Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine find that the initial COVID-19 shutdown from March through April 2020 resulted in a decrease in surgical volume to nearly half of baseline rates. After the reopening, surgical volume rebounded to 2019 levels, and the trend was maintained.…

Read More

Editor's Note New York will require 32 upstate hospitals with limited capacity to halt elective surgical procedures as COVID-19 cases increase in the state, the December 7 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The state defined limited capacity as less than 10% staffed bed capacity, or as determined by the health department…

Read More

Editor's Note This study by researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago finds that about 3 in 20 healthcare workers (HCWs) surveyed reported being hesitant about getting COVID-19 vaccinations. The study also finds that HCW vaccine decisions were influenced by their colleagues. The survey included 1,974 respondents from three Chicago…

Read More

Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up slightly in November to a seasonally adjusted 16,041,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on December 6. That’s up 2,100 since October. Hospital employment, however, was down by 3,900 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for November was 4.2%, for…

Read More

Editor's Note This survey study by the RAND Corporation finds that participants were willing to use telehealth for visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred telehealth were more sensitive to out-of-pocket costs. Of 2,080 survey participants, 66.5% preferred at least some telehealth visits in the future, but 53%…

Read More

Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported on December 3 that Medicare telehealth flexibilities led to a 63-fold (ie, from approximately 840,000 to 52.7 million) increase in use from 2019 to 2020. The report also notes that telehealth services were accessed more in urban than…

Read More

Editor's Note This study by researchers at Stony Brook University in New York finds that low wind speeds and warm stale air are associated with a higher incidence of contracting COVID-19 virus when people socialize outside. Overall, the analysis showed that days with temperatures ranging from 61º to 82º F…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on December 1, issued a statement that the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health have confirmed that a recent case of COVID-19 in an individual in California was caused by the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529). The individual, who has mild…

Read More

Editor's Note A new nationwide survey of nurses by Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Boca Raton, conducted in partnership with Cross Country Healthcare, Inc, finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced long-lasting negative perceptions of their future careers. Of 570 respondents: 37% said they were burned…

Read More

Editor's Note The findings of this study by Israeli and Yale University researchers suggest that the waning of vaccine-induced protection against COVID-19 is counteracted in the short-term by a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In this case-controlled analysis of 306,710 Israeli adults 40 years and older, there was a…

Read More