CU Anschutz In The News

"The reality is that people don't actually need the masks," said Dr. Michelle Barron, medical director for Infection Control and Prevention at the University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus. "I think almost everyone I've seen outside of the hospital, that's wearing these in public, don't even have them on properly … I think [what] ends up happening is that it gives them a false sense of security and then they don't realize that their hands are far more likely to be the way they're going to catch this."

UCHealth said it’s running exercises to specifically address what should happen if a patient with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19 gets admitted.“Now it if it comes back and the patient does have it. What we’ll do is, we’ll isolate them in our special unit. We’re one of the few adult centers here in the state that has a bio containment unit. And we have staff that are able to handle any of our highly infectious diseases, whether it’s coronavirus or ebola. And then we’ll manage them and care for them until they’re ready to get discharged,” Clinton Anderson, UCHealth Emergency Manager, said.

"There are things like certain chemotherapy drugs that you need a specific drug for a specific indication or reason. And so if that drug is not being manufactured or is being, you know, doled out based on patient need or patient severity, that could be, you know, life-altering and potentially deadly for a patient,"Sarah Anderson, PharmD, a professor at Skagg School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences told Newsy.

Generally, young children and seniors are the age groups most severely affected by influenza and other viral infections, said Dr. Sean O'Leary, an associate professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "We certainly see more impact from viruses in people who have some kind of underlying chronic disease," O'Leary said. "Children tend to do better with these diseases than older adults because, in general, they tend to be a healthier population."

Dr. Michelle Barron, an infectious disease specialist at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, on Wednesday likened preparing for the spread of the new strain of coronavirus within the United States to preparing for a hefty winter snowstorm. “It’s appropriate to say we will probably see more cases in the U.S. and throughout the world, but I don’t think that should set off an alarm,” said Barron, the medical director of infection control and prevention at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.

The study documents how publicly funded family planning providers struggled to provide teens with confidential access to contraception after Texas cut the state family planning budget in 2011 and excluded Planned Parenthood from funding. “The loss of Title X funds meant that clinics had to suddenly start requiring parental consent or send adolescent clients elsewhere,” said Kate Coleman-Minahan, lead author and a University of Colorado College of Nursing assistant professor.

When you’re pregnant, your body should typically acclimate to the lower oxygen levels, thereby ensuring your baby continues to receive adequate oxygen. So, for women who are healthy and have a complication-free pregnancy, traveling up to 8,000 feet above sea level is generally considered safe, says Annie Porter, MD, an obstetrician in the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. “We do recommend a period of acclimating though,” Porter tells Insider.

The results are preliminary, noted Robin Gabriels, program director for neuropsychiatric special care at Children’s Hospital Colorado and a psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. “I look forward to the researchers conducting a randomized clinical trial to more definitively determine if equine-assisted activities combined with their curriculum effectively improves motor skills compared to therapeutic riding by itself,” said Gabriels.