You may enjoy the fireworks on the Fourth of July, but there’s a good chance Fido and Fluffy do not. “Even pets that are not usually sensitive to loud sounds and noise can become extremely stressed due to the sound of fireworks,” said John Howe, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “It’s hard not to feel helpless when you see them shaking and panting and so obviously distressed,” he added. With a little advance preparation, you can ease your pets’ anxiety and keep them calm. Here’s how: Try a workout. Take your dog(s) out for play and exercise earlier in the day. This can help burn off extra energy, limit their their anxiety later and help them rest more soundly. Update I.D. Make sure your pet has up-to-date identification tags and that their microchip has your correct contact information, because highly stressed pets may run off. Proper I.D. improves the chances that your pet will make it home safely if that occurs, Howe said. Give pets a safe space. Keep them indoors. Cats tend to feel most secure in a covered spot off the ground, like a hut in an indoor cat tree. For a dog, put its crate or bed in the quietest, most secure room possible. Keep windows and curtains closed to help muffle sounds. Try different things to see what works…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — As the daily toll of new coronavirus cases broke yet another record and topped 55,000 on Thursday, COVID-19 hospitalizations were also climbing across the South and West. Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada and Arizona all set records for hospitalizations on Thursday, a sobering harbinger of what is yet to come, the Washington Post reported. The virus appears to be spreading wildly in Arizona, as hospitals rushed to expand capacity and adopted practices similar to those employed at the height of the outbreak in New York City and Italy, the Post reported. Those measures include doubling up hospital beds in rooms, pausing elective surgeries and bringing in health-care workers from other states. Preparing for the worst, state officials this week activated crisis protocols, which determine for hospitals which patients get ventilators and care as the system becomes overwhelmed under the crush of patients, the Post reported. “You look at what happened in Lombardy, Italy. What happened in New York. That’s what is about to happen here. People are going to die because our system is overwhelmed,” said Will Humble, who directed Arizona’s Department of Health Services for six years under its previous Republican governor. “It’s important for other states to learn from us. This wasn’t bad luck. It was avoidable. Don’t let this happen to you. You look back at the past few months…  read on >

A new threat has been added to the risks posed by fireworks — they can release toxic metals that can damage your lungs. These metals give fireworks their colors, according to researchers who found harmful levels of lead in two of 12 types of commercially available fireworks they tested. “While many are careful to protect themselves from injury from explosions, our results suggest that inhaling firework smoke may cause longer-term damage, a risk that has been largely ignored,” said study senior author Terry Gordon, a professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York City. Gordon and his colleagues collected emissions from a dozen fireworks commonly used in the United States by setting them off in a lab chamber, then exposed mice and human lung cells to low doses of the particles, to mimic an average person’s daily exposure to air pollutants. Along with the lead finding, they found that particle emissions from five types of fireworks significantly increased oxidation, a chemical process in the body that can damage or even kill cells if left unchecked. Fireworks often contain titanium, strontium and copper, in addition to lead, according to the researchers. They also analyzed 14 years’ worth of air quality samples from dozens of sites across the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency throughout each year, and found that…  read on >

The daily tally of new U.S. coronavirus cases passed 50,000 on Wednesday, as more reopening plans across the country were slowed amid fears of spiking infections. A glimmer of hope emerged on the economic front when unemployment numbers were released by the U.S. Labor Department Thursday morning: 4.8 million jobs were added to the national workforce last month, the second straight monthly gain after losing more than 20 million jobs in April, The New York Times reported. Still, 1.4 million Americans filed jobless claims last week, the 15th straight week that unemployment claims have surpassed 1 million. Meanwhile, rapidly rising infection counts continued to thwart reopening plans: On Wednesday, California, Michigan and New York City became the latest to rethink parts of their reopening strategies, the newspaper reported. California shut down bars and halted indoor dining at restaurants in much of the state, while New York City decided not to let its restaurants resume indoor service next week, as originally planned. California, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia all broke previous single-day records for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, while Louisiana’s infection rates continued to rise, the Washington Post reported. In some states, COVID-19 death counts are also rising: Arizona reported a record number of coronavirus-related deaths Wednesday as intensive care units approached 90 percent capacity, the Post reported. Things could get even worse. On…  read on >