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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 >

(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 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 >

Want to make smoking less attractive to young people? Try taking menthol cigarettes off the market, a new analysis suggests. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned flavors in cigarettes in 2009 because flavors appeal to youth and young adults, and the agency recently announced that it also intends to ban menthol in cigarettes. To assess what effect a ban on menthol cigarettes would have, Georgetown University researchers reviewed 24 studies on the impacts of restrictions on flavors in cigarettes. Six of the studies examined menthol bans implemented across Canada, 12 assessed the potential effects of hypothetical menthol bans in Canada, the United States and Europe, and six looked at prior bans of non-menthol flavors in cigarettes in Canada and the United States. Based on their review, the researchers concluded that 11%-45% of current U.S. menthol smokers might quit smoking in response to a menthol cigarette ban, while 15%-30% of menthol smokers might switch to e-cigarettes. Menthol smokers quitting or switching to e-cigarettes are more likely to be young adults, and a menthol cigarette ban may reduce the number of youth who start smoking by 6%, according to the researchers. They also found that while overall compliance with the menthol ban in Canada was high, studies into non-menthol flavor bans in the United States found that some retailers continued to sell banned products. The review… read on >

Eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grain foods could lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, two new studies suggest. In one study, researchers looked at more than 9,700 people who developed type 2 diabetes and over 13,600 who didn’t. Participants were from eight European countries and part of a long-term cancer and nutrition study. After adjusting for lifestyle, and social and dietary risk factors for diabetes, people with the highest levels of fruit and vegetable consumption were 50% less likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest levels, the researchers found. Every 66 grams a day (2.3 ounces) increase in total fruit and vegetable intake was associated with a 25% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, Nita Forouhi, of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and colleagues calculated. The other study included more than 158,000 U.S. women and over 36,000 U.S. men. After adjusting for lifestyle and dietary risk factors for diabetes, people with the highest levels of whole grain consumption had a 29% lower rate of type 2 diabetes than those with the lowest levels, the findings showed. In terms of specific whole grain foods, one or more servings a day of whole grain cold breakfast cereal or dark bread was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes (19% and 21%, respectively) compared with less than one… read on >

The COVID-19 pandemic is shaking up America’s approach to addiction treatment, but the fallout hasn’t been all bad, experts say. In-person support meetings either aren’t happening or have been severely curtailed, and addiction centers are facing financial ruin because folks are too afraid of the coronavirus to seek treatment. But paradoxically, people might have better access to addiction treatment than ever before, thanks to the shift to telemedicine across all health care. “Ultimately, I think this will rebound, but not like before,” Fred Muench, president of the Partnership to End Addiction, said of the future of addiction treatment. Muench sees telemedicine as the way to ensure the financial survival of the U.S. network of addiction providers. “We will see the greatest changes in outpatient care, which will truly be a hybrid,” Muench said. “In the future, you will not have to be a telehealth provider to treat digitally — all treatment will have a telehealth component. If not, it will cease to exist. Providers cannot afford to wait to integrate telehealth.” COVID-19 lockdowns forced organizations like Alcoholics Anonymous to shift to web video meetings or teleconferences for their support groups. The pandemic also caused many treatment centers to cut back on their services. More than nine out of 10 addiction centers said they cut back their programs during the lockdown, furloughing or laying off employees,… read on >

States across America reported nearly 60,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, setting yet another daily record as the pandemic tightens its grip on a country struggling to reopen. The surge has been largely fueled by states in the South and the West that eased their lockdowns early, The New York Times reported. Single-day case records were set in at least six states on Thursday: Alabama, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Oregon and Texas, the Times reported. Meanwhile, two states recorded their highest death tolls for a single day: Florida recorded 120, while Tennessee recorded 22. In Texas, a record for new cases was set for the fourth consecutive day, with more than 10,900 infections reported, the newspaper said. Hospitals across the South and West are being flooded with COVID-19 patients and are having to cancel elective surgeries and discharge patients early as they try to keep beds available, the Times reported. In Florida, more than 40 intensive care units in 21 counties have hit capacity and have no beds available. In Mississippi, five of the state’s largest hospitals have already run out of ICU beds for critical patients, the Times reported. Things are also dire in Texas, the Times reported. “The hospitals are full,” said Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, president and chief executive officer of the two-hospital public health system, Harris Health, based in Texas. “We have been… read on >

Parks can be good for your health, but fear of crime stops some people from using them, a new study finds. Previous research has shown that urban green spaces can lower stress levels, weight and heart disease risk, and that living near a park is linked to fewer days of anxiety and depression. This new study found that New York City residents are more likely to exercise in a park if they live nearby, and the more they do so, the less anxious and depressed they feel — but only if they’re not concerned about their safety. For the study, New York University (NYU) researchers analyzed survey responses from more than 3,800 people. The survey results showed that nearly twice as many New Yorkers who lived within a five-minute walk from a park said they exercised there sometimes or often, compared with those who lived more than 30 minutes away. Frequent park exercisers reported having one fewer day a month with mental health issues, compared to those who rarely or never exercised in their local park. “If we want to make the most of the abundant health benefits parks offer, then we need to make them not only accessible, but also safe for everyone,” said study author Stephanie Orstad, a research assistant professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Health in New York… read on >

New U.S. coronavirus cases surged across 37 states on Sunday, with worsening hotspots in the South and West also fueling new daily records for COVID-19 deaths. Florida recorded more than 15,000 new infections on Sunday, breaking the daily record for new cases once held by New York back at the beginning of the pandemic, The New York Times reported. The state also saw single-day records in the counties that include its largest cities — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Pensacola and Sarasota. Five states — Arizona, California, Florida, Mississippi and Texas — also broke records for average daily COVID-19 fatalities in the past week, the Washington Post reported. That marks a departure from the past weeks, when death rates had remained steady even as case numbers rose. Adding to the problem, long delays in testing are hampering efforts to contain future spread of the coronavirus, the Post reported. Many testing sites are struggling to provide results in five to seven days. Others are taking even longer, the newspaper reported, as outbreaks across the Sun Belt have strained labs beyond capacity. And there were signs of new trouble in regions outside current hotspots: Twenty states and Puerto Rico reported a record-high average of new infections over the past week, the Post reported. In the Midwest, cases have been trending upward in every… 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 >