An antibody cocktail that halts disease progression in sick COVD-19 patients has been shown to prevent the disease altogether in healthy people who live in close contact with an infected person, the drugmaker...
Untracked COVID: Nursing home workers have died at twice the rate of hospital workers
By
Alicia Lasek
Apr 09, 2021
Nursing home care providers have the sad distinction of accounting for a large proportion of healthcare workers’ COVID deaths, according to new 2020 data that was not tracked by the U.S. government....
Mask prioritization ‘upside-down’; eldercare workers should be No. 1 recipient: report
By
Alicia Lasek
Mar 15, 2021
Frontline staff may be exposed to as much or more cough and COVID-19 droplets than ICU workers performing intubations, according to some researchers and anesthesiologists.
Transforming nursing homes into healthy living spaces
By
Mary Fox
Feb 25, 2021
With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing the urgent need of nursing homes to do all they can to limit the spread of communicable illnesses, leadership and staff priorities lie in protecting resident health...
Are we there yet? Vaccination success won’t ease need for LTC vigilance, observers say
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 18, 2021
The need for stepped-up infection control measures likely will remain a necessity for the foreseeable future, say industry observers and stakeholders.
Vaccinations tied to drop in nursing home infections; states want greater role in pharmacy allocations
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 17, 2021
Nursing homes experienced a 48% decline in new resident cases three weeks after their first onsite vaccine clinic. That’s compared with a 21% decline among unvaccinated nursing homes located in the...
Factor in chills, lesser-known symptoms to better detect COVID-19, study shows
By
Alicia Lasek
Feb 16, 2021
Factoring four overlooked COVID-19 symptoms into testing efforts significantly improves detection, investigators say.
COVID hospitalizations in Israel fall by 60 percent three weeks after vaccinations
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 26, 2021
In a study involving more than 50,000 patients, COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations appeared to begin falling sharply at about 18 days after a first vaccine dose, and by even more after the second.
CDC evaluation of BinaxNOW shows mixed performance in asymptomatic cases
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 21, 2021
The antigen test kit sent to nursing homes nationwide last year has some major pluses, despite the potential for false negatives when compared with molecular tests, the agency reports.
FDA: Viral mutations unlikely to cause false negatives in COVID-19 tests
By
Alicia Lasek
Jan 11, 2021
The agency has alerted healthcare providers that it is monitoring approved SARS-CoV-2 molecular tests to ensure that new viral mutations do not alter their accuracy.