Study: Decreases in cancer diagnoses during COVID-19
Editor's Note This Canadian study finds that many cancers went undetected because of disruptions in the healthcare system in response to COVID-19. The week-to-week rate of diagnoses was steady before COVID-19, but fell 34.2% in March 2020, with only a slow recovery of 1% per week during the study period.…
Patients, visitors are being asked to forego N95s for surgical masks
Editor's Note According to a March 16 Politico article, titled “Some hospitals ask patients, visitors to remove N95s, citing CDC,” some US hospitals are asking patients and visitors to swap their N95 masks with surgical masks or wear a surgical mask over the N95, Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The staff…
Disparities in COVID-19 outcomes among older adults
Editor's Note In this study led by researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, increased age was found to be the greatest independent risk factor for COVID-19 associated mortality. Of 7,556 patients included in the analysis, 1,556 died, 949 were admitted to ICU, and 227…
System to allocate scarce resources during COVID-19 associated with racial inequities
Editor's Note This retrospective cohort analysis led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that a crisis standards of care (CSOC) scoring system designed to allocate scarce resources during the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with racial inequities. A total of 498 adult patients…
FDA: Class I recall of SD Biosensor Standard Q COVID-19 Ag Home Test
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 16, designated the recall of SD Biosensor’s Standard Q COVID-19 Ag Home Test as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the test, which uses a nasal swab sample to detect COVID-19 antigens, is not authorized, cleared,…
VA recommends shutting hundreds of clinics, hospitals and building new facilities
Editor's Note On March 14, the Biden administration released a recommendation via the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to restructure the VA healthcare system, including closing over 150 clinics and hospitals and constructing several new facilities, Becker’s March 15 reports. Citing information from the March 15 Washington Post article…
Poll: Physicians spreading misinformation about COVID-19 should be disciplined
Editor's Note In this poll of 2,200 adults in the US, conducted in December 2021 by philanthropy de Beaumont Foundation, 78% of respondents said physicians who intentionally spread misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines should be disciplined, JAMA Network February 16 reported. According to JAMA, most professional medical societies and specialty…
Pfizer seeks emergency authorization of second booster for older adults
Editor's Note On March 15, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted an emergency use authorization request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a second booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine for adults aged 65 and older who have already received a booster of an approved COVID-10 vaccine. The two companies…
Study: People with immunity to original COVID-19 likely to have protection against Omicron
Editor's Note There is a growing concern that ongoing evolution of COVID-19 could lead to variants that are capable of avoiding some or all of the immune response generated by prior infection or vaccination. To this end, Johns Hopkins researchers examined whether mutations in the Omicron variant gave it the…
CDC: Omicron subvariant BA.2 makes up 23.1% of US COVID-19 cases
Editor's Note As of March 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that the Omicron BA.2 subvariant was responsible for 23.1% of all COVID-19 cases in the US, the March 15 Reuters reports. The subvariant is behind about 39% of cases in the Northeast, New York, and…