Covid vaccines are incredibly effective. The media’s overhyping of new research from the CDC is making people think otherwise.
When the CDC changed its guidance on masking earlier this week — recommending, among other things, that even vaccinated people start wearing masks in indoor public spaces in areas of substantial to high Covid transmission — it cited “unpublished data” as a reason for its decision. The next day, the internal CDC document that seems to have prompted the shift was published — by the Washington Post. And when major news media got a look at, the message they sent vaccinated people was pretty simple: “Panic!”
This reaction was not justified by the actual data in the CDC document. It…
Answers to key questions about this even more contagious coronavirus
Here we go again. The Delta variant of the coronavirus is more contagious than anything we’ve seen during the pandemic so far. It’s so contagious, it’s squeezing out its SARS-CoV-2 brethren to become the predominant variant in circulation.
So what should you do?
Whether you are vaccinated or not, it’s time to mask up and take other preventive steps if you wish to ensure the safety of yourself and your loved ones and the people in your community, experts say.
Given the situation is evolving quickly, here are answers to the key questions you might have:
What is the Delta variant and where is it?
From very early days…
The Nuance
A new study contradicts some long-standing medical advice
For years, doctors have warned people to avoid or limit their coffee intake if they’re at risk for heart trouble.
This advice is based in part on the belief that the caffeine in coffee (and other caffeinated drinks) can produce dangerous heartbeat abnormalities known as arrhythmias.
This belief has some research to back it up. A study published in 1980 found an association between the number of cups of coffee a person drank each day and that person’s risk for arrhythmia. …
Age Wise
Once the slump of midlife is in the rearview, life opens up
Midlife can be miserable. You know it. I know it. Surveys show it. The pressures of raising a family, finding or keeping a job, paying the bills, dealing with emerging aches and pains — it all adds up.
But better days are ahead. Happiness, often measured as “life satisfaction,” typically charts out as a statistical smiley face, a U-shaped or J-shaped curve that’s high in young adulthood, pretty sucky for a couple of decades, then higher than ever in old age. …
We have the tools to go back to school safely — it’s up to us to use them
The end of summer is fast approaching and most students in the United States are preparing to go back to school soon. But the doubly infectious Delta variant is causing a resurgence in Covid cases, and I’m hearing from concerned parents wondering how to keep kids safe — especially those under age 12 who aren’t yet eligible to be vaccinated.
I’ve tried to address some of the most common questions I’ve received from parents below. Unfortunately, there’s still a lot we don’t know, and many questions don’t have easy answers, but we’re learning more every day.
How big of a risk does Covid pose to kids?
Unvaccinated people are donating their bodies to the virus, allowing it to conduct gain-of-function experiments
Imagine for a moment that you’re a virus. Your mission is to find a host that you can invade and convert into a virus production facility. By stealing the host’s resources, you rapidly produce countless numbers of new viruses that your host will then spread to other victims. And today is your lucky day. One of your progeny has changed its genetic code, making that virus even more powerful. In scientific parlance, that virus is a variant that has gained a function. Now, rumor has it that your clever host has developed a vaccine, which tells its immune system how…
A doctor deciphers the jargon so you can navigate the age of open notes
On April 5th, 2021 a federal law titled the 21st Century Cures Act took effect mandating that clinical notes be made available to patients free of charge. While many medical facilities were already in the practice of releasing laboratory and imaging results to patients electronically, these results were often reviewed by providers prior to becoming available to patients. Now results must be released immediately.
Not surprisingly, I have already encountered a number of displeased patients who would have preferred hearing about, for example, a new lung nodule found on a CT scan, from their doctor rather than seeing it pop…
A doctor’s tips
Whenever someone learns I’m an emergency room physician, they reflexively ask ‘What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen?’ I get it — television shows like the eponymous ‘E.R.’ depict my job as full of lust, gore, and foreign objects in unexpected places.
I can humor you with stories all day long, but I’m not sure I want to. No one has ever asked me what I think is the most important question about my job: ‘What should I know about the ER if myself or my loved one is ever a patient? Any insider tips?’
There’s only one thing that…
So-called mood food has a moral dilemma
They started turning up in late summer 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, and they haven’t gone away: article upon article about “mood food.” The basic claim goes like this: Your stressful feelings and moods are the result of your eating habits, and you can fix them yourself.
“Food is Mood,” say Kim A. Gorgens, PhD, ABPP, and Mia Baumgartner for the Rheumatology Network. Over at Delish, recipes are on offer for “Mood Boosting Food to Put a Spring In Your Step.” …
Findings from a new study don’t bode well for the coming school year, and this research predates the worrisome Delta variant
With the school year starting soon, debates are raging across the country about whether students should wear masks or not. Both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that all staff and students wear masks, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated or not.
Yet only eight U.S. states are requiring students to wear masks, and eight other states have made it legally impossible for any schools to require masks. …
Elemental
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