COVID-19 News,
Reports, and Reflections
August 19, 2020
News:
Tampa General Hospital, USF Health create COVID-19 safety consultation service for schools and businesses
Tampa General Hospital and USF Health have come together to create TGH Prevention Response Outreach, which provides COVID-19 consultation. Experts are now working with schools, companies, sports teams, restaurants, attractions and other businesses for infection prevention. A team of doctors and experts can review a company’s COVID-19 safety plans, do a site visit to look for health issues, educate team members on infection prevention, and recommend improvement measures. Experts say the whole point is to make sure no one gets infected in a way that’s preventable. Read more.
For second straight day, Florida posts lowest daily increase in COVID cases since June
Monday’s report from the Florida Department of Health showed the lowest daily increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases since June 22. The state reported 2,678 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the 24-hour period since Sunday's report, bringing the total to 576,094. It’s the second straight day the number of new cases was below 4,000. Read more.
CDC: Sorry, people do not have COVID-19 'immunity' for 3 months
People infected with COVID-19 do not necessarily have immunity to reinfection for three months, the CDC said late Friday night, trying to squelch speculation the agency had inadvertently stimulated. While people can continue to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 for up to three months after diagnosis and not be infectious to others, that does not imply that infection confers immunity for that period, the agency said. Read more.
With supplies short, COVID-19 tests should go where most needed
Continuing shortages of reagents, viral transport media, pipettes and other supplies means 2020 will continue to negatively affect the nation’s COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing capacity. Given that sobering fact, the American Medical Association and other organizations with expertise in medical testing are urging Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to ensure the nation’s limited testing resources go to patients with medically identified needs or to public health surveillance efforts. Read more.
Toxic methanol in hand sanitizers: poisonings continue
As the FDA's warning list about dangerous hand sanitizers containing methanol grows, another troubling trend has emerged. Some people are drinking the sanitizers to get an alcohol high. Others have believed a rumor, circulated online, that drinking the highly potent and toxic alcohol can disinfect the body, protecting them from COVID-19 infection. The FDA warned the public in July that "methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and must not be used due to its toxic effects. FDA’s investigation of methanol in certain hand sanitizers is ongoing." Read more.
FDA clears saliva test for COVID-19, opening door to wider testing
The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized emergency use of a new and inexpensive saliva test for COVID-19 that could greatly expand testing capacity. Read more. |
|
Reports:
Nearly half of physicians believe it will take a year to get COVID-19 until control
The majority of physicians believe COVID-19 won’t be under control until January 2021, and nearly half (49%) expect it will take much longer to get the virus under control. Most doctors (59%) also see opening businesses, schools and public places as a bigger risk to patients than continuing policies of social isolation, according to survey of 3,500 providers conducted by The Physicians Foundation. The results are part of a three-part survey examining how COVID-19 is affecting and is perceived by U.S. physicians. Read more.
Sustainable telehealth: HIPAA
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in an effort to support telehealth use during the Emergency, announced a “relaxation of HIPAA enforcement” entitled the Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth Remote Communications During the COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency. The HIPAA Rule itself has not been modified, only the temporary enforcement in certain areas of HIPAA. There is widespread confusion about what the HIPAA enforcement discretion allows, and just as importantly, what it does not. Read the most frequently asked questions and the answers supplied by HHS.
Most Floridians remain concerned about COVID-19, USF survey shows
Federal dollars bolster state Medicaid program
Despite a projected 10 percent increase in costs over last year, economists said the state will have enough money to keep the safety-net health care program funded during the current 2020-2021 fiscal year, in part because of Congress' decision in March to increase the amount of federal funds spent on the program. But the projected financial stability could be short-lived. Read more.
Corcoran: use 'surgical' response to coronavirus in schools
Ed ucation Commissioner Richard Corcoran is urging local school officials to be “very surgical, not sweeping” when responding to coronavirus cases, which he acknowledged are likely to occur as classes resume this month. “If you have a COVID-19 case or you have symptoms, don’t panic,” Corcoran told school superintendents in a conference call Thursday. “Communicate with everybody, and be open and transparent about it. We are going to have cases, and that’s OK.” Read more.
Insurers saw sky-high profits in Q2. Now, Congress wants to take a look at their finances
Soaring profits was the defining trend in the second quarter among health insurers, an anomaly in the healthcare industry as it has been slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sharp declines in healthcare utilization proved a major boon across the board for health plans, in contrast to for-profit providers that would have floundered without relief funding from the federal government. The highest profit earner for the quarter was UnitedHealth Group, which raked in an eye-popping $6.6 billion in earnings in the second quarter. In second place was CVS Health, which earned $3 billion in profit. Read more.
Some of the latest news and announcements pertaining to the coronavirus and the healthcare industry.
|
|
Reflections:
"Based on the evidence of the effects of trauma, we can predict that our health care teams, patients and families will exhibit signs of this assault through a variety of symptoms–sleeplessness, apathy, depression, and anxiety. The warning signs are already here.
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting you?
The HCMA wants to know how you and your colleagues are dealing with the ongoing pandemic. Write your experiences, messages of gratitude for your peers, concerns, predictions for lasting effects on healthcare, or anything else you’d like to share for future publication in The Bulletin... Submit here.
|
|
The HCMA Foundation Physician Wellness Program provides a safe harbor for members to address life difficulties, especially during this time of uncertainty and challenges due to the ongoing threat of COVID-19.
Click below for additional
HCMA COVID-19 Resources:
|
|
DOH call center, available 24/7
1 (866) 779-6121
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
