Category: Covid-19

The study, published in the medical journal JAMA Cardiology on Wednesday, found that among a group of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in Wuhan China, 19.7% suffered cardiac injury, which was found to be a risk factor for dying in the hospital.

Cardiac injury, also referred to as myocardial injury, occurs when there is damage to the heart muscle, and such damage can occur when blood flow to the heart is reduced -- which is what causes a heart attack.

The new study, conducted from January to February, included data on 416 adults who were confirmed to have Covid-19 and were hospitalized at Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University in China.

The data also revealed that the death rate was higher among patients with cardiac injury versus those without: 42 of the patients with cardiac injury, or 51.2%, died versus 15 of those without, or 4.5%.

"We know that cardiac damage is a marker for more mortality," Michos said. "This study clearly showed that even after you account for age and pre-existing cardiovascular disease, there was a still four-fold increased risk of dying. That's really important."

The new study had some limitations, including that the findings are based on observational data, and more research is needed to determine whether similar findings would emerge among a larger and more diverse group of Covid-19 patients.

Though the study showed cardiac injury is a common condition among patients hospitalized with Covid-19, it did not indicate whether Covid-19 directly causes cardiac injury. The mechanism of cardiac injury, or the process in which it occurs, among the patients with Covid-19 remains uncertain, and more evidence is needed to demonstrate whether Covid-19 directly injures the heart, the authors said.

"We need to figure out the mechanism of why do people with evidence of cardiac injury have higher morbidity or mortality? Is it related to the fact that they have underlying conditions that make them more susceptible to dying? Is it a marker of individuals that have a more robust immune response that is leading to heart damage?" said Michos of Johns Hopkins.

This and other studies suggest that those with elevated troponin, which measures cardiac injury, seem to be at a greater risk than when the elevation of other types of markers are present, such as inflammatory markers, Michos said.

The researchers also offered some ideas, writing in the study that people with preexisting cardiovascular diseases might be more susceptible to heart injury induced by Covid-19.

"Approximately 30% and 60% of patients with cardiac injury in the present study had a history of coronary heart disease and hypertension, respectively, which were significantly more prevalent than in those without cardiac injury," the researchers wrote in the study.

Also, acute inflammatory responses due to an infection can lead to reduced blood flow in patients with preexisting cardiovascular diseases, the researchers noted. They wrote that "based on these lines of evidence, we hypothesize that an intense inflammatory response superimposed on preexisting cardiovascular disease may precipitate cardiac injury."

A 'potentially important long-term issue'

When it comes to the public health impacts of Covid-19 and cardiac injury, the study suggests that "two key take-aways are that it's an important marker of those at high-risk for mortality as a consequence of Covid-19 infection and it may be an indicator of future risks associated with the cardiovascular injury from this infection, even if you recover," Gump said.

"Even though they're not dying from that cardiac injury, something about that biomarker is providing some prognostic value beyond other risk factors that were controlled, so it could still be important in terms of identifying high-risk patients that enter the hospital with Covid-19," Gump said.

"The other key here is the potentially important long-term issue," he said. "Many patients who pull through may still have cardiac injury and associated long-term cardiovascular issues as a consequence of Covid-19 infection."

They noted in the editorial that so far there have been only scarce data with respect to cardiovascular complications of Covid-19.

"To date, many patients with COVID-19 are still hospitalized in China and other countries, such as Italy and Iran. Therefore, continued observations of the cardiovascular complications of the disease are needed. In addition, further assessment is needed to identify risk factors for poor prognosis," Yang and Jin wrote. "Emerging as an acute infectious disease, COVID-19 may become a chronic epidemic similar to influenza because of genetic recombination. Therefore, we should be ready for the reemergence of COVID-19 or other coronaviruses."

CNN's Gina Yu contributed to this report.

See original here:

Cardiac injury among hospitalized Covid-19 patients tied to higher risk of death in new study - CNN

On March 5th, as COVID-19 began to reshape American life, I noted here that big tech companies had responded with unusual alacrity. Where they once had been loath to intervene in matters of fact, suddenly Facebook and Twitter were prominently featuring links to high-quality information from the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization in their respective feeds and search results. Google followed suit shortly thereafter.

In the weeks since, Big Tech has only accelerated its efforts at doing good. They have donated tens of millions of dollars to relief efforts. They have contributed large stocks of precious N95 masks acquired during last years wildfires to medical organizations. They have added sections to their apps highlighting accurate news about COVID-19. And as unemployment surged, Facebook pledged $100 million in grants to small businesses, and Amazon said it would hire 100,000 people.

In a dramatic change from only weeks before, news about Big Tech has been a bright spot at a time of great fear and, increasingly, of grief. Increasingly, journalists are asking whether the backlash against technology companies that has defined coverage of them for the past three and a half years might have come to an end.

In Wired on Friday, Steven Levy asked the question plainly: has the coronvirus killed the techlash? He writes:

Now that our lives are dominated by these giants, we see them as greedy exploiters of personal data and anticompetitive behemoths who have generally degraded society. Before the pandemic, there was every expectation that those companies would be reined in, if not split apart.

But the deus ex machina of an overwhelming public health crisis has changed things. The pandemic may have the effect of a justifiable war waged by an embattled president with low popularity. While Big Techs misdeeds are still apparent, their actual deeds now matter more to us. Were using Facebook to comfort ourselves while physically bunkered and social distancing. Google is being conscripted as the potential hub of one of our greatest needsCovid-19 testing. Our personal supply chainliterally the only way many of us are getting food and vital suppliesis Amazon.

Who knew the techlash was susceptible to a virus?

