If you’re thinking about traveling this summer, you need to consider the risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic, an expert says. Factors to think about include your age, your health and other people in your household. “The first question you should answer is whether you or a member of your household have a condition that increases the risk for developing COVID-19,” said Dr. Michael Chang, an assistant professor of pediatrics at University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and pediatric disease specialist at UT Physicians. People at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness include those 65 and older and those with underlying health conditions. These folks might be safer if they avoid traveling. If you’re at higher risk and must travel, take extra precautions to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission, Chang advised. “Another thing to consider is the prevalence of the virus at your destination and how strictly you will be able to adhere to precautions such as social distancing during planned activities or excursions,” Chang said in a UT news release. You can check the spread of COVID-19 at your destination by using a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data tracker. It’s also important to find out about pandemic guidelines at your destination, because many areas have restrictions on activities or have particular rules. “Before you travel, you should also… read on >
All Travel:
‘Silent’ COVID-19 More Widespread Than Thought
A new cruise ship study suggests that the number of people who are infected with the new coronavirus but have no symptoms may be much higher than believed. More than 80% of those who tested positive for the infection had no symptoms, according to the study published online May 27 in the journal Thorax. The findings could be important as lockdown restrictions begin to be eased, and they highlight the need for accurate data on how many people worldwide have been infected, journal joint editor-in-chief Alan Smyth said in a linked blog. The study focused on a ship with 128 passengers and 95 crew that left Argentina in mid-March for a planned 21-day cruise of the Antarctic. The voyage began after the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the new coronavirus a global pandemic. Passengers who in the previous three weeks had been in countries where coronavirus infection rates were high were not allowed to board. All passengers who were allowed to board had their temperature taken before embarkation, and the ship had numerous hand sanitizing stations, particularly in the dining room. After the first case of fever was reported on day 8 of the voyage, infection control measures were immediately implemented, including confining passengers to their cabins and the use of personal protective equipment by any crew member in contact with sick passengers. The… read on >
AHA News: As COVID-19 Stalls Vacation, Achieve Travel’s Health Benefits at Home
(American Heart Association News) — Since marrying in 2002, Doug Behan and Lise Deguire have gone on safari in Tanzania, watched the sunset over the Santorini caldera in the Greek Islands and walked through the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. And those are just a few of their annual excursions. “It’s on my bucket list that I want to visit every continent,” Deguire said. Early this year, the Yardley, Pennsylvania, couple began planning a 12-day trip to Japan in March. But then news of COVID-19 began saturating the airwaves. By February, the couple made the difficult decision to cancel, instead booking a one-week trip to New Mexico. As the virus continued to spread even more, they nixed that, too, replacing it with a three-day retreat at a local spa. But on March 19, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf ordered all non-life-sustaining businesses to close their physical locations. “That was pretty devastating,” Deguire said. “Travel makes me feel very alive, like living on the edge in a way that’s exciting and fulfilling.” It’s not just tourists who are canceling trips. North Carolina’s Outer Banks set up checkpoints to greet visitors, temporarily barring non-permanent residents and those without an entry permit. It’s one of several resort communities around the country, including Key West and California’s Mono County, which requested visitors stay away – sacrificing vital tourism dollars… read on >
Reckless Driving on the Rise During COVID-19 Pandemic
Sparse traffic on U.S. roads during the coronavirus pandemic has spawned a spike in speeding and other types of reckless driving, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) says. Here are some examples. Police in Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska and Utah have clocked drivers going more than 100 miles per hour on highways. In Los Angeles, cars are going as much as 30% faster on some streets, prompting changes to traffic lights and pedestrian walk signals. In New York City, automated speed cameras issued 24,765 speeding tickets on March 27 — nearly double the number issued daily a month earlier — despite far fewer cars being on the road. Some states have lower crash rates but more serious crashes. Car crash death rates are on the rise in Massachusetts, and pedestrian deaths are on the rise in Nevada and Rhode Island. Car crashes and related deaths in Minnesota are more than double what they were at the same time period in previous years, and half of the deaths were due to speeding or careless/negligent driving. “While COVID-19 is clearly our national priority, our traffic safety laws cannot be ignored,” GHSA executive director Jonathan Adkins said in a news release from the association. “Law enforcement officials have the same mission as health care providers — to save lives.” If you must drive, he said, “buckle up, follow the… read on >
Women Are Much Safer Drivers Than Men, British Study Finds
If more women were hired for trucking jobs, the roads would be a lot safer, British researchers suggest. That’s because men, who hold most driving jobs, are more likely to drive dangerously. This puts other road users at risk, said lead researcher Rachel Aldred. She’s a reader in transport at the University of Westminster in London. “Greater gender equity would have a positive impact on [vehicle-related] injuries,” Aldred said. “Policymakers should be looking to measure the risk posed to others, and how to reduce it.” For the study, Aldred’s team drew on four sets of British data. They included injury and traffic statistics, travel survey data, as well as population and gender figures for 2005 to 2015. Men posed a significantly higher risk to others for five of the six types of vehicles studied, the researchers found. For cars and vans, the risk male drivers posed was double that of women per kilometer driven. The risk was four times higher for male truck drivers, and more than 10 times higher for those on motorcycles, the findings showed. Overall, two-thirds of traffic deaths were tied to cars and taxis, but the research suggested other vehicles might be even more dangerous. Trucks and buses were associated with one in six deaths to other road users, according to the report. The number of deaths for each kilometer driven… read on >
