Orlando Health's decision to close its Rockledge hospital just months after buying it has sent shockwaves throughout the Central Brevard County area long served by the hospital. "We're very disappointed," said Rockledge Mayor Tom Price, who was fielding many calls from city residents and hospital employees about the Orlando Health announcement that the hospital is closing and will be torn down. "It's a very big deal, because we're losing our hospital. It's not good for Rockledge and it's not good for Cocoa." Orlando Health said it is closing Rockledge Hospital on April 22, saying the 298-bed hospital is in bad physical condition and is too costly to repair. Four local outpatient facilities in Rockledge, Merritt Island and Suntree that have ties to the hospital also will close at that time.
A non–peer-reviewed study published on the preprint server bioRxiv suggests that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus shed in poultry droppings can be transmitted by the wind, a possibility that other experts say can't be ruled out but is also very difficult to prove. The report centers on a February 2024 outbreak of H5N1 avian flu among unrelated commercial poultry farms located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) apart in the Czech Republic during the 2023-24 HPAI season.
The discovery of a new bat coronavirus in China has sparked concerns about another pandemic. The virus, named HKU5-CoV-2, is similar to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in that it targets the same human receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), according to a report in the South China Morning Post. HKU5-CoV-2 could potentially lead to human-to-human or even cross-species transmission, the researchers found.
As the Oregon Health Authority's HCMO program evaluates OHSU's proposed acquisition of Legacy Health, the primary question is whether this will make the problem worse or better. Despite the public statements made by OHSU leadership, it's very questionable whether this transaction would improve affordability for patients, consumers, employers, and public purchasers.
U.S. hospitals are on track for a crisis come 2032 that may lead to hundreds of thousands of additional deaths each year. This is the warning of a study by researchers from UCLA, who found that hospitals are not only fuller now than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic—but are on track to exceed the critical threshold of 85% hospital occupancy within just seven years.