COVID-19 pandemic

1,704 articles · Since 2020

Articles, page 15

I’m sorry if you think I’m taking your freedom

September 3, 2021Sep 3, 20212

The past year has been sad. Sad for the lives lost, sad for the isolation, sad for the hostility that has somehow occurred over measures to protect public health. To those who continue to spin a story that vaccines and masking take away your freedom: I’m sorry. Sorry you feel this way and sorry for all the other things you feel we do to restrict your personal freedom to protect …

Physician voices

Physicians have gone from being heroes to villains

Lisa Cronk, MD

September 2, 2021Sep 2, 20214

I am exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I fear we are reaching our breaking point. We have run a marathon, hoping that we were nearing the finish line as we saw numbers decline in June, only to be told to lace…

I am exhausted.

Mentally, emotionally, physically.

I fear we are reaching our breaking point. We have run a marathon, hoping that we were nearing the finish line as we saw numbers decline in June, only to be told to lace up our sneakers and start over.

Work in outpatient pediatrics is always busy in the summer – seeing our patients for school and sports physicals, marveling at how much they’ve grown since we …

Physician voices

Rage Against the Machine: This song is mine, and it’s how I heal

Amy Cowan, MD

September 2, 2021Sep 2, 2021

“F—- you! I won’t do what you tell me!” the lyrics blare into my teenage ears, as I lip-synch to the rock band Rage Against the Machine’s song Killing In the Name. It’s 1992, and my Walkman is attached to the waistband of my Seattle Blues. It would take at least a decade to fully understand the meaning of those lyrics. Nearly thirty years later, this line

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Physician voices

From advocate to adversary: How COVID-19 has changed the doctor-patient relationship

Nida Zakiullah, MD

September 1, 2021Sep 1, 2021

Ask any physician how they are doing today, and you'll probably hear some version of frustrated, tired, and sad. It's not the lump-in-your-throat type sadness. It's that my-mind-and-soul-are-tired sadness. The feeling you have when all you can see is the…

Ask any physician how they are doing today, and you’ll probably hear some version of frustrated, tired, and sad. It’s not the lump-in-your-throat type sadness. It’s that my-mind-and-soul-are-tired sadness. The feeling you have when all you can see is the conflict and the angst that seems to fill the world right now. The feeling that the world is burning and we are powerless to stop it.

I am a physician who …

Conditions and diseases

A perspective on comorbidities and severity of illness in children with COVID-19

David Epstein, MD

August 30, 2021Aug 30, 2021

“Children don’t get as sick with COVID-19” and “only children with comorbidities get very sick from COVID-19” are two statements that have concerned me during the pandemic. They have been used as statements to support loosening COVID-19 prevention measures for children, like wearing masks, and rationalizing arguments opposing vaccinating children against COVID-19. It is true that children, for the most part, do not get as sick from COVID-19. Nevertheless, while …

Conditions and diseases

If I already had COVID, do I need the vaccine?

John Kitsteiner, MD

August 29, 2021Aug 29, 20214

I used to think, "I had COVID. I don't need a vaccine… not for now at least, and maybe not ever." November 2020: I was a few hours into my 12-hour shift in the emergency department. I had been treating…

I used to think, “I had COVID. I don’t need a vaccine… not for now at least, and maybe not ever.”

November 2020: I was a few hours into my 12-hour shift in the emergency department. I had been treating COVID at every shift for about 10 months at that point, and I knew what I was feeling now was more than just fatigue. I took a swab and went into …

Conditions and diseases

The COVID killing fields

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

August 29, 2021Aug 29, 2021

I go to the hospital cafeteria to unwind from this night — another unpredictable one with irrational patients that randomly attempt to assault the staff. This time, they missed. Behavioral health. Land of the psychotics and schizophrenics. But an incredible…

I go to the hospital cafeteria to unwind from this night — another unpredictable one with irrational patients that randomly attempt to assault the staff.

This time, they missed. Behavioral health. Land of the psychotics and schizophrenics. But an incredible staff to work with.
This song blares out. “Easy Like Sunday Morning.” And I know that nothing is “easy” anymore.

I’ve heard it all about COVID vaccinations:

“It’s my body.”

“It’s not FDA-approved.”

“I have natural …

Read more…

The COVID killing fields

Health policy

Afghanistan, the Delta variant, and the limits of American short-term solutions

Adithya Sivakumar, MD

August 25, 2021Aug 25, 2021

In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to uphold its current Communist government. Opposed to the foreign invasion of their country, many rebel groups, collectively known as the Mujahideen, rose up in arms to fight the Soviets. Since it was the height of the Cold War, the American government saw an opportunity. Using the CIA and other intermediaries, the United States supplied the Mujahideen with weapons and finances, which worked …

Conditions and diseases

The vaccine is not the enemy. COVID is.

Michele Luckenbaugh

August 24, 2021Aug 24, 202122

I'm confused and disillusioned. When we were in the throes of the COVID pandemic at the beginning of this year, the talk revolved around when life-saving vaccines would become available for the general public. Thankfully, beginning during the first quarter…

I’m confused and disillusioned. When we were in the throes of the COVID pandemic at the beginning of this year, the talk revolved around when life-saving vaccines would become available for the general public. Thankfully, beginning during the first quarter of this year and continuing through present times, the COVID vaccine is being administered to all who wish to secure it. But unfortunately, in many states across our country, some …

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The vaccine is not the enemy. COVID is.

