By Katja Ridderbusch Fabian Kausche doesn’t plan on getting a tattoo any time soon, and without much hair, a visit to the barber shop isn’t a priority either. Even though personally, he may be safe to do so. In mid-March, Kausche tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He was ill…
Gov. Brian Kemp is moving forward with an aggressive strategy to reopen Georgia’s economy after weeks of “lockdown” during the COVID-19 pandemic. This effort has gained national attention and is being closely watched by other states. Dr. George Leach, though he appreciates Kemp’s intentions, sees serious risks in the governor’s plans. In a new GHN…
By Dr. George Leach Gov. Brian Kemp announced last week initial steps aimed at reopening Georgia’s economy. Beginning last Friday, his order allowed gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologist, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians and massage therapists to resume business, provided they comply with social distancing requirements. As an emergency…
By Andy Miller and Judi Kanne Shannon Whitten has worked as a rural nurse practitioner for 20 years in Sandersville, in eastern Georgia. She’s an advanced practice registered nurse, also known as an APRN. Some of her colleagues at the same level have been recruited by New York to help out during the city’s COVID-19…
By Madeline Laguaite and Jillian Tracy When Holly Maxwell was about 10, her mother began teaching her how to sew. It was a skill that proved useful for Maxwell’s relatives. Her mother sewed for the family, and her paternal grandmother made dresses for various women in Buford, where Maxwell grew up. She recalls how as a…
Some Emory patients with COVID-19 are part of a clinical trial of an antiviral drug that has reportedly proved effective among patients in Chicago who have severe illness. The Emory trial of remdesivir is part of a National Institutes of Health study that’s separate from the Chicago drug trial. There’s no FDA-approved treatment for COVID-19…
Obesity has emerged as a major predictor of severe COVID-19 illness, according to new research. That linkage is demonstrated in Albany, where dozens of patients have died of COVID-19 at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. Phoebe’s chief medical officer, Dr. Steven Kitchen, said the hospital has not yet gathered precise data on obesity rates of coronavirus…
Despite communities donating it, state efforts to procure it, corporations scrambling to produce it, and new ways to disinfect it, personal protective equipment remains in short supply. “PPE continues to be a struggle for us,’’ Homer Bryson, director of the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, told reporters Monday. Take the case of a…
Many rural hospitals in Georgia have received federal grants in the past day to soften the financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, an industry association says. Union General Hospital and Chatuge Regional Hospital, along with a group of physician practices, got close to $2 million, said Kevin Bierschenk, CEO of the system that runs those…
An irony about COVID-19 — the greatest public health threat in a century — is that many doctors’ offices are now basically empty. The pandemic has led to much lower patient volumes for physicians across Georgia. A lot of people have stopped going to the doctor. “It happened almost overnight,’’ says Dr. Donald Fordham, a…