As Omicron Surges, Here’s What You Need to Know About Covid-19 Testing and Precautions

As omicron transmission soars, it seems like Covid-19 cases are all around us. We can’t get away from them. We spoke to Mia Taormina, DO, chair of the department of infectious disease at Duly Health and Care, formerly named DuPage Medical Group, to ask her about the best precaution and testing strategies to use now. […]
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. (Chris Bergin for KHN) Trombonist Jerrell Charleston loves the give-and-take of jazz, the creativity of riffing off other musicians. But as he looked toward his sophomore year at Indiana University, he feared that steps to […]
Mask Hero: Evelyn Figueroa, MD

Figueroa Wu Family Foundation The day Illinois’ stay-at-home order was announced, Evelyn Figueroa, MD, a family physician and professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), made a beeline to the craft store. “I ran to Joann [Fabrics], and I basically bought any fabric I thought would be good,” she says. […]
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 patients — but growing evidence suggests the practice is putting workers in jeopardy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently said lower-grade surgical masks are “an acceptable alternative” to N95 masks unless workers are […]
Seattle Nurses Scrounge for Masks to Stay Safe on Pandemic’s Front Lines

As the caseload of patients with the new coronavirus grows, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) are in short supply — and nurses in Washington state are resorting to workarounds to try to stay safe. Wendy Shaw, a charge nurse for an emergency room in Seattle, says her hospital and others have locked up […]