Almost $500B relief on the way? | Nurses’ union files 3 lawsuits | Facebook’s COVID fibbers

Pending votes on Capitol Hill, hospitals are soon to receive relief from pandemic economics in the form of a $480 billion-plus aid package agreed upon by Congressional leaders and the White House late Tuesday afternoon.

If the group’s actions are successful against the three entities named, unions representing healthcare workers elsewhere in the U.S. may be incentivized to take their cases to the courts in similar fashion.

The media watchdog NewsGuard has compiled a list of Facebook users who seem only too happy to “repeat, share and amplify” everything from quack cures to conspiracy theories.

If three or more significant and similar occurrences signify a trend, the U.S. hospitals that have closed in the heat of the COVID-19 crisis—mostly rural institutions—may be harbingers of things to come.

Tracing contacts of COVID-19 carriers sounds simple. It isn’t. Infected people must be interviewed. They’re not always cooperative. Or they are but can’t remember key details.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed patient care in countless ways, but percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains the recommended standard of care for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.

“In a pandemic of this magnitude, flexibility is paramount for a healthcare system under siege by COVID-19,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. 

Sometimes there’s real progress behind the slick pitch.