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Health category, Page 81

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Allegheny Health Network to allow limited visitors at hospitals
Effective immediately, inpatient, observation, surgery and emergency department patients at Allegheny Health Network hospitals are permitted to have one healthy support person on site during visitation hours. As phased measures are implemented by state and local governments to adapt to evolving conditions of the covid-19 outbreak, AHN on Tuesday announced...
Can tear gas and pepper spray increase coronavirus spread?
Police departments have used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters in recent weeks, raising concern that the chemical agents could increase the spread of the coronavirus. The chemicals are designed to irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat. They make people cough, sneeze and pull off...
CDC report: Some Americans are gargling with bleach and drinking household cleaners to prevent coronavirus
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report indicates Americans are putting household disinfectants including bleach into their bodies because they believe such practices can ward off coronavirus — “preventive” measures are ineffective and dangerous. The study, posted by the CDC on Friday, explored how much its 502 participants...
5 Western Pa. UPMC hospitals given covid-19 drug
Five Pittsburgh-area UPMC hospitals have received shipments of the antiviral medication remdesivir to treat hospital patients with covid-19, the Pennsylvania Health Department said. UMPC Presbyterian, Mercy, Shadyside and St. Margaret, all in Pittsburgh; and Passavant in McCandless were among the 73 hospitals in the state to receive a total of...
Lancet study on safety of malaria drugs for coronavirus retracted
Several authors of a large study that raised safety concerns about malaria drugs for coronavirus patients have retracted the report, saying independent reviewers were not able to verify information that’s been widely questioned by other scientists. The retraction Thursday in the journal Lancet involved a May 22 report on hydroxychloroquine...
Epidemic of wipes and masks plagues sewers, storm drains
PHILADELPHIA — Mayor Jim Kenney kicked off a recent briefing on Philadelphia’s coronavirus response with an unusual request for residents: Be careful what you flush. Between mid-March, when the city’s stay-at-home order was issued, and the end of April, most of the 19 sewer and storm water pumping stations in...
Doctors say covid-19 at UPMC is declining in virulence, infection levels
Covid-19 is declining in both virulence and infection levels among patients at the state’s largest health care system, UPMC officials said Thursday. Dr. Donald Yealy, who heads emergency medicine at the system that has hospitals across the state, said both the ratio of patients testing positive for the virus and...
Study: No evidence hydroxychloroquine prevents healthy from getting covid-19 
A clinical study evaluating whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent covid-19 infections in people at risk of getting the virus found that it isn’t more effective than a placebo, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The conclusion of the study, which was carried out in...
In protests, police using rubber bullets that can kill, blind or maim for life
In cities across the country, police departments have attempted to quell unrest spurred by the death of George Floyd by firing rubber bullets into crowds, even though five decades of evidence shows such weapons can disable, disfigure and even kill. In addition to rubber bullets — which often have a...
Scientist defends Sweden’s hotly debated virus strategy
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country’s controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world. Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed. That’s not...
UK study finds minorities at higher risk of COVID-19 death
People from ethnic minorities have died from COVID-19 in larger relative numbers in England than their white compatriots, according to a study published by health authorities Tuesday. The Public Health England report hinted at reasons for the discrepancy but didn’t offer any recommendations. The government didn’t offer any solutions, prompting...
Monkeys, ferrets offer needed clues in covid-19 vaccine race
The global race for a covid-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm? Even as companies recruit tens of thousands of people for larger vaccine studies this summer,...
Masks and social distancing work, new analysis finds
Masks and social distancing can help control the coronavirus but hand washing and other measures are still needed, a new analysis finds. Researchers concluded single-layer cloth masks are less effective than surgical masks, while tight-fitting N95 masks provide the best protection. A distance of more than 3 feet between people...
Western Pa. experts weigh chances of catching coronavirus from contaminated objects
Fears about catching coronavirus from contaminated surfaces have driven some people to become compulsive about cleaning countertops and wiping down their groceries. As the pandemic took hold, some poison centers even reported increased calls about excessive exposure to cleaning agents. In recent weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Covid-19 lockdown costs Allegheny Health Network hospitals $160M in revenue; system gets $300M in federal aid
Allegheny Health Network hospitals lost $160 million in revenue from mid-March through April, when the coronavirus lockdown halted elective procedures at health care facilities statewide, financial forms filed Friday show. Volumes plunged by about 50% as slews of nonurgent surgeries were canceled and hospitals prepared for a possible surge in...
U.S. Health Secretary says feds investigating Brighton nursing home coronavirus outbreak
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar questioned Friday whether Pennsylvania officials have been “aggressive enough” in flagging and enforcing violations at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, where at least 76 residents have died of covid-19. Azar discussed the Trump administration’s concerns over the Beaver County nursing home’s coronavirus...
UPMC to get $1 billion in federal aid after hard hit from coronavirus pandemic
UPMC is slated to get more than $1 billion in aid from the federal government as Pennsylvania’s largest hospital system confronts volume plunging by 70% during the pandemic-spurred shutdown. In the last two weeks of March, after the Wolf administration’s state shutdown began and thousands of elective procedures were halted,...
Organ transplants surge at UPMC during pandemic
UPMC performed a record-high number of lung and liver transplants in April, even as the covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown caused the health system’s overall revenue and volume to plummet, executives said. UPMC doctors did 12 lung transplants during the month of April, up from an average of six such...
Cancer, coronavirus are a dangerous mix, new studies find
New research shows how dangerous the coronavirus is for current and former cancer patients. Those who developed covid-19 were much more likely to die within a month than people without cancer who got it, two studies found. They are the largest reports on people with both diseases in the United...
Zachary’s Mission celebrates 10 years of caring with Facebook giveaway
Patricia and Robert Vince could have let grief consume them when their son, Zachary, died 15 days after his birth. Instead, the Greensburg couple reached out to help others. Over the years, they’ve built a lasting memorial to their middle son and assisted thousands of families with medically fragile children...
U.N. virus therapy trial pauses hydroxychloroquine testing because of safety concerns
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the anti-malarial drug President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental covid-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date. In a press briefing, WHO...
‘Last responders’ seek to expand postmortem COVID-19 testing in unexplained deaths
Examining dead bodies and probing for a cause of death is rarely seen as a heroic or glamorous job. Rather, as the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded, all eyes have been on the medical workers and public health disease detectives fighting on the front lines — and sometimes giving their lives...
380 layoffs announced across Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Health, another affiliate
Allegheny Health Network officials announced that AHN and two affiliates are laying off about 380 employees, mostly as the result of the covid-19 pandemic. About 250 of the job cuts mostly are from AHN’s corporate and administrative services, in addition to some clinical support staff, spokeswoman Lynn Seay said via...
U.S. births fall, and coronavirus could drive them down more
NEW YORK — U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years. The decline is the latest sign of a prolonged national “baby bust” that’s been going on for more than a decade. And some experts believe the coronavirus pandemic and its...
CDC issues detailed reopening guidance after initial rejection 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a 60-page document that provides detailed suggestions for different phases of reopening workplaces, schools and restaurants, after an earlier draft was rejected by the White House for being too prescriptive. The document, which expands on several tools the agency released last...


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