With states across America beginning to relax stay-at-home orders, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx reiterated on Sunday that some form of social distancing will still be necessary through the summer. In an interview on Meet the Press, she stressed that “social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these [reopening] phases.” A heat wave that blanketed southern California this weekend highlighted the challenges that governors and mayors will face in trying to sustain social distancing efforts in warm weather. Despite pleas from public officials to stay home, tens of thousands of people flocked to beaches that were open in Orange County on Saturday, The New York Times reported. On Monday, the number of U.S. coronavirus cases surged past 965,000 and the death toll neared 55,000, the Associated Press reported. States vary in respect to stay-at-home orders. Governors in hard-hit New York and Michigan are keeping such orders in place until at least mid-May, while their counterparts in Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have already allowed certain businesses to reopen, the Associated Press reported. Georgia is moving the fastest to ease social distancing restrictions, while governors in Tennessee, Idaho and Missouri are preparing to launch their reopening plans soon, the Washington Post reported. Several states to reopen Another round of…  read on >

Domenico Piccininni is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have had a COVID-19 infection and recovered after a bit of misery, but with no lasting complications. What sets him apart from many other survivors is that Piccininni is trying to help people who now have more severe COVID-19 infections. On Thursday, the Atlanta-area resident donated his plasma. Plasma is a component of blood that contains antibodies, which are made by the immune system in response to a specific infection. Because the 50-year-old Piccininni recovered from a COVID-19 infection, his body now produces antibodies that are primed to fight the new coronavirus. The hope is that giving his plasma and antibodies (called “convalescent plasma”) will help kick-start the fight against the virus for people who are currently very sick with COVID-19 infections. Piccininni is a reluctant hero, though. At first, he thought he wouldn’t want anyone to even know that he had been sick with COVID-19. He worried there might be a potential stigma. “I felt like [having had the infection] might be like a scarlet letter, but the doctor said I should think of it more like a badge of honor, because I could help people,” Piccininni said. He also admitted to being a bit uneasy about the procedure because he didn’t quite know what to expect. “My wife volunteered me,” he…  read on >

While health experts continued to call for a national strategy to test more Americans for coronavirus, President Donald Trump on Monday announced a “blueprint” for boosting testing capacity as some states began reopening their economies. But the national guidance says states must develop their own testing plans and rapid-response programs while the White House provides “strategic direction and technical assistance,” and helps “align laboratory testing supplies and capacity with existing and anticipated laboratory needs,” the Washington Post reported. Trump was joined at the media briefing by some major retailers who said they had ramped up both testing and the production of medical supplies. They predicted they would doubling both their rate of testing and the number of sites that would be available to the public in the next month. Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health, told CBS News that the Trump administration is prepared to send all 50 states enough tests to screen 2 % of their population per month for the virus, roughly 6.6 million people. By Sunday, the United States had conducted about 5.5 million tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project, which compiles those figures from individual states. But that number is only equivalent to about 1.7 % of the U.S. population, the Post reported. In contrast, Germany increased testing earlier than the United States did and had tested 2.5…  read on >

Young people who pull themselves out of poverty may be no better off when it comes to their heart health, a new study suggests. Researchers found that “upwardly mobile” U.S. adults tended to be less stressed and depressed than peers who spent their whole lives below the poverty line. Unfortunately, it did not make a difference in their cardiovascular health. They were just as likely to have conditions like obesity and elevated blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, the study found. The results might sound surprising, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist and volunteer expert with the American Heart Association. After all, both higher income and better mental health have been consistently linked with better physical health. “But I can think of a few reasons for the findings,” said Goldberg, who was not involved in the study. “When you consider it, these are people who work very hard,” she said. “They may be really focused on their jobs, at the expense of other things. They may have no time for exercise, or end up eating a lot of grab-and-go foods.” Compared with people whose income stays low, Goldberg said, they may be less worried about money and security — and, therefore, in better mental shape. But that doesn’t necessarily mean their lifestyles are healthy. Lead researcher Gregory Miller agreed that lack of time for exercise…  read on >

Work stress may increase your risk for ending up in the hospital with peripheral artery disease, a new study suggests. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) occurs when cholesterol or other fatty substances accumulate in blood vessels away from the heart — usually in the legs — and restrict blood flow. Left untreated, PAD increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. Previous studies have linked work stress to other types of artery-clogging disease, but few have specifically examined PAD. This new study assessed the association between work stress and hospital treatment for PAD. The results were published April 28 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “Our findings suggest that work-related stress may be a risk factor for peripheral artery disease in a similar way as it is for heart disease and stroke,” lead study author Katriina Heikkilä said in a journal news release. She’s a senior researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Researchers analyzed the health records of 139,000 men and women who took part in 11 studies conducted between 1985 and 2008 in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Participants were ages 39-49 on average, and had no history of PAD when the studies began. Over an average 13 years of follow-up, 0.2% to 1.8% of the participants were hospitalized for PAD. The risk was 1.4 times higher among those…  read on >

