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With states across America beginning to relax stay-at-home orders, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx reiterated on Sunday that some form of social distancing will still be necessary through the summer. In an interview on Meet the Press, she stressed that “social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these [reopening] phases.” A heat wave that blanketed southern California this weekend highlighted the challenges that governors and mayors will face in trying to sustain social distancing efforts in warm weather. Despite pleas from public officials to stay home, tens of thousands of people flocked to beaches that were open in Orange County on Saturday, The New York Times reported. On Monday, the number of U.S. coronavirus cases surged past 965,000 and the death toll neared 55,000, the Associated Press reported. States vary in respect to stay-at-home orders. Governors in hard-hit New York and Michigan are keeping such orders in place until at least mid-May, while their counterparts in Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have already allowed certain businesses to reopen, the Associated Press reported. Georgia is moving the fastest to ease social distancing restrictions, while governors in Tennessee, Idaho and Missouri are preparing to launch their reopening plans soon, the Washington Post reported. Several states to reopen Another round of… read on >

Next time you inspect your salad greens to make sure they look clean, consider this: Researchers are trying to determine if drying leafy greens using the spin cycle of a retrofitted washing machine is safe. Some farmers use the method instead of expensive, commercial-grade spinners to dry leafy greens after they’re washed. But it’s not clear using a converted washing machine is safe. “This has been a common practice among small producers of greens,” said Amanda Kinchla, an associate professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst Extension. “There are no regulations against this, but there is no data right now on the risk.” Bacteria and grime could accumulate if farmers don’t know the best ways to spin the greens and clean the washing machines, according to Andrew Chamberlin, an agricultural engineering technician at the University of Vermont (UVM Extension). “We are trying to share best practices for food production,” he said in a UMass news release. One example of a best practice is to place the greens in baskets that fit inside the machine. This reduces the points of contact and the risk of contamination, compared with putting the greens directly into the washer, Chamberlin explained. Based on his instructions, the UMass researchers have converted four washing machines to assess how leafy green contamination may occur, what germs are present, and… read on >

(HealthDay News) — The U.S. House passed a $484 billion deal on Thursday that would replenish a small business loan program that has run out of funding. The bill also directs more money to hospitals and COVID-19 testing. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday, the Washington Post reported. As of Friday, U.S. coronavirus cases passed 867,000, including almost 45,000 deaths. The legislation passed Thursday would add $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, the Post reported. It would also boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program. Passage of the stimulus package might take some of the sting out of the latest unemployment numbers, with 4.4 million more Americans added to jobless rolls on Thursday. So far, more than 26 million Americans are out of work due to the coronavirus crisis. Despite the pain that battling the new coronavirus has exacted on the economy of the United States, a new Associated Press poll finds Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The survey, released Wednesday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, also finds a majority of Americans say it won’t be safe to lift… read on >

Sparse traffic on U.S. roads during the coronavirus pandemic has spawned a spike in speeding and other types of reckless driving, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) says. Here are some examples. Police in Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska and Utah have clocked drivers going more than 100 miles per hour on highways. In Los Angeles, cars are going as much as 30% faster on some streets, prompting changes to traffic lights and pedestrian walk signals. In New York City, automated speed cameras issued 24,765 speeding tickets on March 27 — nearly double the number issued daily a month earlier — despite far fewer cars being on the road. Some states have lower crash rates but more serious crashes. Car crash death rates are on the rise in Massachusetts, and pedestrian deaths are on the rise in Nevada and Rhode Island. Car crashes and related deaths in Minnesota are more than double what they were at the same time period in previous years, and half of the deaths were due to speeding or careless/negligent driving. “While COVID-19 is clearly our national priority, our traffic safety laws cannot be ignored,” GHSA executive director Jonathan Adkins said in a news release from the association. “Law enforcement officials have the same mission as health care providers — to save lives.” If you must drive, he said, “buckle up, follow the… read on >

Contact lens users may be at increased risk for coronavirus infection, so they need to be extra careful, an eye expert says. “There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 transmission by handling of contact lenses,” said David Chu, assistant professor of ophthalmology at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, in Newark. “However, since contact lenses can cause eye irritation, wearers tend to touch their face or to rub their eyes more often, which puts them at a higher risk for acquiring infection.” Strict hygiene is essential when wearers handle their contacts. “They must wash their hands for a minimum of 20 seconds with soap and water, and dry their hands completely before handling contact lenses,” Chu said in a Rutgers news release. Standard contact lens care techniques should be adequate during the coronavirus pandemic. But people who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 or who live with someone diagnosed with the virus should consider switching to glasses, Chu suggested. Even though SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has been found in human tears, it seems to be uncommon, Chu said. In case studies, patients who tested positive for the virus in their nose and throat did not have detectable levels in their tears. It’s not clear whether tears can transmit COVID-19, but it appears unlikely, according to Chu. Conjunctivitis (“pink eye”) is a symptom of COVID-19, but… read on >

