NASA and Fitbit received approval from the Food and Drug Administration this week for their ventilators designed to help COVID-19 patients. NASA’s design, dubbed the VITAL (Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally), is a temporary piece of equipment that uses an internal compressor and is meant to last three to four months. The FDA also approved the Fitbit Flow, a continuous respiratory support system that also includes an FDA-approved manual resuscitator as part of the machine.
Here’s what else you need to know about COVID-19 around the U.S.:
• There have been more than 1.8 million coronavirus cases and more than 106,000 deaths.
• The surgeon general said he expects new outbreaks due to the protests over the death of George Floyd.
• More than 600 nurses worldwide have died from COVID-19, and more than 230,000 health care workers have contracted the virus, the International Council of Nurses said Wednesday in a statement.
• The U.S. should have 100 million doses of one candidate COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases doctor, said this week. |
