HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

March 5, 2020 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Why coronavirus could have slipped into U.S. long before screenings, travel restrictions (Sacramento Bee)
• How daily life in the U.S. will change as the coronavirus outbreak enters a new phase (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• New cases in three U.S. states raise prospect of local, person-to-person spread (New York Times)
• A dog in Hong Kong has a low-level infection of the new coronavirus (Science News)
• Immune cells in the gut may play a big role in peanut allergies (Science News)

SCIENCE & TECH

• Facebook takes down deceptive Trump campaign ads -- after first allowing them (Washington Post)
• State Department blames ‘swarms of online, false personas’ from Russia for wave of coronavirus misinformation online (Washington Post)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Why coronavirus could have slipped into U.S. long before screenings, travel restrictions (Sacramento Bee)

 As public health investigators try to track down how a Solano County woman ended up getting a case of new coronavirus, two epidemiologists told The Sacramento Bee that the illness could have arrived in the United States days or even weeks before screenings and travel suspensions began. 

How daily life in the U.S. will change as the coronavirus outbreak enters a new phase (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Empty restaurants. Abandoned playgrounds. Schools shuttered for weeks. If the United States experiences sustained spread of the coronavirus, the daily lives of Americans could look significantly different from today. 

New cases in three U.S. states raise prospect of local, person-to-person spread (New York Times)

Troubling new signs of how the coronavirus is spreading in the United States emerged on Friday, as cases not explained by overseas travel or contact with a person known to be infected were reported in California, Oregon and Washington State. 

A dog in Hong Kong has a low-level infection of the new coronavirus (Science News)

A pet dog in Hong Kong has a low-level infection with the new coronavirus that the animal may have gotten from its owner, raising concerns that the virus currently spreading around the world can infect pets.

Immune cells in the gut may play a big role in peanut allergies (Science News)

The finding could lead to new treatments to help curb severe reactions. 

SCIENCE & TECH

Facebook takes down deceptive Trump campaign ads -- after first allowing them (Washington Post)

Facebook removed the Trump campaign ads for violating its policy against misleading references to the U.S. census. The platform had initially said they could remain, but removed them after complaints from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

State Department blames ‘swarms of online, false personas’ from Russia for wave of coronavirus misinformation online (Washington Post)

A top State Department official warned Thursday that Russia is behind “swarms of online, false personas” that sought to spread misinformation about coronavirus on social-media sites, stressing the “entire ecosystem of Russian disinformation is at play.”