Health & Fitness

A sneeze can carry the coronavirus pathogen in droplets and in aerosols — and they could land on a surface, making it a fomite. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Peter Dazeley/Getty Images A sneeze can carry the coronavirus pathogen in droplets and in aerosols — and they could land on a surface, making it a fomite. Peter Dazeley/Getty Images By now, it'...

Image copyright AFP Image caption The study estimates that around just 5% of the Spanish population has developed antibodies A Spanish study has cast doubt on the prospect of herd immunity as a way of tackling the coronavirus pandemic. The study of more than 60,000 people estimates that around just 5% of the Spanish population has developed antibodies, the medical journal the Lancet reported. Herd immunity is achieved when enough people become infected with a virus to stop its spread. Around 70% to 90% of a population needs to be immune to protect the uninfected. The prevalence of Covid-19 antibodies was below...

Jefferson County, the most populous county in Alabama and the home of Birmingham, added 1,200 coronavirus cases so far in July, or 200 cases per day, by far the most among any Alabama county. The Alabama Department of Public Health confirmed 189 new virus cases in the county on Monday as coronavirus hospitalizations in Birmingham and around the state hit all time highs. [Can’t see the chart? Click here.] After watching other, less populous counties take and hold the coronavirus spotlight early in the pandemic, Jefferson County has now become the undeniable epicenter for virus cases in Alabama. Over recent weeks the county has added cases much faster than any other Alabama county has at any point during the pandemic so far. Up until the end of June, only Montgomery County, which ear...

Just two weeks ago, 16-year-old Halene O'Connell was a normal, healthy teenage girl, ready to start the summer before her senior year at Milton High School.  But today, she's in a coma and on a ventilator fighting for her life at the Studer Family Children's Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola, battling a severe case of COVID-19 — and her family is begging the community to wear masks and practice social distancing so they don't end up in a hospital bed too.  “We’re very private people, and this is a lot for us to share,” said Carmen Barlianto, Halene’s aunt, in a phone interview from her home in Washington state. “But I feel like we want everybody to know to wear a mask and social distance, so you don’t end up like poor Halene. It can happen to anyone, especially to people...

After not reporting new cases or deaths for most of the July 4th holiday weekend, Tarrant County Public Health reports 820 new COVID-19 cases Monday along with two deaths and 569 recoveries. "Remember, those numbers represent three days because you know our folks have been working around the clock, and after talking to the administrator and he said, ‘You know, can we give our people off Friday and Saturday and I said, ‘Sure go right ahead." explained Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley Monday's new cases, for July 3-5, bring the total number of cases in Tarrant County since March to 14,828. Cases for July 2, which totaled 585, were reported Sunday, July 5. "I think we'll see again some pretty high numbers tomorrow because it will take a couple days for all the labs to ge...

Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer reported 1,584 new coronavirus cases on Monday. She indicated that Monday numbers are usually lower due to a lag in testing. On Friday, Los Angeles County’s new daily coronavirus cases crossed the 3,000 mark, with a record 3,187 reported. Over the weekend, L.A.’s largest COVID testing site seems to have closed down with no explanation. When asked about the closure of the Dodger Stadium site a county official said, “It would be best to address those questions to the city.” The site is currently closed according to a report by NBC News and accounts on social media today. “Dodger Stadium is closed right now,” said an MSNBC. “When we called the City of Los Angeles, they said that this had something to do with s...

CLOSE NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson discusses testing positive for COVID-19. Indianapolis Star Editor's note: The Star is making this story free to readers due to public health concerns related to coronavirus. Please consider a digital subscription to The Star so we can continue doing this important work. The rate Ventura County's coronavirus tests come back positive climbed over a threshold set by the state last weekend. But it apparently fell below that mark by Monday. The positivity rate had reached 8.2% over the weekend, according to the California Department of Public Health data. That exceeded the state's limit of 8% and showed more COVID-19 circulating in the community. As of Monday, the rate had dropped to 7.4% for the latest seven-day period of...

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Tracking curve of coronavirus cases, deaths in Florida Updated: 11:56 AM EDT Jul 6, 2020 We're tracking the curve of coronavirus cases and coronavirus-related deaths that have occurred in Florida.The data shows the total number of COVID-19 cases along with the number of COVID-19 cases per day. In addition, it includes the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 complications along with the number of deaths from coronavirus occurring daily.The coronavirus case numbers and death toll are updated daily.What’s New: Week of July 6, 2020· According to Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. has surpassed 2.8 million infections. There have been nearly 130,000 dea...

The deuce you say! This flash from the Paper of Record only surprises to the extent that the New York Times covered this issue at all. “Are protests unsafe?” their headline asks, and then adds, “What experts say may depend on who’s protesting what.” We’ve noticed, we’ve noticed: So when conservative anti-lockdown protesters gathered on state capitol steps in places like Columbus, Ohio and Lansing, Mich., in April and May, epidemiologists scolded them and forecast surging infections. When Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia relaxed restrictions on businesses in late April as testing lagged and infections rose, the talk in public health circles was of that state’s embrace of human sacrifice. And then the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25 changed everything. Soon the...