With U.S. coronavirus cases surging past 3.8 million on Tuesday, Congress is negotiating yet another pandemic relief package for cash-strapped Americans. The package is likely to include a payroll tax cut, along with funding that would be tied to whether schools fully reopen, the Washington Post reported. Although local and state officials have said they desperately need more money to combat the ongoing public health crisis, it looks unlikely that they will receive much aid, the newspaper said. President Donald Trump also shifted his stance on face masks dramatically on Monday: He tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask and said that wearing them was now “patriotic.” He also announced plans to bring back the daily coronavirus task force briefings, which were stopped in April. Meanwhile, seven states — Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Kentucky, North Dakota, Arkansas and Montana — reported record highs for coronavirus-related hospitalizations on Monday, as did Puerto Rico, the Post reported. In a sign that the reality of rising case and death numbers may be sinking in, top health officials in Maryland’s most populous counties asked the state to roll back reopening plans and Kentucky restored limits on public gatherings, the Post reported. In Florida, more than 100 hospitals have run out of ICU beds for adults. The state has reported more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases on at least…  read on >

For the first time in nearly two months the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 1,000 on Tuesday, with President Donald Trump acknowledging that the country’s outbreak will likely “get worse before it gets better.” Trump’s comments came during the first coronavirus task force briefing he’s held since April, as he conceded there were now “big fires” in the country, particularly in Florida and across the South and West. He also shelved his past resistance to masks, displaying his own and asking Americans to wear them because “they have an impact.” Meanwhile, three states that have been slammed by the pandemic in recent weeks continued to struggle to handle surges of COVID-19 patients in their hospitals, CNN reported. Hospitalizations in Florida have risen by more than a third in the 12 days since the state started releasing daily hospitalization data. There are now more than 9,500 people hospitalized in Florida and least 53 hospitals in 27 counties said they had no more beds in their ICUs, CNN reported. Miami-Dade County has exceeded its ICU capacity, with 130% occupancy on Monday, state officials reported. In California, Los Angeles County has surpassed its record for daily hospitalizations for the fourth time in the past week, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, told CNN. The county has at least 2,232 patients currently hospitalized with 26% of…  read on >

For the first time in nearly two months the daily U.S. coronavirus death toll topped 1,000 on Tuesday, with President Donald Trump acknowledging that the country’s outbreak will likely “get worse before it gets better.” Trump’s comments came during the first coronavirus task force briefing he’s held since April, as he conceded there were now “big fires” in the country, particularly in Florida and across the South and West. He also shelved his past resistance to masks, displaying his own and asking Americans to wear them because “they have an impact.” Meanwhile, three states that have been slammed by the pandemic in recent weeks continued to struggle to handle surges of COVID-19 patients in their hospitals, CNN reported. Hospitalizations in Florida have risen by more than a third in the 12 days since the state started releasing daily hospitalization data. There are now more than 9,500 people hospitalized in Florida and least 53 hospitals in 27 counties said they had no more beds in their ICUs, CNN reported. Miami-Dade County has exceeded its ICU capacity, with 130% occupancy on Monday, state officials reported. In California, Los Angeles County has surpassed its record for daily hospitalizations for the fourth time in the past week, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, told CNN. The county has at least 2,232 patients currently hospitalized with 26% of…  read on >

California and Oregon rolled back their reopenings on Monday, two of several states across the country that are struggling to get surging coronavirus case counts under control. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered the statewide closure of all bars and halted the indoor operations of restaurants, wineries, theaters and a handful of other venues, the The New York Times reported. “We’re going back into modification mode of our original stay-at-home order,” Newsom said Monday. “This continues to be a deadly disease.” California’s two largest public school districts, in Los Angeles and San Diego, said on Monday that all teaching would remain online in the fall, the Times reported. In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown again banned private indoor gatherings of more than 10 people and required face coverings be worn outside, the Washington Post reported. Other hard-hit states are also grappling with how to best slow the rampant spread of COVID-19. In Texas, a top medical adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott said the state may need to roll back its reopening plans and reinstitute a lockdown if cases keep climbing, the Times reported. Dr. Mark McClellan, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told the Times that a lockdown in Texas was a “real possibility” that Abbott may be forced to impose in the next few weeks. “I don’t think we have much…  read on >

