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HealthDay Reports: COVID-19 Roundup for the Week of May 25-May 29

Each week, HealthDay's Physician's Briefing division rounds up the most important COVID-19 developments in the medical field. See this week's edition below for May 25-May 29.

VA Slashes Use of Hydroxychloroquine to Treat COVID-19 Patients

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The VA health system has stopped nearly all use of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said at a House hearing on Thursday.

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Deferment of Elective Surgeries Due to COVID-19 Will Have Lasting Impact

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- At two years after the end of the elective orthopedic surgery deferment related to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a cumulative backlog of more than 1 million surgical cases in an optimistic scenario, according to a study published online May 12 in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

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Remdesivir Use Growing Globally in COVID-19 Patients

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Worldwide more physicians are using remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients, according to a survey released May 21 by Sermo, a global health care polling company and social platform for physicians.

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Five-Day Course of Remdesivir Beneficial in Severe COVID-19

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- There seems to be no significant difference between a five- and 10-day course of remdesivir for patients with severe COVID-19 not requiring mechanical ventilation, according to a study published online May 27 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Burden of Severe COVID-19 High in California, Washington State

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- For residents of California and Washington with COVID-19, the length of hospital stay and intensive care unit admission are high, according to a study published online May 22 in The BMJ.

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Positive RT-PCR Findings Seen After COVID-19 Discharge

FRIDAY, May 29, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Some patients with COVID-19 have positive reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction results after discharge, according to a research letter published online May 28 in JAMA Network Open.

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CDC: Coronavirus Antibody Tests Still Not Accurate Enough

THURSDAY, May 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Coronavirus antibody test results may not be accurate enough to help guide decisions about whether to allow large groups of people to gather at work, schools, dormitories, correctional facilities, and other locations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

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Parents Facing Higher Levels of Stress During Pandemic

THURSDAY, May 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Individuals, particularly parents, are coping with extreme stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a survey released May 21 by the American Psychological Association.

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CV Toxicity Tied to Azithromycin and/or Hydroxychloroquine

THURSDAY, May 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin may have a serious adverse impact on the cardiovascular system, according to a research letter published online May 22 in Circulation.

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Improving Glycemic Control May Also Aid COVID-19 Outcomes

THURSDAY, May 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Insulin infusion helps achieve glycemic targets and may reduce the risk for poor outcomes in patients with hyperglycemia and COVID-19, according to a study published online May 19 in Diabetes Care.

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Parents Struggling to Provide for Families During Pandemic

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The COVID-19 pandemic poses risks to children's health, well-being, and development as parents struggle to provide for their families, according to a survey released by the Urban Institute.

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U.K. Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19 Are More Often Male

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are more often male and frequently have comorbidities, according to a study published online May 22 in the The BMJ.

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Neuroimaging Features of COVID-19 Are Variable

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Neuroimaging features of COVID-19 are variable among patients with acute neurological symptoms but are dominated by acute ischemic infarcts, according to a research letter published online May 21 in Radiology.

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African-Americans More Likely to Be Hospitalized With COVID-19

WEDNESDAY, May 27, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- African-American patients have an increased likelihood of hospitalization for COVID-19, according to a report published online May 21 in Health Affairs.

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WHO Suspends Testing of Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 Patients

TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The World Health Organization has suspended use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine in a clinical trial of treatments of COVID-19 after a study revealed that patients taking the drug are at increased risk for death and serious heart problems.

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Remdesivir Beats Placebo for Time to COVID-19 Recovery

TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- For adults hospitalized with COVID-19 with lower respiratory tract infection, time to recovery is shorter with remdesivir than placebo, according to a study published online May 22 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Adenovirus Type-5 Vectored COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Promise

TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine is safe, tolerable, and immunogenic, according to a study published online May 22 in The Lancet.

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Placental Injury Seen in Pregnant Women With SARS-CoV-2

TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Higher rates of decidual arteriopathy and other maternal vascular malperfusion features are seen in placentas of women with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, according to a study published online May 22 in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

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Right Ventricular Dilation Linked to Mortality in COVID-19

TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Right ventricular dilation is associated with in-hospital mortality among patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study published online May 15 in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.

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In our latest HealthDay Now interview, Mabel Jong spoke to Dr. G. Caleb Alexander, a professor at Johns Hopkins who served on the FDA advisory committee that nearly unanimously advised against approving Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug. Dr. Alexander shared his thoughts on the drug's highly uncertain efficacy and discussed whether the FDA's reputation has been permanently damaged by the controversial approval of the drug.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

HD Live! Videos

Two world-renowned medical groups — the European Hematology Association (EHA) and the International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) — conducted virtual meetings this month to share advances in the care of blood-based cancers.

In our latest HealthDay Now, Dr. Joshua Richter, assistant professor of medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute, gave insights on the EHA meeting. Then, Dr. Anastasios Stathis, an oncologist and a member of this year's ICML organizing committee, joined us to discuss ICML.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.


In our latest HealthDay Now, Mabel Jong spoke with Dr. Lori Pierce, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and a cancer radiation specialist at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Pierce shared important takeaways from the recently concluded 2021 ASCO annual meeting and discussed why equity was the chosen theme this year.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

In our latest HealthDay Now, Dr. Hina Talib, a pediatrician and adolescent health specialist at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, debunks myths and common concerns parents may have about giving their children Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which was recently approved for use in children and teens ages 12 and up.

HealthDay Now's Mabel Jong also speaks with Alan Santee, a high school freshman from Massachusetts, about why he didn't hesitate to get vaccinated, and Ethan Lindenberger, a 20-year-old vaccine advocate from Ohio, about his experience having a mom who is anti-vaccine and how kids and parents can approach these conversations.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch our latest HealthDay Now to hear about the state of mental health and why many people fear returning to their social and work lives.

HealthDay's Mabel Jong spoke to Dr. Vivian Pender, president of the American Psychiatric Association, and Sherry Amatenstein, a social worker and therapist who has been dealing with these anxieties herself.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch our latest HealthDay Now for a preview of the American College of Physicians Annual Meeting 2021, covering topics like the alarming shortage of primary care physicians, bringing basic health delivery needs to rural residents, and why the ACP will focus on privacy concerns at its conference.

HealthDay Now's Mabel Jong speaks with Dr. Jacqueline Fincher, president of the American College of Physicians and an internist in a rural community in Georgia.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch our latest HealthDay Now as we cover the latest on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine investigation. An independent advisory panel to the CDC is waiting on additional information before making recommendations on the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after reports about rare blood clots.

Mabel Jong from our liveblog team speaks with Lynn Bahta, a member of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and a clinical expert for vaccines at the Minnesota Department of Health.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch our latest HealthDay Now as we recap the highlights of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2021.

Mabel Jong from our liveblog team speaks with Dr. Antoni Ribas, former president of the American Association for Cancer Research and professor of medicine at UCLA, and Anna Plym, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.

Watch our latest HealthDay Now as we dive into the latest details on multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

Mabel Jong from our liveblog team speaks with Dr. Mary Beth Son, Program Director of Boston Children's Hospital's Rheumatology Program, and Brian Padla, father of James Padla, who has MIS-C.

Watch the in-depth discussion above, and see our past HealthDay Nows and other videos on our YouTube channel.