The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting states with varying intensity, with patient surges expected to roll out across the country in different time frames. For example, as of April 15, New York had nearly 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases compared to more than 3,800 cases in Arizona, according to Johns Hopkins University.

More than 80% of surveyed CFOs expect company revenues and profits to decline this year as a result of the outbreak. Additionally, 75% of CFOs now view the COVID-19 outbreak’s impact on operations and liquidity as the top concern for 2020.

The goal of the tool is to help administrators evaluate the competence of this new workforce and assign healthcare professionals to the appropriate patient assignments or tasks that are based on their individual level of practice, according to an Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses news release.

More than 350 rural hospitals, accounting for $8.3 billion in total patient revenue, are at the greatest financial risk of closure, according to Guidehouse. The five states most likely to be impacted by hospital closures include Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, and Kansas, according to the analysis.

The blanket waivers were issued for the national emergency declared by the president, retroactive to March 1, to empower healthcare providers to take needed actions and to provide flexibility when preparing and caring for COVID-19 patients.

New York is expected to experience the country’s first peak of COVID-19 patients in the next week or two, followed closely by other hotspot states such as Louisiana, New Jersey, and Michigan. The surge of patients is straining hospital capacity, healthcare worker staffing, and supplies of personal protective equipment and ventilators.

The scarcity of the tests, and the subsequent wait for results for patients and staff, which often took a week or longer, had a snowball effect on patient throughput, according to a survey and analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General.

The United States leads the world in reported coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, with the total as of April 6 at more then 336,000, according to worldometer. A significant percentage of COVID-19 patients require mechanical ventilation in the ICU setting, which is expected to strain critical care resources including staff as coronavirus patients surge in the coming weeks.

PPE is a crucial element of protecting healthcare workers from the virus that causes COVID-19. In China, Italy, and Spain, thousands of healthcare workers have been infected with the coronavirus. One-third of U.S. doctors are at high risk of serious illness from the coronavirus because they are over 60 years old, new research shows.