Category: Corona Virus

Request blocked. We can't connect to the server for this app or website at this time. There might be too much traffic or a configuration error. Try again later, or contact the app or website owner. If you provide content to customers through CloudFront, you can find steps to troubleshoot and help prevent this error by reviewing the CloudFront documentation. Generated by cloudfront (CloudFront)Request ID: -CswinF3XwAuS_0C9kI8g7ay4T4m_-2tEVRGPMDPFuvAo1c427hSow==

Link:

COVID-19 response put significant pressure on health care workers - NJ Spotlight News

This story is from The Pulse, a weekly health and science podcast.

Find it on Apple Podcasts,Spotify,orwherever you get your podcasts.

For the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Angie and a couple shed befriended in Los Angeles made a hard decision. The friends agreed to a freeze in hanging out.

We were almost like family, said Angie, who asked us to only use her nickname to protect her privacy.

Shed first met the two, a husband and wife, while taking an adult French classand the three of them had done everything together for over a decade afterwards.

I came over to their home a lot, Angie said. Id go hiking with them, eating with them, to events throughout the city. Whenever they had crises, theyd talk to me about it. They even took Angie with them on vacations and work trips.

But when the coronavirus came ashore and began infecting Americans in March 2020, the friends didnt see each other in person for months. When they finally did, they wore masks and stayed outdoors. Even when vaccines became available in 2021, Angie and her friends blanched at the prospect of hosting parties or dinners in their homes.

Soon, though, for reasons Angie cant fully explain, things changed.

They started going to events, and going indoors, with no masks, she said. It was a complete 180.

Eventually, Angie said she felt her friends pressing her to step out, too.

They said, We just want to see you, she recounted.

But Angies partner at the time had lost his father, an ER doctor, to complications from COVID-19. A few months later, the boyfriend contracted post-COVID syndrome, known commonly as long COVID. He went from an active, engaging lifeengineering by day, martial arts by nightto outsourcing his laundry and struggling to walk from his couch to his dining room. And Angies part-time gig as a contact tracer flooded her with stories about coronaviruss consequences. So, she stayed vigilantand, eventually, was left far more vigilant than many of the people around her.

Angie pulled the wife aside and explained where she was coming from, in the hopes that her concerns would be understood and respected. But when the curtain fell on that conversation, they both felt worse than ever.

Her response was, Ive been doing all these things, and I never got COVID, Angie said.Everything was being minimized, and I got really flustered.

Her friend had become frustrated, too and mentioned that the couple had once kept a birthday party outside, in the rain, so that Angie could feel safe. To the friend, that felt like proof that she was taking the pandemic seriously.

Angie saw it differently.

It felt like she was trying to manipulate me, Angie said.

Angie and her friends were on a road that millions of people had taken before them: In August of 2021, a survey found that about 1 in 6 adults had severed at least three friendships amid differences of opinion on vaccines and precautions, according to OnePoll.

For people like Angie, the pandemic and its fallout forged new bones of contention between friends and families. For Carey Cadieux, a nursing PhD whos taught RNs in Maine and New York, COVID-19 only widened a rift that was already there.

Before 2020, Cadieux said her marriage of 24 years often piled on responsibilities and rarely brought her help.

I was the primary breadwinner, she said. I was the primary caregiver for the children. I organized everything.

When Cadieux came down with COVID-19 in February 2020, she didnt return to full strength for over a month. During her illness, she didnt just want the duties and dynamics in her house to change she felt they needed to, for her childrens sake as much as her own.

But they did not.

See the original post:

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed relationships, and how to move forward - WHYY

The page you requested was not found. You may have followed an old link or typed the address incorrectly.

We've also been doing some house cleaning so the page may have been moved or removed.

Please try searching for what you are looking for or you could go to the home page and start from there. Or you may be interested in today's top stories.

Read the rest here:

Up Close with Bill Ritter: COVID-19 lockdown 4th anniversary and the lessons learned - WABC-TV

oklahoman.com wants to ensure the best experience for all of our readers, so we built our site to take advantage of the latest technology, making it faster and easier to use.

Unfortunately, your browser is not supported. Please download one of these browsers for the best experience on oklahoman.com

More here:

What happens when someone is hyper-vaccinated with COVID-19 boosters - Oklahoman.com

At least five North Korean children have died as a resurgence of a respiratory disease believed to be COVID-19 has caused authorities to enact quarantine procedures in Ryanggang province, residents told Radio Free Asia.

