COVID-19

Physicians, nurses, residents, and students writing on KevinMD during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, most of it in real time between March 2020 and 2022: the first weeks and the shortages, the surge, redeployment, schools and masks, the vaccine's arrival and the people who refused it, and what the years did to the people who worked through them. This archive is a primary record of what clinicians wrote as it happened, and more of it was written anonymously than any other subject on the site. For that record organized as a timeline, with the disagreements recorded as physicians made them, see COVID-19: what physicians wrote as it happened. For what physicians said about burnout in those years and since, see Physician burnout: what physicians say, in their own words.

We cannot control what people choose to believe, and we can’t deny what we know

Claire Unis, MD

Physician

December 18, 2020

A few months ago, I quit social media. It was absolutely the right decision for me – I needed my time back. So many little moments of beauty and consideration get skipped when my brain follows one feed after another and loses track of time.

But every now and then, when I have ten minutes to kill, I will check-in. Usually, I go right to a group of women physician equestrians …

It’s time to address the shadow pandemic of intimate partner violence

Gabriele Ruzgas, Elsa Nico, Katherine Thompson, Nicole Zolman, and Shikha Jain, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 17, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge through the nation, a concerning “shadow pandemic” is quietly growing as well. Many cities and states, including Chicago, are reinstituting stay-at-home advisories and orders to protect communities from COVID-19. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence has been the increase in intimate partner violence (IPV). With the tightening of stay-at-home regulations, the health care system cannot overlook those suffering behind …

Why this physician will get the COVID vaccine

Julie Swartz, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 16, 2020

The history of vaccines is a story of profound success. Illnesses that killed hundreds of thousands of people every year are nearly eradicated since the development of vaccines. Illnesses that my older colleagues treated routinely are things I will only hear about when they tell their horrific stories of kids not breathing from epiglottitis or becoming paralyzed from polio. Yes, there have been vaccines that were later found …

What worries this physician about the COVID-19 vaccine

Dalia Saha, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 16, 2020

Over coffee and the usual banter in the doctor’s lounge, a group of physicians takes a break from seeing patients after donning off their PPE. The TV is blasting the news, largely ignored, until the focus turns to the COVID-19 vaccine. The newscaster announced that the first group to receive the vaccine would be health care workers. Everyone stops talking; all gaze at the wall-mounted screen. And it …

COVID, paternalism, and the death of patient autonomy

Garrett Jensen

Medical Education

December 15, 2020

A year ago, if you had asked me if most doctors respected their patients’ wishes, I would have answered with a resounding yes. If you had asked me if medicine had divorced its paternalistic roots when physicians trampled over ideals like patient autonomy and non-malfeasance, I would have said yes. But that was last year, and in this new world of COVID, panic, hysteria, and ever-present claims of just “following …

During the pandemic, many health care workers won’t be home for Christmas

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions and Diseases

December 14, 2020

He was a healthy 36-year-old paramedic with a loving wife and an adorable little boy.

Jim loved his job. The rush, the adrenaline, the blaring lights through downtown hurrying to get to the major hospital. Cardiac arrests, gunshot wounds, tragic auto accidents, respiratory arrests, CPR, compressions, starting IVs. Speaking to the ER physician en route to the hospital to give stat meds for V-tach, SVT, delivering a baby. Anything and everything. …

Why can I trust the COVID vaccine?

Alexandra Fairchok

Conditions and Diseases

December 14, 2020

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. These include the following:

Preclinical trials. In this stage, researchers conduct animal testing to see if the vaccine can produce an immune response. If the vaccine is …

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Why can I trust the COVID vaccine?

Vaccinating the entire U.S population: Health information technologies are positioned to help

Betty Rabinowitz, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 13, 2020

The mammoth task of vaccinating most of the world’s human population against COVID-19 is before us. Several viable, highly effective vaccines have been developed at record speed. The pharmaceutical industry will now be called upon to meet the next challenge of producing the vaccine at scale by manufacturing the billions of required doses. A distribution and logistics challenge follows: how to equitably coordinate and execute the widespread distribution and administration …

COVID-19 and The Queen’s Gambit: What will be the pandemic’s endgame?

Robert Pearl, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 13, 2020

The Queen’s Gambit, a seven-part Netflix series, has been the darling of streaming television during the coronavirus pandemic. Seen by more than 60 million people, the story chronicles the life of fictional chess prodigy Beth Harmon, who grows up in a Kentucky orphanage and goes on to win a world championship.

With its three-dimensional characters and fresh spin on the coming-of-age plotline, the series has captivated the …

As COVID worsens, don’t forget about the opioid crisis

Vishal Khetpal, MD and Nishant Shah, MD, MPH

Conditions and Diseases

December 13, 2020

For the past seven months, an epidemic in our country has spiraled out of control, claiming thousands of lives that could have been saved. It has been met by an inadequate, meandering national response that has often lacked urgency. It has disrupted families, and at times has overburdened our health care system grappling with limited resources.

