Reuters Health News Summary
Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
At some U.S. hospitals, drugs, catheters, oxygen tanks run low
It's not just protective facemasks that are in short supply: health workers in U.S. hospitals are reporting dwindling stocks of drugs, catheters and other medical miscellany vital for caring for a surge in patients stricken by the coronavirus outbreak. Marney Gruber, a doctor who works in emergency rooms around New York City, said a number of commonly used medications are in short supply, and at least one hospital had run out of central line kits, which are used to administer drugs to patients in intensive care.
China reports 54 new coronavirus cases on Friday, no domestic transmissions
China's National Health Commission said on Saturday that 54 new coronavirus cases were reported on the mainland on Friday, all involving so-called imported cases. There were 55 new cases a day earlier. The total number of infections for mainland China now stands at 81,394, with the death toll rising by 3 to 3,295, it said.
In trenches of New York's coronavirus crisis, nurses beg, borrow and steal precious masks
Amid growing shortages of vital protective equipment in New York hospitals, healthcare workers are desperately scrounging to find facemasks, hiding supplies from colleagues in other departments, and sometimes even pilfering for themselves. The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 45,000 across New York, and more than 550,000 globally. Nurses in New York City were shaken on Tuesday, when Kious Kelly, a nurse manager at a Mount Sinai Health System hospital, died after being infected.
U.S. ventilator makers pull out all stops to fight coronavirus
As U.S. demand for ventilators skyrockets during the coronavirus pandemic, smaller medical device makers are simplifying their designs and pushing other work aside to make more of the devices. The United States had equipment to help patients breathe when they can no longer do so on their own to about 160,000 people, according to research compiled by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health and Security.
Abbott wins U.S. approval for test that can detect coronavirus in minutes
Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it won U.S. marketing approval for a diagnostic test for the coronavirus that can deliver results to patients within minutes and be used in physicians offices and urgent care clinics, as well as hospitals. The United States now has more cases of the coronavirus than any other country, and hospitals have struggled to meet the demand to test thousands of people for the often-deadly virus.
Thailand reports 109 new coronavirus cases and one death
Thailand reported 109 new coronavirus cases and one death, bringing the total to 1,245 infections and 6 deaths, the spokesman of the government's Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Saturday. The latest death is of a patient with some prior health complication, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, the CCSA spokesman said.
Pentagon eyes Chicago, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana as coronavirus spreads
The U.S. military is watching coronavirus infection trends in Chicago, Michigan, Florida and Louisiana with concern as it weighs where else it may need to deploy, after boosting aid to New York, California and Washington, a top general said on Friday. Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military was doing its own analysis as well as looking at data on infections compiled elsewhere in the government.
Trump to meet next week on next steps for virus battle, says U.S. to make 100,000 ventilators
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would meet advisers early next week to discuss the next steps in fighting the coronavirus and the possibility of opening the U.S. economy, and said the United States would produce 100,000 ventilators in 100 days. Trump named White House aide Peter Navarro to coordinate production of the Defense Production Act, which the president invoked on Friday to require General Motors Co to build ventilators for coronavirus patients.
South Korea reports 146 new coronavirus cases, highest in a week
South Korea reported 146 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number in a week, its disease control agency said on Saturday, with the country suffering a rise in imported cases from Europe and the United States during recent days. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) did not say how many of Friday's new cases were imported as it was still investigating.
As U.S. virus cases exceed 100,000, doctors decry scarcity of drugs and equipment
Doctors and nurses on the front lines of the U.S. coronavirus crisis pleaded on Friday for more protective gear and equipment to treat waves of patients expected to overwhelm hospitals as the sum of known U.S. infections climbed well past 100,000, with more than 1,600 dead. Physicians have called particular attention to a desperate need for additional ventilators, machines that help patients breathe and are widely needed for those suffering from COVID-19, the respiratory ailment caused by the highly contagious novel coronavirus.
