Month: September 2020

NEW YORK -- More than 90% of U.S. adults remain susceptible to COVID-19, according to research published on Friday. Using data from dialysis centers in the United States, the study, published in The Lancet, estimates that less than 10% of U.S. adults have virus antibodies, meaning everyone else is potentially vulnerable to infection. Those figures roughly match those of a forthcoming Centers of Disease Control and Prevention study, according to CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who spoke at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. "The preliminary results in the first round show that a majority of our nation, more than 90% of the population, remains susceptible," said Redfield, referring to an ongoing CDC study assessing the prevalence of antibodies to better track how widely the virus has spread...

NEW YORK (AP) — At a University of Maryland lab, people infected with the new coronavirus take turns sitting in a chair and putting their faces into the big end of a large cone. They recite the alphabet and sing or just sit quietly for a half hour. Sometimes they cough. The cone sucks up everything that comes out of their mouths and noses. It’s part of a device called “Gesundheit II” that is helping scientists study a big question: Just how does the virus that causes COVID-19 spread from one person to another? It clearly hitchhikes on small liquid particles sprayed out by an infected person. People expel particles while coughing, sneezing, singing, shouting, talking and even breathing. But the drops come in a wide range of sizes, and scientists are trying to pin down how risky the vario...

About a third of New Yorkers and less than a tenth of American adults were exposed to the coronavirus by the end of July, a new study of dialysis patients found. That level is far from the “herd immunity” many are hoping will help end restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. In some states, the infection rate was essentially zero, according to the study, which tested plasma samples from more than 28,000 randomly selected dialysis patients from across the US. In New York, the rate was 33.6%, by far the highest in the nation, with the rate largely skewed toward downstate counties. The next highest was Louisiana, at 17.6%. New Jersey’s rate was just 11.9%. Nationwide, the infection rate was just 9%. Herd immunity means that enough people are inf...

But that evolution -- and the changing information and recommendations that accompanied it -- has also sown confusion, and in some cases, deliberate disinformation. "Just as Covid-19 has spread around the world, so too have rumors, untruths and disinformation. And they can be just as dangerous," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday. Mis- or disinformation has led to people harming themselves based on falsehoods, self-medicating with toxic chemicals or dangerous medications and not taking the precautions that they should be taking, Tedros said. It has also impacted our trust in institutions and health systems, which could result in people turning their backs on new treatments and vaccines if they don't have confidence in them. ...

While Dr. Anthony Fauci admits most "so-called immune boosting" supplements being marketing amid Covid-19 mostly do "nothing," he does believe in the benefits of vitamin D. "If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection. So I would not mind recommending, and I do it myself taking vitamin D supplements," Fauci, 79, said during an Instagram Live on Sept. 10.  But figuring out if whether you are vitamin D deficient and how much of the supplement you need to take is complicated. In fact, medical professionals have been debating the efficacy of routine vitamin D screenings and supplementation recommendations for years. "You're wandering into a maze," Dr. Clifford Rosen, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at Tufts Univers...

Americans have a long way to go for "herd immunity" given that only about 9% of adults in the U.S. have been exposed to COVID-19. That's according to the largest study so far that looks for evidence of the disease in peoples' blood. California's health secretary said Friday that there have been increases in the number of newly confirmed cases, hospital emergency department visits for COVID-19 and new hospitalizations for confirmed or suspected cases. And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis lifted restrictions on restaurants and other businesses in a move to reopen the state’s economy despite the spread of the coronavirus. Some significant developments: California is seeing a concerning uptick in cases, which appear to be attributable to gatherings around Labor Day. Texas A&M's Midnight Yel...