US intelligence agencies started tracking coronavirus outbreak in China as early as November

(CNN)US spy agencies were tracking the rise of the novel coronavirus as early as November, weeks before that information was included in President Donald Trump's daily intelligence briefing, a former US military official told CNN. While the exact date of the first report remains unclear, sources told CNN that intelligence gathered in November and in the weeks following offered multiple early warnings about the potential severity of the pandemic now surging in the US. Intelligence is often only elevated to the highest levels of the government once analysts and officials reach a certain threshold of confidence in their assessment. That day came on January 3, the first day the President's daily briefing included information the US intelligence community had gathered about the contagion in China and the potential it had to spread, including to the US, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Coronavirus Live Updates: Additional Aid Stalls in Senate; New York Hospitalizations Slow

A Trump administration request for $250 billion in relief for small businesses stalled in the Senate. A Trump administration request for quick approval of $250 billion to replenish a new loan program for distressed small businesses stalled in the Senate on Thursday morning after Republicans and Democrats clashed over what should be included. With Congress in recess and lawmakers scattered around the country, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, attempted to push through the small business loan funding during a procedural session, a maneuver that would have required all senators to agree.

How COVID-19 is impacting hospitals' IT purchasing decisions

The coronavirus pandemic is throwing a new factor into hospitals' calculations about how to proceed with current and future healthcare IT implementations. As provider organizations face a surge of new cases, or anticipate capacity challenges in the near future, they're reconsidering the speed with which they can conduct current implementations because of limitations in IT-staff capacity and the heavy demands that high patient loads are placing on clinical staff. Looking ahead, some providers also may see future implementation efforts delayed because organizations lack the bandwidth now to support the often long and arduous process of making future purchases. However, some forms of technology – particularly those that support telehealth services – are in hot demand as they prove their worth during the national pandemic, say experts who assess information technology adoption by the nation's healthcare providers. Organizations also are looking to quickly access and use features of their current IT to enable them to better cope with the crisis.

Premier, Resilinc launch online exchange to track medical supply during COVID-19 crisis

With growing concern of shortages for personal protective equipment and other supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Premier has teamed up with supply chain mapping and disruption monitoring services specialist Resilinc to launch an exchange to locate and trade critical supplies. The cloud-based platform, developed in collaboration with Stanford Medicine and called The Exchange, allows hospitals and frontline healthcare providers to submit requests for specific items and be matched with peer organizations who can provide the needed supplies. The tool can expedite communications between thousands of networked hospitals and help place critical medical supplies where they are needed most. "Many hospitals searching for items that are on allocation by suppliers must manually locate other hospitals who have inventory," Bindiya Vakil, CEO and founder of Resilinc, said in a statement. "This can be time consuming, less successful and has a narrow geographic reach."

Survey: Americans’ perceptions of telehealth in the COVID-19 era

Global Edition Telehealth Survey: Americans’ perceptions of telehealth in the COVID-19 era Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they’d consider using telehealth to be remotely screened for COVID-19, and two-thirds said the pandemic has increased their willingness to try virtual care the Clearlink survey found. By Bill SiwickiApril 03, 202012:09 PM Survey: Americans’ perceptions of telehealth in the COVID-19 era The rapid spread of coronavirus COVID-19 is taxing traditional methods of healthcare delivery. The sheer number of suspected cases of the virus, the pace at which it is spreading, and the desire to have as many people as possible practice social distancing or shelter-in-place have made it more challenging for individuals to receive care in a traditional, in-person setting. Telehealth technology, originally designed to give access to care in areas where there is a shortage of specialty care providers, now is being used much more widely as a way to screen and diagnose patients without risking the spread of disease through personal contact. But if health IT professionals have long been accustomed to notion of telehealth and virtual care, even if they haven’t deployed the technologies themselves, what do healthcare consumers think of this emerging new way of engaging with their care providers?

Telehealth vendors scramble to hire doctors as patient volume soars amid COVID-19

Telehealth vendors are scrambling to hire doctors and get them onboarded as soon as possible to meet skyrocketing patient demand as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the U.S. "The big challenge we have right now is there's a need to get as many providers on our platform as quickly as possible so we're able to meet that surging demand," Ross Friedberg, chief legal and business affairs officer at Doctor on Demand, told Healthcare Dive. San Francisco-based Doctor on Demand is aggressively recruiting, Friedberg said, and "rapidly increasing" its number of providers daily, though the company declined to share more specific figures. Mobile app-based vendor 98point6, which licenses its physicians in all 50 states, is bringing on short-term physicians to help with the recent dramatic increase in patient volume. Over the next month, the startup expects to triple the number of doctors working at 98point6.

