Category: Covid-19

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded $8 million to Illinois to support the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin say $6.3 million will go throughout the state and $1.7 million has been awarded to Chicago. This adds to the CDC's previous funding of $27.3 million across Illinois and $12.2 million for Chicago.

"Our nation's health care system and state and local health departments are on the front lines as we work to defend Americans from COVID-19, and this funding will critical in providing them with the resources they need to continue their vital work during this public health pandemic," Duckworth said. "Keeping Illinoisans healthy and minimizing the impact of COVID-19 is crucial right now, and I'll keep working alongside Senator Durbin to help bring home more federal resources and funding to limit the spread of the virus causing this disease."

The Senators say this funding will go toward lab equipment, supplies, staffing, shipping, infection control, surge staffing, monitoring of individuals, and data management. They explained the funds will also supplement a cooperative agreement to state jurisdictions through the Emerging Infections Program to strengthen surveillance capability.

"Our state and local public health departments are at the forefront of this crisis and this federal funding will help them continue their critical work of mitigating and preventing further spread of coronavirus," said Durbin. "Senator Duckworth and I remain committed to ensuring that Illinois receives the federal support it urgently needs during this pandemic."

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Illinois receiving additional $8 million of federal funding for COVID-19 response - week.com

The Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed on Wednesday that a 60-year-old man from Forsyth County has died from COVID-19, the second local death caused by the novel coronavirus since the outbreak began.

It's not known whether the individual had underlying medical conditions, and no further information was made available by the DPH.

There have been 362 confirmed deaths statewide from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, according to the DPH's latest daily status report at 12 p.m., up from 348 on Tuesday, though official counts likely lag actual deaths due to delays in reporting death certificate data, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Forsyth County's first COVID-19 related death was reported March 24: an 87-year-old man also with no known underlying medical conditions.

Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough and breathing trouble. Most develop only mild symptoms, but some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia, which can be fatal.

Forsyth County had 99 confirmed cases of COVID-19 by Wednesday afternoon, according to the DPH, the same number reported Tuesday night.

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Second death from COVID-19 confirmed in Forsyth County, 99 total cases - Forsyth County News Online

Conventional diagnostic tests for the novel coronavirus may give false-negative results about 30% of the time, meaning people with an active COVID-19 infection still test negative for the disease, according to news reports.

"Unfortunately, we have very little public data on the false-negative rate for these tests in clinical practice," Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University and director of the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times. However, preliminary research from China suggests that the most common type of COVID-19 test, known as a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test, may give false-negative results about 30% of the time.

The Chinese research has not yet been peer-reviewed, but anecdotally, Krumholz's colleagues have expressed concern that the false-negative rate may be even higher in the U.S., he wrote.

"A lot of my patients who have symptoms, who I clinically think have COVID-19, are testing negative," Dr. Alain Chaoui, head of Congenial Healthcare, a practice with 50,000 patients across five locations in Massachusetts, told The Boston Globe.

RT-PCR tests work by detecting bits of viral genetic material present in a patient's mucus, saliva and cells at the very back of their nasal cavity, where the nose meets the throat, Live Science previously reported. Doctors collect patient samples using a long, skinny swab and then apply chemicals to the sample to eliminate everything apart from the viral genetic material, called RNA. Enzymes added to the sample jump-start a chemical process that transcribes the RNA into DNA, which can then be processed in a machine and copied many times over.

With enough DNA copies on hand, scientists can then apply fluorescent tags to the sample that bind to specific bits of genetic material and glow once attached. The glow announces the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Related: 10 deadly diseases that hopped across species

"The good news is that the tests appear to be highly specific: If your test comes back positive, it is almost certain you have the infection," Krumholz wrote. But RT-PCR tests might give false-negative results for a number of reasons, he added.

In one scenario, the initial swab sample may not always collect enough genetic material to provide an accurate test. This problem may arise more often in patients who do not show many symptoms at the time of their test, the Globe reported. In addition, the standard nasopharyngeal swab, wherein a long instrument is wriggled and rotated to the very back of the nasal cavity, can be both difficult for clinicians to perform and uncomfortable for patients to endure, Krumholz wrote.

Alternatively, false-negative results may result from how tests are processed in the laboratory or what specific chemicals are applied to each sample, Krumholz noted.

If false-negative results prove fairly common, what should people do if they receive one?

Chaoui told The Boston Globe that he is advising all his patients who test negative for the virus to assume they are infected, regardless, and quarantine themselves until they are symptom-free for at least 72 hours. Krumholz shared a similar sentiment in the Times. At UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, epidemiologist Dr. Richard Ellison told the Globe that the hospital is now retesting patients who received a negative test but have symptoms of the novel coronavirus, in an attempt to cut down on false negatives.

