Don't Forget to Register! 
Hike with a Doc
This Saturday, September 25

Medical students, residents, and all attending/faculty physicians invited!

Join us on Saturday, September 25, 2021, from 9:00 a.m. -10:30 a.m. for a hike to Lake Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon to participate in our medical student mentoring activity, where attending and resident family physicians hike with medical students to share their experiences and why they chose Family Medicine.

The weather should be perfect with fall colors abounding!  Snacks and water provided. More details will be provided with registration.

Is My Cloth Mask Good Enough to Face the Delta Variant?

Kaiser Health News - In recent months, some European airlines have banned the use of cloth face coverings to control the spread of the coronavirus during air travel, instead favoring surgical masks and N95 respirators.

...The science is changing. Delta, currently the primary variant in the United States, is far more contagious than the original coronavirus, so the density of virus in the air is greater. 

So, what gives? Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of California-San Francisco, says, “It probably is more important to wear something that you feel comfortable with, and you can wear for long periods of time if you’re going into a particular environment … rather than saying you need to wear the gold standard thing at all times.” Read more...

Kids and COVID-19: What we don’t know, can hurt us, warn childhood polio survivors

Salt Lake Tribune - There are two versions of my dad. The one I met and the one I know only through stories.

A lover of the outdoors who spoke frequently of his adventure-filled childhood roaming the fields and mountains around his home in Payson, I knew him as a man whose daily life was a struggle just to stay awake — a morning dedicated to coffee consumption, followed by an hours-long nap, and then cigarettes, more coffee, and television until night beckoned. Once in bed, he snored like a jet engine. Read more...

FDA panel endorses Pfizer booster for elderly or high-risk individuals

Salt Lake Tribune - A key advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration overwhelmingly rejected recommending Pfizer booster shots for most recipients of the company’s coronavirus vaccine, instead endorsing them only for people who are 65 or older or at high risk of severe COVID-19 and received their second dose at least six months ago. Read more...

AAFP Toolkit Addresses Violence Prevention in Health Care

AAFP -  It’s an unfortunate reality that too many family physicians have experienced some sort of violent encounter in their practice. Although the absolute number of fatal events remains, thankfully, relatively small, violent behavior directed against physicians and other health care professionals in the workplace ― whether in the form of verbal attacks or physical threats or assaults ― is a widespread and growing problem.

With the number of violence-induced nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among health care workers rising steadily since 2011 ― and absent any sign that this trend is reversing ― it’s clear that medical practices and health care facilities must act to mitigate this threat. Read more...

HHS Announces the Availability of $25.5 Billion in COVID-19 Provider Funding

HHS - The Biden-Harris Administration announced this month that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), is making $25.5 billion in new funding available for health care providers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding includes $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) resources for providers who serve rural Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or Medicare patients, and an additional $17 billion for Provider Relief Fund (PRF) Phase 4 for a broad range of providers who can document revenue loss and expenses associated with the pandemic. Read more...

Pfizer/BioNTech say data show COVID-19 vaccine safe and protective in kids

Reuters - Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said on Monday their COVID-19 vaccine induced a robust immune response in 5 to 11 year olds, and they plan to ask for regulatory authorization as soon as possible to use the shot in children in that age range in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

The companies said their two-dose vaccine generated an immune response in the 5-to-11 year olds in a Phase II/III clinical trial that matched what was previously observed in 16-to-25 year olds. The safety profile was also generally comparable to the older age group, they added. Read more...