Old Drugs May Find a New Purpose: Fighting the Coronavirus

By BY CARL ZIMMER from NYT Health A “drug repurposing” strategy uncovers dozens of compounds that have the unexpected potential to combat the virus. https://ift.tt/2VNeCH4

Just Spit and Wait: New Coronavirus Test Offers Advantages

By BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI from NYT Health Saliva tests like the one developed by Rutgers are less painful for patients and less risky to medical workers. https://ift.tt/2SggTZe

Gilead Claims ‘Positive Data’ to Come From N.I.H. Trial of Remdesivir

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health Neither the company nor the institutes discussed the data. Previous results for the potential coronavirus treatment have been inconclusive. https://ift.tt/2yYBdr9

Airborne Coronavirus Detected in Wuhan Hospitals

By BY KENNETH CHANG from NYT Health While the RNA of the virus was found in tiny droplets in China, scientists don’t know if it was capable of transmitting the virus. https://ift.tt/2ShDrc0

Mel Baggs, Blogger on Autism and Disability, Dies at 39

By BY NEIL GENZLINGER from NYT Health Candid blog posts and a widely viewed short film sought to expand the very definition of what it means to be human. https://ift.tt/2W93hjA

Abortion by Telemedicine: A Growing Option as Access to Clinics Wanes

By BY PAM BELLUCK from NYT Health The coronavirus has created a surge in demand for telemedicine of all types — including for a quietly expanding program for terminating pregnancies. https://ift.tt/3bKpds2

Trump’s Bleach Statements Echo Claims by ‘Miracle Cure’ Quacks

By BY ANDREW JACOBS from NYT Health Doctors and public health officials fear the attention could boost purveyors of dangerous elixirs who push ‘miracle cures’ with no basis in science. https://ift.tt/2VICawQ

Arthritis Drug Did Not Help Seriously Ill Covid Patients, Early Data Shows

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health The drug, sarilumab, sold as Kevzara, didn’t show benefits to patients who were hospitalized but not on ventilators. The study will continue with critically ill patients. https://ift.tt/2W8RAts

C.D.C. Adds New Symptoms to Its List of Possible Covid-19 Signs

By BY PAM BELLUCK from NYT Health Chills, muscle pain, sore throat and headache are among the ailments now considered potential indicators of the disease. https://ift.tt/35ad5Oi

Can Estrogen and Other Sex Hormones Help Men Survive Covid-19?

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health Men are more likely than women to die of the coronavirus, so scientists are treating them with something women have more of: female sex hormones. https://ift.tt/2KHV6Fv

Can Antibody Tests Help End the Coronavirus Pandemic?

By BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI from NYT Health The tests are not reliable enough to guide policy on lockdowns and reopenings, experts said. But they can help model the spread of the virus. https://ift.tt/3eSlBGj

32 Days on a Ventilator: One Covid Patient’s Fight to Breathe Again

By BY PAM BELLUCK from NYT Health Jim Bello, 49 and healthy, fell gravely ill, highlighting agonizing mysteries of the coronavirus. Doctors’ relentless effort to save him was a roller-coaster of devastating and triumphant twists. https://ift.tt/356k76R

Amid the Coronavirus Crisis, Heart and Stroke Patients Go Missing

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health Emergency physicians are seeing declines in the number of patients arriving with cardiac problems. Some say they were afraid to go to the hospital. https://ift.tt/2S7BfE9

Coronavirus Antibody Tests: Can You Trust the Results?

By BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI from NYT Health A team of scientists worked around the clock to evaluate 14 antibody tests. A few worked as advertised. Most did not. https://ift.tt/2VYFDpM

F.D.A. Warns of Heart Problems From Malaria Drugs Used for Coronavirus

By BY DENISE GRADY from NYT Health The drugs, hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, have been repeatedly promoted by President Trump. But they should be used only in clinical trials or hospitals, the agency said. https://ift.tt/2Y580FQ

How Should You Stock Your Medicine Cabinet?

