Aug 15th, 2022 - Aug. 12, 2022 – After more than 2 years, 90-plus million cases, and more than 1 million deaths, the United States is entering a new, potentially less scary, phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CDC on Thursday said most Americans no longer need to social distance or quarantine, and kids no longer need to "test to stay" in school. The change in federal policy toward the virus is a key moment in w...

Aug 12th, 2022 - NEW DELHI (Reuters) - New Delhi will enforce a mask mandate again after COVID-19 infections rose in the past fortnight, a government order showed on Thursday, though a similar order in April failed to improve compliance. People caught without masks in public in the Indian capital will have to pay a fine of 500 rupees ($6), the order dated Aug. 8 and shared with reporters on Thursday, said. Pres...

Aug 12th, 2022 - While healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of occupational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 infection, the virus transmission involving them might be exceeding in the non-occupational settings. This study examined the extent of adherence to infection prevention practices (IPPs) against COVID-19 in their daily life and its associated factors among staff members in a national medical center designated for...

Aug 12th, 2022 - In many jurisdictions healthcare workers (HCWs) are using respirators for aerosol-generating medical procedures (AGMPs) performed on adult and pediatric populations with all suspect/confirmed viral respiratory infections (VRIs). This systematic review assessed the risk of VRIs to HCWs in the presence of AGMPs, the role respirators versus medical/surgical masks have on reducing that risk, and if...

Aug 11th, 2022 - In Quebec, during the summer of 2021, different strategies to enhance COVID-19 vaccine uptake were implemented (e.g. mobile vaccination clinics, mass communication campaigns, home vaccination). The aim was that at least 75% of 12 years and older individuals receive two doses of COVID-19 vaccines before the fall. This article explores the impact of incentives and disincentive strategies on Quebe...

Aug 11th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. The CDC today announced that because the risk of "medically significant" COVID-19 has decreased, some overall public health measures the agency initially recommended may no longer be necessary. For example, CDC recommendations on social distancing, quarantining and testing children for COVID-19 ...

Aug 11th, 2022 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous states in the United States instituted measures to close schools or shift them to virtual platforms. Understanding parents' preferences for sending their children back to school, and their experiences with distance learning is critical for informing school reopening guidelines. This study characterizes parents' plans to return their children to school, and...

Aug 10th, 2022 - The Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic presents a unique burden specifically for workers in service industries. However, limited research on service worker's experience during the onset of COVID-19 exists. We aimed to describe the experiences and concerns of service industry workers during the pandemic's onset. This is a mixed-method study. Participants were recruited through social media and...

Aug 10th, 2022 - Evaluating the impact of surgical masks' conservation practices during the Coronavirus Disease pandemic in the bioburden of the operating room seems imperative, as they play a critical role against this pandemic. We demonstrate that surgeons' masks tend to be contaminated due to the conservation techniques to maximize protection equipment during the pandemic. Health institutions should highligh...

Aug 9th, 2022 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group of 23 state attorneys general led by Florida told a federal court on Monday that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lacks the legal authority to impose a nationwide transportation mask mandate to address COVID-19. The CDC sought "an unprecedented masking mandate regulating every breath of millions of Americans," said the brief in support of t...

Aug 8th, 2022 - Dr Whyte speaks with Matthew Sause, President and CEO of Roche Diagnostics North America, about the future of diagnostics and its role in early detection, healthcare inequities, and everyday convenience. This transcript has been edited for clarity. John Whyte, MD: Welcome everyone, I'm Dr. John Whyte and you're watching Change Makers: The Future of Health, where we interview CEOs who are changi...

Aug 8th, 2022 - Respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms are frequent in pilgrims at the Grand Magal of Touba (GMT). Pilgrims were prospectively investigated in 2017-2021 for demographics, chronic conditions, preventive measures, respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, and pathogen carriage using PCR assays. 535 pilgrims were included. 54.8% and 13.3% reported respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, res...

Aug 5th, 2022 - Equity was-and is-central in the US policy response to COVID-19, given its disproportionate impact on disadvantaged communities of colour. In an unprecedented turn, the majority of US states used place-based disadvantage indices to promote equity in vaccine allocation (eg, through larger vaccine shares for more disadvantaged areas and people of colour).We conducted a nationally representative s...

Aug 4th, 2022 - This study investigates the hygiene standards in the context of the COVID-19-pandemic and their impact on the perioperative incidence of hMPV as well as the typical symptom burden of hMPV-infected children with congenital heart defects. Between March 2018 and July 2021 all patients of a cardiac paediatric intensive care unit (cPICU) of a German university hospital were included in this retrospe...

Aug 3rd, 2022 - Appropriate and consistent facial protective equipment (FPE) use is critical for preventing respiratory illness transmission. Little is known about FPE adherence by home care providers. The purpose of this study is to adapt an existing facial protection questionnaire and use it to develop an initial understanding of factors influencing home care providers' adherence to FPE during the COVID-19 p...

Aug 2nd, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. We all have friends or relatives who, somehow, have managed to avoid catching COVID-19, which has infected more than 91.5 million Americans. You may even be one of the lucky ones yourself. But health experts are saying: Not so fast. A mounting pile of scientific evidence suggests millions of Ame...

Aug 2nd, 2022 - HONG KONG (Reuters) -- Macau will reopen public services and entertainment facilities, and allow dining-in at restaurants from Tuesday, authorities said, as the world's biggest gambling hub seeks a return to normalcy after finding no COVID-19 cases for nine straight days. Beauty salons, fitness centres, and bars too will be allowed to resume operations, the government said in a statement on Mon...

Aug 2nd, 2022 - To slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2, many countries have instituted preventive approaches (masks, social distancing) as well as the distribution of vaccines. Adherence to these preventive measures is crucial to the success of controlling the pandemic but decreased perceptions of disease severity could limit adherence. The aim of our study was to observe changes in perceived personal severity ...

Aug 2nd, 2022 - To assess feasibility and acceptability of implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) reserved for influenza pandemics (voluntary home quarantine; use of face masks by ill persons; childcare facility closures; school closures; and social distancing at schools, workplaces, and mass gatherings). Public health officials in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and 8 territories, and a random sa...

Aug 2nd, 2022 - Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2), wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) has become necessary. Patients' ability to recognize staff is disrupted impacting on the relationship between healthcare worker and patient. Assess the patients' perspective of healthcare workers wearing PPE and its effect on communication. Admitted Orthopaedic patients during the first wave of SARS-...