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THURSDAY, Nov. 18, 2021 (HealthDay News)

Stern, 47, a New York City author and mother, has seen countless doctors and taken many types of medicine, vitamins and supplements to get her sense of smell back. She also undergoes acupuncture regularly and saw an energy healer — all to no or very little avail.

“Yesterday, my husband asked ‘what’s that smell?’ and I had no idea,” Stern recalled. “It was eggs boiling over in the kitchen that almost caught fire.”

Unfortunately, she’s not alone. As many as 1.6 million people in the United States will develop olfactory dysfunction or loss of smell from COVID-19, a new study projects. Some, like Stern, develop chronic dysfunction that lasts for six months or more.

“Given the surge in acute COVID-19 infections last fall and winter and the ongoing cases, there is a pending tidal wave of new cases of chronic olfactory dysfunction that deserves our attention,” said study author Dr. Jay Piccirillo, a professor of otolaryngology—head and neck surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “We have to try to figure out what to do for these people, and the sad news is that we don’t have any effective treatments for chronic COVID-19-related loss of smell yet.”

Without the ability to smell, you can’t taste food or detect harmful odors such as gas and smoke. Like Stern, many people with chronic loss of sense of smell report a poorer quality of life, and feelings of depression as well.

Exactly how COVID-19 can rob you of your ability to smell isn’t fully understood yet, but many viral illnesses cause similar symptoms.

“We think that the virus attacks the supporting cells in the nose that help olfactory nerves do their job,” Piccirillo said. Olfactory nerves are responsible for our sense of smell.

To get a better sense of how many people will lose their sense of smell due to COVID, the researchers culled data on new daily U.S. COVID cases, frequency of loss of smell, and rates of recovery.

Based on these numbers, they estimate that more than 700,000 — and possibly as many as 1.6 million — Americans will have chronic loss of smell due to COVID-19. The actual number may be even higher as the data included only state-reported positive cases, and not all COVID cases get reported.

Once supporting cells in the nose recover, smell returns for about 90% of people with COVID, Piccirillo said. Researchers still aren’t sure why some people, like Stern, experience chronic loss of smell.

“People whose supporting cells get more infected and had a heavier load of the virus are more likely to have persistent loss of smell,” Piccirillo said.

The findings were published Nov. 18 in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.

Meanwhile, the phones have been ringing off the hook at the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago due to the growing numbers of people with chronic loss of smell from COVID, said Dr. Alan Hirsch, its neurological director.

“There is no U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for smell and taste loss from COVID-19,” said Hirsch, who reviewed the findings. “Instead, doctors will try medications and supplements that have shown to be effective in other virus-related smell and taste deficits.”

Other causes of loss of smell include age, smoking and certain neurologic diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, Hirsch said. These come on slowly, and many people don’t notice or complain. COVID-related loss of smell comes on quickly.

People with COVID-related loss of smell are younger than those who are affected by other causes of olfactory dysfunction and will have to live with this troublesome symptom much longer as a result, he said.

“We will continue to see more cases of COVID-19-related loss of smell and as people age, this will be added on to age deficits to make the loss that much more pronounced,” Hirsch said.

If it’s been more than a month since you recovered from COVID-19 and you still can’t smell, you should see a specialist to learn if there is more you can do to recover it, he suggested.

“Food and danger are important things to smell,” said Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who also reviewed the study.

“You may lose interest in eating because everything tastes the same and lose weight without wanting or needing to,” Horovitz said. “It’s important to work with a nutritionist to make sure your body is getting all of the nutrients it needs if you can’t smell.”

More information

The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation has more about smell loss related to COVID-19.

SOURCES: Lyss Stern, New York City; Jay Piccirillo, MD, professor, Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Alan Hirsch, MD, neurological director, Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Chicago; Len Horovitz, MD, pulmonologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, Nov. 18, 2021

October 26, 2021 – Retirements and industry burnout, coupled with increased consumer demand have left the trucking industry short of 80,000 drivers. That’s a 30% increase from before the pandemic, when the industry already faced a labor shortage of 61,500 drivers, Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, told CNN.

The dearth of drivers is yet another factor adding pressure to the U.S. supply chain. President Biden directed the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to move to 24/7 operations, but the ports can’t yet work round the clock because there are not enough drivers to move the cargo at all hours.

“24/7 operations – it’s an improvement,” said Spear. “But it doesn’t matter if it’s a port in LA or Long Beach, or the last mile of delivery from a train to a warehouse in Wichita. You’re going to have to have a driver and a truck move that freight.”

If nothing is done, the latest figures put the industry on track for a shortage of 160,000 drivers by 2030, and the need for 1,000,000 new drivers over the next ten years, according to the American Trucking Associations.

