Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Dire COVID-19 warning from World Health Organization

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has swept across the globe, infecting more than 18 million people. With the rapid spread of the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that there might never be a “silver bullet” to combat the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

5 Aug 2020

Can Vitamin D help combat the coronavirus?

In a new report published in The Lancet, a team of researchers discussed the possibility that vitamin D could offer protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials performed from 2007 to 2020.

4 Aug 2020

New system monitors, forecasts outbreak risk of dengue, Zika and other Aedes-borne diseases

Researchers led by Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society and the Pan-American Health Organization have developed a system to monitor and forecast the environmental suitability of transmission of Zika, dengue fever, chikungunya and other diseases carried by species of Aedes mosquitos in the U.S. and neighboring regions.

4 Aug 2020

UCLA launches new study to revolutionize detection, treatment of depression

While the capability to diagnose cancer and heart problems has advanced by giant steps in recent years, methods to detect depression have stubbornly stayed the same for more than a century: Observe patients, and ask them how they are doing.

4 Aug 2020

Urban Food Policy Institute receives grant to study successful strategies of food benefit programs

The WT Grant Foundation and the Spencer Foundation have jointly awarded the Urban Food Policy Institute at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy a grant to study successful strategies for expanding enrollment, benefits, access, and impact of food benefit programs such as SNAP, WIC, and School Meals in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

4 Aug 2020

ACTG initiates novel clinical trial to evaluate multiple therapeutics for COVID-19

The AIDS Clinical Trials Group, the world's largest and longest established HIV research network, today announced the initiation of the ACTIV-2 Outpatient Monoclonal Antibodies and Other Therapies Trial, which will be conducted by the ACTG.

4 Aug 2020

Decoy receptor neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 virus in tissue cultures

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, scientists and health care providers are seeking ways to keep the coronavirus from infecting tissues once they're exposed. A new study suggests luring the virus with a decoy - an engineered, free-floating receptor protein - binds the virus and blocks infection.

4 Aug 2020

Test, trace, isolate key to safe schools in COVID-19

Researchers led by Professor Kristine Maccartney from the National Centre for Immunization Research and surveillance, the Children's Hospital at Westmead and the University of Westmead, Australia explain that schools around the world have shut down to prevent the virus transmission.

4 Aug 2020

Specifically designed cyclic peptide inhibitor shown to be active against SARS-CoV-2

A new bioRxiv study by a research group from the University of California Irvine shows in vitro activity and non-toxicity of the first-in-class cyclic peptide that inhibits the main protease of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – laying the groundwork for its use in the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

4 Aug 2020

Study finds low rate of COVID-19 transmission in educational settings

The rate of COVID-19 transmission in New South Wales (NSW) educational settings was extremely limited during the first wave of COVID-19, research findings published today in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health have shown.

4 Aug 2020

Maryland County pledges investigation of health worker’s coronavirus death

Officials in Maryland's Prince George's County say they "will spare no time or expense" investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a veteran public health worker who died of COVID-19 after relatives and co-workers believe she contracted the coronavirus on the job.

4 Aug 2020

Dietary choices improve health and immunity amid the global pandemic

In the midst of a global pandemic, eating well in a sustainable way is more important now than ever, Flinders University experts say.

4 Aug 2020

Illustrating the dystopic nature of people’s approach to COVID-19

Are we "Waiting for Godot"- A Metaphor for Covid-19 "Waiting for Godot", one of the greatest works of the Theater of the Absurd is used to illustrate the dystopic nature of our approach to COVID-19.

4 Aug 2020

When green means stop: How safety messages got so muddled

When Marquita Burnett heard Philadelphia was moving to the "green" phase of reopening, she was confused. She was pretty sure the city had already earned a green designation from Pennsylvania's governor (it had). The next thing she knew, the city was scaling back some of the businesses it had planned to reopen (namely, indoor dining and gyms). But it was still calling this phase "restricted green."

4 Aug 2020

Tomocube adds to its Global Distributor Network

Tomocube has taken steps to enhance the global support available to users of its holotomography microscopes during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

From Tomocube Inc. 4 Aug 2020

Study shows health anxieties have increased as a result of ongoing pandemic

New research into people's coping strategies faced with COVID-19 highlights the mental health toll for those shielding

4 Aug 2020

Despite COVID-19 pressures, hospitals are maintaining emergency cardiac services in majority of cases

The death rate for patients who experienced what is normally a lower-risk heart attack rose sharply during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in England, according to an analysis of NHS data.

4 Aug 2020

Researchers identify unique fungi species during COVID-19 pandemic

A major comprehensive study on Herpomycetales and Laboulbeniales, two orders of unique ectoparasitic fungi associated with insects and other arthropods (class Laboulbeniomycetes) in Belgium and the Netherlands was published in the open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal MycoKeys.

4 Aug 2020

Researchers outline areas of opportunity in COVID-19-related bioethics studies

The diverse situations experienced by health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic often present serious ethical challenges.

4 Aug 2020

How COVID-19 lockdown affected the heart

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in August 2020 shows that heart rate variability assessments, used to evaluate the health of the heart and blood vessels, are useful in identifying changes in health and well being throughout lockdown related to COVID-19.

4 Aug 2020