Posts related to the Covid-19 pandemic
It is not a single disease. We still don't have a grasp of the underlying mechanism. We see several collections of symptoms: loss of smell and taste, severe fatigue, myocarditis (heart inflammation), lung disease / shortness of breath, mimicry of Chronic fatigue syndrome. I am glad there is significant work in this area, as it is possible that up to 1 million people are out of the workforce in America as a result of this illness.
This is a beautiful 3-D illustration of CT scan findings of COVID infection in the lungs, and the stories of the patients who survived, and now have changed lives as a result. Sobering, and illustrates, that even though our treatments and vaccines are excellent, we still have long term consequences for some with infection. Keep paying attention: Covid is not done with us.
Turns out, there are ways that science, with focused effort, can do good work, and quickly. Also, we should pay volunteer reviewers for medical journals!
https://www.wired.com/story/the-secrets-of-covid-brain-fog-are-starting-to-lift/ Image from Wired.com. Link to story above. Precise Science Instead of "Brain Fog" from Covid, we can now say "a loss of oligodendrocytes" and "microglial reactivity" are causes of decreased memory, cognitive sharpness and fatigue post Covid infection. I love that our smart scientist colleagues are linking out to the chemotherapy and other viral … Continue reading Secrets of “Covid Brain Fog” are starting to lift (Wired.com)
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/05/09/gettyimages-1238868405_slide-c8357f0ce7718bb9c7b7da3a9e823c8c860d4f86.jpg from npr.org https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-paxlovid/ I found this to be timely and interesting. As a physician, my advice (and what I continue to do now for myself, my patients, at this point in our Covid world): Continue masking when indoors in public, mask off ok outdoorsI'm not eating at establishments indoors: I look for outdoor dining … Continue reading What is Paxlovid? (Wired). One of the better explanations of how this drug works against COVID
How do you fit a curve to your theories? Come along as CT tries to convince you that he's right...
Here we are 19+ months into the pandemic. Time to look at our (unvalidated) trends within our 12 hospital, 1000 clinic health system in Colorado. Top (blue) line indicates outpatient visit volume monthly from Sept 2019 through Sept 2021. Over 2 years, we saw that dramatic dip in volume in March. That was followed by … Continue reading The pandemic, patient messages and phone calls: Octopus or Starfish?
https://youtu.be/dC0Yob6aS4E Mass Vaccines, Epic, Apple, 5G, UCHealth. Sometimes it all comes together.
https://3qb9rm3ii1195ulba2zpd8yh-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/MMM-Podcast-ZS-3-1-1720x1209.jpg From Haymarket marketing communications website MM+M https://www.mmm-online.com/home/podcasts/the-mmm-podcast-6-24-21-zss-jacob-braude This is a 28 minute podcast. The crucial moment (for me) is about 12:30. Of the all the psychologies and tactics to address various subpopulations of the vaccine hesitate (for pediatrics, for adults, for COVID in particular), ONE tactic was most effective across all these subpopulations, use … Continue reading The most effective way to approach the vaccine-hesitant
We have a monthly Epic Provider Newsletter where we share system updates, and I send CMIO Update paragraph to my colleagues. Here is my update for this month:
