Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. LAS VEGAS (AP) — With Nevada hospitals reporting a staffing "crisis" and health officials reporting COVID-19 patient tallies at pandemic highs, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak highlighted a program Wednesday to enlist nursing students to help meet the demand for medical providers. "The state continues...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. CHICAGO (AP) — The state's top officials in the battle against COVID-19 on Wednesday reported that the vicious surge in the disease fueled by the omicron variant is slowing statewide and in Chicago, the nation's third-largest city. But even as record numbers of hospitalizations decline, authorit...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Oxford researchers say they have confirmed that alcohol is a direct cause of cancer, emphasising how their findings reinforce the need to lower levels of alcohol consumption in the population for cancer prevention. Worldwide alcohol is responsible for an estimated 3 million deaths each year, with over 400,000 of these being from cancer. The authors point out that with alcohol consumption rising...

Jan 20th, 2022 - The reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test has been the gold standard for the diagnosis of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. This highly sensitive molecular test amplifies specific segments of the transcribed viral DNA collected in a sample. Specialized labs can usually provide results in 12 to 24 hours. In contrast, rapid point-of-care antigen tests for COVID-19, which h...

Jan 20th, 2022 - In the UK, the biggest news of the week is that it looks as if Omicron numbers are finally going down, meaning that the wave has now peaked. Hospital numbers, which were doubling every 9 days 2 weeks ago, have now stabilised. Due to this, the Government is ending Plan B, and returning to Plan A, which means that mandatory certifications will end and people can stop working from home. Mask weari...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. A new study from California and New York found that people who were both vaccinated and had a prior COVID-19 infection had the most protection against the coronavirus last summer and fall. Unvaccinated people with a past infection came in second. By October, when the more contagious Delta varian...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Carhartt, a Michigan-based clothing company that's known for its heavy-duty workwear, announced that it would keep its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees despite last week's Supreme Court ruling that blocked vaccine requirements for large companies. In an email to employees, Carhartt CEO Mar...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Most people experience COVID fatigue a few times a week, but men and women and older and younger people have reacted differently to it, a recent WebMD poll suggests. The poll, taken from December 23-January 4, asked readers how often they had experienced COVID-19 pandemic fatigue, defined as "be...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. The FDA could authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children under age 5 in the next month, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Wednesday. "My hope is that it's going to be within the next month or so and not much later than that, but ...

Jan 20th, 2022 - (Reuters) - The chairman of the Gavi vaccine alliance, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Wednesday that an additional $5.2 billion is needed to continue to deliver vaccines at scale. Speaking at a news briefing, Barroso said it was critical to continue to keep up the pace of vaccine supply through the COVAX global vaccine-sharing programme, as more than 3 billion people in the world have yet to rece...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. As the pandemic raged in 2020, the White House Coronavirus Task Force scheduled frequent press briefings, some at the White House and others at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the National Institutes of Health. Dr Jerome Adams When the briefings were at the White House, w...

Jan 20th, 2022 - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The rate of contamination of surfaces in rooms with hospitalized COVID-19 patients is low, researchers report. Of the 347 individual samples collected from the rooms of 20 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, less than 6% were positive via RT-PCR and only one demonstrated cytopathic effect (CPE), researchers report in Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The presence of SARS...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. In March 2020, as the world was waking up to the dawn of a global pandemic, 61 members of the Skagit Valley Chorale in northwest Washington State gathered for a 2-hour rehearsal. They followed the precautions recommended by local health officials, avoiding physical contact, using hand sanitizer,...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. The daily commute. Catching a first-run film. In-person doctor visits. Standing-room-only concerts. Checking out a hot new restaurant. These common everyday experiences are now fraught with risk as COVID-19 brought widespread changes in how we live, work, play, and stay healthy. Once the global ...

Jan 20th, 2022 - This is the first in a series of instructional videos and guidance from Nadine Kelly, MD (Yogi MD) helping healthcare professionals to use yoga techniques to reduce daily stress and focus on their personal well-being. To view the accompanying video, click here. The fast-paced and demanding lifestyle of healthcare professionals fosters a state of chronic stress that may have numerous insidious p...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Editor's note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape's Coronavirus Resource Center. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is still breaking records for hospital overcrowding and new cases. The US is logging nearly 800,000 cases a day, hospitals are starting to fray, and deaths in the US have topped 850,000. Schools oscillate from remote to in-person learning, ...

Jan 20th, 2022 - More than HIV, more than malaria. The death toll worldwide from bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 2019 exceeded 1.2 million people, according to a new study. In terms of preventable deaths, 1.27 million people could have been saved if drug-resistant infections were replaced with infections susceptible to current antibiotics. Furthermore, 4.95 million fewer people would have died if dr...

Jan 20th, 2022 - Health Minister Robin Swann is to provide £25 million from his department’s budget to fund a pay rise for Northern Ireland’s health workers. The minister thanked staff for their "superhuman efforts" in maintaining services across the COVID pandemic, which has led to unprecedented pressures on hospitals. Mr Swann made the announcement in a letter to health workers, seen by PA news agency. It com...

Jan 20th, 2022 - More pregnant Americans indulged ― and overindulged ―- in alcohol from 2018 to 2020 than in previous years, but researchers found no sharp increase associated with the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The pandemic notwithstanding, health officials worry about a rising tide of pregnant women using alcohol and b...

Jan 19th, 2022 - Approximately 3% of youth who tested positive for COVID-19 in an emergency department setting had severe outcomes after 2 weeks, but this risk was 0. 5% among those not admitted to the hospital, based on data from more than 3,000 individuals aged 18 and younger.