About one-third of people prescribed drugs to prevent HIV stopped taking the medications when they were forced to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic, a new survey finds. The reason, they said: They weren’t having sex. Many discontinued the drugs without their doctor’s say-so, which has experts concerned. “Reducing the number of new HIV transmissions and ensuring access to critical HIV prevention services must remain a public health priority during this challenging time,” said Bruce Packett, executive director of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. The online survey included more than 400 people at high risk of HIV infection who were using what’s called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to protect them from the AIDS-causing virus. Of the one-third who said they stopped the drugs due to shelter-in-place orders, 85% said they weren’t engaging in risky behaviors. That was the same overall rate among respondents. Only 11 respondents said their ability to obtain PrEP was affected by a factor such as lost job/insurance, inability to get a refill from their doctor, or inability to complete laboratory monitoring or testing for HIV or another sexually transmitted infection. More than half the respondents reported no sexual events and no sexual partners, while 89% said they’d reduced the number of sex partners. Ninety percent reported a decrease in the number of sex events, and 88% said they reduced the…  read on >

(HealthDay News) As 64,000 new U.S. coronavirus cases were reported Tuesday and states struggled to control the spread of the virus, the Trump Administration stripped the country’s leading public health agency of the ability to collect hospitalization data on COVID-19. Instead of patient information going to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it will now be sent to a central database in Washington, The New York Times reported. The unprecedented move has alarmed health experts who fear the data will be politicized or withheld from the public, the newspaper said. From now on, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will collect daily reports about cases, available beds and available ventilators, the Times reported. But the HHS database is not open to the public, which could affect the work of researchers, modelers and health officials who rely on CDC data to make projections and crucial policy decisions, the Times reported. “Historically, CDC has been the place where public health data has been sent, and this raises questions about not just access for researchers but access for reporters, access for the public to try to better understand what is happening with the outbreak,” Jen Kates, the director of global health and HIV policy with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, told the Times. HHS spokesman Michael Caputo insisted the change was made to…  read on >

It has been the sole silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic — cleaner air and water on the planet. But will it continue? A new study says that isn’t yet clear. “The pandemic raises two important questions related to the environment,” said study author Christopher Knittel, from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston. “First, what is the short-run impact on fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions? Second — and more important but harder to answer — what are the longer-term implications from the pandemic on those same variables? “The health impacts from the pandemic could stretch out for decades — if not centuries — depending on the policy response,” he said. “If the pandemic leads to a persistent global recession, there is a real threat to the adoption of clean technology, which could outweigh any ‘silver lining’ in environmental benefits,” said study co-author Jing Li, also from the MIT Sloan School of Management. For the study, the researchers analyzed the effect of the pandemic on carbon dioxide (CO2) levels from late March to June 7. They found reductions in the use of jet fuel (50%) and gasoline (30%). Natural gas use also dropped by nearly 20% and the demand for electricity dropped by less than 10%. “Overall, these reductions reflect a 15% total reduction in daily CO2 emissions, which is the largest…  read on >

The world’s population is shifting, with a new analysis predicting it will peak in 2064 at around 9.7 billion people and fall to 8.8 billion by the end of the century. The United States will have population growth until just after mid-century (364 million in 2062). That will be followed by a moderate decline to 336 million by 2100. At that point it would be the fourth most populous country, according to the modeling study published July 14 in The Lancet. As a result of these population changes and ensuing economic shifts, India, Nigeria, China and the United States will be the dominant powers by the end of the century, the study predicts. “Continued global population growth through the century is no longer the most likely trajectory for the world’s population,” said study leader Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle. “This study provides governments of all countries an opportunity to start rethinking their policies on migration, workforces and economic development to address the challenges presented by demographic change,” Murray said in a journal news release. The total U.S. fertility rate — the average number of children a woman has over her lifetime — is forecast to steadily decline from 1.8 in 2017 to 1.5 in 2100. That’s well below…  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 >