Month: August 2020

Since classes started on August 19, 1,200 students at the University of Alabama have tested positive for the virus, the university system's website showed Saturday. Classes at the University of Dayton will continue online for at least two weeks after the school reported 116 case on Thursday and then another 148 on Friday, according to the university's website. Outbreaks have been identified at four different sororities at Kansas State University, according to news releases from the college and the Riley County Health Department. Providence College in Rhode Island has implemented policies to prevent the virus' spread, but 17 students have been placed on "interim suspension" for violating those measures, meaning they will not be allowed on campus or in classes until they attend a hearing,...

States are facing new urgency with schools in some parts of the country reopening, increasing the risk of spread for both viruses. Underscoring the uniquely deadly threat posed by this year’s flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has purchased over 20 times the typical amount of flu vaccine and for the first time is helping fund state immunization messaging campaigns. But it will largely be left to state health officials —  still consumed with the coronavirus pandemic — to marshal limited resources to help persuade a crisis-fatigued public to overcome their apathy to the flu shot. Fewer than 50 percent of adults opt to get vaccinated in a typical season, a rate that CDC Director Robert Redfield hopes to elevate to 65 percent during this once-in-a-lifetime health c...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Telehealth is a bit of American ingenuity that seems to have paid off in the coronavirus pandemic. Medicare temporarily waived restrictions predating the smartphone era and now there’s a push to make telemedicine widely available in the future. Consultations via tablets, laptops and phones linked patients and doctors when society shut down in early spring. Telehealth visits dropped with the reopening, but they’re still far more common than before. Permanently expanding access will involve striking a balance between costs and quality, dealing with privacy concerns and potential fraud, and figuring out how telehealth can reach marginalized patients, including people with mental health problems. “I don’t think it is ever going to replace in-person visits, because sometime...

Images of packed beaches, lakes and bars have made the rounds on traditional and social media for much of the summer, drawing scorn from those concerned about the coronavirus spreading among those crowds. Less prominent but also troubling are the growing instances of case clusters arising from smaller gatherings. Contact tracing is yielding information about the sources of infections as the U.S., by far the world leader in COVID-19 cases and deaths, continues to grapple with how to keep its population safe while propping up a flagging economy. More than 180,000 Americans have been killed by the disease. The hasty reopening of businesses across much of the nation following the spring shutdown was largely blamed for a summer surge in infections, but it appears social functions of various si...