PROVO Two Utah County businesses didnt follow public health best practices for COVID-19, resulting in 68 positive cases of the disease, officials say.
Utah County government officials did not identify the two businesses in an announcement posted Monday evening on Facebook.
The businesses were in different geographic areas of the county, the statement says. Through contact tracing, the Utah County Department of Health discovered that the businesses told their employees not to follow quarantine guidelines after being exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 case at work.
At one of the businesses, employees who tested positive for COVID-19 were instructed to come back to work.
One of the businesses saw 48% of its employees test positive for the disease, according to the county statement. One of the businesses was shut down completely, and both will be subject to heightened requirements for future inspections and cleanings, the statement says.
Utah County Health Department Executive Director Ralph Clegg said Wednesday the department isn't releasing the names of the businesses to avoid the businesses or employees being targeted by members of the public. Health department officials want to avoid the businesses or employees suffering any consequences they don't deserve, he said.
"We just dont know how individuals would react to that," Clegg said. "Were doing all that we can to make sure that those types of situations get rectified."
Health department investigators are working with people involved in the business outbreaks and working through their contacts to determine other people who may have been exposed, Clegg said. Typically, people who may have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 are notified through health department contact tracing.
The business that closed was shut down over a weekend for cleaning, Clegg said, though he did not know the exact date of the closure.
Utah County Commissioner Tanner Ainge said Wednesday he did not know the names of the businesses involved but said they are not public-facing businesses. One is a manufacturing or production facility, he said.
Ainge said he was not aware of anyone being hospitalized as a result of the outbreak at the businesses. None of the cases were categorized as severe, he added.
Clegg also said he was not aware of any severe health outcomes stemming from either business, but the possibility of such an outcome is always there, he added.
Ainge and other county leaders have tried to be mindful of both sides of the pandemic and have worked to consider public health and economic concerns, he said.
Nevertheless, the businesses exhibited behavior that should never be allowed, Ainge said.
"Its completely irresponsible to be that reckless with their employees' health," he said.
The behavior of the two businesses could potentially jeopardize economic activity for the rest of the businesses in Utah County, Ainge added.
The county, along with the rest of the state, has moved to an orange, moderate-risk level of operations for COVID-19, he said. However, the business outbreaks could slow down the process for further lessening restrictions, or could even force the county to move back to more stringent regulations, Ainge said.
Despite the situation, Ainge said he believes that a few bad actors wont undo the rest of the good work the county has done to limit the spread of COVID-19 and respond to the pandemic.
"Its really a disturbing example of what can happen," Ainge said.
The county leaders sent out the letter Monday to remind other businesses that they need to follow the guidelines as more establishments begin opening again, Clegg said. It's important for them to follow the guidelines, or they could risk a similar outbreak.
If people follow the social distancing guidelines set forth by the county, state and federal governments, they shouldn't be at risk for COVID-19, Clegg added. However, if they deviate from those guidelines, there could be an increased risk for them.
The disease is still somewhat widespread in the community, so people are advised to follow those guidelines, Clegg said.
The department does not have staffing capabilities to be able to conduct random spot checks for compliance at other businesses in the community, he said. However, the department will investigate any complaints they receive about businesses not following guidelines, he added.
If situations arise where complaints are filed with us well do our best to follow up on those," Clegg said.
Intermountain Healthcare is conducting mobile testing in Orem and Provo this week.
Intermountain says the mobile testing units will be used to respond to hotspot areas of increased COVID-19 activity and to provide more testing where it is needed. It's not clear if the testing is being done in connection with the two business outbreaks.
All people living in the 84057 zip code in Orem will be tested Wednesday, and everyone living in the 84606 zip code in Provo will be tested on Thursday and Friday, according to Intermountain.
Testing is taking place at the Orem Community Hospital, 600 W. 400 North, until 6 p.m. Wednesday. The testing center is near the soccer field parking.
In Provo, testing will be done at Utah Valley Hospital, 852 N. 400 West. People are advised to call Intermountain's COVID-19 Hotline at 844-442-5224 before they arrive at the testing centers.
