Month: August 2020

On Friday Los Angeles County health officials reported nine more cases of the pediatric ailment known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome, or MIS-C. The new cases lifted the total number of children in L.A. diagnosed with the rare but serious condition to 25. There have been no deaths reported in the county due to the condition, which affects children who either had COVID-19 or have been exposed to it. The ailment causes inflammation of body parts including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, eyes or gastrointestinal organs, sometimes resulting in lifelong health affects. Health officials are still trying to learn what causes the syndrome and how best to treat it. Some data points from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control: Related Story Los Angeles Coronav...

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Getting an antibody test to see if you had Covid-19 months ago is pointless, according to guidelines issued this week by a major medical society. Many tests are inaccurate, some look for the wrong antibodies and even the right antibodies fade away, said experts at the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which issued the new guidelines. Because current tests cannot determine if someone is immune, the society said, they “cannot inform decisions to discontinue physical distancing or lessen the use of personal protective equipment.” Antibody testing generally should be used only for population surveys, not for diagnosing illness in individuals, the panel said. But its guidelines described two situations in which antibody testing could be used when the normal diagnostic tests for the viru...

The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the coronavirus as a “once-in-a-century health crisis” that has been able to spread rapidly, similar to the 1918 flu pandemic, and said he hopes it'll be over in 2 years. But he also said that because of technological advances in medicine during the last century, there is a greater possibility it can be stopped before reaching that level of devastation. “We hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years, especially if we can pool our efforts,” Tedros said Friday during a press briefing. The coronavirus has infected 22.7 million people globally and killed nearly 800,000 people, according to John Hopkins University data Friday. MUTATED FORM OF CORONAVIRUS MAY BE MORE CONTAGIOUS, BUT LESS DEADLY, ...

Signs of re opening businesses can be seen along Davis Street in downtown Santa Rosa on Friday June 12, 2020. Signs of re opening businesses can be seen along Davis Street in downtown Santa Rosa on F...