Coronavirus News and Research

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Novel ventilator bed hoods keep coronavirus contained within ICU

Researchers from the University of Melbourne have come up with devices called ventilation hoods that could help decrease the spread of COVID-19 from ICU patients to health workers who treat them, and to other patients.

9 Apr 2020

Microneedle patches for potential COVID-19 vaccines or therapeutics

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading over the world, causing panic and illness on a scale unprecedented in one hundred years. Even while the death toll nears 100,000, with over 1.5 million confirmed cases worldwide, public health experts and medical professionals are battling it using all the weapons available. Unfortunately, these are all too few.

9 Apr 2020

Testing One, Two, Three - Over 75% of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic

A new study published in the British Medical Journal in April 2020 suggests that the number of people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is astonishingly higher than the number of cases reported so far. This could help shape future social distancing measures.

9 Apr 2020

Weekly COVID-19 fatality predictions from leading epidemiologists

While many developed and developing countries are reeling under the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 disease, preventive and therapeutic measures alike need more accurate forecasts of fatal and non-fatal events to achieve preparedness and ensure an optimal outcome. Now scientists at Imperial College, London, have come up with a new weekly forecast of the number of deaths due to coronavirus and the likely number of cases reported in countries where the virus is actively spreading.

9 Apr 2020

Hypertensive patients on ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers may have improved COVID-19 prognosis

Emerging concerns that common antihypertensive treatment approaches with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) – jointly known as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors – may exert a negative effect in COVID-19 patients are not grounded in scientific evidence, as reported by researchers in a recent review article published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal.

9 Apr 2020

‘Baby, I can’t breathe’: America’s first ER doctor to die in heat of COVID-19 battle

At about 5 a.m. on March 19, a New York City ER physician named Frank Gabrin texted a friend about his concerns over the lack of medical supplies at hospitals.

9 Apr 2020

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Who will pay for COVID-19 care?

In the absence of clear leadership from the federal government, states and private companies are pursuing their own plans to help Americans cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

9 Apr 2020

University of Utah Health, Intermountain Healthcare launch two clinical trials to treat COVID-19 patients

Researchers from Intermountain Healthcare and University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City have launched two vital clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of two drugs -hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and azithromycin - to treat patients with COVID-19 (infection with the novel coronavirus).

9 Apr 2020

Clinical trial to investigate effectiveness of antimalarial drugs for COVID-19 treatment

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is launching a clinical trial for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

9 Apr 2020

Quantifying the risk among health care providers who intubate COVID-19 patients

A team at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania launched the United States component of a global registry that aims to help protect health care providers who intubate patients with COVID-19 and better quantify their risk of developing the disease.

9 Apr 2020

Phylogenetic network analysis provides ‘snapshot’ of COVID-19 origins

Researchers from Cambridge, UK, and Germany have reconstructed the early "evolutionary paths" of COVID-19 in humans - as infection spread from Wuhan out to Europe and North America - using genetic network techniques.

9 Apr 2020

Newsom’s ambitious health care agenda crumbles in a ‘radically changed’ world

This was supposed to be a big health care year for California.

9 Apr 2020

What’s missing in the coronavirus response

In the age of coronavirus, Americans are being told to stay home and wear masks outside. The federal government has made way for hospitals to treat patients in repurposed hotels and dormitories. Private companies are working to push out new diagnostic tests.

9 Apr 2020

What does recovery from COVID-19 look like? It depends. A pulmonologist explains.

Reports of recovery from serious illness caused by the coronavirus have been trickling in from around the world.

9 Apr 2020

COVID-19 crisis threatens beleaguered assisted living industry

David Aguirre jumped in his truck and drove toward the hospital in the predawn darkness the minute he got the news: His 91-year-old mom was being rushed from her Texas assisted living facility to the emergency room.

9 Apr 2020

Novel coronavirus targets specific secretory cells in the lungs

Viruses attack specific host cells, which can cause chaos in the body. The novel coronavirus, now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2 for short, infects respiratory epithelial cells in the lining of the lung, causing difficulty of breathing. The usual cause of death of those who contract the virus is pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Now, a new study has found that SARS-CoV-2 specifically attack certain progenitor cells called bronchial transient secretory cells in the lungs.

9 Apr 2020

Avacta partners with Cytiva to develop a rapid test for COVID-19

Avacta Group plc, the developer of Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a collaboration with Cytiva, formerly known as GE Healthcare Life Sciences.

From Avacta Life Sciences Ltd. 9 Apr 2020

Chinese newborns experienced mild form of COVID-19

A new paper published by Dr. Zhi-Jiang Zhang and colleagues from Wuhan University in the European Respiratory Journal in April 2020 reports that COVID-19 apparently left little impact on newborns born to infected mothers at the height of the epidemic.

9 Apr 2020

Georgetown University Venture Lab startups launch The COVID-19 Testing Locator

The Social App and Basil Labs—two startups in the Georgetown University Venture Lab, which is funded by the Lenosis family, have launched The COVID-19 Testing Locator to provide a free utility for anyone in the United States to locate nearby testing locations.

9 Apr 2020

Smokers have more ACE2 receptors making it easier for SARS-CoV-2 to infect

A new study published in the European Respiratory Journal in April 2020 reveals that people with smoking-damaged lungs and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are likely to have a higher level of the angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2).

9 Apr 2020