Media Coverage

Researchers who have been part of historic investigations say science had to overcome its own blind spots. The awareness has been gradual, said professor Linda Van Horn, chief of the nutrition division in the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “It wasn’t a moment in time. It was growing recognition, as most things in medicine are,” she said.

Bisexual women’s health and well-being may be affected by the gender and sexual orientation of their partner, according to a new study published in the Journal of Bisexuality. “Most research about relationships has been focused on heterosexual couples,” Casey Xavier Hall, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health at Northwestern University and lead author on the article, told NBC News. “There is very little relationship research around bi people’s relationships. There are meaningful differences in relationships depending on the sexual and gender identity of bi women’s partners.”

“We identified it through our research program following mutations in the virus over time in the Chicago area,” said Dr. Egon Ozer, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Northwestern and a Northwestern Medicine physician. The P.1 strain was first found in Brazilian travelers who arrived in Tokyo in early January

“It could be a total game changer,” said Dr. Muriel Jean-Jacques, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University. Millions of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson will soon be available in the U.S., a much-anticipated development that could help turn the tide of the pandemic by vastly speeding the rate at which people are vaccinated.

Dr. Sadiya Khan, an epidemiologist at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said parents of children who aren’t disabled and don’t have underlying health problems shouldn’t wait on vaccinations before sending their kids back to school. “There is no reason that we need to keep kids out of school waiting for a vaccine,” Khan said.

Early data from the federal government provides compelling evidence the vaccine has probably helped keep residents and staff safe, said Dr. June McKoy, a Northwestern University associate professor of medicine, preventive medicine and medical education.

It found that during high levels of background noise, the surgical mask “was shown to least hinder speech recognition,” said Dr. Jawad Fares, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago’s Northwestern University. “The findings of the study are important in light of the current pandemic, as it acknowledges the communication challenges that we are facing,” said Fares, who was not involved in the study

And the official word is: Once you’re vaccinated, sit tight a while longer. Things will be better soon, experts say. But vaccination is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. “It would be lovely to think that that was the case,” said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, a cardiologist, epidemiologist and chair of the department of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “But unfortunately, we’re not at the state in the science to understand that we can turn people loose after they’ve gotten both of their vaccinations.”

Considering that the Covid-related strains on our lives aren’t going away in the near-term, what can we do to feel less scattered? With the caveat that not all of these options are feasible for parents, Inger Burnett-Zeigler, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, said that we should be assessing all of our responsibilities, and seeing if there is anything at all we can take off our plates. “A lot is being demanded of us,” she said — and it’s not sustainable.

There was a lack of consistency in the research — many of the studies used a different kind of background noise — and some studies found that if the noise was too loud, it actually interrupted sleep, and could be bad for your hearing. That said, “Clinically, if someone tells me they sleep better with the fan on, that’s perfectly fine, but it’s not something I would recommend to everyone,” said Jennifer Mundt, an assistant professor of neurology specializing in sleep at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.