Iowa News
COVID-19 patient count in Iowa hospitals hits another 2021 record
The Covid patient count in Iowa hospitals has reached 777, another record high for 2021. It’s a 7% increase since last Wednesday. The hospital continues to prepare for more COVID-19 patients — including transfers from other hospitals — while employees are exhausted from the pandemic. Radio Iowa
‘Staffing crisis’ grips Iowa hospitals as COVID-19 cases climb
A recent job posting that seeks temporary critical care nurses for a major Des Moines hospital offered pay of $100 per hour and a weekly stipend of about $1,200 for three months of work. The demand for so-called “traveling nurses” from other states has risen as longstanding nursing shortages have been exacerbated by a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations. Times Republican
U.S. News & World Report names MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center a Best Hospital for Maternity
MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center has been recognized as High Performing in Maternity Care (Uncomplicated Pregnancy) by U.S. News & World Report. This is the first time U.S. News has published a list of Best Hospitals for Maternity. To be recognized among the Best Hospitals for Maternity, hospitals had to excel on multiple quality metrics that matter to expectant families, including complication rates, C-sections, whether births were scheduled too early in pregnancy, and how successfully each hospital supported breastfeeding. Only one-third of the hospitals evaluated by U.S. News for maternity care earned a ‘High Performing’ rating. MercyOne
National News
Federal regulators clear Pfizer-BioNTech boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Federal regulators on Thursday authorized booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for 16- and 17-year-olds, at least six months after they received their second shot. The move clears the way for several million teenagers to receive an additional jab. New York Times
A rural Georgia community reels after hospital closes
The Cuthbert hospital was one of 19 rural hospitals in the U.S. that closed in 2020. That’s the largest number of such facilities to shut down in a single year since 2005, when the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina began tracking the data. In the past 10 years, eight rural hospitals have shut down in Georgia; only Texas and Tennessee have had more closures. The center’s data shows that 86 of the 129 hospitals that closed in that time were in Texas and the Southeast. Georgia Health News
Omicron’s spread and US strategy
Health officials have warned for months about the potential of a winter surge, with the current uptick largely driven by the delta variant, which remains the dominant strain in the U.S. It’s not yet clear whether omicron will outpace delta or how it could change the pandemic’s course. Becker’s Hospital Review