Politics, Science, and Other Assorted Musings
I love helping people understand issues and look at them from a different perspective. In this blog, I hope I can offer you some new insights—bridging the gap between basic science and your medicine chest—as I am still a practicing physician, as well as having had broad clinical research experience. I'm interested in developing new medicines and treatments, as well as caring for patients—and explaining these topics for you.
As medicine has evolved, so have my interests. I have also become increasingly interested in health disparities, social justice issues, and ethics. I invite you to join me as we explore a variety of territories. I hope that reading these posts will encourage you to learn, engage, and above all, work for the forces of good.
If there are topics you'd like to see me cover, please let me know—I welcome your input as to what you would like us to discuss in this column.
Coronavirus - COVID19
Please note that I will be posting Coronavirus Tidbits of news here. You can sign up for updates by clicking the box at the right and subscribe to Covid, Politics, and Science. All Covid posts will go here, and I will upload back issues as I have time. Please share w friends. Thanks!
I’m going to have a reference file here for articles I have found particularly worthwhile, and will update this here as we learn new information. Click on the COVID-19 Resources, below, to expand that.
If you see something terrific, please share. We’re all in this together.
Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Places without social distancing have 35 times more potential coronavirus spread, study finds https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/15/social-distancing-study-coronavirus-spread/ ~ ~ ~ Families of essential workers killed by COVID-19 face loss of health care https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/families-of-essential-workers-killed-by-covid-19-face-loss-of-health-care/ Repeat after me. We need universal healthcare. ~ ~ ~ Interesting, damning long read from Propublica: Two Coasts. One Virus. How New York Suffered Nearly 10 Times the Number of Deaths as California. https://www.propublica.org/article/two-coasts-one-virus-how-new-york-suffered-nearly-10-times-the-number-of-deaths-as-california ~ ~ ~ Food waste continues, but small efforts to help with surplus in potatoes by giving out bags and bags of…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Pesach is always a bit rough anyway, so I will turn to more nature. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Astonishing editorial from The Lancet, leading British medical journal on Reviving the CDC: “In the decades following its founding in 1946, the CDC became a national pillar of public health and globally respected…However, funding to the CDC for a long time has been subject to conservative politics that have increasingly eroded the agency’s ability to mount effective, evidence-based public health responses… The Trump administration further chipped away at the CDC’s…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Unemployment Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said this morning that almost 40 percent of households earning less than $40,000/year (as of February) lost their jobs in March. ~ ~ ~ Covid Hits Conservation Efforts As the pandemic hits tourism, it’s also hurting conservation efforts that rely on tourism dollars. @undarkmag bit.ly/2yJrp4U ~ ~ ~ Ousted vaccine official Rick Bright to warn of ‘darkest winter’ if virus returns without better response image: Ousted vaccine official to warn of ‘darkest winter’ if virus returns without better…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Unsafe bullying by Pence Mike Pence traveled to Iowa to make a show of meeting food industry leaders, but all 5 of them were wearing masks. So before he came out, they were instructed to remove them, and they all did. https://interc.pt/2YOBCaS ~ ~ ~ If 80% of Americans Wore Masks, COVID-19 Infections Would Plummet, New Study by De Kai Says Check out his computer forecasting model, the masksim simulator, and video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfeW2l8G_W4&feature=youtu.be https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/masks-covid-19-infections-would-plummet-new-study-says ~ ~ ~ Coronavirus blood-clot mystery intensifies Very interesting description of…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News @EthanJWeiss is a CA physician who was just working in NYC to help with COVID-19. This is how @United endangered him and others enroute home. ~ ~ ~ From NIH: Study Finds Nearly Everyone Who Recovers From COVID-19 Makes Coronavirus Antibodies We don’t know how protective they will be yet, nor how long they will last. ~ ~ ~ Eyes are an ‘important route’ for coronavirus to enter the body https://www.zmescience.com/science/eyes-important-rute-of-infection-14134/ ~~ ~ Why the porn industry has a lot to teach us about safety…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Trump administration shelves CDC guide to reopening country amid coronavirus restrictions The 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,”…was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” according to a CDC official. The AP has a leaked copy. You can read all the CDC recommendations here: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6883734/CDC-Business-Plans.pdf Apparently, this is one more way Trump wants to shift blame…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. NEW Post on Kawasaki, kids, and COVID-19. The latest weird syndrome. with pics of what to watch out for. News Trump plans to disband the COVID task force Trump will stop counting fatalities once the Task Force ends. “The numbers just got too big, once we passed 60,000.” This is a homeland security response in 3 key failures: ignoring the intelligence; inability to execute for the states; and refusal to respect the dead ~ ~ ~ Marked decline in cancer screenings d/t COVID19 Routine…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Idiocy on so many levels: Why waste millions of dollars for this kind of show when HCWs are dying for lack of PPE and preparedness? Other than to soothe someone’s ego, for not getting tanks at the 4th of July parade? ~ ~ ~ Reopening Economies Prematurely As A Civil Rights Issue In Milwaukee, where African Americans are 27% of the population, they account for 70% of the deaths from COVID. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/03/849837029/reopening-economies-prematurely-as-a-civil-rights-issue Civil rights leaders wrote an open letter encouraging African Americans to stay…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. News Dr Fauci blocked from testifying to the House on US response to Coronavirus; White House said it would be “counterproductive.” ~ ~ ~ Yesterday I mentioned the Internet Archive was providing access to library books free for now as part of their response to the national emergency. Today, I learned how many view this as piracy. It’s an interesting discussion and I can see the arguments on both sides. It may come as a shock that as an author with a recently released book, Resilience:…
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Quick links News Diagnostics Drugs Devices Epidemiology/Infection control Tips Politics Feel good du jour Comic relief Perspective/Poem Bits of beauty Announcements: First, there is now a Resources Page here for the most commonly asked questions I’m getting. Tidbits will likely be a bit shorter and a little less frequent for the next little bit. I have been immersed in it and I need to spend a little more time on self-care, which for me means seeing the spring flowers emerge and digging in the dirt. Happy to continue to answer your questions/concerns as best I can, so don’t be shy about that. Honored to have been cited by New Yorker author Jane Mayer in her long read, “How Mitch McConnell Became Trump’s Enabler-in-Chief” and in her interview w Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air from WHYY. News Trump suggests any relief for states hit hard by COVID will require ending “sanctuary city” policies and turning residents over to ICE. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/28/21239903/trump-coronavirus-aid-leverage-states-sanctuary-cities “We would want certain things” as part of a deal with House Democrats to aid states, he said at a White House event on Tuesday, “including sanctuary…
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