A bipartisan infrastructure bill awaiting action in Congress would authorize hundreds of billions of dollars for transportation, which would include workforce development for the trucking industry. The bill would also allow 3,000 drivers between the ages of 18-20 to undergo training, permitting them to drive tractor-trailers across state lines. Currently, drivers must be 21 to do so.

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October 25, 2021 – Amazon announced two new solutions for senior living and healthcare providers to integrate Alexa into their properties. Part of Alexa Smart Properties, the solutions were designed specifically for the needs of senior living communities and healthcare facilities.

Several large health systems including Boston Children’s Hospital (Boston, MA), Cedars-Sinai (Los Angeles, CA), BayCare (Tampa, FL), and Houston Methodist (Houston, TX) will deploy the new Alexa capability to select properties, according to the news release.

Hospitals can provide information customized to their facility, like notifications about schedule changes or cafeteria menus, and skill experiences like games, podcasts, and more. Hospitals and senior living communities can also build and enable HIPAA-eligible skills, like medication tracking, to connect care providers with residents and patients in an environment designed to protect their health information.

The company says that Alexa Smart Properties simplifies deploying and managing Alexa-enabled devices at scale, in order to help properties “offer customized Alexa experiences for residents and patients, and increase care team productivity and operational efficiency.”

Through the Amazon Echo device in patient rooms, administrators can offer access to tens of thousands of Alexa skills, and tailor resident experiences by customizing community information like activity schedules and meal menus. Care team members can communicate with residents using Alexa communication features, which enable them to make announcements, voice and video calls, or send direct audio messages to other Alexa-enabled devices throughout the property.

The company says that no personal information is shared with Alexa to use the device, and voice recordings are not saved. And that Amazon implements administrative, technical, and physical safeguards for protected health information received as part of HIPAA-eligible skill interactions.

Alexa Smart Properties will support senior living and healthcare solutions in the U.S. starting next month.

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October 25, 2021 – A pair of new pharmacy-benefit management (PBM) companies are being launched to tackle high drug costs – The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company PBC and the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH), a nonprofit coalition of nearly 40 large public and private employers.

PBGH is led by CEO Elizabeth Mitchell and The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company PBC is led by radiologist Alex Oshmyansky.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is funding the new company with the aim of selling generic drugs at a transparent fixed-rate markup. To do so, it is creating an all-in-one pharmaceutical supplier, combining manufacturing, wholesale distribution and pharmacy services under one roof.

Cuban’s PBM is building a plant in Dallas to manufacture certain drugs, and hopes to open the facility in September 2022, said CEO Dr. Alex Oshmyansky. The company will start bidding for clients next year and aims to be operational in 2023. Cuban’s company plans to soon launch an online pharmacy that will sell 100 of the most commonly prescribed generic medications. The pharmacy is buying drugs directly from generic manufacturers including Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc., and will charge customers a 15% markup plus a $3 dispensing fee.

PBGH’s new PBM, EmsanaRx, will be housed under an independent for-profit company called Emsana Health. The PBM will start operating next year with a small number of regional medical centers with about 3,000 employees total, said Chief Executive Greg Baker. It aims to negotiate rebates directly with drugmakers, and will allow its clients to examine invoices showing the dollar amounts it receives in rebates. The PBM intends to share 98.5% to 99% of the rebates with its clients, with the remainder going to cover administrative expenses, said Mr. Baker.

The ultimate aim of the new pharmacy-benefit managers, their executives said, was to be more transparent about drug costs and share with their clients more of any negotiated savings.

The new companies are the result of employer frustration with the lack of transparency and lack of savings from the current PBMs. Transparency in the PBM industry typically means charging a flat fee for services and passing along to the employer 100% of the rebates and discounts paid by drugmakers to the PBM. In theory, PBMs are supposed to pass along these large savings to their customers. In practice, the PBMs failing to disclose all the rebates and keeping too much of the savings some employers say.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, nearly 80% of U.S. prescriptions are managed by three PBMs:

• CVS Health Corp.’s CVS Caremark
• Cigna Corp.’s Express Scripts
• UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s OptumRx

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October 20, 2021 – With supply chain issues expected to stretch well into next year and beyond, lawmakers are looking to centralize Washington’s response and encourage more companies to bring manufacturing processes closer to home to better protect the U.S. from future catastrophic disruptions.

A bipartisan group of legislators introduced the Supply CHAIN Act earlier this month to create an Office of Supply Chain Resiliency and Crisis Response within the U.S. Department of Commerce to monitor the supply chains of critical goods and respond to disruptions.

With a $500 million annual budget from 2022-2027, the office would bring together private-sector stakeholder groups, monitor critical supply chain issues and present recommendations every four years to improve supply chain security and resiliency.