At CNBC, Salvador Rodriguez explored the same issue on Saturday, focused on Facebook. After rounding up everything the company had done so far, he said: Facebook wont be able to rebuild trust with the public overnight, but when the company was presented with an opportunity to rebuild goodwill by being proactive and helpful during global health and financial crises, Facebook sprung to action and seized the moment.

Subsequent articles have noted that, however magnanimous tech giants have acted in the crisis so far, they have much to gain from successfully navigating the coronavirus response. In The Information, Cory Weinberg noted that the companies work so far would likely have a recruiting benefit:

It is too early to know how big tech companies might seize the moment. And their own businesses certainly arent immune to economic fallout. But one area where they stand to benefit is recruiting. In recent years, big tech firms have had to compete with fast-growing startups for skilled computer scientists, especially as scandals and questions about abuses of power have tainted the reputations of the bigger firms. But tech workers who once might have preferred the dynamic surroundings of a small startup now might welcome the safer bet of a big enterprise.

One software engineer, who declined to be named to protect his job prospects, said he has been ignoring dozens of emails and calls from recruiters at Facebook in the last few months as he sought to develop his own company or join younger firms. But with venture capital firms expected to pull back from investing in nascent businesses, this month he scheduled an interview with the social media giant. His rationale: Stock gains from an equity package at Facebook could eventually help him self-fund his startup.

And perhaps even more importantly, the crisis represents an opportunity for tech companies to entwine themselves ever more deeply into customers lives. Already Ive had friends who had sworn off Facebook for good return to check on friends and family; will they be so quickly to delete it when a more normal way of life resumes? Amazon Prime may be groaning under the weight of increased demand, but after it gets your family through this crisis, would you ever dream of canceling it?

Daisuke Wakabayashi, Jack Nicas, Steve Lohr and Mike Isaac explore this question in the New York Times:

While Amazon has changed shopping habits for items like books, getting customers to trust it with groceries has been challenging. Now, as more people are forced to stay home, one of the last strongholds of physical retailing may be coming under pressure. [...]

As more customers try different Amazon services, they may create permanent shifts in buying habits, said Guru Hariharan, a former Amazon employee and the founder of CommerceIQ, a company whose automation software is used by major brands like Kelloggs and Kimberly-Clark.

For now, I think the prevailing sentiment is accurate: tech giants have probably turned a corner in public opinion. I imagine that the next time The Verge does its survey of Americans, it will find that the decline in trust has at least slowed, if not entirely reversed. One pressing question is whether that shift in sentiment, assuming its real, will affect the many ongoing state and federal investigations into competition and privacy issues that are still under way. Since late 2016 we have been focused on the problems that emerge from the size of giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon; in the past several weeks the benefits that come from that size have become more apparent.

Still, its possible that even a perfect response to the COVID-19 crisis could plant the seeds for a future backlash. So much of the frustration with tech companies in recent years has originated from the fact that they are inescapable. Dependence breeds resentment, and the fewer alternatives consumers have to tech giants, the more resentful they are likely to become in time. Its also possible and even likely that tech companies will make significant errors in their handling of the crisis, which could set back any progress they haver made.

But all that can wait for another day. For better and for worse, Americans are relying on technology companies to get them through the next several months. If there was ever a moment for these companies to prove their worth, its now.

Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.

Trending up: Volunteers from Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple worked every night for a week to make a website called covidnearyou that tracks the virus as it spreads.

Trending up: The World Health Organization has partnered with Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Microsoft for a hackathon dedicated to solving problems related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ten Amazon warehouses in the United States have had workers test positive for COVID-19. The news comes as the e-commerce giant races to hire 100,000 more workers to meet the rising demand. Heres Jay Greene at The Washington Post:

The company has recently adopted new policies for its warehouses, including more regularly cleaning door handles, stairway handrails, touch screens and more, Levandowski said. Its nixed stand-up meetings, staggered start and break times to aid social distancing, and suspended screening workers as they leave to improve the flow of workers, she said.

Amazon, though, is struggling to get workers all the protection it wants them to have. The company placed orders for millions of face masks to give to employees and contractors who cannot work from home, Bezos wrote in a letter to employees Saturday. Because of the global shortage of those masks, though, very few of those orders have been filled, he wrote.

Also: Amazon told workers at its warehouse in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, that it will keep the facility shut indefinitely after three people tested positive for COVID-19. The workers will continue to receive their scheduled pay. (Matt Day / Bloomberg)

Still, Amazon could come out of this crisis stronger than ever. The shutdown of many retail stores, along with a general anxiety about going out in public, could end up increasing the companys share of overall retail by prompting shoppers to buy more stuff over the internet. (Priya Anand and Ashley Gold / The Information)

Amazon appears to be prioritizing shipments of its own hardware devices, like the Amazon Echo, while delaying distribution of other nonessential items as demand continues to soar. (Priya Anand / The Information)

Singapore is open-sourcing its coronavirus contact-tracing app, called TraceTogether. The app uses Bluetooth to identify people whove been in close contact with COVID-19 patients. Heres Hariz Baharudin at The Straits Times:

Launched last Friday, the TraceTogether app can identify people who have been within 2m of coronavirus patients for at least 30 minutes, using wireless Bluetooth technology. Its developers say the app is useful when those infected cannot recall whom they had been in close proximity with for an extended duration.

For the app to start tracing, the Bluetooth setting on mobile phones has to be turned on.

If a user gets infected, the authorities will be able to quickly find out the other users he has been in close contact with, allowing for easier identification of potential cases and helping curb the spread of the virus.

