Not all grievous injuries are apparent to the eye, as anyone who has experienced catastrophic illness or injury can attest. And now we’re learning a lot more about the hidden costs — mental, emotional, social, and spiritual — inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. Reporters Emily Baumgartner and Russ Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times surfaced….
Continue ReadingVaccinations
Pandemic toll nears 800,000, as Delta rages and Omicron threatens
The coronavirus pandemic is nearing another grim mark: 800,000 deaths in this country in its two-year run, with 1 in 100 of the fatalities occurring among those 65 and older. The pandemic toll exceeds the population of cities like Washington, D.C., Seattle, Denver, Boston, and Memphis, and is heading toward the equivalent of spots like….
Continue ReadingShots and boosters get yet more emphasis as Omicron spreads
The steady, global spread of the Omicron variant and the huge uncertainty about what menace it may pose also may provide a powerful prod for anyone still fence-sitting to finally get those coronavirus vaccinations, including booster shots. Experts are furiously researching and may not know for weeks or longer whether Omicron will be worse than….
Continue ReadingNot so fast, Omicron variant says, as U.S. races for holiday normalcy
Americans’ Thanksgiving holiday traveling, socializing, and shopping resumed with vigor, near pre-pandemic norms. And yet: Public health, political, and financial leaders expressed increasing concern about B.1.1.529, a new variant detected in South Africa, Israel, and elsewhere. The World Health Organization dubbed this coronavirus strain Omicron, the next alphabetic-derived Greek name in the group’s list. WHO….
Continue ReadingU.S. urges booster shots for all 18 and older and especially the 50+
With studies showing that as many as half of patients infected with the coronavirus suffer physical and psychological problems for six months or more after they thought they first recovered, wise people may want to take every precaution they can against the disease. They may wish to heed new federal recommendations calling for vaccine boosters,….
Continue ReadingBig thanks, not threats, are owed to all who work for our better health
In the spring of 2020, health workers were serenaded, cheered, and greeted as courageous heroes for their 24/7 commitment to battling the frightening, new coronavirus pandemic. People — especially New Yorkers with their nightly eruptions — could not contain their admiration and gratitude for medicine’s marvels, with spontaneous and sustained demonstrations breaking out, as one….
Continue ReadingPandemic battles focus on boosters for all and more shots for kids
The coronavirus pandemic continues to kill an average of 1,200 Americans each day and the disease infects more than 76,000 people daily — unwavering numbers that have led public health officials — wary of what the hectic holidays will bring — to double down on their campaign for vaccinations against the virus. This is especially….
Continue ReadingThousands admitted to hospitals for other reasons ended up with Covid-19
When hospitals too often fail to disclose and to adequately deal with their problems, patients and their loved ones suffer. That’s what happened during the coronavirus pandemic, when individuals admitted for other reasons were infected in hospitals and died of Covid-19 at alarming rates. The federal government, separately, also is stepping up its efforts to….
Continue ReadingKids now can get Covid shots. Will they? And what about the new anti-Covid pills?
Even as the coronavirus batters parts of the country, notably the Mountain West, public health officials are pointing to key ways in which Americans could safely and effectively further quell the pandemic that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and infected tens of millions. Children ages 5 to 12 have been approved for emergency….
Continue ReadingU.S. pandemic deaths climb toward 750,000 as shots for kids near
The coronavirus pandemic’s fourth, lethal Delta-variant surge keeps receding from its scary September peaks, with “fewer than half as many cases … being identified each day, and tens of thousands of fewer coronavirus patients … hospitalized.” Still, as the New York Times also has reported, “trouble spots continue to emerge in parts of the West. Alaska leads….
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