HealthDay Reports: U.S. Coronavirus Cases Near 3 Million as Hospitals in Sun Belt Fill Up With Patients
July 07, 2020
In many cities, a combination of factors are fueling the problem: a shortage of key supplies, backlogs at laboratories that perform the tests, and surging infection counts as cases climb in almost 40 states.
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Near 3 Million as Hospitals in Sun Belt Fill Up With Patients
TUESDAY, July 7, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- With the number of coronavirus cases in the United States approaching 3 million on Monday, hospitals across the Sun Belt continued to be flooded with COVID-19 patients.
Arizona reached 89 percent capacity for ICU beds, as Alabama, California, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas also reported unprecedented numbers of hospitalizations, the Washington Post reported.
For the 28th day in a row, the country's rolling seven-day average of daily new cases obliterated previous records, though the number of deaths nationwide has remained relatively stable, the newspaper reported.
HealthDay Reports: Most Using Online COVID-19 Tool Report Mild, Moderate Symptoms
July 06, 2020
Authors say self-assessment tool could ease burden on health care system and collect useful information.
Most Using Online COVID-19 Tool Report Mild, Moderate Symptoms
MONDAY, July 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The majority of individuals using an online COVID-19 self-assessment tool report mild or moderate symptoms possibly associated with COVID-19, according to research published online June 15 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
William M. Mehring, from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues developed a web-based COVID-19 self-assessment tool, available in English and Spanish, and report the results of 276,560 digital self-assessments.
The researchers report that of the 5,611 users who entered optional demographic data, 61 percent were female (mean age, 39 years). In more than two-thirds of self-assessments (69.6 percent), users reported symptoms potentially attributable to COVID-19. Among the reported symptoms potentially attributable to COVID-19, the majority (80.5 percent) reported mild or moderate symptoms that could likely be managed with home self-care, while 19.5 percent reported severe symptoms for which the tool recommended immediate medical attention. Of individuals reporting mild symptoms, 7.1 percent said they had direct exposure to someone with confirmed COVID-19.
HealthDay Reports: Endotheliopathy ID'd in COVID-19, Tied to Higher Mortality Risk
July 06, 2020
Soluble thrombomodulin concentration >3.26 ng/mL linked to lower rates of hospital discharge and survival.
Endotheliopathy ID'd in COVID-19, Tied to Higher Mortality Risk
MONDAY, July 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Endotheliopathy is present in COVID-19 and is associated with critical illness and death, according to a study published online June 30 in The Lancet Haematology.
George Goshua, M.D., from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues conducted a single-center study involving hospitalized adult patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from the medical intensive care unit (ICU) or a specialized non-ICU COVID-19 floor (48 and 20 patients, respectively); 13 asymptomatic nonhospitalized controls were recruited as a comparator group. Markers of endothelial cell and platelet activations were assessed and the levels were compared for ICU patients, non-ICU patients, and controls.
The researchers found that compared with non-ICU patients, in ICU patients, markers of endothelial cell and platelet activation were significantly elevated, including von Willebrand Factor (VWF) antigen (mean, 565 percent in ICU patients versus 278 percent in non-ICU patients) and soluble P-selectin (15.9 versus 11.2 ng/mL). In 16 of 20 non-ICU patients, VWF antigen concentrations were also elevated above the normal range. Among all patients, there was a significant association between mortality and VWF antigen and soluble thrombomodulin. Soluble thrombomodulin concentrations greater than 3.26 ng/mL were associated with lower rates of hospital discharge (88 versus 52 percent) and a lower likelihood of survival (hazard ratio, 5.9).
HealthDay Reports: Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Leave a Mental Health Crisis in Its Wake?
July 06, 2020
See what experts have to say about the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.
Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Leave a Mental Health Crisis in Its Wake?
MONDAY, July 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Stressed from home-schooling your kids? Lonely from lockdown? Worried about a sick loved one isolated in a nursing home? Worried you might lose your job?
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone's mental health in ways small and large, and experts are concerned that for many, today's anxiety will become a tidal wave of mental health problems in the years ahead.
The pandemic is adding to what already was an underrecognized mental health crisis in the United States, according to Dr. Don Mordecai, national mental health and wellness lead at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.
HealthDay Reports: How Immune System Fights COVID-19 May Be Key to Vaccine Success
July 06, 2020
In a small study, all 10 patients who had severe COVID-19 symptoms produced T-cells that worked with antibodies to try to kill the virus and stop the infection.
How Immune System Fights COVID-19 May Be Key to Vaccine Success
MONDAY, July 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Even the sickest COVID-19 patients make T-cells to fight the infection, a new study finds.
This means that a COVID-19 vaccine will have to cause the body to make T-cells along with antibodies, researchers say.
The immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, was the same in American and Dutch patients in the study.