HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

July 24,  2020 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• White House Strips CDC Of Data Collection Role For COVID-19 Hospitalizations  (NPR)
• Rise in canine parvovirus cases could be indirectly caused by pandemic (10 News)
• Fauci Says We Aren't Winning Against Coronavirus  (Newsweek)
• Early Oxford-AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine Data 'Encouraging,' Scientists Say (NPR)
• Wearing masks could help you avoid major illness even if you get coronavirus, experts say (Los Angeles Times)
• During Coronavirus Lockdowns, Some Doctors Wondered: Where Are the Preemies? (NY Times)
• A Covid-19 Lesson: Some Seriously Ill Patients Can Be Treated at Home (NY Times)
• Gene Therapy Shows Promise For Hemophilia, But Could Be Most Expensive U.S. Drug Ever (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• AI Tool Could Hunt Chinese, Russian Trolls Ahead of 2020 Election (Newsweek)
• The Pandemic Is Straining Airbnb (NY Times)
• Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside (NY Times)

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

HEALTH

White House Strips CDC Of Data Collection Role For COVID-19 Hospitalizations  (NPR)

The Trump Administration has mandated that hospitals sidestep the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and send critical information about COVID-19 hospitalizations and equipment to a different federal database….The change sparked concerns among infectious disease and health care experts that the administration was hobbling the ability of the nation's public health agency to gather and analyze crucial data in the midst of a pandemic.

Rise in canine parvovirus cases could be indirectly caused by pandemic (10 News)

Veterinarians are seeing an alarming increase in the number of cases of the canine parvovirus. Nationally, Blue Pearl pet hospitals report a 70 percent increase of the virus compared to statistics collected the previous five years.

Fauci Says We Aren't Winning Against Coronavirus  (Newsweek)

The top infectious disease expert and White House coronavirus task force member said he'd never seen infection cause such a broad range of disease, from no symptoms to death.

Early Oxford-AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine Data 'Encouraging,' Scientists Say (NPR)

An experimental coronavirus vaccine triggered an immune response against COVID-19 in study participants, and it has only minor side effects, according to new data published in the medical journal, the Lancet.

Wearing masks could help you avoid major illness even if you get coronavirus, experts say (Los Angeles Times)

As health experts urge the public to wear masks to slow the spread of the coronavirus, they continue to get pushback. Among the arguments of skeptics: If masks can’t fully protect me against COVID-19, what is the point of wearing them? Scientists’ counterargument is that masks can help reduce the severity of the disease caused by coronavirus even if you get infected.

During Coronavirus Lockdowns, Some Doctors Wondered: Where Are the Preemies? (NY Times)

Hospitals in several countries saw dips in premature births, which could be a starting point for future research.

A Covid-19 Lesson: Some Seriously Ill Patients Can Be Treated at Home (NY Times)

To ease pressure on hospitals, Northwell Health brought medical workers, oxygen tanks and intravenous equipment into patients’ homes….Any patient in respiratory distress would be hospitalized… But most patients were able to ride out their illnesses at home.

Gene Therapy Shows Promise For Hemophilia, But Could Be Most Expensive U.S. Drug Ever (NPR)

The first gene therapy for hemophilia could be approved by the FDA within six months, according to the drugmaker, raising hopes among families. But the drug’s price could be $3 million per patient.

SCIENCE AND TECH

AI Tool Could Hunt Chinese, Russian Trolls Ahead of 2020 Election (Newsweek)

"Results suggest providing that knowledge is technically feasible. What we currently lack is the political will and funding, and that is a travesty," said Princeton University professor Jacob Shapiro.

The Pandemic Is Straining Airbnb (NY Times)

For a start-up, not growing is basically the same as dying.

Hackers Tell the Story of the Twitter Attack From the Inside (NY Times)

Several people involved in the events that took down Twitter this week spoke with The Times, giving the first account of what happened as a pursuit of Bitcoin spun out of control.