Category: Covid-19

As reported in a recent letter to the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology, 79% of 122 men and 42% of 53 women suffering from COVID-19 in three Madrid hospitals were noted to have androgenic alopecia, otherwise known as male-pattern hair loss.

Like most of those faring worse from COVID-19, the subjects were all older. The median age of the men studied was 62.5, and that of women was 71. Balding accompanies older age, of course, but this was more balding than typical for the age ranges in question.

At 79%, the portion of men with hair loss in the Spanish COVID-19 hospital ward was potentially twice that of a matched group of males, for whom the normal prevalence of alopecia ranged from 31% to 53%.

At 42%, the portion of Spanish women hospitalized with COVID-19 who were balding had only slightly higher rates of hair loss than normal, given that the highest rate of so-called androgenic alopecia among women over 69 is 38%.

The study was small and observational, though, meaning its conclusions were of limited use in describing cause-and-effect.

But it has been joined by a larger study of baldness and COVID-19, this one titled "Male Balding is a Major Risk Factor for Severe COVID-19." The authors, who are dermatology researchers West Virginia University, identified 1,941 hospitalized men in a health database known as the UK Biobank who had been tested for COVID-19. They then sorted them by positive or negative COVID-19 diagnosis, and looked up their level of baldness.

As part of an extensive health record, the UK Biobank participants had previously been tasked with describing their degree of baldness on a four-level severity scale, one ranging from virtually no baldness, to near total hair loss.

The researchers found that of 336 hospitalized men who tested positive for COVID-19 in the database, increasing baldness predicted COVID-19 positivity. The COVID-19 prevalence in hospitalized men was 15% for grade-one baldness, 16.8% for grade two, 18.1% for grade three and 20% for grade four. By contrast, increasing levels of baldness was evenly distributed among those who tested negative for the virus.

"While the exact mechanism remains unknown," the authors wrote, "severe androgenic alopecia seems to be associated with hospitalization for COVID-19." They added their belief that clinicians should incorporate baldness as a signal to identify those at greatest risk of doing poorly with COVID-19.

"I think it has to do with being male," says Mayo Clinic infectious disease specialist Dr. Greg Poland. "If you look at every country across the world, the numbers of those with infections are equally distributed among males and females, but deaths are slanted towards males."

Poland points to an emerging line of research spearheaded by a Johns Hopkins microbiologist. Dr. Sabra Klein has teased apart genetic and cellular machinery responsible for why men appear have less healthy immune systems in the face of novel viruses. While rates of COVID-19 are equally distributed between the sexes, more men have died from the illness, although the reason is unclear.

"I think it is a marker for being being male," Poland said, "or if you're a woman, having elevated male androgenic hormones. Obese women tend to have higher levels of male hormones. Many have a lot of hair loss. So I think that's the risk factor."

Still others have argued that baldness is sometimes a side effect of metabolic syndrome, a dietary disease of civilization which rests at the heart of the underlying obesity, inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions that put COVID-19 patients at greater risk of poor outcomes.

Noting that carbohydrates in the diet induce insulin resistance and an "endocrine cascade" leading to elevated production of androgens in both men and women, not to mention the decrease of a protein known as SHBG for the control of circulating androgen levels, the authors of a 2003 paper famously described male-pattern baldness, hypertension and coronary artery disease as all byproducts of a similar process.

"High glycemic-load carbohydrates, by inducing insulinemia ... represent a likely environmental agent that may in part underlie the promotion of male vertex balding," the authors Loren Cordain, Michael and Mary Eades wrote, a pattern "strongly associated with ... diseases, such as (coronary artery disease) and hypertension."

Be it through the dietary carbohydrates or gender, when it comes to the question of why some people do worse with COVID-19, it seems, hair loss has now become another piece of the puzzle.

