From cafeteria staff to doctors and nurses, hospital workers around the country report frustrating failures by management to notify them when they have been exposed to co-workers or patients known to be infected with COVID-19.
Emergency department volumes are down 40 to 50 percent across the country. Doctors worry a new wave of cardiac patients is headed their way — people who have delayed care and will be sicker and more injured when they finally seek care.
Josie and George Taylor of Everett, Washington, are two of the first people in the U.S. to recover from novel coronavirus infections after joining a clinical trial for the antiviral drug remdesivir.
Barbara Dreyfuss died March 1 after contracting COVID-19 at a Seattle-area nursing home. Her earlier decision to document her final wishes may offer an example for families as the deadly virus spurs interest in end-of-life care.
As illness from the new coronavirus stresses the health care system, nurses said they are being forced to make do with less and learning to be good stewards of available equipment and protective gear.
Drs. Keith Jerome and Alex Greninger fast-tracked a test for the deadly new coronavirus weeks before it began spreading in the U.S. Their work has been key to detecting community transmission and ramping up the nation’s testing capacity.
The spread of coronavirus disease to a skilled nursing facility in Washington state underscores the risk the deadly new virus poses in elder care facilities, where illnesses caused by more common pathogens, like seasonal influenza, often spread rapidly.
When the first confirmed U.S. patient was pinpointed in Washington state, health clinic workers there weren’t rattled. They were prepped by new statewide protocols on contagion containment, in the wake of last year’s measles scare.
Many cases of vaping-related injury seem to involve THC, health officials say. That’s led some states to take another look at the safety of the regulated cannabis market, as well as the black market.
Many states have rules that keep parents from knowing about or consenting to certain types of care for their children, including mental health and drug and alcohol treatment. Washington state, however, has revised its policies.