Testing is free and insurance information is not needed. The testing process takes between 5 and 15 minutes.
For more information, visit Intermountain's website.
Contributing: Debbie Dujanovic and Dave Noriega, KSL NewsRadio
Across federal and state prisons, thousands of inmates have tested positive for the virus -- many of whom showed no symptoms when they were infected. In Ohio, more than 20% of the people infected with coronavirus are prisoners. And in Colorado, the state's largest outbreak is in a correctional facility.
The numbers are similarly harrowing in nursing homes and are facilities across the country.
In Louisiana, more than 30% of the state's coronavirus deaths are nursing home residents. In New Hampshire, long-term care facility residents make up nearly 80% of the state's cases.
"Nursing homes have been ground zero for Covid-19," Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said last month.
Officials across states have pushed to ramp up testing in both correctional facilities and nursing homes in hopes of catching up to the widespread numbers as family members stuck outside and separated from their loved ones wait for updates.
In one state, half of all cases are in prisons and nursing homes
In Arkansas, almost half of all of the state's cases are in prisons and nursing homes.
More than 1,000 inmates have tested positive for the virus, according to Dr. Nate Smith, the Director of the Arkansas Department of Health, and 876 of them are in a single correctional facility.
A total of 261 nursing home residents and 148 staff members have also been infected, with at least 32 deaths in the state connected to the facilities.
And in Ohio, people behind bars make up 20% of the state's total infections.
More than 4,300 inmates have tested positive for the virus in total, according to data from the state's department of corrections. Ohio has recorded at least 21,576 cases of the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More than 480 staff members are also positive and two have died.
"The reason that you are seeing numbers out of our prisons, that are much, much higher than other places is because we made a decision to go test everybody. And when we've got a hotspot we move in and we've surged testing in," Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said late last month.
Largest outbreak in Colorado is a prison
Corrections officials tested more than 400 inmates last month after eight were initially found to be infected.
"Given the insidious nature of this virus we had suspected that despite seeing a relatively low number of inmates with symptoms, the number of positives was potentially much higher," Department of Corrections Executive Director Dean Williams said when the widespread testing was first ordered in late April.
In a news release this month, the state's department of corrections said that since mid-April inmates in the facility have been required to remain in their cells and can only leave to use the restroom or shower. Meals and medications are also delivered to the living units.
Colorado has reported more than 17,830 cases and at least 919 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
80% of New Hampshire deaths in nursing homes
New Hamshire Health Commissioner Lori Shibinette said Wednesday that while the state has begun seeing its community transmission, illness rates and hospitalizations start to level out or decline, the trend has not been the same in long-term care facilities.
"Based on our numbers in long-term care to date, we took some very aggressive action early on and I think at this point it's time to take further steps to address some of the long term care testing issues," Shibinette said. "To date, we have tested over 1,000 nursing home residents across the state, which is a great number, we want to test more."
About 111 people have died in New Hampshire -- 78% of whom were people associated with long-term care facility outbreaks, Shibinette said.
"Do I think it could've been prevented? Probably. Would it have been inevitable? The way things have spread and the way things are going on, it may have. I think there's going to be a lot of soul searching."
Shibinette said the state was rolling out a new plan for long-term care facilities in which, every week, the state will randomly select about 10% of its facilities and ask for swabs from 10% of the residents. The state's goal is to offer testing to all long-term care and nursing home staff members every seven to 10 days.
In Louisiana, more than 30% of the state's deaths come from nursing home residents.
On Monday, the Louisiana Department of Health reported that 688 nursing home residents had died and an additional 50 deaths were reported among residents of other adult residential facilities.
Louisiana has recorded 30,399 cases and 2,167 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Half of New Jersey deaths in long-term care facilities
New Jersey's care facilities have also been hard hit.
On Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy said he spoke with the National Guard over the possibility of using non-medical members to assist nursing homes.
Those duties will include taking on janitorial, kitchen, security, logistics and general purpose roles, state officials said.
