An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
October 25th, 2020
(Not) Attending Professional Meetings in the COVID-19 Era
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), our professional society, held its annual meeting this week, IDWeek. As usual, I registered for and attended the meeting. Of course I should have written “attended” the meeting, as instead of having an in-person meeting in Philadelphia (the original planned venue), it was entirely done online. Another “virtual” […]
October 18th, 2020
Does Remdesivir Actually Work?
Quick answer — it’s complicated. Let’s start with a clinical anecdote — rightfully considered the weakest form of evidence, yet paradoxically holding great power over us because we’re imperfect humans. It’s the way we’re wired. In April, a patient of mine with stable HIV came into the hospital with COVID-19 pneumonia. (Certain details changed for […]
October 12th, 2020
“Dying in a Leadership Vacuum” — Defended
This past week, the Editors of the New England Journal of Medicine published a piece entitled “Dying in a Leadership Vacuum.” It’s a scathing indictment of the United States government’s response to COVID-19, in particular our inability to have a science- and evidenced-driven approach to control a disease that has now killed more than 215,000 […]
October 4th, 2020
Does the White House Outbreak Invalidate the Strategy of Frequent Testing for COVID-19 Control?
As I’ve written here many times, I’m hopeful that frequent, inexpensive, rapid home testing for COVID-19 will help us climb out of this pandemic mess. Let’s name it the Mina Frequent Testing Plan, after my indefatigable colleague Dr. Michael Mina who has championed it for months — most recently in a perspective published in the […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
Biography | Disclosures & Summaries
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