Editor's Note Critically ill COVID-19 patients who received a single IV dose of tocilizumab, a drug that calms an overreacting immune system, were 45% less likely to die and more likely to leave the hospital or be off ventilator within a month, finds this new study from the University of…

Read More

Editor's Note This July 10 report from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) provides detailed demographic and clinical information on a subset of 10,647 people who died with COVID-19 (ie, decedents) in 16 US public health jurisdictions between February 12 and May 18. The researchers found that: 60.6%…

Read More

Editor's Note Current research shows that unhealthy lifestyle choices, including smoking and lack of exercise, along with emotional stressors like social isolation and interpersonal conflicts are important risk factors for developing upper respiratory infections, and it is possible these same factors increase the risk of contracting COVID-19, researchers from Carnegie…

Read More

Editor's Note Cleveland Clinic researchers have found a significant increase in patients with stress cardiomyopathy during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the study, cardiologists examined 1,914 patients coming to the Cleveland Clinic with heart symptoms between March 1 and April 30 and compared them with patients in four time periods before…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 8 announced that because of extended data submission timelines and optional reporting for fourth quarter 2019 data due to COVID-19, the planned July 2020 display of two ORYX Perinatal Care measures on Quality Check has been placed on hold. The measures are: PC-02…

Read More

Editor's Note In this Letter to the Editor, epidemiologist and researcher Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and colleagues caution that because of high bronchoscope contamination rates found during routine use in previous studies, the possibility of bronchoscopy-associated transmission of COVID-19 or other pathogens must be considered. Though high-level disinfection should eliminate…

Read More

Editor's Note A new COVID-19 test that uses blood, saliva, and urine samples and can deliver results within 30 to 45 minutes without expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers at Beaumont Research Institute, Royal Oak, Michigan. The test can be used at the point of risk, such as…

Read More

Editor's Note This investigation, by researchers at the University of California-Davis Medical Center, of the pattern of transmission of COVID-19 during two nosocomial outbreaks finds that close contact between patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) not airborne transmission was the cause of the outbreak. Two separate patients were admitted in February…

Read More

Editor's Note In a nationwide survey that assessed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional wellbeing of adults, 90% of respondents reported experiencing emotional distress. The survey of 1,500 adults found that: 80% were frustrated with not being able to do what they normally enjoy doing 80% were…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Henry Ford Health System in Michigan found that hydroxychloroquine alone decreased the mortality hazard ratio of COVID-19 by 66%, and hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin decreased the ratio by 71%, compared to neither treatment. The vast majority of the 2,541 COVID-19 patients included in the…

Read More