Clinical

At a couple of points over the past year as the country (and the world) struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been brief moments of triumph. One was when tests became widely available. Another was when the first vaccines were approved. Those moments were also marked with the disappointment that urgent care was not looked at as part of the solution, in either case. Now that urgent care centers are, for the most part, …

Even though the increasing number of approved vaccines is grabbing the headlines these days, the hard truth is that millions of Americans continue to become infected with the COVID-19 virus. An unacceptably high number of those patients require a stay in the hospital, where the risk of mortality is still relatively high compared with patients who do not need to be admitted. Thankfully, new research continues to shed light on which patients are at the …

With more American receiving the COVID-19 vaccine every day, confusion is bubbling up over what “safe behavior” means post-shot. Are masks still advised? What about social distancing and quarantine procedures? Recognizing the potential for misinformation to cause a setback in our fight against the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance on appropriate safety standards for people who have been vaccinated and those around them. Among the highlights are the revelation …

Television station WRIC in Virginia ran a story recently about a woman who visited a local urgent care center as well as the emergency room after awaking one morning with eye pain and vision disturbances (including total vision loss in one eye). Various providers in both settings were stumped after ruling out conditions ranging from severe conjunctivitis to an unknown foreign body. After weeks of running from one doctor to the next, an optometrist suggested …

Every year at this time, much of the country starts to shake off the winter doldrums. The days are longer, the temperature starts creeping up, and there’s a sense of renewal. People just can’t wait to say goodbye to winter and to being stuck inside. This year, of course, that urge may be particularly strong. The fatigue of social distancing restrictions that have kept us from even the lower intensity interactions could be a serious …

There seems to be confusion among the public as to how COVID-19 affects infected individuals. While headlines noting that the U.S. recently passed the half-million mark in related deaths are hard to ignore, too many people are under the impression that the virus leads to one of two wildly diverse outcomes: it’s either deadly or “no big deal.” That couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as new data published in JAMA Network Open indicate …

Federal health agencies insisted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic that a 14-day quarantine was prudent for anyone who had contact with an individual who tested positive for the virus. Local health agencies and school systems followed suit. Since then, the general belief has been that a shorter period is adequate, easing the pressure associated with disengaging from even distanced activities or hybrid learning. An article just published by JAMA Network supports the …

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted a National Forum on COVID-19 Vaccination this week (coinciding with news that the U.S. had passed the 500,000 mortality mark), speakers identified increasing the supply of vaccines; ensuring there are more vaccinators to administer the vaccine; and creating more places for people to get vaccinated as key steps toward widespread protection against the virus. While expressing the idea that retail pharmacies and federally qualified health centers …