Media Coverage

The omicron variant is spreading across the U.S. at an alarming rate and is now being reported in nearly all 50 states. Ahead of the holidays, Americans planning to travel and gather aren’t taking any chances, leading to extra-long testing lines. Hospitals are already stretched thin as they brace for what’s ahead.

When Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern Medicine, started a Neuro COVID-19 clinic to follow long-haul neurological issues in May 2020, he expected to mostly treat elderly people who had been hospitalized or intubated.

“We, as well as most medical centers in the area have more people who need monoclonal antibodies than we have capacity to deliver,” said Dr. Michael Ison, a professor in the division of infectious disease and organ transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

That has led to a different approach by Dr. Channa Amarasekera, director of the Gay & Bisexual Men’s Urology Program at Northwestern Medicine. The program, which began taking patients in August, is the first of its kind in the U.S.

A west suburban man is about to celebrate Christmas for the first time in two years after battling COVID. Now he has two new lungs and is getting care closer to home thanks to an expanded program through Northwestern Medicine.

“It’s incredibly important to be aware of these risks,” said Lloyd-Jones, who is also head of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. “Take a few simple steps that can help keep you heart healthy with much to celebrate in the new year.”

Pfister is not alone with his opinion. Both Dr. Michael Bauer, the medical director at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, and Dr. Ghanshyam Shah, the medical director at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, agree.

“If you’re working out for 30 minutes a day, for the other 23 hours and 30 minutes you are at lower risk than you otherwise would have been if you hadn’t worked out,” said Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “There’s the instantaneous short-term small elevation of risk while working out, but there’s the much longer-term benefit of having done the exercise.”

At Northwestern Hospital, they are not seeing a post-Thanksgiving surge in COVID-19 cases, which one doctor said was a pleasant surprise. “So, right now, our ICU is very busy. A lot of the cases that we’re seeing are not necessarily driven by COVID,” said Dr. Marc Sala, Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s pulmonary critical care department. “The numbers for COVID are relatively stable in our ICU.”

“I think that the idea of trying to identify one’s own personal cognitive decline over time is excellent,” said Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry in the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.