CDC recommends healthcare workers, nursing homes receive COVID-19 vaccines first
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, on December 1, recommended prioritizing healthcare workers and residents and workers in long-term-care facilities to be the first recipients of the upcoming COVID-19 vaccines. If CDC director Robert Redfield, MD, approves the recommendations, and the…
CMS releases final PFS for 2021, surgeons say rule jeopardizes care
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on December 1 released its 2021 final rule for the Medicare physician fee schedule (PFS), which expands telehealth services and increases payments for primary care and chronic disease management. The rule also reduces payments for surgeons, emergency physicians, and other…
Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine receives UK approval, immunizations start next week
Editor's Note Pfizer/BioNTech received emergency approval from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on December 2 for its COVID-19 vaccine, making the UK the first country to approve the vaccine, the December 2 BBC News reports. The UK has ordered 40 million doses, and MHRA says the…
Effect of cancelling elective surgery on ICU bed, ventilator capacity
Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York City, finds that patients having elective surgery make up a small fraction of ICU bed and mechanical ventilation use in New York State. The researchers reviewed 5 years of New York State data…
First COVID-19 vaccinations expected latter part of December
Editor's Note On November 30, Moderna applied for an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s vaccine was developed in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where Anthony Fauci, MD, is the director. Moderna is…
66 hospitals suspending elective surgical procedures
Editor's Note In response to an increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, 66 hospitals have postponed or cancelled elective surgical procedures in an effort to free up space and ensure enough staff and PPE are available, the November 24 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. All of the hospitals are in the Midwest…
ACS, ASA, AORN call for centralized, coordinated governmental action for COVID-19
Editor's Note In a November 23 letter to federal government leaders, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), and Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) asked officials “to act collectively and quickly in support of hospitals and healthcare providers as they continue to struggle in response…
Danish study: Effectiveness of masks in preventing COVID-19
Editor's Note This Danish unblinded, randomized, controlled trial finds that wearing masks to supplement other public health measures did not reduce the COVID-19 infection rate among wearers. Researchers randomized 3,030 participants to wear three-layer, disposable surgical masks with ear loops that were made in China, and 2,994 were assigned to…
FDA authorizes first home test for COVID-19
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 17 issued an emergency use authorization for the first rapid COVID-19 self-test that a person can administer at home. The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit has to be prescribed by a healthcare provider, and the healthcare provider has to report…
Marine study shows COVID-19 transmission despite public health measures, strict quarantine
Editor's Note This study of 1,848 US Marine Corps recruits finds that despite social distancing, wearing masks, regular handwashing, and other public health measures including strict quarantine, recruits contracted COVID-19 and spread it to others, even though hardly any of them had symptoms. Study participants were told to isolate themselves…