"We've been on the phone and working with the General and his team all weekend and throughout today, so we hope to have something more positive in the next several days, but they've been more than wanting to help out. It's just to make sure that we put them in the right spots," Persichilli added.
CNN's Jamiel Lynch, Jamie Gumbrecht, Kay Jones, Andy Rose, Dave Alsup, Rebekah Riess, and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.
The official said the guidance is being put in place because there is little understanding of the "long-term" effects of the virus and there is a concern that potential recruits who have been hospitalized may need further medical assessments.
The new policy is being finalized to set medical restrictions on recruits who may have tested positive or have been treated for Covid-19. Department of Defense medical waivers are required for a wide variety of medical conditions ranging from heart disease to a loss of vision.
Months into the pandemic, the virus is posing significant medical challenges to the military on several fronts.
There is a particular concern over whether a sufficient number of recruits will be able to join before a rigorous enough testing regime is in place to ensure they are healthy enough to enter training.
It's a priority for the military which lives and operates in close quarters, and especially for sailors on ships at sea for months. The Pentagon recognizes it's crucial to ensure that testing for virus is accurate enough that units can safely deploy.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said at the Pentagon Tuesday that the department would randomly test groups of people "to understand how many asymptomatic or carriers are maybe out there."
The focus of attention is on trying to understand how much of the force may be asymptomatic but still have the virus.
"One of the challenges that we know is asymptomatic transmission of the disease. It's something we have known for quite a while but what we didn't really appreciate until the TR was the fact we are experiencing very high rates in the military," Esper said during an online Brookings Institution event on Monday.
The Navy calculates asymptomatic rates among the Roosevelt crew may have reached 60% or greater initially. Seventeen sailors that had tested negative while they were sequestered off the ship for 14 days are now being tested again after three of them tested positive even though they had no symptoms, according to a navy official.
As the Defense Department negotiates its way through the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout, military entrance processing stations are working with new guidance when it comes to bringing COVID-19 survivors into the services.
A past COVID-19 diagnosis is a no-go for processing, according to a recently released MEPCOM memo circulating on Twitter.
During the medical history interview or examination, a history of COVID-19, confirmed by either a laboratory test or a clinician diagnosis, is permanently disqualifying ... the memo reads.
The memo is authentic, Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell confirmed to Military Times.
Specifically, it lays out guidelines for MEPS staff to deal with potential, as well as confirmed, coronavirus cases. That starts with screening at all MEPS, which includes taking a temperature and answering questions about symptoms and potential contact.
If an applicant fails screening, according to the memo, they wont be tested, but they can return in 14 days if theyre symptom-free. Anyone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 will have to wait until 28 days after diagnosis to report to MEPS.
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Upon return, a diagnosis will be marked as permanently disqualifying for accession. Recruits can apply for waivers for all permanently disqualifying conditions, including surviving COVID-19. However, without any further guidance for exceptions dealing with COVID-19, a review authority would have no justification to grant a waiver.
Maxwell declined to explain why a coronavirus diagnosis would be permanently disqualifying, compared to other viral, non-chronic illnesses that do not preclude military service.
However, given the limited research on COVID-19, there are likely a few factors that military medical professionals are trying to hash out when it comes to recruiting survivors: Whether respiratory damage from the virus is long-lasting or permanent, and whether that can be assessed; the likelihood of recurring flare-ups, even if someone has had two consecutive negative tests; and the possibility that one bout of COVID-19 might not provide full immunity for the future, and could potentially leave someone at a higher risk to contract it again, perhaps with worse complications.
The move comes as the services prepare for a surge of post-graduation recruits during the summer and fall high season.
In recent weeks, new trainees have been 100-percent tested for COVID-19 before starting training. So far, clusters have been discovered at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, the Army and Marine Corps biggest initial entry training installations.
