The United States on Thursday recorded its second highest daily total of new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, with 75,000 new infections, while eight states broke single-day records of new cases. Also on Thursday, the antiviral medicine remdesivir became the first drug to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to fight COVID-19. Such drugs are urgently needed: Adding to bleak national numbers, 13 additional states have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch, The New York Times reported. The Midwest and Rocky Mountains are struggling to contain major outbreaks, while new hot spots are emerging in other parts of the country. Kentucky announced more than 1,470 cases on Thursday, the biggest one-day jump ever in that state. And Colorado reported more than 1,300 cases, setting another single-day record, the Times reported. In Chicago, a nightly curfew will start on Friday, after officials reported an average of 645 new cases a day this past week, the newspaper said. The current record for new daily cases was recorded in mid-July, when over 77,000 infections were recorded in one day. Coronavirus cases have also been climbing on college campuses, where more than 214,000 infections have been diagnosed this year, a Times survey showed. More than 35,000 of those cases have been reported since early October. While some colleges moved all…  read on >

The new coronavirus holds no political views. The pathogen’s only aim is to infect, spread and thrive. But in what is surely no surprise in a deeply divided America, it turns out that your political views play a large role in your attitude towards COVID-19 prevention efforts. Republicans tend to be much less worried than Democrats about the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore less likely to take steps to ward off infection, according to a new HealthDay/Harris Poll survey. Twice as many Republicans believe the U.S. reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic is overblown, 52% versus 26% of Democrats, the survey shows. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to be optimistic that COVID-19 will be under control by early 2021 (66% versus 48%). Perhaps as a result, about seven in 10 Republicans said they accept certain risks when it comes to COVID-19 so they can go on with life as they choose, compared with about four out of 10 Democrats. Additionally, eight out of 10 Democrats (82%) said they “always” wear a mask when they go out, compared with 66% of Republicans. Similarly, twice as many Republicans think that restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19 should be lifted across the country, 55% versus 26% of Democrats. “American attitudes around COVID-19 have been deeply swayed by their political leaning,” said Robyn Bell Dickson, managing director of The…  read on >

As most of America prepares for the Nov. 1 return of standard time, 63% want one fixed, year-round time, a new survey finds. “Evidence of the negative impacts of seasonal time changes continue to accumulate, and there is real momentum behind the push to end seasonal time changes,” said Dr. Kannan Ramar, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), which favors a fixed, nationwide time. A recent position statement from AASM said public health and safety would benefit if seasonal time changes were eliminated. It called for permanent use of standard time, which it said more closely aligns with the daily rhythms of the body’s internal clock. More than 20 organizations have endorsed the statement. They include the National Safety Council, the National Parent Teacher Association and the World Sleep Society. AASM noted that time changes increase the risk of stroke, hospital admissions and sleep loss, and also add to inflammation, one of the body’s responses to stress. Researchers recently reported an 18% increase in adverse medical events due to human error in the week after switching to daylight saving time in the spring. “Permanent, year-round standard time is the best choice to most closely match our circadian sleep-wake cycle,” said Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, a specialist in sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisc. “Daylight saving time results in…  read on >

The new coronavirus holds no political views. The pathogen’s only aim is to infect, spread and thrive. But in what is surely no surprise in a deeply divided America, it turns out that your political views play a large role in your attitude towards COVID-19 prevention efforts. Republicans tend to be much less worried than Democrats about the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore less likely to take steps to ward off infection, according to a new HealthDay/Harris Poll survey. Twice as many Republicans believe the U.S. reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic is overblown, 52% versus 26% of Democrats, the survey shows. Republicans are also more likely than Democrats to be optimistic that COVID-19 will be under control by early 2021 (66% versus 48%). Perhaps as a result, about seven in 10 Republicans said they accept certain risks when it comes to COVID-19 so they can go on with life as they choose, compared with about four out of 10 Democrats. Additionally, eight out of 10 Democrats (82%) said they “always” wear a mask when they go out, compared with 66% of Republicans. Similarly, twice as many Republicans think that restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19 should be lifted across the country, 55% versus 26% of Democrats. “American attitudes around COVID-19 have been deeply swayed by their political leaning,” said Robyn Bell Dickson, managing director of The…  read on >

