Disease

This week, the CDC modified its definition of direct contact for COVID-19 from 15 continuous minutes to 15 accumulated minutes within a distance of six feet or less. Should we consider this change in definition as flip-flopping, "moving the goalposts,” or something else?
How's your stomach lately? If it's not so good, you have plenty of company. New York gastroenterologist Dr. Michael Glick explains how the stress and anxiety caused by the COVID pandemic is screwing up America's collective stomachs. And lungs, too.
A new study in JAMA Ophthalmology considers whether eyeglasses confer protection from COVID-19. What it really demonstrates is how a variable -- in this case, eyeglasses -- can point in so many directions as to be useless. (But it will get you published in a peer-reviewed journal.)
We know that in the 1970s the Soviets used microwave weapons against American diplomats. Maybe with the cooperation of other countries, Putin's Russia is doing it again.
Our friendly neighbors to the north are fibbing about the coronavirus in their country, justifying a border closure with the United States that no longer makes sense.
I've been thinking about herd immunity in the last few weeks and took a moment to look at the concept's historical roots. As is more often the case than I would like, my understanding needed refreshing and refashioning.
Here are some of the most relevant COVID-19 developments in recent days: Europe's infections are out of control; COVID reinfection is rare; all treatments probably have serious but rare side effects; the WHO offers a misguided policy; and America's northern neighbor isn't telling the truth.
In these uncertain times, the annual celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a welcomed tradition. While it's true that many of our in-person gatherings have converted to virtual ones, this has not dampened the power of pink in our lives.
In 1938 the FDA was given regulatory authority over experimental drugs. But it wasn't until 1961 that it regulated clinical trials and their methods. In 1954, a foundation performed a methodologically controversial trial with 1.6 million children, ages 6 to 8. It was called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis's Salk Vaccine Trial. As we hurdle at "warp speed" to a COVID-19 vaccine, perhaps we can reflect on how much has changed, or not, in our search for safe, effective vaccines.
While there is much back and forth around how aerosols may impact the "correct" social distance, this has been a great concern to anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians who have to place breathing tubes into patients (intubation) requiring mechanical ventilators. After all, they are only a few inches away from those respiratory aerosols, and they have no other way to be more socially or professionally distant. A new study should bring them, and us, some ease of mind. 
An Australian group has examined how long coronavirus can exist on different surfaces and at different temperatures. What does this really mean?
The return of our old friend, the seasonal flu, is just around the corner. As our thoughts move from picking pumpkins and apples to Trick or Treating (the “holiday,” not the election), the uptick in cases will begin to appear.