Health Highlights: April 6, 2020

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

3 in 4 U.S. Hospitals Treating COVID-19 Patients: Report

Three of every four U.S. hospitals now have COVID-19 patients and they expect to be overwhelmed as the crisis worsens and they struggle with a wide range of problems, a U.S. inspector general's report warns.

It's based on a telephone survey of 323 hospitals nationwide conducted March 23-27. Three-quarters of the hospitals said they already had patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.

Hospitals also said they're grappling with numerous challenges, including too few tests, slow test results, shortages of protective gear, lack of breaking machines for seriously-ill patients and exhausted, anxious staff, according to the report due out Monday.

There's this sort of domino effect," Ann Maxwell, an assistant inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services, told the AP. "These challenges play off each other and exacerbate the situation. There's a cascade effect."

"Hospitals reported that their most significant challenges centered on testing and caring for patients with known or suspected COVID-19, and keeping staff safe," the report said.

"It's likely that every hospital in America is going to have to deal with this," Maxwell said.

The U.S. has more diagnosed COVID-19 cases than any other country, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and projections indicate that U.S. cases will peak later this month, the AP reported.

"Hospitals anticipated being overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 patients, who would need specialty beds and isolation areas for effective treatment," according to the inspector general's report.

"Health care workers feel like they're at war right now," a hospital administrator in New York City told the federal investigators, the AP reported. They "are seeing people in their 30s, 40s, 50s dying. This takes a large emotional toll."

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British PM Johnson Hospitalized With COVID-19

Ten days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital Sunday for tests because he still had symptoms, according to his office.

It said the 55-year-old's admission to an undisclosed London hospital was on the advice of his doctor and was not an emergency, but rather a "precautionary step," the Associated Press reported.

Johnson was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and has been quarantined in his Downing St. residence since then.

The first known head of government to develop COVID-19, Johnson remains in charge of the government, the AP reported.

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FDA Authorizes Use of Chinese-Approved Masks in U.S.

Emergency use authorization of protective masks that don't meet American standards was announced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The KN95 masks meet Chinese standards but not U.S. ones. They are almost identical in performance to U.S.-approved N95 masks, with slight differences in their specifications, The New York Times reported.

KN95 masks are suitable alternative when N95s aren't available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

U.S. hospitals and other facilities are struggling to find enough N95 masks to provide to healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.

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WalMart, Target Limit Customers in Stores

The number of people allowed in their stores at one time will be limited in an effort to promote social distancing, Walmart and Target say.

People should stay at least six feet apart from each other in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises.

"To promote social distancing with its team and guests, Target will monitor store traffic, and meter, or limit, the number of guests inside stores, when needed," the company said in a news release, CBS News reported.

Walmart "will limit the number of customers who can be in a store at once. Stores will now allow no more than five customers for each 1,000 square feet at a given time, roughly 20 percent of a store's capacity," a company news release said.

Posted: April 2020