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Category: Health

Study finds 36,000 American lives could have been saved if Trump had showed decisive leadership in early March

Study finds 36,000 American lives could have been saved if Trump had showed decisive leadership in early March

The Washington Post reports: On March 8, it was mostly business as usual in the United States. As the Lakers faced the Clippers in a much-anticipated Los Angeles basketball matchup, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rallied before a packed crowd in Michigan. In Miami, thousands squeezed onto the beach for a massive dance party. With 500 coronavirus infections reported nationwide at the time, the outbreak seemed like a distant threat to many Americans. But by the following Sunday, the nation had…

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America’s billionaires got $434 billion richer during the lockdown

America’s billionaires got $434 billion richer during the lockdown

CNBC reports: America’s billionaires saw their fortunes soar by $434 billion during the U.S. lockdown between mid-March and mid-May, according to a new report. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg had the biggest gains, with Bezos adding $34.6 billion to his wealth and Zuckerberg adding $25 billion, according to the report from Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies’ Program for Inequality. The report is based on Forbes data for America’s more than 600 billionaires between…

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How SARS-CoV-2 hijacks cells

How SARS-CoV-2 hijacks cells

Sharon Begley writes: A deep dive into how the new coronavirus infects cells has found that it orchestrates a hostile takeover of their genes unlike any other known viruses do, producing what one leading scientist calls “unique” and “aberrant” changes. Recent studies show that in seizing control of genes in the human cells it invades, the virus changes how segments of DNA are read, doing so in a way that might explain why the elderly are more likely to die…

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No one has the right to spread disease

No one has the right to spread disease

Graham Mooney writes: So far, COVID-19 has killed more than 90,000 Americans—at least that’s the official count. More than 1.5 million have been infected, and every day another 25,000 or so test positive. Despite this, across the country there is an increasing push to ease social-distancing restrictions. Florida, Wisconsin, and many other states are moving to reopen. Most public-health experts say it is too soon, and that easing restrictions will lead to a spike in transmissions. Many of the people…

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Why do some Covid-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all?

Why do some Covid-19 patients infect many others, whereas most don’t spread the virus at all?

Science reports: When 61 people met for a choir practice in a church in Mount Vernon, Washington, on 10 March, everything seemed normal. For 2.5 hours the chorists sang, snacked on cookies and oranges, and sang some more. But one of them had been suffering for 3 days from what felt like a cold—and turned out to be COVID-19. In the following weeks, 53 choir members got sick, three were hospitalized, and two died, according to a 12 May report…

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How Bolinas mounted one of the most advanced coronavirus-testing efforts in America

How Bolinas mounted one of the most advanced coronavirus-testing efforts in America

Nathan Heller writes: This winter … the coronavirus brought a wave of social change from which Bolinas [a tiny hippie enclave north of San Francisco] could not flee. On January 11th, China reported its first death caused by covid-19; on January 21st, a resident of Washington State, who had travelled to Wuhan, became the first confirmed case in the United States; and, by mid-February, fatalities spanned the world. On March 16th, a group of counties across the Bay Area declared…

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The coronavirus is coursing through different parts of the U.S. in different, harder to predict, ways

The coronavirus is coursing through different parts of the U.S. in different, harder to predict, ways

Ed Yong writes: There was supposed to be a peak. But the stark turning point, when the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. finally crested and began descending sharply, never happened. Instead, America spent much of April on a disquieting plateau, with every day bringing about 30,000 new cases and about 2,000 new deaths. The graphs were more mesa than Matterhorn—flat-topped, not sharp-peaked. Only this month has the slope started gently heading downward. This pattern exists because different…

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Americans harbor strong fear of new wave of coronavirus infections

Americans harbor strong fear of new wave of coronavirus infections

The Associated Press reports: Strong concern about a second wave of coronavirus infections is reinforcing widespread opposition among Americans to reopening public places, a new poll finds, even as many state leaders step up efforts to return to life before the pandemic. Yet support for public health restrictions imposed to control the virus’ spread is no longer overwhelming. It has been eroded over the past month by a widening partisan divide, with Democrats more cautious and Republicans less anxious as…

