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Category: Health

Communities of color continue to die from the coronavirus at much higher rates than Whites

Communities of color continue to die from the coronavirus at much higher rates than Whites

The Washington Post reports: Dennis Bannister’s daughter, Demi, was the first to die. She was only 28, a beloved third-grade teacher who likely caught the virus during a training at her Columbia, S.C., school district. Doctors diagnosed her with a bladder infection, and by the time they realized their mistake, it was too late. Not long after, the family’s matriarch, Shirley, 57, complained of difficulty breathing. She was twice sent home from the emergency room before returning by ambulance and…

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World leaders discuss help for poorest nations in post-Covid world, while Trump golfs

World leaders discuss help for poorest nations in post-Covid world, while Trump golfs

Reuters reports: Leaders of the 20 biggest economies are debating this weekend how to distribute Covid-19 vaccines, drugs and tests around the world so that poorer countries are not left out as nations look for ways to manage a post-coronavirus recovery. The leaders are holding a two-day virtual meeting via video-conference due to the pandemic, under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia, which holds the rotating presidency of the G20 until the end of November. The Covid-19 pandemic, which will throw…

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As CDC warns against Thanksgiving travel, here are a dozen more things you can do to help stop COVID-19

As CDC warns against Thanksgiving travel, here are a dozen more things you can do to help stop COVID-19

While it may be deflating, events like the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are best watched from home this year. Here, the Harold the Fireman balloon lies face down as he readied for the parade on Nov. 27, 2019. Gary Hershorn via Getty Images By Pamela M. Aaltonen, Purdue University As Americans prepare for the first Thanksgiving in the time of the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a stark warning a week before the big day:…

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At America’s best Covid-prepared hospital: ‘We are on an absolutely catastrophic path’

At America’s best Covid-prepared hospital: ‘We are on an absolutely catastrophic path’

Ed Yong writes: Perhaps no hospital in the United States was better prepared for a pandemic than the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. After the SARS outbreak of 2003, its staff began specifically preparing for emerging infections. The center has the nation’s only federal quarantine facility and its largest biocontainment unit, which cared for airlifted Ebola patients in 2014. The people on staff had detailed pandemic plans. They ran drills. Ron Klain, who was President Barack Obama’s “Ebola…

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How China crushed coronavirus

How China crushed coronavirus

Wired reports: Hong Wei* returned to his hometown of Luoyang in Henan province for the Spring Festival in early February. It took a few days for the gateway of his residential compound to be cordoned off, signalling that only residents should enter. For Hong, this was just the first sign of the mass mobilisation of people that has characterised China’s remarkably successful response to the coronavirus pandemic. Hong’s uncle had already stocked up on all the ingredients to serve roast…

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Pence sees ‘great progress’ as pandemic worsens nationwide

Pence sees ‘great progress’ as pandemic worsens nationwide

Politico reports: Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday touted “great progress” against the coronavirus pandemic during the first White House task force briefing in months as the country experiences record-high cases, hospitalizations and deaths. “America has never been more prepared to combat this virus than we are today,” Pence told reporters. He declined to take questions despite the worsening crisis and tensions following the presidential election, even as President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede could hamper the fight against coronavirus….

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What human hair reveals about death’s seasonality

What human hair reveals about death’s seasonality

Max G. Levy writes: Each wave of Edith Howard Cook’s reddish-blonde hair tells a story. One segment may chronicle an unusually damp San Francisco summer; another may recall a dry December. But read in their entirety, the strands reveal the season in 1876 when 2-year-old Edith passed away. Archaeologist Jelmer Eerkens helped identify Edith after a construction crew discovered her remains in a backyard in 2016. “I have kids myself,” says Eerkens, an archaeologist at the University of California, Davis….

