Month: September 2020

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso city, county and health leaders held a briefing on Thursday afternoon to provide an update on the community's Covid-19 situation. They offered a word of warning about avoid family gatherings and house parties headed into the Labor Day holiday weekend, along with a reminder to follow state and local health orders. “Every time we have had a holiday, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, we have had spikes in positives because of the lack of discipline with family gatherings,” Mayor Dee Margo said. Margo explained that with an 80% Hispanic county, El Paso has a highly vulnerable minority population, especially going into flu season. County Judge Ricardo Samaniego was also quick to reflect on past surges of coronavirus tied to t...

Cooking oils are a kitchen staple. But there’s a lot of conflicting information regarding how healthy each of them are. With so many on the shelves – from coconut to olive, vegetable to canola, avocado to rapeseed oil – how do we know which ones to use, and if we should be avoiding any altogether? Oils used for cooking tend to get their name from the nut, seeds, fruits, plants or cereals they’re extracted from, either by methods of crushing, pressing, or processing. They’re characterised by their high fat content, including saturated fat, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In recent years, coconut oil, which is around 90% saturated fat, has become the latest trendy “superfood”. It’s been hailed as a superfood (including that it's less likely to be stored in the body as f...

This story was updated Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, at 6:44 p.m. with more information. Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger renewed a countywide mask mandate on Thursday through Oct. 8, backed by members of the local medical and business community. The mandate, initially put into place in July, was set to expire on Sept. 8, but was extended by 30 days in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus which has infected over 8,000 and killed 78 in Hamilton County. "It affords us opportunity when people mask up," Coppinger said after asking the county health department to extend the mandate. "I ask the public to bear with us and remember that this is not going to be for the rest of your life." "We need your support, it's imperative that we get y...

As many as 45 hospitals from coast to coast have expressed interest in collaborating on a randomized, controlled clinical trial sponsored by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said principal investigator Dr. Todd Rice. A National Institutes of Health panel this week countered the FDA's decision, saying that the therapy "should not be considered the standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19" and that well-designed trials are needed to determine whether the therapy is helpful. Data so far suggests the treatment could be beneficial, but it's not definitive. "It's an important scientific question that we don't have the answer to yet," said Rice, an associate professor of medicine and director of VUMC's medical intensive care unit. Convalescent plasma uses an antibody...