Editor's Note During the first 3 weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Seattle area, the most common reasons for ICU admission were hypoxemic respiratory failure leading to mechanical ventilation and/or hypotension requiring vasopressor treatment, and mortality was high in these critically ill patients, this study finds. In this analysis…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 31 issued a statement saying it supports letting healthcare staff bring their own standard face masks or respirators from home when their facilities cannot provide access to protective equipment that is equivalent to their exposure risk, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In taking this…

Read More

Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on April 2 issued a statement on shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks, gowns, and respirators, during the COVID pandemic. ACS says it believes it is essential that surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare personnel speak freely, without fear…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, in partnership with Wenzhou Central Hospital and Cangnan People’s Hospital in Wenzhou, China, developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework that accurately predicted which patients newly infected with…

Read More

Editor's Note Specialists like cardiac and orthopedic surgical teams as well as anesthesiologists and cardiologists are being redeployed in hospitals to help treat the rising number of COVID-19 patients, the March 30 Modern Healthcare reports. What used to be the heart team at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Morningside is now a…

Read More

Editor's Note In 22 patients in China with confirmed COVID-19 infection, sputum and feces remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 after pharyngeal samples were negative, this study finds. A total of 545 specimens were collected from the 22 COVID-19 patients, including 209 pharyngeal swabs, 262 sputum samples, and 74 feces samples. In…

Read More

Editor's Note California Gov Gavin Newsom is calling for retired physicians, nurses, and medical and nursing students to help staff emergency hospital sites, the March 30 Modern Healthcare reports. These sites could include the Los Angeles Coliseum and other sports arenas that will be converted to field hospitals to handle…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 24 took action to increase US supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by providing instructions to manufacturers importing personal protective equipment (PPE) and other devices. The instructions to manufacturers clarify the types of PPE and devices they can import…

Read More

Editor's Note Nasopharyngeal and throat swabs are typically used for viral load monitoring of respiratory infections, but they cause discomfort for patients and put healthcare workers at risk. This study found that posterior oropharyngeal saliva specimens, which are obtained by patients themselves, are an acceptable alternative for initial diagnosis and…

Read More

Editor's Note In the first half of February only three cases of COVID-19 were identified in Italy, and all had recently traveled to China. On February 20, a case of pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 was diagnosed in northern Italy’s Lombardy region. Within 14 days, many other cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in…

Read More