Health systems, govt responses linked to virus tolls

BERLIN (AP) — Scientists say a comparison of 21 developed countries during the start of the coronavirus pandemic shows that those with early lockdowns and well-prepared national health systems avoided large numbers of additional deaths due to the outbreak.

In a study published Wednesday by the journal Nature Medicine, researchers used the number of weekly deaths in 19 European countries, New Zealand and Australia over the past decade to estimate how many people would have died from mid-February to May 2020 had the pandemic not happened.

The authors, led by Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London, then compared the predicted number of deaths to the actual reported figure during that period to determine how many likely occurred due to the pandemic. Such models of ‘excess mortality’ are commonly used by public health officials to better understand disease outbreaks and the effectiveness of counter-measures.

The study found there were about 206,000

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More Than 15 Percent Of Ohio Kids Considered Obese: Study

CLEVELAND — More than 15 percent of Ohio children are considered obese.

Ohio has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation for children ages 10 to 17, according to a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Roughly one in seven Ohio kids are considered obese.

“Childhood obesity remains an epidemic in this country,” said Jamie Bussel, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation .

Ohio’s obesity rate for kids 10 to 17 is 15.7 percent. The national obesity rate for that age group is 15.5 percent. Ohio has the 20th highest youth obesity rate in the nation.

Poverty is one of the leading contributing factors to youth obesity, the Foundation found. With the coronavirus pandemic causing shutdowns and mass layoffs around the nation, Ohio and the U.S.’s youth obesity crisis may have grown worse.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic recession have worsened many

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Eli Lilly says other COVID-19 antibody drug trials ongoing after study halted for safety concern

By Carl O’Donnell and Michael Erman



a large building: FILE PHOTO: Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of their offices in San Diego

© Reuters/MIKE BLAKE
FILE PHOTO: Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of their offices in San Diego

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly & Co on Wednesday said other trials of its experimental coronavirus antibody therapy remain on track after a government-run study testing the treatment in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was paused due to safety concerns.

Lilly said on Tuesday that an independent safety monitoring board requested a pause in the trial, called ACTIV-3, due to a potential safety issue.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is collaborating with Lilly on the trial, said the advisory board paused the trial after seeing a “difference in clinical status” between patients on Lilly’s drug on those who received a placebo, without providing further detail.

“They’ve crossed the boundary” for an acceptable level of safety concerns in the trial, said Dr. Richard Chaisson, professor of medicine at

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Infection Control Problems Persist in Nursing Homes During COVID


The new analysis draws on self-reported data from nursing homes collected by the federal government over four weeks from late August to late September. While some states fared much worse than others, all 50 states and the District of Columbia had one or more nursing homes that reported inadequate PPE supply, staff shortages, staff infections and resident cases. Forty-seven states reported at least one COVID-19 death among residents.

The analysis found that more than 28,000 residents tested positive for COVID-19 during the four-week reporting period, and more than 5,200 residents died, showing that the virus is still raging in nursing homes. More than 84,000 long-term care residents and staff have died since January, and more than 500,000 residents and staff have contracted the disease, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s tally, accounting for roughly 40 percent of the national death toll. Long-term care providers include assisted living, adult day care

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COVID Cases Climbing in 36 States | Health News

By Robin Foster and E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporters

(HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Coronavirus outbreaks in the Midwest and Western United States have driven the national case count to its highest level since August, fueling fears of what the coming winter will mean for the country.

COVID-19 cases are starting to climb in 36 states, including parts of the Northeast, which is starting to backslide after months of progress, The New York Times reported. More than 820 new deaths and more than 54,500 new cases were announced across the country on Tuesday, the newspaper said. Idaho and Wisconsin set single-day records for new cases.

About 50,000 new cases are being reported each day in the United States for the week ending Monday, the Times reported. That is still less than in late July, when the country was seeing more than 66,000 cases each day.

But the trajectory

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Peer support can help bridge gaps in mental-health services

A recent  report by Deloitte forecasts Canadians will experience an increase in mental-health issues over the coming years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It suggests medical visits for mental-health issues could rise by between 54 and 163 per cent, and the total number of Canadians seeking medical attention for these issues will range from 6.3 million to 10.7 million. These are astronomical and concerning numbers.



