TIME -
October 22, 2020
COVID-19 vaccines are projected to be available to the entire American public by April 2021, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said at an Oct. 21 press briefing. That timeline is in keeping with estimates made by other public-health officials, but is among the strongest and most specific statements made about the widespread availability of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.S. … Azar said he expects to have enough doses to immunize the U.S.’ “most vulnerable individuals” by the end of 2020.
AP -
October 22, 2020
Hospitals across the US are starting to buckle from a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, with several states setting records for the number of people hospitalized and leaders scrambling to find extra beds and staff. New highs in cases have been reported in states big and small — from Idaho to Ohio — in recent days. .... Around the world, disease trackers have seen a pattern: First, the number of cases rises, then hospitalizations and finally there are increases in deaths. Seeing hospitals struggling is alarming because it may already be too late to stop a crippling surge.
STAT -
October 22, 2020
You can add a new worry to the health concerns caused by Covid-19: a sustained shortage of a medicines needed to combat the coronavirus and countless other illnesses. Across the U.S. and Europe, 29 out of 40 drugs used to combat the coronavirus are currently in short supply. And those shortages are expected to grow even worse as the number of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations surge in the coming winter months, according to a new report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota
HealthDay -
October 22, 2020
One of the reasons women may be less vulnerable to COVID-19 is because they're more likely to adhere to social distancing policies, a new survey suggests. A survey conducted in eight countries in March and April found substantial gender differences both in numbers of people who considered COVID-19 to be a serious health crisis and who agreed with public policies to help fight the pandemic. In March, for example, 59% of women considered the coronavirus to be a serious health problem, whereas only about 49% of men felt the same. Women were also ahead of men in terms of agreeing with public policies and following them.
AP -
October 22, 2020
The global hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine for kids is only just beginning — a lagging start that has some U.S. pediatricians worried they may not know if any shots work for young children in time for the next school year. Older adults may be most vulnerable to the coronavirus, but ending the pandemic will require vaccinating children, too. Last week, Pfizer Inc. received permission to test its vaccine in U.S. kids as young as 12, one of only a handful of attempts around the world to start exploring if any experimental shots being pushed for adults also can protect children.
NPR -
October 22, 2020
Nursing homes have been overwhelmed by the coronavirus. Residents account for more than a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths nationwide. The industry says that facilities have also been overwhelmed by costs, and they're asking for billions in aid from the federal government. But recent studies suggest that for-profit ownership may have endangered residents by skimping on care, while funneling cash to owners and investors.
CNN -
October 21, 2020
Daily coronavirus case numbers in the US are at levels not seen since the summer, and more than a dozen states set record highs for Covid-19 hospitalizations in the past week -- yet more evidence, experts say, of a difficult fall and winter ahead. The country's seven-day average of new daily cases was above 58,300 as of Monday -- a level not seen since the first week of August, and climbing closer to the summer's peak of 67,200 on July 22. Average daily new cases have soared 70% since September 12, when the country was at a two-month low of about 34,300.
TIME -
October 21, 2020
In rural areas of the country, where hospitals often have enough beds for just a few dozen patients, 15 facilities have shuttered this year as of Oct. 20, including 11 since March, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There may be as many as 18 such closures in 2020, topping last year’s record high. The hospitals in the worst financial shape generally have one thing in common: they serve the country’s most vulnerable people, who rely on Medicare and Medicaid or who are poor and uninsured.
NPR -
October 21, 2020
Two new peer-reviewed studies are showing a sharp drop in mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The drop is seen in all groups, including older patients and those with underlying conditions, suggesting that physicians are getting better at helping patients survive their illness. … The study, which was of a single health system, finds that mortality has dropped among hospitalized patients by 18 percentage points since the pandemic began. Patients in the study had a 25.6% chance of dying at the start of the pandemic; they now have a 7.6% chance. That's a big improvement, but 7.6% is still a high risk compared with other diseases, and Horwitz and other researchers caution that COVID-19 remains dangerous.
AP -
October 21, 2020
Davidson was part of a surge in overdose deaths that hit Kentucky this spring. May was its deadliest month for overdoses in at least five years. At the end of August, the state had seen almost as many overdose deaths as it had in all of 2019. It is not alone. National data is incomplete, but available information suggests U.S. drug overdose deaths are on track to reach an all-time high. Addiction experts blame the pandemic, which has left people stressed and isolated, disrupted treatment and recovery programs, and contributed to an increasingly dangerous illicit drug supply.
AP -
October 21, 2020
The family doctor ranks highest when it comes to whom Americans trust for information about the coronavirus, with 53% saying they trust their health provider a great deal or quite a bit. After their doctors, 36% said they have high trust in federal health officials at agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, 26% in state or local governments, 18% in news media, 17% in family and friends, 16% in Trump, 12% in search engines and just 6% in social media. Experts in health, science and political communication said they see three reasons for the drop in trust: fear, politics and the public watching science messily forming in real time.
Kaiser Health News -
October 21, 2020
Like other older adults who’ve become critically ill from the coronavirus, Walters, 65, describes what she calls “brain fog” — difficulty putting thoughts together, problems with concentration, the inability to remember what happened a short time before. This sudden cognitive dysfunction is a common concern for seniors who’ve survived a serious bout of COVID-19. “.. Other challenges abound: overcoming muscle and nerve damage, improving breathing, adapting to new impairments, regaining strength and stamina, and coping with the emotional toll of unexpected illness.
HealthDay -
October 21, 2020
Measures enacted to slow the spread of the new coronavirus also appeared to reduce hospitalizations for asthma, a new study finds. Researchers compared weekly data on hospitalizations at 272 hospitals in Japan in the first five months of 2020 to the same period in 2017, 2018 and 2019. … Further analysis found a significant decrease in the average number of asthma hospitalizations during weeks nine to 22 of this year compared to 2017-19.
American Psychological Association -
October 21, 2020
Stress in AmericaTM 2020: A National Mental Health Crisis, conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of APA, found that nearly 8 in 10 adults (78%) say the coronavirus pandemic is a significant source of stress in their lives, while 3 in 5 (60%) say the number of issues America faces is overwhelming to them. Gen Z adults, on average, say their stress level during the prior month is 6.1, on a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 means “little to no stress” and 10 means “a great deal of stress.” … Nearly 1 in 5 adults (19%) say their mental health is worse than it was at this time last year.
TIME -
October 21, 2020
According to a study released Tuesday from Stanford University and Strava, a social network of exercise enthusiasts, 22.5% of professional athletes reported feeling down or depressed on more than half of the days of the week in the period between mid-March and August of this year, while COVID-19 restrictions on athletic training and competition were in place, compared to 3.9% of athletes reporting the same struggles earlier this year before the pandemic hit.
NBC News -
October 21, 2020
Months later, after myriad challenges along the way — from the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals teams battling Covid-19 outbreaks early on in the truncated season to teams undergoing constant testing to playing games in empty stadiums — the upstart Tampa Bay Rays and the talent-loaded Los Angeles Dodgers will begin the World Series Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas to determine who will be crowned the 2020 champion.