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Category: Health

Trump and his cronies got coronavirus care many others couldn’t

Trump and his cronies got coronavirus care many others couldn’t

The New York Times reports: Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Donald J. Trump are not the sturdiest candidates to conquer the coronavirus: older, in some cases overweight, male and not particularly fit. Yet all seem to have gotten through Covid-19, and all have gotten an antibody treatment in such short supply that some hospitals and states are doling it out by lottery. Now Rudolph W. Giuliani, the latest member of President Trump’s inner circle to contract Covid-19, has acknowledged that…

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Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

The Washington Post reports: Early in the pandemic, Joo Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington: At least once a day, he’d spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too. Since then, he said, thefts have more than doubled at Capitol Supermarket — even though he now stations more employees…

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In 2020, normal became exceptional

In 2020, normal became exceptional

BuzzFeed reports: Helped by geographic isolation or governmental response or both, infections are low to nonexistent in several countries, particularly in the Asia Pacific, where life looks practically normal. Some people even occasionally forget there’s a pandemic going on. “I feel like there were days I forgot there was a pandemic, especially on days I wasn’t going out so much, just staying in my area,” said Jade Dhangwattanotai, a 25-year-old software developer in Bangkok. “In my day-to-day life, yes, I…

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Over the last week, Covid-19 killed more than twice as many Americans as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined

Over the last week, Covid-19 killed more than twice as many Americans as 9/11 and Pearl Harbor combined

Deadliest days in American history: 1. Galveston Hurricane – 8,0002. Antietam – 3,6003. 9/11 – 2,9774. Last Thursday – 2,8615. Last Wednesday – 2,7626. Last Tuesday – 2.4617. Last Friday – 2,4398. Pearl Harbor – 2,403 — 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@Sundae_Gurl) December 9, 2020 According to Worldometers, between December 1 and December 7, 13,433 Americans died from Covid-19.

This winter, fight Covid-19 with humidity

This winter, fight Covid-19 with humidity

Joseph G. Allen, Akiko Iwasaki and Linsey C. Marr write: We have a great set of tools that can help slow the spread of this virus: masks, social distancing and hand-washing, as well as healthy building strategies such as ventilation and filtration. And there is one more healthy building tool that we can use this winter: maintaining relative humidity in the 40-to-60-percent range. Relative humidity is the term for how much water vapor is actually in the air compared to…

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The Covid-19 vaccines were designed almost a year ago

The Covid-19 vaccines were designed almost a year ago

David Wallace-Wells writes: You may be surprised to learn that of the trio of long-awaited coronavirus vaccines, the most promising, Moderna’s mRNA-1273, which reported a 94.5 percent efficacy rate on November 16, had been designed by January 13. This was just two days after the genetic sequence had been made public in an act of scientific and humanitarian generosity that resulted in China’s Yong-Zhen Zhang’s being temporarily forced out of his lab. In Massachusetts, the Moderna vaccine design took all…

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Leading Covid-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna decline invitations to White House ‘Vaccine Summit’

Leading Covid-19 vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna decline invitations to White House ‘Vaccine Summit’

STAT reports: Both Pfizer and Moderna, the two major drug manufacturers likely to receive emergency authorizations for a Covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks, have rejected invitations from President Trump to appear at a White House “Vaccine Summit” on Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the event’s planning. The Trump administration has openly feuded with Pfizer in recent weeks over its involvement in Operation Warp Speed and the timing of a data release showing its vaccine to be highly…

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The pandemic’s final surge will be brutal

The pandemic’s final surge will be brutal

Whet Moser writes: In the spring, during the first COVID-19 surge in the United States, the rising death toll reached a sobering peak in April—a seven-day average of 2,116 daily deaths. This past weekend, the seven-day average of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 broke that record twice, at 2,123 on Saturday and 2,171 yesterday, according to the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. Yesterday, the seven-day averages for all four of the primary metrics that the COVID Tracking Project follows—tests, cases,…

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Former Alabama senator warned, ‘We messed up,’ just before he died from Covid

