Reading Room
The reading room includes articles and videos of potential interest to consumers and medical professionals. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the NC Medical Board, its members and staff.
Did Pangolin trafficking cause the Coronavirus pandemic?
The New Yorker
August 24, 2020
The elusive animals’ possible involvement in the origins of COVID-19 gives them a weird ambivalence: threatened and, perhaps, dangerous.
Why do we have different blood types — and do they make us more vulnerable to Covid-19?
CNN
July 16, 2020
Most humans fall into one of four blood groups — A, B, AB or O. Ordinarily, your blood type makes very little difference in your daily life except if you need to have a blood transfusion. However, some studies have people wondering if blood type affects coronavirus risk. One, for instance, suggests that people with Type A may have a higher risk of catching Covid-19 and of developing severe symptoms while people with Type O blood may have a lower risk.
What a Negative COVID-19 Test Really Means
The Atlantic
June 21, 2020
You go out to a bar with friends this week, and you’re planning to visit your elderly relatives in a few days. You feel healthy, and you even get a COVID-19 test out of caution. The result comes back negative. Is it safe to go?
Not exactly, experts say. How well COVID-19 tests work in people who feel healthy is still a key unknown of the pandemic.
Read More…Risk ranking of everyday activities for COVID-19
Business Insider
June 8, 2020
Staying safe from COVID-19 doesn’t require isolating in a bunker, but it does mean weighing different risks based on the situation. You can think about everyday activities in terms of the three D’s: diversity, distance, and duration.
Telehealth wasn’t designed for non-English speakers
The Verge
June 4, 2020
When David Velasquez went home to California for a week in April, he found out that his parents didn’t have internet access anymore. Velasquez, a medical student at Harvard, needs Wi-Fi for work. However, his parents don’t own a computer. “They don’t shop online, they don’t watch Netflix,” he says. So when the connection got too expensive, they stopped paying for it.
The End of Handshakes—for Humans and for Robots
Wired
May 27, 2020
Researchers have spent years teaching robots to shake hands—an effort possibly doomed by a global turn against human contact.
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended social norms, especially greetings. In France, the government has warned against cheek kissing. In New Zealand, a Maori tribe has banned the traditional hongi greeting, in which people press their noses together and inhale each other’s breath.
Read More…