Russia is using facial-recognition technology to track people who are supposed to self-quarantine. Its also threatening prison time for those who dont self-isolate. (Robyn Dixon / The Washington Post)

Nextdoor has become the place for neighbors to connect, organize, and help one another amid the coronavirus outbreak. But relics of the old Nextdoor are still there, conspiracy theories and all. (John Herrman / The New York Times)

Facebook, Tesla, and Apple have pledged to donate thousands of masks to combat the medical equipment shortages caused by the novel coronavirus. Experts say it makes sense that these companies have vast stockpiles, since California is no stranger to natural disasters. (Blake Montgomery / Daily Beast)

Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is just trying to keep the lights on as traffic continues to soar amid the coronavirus outbreak. The challenge is compounded by the company struggling to transition to a fully work from home culture. (Mike Isaac and Sheera Frenkel / The New York Times)

Also: Heres what Facebook said about dealing with the spike in traffic.

The World Health Organization plans to reach at least 50 million people with a WhatsApp chat service that delivers information about the novel coronavirus. The service garnered 10 million users within three days of launching. (Antony Sguazzin / Bloomberg)

Twitter temporarily locked the account of The Federalist after the conservative opinion site published a piece proposing the deliberate spread of the coronavirus in order to boost immunity to the disease. Fast, decisive, positive action from Twitter here. (Zachary Petrizzo / Mediaite)

Apples Screen Time feature has become a horrifying reminder of how much were using our devices now that were all stuck at home. Im up to 16 hours a day across my devices, how about you? (Travis M. Andrews / The Washington Post)

Pinterest launched a new Today tab to bring people curated boards and coronavirus information. The company plans to include expert information from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control. (Nathan Ingraham / Engadget)

Foxconn and Wistron, two iPhone makers, have suspended production at their Indian plants to comply with a nationwide lockdown ordered. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered the population to stay at home for three weeks. (Debby Wu / Bloomberg)

The coronavirus pandemic isnt (yet?) hurting TikTok stars at The Hype House in Los Angeles. Some say theyve seen enormous growth since the virus started to spread. (EJ Dickson / Rolling Stone)

Hundreds of tech employees are getting laid off amid the coronavirus outbreak and now its all happening over Zoom. Heres how it went down at TripActions. (Biz Carson / Protocol)

Theres a conflict playing out in the more orthodox factions of the Jewish community about whether or not to allow Zoom for virtual Seders. (Arutz Sheva)

Why youre getting coronavirus emails from every brand youve ever interacted with. Theyre all making decisions out of an abundance of caution. Abundance OCaution is going to be a great drag name for someone when this is all over. Or now! (Rebecca Jennings / Vox)

The internet was designed to adapt to huge spikes in traffic just like the one were living through. But the platforms and apps that make the internet useful are less tested. (Adam Clark Estes / Recode)

Americans who primarily get their news through social media are less likely to closely follow coronavirus news coverage. Theyre also the most likely to report seeing misinformation about the pandemic. (Pew Research Center)

Total cases in the US: 54,453

Total deaths in the US: 737

Cases reported in California: 2,853

Cases reported in New York: 26,358

Cases reported in Washington: 2,469

Information from the CDC. California data from the Los Angeles Times.

Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine.

Crunch is now offering free online workout classes for 45 days.

The Verge launched a newsletter called Home Screen about life on the internet during the pandemic. Its designed to show you fun distractions from the disaster highly recommended.

A new app called Find My Pasta tells you the availably of products at nearby stores.

The popular game Heads Up is now free to download.

Send us tips, comments, questions, and backlash against this newsletter: casey@theverge.com and zoe@theverge.com.

Read the original post:

How COVID-19 is changing public perception of big tech companies - The Verge

On March 24, a headline in the Financial Times proclaimed that "Coronavirus may have infected half of UK population," suggesting that many people in the region may have already recovered from and developed some immunity to COVID-19.

But is that actually true?

The news article focused on a new study from the University of Oxford, which has not been peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal. The study authors collected available data about deaths tied to the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, reported in both the United Kingdom and Italy, and used these numbers to model how the virus might have spread through the U.K. so far.

In one hypothetical scenario, the authors estimated that viral transmission began 38 days before the first recorded death in the U.K., which took place March 5. They found that, given this start date, 68% of the population would have been infected by March 19. This statistic made headlines in the Financial Times, and later, outlets like the Evening Standard, Daily Mail and The Sun, according to Wired U.K.

But this mathematical narrative rests on several key assumptions that are not backed by real-world data, experts told Wired.

To begin, the authors write that their overall approach "rests on the assumption that only a very small proportion of the population is at risk of hospitabitable illness." In their most extreme model, the authors estimate that just 0.1% of the population, or one in every 1,000 people, will require hospitalization.

"We can already see just by looking at Italy ... that that figure has already been exceeded," Tim Colbourn, an epidemiologist at University College Londons Institute for Global Health, told Wired U.K. In the region of Lombardy alone, more than one in 1,000 people have been hospitalized, and that number continues to grow every day, Wired U.K. reported.

Related: 10 deadly diseases that hopped across species

Several scientists posted additional critiques of the study through the Science Media Centre, an independent U.K.-based press office that works with researchers, journalists and policy makers to disseminate accurate scientific information.

"The work models one of the most important questions how far has the infection really spread in the total absence of any direct data," wrote James Wood, head of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, who researches infection dynamics and disease control. While the paper poses an important question, the assumptions underlying the model leave the authors' conclusions "open to gross over interpretation by others," Wood said.

"As far as I can tell, the model ... assumes that all those infected, whether they are asymptomatic, mildly ill or severely ill are equally infectious to others," Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, wrote on the Science Media Centre site. "This is almost certainly false." Data suggest that asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic people may actually fuel the rapid spread of COVID-19.

