Health & Fitness

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More than 80 percent of the current cases are linked to the city of Hebron, which began to shut down on Wednesday evening. Mr. Milhim said that the five-day lockdown could be extended and called on Palestinians to follow social distancing guidelines and wear masks, warning that there would be consequences for those who did not comply. Reporting was contributed by Rachel Abrams, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Aliza Aufrichtig, Julie Bosman, Benedict Carey, Ben Casselman, Stephen Castle, Emily Cochrane, Michael Cooper, Jill Cowan, Steven Erlanger, Richard Fausset, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, Thomas Fuller, Jenny Gross, Jack Healy, Makiko Inoue, Annie Karni, Isabella Kwai, Ernesto Londoño, Patricia Mazzei, Mark Mazzetti, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Jesse McKinley, Sarah Mervosh, A...

With coronavirus cases continuing to rise and Charleston-area officials warning of a dwindling supply of open hospital beds, authorities continue to ramp up public health messaging.  North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey signed an emergency proclamation Thursday requiring masks in public places. The rule goes into effect at noon on Friday. Those who refuse to comply with requests could be fined $200 or face 30 days in jail. The mask requirement follows similar moves by Charleston, Isle of Palms, Mount Pleasant and other communities across the state. Earlier in the day, Charleston County enacted a similar measure. ...

(CNN) - A global study has found clear evidence that a new form of the coronavirus has spread from Europe to the US. The new mutation makes the virus more infectious but does not seem to make people any sicker, an international team of researchers reported Thursday. The mutation affects the spike protein — the structure the virus uses to get into the cells it infects. Now the researchers are checking to see if this affects whether the virus can be controlled by a vaccine. Current vaccines being tested mostly target the spike protein. The study, published in the journal Cell, confirms earlier work suggesting the mutation had made the new variant of virus more common. The researchers call the new mutation G614, and they show that it has almost completely replaced the first versi...

2. Gatherings and events shall be limited to a maximum of 25 individuals. Gatherings and events include, but are not limited to, meetings, trainings, concerts, fairs, festivals, sporting events, movies, or theater performances. This Order does not apply to religious gatherings held by churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, or other places of worship. Religious institutions remain subject to any requirements set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Photo: Julia Lototskaya (Shutterstock) Recently, headlines warned of a new flu virus with “pandemic potential,” based on a study of viruses on pig farms in China. There’s no need to immediately start freaking out, however: While it’s always a safe assumption there will be another pandemic someday, this one is not cause for concern just yet. What did the study find? The paper is a report from a program that periodically tests pigs on farms to see if they have any interesting new viruses. Pigs, birds and humans can all share flu viruses, although in most cases a virus that specializes in one species won’t infect another. The weird thing about influenza, though, is that its genes are like a deck of cards that can shuffle in with another virus’s. If an individual is infected with two...

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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 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...

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...