COVID-19 pandemic

1,704 articles · Since 2020

Articles, page 23

A perspective on herd immunity for COVID-19

March 10, 2021Mar 10, 2021

On February 18, Dr. Marty Makary published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal which struck an unusually optimistic note as to the stage of the American COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Makary predicts that based on the current trajectory, COVID-19 will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to return to a post-COVID-19 normal life. He notes that in the last few weeks, we have seen …

Physician voices

COVID and the Texas freeze: death by a thousand cuts

Heidi Russell, MD, PhD

March 7, 2021Mar 7, 2021

In February, Texas lost power and water. A winter storm disrupted a power grid ill-prepared for freezing temperatures, shutting off power to homes, businesses, and water treatment facilities. Water pipes burst, water pressure dropped, and the water became unsafe for drinking or cleaning. My house was without power, internet, or wireless data for (only) 36 hours and water for two days after that. I consider us fortunate.

The local hospitals worked …

Conditions and diseases

Let 2021 be the year we end the pandemic

Michele Luckenbaugh

March 7, 2021Mar 7, 20215

I listen to the wind howling outside on this night that's stranded between the departing season of winter and the coming of spring. I await the arrival of longer days filled with sunshine, days that welcome new growth, new life.…

I listen to the wind howling outside on this night that’s stranded between the departing season of winter and the coming of spring. I await the arrival of longer days filled with sunshine, days that welcome new growth, new life.

During the year that has passed into the recesses of my mind, new life and new growth concepts seem foreign to me. As citizens of the world, we have been placed …

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Captions on the COVID vaccine selfie matter as much as the picture [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

March 6, 2021Mar 6, 2021

"For a vaccination campaign to be highly effective, we need to be open to having difficult conversations with people who disagree with our perspective. If we don’t, the result will be a polarization of philosophical ideas and not an unbiased…

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“For a vaccination campaign to be highly effective, we need to be open to having difficult conversations with people who disagree with our perspective. If we don’t, the result will be a polarization of philosophical ideas and not an unbiased and unemotional assessment of the data where maybe we can meet in the middle.

As we share our pictures and experiences regarding …

Conditions and diseases

The COVID vaccine: Why give two if one will do?

Nate Link, MD

March 6, 2021Mar 6, 2021

The great COVID vaccine rollout of 2021 is fully underway. Armed with two highly effective products from Pfizer and Moderna, our nation is rapidly advancing toward the immunization of all Americans in hopes of stemming the pandemic. We just can’t…

Indeed, despite nearly 80 million vaccine doses having been administered, and millions more being given every week, tens of millions of Americans are anxious and frustrated by …

Conditions and diseases

A physician questions the COVID vaccine data from Israel

Daniel Hopkins, MD

March 6, 2021Mar 6, 20212

Bloodletting may be the best-known example of a once widely used, faulty medical treatment, but there are many more. Hormone replacement therapy for postmenopausal women, famously touted by experts, turned out to be complicated and sometimes harmful. The list of…

The list of medical reversals is long, and one cause is common. When observational studies compare people in the community who receive treatment with those who don’t, the treatment …

Conditions and diseases

It’s infuriating to encounter discarded gloves and masks in public

Anne Carter Davis

March 5, 2021Mar 5, 2021

Sitting at my "work-from-home" quarantine desk, I heard my alarm – time to change the laundry. Donning a mask, I walked down the hallway and opened the laundry room door. I couldn’t help but fixate on the lone, inside-out, blue…

Sitting at my “work-from-home” quarantine desk, I heard my alarm – time to change the laundry. Donning a mask, I walked down the hallway and opened the laundry room door.

I couldn’t help but fixate on the lone, inside-out, blue glove that someone had forgotten on top of the dryer.

The loss of life during this pandemic has been a hard enough cross to bear. Gloves and masks discarded aimlessly in public …

Physician voices

Hope: One of the strongest “medicines” we have to treat both our patients and ourselves

American College of Physicians & Philip A. Masters, MD

March 5, 2021Mar 5, 2021

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD. By any measure, the past year has been difficult for everyone. The ongoing pandemic with its widespread personal, social, and economic disruptions, as well as civil and political…

A guest column by the American College of Physicians, exclusive to KevinMD.

By any measure, the past year has been difficult for everyone.

The ongoing pandemic with its widespread personal, social, and economic disruptions, as well as civil and political unrest throughout the country has clearly stretched the fabric of our society and had remarkably negative effects on the mental health and well-being of our patients and …

Conditions and diseases

The impact of COVID-19 on those with disabilities and mental illness

Martin Lustick, MD

March 4, 2021Mar 4, 2021

As early as April 6, 2020, the New York Times (NYT) published an article revealing early pandemic statistics that showed the death rate for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) who received residential services in New York State (NYS) was double that for the general population. As difficult as the pandemic has been for all of us, it was clear from the beginning that some were more vulnerable than …

Conditions and diseases

COVID-19: Looking into the future and healing

Christine Lau, MD & Collette Williams, PhD, RN

March 4, 2021Mar 4, 2021

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken a toll on its health care workers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 340,000 cases of COVID-19 among health care personnel have been reported, and it is estimated that these numbers are grossly underreported. It is estimated that more than 1,700 health care providers have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began, with more than 200 being nurses. With …

Conditions and diseases

The COVID-19 vaccine from the South African frontlines

Dr. Basil Stathoulis

March 3, 2021Mar 3, 2021

I have been distracting myself since the second wave. Our hospital has quietened down as far as COVID-19 cases go, and we started doing limited planned surgeries. After my last post, which detailed the overwhelming and horrific difficulties we faced…

So I thought of telling you about a touching …

The Podcast by KevinMD

We need to work together to help schools reopen [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

March 3, 2021Mar 3, 2021

"Children cannot afford to wait, especially our youngest learners who have difficulty engaging on a screen. We need to all work together to help schools reopen, especially in low-income communities that are disproportionately suffering and may lack the resources. I…

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“Children cannot afford to wait, especially our youngest learners who have difficulty engaging on a screen. We need to all work together to help schools reopen, especially in low-income communities that are disproportionately suffering and may lack the resources. I stand with the AAP, CDC, European CDC, WHO, and UNICEF to support safe school re-opening.”

