Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) News

Below are links to AHA Today stories on novel coronavirus (COVID-19). For all coronavirus resources and news updates, visit our COVID-19 page.

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A recent JAMA-published study on U.S. hospitals’ financial performance during the COVID-19 public health emergency suffers from several methodological setbacks that undermine its credibility, writes Aaron Wesolowski, AHA’s vice president of policy, research, analytics and strategy.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed 15 health-related bills approved by its health subcommittee last week, including bills that would reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education Program, and key programs within the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT) Act.  
AHA Chair-elect Joanne Conroy, M.D., CEO and president of Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, N.H., opened the afternoon plenary session during Day 2 of the Summit, discussing how the unknowns of COVID-19 forced hospitals and health systems to quickly improvise and innovate.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration today issued an advisory offering evidence-based resources to help clinicians assess and treat mental health symptoms and conditions associated with Long COVID, from fatigue and sleep disturbances to depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The first data on the safety of a third mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose among young children show that a third dose is safe for children ages 6 months to 5 years old, similar to findings for doses one and two.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized for marketing the first at-home over-the-counter test for COVID-19 using a traditional premarket review pathway rather than emergency use authorities.
New research from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that by early fall 2022, an overwhelming percentage of American adults had antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a FAQ regarding Consolidated Appropriations Act changes for states redetermining Medicaid enrollee eligibility due to the March 31 end of the COVID-19 pandemic’s continuous enrollment requirement.
The Department of Health and Human Services yesterday released a fact sheet reviewing how the May 11 end of the COVID-19 public health emergency will affect the flexibilities the declaration enabled.
After the COVID-19 public health emergency ends on May 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will use COVID-19-associated hospital admission levels as the primary indicator to guide community and personal decisions related to risk and prevention behaviors.
In a study of adults hospitalized between February 2022 and February 2023, when the omicron variant predominated, monovalent mRNA vaccination was 76% effective at preventing COVID-19-associated invasive mechanical ventilation and death up to 6 months after the last dose and 56% effective at least one year after the last dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. 
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., stressed that patients expect hospitals to put them first, and challenged the field to have “tough conversations” about how to ensure that continues to happen. 
Addressing the AHA annual meeting, Ashish Jha, M.D., White House COVID-19 response coordinator, whose term will end May 11 with the COVID-19 public health emergency, reflected on his time in the Administration.
Research presented by acclaimed health care finances expert Lisa Goldstein, senior vice president for Kaufman Hall, show that times are tough but hospital leaders indicate there are silver linings from the COVID-19 pandemic that will pay dividends moving forward.  
The Food and Drug Administration authorized using a single dose of the Moderna or Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for primary vaccination as well as for future doses. Under today’s amended emergency use authorizations, the monovalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States. 
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to amend its Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act declaration for COVID-19 to extend liability protections for certain COVID-19 countermeasure activities beyond the May 11 end of the public health emergency, the agency announced today.
The Department of Health and Human Services yesterday released a fact sheet summarizing federal efforts to address Long COVID — the signs, symptoms and conditions that can continue or develop after initial COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Learn how Advocate Children's Hospital is managing the “immunity gap” created by social distancing to persevere through the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV and flu.
Qualified family members of health care workers whose lives were lost to COVID-19 may apply through April 20 at 3 p.m. CT for a Brave of Heart Scholarship.
Dwayne Gordon, M.D., and Richard Pratley, M.D., share lessons learned from AdventHealth’s multidisciplinary approach to caring for patients who experience longer term effects from COVID-19, from chronic fatigue to shortness of breath and loss of smell.