Editor's Note On August 26, Nebraska Gov Pete Ricketts announced multiple initiatives to increase bed capacity and boost hospital staffing in his state amid the latest wave of COVID-19, including a health measure to limit elective surgical procedures. He directed hospitals to cancel elective inpatient surgical procedures “that can wait…

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Editor's Note This study of healthcare workers (HCWs) at the University of Kentucky Healthcare in Lexington finds a low and similar antibody positivity rate between HCWs and patients. Of 322 HCWs, 5 were antibody positive for an overall rate of 1.55%. The antibody positivity rate of COVID-19 infected patients at…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, finds that household crowding amplifies the spread of COVID-19, potentially contributing to the disproportionate impact on communities of color. Researchers followed 100 COVID-19-positive patients and 208 additional household members from April to October,…

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Editor's Note This survey of young people aged 14-24 years by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, finds that most are interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. Of 1,074 respondents: 74.6% are interested in getting vaccinated to protect themselves and return to normal 41.8% are concerned about adverse…

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Editor's Note In this study, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researches find that COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in frontline workers diminished with the rise of the Delta variant. Effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines declined to 66% after the Delta variant became dominant, compared with 91% before its spread. The…

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Editor's Note Up to one quarter of US adults are willing to forgo potentially life-saving care in an emergency department (ED) to avoid exposure to COVID-19, a survey by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles,  finds. Of 933 adults surveyed nationwide: 158 (16.9%) said they would not seek ED care for…

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Editor's Note On August 23, the American Nurses Association (ANA), American Medical Association (AMA), and American Hospital Association (AHA) released a joint statement commending the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The approval marks an important moment for those concerned about getting vaccinated because…

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Editor's Note A new experimental study by engineering researchers in the Fluid Mechanics Research Laboratory at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, finds that most cloth and disposable masks (3-ply cotton and 3-ply blue pseudo-surgical masks) filter only 10% of exhaled aerosol droplets because of fit. The remaining aerosols are…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on August 23 announced that it had approved the first COVID-19 vaccine, known as Pfizer-BioNTech. The vaccine will now be marketed as Comirnaty, for the prevention of COVID-19 in those 16 years of age and older. The vaccine will continue to be available…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that from May 3 to July 25, 2021, there were 1,271 new COVID-19 hospitalizations among fully vaccinated adults in New York, compared with 7,308 among unvaccinated adults. Hospitalization rates declined through the week of…

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