Clinical

JUCM News readers know that there’s been an increase in both clinician burnout and patient visits related to mental health complaints and crises over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also known is the fact that physician shortages and other staffing issues are proving to be challenging for urgent care centers all over the country. A new article published by The Journal of the American Medical Association notes that the clinician shortage is actually a …

It’s been established that being “fully vaccinated” against SARS-CoV-2 means not only the full course of initial shots but also all available booster shots. One challenge in advising patients accordingly is that recommendations keep changing. The latest revelation from the Food and Drug Administration is that doses of booster shots may be modified by autumn 2022 in order to include some version of the omicron variant that has proved to be dominant since its discovery. …

It’s only the second week of summer, but already some parts of the country are experiencing temperatures we don’t usually see until the “dog days” of August. Virginia, for one, was seeing record temperatures for this time of year, with extended periods of 90 degrees and above predicted as reported by WFIR News Talk Radio. With that comes concerns from the commonwealth health department that emergency rooms will soon be hit with larger numbers of …

While the numbers are still relatively low, the rapid pace at which cases of monkeypox are growing is starting to set off alarm bells in the minds of New York City health officials. Cases increased 60% over a 4-day period, with 48 people now having been diagnosed according to the city’s health department. Recognizing both the need and the opportunity to help, MedRite Urgent Care officially partnered with the New York City Department of Health …

After a couple of light seasons (presumably due to hygiene precautions designed to reduce spread of COVID-19), a full-force return of seasonal influenza was expected. What may not have been expected, however, is that said return of flu would occur well past what we consider the “season” to be. That’s exactly what’s happening in Florida right now, though—and the surge is coinciding with recent outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus, as well. All told, there have …

Just last week, JUCM News noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had classified monkeypox as a Level 2 threat, with a risk of transmission sufficient to warrant wearing a mask while traveling. Now the CDC has backed off a bit, removing the masking recommendation for travelers but maintaining that “people infected with monkeypox [should] wear a mask if they must be around others in their homes if close, face-to-face contact is likely.” …

As the latest Omicron variants continue to spread throughout various sections of the United States, leading to a new surge in COVID-19 cases, it’s important to keep in mind that many patients are still dealing with becoming infected months ago. A special panel convened by the American College of Physicians has issued a guidance specifically on the care of long COVID patients, with the caveat that a proper definition of “long COVID” continues to be …

As the constant waxing and waning of COVID-19 rates in the United States continues, a pair of relatively newly identified subvariants of Omicron are suddenly being blamed for a growing proportion of new cases. BA.4 and BA.5 accounted for 5.4% and 7.4% of new cases, respectively, in the most recently weekly recap from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After first being identified in South Africa, the pair have been gaining ground in the …

As kids are wrapping up the school year and Americans are making plans for summer getaways and attending festivals and other large gatherings, rates of COVID-19 infection are once again creeping up in various parts of the country. In fact, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seem to indicate that the rate of infection may be almost twice as high in boosted individuals than in those who have been vaccinated but not …

After a few weeks of feeling like we’re moving in the right direction in winning the fight against COVID-19, it appears that the United States is instead sinking back into familiar, if unfortunate, territory. As noted by experts from Johns Hopkins, Duke, and Harvard universities quoted in a report from USA Today, however, indications are that we will fare far better than in summers past. For one thing, hospitalizations are lower than in previous waves, …