In addition, the model assumes that the U.K. population would become "completely mixed" over time, meaning any given individual has an equal chance of running into another within the region, Hunter wrote. "We do not all have an equal random chance of meeting every other person in the U.K., infected or otherwise," he said. Without some acknowledgement of the structure of social networks within the U.K.; the relative risk of running into a mildly symptomatic or asymptomatic person; and the risk of severe infection tied to different demographics, the simplified model "should not be given much credibility," Hunter said.

In comparison, a recent study from Imperial College London included numbers from several Italian villages where every resident received a diagnostic test and might provide more realistic benchmarks for the extent of infection elsewhere, lead author Niall Ferguson told the Science and Technology Committee, according to Wired U.K. "Those data all point to the fact that we are nowhere near the [Oxford study] scenario in terms of the extent of the infection," Ferguson said.

Despite its flaws, the Oxford paper did highlight an important point, upon which all the Science Media Centre experts and those who spoke to Wired U.K. agreed:

The U.K. needs to determine how many people have already been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 to shape public health policy going forward. This feat can be accomplished with widespread serological testing (blood tests), which would reveal who has antibodies to the novel coronavirus circulating in their blood. The U.K. has ordered 3.5 million antibody tests and must now validate the kits before selling them to the public, Wired U.K. previously reported.

"As the authors say [in their paper], a proper test will come from serological surveys which will tell us how many people have been exposed," Mark Woolhouse, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh wrote on the Science Media Centre. If data gathered through serological testing does support the Oxford model, it would have "huge implications," Woolhouse added. For instance, the finding would suggest that many people in the U.K. now have immunity against COVID-19, which would help break the chains of viral transmission to those who are still vulnerable. This phenomenon is known as herd immunity.

"It would imply that the main reason why COVID-19 epidemics peak is the build-up of herd immunity," he wrote. "Though that would not change current policy in the UK, which is focused [on] reducing the short-term impact of the epidemic on the [National Health Service], it would change enormously our long-term expectations making a second wave significantly less likely and raising the possibility that the public health threat of COVID-19 will diminish all around the world in the coming months."

Originally published on Live Science.

OFFER: Save at least 53% with our latest magazine deal!

With impressive cutaway illustrations that show how things function, and mindblowing photography of the worlds most inspiring spectacles, How It Works represents the pinnacle of engaging, factual fun for a mainstream audience keen to keep up with the latest tech and the most impressive phenomena on the planet and beyond. Written and presented in a style that makes even the most complex subjects interesting and easy to understand, How It Works is enjoyed by readers of all ages.View Deal

Read more:

Has half the UK already caught COVID-19? Probably not. - Live Science

RAYMONDVILLE A 4-year-old has become the first case of coronavirus confirmed in Willacy County.

On Thursday, Mayor Gilbert Gonzales said health officials were not releasing the childs sex or home town in this sparsely populated farming area.

However, he said the childs infection was not related to travel.

The state health departments Region 11 offices is conducting an investigation to determine whether others have contracted the virus, Frank Torres, the countys emergency management coordinator, said.

The individuals family has been notified and is being treated and (officials are) following up with an investigation to determine whos been in contact with the person or persons infected, Torres said. Theyve been put under quarantine.

Torres urged residents to follow federal guidelines recommending they keep six-foot distances between themselves and others to help prevent the spread of the virus.

We have to make sure we practice social distancing to keep this from spreading, Torres said.

Fernando del Valle is a Reporter for the Valley Morning Star. He can be reached at fdelvalle@valleystar.com or (956) 430-6278.

View post:

4-year-old becomes first COVID-19 case confirmed in Willacy County - Monitor

Garbage contaminated with bodily fluids or other infectious materials is becoming a bigger concern for hospitals as they brace for a surge in patients sick with COVID-19 in the US. Patients and health care workers are quickly going through medical supplies and disposable personal protective equipment, like masks. Eventually all that used gear piles up as medical waste that needs to be safely discarded.

In Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first emerged, officials didnt just need to build new hospitals for the influx of patients; they had to construct a new medical waste plant and deploy 46 mobile waste treatment facilities too. Hospitals there generated six times as much medical waste at the peak of the outbreak as they did before the crisis began. The daily output of medical waste reached 240 metric tons, about the weight of an adult blue whale.

Theres already been an uptick of garbage from personal protective equipment in the US, according to medical waste company Stericycle, which handled 1.8 billion pounds of medical waste globally in 2018. And some things that arent usually considered medical waste, like food, now need to be handled more carefully after coming in contact with a COVID-19 patient. Stericycle didnt provide numbers for how much of an increase its seeing so far, adding that it believes it has the capacity to handle the swell and may add shifts to the companys 50 treatment centers in the US if necessary. Additionally, the drop in elective surgeries might offset some of the rise in waste were seeing from the pandemic, a spokesperson for Stericycle tells The Verge.

Its a rapidly changing environment right now and forecasting volumes is challenging, Stericycle Vice President of Corporate Communications Jennifer Koenig wrote in an email to The Verge. We are closely monitoring the situation with all relevant agencies to determine next steps.

The CDC says that medical waste from COVID-19 can be treated the same way as regular medical waste. Regulations on how to treat that waste vary by location and can be governed by state health and environmental departments, as well as by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of Transportation. Generally, to make sure contaminated trash from health care facilities doesnt pose any harm to the public before going to a landfill, its typically burned, sterilized with steam, or chemically disinfected.

Theres more to worry about than waste from medical centers. The disease is spread out beyond hospitals. Some people who have minor symptoms are recovering at home. Others who are asymptomatic might not know that the trash theyre throwing out could be contaminated. That means people may be generating plenty of virus-laden trash. Thats worrying for sanitation workers, as the virus can persist for up to a day on cardboard and for longer on metal and plastic, according to one study of the virus in lab conditions.