The proposal follows steps taken by the Biden administration to address supply chain weaknesses exposed by the pandemic, reports Supply Chain Dive. The White House issued a 250-page report outlining goals for reviving domestic production of semiconductors, large capacity batteries, critical minerals and pharmaceuticals amid shortages along every stage of the supply chain.

Cheaper labor in China, India and other countries has long presented inherent barriers to reshoring, and many U.S. companies have limited domestic inventories to maximize profits, said Sanjay L. Ahire, co-director of the Operations and Supply Chain Center at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business.

Ahire told Supply Chain Dive companies are realizing the need to look beyond the “sticker price,” as he called it, to what’s known as the “total cost of ownership,” which includes hidden costs of faraway manufacturing.

The bill will need to go before both the House of Representatives and Senate for a vote.

By Kipp Jones  October 12, 2021 at 10:12am

A federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that religious exemptions for health care workers must be upheld in spite of the state’s sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Then-Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the mandate in August.

The governor’s office said on Aug. 16 that “all healthcare workers in New York State, including staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities… including nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings, will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27.”

When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers acted, while the Federal Government denied the problem,” Cuomo said at the time. “Now, the Delta variant is spreading across the nation and across New York …”

“Our healthcare heroes led the battle against the virus, and now we need them to lead the battle between the variant and the vaccine.

“I have strongly urged private businesses to implement vaccinated-only admission policies, and school districts to mandate vaccinations for teachers. Neither will occur without the state legally mandating the actions — private businesses will not enforce a vaccine mandate unless it’s the law, and local school districts will be hesitant to make these challenging decisions without legal direction.”

Health care workers filed a lawsuit over the mandate, which led to Tuesday’s ruling that religious exemptions must be allowed, Spectrum News reported.

U.S. District Judge David Hurd of the Northern District of New York, in a 27-page ruling, banned any retaliation by state health officials against health care workers who do not want to be vaccinated due to religious reasons.

“The Department of Health is barred from taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the licensure, certification, residency, admitting privileges or other professional status or qualification of any of the plaintiffs on account of their seeking or having obtained a religious exemption from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination,” Hurd said in his decision.

The ruling also protects companies from facing any punishment from the state for employing unvaccinated health care workers who do receive an exemption.

The lawsuit against the state was led by 17 health anonymous care professionals, WROC-TV reported.

It argued that “[p]laintiffs hold the sincere religious belief that they ‘cannot consent to be inoculated … with vaccines that were tested, developed or produced with fetal cell[ ] line[s] derived from procured abortions.

Melanie Franco, the attorney for the plaintiffs, commented on the lawsuit in September.

“Health care workers could still get medical exemptions, but not religious exemptions. Their arguments are that it goes against not only the constitution but also the New York State Human Rights Law,” Franco said, according to WROC.

The outlet reported that Hurd said he would welcome an appeal to his decision in favor of the state’s health care workers.

“[The ruling has] nothing to do with how an individual employer should handle an individual employee’s religious objection to a workplace vaccination requirement. But they have everything to do with the proper division of federal and state power,” the judge said.

“Because the issues in dispute are of exceptional importance to the health and the religious freedoms of our citizens, an appeal may very well be appropriate,” he said.

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, as was state Attorney General Letitia James.

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press – Yesterday 10-11-21 6:54 PM

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday to prohibit any entity, including private business, from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers and called on state lawmakers to pass a similar ban into law.

The move comes as the Biden administration is set to issue rules requiring employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or test weekly for the coronavirus. Several major companies, including Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, have said they would abide by the federal mandate.

“No entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19,” Abbott wrote in his order.

Abbott, who was previously vaccinated and also later tested positive for COVID-19, noted in his order that “vaccines are strongly encouraged for those eligible to receive one, but must always be voluntary for Texans.”

Texas has seen a recent decrease in newly reported COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But a rising death toll from the recent surge caused by the delta variant has the state rapidly approaching 67,000 total fatalities since the pandemic began in 2020.

The governor added the issue to the agenda for lawmakers to address during the ongoing special session Abbott called for redrawing voting maps and new restrictions on transgender student athletes. Montana has passed a law preventing employers from mandating workers get vaccines, and a number of states have explicitly said schools cannot require vaccinations.

Abbott previously barred vaccine mandates by state and local government agencies, but until now had let private companies make their own rules for their workers. It was not immediately clear if Abbott’s latest executive order would face a quick court challenge.

Abbott’s new order also carries political implications. The two-term Republican is facing pressure from two candidates in next year’s GOP primary, former state Sen. Don Huffines and former Florida Congressman and Texas state party chairman Allen West, have attacked Abbott’s COVID-19 policies and have strongly opposed vaccine mandates.

“He knows which the way the wind is blowing. He knows conservative Republican voters are tired of the vaccine mandates and tired of him being a failed leader,” Huffines tweeted.

