A Critique of Recent Medical Research in JAMA on COVID-19

The world community has been changed irrevocably by the highly infectious and mutating SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The necessary research output on COVID-19 has been revolutionary, especially in the medical and biomedical sciences, where the search for a vaccine is essential for the world to have a semblance of normality in the era of COVID-19. Much of the advanced research has been distributed in the leading medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), where the latest medical research is distributed on a daily basis, and where comments can also be published. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critique of 110 interesting and highly topical research papers that have been published in JAMA, mostly within the past two months. The diverse topics include: treating influenza and COVID-19 simultaneously, dealing with a second wave of COVID-19 in Beijing, honesty is best for known and unknown GAWI and WIST, unreliability of asymptomatic COVID-19 testing outcomes for children, the effectiveness of flu vaccines, acute anxiety during COVID-19, MAID as an end of life option, longer-term effects of corticosteroids on the mortality of critically ill COVID-19 patients, isolation, loneliness and psychological distress during COVID-19, the selection of volunteers for COVID-19 vaccine trials, the mental health of children and adolescents during COVID-19, fertility preservation through hormonal intervention for transgender adolescents, safe, effective and affordable COVID-19 vaccines, essential requirements for acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine, ischemic stroke rates from COVID-19 and influenza, mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of children, COVID-19 asymptomatic children and adults, Who Dares Wins (Qui Audet Adipiscitur), even against COVID-19, global health security index and responses to COVID-19, quality of life and dying, immunity from COVID-19, whom to trust or not to trust regarding COVID-19, the value of health care for cancer patients, previous medical research bodes well for a COVID-19 vaccine, you cannot fight COVID-19 alone, causality between hypertension and COVID-19, coffee consumption and metastatic colorectal cancer, improving statistical analysis of health policies on children and adolescents, COVID-19 does not respect anyone, politics diminishes the integrity and reputation of healthcare agencies, primary, secondary and tertiary cancers in the lung, health care should include everyone, especially for COVID-19, prioritizing access to COVID-19 vaccines, further questions about COVID-19 vaccines, estimating direct and indirect excess deaths from COVID-19, herd immunity for COVID-19, daily eyeglass wear and COVID-19 infection, using anything that prevents the spread of COVID-19, deferral of care for serious non-COVID-19 conditions, society’s united fight against depression and suicide, the positive outcomes in delaying low-risk thyroid cancer treatment during COVID-19, the likely future toll from COVID-19, excluding older persons from vaccine and clinical trials for COVID-19, peaceful miracles make the moment, dealing with COVID-19 science denial and conspiracy theories, masking and testing should be mandatory for COVID-19, journal reputation is established by scientific creativity and destroyed by political interference, impact and importance of medical research on COVID-19, support for COVID-19 long haulers, possible reinfection and long term recovery from COVID-19, Wabi-Sabi and the beauty of imperfection, good, better and best testing for COVID-19, surgical technical skill and long-term cancer survival, prior negative recovery from RT-PCR test results for COVID-19, age, frailty, and postoperative surgical outcomes, all journals should have diversity in the editorial and peer review process, an encompassing digital open access journal - JAMA Health Forum, righting inequities through otolaryngology in a COVID-19 normal America, resilient mental health in older adults under COVID-19, preventing suicides in a COVID-19 normal world, and COVID-19, voluntary participation in cancer clinical trials, herd immunity and COVID-19, psychological distress of US adults under COVID-19, repurposing drugs for COVID-19, same data + different models = different results, how do surges in COVID-19 affect healthcare spending?, causality between sedentary behavior and cancer mortality, overdose cardiac arrests and emergency medicine during COVID-19, COVID-19 asymptomatic children versus adults, why is care for serious non-COVID-19 conditions seemingly deferred?, confidentiality in a world of COVID-19 and fake news, mental healthcare data disrupted by COVID-19, do N95 face masks protect against COVID-19?, the necessity of face masks during COVID-19, nurses in COVID-19 vaccine trials, eye protection for COVID-19 ventilated patients, and healthcare access, social needs, unemployment insurance during COVID-19, pre-eminent experts evaluate the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the effects of current vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 mutations, unbearable suffering needs to be respected, varied public attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine mandates, enanthems, exanthems, and COVID-19, a wish list for a COVID-19 new year, critical statistical rigour before and during COVID-19, accepting vaccines is essential against COVID-19, and social distancing, health behaviour, cancer outcomes during COVID-19, readmission and death from COVID-19 after hospital discharge, beneficial lessons from COVID-19, estimating racial disparities in COVID-19 testing, paying people to be vaccinated against COVID-19, COVID-19 mutations and vaccines, mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19, allergic reactions to the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, neutralization of monoclonal antibodies for COVID-19, pricing teledermatology during COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 are spreading virtually everywhere, transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 by children, addressing racial and ethnic health disparities during COVID-19, race and medical research during and after COVID-19, adherence to nonpharmaceutical interventions during COVID-19, further unanswered questions for cancer patients during COVID-19, how are children affected by COVID-19, is the California variant another COVID-19 escaped mutant?, tracking escaped mutants of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, optimal timing separation and strength of prime and booster shots, confounding errors in response to COVID-19, durability and duration of approved vaccines against escaped mutants, and hospital mortality and hospice discharge of COVID-19 patients depend on population size.