AdventHealth recently launched virtual visits for hospitalized patients with the distribution of 1,000 Chromebooks and some iPads throughout the health system’s hospital campuses. The cost of the initiative was minimal because the Chromebooks were already in hand for another project, which has been delayed.

Shortages of personal protective equipment such as N95 respirators have plagued the U.S. response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. On Feb. 22, testimony before Congress asserted that 3.5 billion N95 masks were needed for healthcare workers during the pandemic, and there was about 1% of that figure available.

Preliminary data from a randomized, controlled trial featuring more than 1,000 patients indicates that severely ill COVID-19 patients with lung involvement recovered faster than similar patients given placebo, NIH reported.

The societies quickly developed the guidelines to respond to the pandemic, a process that usually takes more than a year. The guidelines were developed by a committee of frontline clinicians, healthcare epidemiologists, and other infectious disease specialists.

The AHA recommended additional precautions for emergency medical services technicians and healthcare workers. Both EMS personnel and healthcare workers should don personal protective equipment to guard against contact with both airborne and droplet particles before entering a patient room or scene of a cardiac arrest. Only essential personnel should be allowed in the room or on the scene.

Patients with cancer are a high-risk group during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a World Health Organization report published in February. The report, which is based on data collected in China, found that COVID-19 patients with cancer are more than five times more likely to die from the disease compared to COVID-19 patients who have no comorbid conditions.

The researchers estimated that if 80% of the U.S. population was infected, that could result in 44.6 million hospitalizations, 10.7 million ICU admissions, 6.5 million ventilators used, and 249.5 million hospital bed days, at a total direct cost of $654.0 billion during the pandemic.