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CDC staff being ‘muzzled’ as White House puts politics ahead of science

CDC staff being ‘muzzled’ as White House puts politics ahead of science

CNN reports: In the early weeks of the US coronavirus outbreak, staff members in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tracked a growing number of transmissions in Europe and elsewhere, and proposed a global advisory that would alert flyers to the dangers of air travel. But about a week passed before the alert was issued publicly — crucial time lost when about 66,000 European travelers were streaming into American airports every day. The delay, detailed in documents…

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How most Americans really feel about wearing face masks

How most Americans really feel about wearing face masks

HuffPost reports: Most Americans consider wearing a mask near others a sign of respect and a matter of public health, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds. In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s frequent eschewal of masks, combined with a few high-profile incidents of public protest, have seemingly threatened to turn the issue into another front for partisan hostilities. But public opinion on masks, like other aspects of the coronavirus crisis, doesn’t fit neatly into the hyperpolarized…

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Why contact tracing may be a mess across America

Why contact tracing may be a mess across America

MIT Technology Review reports: Dozens of states across the US are pinning their hopes on contact tracing to control the spread of the coronavirus and enable regions to reopen without sparking major resurgences of the outbreak. Alaska, California, Massachusetts, New York, and others are collectively hiring and training tens of thousands of people to interview infected patients, identify people they may have exposed, and convince everyone at risk to stay away from others for several weeks. Contact tracing is a…

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States could lose National Guard virus workers just as risk rises for second wave of infection

States could lose National Guard virus workers just as risk rises for second wave of infection

Politico reports: More than 40,000 National Guard members currently helping states test residents for the coronavirus and trace the spread of infections will face a “hard stop” on their deployments on June 24 — just one day shy of many members becoming eligible for key federal benefits, according to a senior FEMA official. The official outlined the Trump administration’s plans on an interagency call on May 12, an audio version of which was obtained by POLITICO. The official also acknowledged…

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Study shows that wearing masks can reduce coronavirus transmission rate by as much as 75%

Study shows that wearing masks can reduce coronavirus transmission rate by as much as 75%

CNBC reports: As the debate over the effectiveness of wearing masks during a pandemic continues, a new study gives weight to arguments by medical professionals and government leaders that wearing a mask does indeed reduce virus transmission — and dramatically so. Experiments by a team in Hong Kong found that the coronavirus’ transmission rate via respiratory droplets or airborne particles dropped by as much as 75% when surgical masks were used. “The findings implied to the world and the public…

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Florida government may be censoring Covid-19 data in order to promote re-opening of state

Florida government may be censoring Covid-19 data in order to promote re-opening of state

USA Today reports: The scientist who created Florida’s COVID-19 data portal wasn’t just removed from her position on May 5, she was fired on Monday by the Department of Health, she said, for refusing to manipulate data. Rebekah Jones said in an email to the USA TODAY Network that she single-handedly created two applications in two languages, four dashboards, six unique maps with layers of data functionality for 32 variables covering a half a million lines of data. Her objective…

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Donald Trump is lying about taking hydroxychloroquine, a lot of people say

Donald Trump is lying about taking hydroxychloroquine, a lot of people say

Vogue reports: President Donald Trump announced at a White House event on Monday that he has been taking the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine for “a couple of weeks” as a preventive measure against COVID-19. A lot of people don’t believe him. Immediately after the startling announcement, dozens of critics took to Twitter to doubt the president’s claim. “Raise your hand if you think that Trump is lying about taking #Hydroxychloroquine,” tweeted the widely followed health advocate Peter Morley. “I’m gonna go…

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Preventing a Great Depression will cost $10 trillion. Here’s how it can happen

Preventing a Great Depression will cost $10 trillion. Here’s how it can happen

Derek Thompson writes: Last week, House Democrats unveiled their latest pandemic-relief package. The bill combines aid for families, a bailout for struggling cities and states, and additional funds for testing, tracing, and hospitals. The price tag is about $3 trillion—and it comes just weeks after the president signed an economic-relief package worth about $2 trillion. Republicans have assailed the bill as a profligate wish list. Even Americans who are suffering from the health and economic ravages of the pandemic may…

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