STAT -
September 1, 2020
Seventy-eight percent of Americans worry the Covid-19 vaccine approval process is being driven more by politics than science, according to a new survey from STAT and the Harris Poll, a reflection of concern that the Trump administration may give the green light to a vaccine prematurely. The response was largely bipartisan, with 72% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats expressing such worries, according to the poll, which was conducted last week and surveyed 2,067 American adults.
The Newnan Times-Herald -
September 1, 2020
Ledger-Enquirer -
September 1, 2020
NPR -
August 31, 2020
The number of cases of the coronavirus has now passed 25 million worldwide. The milestone happened Sunday, fueled by a surge of more than 78,000 cases in India on Saturday. The spread of the virus in India has grown in recent weeks, with daily cases there now outpacing both the United States and Brazil, according to tracking data from Johns Hopkins University. … Despite the growing caseload in India, the United States continues to lead the world in both cases (more than 5.9 million) and deaths (nearly 183,000).
Reuters -
August 31, 2020
U.S. cases of the novel coronavirus surpassed six million on Sunday as many states in the Midwest reported increasing infections, according to a Reuters tally. Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota have recently reported record one-day increases in new cases while Montana and Idaho are seeing record numbers of currently hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Nationally, metrics on new cases, deaths, hospitalizations and the positivity rates of tests are all declining, but there are emerging hotspots in the Midwest.
AP -
August 31, 2020
As waves of schools and businesses around the country are cleared to reopen, college towns are moving toward renewed shutdowns because of too many parties and too many COVID-19 infections among students. With more than 300 students at the University of Missouri testing positive for the coronavirus and an alarming 44% positivity rate for the surrounding county, the local health director Friday ordered bars to stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. and close by 10 p.m. Iowa’s governor has ordered all bars shut down around The University of Iowa and Iowa State, while the mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, did the same in the hometown of the state’s flagship university.
USA Today -
August 31, 2020
The hasty reopening of businesses across much of the nation after the spring shutdown was largely blamed for a summer surge in infections, but social functions of various sizes among relatives, friends and co-workers may have been a contributing factor as well. Public health experts sound the alarm as the Labor Day weekend approaches. “People don’t think of it in the same way as the (President) Trump rally in Tulsa, a bunch of people on the beach or in the bars, but these small events add up to a lot. It’s just invisible,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong…
AP -
August 31, 2020
The credibility of two of the nation’s leading public health agencies was under fire this week after controversial decisions that outside experts said smacked of political pressure from President Donald Trump as he attempts to move past the devastating toll of the coronavirus ahead of the November election. The head of the FDA grossly misstated, then corrected, claims about the lifesaving power of a plasma therapy for COVID-19 authorized by his agency. Then the CDC quietly updated its guidelines to suggest fewer Americans need to get tested for coronavirus, sparking outrage from scientists.
CNN -
August 31, 2020
The tweet -- which has been replaced with a message saying, "This Tweet is no longer available because it violated the Twitter Rules -- from "Mel Q," copied from someone else's Facebook post, claimed that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had "quietly" updated its numbers "to admit that only 6%" of people listed as coronavirus deaths "actually died from Covid," since "the other 94% had 2-3 other serious illnesses." That's not what the CDC said.
STAT -
August 31, 2020
Following the news this week of what appears to have been the first confirmed case of a Covid-19 reinfection, other researchers have been coming forward with their own reports. One in Belgium, another in the Netherlands. And now, one in Nevada. What caught experts’ attention about the case of the 25-year-old Reno man was not that he appears to have contracted SARS-CoV-2 a second time. Rather, it’s that his second bout was more serious than his first. … researchers are stressing this is not a sky-is-falling situation or one that should result in firm conclusions.
CNN -
August 31, 2020
Children can carry coronavirus in their noses and throats for weeks even if they don't show any symptoms, which might explain how the virus can spread silently, researchers in South Korea reported Friday. "In this case series study, inapparent infections in children may have been associated with silent COVID-19 transmission in the community," the researchers wrote in a new study. … "In this study, the authors estimate that 85 infected children (93%) would have been missed using a testing strategy focused on testing of symptomatic patients alone," they wrote.
HealthDay -
August 31, 2020
No cases of an infant contracting COVID-19 from breast milk have been documented, but questions about the potential risk remain. Researchers examined 64 samples of breast milk collected from 18 women across the United States who were infected with the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19. One sample tested positive for coronavirus RNA, but follow-up tests showed that the virus couldn't replicate and therefore, couldn't infect the breastfed infant, according to the study recently published online in JAMA.
HealthDay -
August 31, 2020
Older Americans with depression have held up well to the threat of COVID-19, a new study finds. Researchers saw no increase in their depression and anxiety during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. And they said these seniors showed resilience to the stress of physical distancing and isolation. The researchers found that the volunteers' depression and anxiety levels, or risk of suicide, were the same before and during the pandemic.