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Protect yourself and loved ones during the COVID pandemic

The rates of COVID are higher now than they had been in March when restaurants, stores, and other businesses shut down. It is a difficult dichotomy as the holidays are approaching. Several families/social groups have one or more members who are high-risk of developing fatal consequences from the virus, but there is also the cultural goal of wanting to spend this time with family. My colleagues and I have been discussing the logistics of traveling, quarantining, and whether we should even visit loved ones for our Christmas break.  The decision of traveling should involve checking the regulations and rules of your state or country, as well as the health of those you intend to visit and your personal level of potential exposure. For example, my classmates and I may have a higher risk of exposure from being on the wards compared to somebody who has been working from home. If you have symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, or loss of taste/smell, do not travel. It is recommended that if yo

What it's like learning medicine during the COVID pandemic

I think we can all probably agree that this year has been an absolute rollercoaster ride. Just take a second to pause and think about what we've been through in 2020. I can still remember the day when I was visiting my family for spring break. I was going to my sister's birthday dinner when I received the email that school was going to be completely online for the last half of the semester. I remember that there were just two courses left in my second year of medical school: gastroenterology and multisystem. In medical school, doing things online is actually extremely common. My lectures are recorded and uploaded so that we can watch them at our own pace. A lot of my classmates use this as a way to speed up the lectures--watch them at two-times speed--so that they have more time to do other things like practice questions or review other boards materials. Personally, I was a lecture-goer. I remember trying to do things "the efficient way"; while it definitely was more