Health category, Page 103
New coronavirus test is imperfect step toward mass screening
WASHINGTON — A new type of coronavirus test offers a cheaper, quicker way to screen for infections, moving the U.S. toward the kind of mass screening that experts say is essential to returning millions of Americans to school and work. But the first so-called antigen test — announced Saturday by...
Mobile coronavirus testing coming to Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood
Allegheny Health Network said Monday it is launching a new mobile initiative to take covid-19 testing into underserved Western Pennsylvania communities. The first AHN mobile covid-19 testing site is scheduled to be open for appointments from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday outside the Alma Illery Medical Center...
Court halts ban on mass gatherings at Kentucky churches
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A federal court halted the Kentucky governor’s temporary ban on mass gatherings from applying to in-person religious services, clearing the way for Sunday church services. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove on Friday issued a temporary restraining order enjoining Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration from enforcing the...
‘It’s gone haywire’: When COVID-19 arrived in rural America
DAWSON, Ga. — The reverend approached the makeshift pulpit and asked the Lord to help him make some sense of the scene before him: two caskets, side by side, in a small-town cemetery busier now than ever before. Rev. Willard O. Weston had already eulogized other neighbors lost to COVID-19,...
Stuck on cruise ships during pandemic, crews beg to go home
MIAMI — Carolina Vásquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with COVID-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on...
Rare inflammatory condition affects some children with covid-19Video
Dozens of U.S. children have been hospitalized with a serious inflammatory condition possibly linked with the coronavirus and first seen in Europe. New York authorities announced Wednesday that 64 potential cases had been reported to the state. The advisory followed an alert earlier this week about 15 cases in New...
Gov. Wolf signs order granting civil immunity to health care providers during covid-19 pandemic
Gov. Tom Wolf signed an executive order Wednesday that could shield health care workers from potential lawsuits while confronting the covid-19 pandemic. The order grants civil immunity to individual licensed, certified and registered health care workers acting in “good faith” across all types of state-defined health care facilities — among...
Many new Allegheny County coronavirus cases linked to long-term care facilities
Nearly half of recent cases of the coronavirus reported in Allegheny County are linked to long-term care facilities, Allegheny County Health Department officials said Wednesday. Between April 20 and May 5, county health department staff started investigations on 352 new cases of covid-19. Of that total, 123 people, or 35%...
Pittsburgh’s Jewish Association on Aging will hold in-person Mother’s Day visits through windows
Mother’s Day visits amid coronavirus restrictions at nursing and personal care homes will be possible at the Jewish Association on Aging facilities in Pittsburgh. There’s no hugging, though. The in-person Mother’s Day visits at Charles Morris Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Weinberg Terrace and Weinberg Village will be held through plexiglass...
Pittsburgh HIV/AIDS advocate August Pusateri dies
August “Buzz” Pusateri played an integral role in the Pitt Men’s Study, a confidential research study of the natural history of HIV and AIDS. Not only did he believe in the importance of recruiting volunteers to help further research, he was one of the project’s first volunteers. Twice a year,...
The second virus wave: How bad will it be as lockdowns ease?Video
ROME — From the marbled halls of Italy to the wheat fields of Kansas, health authorities are increasingly warning that the question isn’t whether a second wave of coronavirus infections and deaths will hit, but when — and how badly. In India, which partly relaxed its lockdown this week, health...
Allegheny Health Network resumes elective surgeries, increases in-person appointments
Allegheny Health Network this week resumed elective surgeries and appointments at all of its medical facilities in response to the region’s decline in new coronavirus cases. The health care provider said it is “returning to a more normalized schedule and protocols for medical appointments and non-emergent surgical procedures after six...
Covid-19 vaccine hunt heats up globally, still no guaranteeVideo
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of people are rolling up their sleeves in countries across the world to be injected with experimental vaccines that might stop covid-19, spurring hope — maybe unrealistic — that an end to the pandemic may arrive sooner than anticipated. About 100 groups are pursuing vaccines with nearly...
Allegheny Health Network expands access to drive-up coronavirus tests
Allegheny Health Network is expanding drive-up covid-19 testing to patients of non-AHN affiliated health care providers. The patients will need a doctor’s order to be tested. The drive-up testing started in March and is now available at seven locations in the region. “At AHN, drive-up testing for covid-19 is part...
Farmers markets scaling down with eye on safety due to virus
DETROIT — For a dozen years, Johnny Gyergyou has sold meat, poultry and eggs from his Berlin Township livestock farm at Eastern Market in Detroit. Lately, he’s been staying home as fear of the COVID-19 virus has kept thousands of shoppers away from the popular venue northeast of downtown. “The...
‘I died and came back’: 12-year-old recovers from virus
COVINGTON, La. — As her desperately sick daughter was being airlifted to a hospital, Jennifer Daly was thinking about all the parts of life that still lay ahead for her 12-year-old and whether she’d ever experience them: Would she get to fall in love? Would she get the chance to...
White House blocking Fauci testimony, panel spokesman says
WASHINGTON — A spokesman for a key House panel said Friday that the White House has blocked Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying next week at a hearing on the coronavirus outbreak. House Appropriations Committee spokesman Evan Hollander said the panel sought Fauci — the highly respected director of the National...
Remdesivir given go-ahead by FDA for emergency use against coronavirus
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators on Friday allowed emergency use of an experimental drug that appears to help some coronavirus patients recover faster. It is the first drug shown to help fight COVID-19, which has killed more than 230,000 people worldwide. The FDA said in a statement that Gilead Science’s intravenous...
May is National Lyme Disease Awareness MonthVideo
With the prospect of quarantine measures slowly being lifted across the state in the coming weeks, many Pennsylvanians are relishing the prospect of getting outside and enjoying warming spring weather. Unfortunately, not only will they have the specter of the coronavirus hanging in the air, they’ll also have tick nymphs...
Herd immunity with coronavirus stirs debate, but experts say it comes at a deadly cost
Critics of coronavirus-related shutdowns have pointed to Sweden’s path toward “herd immunity” as justification for advocating an end to stay-at-home orders, even as some infectious disease experts warn the Swedes’ methods could be deadly. Building herd immunity has gained popularity in some circles as an alternative to widespread shutdowns and...
Trump harshly blames China for coronavirus pandemic; a lab ‘mistake’?Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday speculated that China could have unleashed the coronavirus on the world due to some kind of horrible “mistake,” and his intelligence agencies said they are still examining a notion put forward by the president and aides that the pandemic may have resulted from...
Trump’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ aims to rush coronavirus vaccineVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is quietly organizing a Manhattan Project-style effort to drastically cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end, according to two people familiar with the matter. Called “Operation Warp Speed,” the program will...
American Heart Association addresses CPR during coronavirus pandemicVideo
Covid-19 fears have altered most aspects of daily life, especially physical human contact. The American Heart Assocation realizes that people may be reluctant to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) — a lifesaving act that requires direct physical contact. A senior director with the regional AHA, Gina Hrach, said they are “currently...
Laid-off U.S. workers face foreign world of insurance shoppingVideo
Mass layoffs are pushing many Americans into an unfamiliar role: shopping for health insurance that isn’t offered by an employer. A swirl of confusing terms and options await inexperienced shoppers as they sort health insurance plans. And there’s probably no one from human resources available to quickly answer questions. The...
10 ways to protect your skin while wearing a mask
During the covid-19 pandemic, many Americans are wearing face masks for extended periods of time for the first time in their lives. This has brought about a number of skin issues, from flaring of eczema to worsening of acne. Dr. Suzan Obagi, associate professor of dermatology at the UPMC Cosmetic...
