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Faced with $2,000-a-day fines, eight people connected with a COVID-19 cluster in Clarkstown became cooperative with contact tracers seeking to stop the outbreak from spreading. Subpoenas went out Wednesday afternoon after the Rockland County Health Department met resistance from people who attended a West Nyack party that was the first in a series of gatherings that were the source of nine coronavirus cases. Six of the people had responded by the end of the day and two others on Thursday. All eight had been at the party where the cluster started. No fines were issued, said county spokesman John Lyon. “It’s amazing how smart some people got” after the subpoenas were issued, Rockland County Executive Ed Day said during an interview on CNN on Thursday afternoon.  Now contact tracers are foll...

A Henry Ford Health System study shows the controversial anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine helps lower the death rate of COVID-19 patients, the Detroit-based health system said Thursday. Officials with the Michigan health system said the study found the drug “significantly” decreased the death rate of patients involved in the analysis. The study analyzed 2,541 patients hospitalized among the system’s six hospitals between March 10 and May 2 and found 13% of those treated with hydroxychloroquine died while 26% of those who did not receive the drug died. Among all the patients in the study, there was an overall in-hospital mortality rate of 18%, and many who died had underlying conditions, the hospital system said. Globally, the mortality rate for hospitalized patients is between 10% a...

A new coronavirus prevalence study by Ochsner Medical Center yielded surprising results. The results were released Thursday. Key findings showed that younger patients were more likely to show symptoms while they were infectious, while the oldest volunteers had a much higher rate of asymptomatic cases spreading the virus. Researchers said that finding is opposite of what they thought they would find.The study also showed people without symptoms are spreading COVID-19 at an alarming rate. Ochsner Principal Investigator Dr. Amy Feehan said 75 percent of the most infectious group was asymptomatic, according to the study's findings. Feehan called that result "shocking."Other notable findings included that 7.8% of residents in Jefferson Parish and Orleans have likely been exposed.The study...

Justin Paget | Getty Images Children diagnosed with Covid-19 pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or PMIS, may develop new neurological problems without any of the respiratory issues commonly associated with the virus, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Researchers examined 27 children with Covid-19 PMIS, who were previously healthy, between March 1 and May 8 at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, England. They found that of the 27 patients, four experienced new neurological symptoms. Symptoms included impaired brain function, headaches, brainstem and cerebellar issues, muscle weakness and reduced reflexes. All four patients required admission to the intensive care unit for ...