An Early Look At Risk Factors Involved In Fatalities Include Diabetes, Heart Disease And Other Underlying Conditions
Experts say it's too early to get an accurate sense of what's happening with coronavirus fatalities, but a study of 116 deaths found that 114 patients had some kind of underlying medical condition. Meanwhile, another study looks at how infectious people are once they've contracted the virus. And in other news: "patient zero," misinformation, the most vulnerable populations, and more.
NBC News:
We Analyzed More Than 150 Coronavirus Deaths. Here's What We Found.
An 82-year-old woman with hypertension. A 39-year-old man with diabetes. A 68-year-old man with lung cancer. These are three of the more than 3,000 people around the world who have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that has been sickening people since late last year. (Chiwaya and Wu, 3/9)
Detroit Free Press:
Coronavirus Risk Factors: Those With Diabetes, Cancer Hit Harder
Do you have asthma? Diabetes? High blood pressure? Heart disease or cancer? Are you a smoker? If you answered yes to any of these questions, COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, could hit you harder than others as the outbreak spreads to Michigan. Older people and those with underlying health issues or chronic diseases are more likely to get severely ill or die from COVID-19, according to a China Center for Disease Control analysis of more than 72,000 people who had the virus through Feb. 11. (Shamus, 3/9)
NBC News:
Coronavirus Is Hard On Older People — And Scientists Aren't Sure Why
Older adults appear to be more severely at risk from the new coronavirus, while young children seem to be largely spared — and understanding why could be crucial to treating people with the illness it causes, according to scientists. Much remains unknown about COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that is rapidly spreading around the world, but researchers have seized on a factor that seems to influence the severity of infections: the patient's age. (Chow, 3/10)
The Baltimore Sun:
Coronavirus Is So Contagious It Warrants Two-Week Quarantine, CDC And Johns Hopkins Experts Say
How contagious are people? When are they spreading the virus? These are the questions scientists and public health officials are asking as the novel coronavirus outbreak spreads further every day. Definitive answers remain unknown, but the virus appears to be easily passed and the two-week quarantine period that has become standard is reasonable, according to researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Johns Hopkins University looking at available data. (Cohn, 3/9)
Stat:
People 'Shed' Coronavirus Early, But Most Likely Not Infectious After Recovery
People who contract the novel coronavirus emit high amounts of virus very early on in their infection, according to a new study from Germany that helps to explain the rapid and efficient way in which the virus has spread around the world. At the same time, the study suggests that while people with mild infections can still test positive by throat swabs for days and even weeks after their illness, those who are only mildly sick are likely not still infectious by about 10 days after they start to experience symptoms. (Branswell, 3/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Coronavirus Symptoms Start About Five Days After Infection, New Research Finds
Most people who catch Covid-19—the disease caused by the novel coronavirus—start showing symptoms roughly five days after infection, disease analysts at Johns Hopkins University said on Monday, in the largest such study of known cases world-wide. Their findings firm up estimates of the virus’s incubation period before signs of fever, coughing and respiratory distress appear, offering support for current public-health control measures that recommend a 14-day monitoring and quarantine period for people who have been exposed to infection. Some state health agencies are recommending people isolate themselves for that period after returning from any international travel. (Hotz, 3/9)
CIDRAP:
Study Highlights Ease Of Spread Of COVID-19 Viruses
COVID-19 can be spread before it causes symptoms, when it produces symptoms like those of the common cold, and as many as 12 days after recovery, according to a virologic analysis of nine infected patients published today on the preprint server medRxiv. Also, in a study published in today's Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at Johns Hopkins found a median incubation period for COVID-19 of 5.1 days—similar to that of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). (Van Beusekom, 3/9)
Bloomberg:
How Coronavirus Spread From Patient Zero In Seattle
This reconstruction of how the virus spread around Seattle, based on interviews with health-care providers, first responders, relatives of patients and academic researchers, offers lessons to places like Florida and California that are now reporting their first deaths. There were excruciating missed opportunities, especially at the nursing home. One shortcoming was a lack of testing in a critical six-week window when the virus was spreading undetected. Even recently, some patients said, hospitals weren’t taking enough precautions to protect staff and others from infection. (Robison, Bass and Langreth, 3/9)
Stat:
Coronavirus Could Persist Into Next Year, But Impact Can Be Reduced, Says CDC Expert
A top federal health official said Monday that the evolving coronavirus outbreak could persist in the United States into next year, while stressing that public health interventions could still reduce the spread of the virus and cases of illness and death. (Joseph, 3/9)
The Washington Post:
Is It Really A Good Idea To Close Schools To Fight Coronavirus?
