Stuck at home, bored. Fiddling with their phone or playing video games. Munching on snack foods to while away the time. School-age children gaining excess pounds could be one lasting health problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with pediatricians and public health experts warning about a potentially dramatic increase in childhood obesity. “I think it is possible, and potentially even likely, that we may see childhood obesity rise following stay-at-home orders, virtual school and increases in home-schooling,” said Michelle Cardel, associate director of the Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases at the University of Florida College of Medicine. “Children are trading in their structured time at school for screen time and 24/7 access to their kitchen.” Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. children was considered obese back in 2016, the last time the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assessed childhood obesity. There was good news in that CDC study, however — it appeared that the prevalence of childhood obesity had plateaued, thanks to a number of public health measures aimed at preventing weight gain in kids, said Dr. Amy Lee, a weight control expert. “They are now predicting that because of COVID and everything that’s happening, there may an undoing of that plateau,” Lee said. “We may see this heading the wrong direction.” It makes sense that kids kept home during lockdowns would…  read on >

Loss of smell is common in COVID-19, but fewer people say they have this symptom than objective tests reveal, a new study finds. In fact, about 77% of COVID-19 patients who were directly measured had smell loss, but only 44% said they did, researchers found. Direct measures of smell involve having patients smell and report on actual odors, while self-reporting includes getting data through patient questionnaires, interviews or electronic health records, the study authors explained. “Objective measures are a more sensitive method to identify smell loss related to COVID-19,” said study co-author Mackenzie Hannum, a postdoctoral fellow at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia. Subjective measures, “while expedient during the early stages of the pandemic, underestimate the true prevalence of smell loss,” said Vicente Ramirez, a doctoral student at the University of California, Merced, and summer intern at Monell. The research suggests subjective measures underestimate the true extent of smell loss and that it may be an effective tool for diagnosing COVID-19 early, the authors said in a Monell news release. For the study, the researchers reviewed previously published studies on COVID-19 and loss of smell. Their findings were published online recently in the journal Chemical Senses. Senior author Danielle Reed, associate director at Monell, suggested that “measuring people for smell loss may become as routine as measuring body temperature for fever.” More information For…  read on >

TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Seeking to slow the spread of coronavirus, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Monday that face masks be worn by everyone in all public transportation settings. That includes both passengers and people working in stations, terminals and airports across the country, CBS News reported. So far, the Trump administration has not issued any national mandate on face coverings, instead leaving that decision to state and local leaders. In the new interim guidance, the CDC called masks “one of the most effective strategies available for reducing COVID-19 transmission.” Wide use of masks helps protect those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19 as well as workers who frequently come into close contact with other people in airports, bus terminals, train stations and seaports, the guidance stated. Most U.S. airlines, Amtrak and many other transport companies already require passengers and staff to wear masks, CBS News reported. The CDC urged passengers and workers on all airplanes, ships, ferries, trains, subways, buses, taxis and ride-shares to follow suit. For months, research has shown that face masks help curb the spread of COVID-19. In the new guidance, the CDC said everyone “should wear masks that cover both the mouth and nose when waiting for, traveling on, or departing from public [transportation]. People should also wear masks at…  read on >

Measures enacted to slow the spread of the new coronavirus also appeared to reduce hospitalizations for asthma, a new study finds. Researchers compared weekly data on hospitalizations at 272 hospitals in Japan in the first five months of 2020 to the same period in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Asthma hospitalizations in 2017-19 and 2020 showed similar trends until week eight, but in 2020 hospitalizations began to decline in week nine, the study found. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 were first recorded during week seven of 2020. Further analysis found a significant decrease in the average number of asthma hospitalizations during weeks nine to 22 of this year compared to 2017-19. The findings were published Oct. 13 in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. “Asthma hospitalizations usually indicate that an individual’s asthma is not currently under control,” corresponding author Dr. Atsushi Miyawaki, of the University of Tokyo, said in a journal news release. “This would suggest that asthma control improved during the pandemic. It illustrates the importance of environmental factors when it comes to treating and managing patients with asthma.” One possible explanation is that increased hygiene to prevent COVID-19 would also reduce exposure to asthma triggers, according to the researchers. Enhanced precautions — such as frequent cleaning and reduced smoking — by people concerned that COVID-19 may trigger asthma may also have helped reduce…  read on >

