It is well documented that influenza epidemics are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke and myocardial infarction, as are all systemic inflammatory disorders. Investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine wanted to determine if coronavirus infection induced a higher risk of ischemic stroke than other viral infections, such as influenza.

The Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services continues to survey hospitals and long-term care facilities for infection control measures to prevent the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. The inspections assess the basics of hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and staff education — things most facilities should be doing months into a pandemic.

Infection preventionists are playing critical roles in the coronavirus response, raising the profile of a profession that will never be viewed quite the same again after having been forged in the crucible of the worst pandemic in a century.

Trying to strike a balance epidemiologically, and perhaps politically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines for people wanting to leave home and attend gatherings as COVID-19 cases generally have plateaued nationally.

Infection preventionists are preparing for an unknown but widely predicted possibility this fall and winter: a large second wave of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) hitting hospitals amid the 2020-2021 influenza season.

In this group of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, the majority of whom required invasive ventilation, 68% showed clinical improvement after treatment with remdesivir on a compassionate-use basis.

The combination of a highly infectious virus and a frail resident population in a closed environment — where infection control has been historically difficult to implement — has resulted in devastating outbreaks of COVID-19 in U.S. nursing homes.

While data remain limited on this particular coronavirus, extrapolation from other viruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome), and best clinical observations and expert recommendations have led to current guidelines in care.