But if garbage is properly bagged instead of kept loose and workers are wearing personal protective equipment, especially gloves, then there shouldnt be a risk of catching the virus, David Biderman, CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America, tells The Verge. Practicing social distancing while on the job, including maintaining appropriate distances from people, may also help reduce sanitation workers risks, says Elise Paeffgen, a partner with the firm Alston & Bird who works on medical waste issues.

People handling health care waste in particular should wear appropriate gear, including boots, aprons, long-sleeved gowns, thick gloves, masks, and goggles or face shields, according to recommendations from the World Health Organization. Luckily, protective efforts so far seem to have paid off. There is no evidence that direct, unprotected human contact during the handling of health care waste has resulted in the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, according to a March 19th technical brief from the WHO. As the pandemic grows, so will the waste, and keeping that garbage safe and contained will continue to be a challenge for communities until the crisis is over.

See the rest here:

The COVID-19 pandemic is generating tons of medical waste - The Verge

Dyson the British technology company best known for its high-powered vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, and fans has designed a new ventilator, the CoVent, in the past several days, which it will be producing in order to help treat coronavirus patients, via CNN.

The company reportedly developed the ventilator in 10 days based on Dysons existing digital motor technology. Dyson is still seeking regulatory approval in the UK for the rapidly designed device, but its already received an order from the UK Government for 10,000 ventilators, of which the National Health Service (NHS) is in dire need.

The CoVent is a bed-mounted and portable ventilator, with the option to run on battery power should the need arise. This new device can be manufactured quickly, efficiently and at volume, company founder James Dyson noted in a letter to the company obtained by Fast Company, adding that the CoVent was designed to address the specific clinical needs of Covid-19 patients. Dyson also pledged in the letter to donate an additional 5,000 ventilators to the international effort, 1,000 of which will go to the United Kingdom.

The race is now on to get it into production, Dyson noted in his letter, with a company spokesperson telling CNN that the ventilators would be ready in early April.

Ventilators which provide assisted breathing for patients who are unable to breath themselves are critical for the treatment of severe cases of COVID-19, which causes respiratory symptoms in some patients. Dyson isnt the only major company thats pivoted to ventilator design and production in recent days carmarkers like Ford, Tesla, and General Motors have also pledged to repurpose their plants toward developing the critical treatment devices as shortages around the world continue to grow.

Read the original post:

Dyson developed and is producing ventilators to help treat COVID-19 patients - The Verge

Some of them, previously recognized as CNN Heroes for their work to fix problems in their communities, now find themselves helping stem the tide of the virus.

"Covid-19, aka coronavirus, aka 'Rona' -- what we call it in my neighborhood -- it's pretty scary," Gore told CNN. "I'm not going to lie. It's scary times."

New York City is now considered the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, with about 60% of the new cases in the country. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the state is experiencing an "astronomical surge" in cases, which are now doubling every three days.

"I've worked in disaster zones in the past," Gore said, noting his relief work in post-earthquake Haiti, South America and East Africa. "This feels like it's a culmination of all of them."

For Gore, this crisis isn't a typical natural disaster, like Haiti's 2010 earthquake, but he said he sees similarities in terms of lack of resources, access to care, and fear. Shortages of equipment such as ventilators, gloves and masks have been widely reported in New York City.

Tents are set up outside Gore's hospital to assess and contain Covid-19 cases. And Gore is now living at an Airbnb to avoid infecting his family. For how long? He's not sure.

"Right now with coronavirus, we don't know how many patients are going to keep coming in," he said. "We don't know when it's going to end."

But the pandemic has given his work an even greater sense of urgency.

"People that we have out here on the streets ... may be at higher risk in some ways for the Covid infection that's coming," said Withers, who spoke with CNN from the field, where he was helping screen people for the virus. "It's very important ... to not forget members of our community that may not be able to make it to standard testing areas."

Withers' group has been designated by the city's mayor to lead virus management for the homeless. His team is giving out soap and jugs of water, and educating people about how they can protect themselves. They also have masks, tents and sleeping bags available for those who need to isolate but don't want to go to the hospital.

In addition to helping contain the spread of the virus, Withers said he believes his work might help in the larger fight against Covid-19, increasing knowledge of how it's spreading and who may be at the greatest risk.

His mission is now one of the most vital ways to keep the virus from spreading.

"All of a sudden we have woken up to a new reality ... where everyone is talking about handwashing with soap," said Lakhani, a 2017 CNN Hero. "And it is our job to meet that demand and provide as much soap to people around the world as humanly possible, especially right now."

During the past two and a half months, his group has provided 375,000 bars of soap to people in 10 countries, ranging from rural communities in south Asia to people in slum communities in East and South Africa. His team has also started making surgical masks out of recycled hotel linens. But soap -- and hygiene education -- remain his primary focus.

"We are on track, should this virus still persist, to reach 2.5 million people by the end of this year with the soap that they need to keep themselves healthy," Lakhani said.

While they're consumed with battling the virus in their own ways, all of these CNN Heroes see reasons to be positive.

Gore recommends using this time of social distancing for self-reflection, and as an opportunity to find ways to help others.

"Think about who you are and what kind of problems you want to fix," Gore said. "Contemplate these issues that you may have had in the back of your mind that you've always wanted to tackle. ... Try to make the best of these times."

Lakhani said he believes this crisis will ultimately show humanity at its best.

"We can adapt to almost any crisis that we face, and that is something that we should be proud of," he said. "All of a sudden, I feel a sense of closeness to people. ... It is as if the color of our skin and boundaries have just dissipated and dissolved in front of our eyes."

Withers said he, too, feels the lessons we're learning now can help us build a better future.

