Medical Care and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for the US health care system as the number of people needing medical care has exploded over a period of just days. This has pushed the medical care system in some states close to the limits of their capacity to treat the sick. Communities across the country have limited their hospital care to immediately needed services by greatly limiting elective surgeries and ramping up their capacities to treat victims of the pandemic.

Medical Researchers here and around the world have increasingly concentrated their research activities on the search for more effective coronavirus testing tools for infection and antibodies, and medical interventions, especially those designed to improve outcomes for seriously ill individuals. This site will compile and organize information on a wide range of medical care issues as the pandemic unfolds.

Reports

Pharmacologic Treatments for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (JAMA Network)
Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19 (New England Journal of Medicine)
Study: Low oxygen, inflammation predict critical COVID-19 illness, death (CIDRAP)

Important Links

Oxygen Industry Scrambles To Keep U.S. Patients With COVID-19 Breathing (npr)
The Forever Disease: How Covid-19 Became a Chronic Condition (The New Republic)
Long-Haul Covid and the Chronic Illness Debate (The New York Times)
Lingering lung, physical, mental symptoms 4 months after COVID-19 (CIDRAP)
Denied treatment, some Covid long-haulers could become lifelong-haulers (STAT)
COVID-19 ‘long-haulers’ trying to decode lasting symptoms a year after falling ill (ABC News)
COVID-Overwhelmed Hospitals Strain Staff and Hope to Avoid Rationing Care (Scientific American)
What If You Never Get Better From Covid-19? (The New York Times)
COVID Can Cause Forgetfulness, Psychosis, Mania or a Stutter (Scientific American)
Lilly: Drug can prevent COVID-19 illness in nursing homes (AP News)
Are more people surviving Covid-19 because doctors are doing less? (STAT)
Pneumonia in severe COVID-19 patients more damaging (Chicago WGN9)
Most patients hospitalized for Covid-19 still have symptoms six months later, China study finds (STAT)
How COVID-19 Attacks The Brain And May Cause Lasting Damage (npr)
LA County Paramedics Told Not To Transport Some Patients With Low Chance Of Survival (npr)
Children’s Hospitals Are Partly to Blame as Superbugs Increasingly Attack Kids (KHN)
As the Terror of COVID Struck, Health Care Workers Struggled to Survive. Thousands Lost the Fight. (KHN)
COVID 5 times deadlier than flu for hospital patients, study finds (CIDRAP)
People Thought Covid-19 Was Relatively Harmless for Younger Adults. They Were Wrong. (The New York Times)
Facing up to long COVID (The Lancet)
‘Autoantibodies’ may be driving severe Covid cases, study shows (The Guardian)
Covid-19’s effects include seizures and movement disorders — even in some moderate cases, study finds (CNN)
ICU beds running critically short as COVID-19 cases surge (The Hill)
As Hospitals Fill With COVID Patients, Medical Reinforcements Are Hard to Find (KHN)
Hospitals Know What’s Coming (The Atlantic)
Gottlieb warns that long term effects of COVID still unknown (The Hill)
‘We’re drowning’: COVID cases flood hospitals in America’s heartland (Reuters)
The Health 202: Coronavirus survival rates in the United States haven’t improved since the summer (The Washington Post)
Number of COVID-19 ‘long haulers,’ survivors experiencing lasting virus symptoms, is growing (ABC News)
Delirium could signal Covid-19 infection in older adults, study finds (STAT)
Now the U.S. Has Lots of Ventilators, but Too Few Specialists to Operate Them (The New York Times)
FDA Grants Emergency Authorization For A 2nd COVID-19 Antibody Treatment (npr)
‘No One Is Listening to Us’ (The Atlantic)
‘People are going to die’: Hospitals in half the states are facing a massive staffing shortage as Covid-19 surges (STAT)
‘Tired to the bone’: Hospitals overwhelmed with virus cases (AP News)
Clots, Strokes and Rashes: Is COVID a Disease of the Blood Vessels? (KHN)
‘Breakthrough Finding’ Reveals Why Certain COVID Patients Die (KHN)
9% of hospitalized coronavirus patients readmitted within 2 months of discharge: CDC report (Fox News)
