Free Republic

A recent study published by Oregon State University discovered that COVID-19 infected individuals have a higher chance of developing psychiatric disorders within about four months of contracting the virus. For the study, published in World Psychiatry on May 7, researchers used data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C). They matched 46,610 patients infected with COVID-19, which can trigger a respiratory tract infection (RTI), with control patients diagnosed with a different RTI. This allowed researchers to specifically look into how COVID-19 affected the mental health of infected individuals. No patients with any history of mental illness prior to 21 days...

Several top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, including Commissioner Robert Califf, admitted that Americans will now have to accept COVID-19 as another respiratory virus, comparing it to influenza.Califf, Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock, and top vaccine official Dr. Peter Marks wrote for the Journal of the American Medical Association that COVID-19 will be around for the foreseeable future while suggesting that it will require yearly vaccines targeting the most threatening variations of the virus.“Widespread vaccine- and infection-induced immunity, combined with the availability of effective therapeutics, could blunt the effects of future outbreaks,” the officials said, referring to another name...

Are COVID-19-linked arrhythmias caused by viral damage to the heart’s pacemaker cells? The SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect specialized pacemaker cells that maintain the heart’s rhythmic beat, setting off a self-destruction process within the cells, according to a preclinical study co-led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The findings offer a possible explanation for the heart arrhythmias that are commonly observed in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the study, reported on March 8, 2022, in Circulation Research, the researchers used an animal model as well as human stem cell-derived pacemaker cells to show that...

Researchers at the Department of Microbiology of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have found that the COVID19 virus can cause acute testicular damage, chronic asymmetric testicular atrophy, and hormonal changes in hamsters despite a light pneumonia. “In managing convalescent COVID-19 males, it is important to be aware of possible hypogonadism (low sex drive) and subfertility,” said Chair of Infectious Diseases Professor Kwok-yung Yuen, who led the research effort. “ COVID-19 vaccination can prevent this complication.” The HKU study of testicular damage of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, has been accepted for publication in the leading journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. COVID 19...

As it turns out, one man’s bodily reaction to COVID has proven that the virus truly isn’t confined to the throat and upper respiratory tract. According to a foreign medical journal, an Iranian man has drawn the interest of doctors after reporting “agonizing” pain in his penis that turned out to have been caused by blood clots that seriously threatened the man’s sexual health.The man, who wasn’t named in the news reports about the incident, had suffered penile pain for three days before being seen by a urologist in Iran, who referred him for tests. Keep in mind: one of...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reportedly planning to do away with all COVID-19 laws in the United Kingdom as case numbers drop and the country learns to treat the virus like a seasonal flu. The government is considering ending all legally enforced policies in England and is instead moving to a guidance-based system, a source told the Daily Mail. Laws that have existed since the beginning of the pandemic, including enforced self-isolation after an infection, could come to a halt, the source said. Emergency COVID-19 laws put into effect at the beginning of the pandemic are already scheduled to...

The number of Americans hospitalized with Covid-19 has surpassed last winter’s peak, underscoring the severity of the threat the virus continues to pose as the extremely contagious Omicron variant tears through the United States. As of Sunday, 142,388 patients with the virus were hospitalized nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, surpassing the peak of 142,315 reported on Jan. 14 of last year. The seven-day average of daily hospitalizations was 132,086, an increase of 83 percent from two weeks ago. The Omicron wave has overwhelmed hospitals and depleted staff who were already worn out...

It may be a respiratory disease, but COVID-19 impacts more than just the lungs. A whole host of vital organs can be affected, including the kidneys, and a recent study has finally worked out how. SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can infect and directly damage the kidneys by causing scarring, according to research in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The resulting scar tissue could have long-term impacts on kidney function, the authors say. While the ability of the virus to bind and infect kidney cells is old news, the finer details of what exactly causes damage have...

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — U.S. Forces Korea counted 467 new COVID-19 cases in the week ending Monday, the highest number of infections reported by the command since the pandemic began in March 2020. USFK reported 457 locally generated coronavirus cases between Dec. 21 and Monday, and another 10 cases among recent arrivals to South Korea. Army Col. Seth Graves, garrison commander at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. base overseas, in an announcement Wednesday on Facebook said the spike in cases “is like nothing we’ve seen here on the installation since the beginning of the pandemic.” ...The command requires its...