"For now, we should assume that anyone could be carrying the virus," Krumholz wrote. "If you have had likely exposures and symptoms suggest Covid-19 infection, you probably have it even if your test is negative."

That said, no diagnostic test provides accurate results 100% of the time, and the tests developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are highly sensitive to the coronavirus, Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the Bureau of Infectious Disease at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, wrote in a statement, according to the Globe.

"No test detects every case and there is no current 'gold standard' to compare [the COVID-19 tests] to," he wrote. "Testing may be falsely negative if the test is obtained too early or too late compared to infection, or if the sample isnt obtained or processed correctly."

Originally published on Live Science.

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Even if you test negative for COVID-19, assume you have it, experts say - Live Science

The inseparable couple had been married for more than 51 years and were living in Boynton Beach, Florida, in retirement. Neither of them had any serious health conditions. Then in mid-March, they started feeling ill.

On Sunday, they both died -- six minutes apart -- due to complications from Covid-19, their son Buddy Baker said.

Stuart Baker was 74. Adrian Baker was 72.

"Until it touches you or touches somebody you know or you hear a story, you kind of feel removed from it," Baker, president and CEO of Exclusive Sports Group, told CNN. "... Hopefully my parents' passing doesn't go in vain."

At first, the family was optimistic

Baker detailed the events leading up to his parents' passing in a phone interview with CNN.

About three weeks ago, Stuart and Adrian went to the doctor after they weren't feeling well, according to Baker. They were eventually sent home.

A few days later, their symptoms still hadn't improved so their doctor recommended that they visit the hospital. Baker said that they were also sent home from the hospital and told to self-quarantine until they felt better.

"This is pre- the world shutting down, pre- the NCAA tournament getting canceled, so you're still not thinking this is going to be something which is life threatening," he said.

Baker said he'd call to check on his parents regularly, but their health didn't seem to be improving. One day, they seemed to be on the up, and then the next day, they'd be feeling worse again.

After a few more days, on March 19, they were told to return to the hospital. Baker's father, who had a fever and also had asthma, was admitted. His mother, who did not have a fever, was not.

Despite the circumstances, Baker said he and his family were optimistic. They were talking to Stuart regularly on his phone, and it seemed like he'd be able to push through.

About 48 hours later, his father was admitted to the ICU -- but the family was still hopeful. Stuart went from being on 60% oxygen to 50%, a sign that things were going in the right direction.

Then, the couple started to deteriorate

Meanwhile, Baker's mother was at home. Though she didn't have a fever or other worrying symptoms, knowing that her husband was in the hospital was taking a serious toll on her mentally.

"We just thought that was the result of my dad being away from her for the last five days, which was very very very infrequent in their lives together," Baker said.

Baker said he and his sister would visit their mother a few times a day, sitting outside the garage while their mom sat inside. Then on March 24, they got a call from the hospital. Their father had tested positive for Covid-19 and the doctor said it didn't look like he would make it.

The call was shattering, Baker said. They didn't want to upset their mother with the news, and decided to take her to the hospital as a precautionary measure. They wanted to see if she too could be tested, though because she had no fever or other related symptoms, they thought she would be fine.

Within 45 minutes of their mother being checked in, Baker said the doctor called to report that her oxygen levels were very low. She wouldn't make it either.

With their parents' organs failing, Baker said he and his sister decided to move their parents to hospice care at the counsel of medical professionals. His mother and father were both moved to the same room and taken off ventilators to be comfortable. Within minutes of each other, they had passed.

"They were as compatible and inseparable as two human beings have ever been married and existed on earth," Baker said.

Baker's message for others

On Thursday, Baker, his three children and his sister's family gathered for his parents' memorial service in Boynton Beach. The service was live-streamed for other friends and relatives and watched by people all over the world, he said.

"Hopefully people hear our story and it motivates them to do the right thing," he said. "By doing that, maybe it won't affect them or it won't affect their family but maybe they help another family not endure the pain and agony that me and my sister and our kids and the rest of our family are enduring right now."

Baker said he hopes his family's story can be a catalyst for change. He's calling on people to listen to what health officials have been saying: practice social distancing, wash their hands regularly and most importantly, stay at home.

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Married for 51 years, they died of Covid-19 six minutes apart - CNN

As governments fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Snopes is fighting an infodemic of rumors and misinformation, and you can help. Read our coronavirus fact checks. Submit any questionable rumors and advice you encounter. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease.