Conditions and diseases

Carry on, my weary one: Persevering in the aftermath

Elizabeth Sarah Haberl, MD

August 24, 2021Aug 24, 20212

Back in January of this year, I was rotating through the thoracic surgery service while COVID-19 surged like a tsunami through our nation. The restricted unit of COVID patients hid behind closed double doors, posters plastered on the walls outside with red stop signs reminding all health care workers to wear the proper PPE. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I saved …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Telemedicine in Nepal during COVID-19 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

August 23, 2021Aug 23, 2021

"Currently working in a COVID ICU in a tertiary center in Kathmandu, I have experienced how difficult it is for the health system to manage the patient load. A month ago, ICU beds were fully occupied, ventilator alarms would set…

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“Currently working in a COVID ICU in a tertiary center in Kathmandu, I have experienced how difficult it is for the health system to manage the patient load. A month ago, ICU beds were fully occupied, ventilator alarms would set off time and again, indicating low flow as the …

Conditions and diseases

The fifth column brings a fifth wave

Nina Shapiro, MD & Steven Teitelbaum, MD

August 23, 2021Aug 23, 20212

U.S. COVID deaths have surpassed U.S. war deaths from World War II, Vietnam, and Korea. The unvaccinated are a fifth column that has ushered in a wave of nasty COVID variant infections in the United States, with their attendant deaths, costs, and disruptions to society. We need to stop debating the tone in which we address the unvaccinated and label their sabotage for what it is. We need to start …

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The fifth column brings a fifth wave

Physician voices

Putting my kid back in school: the right decision for this pediatrician

Anonymous

August 22, 2021Aug 22, 2021

As a parent who also happens to be a hospital-based pediatrician, lots of people have asked me my opinion on back to school and/or daycare. I am sharing my thoughts. I'm only one person. These are just my thoughts. Feel…

As a parent who also happens to be a hospital-based pediatrician, lots of people have asked me my opinion on back to school and/or daycare.

I am sharing my thoughts. I’m only one person. These are just my thoughts. Feel free to take what is helpful to you and trash the rest. It won’t hurt my feelings.

I think it’s important to frame this conversation by stating loudly and clearly that there …

Conditions and diseases

The danger persists. The contagion has won.

Rizwana Khan, MD

August 21, 2021Aug 21, 2021

A subtle vibration permeates the still air, a thumping that melds with our heartbeat. The drumbeat becomes constant, louder, deafening, echoing the chaos around us. The sounds initially emanate from a far-off land. There is news of a contagion. There…

A subtle vibration permeates the still air, a thumping that melds with our heartbeat. The drumbeat becomes constant, louder, deafening, echoing the chaos around us.

The sounds initially emanate from a far-off land. There is news of a contagion. There are images of bodies in hospital wards, health care workers in full-body protective suits. Some health care workers release clandestine videos on social media. Are they whistleblowers? They disappear from their …

Physician voices

Who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to them anyway.

Tomi Mitchell, MD

August 21, 2021Aug 21, 20214

But seriously, who needs scientists? It’s not like we listen to researchers or pay attention to the warnings. The world is burning up with record ground-breaking temperatures. These so-called scientists predicted these warnings decades ago, with great details. Who do they think they are? They got lucky! They are fear mongers and not to be believed. Look at the fake media! Landslides, earthquakes, fires, flooding, drought, and the list goes …

Physician voices

We are all out of ideas for how to convince you to get vaccinated

Jenny Hartsock, MD

August 20, 2021Aug 20, 20212

We in Southern Oregon saw how the pandemic raged in other areas of the country. We were waiting. It would hit here, eventually, we knew it. It came to our city slowly, and then we had a spike. Still, it was much milder than many other places, and we were grateful to be spared the worst of it.

People started getting vaccinated. It was like a baptism of sorts, and the …

Physician voices

Surviving the first 100 yards: How do you do it? Why do you do it?

Andy Lamb, MD

August 19, 2021Aug 19, 2021

You are 19 years old, standing in the mud and mire that are the trenches of World War I. You are cold, hungry, filthy, emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. You stare straight ahead, eyes vacant, not revealing deep inside you a visceral fear that defies description; a fear that only those who have faced the horror of combat know. This is your reality. You know what awaits when the order …

Conditions and diseases

The Delta variant is a monster and our last weapon is the unvaccinated

Anita Vijayakumar, MD

August 19, 2021Aug 19, 202115

Oh, how the tide has turned. Three months ago, COVID was ravaging my homeland, India. The Delta variant was burning through the country like an uncontrolled wildfire. People carted dying relatives town to town, desperately seeking hospital beds or a whiff of oxygen. A cousin in India said, “COVID is not taking lives, just the beds. Lack of oxygen is taking lives.”

I watched India’s suffering unfold and felt guilty for …

Conditions and diseases

Pregnancy and the COVID vaccine: What expecting mothers should know

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

August 18, 2021Aug 18, 2021

“Is it safe for a pregnant woman to receive the COVID-19 vaccine?” This is the biggest question being asked of OB/GYNs right now. The short answer is “yes.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal…

“Is it safe for a pregnant woman to receive the COVID-19 vaccine?” This is the biggest question being asked of OB/GYNs right now. The short answer is “yes.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal and Fetal Medicine have come out with strong recommendations that pregnant and lactating women receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Preliminary research suggests that vaccinating pregnant women even confers some …

Physician voices

I am not asking you to do anything my family and I haven’t done

Courtney Markham-Abedi, MD

August 18, 2021Aug 18, 2021

When I started my career 15 years ago, I naively said I would like a job where there aren’t a lot of politics. Little did I know that my job and profession would be so strongly affected by national politics…

I study human behavior and can usually conceptualize behaviors fairly easily. I have been stumped in the past four months. Truly stumped. Four months ago, …

COVID-19 pandemic

Articles, page 15

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