A discarded surgical mask lies in a pile of leaves in Montreal Monday September 28, 2020. Even once the pandemic is over, there is expected to be a longer-term impact on the demand for mental-health services.

© Provided by The Gazette
A discarded surgical mask lies in a pile of leaves in Montreal Monday September 28, 2020. Even once the pandemic is over, there is expected to be a longer-term impact on the demand for mental-health services.

Other reports are also suggesting during this pandemic young adults are more likely to experience moderate-to-severe anxiety, and feel lonely and feel depressed, compared with older populations.

It’s evident young adults in Canada face and will continue to face mental-health challenges at

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Zoom is releasing a new tool to let paid users charge for admission to online events like conferences or fitness classes



Eric S. Yuan standing in front of a sign: Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom Video Communications takes part in a bell ringing ceremony at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York Reuters

© Provided by Business Insider
Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom Video Communications takes part in a bell ringing ceremony at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York Reuters
  • Zoom is introducing OnZoom, a new way to host events — free and paid — using the popular videoconferencing tool.
  • Zoom has come to be used to host all kinds of events amid the pandemic, from board meetings and conferences to fitness classes and concerts. The new OnZoom platform includes the ability to charge for tickets, as well as a directory of public event listings.
  • Zoom is also launching a new kind of app integration, called a Zapp, that can bring information from productivity tools like Dropbox, Slack, or Asana directly into a video chat.
  • Facebook launched its own features for paid videoconferencing events over the summer.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

As the pandemic drags on, Zoom is releasing a

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Council Rock North Shuts Down Athletics Amid Rising COVID Cases

NEWTOWN, PA — All athletics and activity programs for Council Rock North High School students are shut down until further notice, Principal Susan C. McCarthy told parents in an email Tuesday afternoon.

The move comes one day after the high school decided to cancel in-person classes for the week after three students reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Superintendent Robert Fraser’s decision to close the school went against the advice of Bucks County Health Director David Damsker, who did not recommend closing school.

The health department will only recommend closing a school when there is a clear indication that the district’s health and safety plan isn’t working, Damsker told Patch, and there’s no evidence at this point that transmission is happening within schools.

“School closures are very disruptive and don’t help stop people from getting sick outside of school,” Damsker said. “If people continue to have parties and gather, closing school

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How to know if chest pains are serious

Chest pain can stem from many health issues. Some are quite serious, while others may be nothing to worry about.

Sometimes, chest pain indicates a blocked artery and a heart attack. This is an emergency situation, in which the heart is not receiving enough blood and oxygen to function correctly.

However, chest pain can also stem from a health issue affecting the lungs, stomach, or muscles, for example.

It is crucial to receive emergency care for chest pain, especially if it is sudden and severe and accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness, or both.

Many heart conditions can cause chest pain, including:

Heart attack

A heart attack may be the best-known cause of chest pain, and the pain usually occurs in the center of the chest.

People experience this pain differently — some describe it as uncomfortable, sharp, sudden, and severe, while others report a squeezing sensation. In some people,

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How do pandemics end? History suggests diseases fade but are almost never truly gone

<span class="caption">The COVID-19 new normal might be here for quite some time.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="link rapid-noclick-resp" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/reflecting-on-her-day-royalty-free-image/1263884394" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:SolStock/E+ via Getty Images">SolStock/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
The COVID-19 new normal might be here for quite some time. SolStock/E+ via Getty Images

When will the pandemic end? All these months in, with over 37 million COVID-19 cases and more than 1 million deaths globally, you may be wondering, with increasing exasperation, how long this will continue.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, epidemiologists and public health specialists have been using mathematical models to forecast the future in an effort to curb the coronvirus’s spread. But infectious disease modeling is tricky. Epidemiologists warn that “[m]odels are not crystal balls,” and even sophisticated versions, like those that combine forecasts or use machine learning, can’t necessarily reveal when the pandemic will end or how many people will die.

As a historian who studies disease and public health, I suggest that instead of looking forward for clues, you can look back to see what brought past outbreaks to a close –

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