Winter is a 4-year-old chocolate-colored llama with spindly legs, ever-so-slightly askew ears and envy-inducing eyelashes. Some scientists hope she might be an important figure in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
She is not a superpowered camelid. Winter was simply the lucky llama chosen by researchers in Belgium, where she lives, to participate in a series of virus studies involving both SARS and MERS. Finding that her antibodies staved off those infections, the scientists posited that those same antibodies could also neutralize the new virus that causes Covid-19. They were right, and published their results Tuesday in the journal Cell.
Scientists have long turned to llamas for antibody research. In the last decade, for example, scientists have used llamas antibodies in H.I.V. and influenza research, finding promising therapies for both viruses.
Humans produce only one kind of antibody, made of two types of protein chains heavy and light that together form a Y shape. Heavy-chain proteins span the entire Y, while light-chain proteins touch only the Ys arms. Llamas, on the other hand, produce two types of antibodies. One of those antibodies is similar in size and constitution to human antibodies. But the other is much smaller; its only about 25 percent the size of human antibodies. The llamas antibody still forms a Y, but its arms are much shorter because it doesnt have any light-chain proteins.
This more diminutive antibody can access tinier pockets and crevices on spike proteins the proteins that allow viruses like the novel coronavirus to break into host cells and infect us that human antibodies cannot. That can make it more effective in neutralizing viruses.
Llamas antibodies are also easily manipulated, said Dr. Xavier Saelens, a molecular virologist at Ghent University in Belgium and an author of the new study. They can be linked or fused with other antibodies, including human antibodies, and remain stable despite those manipulations.
This antibody is a genetic characteristic llamas share with all camelids, the family of mammals that also includes alpacas, guanacos and dromedaries.
Sharks have these smaller antibodies, too, but they are not a great experimental model, and are a lot less cuddly than llamas, said Daniel Wrapp, a graduate student affiliated with the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth College, and a co-author of the new research. Dr. Saelens said that llamas are domesticated, easy to handle and less stubborn than many of their camelid cousins, although, if they dont like you, theyll spit.
In 2016, Dr. Saelens, Mr. Wrapp and Dr. Jason McLellan, a structural virologist at the University of Texas at Austin, and other researchers looked to llamas and, specifically, Winter to find a smaller llama antibody that could broadly neutralize many different types of coronavirus, Dr. McLellan said.
They injected Winter with spike proteins from the virus that caused the 2002-03 SARS epidemic as well as MERS, then tested a sample of her blood. And while they couldnt isolate a single llama antibody that worked against both viruses, they found two potent antibodies that each fought separately against MERS and SARS.
The researchers were writing up their findings when the new coronavirus began to make headlines in January. They immediately realized that the smaller llama antibodies that could neutralize SARS would very likely also recognize the Covid-19 virus, Dr. Saelens said.
It did, the researchers found, effectively inhibiting the coronavirus in cell cultures.
The researchers are hopeful the antibody can eventually be used as a prophylactic treatment, by injecting someone who is not yet infected to protect them from the virus, such as a health care worker. While the treatments protection would be immediate, its effects wouldnt be permanent, lasting only a month or two without additional injections.
This proactive approach is at least several months away, but the researchers are moving toward clinical trials. Additional studies may also be needed to verify the safety of injecting a llamas antibodies into human patients.
There is still a lot of work to do to try to bring this into the clinic, Dr. Saelens said. If it works, llama Winter deserves a statue.
Researcher Francois Balloux of the University College London Genetics Institute and his colleagues in the United Kingdom pulled viral sequences from a giant global database that scientists around the world are using to share data.
They looked at samples taken at different times and from different places, and said they indicate that the virus began infecting people at the end of 2019.
"Our results are in line with previous estimates and point to all sequences sharing a common ancestor towards the end of 2019, supporting this as the period when SARS-CoV-2 jumped into its human host," the team wrote in a report, published in the journal Infection, Genetics and Evolution.
Balloux told CNN his team is "really, really, really confident" about when the host jumped.
They also found genetic evidence that supports suspicions the virus was infecting people in Europe, the United States and elsewhere weeks or even months before the first official cases were reported in January and February.
One US community is checking to see whether there were cases there that went undiagnosed in 2019.
