Intermountain Healthcare, the University of Utah Health, MountainStar Healthcare and Steward Health joined to call for a statewide mask mandate to help stem the surge on the state’s hospital systems. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declined to implement a mask mandate but said K-12 students will be required to wear masks when school begins in August. The hospital officials said they are … [Read more...]
Georgia reopens temporary hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center
Georgia unveiled plans to reopen a temporary medical facility at the Georgia World Congress Center (Atlanta, GA). The temporary hospital opened in April and closed in May. The state also plans to strike a deal with a hospital system to add close to 100 intensive care and surgical units to the state’s medical infrastructure. The governor’s office said the measures were partly … [Read more...]
HCA West Florida Division to restrict elective surgeries, effective July 11
HCA West Florida Division hospitals will delay certain inpatient surgeries and procedures in Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties due to a surge of COVID-19 patients. The change does not affect hospital-based outpatient surgeries or procedures, nor those performed at HCA Healthcare Ambulatory Surgery Centers. The postponement of these … [Read more...]
Miami-Dade’s largest hospitals ‘getting full’
Across Miami-Dade County, hospitals reported 1,748 coronavirus patients in beds, including 363 in ICUs and 190 on ventilators. All of those numbers nearly doubled from two weeks ago. The pace of new patient admissions at Baptist Health South Florida, which has six hospitals in Miami-Dade County, two in Monroe County and three in Palm Beach County, is testing the healthcare … [Read more...]
Siemens antibody test for COVID-19 outperforms others
Siemens Healthineers has developed an antibody test that outperformed others in an evaluation by Public Health England (PHE). PHE and the University of Oxford collected and analyzed 536 samples taken from adults with laboratory-confirmed infections more than 20 days after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. They also tested 994 research specimens taken between 2015 and 2018. … [Read more...]
Kroger Health develops COVID-19 test home collection kit
Kroger Health has developed a COVID-19 test home collection kit for safe detection of the COVID-19 virus infection in patients. It allows individuals to collect nasal swab samples at home with the guidance of a healthcare provider through telehealth consulting. It was been authorized by the FDA under EUA this month. Kroger Health collaborated with Gravity Diagnostics … [Read more...]
Premier: Why almost every U.S. hospital is building safety stock of critical pandemic medications
According to a new survey of Premier members, 88% of hospitals and health systems are building "safety stocks" of critical medications to prepare for a caseload surge of COVID-19 throughout the summer and fall. Key Findings of the survey include: 51% of respondents reported building safety stocks of at least one monthAnother 25% said they were planning to stock at least … [Read more...]
U.S. coronavirus cases rise by over 60,000, setting single-day record
The U.S. reported more than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, July 08, the biggest increase ever reported by a country in a single day, according to Reuters. In addition to nearly 10,000 new cases in Florida, Texas reported over 9,500 cases and California reported more than 8,500 new infections. California and Texas also each reported a record one-day increase … [Read more...]
Your face mask cuts your risk by 65%
A range of new research on face coverings shows that the risk of infection to the wearer of the face mask is decreased by 65%, said Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at UC Davis Children’s Hospital and William Ristenpart, professor of chemical engineering at UC Davis. “On the issue of masks, I’d like to restart — because we’ve learned a lot,” Blumberg … [Read more...]
Many hospitals choosing not to cancel nonemergency surgeries
Three months ago, hospitals prepped for a surge of COVID-19 patients by clearing beds, stockpiling scarce PPE and, voluntarily or under government orders, temporarily canceling nonemergency surgeries. But in many places, the surge in patients never materialized. And as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations tick up now, most hospitals across the U.S. are not canceling elective … [Read more...]