In just one year, COVID-19 has killed more than 400,000 Americans, and infected more than 24 million others. But a new study shows just how unevenly those deaths and cases have played out across the country. It finds that the more disadvantaged a county’s population was before the pandemic, the higher the toll of coronavirus...
Health
Trying to Beat a Coke Habit with Cannabis? Not So Fast!
Taking cannabidiol, a chemical in the cannabis sativa plant, isn’t an effective way to reduce your dependence on cocaine, researchers at the CHUM Research Centre find. In North America, close to 5.5 million people use cocaine regularly, and nearly one in five becomes addicted, developing cocaine use disorder, for which there is no clinical treatment....
Not Everyone Has Equal Access to Crucial Information That Can Stop the Spread of COVID-19
Stopping the spread of COVID-19 is difficult enough. It’s even more complicated and confusing when information and resources provided by governments are largely inaccessible to a variety of disabled populations. A newly-published global survey of national health authority websites in nearly 200 countries has directly quantified COVID-19 information accessibility. The survey, published on January 27,...
Heart Disease #1 Cause of Death Rank Likely to Be Impacted by COVID-19 for Years to Come
Heart disease remains the #1 cause of death worldwide in the latest annual Statistical Update from the American Heart Association Experts say the effects of COVID-19 are likely to influence cardiovascular health and mortality rates for many years, directly and as a result of increased lifestyle-related risks during and after the pandemic. The 2021 Statistical...
Commuting Patterns Could Explain Higher Incidence of COVID-19 in Black Americans
The disproportionately high Covid-19 infection rates observed in Black Americans could be linked to their daily commuting patterns, according to a new study published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The research found that increased exposure to other ethnic groups, for example as a result of an individual’s job or use of public...
U.K. Public Supports Usage of Tracking Technology and Immunity Passports in Global Pandemic
New research suggests the majority of people in the UK are willing to use privacy-encroaching tracking technology and support the introduction of ‘immunity passports’ to protect themselves and others in the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, found more than two thirds of respondents overall would accept some form of smartphone...
Patients of Asian and Black Backgrounds More Likely to Die from COVID, Large Study Reveals
Patients of Asian and black backgrounds suffered disproportionate rates of premature death from COVID-19, according to a study of 1,737 patients by Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health NHS Trust. The study, published in BMJ Open, is one of the most comprehensive studies exploring COVID-19 outcomes in black, Asian and minority ethnic populations so...
COVID-19 Warnings Were on Twitter Well Before the Outbreak of the Pandemic
Even before public announcements of the first cases of COVID-19 in Europe were made, at the end of January 2020, signals that something strange was happening were already circulating on social media. A new study of researchers at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, published in Scientific Reports, has identified tracks of increasing concern about pneumonia cases...
Lack of Physical Exercise During COVID-19 Confinement May Lead to a Rise in Mortality
Social distancing and working from home help prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus but can be conducive to unhealthy behavior such as bingeing on fast food or spending more time in a chair or on a couch staring at a screen, and generally moving about less during the day. Scientists believe the reduction in physical...
Loss of Smell Is the Best Sign of COVID-19
Two international studies confirm that for the majority of patients with respiratory infections who lose the sense of smell, this is due to COVID-19. The disease also often results in both loss of taste and the other senses in the mouth. A researcher from Aarhus University has contributed to the new results. If you have...