A cheap, readily available steroid drug reduced deaths by a third in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in a large study, the first time a therapy has been shown to possibly improve the odds of survival with the condition in the sickest patients.
Full data from the study have not been published or subjected to scientific scrutiny. But outside experts on Tuesday immediately embraced the top-line results. The drug, dexamethasone, is widely available and is used to treat conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and some cancers.
In a statement, Patrick Vallance, the U.K. governments chief scientific adviser, called the result tremendous news and a ground-breaking development in our fight against the disease. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, called it a very positive finding in an interview on CNBC. I think it needs to be validated, but it certainly suggests that this could be beneficial in this setting.
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Atul Gawande, the surgeon, writer and public health researcher, urged caution, tweeting, after all the retractions and walk backs, it is unacceptable to tout study results by press release without releasing the paper.
The study randomly assigned 2,104 patients to receive six milligrams of dexamethasone once a day, by mouth or intravenous injection. These were compared to 4,321 patients assigned to receive usual care alone.
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In patients who needed to be on a ventilator, dexamethasone reduced the death rate by 35%, meaning that doctors would prevent one death by treating eight ventilated patients. In those who needed oxygen but were not ventilated, the death rate was reduced 20%, meaning doctors would need to treat 25 patients to save one life. Both results were statistically significant.
There was no benefit in patients who didnt require any oxygen. The researchers running the study, called RECOVERY, decided to stop enrolling patients on dexamethasone on June 8 because they believed they had enough data to get a clear result.
Dexamethasone is the first drug to be shown to improve survival in COVID-19, Peter Horby, one of the lead investigators of the study and a professor in the Nuffield Department of Medicine at the University of Oxford, said in a statement. He added that the drug should now become the standard treatment for patients with Covid-19 who need oxygen. Dexamethasone is inexpensive, on the shelf, and can be used immediately to save lives worldwide.
A different arm of the same study showed on June 5 that hydroxychloroquine, widely touted as a potential Covid treatment, had no benefit in hospitalized patients. Yesterday, based in part on those results, the Food and Drug Administration revoked an Emergency Use Authorization for using hydroxychloroquine in those patients.
From the start of the pandemic in March, researchers have focused on two different stages of Covid-19, which will likely require very different interventions. Some drugs are designed to directly combat the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that causes the disease. The first medicine shown to have a benefit, remdesivir from the biotech firm Gilead Sciences, falls into this category, even though, because it must be given intravenously, it has been tested in hospitalized patients. Remdesivir shortens the course of infection, but has not been shown to save lives.
After patients have become profoundly sick, the problem starts to become not only the virus but their own immune system, which attacks the lungs, a condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS. For these patients, doctors have believed, they would need to dampen patients immune response even as they fought the virus.
Initially, excitement in this area fell on new and expensive drugs, such as Actemra, a rheumatoid arthritis drug from Roche that is used to treat a similar condition caused by some cancer immunotherapies. But a study in patients who needed oxygen showed no benefit from a similar drug, although another arm in sicker patients is continuing. The National Institutes of Health is conducting a study of an Eli Lilly pill targeting rheumatoid arthritis, an extension of the study that showed remdesivir has a benefit.
Dexamethasone, which reached the market 59 years ago, seemed an unlikely candidate to help these patients; it was seen as too crude a way of tamping down the immune system. In guidelines for physicians treating the disease, the NIH doesnt even mention the therapy.
Studies that are testing other medicines may now need to incorporate the use of the drug, which could complicate analyzing the results. A spokesperson for Regeneron, which is testing Covid-19 drugs focused on both attacking the virus and dampening the immune system, said the companys studies are written so that when a new medicine becomes the standard of care, it becomes available to patients in the trial.Some studies have shown a benefit for using dexamethasone in acute respiratory distress syndrome not related to Covid-19, although the benefit was smaller than in RECOVERY.
The result, should it hold up to further scrutiny, shows the benefit of the strategy of Horby and Martin Landray, the Oxford researchers who designed the study, leveraging the U.K. health system to start a study of multiple inexpensive potential Covid-19 therapies including hydroxychloroquine, dexamethasone, and also some older HIV medicines. Several months into the Covid-19 pandemic, two of the most important results come from this single study.
Neither of those results, however, have been scrutinized or published.
LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron.(Photo: Jason Getz, USA TODAY Sports)
BATON ROUGE "It ain'tover, until it's over."
