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New report underscores the need to implement home care in all pandemic planning

Tens of thousands of Massachusetts residents depend on home care to support their health as they age or cope with physical challenges. That care often requires close personal contact, increasing the risk of contracting COVID-19 among both home-care clients and the aides who provide their care.

8 Dec 2020

Study unveils struggles faced by surgical units during the COVID-19 pandemic

Researchers at the University of Calgary, Canada, shed light on how surgical services have been reorganized during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

8 Dec 2020

After a deadly COVID outbreak, Maryland County takes steps to protect health workers

A Maryland health department is taking new steps to protect its workers six months after a COVID-19 outbreak killed a veteran employee who was twice denied permission to work from home.

4 Dec 2020

Lessons from Italian neurosurgeons who fought on the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic's first wave

A report by neurosurgeons at the Papa Giovanni XXIII Hospital in Bergamo, Italy, highlights the strategies their unit had to take to help combat the viral illness, which has claimed the lives of more than 1.49 million people worldwide. The study was published in the Journal of Neurosurgery in December 2020.

3 Dec 2020

NYC hospital workers, knowing how bad it can get, brace for COVID 2nd wave

No single municipality in the country suffered more in the first wave of the pandemic than New York City, which saw more than 24,000 deaths, mainly in the spring. Medical staff in New York know precisely how difficult and dangerous overwhelmed hospitals can be and are braced warily as infections begin to rise again.

3 Dec 2020

Pomegranate extract could inhibit the virus that causes COVID-19

Researchers have conducted a study demonstrating the potential antiviral effects of pomegranate extract against SAR-CoV-2.

3 Dec 2020

As hospitals fill with COVID patients, medical reinforcements are hard to find

Hospitals in much of the country are trying to cope with unprecedented numbers of COVID-19 patients. As of Monday, 96,039 were hospitalized, an alarming record that far exceeds the two previous peaks in April and July of just under 60,000 inpatients.

2 Dec 2020

Analysis of social media messages reveals struggles of care home staff during COVID-19 first wave

Analysis of social media messages between care home staff on the coronavirus front line reveal their growing concerns over how to manage in the face of the virus. Thousands of Whatsapp messages between 250 care home workers during the first coronavirus wave show workers were often asking questions which went unanswered due to a lack of proper guidance.

1 Dec 2020

HIV-related health services in Thailand during COVID-19 pandemic

Thailand's key population-led health services (KPLHS) are a hallmark of the success of the country's HIV response.

30 Nov 2020

FDA issues guidance on use of dry heat to support reuse of certain respirators

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued guidance on the use of dry heat to help support the single-user reuse of certain particulate filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs), such as N95 respirators, by health care personnel when there is a limited supply of respirators during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

25 Nov 2020

New CDC report describes COVID-19 in NYC in early spring

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), has published an update on the outbreak in New York City. The report is titled, "COVID-19 Outbreak — New York City, February 29–June 1, 2020".

23 Nov 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Transition troubles mount as COVID spreads

President-elect Joe Biden is still being blocked from launching his official transition while President Donald Trump contests the outcome of the election. That could be particularly dangerous for public health as COVID-19 spreads around the country at an alarming rate.

20 Nov 2020

These front-line workers could have retired. They risked their lives instead.

Sonia Brown’s husband died on June 10. Two weeks later, the 65-year-old registered nurse was back at work. Her husband's medical bills and a car payment loomed over her head.

20 Nov 2020

People with learning disabilities are more likely to die from coronavirus

A newly-published Public Health England report which shows people with learning disabilities are 6.3 times more likely to die from coronavirus than the rest of the population shows urgent action is required.

19 Nov 2020

SARS-CoV-2 deactivation on surfaces in 30 seconds with a copper paste

In a recent bioRxiv preprint paper, a team of researchers shows the possibility of using copper, in a new conformation, for effectively killing microbes immediately.

18 Nov 2020

Anger after North Dakota Governor asks COVID-positive health staff to stay on job

Nurse Leslie McKamey has gotten used to the 16-hour shifts, to skipping lunch, to the nightly ritual of throwing all her clothes in the laundry and showering as soon as she walks through the door to avoid potentially infecting her children.

18 Nov 2020

Strategizing pediatric healthcare preparedness for the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

The paper, put together by a team of scientists based in the United Kingdom and Italy, also underscored the need for healthcare policies to account for the very real possibility of inadequate protective personal equipment (PPE), staff and hospital capacity, aggravated by the increased number of pediatric infections.

15 Nov 2020

Low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies in Lubbock, Texas

A recent study published in the Journal of Primary Care and Community Health has assessed the prevalence of antibodies developed specifically against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in front-line workers in Lubbock, Texas. According to the study findings, immunoglobulin G (IgG)-specific anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have been detected in only 0.73% of the participants.

11 Nov 2020

New model for predicting colon cancer risk in average risk individuals

Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine research scientists have developed and tested one of the first U.S.-based models to predict personal risk for advanced precancerous polyps and colon cancer in average risk individuals.

10 Nov 2020

Stay-at-home orders during COVID-19 pandemic may have a dangerous side effect

The social isolation brought on by stay-at-home orders (SAHO) issued in the early phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have a deadly and dangerous side effect: an increase in intentional penetrating injuries, especially firearm violence, that has remained at high levels even as stay-at-home orders have subsided and as COVID-19 cases are on an upswing.

9 Nov 2020