Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

New framework provides a path for enhanced care in nursing homes during COVID-19 and beyond

As of May 2020, nursing home residents account for a staggering one-third of the more than 80,000 deaths due to COVID-19 in the U.S.

11 Jul 2020

ONR Global awards research grant to produce low-cost ventilators for use by hospitals in São Paulo

Brazil has been one of the most affected countries in the world by COVID-19. A group of researchers led by Prof. Marcelo Zuffo and Prof. Raul Lima from the Escola Politécnica da Universidade de São Paulo received US $ 199,943 for one year from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Global. The project is co-funded by ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department.

10 Jul 2020

FIND and Unitaid launch call for EOI to fill major diagnostic gaps in COVID-19 detection

The Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics and Unitaid announced today that the organizations have launched a call for expressions of interest to accelerate the availability and manufacturing scale-up of rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Reliable, affordable Ag RDTs have been identified as key tools in the global response to COVID-19, as they could enable robust detection of active SARS-CoV-2 infection for both patient management and contact tracing purposes in decentralized settings.

10 Jul 2020

Charity warns of a catastrophic knock on effect for stroke research due to pandemic

Almost three quarters (74%) of stroke research projects funded by the Stroke Association have been suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

10 Jul 2020

Colorado, like other states, trims health programs amid health crisis

As a teenager, Paulina Castle struggled for years with suicidal thoughts. When her mental health was at its most fragile, she would isolate herself, spending days in her room alone.

10 Jul 2020

Cochlear obtains FDA approval of Kanso 2 Sound Processor

Cochlear Limited, the global leader in implantable hearing solutions, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of three new products to its suite of hearing technology solutions.

From Cochlear Ltd 10 Jul 2020

Establishment of global surveillance network can warn about next pandemic

The virus that causes COVID-19 probably originated in wild bats that live in caves around Wuhan, China, and may have been passed to a second animal species before infecting people, according to the World Health Organization.

10 Jul 2020

New clinical trial to assess safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma to prevent COVID-19

There is only one approved, specific treatment for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, albeit with modest efficacy.

10 Jul 2020

Study discusses four possible scenarios for growth of aquaculture in the COVID-19 era

Aquaculture, the relatively young but fast-growing industry of farming of fish and other marine life, now produces around half of all seafood consumed by humans.

10 Jul 2020

Researchers estimate global undercounting of COVID-19 cases

A new study by an international team of researchers and published on the preprint server medRxiv* in July 2020 describes a model to estimate the actual undercounting of COVID-19 cases and the global prevalence.

10 Jul 2020

Commentary: Children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other

A commentary published in the journal Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, concludes that children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other or to adults and that many schools, provided they follow appropriate social distancing guidelines and take into account rates of transmission in their community, can and should reopen in the fal

10 Jul 2020

Senators Cassidy and Carper urge CMS to update restrictive coverage policies on obesity drugs and IBT

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.) are calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to lift regulations that deny insurance coverage for obesity drugs and that limit coverage of Intensive Behavioral Therapy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

10 Jul 2020

What people know and how they behave during COVID-19: Canadian perspective

Now, a new study by researchers in Canada and published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 shows that national news is the primary source of information about the pandemic.

10 Jul 2020

AI powered screening-test for COVID-19

A new study by researchers at the University of Oxford and Harvard University and published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 reports the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to screen patients presenting or admitted to hospital for COVID-19. This could help triage patients in low-testing settings and help reduce infection risk.

10 Jul 2020

As winter comes other viruses will compete with SARS-CoV-2 for susceptible hosts

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 traces how COVID-19 became the predominant cause of respiratory infection in the period from early January until the present.

10 Jul 2020

Scientists recommend a decentralized biosurveillance system to protect from diseases

The emergence of COVID-19 is a powerful reminder of how unchecked wildlife trade can lead to the spillover spread of viruses between wildlife and humans.

10 Jul 2020

Study of 17 million patients pinpoints COVID-19 mortality risk factors

Now, an analysis of 17 million people in England, the most extensive study of its kind, sheds light on certain factors that can increase a person’s chances of dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

10 Jul 2020

Volunteers can now register for coronavirus disease vaccine trials

In an attempt to recruit many volunteers, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has established a new clinical COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network (COVPN) that aims to enroll thousands of volunteers to test various investigational vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

10 Jul 2020

WHO confirms 'emerging evidence' of airborne coronavirus

Scientists from around the world wrote a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO), urging the agency to acknowledge that the novel coronavirus is airborne. More than 230 scientists presented evidence that people can catch the virus from droplets floating in the air.

9 Jul 2020

Pigs and chickens not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2

A team of researchers in Germany aimed to investigate the susceptibility of potential animal hosts and the risk of zoonosis spill-over infections, which are illnesses transmitted to humans from animals. On the other hand, reverse zoonosis pertains to infections in humans that jump to animals.

9 Jul 2020

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

New framework provides a path for enhanced care in nursing homes during COVID-19 and beyond

ONR Global awards research grant to produce low-cost ventilators for use by hospitals in São Paulo

FIND and Unitaid launch call for EOI to fill major diagnostic gaps in COVID-19 detection

Charity warns of a catastrophic knock on effect for stroke research due to pandemic

Colorado, like other states, trims health programs amid health crisis

Cochlear obtains FDA approval of Kanso 2 Sound Processor

Establishment of global surveillance network can warn about next pandemic

New clinical trial to assess safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma to prevent COVID-19

Study discusses four possible scenarios for growth of aquaculture in the COVID-19 era

Researchers estimate global undercounting of COVID-19 cases

Commentary: Children infrequently transmit Covid-19 to each other

Senators Cassidy and Carper urge CMS to update restrictive coverage policies on obesity drugs and IBT

What people know and how they behave during COVID-19: Canadian perspective

AI powered screening-test for COVID-19

As winter comes other viruses will compete with SARS-CoV-2 for susceptible hosts

Scientists recommend a decentralized biosurveillance system to protect from diseases

Study of 17 million patients pinpoints COVID-19 mortality risk factors

Volunteers can now register for coronavirus disease vaccine trials

WHO confirms 'emerging evidence' of airborne coronavirus

Pigs and chickens not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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