Federal data released Friday offered signs of hope on the economic front, as jobless numbers actually fell — from 14.7 percent in April to 13.3 percent in May. The economy, hit hard by stay-at-home orders and shuttered businesses tied to the coronavirus crisis, ended up adding 2.5 million job in May, as some Americans warily crept back to work, The New York Times reported. It was very welcome news: According to the Times the unemployment rate in April was the highest seen since the federal government began keeping record afters World War II. Many economists expect that unemployment numbers will slow further as states reopen and more employees return to work. However, none of the good economic news has curbed the onslaught of SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19. By Friday, the U.S. coronavirus case count had topped 1.8 million and the death toll passed 108,000. And a new review shows that crowded protests against police brutality have occurred in every one of the 25 U.S. communities with the highest concentrations of new COVID-19 cases. The Associated Press analysis also found that some cities — Minneapolis, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles among them — have witnessed protests on multiple days. In some communities, such as Minneapolis where the protests started, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has also been rising, the news agency added.…  read on >

COVID-19 is taking a heavy toll on Americans’ mental health, a new nationwide survey shows. Overall, psychological distress more than tripled between 2018 and this spring — from 4% of U.S. adults in 2018 to 14% in April. Beth McGinty, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said the findings, from a survey of 1,500 adults, suggest the need to prepare for a wave of mental illness once the pandemic passes. “It is especially important to identify mental illness treatment needs and connect people to services, with a focus on groups with high psychological distress including young adults, adults in low-income households, and Hispanics,” McGinty said in a university news release. The survey used a scale to gauge feelings of emotional suffering as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression. It found that distress was especially acute among younger adults. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 24% reported feelings of distress this spring, compared to 4% in 2018, researchers found. Lower-income households also were keenly feeling the impact of the pandemic. Distress rose from less than 8% in 2018 to 19% in homes with a yearly income of less than $35,000, the survey found. And 18% of Hispanics reported psychological distress in 2020, up from 4% in 2018. Among Americans age 55 and older, psychological distress nearly doubled between 2018 and…  read on >

An over-the-counter heartburn remedy is showing some potential as a symptom reliever for COVID-19, a small study finds. Famotidine, sold under the brand name Pepcid, appeared to improve symptoms in a group of 10 patients diagnosed with COVID-19, researchers reported online June 4 in the journal Gut. The patients’ self-reported symptoms began to feel better within a day or two of taking famotidine, the study authors said. “A clinical trial is now needed to formally test if famotidine works against COVID-19,” said lead researcher Dr. Tobias Janowitz, a medical oncologist and cancer researcher with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. But don’t rush out to stock up on Pepcid just yet, warned Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. “This is a very small study that was observational in nature,” Adalja said. “It is very hard to draw any conclusions from it.” A clinical trial in which Pepcid’s effectiveness is compared against a placebo is essential to prove that the medication works, since it is being used in mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, Adalja said. “These are mild cases and mild cases do get better over time, so these cases have to be compared to placebo in order to see if this was actually just the natural course of infection or the famotidine,” Adalja…  read on >

An injectable electrode could prove a better way to ease chronic nerve pain than opioid painkillers or bulky and expensive implants, animal research suggests. It’s called an “injectrode.” It appears easier and cheaper than spinal implants for debilitating back pain, and safer than long-term use of opioids like OxyContin (oxycodone), a recent paper suggests. A liquid silicone gel filled with small metal particles is injected around the nerve that’s causing the pain, said researcher Kip Ludwig, a professor of biomedical engineering and neurological surgery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It cures (hardens), and it becomes a conductible electrode” that surrounds the nerve, Ludwig said. Doctors then inject an outer sheath of insulation around the newly formed electrode, and use the same gel to craft a wire running from the injectrode to the surface of the skin. “You now have a direct connection to stimulate a deep nerve from the surface of the skin, without affecting any nerves on the surface of the skin,” Ludwig said. “We’re trying to get this to the point where it’s like getting a tattoo, in terms of invasiveness.” The use of electrical pulses to alter nerve activity, a technique called neuromodulation, has been shown to effectively treat chronic nerve pain, Ludwig said. “When you feel pain, those nerves are sending an electrical signal that goes to your brain and tells…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — While the spread of coronavirus has slowed in some of the hardest-hit areas of America, other parts of the country were seeing worrying spikes in cases by Friday. New York City, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, announced plans Thursday to ease restrictions after 10 weeks under lockdown, the Washington Post reported. “Restarting won’t mean back to normal — we CAN’T rush back,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Thursday. “We need to keep this virus in check.” But even as the New York area began to emerge from strict social distancing measures, other states were seeing jumps in COVID-19 cases, the New York Times reported. Wisconsin saw its highest single-day increase in both cases and deaths just two weeks after the state’s highest court overturned a stay-at-home order; Alabama, Arkansas, California and North Carolina are seeing some of their highest case numbers and death tallies yet; and metropolitan areas like Fayetteville, Ark.; Yuma, Ariz.; and Roanoke and Charlottesville, Va., may soon see new highs in cases and deaths. As the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 1.7 million and the death toll reached 101,600 on Friday, there was more evidence of the collateral damage the virus has caused: New numbers released Thursday show the number of unemployed has now passed 40 million. The death toll is…  read on >

If you’re off to college in the fall and have allergies or asthma, it’s not too soon to figure out how you’ll manage them. “There are many arrangements to be made as you head off to college for the first time, and your allergies and asthma should not be put on the back burner,” said Dr. J. Allen Meadows, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). “It’s important to start managing your health issues well before you leave for school, because there are many details to nail down to ensure you stay well as you study,” he said in an ACAAI news release. Here’s his advice: Meet with your allergist before school starts. If you’re going to a school far away, request a referral to an allergist close to campus. Find out if your prescriptions need to be updated or changed. Ask your parents how your health insurance works and who your providers might be. Your college may have a plan if you’re not already covered. Find out where to get urgent care when you’re at school. If your parents have been the primary managers of your allergies or asthma, you need to take over that role. For example, find out where to pick up prescriptions and order refills, and let people around you know about your allergy/asthma triggers. Discuss your…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — As the number of U.S. coronavirus cases neared 1.8 million on Monday, a new poll shows that a majority of Americans still think it’s more important to control the virus’ spread than to restart the economy. While nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the pandemic has taken a heavy economic toll on their communities, a majority of a divided country still believes that containing COVID-19 infections is paramount, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows. Overall, 57 percent of all Americans and 81 percent of Democrats say trying to control the spread of the coronavirus is most important right now. But only 27 percent of Republicans agree, while 66 percent of them say restarting the economy is more critical. Nearly 6 in 10 independents say their priority is trying to control the virus’s spread, the survey found. And nearly 7 in 10 Americans say they are worried about the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus infections in the fall, the poll showed. Even as Americans continue to worry about the spread of COVID-19, protests erupted in cities nationwide over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Those protests could become new “super-spreader” events for coronavirus, public health experts worry. While the spread of coronavirus has slowed in some of the hardest-hit areas of America, other parts of…  read on >