Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Be Aware: The Current Wave of COVID-19 May Even Be More Transmittable

While some experts find it difficult to identify an endpoint or starting point to distinguish one wave of COVID-19 from another, there is now evidence that the current upsurge in cases may be partially due to diverse genotypes. A study published in mBio reports that the most recent cases have been caused by strains with the Gly614 variant of spike protein, which exhibits significantly higher viral loads in the nasopharynx than did the Asp614 variant …

Keep Your Eye on the Local Marketplace; When Practices Close, Patients Need New Options

The recent closure of an urgent care center in Hartselle, AL, as reported by local television station WAFF, has left regular patients scrambling to find new options for same-day care. Some patients who came to rely on the practice as a de facto primary care office are in especially dire straits, needing a quick refill of subscriptions for hypertension and other chronic conditions. While the reason for this particular urgent care center’s sudden closing is …

Be Alert for Signs of Delirium—They Could Mean You Also Need to Be Vigilant for COVID-19

Patients are not likely to present to urgent care a primary complaint of delirium. That doesn’t mean patient exhibiting signs (such as hallucinations, but also more subtle things like restlessness, agitation, or lethargy) won’t come in for other reasons, however. There’s a very important reason to have delirium on your radar right now, though, as a new, retrospective study published in JAMA Open Network reveals that delirium is a common finding in patients who were …

Wary Pediatricians May Be Referring More Children to Urgent Care During the Pandemic

Concern over exposing children who either have chronic conditions or are waiting for a well-visit to COVID-19 is prompting more pediatricians than usual to refer sick patients to urgent care, according to an article just published by Kaiser Health News. While the parents quoted in the article were angered by such experiences, this phenomenon is both an affirmation of and an opportunity for child-friendly urgent care centers. Clearly, it reflects a high level of trust …

Patients May Feel COVID-19 Is Less Threatening Because the Mortality Rate Is Down. They’re Wrong

Even though COVID-19 cases are through the roof (again), most areas are not seeing the same excessively high death rate they did last spring and over the summer. While this is clearly good news, the risk is that patients could interpret this as a sign that the virus is weakening. An article just published in MedPage Today points out why the data could be dangerously deceiving. With advances in both testing and treatment, more patients …

People Have Had It with COVID-19 Safety Guidelines; Prepare for the Surge to Continue

As you probably know from the inescapable mainstream media reports lately, the COVID-19 pandemic is in the midst of a surge that parallels or exceeds the conditions of last spring. Unfortunately, it’s about to get worse, in all likelihood. First, the weather is getting colder across the country, meaning less opportunity for outdoor, well-spaced social outlets. Secondly, college kids are descending on their hometowns and are eager to celebrate the holiday season with family and …

Heart Trouble Could Be Lurking for Athletic Patients with COVID-19

We’ve heard for months that patients with preexisting conditions such as diabetes and obesity are at increased risk for severe disease and death with COVID-19. Paradoxically, there’s now evidence that athletes could also be in danger, though not in the same way as other high-risk groups. A Research Letter just published by the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that myocardial inflammation is occurring in (and has killed) competitive athletes after recovery from COVID-19—including …

Warn Patients with COVID-19 They May Be in for a Long Haul—Even with a ‘Mild’ Case

If there are still members of the general public who perceive COVID-19 to be nothing worse (or longer lasting) than a bad case of the flu, you might want to help them set more realistic expectations in the event they get sick. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 35% of people who tested positive still had not returned to their “usual state of health” several weeks after testing. The …

Failing to Report COVID-19 Results Could Bring the Wrong Kind of Attention—and Scrutiny from the State

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a New York Times article that revealed compliance with guidelines on reporting COVID-19 test results in a timely manner is not as strong as it should be. While the public health implications of that are obvious, be aware that there could be serious consequences for any entity that fails to meet its reporting obligations, as well. The Connecticut Department of Public Health is investigating an urgent …

Your Clinical Team May Not Be as Healthy as You Think They Are

It would stand to reason that people who work in urgent care centers are exposed to a higher viral load of whatever’s going around at any given time—including COVID-19. The larger problem, according to a study published by JAMA Network, is that the virus goes undetected in healthcare workers too often. Conjecture is that they have mild or no symptoms, and even in a healthcare setting testing isn’t thorough enough. The study, conducted by the …