Polio Immunization Suspended Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
Health officials attempting to eradicate polio say they are being forced to suspend their mass immunization efforts amid the surging coronavirus pandemic.
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Medicine
Abortion Access
A district court in Iowa entered an order agreed to by the state and Planned Parenthood, which had sought an injunction to stop a proclamation it interpreted as restricting almost all surgical abortions. The state clarified the proclamation only suspends “nonessential” surgical abortions and also allows for the consideration of whether the timing of a patient’s pregnancy would prevent her from obtaining a legal abortion after the expiration of the proclamation.
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Courthouses Answer Call From Hospitals Lacking Masks in Virus War
Distributed at the height of a national anthrax scare, a supply of 1,200 N95 respirator masks have been unearthed from courthouse supply closets across the state of Florida and sent to the front lines of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Cuomo Desperate for Help With New York’s Surging Death Toll
As images spread of New York hospitals moving body bags to morgues with forklifts — emblematic of a statewide death toll that doubled in three days — Governor Andrew Cuomo had plenty of empathy but little reassurance for the public in his daily press briefing Wednesday.
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Europe Rushes to Build Field Hospitals
Facing intense surges in the need for intensive care beds in hospitals, European nations are on a building and hiring spree, throwing together makeshift hospitals and shipping coronavirus patients out of overwhelmed cities via high-speed trains and military jets.
Read moreAbortions During the Pandemic
Federal judges in Alabama and Ohio blocked coronavirus-related orders banning nonessential medical procedures from restricting abortion access. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson found that such an order is likely to “fully prevent women from exercising their righ to obtain an abortion,” given Alabama’s time limits on when women can undergo the procedure.
Read moreDivulging Brother’s Diagnosis, Cuomo Says Virus Fight Will Endure
Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers in his daily press briefing Tuesday to buckle up for a long fight in the coronavirus pandemic. Nobody knows when things will go back to normal, he said.
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Europe Busts Sanctions to Help Iran Recover
European nations have delivered medical equipment to Iran in the first transaction under the Instex mechanism set up to bypass U.S. sanctions on Tehran, the German foreign ministry said Tuesday.
Read moreMajor Retailers Lay Off Tens of Thousands
The governors of New York and California are moving to rapidly expand the ranks of health care workers, as the death toll from Covid-19 in New York surged past 1,200 while hospitalizations in California doubled in the past four days.
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Newsom Launches Bid to Recruit Medical Workers for California
Staffing for a predicted patient surge, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday eased regulations to enable hospitals to quickly hire thousands of both licensed and to-be licensed nurses and doctors.
Read moreStrained NYC Health Care System Welcomes Navy Hospital Ship
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and crowds of New Yorkers welcomed the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort on Monday morning as it docked off Manhattan to support the city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Counties Without Coronavirus Mostly Rural & Poor
As the coronavirus rages across the United States, mainly in large urban areas, more than one-third of U.S. counties have yet to report a single positive test result for Covid-19 infections.
Read moreHundreds at Louisiana Church Flout Covid-19 Gatherings Ban
Hundreds of worshippers attended services at a Louisiana church on Sunday, flouting a ban on large gatherings, angering neighbors and seemingly turning a deaf ear to their governor, who once again warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed with new cases of the coronavirus.
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Survey of Mayors Confirms Worst Fears of Medical Supplies Shortage
American cities report a nationwide shortage of 28.5 million face masks, 7.9 million test kits, and 139,000 ventilators needed to protect first responders and care for citizens suffering from the novel coronavirus, according to a survey published by the United States Conference of Mayors on Friday.
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Navy Hospital Ship Arrives in LA to Ease Coming Burden on Hospitals
A U.S. Navy hospital ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Friday as medical facilities in Southern California prepare for a surge of Covid-19 patients in the coming weeks.
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Trump Uses Wartime Law to Force Ventilator Production
President Donald Trump on Friday used the decades-old Defense Production Act to order General Motors to begin mass production of ventilators needed at hospitals across the U.S. to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
Read moreKeeping Schools Closed, Cuomo Reiterates Power of Lockdown
Schools in New York state will remain closed for another two weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday, continuing to waive the mandate that schools must operate for 180 days a year, as Covid-19 cases in the state continue to climb.
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Scientists Question Accuracy of Virus Tests
Some political leaders are hailing a potential breakthrough in the fight against Covid-19: simple pin-prick blood tests or nasal swabs that can determine within minutes if someone has, or had, the virus.
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Poison ‘Cure’ Kills Hundreds in Iran
Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus
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