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University Health System and UT Health San Antonio have begun enrolling their first patients for the third phase of a clinical trial studying the effectiveness of the drug remdesivir in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19. In this portion of the fast-moving double-blind study, some patients will receive remdesivir plus interferon beta-1a, a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis. Other patients will receive remdesivir and a placebo. Interferons are proteins that strengthen the...

As if schools didn’t have enough to think about this year, here’s a message for the school nurse: stop using nebulizers. Dr. Mandie Svatek, a University Hospital pediatrician, associate professor with UT Health San Antonio, and a member of the citywide COVID Enforcement and Education Task Force and the K-12 Schools Coalition Team, told a group of 476 nurses and health assistance at a Region 20 meeting this week that they need to switch to delivering inhaled medicines through...

We are testing all patients admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 and one revelation from that has been that many moms-to-be are positive for COVID-19.

Researchers prepare for next phase of study.

Dr. Ronald Stewart, trauma surgeon at University Hospital and chair of the Department of Surgery at UT Health San Antonio, explains how everyone in our community must do their part to help slow the spread of the virus in this Opinion Letter, COVID-19 Pandemic: Freedom, Responsibility and Teamwork in South Texas, published in the San Antonio Express News on June 30, 2020.

COVID-19 infections are spiking and local hospitals are seeing heavy surges of very sick patients. A lot of good data about what is happening are available on Metro Health’s website, but it can be overwhelming for people who don’t study it every day. Dr. Bryan Alsip is chief medical officer for University Health System, a member of the COVID-19 Health Transition Team, and serves on the Community Response Coalition’s Indicator Monitoring Workgroup. Dr. Alsip explains some...

Stephanie Hansen has been watching the COVID-19 pandemic from an unusual vantage point – she has been practicing physical distancing since she was three years old. Hansen, 30, has cystic fibrosis, which makes her especially vulnerable to respiratory infections, and she’s made more trips to the hospital than she’d like when it gets hard to breathe. In January, she was at University Hospital recovering from a serious infection caused by the common cold, when she saw on the...

A significant and rapid increase in positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations at all San Antonio hospitals is very concerning. With Juneteenth observances and the Father’s Day weekend, we urge people to be diligent about hand hygiene, maintaining physical distance and wearing masks in public spaces when distancing is not possible. These tactics are proven to reduce the spread of the virus. Here’s the status today on a scale of: Good, OK, Concerning or Crisis. Supplies –...

University Health System began processing COVID-19 tests from across the state, using expanded capacity that it has been building for several months.

One of the comforts we have taken in this pandemic is the fact that children with confirmed COVID-19 cases have largely presented with milder symptoms. The most common symptoms are cough, sore throat, and fever. Now healthcare providers are seeing a small but disturbing set of related cases: some children who have tested positive for the virus develop an inflammatory syndrome that affects the vascular system and potentially the heart. Dr. Rob Sanders, medical director of University Health...