As the FDA reviews the emergency use authorization requests from both Pfizer and Moderna for their respective potential vaccines, Fauci urged the public to trust the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Atrium Health features 50 hospitals and other healthcare facilities in three states. The health system launched a virtual hospital at home program for COVID-19 patients in March and recently published a study about the initiative in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Beds and space aren’t the main concern. It’s the workforce. Hospitals are worried staffing levels won’t be able to keep up with demand as doctors, nurses and specialists such as respiratory therapists become exhausted or, worse, infected and sick themselves.

Workplace safety regulators have taken a lenient stance toward employers during the pandemic, giving them broad discretion to decide internally whether to report worker deaths. As a result, scores of deaths were not reported to occupational safety officials from the earliest days of the pandemic through late October.

CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a request for information on “Effective and Innovative Approaches/Best Practices in Health Care in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The new survey, which was conducted by the Primary Care Collaborative, The Larry A. Green Center, and 3rd Conversation, features information collected from more than 580 primary care clinicians in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. The survey was conducted from Oct. 16 to Oct. 19.

Pfizer’s vaccine consists of genetic material called mRNA encased in tiny particles that shuttle it into our cells. From there, it stimulates the immune system to make antibodies that protect against the virus. A similar strategy is employed in other leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates. If mRNA vaccines can protect against COVID-19 and, presumably, other infectious diseases, it will be a momentous piece of news.

The health system, which features 23 hospitals and 800 ambulatory sites, treated about 20,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the spring surge, says Mark Jarrett, MD, MBA, senior vice president, chief quality officer, and deputy chief medical officer at Northwell.

The industrial hygiene “hierarchy of controls” is a series of workplace safety and health interventions that begins with elimination of hazards, followed by substitution, then engineering controls, administrative controls (including work practices), and personal protective equipment.

A joint development agreement between BreathTech Corporation, a subsidiary of Austin, Texas-based Astrotech, and Cleveland Clinic focuses on using a non-invasive device that will analyze breath samples to identify COVID-19 strains.