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Cough, Fever, Fatigue? Head to CDC’s Online Coronavirus Symptom Checker

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You went jogging and developed a cough. You did some yard work and now you’re wheezing. Maybe your throat is scratchy. Your first thought is: Do I have COVID-19? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has posted a new coronavirus self-checker on its website that might ease your mind and steer you toward any medical help you might need. The worst part about the coronavirus pandemic is the way the admittedly vague symptoms of the infectious disease plays tricks on your mind, experts say. “There’s a lot of symptoms here that are going to be nonspecific, as with any upper respiratory infection, and the fact is that many cases of coronavirus are very mild,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. “You’re going to have people who don’t know what to do.” The CDC’s website has a tracker to help figure out if you have anything to worry about. The web tool first asks if you are ill or caring for someone who’s ill, and where you are located. It gathers basic information such as age and gender. The tracker then asks about a series of life-threatening symptoms, including some that aren’t at all related to COVID-19. These include gasping for air, blue-colored lips or face, severe pain or pressure in the chest,…  read on >

Shelter Animals Need Your Help During the Pandemic

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Fostering a shelter animal during the coronavirus pandemic could benefit both of you, an animal welfare group says. “Shelters are swamped in the best of times, and with more and more staff in every sector of American life self-quarantining and falling ill, animals already abandoned and without homes are going to be increasingly vulnerable,” said Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane. “At the same time, so many of us, especially the elderly, are coping with the loneliness, stress and anxiety that comes with isolation and the sheltering in place so necessary during a pandemic,” she said in an organization news release. “Why be home alone when you can snuggle up with a loving new buddy? You might save a life, improve your own during these trying times, and end up with a new best friend.” Each year, 4 million to 6 million animals end up in U.S. shelters and more than 1.5 million are euthanized. As shelter workers are hit by the coronavirus and false rumors spread about its transmission from pets to people, shelter animals will need help more than ever, according to American Humane. The benefits of fostering a shelter animal go both ways, the association said. Engaging with animals has been shown to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol and to lower blood pressure, according to the U.S. National…  read on >

An Expert’s Guide to Fact-Checking Coronavirus Info Online

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With bogus information about the new coronavirus spreading fast online, how can you separate fact from fiction? A communications expert at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg said identifying reliable and useful sources of information is key. Here’s her advice: “Be skeptical of social media posts about the COVID-19 virus, even those that have the superficial look of news items, and check their sources and accuracy,” said Adrienne Ivory, associate professor of communication at Virginia Tech. “If you are not sure whether a source of information can be trusted, check multiple news sources to see if the information is consistent across them.” Always check social media claims about coronavirus prevention and treatment against official sources such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And, Ivory added, pay attention to summary information in news stories, instead of individual anecdotes. “Interesting examples of people and events related to the COVID-19 virus may be true, but not typical,” she said in a Virginia Tech news release. “In addition to reading stories about individuals, pay attention to general information summarizing more broad populations (numbers of cases, rate of growth, hospitalization rates by age group) because it may be more relevant and representative.” Ivory suggested seeking out information that helps you and others stay healthy, not information that worries you. “Much of the most ‘viral’ news you encounter in social…  read on >

Livestock, Poultry Safe From Coronavirus: Expert

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In a bit of good news about the novel coronavirus, one expert says it looks like livestock and poultry don’t appear to be at risk from COVID-19. The coronavirus most likely jumped from an animal species into humans and mutated into a virus that mostly affects people, said Jim Roth, director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University. “If livestock were getting the virus and getting sick we’d most likely know that from what’s gone on in other countries,” Roth said in a university news release. “It does seem to be pretty species-specific to people,” said Roth, a professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine. Researchers are examining the possibility that livestock might develop minor infections or carry the coronavirus, but the virus is still too new for any firm conclusions at this time, he explained. The low level of risk to livestock and poultry is good news for U.S. livestock producers, meat packers and consumers, who could use some stability as uncertainty about the coronavirus restricts many normal daily activities, Roth noted. However, he added that the coronavirus could disrupt the U.S. food supply by causing workforce shortages for the meat packing industry. Meat packing, processing and distribution occurs around the clock, and fresh meat has a limited shelf life, so if a significant portion of meat packing…  read on >

Coronavirus Isn’t Even ‘Alive,’ But Expert Explains How It Can Harm

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It has spread across the globe in just a few short months, sickening hundreds of thousands, but the new coronavirus has the dubious distinction of not really being a living organism, biologists say. “Viruses aren’t considered alive — in class, I call them pseudo-alive,” said Eric Mendenhall, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. “They require a host to even begin to function. However, since they use DNA or RNA to pass information to the next round of viruses the cell makes for them, they are subject to some of the same principles of evolution and selection that alive organisms are subject to,” he explained in a university news release. “A virus usually enters the cell through a protein our cells have on their surface. COVID-19 — and SARS [severe acute respiratory syndrome] before that — use a protein called ACE2, which is on the surface of the cells in our lung, throat and intestinal tract,” Mendenhall said. Coronaviruses are a category of viruses that typically infect mammals and birds; there were only six that could infect humans before COVID-19 showed up. “Four cause mild symptoms, like a cold,” Mendenhall said. “SARS was quite famous in 2003 but not seen since 2004, I believe, and MERS [Middle East respiratory syndrome], which is also deadly and is found in camels…  read on >