The late Yankee catcher great Yogi Berra was not talking about COVID-19 when he said that in the summer of 1973. He was talking baseball as the manager of the New York Mets, who proved him prophetic as they rallied from 12.5 games out of first in the National League East in July to win the division and later advance to the World Series.
Too bad Berra is not around today to deliver a public service message in whichhe could repeat perhaps the most famous of his multitude of Yogi-isms.
Someone needs to get that message across concerning the coronavirus pandemic that, yes, is still a pandemic.
Pandemic hits LSU:At least 30 football players quarantined
"People keep talking about a second wave," Dr. Anthony Fauci,the director of theNational Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the preeminent authority on COVID-19, told the Wall Street Journal last week.
"We're still in a first wave," said Fauci, who has served every United States president since Ronald Reagan in 1984 and helped createPresident George W. Bush's successful emergency plan for AIDS relief in2003.
"The reality is every Louisianan needs to do a gut check on whether he or shehas been slacking off on taking proper precautions," Gov.John Bel Edwards said on Thursday as the first wave rolled onward in Louisiana last week.
There were another 870 new cases and 20 deaths reported in the state on Saturday. Meanwhile, six states reported record increases in COVID-19 cases last week - Florida, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Nevada.
More: Louisiana coronavirus cases continue week-long spike Saturday
More: Map: Where coronavirus has spread in Louisiana by parish
It is not a good idea to just say something is over because you want it to be over.
Maybe another bit of news on Saturday will get Louisianans and everyone hopefully to wake up and put on their masks and stop pretending it's over, or acting out over some sense of rebellion that is more juvenile than anything.
At least 30 LSU football players have recently been quarantined because they have tested positive for COVID-19 or have had contact with someone who did.
They are all young and in great shape, so they likely will be done with the virus in a couple of days if they have not already gotten over it. But that's not the point. What it is is more proof that the pandemic is not close to being over.
Maybe the fact that COVID-19 has now hit home in Louisiana at that most sacred part of the house LSU Football people will get it that it is not over.
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward said on ESPN's Paul Finebaum Show on Friday that people going to LSU football games at Tiger Stadium this fall may be required to wear a mask.
Rebuilding America: LSU football season ticket sales soar amid coronavirus pandemic
"This isn't a political statement," Woodward said. His comments echoed thoseof Fauci, who said this about his job:
"You stay completely apolitical and non-ideological. Im a scientist, and Im a physician. And thats it."
When Woodward wears a mask, he is not thinking of his health as much as those of others. He gets it.
"This is a health statement," he said. "We're trying to save lives here. I think about my parents. I think about elderly folks and people with immune systems that are compromised. We have to do these things to curtail this pandemic."
In an interview last week with USA TODAY-Louisiana, LSU associate athletic director for health and wellness Shelly Mullenix said she expected to see several LSU football players test positive for COVID-19.
LSU Plan: Help everyone not get sick
"Sure, there will be some, maybe many. It's a pandemic," she said as players were being tested. "We're prepared for every scenario. We want to keep our community healthy, not just us."
LSUmay not have expected30, but Mullenix and company were ready and swiftly quarantined everyone involved, which is sort of like applying one large mask over the football facility. The players will be fine, but they do not need to be out and about where they could infect others.
Meanwhile, the Tigerland bar circuit near campus should be off limits to all LSU football players and other student-athletes. In fact, for the time being it is not a good idea for anyone to go there.
State health officials on Friday said there was a cluster of COVID-19 outbreaks stemming from patrons at bars in and near the Tigerland area, which is where some of the LSU football players had been frequenting after just returning to campus June 9.
LSU is not unique in the rash of COVID-19 cases. At Clemson last week, 21 football players tested positive. Kansas State had 14 test positive, while Texas had 13.
The first wave continues, perhaps because people overreacted when Phase One of the prevention plan became Phase Two early this month in Louisiana. Suddenly, it was TGIPT Thank God It's Phase Two throughout the state.
I saw more unmasked people than I see masked people at Mardi Gras. They were everywhere. They were in large groups in backyards. They were not social distancing. There were fewer masks at grocery stories.They thought it was over or close to it.
Not a good strategy. Former LSU pass game coordinator Joe Brady would have kept his mask on and kept passing disinfectant.
It ain't over, until it's over. True. But forget that. We're not even at halftime yet.
More than 150,000 new cases of the disease were reported on Thursday: the highest single daily total so far.
Most were in the Americas, though large numbers came from South Asia and the Middle East.
