About the public’s health
Operation Warp Speed Chief: 100 percent of Americans will be able to get vaccine by June: “‘We will have over 300 million doses available to the American public, well before [June],’ stated retired Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski, Director of Supply, Production & Distribution for Operation Warp Speed.”
SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV viral load dynamics, duration of viral shedding, and infectiousness: a systematic review and meta-analysis: “No study detected live virus beyond day 9 of illness, despite persistently high viral loads, which were inferred from cycle threshold values. SARS-CoV-2 viral load in the upper respiratory tract appeared to peak in the first week of illness, whereas that of SARS-CoV peaked at days 10–14 and that of MERS-CoV peaked at days 7–10.
Interpretation:
Although SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding in respiratory and stool samples can be prolonged, duration of viable virus is relatively short-lived….
[The] highest risk of transmission occurs very early in the disease course (a few days before and within the first 5 days after symptom onset)…”
Dr. Scott Atlas resigns from Trump administration: He did not give a reason and the White House did not comment.
Serologic testing of U.S. blood donations to identify SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies: December 2019-January 2020: “To determine if SARS-CoV-2 reactive antibodies were present in sera prior to the first identified case in the U.S. on January 19, 2020, residual archived samples from 7,389 routine blood donations collected by the American Red Cross from December 13, 2019 to January 17, 2020, from donors resident in nine states (California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin) were tested at CDC for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies…
[The] findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may have been introduced into the United States prior to January 19, 2020 [emphasis added].”
So…did it originate in Wuhan?
OSHA Let Employers Decide Whether to Report Health Care Worker Deaths. Many Didn’t: “Workplace safety regulators have taken a lenient stance toward employers during the pandemic, giving them broad discretion to decide internally whether to report worker deaths. As a result, scores of deaths were not reported to occupational safety officials from the earliest days of the pandemic through late October.” This piece is a fascinating (and troubling) expose from Kaiser Health News (KHN).
States Fear Shortfall of Supplies for Vaccine Rollout, U.S. Watchdog Says: ”Thirty-eight states told the Government Accountability Office that they were concerned about having enough supplies to distribute and administer vaccines, according to the report Monday by the nonpartisan agency. Between a third and half of states had shortages of some testing supplies in October, including rapid point-of-care tests, the GAO found.”
About pharma
London A.I. Lab Claims Breakthrough That Could Accelerate Drug Discovery: “DeepMind, a lab owned by the same parent company as Google, said on Monday that its system, called AlphaFold, had solved what is known as “the protein folding problem.” Given the string of amino acids that make up a protein, the system can rapidly and reliably predict its three-dimensional shape.
This long-sought breakthrough could accelerate the ability to understand diseases, develop new medicines and unlock mysteries of the human body.”
CarepathRx and UPMC Announce Landmark Partnership to Bring Comprehensive Pharmacy Care Solutions to More Patients: “CarepathRx will acquire the management services organization responsible for the operational and strategic management of {UPMC subsidiary] Chartwell while UPMC becomes a strategic investor in CarepathRx.” The acquisition price is reported to be $400 million.
Crestor to be divested to Grünenthal in Europe: “AstraZeneca has agreed to sell the rights to Crestor (rosuvastatin) and associated medicines in over 30 countries in Europe, except the UK and Spain, to Grünenthal GmbH (Grünenthal)…
AstraZeneca will continue to manufacture and supply Crestor to Grünenthal during a transition period. AstraZeneca will also continue selling the medicine in other countries, including those in North America, in Japan, China and other emerging markets…
The divestment is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory clearances, upon which Grünenthal will make an upfront, non-contingent payment to AstraZeneca of $320m and may also make future milestone payments of up to $30m.”
This sale will become important if the medication is included in reference pricing for US drugs.
About healthcare providers
Thousands of Doctors’ Offices Buckle Under Financial Stress of COVID: This article is a good update about how COVID-19 has financially affected medical practice.
About hospitals
National Hospital Flash Report (November 2020): This Kaufman Hall report goes through the end of October and details the aggregate financial performance of 900 hospitals. For example, “eight months into the pandemic, the Kaufman Hall median operating Margin Index* remained below 2019 performance at 2.4% YTD through October with CARES Act funding, and -1.6% without CARES. The Kaufman Hall Operating EBITDA Margin Index was 7.3% YTD with the federal aid and 3.8% without CARES.”
About healthcare IT
Google Cloud teams up with Deloitte, KPMG to launch healthcare interoperability program for providers and payers: “On Monday, the tech giant's cloud division announced a Healthcare Interoperability Readiness Program designed to help healthcare organizations understand the current status of their data and where it resides, map out a path to standardization and integration and make use of data in a secure, reliable, compliant manner.
Google Cloud worked with industry consultants and partners like Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Deloitte, HCL Technologies, KPMG, MavenWave, Pluto7, SADA and 8K Miles to develop the program with tailored services, technologies and strategies, according to Aashima Gupta, global director, healthcare strategy and solutions at Google Cloud and Amit Zavery, vice president, business application platform at Google Cloud, in a blog post published Monday.”