Students in the Lake Washington School District in the Seattle suburbs were so nervous about the novel coronavirus they started a petition urging officials to close the schools. No one in a classroom had been diagnosed with the disease, but more than 15 people in the region had died of it, and students thought: Why take a chance? (Strauss, 3/9)
The New York Times:
Concern For The ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ Over The Coronavirus
As the head of a homeless shelter in San Diego, Bob McElroy knows firsthand how epidemics can turn deadly for people living on the streets. Three years ago an outbreak of hepatitis A, an otherwise preventable and treatable disease, killed 20 people in San Diego County alone, most of them homeless. Now as the coronavirus spreads across the country, Mr. McElroy is faced with a new threat, one that he can only hope to ward off with a stockpile of hand sanitizer. Under a single tent in downtown San Diego, his shelter sleeps more than 300 people, a majority of them over 50 years old, a warehouse of human beings arrayed like cadets in military barracks. Numbered bunk beds are spaced just two feet apart. (Fuller, 3/10)
Bloomberg:
Mistrust, Rumor And Conspiracy Fantasies Hinder U.S. Virus Fight
Across the U.S., government officials fighting the disease are wrangling with a population made dubious by years of Internet misinformation and a politics based on the debasing of facts. The World Health Organization has said that a global “infodemic” makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance. (Newkirk and Deprez, 3/9)
Politico Pro:
A Bigger Challenge Than Germ Spread? Convincing Skeptics To Heed Coronavirus Advice
The fresh guidance from the Silicon Valley's top public health official — cancel mass gatherings to slow the spread of coronavirus — still hung in the air last week as the NHL's San Jose Sharks and thousands of hockey fans ignored the advice and packed the chilly stands of the "Shark Tank." California is well acquainted with public health skepticism after anti-vaccine forces shut down the state Capitol last year. But the situation on Thursday night could foretell challenges around the globe as officials scramble to manage the outbreak. (Murphy and Mays, 3/9)
NPR:
Coronavirus Spurs Insurers To Ease Restrictions On Routine Medicine Refills
As COVID-19 begins to spread and sicken more people in the United States, federal health officials are recommending people acquire a several-week supply of the prescription drugs they routinely take for chronic conditions. You don't want to be stuck without them if you get sick. "I think it's excellent advice, although I would suggest that people have a greater supply than a few weeks" says Dr. Peter Jacobson with the University of Michigan School of Public Health. "People should not be caught short of having enough heart medications, diabetic medications or any potentially lifesaving medication that they need on a routine — daily or weekly or monthly — basis." He suggests aiming to have a three-month supply on hand. (Neighmond, 3/9)
CBS News:
Can You Catch The Coronavirus From Handling Cash?
The Federal Reserve is delaying processing dollars that have been repatriated from Asia. The Louvre Museum in Paris isn't accepting cash from visitors. And Iran has urged its citizens to stop using bank notes over fears the coronavirus can be transmitted to humans through contaminated objects like cash. Public health experts believe the novel coronavirus, which causes the potentially deadly COVID-19 disease, is transmittable through "fomites" — surfaces, including paper money, that have been handled by an infected person. (Cerullo, 3/9)