"We're all in this together. These are our brothers and sisters out here," he said. "Hopefully, the lessons that we learn here of being together and taking care of each other will last far beyond this Covid epidemic."

Excerpt from:

How these CNN Heroes are fighting Covid-19 on the front lines - CNN

Gov. Doug Burgum said at a press conference on Thursday, March 26, that the state has 58 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up from 45 on Wednesday.

This is our biggest increase yet, he said, noting 11 people so far have been hospitalized with the illness in North Dakota.

One of the cases was a child in McIntosh County, according to the North Dakota Department of Health.

Burgum said it is assumed that the numbers of positive cases will continue to rise in the state in the coming days.

It doesnt matter whether or not theres zero positives reported in a county, the governor said. By the end of the week we will assume with the rate of spread that we will have positive cases in every county.

Burgum said one concern is not having enough medical supplies, but promised the state is working around the clock to meet the challenges.

So far, 2,261 people have been tested in North Dakota; 2,203 tests have come back negative.

Burgum did not issue an executive order on Thursday, but said there will be changes to elections and tax filings, the latter being delayed until July 15 without any fear of penalty, according to Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger.

Among the changes for elections, the state is waiving the requirement to have at least one physical polling location during a primary election in counties that use mail ballots, though he said counties have the ability to opt out.

He also said unemployment claims in the state continue to rise, with just under 14,000 insurance and benefit claims filed in nine days.

Burgum also discussed operating guidelines for child care providers during the pandemic, saying efforts are being made to protect child care providers so their businesses are not only functional now but also after the pandemic.

A male child from McIntosh County was listed among those infected, according to the health department. The child is between the ages of 0-9. On March 18, the state confirmed the virus in a Morton County girl age 10-19.

Other new cases include five from Burleigh County, three from Stark County, two from Cass County, and one each from McIntosh, McHenry and Ward counties.

The McHenry County case was a result of community spread, according to the health department. Most of the cases have so far come from Burleigh and Morton counties.

On Wednesday Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued an order that residents shelter in place beginning at 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 27.

For now, there is no shelter-in-place order for North Dakota residents.

Earlier in the day, Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford said there were no plans to immediately issue a shelter-in-place order for North Dakota residents, though that may change as the situation around the coronavirus evolves.

Sanford made the remarks to address concerns of North Dakotans located in the eastern part of the state -- where many work in Minnesota, and are wondering what will happen to them should the order be given. He made the remarks via teleconference call to a gathering of nearly 1,000 members of the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce.

I can tell you that's not the direction that we're headed today, Sanford said. We feel that the restrictions on moving around and the restrictions in the public spaces that have happened, to date, are where we want to be today, so hopefully that answers that question.

Sanford said North Dakota residents and businesses are self-regulating the situation by practicing social distancing and correct flu etiquettes.

These are things that we're doing as North Dakotans and we feel that really is limiting the community spread, Sanford said. We're doing a good job with that, and we want to continue forward with that direction.

As a public service, weve opened this article to everyone regardless of subscription status.

Go here to see the original:

UPDATED: Child among new positive cases of COVID-19 in North Dakota; total rises to 58 - Grand Forks Herald

Self-testing at home to find out whether somebody has had Covid-19 is an efficient way to find out if they are safe to return to work, a senior health official has said.

Prof Yvonne Doyle, the medical director of Public Health England, told the health select committee that finger-prick home tests would be available very soon. We expect that to come within a couple of weeks, but I wouldnt want to promise on that, she said.

It was critical to understand what is going on and allow people to return to work she said. Self-testing was not new and was well understood by the public, with routine tests available such as the pregnancy test. The intention is to allow people to do as much of this as they validly can. It is by far the most efficient way, if the technology will support it, she said.

On Wednesday Prof Sharon Peacock, from Public Health England, told MPs on the science and technology committee that a home test to detect antibodies indicating somebody has had Covid-19 was being evaluated this week in Oxford to make sure it worked as well as is claimed and would be available next week. Government advisers later cautioned that the test might not be ready so quickly.

But the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said the government has bought 3.5m antibody tests and will buy more.

Governments around the world are all seeking better and faster tests to show whether people have the disease or have had had it and recovered.

Singapore developed an antibody test as early as February. The US Covid-19 co-ordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, has said the US government is interested in it, and private US companies are also developing antibody tests. They include California-based Biomerica, which is selling to Europe and the Middle East, and New York-based Chembio Diagnostics, which is selling to Brazil.

Some are developed now. We are looking at the ones in Singapore, Birx said on Monday at a White House press briefing. We are very quality-oriented. We dont want false positives.

UK firms and academics have also developed self-test kits for Covid-19 that are expected to be available to buy in the coming weeks or months.

One cheap test is made by Mologic, a diagnostic test firm based in Bedford. Another kit has been developed by researchers at three UK universities led by Brunel University.

Mologic has produced the first prototypes of an antibody test for Covid-19, building on its experience of developing a rapid test kit for Ebola. Assessment and validation of the test began this week at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and St Georges, University of London.

The company said it would take three to four months before the test is available in the UK and other countries. It will cost 1 in the UK and will be as simple to use as a home pregnancy test but will use saliva or blood rather than urine, with results ready in 10 minutes.

Mologic, which received 1m from the UK government to develop the test, will be able to make 8m kits a year at facilities in the UK and Senegal. In Senegal it will be sold for less than $1.

These tests could be a game-changer for diagnosis and follow-up of patients both in hospital and in the community, allowing us to detect cases early and isolate patients and their families rapidly, said Dr Emily Adams, a senior lecturer in diagnostics for infectious disease at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

The test kit developed by researchers at Brunel University London, Lancaster University and the University of Surrey is based on science evaluated in the Philippines to check chickens for viral infections.