What defines a COVID death? Nevada finally says. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Lung damage found in COVID dead may shed light on ‘long COVID’ – study (Reuters)
‘Is This Worth My Life?’: Traveling Health Workers Decry COVID Care Conditions (KHN)
Doctors Begin to Crack Covid’s Mysterious Long-Term Effects (The Wall Street Journal)
Death Rates Have Dropped for Seriously Ill Covid Patients (The New York Times)
A Glimmer of Hope: Mortality Rate Is Improving for Hospitalized COVID Patients (Truthout)
When the Doctor Is a Covid ‘Long Hauler’ (The New York Times)
‘Long Covid’: These 5 factors make it more likely you’ll suffer long term from coronavirus (CNBC)
Studies Point To Big Drop In COVID-19 Death Rates (npr)
Medicare should break an old rule to let breakthrough digital therapeutics save lives (STAT)
Older COVID Patients Battle ‘Brain Fog,’ Weakness and Emotional Turmoil (KHN)
Medicare should break an old rule to let breakthrough digital therapeutics save lives (STAT)
WHO study finds no benefit from remdesivir on COVID-19 deaths, hospital stays (The Hill)
Study: Certain pre-existing conditions can double, triple risk of COVID-19 death (AJC)
Nevada man’s COVID-19 reinfection, the first in the US, is ‘yellow caution light’ about risk of coronavirus (USA Today)
Kids struggle with Covid-19 and its months of aftermath (CNN)
‘I Feel Like I Have Dementia’: Brain Fog Plagues Covid Survivors (The New York Times)
President Trump is benefiting from single-payer, single-provider health care. We all should (STAT)
The Health 202: Republican-backed ACA lawsuit also threatens Medicaid as enrollment grows during pandemic (The Washington Post)
National poll highlights perils of COVID-19 in rural Georgia (Georgia Health News)
Are Hospitals Ready For Covid’s Second Wave? (Bloomberg)
Long-term Health Consequences of COVID-19 (JAMA)
Charting a Coronavirus Infection (The New York Times)
Health Equity And The Future Of Nursing, Post-COVID-19 (Health Affairds)
Nearly 1M who died of COVID-19 also illuminated treatment (AP News)
Asymptomatic COVID in healthcare workers points to risk of silent spread (CIDRAP)
‘You are not your disease’: COVID-19 long haulers find hope in recovery program (USA Today)
‘It does affect more than your lungs’: Why COVID-19 survivors may need to get screened for heart damage (USA Today)
Coronavirus causing ‘persistent fatigue’ in more than half of recovered patients, study finds (Fox News)
Biden wants to restore Obamacare. He may have trouble. (Politico)
Tough to Tell COVID From Smoke Inhalation Symptoms — And Flu Season’s Coming (KHN)
Lost Health Insurance Should Be a Front-Page Political Issue (The American Prospect)
Still wanted: a treatment for the coronavirus (Politico)
What Is Covid-19 Doing to Our Hearts? (The New Republic)
Italy’s Bergamo is calling back coronavirus survivors. About half say they haven’t fully recovered. (The Washington Post)
For Long-Haulers, Covid-19 Takes a Toll on Mind as Well as Body (The New York Times)
As Americans brace for 2nd wave of COVID-19, here’s why experts predict more infections but lower death rate (ABC News)
Penn State doctor: ‘Alarming’ number of heart inflammation in athletes with COVID-19 (The Hill)
The COVID Comorbidity Crisis (Project Synadicate)
Inexpensive steroids reduce deaths of hospitalized Covid-19 patients, WHO analysis confirms (STAT)
Covid Patients Are Receiving Eye-Popping Bills. It’s Not All Trump’s Fault. (The New Republic)
Where Is America’s Groundbreaking Covid-19 Research? (The New York Times)
For some, COVID-19 symptoms linger for months (Boston Globe)
The syndrome that seems to predict a ‘lethal outcome’ in coronavirus patients (The New Orleans Advocate)
Trump Program to Cover Uninsured Covid-19 Patients Falls Short of Promise (The New York Times)
Health insurance and the COVID-19 shock (Portside)
Another COVID Mystery: Patients Survive Ventilator, But Linger in a Coma (KHN)
Miami ICU nurse: I have never in my life seen so many deaths (AP News)
As Pandemic Persists, Health Care Heroes Beginning To Crack Under The Strain (wbur)
Trump administration bars FDA review of some coronavirus tests (The Hill)
COVID-19 survivors face lifetime of disability (Macro Business)
