Inside the First Chaotic Days of the Effort to Vaccinate America

Inside the First Chaotic Days of the Effort to Vaccinate America

One tray of Covid-19 vaccine from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer contains 975 doses — way too many for a rural hospital…

Op-Ed: Overwhelmed Hospitals Face a Covid Surge

Op-Ed: Overwhelmed Hospitals Face a Covid Surge

These days, the majority of patients I see on my shifts in the emergency department are Covid-19 patients. In the…

Coping with the Coronavirus Pandemic for People with Anxiety Disorders

Coping with the Coronavirus Pandemic for People with Anxiety Disorders

These days, we all have to accept the anxiety inherent in living in the time of the coronavirus pandemic and…

Musicians Improvise Masks for Wind Instruments to Keep the Band Together

Musicians Improvise Masks for Wind Instruments to Keep the Band Together

Above photo: Solomon Keim wears a custom-designed mask during rehearsal at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.…

Easier-to-Use Coronavirus Saliva Tests Start to Catch on

Easier-to-Use Coronavirus Saliva Tests Start to Catch on

As the coronavirus pandemic broke out across the country, healthcare providers and scientists relied on the standard method for detecting…

Campus Dorm Resident Assistants Adjust to a New Role: Covid Cop

Campus Dorm Resident Assistants Adjust to a New Role: Covid Cop

Breaking up parties, confiscating booze, and answering noise complaints — being a resident adviser has always required a willingness to…

Revoking My Corona Pass

Revoking My Corona Pass

Accepting the challenge of the new ‘normal’ What’s the state of your mental health these days? Are you anxious? Depressed?…

Making Gyms Safer in the Age of Covid-19

Making Gyms Safer in the Age of Covid-19

After shutting down in the spring, America’s empty gyms are beckoning a cautious public back for a workout. To reassure…

The Heart of Covid-19

The Heart of Covid-19

The coronavirus can take a harmful toll on the cardiovascular system Diane Weibeler didn’t give much thought to the headache…

Another Covid Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, but Linger in Coma

Another Covid Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, but Linger in Coma

(Above photo: Frank and Leslie Cutitta stand outside their home, where a banner still hangs for his return from the…

In Covid-19 Long-Haul Syndrome, Symptoms Continue for Months

In Covid-19 Long-Haul Syndrome, Symptoms Continue for Months

Patrick Malia, then-37, felt sick enough on March 12 to visit an urgent care center, wondering if he had Covid-19.…

Chicago Experts Answer Your Covid-19 Questions

Chicago Experts Answer Your Covid-19 Questions

As information about staying safe from Covid-19 seems to change weekly, it’s no wonder that people have a lot of…

Misinformation Campaigns Hamper Coronavirus Response

Misinformation Campaigns Hamper Coronavirus Response

Regina Fargis didn’t know what to do. Fargis runs Summit Hills — a health and retirement community in Spartanburg, South…

How Those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Cope With Angst of COVID

How Those with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Cope With Angst of COVID

Before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States, Chris Trondsen felt his life was finally under control. As…

COVID-19 Meat Shortage? Try Plant Proteins

COVID-19 Meat Shortage? Try Plant Proteins

By now, you’ve probably noticed less beef, pork and chicken at your local grocers due to COVID-19 outbreaks and closures…

Pandemic Upends Lives of People With Disabilities

Pandemic Upends Lives of People With Disabilities

Above photo: A diving accident in 1987 left all of Matt Ford’s limbs paralyzed. One of his caregivers, Grace Brunette, spent…

5 Tips for Self-Care During the Pandemic and Protests

5 Tips for Self-Care During the Pandemic and Protests

First came the coronavirus and its strict stay-at-home orders, impacting the mental health of almost half of Americans, according to…

A Teen’s Death from COVID-19

A Teen’s Death from COVID-19

Above photo: The Guest family poses for a family photo. Front row from left: Ajene Guest and Abby Guest; second row…

Eliminating the Pandemic of Racism

Eliminating the Pandemic of Racism

I love storms, even when they are frightening. When I look at the timing of COVID-19 and what has erupted…

Society Is Reopening, Prepare to Hunker Down at Home Again

Society Is Reopening, Prepare to Hunker Down at Home Again

Even before the May 25 killing of George Floyd in police custody drew large crowds of protesters into the streets…

A Caregiver’s Role: Running to a Crisis

A Caregiver’s Role: Running to a Crisis

In the middle of April, a few weeks into Illinois’ stay-at-home order, we finally got the call we were anxiously…

Rapid Changes to Healthcare Spurred By COVID Might Be Here to Stay

Rapid Changes to Healthcare Spurred By COVID Might Be Here to Stay

The U.S. healthcare system is famously resistant to government-imposed change. It took decades to create Medicare and Medicaid, mostly due…

Hiring a Diverse Army to Track COVID-19

Hiring a Diverse Army to Track COVID-19

Above photo: Sgt. Jairo Paulino of Newark, Delaware, volunteered for a “bilingual mission” through the Delaware National Guard. Paulino, who…

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

How NorthShore Protects Non-COVID-19 Patients Before COVID-19, surgeons at NorthShore University HealthSystem’s four legacy hospitals conducted between 150 and 180…

Busting Common Coronavirus Myths

Busting Common Coronavirus Myths

Whether you turn on the TV, log on to social media or open a newspaper, it’s impossible to escape news…

Staying Safe and Engaged in Senior Communities During Pandemic

Staying Safe and Engaged in Senior Communities During Pandemic

Above photo: The Cinco de Mayo happy hour cart makes its way around Artis Senior Living. Photo courtesy of Artis…

‘No Intubation’: Seniors Fearful of COVID-19 Are Changing Their Advance Directives