Doctors are increasingly worried that people are mistaking stay-at-home orders to mean they should avoid emergency medical care — including for serious lung diseases. People with chronic lung conditions, such as emphysema and moderate to severe asthma, are among those at higher risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19. And medical experts have been urging them to be vigilant about protecting themselves. But now a new concern is surfacing: Are people being scared away from needed medical care? “We’ve been noticing it anecdotally in our practice,” said Dr. Koushik Kasanagottu, an internal medicine resident at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. He shared the example of one patient, a woman with emphysema, who on a recent morning woke with shortness of breath. She used her “rescue” inhaler medication — a standard way to manage a symptom exacerbation — but it didn’t help. Still, fears over COVID-19 kept her from seeking emergency medical attention. Eventually, her sister did call 911. But by the time she reached the hospital her condition had worsened to the point that she needed a ventilator. “The concern is definitely there,” said Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association. “Some people might think twice about going to the hospital, rely on their rescue medications, and try to tough it out.” It is, of course, understandable that people…  read on >

Almost half of the U.S. population — 150 million people — are exposed to air pollution that puts their health at risk, the American Lung Association says. Climate change is making air pollution worse due to record levels of particle pollution and higher ozone pollution (smog) caused by wildfires. Air pollution poses a threat to everyone, especially children, older adults and people with lung disease. The effects of air pollution on lung health are of increased concern due to the coronavirus pandemic. The association’s annual State of the Air report analyzed data from 2016, 2017 and 2018, which were among the five hottest years recorded in global history. “The report finds the air quality in some communities has improved, but [it] finds that far too many people are still breathing unhealthy air,” American Lung Association president and CEO Harold Wimmer said in a news release from the group. “This year’s report shows that climate change continues to degrade air quality and increase the risk of air pollution harming health,” Wimmer said. “To protect the advances in air quality we fought for 50 years ago through the Clean Air Act, we must again act today, implementing effective policies to protect our air quality and lung health against the threat of climate change,” Wimmer said. “Air pollution is linked to greater risk of lung infection. Protecting everyone…  read on >

There’s a lot of confusion about medications and COVID-19, so experts offer some answers. There are no proven drug treatments for the illness caused by the new coronavirus, so doctors sometimes use drugs approved for other conditions to treat seriously ill COVID-19 patients. This is called off-label use. One drug being investigated as a possible COVID-19 treatment is hydroxychloroquine, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat malaria, but widely used to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Hydroxychloroquine, often combined with the antibiotic azithromycin, has been touted as a potential treatment for COVID-19. Neither of the medications are antivirals, and the combination has been shown to cause heart problems in some patients. Some people wonder if they should take hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19. The answer is definitely no, said Chris Bland and Tim Brown, from the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy. “I don’t believe at this time that anybody outside of the hospital setting should be a candidate for these two medications used together for COVID-19,” Bland said in a university news release. “In the hospital, we can perform cardiac monitoring of these patients to ensure safety. There are very limited data for effectiveness with definite risk of cardiac toxicity,” Bland said. “That’s why we don’t recommend it to outpatients.” The experimental antiviral drug remdesivir shows…  read on >

(HealthDay News) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the issuance of all green cards in the United States will be suspended for 60 days as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic. The halt will not stop temporary workers on nonimmigrant visas from entering the United States, the Washington Post reported. “I will be issuing a temporary suspension of immigration into the United States,” Trump said during a coronavirus media briefing. “By pausing, we’ll help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs.” Broad restrictions have already been placed on travel from Europe, China and other coronavirus hot spots. Meanwhile, a $484 billion deal to replenish a small business loan program that has run out of funding and to devote more money to hospitals and COVID-19 testing was passed by the Senate on Tuesday. The House is expected to approve the measure on Thursday, and Trump has said he would sign it into law. The legislation would add $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Post reported. It would also boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program. Coronavirus was circulating weeks earlier than thought In news that suggests the new coronavirus was circulating in the United States weeks earlier than thought, California health…  read on >

The coronavirus pandemic has supercharged the financial stress that already plagues many Americans, an expert says. About half of Americans lived paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic, according to a recent survey from First National Bank of Omaha, and now many have lost their jobs. “The pervasive financial stress the majority of Americans feel is now on steroids, as most Americans did not have savings before this crisis hit,” said Julie Kalkowski, executive director of the Financial Hope Collaborative at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. “Knowing that you are not in this alone is important to keep in mind as you move forward,” she added. Kalkowski manages a School of Business program that educates people about the psychology of money, tracking expenses, saving for emergencies and repairing credit. She offered this advice on how to reduce financial anxiety both during and after the coronavirus pandemic: Don’t panic. Don’t use credit cards or payday loans to deal with your debt. Their high interest rates can do long-term financial harm. Instead, seek out creative solutions such as contacting landlords, utilities and creditors to negotiate payment plans. And, don’t ignore bills. Doing so can make a bad financial situation worse. Beware of swindlers. Scams are proliferating right now. Thoroughly vet any offers by making additional calls and/or seeking out more information from trusted sources online. If an offer…  read on >