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Study: Lack of water puts health care workers and patients at higher risk of COVID-19 infection

Around 1.8 billion people are at heightened risk of COVID-19 and other diseases because they use or work in health care facilities without basic water services, warn WHO and UNICEF.

14 Dec 2020

COVID-19 related to high anxiety and depression symptoms among physicians in Bangladesh

A study from Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world, reveals a high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among frontline physicians.

11 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 genetic material can be reliably detected in self-collected saliva samples

Researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) have found that SARS-CoV-2 genetic material can be reliably detected in self-collected saliva samples at a rate similar to that of nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs.

11 Dec 2020

A battle-weary Seattle hospital fights the latest COVID surge

As hospitals across the country weather a surge of COVID-19 patients, in Seattle — an early epicenter of the outbreak — nurses, respiratory therapists and physicians are staring down a startling resurgence of the coronavirus that’s expected to test even one of the best-prepared hospitals on the pandemic’s front lines.

10 Dec 2020

What safety measures have food suppliers implemented in response to COVID-19?

Researchers surveyed small to large food companies in 16 countries on food safety attributes and emergency plans. They found that less than half the food companies had documented putting emergency plans in place for pandemics and public health crises.

9 Dec 2020

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

Transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in children: an Indian case study

Researchers have studied the primary contacts of COVID-19 positive children in India in May 2020 and found all children to be asymptomatic, and only four of the parents became positive. Although this suggests lower transmission from children, no recommendations can be made yet on school reopening.

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

Nurses and direct care workers may contribute to COVID-19 spread

Nurses and other long-term care workers in nursing homes who hold multiple jobs, may be one of the factors contributing to the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities, according to a new study published in Medical Care Research and Review.

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

International scientific team reports 'super-spreader' potential of Andes virus

"Super-spreader" events and extensive person-to-person contact propelled an outbreak of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in a small village in Argentina from 2018-2019, according to research published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

3 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

Study: Integrating palliative care earlier in care trajectory benefits COVID-19 patients

Critical care nurses are ideally positioned to drive full integration of palliative care into the care of all patients who are seriously ill, including patients with COVID-19, according to an article published in the December issue of Critical Care Nurse (CCN).

2 Dec 2020

Researchers reveal how SARS-CoV-2 reaches the brain

Using post-mortem tissue samples, a team of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have studied the mechanisms by which the novel coronavirus can reach the brains of patients with COVID-19, and how the immune system responds to the virus once it does.

30 Nov 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

Thousands of doctors’ offices buckle under financial stress of COVID

Cormay Caine misses a full day of work and drives more than 130 miles round trip to take five of her children to their pediatrician. The Sartell, Minnesota, clinic where their doctor used to work closed in August.

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

School closures caused by COVID-19 may reduce life expectancy in U.S. children

A team that includes UCLA Fielding School of Public Health researchers has found American children whose educations have been disrupted by the pandemic, even as little as 2-4 months, may face shortened life spans.

25 Nov 2020

For nurses feeling the strain of the pandemic, virus resurgence is ‘paralyzing’

For Christina Nester, the pandemic lull in Massachusetts lasted about three months through summer into early fall. In late June, St. Vincent Hospital had resumed elective surgeries, and the unit the 48-year-old nurse works on switched back from taking care of only COVID-19 patients to its pre-pandemic roster of patients recovering from gallbladder operations, mastectomies and other surgeries.

24 Nov 2020