Updates
Millions Of Americans Traveling For Thanksgiving, Ignoring CDC Advice-NPR
Millions of Americans are ignoring the advice of public health experts and traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. The Transportation Security Administration reported that more than 1.04 million people went through airport security checkpoints Sunday, the most since mid-March, and about 1 million more went through TSA checkpoints each day on Friday and Saturday. NPR, … Continue Reading
November 23, 2020
Biden To Spotlight CDC Officials Shunned By Trump-Politico
President-elect Joe Biden is putting scientists in charge and back on the stage to restore trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The plans include immediately reviving regular media briefings and giving a central role to long-sidelined career officials including Nancy Messonnier, the public health official who first warned of the “severe” impact of the Covid-19 back in February. Politico, … Continue Reading
November 23, 2020
Cut Off: School Closings Leave Rural Students Isolated-The Associated Press
The midday arrival of a school bus at Cyliss Castillo’s home on the remote edge of a mesa breaks up the long days of boredom and isolation for the high school senior. The driver hands over food in white plastic bags, collects Castillo’s school assignments and offers some welcome conversation before setting out for another home. The closing of classrooms and the switch to remote learning because of the coronavirus have left Castillo and other students in this school district on the sparsely … Continue Reading
November 23, 2020
New Zealand PM Offers COVID-19 Help To U.S. President-Elect Biden-Reuters
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she offered President-elect Joe Biden assistance with tackling the rampant outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. During the first talks between the two since Biden was elected as the next U.S. president, Ardern said she offered access to New Zealand’s most senior health officials. Reuters, … Continue Reading
November 23, 2020
Data Show Hospitalized Covid-19 Patients Are Surviving At Higher Rates, But Surge In Cases Could Roll Back Gains-STAT
Patients hospitalized with Covid-19 are surviving at higher rates than in the early days of the pandemic, gains that data and interviews with experts suggest are driven by a more refined understanding of the disease and how to treat it — and, crucially, less strain on hospitals that had been inundated at times. Other factors have contributed to the improved outcomes: Steroids that help save some lives are being used more widely, and people infected after the initial surge were, as a whole, … Continue Reading
November 23, 2020
AstraZeneca Coronavirus Trial Promises 'Highly Effective' New Vaccine-NPR
U.K.-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has developed a vaccine that initial results show to be "highly effective in preventing" COVID-19, the company announced Monday. The vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, showed an average efficacy of 70% in preventing the coronavirus, according to the company. However, that is an average of two dosing regimens — one involving two full doses at least a month apart that proved to be 62% effective. A second regimen, involving a half dose … Continue Reading
November 20, 2020
How Biden Plans To Fix The Coronavirus Testing Problem-Politico
President-elect Joe Biden’s advisers are planning a massive expansion of the United States’ coronavirus testing capacity to help bring the country’s spiraling outbreak under control. The Biden team is focusing on ways to detect people who are infected but not showing symptoms, to keep those potential superspreaders from passing the virus to others. The strategies under discussion, according to four experts advising Biden, include increasing the availability of cheap, rapid tests; using the … Continue Reading
November 20, 2020
Health Experts Clash Over Use Of Certain Drugs For COVID-19-The Associated Press
Health officials around the world are clashing over the use of certain drugs for COVID-19, leading to different treatment options for patients depending on where they live. On Friday, a World Health Organization guidelines panel advised against using the antiviral remdesivir for hospitalized patients, saying there’s no evidence it improves survival or avoids the need for breathing machines. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
November 20, 2020
S&P 500, Dow Dip On Concerns Over Rising COVID-19 Infections-Reuters
The S&P 500 and the Dow slipped on Friday with a surge in coronavirus cases threatening to derail a fragile economic recovery, even as plans were announced for ending several of the Federal Reserve’s economic support programs. Reuters, … Continue Reading
November 20, 2020
As A New Covid-19 Treatment Arrives, Hospitals Scramble To Solve Logistical And Ethical Challenges-STAT
When the federal government started handing out a newly authorized Covid-19 treatment last week, some hospitals weren’t sure they should accept their share. On the surface, it sounded crazy. Decline a medication that might keep patients from getting severely ill? But like so many other pandemic-time medical decisions, this one offered only flawed choices. STAT, … Continue Reading
November 20, 2020
Pfizer Asks FDA To Approve Its COVID-19 Vaccine For Emergency Use-NPR
Pfizer is formally asking federal authorities to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. The pharmaceutical giant and its partner BioNTech announced that they are submitting their request to the Food and Drug Administration on Friday. NPR, … Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
