Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) News

COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black, Latino, Native Americans and other communities of color is well-documented and deeply troubling. It’s also the latest in a long history of health inequities and health disparities affecting racial minorities in our society. 

The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program provided states $398 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to distribute to 1,540 small rural hospitals for COVID-19 testing and mitigation.

Non-traditional producers used additive manufacturing — also known as 3D printing — to deliver an estimated 38 million face shield parts, 12 million nasal swabs, 2.5 million ear savers, 241,000 mask parts and 116,000 ventilator parts between Feb. 15 and July 15, 2020, according to a report released by the Food and Drug Administration.  

As summer moves along, the U.S. is marking a pivotal point in the pandemic. A majority of Americans — nearly 55% — now have received one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 48% are fully vaccinated. 

Protecting community members by mitigating the spread of infection and feeling safe in the community were Faye Sheppard’s #MyWhy. Sheppard, a member of the American Society for Health Care Risk Management, an affiliate of the AHA, and vice chair of the Board of Directors for Cuero (Texas) Regional Hospital tells her vaccine story.

As urged by the AHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it will extend to Aug. 20 the deadline for submitting comments on its COVID-19 health care emergency temporary standard.

COVID-19 has been a learning experience on many fronts. Every facet of our health care system has been affected by the pandemic — from providers to patients to hospital and health system CEOs — and we will be sorting out lessons learned for some time to come. 

The National Institutes of Health released a study suggesting one in every four COVID-19 deaths in U.S. hospitals may have been attributed to the dire strain that surges in caseloads placed on hospitals during the pandemic.

The Commonwealth Fund reported that approximately 279,000 lives have been saved through the U.S.’s vaccination efforts, with 1.25 million avoiding hospitalization.

Responding last month to an AHA letter, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it will continue to remain flexible in its approach to surveys if a hospital experiences a COVID-19 surge. 

The Department of Health and Humans Services extended the designation issued Feb. 1 under Executive Order 13910 and section 102 of the Defense Production Act, as amended, for health and medical resources necessary to respond to the spread COVID-19 that are scarce or the supply of which would be threatened by excessive accumulation by people or entities not needing the excess supplies. 

The White House plans to deploy COVID-19 surge response teams to help communities experiencing or at risk for hotspots due to the Delta variant and low vaccination with vaccination, testing, contact tracing, therapeutics and staffing, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients announced.

Founding Father John Adams believed that July 2, was the correct date on which to celebrate the birth of American independence, and he reportedly would turn down invitations to appear at July 4 events in protest.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response released an online calculator to help clinicians and health care facilities increase their capacity to administer monoclonal antibodies to patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 who are at risk for progressing to severe disease and hospitalization.

The Health Resources and Services Administration opened the Provider Relief Fund reporting portal for providers to begin reporting to the government that they used federal emergency relief funds for health care-related expenses or lost revenues attributable to COVID-19.

Engaging U.S. health systems to provide expert consultations to low- and middle-income nations receiving America’s donated COVID-19 vaccine can offer a “shot of hope” to global vaccination efforts, writes Luke Lindberg, executive director of global strategy, Innovation and World Clinic for Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Broomfield, Colo.-based SCL Health used its resources to dispatch nurses and caregivers where they were most needed, and has taken lessons-learned to better its future collaboration, communication and staff well-being

The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine produces neutralizing antibody titers against the Delta variant, although fewer than against the ancestral strain of the virus, the company announced.

Let’s also engage U.S. health systems to guide global vaccination efforts on the ground

AHA urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to delay by six months its compliance dates for the recently announced COVID-19 Health Care Emergency Temporary Standard, thus giving hospitals and health systems ample time to implement the policy’s many new requirements.