COVID-19 weekly news: March 16 – 22

Colorectal cancer cases rising in younger adults, screenings are down

"The majority of those increases are in people ages 40 to 49, but half of young-onset colorectal cancer patients are under 40 years old," says Dr. Lisa Boardman, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist. "We used to think of colorectal cancer as a disease of aging. With the increase in the number of cases of colorectal cancer globally, there are clearly other factors in addition to aging that contribute to the development of colorectal cancer."

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COVID-19 vaccine: Wondering if I should reschedule my Mammogram?

There's concern that side effects from the vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could be mistaken for breast cancer on a mammogram. But that doesn't mean you should cancel your mammogram if you've received your vaccine. Instead, contact the facility where your mammogram is scheduled to ask for guidance.

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Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Rapid pace of COVID-19 vaccinations

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Poland talks about vaccine hesitancy, and patients who are immunocompromised or have autoimmune conditions. Also, he discusses next steps in the journey to vaccinate children for COVID-19. And he reviews recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Control about in-person gatherings.

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Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Protection protocols involving ear, nose and throat patients during COVID-19

"COVID-19 taught us all to be more nimble," says Dr. Devyani Lal, a Mayo Clinic otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon. She says the COVID-19 pandemic required Mayo Clinic's Department of Otolaryngology to pivot quickly and require that patients be tested for COVID-19 before appointments.

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Experts propose shared decision making to decrease COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

“In the spirit of seeking the root-cause issue, we need to stop asking why people don’t understand what we are telling them and consider asking why we don’t understand them,” Dr. Poland and colleagues write in a recent editorial in the scientific journal Vaccine. “For many patients, health care providers are no longer considered to be the exclusive expert in health decisions.”

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Samantha Rossi

Samantha Rossi is a Digital Marketing Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She supports marketing strategies for product management and specialty testing. Samantha has worked at Mayo Clinic since 2019.