In Chicago, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said it will review deaths involving heart attacks and pneumonia for indications of Covid-19 as far back as November, Cook County spokesperson Natalia Derevyanny told CNN.
The first known coronavirus death in the county was March 16.
The office will look at viral pneumonia cases along with heart attacks caused by arteries being blocked (arterial thrombosis), as opposed to cases brought on by heart failure.
"The goal is to see if this virus was present before we knew of it," Derevyanny said.
While Derevyanny called the decision to look back to November an arbitrary timeframe, if a positive case is discovered it will prompt the office to look back even further.
The investigation may include additional testing of preserved tissue samples, Derevyanny said.
Cuomo: It comes down to how much you value life
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday said debates on how soon states should ease social distancing restrictions come down to the value of human life -- and that policymakers are avoiding saying so explicitly.
"The fundamental question, which we're not articulating, is how much is a human life worth?" Cuomo said at a news conference.
"The faster we reopen, the lower the economic cost. But, the higher the human cost, because (of) more lives lost," Cuomo said in a news conference. "That ... is the decision we are really making."
But easing restrictions now may come with a heavy price.
"It's the balance of something that's a very difficult choice," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, told CNN Monday night. "How many deaths and how much suffering are you willing to accept to get back to what you want to be some form of normality, sooner rather than later?"
At least 42 states will have eased restrictions by Sunday, ranging from simply opening state parks to allowing some businesses to restart. That includes California -- the first state to implement a sweeping stay-at-home order -- where some stores will be allowed to reopen this week.
So far, the US has recorded more than 1,200,000 infections and at least 71,043 deaths.
Poll: Majority prioritizes preventing illness over economy
A majority of Americans who answered a Monmouth University poll, meanwhile, indicated they prioritize preventing illnesses over long-term economic concerns.
In the poll, conducted Thursday though Monday, adults were asked which should be the more important factor in deciding whether to lift outbreak restrictions -- ensuring as few people as possible get sick from the coronavirus, or ensuring the economy doesn't enter a deep and lengthy downturn.
About 56% answered the former; 33% said the latter; 9% said both equally. The poll of 808 adults in the United States has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points, Monmouth said Tuesday.
More vaccine candidates tested in the US
Researchers continue to race for a potential coronavirus vaccine -- and another group of candidates is being tested on people in the United States.
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech have begun testing four coronavirus vaccine candidates in humans in New York and Maryland, the companies said Tuesday.
The first stage of the US trial will enroll up to 360 healthy adults, starting with ages 18 to 55 and eventually including ages 65 to 85, the companies said.
These companies aren't the first with a vaccine program this far along.
The World Health Organization says 108 potential Covid-19 vaccines are in development around the world -- up from 102 on April 30. Eight of the potential vaccine programs have been approved for clinical trials, WHO says.
How governors are moving forward
California was one of the states where crowds gathered over the weekend as thousands of protesters descended on the state's Capitol and an Orange County beach to protest social distancing orders.
The governor on Monday announced retail shops in the state -- including clothing stores, florists and bookstores -- can begin to reopen Friday, after health officials said the state was meeting important metrics including sufficient test and tracing capacity.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he didn't think his city would reopen this week, saying Monday that despite the governor's announcement, different parts of the state may see different timelines for reopening.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the lockdown will continue "until at least May 15," warning that reopening the state too soon could lead to a second shutdown.
Reeves' plan also allows dining service in restaurants, as long as the institutions follow guidelines provided by the state, including a mandatory deep cleaning.
"I don't want to wait if there are steps that we believe we can safely take now to ease the burden on Mississippians fighting this virus," he said.
Protests against masks
CNN's Frederick Pleitgen, Jacqueline Howard, Elizabeth Cohen and Jennifer Henderson contributed to this report.
After weeks of withholding it from public disclosure, state officials on Wednesday released the list of coronavirus deaths being compiled by Floridas medical examiners.
But the document was redacted to remove the probable cause of death and the description of each case.
The omissions make the list meaningless, said Dr. Stephen Nelson, the chairman of the state Medical Examiners Commission.
