Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Are New Omicron Variants Driving the Latest Climb in New COVID-19 Infections?

Rates of new infections with SARS-CoV-2 were so consistently low after the post-holiday surge, per the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions COVID tracker, that many public health officials at the federal and state levels started to wonder if we could declare the pandemic “over.” Such conjecture now seems to have been premature as positive tests are again climbing (albeit relatively slowly), possibly thanks to new Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. As first reported by …

If You’re Not Seeing More Patients with STDs Already, You Probably Will

New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention add to previously published reports indicating that the spread of gonorrhea, syphilis, and congenital syphilis actually increased in the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, but the jump seen in 2020 continued into the first part of 2021 compared with previous years. Gonorrhea cases grew by 10% between 2019 and 2020, while primary and secondary syphilis cases were up 7%. Worse, …

Yes, Adverse Events After the Third COVID Shot Are Common—but They’re Also Minor

Some patients have been scared off getting COVID-19 vaccine booster shots because they experienced a few days of malaise, chills, and overall ill feelings after getting the first shot. For many, especially older patients, those worries are unfounded according to an article just published by JAMA Network Open. A study of individuals between 60 and 79 years of age in Israel revealed that a second booster shot (ie, a third dose overall) resulted in at …

Update: Mystified by the ‘Test to Treat’ COVID Program? You’re Not Alone

As JUCM News has reported recently, the dynamics of the federal test-to-treat program designed to ensure efficiency in helping patients newly diagnosed with COVID-19 have proved difficult to decipher. Though as first described it seemed to leave urgent care out of the running to participate, the Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) clarified that urgent care centers who meet the relevant criteria may qualify to participate after …

COVID Isn’t the Only Virus to Guard Against—Especially in Children Right Now

While the world’s attention continues to be consumed by the ever-fluctuating COVID-19 situation, another deadly virus has started making its way around the globe. And, unlike SARS-CoV-2, this one has shown to be a threat to children from the start. As the World Health Organization confirmed the death of at least one child from acute hepatitis of unknown origin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging clinicians here to be vigilant for symptoms …

Tell Your Pregnant Patients: COVID Vaccination Does Not Increase Risk for Adverse Outcomes

Understandably, pregnant patients can get pretty conservative when it comes to what they’re willing to put in their body. Unfortunately, that has led some in recent years to decline getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While their intentions are virtuous—protecting their unborn children—their choices are not necessarily sound from a clinical perspective. In fact, newly published evidence of the safety of vaccines for pregnant patients may be useful in convincing vaccine-hesitant women that getting vaccinated is …

Healthcare Access Is About to Get Even Worse in Rural Areas. Can Urgent Care Fill the Gap?

Rural areas of the United States have never been known for easy access to high-quality healthcare. There’s simply not enough incentive for health systems to plant roots where patients are few and far between, leaving residents to weigh whether a 2-hour car drive followed by a long wait in the emergency room is worth it for a sore throat or a laceration that may not even need stitches. The increased risk for poor outcomes is …

That Fourth COVID-19 Shot Could Be a Life-or-Death Proposition—for Some Patients, for a While

News that the Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine (a fourth dose, in other words) for immunocompromised individuals and all Americans over 50 years of age did not receive nearly the same celebratory response as earlier announcements of vaccine availability. The prevailing sense among the public, and probably at least a few healthcare professionals, seems to be that whatever degree of protection they already have will suffice. A new …

Concerns Persist About Giving COVID-19 Vaccine to Kids Who’ve Had MIS-C. Should They, Though?

Though relatively rare, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) has struck fear in the hearts of families across the United States for years now. And in households where a child did recover from MIS-C, questions have abounded as to whether administering COVID-19 vaccine would provide protection from future problems with the virus or leave children at greater risk for severe outcomes. A study of children in Texas and Italy, however, suggests that there’s no additional …

Update: The Pendulum Swings Again Regarding Myocarditis and COVID-19 Vaccine

Multiple studies have shown mixed results regarding increased risk for myocarditis in people who’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. Most recently, JUCM News shared that one study actually did reveal increased incidence of myocarditis among some people who got the COVID-19 shot, but there was insufficient evidence to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Another month brings yet another study with a new perspective, however. This one, just published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows …