CategoryVentilators

COVID-19 death rates have drastically fallen among all age groups — even as cases spike

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The chances of dying from COVID-19 have fallen precipitously since the pandemic began, according to two new peer-reviewed studies.

One study, from researchers at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, found that the death rate has gone down substantially among all age groups.

Patients treated by NYU’s health system had a 25.6% chance of dying when the pandemic began but that number has fallen to 7.6% in recent weeks, according to the study, which will be published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine next week.

The researchers identified multiple reasons for the drop, including increased experience with the virus among health workers, lower hospital capacity, the availability of new treatments, earlier intervention, higher community awareness, and “lower viral load exposure from increasing mask wearing and social distancing.” The researchers added that it is also possible that “earlier periods had a more virulent circulating strain.”

“Our findings suggest that while COVID-19 remains a terrible disease, our efforts to improve treatment are probably working,” co-author Leora Horwitz said in a statement. “Even in the absence of a silver-bullet treatment or vaccine, we are protecting more of our patients through a host of small changes.”

While the NYU study only looked at about 5,000 cases in a single health system in New York, another analysis by Bilal Mateen, a researcher at the Alan Turing Institute in the United Kingdom similarly found that the death rate has fallen about 20 percentage points since the pandemic began.

Khalilah Gates, a critical care pulmonologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, told NPR that patients in the early days of the pandemic were put on ventilators and breathing machines and perhaps offered enrollment into critical trials but “six-plus months into this, we kind of have a rhythm, and so it has become an everyday standard patient for us at this point in time.”

https://www.salon.com/2020/10/24/covid-19-death-rates-have-drastically-fallen-among-all-age-groups-even-as-cases-spike/HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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A New Study Confirms Remdesivir’s Effectiveness as a Coronavirus Treatment

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In a report published Oct. 8 in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers confirmed the benefits of remdesivir for treating people hospitalized for COVID-19.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, has emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating anyone hospitalized for COVID-19. That authorization means that doctors can prescribe the intravenous (IV) drug for people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 and have been hospitalized. While the drug was initially authorized only for those who needed supplemental oxygen or ventilators to breathe, an expanded EUA from the FDA in late August reflects the growing belief among doctors that treating people who aren’t as sick might provide even more benefit—so now includes people with evidence of respiratory infections but don’t yet need supplemental oxygen or help from a ventilator.

Remdesivir works by stymieing the virus’s ability to make more copies of itself, and in trials has helped both patients with early-stage COVID-19 as well as those with more advanced symptoms.

In the latest report, researchers led by a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases provide the final data on a study they first released in May. In the final analysis, which included 1,062 people who were randomly assigned to receive IV remdesivir or a placebo for up to 10 days while in the hospital, the researchers provide more detailed data on how the drug affected metrics including how long people needed to be given supplemental oxygen or put on ventilators. All of the participants showed evidence of respiratory infection, mostly pneumonia, and 85% were considered to have severe disease, which meant that they had at least one of three symptoms: their blood oxygen levels were below 94% while breathing room air; they required supplemental oxygen; or they needed a ventilator to breathe. Among all the participants—both with severe COVID-19 and with more mild symptoms—those given remdesivir were able to be discharged from the hospital on average five days sooner than those receiving placebo.

The only challenge for now is that remdesivir is an IV drug, and the logistics of managing IV infusions for people who aren’t hospitalized could limit its use. But the drug’s manufacturer, Gilead, says it is testing on an inhaled version of the drug that would be easier for patients to take.

https://time.com/5898201/remdesivir-coronavirus-study/HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Covid Grows Less Deadly as Doctors Gain Practice, Drugs Improve

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Covid-19 continues to kill close to 1,000 Americans a day. But for those who develop dangerous cases of the infection, advances in medical care and the growing experience of doctors are improving the chances of survival.

Since the first case arrived in the U.S. at the start of the year, medical professionals have gone from fumbling in the dark to better understanding which drugs work — such as steroids and blood thinners, and the antiviral medicine remdesivir. Allocation of intensive medical resources have improved. And doctors have learned to hold off on the use of ventilators for some patients, unlike with many other severe respiratory illnesses.

Doctors and experts say that improved medical tactics and earlier treatment are helping improve the outcomes for very sick patients, said Andrew Badley, head of Mayo Clinic’s Covid Research Task Force.

“Health-care preparedness today is much better than it was in February and March,” Badley said in an interview. “We have better and more rapid access to diagnosis. We have more knowledge about what drugs to use and what drugs not to use. We have more experimental treatments available. All of those contribute to possible improvements in the mortality rate.”

One study looked at 4,689 Covid-19 hospitalizations from March to June in New York, adjusting patients’ mortality rate for factors such as age, race, obesity and any underlying illnesses they might have had. In the first half of March, the mortality rate for hospitalized patients was 23%. By June, it had fallen to 8%.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-19/covid-grows-less-deadly-as-doctors-gain-practice-drugs-improveHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Roche says its drugs reduce ventilator need for COVID-19 patients

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Roche’s Actermra/Roactemra drugs reduces the likelihood patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia need mechanical ventilation, the company said on Friday.

Hospital patients taking the drug were 44% less likely to need ventilators or die, the company said, citing the results of its Empacta phase III study conducted in several countries including the United States.

Roche said it would share the results of its trial with health authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-roche-idUSKBN2690LWHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Number of people with coronavirus hospitalized in North Alabama continues to decrease

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Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers said numbers are trending in the right direction. He said systemwide, there are 135 people with coronavirus hospitalized in North Alabama, which is down from a week ago. Of those patients, 36 are in ICUs and 21 are on ventilators.

Spillers said 71 people with coronavirus are hospitalized in Huntsville Hospital’s Madison County facilities, which is down 21 from last week. There are 14 in ICUs and 11 on ventilators.

Crestwood Medical Center has 11 inpatients with coronavirus.

Spillers said a manageable number of coronavirus inpatients in the region would be below 60. He said statewide numbers are slowly moving in a positive direction, and the number of people seeking tests continues to go down.

Spillers said the rate of people testing positive for coronavirus locally has fallen to about 6%. He said statewide, it’s probably closer to 7%.

https://www.waaytv.com/content/coronavirus-content/WATCH-LIVE-Huntsville-Hospital-CEO-Huntsville-mayor-give-coronavirus-update–572228761.htmlHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Arizona reports lower COVID-19 numbers as hospitalizations continue 4 weeks of declines

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Arizona reported just 600 new COVID-19 cases and four new known deaths on Monday, as hospitalizations for the disease continue four weeks of steady declines.

Inpatient hospitalizations, ICU beds in use and ventilators in use all dropped on Sunday, continuing general downward trends over the past month, according to hospital data reported to the state. 

Identified cases rose to 187,523 and known deaths totaled 4,154, according to the daily report by the Arizona Department of Health Services. 

Monday’s dashboard shows 80% of inpatient beds and 81% of ICU beds were in use, which includes people being treated for COVID-19 and other patients. Overall, 36% of ventilators were in use.

Most people who get the disease are not hospitalized. The state does not report the number of recovered cases, although it does report hospital discharges.

https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-health/2020/08/10/arizona-coronavirus-update-aug-10-600-new-cases-hospitalizations-continue-gradual-decline/3334614001/HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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Promising treatments for COVID-19 advanced by Canadian scientists

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When most people think of Canadian medical innovation, the first thing that typically comes to mind is insulin. And while Banting and Best’s discovery was a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes, it also took place almost a century ago.

“We always go there, don’t we?” says Pamela Fralick, president of Ottawa-based Innovative Medicines Canada, an association representing the Canadian pharmaceutical industry. But we should also recognize the accomplishments of James Till and Ernest McCulloch, who discovered stem cells; Dr. Lap-Chee Tsui, who identified the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis; Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, whose HIV prevention vaccine is currently in clinical trials. And many, many more.

From the first whispers last year about the emergence of a deadly respiratory coronavirus in China, Canadian scientists have been researching and developing possible treatments, cures and vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19.

Already, a promising discovery has come out of Vancouver-based biotech company AbCellera Biologics Inc. – a potential treatment for the virus developed in record time. In partnership with U.S. drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. and with $175-million in funding from the Canadian government, the lab-produced treatment that mimics antibodies isolated from a recovered patient has already entered into human testing.

University of Toronto molecular engineer Dr. Sachdev Sidhu and his team are designing synthetic therapeutic antibodies.

Already there are good results in trials in which antibodies collected from someone who has recovered are transferred to someone who is sick, Dr. Sidhu says. For many, this could be a successful treatment, he explains, keeping sicker patients off ventilators and, in less dire cases, alleviating symptoms and kickstarting patients’ own immune systems.

Dr. Sidhu says his engineered antibodies work in a similar way – except that they are more potent and targeted than naturally occurring antibodies and, because they are engineered, can be produced in massive quantities.

Dr. Sidhu says his treatment is ready to scale up, but after an initial $500,000 research grant from the federal government, no further funds have been advanced for clinical trials. Fortunately, he says, a $7.6-million commitment from Italy means his team will be doing clinical trials there. There is also interest from the Indian government to do the same.

“That’s good news for us; our drug will advance,” Dr. Sidhu says. But without additional funding from the Canadian government, he adds, it will be made and tested elsewhere and then brought back to Canada eventually as an approved treatment.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/featured-reports/article-promising-treatments-for-covid-19-advanced-by-canadian-scientists/HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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UK Coronavirus patients on ventilators drops below 100 for first time since lockdown, stats show

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The number of coronavirus patients on ventilators has dropped below 100 for the first time since the UK went into lockdown, stats show.

At the height of the pandemic in April, more than 3,300 people were on a ventilator in Britain while battling Covid-19, according to NHS figures.

The number has been slowly declining since, with new cases also falling as the country was urged to stay at home and protect the NHS.

In recent weeks, the Government has gradually eased restrictions while keeping social distancing measures in place.

But with pubs, restaurants and gyms reopened it appears to be a promising sign that those suffering more severely with Covid is still decreasing.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/12257925/coronavirus-patients-ventilators-below-100-first-time-lockdown/

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More covid-19 patients are surviving ventilators in the ICU

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An increasing number of U.S. covid-19 patients are surviving after they are placed on mechanical ventilators, a last-resort measure that was perceived as a signal of impending death during the terrifying early days of the pandemic.

Early reports out of Wuhan, China, and Italy cemented the impression that the vast majority of patients who required the breathing devices ultimately succumbed to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

But as the pandemic has continued, U.S. hospitals are reporting much lower mortality rates, results on par with death rates for patients with similar severe lung problems caused by other diseases.

Experts say that’s because clinicians have become more skilled and are deploying new tactics as they learn more about the course of covid-19; some are using ventilators more selectively; many hospitals are less overwhelmed than when the virus first inundated Wuhan, parts of Italy and New York City; and early data on ventilation and death did not present a true picture.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/more-covid-19-patients-are-surviving-ventilators-in-the-icu/2020/07/03/2e3c3534-bbca-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.htmlHELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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An increasing number of Colorado coronavirus patients are surviving, and fewer need ventilators

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Back in March, one of the most pressing problems surrounding coronavirus was the fear that hospitals could run out of ventilators.

Doctors were quickly intubating patients, believing it was the best chance to save their lives from a contagious and deadly disease they had never seen before. But a lot has changed in three months about the treatment protocol for COVID-19 — use of the antiviral drug remdesivr, injections of convalescent plasma from recovered patients, and even the simple act of placing hospital patients on their stomachs instead of their backs. 

Now, as Colorado appears to reach the end of the first wave of the virus, new data released Tuesday from a collaborative of Colorado hospital systems shows just how sharply the use of ventilators has declined in this state, and how much patient outcomes have improved since the early days of coronavirus. 

The overall mortality rate for hospitalized patients — for all age groups combined — dropped to 10.5%, compared with 15.1% in March.

And by May, patients also were slightly more likely to leave the hospital and go home instead of going to a rehab center or skilled nursing facility.

https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/23/coronavirus-patient-outcome-data/HELP US SPREAD GOOD NEWS!

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