Data Snapshot
UW Medicine Hospitals:
King County: The county reported 39 new positive cases and 0 new deaths on June 23.
Washington: The state reported 28,870 cases and 1,276 deaths as of June 21. A total of 477,204 people have been tested and 6.0% of those tests have been positive.
United States: The CDC reports 2,302,288 cases and 120,33 deaths as of June 23.
Global: WHO reports 8,993,659 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 469,587 deaths as of June 20.
*Numbers update frequently, please follow links for most up-to-date numbers.
Research News
Newswise: Communication should be a vital sign, researchers argue
Featuring: Lance Patak, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine
“Researchers suggest that patient communications should not only be a key component of these bundled intervention, but also as standard and routine as any other vital sign. Their opinion was published in an editorial June 19 in the journal Critical Care Medicine.”
Medscape: Dexamethasone for COVID-19: Some hospitals wait to change practice
Featuring: James Town, Pulmonary, Critical Care
“Following the announcement earlier this week that dexamethasone reduced mortality for severely ill COVID-19 patients in a randomized clinical trial, doctors at some US hospitals are hesitant to change treatment protocols, whereas others say they have been prescribing steroids for months already.”
UW Medicine in the News
The Seattle Times: What to do if coronavirus disruptions have you feeling like summer is over before it’s even really begun
Featuring: David Avery, Psychiatry
“It’s really only the beginning of summer. We’ve just had the longest day of the year, a wetter-than-usual spring is behind us, and hot, sunny weather is on its way. Climate models suggest Western Washington is in for an average-feeling season. But for some Seattle-area residents, that’s where the normalcy ends.”
Reuters: U.S. hospitals in hard hit regions step up use of steroids on sickest COVID-19 patients
Featuring: Mark Wurfel, Pulmonary, Critical Care
“Several U.S. hospitals in states with fresh surges of COVID-19 cases have started treating their sickest patients with dexamethasone rather than await confirmation of preliminary results of a study by British researchers, who said the inexpensive steroid saves lives.”
Outside: A promising new COVID-19 drug isn’t new to mountaineers
Featuring: Andy Luks, Pulmonary and Critical Care
“The news hit like a falling serac. Dexamethasone, a corticosteroid known for decades as a silver bullet among mountaineers and high-altitude rescuers, has been shown to do something no other drug has since the coronavirus pandemic began: revive infected patients on the verge of death.”
The Washington Post: People probably caught coronavirus from minks. That’s a wake-up call to study infections in animals, researchers say
Featuring: Peter Rabinowitz, Global Health
“The minks on Dutch fur farms first got sick in mid-April, showing symptoms ranging from runny noses to severe respiratory distress. They had caught the novel coronavirus from human handlers, the government later said, and soon farmed minks appeared to have passed it back to two other people, in the world’s first reports of animal-to-human transmission since the pandemic began.”
Patch: UW Medicine Finds Low COVID-19 Rate Among Staff
Featuring: Nandita Mani, Fellow, Allergy & Infectious Diseases
“UW Medicine says they believe the use of PPE has helped protect many of their doctors and nurses from the virus as they treat patients.”
Tweet of the Week
Thanks to Abeba Abraha, a retired UW Medicine nurse, and the Eritrean community for paying tribute to the healthcare workers at UW Medical Center with a special song and dance that was enjoyed by all. pic.twitter.com/XW6bydw2dQ
— UW Medicine (@UWMedicine) June 19, 2020