You have to take the word from the government that these are deaths related to COVID-19, said Nelson, who is also the chief medical examiner for Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.
It loses transparency, he said.
The list never included the names of the dead, which many experts and medical examiners have said is also public in Florida.
The move came several hours after attorneys for a coalition of media organizations, including the Tampa Bay Times, sent a letter demanding the state release the information.
As of early last month, the list was being released as it was updated. The Times used it to report on April 11 that the states official count of deaths, produced by the Florida Department of Health, was about 10 percent lower than the medical examiners count.
After the Times story was published, health department officials called the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which houses the medical examiners commission, the Times reported last week.
After that, the Department of Law Enforcement decided to redact the list.
The version released Wednesday showed the states count is now higher than the medical examiners.
It was unclear why especially given the mechanics of how coronavirus deaths are being tracked.
Under Florida law, medical examiners are responsible for certifying every coronavirus death in the state. The health department has been verifying deaths independently by having epidemiologists follow up on every case.
Whats more, the health department has said it is only including Florida residents in its count, although after the Times report it began posting some data on non-resident deaths in feeds online.
The medical examiners are counting anyone who died in Florida, including snowbirds and visitors.
By their own admission, they are not counting every Florida death, Nelson said. Im surprised that they are ahead.
The states official count is now 3.3 percent higher than the medical examiners. The data feed that includes non-resident deaths shows a count that is 7.8 percent higher.
After this story was published online, state health department spokesman Alberto Moscoso explained the discrepancy by saying the health department reports cases where the individual tested positive for COVID-19 and subsequently died, while Medical Examiners report deaths that they have directly attributed to COVID-19.
"For example, if an individual tests positive for COVID-19 and then dies as a result of an accident, that case would be included in the Departments list of deaths associated with COVID-19," he said.
He added: It is not true that deaths have been hidden.
It was also unclear why state officials needed 16 days to redact the list. They drew a black box over two of the columns and said the list was generated five hours before it was released.
In withholding those columns, state Department of Law Enforcement officials cited two state laws that exempt certain records from public disclosure. One of the laws exempts the cause of death on death certificates. The other exempts patient records kept by hospitals.
In the letter demanding the records be made public, Carol Jean LoCicero, an attorney for the coalition of media organizations, said no redaction was necessary because the list contains only public information. LoCicero also represents the Times.
Barbara Petersen, president emeritus of the First Amendment Foundation, said neither of the exemptions cited by the state applies to medical examiners records.
Every exemption under the public records law has to be strictly construed and narrowly applied, she said. We are not talking about death certificates. We are not talking about patient records.
Petersen pointed out that other state agencies have withheld coronavirus-related information most prominently the names of which nursing homes had infections, which wasnt released until the consortium of news organizations moved to sue.
The governor and his administration are obfuscating, she said. They are withholding critically important information from the public.
Medical examiners in Florida have been compiling a list of deaths in every statewide emergency since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The states 22 offices send information on their investigations to the Medical Examiners Commission to be included on a master list.
Nelson said the lists have always been made available to the public without redactions.
Both the health department and the law enforcement department acknowledged having conferred on privacy concerns related to the coronavirus list. But Moscoso said the health department didnt give any formal direction.
Last month, the Miami Herald reported that the health department had reached out to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Office and asked it to withhold its death records from the media. The Miami-Dade County attorney released the records anyway, saying she believed they were public records.
Through a series of public records requests last week, Times reporters were able to obtain spreadsheets detailing coronavirus deaths or copies of the investigative reports from 18 of Floridas 22 medical examiner offices. Those records included the names of the dead.
Nelson pointed out that the Medical Examiners Commission list provided less information than that.
Individual offices can provide the names of the dead but this silly Excel spreadsheet is somehow sacrosanct? he said. It boggles my mind.
Mark Caramanica, an attorney representing the coalition of news organizations, said his office was pleased FDLE released this critical information but is reviewing (the states) continued withholding of certain portions of the database that have been previously made public.