Former Alabama senator warned, ‘We messed up,’ just before he died from Covid

NBC News reports: A former Alabama state senator died of Covid-19 last week at age 78, officials said. Former Sen. Larry Dixon, a Republican who also served as the executive director of the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners, died from Covid-19 on Dec. 4, the board said in a statement on Friday. Dr. David Thrasher, a close friend of Dixon and a pulmonologist in Montgomery, told NBC News that Dixon’s wife, Gaynell Dixon, told Thrasher that his last words to…

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Trump’s Operation Warp Speed promised a flood of covid vaccines. Instead, states are expecting a trickle

Trump’s Operation Warp Speed promised a flood of covid vaccines. Instead, states are expecting a trickle

The Washington Post reports: Federal officials have slashed the amount of coronavirus vaccine they plan to ship to states in December because of constraints on supply, sending local officials into a scramble to adjust vaccination plans and highlighting how early promises of a vast stockpile before the end of 2020 have fallen short. Instead of the delivery of 300 million or so doses of vaccine immediately after emergency-use approval and before the end of 2020 as the Trump administration had…

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Sweden ends its deadly libertarian pandemic experiment

Sweden ends its deadly libertarian pandemic experiment

The Wall Street Journal reports: Sweden’s Covid-19 experiment is over. After a late autumn surge in infections led to rising hospitalizations and deaths, the government has abandoned its attempt—unique among Western nations—to combat the pandemic through voluntary measures. Like other Europeans, Swedes are now heading into the winter facing restrictions ranging from a ban on large gatherings to curbs on alcohol sales and school closures—all aimed at preventing the country’s health system from being swamped by patients and capping what…

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Drug reverses age-related mental decline in mice within days

Drug reverses age-related mental decline in mice within days

University of California, San Francisco: Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss, fight certain types of prostate cancer, and even enhance cognition in healthy animals. In the…

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Is ‘natural immunity’ from Covid-19 better than a vaccine?

Is ‘natural immunity’ from Covid-19 better than a vaccine?

The New York Times reports: On the heels of last month’s news of stunning results from Pfizer’s and Moderna’s experimental Covid-19 vaccines, Senator Rand Paul tweeted a provocative comparison. The new vaccines were 90 percent and 94.5 percent effective, Mr. Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said. But “naturally acquired” Covid-19 was even better, at 99.9982 percent effective, he claimed. Mr. Paul is one of many people who, weary of lockdowns and economic losses, have extolled the benefits of contracting the coronavirus….

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New Mexico shut down nearly everything to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by covid. It wasn’t enough

New Mexico shut down nearly everything to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by covid. It wasn’t enough

The Washington Post reports: The governor had been sounding the alarm for more than a month. But by mid-November, it was clear to Michelle Lujan Grisham that she would need to take extreme measures to head off the “most serious emergency that New Mexico has ever faced.” With covid-19 cases rising exponentially and hospital beds dwindling, she dragged her state back to the darkest days of spring, when restaurant dining was banned, nonessential businesses were closed and residents were ordered…

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The U.S. has passed the hospital breaking point

The U.S. has passed the hospital breaking point

Robinson Meyer and Alexis C. Madrigal write: Since the beginning of the pandemic, public-health experts have warned of one particular nightmare. It is possible, they said, for the number of coronavirus patients to exceed the capacity of hospitals in a state or city to take care of them. Faced with a surge of severely ill people, doctors and nurses will have to put beds in hallways, spend less time with patients, and become more strict about who they admit into…

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How 700 epidemiologists are living now, and what they think is next

How 700 epidemiologists are living now, and what they think is next

The New York Times reports: Even with coronavirus vaccines on the way, many epidemiologists do not expect their lives to return to pre-pandemic normal until most Americans are vaccinated. In the meantime, most have eased up on some precautions — now going to the grocery store or seeing friends outdoors, for example — but are as cautious as ever about many activities of daily life. In a new informal survey of 700 epidemiologists by The New York Times, half said…

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