Month: August 2020

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionCoronavirus: How to wear a face coveringThe World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidance saying children over the age of 12 should wear masks, in line with recommended practice for adults in their country or area. It admits little is known about how children transmit the virus but cites evidence that teenagers can infect others in the same way as adults. Children aged five and under should not normally wear masks, the WHO said. More than 800,000 people have now died with coronavirus worldwide. At least 23 million cases of infection have been registered, according to Johns Hopkins University, with most of them recorded in the US, Brazil and India. However the true number of people...

With fewer in-person medical appointments and more virtual ones, patients are monitoring their health at home and catching potentially deadly signs and symptoms earlier, spurring a movement to get more monitoring devices into patients' hands. It's one of several at-home programs gaining momentum because of the pandemic. Mom detects her own preeclampsia In April, because of Covid-19, Whitney Williams started having fewer in-person appointments with her obstetrician. So the pharmacist from Lexington, Kentucky, decided to start checking her blood pressure daily at home. One day her blood pressure was high, and Williams called her doctor, who asked her to come into the office. It turns out she had developed preeclampsia, a disorder that can be deadly for mother and baby. High blood ...

One of 53 coronavirus patients associated with a wedding reception in Maine has died, officials announced Friday. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) is still investigating the incident, which is Maine's first outbreak directly linked to a social gathering.  The person, whose name was not released, was recently admitted to the Millinocket Regional Hospital (MRH) following the August 7 wedding reception. Hospital officials said she died early Friday afternoon.  "Our hearts go out to everyone in our community who is affected by this loss," the hospital wrote on Facebook on Friday. "Maine CDC expresses condolences to the individual's family and loved ones," officials said Saturday.  Reopened school...

A host of new guidance on reopening schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic has just been released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More detailed recommendations on selected topics the CDC had previously only provided a few sentences on have now been added. In the new guidelines, published Friday, Aug. 21, the CDC said it "does not currently recommend universal symptom screenings (screening all students grades K-12) be conducted by schools," but did not add a specific reason. Schools should develop an "emergency operations plan" for daily monitoring of COVID and response to infections, the CDC said. The CDC also says schools should add equipment that improves airflow, including portable air filtration systems, fans, and an ultraviol...

SALT LAKE CITY — In its daily update of the state of COVID-19 in Utah, the Utah Health Department reported an additional 369 confirmed cases and two deaths from the disease Saturday. That brings Utah's total counts since the pandemic began to 48,814 confirmed cases and 385 deaths. In an email, health department spokesman Tom Hudachko said the two deceased Utahns were both Salt Lake County residents: a woman over age 85, who was a resident of a long-term care facility, and a man between ages 65 and 84, who was also the resident of a care facility. Salt Lake County residents account for 58% of the state's total deaths. Tooele County and the TriCounty health districts — the latter of which comprises Uintah, Daggett and Duchesne counties — are now the only areas in Utah that have not recorded...