A crazy surge of COVID in India is overwhelming their health care system and wreaking havoc across the country. The previous peak of new cases during their summer surge was roughly 90,000 cases/day, now it's over 300,000 cases/day and the numbers are only going to get worse before it gets any [Read More]
COVID
Mask Mandate
The Governor of Texas has released the mask mandate for our State. I'd prefer to read between the lines. While on the face of it, the new policy risks prolonging the pandemic, allows time for new vaccine resistant strains to erupt, and hampers the decline of new COVID infections, the devil is in the [Read More]
A Look at This Year’s Flu Season
While the flu season is not over, enough weeks have passed to assess the impact of the COVID. And this is a much needed small bright spot on the blight of the pandemic. It's a pretty mild flu season. Check out the link. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm#S2 It is panning out to [Read More]
Cedar Fever or COVID-19
It is Cedar Fever season in Central Texas! This year is worse than most. Weird name for it, Cedar Fever, as it is not caused by cedar nor is there a fever. It is caused by Ashe Juniper tree pollen, and the males of the species are to blame. The symptoms stink--headache, sinus congestion and pain, [Read More]
Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine
The vaccines are here! I gratefully received my first shot Sunday December 20, 2020 at 11:15 am at St. David's South Austin Medical Center. I watched on CSPAN as the FDA had an open panel discussion regarding the data surrounding the Pfizer vaccine. They repeated that action regarding [Read More]
IBS & COVID-19
Checking in from the pandemic -- how's it going out there? Yes, I know. We're shuckspod. That realization can cause anxiety. Anxiety often is a trigger for those affected with irritable bowel syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome is a neurologic disorder of the GI tract. It's like a seizure. Nerves [Read More]
Rising COVID-19 Numbers
Take a look at the following Austin Dashboard of COVID infections. Cut and copy the following link on your browser. https://austin.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html… According to cell phone data, we were the most locked-down around April 20, 2020. The reward for that comes a month [Read More]
Blood Clots and COVID-19
I'm getting really tired of pandemics. I wish we could just move on. Sadly we can't. It still here. That's the truth. While I empathize with the protestors during this civil unrest, I fervently wish they all would wear masks, and if they can't stay a meter apart, then at least wear gloves. This [Read More]
Reopening Businesses
States across the Union are re-opening. The future is uncertain and unpredictable. But we have models that can tell us what the future will look like based on how many new COVID infections occur. It appears that the Feds have abrogated responsibility to the States. Statewide policies do not [Read More]
COVID-19 and Children
Kids and COVID. First thing, kids also are vulnerable to COVID 19, don't forget. While the news is all about the elderly or those with underlying health condition such as diabetes or obesity, kids also get infected. Good news is that nationwide, they comprise less than 2% of all infections. I [Read More]
Hesitation to Get Medical Care Due to COVID-19
How's your pandemic going everybody? Yeah, mine, too. Sheesh..... we'll get through it, I hope. It's been a rough ride for everybody. So much so that even people with straight up legitimate emergencies are NOT going to seek care. How do we know that? Some of the evidence is data driven and some [Read More]
