COVID-19 takes a toll on employeesโ mental health
Editor's Note The most recent Mental Health Index produced by Total Brain and the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions finds that employee mental health has plummeted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with workers reporting a 48% increased risk of depression in November and December, according to the…
Trends in ED visits for mental health, substance abuse, violence during COVID-19 pandemic
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures and social and economic impacts affected the rate of emergency department (ED) visits for patients with mental health, substance abuse, and violence issues. ย Total ED visits decreased after…
Pharmacies to get 1 M COVID-19 vaccine doses next week
Editor's Note On February 11, the federal government will begin distributing 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 6,500 retail pharmacy stores, and this could expand to some 40,000 stores, according to a February 2 statement from the White House. These doses are in addition to the 10.5 million that…
COVID-19 warnings were on Twitter in seven countries by end of 2019
Editor's Note This study by researchers at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Lucca, Italy) finds that unexpected levels of concerns about pneumonia had been raised for several weeks on Twitter before the first cases of COVID-19 infection were officially announced. The researchers also found that these โwhistleblowersโ came primarily…
Joint Commission issues Sentinel Event Alert on healthcare workers in crisis
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 2 issued the first in a series of special edition Sentinel Event Alerts that addresses concerns received from healthcare workers about the COVID-19 pandemic. โSentinal Event Alert 62: Health care workers in the midst of crisisโ provides examples to help healthcare organizations respond…
Early outpatient treatments effective against COVID-19, including hydroxychloroquine
Editor's Note Researchers from 17 healthcare organizations report that COVID-19 hospitalizations and death can be reduced with early outpatient treatments. The researchers designed an algorithm comprising treatments in order of disease severity: Immediately give zinc lozenges 5 times per day or zinc sulphate 220 mg every day for 5 days.…
CDC mandates face masks for public transportation, making refusal a violation of federal law
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on January 29, issued a federal Public Health Order requiring all individuals to wear masks on nearly all forms of public transportation, and made refusal to wear a mask a violation of federal law. The Order mandates the use of…
COVID-19 outcomes in hospitalized healthcare workers
Editor's Note In this study, US and Canadian researchers find that healthcare workers (HCWs) hospitalized with COVID-19 do not have poorer outcomes than non-HCWs, even though they are at higher risk of acquiring the disease. Included in the analysis were 1,790 patients (127 HCWs and 1,663 non-HCWs). After 3:1 propensity…
ECRI issues 2021 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards, managing EUA devices tops list
Editor's Note ECRI , on January 28, issued its Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2021. First on the list is the complexity of managing devices that have Food & Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ECRI experts caution that hospitals need to watch…
T cells can attack many coronavirus targets, even on new variants
Editor's Note This study by researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, California, finds that T cells fight SARS-CoV-2 by targeting a broad range of sites on the virus, beyond the key sites on the spike protein. By attacking the virus from many angles, the T cells can…