The U.S. reported nearly half a million new COVID infections in a single day, marking the largest daily total of any country during the pandemic. More than 486,000 new cases were reported in a 24-hour period, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Fifteen states reported a record-high number of average daily infections: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington. Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., are also averaging more daily cases than ever. With COVID-19 cases rising so fast, fueled by the rapid spread of the...

The omicron-fueled surge that is sending COVID-19 cases rocketing in the U.S. is putting children in the hospital in record numbers, and experts lament that most of the youngsters are not vaccinated. “It’s just so heartbreaking,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious-disease expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It was hard enough last year, but now you know that you have a way to prevent all this.”

Many Brits appear to have put themselves into self-imposed lockdown to save their Christmases as Covid cases rates rocket. As Omicron rampages across the UK, causing consecutive days of record high Covid cases, some would seem to be taking matters into their own hands in the absence of tougher restrictions. In the days leading up to Christmas, shops, restaurants, pubs and more have struggled with cancellations as potential punters try to avoid the virus that would force them to not see loved ones on December 25. This led to some of the country's usually busiest streets, shops and restaurants being...

In Colorado, there is a backlash from people who can't get into hospitals because they are full of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. Administrators say facilities "are on the verge of collapse."

For hospital workers across the state, the scenes are becoming more familiar. After weeks of surging COVID numbers, many hospitals have reconfigured rooms, reassigned staff and done everything possible to cope with a fourth surge of COVID-19 in Michigan. On Wednesday, the state of Michigan reported this surge has now hit hospitals harder than any of the previous surges. The number of confirmed COVID cases in Michigan hospitals now stands at 4,419, according to data published by the state on Wednesday. That’s a new record high.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) faces a statewide hospital crowding crisis as roughly 85 percent of both Michigan’s inpatient and intensive care unit (ICU) hospital beds were occupied at the time of the state’s latest PPE and Bed Tracking data release. Of the states 22,745 inpatient hospital beds, 19,233 were occupied, accounting for 84.5 percent of Michigan’s total inpatient beds. The data, released on November 24, shows just 3,512 inpatient hospital beds were available statewide. Moreover, 2,651 of Michigan’s 3,114 ICU beds were occupied, accounting for 85.1 percent of intensive care beds statewide.

Senator Forest-Niesing was double vaccinated for COVID but suffered from an autoimmune condition that affected her lungs, according to a statement from her office on Tuesday. Her staff also said they were unsure how she contracted the virus....

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota hospitals are scrambling to make room for patients as patients needing medical care for COVID-19 have hit a high for the year. Hospitals have delayed non-essential procedures, diverted less serious cases to outpatient clinics, and treated emergency room patients in hallways and ambulance bays that have been converted to urgent care centers, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. “We don’t have anywhere to put our new patients as they come in,” said Dr. Mark Sannes, senior medical director and infectious disease specialist for HealthPartners. “Normally, they’d be up in an emergency room bed. It’s true across...

A Virginia family is reporting the death of their 10-year-old daughter. The latter died of coronavirus after she was potentially exposed to the virus while fulfilling her duties in school as a class nurse. The girl, Teresa Sperry, had been assigned by her teacher to be escorting her sick classmates to the school nurse at Hillpoint Elementary School.

Edmonton Oilers coach Dave Tippett has said that forward Josh Archibald is out indefinitely after having been diagnosed with myocarditis.

Alaska allowing hospitals to ration care as virus cases surge © Istock The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHHS) on Saturday activated crisis standards of care for 20 hospitals in the state as it struggles with the latest surge in COVID-19 cases, with some hospitals resorting to having to ration health care. "Today’s action recognizes that Alaska has an interconnected and interdependent health care system, requiring the need for activation of the State’s decision-making framework. That framework includes a progression of conventional, contingency and crisis standards of care identifying strategies to be used depending on the situation and...