Your Teeth Are a Permanent Archive of Your Life: Study

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Your teeth provide a detailed account of your life, much as a tree’s rings record its history, a groundbreaking study shows. “A tooth is not a static and dead portion of the skeleton. It continuously adjusts and responds to physiological processes,” said lead study author Paola Cerrito, a doctoral candidate studying anthropology and dentistry at New York University (NYU) in New York City. “Just like tree rings, we can look at ‘tooth rings’: continuously growing layers of tissue on the dental root surface,” she said in a university news release. “These rings are a faithful archive of an individual’s physiological experiences and stressors from pregnancies and illnesses to incarcerations and menopause that all leave a distinctive permanent mark.” For the study, the NYU researchers compared nearly 50 teeth from skeletons of people who ranged in age from 25 to 69 to information about their medical history and lifestyle, such as age, illnesses, significant events and where they lived. The researchers focused on cementum, the tissue covering the tooth’s root. It begins to form yearly layers from the time the tooth appears in the mouth. Using imaging techniques to illuminate cementum bands, the investigators uncovered links between tooth formation and various events in the lives of those included in the study. “The cementum’s microstructure, visible only through microscopic examination, can reveal the underlying organization of the…  read on >

How to Weather Social Isolation During Coronavirus Pandemic

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Social distancing has become the new normal, with one-third of Americans now under stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, but experts say that level of isolation can be hard on your health. “We don’t know for sure what the long-term health outcomes of widespread forced social isolation will be, but given what we know about the effects of social isolation and stress on physical and mental health, there is reason to be concerned,” said Tess Thompson, a research assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis. The author of a recent study on social isolation and health, Thompson offered some coping tips. Maintain social connection as much as possible during this time through technology and social media. There are various ways to connect online with friends, and some gym coaches and music teachers are offering online sessions. Thompson said there’s some evidence that active social media use — such as sharing content or commenting on social media posts — may be better for mental health than passive social media use, such as scrolling through newsfeeds. If you’re housebound with others, do fun activities together instead of all retreating behind separate electronic screens. Play board games, read books aloud, play music together, go for walks, eat dinner together or cuddle your pets, Thompson suggested in a university news release. If you’re separated from older loved…  read on >

Cooking Up a Storm During Coronavirus Crisis? Store Leftovers Safely

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Social distancing measures have many Americans cooking at home during the coronavirus pandemic, so one food safety expert has tips for storing and preparing leftovers properly. One of the most important safety measures is to place perishable foods — those that require cold storage to be kept safe — in the refrigerator or freezer within two hours of being cooked, said Elizabeth Andress, a food safety specialist at the University of Georgia. “Cooking doesn’t remove all bacterial concerns from foods — they still have to be kept at recommended temperatures,” Andress said in a university news release. “After food is safely cooked, enjoy your meal, but within two hours of cooking food or after it is removed from an appliance keeping it warm above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, leftovers must be refrigerated,” she stressed. Divide large amounts of food into shallow containers. Cut or slice roasts, hams and whole turkeys into small pieces placed in small containers. Other larger items like casserole dishes should be packaged in smaller portions. Place leftovers in tightly sealed containers or wraps. For freezer storage, packaging should be moisture and vapor-resistant materials to prevent freezer burn. Plastics should be freezer weight and glass jars should be meant for freezing and have air-tight lids. Label each package with the name of the food, ingredients and packaging date. Package foods in amounts you’re…  read on >

COVID-19 Infection Likely Worse for Vapers, Smokers

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Smokers and vapers who get COVID-19 can probably expect a more severe infection, health experts warn. Many advisories have focused on the risk facing older people, those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, and people with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients. But doctors also caution that users of electronic cigarettes and tobacco are more in danger from the new coronavirus than the average healthy person. If you vape, “you’re going to make lungs more vulnerable to severe infection,” said Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, an American Lung Association spokesman who is also director of the tobacco treatment clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore. Vaping introduces toxic chemicals that harm lung cells and change their metabolism, Galiatsatos said, and it also curbs the body’s immune system. Data from China’s coronavirus outbreak showed infected smokers and residents of cities with high levels of air pollution had more severe symptoms, he said. Galiatsatos predicted use of e-cigarettes will have the same effect. A study of 78 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China, published recently in the Chinese Medical Journal, listed history of smoking as one factor contributing to poorer patient outcomes. Stanton Glantz, director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, cited that study in a recent online UCSF commentary. “The odds of disease progression (including to death)…  read on >