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As Covid surges, American hospitals don’t have enough staff

As Covid surges, American hospitals don’t have enough staff

The Atlantic reports: The reports have come in from all across the country: Hospitals are filling up, especially in the Midwest, and they are running out of the staff they need to take care of patients. Last week, the United States broke its record from April for the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, blowing past 60,000 all the way to 73,000, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic. Now new data released by the Department…

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Immunity to the coronavirus may last years, new data hint

Immunity to the coronavirus may last years, new data hint

The New York Times reports: How long might immunity to the coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful answer yet to a question that has shadowed plans for widespread vaccination. Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness, the new data show. A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests, happily, that these cells may persist…

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Trump coronavirus adviser tells Michigan to ‘rise up’ against new shutdown orders

Trump coronavirus adviser tells Michigan to ‘rise up’ against new shutdown orders

The Washington Post reports: On Sunday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) announced a three-week “pause to save lives,” closing colleges, high schools, workplaces and in-person dining as new coronavirus cases have spiked. After she appealed to the Trump administration to intervene in the pandemic, White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas responded with a call to action. But instead of supporting Whitmer’s efforts to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus in Michigan, he urged residents to reject the state’s public…

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Pfizer vaccine: what an ‘efficacy rate above 90%’ really means

Pfizer vaccine: what an ‘efficacy rate above 90%’ really means

F8 Studio/Shutterstock By Zania Stamataki, University of Birmingham There was – rightfully – a lot of excitement when Pfizer and BioNTech announced interim results from their COVID vaccine trial. The vaccine, called BNT162b2, was reported to have an “efficacy rate above 90%”. This was soon translated in the press to be 90% “effective” at preventing COVID-19. Efficacy, effectiveness – what’s the difference? We academics are very precise in our language and it can be a cause of considerable frustration when…

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It’s time to hunker down

It’s time to hunker down

Zeynep Tufekci writes: The end may be near for the pestilence that has haunted the world this year. Good news is arriving on almost every front: treatments, vaccines, and our understanding of this coronavirus. Pfizer and BioNTech have announced a stunning success rate in their early Phase 3 vaccine trials—if it holds up, it will be a game changer. Treatments have gotten better too. A monoclonal antibody drug—similar to what President Donald Trump and the former Governor Chris Christie received—just…

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The third covid surge is breaking health workers

The third covid surge is breaking health workers

Ed Yong writes: On Saturday morning, Megan Ranney was about to put on her scrubs when she heard that Joe Biden had won the presidential election. That day, she treated people with COVID-19 while street parties erupted around the country. She was still in the ER in the late evening when Biden and Vice President–elect Kamala Harris made their victory speeches. These days, her shifts at Rhode Island Hospital are long, and they “are not going to change in the…

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Australia has almost eliminated the coronavirus — by putting faith in science

Australia has almost eliminated the coronavirus — by putting faith in science

The Washington Post reports: The Sydney Opera House has reopened. Almost 40,000 spectators attended the city’s rugby league grand final. Workers are being urged to return to their offices. Australia has become a pandemic success story. The nation of 26 million is close to eliminating community transmission of the coronavirus, having defeated a second wave just as infections surge again in Europe and the United States. No new cases were reported on the island continent Thursday, and only seven since…

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The wisdom of pandemics

The wisdom of pandemics

David Waltner-Toews writes: Wisdom is the ability to discern inner qualities and subtle relationships, then translate them into what others recognise as good judgment. If it comes to us at all, wisdom is the product of reflection, time and experience. A person might achieve wisdom after decades; a community after centuries; a culture after millennia. Modern human beings as a species? We’re getting there, and pandemics can help. If we persist in our curiosity and reflect on what we find,…

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Make America healthy again by paying more attention to nutrition

Make America healthy again by paying more attention to nutrition

Vanita Rahman and Matthew Rees write: Health care and health care policy were centerpieces of the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns. It’s a shame that neither party focused on the underlying issue: the poor health of the American people, largely attributed to poor nutrition. By many measures, the population of the United States is the unhealthiest of any high-income country despite spending much more money, as a share of the economy, on health care. The incidence of chronic disease is…

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