The battery-operated handheld device processes nasal or throat swabs that are inserted into it, and delivers the results within 30 to 45 minutes via a smartphone app. The team has approached UK, US and European regulators for approval and is in talks with 60 manufacturers. It could be available to the public within a few weeks.

The device will be priced at 100 and can test six people at once. The test can detect the virus in individuals who show no symptoms because it recognises the DNA structure of the virus in the samples.

Read more:

Covid-19 self-test could allow return to work, say health officials - The Guardian

The failures of the United States initial response to the Covid-19 pandemic are already well established: We were too slow to recognize the threat of the disease and too slow to get diagnostic testing in place, and were ill prepared for the strain on our health care system.

But now, largely, were doing something right: social distancing.

The outright lockdowns of movement in some cities, as well as the less severe policies in place across the country, can slow the spread of the pandemic. And per at least one poll, people are, by and large, complying.

Frustratingly, though, we must be patient in our isolation. The impacts of social distancing lag in case-count data and may take a few weeks to show up. Right now, there are infections out there, in the public, that were seeded long before these orders came into effect. It can take 10 days or more between when a person is infected and when they show symptoms during which they can spread the virus to others.

The social distancing measures in place also arent airtight, so these infections will still seed some others. And just the cases that are already out there are expected to overrun hospitals.

Its important to recognize it could be months until it's safe to lift social distancing restrictions. And the timeline might vary depending on where you live and when the virus strikes the hardest.

We need social distancing because it slows the spread of the disease to manageable levels. When that happens, we can move to a more sustainable mitigation strategy. But well need to be careful. Just look at Hong Kong: After a month of strong control measures, including social distancing, cases are on the rise again, perhaps fueled by residents returning from abroad.

Know this: Ceaseless social distancing is not the only way to end this outbreak. And President Trump paints a false choice between saving lives and saving the economy. We can find a balance. Its just that the current orders of social distancing would need to be replaced by a comprehensive, extremely ambitious plan.

Epidemiologists have been telling me about what it would take to end social distancing safely while fighting the spread of Covid-19. It isnt easy. It will require an immense amount of leadership, coordination, and more sacrifice. It would take a sort of moonshot-level effort. But the tactics they outline arent unfamiliar. Theyre textbook epidemiology they just need to be scaled up to a level never really seen before.

We really do need a Manhattan Project effort to get this stuff in place in really a two- or three-month period, Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, says.

We need social distancing across the country, and we need to keep it in place for some weeks, if not months, to buy time. If social distancing works, is enacted broadly, and is kept up, the number of new infections could decrease. It would give us a pause in the action, to potentially move on from social distancing to a more targeted pandemic strategy. Right now is the time to get plans ready so when that pause comes, we can make things right.

Its understandable that some maybe most people want life to go back to normal already. Trump is anxious too, saying he hopes to reopen the country by Easter, April 12.

But that could be dangerously too soon. Its a nightmare scenario for epidemiologists and health care workers, says Tara Smith, who studies emerging infectious diseases at Kent State University. Imagine the mixing of populations that would happen at Easter if given the all clear people who may be carrying the virus without knowing it, hugging their loved ones, spending hours in close contact, and then everyone going back home afterward.

As when a doctor asks you to consult them before ending a medication, we cannot end social distancing abruptly and without expert advice. (Think about when youre on a course of antibiotic medication you have to complete the whole regimen of pills even when you start feeling better. Social distancing is a little like that.)

And like vaccines, the distancing isnt just for you (although data shows that all age groups and people without preexisting risk factors can fall critically ill from the disease). It crucially protects vulnerable people from the disease. Without it, they become vulnerable again.

If we all just went right back to how things were before, transmission would start again with the same intensity, says Caitlin Rivers, a professor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Its hard to experience so many restrictions, and so many hardships, and not feel like its not working. We need to recognize that we are doing the right things. You just have to be a little bit patient.

Its worth remembering why were in this situation. The facts remain that we wasted a lot of time in terms of ramping up testing, Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health, says. Testing in an outbreak provides two functions. One is to diagnose those who are sick. The other is surveillance: to see where the virus may be lurking, especially in cases where symptoms are mild or dont manifest at all. The US has barely had enough testing capacity to test the sickest, let alone the capacity to do surveillance. Many doctors are telling patients with milder symptoms to just stay home and not get a test.

Social distancing is basically a sledgehammer, Konyndyk, who has worked on past outbreaks, like Ebola, says. Youre just stopping everything and hoping that in the process you will also slow transmission. What we need to do, he says, is turn that sledgehammer of social distancing into a scalpel: widespread testing and contact tracing.

The classic epidemiological approach to controlling disease is not to shut down society; its to target the people you know to have the disease and understand who theyre spreading it to, Konyndyk says. We cant do that right now because we dont have enough testing to know who has the disease.

Not only do we need more testing, we also need testing that can be completed within minutes. I would just be so happy if we had rapid diagnostics, Saskia Popescu, a hospital epidemiologist in Phoenix, Arizona, says. If youve ever been to an urgent care, when they do a flu test, in many cases it takes, like, 10 minutes. So if we can move to more of a rapid diagnostic where its a very, very quick turnaround, then we can make sure that those people go home and isolate themselves. Currently, it can take days to get a diagnostic test back, and people may not be sure of what to do while they wait.

These rapid tests are in the works. But were going to need other kinds of testing, too. Were also going to need serology testing of peoples blood. That way, we can figure out who has already had the disease and is now immune and can safely return to be in contact with others in society. (Though scientists still need to do more work in determining what immunity looks like in any given person.)