As Congress gains ground on stimulus, healthcare workers ask people to stay home

Healthcare providers pleaded with the American public Tuesday to stay home in an attempt to limit spread of the novel coronavirus. But the remarks were in stark contrast to President Donald Trump, who said he wanted the nation to be "opened up" by Easter — April 12 — despite strong advice from public health experts that the U.S. continue social distancing efforts. Congress, meanwhile, reached a deal on stimulus legislation that Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said includes $130 billion for the healthcare system "to be injected right away to help with the shortage of ventilators, equipment and other things as well as whatever else they need." The American Hospital Association had asked for at least $100 billion to increase surge capacity through alternate care sites.

UnitedHealth says self-swabbing study spurred FDA coronavirus policy change

The earlier guidelines for COVID-19 swab testing in the U.S. required healthcare professionals to take samples from the nasopharynx, which is located at the back of the nasal cavity, or from the back of the throat. Nasopharyngeal specimens were, and remain, FDA’s preferred type of samples for tests for the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that is causing the COVID-19 outbreak. However, in cases when a nasopharyngeal specimen is not available, the guidelines state it is now “acceptable” for tests to be done on specimens taken from the front part of the nostril and middle of the nasal cavity, locations which are known as anterior nares and mid-turbinate in anatomy. FDA and CDC updated their guidance early this week without explaining the decision. According to UnitedHealth, the change was underpinned by data it generated from nearly 500 patients treated at facilities run by its OptumCare subsidiary in Washington state.

FDA still trying to fine-tune Pre-Cert as pilot enters 2020

The FDA initiative, led by Patel, seeks to reduce certification hurdles for developers of software-based medical devices by shifting responsibility for periodic software updates to manufacturers themselves. But the uncertainty around the Pre-Cert program and the agency's plans for regulating digital health technologies is making some industry observers nervous. Bradley Merrill Thompson, a medical device regulatory attorney at Washington, D.C.-based Epstein Becker Green, says while he appreciates FDA taking its time and "trying to be careful," the progress of the Pre-Cert pilot has been "very slow." In particular, Thompson is concerned the agency hasn't worked out the specific statutory authority required. "FDA can't ask Congress for authority to just do whatever the agency wants to do in its judgment. We need certainty and predictability, and we need to make sure that the agency doesn't go awry," Thompson said. "So FDA needs to get this figured out before they ask for statutory authority to implement it." The pilot, which entered a formal testing phase last year, is focused on software as a medical device (SaMD), which the agency notes ranges from diagnostic software that allows a smartphone to view MRIs, to computer-aided detection software that performs image post-processing to help detect breast cancer.

'What about us?': Frontline primary care practices fear for survival amid coronavirus

Autumn Road Family Practice in Little Rock, Arkansas, thought it had a plan in place to weather the coronavirus pandemic. The six-provider practice, which has been in business for half a century serving its close-knit community, began to gather personal protective equipment for workers and ask patients screening questions through its call center and front desk. Autumn Road had a partner meeting March 12, a Thursday, to update its response to the budding coronavirus outbreak in Little Rock, including the first patient testing positive in its offices. But things changed dramatically in a matter of days. "We came in Monday morning and it was like a whole new world," Tabitha Childers, Autumn Road's clinic administrator, told Healthcare Dive. "All of a sudden our patients are canceling their appointments ... About Wednesday we just realized that the finances are quickly failing. Thursday we made a list of what we could cut."

Once 'fringe idea,' doctors warming to patients reading encounter notes, study suggests

For decades, the physician-patient relationship was mostly a one-way street. If you wanted to know what your doctor had put in your records, you usually had to ask them directly, and some might be reluctant to fully disclose their contents. While HIPAA allowed patients easier access to their medical records starting in the late 1990s, patients still received them long after the fact and without interaction with their doctors. However, the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016 pushed patient access to medical records into a whole new realm. Patients can not only access their records electronically and often within days of a medical visit, but their physician notes as well. Moreover, the JAMA Open study, authored by doctors and researchers from Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the University of Massachusetts, UCLA, the University of Washington and the Steele Institute for Health Innovation, concludes that the attitudes of the past may be fading away. Aside from the nearly three-quarters of clinicians who said note sharing was a good idea, the same number, 74% of those who knew their notes were being read, said it was a good way to engage patients in their care. Altogether, 1,628 clinicians practicing at three different health systems, 58% of whom are doctors, were queried through a web-based survey conducted between May and August 2018.