COVID-19 fatality rates fall as treatments improve (The Hill)
Trail of bubbles leads scientists to new coronavirus clue (AP News)
Long-Haulers Are Redefining COVID-19 (The Atlantic)
Inside the Fight to Save Houston’s Most Vulnerable (The New York Times)
Don’t just look at covid-19 fatality rates. Look at people who survive — but don’t entirely recover. (The Washington Post)
Obesity Raises the Risk of Death From Covid-19 Among Men (The New York Times)
Seven months later, what we know about Covid-19 — and the pressing questions that remain (STAT)
PPE Shortage Could Last Years Without Strategic Plan, Experts Warn (KHN)
‘Is This When I Drop Dead?’ Two Doctors Report From the COVID Front Lines (KHN)
Long after the fire of a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects can still smolder (STAT)
Dying Young: The Health Care Workers in Their 20s Killed by COVID-19 (KHN)
Nurses and Doctors Sick With COVID Feel Pressured to Get Back to Work (KHN)
Health workers, especially minorities, at high risk for COVID, even with PPE (CIDRAP)
The Many Symptoms of Covid-19 (The New York Times)
Yes, we need a vaccine to control Covid-19. But we need new treatments, too (STAT)
The nursing science behind nurses as coronavirus hospital heroes (STAT)
As a virus ravages the world, antibiotic makers are in disarray (PBS)
More than half of Spanish coronavirus patients suffering from neurological problems: research (The Hill)
Covid-19 infections leave an impact on the heart, raising concerns about lasting damage (STAT)
Survey shows Iowa providers don’t like privatized Medicaid (AP News)
CDC: Even mild coronavirus symptoms can persist for weeks (The Hill)
Study identifies six different “types” of COVID-19 (CBS News)
What scientists are learning about how long Covid-19 immunity lasts (Vox)
A Covid-19 Lesson: Some Seriously Ill Patients Can Be Treated at Home (The New York Times)
Who Gets the Covid-19 Vaccine First? Here’s One Idea (The New York Times)
Covid’s Harrowing Complications (Wall Street Journal)
Millions Have Lost Health Insurance in Pandemic-Driven Recession (The New York Times)
Pandemic upends Trump’s plans to shrink health care safety net (Politico)
Pickup truck medicine: saving primary care during Covid-19 (STAT)
NBA docs worried about lingering effects of COVID-19 (Reuters)
The heart: Before, during and after COVID-19 (ABC News)
My Covid-19 symptoms have lasted more than 100 days, and I’m not alone. Will they ever end? (STAT)
In Nick Cordero’s Death, a Reminder of Covid-19’s Unknowns (The New York Times)
The Pandemic’s Big Mystery: How Deadly Is the Coronavirus? (The New York Times)
Think a ‘mild’ case of Covid-19 doesn’t sound so bad? Think again (The Guardian)
For Nina Coletta, and people like her, recovery from COVID-19 is a long road, taken step by step (Boston Globe)
Here’s What Recovery From Covid-19 Looks Like for Many Survivors (The New York Times)
Study finds lung impairment in recovering COVID-19 patients (CIDRAP)
Covid-19 sickens seniors differently. Here’s why. (The Washington Post)
Can Covid Damage the Brain? (The New York Times)
Lessons learned: Why hospitals are better prepared for latest coronavirus resurgence (ABC News)
What doctors have learned about fighting COVID-19 (Reuters)
Covid-19 unmasks what cancer patients have long known: The world needs a better and more equitable health system (CNN)
As wave of Covid-19 cases crashes, a surge in other health conditions looms (STAT)
Trump promised to pay for Covid care. But patients with long-term symptoms see huge bills. (Politico)
An Early Look at the Potential Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Health Insurance Coverage (The Commonwealth Fund)
Lack of rapid diagnostic tools contributes to Covid-19 deaths (STAT)
Will COVID become more dangerous? That’s up to us, experts say (ABC News)
Coronavirus and hospital bills: Medicare v. private health insurance (just care)
Patients with underlying conditions were 12 times as likely to die of covid-19 as otherwise healthy people, CDC finds (The Washington Post)
A majority of Americans fear pharma will use Covid-19 as an excuse to raise prices (STAT)
Rapid Changes To Health System Spurred By COVID Might Be Here To Stay (KHN)
Major study finds common steroid reduces deaths among patients with severe Covid-19 (STAT)