Residents living in the central northern province, which borders China, will have to wear masks and children will be confined to their homes, as schools and daycare centers have been temporarily shuttered. Sources said they were not sure if the lockdown applied outside of Ryanggang province.

In early March, children showing symptoms of coronavirus died one after another in Paegam county, a resident of the province, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA Korean. The provincial party committee took emergency quarantine measures through the quarantine center.

According to the resident, quarantine workers that went house-to-house informed residents that three children in Paegam county died along with two more in nearby Kapsan county after exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms. Another Ryanggang resident confirmed how the news was spread.

Fever cases

Residents, however, say they believe the situation could be much worse than reported, the first resident said.

For the first two-and-a-half years of the pandemic, North Korea claimed outwardly to be completely virus free, but in April 2022, Pyongyang admitted the virus had spread to all areas of the country and declared a state of maximum emergency the following month.

During the entirety of the emergency, the government kept an official tally of fever cases, but its official total on global COVID-19 case tracking websites remained at or near zero. Experts said it was likely that cases could not be confirmed due to a lack of reliable testing capacity.

Prior to the emergency, when patients in North Korean hospitals with COVID symptoms died, the hospital would quickly cremate the bodies so that they could not be tested for the disease, then attributed the deaths to other causes.

Though authorities acknowledge that five children have died, residents think that the response points to many more casualties, as daycare centers, kindergartens and schools will be closed for a 10-day period, and everyone will be required to wear masks or face punishment, the resident said.

He said that the quarantine center in the city of Hyesan ordered all children to be kept at home as much as possible because they are at greater risk than adults.

Some are complaining about how children are supposed to be kept indoors when the adults have to do whatever it takes to make a living and find food, the resident said. On the other hand, some others agree that the temporary school closure is the best option in the absence of medicine.

The quarantine center also promoted personal hygiene practices when it went house-to-house, the second Ryanggang resident told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

The quarantine workers warned of the seriousness of the situation and they also shared the news that several children infected with the coronavirus had died in Paegam and Kapsan counties, she said. There are many patients around me who are coughing and suffering from high fevers, similar to coronavirus symptoms.

The second resident said things were just as bad now as they were during the pandemic.

At that time, the border with China was closed and trade had been suspended, so there were shortages of everything. Additionally, lockdowns at home meant that people could not go out to earn money to support themselves.

There is no money now, just like during the big outbreak, she said. And even if you have money it is difficult to get medicine.

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

Visit link:

COVID symptoms kill 5 North Korean children, schools and daycares shuttered - Radio Free Asia

In some cases, COVID-19 leads to pericarditis, which is inflammation of the sack-like membrane containing the heart. COVID-19 can also cause myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle.

Both pericarditis and myocarditis are rare overall, but the number of cases began to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sometimes, both conditions occur at the same time. This is known as myopericarditis.

Researchers are still trying to understand why COVID-19 can result in this complication. However, prompt treatment with rest and medications to reduce inflammation can lead to a full recovery.

This article explores heart inflammation after COVID-19, including the symptoms and treatment options.

Yes, COVID-19 has links to heart inflammation, specifically to pericarditis and myocarditis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that, between March 2020 and January 2021, myocarditis occurred in 150 per 100,000 people who spent time in hospital with COVID-19 compared with 9 per 100,000 people without COVID-19.

A 2022 study found that among 159 people people who spent time in hospital with COVID-19, 1 in 8 had myocarditis 2860 days later. The risk was significantly higher in severely ill individuals who required a ventilator or intensive care support. The majority of the study participants had not had vaccinations.

Not all studies have found that myocarditis is this common, though. A 2023 study in the United Kingdom found a rate of probable myocarditis of 6.7% in people who had hospital treatment for COVID-19, compared with 1.7% in people without COVID-19.

The virus that causes COVID-19 may attack cells in the heart directly, causing inflammation. The immune response to the virus could also cause inflammation.

Heart inflammation after COVID-19 may occur on its own or as part of a group of lingering symptoms that persist for weeks or months after the initial infection, known as long COVID.

Learn more about long COVID.

COVID-19 can cause or exacerbate various heart problems besides inflammation of the heart muscle and lining, including:

A 2023 study followed a group of more than 7,500 individuals who developed COVID-19 in 2020. The authors noted that these individuals were more likely to develop heart disease than people who never developed COVID-19 over the following 18 months.

Studies into the long-term effects of COVID-19 on heart health are still ongoing.

The symptoms of myocarditis and pericarditis can vary from mild to life threatening.

