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I'm an 83-year-old retired physician. I let my medical license expire over a decade ago and have put my medical care into the hands of very capable people paid for by Medicare—just like most people my age. Generally, I have been happy with this arrangement and enjoy good health.

From this perspective, I can observe our healthcare system just like any other U.S. citizen. I would like to share one important observation at this time: we are now sleep-walking our response to COVID. This is true both among the general citizenry, as well as among healthcare professionals, who seem hesitant to prescribe the most effective outpatient treatment for COVID—nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid)—even for high-risk patients like myself.

Perhaps after the several frenzied years during the worst of the pandemic this is understandable. We're all sick of it—emotionally speaking. Certainly, it is no longer killing us in the massive numbers we saw previously. But it was the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in people over the age of 65 during the earlier years of the pandemic, and remains a serious threat to people of my age. Head over to MedPage Today to read more about it.