Editor's Note The US reported more than 376,000 COVID-19 cases and 7,200 deaths for the week ending August 9, marking the first decline in deaths after 4 weeks of increases, according to an August 10 Reuters analysis of Johns Hopkins data. COVID-19 cases in the US have now fallen for…

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Editor's Note A longer time from diagnosis to surgical treatment because of the COVID-19 pandemic did not lower overall survival of women with early-stage breast cancer, this study finds. In this analysis of 379,000 patients, surgical delays of more than 120 days were associated with change to a higher cancer…

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Editor's Note The National Institutes of Health (NIH) on August 5 announced the launch of the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center, which will create new tools using artificial intelligence (AI) and medical imaging to diagnose and personalize therapies for COVID-19 patients. The Center will build a large repository of…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on August 4 announced that it is strongly opposed to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule for CY 2021. In the fee schedule, which is set to take place January 1, 2021, Medicare payments will…

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Editor's Note Researchers at George Washington University, Washington DC, have found five biomarkers in blood of COVID-19 patients that are associated with higher odds of clinical deterioration and death. The research team analyzed 299 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 who were admitted to George Washington University Hospital. Of these, 200 had…

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Editor's Note From January through April 2020, emergency department (ED) visits decreased and hospital admissions increased in this study of five healthcare systems in five states. In the 24 EDs studied, the annual volume before the COVID-19 pandemic ranged from 13,000 to 115,000 visits per year. The largest decrease in…

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Editor's Note The use of an automated web-based symptom monitoring tool as part of Maine's COVID-19 contact tracing program made the state's contact tracing and monitoring faster and more efficient. The tool was well received, with the majority of monitored contacts (96.4%) agreeing to the automated system. Contacts automatically received…

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Editor's Note The Curial AI test, an artificial intelligence (AI) program developed at the University of Oxford, UK, can identify COVID-19 within 1 hour of a patient arriving at an emergency department (ED), the July 31 Belfast Telegraph reports. The AI test analyzes patient data, such as blood tests and…

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Editor's Note This study finds that front-line healthcare workers with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) had a three-fold increased risk of testing positive for COVID-19, compared to the general population. Those with inadequate PPE had a further increase in risk. The study also found that healthcare workers from Black, Asian,…

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Editor's Note Johnson & Johnson (J&J) announced July 30 that it has started its human safety trials to assess its COVID-19 vaccine, after reporting on details of its animal study. A single dose of the vaccine completely protected all six animals from lung disease and five of six from infection,…

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