Symptoms of myocarditis can include:

In pericarditis, the main symptom is chest pain, which is often severe.

The pain is typically behind the breastbone in the center of the chest but may radiate across the chest. Some people find that the pain is worse when they inhale and better when they lean forward.

Diagnosing heart inflammation after COVID-19 typically involves a combination of medical history assessment, physical examination, and diagnostic tests.

Healthcare professionals may:

The treatment of myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 may vary depending on the severity of the condition and other factors.

General treatment approaches include:

Close monitoring by a healthcare professional is essential to track a persons progress and adjust treatment as necessary.

The outlook for most people with myocarditis or pericarditis is favorable.

Most people who develop pericarditis make a complete recovery, and those with myocarditis also usually have a good outlook.

However, the recovery process takes time and may last several months. During this time, it is important that people:

After treatment, people will need to attend regular follow-up visits to ensure their condition is improving. They will also need to continue taking any medications as prescribed.

Occasionally, myocarditis and pericarditis have a delayed onset. Depending on the cause, the conditions can come back again in the future. It is currently unclear whether COVID-19 can cause this.

People will need to contact a doctor if any symptoms return.

COVID-19 can cause heart inflammation, such as myocarditis or pericarditis. These conditions are rare overall but more common in those who have had COVID-19 than those who have not.

Myocarditis and pericarditis can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, and weakness. These symptoms can also be similar to those of a heart attack. If a person is in any doubt about their condition, it is important to seek medical advice right away to determine whether they are experiencing a medical emergency.

Treatment strategies include rest, anti-inflammatory medications, and pain relief. Recovery can take time, but most people will make a full recovery.

Continue reading here:

Heart inflammation after COVID-19: Signs and treatment - Medical News Today

When Nicholas Montemaranos parents were diagnosed with covid a few days before Christmas in 2020, he was more worried about his father, who had preexisting conditions.

The doctor gave Catherine Montemarano, 79, steroids and antibiotics and sent her home, but her fever rose and she was admitted to an Indiana hospital on New Years Eve.

But by Jan. 6, 2021,the doctor summoned the family. Nicholas Montemarano drove 600 miles from his home in Lancaster, Pa., worrying about his mother as the insurrection unfolded at the U.S. Capitol. For a while, her health seemed to improve, but soon doctors were recommending palliative care.

On Jan. 15, doctors allowed Montemarano and his twin sister, a nurse, to blanket themselves in personal protective equipment and be there for the final day of their mothers life.

I just cannot imagine how much harder it would have been and would still be if we were not able to be with her, he said.

The family held a Mass with 10 people, including his wife and son. A legal secretary, a Catholic and devoted grandmother of three, Catherine Montemarano supported foster children around the world, writing them letters and sending photos.

Months later, he learned of the flags project from a virtual support group and registered one online, writing, We miss you, mom. and drove to D.C. with his family.

He began to cry as soon as he approached the installation and saw the death toll sign, and he didnt stop until he found her flag.

It was almost like I was visiting my mothers grave, he said. It gave us tangible space and a place for collective mourning.

They sat in the grass, taking in the one public place where he could shed tears without anyone wondering why. They all knew, he said.

Until his mothers death, Montemarano, a creative writing professor at Franklin & Marshall College and novelist, wrote almost exclusively fiction. In less than a month, he found himself with a memoir.

He said writing the book, If There Are Any Heavens, published in July 2022, helped him to heal.

For people who lost a loved one, were never going back to normal, he said.

Read the original post:

On four year anniversary of covid, families remember flags on Mall - The Washington Post

What To Know:

SYDNEY Scientists are reigniting the debate over the origins of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 the virus causing COVID-19. This revealing report suggests that there is a serious possibility the virus originated in a laboratory in China, rather than through natural transmission from animals to humans. Moreover, researchers in Australia say their evidence also points to the possibility that this knowledge was suppressed and was kept from the public during the pandemic.

Using a sophisticated tool known as the modified GrunowFinke assessment tool (mGFT), researchers from the University of New South Wales assessed the likelihood of SARS-CoV-2s origins, with the tool giving a score of 41 out of 60 to the possibility of an unnatural origin for COVID-19. Simply put, after examining all the evidence, the score equates to a 68% likelihood that the virus came from a lab and spread across the world from there.

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, has been shrouded in both mystery and controversy since the start of the COVID pandemic. While initial studies leaned heavily towards a zoonotic origin meaning the virus jumped from animals to humans concrete evidence identifying an actual animal source has not been found. This uncertainty has kept the laboratory-origin theory in the conversation, especially given the presence of the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in the city where the pandemic began.

