Women with early-stage breast cancer whose surgery has been postponed during the coronavirus pandemic need not worry about the delay, new study findings suggest. A longer time from diagnosis to surgery doesn’t affect overall survival of women with early-stage tumors, the researchers found. They also said a delay didn’t lower survival among women with estrogen-sensitive, early-stage breast cancer who received neoadjuvant endocrine therapy before their surgery. “Usually we take these patients with very small tumors directly to surgery, so it is a big change in practice to first put those patients on tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor,” said lead study author Dr. Christina Minami, an associate surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “What we can say from our findings is that despite the delay in surgical therapy, because you were on neoadjuvant endocrine therapy, we do not think that your survival will at all be impacted,” she added in a news release from the American College of Surgeons. For the study, her team used data on nearly 379,000 women. One group had ductal carcinoma in situ — the earliest form of breast cancer. The other group had small invasive tumors — stage 1 and 2 — that had not spread to lymph nodes and were estrogen receptor-positive. The researchers wanted to know if waiting up to one year from diagnosis to surgery affected…  read on >

In a potential harbinger of what could unfold on college campuses across the United States this fall, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Monday it will revert back to online teaching after testing showed a rapid spread of coronavirus among students. The university was one of the largest schools in the country to bring students to campus for in-person teaching, The New York Times reported. Officials announced the abrupt change just a week after classes began at the 30,000-student university, the newspaper said. Online instruction for undergraduate students will take effect Wednesday. Why the switch? Out of hundreds tested, 177 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed among students, the Times reported. Another 349 were in quarantine because of possible exposure to the virus, officials said. Clusters of coronavirus cases have already popped up in three residence halls and a fraternity house. “We understand the concern and frustrations these changes will raise with many students and parents,” UNC-Chapel Hill’s Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Robert Blouin said in a statement, the Times reported. “As much as we believe we have worked diligently to help create a healthy and safe campus living and learning environment, we believe the current data presents an untenable situation.” On Monday, a new report highlighted another untenable situation: COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents have jumped nearly 80% this…  read on >

Be careful that the COVID-19 information you’re getting is accurate and not opinion masquerading as the real McCoy, says the American College of Emergency Physicians. Watch out for bold claims and instant cures touted on social media or by friends. Get health and medical information from experts like the ACEP and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the physicians’ group says. “A troubling number of purported experts are sharing false and dangerous information that runs counter to the public health and safety guidelines endorsed by ACEP and the nation’s leading medical and public health entities,” said Dr. William Jaquis, president of the college. “This kind of misinformation can not only be harmful to individuals, but it hinders our nation’s efforts to get the pandemic under control,” he added in a college news release. You should know that there is no cure or vaccine for COVID-19. Scientists keep learning more about the virus and how to treat it. COVID-19 can be spread by anyone — even people who don’t think they’re infected. About 40% of those infected don’t have symptoms, but can spread the virus. The virus isn’t harmless, and its long-term effects are still being studied. Without a cure, the best defense is making smart choices and safe behaviors, the college says. “There are still many questions about COVID-19, but we know these…  read on >

Depression, anxiety and inactive lifestyles are all too common among college students, and a new study finds they may have escalated during the initial outbreak of COVID-19. Using a mix of smartphone data and online surveys from more than 200 students, researchers at Dartmouth College determined that the coronavirus pandemic had an immediate impact on the mental health of this particular undergraduate group. The students involved in the study were participating in a research program tracking mental health at the New Hampshire university. They reported spikes in depression and anxiety at the beginning of the pandemic in early March, just as the school pushed students to leave campus and begin remote learning. While their self-reported anxiety and depression lessened slightly later on in the semester, the study found that their overall anxiety and depression levels remained consistently higher than in previous years. “We observed a large-scale shift in mental health and behavior compared to the observed baseline established for this group over previous years,” said study author Jeremy Huckins, a lecturer at Dartmouth. In addition, around spring break period in mid-March, the students reported that their day-to-day lives were dramatically more sedentary than previous terms. “This was an atypical time for these college students. While spring break is usually a period of decreased stress and increased physical activity, spring break 2020 was stressful and confining…  read on >

New data shows that many of the community outbreaks of coronavirus that have cropped up in the United States this summer have originated in restaurants and bars. In Louisiana, roughly a quarter of the state’s 2,360 cases since March that were outside of places like nursing homes and prisons had their origins in bars and restaurants, The New York Times reported. Meanwhile, 12% of new coronavirus cases in Maryland last month were traced to restaurants, while 9% of cases in Colorado have been traced to bars and restaurants, the newspaper said. Whether the infections started among workers or patrons is unclear, but the clusters concern health officials because many restaurant and bar employees are in their 20s and can silently fuel household transmissions, which have soared in recent weeks through the Sun Belt and the West, the Times reported. This summer, scores of restaurants, including ones in Nashville, Las Vega, Atlanta and Milwaukee, have had to close temporarily because of COVID-19 cases among employees, the Times reported. Texas and Florida also had to shut down bars following surges in new cases in those states. In a recent week in San Diego, 15 of the 39 new community cases were traced to restaurants. And in Washington, D.C., cases have climbed since the city reopened indoor dining, the newspaper reported. Indoor dining remains banned in New York…  read on >

America logged its highest single-day coronavirus death total of the summer on Wednesday, as the toll from an earlier surge in cases in Sun Belt states continued to mount. At least 1,470 deaths were tallied on Wednesday, The New York Times reported. With the exception of three anomalous days this summer (when New York and Texas reported large numbers of backlogged COVID-19 deaths from unspecified days), that death total was the country’s highest since late May, the newspaper said. Wednesday’s deaths were concentrated in Sun Belt states that have witnessed dramatic coronavirus case spikes in June and July, the Times reported. Even as case counts have started to level off or drop in some of those states, deaths have stayed high. On Wednesday, more than 300 deaths were recorded in Texas, while more than 200 were confirmed in Florida. Arizona, California and Georgia all reported more than 100 COVID-19 deaths each, the newspaper said. For the past two weeks, the country has averaged more than 1,000 deaths per day, more than twice as many as recorded in early July. Because some people do not die until weeks after contracting the virus, death counts can remain high long after new cases start falling, the newspaper noted. Where did all the new cases start this summer? New data shows that many of the community outbreaks of coronavirus…  read on >

This school year comes with special challenges for kids as the United States grapples with a coronavirus pandemic, but experts say parents can help their children navigate the tough emotional terrain. Whether returning to a school building, continuing online learning or adjusting to a hybrid school environment, it is normal for children and adolescents to have some stress or anxiety about going back to school, said Samanta Boddapati, a child clinical psychologist and prevention coordinator at Big Lots Behavioral Health Services at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Fears of getting sick or following school safety protocols for COVID-19 may make the transition even more difficult. In a survey of parents by Nationwide Children’s, 2 out of 5 said they had concerns about their kid’s social and emotional well-being. Very young children can suffer from separation anxiety about being away from family and in new environments. For these children, experts recommend making a special goodbye part of your routine and reminding your child when you will see each other again. Some kids like a transitional object — an item that reminds them of mom or dad while at school. Older children being in a classroom might be uncomfortable. “Maintaining a routine is important, especially for families who are continuing to do online learning full-time. Create a part of your child’s day that is structured and…  read on >