A popular bit of identicaland heavily reshared Facebook copypasta suggests that people who had a bad cough in November or December 2019 anywhere in the world, evidently have probably already experienced COVID-19 coronavirus disease without their knowing it.

The Facebook posts read as follows:

Quick question everyone. Who got sick in November or December and it lasted 10 to 14 days, [raising-hand emoji] with the worst cough that wouldnt go away? [raising-hand emoji] it was horrible!

If you can answer yes, then you might of had the coronavirus. There were no test and the flu test would come back negative anyway. They called it a severe upper respiratory infection.

You guys lived through that. Quit letting the media control you. Now give me back my toilet paper, sports, etc

This post is an opinion, not a fact. Im asking a question [shrugging emoji]

The message is conspiratorial in nature, implying the impetus for current social-distancing policies is media control. As cases and deaths from COVID-19 continue to grow at exponential rates across much of the world, this latter implication is self-evidently without merit, and the notion that a prior cough grants you current immunity to the disease is inherently dangerous.

It is, however, factual to state that scientists are not confident they fully understand when or where SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, first started infecting humans. Does this mean its possible you have already had the disease without knowing it? Scientists say thats quite unlikely, but that gaps in our knowledge about the origin and timing of the pandemic make it impossible to completely rule out at the moment.

The earliest reports from Chinese health officials regarding what would become known as COVID-19 implicated the Huanan fish market in Wuhan, China, as the source of the viral outbreak and Dec. 8, 2019, the day of its first recorded case. Most of the unexplained viral pneumonia cases in Wuhan [at] this time have a history of exposure to the market, a report from the city of Wuhan read in early January 2020.

Later, however, when a large team of Chinese researchers published a case study on Wuhans early COVID-19 cases, they revealed that only 27 of 41 patients had been exposed to the Huanan seafood market and that the first case had no known connection to it. Speaking to Science Magazine, Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University, said that 13 cases with no link to the proposed origin was a big number and that the data demonstrate that the virus came into that marketplace before it came out of that marketplace.

Responding to questions from Science, the corresponding author on that early case study, Bin Cao, wrote, It seems clear that [the] seafood market is not the only origin of the virus, and that to be honest, we still do not know where the virus came from now. According to the South China Morning Post, Chinese government documents now trace the first confirmed case to a Nov. 17 illness contracted by a 55 year-old from Hubei province which contains Wuhan.

Lucey, writing in a blog post for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, argued:

If initial and potentially repeated animal-person transmission, followed by subsequent person-to-person transmission, could have begun in October-November or earlier in 2019, then patients with pneumonia due to infection with the novel coronavirus [] could have started to spread across Wuhan, and by infected-travelers leaving Wuhan to other locations.

The possibility of earlier cases and an uncertain geographic origin form the basis of the suggestion that an illness suffered by a person in November or December could have been COVID-19. Robert Garry, an infectious disease expert at Tulane University who has published on the origins of SARS-CoV-2, told Snopes by email that the notion was very unlikely but that without rigorous, global serological testing (in short, examining blood samples for antibodies), we wont have enough evidence to rule out that possibility:

SARS-CoV-2 or a close progenitor was circulating in China for a period of time November or December or even before before the cluster of cases of severe pneumonia allowed the identification of COVID-19.

Can we rule out that travels from China went to the US or elsewhere and set off small clusters of COVID cases that never got established? Seems very unlikely, but we wont really know for sure until these serological tests are perfected.

The information available still points to China as the origin of the pandemic. The first documented COVID-19 case in the United States occurred in Washington state after an individual returned to the United States from Wuhan on January 15, 2020. The first cases in Japan and South Korea were documented in people who had come from Wuhan as well.

In sum, the likelihood that many of the severe upper respiratory infections that occurred in the world in November and December 2019 were actually COVID-19 is astronomically low. The likelihood that earlier pockets broke out in non-Chinese areas prior to December 2019 is also low, but impossible to rule out with current data.

One thing that is certain: If you had a cough in late 2019, that is absolutely not proof of your immunity to COVID-19. Treating it as such would endanger your own health, the health of people you interact with, and the safety of your community.

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Was That Cough You Had Last November or December COVID-19? - Snopes.com

Experts draw attention to the hidden sorrows of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on people with Parkinsons disease.

Experts from Radboud University, Nijmegen in the Netherlands, have published a commentary article in the Journal of Parkinsons Disease, highlighting the hidden sorrows of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on people with Parkinsons disease.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

In particular, the authors highlight the way stress and lack of physical activity can adversely affect the experience of people who have Parkinsons disease.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has rapidly and radically changed the behavior of millions of people around the world. As a response to the pandemic, governments have introduced various emergency policies to limit social interaction in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease until scientists find a vaccine.

