During a pandemic, a simple cough can turn into a weapon
A woman coughs on a state trooper and claims she has coronavirus. A man coughs on a medical employee who is wearing a mask, telling her the mask won’t help her. The pandemic surging across the country has turned into a sick joke — and perhaps something more sinister —...
U.S. approves 1st home coronavirus test with self-swabVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators on Tuesday gave approval the first coronavirus test that allows people to collect their own sample at home, a new approach that could help expand testing options in most states. The test from LabCorp will initially only be available to health care workers and first...
Coronavirus treatment guidelines reject drug combination backed by TrumpVideo
A panel of medical experts convened by the U.S. National Institutes of Health recommended against the use of a drug combination touted by President Donald Trump for covid-19 patients. The NIH panel — made up of 50 doctors, pharmacy experts and government researchers and officials — specifically recommended against the...
Franklin Regional nurse wins state association’s Excellence in School Nursing Award
As Franklin Regional Middle School nurse Beth Frydrych was about to be recognized with a statewide award, she found herself forced to reinvent her role as the coronavirus pandemic made its way into Western Pennsylvania. “It’s all new, and who knows what will come up?” asked Frydrych of Murrysville, who...
Reports suggest many have had coronavirus with no symptoms
A flood of new research suggests that far more people have had the coronavirus without any symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared. While that’s clearly good news, it also means it’s impossible to know who around you may be contagious....
Detroit mayor says essential workers will be tested for the coronavirus regardless of symptomsVideo
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Friday that the city will offer covid-19 tests to employees in the city who work at essential businesses like grocery stores and banks. According to the Detroit Free Press, Duggan wants to be the first city in the United States to ensure that key members...
Coronavirus infections could be much more widespread than believed, California study suggests
In the weeks since the coronavirus outbreak has squelched daily life in America, researchers have struggled to assess the true spread of the virus. But initial results from a Northern California study on coronavirus antibodies suggest it has circulated much more widely than previously thought, according to a report released...
Judge: Tennessee can’t prevent abortions during coronavirus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge Friday night ruled that Tennessee has to continue allowing abortions amid a temporary ban on nonessential medical procedures that’s aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said the defendants didn’t show that any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment,...
Racial toll of virus grows even starker as more data emerges
As a clearer picture emerges of COVID-19’s decidedly deadly toll on black Americans, leaders are demanding a reckoning of the systemic policies they say have made many African Americans far more vulnerable to the virus, including inequity in access to health care and economic opportunity. A growing chorus of medical...
‘Live Free or Die:’ Protesters march against California stay-at-home rules in Huntington Beach
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A group of more than 100 protesters converged on Huntington Beach on Friday in a demonstration against California’s coronavirus stay-at-home rules, part of a series of national demonstration organized by conservative groups. The protesters — some with Trump banners and American flags — mostly were not...
Penn State Health taking part in global clinical trial of antiviral drug for covid-19
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center has started enrolling participants in an international clinical trial evaluating an investigational antiviral drug, remdesivir, for treatment of covid-19. Remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences Inc., was previously tested in humans with Ebola and has shown some therapeutic benefit against SARS and MERS...
Hospitals looking for more help; lawmakers say Pennsylvania shorted on CARES Act relief
Hospitals across the region that are looking to recover revenue they lost while preparing to meet a surge in covid-19 cases say they need more help and are seeking a more equitable piece of the pie as the federal government rolls out the remaining $70 billion of a $100 billion...
FDA grants emergency authorization for 2 new antibody tests for coronavirus
The U.S. Food and Drug administration granted emergency approval for another two coronavirus blood tests, both developed to determine who has already recovered from the fast-spreading illness. The antibody tests are not necessarily diagnostic but rather detect certain proteins in the immune system by way of a blood sample. The...
Quarantine 15: Stop the weight gain with a few painless stepsVideo
What’s the difference between the “Freshman 15” and the “Quarantine 15”? For college freshmen who played sports in high school, the dreaded weight gain might start when they no longer have that regularly scheduled exercise. Then there are the late-night pizza deliveries and fast food runs. And, let’s face it...
Covid-19 crisis could cost Pennsylvania hospitals $2 billion per month, health advocates warn
Pennsylvania’s hospitals stand to lose as much as $2 billion every month the pandemic-spurred shutdown goes on, the state’s largest hospital advocacy group said Wednesday. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order canceling elective medical procedures as part of the covid-19 measures is estimated to rack up $1.5 billion in collective monthly hospital...
Harvard scientists: Some in U.S. will have to continue social distancing measures until 2022Video
Health researchers from Harvard contend some people in the United States will have to continue social distancing measures for another two years. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Science, show that until a vaccine is found and testing becomes widely available, prolonged or intermittent social restrictions — such as...
Search for a covid-19 vaccine heats up in China, United StatesVideo
WASHINGTON — Three potential covid-19 vaccines are making fast progress in early-stage testing in volunteers in China and the U.S., but it’s still a long road to prove if they’ll really work. China’s CanSino Biologics is beginning the second phase of testing its vaccine candidate, China’s Ministry of Science and...
Coronavirus is 10 times deadlier than swine flu, WHO director saysVideo
Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, is officially 10 times deadlier than the H1N1 swine flu strain that ripped across much of the world in 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Monday. The only way to truly halt the spread is a vaccine, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus...
Could old vaccines for other germs protect against covid-19?Video
WASHINGTON — Scientists are dusting off some decades-old vaccines against other germs to see if they could provide a little stopgap protection against covid-19 until a more precise shot arrives. It may sound odd: Vaccines are designed to target a specific disease. But vaccines made using live strains of bacteria...
AHN, UPMC spearhead plasma program that could treat coronavirus
Plasma from people who have recovered from the coronavirus could be a tool in helping critically ill patients recover from the virus, and the region’s two largest health care providers are working together to help facilitate those transfusions. Vitalant, previously the Central Blood Bank, is working with UPMC and Allegheny...
Covid-19 and AIDS crisis: NYC gays see parallels, contrasts
NEW YORK — LGBT New Yorkers who lived through the AIDS crisis of the 1980s see some bleak parallels in the COVID-19 pandemic now wracking their city. But more so, they stress the differences. Now, they share the same plight as their fellow citizens while the federal government is pledging...
California’s coronavirus death toll is way below New York’s. Here’s why.
LOS ANGELES — California’s relatively quick action to close businesses and order residents to stay home has tamped down the coronavirus pandemic and left many hospitals largely empty, waiting for a surge that has yet to come. The initial success of the unprecedented shutdown of schools, businesses and other institutions...
New York area walloped as global virus deaths pass 100,000
NEW YORK — The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus surged past 100,000 Friday as the epidemic in the U.S. cut a widening swath through not just New York City but the entire three-state metropolitan area of 20 million people connected by a tangle of subways, trains and buses. In...
Libertarians debate: How to respond to coronavirus pandemic?
NEW YORK — Steve Baker, one of the British parliament’s leading libertarians, was nearly in tears as he addressed the House of Commons in support of a bill that once seemed unthinkable: a massive economic aid package in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “Libertarian though I may be, this is...
Fearing hospital bankruptcy, Gov. Wolf offers $450M in loans to financially strapped providers
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday announced more than $450 million in low-interest loans meant to keep hospitals afloat as they continue to lose revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals statewide have canceled elective surgeries and nonurgent procedures to free up bed space and limit the spread of covid-19. At the...