This risk assessment cannot prove the origin of SARS-CoV-2 but shows that the possibility of a laboratory origin cannot be easily dismissed, researchers write in the journal Risk Analysis.

The mGFT evaluated 11 criteria including the geographic distribution of the disease, the unusual nature of the virus strain, and the intensity of the pandemic. With scores ranging from 0 to 3 for each category, the final score provided a measurable probability of whether the pandemics origin was natural or unnatural (from animals or a lab).

If this was a court room, the mGFT presented a compelling case for the lab theory. For instance, the review cited the proximity of initial COVID-19 cases to the WIV, combined with the fact that one of the closest known bat coronaviruses, RaTG13, was studied there.

Additionally, there were abnormalities in SARS-CoV-2s furin cleavage site a critical component of many diseases that help them spread. These oddities have not been seen in other similar viruses. Moreover, the rapid global spread of the disease worldwide further muddies the waters.

What makes this situation even more complex is the evidence of COVIDs presence in different parts of the world before the outbreak was officially recognized in Wuhan, China. This could suggest a broader, earlier spread than initially thought, challenging the publics early focus on a Wuhan seafood market as the outbreaks alleged origin.

Concerningly, the report also suggests that this information may have been known by scientists for years and that those funding research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology allegedly played a role in keeping scientists concerns from reaching the public.

Although this is only a theory by the Australian research team at this time, their study states that the evidence from U.S. Freedom of Information requests point towards this unnerving possibility.

Other evidence that came to light in 2023 under Freedom of Information requests in the US further indicates that virologists who publicly stated that SARS-COV-2 had a natural origin simultaneously privately communicated doubts about this to each other, and discussed the fact that research at WIV could have led to the creation of SARS-COV-2, the study authors reveal in Risk Analysis.

It is possible that US funding of some of the research at WIV was a motivation for the public messaging about natural origins to be promoted and the discussion of a lab accident to be suppressed. The events and incidents above suggest a laboratory incident is possible, so we have assigned a score of 3 to this criterion, the team concludes.

You might also be interested in:

More:

COVID-19 Likely Originated In Lab, Study Says; Scientists Suspect Information 'Suppressed' - Study Finds

A new M Health Fairview clinic is confronting an exhausting disorder that has afflicted more children since the pandemic and caused alarming spikes in heart rate, blood pressure and breathing.

Dr. Matthew Ambrose said it is disheartening to see so many more cases of the condition known as POTS. But the increase at least spurred awareness, and accelerated plans for a clinic in Minneapolis that can better diagnose and treat children who in the past were dismissed.

"Sometimes they're being told outright that they are making it up, that it's all in their head," said Ambrose, a pediatric cardiologist and a leader of the clinic. "It's really dispiriting to hear. They can't even be at school because they are too tired."

POTS emerged prior to the pandemic in about one in 500 children and young adults, usually after infectious diseases triggered aggressive responses by their immune systems. So doctors weren't shocked when POTS became more of a problem during the pandemic. An estimated 96% of Minnesota children had been infected by the end of 2022 with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, based on a federal review of pediatric blood samples, creating a huge risk pool for the development of the disorder.

The condition bears similarities to long COVID, the lingering cognitive and physical problems that people experience after coronavirus infections, but with at least one distinguishing characteristic. POTS is short for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and it is defined by a severe and immediate increase in heart rate whenever people switch positions by sitting or standing up.

Anna Burt, 14, was a bubbly dancer, skier and cheerleader from Sioux Falls, S.D., when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October 2020. The resulting exhaustion left her struggling to walk, and often was marked by a pounding heartbeat that raced up to 160 beats per minute.

"Its like a big drum," the girl said.

Burt was first taken to M Health Fairview's clinic for long COVID, because she was experiencing the characteristic "brain fog," along with stomach pain and dizziness. She struggled to sit up, even to ride in the car to the doctor's office.

"She really was trapped in the house," said her mother, Jody Burt.

Her POTS diagnosis became clear after the family met Ambrose, who had observed cases prior to the pandemic and had taken a clinical and research interest in the condition. Just finding a clinician who believed Anna and her family was vital, her mother said. "We weren't getting that. Most of the time, we were getting, 'its just constipation.'"

Depression and anxiety often occur alongside POTS, so much that they are often mistaken as the causes of children's lethargy, research has shown.