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Is baldness predictive of COVID-19, or something else? - Grand Forks Herald

To judge by popular movies, people who live in the Brazilian Amazon are at constant risk of being attacked by huge tarantulas, squeezed to death by giant anacondas and being eaten alive by voracious piranhas. In fact, the real dangers have more to do with tropical diseases such as malaria, cholera, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya. And while illnesses would be mostly preventable through modern sanitation and hygiene measures, these are mostly unavailable.

Take Porto Velho, for examplea city of half a million people and the capital of the state of Rondnia, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, where fewer than 1 percent of residences have access to treated water and proper sewerage. And rather than take responsibility for these conditions, TV ads created by the government blame the population itself for disease outbreaks, as if the lack of hygiene were a cultural characteristic and not a matter of failed public policies.

The same sort of abdication of responsibility occurs when nearby farmers outside the city burn the forest to create pastureland for cattle. Despite the increase in hospital admissions, especially of children, resulting from respiratory problems caused by the smoke, the official position is that the wildfires are inevitable because of development. This is technically correct: without the fires, there would be no cattle to export, and without cattle, the ranch owners wouldnt have enough money to donate to the politicians (or to keep for themselves, because many of the ranch owners are politicians).

And now, with the arrival of COVID-19, we are seeing a similar pattern. By late July, there were more than 800 deaths from the coronavirus in Rondnia. But COVID-19 has become an ideological issue, not just a public health problem. Whether or not people wear protective masks or practice self-isolation depends on whether they support President Jair Bolsonaro, who has consistently downplayed the dangers of the pandemic. The official line is that the economic disruption that would result from aggressive measures against the disease would take more lives than the virus itself. (Bolsonaro tested positive himself recently, although according to an official statement he remained in good condition.)

The illness in Porto Velho reflects what we already know about disease in the Brazilian Amazon: the poorest are most at risk. When we cross-check mobility data provided by Google; data from the states Health Department; and social indicators such as the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) on access to sanitation, education and employment, it becomes clear that areas in Porto Velho where compliance with self-isolation falls below 30 percent are also the poorest ones and those in which there is a greater number of confirmed COVID-19 confirmed cases.

In short, the poorest people are the sickest. We may understand these data in two ways. The first interpretation, advanced by public administrators at the state level, is that its their own fault that the poorest people are seeing the most illness. But poor housing, malnutrition and lack of formal employment are clearly not their fault. These conditions mean that the poor are unable to isolate themselves socially, wash their hands or buy protective masks. They have little access to public health resources and social assistance.

The challenge becomes to understand the structural factors that maintain these inequalities and their consequences for peoples health, and to begin to remedy them. Only then will these communities no longer have to choose between working and putting themselves and their families at risk on one hand, versus self-isolating and starving.

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Blame Poverty, Not the Poor, for COVID-19's Spread in Brazil's Amazon - Scientific American

Alaska reported another death associated with the new coronavirus on Saturday, as cases of the illness continued to increase statewide.

The Alaskan who passed away was an Anchorage man in his 60s who had underlying conditions, according to a release from the states health department.

The state also reported eight new hospitalizations, but noted that new hospitalization reports can lag. There were 31 people hospitalized with COVD-19, according to state data on Saturday. In addition, seven other people were hospitalized and under investigation for the illness.

An Utqiagvik resident who tested positive for the illness was transferred to Anchorage, due to the severity of complications from COVID-19, the Arctic Slope Native Association said in a release.

In total, there were 86 new COVID-19 cases announced on Saturday. The daily total is a slight uptick compared with recent days in the past week. Daily case counts decreased somewhat this week after multiple days when those numbers reached over 100 at the end of July and into early August.

In the Municipality of Anchorage, there were 57 new cases announced: 48 among Anchorage residents; 3 among Chugiak residents; 5 among Eagle River residents and one in a nonresident within Anchorage.

In the Mat-Su, there were two cases of COVID-19 in people from Palmer and four in Wasilla residents.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough had four new cases, including two in Sterling residents, one in someone from Soldotna and one in a person from Seward.

