Editor's Note On May 12, California's Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California pharmacists will be allowed to collect specimens and order COVID-19 tests. Specimens will be are processed at public health, university, or commercial labs. The move is an effort to increase the state’s testing capacity as it modifies its…

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Editor's Note: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 19 issued recommendations on how hospitals and healthcare systems can protect their staff and patients as they reopen for nonemergent care. The new recommendations update earlier guidance on limiting nonessential surgical and medical procedures and are specifically targeted…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 7 issued an update on actions the agency has taken in its ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions include: a guidance for remote ophthalmic assessment and monitoring devices to facilitate patient care while reducing patient and healthcare provider…

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Editor's Note: The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 25 announced several actions it has taken in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: In response to the demand for hand sanitizers and their active ingredient, alcohol, the FDA issued guidance to alcohol manufacturers on how to incorporate…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention on March 17 updated its strategies for optimizing personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies, including facemasks. The strategies are based on surge capacity and include: *Conventional capacity: Patient care is provided without any change in daily practices. Use facemasks according to product…

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Editor's Note This commentary by Andrea Cruz, MD, MPH, pediatric emergency medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and Steven Zeichner, MD, PhD, head of pediatric infectious diseases University of Virginia Health, Charlottesville, who are associate editors for Pediatrics, notes that it is crucial to understand how the COVID-19 virus affects…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on March 13 updated its recommendations for the management of elective surgical procedures during the COVID-19 outbreak. Among the recommendations: Each hospital, healthcare system, and surgeon should: review all scheduled elective procedures with a plan to minimize, postpone, or cancel elective operations,…

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Hospitals have long dominated the realms of infection control and antibiotic overuse. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), which typically release patients the same day of a procedure, use antibiotics less frequently than other facilities, and most do not have an antimicrobial stewardship program. However, some ASC leaders and organizations are encouraging…

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Editor's Note The American College of Radiology (ACR) on March 11 issued a recommendation that CT scans not be used as a first-line screening test to diagnose COVID-19, the March 11 AuntMinnie.com reports. Though early reports from China indicated that CT could detect COVID-19, even when DNA tests were negative,…

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Editor's Note This retrospective, multicenter study from four hospitals in Wuhan, China, found that Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) specific guidelines for emergency surgical procedures in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection can effectively prevent cross-infection in the OR. The guidelines include: negative pressure ORs level 3 protective measures for…

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