By BY AMELIA NIERENBERG from NYT Health We asked pharmacists and doctors what they would want in the house for their own families. Here’s what they suggested. https://ift.tt/2S54lE9

Do You Want to Die in an I.C.U.? Pandemic Makes Question All Too Real

By BY PAULA SPAN from NYT Health Sobering statistics for older patients sharpen the need to draw up advanced directives for treatment and share them with their families. https://ift.tt/3cF4BRO

Power of Sun Is Seen as Slowing the Coronavirus

By BY WILLIAM J. BROAD from NYT Health A study suggests that ultraviolet rays could impede the outbreak this summer, though not enough to stop it cold. https://ift.tt/3bAL4lE

Do You Want to Die in an I.C.U.? Pandemic Makes Question All Too Real

By BY PAULA SPAN from NYT Health Sobering statistics for older patients sharpen the need to draw up advanced directives for treatment and share them with their families. https://ift.tt/2VUU3az

We All Live in Bubbles Now. How Safe Is Yours?

By BY HEATHER MURPHY from NYT Health Isolating with others requires rules and trust. What happens if your roommate keeps seeing other people? https://ift.tt/350qIjb

C.D.C. Stresses Need for Coronavirus Testing at Homeless Shelters

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Health A study of four cities suggested that those living in close quarters in shelters can spread the virus at high rates even when asymptomatic. https://ift.tt/2VU9oby

When Mental Distress Comes Home

By BY BENEDICT CAREY from NYT Health The pandemic has closed many mental-health residential centers, sending residents home to families ill-equipped for the challenges. https://ift.tt/2Vzwh5c

Nearly All Patients Hospitalized With Covid-19 Had Chronic Health Issues, Study Finds

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health Only 6 percent of patients at one New York area health system had no chronic conditions. Hypertension, obesity and diabetes were common. https://ift.tt/2XYxHYo

The Fear of Coronavirus and Flu Colliding in the Fall

By BY DENISE GRADY from NYT Health Even as the president plays down that possibility, the C.D.C. chief and other experts warn of a dual challenge. https://ift.tt/34Y6pCO

The Fear of Coronavirus and Flu Colliding in the Fall

By BY DENISE GRADY from NYT Health Even as the president plays down that possibility, the C.D.C. chief and other experts warn of a dual challenge. https://ift.tt/3cEq5hL

Two Cats Are First U.S. Pets to Test Positive for Coronavirus

By BY JAMES GORMAN from NYT Health The animals appear to have mild symptoms and likely caught the virus from their owners. And there’s no evidence pets can pass it to humans. https://ift.tt/3cyY774

New U.S. Treatment Guidelines for Covid-19 Don’t See Much Progress

By BY DENISE GRADY from NYT Health A panel of experts said there was insufficient evidence about many drugs that have been considered as possible remedies for coronavirus patients, including some President Trump has advocated. https://ift.tt/34Tkamt

Coronavirus Infections May Not Be Uncommon, Tests Suggest

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health Two preliminary efforts to survey citizens for antibodies to the virus have produced controversial results. https://ift.tt/2Vr3D69

As Coronavirus Spreads, Poison Hotlines See Rise in Accidents With Cleaning Products

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Health A new study suggests a link between the increase and recommendations to clean and disinfect. https://ift.tt/3brr84H

F.D.A. Approves First In-Home Test for Coronavirus

By BY KATIE THOMAS from NYT Health The test, sold by LabCorp, would first be made available to health care and other front-line workers, the company said. https://ift.tt/3cwRWjO

How Coronavirus Infected Some, but Not All, in a Restaurant

By BY KENNETH CHANG from NYT Health A limited study by Chinese researchers suggests the role played by air currents in spreading the illness in enclosed spaces. https://ift.tt/3btZJyU

The Pandemic’s Hidden Victims: Sick or Dying, but Not From the Virus

By BY DENISE GRADY from NYT Health As the coronavirus overwhelms the health care system, people with other illnesses struggle to find treatment. https://ift.tt/2KjyhI7

C.D.C. Labs Were Contaminated, Delaying Coronavirus Testing, Officials Say

By BY SHEILA KAPLAN from NYT Health Fallout from the agency’s failed rollout of national coronavirus kits two months ago continues to haunt U.S. efforts to combat the spread of the highly infectious virus. https://ift.tt/3cwFXCO

An Overlooked, Possibly Fatal Coronavirus Crisis: A Dire Need for Kidney Dialysis

By BY REED ABELSON, SHERI FINK, NICHOLAS KULISH AND KATIE THOMAS from NYT Health Ventilators aren’t the only machines in intensive care units that are in short supply. Doctors have been confronting an unexpected rise in patients with failing kidneys. https://ift.tt/2XKxXdn

Fears of Ventilator Shortage Unleash a Wave of Innovations

By BY ANDREW JACOBS from NYT Health Hair dryer hoods, sleep apnea machines and simply flipping patients on their stomach have helped sustain patients and reduced the need for critical care ventilators. https://ift.tt/2RLLDkt

Fears of Ventilator Shortage Unleash a Wave of Innovations

By BY ANDREW JACOBS from NYT Health Hair dryer hoods, sleep apnea machines and simply flipping patients on their stomach have helped sustain patients and reduced the need for critical care ventilators. https://ift.tt/2KeHz8w

Trump Calls This Drug a ‘Game Changer.’ Doctors Aren’t So Sure.

