Health News Archives - Pizzedelic-Monkland

Council Rock North Shuts Down Athletics Amid Rising COVID Cases

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

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

Limiting TV ads for foods high in sugar, salt, fat may reduce child obesity

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

Limiting TV ads for sugary, salty and high-fat foods and drinks might help reduce childhood obesity, British researchers suggest.

They looked at advertising of these products between 5:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. If all such ads were withdrawn during those hours, the number of obese kids in Britain between the ages of 5 and 17 would drop by 5% and the number of overweight kids would fall 4%, the study found.

That’s equivalent to 40,000 fewer kids in Britain who would be obese and 120,000 fewer who would be overweight, the researchers said.

The findings were published online this week in the journal PLOS Medicine.

Oliver Mytton, an academic clinical lecturer at the Center for Diet and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge, led the study.

“Measures which have the potential to reduce exposure to less-healthy food advertising on television could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity,”

Plexiglass shields are everywhere, but it’s not clear how much they help

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

Plexiglass shields have become ubiquitous at offices, grocery stores and restaurants across the country in the coronavirus age. They were even installed on the vice presidential debate stage last week.

a group of people standing in a kitchen: Businesses and workplaces say plexiglass dividers are one way they are keeping people safe against the spread of the coronavirus.

© Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Businesses and workplaces say plexiglass dividers are one way they are keeping people safe against the spread of the coronavirus.

Given that they’re just about everywhere, you may wonder how effective they actually are.

Businesses and workplaces have pointed to plexiglass dividers as one tool they are using to keep people safe against the spread of the virus. But it’s important to know there’s little data to support their effectiveness, and even if there were, the barriers have their limits, according to epidemiologists and aerosol scientists, who study airborne transmission of the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has offered guidance to workplaces to “install physical barriers, such as clear plastic sneeze

Michigan Reports 1,237 New Coronavirus Cases, 30 Deaths Tuesday

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

MICHIGAN — Michigan is closing in on 7,000 coronavirus deaths, according to the most recent data released by state health officials.

Michigan reported 1,237 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total number of reported cases in the state to 137,702. The state also reported 30 more deaths attributed to the coronavirus, 10 of which were identified through a vital records search, the state said. Tuesday’s increase in COVID-19 deaths brought the statewide death total to 6,928.

Michigan has added more than 1,800 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, officials said Monday. On Saturday, the state reported that more than 104,000 people Michiganders had recovered from the coronavirus.

Don’t miss important updates from health and government officials on the impact of the coronavirus in Michigan. Sign up for Patch’s daily newsletters and email alerts.

Michigan is 18th in the U.S. in reported cases of the coronavirus, according to the

Trump and Biden Will Hold Competing Town Halls on Thursday

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

President Trump may not be debating Joseph R. Biden Jr. on the same stage on Thursday night as originally planned. But the two candidates will still face off head-to-head.

NBC News confirmed on Wednesday that it would broadcast a prime-time town-hall-style event with Mr. Trump from Miami on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern, with the president fielding questions from Florida voters.

The event will directly overlap with an already-scheduled ABC televised town-hall meeting with Mr. Biden in Philadelphia, which will begin at the same time.

Mr. Biden’s town hall has been on the books since last week, after Mr. Trump, who had recently contracted the coronavirus, rejected plans to convert the second formal presidential debate into a virtual matchup; the debate was eventually canceled.

The NBC event, to be moderated by the “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, had been contingent on the Trump campaign providing independent proof that the president

Most governments listen to scientists

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates criticized the U.S. response to the coronavirus, telling CNBC the nation ranks “quite low compared to other countries” in executing testing and delivering a clear message on safe social practices such as wearing masks.

“Our response in most respects has not been very good. And we would have expected it to be good,” the Microsoft co-founder told “Squawk Box” co-host Becky Quick in an interview that aired Wednesday.

President Donald Trump, recovering from Covid-19 himself, has been dismissive of masks and even mocked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in their first debate for wearing them. Trump, who returned to the campaign trail this week, has also repeatedly flouted advice from medical experts on the importance of social distancing by holding packed rallies with spotty mask-wearing among supporters. Trump has defended having crowds at his recent campaign events, saying they’re being held outside, where coronavirus transmission is

Another clunker: John Cornyn’s ad on preexisting conditions

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

In a new campaign ad, Cornyn says one of the law’s central features, its guarantee that insurers must sell plans to any patients with preexisting conditions, “is something we all agree should be covered.”

Cornyn is a fixture of Texas and national politics and the No. 2 Republican in Senate leadership. His lead in this year’s race is not slim, and his ad is more carefully worded than the rest.

But Cornyn continues to oppose the Affordable Care Act, and his campaign would not say whether he backs a Republican lawsuit seeking to strike down the entire law at the Supreme Court.

If the ACA were to fall, the legislation Cornyn proposes as a replacement to cover those with preexisting conditions says “nothing … shall be construed to restrict the amount that an employer or individual may be charged for coverage under a group health plan.” Charge them whatever price,

Anthony Fauci warns COVID surge as cases rise in north, weather cools

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

Dr. Anthony Fauci says top U.S. college athletic programs and professional sports leagues are managing risks for COVID-19 infections far more professionally than the situation at the White House that led to President Donald Trump’s illness. (Oct. 6)

AP Domestic

The nation’s top infectious disease expert said the United States faces a “difficult situation” with a rise in positive coronavirus tests through a wide swath of northern states as the weather cools.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the share of positive coronavirus tests is increasing in the Northwest, Midwest and other northern states.

The share of tests that detect the virus is a key indicator of whether the coronavirus is spreading or under control in a community. Public health officials want to see less than 3% of all tests return positive. An ideal rate is less than 1%, Fauci said

Which states had the best pandemic response?

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

For this story, reporters interviewed a wide range of health researchers, public officials and academic experts to ask them which states were standouts in their management of the pandemic. What we heard repeatedly were lessons culled from a handful of states that others could follow.

We’ve distilled their insights into three categories that represent the greatest challenges states are facing: fighting the virus, managing the economic fallout and reopening schools.

FIGHTING THE VIRUS

Leading the way in the rural Northeast

Few states have a record as unblemished as Vermont.

The odds could have been stacked against the state. The virus arrived in Vermont during the first wave sweeping the country. It shares borders with some of the hardest-hit states and has the third-oldest population in the country.

But Vermont swiftly flattened its initial wave and has since gone weeks at a time

U.S. Daily Coronavirus-Case Count Climbs Back Above 50,000

By -iwano@_84
Posted on October 14, 2020
Posted in Health News

Daily new U.S. coronavirus infections increased from a day earlier, as did the number of people hospitalized.

The U.S. reported more than 52,000 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, up from 41,653 on Monday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Total cases reported now exceed 7.8 million, with nearly 216,000 deaths.

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World-wide, more than 38.1 million people have been infected and nearly 1.1 million have died, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

The number of people hospitalized for Covid-19 in the U.S. as of Tuesday was 36,034, the highest since Aug. 29, according to the Covid Tracking Project—though still lower than July’s peaks of more than 59,000.

The seven-day moving average of new infections in the U.S., which