This assessment undoubtedly describes the COVID-19 pandemic that is now resurging in many communities across …

What this medical epidemiologist learned from prior pandemic vaccination efforts

Tista S. Ghosh, MD, MPH

Physician

December 13, 2020

It was the fall of 2009. I was a medical epidemiologist at the largest local health department in the state of Colorado, in charge of coordinating the area’s H1N1 pandemic vaccination efforts. The CDC was distributing vaccine to state and local health departments, and we were in turn responsible for getting it out to our citizens. It was a daunting task – we were exhausted from months of dealing with …

The unsung heroes of the pandemic

Christine Lau, MD and Collette Williams, PhD, RN

Physician

December 12, 2020

Physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists on the coronavirus pandemic frontlines have been hailed as heroes for putting their lives at risk to help others. While they may be the face of the hospital and those interacting directly with the patients, hospitals are full of other staff members also going above and beyond to ensure patient and staff safety during this pandemic. These individuals not only make the hospital work daily …

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The unsung heroes of the pandemic

You shouldn’t be in health care if you don’t believe in masking

Kristina Scanlan, DO

Physician

December 12, 2020

As of December 5th, there have been 281,878 total deaths and over 2,000 deaths daily. The U.S. has had a 48 percent increase in deaths compared with two weeks ago. Despite COVID-19 infections increasing exponentially, many still don’t believe in the efficacy of masking and social distancing. The most disturbing part of this is that there is still a large minority of health care practitioners who …

Social connectedness, volunteerism, and the remedy for COVID fatigue

Ashten Duncan, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 11, 2020

The screen of my laptop brightened up as the next patient appeared in time for her telemedicine visit. The attending physician and I smiled and greeted this typically genial 73-year-old woman—let’s call her “Mariana”—as she forced a reciprocal grin. Mariana’s husband passed away from pneumonia three months prior, shortly after recovering from COVID-19. She spoke about how difficult it was not having him in her life and how her home …

A successful COVID vaccine requires more than Warp Speed

David Galinsky, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 11, 2020

“Warp Speed” is a name that does not inspire confidence. It is a politically inspired slogan, not a serious name for a campaign to save lives. It suggests speed, not carefulness. It suggests politics, not science. The success of Warp Speed is going to depend on the American public accepting the vaccine and believing that it is both safe and effective. We must not let politics interfere with this process. …

A physician’s guide to surviving COVID winter

Rada Jones, MD

Physician

December 11, 2020

If you’re in health care, this is probably your worst winter ever. Between the COVIDs, scarce resources, shutdowns, homeschooling, bureaucracy, hoaxers, and checking the in-laws’ rashes online, you must feel cooked.

You’re frustrated. Your patients die calling COVID a hoax. People refuse to wear masks. So many loved parents die alone. Bureaucrats don’t prioritize people’s lives. Even some of our own sold their soul for fame or money.

You’re tired of being …

The vaccinated and the anxious: lessons from the pandemic

Cynthia Tsai, MD

Physician

December 10, 2020

As a primary care physician, I eagerly discuss the importance of routine vaccines with my patients. My patients bring varying beliefs and opinions about vaccines to our conversations. Some of my patients share my enthusiasm, and other patients share their questions or hesitations with me that we review in greater detail together. Still, other patients share with me worries and fears about vaccines that my counseling and reassurance can only …

A tale of 2 COVID-19 trials: compassionate use vs. EUA

G. Luke Larkin, MD

Conditions and Diseases

December 10, 2020

We all need hope this holiday season, but as an experienced physician, biostatistician, and research methodologist, it is my duty to share why the encouraging vaccine results reported by pharma companies in the last month must be applauded but interpreted with caution.

Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are both to be commended for successfully recruiting tens of thousands of subjects in a remarkably narrow window of time. As a clinical trialist who has …

The family super-spreader event: thoughts on a COVID-19 Thanksgiving

Anonymous

Conditions and Diseases

December 10, 2020

It was Black Friday, and as I held her hand, I knew that she would be dead within the hour.

My breath was stale inside my N95. The yellow isolation gown was moist and clingy, and the fogged-up goggles gave me that feeling that I was on an extended deep-sea expedition. Mrs. Carson was still occupying her bed, but really she was already gone. I had watched the respiratory rate creep …

Where are the nurses in the Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board?

Yoo Jung Kim, MD

Health Policy

December 10, 2020

In November, President-elect Joseph Biden announced a panel of thirteen health experts as part of his Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. The board boasts of a distinguished cohort of public health officials, scientists, and physicians. However, in reading through the board’s members’ accomplished biographies, one profession seems conspicuously absent: nurses.

Angela Phung is a family nurse practitioner in Washington state who grew up in Snohomish County, an area north of Seattle with …