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Category: Health

Most people with coronavirus won’t spread it. Why do a few infect many?

Most people with coronavirus won’t spread it. Why do a few infect many?

Carl Zimmer reports: At a May 30 birthday party in Texas, one man reportedly infected 18 friends and family with the coronavirus. Reading reports like these, you might think of the virus as a wildfire, instantly setting off epidemics wherever it goes. But other reports tell another story altogether. In Italy, for example, scientists looked at stored samples of wastewater for the earliest trace of the virus. Last week they reported that the virus was in Turin and Milan as…

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Why Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a ‘catastrophic failure’

Why Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been a ‘catastrophic failure’

James Fallows writes: Coping with a pandemic is one of the most complex challenges a society can face. To minimize death and damage, leaders and citizens must orchestrate a huge array of different resources and tools. Scientists must explore the most advanced frontiers of research while citizens attend to the least glamorous tasks of personal hygiene. Physical supplies matter—test kits, protective gear—but so do intangibles, such as “flattening the curve” and public trust in official statements. The response must be…

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A Sun Belt time bomb threatens Trump’s reelection

A Sun Belt time bomb threatens Trump’s reelection

Politico reports: The explosion of Covid-19 cases in Sun Belt states is becoming another albatross for President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes — and creating a new opening for Joe Biden and Democrats in November. Republican governors in Florida, Arizona and Texas followed Trump’s lead by quickly reopening their states while taking a lax approach to social distancing and mask-wearing. Now, each of them is seeing skyrocketing coronavirus caseloads and rising hospitalizations, and Republican leaders are in retreat. It’s hard to…

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‘Boogaloo’ believers think a civil war is coming. Gun firms are openly marketing to them

‘Boogaloo’ believers think a civil war is coming. Gun firms are openly marketing to them

The Informant reports: In mid March, Fenix Ammunition, an ammunition manufacturer in Michigan, saw its daily online sales rise from $4,000 to $40,000. The pandemic had boosted demand for guns and ammunition around the country, and Fenix was reaping the fruits of the national following it has cultivated since its 2016 launch. In addition to record high civilian demand, Fenix also counted at least three local police departments, a law enforcement training center, and KelTec, one of the leading rifle…

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The link between restaurant spending and new cases of coronavirus

The link between restaurant spending and new cases of coronavirus

CNBC reports: Higher restaurant spending appears to be linked to a faster spread of the coronavirus, according to a JPMorgan study. Analyst Jesse Edgerton analyzed data from 30 million Chase credit and debit cardholders and from Johns Hopkins University’s case tracker. He found that increased restaurant spending in a state predicted a rise in new infections there three weeks later. He also said restaurant spending was the strongest predictor across all categories of card spending. The United States set a…

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As Trump plays down the danger of the coronavirus pandemic he steps up measures to protect himself

As Trump plays down the danger of the coronavirus pandemic he steps up measures to protect himself

CNN reports: President Donald Trump appears ready to move on from a still-raging coronavirus pandemic — skipping the first White House task force briefing in months and moving the event out of the White House itself. But the measures meant to protect him from catching the virus have scaled up dramatically. As he seeks to insert rival Joe Biden’s health into the presidential campaign, Trump has voiced escalating concern about how it would appear if he contracted coronavirus and has…

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Compared to the European Union, why has the U.S. done such a poor job in containing Covid-19?

Compared to the European Union, why has the U.S. done such a poor job in containing Covid-19?

Max Nisen writes: A sluggish initial response and failure to ramp up testing let the virus spread far and wide in the U.S. And instead of coordinating a coherent and aggressive national response, President Donald Trump has consistently downplayed the threat of the infection and left decisions to insufficiently supported states. As a result, decisions over lockdowns and reopenings have been chaotic and have ignored the guidelines put forth by federal public health officials. Amid all of this, one particular…

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European Union plans to bar most U.S. travelers when bloc reopens

European Union plans to bar most U.S. travelers when bloc reopens

The New York Times reports: The European Union is ready to bar most travelers from the United States, Russia, and dozens of other countries considered too risky because they have not controlled the coronavirus outbreak, E.U. officials said Friday. By contrast, travelers from more than a dozen countries that are not overwhelmed by the coronavirus are set to be welcomed when the bloc reopens after months of lockdown on July 1. The acceptable countries also include China — but only…