West recently tested positive for COVID-19. He was briefly hospitalized, but also tweeted he remains opposed to vaccine mandates. West announced Monday on his social media accounts that he had returned home.

October 11, 2021 – The beginning of the traditional flu season is upon us, and experts are urging Americans to get their flu shots to prevent further potential strain on hospitals in the coming months.  

“None of us can predict whether it will be mild, moderate or severe flu season, but we are certain that there will be flu activity. We certainly don’t want a twindemic, both COVID and influenza,” William Schaffer, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, told The Washington Post. 

A survey conducted by the National Foundation of Infectious Diseases found that 44% of US adults are “unsure or do not plan to get vaccinated against flu, including 1 in 4 of those at higher risk of flu complications.” With some evidence pointing to a potentially severe flu season, health authorities are concerned about the potential ramifications of people not getting the flu vaccine.  

There are even more opportunities for the flu virus to spread this year in reopened schools and workplaces, especially if there are no active mask mandates. Additionally, hospitals are strained more than ever before with workforce shortages and supply disruptions.  

In a briefing on flu vaccination efforts, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said, “This low flu activity was likely due to the widespread implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures like masks, physical distancing and staying home. Because of so little disease last year, population immunity is likely lower, putting us all at risk of increased disease this year.” 

 Repertoire’s Dail-eNews

September 24, 2021  –  Shortages of medical supplies like masks and gloves that marked the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic have spread to a host of other items needed at medical facilities in the U.S., from exam tables and heart defibrillators to crutches and IV poles, reports Reuters.

It can now take up to five months to get some types of exam tables, for instance, compared to three to six weeks before the pandemic, according to CME Corp (Warwick, RI), a distributor of medical equipment that handles over 2 million products.

Shortages of raw materials, including plastics, metals, glass, and electronics, have hampered production. In the case of exam tables, tight supplies of electronic controllers, metal, and even the foam padding used to build them are hampering producers, Cindy Juhas, chief strategy officer for CME Corp said.

The shortfalls – which coincides with a hospital staffing squeeze that is forcing some facilities to ration care during the latest surge in COVID cases – are part of a larger supply-chain disruption that has hampered the movement of goods around the world in the wake of the pandemic.

Many of the items in short supply have nothing to do with treating COVID. At CME, heart defibrillators that used to take two weeks to deliver now require three months.

“They normally have all the parts, so they put them together and put it on a truck,” she said. “But now they’re just waiting for parts.”

Even mundane items are snagged. Portable plastic toilets – used in hospital rooms so patients don’t have to walk to the bathroom – now are back-ordered three to four months. “That’s an item you usually can order and get right away,” said Juhas, who said she expects the larger array of supply problems to linger well into next year.

CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Thermo Fisher Scientific’s clinical sequencing business and AstraZeneca today announced they will co-develop next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based companion diagnostics (CDx) to support AstraZeneca’s expanding portfolio of targeted therapies. The companies will collaborate under a multiyear, global agreement.

“As the pipeline of targeted therapies expands, the availability of diagnostic tools that can interrogate multiple biomarkers simultaneously will ensure patients can be matched with the right therapies more rapidly – this is the promise of precision medicine,” said Garret Hampton, president of clinical next-generation sequencing and oncology at Thermo Fisher Scientific. “Introduction of diagnostic tools early in the process of drug development can further facilitate the success of companion diagnostic development – and that’s what we’re doing with AstraZeneca.”

NGS-based companion diagnostics are increasingly used to match patients with new therapies for cancer and other diseases. More than 90 percent of AstraZeneca’s clinical pipeline, across all main areas from oncology, cardiovascular and renal to metabolic and respiratory disease, are targeted precision medicine therapies.

“Using the latest diagnostic science allows us to match the best treatment to the patient,” said Ruth March, senior vice president, precision medicine and biosamples, AstraZeneca. “This collaboration with Thermo Fisher offers the technology, expertise and ability to decentralize CDx tests to local healthcare providers across our global markets, which will help us identify more patients around the world who may benefit from treatments and effective patient care.”

Thermo Fisher currently offers the only globally distributable NGS CDx solution approved and reimbursed by government and commercial insurers in more than 15 countries, including the U.S., multiple European nations, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, and covering more than 550 million lives globally.

To expand global access to a growing list of precision medicine therapies, in 2019 Thermo Fisher introduced the Ion Torrent Genexus System*, the first fully-integrated NGS platform featuring an automated specimen-to-report workflow that economically delivers results in a single day. The company’s complete NGS workflow, powered by Ion AmpliSeq technology, includes multiple solutions for solid tumor biomarkers and liquid biopsy testing.

*Currently for Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue exceeding $30 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies or increasing productivity in their laboratories, we are here to support them. Our global team of more than 80,000 colleagues delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services and Patheon. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.

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SOURCE Thermo Fisher Scientific

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