The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.
But the virus is still spreading fast, its still deadly, and most people are still susceptible.
Globally, there were nearly 3.4 million cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, including more than 450,000 deaths.
Tedros repeated his call for countries and people to remain vigilant against the disease, and to continue efforts focused on containing the disease, including though testing and contact tracing.
WHOs support and technical guidance has been invaluable in guarding against widespread COVID-19 infections in refugee camps, the UN High Commissioner has said.
Filippo Grandi was a guest at the briefing, held on the eve of World Refugee Day, marked on Saturday.
He revealed that humanitarians initially feared there would be catastrophic outbreaks in camps, where it is difficult to practice physical distancing, among other factors.
So far this has not occurred, he said, although cases of COVID-19 and small outbreaks have been reported.
I think this is also due to the fact that in many of these situations, we had time to prepare, and there is where our cooperation with WHO has been invaluable, he said.
Because it is WHOthat has provided us, throughout these difficult months, with leadership and technical guidance without which we would not have been able to achieve whatever we have been able to achieve.
Globally, nearly 80 million people have fled their homes due to conflict or persecution, according to the latest report by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, which Mr. Grandi heads.
He told journalists that most refugees actually live in host communities, not camps, some of which have been devastated by the pandemic.
Im thinking of Latin America, where 17, 18 countries host more than four million Venezuelans on the move, he said.
Im thinking of many urban centres in Africa that are host to large refugee populations. Im thinking of Afghans in Pakistan and Iraq, that live - share facilities and accommodation - with communities that have been impacted very severely by COVID.
Americas top public health expert has warned the nation it is still in the first wave of coronavirus infections and deaths, as six states report record numbers of new cases amid continued rapid easing of lockdown restrictions.
Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, expressed worry about new hotspots for infections in major US states, while also advising that personally, I would not attend Donald Trumps first political rally in months, due on Saturday, in Oklahoma, where vast crowds are expected despite rising Covid-19 cases.
Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas reported record increases in coronavirus cases on Tuesday, while Nevada recorded its highest ever number of single-day cases.
In recent days North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama have reportedly set new highs in seven-day rolling average of Covid-19 cases, as many states have allowed some businesses and public spaces to reopen after months of restrictions.
As New York and other places are coming down, others are going up, Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Boston Globe about different areas seeing decreases or increases in new cases.
Obviously, were concerned about it.
Despite Oklahomas alarming rise in coronavirus cases a record 591 new cases were reported on Monday, and cases in the state rose by 68% last week Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahomas second-largest city, on Saturday his first since March, when the pandemic took hold in the US.
Fauci said he personally would choose not to attend such an event due to the risk of contracting coronavirus. And he warned that talk of whether the US was now experiencing a second wave of Covid-19 cases was premature.
We are seeing infections to a greater degree than they had previously seen in certain states, including states in the south-west and in the south, Fauci told the Daily Beast. I dont like to talk about a second wave right now, because we havent gotten out of our first wave.
Oklahoma health officials are urging anyone attending the rally to get tested before arriving, and then to self-isolate afterwards and get tested again. People over 65 have been told to stay at home. The Trump election campaign will recommend the indoor audience wear masks, but is not going to mandate it.
The Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said officials would try to make sure the event was as safe as possible. Ultimately, the president doesnt ask for permission before he goes to places, said Stitt on Wednesday.
The mayor of Tulsa, GT Bynum, also a Republican, said he would not attend the rally.
Vice-President Mike Pence has claimed the US has slowed the spread, and both Pence and the president have claimed the worrying increase in coronavirus cases is due to more testing.
Fauci said this was not true.
When you look at the number of hospitalizations, and you see some of the states say, Oh my goodness, Im having more hospitalizations than I had before, that cannot be due to increase in testing. That has to be due to increase in real cases, he told the Globe.
Hospitalizations are continuing to rise in the states reporting infection increases.
At Tucson medical center in Arizona on Monday, only one intensive care unit bed out of 20 was available.
ICU to be expanded, hopefully, in coming days, Dr Steven Oscherwitz, an infectious disease expert at the hospital, said in a tweet on Monday night. Not sure where people needing ICU care will be able to go, since most AZ [Arizona] hospitals are pretty full now.
Better contact your governor (quickly!)
In Florida, 260 workers at the Orlando international airport tested positive for coronavirus, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said. DeSantis said almost 500 workers had been tested at the airport after two people contracted the virus.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would monitor the impact of the mass anti-racism protests the city has seen before allowing more businesses to reopen.
