Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) News

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is reminding stakeholders that funding is available under FEMA’s Public Assistance program, including for community engagement and information dissemination to promote vaccination availability, scheduling, and accessibility, as well as reimbursement for activities to increase public confidence in and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines.

The Department of the Treasury released an interim final rule implementing $350 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help state, local and tribal governments recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn what design and engineering changes are under consideration by hospital and health system leaders like Bradley Pollitt, vice president of facilities at UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Fla., as they prepare for crises beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

While certain health care supply chain pressures remain during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are notable improvements, particularly in the area of collaboration.

The AHA donated to UNICEF to help hospitals and communities fight a devastating surge in COVID-19 cases in India. UNICEF is rushing urgently needed supplies and equipment to health facilities in India.  

While certain health care supply chain pressures remain, there are notable improvements, particularly in the area of collaboration, writes Mike Schiller, senior director of supply chain for the AHA’s Association for Health Care Resource and Materials Management.

The National Institutes of Health awarded $29 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to support and expand its Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities, which conducts community-engaged research and outreach to strengthen COVID-19 vaccine confidence and access, testing and treatment in communities of color.

Most studies of the toll COVID-19 has taken on the mental health of Americans reach the same conclusion: The pandemic has made what were already serious problems much worse. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing on using COVID-19 response lessons to address the mental health and substance use disorder crises. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced relaxed guidance for mask wearing, stating that individuals fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks outdoors, except in certain crowd settings and venues.

In this AHA Advancing Health podcast, Sara Jumping Eagle, M.D., and Jonathan Merrell, R.N., both of the Indian Health Service, discuss plans to reduce the disproportionate COVID-19 infection rates in Indigenous communities through vaccine distribution and an administration strategy with national and local partners.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a number of innovations in health care delivery that have the potential to positively alter how care is provided, and hospital-at-home is one of those promising models, writes Julia Resnick, senior program manager, strategic initiatives, at the AHA.

Health leaders from across the U.S.

The Department of Health and Human Services has renewed the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration for another 90 days effective April 21. The extension will help hospitals and health systems combat COVID-19 in their communities. 

Health leaders from across the U.S. convened to discuss the unique challenges facing rural communities and providers in addressing COVID-19 vaccine administration, confidence and barriers to access. Read the AHA blog that has insights from last night’s rural COVID-19 town hall hosted by AHA and the Black Coalition Against COVID.

What was once a small but mighty contingent of health care systems providing “hospital-at-home” care before the pandemic has grown into a larger movement. With this model, hospitals across the country are “admitting” patients to their own homes for acute care with excellent results.

The Accelerating COVID 19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) initiative will enroll up to 13,500 adults aged 30 and over in a Phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate whether certain drugs approved for other conditions safely and effectively treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19, the National Institutes of Health announced. 

The AHA urged the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to allow additional suspensions to its survey process if they become necessary due to new COVID-19 case surges. 

The Biden administration announced $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states and other jurisdictions to expand genomic sequencing to detect and track COVID-19 variants, which it said now comprise about half of U.S. cases. 

When President Biden signed legislation on Wednesday eliminating the 2% across-the-board cut to all Medicare payments until the end of 2021, it extended needed relief to doctors, hospitals and other providers caring for patients and vaccinating communities.