With President Donald Trump threatening to cut federal funding for schools that do not fully reopen in the fall, the United States set yet another record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday with more than 59,000 new infections reported. It was the fifth national record in nine days, according to The New York Times. At least five states — Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia — also set single-day records for new cases on Wednesday. Twenty-four states have reported more cases over the past week than in any other seven-day stretch of the pandemic, the newspaper added. The latest case numbers prompted Dr. Anthony Fauci to tell the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that lockdowns might be wise in some spots. “Any state that is having a serious problem, that state should seriously look at shutting down,” he said. Meanwhile, medical centers across the country continued to face alarming shortages of respirator masks, isolation gowns and disposable gloves, all of which protect health workers from infection, the Times reported. On Tuesday, Trump spent the day pressuring governors, mayors and other local officials to reopen schools during a day of conference calls and public events at the White House, the Times reported. On Wednesday, he also pressured the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to loosen its long awaited reopening guidelines for schools, the…  read on >

(HealthDay News)– The tally of U.S. coronavirus cases passed 3 million on Tuesday, even as President Donald Trump pushed for schools across the country to reopen in the fall. The pressure to find a way to resume classes in person was put on governors, mayors and other local officials during a day of conference calls and public events at the White House, The New York Times reported. “We hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said Tuesday. “We are very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools to get them open.” In making the argument for a full reopening of schools, White House officials pointed to a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that advised school districts to do everything they can to bring students back to classrooms. “Children get much more than an education at school,” AAP President Sally Goza said during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported. “Being away from peers, teachers and school services has lasting effects for children. Although this will not be easy, pediatricians strongly advocate that we start with the goal of having students physically present at school this fall.” Still, the United States has been averaging roughly 50,000 new cases a day this week — double what it reported…  read on >

With the number of coronavirus cases in the United States approaching 3 million on Monday, hospitals across the Sun Belt continued to be flooded with COVID-19 patients. Arizona reached 89 percent capacity for ICU beds, as Alabama, California, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas also reported unprecedented numbers of hospitalizations, the Washington Post reported. For the 28th day in a row, the country’s rolling seven-day average of daily new cases obliterated previous records, though the number of deaths nationwide has remained relatively stable, the newspaper reported. Testing centers across the country are now being stretched to their limits, according to the Post. In many cities, a combination of factors are fueling the problem: a shortage of key supplies, backlogs at laboratories that perform the tests, and surging infection counts as cases climb in almost 40 states. Forget any talk about a second wave of COVID-19 infections, because America is “still knee deep in the first wave,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday, the Post reported. Unlike Europe, “we never came down to baseline and now are surging back up,” he explained. Other public health experts have issued similar warnings. “We’re right back where we were at the peak of the epidemic during the New York outbreak,” former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb…  read on >

Stress from social distancing and isolation to stop the spread of COVID-19 can lead to increased family violence at home, Tulane University experts say. These changes in routine can upset kids, who may lash out and test limits. Stress from bad behavior, along with financial and other concerns can result in angry outbursts — even verbal and physical abuse, said Dr. Charles Zeanah Jr., chair of psychiatry, and Dr. Myo Thwin Myint, an assistant professor of psychiatry. They offered their insights in a perspective piece published in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics. Here’s their advice for parents who feel overwhelmed: Recognize that stress, anger, worry and irritability are to be expected under the uncertainty the pandemic has caused. Provide structure with consistent wake, bed and mealtimes. Structure the day with times for reading, exercise, screen time and the like. If both parents are home, use a tag team approach to childcare. Remember that kids’ bad behaviors probably stem from distress and disruption of their usual routines. When stressed, use a coping strategy like deep breathing and identifying things you’re grateful for. If these don’t work, get some rest. Calling friends or family members can help head off avoid violent behaviors. “The economic stresses of the pandemic and disruptions of families’ usual sources of support will likely extend well beyond the period of stay-at-home…  read on >

Stressed from home-schooling your kids? Lonely from lockdown? Worried about a sick loved one isolated in a nursing home? Worried you might lose your job? The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone’s mental health in ways small and large, and experts are concerned that for many, today’s anxiety will become a tidal wave of mental health problems in the years ahead. The pandemic is adding to what already was an underrecognized mental health crisis in the United States, according to Dr. Don Mordecai, national mental health and wellness lead at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif. Rates of anxiety and depression have steadily risen for years, as have deaths of despair related to suicide and drug overdose, he said during a HD Live! interview. “All those things have been going up for decades, really, and now you bring the pandemic in,” Mordecai said. “It’s not like we were in good shape in terms of our mental health and now it’s getting worse. It’s more like we were not in good shape, and then you bring in another big stressor.” Clinical psychologist Jelena Kecmanovic also is concerned about the toll of the anxiety-provoking changes to everyday life that people are enduring. “Anxiety is exhausting and terrifying,” said Kecmanovic, director of the Arlington/DC Behavior Therapy Institute in Arlington, Va. “If it is happening long enough, you’re going to…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — For the 27th day in a row, the rolling seven-day average for daily new coronavirus cases in the United States set another record on Sunday, climbing past 48,000 COVID-19 infections in just 24 hours. At the same time, coronavirus-related hospitalizations rose to their highest levels to date in Arizona and Nevada, the Washington Post reported. “We’re right back where we were at the peak of the epidemic during the New York outbreak,” former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday on the CBS show, “Face the Nation,” the Post reported. “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 Florida, and Arizona. And Florida looks to be in the worst shape.” On Sunday, new coronavirus cases in that state exceeded 10,000 in a day for the third time in the past week, after the state posted a record of 11,458 new cases on Saturday, the Post reported. More than 47,000 of Florida’s cases are in Miami-Dade county. “We’ve been breaking record after record after record . . . the last couple of weeks,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” Florida’s total caseload hit 200,000, a grim milestone only passed so…  read on >