Rob writes:

Hi Vincent and Daniel,

Within a few hours of listening to TWiV 1118, I found out my 82 year old mom had COVID. Apparently, they called the urgent care and were told that COVID is like the flu now, people have had vaccines and infections, and they don’t give out Paxlovid any more until the disease progresses and becomes severe. I’ve heard this story a bunch of times from other letters and Daniel, but I never thought it would happen to me (or my mom)! I set my parents straight with all of the information provided in the show note links, and my dad made an angry in-person visit to the urgent care, where he was quickly given the requested prescription.

Thanks for all the information you provide, and all your great work! We really need to do something about these Paxlovid denying doctors though.

This is ridiculous.

Sincerely,

Rob

Jonathan writes:

Dear Dr. Griffin,

Thank you for all your work in public communication and all your efforts and volunteer work. I like your quotes at the start of the shows. I’m a long time listener and have learned a lot. 

My father-in-law tested positive for Covid for the first time yesterday. I’ve been pushing for him to start paxlovid but got pushback from his nephew who is an ER doctor. He is 84 and his mobility has declined significantly and uses a walker due to some Parkinsonism symptoms. His last booster was now about 9 months ago. 

The ER doctor said there are side effects and drug interactions that paxlovid might have. I fully admit I know very little but thought that if he is to start Paxlovid he should start right away.  I thought that perhaps he can pause some of his medicines for the Parkinsonism symptoms and the side effects, while not trivial, are preferred to any chance of the disease progression. He is in Colorado.

Should we push for exploring Paxlovid further given his vaccination status and age?

Thanks,

Jonathan 

RoNell writes:

Dr. Daniel,

What is the latest up to date medical advice regarding daily prophylactic penicillin (Penicillin VK) for someone who has been on it for 48 yrs? [250 mg PenVK 2x daily]

The medical experts who helped me through rheumatic fever, 3 open heart surgeries, and ultimately a pacemaker always told me it was vital to take it twice daily for the rest of my life.  The only exception is when I visit the dentist and use Amoxicillin.  Recently my long time electrophysiologist of 30 years retired and I was reassigned to a new doctor.  Now I’m being told daily prophylactic is no longer recommended?  

I’m aware of the latest information on the gut microbiome and its effects on the immune system.  Is this the reason why?  I don’t want to be susceptible to infections by stopping especially after years of indoctrination that it’s required. Please help settle this for me. [side note: I take warfarin daily as well which always complicates future medical interventions]

Thanks to you and Vincent for sharing your expertise with the world.

RoNell 

(Pronounced Ron-Nell)

Lisa writes:

Dr. Griffin,

I love l Noah Kahan. And the line “Doc told me to travel but there’s COVID on the planes” is oh so f***ing fabulous!

Also his line, “So I forgot my medication, fell into a manic high. Spent my savings at a Lulu, now I’m suffering in style.” from his song “Growing Sideways”.

Four years in and this peds NP is still listening to your fabulous updates each Saturday morning. Thanks for all you do!

Lisa

From the crazy (not in a good way) state of Florida

Mike writes:

Dear Dr. Griffin,

Thanks for your continued weekly helpful updates on TWiV. This week you touched on SARS-CoV-2 wastewater viral activities levels and were discussing the significance of numerical changes in the viral activity level but don’t think you or Racaniello ended up having time to fully explain what the levels mean. In case you wanted to provide more clarification on your next update, the CDC’s website (https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/about-data.html#data-method) explains that “the value associated with the Wastewater Viral Activity Level is the number of standard deviations above the baseline, transformed to the linear scale”.

Fyi.

Have a good week and be safe,

Sincerely,

Mike

ID

Tacoma, WA