People with Parkinsons disease face particular challenges. There is no definite data on the relationship between Parkinsons disease and COVID-19. Scientists know that the leading cause of death in people with Parkinsons disease is pneumonia and that pneumonia is also a key symptom of COVID-19.

However, according to the authors of the commentary article, the social restrictions that governments have instigated may significantly affect people with Parkinsons.

Parkinsons disease is a type of neurodegenerative disorder. According to the National Institute on Aging, it results in joint stiffness, shaking, and difficulties moving. It typically affects people over the age of 60, and it worsens over time.

Parkinsons occurs when neurons in a persons brain die. These cells produce dopamine, and it is this reduction of dopamine that causes the symptoms of Parkinsons. Scientists do not yet know precisely why this happens, and, currently, there is no cure.

According to the authors of the commentary article, people with Parkinsons disease are more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and depression.

As the authors note:

The pathophysiology of [Parkinsons disease] puts patients at an increased risk of chronic stress, and a further worsening of this may well be one of the hidden sorrows of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors also suggest that the increased stress of social isolation may reveal latent forms of Parkinsons disease and that stress may increase the rate at which a persons dopamine-producing neurons die off. However, this is something that scientists have only demonstrated in animal studies.

As well as the adverse effects of stress, the authors also point out that reduced opportunities to do physical activity may also cause problems for people with Parkinsons disease.

As the authors note, Many people are now largely, and sometimes, completely stuck at home, being unable to go out for a regular walk, let alone to see their physiotherapist or attend a fitness class.

They highlight research that suggests being physically active in particular, engaging in high-intensity aerobic exercise may reduce the speed at which the symptoms of Parkinsons disease develop.

The authors also speculate that non-motor issues related to Parkinsons, such as insomnia or constipation, may even get worse through a lack of physical activity.

Despite the significant challenges people with Parkinsons disease may experience, the authors also note positives that may emerge from the pandemic.

The simultaneous experience shared by millions of people may mean that researchers can carry out effective research into the relationship between stress and Parkinsons.

In particular, the authors suggest that researchers could investigate why it is that some people can cope with stress better than others. This may be invaluable in the future for interventions that focus on the mental health of people with Parkinsons.

The authors also note that an inability to go out regularly has led to an increase in the number of digital and remote exercise classes available to people with Parkinsons disease. These exercise initiatives are now much easier to access, and they could remain a valuable resource for those people with Parkinsons once the pandemic is over.

While it is important to bear these potential positives in mind, what is clear from the commentary article is the importance of understanding the varying ways in which the SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect different groups of people.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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Experts draw attention to the 'hidden sorrows' of COVID-19 and Parkin - Medical News Today

BOONE COUNTY, Ill. (WIFR) -- The Boone County Health Department says that a resident in their 80s has died from complications of COVID-19. Officials with the department say the family gives permission to release the gender of their loved one with this statement, "She was a brave soil who will be missed greatly by her family and friends."

"I am deeply troubled by the news that we've lost one of our own: the first COVID-19 related death in Boone County," says Amanda Mehl, Public Health Administrator. "Boone County is with this patient's family and loved ones in mourning her loss and honoring her memory.

The health department previously announced that this resident had tested positive for COVID-19, the number of confirmed cases in the county is at seven.

Healthcare partners and first responders in Boone County have been in close communication with the Boone County Health Department and regional colleagues to monitor, respond, and help limit the spread of the disease.

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Boone County announces its first COVID-19 related death - WIFR

The IRS has established a special section focused on steps to help taxpayers, businesses and others affected by the coronavirus. This page will be updated as new information is available. For other information about the COVID-19 virus, people should visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://www.coronavirus.gov) for health information. Other information about actions being taken by the U.S. government is available at https://www.usa.gov/coronavirus and in Spanish athttps://gobierno.usa.gov/coronavirus. The Department of Treasury also has information available at Coronavirus: Resources, Updates, and What You Should Know.

The distribution of economic impact payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file to receive a payment. Instead, payments will be automatically deposited into their bank accounts. However, some people who typically do not file returns will need to submit a simple tax return to receive the economic impact payment. When more specific details become available, we will update this page.

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Coronavirus Tax Relief | Internal Revenue Service

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WHSV) As of Monday, April 6, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) had confirmed 345 cases of COVID-19 across the Mountain State.

According to the department's afternoon update, 21 new coronavirus cases were identified from Sunday to Monday.

For our local area, Hardy County saw its first confirmed case last Tuesday and Pendleton County had its first confirmed case last Wednesday evening.