How America’s Hospitals Survived the First Wave of the Coronavirus (ProPublica)
What ICU doctors have learned about COVID-19 — and how they’re prepared for a 2nd wave (NBC News)
How Rich Investors, Not Doctors, Profit From Marking Up ER Bills (ProPublica)
These people have been sick with coronavirus for more than 60 days. (The Washington Post)
Health Workers Resort To Etsy, Learning Chinese, Shady Deals To Find Safety Gear (KHN)
Immunity to the coronavirus remains a mystery. Scientists are trying to crack the case (STAT)
In the era of COVID-19, states need practical solutions to address health care costs (The Hill)
At-Home Care Designed For COVID Likely Here To Stay At Cleveland Hospital (KHN)
A national registry could help defeat sepsis, a big contributor to Covid-19 deaths (STAT)
Rethinking the Hospital for the Next Pandemic (The Wall Street Journal)
Rapid Changes To Health System Spurred By COVID Might Be Here To Stay (KHN)
Some covid-19 patients taken off ventilators are taking days or even weeks to wake up (The Washington Post)
Patients with high blood pressure have twice the risk of dying from coronavirus, study finds (CNN)
ICUs Become A ‘Delirium Factory’ For COVID Patients (KHN)
COVID-19 Can Last for Several Months (The Atlantic)
Our Next Crisis Will Be Caring for Survivors of Covid-19 (The New York Times)
Primary care doctors could be COVID-19’s next victims (The Hill)
After 6 Months, Important Mysteries About Coronavirus Endure (The New York Times)
Experts dispute reports that coronavirus is becoming less lethal (The Washington Post)
Six Months of Coronavirus: Here’s Some of What We’ve Learned (The New York Times)
New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says (Reuters)
Coronavirus May Not Be a Respiratory Disease After All and that Could Change Everything, a Study Claims (The Science Times)
Finding, and Curing, Cancers May Be Another Casualty of Coronavirus (The New York Times)
Coronavirus care in hospitals will be different come fall — here’s how (ABC News)
Obesity Is America’s ‘Achilles Heel’ When It Comes To COVID-19 (wbur)
13% of cancer patients who contract coronavirus likely to die, study suggests (ABC News)
Bringing ‘Poogie’ Home: Hospice In The Time Of COVID-19 (KHN)
The Health 202: Coronavirus proves U.S. needs Medicare-for-all, its advocates say (The Washington Post)
The Public Has Been Forgiving. But Hospitals Got Some Things Wrong. (The New York Times)
Elderly covid-19 patients on ventilators usually do not survive, New York hospitals report (The Washing Post)
How the pandemic is changing medicine (The Hill)
Right ventricle enlargement a major predictor for mortality among COVID patients, new study finds (CNN)
Preventing a Parallel Pandemic — A National Strategy to Protect Clinicians’ Well-Being (The New England Journal of Medicine)
New analysis recommends less reliance on ventilators to treat coronavirus patients (STAT)
CDC issues advisory about severe coronavirus-related illness in children (The Hill)
Chasing The Elusive Dream Of A COVID Cure (KHN)
Kidney injury seen in more than a third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients: U.S. study (Reuters)
Doctors express glimmers of hope as they try out new approaches against coronavirus (The Washington Post)
Coronavirus drives health insurers back to Obamacare (Politico)
HHS provider grants favor hospitals with higher share of privately insured patients (Modern Healthcare)
Palliative care needs tweaking in the coronavirus era (STAT)
Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body (The Washington Post)
Coronavirus Hijacks the Body From Head to Toe, Perplexing Doctors (The Wall Street Journal)
Coronavirus Blood-clot Mystery Intensifies (Portside)
America’s Health-Care System Has Never Looked Sicker — or Harder to Cure (New York Magazine)
How COVID-19 is exposing — and widening — cracks in the US health system (ABC)
From blood clots to ‘Covid toe’: the medical mysteries of coronavirus (Financial Times)
Silent hypoxia: Covid-19 patients who should be gasping for air but aren’t (CNN)
New Studies Add to Evidence that Children May Transmit the Coronavirus (The New York Times)
How to improve your respiratory health in case you get Covid-19 (CNN)
