Elisabeth Rosenthal

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir el 1 de junio de 2007. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

Por la vacunación obligatoria contra la COVID-19 en niños

InternacionalSalud Pública, , ,

La propagación tan rápida de la variante ómicron en todo Estados Unidos —y el hallazgo de que las vacunas siguen dando una protección sólida en contra de la enfermedad grave— hace que la COVID-19 posiblemente esté más cerca de ocupar un lugar en el panteón de enfermedades que han sido controladas por las vacunas. Entre ellas están la poliomielitis, el sarampión, las paperas, la rubeola y la varicela, enfermedades contra las que la mayoría de los niños deben estar vacunados para entrar a la escuela o a la guardería. Algunos lugares han anunciado que se pedirá que ciertos estudiantes tengan la vacuna contra la covid.…  Seguir leyendo »

Telemedicine Is a Tool. Not a Replacement for Your Doctor’s Touch.

InternacionalSalud Pública

Earlier in the pandemic it was vital to see doctors over platforms like Zoom or FaceTime when in-person appointments posed risks of coronavirus exposure. Insurers were forced — often for the first time — to reimburse for all sorts of virtual medical visits and generally at the same price as in-person consultations.

By April 2020, one national study found, telemedicine visits already accounted for 13 percent of all medical claims compared with 0.15 percent a year earlier. And Covid hadn’t seriously hit much of the country yet. By May, for example, Johns Hopkins’s neurology department was conducting 95 percent of patient visits virtually.…  Seguir leyendo »

Beijing’s SARS lockdown taught my children resilience. Your covid kids will likely be fine

ReflexionesSocial, ,

Many parents are filled with angst as they prepare for their children to exit a year of pandemic isolation: Will it be okay to send them to school, per the recent recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? Will school feel like school if students are masked and can’t trade snacks? Will children’s development be impaired by nearly a year of seeing few friends?

With 20-20 hindsight, I can provide some reassurance, because my kids were 8 and 10 when SARS hit Beijing nearly two decades ago, shutting down the city for months: Your children will likely be fine, and maybe even better as human beings, for having lived through this tragic experience.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ya te tomaste la temperatura. ¿Cómo está tu tolerancia al riesgo?

InternacionalSalud Pública, ,

Mientras algunas zonas de Estados Unidos han comenzado a reabrir con cautela tras meses de un cierre casi total, muchas personas han empezado a plantearse preguntas como: ¿será seguro tomar un tren? ¿Un avión? ¿Ir la peluquería? ¿Ir a un restaurante sin mesas al aire libre?

Hay muchos parámetros en la ecuación que conoces: tu salud, la prevalencia de casos en el lugar donde vives, las medidas de seguridad que se toman en los lugares que quieres visitar. Pero la respuesta final podría depender de tu tolerancia personal al riesgo de exposición a enfermedades infecciosas.

La mayoría de los estadounidenses vivos en la actualidad nunca habían tenido que hacer esa autoevaluación.…  Seguir leyendo »

Learning to Live With the Coronavirus

ReflexionesSocial, ,

As some parts of America gingerly begin to open up after months of near total lockdown, people have questions. Will it be safe to take a train? A plane? Visit the hair salon? An indoor restaurant?

There are many knowable parameters in the equation: your health; the prevalence of cases where you live; the safety precautions being taken any place you want to visit. But the final answer may depend on your individual risk tolerance for exposure to infectious disease.

Most Americans alive today have never before had to make that self-assessment.

In the past, deadly outbreaks of plague, flu and polio were regular occurrences.…  Seguir leyendo »

A global map at the Department of Health and Human Services showing where the known outbreaks of the coronavirus have occurred. Credit Carlos Barria/Reuters

InternacionalSalud Pública, , ,

It has been nearly three months since the first cases of a new coronavirus pneumonia appeared in Wuhan, China, and it is now a global outbreak. And yet, despite over 80,000 infections worldwide (most of them in China), the world still doesn’t have a clear picture of some of the most basic information about this outbreak.

In recent weeks, a smattering of scientific papers and government statements have begun to sketch the outlines of the epidemic. The Chinese national health commission has reported that more than 1,700 medical workers in the country had contracted the virus as of Feb 14. (That’s alarming).…  Seguir leyendo »

How to Avoid the Coronavirus? Wash Your Hands

InternacionalSalud Pública, , ,

Americans are watching with alarm as a new coronavirus spreads in China and cases pop up in the United States. They are barraged with information about what kinds of masks are best to prevent viral spread. Students are handing out masks in Seattle. Masks have run out in Brazos County, Tex.

Hang on.

I’ve worked as an emergency room physician. And as a New York Times correspondent in China, I covered the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003 during which a novel coronavirus first detected in Guangdong sickened more than 8,000 people and killed more than 800. My two children attended elementary school in Beijing throughout the outbreak.…  Seguir leyendo »