Month: August 2020

Eight more local residents have lost their battle with COVID-19 as new cases of the deadly virus continue to be identified across The Villages and surrounding communities. Four of the fatalities were from Lake County and four were Marion County residents. They were identified Friday by the Florida Department of Health as: 79-year-old Lake County man who tested positive Aug. 7, hadn’t traveled recently nor been in contact with someone else suffering from the virus; 71-year-old Lake County man who tested positive Aug. 12, hadn’t traveled recently but had been in contact with another patient; 86-year-old Lake County woman who tested positive Aug. 20, hadn’t traveled recently but had been in contact with another patient; 80-year-old Lake County man who tested positive Aug. 22, hadn’t...

Two New Jersey residents have been infected this month with West Nile virus -- the first two cases of the mosquito-spread disease this year, health officials announced Friday. The first reported case was an Essex County man in his forties earlier this month and the second, more recent case involved a man in his seventies from Monmouth County, according to a release from the New Jersey Department of Health. “While West Nile Virus activity in mosquitoes has been much lower than what we have seen in previous seasons, it is important that residents continue to take precautions to prevent mosquito bites especially since most West Nile Virus human cases occur in early September,” Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said in the statement. The virus is spread by mosquitoes that have fed on a...

Kevin and Laurie Callahan (L) say goodbye after visiting with Laurie's mother at the Life Care Center of Kirkland on August 24, 2020. This is the first time they've seen each other in person since February when COVID-19 raced through the facility. Recently, Gov. Inslee issued a directive to allow visitors to long-term care facilities. The families cannot touch, must visit outside and stay socially distant. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images) The state Department of Health reports ov...

A one-size-fits-all measure for physical distancing in the time of COVID-19 fails to account for numerous factors that could spread the virus further, more and more experts are coming to agree.    When coughing or shouting, recent systematic reviews have shown respiratory droplets can travel more than a couple metres. In one study, a violent exhalation of air spread some droplets eight metres away (26 feet) in just a few seconds. A one- or two-metre rule could very well be sufficient in some situations, but scientists in the United Kingdom say we need a more nuanced model. Right now, they explain, the rules we have don't take into account subtle factors like ventilation, time spent together, indoor or outdoor settings, mask use, or the type of social activity occurring - all of which...