Editor's Note The fatality rate in the US for those infected with SARS-CoV-2 who show symptoms is 1.3%, this study from the University of Washington finds. To build county-by-county models, the researchers used publicly reported national COVID-19 data for 116 counties in 33 states. A rate variable was constructed by…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 20 posted two new resources to help states reopen. The first is a 60-page document that includes information on general and healthcare surveillance and continuing guidance on infection control, contact tracing, and testing. It also includes a standardized…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston demonstrated that six candidate DNA vaccines induced neutralizing antibody responses and protected against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus monkeys. For the study, researchers immunized 25 adult rhesus monkeys with the investigational vaccines, and 10 animals received a sham…

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Editor's Note An international study will include more than 30,000 front-line healthcare workers to assess whether chloroquine can prevent COVID-19 or decrease its severity. Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis is the clinical coordinating center for the study. Healthcare workers will be divided randomly into four groups. Three…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Bronx, NY, describes a high rate of severe COVID-19 disease in patients aged 1 month to 21 years requiring pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions. Of 46 patients admitted to the hospital (33 to the general pediatric unit, 13…

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Editor's Note: The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), American Hospital Association (AHA), and Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) on May 19 released a “Re-entry Guidance for Health Care Facilities and Medical Device Representatives.” The guidance, which builds on the April 17 joint statement by AORN, AHA, American College of…

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Editor's Note More than 28 million elective surgical procedures worldwide will be cancelled or postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study estimates. Researchers from the University of Birmingham, UK, collected data from surgeons in 359 hospitals and 71 countries. The data was then statistically modeled to estimate…

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Editor's Note The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on May 14 announced that it is enrolling adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 in a study of treatment with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. The Phase 2b trial is enrolling around 2,000 adults across the US. Participants must have confirmed infection with SARS-CoV-2…

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Editor's Note As states begin to ease restrictions imposed by COVID-19, physicians, nurse leaders, and administrators face a momentous challenge in resuming elective surgical procedures. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center developed a model that made best use of available data (eg, case logs, forecasts, etc). Adoption of an agile methodology—a…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on May 12 posted updated point-of-care (POC) testing biosafety guidelines for COVID-19. The update includes guidance for: use of instruments in a location associated with a current Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certificate site- and activity-specific risk assessment proper staff training adherence…

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