There were three cases reported in Fairbanks residents and two in smaller communities in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area. There was also one new case each in residents of Cordova and Sitka.

The state announced 3 cases among Juneau residents and 3 cases among nonresidents there on Saturday.

Additionally, among nonresidents, one person working in the seafood industry in Cordova, one person from the North Slope oil industry in Prudhoe Bay and someone in an unlisted industry in Dillingham tested positive, as well as one nonresident from a location that was still under investigation, according to the states release.

By status

Positivity rate

Hospital resources

By age group

7-day rolling averages

Big picture

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Alaska reports death of Anchorage resident tied to COVID-19 and 86 new cases - Anchorage Daily News

SPRINGFIELD -- Baystate Health has seen a 33% increase in patients treated for COVID-19 in a week bringing concerns about an uptick in infections.

On Sunday, 30 people who are confirmed to have COVID-19 are hospitalized with two being treated in the critical care unit, officials said.

While the increase is concerning, the numbers are nowhere near infections reported in April and May when more than 100 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus.

Sundays total hospitalizations is an increase from 20 confirmed cases reported a week ago and 13 confirmed cases reported two weeks ago.

The increase comes after officials at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield faced an outbreak related to an employee who returned to work after visiting another state identified as a hot spot for the virus. As of Monday 33 employees and 22 patients were infected in that outbreak that is traced to occurring between July 15 through 23. None of the employees had been hospitalized as of Wednesday.

Baystate has taken new precautions due to the outbreak. A state travel requirement also went into effect on Aug. 1 now requires people to quarantine for 14 days when coming into Massachusetts from 44 states. Exemptions are all of the New England states, except Rhode Island, New York and Hawaii.

All 30 patients being treated with COVID-19 are hospitalized at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Baystate Health also operates Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer and Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield.

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Read more:

Baystate Health sees 33% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations in week - MassLive.com

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 in Maine remained at low levels this week, and slightly below those of last week.

The key metric, which typically lags exposure to the disease by one to three weeks, had generally fallen for more than a month and has been at low levels since the end of May, even as summer tourism season has progressed here and the disease has surged to crisis levels in other parts of the country.

Maine Medical Center, which has handled nearly half the states coronavirus burden through most of the crisis, had an average of 4.7 confirmed COVID-19 inpatients each day for the week ending Thursday, up slightly from 4.6 last week but far below its peak daily census counts of 35 set on both April 7 and May 25.

Central Maine Medical Center had an average of 3.3 COVID-19 inpatients a day, essentially unchanged from 3.4 last week. The Lewiston hospital has now seen the third largest pandemic inpatient burden overall after Maine Med and Southern Maine Health Care Medical Center in Biddeford. But the citys other hospital, St. Marys, hasnt had a COVID-19 inpatient since July 26.

Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick had its busiest week since May with 1.4 COVID-19 inpatients a day but ended the period with no inpatients.

Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor hasnt had such a patient since July 31 after having at least one each day since the middle of June. MaineGeneral in Augusta, which had been the third most affected hospital in the state, hasnt had an inpatient with the disease since July 27.

Portlands Mercy Hospital had an average of 0.7 inpatients a day for the period, while York Countys largest hospital, SMHC Medical Center, had an average of 0.6 per day, up slightly from 0.3 the previous week.

York Hospital in York hasnt reported a COVID-19 inpatient since June 22.

Bridgton Hospital had an average of 0.9 such inpatients a day after not having one since June 22, but three other hospitals that had reported having patients during June Rumford, and Waldo in Belfast and Franklin Memorial in Farmington had none for the week.

Hospitalizations can end three ways: recovery, death or transfer to another facility. The data does not include outpatients or inpatients who were suspected of having the virus but never tested.