Were all mindful we had a very unique situation with the protests, De Blasio said on Wednesday, according to NBC News.
In Oklahoma Trump supporters have been camping outside the rally venue for days, despite the risks.
Tulsa residents and business owners were thwarted in their attempt to block the rally, which will take place at the indoor, 19,000-capacity BOK Center, on Tuesday. Residents had filed a lawsuit in an effort to have the rally cancelled, to protect against a substantial, imminent, and deadly risk to the community, but a judge refused the request.
On Monday Trump who has previously lied about the number of people at his rallies and events said almost 1 million people had requested tickets for the event.
Fauci has warned people against attending the rally, which had originally been planned for Friday, a date which marks the end of slavery in the US, before the Trump campaign switched the date amid widespread criticism.
Asked if he would personally attend the campaign rally, Fauci said: No.
Im in a high-risk category. Personally, I would not. Of course not, he said. With regard to Trumps rallies, Fauci said outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd and crowd is better than big crowd.
Tulsas chief public health officer, Bruce Dart, and the Tulsa World newspaper have urged Trump to cancel the rally.
A leading Canadian microbiologist is sounding an alarm about overuse of precious antibiotics among the world's more than 8.7million cases of COVID-19.
So many people have been seriously sickened by COVID-19 that they need to be cared for in hospital, such as with oxygen. Doctors commonly prescribe antibiotics for people with COVID-19 in hospital.
Eric Brown, a professor at the McMasterUniversity's Institute of Infectious Disease Research, has concerns about how COVID-19 could drive up antibiotic resistance in bacteria that aren't killed by standard drugs.
"The biggest concern is for those who have COVID-19 who maybe don't need an antibiotic," he said.
Canadian infectious disease physicians say guidelines suggest a limited role for antibiotics in COVID-19 cases. Once it's clear that the person has COVID and there's no bacterial infection, then the antibiotic treatments should be stopped to avoid encouraging another infection in the same patient.
Earlier this month, the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also expressed similar concerns.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of antibiotics, which ultimately will lead to higher bacterial resistance rates that will impact the burden of disease and deaths during the pandemic and beyond," he said.
Brown said the long-term ramifications of the increase are unknown. They could jeopardize use of antimicrobials to prevent infections after surgeries like hip replacements, C-sections and organ transplants if bacteria in patients are resistant to them, he said.
The solution has two parts, he said:Stewardshipthat is, only using antibiotics when neededand discovering new antibiotics.
Yet scientists have not discovered any truly new classes of antibiotics in more than 50 years.
The Canada Council for the Arts recently awarded Brown a prestigious Killam Fellowship worth $70,000 a year for two years, which will allow the scientist to devote himself full time to a laboratory research project studying superbugs.
Brown hopes to change that by finding new antibiotics forwhat he called the top three dreaded superbugs on WHO's list. All three are classified asGram-negative bacteria, which are characterized by having surfaces that are difficult for antibiotics to penetrate.
"There are a lot of clever approaches superbugs have to avoid antibiotics, and some of them are encoded by genes that are shared among pathogens," he said. "That's why antibiotic resistance can spread so widely."
A biochemist by training, Brown is looking for a needle in a haystack amonghalf a million chemicals that could crack the nut of the dreaded bacteria. Then, designer drugs could either kill the bacteria directly or slow them in their tracks.
"No one's really taken this approach," he said.
Brown is not daunted by how a new drug typically takes about 10 to 15 years from the discovery phase through clinical trials for safety and efficacy and on to the market.
His lab plans a series of experiments on screened compounds followed by chemical tinkering to improve potency of leading candidates for preclinical testing to decide whether an experimental drug, if found, should be tested in people.
Even then, challenges await.
"There isn't another therapeutic area in medicine where you would come up with what we call adesigner drug and everybody would say, 'OK, that's fantastic. Let's almost never use it,'" Brown said.
Normally, pharmaceutical companies want to sell as much of their product as possible. But that's not necessarily the best model for antibiotics.
Instead, physicians in North America want to conserve antibiotics of last resort for increasingly resistant infections.
As the pandemic unfolds, doctors are still generally overprescribing antibiotics in many parts of the world.
But in low- and middle-income countries in Asia, Africa and South America, much less is known about how many antibiotics are prescribed by family physicians and why.
