CDC urges communities, hospitals to prepare for spread of coronavirus

Editor's Note

In a February 25 telebriefing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) will spread in the US, and hospitals and communities should begin ramping up their preparedness efforts, AHA Today reports.

The CDC urged communities to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions or community mitigation measures to slow the coronavirus spread and emphasized that hospitals may need to add telehealth options and delay elective surgeries.

The National Institutes of Health also announced a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir to treat COVID-19.