Coronavirus

Picture of many days listed on a wall calendar

The backlog in mammograms during the COVID-19 pandemic

The backlog of diagnostic mammograms is not expected to return to regular operations for nearly six months at best, and a lack of early detection will have health implications on cancer management for years to come.

From Penn LDI ・



In the News


NPR

Current, deadly U.S. coronavirus surge has peaked, researchers say

David Rubin of the Perelman School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said that while there’s been a decline in COVID-19 transmission rates in most parts of the country, it will take many weeks or months for the number of people getting sick and dying to fall. "It's going to take a while. There's going to be a long tail, unfortunately," he said.

FULL STORY →

The Washington Post

Some COVID-19 mutations may dampen vaccine effectiveness

E. John Wherry and Drew Weissman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about how new variants of the novel coronavirus might respond to the existing COVID-19 vaccines. “We don’t want people thinking that the current vaccine is already outdated. That’s absolutely not true,” said Wherry. However, he warned, the mutations “do in fact reduce how well our immune response is recognizing the virus.”

FULL STORY →

The New York Times

Underselling the vaccine

Aaron Richterman of the Perelman School of Medicine said overemphasizing the COVID-19 vaccine’s imperfections and unknowns may do more harm than good. “Not being completely open because you want to achieve some sort of behavioral public health goal—people will see through that eventually,” he said.

FULL STORY →

The Washington Post

Study suggests Pfizer vaccine works against virus variant

Frederic Bushman of the Perelman School of Medicine said there’s no reason to think the COVID-19 vaccines won’t work on new strains of the virus. “A mutation will change one little place, but it’s not going to disrupt binding to all of them,” he said.

FULL STORY →

Philadelphia Inquirer

Could cutting or delaying doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to immunize more people make the pandemic last longer?

Steven Joffe of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on the unknown efficacy of a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was designed to be given in two doses. “Those unknowns are why some people say, ‘We should stick with what we know. By all means, do the trials to test [varied regimens], but don’t just wing it.’ Others say, ‘We are in a race against the virus.’ I’m not going to come down on one side or the other,” he said.

FULL STORY →

6ABC.com

Will coronavirus vaccines work against new variant? UPenn doctor weighs in

Susan Weiss of the Perelman School of Medicine said the COVID-19 vaccine should still be effective on new mutations of the novel coronavirus, a theory vaccine-makers are testing now. "It's a good thing to do but I am sure they're pretty confident it's not going to show anything different," she said.

FULL STORY →