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As pandemic fatigue sets in, trauma and exhaustion plague health care workers

Thu, 2021-02-04 21:56 — mike kraft

As pandemic fatigue sets in, trauma and exhaustion plague health care workers

NY Times:

.... Doctors, paramedics and nurses’ aides have been hailed in the United States as frontline Covid-19 warriors, but gone are the days when people applauded workers outside hospitals and on city streets. A year into the pandemic, with emergency rooms packed again, vaccines in short supply and more contagious variants of the virus threatening to unleash a fresh wave of infections, medical workers are feeling burned out and unappreciated.

Some health care experts are calling for a national effort to track the psychological well-being of medical professionals, much like the federal health program that monitors workers who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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With All Eyes on Covid-19, Drug-Resistant Infections Crept In

Fri, 2021-01-29 03:37 — mike kraft

As Covid-19 took hold over the last year, hospitals and nursing homes used and reused scarce protective equipment — masks, gloves, gowns. This desperate frugality helped prevent the airborne transfer of the virus.

But it also appears to have helped spread a different set of germs — drug-resistant bacteria and fungi — that have used the chaos of the pandemic to grow opportunistically in health care settings around the globe.

These bacteria and fungi, like Covid-19, prey on older people, the infirm and those with compromised immune systems. They can cling tenaciously to clothing and medical equipment, which is why nursing homes and hospitals before the pandemic were increasingly focused on cleaning rooms and changing gowns to prevent their spread.

That emphasis all but slipped away amid an all-consuming focus on the coronavirus. In fact, experts warn, the changes in hygiene and other practices caused by the Covid-19 fight are likely to have contributed to the spread of these drug-resistant germs.

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The stresses on ambulance crews, front line workers, US and Spain

Tue, 2021-01-26 00:27 — mike kraft

In ambulances, an unseen, unwelcome passenger: COVID-19 LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's crowded in the back of the ambulance. Two emergency medical technicians, the patient, the gurney — and an unseen and unwelcome passenger lurking in the air. For... AP NEWS

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s crowded in the back of the ambulance.

Two emergency medical technicians, the patient, the gurney — and an unseen and unwelcome passenger lurking in the air.

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In a major setback, Merck to stop developing its two Covid-19 vaccines and focus on therapies

Mon, 2021-01-25 22:25 — mike kraft

In a major setback, Merck to stop developing its Covid-19 vaccines - STAT Merck announced it is stopping development of both of the current formulations of the Covid-19 vaccines the company was working on. Matthew Herper STAT

Merck said Monday it will stop developing both of the current formulations of the Covid-19 vaccines the company was working on, citing inadequate immune responses to the shots.

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Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines

Sat, 2021-01-23 01:24 — mike kraft

The steady drumbeat of reports about new variants of the coronavirus — first in Britain, then in South Africa, Brazil and the United States — has brought a new worry: Will vaccines protect against these altered versions of the virus?

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New UK variant 'may be more deadly' -- Prime Minister Johnson

Sat, 2021-01-23 00:33 — mike kraft

New UK variant 'may be more deadly' Emerging evidence suggests the variant that emerged in the UK may be more deadly as well as spread faster. BBC News

Early evidence suggests the variant of coronavirus that emerged in the UK may be more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

The data has been assessed by scientists on the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group, which has briefed government.

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Covid misinformation takes its toll on British doctors, teachers

Tue, 2021-01-19 23:46 — mike kraft

Conspiracies thrive in U.K. as as doctors struggle with Covid variant "In the U.K., we can look at the U.S. and take that as a warning sign of where things may be heading," one misinformation expert said. NBC News

LONDON — British front-line workers who were applauded on doorsteps in the early weeks of the pandemic now confront a torrent of polarization and misinformation.

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