Trump administration expedites Medicare payments to providers amid coronavirus

Dive Insight: The coronavirus outbreak has surged in the U.S. in recent days, exposing gaping holes in an already overtaxed healthcare system and threatening to bankrupt providers, especially small, independent ones. Hospitals have been asked to halt all non-essential elective surgeries to shore up resources for COVID-19, removing a lucrative source of income for providers as the novel coronavirus has infected more than 143,000 people in the U.S. and killed more than 2,500 as of Monday morning. CMS' actions over the weekend to more quickly get Medicare payments to providers to bolster their finances come days after President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion stimulus package meant to get the U.S. economy moving again. The so-called CARES Act, which made changes allowing CMS to expand which providers qualify for the accelerated traditional fee-for-service Medicare payments, benchmarks some $100 billion for hospitals, though it's not entirely clear how the money will be apportioned. "With our nation's health care providers on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19, dollars and cents shouldn't be adding to their worries," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. CMS last made the advance payments available to providers during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017.

Telehealth, retail clinic use increasing in pivot toward lower-priced medical delivery sites

Dive Brief: Consumer use of telehealth and retail clinics spiked from 2017 to 2018, while use of urgent care centers, ambulatory surgery centers and emergency rooms dropped as consumers increasingly turn to cheaper sites of care for low-acuity medical needs. Telehealth use grew 12% and retail clinic use grew 10% during the time period, according to a new report from health cost nonprofit FAIR Health. At the same time, urgent care center use fell 11%, ambulatory surgery center use fell 12% and ER use fell 15%. However, despite increased use of telehealth and retail clinics, use of all five places of health service has slowed overall. Retail clinics and virtual care saw growth from 2013 to 2018, but at a much slower rate compared to 2012 to 2017, FAIR Health found. Similarly, for urgent care centers, ambulatory surgery centers and ERs, growth in 2009 to 2018 was at a much slower rate than 2008 to 2017.

Dorm rooms as hospitals, ER telehealth: CMS creates 'unprecedented' flexibility as COVID-19 rages on

UPDATE: April 1, 2020: Hospital groups on Tuesday applauded the actions from CMS, with the American Hospital Association calling the ability to care for patients outside of hospitals' four walls a "critical lifeline in the the fight against COVID-19. AHA said it would "continue to work on additional waiver suggestions." Dive Brief: CMS on Monday announced an "unprecedented range" of temporary regulatory changes aimed at helping providers boost capacity and staff to treat patients amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes mean hospitals can bill for services provided outside their buildings so that patients can be screened offsite or through virtual encounters. Ambulatory surgery centers will be able to contract with local health systems to provide hospital services such as cancer care and necessary surgeries and bill as hospitals. Approved non-hospital spaces like dorm rooms or hotels can be used for patient care and quarantine purposes. Also, physician-owned hospitals will now be able to increase the number of licensed beds and operating rooms during the emergency. Also included are a relaxing of guidelines to allow health systems to hire clinicians in the community who would otherwise be providing nonessential services. And physician assistants, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists and others will have more ability to practice at the top of their licenses by performing services that would otherwise need physician approval, such as prescribing and ordering tests.

BD rolls out test to detect coronavirus antibodies

Dive Brief: BD on Tuesday announced it's making available a rapid, point-of-care blood test that identifies antibodies to confirm exposure to COVID-19. BD said the serology test can detect current or past exposure to the virus. The product, developed and manufactured by Morrisville, North Carolina​-based biotech BioMedomics​, will be distributed by Henry Schein​ to U.S. healthcare providers. BD expects to begin shipping the tests in April. Unlike molecular tests that detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acids or antigen-based tests, the serological assay identifies antibodies in the blood that the body produces in response to coronavirus infection. The antibodies develop in the middle to late stages of infection but may remain present after exposure, which could help identify people who were exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic Dive Insight: Serological diagnostics can be used to identify people who have recovered from the disease and have immunity to the infection. Theoretically, those people could return to work and serve in high-risk roles on the frontlines of healthcare and other community efforts to fight the pandemic, giving way to the idea of "immunity passports" in countries like Germany. Policymakers in the U.S. have also elevated serological testing as a tool for "restarting" society as epidemic transmission is eventually brought under control.

Coronavirus LIVE updates: Queen gives speech as two more NHS workers die

The Queen has delivered an unprecedented address praising health workers and evoking the spirit of the Blitz as the UK grabbles with the coronavirus crisis. It comes as two frontline health workers became the latest NHS staff to die after testing positive for coronavirus. Today it emerged that midwife Essex Lynsay Coventry, 54, and "long-serving" Liverpool nurse Liz Glanister were among the killer bug's casualties. It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he has lost two people he was fond of as he empathised with how difficult the coronavirus pandemic is for the nation. The Health Secretary addressed Brits in today's press briefing after it was confirmed a further 621 people have died of Covid-19 in the UK, taking the death toll to 4,934. Mr Hancock said the Government is not imminently looking to tighten the rules on exercising outdoors - but further measures could follow if people do not follow them. Earlier today it emerged NHS nurse John Alagos, just 23 years old and believed to be the youngest health worker in the UK to succumb to the illness, had died. This morning Professor Neil Ferguson predicted that between 7,000 and 20,000 people in the UK may die from Covid-19.