The first piece of the moonshot is what were doing now, and will hopefully sustain, which is mass social distancing to do the sledgehammer to bring down the numbers, Konyndyk says. Once you bring down the numbers back to a manageable level, he says, we need to go back to some textbook epidemiology.

Once theres widespread testing, there needs to be a huge team of public health workers in place to trace the contacts of those who test positive. Everyone who tests positive or who has come into contact with someone who tests positive then needs to be put into quarantine or isolation, to not spread the virus any further. This is how authorities routinely beat outbreaks even of incredibly infectious diseases like measles.

In South Korea, this work was aided by technology. Authorities used GPS data from peoples cellphones to figure out whom they may have been in contact with. The GPS data may prove more reliable than their memory. We need to take a good look at what South Korea has done, and what people here are willing to accept as far as some of those intrusions of public health into their normal lives, their privacy, Smith says. Also helpful would be a forecasting function for the ebb and flow of the disease at the community level, Konyndyk says. The country already has tools to forecast flu outbreaks. We could adapt them for Covid-19. With such a forecasting tool, we could see an upsurge in cases, and then dial the social distancing back up, he says.

Even aided by technology, this work would require an enormous number of workers. Its very labor-intensive to find contacts of people who are sick, Rivers says. A part of this part of what we do with contact tracing is to check on them every day to see if they have become sick. Keeping some measures of social distancing in place might make this work easier, too: If people have fewer places to go, fewer crowds to assemble in, there will be fewer contacts to track.

Konyndyk suggests this effort would take tens of thousands of people, maybe more.

So these are the questions our leaders need to be asking now: Who will do this work? Will it be the National Guard? Could we employ and train laid-off workers from the concurrent economic crisis to provide support? I think theres lots of options, but starting with the vision and the strategy is kind of where we should begin, Rivers says.

And right now these experts dont see that vision coming from the federal government. By and large, the response to this outbreak is in the hands of state and local leaders. But you want the federal government laying out, Heres the strategy, heres the path, and getting the ball rolling, Konyndyk says.

And even in this aggressive test-and-trace scenario, there could be many disruptions to our lives. It could mean a lot of people still under quarantine orders. Some level of general social distancing might also still need to be put in place. Perhaps, for example, schools could reopen but adults would still be encouraged to telework, and sporting events and other mass gatherings would be canceled. Its not the case that everything could go back to normal. Its the case that we could let some things go back to normal. Social distancing is a treatment wed need to gently taper off. (Wed also need to be vigilant about the possibility we still could import new cases from abroad.)

Researchers at the Imperial College of London suggested another way to taper off in a paper last week: pulsing. That is, we can relax social distancing policies when hospitals seem to be managing cases, and ramp them up when ICU beds are in short supply. But this isnt ideal. How would life look like if went on, and then we went off, and then on, and off, I think it would be hard to envision how life would unfold under that scenario, Rivers says. This likely wouldnt end the pandemic, but it would spread its pain over a longer period.

In any case, well probably have to take a step-wise approach off social distancing and see how we can best balance it with returning to some small slice of normal life. In time, well learn how to achieve that balance. For now and because there are just so many things about this virus that are still not known we need to stay put.

The ultimate goal in stopping a pandemic is a safe and effective vaccine that can prevent people from getting the virus. The good news is that these are already being tested. The bad news is that it could take a year or more to prove they are safe and effective. Honestly, I think the vaccine in 12 to 18 months is a moonshot, Smith says.

In the meantime, we might be able to find a treatment sooner. The World Health Organization is currently facilitating a multinational clinical trial, testing medicines and combinations of medicines to treat Covid-19. If scientists do discover drugs that decrease the ICU time by 20 to 30 percent, that would add up, Omer says, and ease the strain on hospitals. But even those drugs wouldnt necessarily stop the outbreak.

It would be really great, I think, for saving lives, Rivers says. But you wouldnt really expect it to slow transmission at all. People could still be getting sick and spreading the virus. And we would need to be vigilant, and patient, in this scenario, too. Even if we reduce the risk of severe disease and death, if we increase the number of cases, more people can still get sick and die.

The scientists I spoke to for this piece all understand the extreme weight and burden of social distancing. The economic concerns have real impact on health, Omer says. Its not that were being cavalier about this stuff. The economic ramifications of the pandemic are only adding to existing mental health strain. The scientists want it to end too.

But a balance is needed. I dont want to turn the economy back on in a way that just nukes our hospital system, and thats what we would do right now if we abruptly ended social distancing, Konyndyk says.

So whatever time we buy with social distancing we need to use wisely. We need to ramp up production of critical hospital supplies; we need to establish supply chains for the massive testing regime that will be needed. We need to train more people to help. And we can do this. Amazon was born in this country, UPS was created in this country, and we are teaching supply chain logistics in every management school, and we cant have a stable supply chain of personal protective equipment? Omer says. Clearly, we can and need to do better.

But all this requires leadership. President Trump is not using the full power of his office to make sure companies produce the needed supplies. If anything, he frequently uses his office to downplay the harms of the virus and hawk unproven cures.

Right now, we still have a chance to reduce the amount of harm this virus could cause. How? Lets figure out testing, lets get enough PPE [personal protective equipment] for first responders, Smith says. Lets get enough swabs. Lets buy more ventilators, build more ventilators to have this second chance at not messing things up.

We need to do this as a nation. While the pandemic is now hitting the New York region the hardest, it will in time likely hit other cities hard as well.

The greatest power we have right now is patience. Its not easy to muster in the face of such sacrifice. And at times, it can feel ineffective. But where you find it, drink it in. Currently, its likely our best chance at a cure.

Go here to see the original:

How to safely end social distancing and ease the Covid-19 pandemic - Vox.com