: Our only certainty is uncertainty
Amidst the tangle of mail consisting of grocery ads and a retirement fund quarterly report and the membership renewal form for the botanical gardens, I spot a small manilla envelope emblazoned with the return address of my children’s school. This is wh…
How medical students can contribute during the pandemic [PODCAST]
“We do not have to continue to blame external forces for the stresses upon us now. By organizing, mobilizing, and finding solutions to the problems facing us and our adopted community today, we can meet the current challenge to be of help, howeve…
How will future generations remember COVID-19?
When my son was in third grade, his class took a field trip to the Spanish Military Hospital Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. This was a military facility that operated in the late 18th century. It operated at a time when St. Augustine changed hands f…
A physician had a mild case of COVID. Here’s her story.
No matter what kind of day you are having, when you open up your email and see that subject line, it takes your breath away. While it could be a notice that Jeni’s is out of salted caramel ice cream, you know that’s not likely the topic. So, you take a…
It is not OK for physicians’ anxieties to harm their patients [PODCAST]
“It is OK to be scared, but it is not OK to let our own anxieties harm our patients. As we tackle the numerous crises created by the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s acknowledge our fear and draw on the logic and clinical reasoning that we have spent yea…
How many people need to be infected to achieve herd immunity?
“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson. Gov. Andrew Cuomo believes that New York has vanquished the virus by good policy. Never mind that New York’s mortali…
A Southern California outbreak highlights failures of the American health care system
As CNN and other outlets report, rates of COVID-19 have been overwhelming Imperial County, California, for the past two months. Bordered to the west by San Diego County, to the east by Arizona, and to the south by Mexico, the rate of new infections and…
Doctors shouldn’t feel ashamed for wanting to protect themselves or their family [PODCAST]
“Although I personally hope to continue to be at or near the frontlines, I understand those that are in a compromised position, and they shouldn’t feel ashamed for wanting to protect themselves or their family. There is no portion of the Hippocra…
