CNN -
October 2, 2020
Loss of smell and taste are a strong sign that someone is infected with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 -- and in some cases it may occur without the other symptoms of cough or fever, according to new research published Thursday. … Among those 567 people who were tested, 77.6% tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies. In total, 80.4% of participants reporting smell loss and 77.8% of those reporting taste loss had a positive test result, the researchers reported in the journal PLOS Medicine.
Live Science -
October 2, 2020
Having nightmares about being stuck maskless in a crowd or coming down with COVID-19? You're not alone. A suite of new studies finds that pandemic dreams are remarkably common across multiple countries. People in Finland, Italy, the U.S., Canada and elsewhere around the world report many of the same themes, from dreams about becoming infected to anxiety dreams about social distancing. Some of the examples are metaphorical, such as a cluster of dreams about being attacked by bugs.
ABC News -
October 2, 2020
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, health care experts have been urging Americans to get vaccinated against influenza during the 2020-2021 flu season, to prevent a "twindemic," overlapping epidemics of the flu and COVID-19, which could overwhelm hospitals and increase people's risk of death. … "Everybody, 6 months of age or older, should get an annual flu vaccine," asserted Fauci.
Reuters -
October 2, 2020
U.S. schools from kindergarten to high school have avoided a spike in COVID-19 cases, early data show, but medical experts say the real test is coming as students in large densely-populated cities such as New York and Miami return to classrooms. The CDC this week said more than 270,000 COVID-19 cases had been reported in children aged 5-17 since March. Cases in school-age children ticked slightly higher in mid-September as more schools reopened, but remains well below the peak set in mid-July.
ABC News -
October 2, 2020
After stalling in the first few weeks of the pandemic, U.S. home sales have surged in recent months to the highest level in more than a decade. The strength in housing has been driven by ultra-low mortgage rates, fierce competition for a chronically low inventory of properties on the market and a wave of millennials and others increasingly vying to become homeowners.
PEOPLE -
October 2, 2020
The CDC have extended their no sail order, banning cruise ships from U.S. ports until Oct. 31. In a news release published Thursday, the health organization noted that cruise ship travel “continues to transmit and amplify the spread” of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
CNN -
October 2, 2020
Flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, though, came and went with so few cases that there was "virtually no influenza circulation," according to the CDC. CDC experts believe that efforts like social distancing, mask-wearing and school closures might have critically crippled flu season in countries in the Southern Hemisphere.
CNN -
October 2, 2020
An analysis of 115 decision-making and key advisory bodies from 87 countries found that over 85% contain mostly men and only 11% contain predominantly women, with gender parity in just 3.5%. The situation wasn't much better at the international level, according to the research that published Thursday in the journal BMJ Global Health. For instance, the WHO’s first, second and third International Health Regulations Emergency Committee members consisted of 23.8%, 23.8% and 37.5% women, respectively.
11ALIVE -
October 2, 2020
Yahoo! Finance -
October 1, 2020
Another 837,000 individuals filed new jobless claims last week, for a marginal step down from the 870,000 reported during the prior period. This marked the fifth straight week that new jobless claims come in below 1 million. But six months since the pandemic took hold in the US and decimated economic activity, new jobless claims are still running far above levels from before the outbreak. As recently as in February this year, new jobless claims were coming in at a rate of around 200,000 per week.