Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, finds that healthcare facilities in counties with higher Black composition and rural areas with large Hispanic populations were less likely to serve as COVID-19 vaccine administration locations during the initial rollout in May 2021. At that…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 1 identified the recall by North American Diagnostics of its Oral Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Rapid Antigen Test Kits as Class I, the most serious. These tests are being recalled because they were distributed in the US without authorization, clearance, or approval…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, finds that factors linked to support for harassing and threatening of public health officials during COVID-19 included political and sociodemographic explanations, but antagonism also increased among those supportive of science and better equipped to…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers in the UK finds that face shields do not give high levels of protection against external droplet contamination. The researchers compared 13 styles of face shields in controlled laboratory settings, using a “coughing machine” that ejected fluorescent drops onto manikin heads. Among the…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, calculate the chances of catching COVID-19 on a US plane flight. The study estimates that from June 2020 through February 2021, the probability of getting COVID-19 on a totally full flight lasting 2 hours was more than…

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Editor's Note The Biden administration will begin a COVID-19 booster campaign for revamped vaccines in September, the New York Times July 28 reports. This new booster is predicted to provide more extensive protection against the Omicron subvariants. Federal officials made the decision that individuals over 50 and those over 12…

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Editor's Note This cohort study of nursing homes in 38 states, led by the University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, finds that states with a COVID-19 mandate had an increase in staff vaccinations compared with states with no mandates and no worsening of staffing shortages following the mandates.…

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Editor's Note This Canadian study finds that hospitals impacted by COVID-19 can reduce their surgical backlogs by scheduling elective surgeries on the weekends. Using machine learning algorithms, the researchers demonstrated that even after resuming their usual level of surgical cases, the wait list would not decrease without a substantial increase…

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Editor’s Note US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra has advanced the existing Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) from a staff division to an operating division, using the new name of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). ASPR is…

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Cancer treatment delays in COVID-19 patients This large prospective cohort study from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, found that multiple patient factors, underlying primary malignant neoplasm, multimorbidity, geographic location, receipt of vaccine, and COVID-19 severity and diagnosis date were linked to delays in cancer treatment during…

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