HealthDay -
December 4, 2020
[Researchers] examined COVID-19-related health worries and grief and current mental health symptoms among 1,123 U.S. women (pregnant and postpartum) during the COVID-19 pandemic (May 21 to Aug. 17, 2020). The researchers found that 36.4, 22.7, and 10.3 percent of respondents reported clinically significant levels of depression, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), respectively.
The Atlantic -
December 4, 2020
To visit Iowa right now is to travel back in time to the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in places such as New York City and Lombardy and Seattle, when the horror was fresh and the sirens never stopped. Sick people are filling up ICUs across the state. Health-care workers like Klein are being pushed to their physical and emotional limits. … The virus has been raging for eight months in this country; Iowa just hasn’t been acting like it. The story of the coronavirus in this state is one of government inaction in the name of freedom and personal responsibility … Iowa is what happens when a government does basically nothing to stop the spread of a deadly virus.
Good Morning America -
December 4, 2020
With two COVID-19 vaccines possibly being authorized by the FDA this month, the question remains when pregnant people will be able to access a vaccine. Pregnant people have not been actively included in the late-stage clinical trials for any COVID-19 vaccines, including the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in the United States. As a result, the CDC's independent advisory council said Tuesday that when the vaccines are authorized in the U.S., they will not be recommended for people who are pregnant.
NPR -
December 3, 2020
More than 100,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19, at the same time the nation recorded its single-worst daily death toll since the start of the pandemic. Data from the COVID Tracking Project show 100,226 people were hospitalized on Wednesday with the disease caused by the coronavirus — a figure that has been steadily rising for weeks. Meanwhile, 3,157 new deaths were recorded on Wednesday, surpassing the previous peak of 2,607 deaths on April 15, according to Johns Hopkins University.
NPR -
December 3, 2020
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are willing to lend their star power for a good cause, saying this week that they would publicly take a coronavirus vaccine, once it's available in the U.S., to encourage skeptical Americans to do the same. Obama said that if Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, thought the vaccine was safe and effective, then he would get his shot.
AP News -
December 3, 2020
U.S. hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are trying to lure nurses and doctors out of retirement, recruiting students and new graduates who have yet to earn their licenses and offering eye-popping salaries in a desperate bid to ease staffing shortages. With the virus surging from coast to coast, the number of patients in the hospital with the virus has more than doubled over the past month to a record high of nearly 100,000, pushing medical centers and health care workers to the breaking point.
ABC News -
December 3, 2020
As numerous states continue to see an uptick in coronavirus cases, some hospitals are being forced to hit pause on elective surgeries -- a measure that was last seen in the early spring as cases and hospitalizations climbed dramatically. "Hospital capacity is now the state's top concern," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday after announcing that elective surgeries will be suspended in Erie County due to rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. … In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice also announced Monday that elective surgeries will be reduced statewide to ensure there is enough hospital space for coronavirus patients.
NPR -
December 3, 2020
While Democrats remain more likely than Republicans to support new measures aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19, a majority of U.S. adults from both political parties now agree more steps are needed to fight the pandemic, according to the latest results from a large ongoing survey. … Lazer and his colleagues at Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern universities have been surveying about 20,000 U.S. adults nationwide about the pandemic, every month since April. In one of two new reports from the survey … They found social distancing and other efforts to try to prevent the virus from spreading "decreased dramatically" over the summer and into the fall, the report concludes.
HealthDay -
December 3, 2020
Researchers looked at records from more than 1,400 COVID patients who were discharged from New York hospitals into care from the Visiting Nurse Service of New York -- a large nonprofit home health agency. … Overall, 84% still had trouble breathing with any exertion, while 42% had daily or constant pain ... Most patients needed help with basics like bathing, dressing and moving around their home. But by the time patients were discharged from home care, most were showing substantial improvements in those symptoms. And only 10% ended up in the hospital again. Nearly all patients -- 94% -- were discharged, after an average of one month of home care. One percent of patients died, while others had to remain in home care for a longer term.
NPR -
December 3, 2020
Congress has not passed an economic relief package since late April — and a set of vital relief measures helping millions of Americans avoid financial ruin and eviction are all set to expire this month. A bipartisan group of senators has introduced a proposal for a compromise bill to break the logjam and provide nearly $1 trillion in relief funding. Republican Sen. Susan Collins said, "It is absolutely essential that we pass emergency relief."
Yahoo! Finance -
December 3, 2020
New weekly jobless claims fell more than expected last week even as states reimposed stay-in-place restrictions throughout November amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. … New claims have not yet broken below below 700,000 since the start of the pandemic, though they have come down significantly from the pandemic-era high of nearly 7 million. Before the pandemic, new jobless claims were averaging around 220,000 per week.
Reuters -
December 3, 2020
Private U.S. companies have the right under the law to require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but are unlikely to do so because of the risks of legal and cultural backlash, experts said. Companies are still in the early stages of navigating access and distribution of vaccines against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, but inoculation is considered the key to safely resume operations at crowded warehouses, factory lines and on sales floors.
CNN -
December 3, 2020
The Department of Defense released the first images of a Covid-19 vaccination record card and vaccination kits Wednesday. Vaccination cards will be used as the "simplest" way to keep track of Covid-19 shots, said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of the Immunization Action Coalition, which is supporting frontline workers who will administer Covid-19 vaccinations.
CNN -
December 2, 2020
The Director of the CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield, informed Vice President Mike Pence and White House Coronavirus Task Force members on Tuesday that the CDC will soon issue new guidelines reducing the number of days close contacts should quarantine following exposure to a Covid-19 positive individual, two senior administration officials told CNN. The new guidelines will recommend close contacts of those infected with the coronavirus should quarantine for 7 to 10 days after exposure, down from the 14 days currently recommended, the official said. Individuals can end their quarantine after 7 days if they receive a negative test, or 10 days without getting tested.
STAT -
December 2, 2020
The UK on Wednesday became the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, a decision that will likely put pressure on the FDA to move swiftly to do the same. The vaccine is also the first to run the gauntlet of clinical studies normally required for approval.
NPR -
December 2, 2020
A federal advisory committee to the CDC voted Tuesday to recommend who should get COVID-19 vaccines first once one is authorized for use. The 14 voting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, along with representatives from federal science agencies and the health care industry, voted during an emergency meeting online to recommend that the first COVID-19 vaccines should go to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living. The CDC estimates that most people in these high-priority groups could be fully vaccinated by early next year if the FDA authorizes a vaccine by mid-December, as is currently anticipated.