Aug 6th, 2020 - For Immediate Release: August 06, 2020 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the following actions taken in its ongoing response effort to the COVID-19 pandemic: On August 4, the FDA issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for ventilator-related devices to: Lombardi Undersea, for its Subsalve Oxygen Treatment Hood, which is a patient interface intended for helmet-based Non-In...

Aug 5th, 2020 - There are widespread shortages of personal protective equipment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reprocessing filtering facepiece particle (FFP)-type respirators may provide an alternative solution in keeping healthcare professionals safe. Prospective, bench-to-bedside. A primary care-based study using FFP-2 respirators without exhalation valve (3M Aura 1862+ (20 samples), Maco Pharma ZZM0...

Aug 4th, 2020 - For Immediate Release: July 31, 2020 Español Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first two COVID-19 serology tests that display an estimated quantity of antibodies present in the individual’s blood. Both tests from Siemens, the ADVIA Centaur COV2G and Atellica IM COV2G, are what are known as “semi-quantitative” tests, meaning that they do not display a precise measuremen...

Aug 3rd, 2020 - The shortage of single-use N95 respirator masks (NRMs) during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has prompted consideration of NRM recycling to extend limited stocks by healthcare providers and facilities. We assessed potential re-use via autoclaving of NRMs worn daily in a major urban Canadian hospital. NRM reusability was assessed following collection from volunteer staff after 2-8 hours' use, steriliza...

Aug 3rd, 2020 - Since cases first emerged in December 2019, COVID-19 (a type of coronavirus) has rapidly become pandemic. This fast-tracked paper (published quickly) from China on COVID-19 is written by dermatologists at the epicentre of the outbreak in Wuhan. Dermatology clinic staff may be at risk because protective equipment is not routinely available, and skin lesions might possibly transmit the virus indi...

Aug 3rd, 2020 - To reduce the shortage of N95 respirators and surgical masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, stockpiled equipment beyond its expiry date could be released. Centralized testing of batches of expired surgical masks and N95 for safe distribution to hospital departments saving users time. Tests of compliance with health authority directives were developed and carried out on 175 batches of N95 masks a...

Aug 3rd, 2020 - Use of medical masks is a key strategy for COVID-19 prevention among healthcare workers. Unfortunately, there are global shortages of this essential commodity, and many have resulted in inappropriate usage to conserve supply. This article highlights the likely benefits of face mask containers in promoting safe, appropriate, and extended use of medical masks by healthcare workers in settings whe...

Aug 1st, 2020 - The risk of COVID-19 is expected to be higher among solid organ transplant. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the incidence of COVID-19 and the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak on the personal hygiene and expectations of in heart and lung transplant recipients. A telephone survey of heart (n=69) and lung (n=41) transplant patients and a group of controls (n=41) was conducted concern...

Aug 1st, 2020 - Although the benefit of population-level public facial masking to protect others during the COVID-19 pandemic has received a great deal of attention, we discuss for one of the first times the hypothesis that universal masking reduces the "inoculum" or dose of the virus for the mask-wearer, leading to more mild and asymptomatic infection manifestations. Masks, depending on type, filter out the m...

Jul 31st, 2020 - The pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has taken a heavy toll on human life and has upended the medical system in many countries. The disease has created a system wide worsening shortage of N95, medical masks, and other personal protective equipment (PPE) that is regularly used by healthcare personnel and emergency service providers for their protection. Considering the number of infe...

Jul 30th, 2020 - The worldwide outbreak of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has already put healthcare workers (HCWs) at a high risk of infection. The question of how to give HCWs the best protection against infection is a priority. Our literature review has indicated that the degree of protection required in looking after people with COVID-19 infection, is dependent on the particular environment to which the ...

Jul 30th, 2020 - The SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID19) pandemic has placed extreme pressures on the Canadian Healthcare system. Many health care regions in Canada have cancelled or limited surgical and non-surgical interventions on patients to preserve healthcare resources for a predicted increase in COVID19 related hospital admissions. Also reduced health interventions may limit the risk of possible transmission of C...

Jul 29th, 2020 - Staff and employees "Zero infection" has been achieved during the whole medical activities in the COVID-19 Fangcang Shelter Hospital in Wuhan, China. This study analyzes the personnel and environmental protection status of the East-West Lake Fangcang Shelter Hospital. The HCWs were mostly composed of national medical rescue teams, from different provinces in China. Among them, 64.8% were from t...

Jul 29th, 2020 - Surgical masks and N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and protect medical personnel. Increased demands for surgical masks and N95 FFRs during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in the shortage crisis. However, there is no standard protocol for safe reuse of the N95 FFR...

Jul 29th, 2020 - Unprecedented demand for N95 respirators during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a global shortage of these masks. We validated a rapidly applicable, lowcost decontamination protocol in compliance with regulatory standards to enable the safe reuse of N95 respirators. We inoculated 4 common models of N95 respirators with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ...

Jul 29th, 2020 - There is insufficient evidence on the efficacy of masks in the general population for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in public areas. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the association of mandatory mask-wearing policies with behaviors associated with the transmission of COVID-19. To assess the association of mask wearing with face-touching behavior among the gener...

Jul 28th, 2020 - Ocular tissues can serve as a reservoir for the SARS-CoV-2 virus which can not only cause conjunctivitis but also serve as a resource of infection transmission to others. Additionally, the eye and its tear drainage apparatus can track the SARS-CoV-2 from the eye into the respiratory tract of the patient. The potential ocular presence of the SARS-CoV-2 in the eye of a patient can target ACE2 rec...

Jul 28th, 2020 - Under times of supply chain stress, the availability of some medical equipment and supplies may become limited. The current pandemic involving severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has highlighted limitations to the ordinary provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). For perioperative healthcare workers, N95 masks provide a stark example of PPE in short supply necessitating the...

Jul 27th, 2020 - The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic is an ongoing public health challenge, also for the dentistry community. The main objective of this paper was to determine the economic and health-care impact of COVID-19 on dentists in the Autonomous Region of Galicia (Spain). This was a descriptive observational study in which the data was collected by means of a self-administered survey (from 1 April 2020 t...

Jul 27th, 2020 - The global pandemic of COVID-19 has been associated with infections and deaths among health-care workers. This Viewpoint of infectious aerosols is intended to inform appropriate infection control measures to protect health-care workers. Studies of cough aerosols and of exhaled breath from patients with various respiratory infections have shown striking similarities in aerosol size distributions...