CDC Urges Against Thanksgiving Travel-Politico
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday advised Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving and to limit gatherings to people within the same household as coronavirus cases continue to surge. The agency's guidance is at odds with recent messaging from the White House, including fierce criticism of state-level mitigation efforts from President Donald Trump's press secretary. But it lines up with a growing number of new state Covid-19 restrictions that are being imposed in … Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
Virus Threat ‘A New Terror’ In Syria’s Scarred Idlib Region-The Associated Press
Nurses hover over a patient to insert a breathing tube as his condition suddenly deteriorates. ICU beds fill up almost overnight. As one patient dies of the coronavirus and is wheeled out, another is whisked in to take his place. An exhausted doctor leans against a wheelchair for a breather. The pace is dizzying at the largest isolation hospital in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib. There are no bombs falling outside and the wounded don’t crowd bloodstained corridors amid a shaky cease-fire … Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
U.S. COVID-19 Hospitalizations Jump Nearly 50% In Two Weeks, Ushering In New Shutdowns-Reuters
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States has jumped nearly 50% in the last 14 days, straining the nation’s healthcare system and forcing cities and states to impose new restrictions to curb the alarming viral spread. Nearly 79,000 people were being in treated for the disease in hospitals across the country on Thursday, a Reuters tally showed, the most at any time during the pandemic. Reuters, … Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
‘People Are Going To Die’: Hospitals In Half The States Are Facing A Massive Staffing Shortage As Covid-19 Surges-STAT
Hospitals in at least 25 states are critically short of nurses, doctors, and other staff as coronavirus cases surge across the United States, according to the industry’s trade association and a tally conducted by STAT. The situation has gotten so bad that in some places, severely ill patients have been transferred hundreds of miles for an available bed — from Texas to Arizona, and from central Missouri to Iowa. STAT, … Continue Reading
November 19, 2020
As Vaccine Approvals Loom, U.S. Funds A Back-Up Plan For Delivery-NPR
As the nation gears up for a massive vaccination effort, the Trump administration is doubling down on a novel, unproven injection device by providing more than half a billion dollars in government financing for something that is still awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval. Later today, the U.S. International Development Finance Corp, or DFC, is expected to announce that it has extended a $590 million loan to ApiJect Systems America, NPR has learned. The Connecticut company makes a … Continue Reading
November 18, 2020
Mysteries Of COVID Smell Loss Finally Yield Some Answers-Scientific American
An estimated 80 percent of people with COVID-19 have smell disturbances, and many also have dysgeusia or ageusia (a disruption or loss of taste, respectively) or changes in chemesthesis (the ability to sense chemical irritants such as hot chilies). Smell loss is so common in people with the disease that some researchers have recommended its use as a diagnostic test because it may be a more reliable marker than fever or other symptoms. One lingering mystery is how the novel coronavirus robs its … Continue Reading
November 18, 2020
Kenyans Fear They’re On Their Own As COVID-19 Surges Again-The Associated Press
A Kenyan doctor died of COVID-19 over the weekend after no bed for him in an intensive care unit was available. Other doctors say they cannot afford the treatment they administer to COVID-19 patients, yet many work while dangerously exposed without protection. Some health care workers organize fund drives for colleagues to pay medical bills. As Africa is poised to surpass 2 million confirmed virus cases as early as Wednesday, it is Kenya’s turn to worry the continent with a second surge in … Continue Reading
November 18, 2020
End Of Pfizer Trial Paves Way For A COVID Shot This Year-Reuters
Final results from Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine trial showed its shot had a 95% success rate and two months of safety data, paving the way for the drugmaker to apply for an emergency U.S. authorization within days, it said on Wednesday. The efficacy rate of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech is the highest of any candidate in late-stage clinical trials so far, and experts said it was a significant achievement in the race to end the pandemic. Reuters, … Continue Reading
November 18, 2020
Health Systems Are Using AI To Predict Severe Covid-19 Cases. But Limited Data Could Produce Unreliable Results-STAT
As the United States braces for a bleak winter, hospital systems across the country are ramping up their efforts to develop AI systems to predict how likely their Covid-19 patients are to fall severely ill or even die. Yet most of the efforts are being developed in silos and trained on limited datasets, raising crucial questions about their reliability. Dozens of institutions and companies — including Stanford, Mount Sinai, and the electronic health records vendors Epic and Cerner — have been … Continue Reading