A third surge of coronavirus cases now has a firm grip on the United States, with an average of 59,000 new infections being reported across the country every day. That tally is the highest since the beginning of August, and the likelihood is high that the country will soon see the most new COVID-19 infections a day since the pandemic began, The New York Times reported. This latest surge differs from the previous two: Instead of acute outbreaks in specific regions, such as the Northeast this spring and the South this summer, the virus is now simmering at a worrisome level across nearly the entire country, the Times reported. Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming each set seven-day case records on Tuesday. Even New Jersey, which managed to bring the virus under control last spring, has seen a doubling in cases in the past month, the Times reported. “It is a really dangerous time,” Dr. Tom Inglesby, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told the newspaper. “The majority of states are on the rise. There are very few places where things are stable and going down.” Even more troubling is the fact that this latest surge is coming as cooler weather is forcing people indoors and…  read on >

In a move that widens the pool of people considered at risk for coronavirus infection, U.S. health officials released new guidance on Wednesday that redefines who’s considered a “close contact” of an infected individual. The change, issued by the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, will likely have the biggest impact in group settings where people are in repeated contact with others for brief periods over the course of a day, such as schools and workplaces, the Washington Post reported. The CDC had previously defined a “close contact” as someone who spent at least 15 consecutive minutes within six feet of a confirmed coronavirus case. Now, a close contact will be defined as someone who was within six feet of an infected individual for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. State and local health departments rely on this definition to conduct contact tracing, the Post reported. The new guidance arrives just as the country is “unfortunately seeing a distressing trend, with cases increasing in nearly 75 percent of the country,” Jay Butler, the CDC’s deputy director for infectious diseases, said during a rare media briefing Wednesday at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, the Post reported. CDC scientists had been discussing the new guidance for several weeks, said an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Post reported.…  read on >

More than half of all Americans have been personally affected by COVID-19 at this point in the pandemic, according to a new HealthDay-Harris Poll survey. The national survey was conducted by The Harris Poll between Oct. 8 and 12. It found that 55% of U.S. adults now say they know someone in their immediate or extended network of family and acquaintances who’s been infected, hospitalized or passed away from COVID-19. About two in every five people said they’d had even more direct experience with COVID-19, with either themselves or someone very close to them falling ill, being hospitalized or dying. “By now, we’re all accustomed to regularly seeing the sobering figures for COVID infection and death rates, but these findings translate to something so much bigger in terms of the full and relentless impact of the virus on millions of Americans,” said Robyn Bell Dickson, managing director of The Harris Poll. These results come in the midst of a COVID-19 resurgence in the United States, with the nation averaging 59,000 new cases a day. There have been more than 8.3 million reported infections, and around 220,000 U.S. deaths caused by COVID-19. The online poll of 2,021 U.S. adults also found that 39% reported a direct impact on their lives from the pandemic, including: Having personally had COVID-19 (7%) or being hospitalized (4%) from their infection.…  read on >

Homeless people are three times more likely to die after a heart attack than other patients, a new study finds. “Our study shows a dramatically higher rate of mortality after heart attacks in people experiencing homelessness compared to non-homeless patients,” said researcher Dr. Samantha Liauw of the University of Toronto. “More research is needed to discover the reasons for this disparity in outcomes so that the chances of survival can be improved in this vulnerable population.” Liauw and her colleagues compared more than 2,800 heart attack patients admitted to a Toronto hospital between 2008 and 2017. Of those, 75 were homeless. Among homeless patients, 19% died in the hospital, compared with 6% of others. Homeless patients were younger than others and more likely to be men. Eighty-four percent of homeless patients smoked compared to half of patients who were not homeless. Rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes were similar between the groups. Also, more homeless patients suffered from mental conditions. They were more likely than others to abuse alcohol and drugs and were more likely to suffer a serious complication of heart attack called cardiogenic shock that occurs when the heart cannot supply enough blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. They were more likely than other patients to go into cardiac arrest. Both groups received medications, testing and…  read on >