Lekha M. Rao is …

The Podcast by KevinMD

How physicians can emerge stronger after 2020 [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

March 2, 2021Mar 2, 2021

"With 2020 behind us and the pandemic still raging, it is incumbent upon us to take a close look in the rear-view mirror. While the vaccines’ approval gives us all hope, the vaccination initiative’s slow rollout should worry us. Physicians,…

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“With 2020 behind us and the pandemic still raging, it is incumbent upon us to take a close look in the rear-view mirror. While the vaccines’ approval gives us all hope, the vaccination initiative’s slow rollout should worry us. Physicians, health care providers, nurses, and essential workers, and patients and family members have borne the brunt of the pandemic. On the …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Why I trust the COVID vaccine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

March 2, 2021Mar 2, 2021

"Many friends have asked for my perspective on the COVID vaccine. Answering this requires both an explanation of clinical trials and an understanding of what normally slows down pharmaceutical development. Importantly, COVID vaccines are required to go through the same…

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“Many friends have asked for my perspective on the COVID vaccine. Answering this requires both an explanation of clinical trials and an understanding of what normally slows down pharmaceutical development.

Importantly, COVID vaccines are required to go through the same process as every other pharmaceutical.

Vaccination is a personal choice, but I 100 percent recommend it. Personally, I can’t wait to get vaccinated …

Read more…

Why I trust the COVID vaccine [PODCAST]

Conditions and diseases

A beloved COVID ICU patient turns to comfort care

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

March 2, 2021Mar 2, 2021

Everyone loved Mrs. Maria. She was everyone’s mom, grandma, teacher. Maria grew up in poverty. Though her family was poor, she knew her parents and siblings loved her and loved each other. But the one thing she knew her passion…

Everyone loved Mrs. Maria. She was everyone’s mom, grandma, teacher.

Maria grew up in poverty. Though her family was poor, she knew her parents and siblings loved her and loved each other. But the one thing she knew her passion was at was school. Every morning she couldn’t wait to go to school and learn more. And she knew one day she would be a teacher.

Throughout the years, Maria excelled in …

Physician voices

Lessons from endurance racing for combatting pandemic fatigue

David Williams, MBA & Doug Ornoff, MD, PhD

March 2, 2021Mar 2, 2021

A recent conversation with a nurse evoked a metaphor for the COVID-19 pandemic. The floor on which she worked had just had several patients die from COVID-19 in rapid succession. One particularly sad case involved a man saying his final goodbye to his mother, both infected with COVID-19, through a video call because they couldn’t be in the same room as the mother passed away. The nurse said that she …

Physician voices

Why trust is the bedrock of public health policy

Michael Brant-Zawadzki, MD

March 1, 2021Mar 1, 2021

I was at my gym last night (yes, it’s finally open). Billy Joel’s ballad about trust was the metronome to my squats. Though vaccinated, I was wearing my mask. Knowing the latest evidence about vaccines, my mask was only for the optics of those mostly maskless around me. I overheard the couple next to me say, “OMG. Fauci says we should double-mask. What a BSer!”

Trust is fundamental to the delivery …

Physician voices

Peer support during the era of COVID-19

Susan Wilson, MD

March 1, 2021Mar 1, 2021

Burnout has been an issue for those in health care long before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the increased stress and anxiety we face now have caused a host of new problems. The current environment health care professionals (HCPs) find themselves in has brought issues of physical and emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, and moral injury, not to mention more instances of second victim syndrome (the effect of an unanticipated, adverse medical …

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Peer support during the era of COVID-19

Conditions and diseases

Responding to the COVID pandemic: a lesson in coalescence

Nate Link, MD

February 28, 2021Feb 28, 2021

On March 13, 2020, almost exactly one year ago, hospitals in New York City shared an uneasy feeling that the enemy was all around us, growing in force and stealthily approaching, but still invisible. Then, over the next three weeks, the COVID tidal wave washed over us in full fury, as desperately ill patients flooded our emergency rooms. So as not to drown in that wave, Bellevue Hospital needed to …

Conditions and diseases

Is there a role for vitamin D in COVID-19? [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

February 27, 2021Feb 27, 2021

"As we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic causing spiking numbers of cases, the scientific and medical communities continue to search for effective treatments and preventive measures. We have clearly established the importance of wearing masks, physical distancing, and…

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“As we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic causing spiking numbers of cases, the scientific and medical communities continue to search for effective treatments and preventive measures. We have clearly established the importance of wearing masks, physical distancing, and frequent handwashing.

As of this article’s writing, there are over two hundred fifty articles on PubMed about the connection between vitamin D and COVID-19. …

COVID-19 pandemic

Articles, page 23

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