Health

“Forgiveness” in the time of Covid usually refers to loans, as in TD Bank’s recent announcement that, pending new information, it was no longer “accepting new forgiveness applications.” That phrasing got me thinking about how we, as individuals, sometimes struggle to accept a “forgiveness application” — aka apology — from someone who has done us

Health officials had warned the Covid-19 pandemic would make winter one of the most difficult times in US history. That prediction is quickly proving true. December was devastating. And January could be deadlier. For the past week, the US averaged more than 3,000 Covid-19 deaths per day. And Monday marked the seventh day in a

Members of the general public in Kentucky were mistakenly allowed to sign up for Covid-19 vaccine appointments meant for health care workers, according to Louisville-based health system Baptist Health. Baptist Health provided the Kentucky Department of Health with an online vaccine appointment scheduling tool that could be linked to the state’s vaccine website for health

A common parasite people get from contaminated water and undercooked meat may be associated with rare brain cancers, researchers reported Monday. They found evidence that people infected with Toxoplasma gondii, or T. gondii, have a higher risk of developing rare but highly fatal gliomas. The parasite can sometimes form cysts in the brain and the

As Ashlyn Atigre prepared to take her healthy son to the pediatrician for his 3-year-old well visit recently, a nagging concern was on her mind. “I want to talk about the social impact of the pandemic with the doctor,” said the Tampa, Florida, mother. “I’m an introvert but clearly need people. And I’m seeing his

Smoking weed may expose you to the same type of toxic chemicals found in tobacco smoke, a new study finds. People who only smoked marijuana had higher blood and urine levels of several smoke-related toxins such as naphthalene, acrylamide and acrylonitrile than nonsmokers, according to the study published Monday in the journal EClinicalMedicine. Naphthalene is

Midway through his mission to learn chess, Tom Vanderbilt found himself facing off against an 8-year-old child. Vanderbilt had a successful writing career, a college degree and decades of real-world experience. The kid, though, had superior skills. Vanderbilt lost in a few dozen moves. Defeat, however, couldn’t dampen Vanderbilt’s enthusiasm for chess, one of five

As part of the hunt for new coronavirus variants, an international database shows the United States ranks 61st in how quickly virus samples are collected from patients, analyzed and then posted online. Countries with far fewer resources, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Suriname, process samples more quickly than the United States does. “It’s pathetic,” said

In some hospitals, health centers and pharmacies in the United States, there are vials of Covid-19 vaccines that aren’t making it into arms. Out of the more than 22 million doses of vaccine that have been distributed to hospitals and pharmacies so far in the United States, only about 6.7 million people have received their

After the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States in early 2020, it took about 90 days to reach 2 million cases. Bu just nine days into 2021, more than 2 million people have been infected with Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. In that same time frame, an additional 24,260

On the heels of the country’s deadliest week since the Covid-19 pandemic’s start, state officials are warning of more alarming patterns following the holiday season. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the state was seeing a “real and significant increase in cases and our positivity rate from people’s gatherings around the holiday.” “This surge that we’re

Men and women who endorse “hegemonic masculinity” — an idealized form of manhood where White, heterosexual men have power, status and dominance over women, gay men, men with disabilities, racial or religious minorities and other groups — are more likely to be supporters for US President Donald Trump than those who don’t embrace dominant masculinity,

As the US looks for ways to speed the administration of Covid-19 vaccines, some states and providers are pulling in non-traditional vaccinators, including dentists, retirees and students, to aid in the process. With health care workers stretched thin responding to record numbers of coronavirus hospitalizations, jurisdictions are scrambling to find extra hands with the skills

Identical twins may not be quite as identical as we thought; researchers in Iceland have discovered genetic differences that begin at the early stages of embryonic development. Scientists have long used the study of identical twins to examine the effects of nature versus nurture, as the accepted view has been that, because they share the

The attack on the US Capitol on Wednesday has left parents wondering how to talk to their kids about what happened. How much should they see of the heartbreaking videos of violence? How much can they know about injustice, racism, insurrection and the immense power and responsibility that accompanies free speech? As a child psychiatrist,

Pediatricians like us have seen it over and over again in the last few months — kids who have put on 5, sometimes 10, at times even 20 pounds — since the onset of the pandemic. In a year filled with so much tragedy and suffering, it would be easy to dismiss a few extra

Counties where large colleges and universities opened for in-person classes in the fall suffered a significant rise in the incidence of Covid-19, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Within three weeks of colleges or universities opening to in-person instruction, counties that were home to these institutions “experienced

The usual New Year’s resolutions — exercise more, spend less time doomscrolling on social media and more time reading, go to bed earlier to get my beauty rest — feel like a giant pile of irrelevance after this year of complete and utter feces show. It’s also helpful, though, to look ahead, to hope and

While socializing and dating in person may have mostly fizzled this past year, as could be expected in a pandemic, in some cases it’s accelerating relationships faster than parents might otherwise have allowed. Parents are letting their children’s boyfriends and girlfriends join family quarantine bubbles. Even former President Barack Obama is not immune to these

Only 29 people have experienced severe allergic reactions to the coronavirus vaccine, making it a rare outcome, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. In the first week and a half of the US Covid-19 vaccine effort, the CDC said there have been 21 additional confirmed cases of severe allergic reactions known

The discovery of important new coronavirus variants in the UK and South Africa began with a bet of a bottle of wine. In mid-November, Tulio de Oliveira, who leads a genetics lab in South Africa, began receiving anxious phone calls from physicians in the Eastern Cape province who were seeing an explosive growth in Covid-19

There is no denying that 2020 has hampered activity levels. Between the Zoom meetings, Netflix binges and virtual cocktail hours, increased sitting is a pandemic-driven reality for many. And studies abound citing the myriad health risks of prolonged sitting. But there is good news! Despite all that sedentary time, with as little as 11 minutes

This year will be marked as a year of continued uncertainty, anxiety and — if you’re like many people — a lot of stress-related eating. There is no need to stress about stress eating, though. As most of us await the arrival of new vaccines and the hope for a more healthful way of living,

Houston Methodist, a Texas hospital system with more than 26,000 employees, is offering a $500 bonus to workers if they get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Houston Methodist employees are eligible for a “Hope Bonus” in March to thank them for their work last year, Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, wrote in

Lourdes Pelaez-Kingery was recovering from appendix surgery when she got the phone call that parents of college-age kids have come to dread in this time of coronavirus: Her daughter tearfully explained that she had moved out of her dorm at Texas A&M University-San Antonio days earlier after her suitemates threw a party and 14 unmasked