Dozens of drugs are being investigated for their value in treating COVID-19, as desperation drives doctors and researchers to look for something that could battle the virus and save lives. “There are really no FDA-approved medications for the treatment of COVID-19, unfortunately,” said Ashley Barlow, a pharmacy resident with the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore. “We’re doing the best we can to try and ramp up studies, but since we’re doing it in such a quick period of time there are a lot of flaws we have to take into consideration.” The COVID-19 drugs being tried and tested fall into two general categories, explained Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, director of HIV clinical services and education at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston: Antivirals aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus inside the bodies of infected people. Immune system medications that limit the damage the body does to itself while fighting off the coronavirus. “There are drugs we believe can help pull people through the natural evolution of this infection and can really make a difference,” Gandhi said. “Right now, the jury is still out on some of these things that have been proposed. That’s why we need to have clinical trials that will provide an answer.” Remdesivir Many of the drugs proposed to treat COVID-19 are already approved for other conditions, and can be… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Lawmakers were poised to pass a $484 billion deal on Thursday that would replenish a small business loan program that has run out of funding and direct more money to hospitals and COVID-19 testing. The Senate has already passed the measure, and the House is now expected to do the same, the Washington Post reported. The legislation would add $310 billion to the Paycheck Protection Program, the Post reported. It would also boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program. Passage of the stimulus package might take some of the sting out of the latest unemployment numbers, with 4.4 million more Americans being added to jobless roles on Thursday. So far, more than 26 million Americans are out of work due to the coronavirus crisis. Despite the pain that battling the new coronavirus has exacted upon the economy of the United States, a new Associated Press poll finds Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The survey, released Wednesday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, also finds a majority of Americans say it won’t be safe to lift those measures anytime soon. Sixty-one percent of Americans said stay-at-home… read on >

Women under age 65 with coronary artery disease are more likely to die if they live in rural areas of the United States, and premature deaths among them have surged, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed nationwide data on premature deaths from coronary artery disease between 1999 and 2017. While premature deaths decreased overall, they remained consistently higher in rural areas — regardless of sex, race or age group. Roughly 20% of Americans live in rural areas. Deaths have not risen among men overall, but the rate in those 55 to 64 stopped improving in small to medium towns in 2011, and in rural areas in 2008, the study found. In rural areas, death rates due to coronary artery disease rose 11.2% for 55- to 64-year-old women between 2010 and 2017. They also rose 11.4% among 45- to 54-year-old women between 1999 and 2017. The study was published April 22 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “Women living in rural areas of the United States have for the first time suffered an increase in premature deaths from coronary artery disease. This is in stark contrast to their urban counterparts, who have experienced a virtually uninterrupted reduction in premature coronary artery disease deaths,” said senior author Dr. Federico Moccetti. Moccetti, a former research fellow at Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, is now… read on >

The coronavirus pandemic has supercharged the financial stress that already plagues many Americans, an expert says. About half of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic, according to a recent survey from First National Bank of Omaha, and now many have lost their jobs. “The pervasive financial stress the majority of Americans feel is now on steroids, as most Americans did not have savings before this crisis hit,” said Julie Kalkowski, executive director of the Financial Hope Collaborative at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. “Knowing that you are not in this alone is important to keep in mind as you move forward,” she added. Kalkowski manages a School of Business program that educates people about the psychology of money, tracking expenses, saving for emergencies and repairing credit. She offered this advice on how to reduce financial anxiety both during and after the coronavirus pandemic: Don’t panic. Don’t use credit cards or payday loans to deal with your debt. Their high interest rates can do long-term financial harm. Instead, seek out creative solutions such as contacting landlords, utilities and creditors to negotiate payment plans. And, don’t ignore bills. Doing so can make a bad financial situation worse. Beware of swindlers. Scams are proliferating right now. Thoroughly vet any offers by making additional calls and/or seeking out more information from trusted sources online. If an offer… read on >

(HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the issuance of all green cards in the United States will be suspended for 60 days as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic. The halt will not stop temporary workers on nonimmigrant visas from entering the United States, the Washington Post reported. “I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration into the United States,” Trump said during a coronavirus media briefing. “By pausing, we’ll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs.” Broad restrictions have already been placed on travel from Europe, China and other coronavirus hot spots. Meanwhile, a $484 billion deal to replenish a small business loan program that has run out of funding and to devote more money to hospitals and COVID-19 testing was passed by the Senate on Tuesday. The House is expected to approve the measure on Thursday, and Trump has said he would sign it into law. The legislation would add $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Post reported. It would also boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program. Coronavirus was circulating weeks earlier than thought In news that suggests the new coronavirus was circulating in the United States weeks earlier than thought, California health… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Birx Says Social Distancing to Last Through Summer as States Start to Ease Restrictions

On Some Farms, Washing Machines Give Leafy Greens a Spin — But Is That Safe?

House Passes Another Stimulus Bill as Coronavirus Batters Economy

Reckless Driving on the Rise During COVID-19 Pandemic

How Contact Lenses Affect Your Risk of COVID-19

Lots of Drugs Are Being Tested Against COVID-19 — But Will Any Work?

House Set to Sign Off on Economic Stimulus Bill Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Rural Women at Higher Risk of Early Death From Heart Disease

Coping With Budget Stress During the Pandemic

Trump Issues Temporary Halt on Green Cards, Senate Passes Another Stimulus Bill