COVID

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

Try this new technique when talking to vaccine skeptics

Conditions
August 7, 2021

“Trust and confidence in any product — and here the vaccine is the product — starts with confidence in the process and safety.”
-Payam N., Vaccine Outreach Supervisor

While training over 1,800 vaccine outreach workers enrolled in the California Virtual Training Academy’s Vaccine Communications Training, the UCSF Center for Excellence in Primary Care developed a practical guide for engaging people who are skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccine in meaningful …

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CDC updates indoor mask guidance

Conditions
July 28, 2021

Due to emerging science about transmission in vaccinated people, the CDC now recommends all teachers and students wear masks in school, and that people living in COVID-19 hotspots, or areas of the country with large outbreaks, wear masks indoors, CDC officials said on Tuesday.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, attributed this updated guidance to new science surrounding the Delta variant, showing that “some vaccinated people infected with the Delta …

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Major medical groups back mandatory COVID vaccine for health care workers

Policy
July 27, 2021

Medical groups’ calls for COVID-19 vaccination mandates for health care workers reached a fever pitch on Monday, with the American Medical Association (AMA), American Nurses Association, and 55 other organizations joining the chorus supporting mandatory vaccination.

“It is critical that all people in the health care workforce get vaccinated against COVID-19 for the safety of our patients and our colleagues,” said Susan R. Bailey, MD, immediate past president of the AMA, …

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Health care workers betrayed: Mask mandates were lifted too early

Conditions
July 27, 2021

A year ago, I started writing.  I wrote to process what I had seen and done and to prepare for what I knew was to come.  It was inevitable.  Humans would return to their normal activities, and despite mine and so many others’ advice, would do so without utilizing mitigating behaviors or respect for others.  We knew it was coming, and it did.  The summer surge, followed by the darkest …

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A new vaccine emoji to get more COVID-19 shots into arms

Conditions
July 26, 2021

A public health expert and a web developer have created a new digital communication tool to get more COVID-19 shots into arms — a vaccine emoji.

Social media users have been using the syringe, microbe, or mask emoji in their posts to talk about the pandemic. The new vaccine emoji, however, will display a flexing bicep patched up with a Band-Aid, representing an …

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JAMA retracts controversial masks study

Conditions
July 21, 2021

A controversial study suggesting that masks may harm children by exposing them to high carbon dioxide levels was retracted on Friday.

The research letter released in JAMA Pediatrics on June 30 had reported unacceptably high levels of carbon dioxide by German standards in air inside masks worn by children in a laboratory environment.

In the retraction notice, the journal editors cited “numerous scientific issues,” that also included questions over the applicability …

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During COVID, older patients stopped going to the doctor. Here’s how to change that.

Conditions
July 20, 2021

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out last year, Helen (not her real name) took all the right steps to protect herself. The 74-year-old self-isolated, wore a face mask, and practiced social distancing.

Helen stayed safe from the virus during this time, but she put her health at risk in another way: for nearly two years, she didn’t see her primary care physician. Nor did she go to the eye doctor to …

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Telemedicine in Nepal during COVID-19

Physician
July 12, 2021

My phone rings.

“Namaskar! My cough is really bothering me. What should I do?” says a middle-aged man.

“Namaskar! I am Astha Prasai. I am here to help you. Please bear with me while I ask you your problem in detail,” I answer.

Mr. Kafle from Kathmandu is worried about this nagging cough he has, and it has been a month since he has tested positive for COVID- 19. After talking to him …

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COVID vaccines’ tragic dance [PODCAST]

Podcast
July 1, 2021
YouTube video

“As a species, we have been an abject failure in dealing with a worldwide crisis. We politicize things for money, political reasons and some kind of weird power, even when it kills us in the process. We already have a World Health Organization (WHO). Would it be so difficult to staff it …

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You need a break from the front lines of health care

Physician
June 30, 2021

The current era of health care delivery has been aptly compared with going to war against an invisible enemy that can attack anywhere, at any time and with novel means.

This invisible enemy was attacking the civilians as well as the “front line” with vigor.

We have attempted to learn on the fly and use our intelligence to develop a defensive strategy against the enemy’s ever-changing tactics and learn from prior battlefronts.

This …

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Being the angel of death during a pandemic

Conditions
June 24, 2021

I was looking forward to March 2020. My boyfriend and I had a long-awaited vacation to Aruba we were looking forward to. Everything is packed, plans are finalized, and the world shuts down three days before our trip. Frustrated, we refuse to believe that a “virus” is worthy of shutting the world down. “What’s the difference between this and anything else?”  “Who cares? It’s just a virus?!” “I am still …

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Our niche world demands a new approach to health

Physician
June 20, 2021

When Elvis Presley rolled up his sleeve and received the polio vaccine backstage at The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, most Americans knew about it. At the time, the only stars hotter than rock ‘n’ roll itself were Presley, the genre’s de facto king, and Sullivan, the host who brought its biggest headliners to the American people.

By 1957, polio incidence dropped by 85 to 90 percent because …

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My most dangerous COVID intubation

Conditions
May 23, 2021

As the pandemic grew in Southern California, intubating COVID patients became increasingly dangerous. Initially, any patient with signs of respiratory distress was intubated, then sent to the ICU immediately. My physician colleagues and I all thought we were doing the right thing — until we saw all the complications of mechanical ventilation.

Instead of immediate intubation, we tried placing patients on high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), a special nasal oxygen device that …

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How creative solutions to inequitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution can save lives now

Conditions
May 18, 2021

The current COVID-19 vaccines have been developed with unprecedented efficiency and speed. Years of research, development, production, and regulatory approvals have been compressed into months. But accelerating the science is only half the puzzle. If we want to save lives right now, we need to improve the messy, inequitable implementation process of COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

As newly minted (and gratefully vaccinated) physicians who have had the privilege of contributing …

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A plea for help from the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic

Physician
May 5, 2021

I am a palliative care physician in a hospital in our nation’s capital region.  Like most urban hospitals, ours has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.  My colleagues and I are exhausted and emotionally devastated.  We are not alone.  Yesterday I learned a friend of mine from medical school, a selfless and compassion-driven emergency medicine physician in Los Angeles, died by suicide.  Before the pandemic, between 300 to …

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Social math is key to J&J vaccine hesitancy

Conditions
May 3, 2021

United States health officials have lifted the 10-day pause of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) COVID vaccine. This pause dealt a devastating blow to the nationwide vaccination effort. The seven-day moving average of vaccinations in the U.S. peaked right before the pause, and has been trending downward. Fear of developing blood clots is adding to vaccine hesitancy. Moving forward, …

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Falling in love during a pandemic: a medical scribe’s story [PODCAST]

Podcast
May 2, 2021
YouTube video

“Nowadays, I go on long walks through the city alone. I make dinner for one. When I go on bike rides, it’s a solo activity. I find comfort in myself, slowing down and making every small occasion a simple, peaceful one. I have a stronger sense of self, and through that, I …

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I’m a doctor who had COVID. Did I deserve this? Does anyone?

Physician
May 2, 2021

During this pandemic, do we blame people for acquiring COVID or do we empathize?

I wonder this as I read a message from my senior, who mentions that people are suffering or in isolation due to COVID because of their own negligence.

My mind reflects back on all the dying doctors who caught the infection while treating the virus. And then, there was the ophthalmologist in Wuhan who diagnosed the virus, the …

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