Coronavirus (COVID-19) Q&A

As the White House’s COVID-19 Response Coordinator, Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, plays a critical role in the federal government’s continued response to the pandemic. In this Q&A with JAMA Associate Editor Preeti Malani, MD, Jha details current thinking and federal planning around additional boosters, testing trends, and treatment for COVID-19.

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Interview with Peter Watkinson, MD, and Julia Hippisley-Cox, MD, authors of Neuropsychiatric Ramifications of Severe COVID-19 and Other Severe Acute Respiratory Infections. Hosted by John Torous, MD, MBI.

Misinformation about COVID-19 (such as around vaccines, masks, and ineffective drugs) has circulated widely during the pandemic, and much of this misinformation is protected by the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. Professor of Surgery and Perioperative Care and Professor of Law William M. Sage, MD, JD, from the University of Texas at Austin, is interviewed in this JAMA podcast.

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Reducing “COVID-19 Misinformation” While Preserving Free Speech

Interview with Cheng-Ying Ho, MD, PhD, author of Postmortem Assessment of Olfactory Tissue Degeneration and Microvasculopathy in Patients With COVID-19. Hosted by Cynthia E. Armand, MD.

The health care workforce has yet to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is a concerning trend of increasing numbers of physicians leaving the workforce. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Bianca Frogner, PhD, of the University of Washington new findings that show how all segments of the health care workforce have struggled, with more pronounced effects among long-term care workers, aides, assistants, workers with young children, and workers of color.

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• Tracking Turnover Among Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic
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• Changes in Material Hardship During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Interview with Michael Springer, PhD, and Andrew Bo Liu, authors of Association of COVID-19 Quarantine Duration and Postquarantine Transmission Risk in 4 University Cohorts Hosted by Angel N. Desai, MD, MPH.

Interview with Ilana Doweck, MD, author of Association Between the BNT162b2 Messenger RNA COVID-19 Vaccine and the Risk of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, and Eric J. Formeister, MD, MS, author of Assessment of Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss After COVID-19 Vaccination Hosted by Joseph P. Bradley, MD.

Pregnant and recently pregnant individuals who become infected with the COVID-19 virus are at high risk of requiring extra medical care. JAMA Associate Editor Linda Brubaker, MD, MS, from University of California San Diego discusses the rapidly evolving data around COVID-19 and vaccine effectiveness and safety as it relates to pregnancy, breastfeeding, and fertility with 3 experts in the field: Laura E. Riley, MD, from Weill Cornell Medicine, Christina Chambers, PhD, MPH, from University of California San Diego School of Medicine-Pediatrics, and Denise Jamieson, MD, MPH, from Emory University.

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• COVID-19 and Pregnancy
• COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy: Maternal Protection and Neonatal Immunity
• Widespread Misinformation About Infertility Continues to Create COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Conflict of Interest Disclosures:

Dr Chambers reported receiving research funding from Pfizer-BioNTech to study the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine in pregnancy.

Dr Jamieson reported no disclosures.

Dr Riley reported receiving compensation from UpToDate for work on several infections disease cards, receiving royalties from Turner Publishing, and serving on an advisory board for Maven. Dr Riley also reported serving on a CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices workgroup on COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine safety and workgroups for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine of COVID-19 vaccination, without compensation.

For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic public health emergency, state Medicaid programs elected to maintain eligibility for Medicaid recipients in exchange for increased federal funding. In this podcast, Dr Laura Dague of the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University discusses her JAMA Health Forum article finding that this policy was associated with the higher Medicaid enrollment seen during the pandemic. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin discuss the policy implications of this work with Dr Dague and other recent articles touching on Medicaid enrollment.

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Trends in Medicaid Enrollment and Disenrollment Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Wisconsin

Medicaid Disenrollment After the COVID-19 Pandemic

Medicaid Coverage Disruptions Among Children Enrolled in North Carolina Medicaid, 2016-2018

Association of Medicaid Expansion in Arkansas With Postpartum Coverage, Outpatient Care, and Racial Disparities

Interview with Steven Woloshin, MD, MS, author of At-Home Self-Testing Kits for SARS-CoV-2: A Randomized Trial Assessing How Consumers Interpret and Act on Possible Test Results. Hosted by Deborah Grady, MD, MPH.