The Press Heralds survey is for the seven days ending Aug. 6. It compiles data received directly from the hospitals and hospital networks. It includes most, but not all, of the states hospitals, but accounts for the vast majority of the statewide hospitalizations reported each week by the Maine CDC.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low in Maine for another week - Press Herald

Rob Gregson, 52, of South Orange, N.J., went to bed feeling under the weather and woke up with chest tightness, a weird cough, difficulty breathing and crazy fatigue. It was March 11, just before lockdowns were imposed, and he immediately suspected Covid-19. But because he never had a fever, it took him more than a week to find a doctor to help and get a swab test. He tested positive.

Its been the fatigue that is the most debilitating, said Mr. Gregson, executive director of a faith-based nonprofit, adding that hes still struggling to regain his stamina nearly five months later. Ive been on the coronavirus roller coaster, feeling better and thinking Ill be OK, then it comes roaring back.

When Erin, a 30-year-old who works for a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., first developed a cough and headache in May, she wasnt worried. I did not have a fever, and Id been very diligent about wearing a mask and washing my hands, so I figured it was allergies or a cold at the beginning, she said.

About four days after the cough began, Erin was hit with severe fatigue, sore throat, congestion, chills, body aches and a slight loss of sense of smell but still no fever. She also had one unusual symptom: severe pain in her hip muscles, which she described as really weird.

Although body aches are a common symptom of Covid-19, some patients are reporting severe joint and body pain, particularly in large muscles. Although its rare, Covid-19 can cause painful inflammation in the joints or lead to rhabdomyolysis, a serious and potentially life-threatening illness that can cause excruciating muscle pain in the shoulders, thighs or lower back.

A New York cyclist who developed severe leg pain in May was initially diagnosed via telemedicine with a bulging disc. She sought a second telemedicine opinion with Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, who asked her to move, twist and put pressure on her legs as he watched her on video.

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The Many Symptoms of Covid-19 - The New York Times

Today, that decision appears to have paid off.

This turn around has caught the attention of health experts, who have praised Arizona as an example of a state that successfully reimplemented mitigation efforts as cases rose.

"We saw in Arizona, which was a good example, they went up (in cases) and they started to really clamp down and do things right. And the cases came right down," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN's John Berman on Thursday morning.

The state and its governor, Doug Ducey, were praised on Wednesday by President Donald Trump and Dr. Deborah Birx in the Oval Office, where Ducey credited the downward trend to Arizonans wearing masks, physically distancing, washing hands and staying home if sick.

"They've really done a great job putting these pieces together and really creating that path forward," Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said. She pointed to the improvement in Arizona as a model that could work for other states.

Of course, while things are improving, the state -- like the rest of the country -- is not in the clear.

Arizona reported nearly 1,400 cases on Thursday, bringing the statewide total to more than 183,000. And the number of deaths continues to climb, with more than 4,000 total deaths as of Thursday.

"This is not a victory lap," Ducey said last week after discussing the state's downward trend. "This is not a celebration. If anything, it's evidence that the decisions and the sacrifice that Arizonans are making are working."

How Arizona did it

"We did take some further steps," Ducey said on Wednesday. "We were in the unhappy but responsible position of dispersing large crowds, so bars and nightclubs and gyms all closed temporarily," he said.

"But upon putting those steps out there, we've seen improvement every week, week-over-week for four weeks," he said.

On May 8, retail stores, barbershops and salons were allowed to resume in-person business with some guidelines. A few days later, on May 11, restaurants were allowed to resume dine-in service. That day, the state had a total of 11,383 cases of Covid-19.

Then things went downhill from there. Cases rose throughout the month of June, totaling 79,228 on June 30 -- up from 20,129 on June 1. The state was forced to try and rectify the situation before it spun out of control.

"The Covid-19 crisis didn't hit Arizona until later," Ducey explained. "We had a very difficult June, we've had a much better July."

At the time, Ducey warned his state it would take time for the restrictions to be reflected in the state's Covid-19 numbers.

In early July, the state was paid a visit by members of the White House coronavirus task force, including Birx and Vice President Mike Pence. A few days later, on July 9, Ducey took another step back, limiting indoor dining to 50% capacity before things started looking up.

