Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 10 announced that it will no longer require international travelers to have a negative COVID-19 test before flying to the US, effective June 12. The CDC continues to recommend that travelers flying to the US get tested as…
Editor's Note This simulation study, led by researchers at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, finds that reuse of N95 masks can result in contamination of those wearing the masks and the environment, even when correct technique is used. A total of 12 healthcare workers (HCWs) performed 3…
Editor's Note This study from Spring Health, New York City, and Yale University, New Haven Connecticut, finds that an employer-sponsored mental health benefit was associated with reduced symptoms for employees and positive financial return on investment (ROI) for employers. This cohort study included 1,132 employees participating in a workplace mental…
Editor's Note US Representatives Madeleine Dean (D-Pa) and Larry Bucshon, MD, (R-Ind) on June 7 introduced a Bill to protect healthcare workers (HCWs) from violence that is modeled after protections for airline workers, the June 8 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act would criminalize…
Editor's Note This Israeli study finds that individuals previously infected with COVID-19, regardless of whether they had been vaccinated, had more protection against reinfection than those who were vaccinated (Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine) but previously uninfected. Among the findings for the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 person days since vaccination or…
Editor's Note In a JAMA Internal Medicine study involving more than 7,000 COVID-19 patients, titled “Racial and Ethnic Discrepancy in Pulse Oximetry and Delayed Identification of Treatment Eligibility Among Patients With COVID-19” and published in May 2022, researchers found that pulse oximetry, which measures blood oxygen saturation levels and is…
Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at IQVIA, Durham, North Carolina, finds that in a young, healthy, highly vaccinated cohort of players and staff in the National Basketball Association (NBA), booster vaccinations were associated with a significant reduction in COVID-19 infections during the Omicron wave. Of 2,613 players and…
Editor's Note This study from the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, finds that the prevalence of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening decreased during COVID-19. A total of 479,248 patients were included in the analysis for breast cancer screening, 301,453 for cervical cancer screening, and 854,210 for colorectal cancer screening. Between…
Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in May to a seasonally adjusted 16,267,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on June 3. That’s up 28,300 since April. Hospital employment also was up by 16,300 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for May was 3.6%, for a…
Editor's Note This study from the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York City, finds that halting in-person office visits and physical therapy (PT) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) because of COVID-19 did not affect complication rates or outcomes. A total of 624 study patients who had a TKA between January…