Health & Fitness

This week marks about two months since many states kicked off their reopening plans -- which now officials across the country say came too quickly. In Florida, officials shut multiple beaches throughout the state hoping to avoid July 4 crowds. The state reported 9,999 new coronavirus cases Sunday, bringing Florida's total to more than 200,000 infections. "There's no doubt ... that when we reopened, people started socializing as if the virus didn't exist," Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told ABC This Week. In Texas, which reported its second highest day of new cases over the weekend, a local leader said the state opened "too early, too much," driving Houston hospitals to surge capacity in recent days. "Wishful thinking is neither good economic policy, nor good public health policy," Texas Ju...

People wait for health assessment check-in before entering Jackson Memorial Hospital, as Miami-Dade County eases some of the lockdown measures put in place during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Miami, Florida, U.S., June 18, 2020. Marco Bello | Reuters The United States needs a unified approach to tackle the rising cases of coronavirus infection and people should not get a false sense of security that a vaccine is just around the corner, infectious disease experts said on Monday.  The U.S. recently reported a record increase in cases, with spikes seen in states that are well underway in their reopening process. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Florida and Texas faced a surge of cases, leaving state and local governments struggling to gain...

The Florida Department of Health confirmed a case of what is commonly referred to as a brain-eating amoeba in the Tampa area. According to the department, one person in Hillsborough County contracted Naegleria fowleri, which is a single-cell amoeba that attacks brain tissue and is usually fatal. Since 1962, there have been only 37 cases of Naegleria fowleri in Florida, according to the Department of Health. Only four people of the 145 known infected individuals in the U.S. have survived, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  Naegleria fowleri is contacted when contaminated water enters through a person's nose, and is found in warm freshwater such as lakers, rivers and hot springs, according to the CDC. Its peak season in Florida is in July, August and September, the Department...

A group of 239 scientists plans to urge the World Health Organization to more seriously consider the threat that the novel coronavirus may be spread by microscopic particles in the air. The New York Times first reported Saturday that an international coalition of researchers will publish an open letter asking WHO to address airborne transmission of the virus. The scientists say there is growing evidence tiny aerosols can linger in the air indoors and result in new infections. Throughout the pandemic, WHO has maintained that the virus spreads mainly through larger respiratory droplets or contact and has primarily urged people to wash their hands and socially-distance to prevent infection. These droplets, released by coughs or sneezes, are heavier than smaller aerosols and fall to the...

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July 6, 2020 at 12:24 AM EDT Rush to reopen led to spikes in cases that threaten to overwhelm hospitals in some states, officials say The Independence Day weekend concluded with dire predictions about the surge of coronavirus cases around the country and with national and local officials saying a rush to reopen fueled the spread of the novel coronavirus and outpaced efforts to care for its victims. “We’re right back where we were at the peak of the epidemic during the New York outbreak,” former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “The difference now is that we really had one epicenter of spread when New York was going through its hardship, now we really have four major epicenters of spread: Los Angeles, cities in Texas, cities in Flo...

Vaccine researchers are trying new tacks in an unprecedented effort to recruit the tens of thousands of healthy volunteers needed to finish testing coronavirus shots in late stages of development. Quickly lining up all the subjects for so many studies at the same time poses several challenges, creating competition among companies. Given the...

A novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 530,000 people worldwide. More than 11.2 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding the scope of their nations' outbreaks. The United States is the worst-affected country in the world, with more than 2.8 million diagnosed cases and at least 129,676 deaths. Latest headlines: LA reports 7,232 new cases over holiday weekend At least 121 students now positive in UW frat outbreak Florida tops 200,000 total cases ...