Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that wastewater surveillance programs in four states were the first to detect evidence of Omicron in community wastewater. California: Omicron was detected in samples collected November 25 and 30, 2021, in two Northern communities.…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on February 4 announced that it is adding wastewater surveillance to its COVID-19 dashboard data tracking system. The CDC will track the spread of COVID-19 variants based on measurements at more than 500 wastewater monitoring sites across the US. This…

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Editor's Note A new Cosmos study by Epic Research finds that cases of “hospital-developed COVID-19”—or patients who were admitted to the hospital free of infection but acquired COVID-19 during their hospital stay—are low, the American Hospital Association reported February 7. According to the study, only about 1.8% of patients admitted…

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Editor's Note This study led by Marty Makary, MD, MPH, and Dorry Segev, MD, PhD, at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, finds natural immunity in unvaccinated healthy US adults up to 20 months after testing positive for COVID-19. Of 1,580 study participants, antibodies were detected in: 99% of…

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Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in January to a seasonally adjusted 16,112,100 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on February 4. That’s up 18,000 since December. Hospital employment was up by 3,400 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for January was 4.0%, for a total…

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Editor's Note This analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the incidence of COVID-19 and hospitalization of COVID-19 patients by vaccination status indicates that vaccination protects against severe COVID-19. Among 422,966 COVID-19 patients in Los Angeles County from November 7, 2021, to January 8, 2022, 141,928…

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Editor's Note This multicenter study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that COVID-19 patients have a significantly high risk for postoperative complications, particularly elderly males. Of 1,581 patients analyzed, more than half were males over 50 years of age, and most procedures (1,261,…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on January 26 announced that 764 hospitals will face payment cuts in FY 2022 under its Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program, the January 31 Advisory Board reports. Hawaii and Idaho were the only states whose hospitals did not receive penalties.…

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Editor's Note Workplace violence against healthcare workers (HCWs) is a sensitive, important issue that has been more prevalent in recent years given the high-stakes of the COVID-19 pandemic. HCWs have been making headlines for fighting against both the pandemic and the rising tensions from a strung out populate and overwhelmed…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that racial and ethnic minorities have been more hesitant or unwilling to be vaccinated for COVID-19, compared to Whites. Of study participants in the US (87,388) and UK (1,254,294): Vaccine hesitancy was greater…

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