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Nearly 2 years after COVID-19 became a significant threat in the United States, we suddenly have not one but two oral drugs available to treat infected patients. Just last week the Food and Drug Administration granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to oral antiviral medications from Pfizer and Merck, both of which have been shown to reduce risk for patients with mild to moderate disease who are at risk for severe illness. That doesn’t necessarily mean …

With caseloads climbing to levels that exceed previous “worst days” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the potential for significant damage to an already fraught supply chain and worker shortage across multiple industries is high. That includes urgent care centers, of course, as patients seeking refuge from the emergency room or a last-minute COVID test flock to understaffed locations across the country. A new recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers hope, however. Instead …

With emergency rooms packed with patients who could have COVID-19, patients experiencing minor symptoms of stroke may be more likely than ever to visit an urgent care center instead of the ED. As such, it would behoove you to be aware of newly published research comparing ticagrelor plus aspirin or clopidogrel plus aspirin vs aspirin alone in patients with minor ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack. The article, published online by JAMA Network, drew data …

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the presumed telltale signs of infection were obvious: fever, respiratory distress, chills. Then more subtle symptoms like diminished senses of loss and smell became more apparent. Eventually, we understood that some people developed few (or even no) symptoms—but that they could still infect others and be “sick” for months themselves. Unfortunately, the learning curve continues as an article just published by JAMA Network reveals that the proportion of …

You know that complete vaccination, including a full two-dose regimen plus a booster shot, offers excellent protection against COVID-19 infection. You’re also aware that recovering from the virus leaves patients with protection from natural antibodies. Now there’s research suggesting that vaccinated patients who experience and recover from breakthrough cases may have the best protection man and nature can provide. The authors of a Research Letter published by the Journal of the American Medical Association wrote …

Just 3 weeks after the first Omicron-related diagnosis of COVID-19 in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that this latest variant of the virus has become the dominant one in this country, accounting for 73% of new cases here as of this writing. Bear in mind that’s the national figure; Omicron is even more dominant in New York, New Jersey, and parts of the Midwest, South, and Pacific Northwest. The …

With increasing spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, some states have already upgraded their pandemic status (New Jersey, for example, just went from yellow [moderate] to orange [high]). That doesn’t bode well for the future, given predictions from the PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that the entire country will see a dramatic jump in new cases over the next 4 weeks. A ripple effect that began with travel and gatherings over Thanksgiving weekend is …