Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) News

Below are links to AHA Today stories on novel coronavirus (COVID-19). For all coronavirus resources and news updates, visit our COVID-19 page.

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The AHA urged the Health Resources and Services Administration to quickly distribute the $17 billion in Phase 4 provider relief funds and $8.5 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds for rural providers, as well as reverse a new requirement that capital projects be fully completed before the deadline for using the funds.
by Rick Pollack
The optimism of early summer that we were turning the corner on COVID-19 has been replaced with hard reality. The pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future, affecting not only our nation’s health, but also hospitals’ and health systems’ ability to improve it. 
The AHA today released the latest edition of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during
U.S. hospitals will lose an estimated $54 billion in net income this year, even after federal relief funds, as higher labor and other expenses and sicker patients impact their financial health during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by Kaufman, Hall & Associates released by the AHA.
by Rod Hochman, M.D.
News coverage continues to show that many hospitals have been stretched beyond capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each wave has brought incredible pressure on our health care workforce, and the physical and emotional exhaustion is leading to ever greater staff shortages at hospitals. 
by Rick Pollack
For nearly 20 grueling months, hospitals and health systems – and their steadfast front-line caregivers – have risen to the incredible challenges caused by COVID-19. 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the comparative effectiveness of the three Food and Drug Administration-authorized COVID-19 vaccines, with Moderna’s vaccine deemed most effective at preventing hospitalizations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will invest $2.1 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to help public health and other partners fight COVID-19 and other emerging infections in health care facilities, the Biden Administration announced.
The AHA has received a $1 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue for one year its efforts to encourage COVID-19 vaccine confidence in the hospital field, clinicians and the public.
A pair of peer-reviewed studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine are affirming the safety and effectiveness of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, first at six months following a completed, two-dose regimen, and then with boosters.
The Food and Drug Administration released updated enforcement policy related to face masks, barrier face coverings, face shields, surgical masks and respirators for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The AHA released a new issue of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during the ongoing public health emergency.
The AHA Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. ET is hosting a webinar with HCA Healthcare leaders Edmund Jackson, M.D., and Jeffrey Guy, M.D., who will share oxygen conservation strategies as COVID-19 cases surge nationwide, leading to limitation in supplies.
The National Institutes of Health awarded about $470 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to New York University Langone Health for a project to study the long-term effects of COVID-19.
State and territorial health departments have resumed distributing monoclonal antibodies to clinical sites, the Department of Health and Human Services announced.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance for health care personnel on preventing and controlling infections during the COVID-19 pandemic; managing health care personnel with SARS-CoV-2 infection or exposure; and preventing SARS-CoV-2 spread in nursing homes.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will distribute $25.5 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to health care providers.
The Department of Health and Human Services took action to provide a pathway for all states and territories to increase access to critical COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapeutics.
The Biden Administration announced an additional $452 million in federal funding through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to support 13 states’ efforts to improve access to health insurance through 1332 waivers.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services collected complete COVID-19 data from the vast majority of nursing homes in 2020, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.