By BY KATIE THOMAS from NYT Health The malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has become a political litmus test. But doctors on the front lines of coronavirus say it’s just another tool in desperate times. https://ift.tt/2KeQLti

We All Live in Bubbles Now. How Safe Is Yours?

By BY HEATHER MURPHY from NYT Health Isolating with others requires rules and trust. What happens if your roommate keeps seeing other people? https://ift.tt/2VHWsFI

Coronavirus: Which Mask Should You Wear?

By BY TARA PARKER-POPE, RACHEL ABRAMS, EDEN WEINGART AND TONY CENICOLA from NYT Health Here’s a look at some of the types of masks you might encounter, how they work, what to consider when making your own and the level of protection they could provide. https://ift.tt/3ewBeCW

Disposable N95 Masks Can Be Decontaminated, Researchers Confirm

By BY JAMES GORMAN from NYT Health Several methods are effective at killing the new coronavirus on N95 masks — primary protective gear for health care workers — for two or three rounds of use. https://ift.tt/3erVq9f

Obesity Linked to Severe Coronavirus Disease, Especially for Younger Patients

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health Young adults with obesity are more likely to be hospitalized, even if they have no other health problems, studies show. https://ift.tt/2VxP3bV

A Tiny Hospital Struggles to Treat a Burst of Coronavirus Patients

By BY ABBY GOODNOUGH from NYT Health Rural hospitals have few or no intensive care beds, ventilators or critical care specialists. Here’s how one hospital, with a single doctor caring for inpatients, handled a Covid-19 surge. https://ift.tt/2yngnRX

Asthma Is Absent Among Top Covid-19 Risk Factors, Early Data Shows

By BY DANNY HAKIM from NYT Health Despite warnings that asthmatics were at higher risk for severe illness from the coronavirus, asthma is showing up in only about five percent of New York State’s fatal Covid cases. https://ift.tt/2ynfHMM

W.H.O., Now Trump’s Scapegoat, Warned About Coronavirus Early and Often

By BY RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA AND DONALD G. MCNEIL JR. from NYT Health The World Health Organization, always cautious, acted more forcefully and faster than many national governments. But President Trump has decided to cut off U.S. funding to the organization. https://ift.tt/2KlPoJD

UnitedHealth Reports Profit, Citing Falling Demand for Elective Care

By BY REED ABELSON from NYT Health The health care insurance giant’s earnings is one of the first to offer a hint of how the health crisis is affecting the nation’s health care industry. https://ift.tt/2wI3VvL

What the W.H.O. Does, and How U.S. Funding Cuts Could Affect It

By BY DANIEL VICTOR from NYT Health Though President Trump’s decision to halt funding centered on the W.H.O.’s response to the coronavirus, the cut could affect programs like polio eradication and developing vaccines. https://ift.tt/2K9PRhP

What the W.H.O. Does, and How U.S. Funding Cuts Could Affect It

By BY DANIEL VICTOR from NYT Health Though President Trump’s decision to halt funding centered on the W.H.O.s’ response to the coronavirus, the cut could affect programs like polio eradication and developing vaccines. https://ift.tt/2VzDUHD

C.D.C. Says More Than 9,000 Health Care Workers Have Contracted Coronavirus

By BY DAVID WALDSTEIN from NYT Health The agency says the number is likely to grow as more information about patients’ occupational status is made available. https://ift.tt/2RTNJiD

Does Widespread Disinfecting Kill the Coronavirus? It’s Under Debate.

By BY KAREN WEINTRAUB from NYT Health Spraying streets and inside buildings might calm a worried public, but it’s too early to know whether such efforts reduce transmission. https://ift.tt/2RCz7ng

Stay 6 Feet Apart, We’re Told. But How Far Can Air Carry Coronavirus?

By BY KNVUL SHEIKH, JAMES GORMAN AND KENNETH CHANG from NYT Health Most of the big droplets travel a mere six feet. The role of tiny aerosols is the “trillion dollar question.” https://ift.tt/2RzTSzZ