Opinion | ‘What’s Mild About Hospitals at the Breaking Point?’: What We Heard This Week

“What’s mild about hospitals at or near the breaking point?” — Clyde Yancy, MD, of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, on the framing of Omicron as just “mild.”

“All masks are not created equal.” — Anthony Santella, DrPH, of the University of New Haven in Connecticut, on the plethora of mask options currently available on the market, including a number of counterfeits.

“You are possibly transmissible.” — Benjamin tenOever, PhD, of NYU Grossman School of Medicine, on infectiousness if people test antigen-positive even after recovering from their COVID symptoms.

“Everybody is reporting that they are turning away patients because they don’t have adequate staff.” — Bill Dombi, president of the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, on how home care staffing shortages are keeping patients in strained hospitals.

“If you compare a median copay of $7 for a generic with a median copay of $40 for the brand-name drug, that’s a big gap for a one-month prescription.” — Bryan S. Walsh, JD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, discussing how ‘skinny’ labeling for generic imatinib in one condition led to lower prices across the board.

“The good news for women trying to get pregnant, is that they can get their vaccine and not worry.” — James Grifo, MD, PhD, of NYU Langone Fertility Center, on new data confirming the COVID-19 vaccine didn’t reduce female fertility.