According to the Hardy County Health Department, a patient who had been traveling has been self-quarantined since arriving home in Hardy County and has followed all proper CDC protocols since that time to protect their community members. No details were provided on the Pendleton County patient, though her daughter identified her on Facebook.

WHSV has repeatedly reached out to the company that community members identified as the Pendleton County patient's employer, but has received no response.

By Thursday, a second positive case was confirmed in Hardy County as well. There are still no confirmed cases in Grant County.

As of Monday morning, 9,940 West Virginia residents had been tested for COVID-19.

There have been 345 positive results, as well as 9,595 negative test results and three confirmed deaths due to the virus.

It comes out to 3.47% of people tested for the virus receiving positive results.

Medical providers in the state are required to report test results to their local health departments, which then provide them to DHHR, which updates their state website at some point during the day.

Some days, the updates come in the afternoon and some days, it comes in the morning.

Private commercial labs also have to send their test results to DHHR. However, state officials say the negative and pending tests from commercial labs are under-reported because some labs cannot electronically submit negative results.

Where are the confirmed cases?

These are the confirmed cases by West Virginia county:

Barbour (2)Berkeley (54)Cabell (7)Greenbrier (3)Hancock (6)Hardy (2)Harrison (25)Jackson (16)Jefferson (22)Kanawha (56)Lewis (1)Logan (6)Marion (17)Marshall (5)Mason (4)Mercer (4)Mineral (2)Monongalia (53)Morgan (3)Ohio (15)Pendleton (1)Pleasants (1)Preston (4)Putnam (8)Raleigh (4)Randolph (3)Roane (2)Taylor (1)Tucker (3)Upshur (1)Wetzel (2)Wirt (1)Wood (11)

The DHHR notes that surveillance at the local health department level may reveal over time that some initial test results in counties were for residents of another county or another state.

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345 cases of COVID-19 confirmed across West Virginia - WHSV

Read: How the pandemic will end

The governments social-distancing requirements, these pro-Trump talkers insist, are likely more harmful than the virus itself. Ten million people have lost their jobs, Limbaugh announced on April 2. Thats not enough for people like Bill Gates. Thats not enough for people who want to shoot down the entire country. Over the weekend, both Ingraham and Levin circulated a Federalist article headlined Why Severe Social Distancing Might Actually Result In More Coronavirus Deaths. On April 1, Beck urged policy makers to start putting hard dates on some of these [social-distancing] measures because we have got to get back to work A forced economic recession isnt a gamble that I signed up for.

Limbaugh, Ingraham, Levin, and Beck havent criticized Trump personally for acknowledging the severity of the pandemic. But neither are they giving credence to his newly dire estimates of the COVID-19 threat. The reason may be that they have different incentives than he does. Conservative talkers answer to their conservative audience, which, according to polls, remains more skeptical than Democrats of government restrictions on movement. Trump must worry about public opinion as a whole, which strongly favors government-imposed social distancing. Trumps decision to abandon his goal of reopening the country by Easter, according to Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman of the Times, came after political advisers described for him polling that showed that voters overwhelmingly preferred to keep containment measures in place over sending people back to work prematurely.

Trump must also balance his habitual suspicion of government experts against the fact that Americans trust those expertsin particular, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Faucifar more than they trust him in the battle against COVID-19. For Trump to reject their advice entirely might hurt his own standing, especially among the Democrats and independents who have helped boost his approval rating since the virus hit Americas shores.

Conservative talk radio, by contrast, is built on distrust of experts. Left-wing populists attack economic elites; right-wing populists attack cultural elites, especially those whom progressives venerate. In recent years, as progressives have championed the scientific consensus that climate change poses a grave danger, many conservatives have come to see scientists as yet another collection of snobs using the veneer of expertise to impose its liberal ideology on the country. A 2019 Pew Research Center poll found that while a large majority of Democrats believed that scientists were better than other people at making good policy decisions about scientific issues, a large majority of Republicans disagreed.

Over the past week, this populist distrust of scientific experts has suffused conservative talk radios downplaying of the COVID-19 threat. The experts are routinely wrong on issues big and smallon wearing masks, on reusable grocery bags virus modeling and treatments, Ingraham tweeted on April 3. So when experts issue edicts, remember their often spectacular record of failure. On April 1, Beck urged politicians to stop relying on flawed modeling data to make these decisions and instead listen to the people in your local communities. On April 5, Levin warned that the media, experts, and Democrats are trying to make it impossible for the president to even consider rational options for opening parts of the economy. On April 3, Ingraham declared, The experts arent capable of thinking beyond the virus to an even worse death spiral affecting millions of lives here and abroad.

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In Right-Wing Media, the Pivot Didnt Happen - The Atlantic