State orders nursing homes to offer antibody therapy as COVID-19 preventive during outbreaks
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 20, 2021
Long-term care advocates are applauding a new order by the governor of Maryland that requires nursing facilities to offer all residents therapeutic treatments such as monoclonal antibodies when a COVID-19...
Study: A brace tops medical mask modifications to block respiratory pathogens
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 20, 2021
The addition of an elastic brace or double masking are highly successful methods for improving the performance of face masks against respiratory aerosols, according to a new mask modification study from...
Exposure to more estrogen through midlife may lessen brain’s vulnerability to Alzheimer’s
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 20, 2021
Women who have been exposed to more estrogen due in part to reproductive history are less likely to show brain shrinkage tied to Alzheimer’s disease, investigators say.
Clinical briefs for Monday, Dec. 20
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 20, 2021
Latest draft of Build Back Better includes $800M to improve infection control, staffing … Healthcare providers must counter ‘deeply rooted’ COVID-19 misinformation, surveyors say … New study highlights...
CDC: Boosted nursing home residents 10 times less likely to be infected with COVID-19
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 17, 2021
The news, delivered by CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, is a bit of cheer amidst other new evidence that COVID-19 cases are increasing among fully vaccinated long-term care residents.
Advice from healthcare providers increases vaccination rates, new study finds
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 17, 2021
A nudge from a healthcare provider makes a big difference in who is likely to get vaccinated, new evidence reveals.
Pfizer, Moderna vaccines recommended over Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 17, 2021
Americans should preferably be vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines due to a rare but serious risk of blood clots and the lesser protection found with the J&J vaccine, CDC says.
Clinical briefs for Friday, Dec. 17
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 17, 2021
OSHA’s COVID-19 standard set to expire Dec. 21 if action not taken … Falls prevention guidelines need to be more clinically applicable, reviewers say … ‘Amazing’ new clue emerges as to why omicron...
Pandemic has intensified shift away from SNFs as post-acute care destinations: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 16, 2021
The decrease in discharges to SNFs could have profound implications for the future of post-acute care and may hasten a reckoning about the instability of the nation’s nursing homes, physician researchers...
COVID-19 stress has hit older adults with health problems hardest, latest poll shows
By
Alicia Lasek
Dec 16, 2021
Seniors with poor physical and mental health have endured an outsized burden of pandemic stress, according to a National Poll on Healthy Aging update.