Pfizer, BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine more than 90% effective, EUA application could come next week
Editor's Note Pfizer and BioNTech announced November 9 that their COVID-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective 7 days after the second dose in preventing COVID-19 infection in participants without evidence of prior infection. This means that protection is achieved 28 days after initiation of the vaccination, which consists of…
Final report on Remdesivir study for treatment of COVID-19
Editor's Note The November 5 final report on data from this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study of intravenous remdesivir in adults hospitalized with COVID-19 and lower respiratory tract infection shows that remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery. A total of 1,062 patients were randomized to remdesivir…
CMS: How to prepare for COVID-19 vaccine
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 5 released a set of toolkits and enrollment actions to take to administer the COVID-19 vaccine when it’s available. Many Medicare-enrolled providers don’t have to take any actions until the vaccine is available. Some Medicare-enrolled providers must also…
CDC: Birth, infant outcomes after COVID-19 in pregnancy
Editor's Note In this analysis of COVID-19 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proportion of preterm live births in women with COVID-19 infection during pregnancy was higher than that in the general population in 2019, suggesting that pregnant women with COVID-19 infection might be at risk…
FDA alerts providers on how to prevent false positive results with COVID-19 antigen tests
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 3 issued a letter alerting clinical laboratory staff and healthcare providers that false positive results can occur with antigen tests, including when users do not follow instructions for use of antigen tests for the rapid detection of COVID-19. Among the…
Hospital floors are hotspots for healthcare-associated pathogens
Editor's Note Healthcare-associated pathogens rapidly accumulate on the floors of patient rooms and can be transferred to patients’ socks, bedding, and high-touch surfaces, finds this study published November 2 as part of the proceedings from Decennial 2020: The Sixth International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections. Researchers from the Northeast Ohio VA…
J&J to test COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents
Editor's Note Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has announced plans to test their COVID-19 vaccine in young individuals between the ages of 12 and 18, the October 30 Reuters reports. J&J started testing its vaccine in 60,000 volunteer adults in late September. Depending on safety, J&J also plans to test the…
CMS penalizes 2,545 hospitals for high readmissions
Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will penalize and reduce a year’s worth of payments to nearly half of the nation’s hospitals because of 30-day readmission rates, the November 2 Kaiser Health News reports. The penalties are part of the ninth year of the Hospital Readmissions…
Effect of elective surgery cancellation on ICU capacity in New York State
Editor's Note Suspension of elective surgical procedures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York State had only a minor effect on ICU capacity, this study finds. State authorities suspended all elective surgical procedures in mid-March 2020 to increase hospital and ICU bed capacity. However, the effect of canceling…
Eight hospitals postponing elective surgery in response to COVID-19 resurgence
Editor's Note Hospitals nationwide are beginning once again to suspend elective surgical procedures in response to an increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the October 30 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The following eight hospitals are postponing or canceling surgical procedures to free up bed capacity, ensure staffing, or to make sure…
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