Editor's Note Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health told the Kaiser Health News on September 1 that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if clinical trial results are overwhelmingly positive. An independent Data and…

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Editor's Note The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, on September 1, released draft guidelines to help policymakers plan for equitable allocation of a COVID-19 vaccine. The committee that drafted the guidelines was formed at the request of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from Iceland finds that antibodies against COVID-19 remained stable 4 months after diagnosis. The researchers measured antibodies in serum samples from 30,576 people in Iceland, using six assays (including two pan-immunoglobulin (pan-Ig) assays). They then tested 2,102 samples collected from 1,237 people up to…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 13 academic medical centers in 12 states found that 6% of healthcare workers had antibody evidence of COVID-19 infection, but 29% of them were asymptomatic and 69% had not received a diagnosis of COVID-19.…

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Editor's Note This study, led by economists from Washington University in St Louis, finds that the ideal COVID-19 vaccine policy should emphasize age more than work-exposure risk for vaccination priority. To provide a best-practice scenario to supplement a vaccine distribution strategy, the researchers tracked eight age groups in more than…

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Editor's Note In an interview with the Financial Times, Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD, on August 30, said the FDA could fast-track approval of a COVID-19 vaccine before late-stage clinical trials are complete if regulators believe the benefits of doing so outweigh the risks. Dr Hahn…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of California, San Diego; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; and Institute for Disease Modeling, Bellevue, Washington, finds that acute anxiety spiked early during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since returned to typical levels. Researches examined internet searchers indicative of acute anxiety that originated from…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) on August 24 changed its recommendations on testing asymptomatic people for COVID-19. The CDC is no longer recommending asymptomatic testing. The new guidance includes the following: For those who have been in close contact (within 6 feet) of a person…

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Editor's Note The University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center (UH) announced August 24 that it will participate as a study site for the Phase 2/3 global trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech investigational COVID-19 vaccine. UH is one of approximately 120 clinical investigational sites around the world that will collectively enroll up to…

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on OR managers’ lives, according to the 2020 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Many new developments related to the pandemic have occurred and continue to evolve since the spring and early summer, when the survey was deployed. However, the concerns stated by many…

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