Clinical

In spite of significant advances in many aspects of the medical community’s approach to COVID-19, patients continue to be hospitalized and die from the virus. In the vast majority of cases, though, the literal difference between life and death appears to come down to one factor that is under the patient’s control: immunization. In her latest press briefing, Rochelle Walensky, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that Americans who are …

Any notions that the declining case load indicates we’re nearly out of the COVID-19 woods should be dispelled with news that the BA.2 sublineage of the Omicron variant may be the most transmissible yet. An article published by MedPage Today, drawn from multiple sources in the United States and the United Kingdom, revealed that cases related to BA.2 were doubling every 4 days, with a 120% “growth advantage” over the original version of Omicron—which at …

New cases of COVID-19 are falling across the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reports from multiple state health departments. The same is holding true for hospitalization rates—with the exception of the unvaccinated. This has proven to be especially true during the Omicron surge, according to new data from the CDC. In fact, being fully vaccinated (including both the initial vaccine dosage and a booster shot) has been found to …

A few months ago, we shared news about a study indicating that the threat of myocarditis was greater for patients who got COVID-19 than for people who received a COVID vaccine and did not become infected. Now a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association raises new questions about a possible connection. Analysis of 1,626 cases of myocarditis showed rates were increased in vaccinated patients across age and sex strata, but …

It wasn’t long ago that we shared data, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicating that a 3-day course of remdesivir reduced risk for hospitalization or death in patients with COVID-19 and certain comorbidities but who had not yet been hospitalized with the virus. Since then—starting with misinformation shared during a panel discussion in the U.S. Senate—there has been chatter that rather than saving lives, use of remdesivir actually increases risk of death …

The federal government has begun distributing a billion at-home COVID-19 tests (that’s roughly eight per household). Some hospitals have already been handing them out to patients upon discharge, as well. While at first that may seem to negate, or at least lower, the need for testing in your urgent care center, the truth may ultimately be that patients will be reminded just how much they need your expertise. There have been reports that some hospital-distributed …

The ongoing story of the COVID-19 pandemic is a big bag of mixed messages these days. The Omicron variant is more transmissible, but less likely to lead to serious illness in most otherwise-healthy patients. The death rate is far lower than it was earlier in the pandemic, but hospitalizations are soaring again. What is not a mixed message is the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key message, as outlined by Director …

Though COVID-19 case numbers are slowly coming down in some regions of the United States, the Omicron variant still driving hospitalization rates higher from coast to coast. So, it’s a bit daunting to learn that a “new” subvariant of Omicron, dubbed BA.2, has been reported in 40 countries—including the U.S.—as of January 24. According to the World Health Organization, BA.2 comprises four lineages: B.1.1.529, BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. While mainstream media outlets have quoted various scientists …

We found out shortly after its discovery that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible but (for most patients) less severe than others. As research continues, however, even more disparities are becoming known—and a couple of the latest could affect how you approach to both testing and office hygiene. An article just published online by Reuters quotes multiple studies in the U.S. and abroad revealing the optimal method of testing for Omicron and how …

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been shown to produce less severe illness than previous varieties of the virus—for the most part. Much of the data assembled, to date, reflect lower risk for hospitalization and death in vaccinated patients. The unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated don’t necessarily run the same low risk. Perhaps more importantly, the World Health Organization just shared circumstances in which patients may be at high risk for severe disease even with …