COVID Tests Recalled; Hospitals Get Safety Grades; ‘No End in Sight’ in Shanghai

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Skip the Skippack Medical Lab SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test (colloidal gold), the FDA advised: the test is not authorized, cleared, or approved by the agency and is being recalled.

And the Accula SARS-CoV-2 PCR test by Mesa Biotech has been recalled due to contaminated test materials at the manufacturing site that could lead to false positive findings, the agency warned.

The FDA approved a new indication for baricitinib (Olumiant) to treat COVID-19 in hospitalized adults needing supplemental oxygen, mechanical ventilation, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, drugmaker Eli Lilly announced. The drug was previously authorized for emergency use in COVID-19.

Telehealth may deliver more doses of Pfizer’s oral antiviral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) to COVID-19 patients. (STAT)

The Leapfrog Group issued updated safety grades for nearly 3,000 hospitals: these hospitals flunked and these earned straight As. (Becker’s Hospital Review)

As of Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. EDT, the unofficial U.S. COVID toll was 82,092,405 cases and 999,742 deaths, increases of 80,891 and 267, respectively, from this time yesterday morning.

A spike of 500 COVID cases at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has led some students to ask for online exams. (Washington Post)

With cases rapidly rising in the city, Baltimore’s health commissioner advised people to resume indoor masking. (Baltimore Sun)

Shanghai’s zero-COVID lockdowns have left thousands without income or food sleeping in the streets. (Wall Street Journal)

The head of the World Health Organization said China’s zero-tolerance policy is not sustainable, given what’s known about the virus. (Reuters)

While a modeling study suggested that moving away from a zero-COVID policy in China could lead to an Omicron wave causing 1.55 million deaths. (Nature Medicine)

Meanwhile, tensions in Shanghai rise: “We had thought the lockdown could be eased this month, but now there’s no end in sight again,” said one resident. (The Guardian)

Two Senate Democrats are willing to give Republicans a vote on extending pandemic-era border restrictions to get the stalled $10 billion COVID bill moving. (Politico)

The number of people who say they’re definitely not getting vaccinated hasn’t shifted in over a year. (NPR)

Emergent BioSolutions concealed evidence last year from FDA inspectors of a potential contamination problem with batches of COVID vaccines before they were destroyed, a House panel said. (Washington Post)

With COVID hospitalization rates stabilizing, travel nurses are seeing lucrative contracts vanish. (NBC News)

Ticks are spreading throughout the U.S. and bringing new diseases with them. (Wired)

Drinking espresso was linked with serum total cholesterol, more so for men than women. (Open Heart)

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force affirmed its recommendation against screening for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in asymptomatic adults. (JAMA)

Male testis tissue that was cryopreserved and implanted after more than 20 years was able to make viable sperm, a rodent study showed. (PLOS Biology)

The NeuroStar transcranial magnetic stimulation system received FDA clearance as adjunctive treatment for obsessive compulsive disorder, Neuronetics said. The device previously was cleared to treat major depressive disorder.

Texas abortion laws may deter some providers from offering optimal miscarriage treatment. (NPR)

Google searches for “vasectomy” have jumped in Texas. (Houston Chronicle)

Analyses of lung specimens from the early 1900s in Europe suggest the current seasonal H1N1 virus may have descended from the 1918 Spanish flu. (Nature Communications)

The phase III trial of the seaweed-derived drug oligomannate from Green Valley Pharmaceuticals, conditionally approved to treat Alzheimer’s disease in China, has stopped. (Endpoints News)