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Almost a third of black Americans know someone who died of Covid-19

Almost a third of black Americans know someone who died of Covid-19

The Washington Post reports: Nearly 1 in 3 black Americans know someone personally who has died of covid-19, far exceeding their white counterparts, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll that underscores the coronavirus pandemic’s profoundly disparate impact. The nationwide survey finds that 31 percent of black adults say they know someone firsthand who has been killed by the virus, compared with 17 percent of adults who are Hispanic and 9 percent who are white. Adding in those who know someone…

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How the coronavirus escapes an evolutionary trade-off that helps keep other pathogens in check

How the coronavirus escapes an evolutionary trade-off that helps keep other pathogens in check

An artistic rendering of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 illness. Getty Images / s-cphoto By Athena Aktipis, Arizona State University and Joe Alcock, University of New Mexico Viruses walk a fine line between severity and transmissibility. If they are too virulent, they kill or incapacitate their hosts; this limits their ability to infect new hosts. Conversely, viruses that cause little harm may not be generating enough copies of themselves to be infectious. But SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes…

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Coronavirus spike rattles Senate Republicans

Coronavirus spike rattles Senate Republicans

Politico reports: As coronavirus cases spike across the country, President Donald Trump and his top officials say everything is mostly under control. But Senate Republicans are pressing them to show a little urgency. The latest outbreaks are also reshaping the GOP’s political and legislative strategy, with Republicans planning to focus more on health care in the next coronavirus relief bill. And they’re flashing rare frustration at the Trump administration for its decision to wind down federally supported testing sites. “Frankly…

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A devastating new stage of the pandemic

A devastating new stage of the pandemic

The Atlantic reports: For the past few weeks in the United States, the awful logic of the coronavirus seemed to have lifted. Stores and restaurants reopened. Protesters flocked to the streets. Some people resumed going about their daily lives, and while many wore face masks, many others did not. Yet cases continued to ebb. Even though the U.S. had adopted neither the stringent lockdowns nor the trace-and-isolate strategies seen in other countries, its number of confirmed COVID-19 cases settled into…

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How conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic

How conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the pandemic

Christopher Ingraham writes: Coronavirus infections have surged in a number of states, setting the United States on a markedly different pandemic trajectory than other wealthy nations. There are many reasons our response to the pandemic tied to nearly 120,000 U.S. deaths has faltered, experts say, including the lack of a cohesive federal policy, missteps on testing and tracing, and a national culture emphasizing individualism. In recent weeks, three studies have focused on conservative media’s role in fostering confusion about the…

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Trump says the coronavirus is ‘going away.’ CDC says cases in U.S. may be 10 times higher than reported

Trump says the coronavirus is ‘going away.’ CDC says cases in U.S. may be 10 times higher than reported

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump keeps spinning a tale about COVID-19 that is at odds with his own administration’s disease experts and data compiled by his own coronavirus task force, which was obtained exclusively by NBC News. In Trump’s telling, the deadly pandemic isn’t really a serious threat to the public and rising infection rates are simply due to increased testing. “It’s going away,” he said Tuesday at an event in Phoenix. But on the same day, the coronavirus…

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Quarantine bubbles – when done right – limit coronavirus risk and help fight loneliness

Quarantine bubbles – when done right – limit coronavirus risk and help fight loneliness

Quaranteams offer a way to limit the risk of infection while also maintaining social contacts and mental health. Oqvector / iStock Getty Images Plus via Getty Images By Melissa Hawkins, American University After three months of lockdowns, many people in the U.S. and around the world are turning to quarantine bubbles, pandemic pods or quaranteams in an effort to balance the risks of the pandemic with the emotional and social needs of life. I am an epidemiologist and a mother…

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‘Coming back and biting us’: U.S. sees Covid-19 resurgence

‘Coming back and biting us’: U.S. sees Covid-19 resurgence

The Associated Press reports: Hospital administrators and health experts warned desperately Wednesday that parts of the U.S. are on the verge of becoming overwhelmed by a resurgence of the coronavirus, lamenting that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold. The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in two months, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The number of new cases per day is now running just short of…

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