Contagion Live News Network: Coronavirus Updates for April 22, 2020
Listen in for a daily COVID-19 news roundup.
Hello and thank you for joining Contagion. I’m Grant Gallagher, here with a coronavirus update.
The US Senate passed another $480 billion round of fiscal stimulus Tuesday, including an additional $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program to help small businesses deal with the lockdowns. The small business program ran out of funds last week.
Nationwide hotels reported an occupancy rate of 23.4% for the week ending April 18, leaving about 75% unoccupied. Some hotels in New York City are being used to house health care personnel who are concerned about family COVID-19 transmissions.
In other US news, the Infectious Diseases Society of America released a primer on the current state of SARS-CoV-2 serology tests and the research and policy questions they raise.
On Contagion today, we covered a Preprint article on Results of Hydroxychloroquine Use Among VA Health Systems. Although the findings are of a preliminary nature, authors suggested to use caution in prescribing the medication outside of clinical trials based on their results.
We also feature a recent interview with Jefferson Hospital System’s CEO Stephen Klasko, where he discusses the measures Jefferson Health began deploying in January and the state of non-elective surgeries throughout the US health care system.
For more on these stories and other infectious disease news, visit Contagionlive.com. Be sure to follow the spread of outbreaks across the globe with the Contagion outbreak monitor.
For Contagion, I’m Grant Gallagher, thanks for listening.