Should You Cancel Travel Plans Due to Coronavirus? Take This Quiz
The coronavirus crisis has millions of Americans questioning whether it’s wise, or even safe, to travel this spring. Now, an infectious disease expert has created a checklist to help you decide whether to go ahead with your trip or cancel it. COVID-19 is an illness caused by a new coronavirus. For most people with healthy immune systems, infection appears to result in mild symptoms — similar to a cold or flu. However, infection appears to be most severe, and occasionally fatal, for the frail elderly or those with chronic health issues or compromised immune systems. Dr. Susan Wootton, an infectious disease pediatrician at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, has developed this nine-point checklist to help you decide whether your trip is a go or a no. If your answer matches the response in parentheses to each question, move on to the next question. If not, you may need to rethink your travel plans. Are the travelers healthy? (Yes.) Have the travelers received flu shots? (Yes.) Do any of the travelers or anyone the travelers have had contact with have any underlying high-risk conditions for the virus, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? (No.) Are any travel restrictions for your destination listed on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or U.S. Department of State websites? (No.) Is the trip a… read on >
Common Sense on Shielding Yourself From Coronavirus
As the new coronarvirus extends its reach, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and your family, experts say. “As with any respiratory virus, the main recommendations hold true with the novel coronavirus,” said Dr. Rachael Lee, a health care epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). “Wash your hands, cover your cough with your arm, and stay home if you feel sick.” Also, know when it is and isn’t safe to travel. So far the virus, known as COVID-19, has sickened more than 90,000 people and killed more than 3,000, mostly in China. Check guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health care authorities regarding travel to areas with the coronavirus, said Lee, who is also an assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases. “This has become dangerous because this is a first-of-its-kind type of coronavirus, and all humans do not have immunity built up to fight it,” Lee said in a university news release. Wearing surgical masks out in public is not recommended, she said, as brief exposure to the virus in public is unlikely to make a person sick. “Most cases have occurred when there has been prolonged contact, such as with health care professionals or family members serving as a caregiver. Use of masks is recommended for health care professionals, caregivers… read on >
Get Ready for Clocks to ‘Spring Ahead’
If losing an hour of sleep with the switch to Daylight Saving Time on Sunday leaves you feeling tired, you’re not alone. Fifty-five percent of Americans feel the same way, according to an American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) survey. For most Americans, the clock will “spring forward” at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 8. Besides disrupting sleep habits for up to a week, the transition also poses health and safety risks, two new studies report. One report, published in Current Biology earlier this year, reported that the risk of fatal traffic accidents in the United States rises 6% after the spring switch to Daylight Saving Time. A second study, scheduled for publication in the May issue of the journal Sleep Medicine, found an increase in hospital admissions due to atrial fibrillation for women after the transition. “Studies consistently show that the spring transition to Daylight Saving Time is associated with negative consequences for health, safety and productivity, all of which may be related to sleep disruption caused by the time change,” said AASM resident Dr. Kelly Carden. According to the AASM Daylight Saving Time Health Advisory, the spring and fall clock changes can negatively affect sleep and wake patterns for five to seven days. To minimize the adverse impacts, AASM offers this advice: Sleep for at least seven hours in the nights before and… read on >
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Now Stand at 26, South Korea Fights to Stem Spike in Cases
Eleven Americans who were evacuated from a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have tested definitively for coronavirus, bringing the case count in this country to 26, U.S. health officials reported late Thursday. In China, the number of new cases of COVID-19 continued to decline on Friday, but South Korean officials battled to contain the rapidly spreading virus in its country. The first case was reported on Tuesday in that country; by Friday, that number had climbed to 204, the AP reported. The decline in Chinese cases has been due in part to Chinese health officials changing how they tally infections. Under the new system, there have now been a total of 75,465 cases and 2,236 deaths in mainland China. Among the 400 Americans who were on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, roughly 300 Americans were evacuated over the weekend and are under quarantine in the United States. The 11 passengers whose tests came back positive for coronavirus were part of a group of 13 high-risk passengers who had been at Travis Air Force base in northern California since the cruise ship evacuation, the AP reported. They have since been transported to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a biocontainment unit and is specially designated to treat highly infectious diseases, CNN reported. The unit successfully treated three patients for Ebola in 2004. “The… read on >
Global Coronavirus Outbreaks Stoking Fears of Pandemic
A coronavirus pandemic looked ever more likely on Monday as multiple countries around the world raced to stem outbreaks of “untraceable” cases of the virus. Clusters of cases arising in South Korea, Italy and Iran with no clear ties to outbreak’s epicenter in China have heightened concerns about local, self-sustaining epidemics and a global pandemic. In a pandemic, outbreaks occur on more than one continent. As of Monday, there were more than 79,000 cases of COVID-19 and 2,600 deaths globally. “We are worried about the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in Italy,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization, said Monday. “It is an incredible time. Less than two months ago, the coronavirus was completely unknown to us,” Ghebreyesus said. “The past few weeks have demonstrated just how quickly a new virus can spread around the world and cause widespread fear and disruption.” As reported Monday by Associated Press, the list of countries with burgeoning case counts includes: South Korea. Total cases of COVID-19 have risen from just 28 last week to 833 by Monday. Seven people have died. South Korea now has the most cases behind China and Japan. Most of the South Korean cases are centered in the southern city of Daegu, and more than half are concentrated among members of the Shingeongji religious group. The president of… read on >