Health category, Page 100
Pa. Department of Health to provide county EMS agencies more details on covid-19 cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health will release additional information about the location of covid-19 patients to county emergency management agencies beginning Friday. Citing the privacy provisions of the 1955 Disease Prevention and Control Act, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which holds daily briefings on the statewide case count, previously refused...
‘Smart toilet’ reads your backside print, analyzes waste for disease
A toilet that does double duty could be on its way to your home. Researchers at Stanford University announced they have developed a system that can monitor your health by examining your waste — be it No. 1 or 2. In a release, Dr. Sanjiv “Sam” Gambhir and his team...
Gov. Wolf signs order allowing medical supplies to be redistributed to Pa. areas hit hardest by coronavirus
In light of the continued spread of the coronavirus across Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday signed an order that will allow the state’s emergency management agency to take protective equipment and supplies from one medical facility and give them to others with greater needs. “I’m trying to make sure...
AHN to sterilize, reuse N95 masks for coronavirus protection
A sterilization technique developed by Allegheny Health Network will allow health care workers to reuse their N95 masks up to three times, hospital system officials said Tuesday. As covid-19 cases have increased nationwide, the supply of masks has dwindled. The N95 masks, fitted with respirators, filter out droplets and aerosolized...
White House pushes unproven drug for virus; doctors waryVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his administration kept up their out-sized promotion Monday of an malaria drug not yet officially approved for fighting the new coronavirus, even though scientists say more testing is needed before it’s proven safe and effective against covid-19. Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro championed hydroxychloroquine...
UPMC researchers developing test to measure antibodies in fight against coronavirus
UPMC researchers are among those nationwide and around the world working to learn more about blood tests that could help physicians understand how a person’s body has responded to covid-19. The blood test would measure whether a person has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19, and could show...
Coronavirus is mostly mild and rarely fatal for U.S. kids, data show
The first national data on covid-19 in U.S. children suggest that while the illness usually isn’t severe in kids, some do get sick enough to require hospital treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Monday shows that fever, cough and shortness of breath were the most common...
Pennsylvania issues safety guidelines for essential businesses
A safety order that provides life-sustaining businesses with direction on how to properly clean and maintain buildings to help prevent the spread of covid-19 was issued Sunday by state Secretary of Health Rachel Levine. The Building Safety Measures order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. April 6. It outlines measures...
No covid-19 testing at home yet but quicker options coming
WASHINGTON — Home testing for the new coronavirus may sound like a good idea, but U.S. regulators say it’s still too risky. They’ve stopped companies that quickly launched home-testing kits until they can show their products can accurately detect the virus. For now, the only way Americans can get tested...
A gentler Gotham? NYers anxiously wait out coronavirus
NEW YORK — To a casting director, he might have seemed the perfect impatient New Yorker — broad, bald and with a booming voice, tattoos on his neck and hands visible under his construction jacket. Justin Hunter stood in line outside the Park Slope Food Coop, one of several dozen...
Gov. Cuomo: China sending 1,000 ventilators to New York
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that China is facilitating the shipment of 1,000 ventilators to his state, as he continues to shop for more of the lifesaving devices ahead of a growing number of coronavirus patients who will need them. The number of people infected...
Competition for supplies sharpening as pandemic worsens
NEW YORK — Scarce supplies of medical equipment are leading to growing competition within the U.S. and among nations, in what one French politician called a “worldwide treasure hunt.” The governor of New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, vowed to seize unused ventilators from private hospitals and...
Cuomo orders shift in ventilators to overwhelmed hospitals
NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would order the redistribution of critically needed ventilators. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a national enlistment program for doctors and nurses. And the coronavirus outbreak picked up speed with more deaths and more hospitalizations. The latest...
Nuket Curran: Telemedicine a powerful tool in coronavirus pandemic
Nuket Curran, a doctor of physical therapy, lives in Shaler. She is director of compliance at Phoenix Rehabilitation and Health Services (phoenixrehab.com). Coronavirus has changed our lives completely. Each day we are making the choice to not to see anyone in person and rely on digital technology to connect with...
Pennsylvania flu cases drop significantly, state’s final report says
With influenza activity decreasing significantly across the state, Pennsylvania health officials have stopped updating a weekly report on flu activity for the season. Flu activity is down over the past few weeks and now below epidemic levels, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Department of Health for the week...
Highmark, UPMC to pay patients’ out-of-pocket costs for covid-19 treatments
Western Pennsylvania’s two largest insurers pledged Thursday to eliminate any out-of-pocket costs for patients who are treated for covid-19 at an in-network hospital. Both UPMC and Highmark committed to waiving all deductibles, co-pays and co-insurance costs for insurance members who receive in-network, inpatient care related to covid-19, the disease caused...
3rd resident of Beaver County nursing home with covid-19 dies
A third resident who tested positive for covid-19 at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center has died, officials announced Thursday. Two other residents with advanced dementia previously died after contracting the disease, according to Dr. David Thimons, the facility’s medical director. “There are currently 38 in-house residents that have tested positive,”...
Philips Respironics ramping up ventilator production, soon to include a lower-cost unit
A Dutch manufacturer says it hopes to triple the production of hospital ventilators being assembled in Murrysville and Carlsbad, Calif., between now and the end of September. “In March, our production capacity was 1,000 ventilators per week. In two months, we hope to double that … and by the end...
Healthy-looking people spread coronavirus, more studies say
More evidence is emerging that coronavirus infections are being spread by people who have no clear symptoms, complicating efforts to gain control of the pandemic. A study conducted by researchers in Singapore and published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday is the latest to estimate that...
From ibuprofen to mosquitoes, Pittsburgh doctor addresses coronavirus myths
There are plenty of myths and rumors circulating online about the coronavirus. There are also many unknowns that doctors are trying to figure out. The Tribune-Review posed some questions to Dr. Nitin Bhanot, Allegheny Health Network’s division director of infectious disease. Here are his responses: Question: There’s been speculation that...
When will rapid coronavirus test become available in Western Pennsylvania?
A new rapid covid-19 test designed to be conducted in doctors’ offices, hospital emergency departments and urgent care clinics could deliver results in minutes, but it’s not yet clear if or when those tests will arrive in the Pittsburgh region. The Illinois-based medical technology company Abbott announced that it will...
UPMC: Employees will be paid at current rate through May 9
UPMC employees will be paid at their current rate for their normally scheduled hours even if they are assigned to a different job during the covid-19 pandemic, officials said Monday. UPMC said it is implementing a staffing and pay protection program so that staff who may be assigned to do...
For Pennsylvania’s Amish, the coronavirus and the call for social distancing are a challenge
The Amish do their best to keep outside troubles from entering their daily lives. That’s not so easy when the trouble is an invisible virus spreading across the globe. People familiar with the Amish community in Pennsylvania say many are taking the coronavirus and subsequent business closures and calls for...
Shop sells ‘hundreds’ of doughnuts starring Dr. Fauci’s face
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — An upstate New York doughnut shop is featuring the likeness of the doctor leading the country’s battle with coronavirus on its sweet treats. Donuts Delite in Rochester began selling hundreds of doughnuts with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s face, surrounded by white frosting and topped off with patriotic sprinkles....
Indonesian students provide sanitizers to daily workers to fight virus
JAKARTA — They toil on the fringes, without any job security or set hours or decent wages. And the coronavirus has made their already difficult lives harder, and more hazardous. And so a group of university students in Yogyakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java, set out to help these...
