June 25 coronavirus news

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said the state’s reopening plans are now “on pause” as a result of a major spike in coronavirus cases.

The state Department of Health Services reported new cases topping 3,000 as of last week, a pace which the governor said could overwhelm hospital intensive care facilities “very soon.”

Ducey said the state will not be rolling back their business reopening plans, but will be requiring businesses to follow social distancing rules that remain in effect.

“If they choose not to, there will be accountability, and there will be enforcement," he said.

Even with the new policy, Ducey said it’s too late to put an immediate dent in the coronavirus numbers.

“We expect that our numbers will be worse next week and the week following," he said.

More research shows that coronavirus can cause a range of neurological problems, from dementia to psychosis.

Some patients with severe cases of the disease have presented with several neurological conditions, according to a study of UK patients published in The Lancet Psychiatry Thursday. 

These included newly diagnosed altered mental states in people under age 60, including a dementia-like cognitive syndrome, psychosis, inflammation and mood disorders like depression or anxiety. 

And although strokes were markedly more common among patients above 60, they were also seen across all age groups included in the study. 

How it works: Jennifer Loftis, a psychiatry professor at Oregon Health & Science who was not involved with the study, said inflammatory molecules, called cytokines, are found throughout the body, including the central nervous system. When these molecules proliferate, such as during a Covid-19 infection, elevations could also be in the brain —contributing to neuropsychiatric impairments like depression and impacting how cells talk to each other. 

Still, the study published Thursday cannot discount the possibility that young patients had undiagnosed, pre-existing psychiatric conditions. As for younger Covid-19 patients in the study who have had a stroke, Michael said the possible causes include artery inflammation and changes in clotting proteins. This may also cause strokes for older patients, in addition to conventional risk factors for that population. 

“We can't tell the relative frequencies of these things, but it's really what doctors are seeing and reporting,” Timothy Nicholson, one of the study's co-authors and a clinical lecturer at King's College in London, said in a statement.

“It's really a sort of early-warning system of what we might expect," he added.

Brazil’s health ministry reported 39,483 new cases of novel coronavirus on Thursday, bringing the nationwide total to at least 1,228,114.

The ministry also reported 1,141 new virus deaths, bringing the country’s death toll to at least 54,971. 

For children and adolescents under 18, effects of coronavirus are generally mild, and fatalities are rare, European researchers reported Thursday.

Only four children died out of 582 in the study, which was conducted at the height of the pandemic in Europe, the researchers reported in the journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health. Only 8% required intensive care.

The study affirms what doctors have been finding: children are far less likely than adults to suffer serious effects of coronavirus. But children were not completely spared. While only 4% of the children needed ventilators to help them breathe, some required ventilation for a month. 

Children under the age of one month and those with preexisting health issues were more likely to require intensive care. Some of them had more than one infection and 24% of those with additional respiratory infections such as cold or flu viruses required intensive care. Only 7% of children without co-infections required intensive care.

“This could have important implications for the upcoming winter season, when cold and flu infections will be more common,” said Dr. Begoña Santiago-Garcia of University Hospital Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain, who worked on the study.

Because the participants included only patients who sought medical help and had been tested for coronavirus, researchers noted that the study skewed towards more severe cases than reflected in the general population.

“Overall, the vast majority of young people experience only mild disease,” said Dr. Marc Tebruegge of the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health in London, who helped lead the study. “Nevertheless, a notable number of children do develop severe disease and require intensive care support, and this should be accounted for when planning and prioritizing healthcare resources as the pandemic progresses.” 

The study noted that research on treatment for children, including antiviral and immunomodulatory drugs, is urgently needed. 

The most common symptom reported was fever, while about 16% of participants had no symptoms at all. 

The city of Hollywood, Florida, issued an emergency order Thursday requiring public use of facial coverings due to Covid-19.

The order states "all persons beyond the legal boundary of their residential property are required to wear a facial covering consistent with current CDC guidelines that cover the nose and mouth, including individuals within the common areas of all buildings with multiple residences and at their place of employment unless exempted by Emergency Orders issued by the Governor of the State of Florida or Broward County." 

Children under the age of two, people engaging in outdoor exercise while maintaining six feet of distance from others, those with medical conditions that prevent facial coverings and people who are employed in a profession where a facial covering will interfere with their duties are exempt from the order. 

The Hollywood Police Department will enforce the emergency measure and can issue warnings or citations, according to the order.

Kentucky will allow visitation at assisted living and personal care homes starting Monday, Eric Friedlander, secretary for the state's Cabinet for Health and Family Services, announced Thursday.

Activities with 10 or fewer people, communal dining, and off-site appointments will be allowed for these facilities, according to a statement from the governor's office.

Visitation will also be allowed July 15 in nursing homes and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

“Kentuckians have patiently awaited since March 6 for the opportunity to see loved ones in long-term care facilities again — in person. We are pleased to say that plans are in place to ease back into certain activities,” Friedlander said.

At-home testing could help with diagnosis and control of Covid-19 and help with preparedness for possible future pandemics, according to a new report published by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security on Thursday.

Home tests for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are a good model for home tests for influenza and, eventually, coronavirus, the report suggests.

Home tests could solve problems with access to testing, as well, the report says.

Plus, when people test at home, they don’t have to worry about catching or spreading the virus by going somewhere to get tested. 

“Had at-home testing been widely available early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it would have allowed people to be tested while maintaining social distancing in the process, thus potentially contributing to reduced spread of the virus,” the report reads.

A successful program for developing and approving home tests could be expanded to cover other infections, too, and improve knowledge of the spread and extent of viruses and bacteria. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies should prioritize funding, development and review of these products, the Johns Hopkins team said.

Florida is seeing a significant resurgence in coronavirus cases, with more than 5,000 cases identified for the second day in a row.

That could result in “catastrophic consequences” for the state if it has to shut down again, predicted Dr. Lilian Abbo, the chief of infection prevention at Jackson Health System in Miami.

In Miami-Dade County, health officials say 27% of people getting coronavirus tests are testing positive. “It’s a very concerning situation," Abbo told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

Abbo said there could be several factors behind the resurgence.

“We think that there are many reasons why it's happening, but one of them is since we reopened the economy people have a false sense of security that the pandemic is under control, that perhaps this was made up by health care providers and the threat perhaps is not real. That, to us, is extremely concerning," she said.

This has to stop, Abbo said.

“We cannot continue to see a continuous climb of cases because we don't want to have to go back to shutting down the economy. This will have catastrophic consequences for Miami-Dade County and for the state and will definitely increase mortality,” she said.

Hospitals are beginning to fill up with coronavirus cases, Abbo said.

“When you start to see cases going up, that means that we're going to start seeing hospitals running out of capacity to take care of patients that don't have Covid, and we don't want to go into that route. We want to be able to take care of everyone — those with Covid and those without."

WATCH:

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said despite the uptick in cases in his home state of Florida, he does not think that there should be a statewide law mandating masks, questioning how that would be enforced.

Asked if President Trump, who doesn't wear a mask, should push Americans to do so, Rubio said: "I don't know if that would matter at the end of the day for some people ... They just don't like being told what to do ... But we have to explain to people, it's not about them. You're doing it for somebody else."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, asked if Trump should encourage Americans to wear masks through his Twitter account, said: "Listen, I don't think he's going to change where he's at on masks. But he might, I don't know."

Asked about Trump not pushing Americans to wear masks, Graham said, "He's got his own view of whether or not he should wear a mask but my advice to people is if you're around strangers, try to stay six feet away, wear a mask."