Coronavirus sparks a 'war for masks' in desperate global scramble for protection

(CNN)As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across Europe and the United States, a global scramble for medical equipment such as respirator masks and gloves is underway. Several countries have accused the United States of trying to hijack their orders, but the details of who may have done what to whom are still murky. In France they are calling it the "guerre des masques" -- the war of the masks, and on Friday German officials also made allegations against the United States. Andreas Geisel, a senior official in the state of Berlin, said that the US had committed an act of "modern piracy," alleging that a consignment of 200,000 respirator masks destined for the Berlin police had been diverted to the US while in transit in Bangkok. #healthy #health #healthyfood #healthylifestyle #healthyeating #healthyliving #healthyrecipes #healthiswealth #healthcoach #healthcare #healthandwellness #healthandfitness #healthymom #healthfood #healthspo #healthjourney #healthy_hair_journey #healthier #healthtips #healthyish

Latest Coronavirus News

American Medical Association Releases Guidance on Medical Student Participation in COVID-19 Response April 5, 11:45 a.m. Medical students across the country, at institutions like Harvard University, New York University and the University of Kansas, are being permitted to graduate early to aid in the fight against COVID-19. Other students may be asked to help in patient care as part of their studies. The American Medical Association has now released guidance for medical schools and health systems on the involvement of medical students and early graduates. "There are many opportunities for students to contribute to the clinical care of patients without engaging in direct physical contact with patients," an introduction to the guidance reads. "However, in some institutions the workforce demands may be great enough that it is appropriate to consider including medical students in direct patient care." Among other recommendations, the AMA advises institutions to allow students to freely choose whether they would like to be involved in direct patient care, without incentives or coercion. Medical students should be given proper personal protective equipment and training on how to use it. Medical students should not be financially responsible for their own diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 should they become sick from school-approved activities, the association said.

Good news for everyong : Coronavirus vaccine

Coronavirus vaccine: when will it be ready? Human trials will begin imminently – but even if they go well and a cure is found, there are many barriers before global immunisation is feasible Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage Even at their most effective – and draconian – containment strategies have only slowed the spread of the respiratory disease Covid-19. With the World Health Organization finally declaring a pandemic, all eyes have turned to the prospect of a vaccine, because only a vaccine can prevent people from getting sick. About 35 companies and academic institutions are racing to create such a vaccine, at least four of which already have candidates they have been testing in animals. The first of these – produced by Boston-based biotech firm Moderna – will enter human trials imminently. This unprecedented speed is thanks in large part to early Chinese efforts to sequence the genetic material of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. China shared that sequence in early January, allowing research groups around the world to grow the live virus and study how it invades human cells and makes people sick. Coronavirus: the week explained - sign up for our email newsletter Read more But there is another reason for the head start. Though nobody could have predicted that the next infectious disease to threaten the globe would be caused by a coronavirus – flu is generally considered to pose the greatest pandemic risk – vaccinologists had hedged their bets by working on “prototype” pathogens. “The speed with which we have [produced these candidates] builds very much on the investment in understanding how to develop vaccines for other coronaviruses,” says Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Oslo-based nonprofit the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi), which is leading efforts to finance and coordinate Covid-19 vaccine development. Coronaviruses have caused two other recent epidemics – severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in China in 2002-04, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), which started in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In both cases, work began on vaccines that were later shelved when the outbreaks were contained. One company, Maryland-based Novavax, has now repurposed those vaccines for Sars-CoV-2, and says it has several candidates ready to enter human trials this spring. Moderna, meanwhile, built on earlier work on the Mers virus conducted at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. Sars-CoV-2 shares between 80% and 90% of its genetic material with the virus that caused Sars – hence its name. Both consist of a strip of ribonucleic acid (RNA) inside a spherical protein capsule that is covered in spikes. The spikes lock on to receptors on the surface of cells lining the human lung – the same type of receptor in both cases – allowing the virus to break into the cell. Once inside, it hijacks the cell’s reproductive machinery to produce more copies of itself, before breaking out of the cell again and killing it in the process.

Donald Trump at the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center in Maryland, 3 March. FacebookTwitterPinterest

Califronia news today - A accident was recorded 2 victims and 4 hurt

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Car flying footage - horror accident watch it !

Here is the footage of a car flying after tunel.
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Quarantine time - Stay home stay safe