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.

Latest

Pfizer announced its formal request that the Food and Drug Administration authorize the emergency use of its PAXLOVID (PF-07321332; ritonavir) oral antiviral for combatting SARS-CoV-2.
Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and David McKinley, R- W.Va., urged the White House to enlist federal agencies to investigate price gouging by nurse staffing agencies. 
The White House Office of the United States Trade Representative has extended through May 31, 2022, 81 tariff exemptions for certain medical care products needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The AHA released the latest edition of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during the ongoing public health emergency.
President Biden extended through April 1, 2022, 100% federal reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance Program for eligible costs associated with ongoing COVID-19 recovery efforts and vaccine initiatives.
The Department of Health and Human Services will use $650 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand U.S. capacity to manufacture rapid molecular tests for COVID-19, which hospitals and other health care providers use to diagnose COVID-19, screen patients before surgery and confirm at-home test results.
The Health Resources and Services Administration awarded nine community-based organizations a portion of $77 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to build vaccine confidence and bolster COVID-19 vaccinations in hard-hit, high-risk communities.
The Health Resources and Services Administration in September gave health care providers who received more than $10,000 in Provider Relief Funds between April 30 and June 30, 2020, until Nov. 30, 2021, to comply with the original reporting requirements before recouping the funds or taking other enforcement actions.
As U.S. COVID-19 deaths surpassed 750,000, the AHA, American Medical Association, and American Nurses Association continued to urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The AHA released Kids, COVID-19 and Vaccines, a video to encourage vaccination among the newly eligible children aged 5-11.
The AHA released a new issue of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during the ongoing public health emergency.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued an interim final rule requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings, including hospitals and health systems, that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The National Institutes of Health will support a four-year study on the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on women infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy.
In a study of over 89,000 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, prior vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine was 77% effective in preventing COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients compared with 90% effective in immunocompetent patients, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack Sunday submitted the following letter to the editor of the New York Times responding to an article published online on a recent study in JAMA Health Forum on the Provider Relief Fund. 
The number of uninsured U.S. residents did not change substantially during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released by the Department of Health and Human Services. 
by Rick Pollack
The authors of a recent study that looked at CARES Act Provider Relief Funds allocated to health care institutions made arbitrary choices about which payments to include in the analysis. This resulted in incomplete or skewed findings.
The AHA released the latest edition of the COVID-19 Snapshot, underscoring the persisting challenges facing hospitals and health systems during the ongoing public health emergency
A documentary premiering in Washington, D.C., and opening in theaters Nov. 19 features doctors, nurses and patients at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., as they navigate the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, Axios AM reports.
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted to recommend an emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children age 5-11.