Three weeks after becoming the first big urban area to reopen public schools since the pandemic began, New York City is not seeing a feared surge in cases among students and staff. Instead, health officials are seeing a surprisingly small number of COVID-19 cases, The New York Times reported. Of 15,111 staff members and students tested randomly in the first week of its testing regimen, the city has gotten back results for 10,676. There were only 18 positives: 13 staff members and five students, the Times reported. Even better, when officials put mobile testing units at schools near the Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods that have had new outbreaks, only four positive cases surfaced in more than 3,300 tests conducted since the last week of September, the newspaper said. New York City is facing fears of a second wave of the virus fueled by local spikes in Brooklyn and Queens, and official have closed more than 120 public schools as a precaution, the Times reported. Still, the sprawling system of 1,800 public schools is a bright spot as the city tries to recover from a pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 people and severely weakened its economy. When the city reopened its school system in September, roughly half of the city’s students opted for hybrid learning, where they are in the building some days, but…  read on >

The new coronavirus is striking the Upper Midwest with a vengeance, as Wisconsin and the Dakotas became COVID-19 hotspots and health officials scrambled for hospital beds on Thursday. After months where residents of those states downplayed the virus and rejected mask requirements, all three now lead all other states in new cases per capita, the Associated Press reported. “It’s an emotional roller coaster,” said Melissa Resch, a nurse at Wisconsin’s Aspirus Wausau Hospital, which is working to add beds and reassign staff to keep up with a rising caseload of seriously ill COVID-19 patients. “Just yesterday I had a patient say, ‘It’s OK, you guys took good care of me, but it’s OK to let me go,’” Resch told the AP. “I’ve cried with the respiratory unit, I’ve cried with managers. I cry at home. I’ve seen nurses crying openly in the hallway.” What is unfolding in the Upper Midwest mirrors what has happened in other parts of the country since the pandemic began. In the spring, New York City hastily built field hospitals as emergency rooms were flooded with COVID-19 patients. Then, the coronavirus spread to states like Arizona, Texas, Florida and California over the summer. It then moved into the Midwest. “What worries me is we haven’t learned our lessons,” Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington…  read on >

Even as the nation’s top infectious diseases expert said Friday that the White House experienced a “superspreader” event in the Rose Garden last month, President Donald Trump announced he will hold his first public event at the White House since testing positive for the coronavirus a week ago. The Saturday event, which will have Trump speaking from a balcony to a crowd of supporters on the South Lawn, has already caused concern among some officials in the White House, which has been rocked by an outbreak following Trump’s diagnosis, the Washington Post reported. Trump’s medical team has not yet released the results of Trump’s latest COVID-19 test, so it was unclear whether Trump is still contagious, the Post reported. But Trump has ignored his advisers’ calls for caution, the newspaper reported, instead playing down the virus and using his own battle with it to argue that the nation has already overcome the pandemic. “I haven’t even found out numbers or anything yet, but I’ve been retested,” he said. “And I know I’m at either the bottom of the scale or free.” He added that he has been tested for the virus “every couple of days or so.” The lack of a negative test did not stop Trump from claiming to be cured and working from the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. Trump has been eager…  read on >

Hours after President Donald Trump held a rally on the White House lawn for hundreds of supporters, his doctor said he is “no longer considered a transmission risk to others.” In a memo released Saturday night, White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said he was sharing information about the status of Trump’s coronavirus infection with permission from Trump, The New York Times reported. But the amount of information he provided was limited. Trump was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on Oct. 2. Health experts have repeatedly questioned the severity of Trump’s illness, and his health could still deteriorate in the next few days, they added. “I don’t think he’s out of the woods for certain,” Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician based in South Carolina, told the Times. Trump’s recent course of steroids, which suppress certain parts of the immune system, could also make him vulnerable to other infections, Kuppalli added. “I would still be careful with someone like him.” The start date of Trump’s symptoms has also remained unclear, the Times reported. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most people stop being infectious 10 days after becoming sick. By Conley’s assessment, Trump would have needed to show signs of his illness on Wednesday, Sept. 30, for Saturday to qualify as 10 days from the onset of symptoms. “This evening I…  read on >

Young women with cancer are at a high risk for employment and financial consequences, a new study finds. “Our study addresses the burden of employment disruption and financial hardship among young women with cancer — a group who may be at particular risk for poor financial outcomes after cancer given their age and gender,” said researcher Clare Meernik, a fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. She and her colleagues surveyed more than 1,300 women in North Carolina and California a median of seven years after diagnosis. Their cancer was diagnosed when they were 15 to 39 years of age and working. Following their diagnosis, 32% of the women had to stop working or cut back on their hours. Twenty-seven percent said they had to borrow money, go into debt or file for bankruptcy because of cancer treatment. Women with disrupted employment were more likely — by 17 percentage points — to have these problems than women who were able to keep working. Half of the women said they were stressed about their big medical bills, and women with disrupted employment were more likely to suffer psychological distress by 8 percentage points than women who were able to keep working. The findings were published online Oct. 12 in the journal Cancer. “Our findings highlight the need for effective…  read on >