Drinking water can reduce POTS flareups, and exercise and physical therapy can help patients regain function, Ambrose said. But patients often need poorly understood and even controversial medication regimens. Naltrexone treats opioid addiction but appears in low doses to reduce POTS-related fatigue. Steroids regulate water, and sodium levels and can prevent or reduce attacks.

Beta blocker drugs that lower blood pressure were thought to worsen POTS, but recent studies suggest they help. POTS is related to the autonomic nervous system, or the portion of the nervous system that controls subconscious functions such as heart rate and body temperature.

The drugs temper the body's reaction to signals from that system, Ambrose said. "It's like being at a rock concert but wearing hearing protection."

The clinic's goal is to package together treatments that families struggle to access separately, and to keep tabs on patients through online check-ups and counseling. By following patients over time, the clinic also hopes to prove which treatments work best and how much progress children with POTS can make.

"When I tell people I think we can get them to a place where they are fully functional, I mean it," Ambrose said. "But it does take work and time and trial and error ... and an Avengers team of physical therapists."

The clinic sometimes looks for little successes, Ambrose added, giving fluid infusions to one patient so she had the energy just to go to prom.

Anna Burt has progressed from a wheelchair to crutches to walking, but she still can't run without exhaustion. She has replaced old pursuits, trying swimming and archery. She tried playing with slime toys to alleviate boredom, but they irritated her skin. So she invented a non-irritating version that she plans to sell under the brand Rainbow Slimes.

She said her pain and symptoms are under better control, as long as she keeps up with therapy exercises and remembers her medication. She rides a recumbent bicycle for exercise and has returned to school for art class. Changes day to day are imperceptible, but Anna said she has made long-term improvements and dreams of being active.

"Sometimes I get sad. I'm just tired of doing this over and over and over again, but I wouldn't change the experience I had," she said. "Definitely a lot of parts suck, like most of it, 99% sucks. But I wouldn't be who I am now without it."

Excerpt from:

Fairview clinic responds to post-COVID rise in fatiguing disorder in kids - Star Tribune

In a national case series, 11.4% of immunocompromised patients younger than 21 years with COVID-19 admitted for intensive care died, compared to 4.6% of their peers with healthy immune systems.

The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, included pediatric patients seen in 55 hospitals in 30US states. All patients were under the age of 21 and admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) or high-acuity unit for acute COVID-19 from March 12, 2020, through December 30, 2021.

Of 1,274 patients, 105 (8.2%) had a pre-existing immunocompromising condition (ICC), including 33 (31.4%) with hematologic malignancies, 24 (22.9%) with primary immunodeficiencies and disorders of hematopoietic cells, 19 (18.1%) with nonmalignant organ failure after solid organ transplant, 16 (15.2%) with solid tumors, and 13 (12.4%) with autoimmune disorders.

Patients with and without ICC had similar clinical disease severity upon admission, the authors said. Patients in the PICU for COVID-19 who had ICCs were, however, older than those without ICCs and less likely to be obese.

Both groups of children had similar rates of mechanical ventilation, vasoactive infusions, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use. "Despite similarities in clinical presentation, the outcomes were worse for those with ICCs," the authors wrote.

In addition to almost triple the rate of in-hospital mortality, patients with ICCs had longer hospital stays.

Among the 105 patients with ICCs, 16.2% had life-threatening COVID-19, but reassuringly, COVID-19 ICC patients showed no evidence of new neurologic disability or need for supplemental oxygen, tracheostomy, or mechanical ventilation.

Patients with life-threatening COVID-19 were older than those with nonlife-threatening COVID-19, but there were no statistically significant differences in biologic sex, race, ethnicity.

"Patients with life-threatening COVID-19 were older than those with nonlife-threatening COVID-19, but there were no statistically significant differences in biologic sex, race, ethnicity, or comorbidities associated with life-threatening COVID-19 in patients with ICCs," the authors wrote.

No single type of ICC was more likely to be associated with severe COVID-19 infection, but patients with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) were overrepresented in hospital deaths.

Five of the 14 deaths in ICC patients occurred in children with HSCT, representing 35.7% of in-hospital deaths for that group.

"Patients with a history of HSCT represented only 1% of the overall cohort with acute COVID-19 but comprised almost half of the fatalities," the researchers wrote. "These findings are consistent with the high mortality of children with post-HSCT admitted to the PICU for other indications. Although our numbers are small, those patients who developed COVID-19 before or after post-transplantation day 100 had comparable rates of life-threatening COVID-19, similar to what has been reported previously."

Read more:

Clinical outcomes worse for young, immunocompromised COVID patients - University of Minnesota Twin Cities