Floridians deserve maximum transparency about COVID-19 deaths in our state, he said.
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The dental practice where Candace Grenier has worked for two decades shut down in mid-March. That's just before her son, Ryeder, lost his job at an auto body shop. Seth Franklin hide caption
The dental practice where Candace Grenier has worked for two decades shut down in mid-March. That's just before her son, Ryeder, lost his job at an auto body shop.
"Let's see it's not that bad; 37 degrees," Candace Grenier says, reading the thermometer outside a window of her Anchorage home.
When the temperature gets above freezing, it's a good day. Not just because it feels better, but it's also good for the electric bill and because Grenier can no longer justify paying $50 to $70 to get her driveway plowed.
The dental practice where she has worked for two decades shut down in mid-March, just before her son, Ryeder, also lost his job at an auto body shop.
She had hoped to use accumulated sick leave and paid time off to cover some of her expenses, but the dental office couldn't afford to pay that out. Unemployment benefits took time to process, she says, because there have been so many layoffs.
Even when things reopen, Grenier worries people will forgo dental cleanings as they worry about getting the coronavirus by visiting a dental office. "People may decide that, 'Hey, I'm not going to take that risk,' " she says.
To make the most of her savings, she's cut all luxuries and is waiting to see if she needs to delay her mortgage payment. She traded her specialty coffee beans for a bulk Costco version. She also looks forward to getting her hair dyed when she can get back to work. "I'm 53, so there are definitely roots showing."
Read more stories in Faces Of The Coronavirus Recession.
The World Health Organization lists the most common symptoms of Covid-19 as fever, tiredness and a dry cough. Others include a runny nose, sore throat, nasal congestion, pain, diarrhoea and the loss of sense of taste and/or smell. But there are also other more unusual symptoms that patients have presented.
Patients in several countries have reported rashes on their toes, resembling chilblains, in many cases unaccompanied by any of the usual symptoms of the virus. The condition has been dubbed Covid toe. The rashes can take the form of red or purple lesions and, despite the name, can be found on the side or sole of the foot, or even on hands and fingers. The European Journal of Pediatric Dermatology reported an epidemic of cases among children and adolescents in Italy. It said that unlike other rashes associated with coronavirus, it had not been previously observed.
Conjunctivitis has been a rare symptom in cases of Covid-19, with viral particles being found in tears. In the UK, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists and College of Optometrists says: It is recognised that any upper respiratory tract infection may result in viral conjunctivitis as a secondary complication, and this is also the case with Covid-19. However, it is unlikely that a person would present with viral conjunctivitis secondary to Covid-19 without other symptoms of fever or a continuous cough as conjunctivitis seems to be a late feature where is has occurred.
A peer-reviewed Spanish study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology last week, found that 6% of the 375 coronavirus cases examined involved livedo, the death of body tissue due to a lack of blood supply, or livedo, discolouration of the skin. The skin can become mottled and have purple or red patchy areas, which may appear in a lace-like pattern. In the study, it was generally found in older patients with more severe cases of Covid-19. However, this was not consistent across the board and necrosis was also found in some people with coronavirus who did not require hospitalisation.
A study of 214 patients in China, published in Jama Neurology last month, found that just over a third (36.4%) had experienced neurological symptoms such as dizziness or headaches, increasing to 45.5% in those with severe coronavirus infections. Commenting on the research, Prof Ian Jones, professor of virology at the University of Reading, said: It happens, but is generally not what coronaviruses do. At the moment neurological complications might best be considered a consequence of Covid-19 disease severity rather than a distinct new concern.
Some patients have complained about a tingling, fizzing or even burning sensation. Dr Waleed Javaid, the director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, told Today.com it was likely the patients immune response to Covid-19 rather than the virus itself was causing such sensations. He said: Theres a widespread immune response that is happening. Our immune cells get activated so a lot of chemicals get released throughout our body and that can present or feel like theres some fizzing. When our immune response is acting up, people can feel different sensations I have heard of similar experiences in the past with other illnesses.
