When: Friday, September 17 @ 6:00pm

Where: University of Utah Alumni House OR join Virtually

Join us the evening of Friday, September 17th at the University of Utah Alumni House for dinner, introduction of new board members, awards for Utah Family Medicine Champion of the Year and Utah Family Physician of the Year, and keynote address by AAFP President, Dr. Ada Stewart. Option to attend in person or remotely. 

Hike with a Doc Postponed

We have decided that with the unhealthy air quality conditions expected to continue at least through tomorrow, to postpone Hike with a Doc until Saturday, September 25th. We will post new information and a new registration link on our website later today. Thank you for your understanding!

Doctor pleads for mask mandate for schools as Utah reports five more COVID-19 deaths

Salt Lake Tribune - As [COVID-19] cases increase, Intermountain Healthcare’s Infectious Diseases Physician Dr. Todd Vento urged Utahns to take all measures possible to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, especially as back-to-school season approaches. With no word on when vaccines will be authorized for children under 12, Vento said this situation, with less masking and a more aggressive delta variant, is a “recipe for disaster.” Now is the time to “reset our mindset.” Read more...

Avoiding a Telehealth Cliff

AAFP -  You can tell it’s August because Congress is slipping out for a long, late-summer recess. A number of representatives and senators are headed home to districts struggling against the COVID-19 delta variant, so let me shout some timely encouragement after them by repeating a message the Academy delivered to lawmakers in two letters last week: telehealth, telehealth, telehealth!

Our actual correspondence wasn’t quite that exclamatory but was no less urgent: The rapid and welcome progress made on the virtual-care front the past year and a half — a positive byproduct of the public health emergency — is already in jeopardy, despite basic remedies that are within reach. Read more...

F.D.A. Aims to Give Final Approval to Pfizer Vaccine by Early Next Month

New York Times - With a new surge of coronavirus infections ripping through much of the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has accelerated its timetable to fully approve Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine, aiming to complete the process by the start of next month, people familiar with the effort said.

President Biden said last week that he expected a fully approved vaccine in early fall. But the F.D.A.’s unofficial deadline is Labor Day or sooner, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. The agency said in a statement that its leaders recognized that approval might inspire more public confidence and had “taken an all-hands-on-deck approach” to the work. Read more...

Will Your COVID-19 Mask Protect You from Wildfire Smoke?

The 2021 wildfire season is on track to be more destructive and severe than in recent years.

There’s another reason you may want to hold onto your masks a bit longer. Exposure to smoky air comes with negative health consequences, causing an uptick in asthma attacks, visits to the emergency room, and inflammation throughout the body. A well-made face mask will not only protect you from the highly contagious Delta variant but also from the harmful chemicals in wildfire smoke as well. Read more...