“Six months into a pandemic that has killed over half a million people, more than 200 scientists from around the world are challenging the official view of how the coronavirus spreads,” reports the Los Angeles Times: The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintain that you have to worry about only two types of transmission:…
Tag: centers for disease control
National Mask Mandate Could Save 5 Percent of GDP, Economists Say
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post: After a late-spring lull, daily coronavirus cases in the United States have again hit record highs, driven by resurgent outbreaks in states such as Florida, Arizona and California. Hospitals in Houston are already on the brink of being overwhelmed, and public health experts worry the pandemic’s body count will soon again…
The Global Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 500,000
The global total of deaths passed 500,000 on Sunday, while the number of confirmed cases surpassed 10 million. From a report: The grim markers were hit as countries around the world struggle to keep new infections from reaching runaway levels while simultaneously trying to emerge from painful lockdowns. In April, roughly a month after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak…
CDC: Coronavirus May Have Infected 10 Times More Americans Than Known
Nearly 25 million Americans may have contracted the coronavirus, a figure 10 times higher than the number of confirmed cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday. The Hill reports: In a briefing with reporters Thursday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said surveys of blood samples taken from around the country suggest that millions of Americans may have contracted…
Covid-19 spreads through the air. That’s a big challenge for reopening
Clear, straightforward information on how a virus spreads, from a scientist who studies infectious disease Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/coronavirus-covid19-how-virus-spreads-through-air-reopening…
Study: 100% Face Mask Use Could Crush Second, Third COVID-19 Wave
“A new modeling study out of Cambridge and Greenwich universities suggests that face masks may be even more important than originally thought in preventing future outbreaks of the new coronavirus,” reports SFGate: To ward off resurgences, the reproduction number for the virus (the average number of people who will contract it from one infected person) needs to drop below 1.0. Researchers…
The Pandemic Brings a New Surge in Popularity For Electric Bikes
Battery-powered bikes “have become a compelling alternative for commuters who are being discouraged from taking public transportation and Ubers,” according to the New York Times’ lead consumer tech writer. In March, sales of e-bikes jumped 85% from a year earlier, according to the NPD Group, a research firm. Amazon, Walmart and Specialized are sold out of most models. Even smaller brands…
Will Schools Turn to Surveillance Tech to Prevent Covid-19 Spread?
An anonymous reader quotes Wired:
When students return to school in New Albany, Ohio, in August, they’ll be carefully watched as they wander through red-brick buildings and across well-kept lawns — and not only by teachers. The school district, with five schools and 4,800 students, plans to test a system that would require each student to wear an electronic beacon to track…
COVID-19 Pandemic Causes 42% Drop In ER Visits Nationwide, CDC Says
schwit1 shares a report from UPI: Visits to hospital U.S. emergency rooms have dropped by more than 40 percent so far in 2020, compared to the same period last year, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC researchers compared total visits so far this year to the same five-month period in 2019….
As Coronavirus Hospitalizations Rise in the US, Many States Hide Their Data
In America, “Federal and state officials across the country have altered or hidden public health data crucial to tracking the coronavirus’ spread, hindering the ability to detect a surge of infections as President Donald Trump pushes the nation to reopen rapidly,” reports Politico: In at least a dozen states, health departments have inflated testing numbers or deflated death tallies by changing…