Palliative Care Helped Family Face ‘The Awful, Awful Truth’ (KHN)
Coronavirus has created a crisis for primary care doctors and their patients (Vox)
Bring back the Nurse Corps to fight coronavirus (The Hill)
Why Days 5 to 10 Are So Important When You Have Coronavirus (The New York Times)
Doctors Link COVID-19 To Potentially Deadly Blood Clots And Strokes (wbur)
Coronavirus exposes major flaws in health care system, experts say (NBC News)
Free Clinics Try To Fill Gaps As COVID Sweeps Away Job-Based Insurance (KHN)
Primary care is being devastated by Covid-19. It must be saved (STAT)
As Patients Recover From Coronavirus, Doctors Wonder About Long-Term Health Impacts (wbur)
Patients with certain cancers are nearly three times as likely to die of covid-19, study says (The Washington Post)
Antibody tests support what’s been obvious: Covid-19 is much more lethal than the flu (The Washington Post)
Covid-19 — A Reminder to Reason (New England Journal of Medicine)
‘Silent Hypoxics’: Docs warn of coronavirus link to mysterious low oxygen symptoms (ABC News)
Widely Used Surgical Masks Are Putting Health Care Workers At Serious Risk (KHN)
WHO says no evidence recovery prevents second infection as coronavirus deaths surpass 200,000 worldwide (The Washington Post)
‘You are a miracle’: Home care is new front in virus fight (AP News)
Seniors With COVID-19 Show Unusual Symptoms, Doctors Say (KHN)
Nearly All Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19 Had Chronic Health Issues, Study Finds (The New York Times)
VA medical facilities struggle to cope with the coronavirus (AP News)
Seniors with Covid-19 show unusual symptoms, doctors say (CNN)
Special Report: As virus advances, doctors rethink rush to ventilate (Reuters)
In New York’s largest hospital system, 88 percent of coronavirus patients on ventilators didn’t make it (The Washington Post)
I Want My Death to Make You Angry (Portside)
The Infection That’s Silently Killing Coronavirus Patients (The New York Times)
Coronavirus Fuels Explosive Growth In Telehealth ― And Concern About Fraud (KHN)
New U.S. Treatment Guidelines for Covid-19 Don’t See Much Progress (The New York Times)
The numbers are in: COVID-19 is worse than the flu and is now a leading cause of death (The Dallas Morning News)
Diabetics at four times greater risk of death from COVID-19 (Modern Healthcare)
Prepare for collateral damage as devastating as the virus (The Washington Post)
No, Italy Is Not the Case Against Medicare for All (The Nation)
Asthma Is Absent Among Top Covid-19 Risk Factors, Early Data Shows (The New York Times)
It’s shameful how many health-care workers are dying from Covid-19 (CNN)
Ventilators Aren’t Going to Cure COVID-19. Here’s What They Can Do. (ProPublica)
Foreign Doctors Could Help Fight Coronavirus. But U.S. Blocks Many. (The New York Times)
Coronavirus destroys lungs. But doctors are finding its damage in kidneys, hearts and elsewhere (The Washington Post)
Getting Ahead Of COVID-19 Issues: Dying From Respiratory Failure Out Of The Hospital (Health Affairs)
The Health 202: Thousands of medical workers are getting sick from coronavirus (The Washington Post)
Changes in Income and Health Coverage Eligibility After Job Loss Due to COVID-19 (KFF)
States blocking 4.4 million from gaining Medicaid coverage (The Hill)
Health Coverage for Unemployed Harder to Come By in Some States (PEW)
What Doctors on the Front Lines Wish They’d Known a Month Ago (The New York Times)
Pediatric Practices Struggle To Adapt And Survive Amid COVID-19
(KHN)
Professionalism drives health care workers to treat patients with Covid-19. We mustn’t jeopardize it (STAT)
When the coughing stops and the sense of helplessness begins (The Washington Post)
Some doctors moving away from ventilators for virus patients (AP News)
Furor Erupts: Billions Going To Hospitals Based On Medicare Billings, Not COVID-19 (KHN)
We’re short on hospital beds because Washington let too many hospitals merge (The Washington Post)
Sanders/Jayapal Bill Provides ‘Medical Care for All During Pandemic’ (Portside)
Coronavirus and the Cancer Patient (The New York Times)
Rationing Protective Gear Means Checking on Coronavirus Patients Less Often. This Can Be Deadly. (ProPublica)

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