Dr. Klotman’s Weekly video update has nothing about COVID this week; it focuses on solid organ transplantation in the Texas Medical Center – especially at the Baylor-affiliated hospitals.
The main COVID news this week is that the KP.3 and KP.3.1.1 strains continue to dominate US cases. The leading indicators of COVID spread, ER visits and test positivity, are both rising. The trailing indicators, hospitalizations and deaths, are rising as well. I can report that several of my cyberspace friends and their family members have come down with it this week, as did I. ER visits for COVID have been the highest in Texas, Florida, and Hawaii this week.
As regards diagnosis and treatment:
- COVID test expiration dates, shown on the test kit boxes may show an expiration date that does not reliably report that actual life of the test. Tests that appear to be expired may actually be fine. Check your test kit’s extended expiration date here.
- Medicare will probably stop paying for telemedicine visits this December. That’s a sorry state of affairs as regards COVID. It means that you may have to be seen by your PCP or perhaps a pharmacy authorized to “test and treat” in order to get Paxlovid if you have COVID symptoms or a positive home COVID test.
- Paxlovid interacts with a fair number of common drugs including statins, some migraine medications, and a bevy of others. So, your prescriber needs to know every medication you’re taking prior to prescribing Paxlovid.
It is easy to become lax about mask wearing when there isn’t much virus circulating, but even a trip to the movie theater, the store, or eating out are sufficient exposure to catch COVID. I offer myself as proof of that assertion. It was a mild illness for me in part because I have had three vaccinations for it. Susan seems to have escaped getting it from me despite taking no special precautions. Not everyone will be so lucky. Alas.