To start filling the gap, Dr. Giorgia Sulis, an infectious disease physician and doctoral candidate in epidemiology at McGill University, reviewed 10,000 studies with her team.
They whittled that down to just 16 studies with enough prescription details to gain a glimpse into the overuse problem with antibiotics. Their findings were publishedin thejournal PLOS Medicinelast week.
Sulis and her co-authors said they found the proportion of primary care patients seeking care for any reason who were prescribed antibiotics often exceeded 50 per cent, compared with the WHO's recommendation of less than 30 per cent for such patients.
When critical antibiotics are held reserve in Canada, they're used with caution in hospitals only, Sulis said.
Brown, who was not involved in the review, said it's "terrifying" to think about the "suspiciously high number" of antibiotics that were flagged.
Both Brown and Sulis recognize another consideration: the infectious disease burden in other parts of the world is also much higher than in Canada.
Brazos County health officials reported 62 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, capping a week with 444 new cases of the virus, including the countys first triple-digit daily increase.
Saturdays report from the Brazos County Health District also marks the 12th consecutive day of double-digit increases.
The 62 new cases reported Saturday brings the countys total number of cases to 1,225. Of those cases, 620 remain active, officials said.Brazos Countys first case was reported March 17.
County health officials reported a record 145 daily cases on Wednesday, more than double the previous daily high of 60 new cases on June 13.
Twenty-five Brazos County residents have died from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
Twenty-seven Brazos County residents remained hospitalized with the illness Saturday, officials said, down from the Fridays record of 29 hospitalizations. Health District officials only report the number of Brazos County residents in area hospitals.
Of nearly 500 hospital beds available in Brazos County and six surrounding counties, 140 were available on Saturday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services website. Fifteen intensive care unit beds and 43 ventilators were available in the region, according to the state figures.
The region, defined as Trauma Service Area N by the state, had 45 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday, the website showed. The region includes Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Robertson, Washington, Madison and
In Texas, COVID-19 hospitalizations have more than doubled since Memorial Day, from 1,511 to 3,247 on Saturday. State health officials reported more than 13,700 hospital beds and nearly 6,000 ventilators available.
Across the state, 107,735 COVID-19 cases had been reported Saturday, with an estimated 38,474 cases remaining active. More than 2,160
COVID-19 fatalities have been reported in Texas since the pandemic began, according to state data.
Nick Watney became the first positive COVID-19 test on the PGA Tour on Friday. He found out while preparing for the second round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina.
Watney left the practice area and then withdrew from the tournament. He was sharing a house this week with his caddie, Tony Navarro, as well as Brendon Todds caddie. All three are now in self-quarantine for the next 10-14 days, with follow up tests throughout.
Sergio Garcia, who flew privately to South Carolina with Watney on Tuesday, was also tested Friday. He texted Golfweek to say that his result was negative.
On Saturday, after his round, Garcia said he felt terrible for Watney, calling him one of the nicest guys on Tour.
Unfortunately, it had to happen to him, Garcia said, who then made an odd declaration.
Theres a lot of other people that probably deserved it a lot more than him, and hes the one that got it.
Garcia then continued with more praise for his friend.
Nick is unbelievable. Hes a good friend. He was very worried about me. He sent me several texts. I talked to him. He must have said sorry to me probably 25 times. I told him that its all good.
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Garcia then talked about how a positive test for himself wouldve kept him from making a second straight cut.
After missing the cut last week by one and this week finally playing nicely in the second round and being in the middle of the pack, if I would have given positive (COVID-19 test), then I wouldnt be able to play on the weekend, and I would have been very, very disappointed.
Fortunately for me, it was fine. Hopefully, his (Watney) is not bad, and we can have him back as soon as possible. Unfortunately, thats the way it is. I feel terrible about it. But unfortunately, its the way it is, and we all knew coming out here and playing that theres a possibility of catching it some way.
Were hoping that no one gets it, but Im sure that, unfortunately, he wont be the first and he wont be the last because theres a lot of things that can happen. Theres so many unknowns about this virus that we dont. we think we know a lot about it, but theres a lot of things we dont know. Hopefully, he recovers very soon and very quickly, and we can have him back.
Golfweeks Steve DiMeglio contributed to this article.
Children of black, Asian and ethnic minority heritage are suffering much worse damage to their mental health as a result of the pandemic than their white peers, research has found.
The higher risk of BAME people dying from Covid-19 and inability to attend school over the last three months are behind large rises in anxiety and self-harm among non-white under-18s, experts say.
