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As Thanksgiving approaches, millions of Americans are weighing the risk of pandemic travel against the yearning to visit friends and family. But one group seems all but certain to be heading home in large numbers just in time for turkey and holiday gatherings: college students. Since the start of the fall semester, most universities have planned to end in-person classes before Thanksgiving and require students to finish the term remotely, partly to avoid an expected wave of cold-weather infections. That means that in a couple of weeks, hundreds of thousands of students will be streaming back to hometowns until the spring semester begins. (Hubler, 11/9)

There’s a variety of places offering coronavirus testing, including urgent care centers, travel clinics, fire stations, pop-up sites, most hospitals, pharmacies and a few airports. Lin Chen, a doctor and director of the Travel Medicine Center at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., says potential travelers should check in with their primary care provider, who may know the best options for testing in their area. Other options include looking at city and state health department websites for testing resources. (Compton, 11/9)

Brenda Phillips is accustomed to pain. The 69-year-old had five surgeries that fused some vertebrae in her back following degenerative disc disease. The last surgery she had in 2007, left the Moore county resident with residual damage that makes it difficult to sit, said her husband of 49 years, Noah Phillips. Lately, another urgent medical need cropped up: her teeth are in bad shape. (Engel-Smith, 11/10)

In the spring, Dr. Melissa Brackmann made difficult calls to her patients in Michigan, telling them they had to delay their cancer surgeries because of the rising COVID-19 cases in the state. Now, as Brackmann watches Utah’s coronavirus spike while working as a gynecologic oncologist in Salt Lake City, she’s encouraging her patients to schedule their surgeries as soon as possible. (Jacobs, 11/9)

Riley Kirkpatrick realized he was transgender when he was a teenager. Kirkpatrick, born and raised as a female, says he was always very masculine and was often described as a “tomboy.” It was around the time of his realization — at age 14 — that he began using drugs. (Laguaite, 11/9)

Older adults who break a bone face a serious yet potentially preventable risk of breaking another, often within the next two years. This is especially true for the more than 340,000 people 65 and older who break a hip and the nearly 700,000 who develop a spinal fracture each year. Unlike lightning, which almost never strikes the same place twice, “the person at highest risk of a fracture is the one who’s just had a fracture,” Dr. Ethel S. Siris, endocrinologist and director of the Toni Stabile Osteoporosis Center at the Columbia University Medical Center, told me. (Brody, 11/9)

At this point in 2020 — with a global pandemic, social unrest, natural disasters and a divisive election — we’ve heard plenty of advice about self-care. The need for such guidance probably peaked last week amid a crescendo of election anxiety, as much of the country agonized over the hotly contested presidential race between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden. (Chiu, 11/9)

McDonald’s Corp. is making changes to its menu and restaurant operations as the coronavirus pandemic persists, including an emphasis on to-go orders and new “McPlant” vegetarian items. The burger company said Monday that it would test a slate of new plant-based products in some markets next year. McDonald’s ran a pilot program earlier this year in Canada to sell patties made by Beyond Meat Inc., a leader in the market to sell new plant-based products that closely mimic meat. (Haddon, 11/9)

Tom Izzo has been an advocate for wearing masks and social distancing, hoping to use his platform at Michigan State as a Basketball Hall of Fame coach to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Despite practicing what he preached, Izzo tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. It was just the latest example of the challenges facing college basketball to have a season during the pandemic. (Lage, 11/9)