COVID-19 weekly news: October 25-30 2021

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Mental health toll of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll in many ways, including affecting mental health. Across the U.S., people have been living with a heightened level of stress for more than 18 months due to the ongoing pandemic. Nearly 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. say that worry and stress related to the threat of COVID-19 have played a negative role in their mental health, according to a recent survey.

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Mayo Clinic Minute: Mammograms, COVID-19 vaccines and timing

If you are due for your annual breast cancer screening and vaccinations, including vaccinations for flu and COVID-19, you may want to consider timing to avoid any concerns. That's because some people can have swelling in their underarm where they receive the shot. That's a normal sign the vaccine is working. However, swelling could cause a false reading on a mammogram.

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COVID Queries: Pregnancy and the COVID-19 vaccine

Q: I'm pregnant, and I've heard that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous for the baby. Should I wait to get it until after I deliver?

A: Actually, getting the vaccine during pregnancy is perfectly safe for most women.

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Emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines

The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Advisory Committee is meeting to discuss a request from Pfizer to amend its emergency use authorization to allow the use of its COVID-19 vaccine in children 5–11.

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Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Understanding mix-and-match COVID-19 boosters

The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made booster recommendations for all three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S., including authorizing a mix-and-match option for booster shots from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Moderna or Pfizer.

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What to know now to plan for a safe Thanksgiving gathering

Thanksgiving is traditionally a day of family and friends gathering for food and celebration. It's also one of the busiest travel seasons as people fly and drive to see their loved ones.

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Science Saturday: Detecting COVID-19 viruses directly from human proteins using mass spectrometry

In a newly published study, a team from Mayo Clinic’s Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory has developed a mass spectrometry-based assay that’s able to detect COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pathogens from human proteins with, remarkably, 98% sensitivity and 100% specificity. This is the first assay of its kind that can detect viral antigens “directly from clinical specimens” such as nasopharyngeal swabs. Mass spectrometry is a sensitive technique used to detect, identify, and quantitate molecules present in a sample.   

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Chantell Canfield

Chantell Canfield is a web content coordinator for Mayo Clinic Laboratories. She began working for Mayo Clinic in 2021.