La Plata Health Watch

Vaccine crucial for protecting young children from COVID-19

Many parents of young children have been anxiously awaiting authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for those younger than 5. Their wait is over. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration acte...

DATE: Jun 25, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

As cases rise, expanding COVID-19 vaccine access will help

Where do we stand with COVID-19 vaccinations? I have been fielding many questions in the past couple of months about the national COVID-19 vaccine strategy. To put things in perspective, we ...

DATE: May 28, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Mental health care a key aspect of pandemic recovery

I’ve been talking and writing recently about the indirect health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two years, COVID-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virushas had a profound ...

DATE: Apr 23, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Pandemic stress affected our daily health choices

In February, I discussed the broad spectrum of indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on individual and public health. These range from impacts on mental health to accessing chronic dise...

DATE: Mar 26, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

The indirect effects of the pandemic are serious

While the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been substantial, including infections, hospitalizations and deaths, the indirect effects are no less significant. The pandemic has di...

DATE: Feb 26, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Long COVID affects many people who get virus

You may have heard it referred to as post-COVID-19, long-hauler syndrome or long COVID. The official title of the condition is Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC. SARS-CoV-...

DATE: Jan 29, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Despite omicron, reasons for hope in fight against COVID-19

If you are like me, you woke up the day after Thanksgiving with more than a turkey hangover. Scientists in South Africa had discovered the most recent variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that ...

DATE: Jan 1, 2022 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Opioids: The other surging epidemic

There is an epidemic that is killing tens of thousands of Americans and has recently been surging throughout the country. I’m not talking about COVID-19. It is the opioid epidemic. The opioi...

DATE: Nov 28, 2021 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Booster COVID-19 vaccines will boost immunity

The single best tool in our COVID-19 public health toolbox is vaccination. Currently, more than 190 million Americans are fully vaccinated, representing 57.5% of the U.S. population. Meanwh...

DATE: Oct 30, 2021 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Expanding use of vaccines an effective strategy to fight COVID-19

Safe and effective vaccines continue to be our single best defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Since the early summer, the delta variant of the virus has been the dom...

DATE: Sep 25, 2021 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

COVID-19 precautions crucial at schools

With the COVID-19 delta variant is surging in nearly every part of the United States, but most especially in those parts with high rates of unvaccinated people, it is time to regroup, take a...

DATE: Aug 28, 2021 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch

Real world conditions prove COVID-19 vaccines’ effectiveness

COVID-19 vaccines have changed the landscape of the pandemic. For the tens of millions of Americans who have been fully vaccinated, the risk of disease and especially the risk of severe dis...

DATE: Jul 24, 2021 | CATEGORY: La Plata Health Watch