Data from one of the biggest providers of NHS-funded online mental health support shows that the mental wellbeing of children and young people of BAME origin has been affected disproportionately over the last three months compared with their white counterparts.
For example, the number of BAME under-18s seeking help for anxiety or stress from the Kooth digital support service increased by 11.4% during March, April and May compared with the same period last year, while it rose by much less 3% among white children that age.
The number of BAME under-18s contacting Kooth with suicidal thoughts went up by 26.6% over the same three months but by 18.1% among their white peers. It was the same with incidents of self-harm, where the BAME and white groups studied had respective increases of 29.5% and 24.9%.
About one in five of the 7,482 BAME young people in the study mentioned that they either had had suicidal thoughts or had self-harmed.
In addition, while the number of white under-18s reporting depression fell by 16.2% over the last three months, it rose among BAME children and young people by 9.2%, Kooth found.
Kooth is a form of online mental health support for children and young people provided by 85% of England and Waless local NHS clinical commissioning groups. Their new findings are based on requests for help from 51,321 under-18s in England, of whom 7,482 were from a BAME background.
These numbers tell us quite clearly that there has been a significant deterioration in children and young peoples mental health over recent months and as yet there is no indication that this is slowing down. This is a tremendous worry, said Dr Lynne Green, a consultant clinical psychologist who is also the chief clinical officer at XenZone, the firm that provides Kooth.
Of particular concern is the disparity we are seeing between BAME young people and their non-BAME counterparts. Sense of stability and control has been threatened for everyone during this pandemic. For our young people, whether in the middle of puberty or approaching adulthood, this is hitting hard. Depression and anxiety generally go hand in hand with feelings of hopelessness and dread of what might lie ahead.
Kooth has also seen big rises in the number of BAME under-18s seeking help this year compared with last year, with difficulty sleeping (up 200%), concerns related to school or college (up 159%), and issues involving their family relationships (up 27%). Overall, 44% more BAME children and young people sought advice from Kooth in March, April and May than in the same period last year.
Aisha Gordon-Hiles, a counsellor at XenZone, said the higher risk of people of BAME origin contracting and dying from Covid-19 was a key factor. Without there being much information on why this is or what can be done to prevent this increased risk it is understandable that this may further contribute to individuals from these communities feeling increased levels of stress, anxiety and depression, even if they are not consciously aware of the impact.
Andy Bell, the deputy chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health thinktank, said: These are worrying figures. There is growing evidence from multiple sources that children and young peoples mental health is being severely affected by Covid-19. And just as Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionately affected by the virus, the impacts on mental health may also be falling more heavily on young people from the same communities.
Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers the keynote address during a special event on September 10, 2019 in the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple's Cupertino, California campus.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Stocks rolled over to trade lower on Fridayafter Apple said it will again close some stores because of recent spikes in coronavirus cases around the U.S.
Shares of Apple closed down 0.57%.
A total of 11 Apple stores will close in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Arizona starting on Saturday. Customers who have products in those stores for repair will have the weekend to get their devices back, Apple said. All of the stores had been reopened since Apple initially closed them in March.
"Due to current Covid-19 conditions in some of the communities we serve, we are temporarily closing stores in these areas. We take this step with an abundance of caution as we closely monitor the situation and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible," an Apple spokesman said in a statement.
Apple previously shut its stores around the world in March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stores began to reopen in recent weeks with safety measures including mandatory masking, temperature checks, curbside pickup in certain regions and service by appointment.
Apple said earlier this week that it planned to reopen stores in New York City and that it was aiming for more than 200 U.S. stores to be open by the end of the week.
The announcement hit stocks across the board as the Dow was up 47 points before the news, and subsequently dropped more than 230 points before recovering slightly. The announcement negatively affected brick-and-mortar retailers in particular.
The full list of Apple stores closing is below:
Florida
- Waterside Shops
- Coconut Point
North Carolina
- Southpark
- Northlake Mall
South Carolina
- Haywood Mall
Arizona
- Chandler Fashion Center
- Scottsdale Fashion Square
- Arrowhead
- SanTan Village
- Scottsdale Quarter
- La Encantada
MEXICO CITYGuillermo Rojas was a healthy 58-year-old who liked to lift weights or go for a run most days. In early May, the father of two fell ill with Covid-like symptoms. A week later, he was dead.
He was healthy and young, said his daughter Jannete, 31. He shouldnt have died.
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads from the hardest hit...
