COVID at 2: A World Upended, a Future Unclear
The entire collection of Medscape articles can be found here
COVID at 2 Years: Preparing for a Different 'Normal'
How the Pandemic Led to Disarray ― and Discovery: The droplet dogma, changes in testing methods, and rapid publication
...True airborne spread of infections was thought to be rare. Infectious disease expert Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, listened to that early advice from health experts and broadcast newscasters about how COVID was transmitted by droplet and was incredulous.
"I'm sitting there going out of my mind yelling at the television set saying, 'How do we know this? It's a novel virus!' " said Shaman, director of the climate and health program at Columbia University in New York, whose work focuses on the modeling of the spread of infectious diseases.
...
It soon became clear that COVID-19 wasn't the only infectious disease that relies on aerosols to spread.
When mask wearing became a social norm in many parts of the United States, cases of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, a common cold, all but disappeared. These illnesses returned in 2021, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that fully vaccinated people could take off their masks and mask-wearing declined.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led scientists to reevaluate the role and frequency of aerosol transmission....
The Pandemic Has Changed Us, Permanently
...Two years into the crisis, WebMD asked doctors, health experts, psychologists, and social scientists to ponder this question: What did we give up during the pandemic that most people won't return to doing, even when it's safe to do so?
Their answers suggest the pandemic brought many once-in-a-lifetime changes to everyday life that will become the "new normal" for millions in the US and around the globe.
In some cases, those changes were positive. For others...not so much....
A Doctor Reflects on the Past 2 Years, Looks Ahead to 2022
COVID-19 Families and Experts Share Pandemic 'Silver Linings'
~~~
A booster shot of humility, from KevinMD.com
...While I have found it sometimes tempting to be irritated with patients or acquaintances who have come to conclusions about the pandemic that seem extremely far-fetched, even crazy (i.e., “If you get the vaccine, I can’t be around you because you will emit nanoparticles that will infect me and erase the gene that allows me to love Jesus.” No, seriously, someone really said this), I can’t say that the non-medical public is to blame for our lop-sided, divided response to this sometimes asymptomatic, sometimes very deadly virus.
Every crisis is an opportunity for leaders to rise up and help everyone else find the way forward. True leaders know how to bring a team together. They lead by example. They exhibit courage and resolve. Pride is a leader killer, and it shows itself in many ways. Fear, reactionary emotionality, inability to trust those around them, and doing everything necessary to keep face, even if it means being dishonest.
The defensiveness, name-calling, lambasting, and criticism that has occurred among our political leaders and the medical community has hamstrung us.
It is as though everyone has expected iPhone speed answers to a problem that has continued to shine the light on the limitations of our human understanding. I think most of us believed that we should have answers and come to know all there is to know about COVID quickly. This is the 21st century, right? Unfortunately, this bug keeps proving: we still do not know much.
How do we admit to the people looking to us for answers that “we don’t know”?
When was the last time you admitted to a patient that you made a mistake?... This entry was originally posted at https://med-cat.dreamwidth.org/3398086.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID if you prefer.
COVID at 2 Years: Preparing for a Different 'Normal'
How the Pandemic Led to Disarray ― and Discovery: The droplet dogma, changes in testing methods, and rapid publication
...True airborne spread of infections was thought to be rare. Infectious disease expert Jeffrey Shaman, PhD, listened to that early advice from health experts and broadcast newscasters about how COVID was transmitted by droplet and was incredulous.
"I'm sitting there going out of my mind yelling at the television set saying, 'How do we know this? It's a novel virus!' " said Shaman, director of the climate and health program at Columbia University in New York, whose work focuses on the modeling of the spread of infectious diseases.
...
It soon became clear that COVID-19 wasn't the only infectious disease that relies on aerosols to spread.
When mask wearing became a social norm in many parts of the United States, cases of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, a common cold, all but disappeared. These illnesses returned in 2021, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that fully vaccinated people could take off their masks and mask-wearing declined.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led scientists to reevaluate the role and frequency of aerosol transmission....
The Pandemic Has Changed Us, Permanently
...Two years into the crisis, WebMD asked doctors, health experts, psychologists, and social scientists to ponder this question: What did we give up during the pandemic that most people won't return to doing, even when it's safe to do so?
Their answers suggest the pandemic brought many once-in-a-lifetime changes to everyday life that will become the "new normal" for millions in the US and around the globe.
In some cases, those changes were positive. For others...not so much....
A Doctor Reflects on the Past 2 Years, Looks Ahead to 2022
COVID-19 Families and Experts Share Pandemic 'Silver Linings'
~~~
A booster shot of humility, from KevinMD.com
...While I have found it sometimes tempting to be irritated with patients or acquaintances who have come to conclusions about the pandemic that seem extremely far-fetched, even crazy (i.e., “If you get the vaccine, I can’t be around you because you will emit nanoparticles that will infect me and erase the gene that allows me to love Jesus.” No, seriously, someone really said this), I can’t say that the non-medical public is to blame for our lop-sided, divided response to this sometimes asymptomatic, sometimes very deadly virus.
Every crisis is an opportunity for leaders to rise up and help everyone else find the way forward. True leaders know how to bring a team together. They lead by example. They exhibit courage and resolve. Pride is a leader killer, and it shows itself in many ways. Fear, reactionary emotionality, inability to trust those around them, and doing everything necessary to keep face, even if it means being dishonest.
The defensiveness, name-calling, lambasting, and criticism that has occurred among our political leaders and the medical community has hamstrung us.
It is as though everyone has expected iPhone speed answers to a problem that has continued to shine the light on the limitations of our human understanding. I think most of us believed that we should have answers and come to know all there is to know about COVID quickly. This is the 21st century, right? Unfortunately, this bug keeps proving: we still do not know much.
How do we admit to the people looking to us for answers that “we don’t know”?
When was the last time you admitted to a patient that you made a mistake?... This entry was originally posted at https://med-cat.dreamwidth.org/3398086.html. You can comment here, or there using OpenID if you prefer.