Fighting COVID-19 has been a lot like participating in a seasoned chess match. For every strong move we make, the coronavirus has one more trick we never saw coming. Of course, all viruses mutate, but few have stayed so far ahead of us at every turn. Most often, mutations actually weaken the virus to allow the host to survive so the virus can propagate. But this is COVID-19 and all expectations need...
The news is in: We could be looking at a nasty winter. Experts have been working hard to track and predict the impact of this coming winter on COVID-19, and the majority of their findings paint an alarming picture. Johns Hopkins Research- will soon be publishing the latest on the pandemic, which predicts some devastating changes up ahead. Here’s what we know so far. What the Research Says About COVID-19...
The CDC recently modified its COVID-19 testing recommendations, guiding people to get screened -after possible exposure- regardless of whether they have any symptoms of the virus. And now the president and first lady have tested positive with likely many more in their circle to follow. So are the tests accurate enough to trust? - Viral Tests - The CDC- lists two types of tests people might take if...
COVID-19 symptoms- are all over the map, with manifestations that can range from disruptive to downright deadly. The lost sense of smell some sufferers are experiencing is particularly bizarre but it's proven to be so common—with up to two-thirds of COVID-19 sufferers losing their sense of smell to some degree—that physicians frequently use it as a screening symptom for possible testing. Until recently,...
COVID-19 continues to make the rounds, and contact tracers are busy working to slow the spread. Both the CDC and the WHO have recommended that states and towns implement contact tracing to break up chains of transmission. But some are taking advantage of the situation and using it to make a buck. Along with people legitimately doing their jobs to keep people safe, scammers are finding new ways to use...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a mess from day one. One of the biggest issues has been a clear disparity between reported and actual cases, and the confusion that’s caused has only worsened the problem. Researchers have been working hard to narrow down the figures, and the implications of their findings could be huge as the COVID-19 infection rate may be much higher than previously believed. COVID-19...
This pandemic has begun to take its toll, that's for sure. But what happens when a family member tests positive? What can we do? The task of caring for someone with COVID-19 in the home can take the pandemic to a whole new level of stress. There's more to this than caring for someone with the flu. How do you keep from getting infected or keep from passing the virus along when you venture out for needed...
No one can say yet what the future of this pandemic is going to look like, but researchers have their predictions. Of course, it's hard to say while we're still in the throes of the worst pandemic we're likely to see in our lifetimes and the details are still being hammered out. But one of the predictions we're hearing is that COVID-19 is going to become a seasonal illness — eventually. What We Know...
Early on in the pandemic, some sources seemed intent on sowing confusion over best practices. What their motivation was, one can only guess, but the result is that some people are still confused and feeling as though there's been a "back and forth" approach when the reality is that the experts have been aligned from the beginning and one thing is clear: mask use will help control the spread of the...
In early April, a report surfaced from South Korea that health officials there saw positive test results from -nearly 100- patients who had previously recovered from COVID-19 and had tested negative. Were these patients reinfected? Was this a relapse or a reactivation of the virus? Could faulty testing be to blame? Scientists and doctors all over the world began investigating. Some Test Positive for...