World Health Organization urges for 40% in increased production on protective gear The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged manufacturers to urgently increase the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) worldwide. The scarcity of gloves, medical masks, respirators, goggles and face shields are leaving frontline clinicians poorly equipped to encounter COVID-19 … [Read more...]

HSCA statement on Senate HELP committee hearing on the coronavirus HSCA President and CEO Khatereh Calleja released the following statement in conjunction with “An Emerging Disease Threat: How the U.S. is Responding to COVID-19, the Novel Coronavirus,” a hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP): “HSCA and its member … [Read more...]

Hospital industry wants Congress to quickly pass emergency funding The hospital industry warned policymakers in Washington, D.C., this week that Congress needs to quickly pass emergency funding for the coronavirus crisis and direct some of the funding to plug anticipated gaps in hospital operating budgets. In the event of widespread sickness, costs would soar for isolation … [Read more...]

WHO raises risk assessment of coronavirus to “very high” at global level WHO officials are increasing the risk assessment of the coronavirus, which has spread to least 49 countries, to “very high” worldwide. “We have increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, … [Read more...]

Most U.S. hospitals will experience month-long disruption in N95 masks Most U.S. hospitals are experiencing delays of three to five days on orders of N95 respirators, according to Chaun Powell, group vice president for strategic supplier engagement with Premier Inc., in a webinar. U.S. health systems typically purchase more than 2 million N95 respirators per month, and the … [Read more...]

Americans should prepare for coronavirus spread in U.S., CDC warns Top U.S. public health officials with the CDC said that Americans should prepare for the spread of coronavirus across the country. “It’s not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe … [Read more...]

Moderna first to start drug trial against COVID-19 Moderna (Cambridge, MA), a biotechnology company focused on discovery and developed based on messenger RNA, is the first biopharma to launch a drug trial on humans for an investigational drug against COVID-19. Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, mRNA-1273, has been shipped to the National Institute of Allergy and … [Read more...]

Global outbreak causes pandemic fears as cases jump outside of China Fears of a global pandemic grew over the weekend as cases jumped in countries outside of China. Fifty people have died in the Iranian city of Qom from the coronavirus this month, according to Iran’s ILNA news agency. Iran had originally reported its death toll at 12. The 50 deaths date back to Feb. 13. Also, … [Read more...]

Infected Americans from quarantined Japanese cruise ship were flown to U.S. against CDC advice On Monday, 328 Americans were flown back to the U.S. wearing surgical masks and gloves after weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. However, test results showed that 14 of them were infected with the novel coronavirus and the U.S. State Department had … [Read more...]