‘No Intubation’: Seniors Fearful of COVID-19 Are Changing Their Advance Directives

Last month, Minna Buck revised a document specifying her wishes should she become critically ill. “No intubation,” she wrote in…

Emptiness of ERs Worries Doctors as Heart Attack and Stroke Patients Delay Care

Emptiness of ERs Worries Doctors as Heart Attack and Stroke Patients Delay Care

The patient described it as the worst headache of her life. She didn’t go to the hospital, though. Instead, the…

Living with Eco-Anxiety in Age of the Coronavirus

Living with Eco-Anxiety in Age of the Coronavirus

While most news right now focuses on the worldwide emergency response to COVID-19, climate change remains an escalating threat. The…

Born into a Pandemic

Born into a Pandemic

Virus complicates births for moms and babies Above photo: Mallory Pease with baby Alivia and her older daughter, Emma Jean. Pease…

Challenges of Keeping Young Adults Safe During Pandemic

Challenges of Keeping Young Adults Safe During Pandemic

Last month, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered most of the state’s residents to stay home, I found myself under…

Ineffective Masks Are Putting Healthcare Workers at Serious Risk

Ineffective Masks Are Putting Healthcare Workers at Serious Risk

With medical supplies in high demand, federal authorities say health workers can wear surgical masks for protection while treating COVID-19…

How COVID-19 Impacts Teens’ Mental Health

How COVID-19 Impacts Teens’ Mental Health

Since the end of January, Isa Sanchez, a senior at Whitney Young High School, had been working on her senior…

Ask the Harvard Experts: Ibuprofen vs. Acetaminophen and COVID-19

Ask the Harvard Experts: Ibuprofen vs. Acetaminophen and COVID-19

Q: I usually take ibuprofen for aches or pains. Given the controversy about ibuprofen use during this coronavirus outbreak, is…

Coronavirus Fuels Explosive Growth in Telehealth ― and Concern About Fraud

Coronavirus Fuels Explosive Growth in Telehealth ― and Concern About Fraud

On March 17, Medicare chief Seema Verma stepped to the podium at a White House coronavirus briefing and unveiled a…

Keeping Your Distance

Keeping Your Distance

The difference between self-quarantine and isolation during COVID-19 As states mull easing COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, Illinois officials say that staying…

Ask the Harvard Experts: For COVID-19, Defining ‘Older’ and ‘Chronic Disease’

Ask the Harvard Experts: For COVID-19, Defining ‘Older’ and ‘Chronic Disease’

Q: I keep hearing about how older adults and those with chronic diseases have a higher risk from COVID-19. What…

Caring for COVID-19 at Home

Caring for COVID-19 at Home

The chills started on a Friday in March, along with a fever — four days after Jerry and Colleen Rzepka…

‘It’s Not Over Until It’s Over’

‘It’s Not Over Until It’s Over’

5 things to know about hitting the COVID-19 peak As New York, California and other states begin to see their…

Facing the Anguish of My Father’s COVID-19 Diagnosis

Facing the Anguish of My Father’s COVID-19 Diagnosis

Above photo: Writer Katie Colt, as a baby with her father Norman Sack. Photo courtesy of Katie Colt My mother…

Shutting Out the Coronavirus Threat for Seniors in Continuing Care Communities

Shutting Out the Coronavirus Threat for Seniors in Continuing Care Communities

With tight restrictions in place at their continuing care retirement community, Tom and Janice Showler are getting on each other’s…

Temperature Check

Temperature Check

Tips for tracking fever, a key symptom of coronavirus contagion After I was told I’d been exposed to the novel…

Chicago Health’s COVID-19 Resource Guide

Chicago Health’s COVID-19 Resource Guide

With millions of people in Illinois unemployed, under lockdown and caring for loved ones, we’ve developed a list of local…

Coronavirus Comic Relief: Leaders Really Meme It When They Say Stay Home

Coronavirus Comic Relief: Leaders Really Meme It When They Say Stay Home

Above illustration: Hannah Norman/KHN Illustration; Getty Images As the city confronts a wave of COVID-19 patients, Chicagoans are managing to…

Cancer Patients Face Uncertainty as Coronavirus Cripples Hospitals

Cancer Patients Face Uncertainty as Coronavirus Cripples Hospitals

Above photo: National Cancer Institute, www.cancer.gov. Photo by Rhoda Baer The federal government has encouraged health centers to delay nonessential…

Doctors Ponder Best Advice as Patients Recover from Coronavirus

Doctors Ponder Best Advice as Patients Recover from Coronavirus

When David Vega fell ill with the novel coronavirus in mid-March, fever, chills and nausea left the 27-year-old Indiana medical…

Smart Lifestyle Choices to Support Your Immune System During Coronavirus Crisis

Smart Lifestyle Choices to Support Your Immune System During Coronavirus Crisis

So much of the COVID-19 pandemic is beyond your control — all of our control — and yet it’s undoubtedly…

Ask the Harvard Experts: Lower Coronavirus-Related Stress with the Relaxation Response

Ask the Harvard Experts: Lower Coronavirus-Related Stress with the Relaxation Response

Q: The coronavirus outbreak has raised my stress level. I am worried that it is making me more susceptible to…

Sheltered at Home, Families Broach End-of-Life Planning

Sheltered at Home, Families Broach End-of-Life Planning

Long before she contracted COVID-19 at a Kirkland, Washington, nursing home, Barbara Dreyfuss made sure to document the wishes that…

What to Do if You Lose Your Health Insurance During the Coronavirus Crisis

What to Do if You Lose Your Health Insurance During the Coronavirus Crisis

You can’t control whether you lose your job and your benefits because of COVID-19. You can, however, take steps to…