The average of new daily cases over a seven-day period began steadily declining each week, something the governor touted in his visit to the Oval Office on Wednesday.

Despite the improvement, Ducey recognizes that the Grand Canyon State was not out of the woods.

"Like I said, no celebration, no victory lap," he said. "We're going to stay the course, stay vigilant and keep our guard up. But we have a path forward in Arizona."

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New Covid-19 cases are declining in Arizona, once a hot spot. Here's how the state is turning things around - CNN

The West Virginia Department of Health andHuman Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on August 7,2020, there have been 312,521 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 7,433 totalcases and 127 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an81-year old female from Pleasants County, a 66-year old male from Mingo Countyand a 73-year old male from Mingo County. We offer our deepest sympathies to thefamilies as our state grieves more losses due to COVID-19, said Bill J.Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (658/28), Boone(97/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke (61/1), Cabell (364/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay(17/1), Doddridge (5/0), Fayette (140/0), Gilmer (16/0), Grant (116/1),Greenbrier (91/0), Hampshire (76/0), Hancock (105/4), Hardy (57/1), Harrison(213/1), Jackson (162/0), Jefferson (288/6), Kanawha (885/13), Lewis (28/1),Lincoln (81/0), Logan (209/0), Marion (179/4), Marshall (126/4), Mason (54/0),McDowell (57/1), Mercer (177/0), Mineral (115/2), Mingo (156/2), Monongalia(918/17), Monroe (20/1), Morgan (25/1), Nicholas (35/1), Ohio (263/3),Pendleton (39/1), Pleasants (11/1), Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (101/21), Putnam(185/1), Raleigh (208/7), Randolph (204/4), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (15/0),Summers (7/0), Taylor (55/1), Tucker (11/0), Tyler (13/0), Upshur (36/3), Wayne(198/2), Webster (4/0), Wetzel (42/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (231/12), Wyoming(31/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Preston County in this report.

Specificallyregarding the change in cases for Grant and Pendleton counties in this report,when the tests were administered in these counties the facility left someaddress fields blank therefore the address on file resorted back to thehistoric address on file for an individual which was not necessarily consideredtheir current address.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. Visitthe dashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

On July 24,2020, Gov. Jim Justice announced that DHHR, the agency in charge of reportingthe number of COVID-19 cases, will transition from providing twice-dailyupdates to one report every 24 hours. This became effective August 1, 2020.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 8-7-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

NC COVID-19 Update: Over 1,500 new cases in the state in past 24 hours  WLOS

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NC COVID-19 Update: Over 1,500 new cases in the state in past 24 hours - WLOS

The West Virginia Department of Health andHuman Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on August 6,2020, there have been 307,255 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 7,277 totalcases and 124 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (647/28), Boone (95/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(60/1), Cabell (358/9), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/1), Doddridge (5/0), Fayette(137/0), Gilmer (16/0), Grant (96/1), Greenbrier (88/0), Hampshire (76/0),Hancock (103/4), Hardy (56/1), Harrison (206/1), Jackson (160/0), Jefferson(288/6), Kanawha (863/13), Lewis (27/1), Lincoln (79/0), Logan (176/0), Marion(175/4), Marshall (125/3), Mason (53/0), McDowell (48/1), Mercer (174/0),Mineral (114/2), Mingo (154/2), Monongalia (913/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(25/1), Nicholas (34/1), Ohio (262/3), Pendleton (57/1), Pleasants (9/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (101/22), Putnam (177/1), Raleigh (203/7), Randolph(203/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (7/0), Taylor (55/1), Tucker(11/0), Tyler (13/0), Upshur (36/3), Wayne (194/2), Webster (4/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (230/12), Wyoming (29/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Barbour, Preston, and Marshall counties in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. Visitthe dashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

On July 24,2020, Gov. Jim Justice announced that DHHR, the agency in charge of reportingthe number of COVID-19 cases, will transition from providing twice-dailyupdates to one report every 24 hours. This became effective August 1, 2020.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 8-6-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources