Public Health Experts Slam States’ Moves to Ditch Masks

The easing of restrictions flies in the face of scientific evidence that masks and other types of protective behaviors like social distancing curb new cases and reduce deaths.
The easing of restrictions flies in the face of scientific evidence that masks and other types of protective behaviors like social distancing curb new cases and reduce deaths.
Relatives and advocates are calling for federal authorities to relax restrictions in long-term care institutions and grant special status to “essential caregivers” — family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care — so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.
Communities of color face a wave of mental health problems as a result of how the pandemic has changed the way people interact and grieve, experts warn.
Rheumatoid arthritis drugs may save lives of patients hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19, according to a groundbreaking clinical trial.
Older men whose blood pressure rises at night may be at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease, a new study suggests.
Blood pressure changes over 24 hours. It typically goes up during the day and dips at nighttime. But some people have an opposite pattern, which is called reverse dipping.
Wearing masks, frequent hand-washing and avoiding large crowds -- those habits are likely to stick around for a while, new research suggests.
Mary Bashir, a 48-year-old Boston-area high school teacher, is no stranger to skin cancer screenings. The beauty marks dotting her skin have always made her hyper-vigilant about check-ups.
But when she noticed a red dot on her nose -- about the size of a Sharpie tip -- she had a difficult decision to make. It was the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and she wasn’t even going into grocery stores, let alone medical settings.
Experts have a simple answer for heart and stroke patients questioning whether they need a COVID-19 vaccination. That answer: yes.
'People with all kinds of cardiovascular risk factors and disease should definitely get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families from COVID-19,' said Dr. Mitchell Elkind, a professor of neurology and epidemiology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City.
While children are less susceptible to illness with the new coronavirus, they are nearly 60% more likely than adults over 60 to infect other family members when they are sick, a new study shows.
Pregnant women or nursing moms who want the COVID-19 vaccine should get one, experts say. That’s true even though there’s a lack of safety data in these groups, according to guidance from the CDC, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Adults over age 45 were more likely to die from COVID-19 than car crashes, respiratory diseases, drug overdoses, and suicide. And those over age 55 faced even higher rates of dying due to the coronavirus.
Loneliness, anxiety, depression and substance use have increased sharply among young American adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey shows.
Droplets from a cough may travel farther than 6 feet and could potentially carry enough COVID-19 virus to infect another person, according to a new study.
Public health officials have urged everyone to practice social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, which means leaving some space between yourself and people you don’t live with. This new study adds to other research that finds that these guidelines -- the CDC advises leaving at least 6 feet between yourself and other people -- may not go far enough.
About 5% of those with COVID-19 will have symptoms for eight weeks or more, according to the preprint analysis of data, CNN reported Wednesday.
Coronavirus vaccines -- once approved and distributed widely to the public -- won’t be a “knockout punch” that eradicates the virus, he said
Nearly seven in 10 adults (68%) surveyed called the election a significant source of stress, compared with 52% in 2016, the survey commissioned by the American Psychological Association (APA) showed.
In a new clinical trial, researchers found that one type of intermittent fasting did help overweight and obese adults drop a couple of pounds over 12 weeks. But they fared no better than a comparison group who ate whenever they wanted.
Parents who didn't take their children for a flu shot last year are least likely to do so this year (less than a third), while parents who took their child for a flu shot last year were most likely to do so again (96%), according to the survey.
The head of the CDC said some states are seeing infection rates of 15% to 20% while others are seeing a less than 1% infection rate, CBS News reported.
Too little sleep was defined as four or fewer hours a night, while too much was deemed 10 or more hours a night. The ideal amount? Seven hours a night.
Just a few cups of coffee a day may help slow down the deadly progression of advanced colon cancer, new research finds.
Of the nearly 1,200 patients in the study, those who drank four or more cups of java on a daily basis had 36% higher odds of surviving during the 13-year study period.
Metastatic colon cancer, which has spread from its original location, 'remains an incurable disease in most cases,' explained study co-lead author Christopher Mackintosh, a fourth-year medical student at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Phoenix.
More than half said they sometimes or often felt isolated from others, which is more than double the 27% who reported the same feeling in a 2018 poll.
COVID-19 can damage the kidneys and increase patients' risk of needing kidney dialysis, researchers report.
The study authors also warned that doctors should prepare for a significant rise in chronic kidney disease cases due to the pandemic.
For the study, the investigators analyzed data from nearly 4,000 COVID-19 patients, aged 18 and older, hospitalized at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City between Feb. 27 and May 30, 2020.
Several companies have recalled Prima Wawona peaches or food made with them, including Aldi, Food Lion, Hannaford, Kroger, and affiliated retailers Target, Walmart and Wegmans.
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