SARS-CoV-2

Here’s what WHO says your mask should have to prevent COVID-19 spread

Leave a Comment / COVID-19, emerging infectious disease, Guidance, Infectious disease, masks, pandemic, prevention, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Science, WHO / By

Enlarge / French fashion student sews homemade protective face masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Getty | GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT The World Health Organization on Friday updated its guidance on the use of masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, making several changes and additions. Most notably, the agency is now recommending that governments encourage …

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Americans are drinking bleach and dunking food in it to prevent COVID-19

Leave a Comment / bleach, CDC, cleaning products, COVID-19, disinfectant, poison control, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Science / By

<figcaption class=”caption”><div class=”caption-text”>Bleach</div><div class=”caption-credit”><a rel=”nofollow” class=”caption-link” href=”https://www.flickr.com/people/[email protected]″>Adina Firestone</a></div></figcaption> </figure> Americans are doing more housecleaning and disinfecting amid the COVID-19 pandemic and many are turning to wild and dangerous tactics—like drinking and gargling bleach solutions. Back in April, the agency noted an unusual spike in poison control center calls over harmful exposures to household cleaning products, …

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Do face masks help? Studies leaning towards yes

Leave a Comment / Biology, distancing, facemask, goggles, medicine, SARS-CoV-2, Science / By

Enlarge / If only some of the public wears protective gear, is it helpful? Diego Puletto / Getty Images What’s the best way to protect yourself when you’re at risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2? It seems like a simple question, but many of the options—face masks, lockdowns, social distancing, etc.—have been politically controversial. In addition, …

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CDC says its testing fail didn’t hurt US response. Experts disagree

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Enlarge / Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), attends an event about coronavirus vaccine development in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. Getty | Drew Angerer The botched rollout of COVID-19 testing did not cripple the country’s early response to the …

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Flawed COVID hypothesis may have saved Washington from being NYC

Leave a Comment / COVID-19, evolution, Genetics, mutation, phylogenetics, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Science, virology, virus / By

Enlarge / KIRKLAND, Wash.: A patient is shielded as they are put into an ambulance outside the Life Care Center of Kirkland on March 7, 2020. Several residents have died from COVID-19, and others have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Getty | Karen Ducey When cases of COVID-19 began popping up in Washington state …

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100,000 Americans dead—and counting—as COVID-19 ravages US

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Enlarge / Transporter Morgan Dean-McMillan prepares the body of a COVID-19 victim at a morgue in Montgomery county, Maryland, on April 17, 2020. Getty | ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS More than 100,000 people in the United States have died from COVID-19 according to several pandemic-tracking efforts—and the pandemic is far from over. As the country reached the grim …

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Results from the remdesivir COVID-19 trial are out, and it’s good news

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Enlarge / Treatment with the antiviral drug remdesivir shortens the recovery time for patients with COVID-19. digicomphoto/Getty Images On Friday, some good news in the fight against SARS-CoV-2 was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The antiviral drug remdesivir—originally developed as a potential treatment for Ebola—was shown to shorten recovery time for patients …

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Hydroxychloroquine linked to increase in COVID-19 deaths, heart risks

Leave a Comment / anti-viral, chloroquine, COVID-19, drug develompment, hydroxychloroquine, Infectious disease, pharmaceutical, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Science, Trump / By

Enlarge / A bottle and pills of Hydroxychloroquine. US President Donald Trump announced May 18 he has been taking hydroxychloroquine for almost two weeks as a preventative measure against COVID-19. Getty | George Frey Two closely related anti-malarial drugs championed by President Donald Trump as promising treatments for COVID-19 appear to substantially increase the risks …

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Survey of patients correlates COVID-19 severity with immune system changes

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Enlarge / Warning sign outside a lab doing coronavirus testing. Bloomberg/Getty Images Why do some people appear to handle a SARS-CoV-2 infection without developing symptoms, while it’s fatal to others? Some factors, like age, have been easy to identify, but there’s still a broad spectrum of responses among younger individuals that remains unexplained. Is there …

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Recovered COVID-19 patients test positive but not infectious, data finds

Leave a Comment / CDC, COVID-19, emerging infectious disease, korea, PCR, public health, SARS-CoV-2, Science, testing, virology / By

Enlarge / Medical staff transport patients of a sanatorium where mass coronavirus infections occurred to hospital in Daegu, South Korea, March 19, 2020. Getty | Lee Sang-ho | Xinhua News Agency People who recover from COVID-19 but test positive for the virus again days or weeks later are not shedding viral particles and are not …

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