Florida reaches 12,350 confirmed coronavirus tests, as cases soar in South Florida  

As the number of reported cases continued to rise in South Florida, Broward and Palm Beach counties accounted for almost the entire rise in Florida’s death toll in a Sunday … Click to Continue »

Coronavirus: Vijender Singh hopes for pro career to resume in second half of 20...   -23%

Unbeaten in the circuit with 12 wins, Vijender is contracted with Hall of Famer Bob Arum’s Top Rank Promotions in the US, which has been ravaged by the deadly outbreak with the death toll nearing 10,000.

Ageism Is Making the Pandemic Worse   33%

Editor’s Note: The Atlantic is making vital coverage of the coronavirus available to all readers. Find the collection here.

Envision, for a moment, a world in which the rapidly spreading coronavirus is mostly infecting people under the age of 50. Imagine that the death toll is highest among children and that, as of today, the United States had reported more than 104,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,700 deaths, mostly among middle schoolers. Imagine that scientists suspect elders are at lower risk based on past exposure to similar viruses. How would you react to a disease that was mostly killing young people planetwide?

If your imagined reaction differs from your current one, then we must ask some hard questions. Most crucial: Is the reality that elders are most likely to get ill and die from COVID-19 affecting the way countries—particularly the U.S.—are responding to the pandemic? There are many logistical and political reasons why America’s response has been weaker compared with other countries’. But as a doctor, I’ve encountered evidence that suggests ageism is playing a role too, in part because ageism has always shaped the kind of medical care that older Americans receive.

I’m a geriatrician at UC San Francisco, whose medical center consistently ranks in the top 10 nationally and as the best on the West Coast. Our response to COVID-19 has been remarkable in its intensity and scope. During my nearly 30-year medical career here, I’ve never witnessed anything like the system-wide mobilization I’ve seen in recent weeks. And yet some of what I’m seeing is also disturbing, especially because my geriatrics colleagues around the country say that elder-specific needs and medical science aren’t being adequately addressed at their centers either.

[Shai Held: The staggering, heartless cruelty toward the elderly]

For example, earlier this month, the medical-center leadership announced that they had developed special clinical protocols for children and adults with COVID-19. To my knowledge, protocols for elders, the most vulnerable group, still don’t exist. This isn’t a UCSF-specific practice; it’s standard throughout the country. American medicine lumps elders in with adults, despite abundant evidence that drugs and diseases behave differently in older bodies. Additionally, health-screening procedures for visitors were put into place at our children’s hospital at the start of March, while similar procedures weren’t implemented for our adult hospital until two weeks later. You could argue that the children’s hospital is smaller and thus easier to manage; you could also surmise that protecting adults and elders was less of a priority, despite the greater risk of hospitalization and death those groups face.

Transgressions like these are minor in the face of global calamity, but we’re seeing similar decisions being made nationally. With each one, this country loses precious time to take the actions that will limit contagion and save the most lives, old and young: screening those at highest risk to limit spread; documenting the predictably different early symptoms in older people; and creating care pathways that offer options to patients for whom aggressive medical treatment would only prolong suffering and not prevent death.

Let me be perfectly clear: I’m not witnessing the actions of malicious, underperforming people. On the contrary, UCSF leadership has been heroic and selfless, working around the clock to provide the best care possible to those with COVID-19 while protecting other patients and staff. Ironically—no, tragically—that noble intent reveals just how entrenched and pervasive ageism is in American health care. It’s baked into how the field approaches education, research, and the most fundamental procedures, structures, and policies.

Medical schools devote months to teaching students about child physiology and disease, and years to adults, but just weeks to elders; geriatrics doesn’t even appear on the menu of required training. The National Institutes of Health mandated the inclusion of women and people of color in medical research in 1986, but it didn’t issue a similar mandate for elders until 33 years later, in 2019. “The bias is so implicit, it goes unnoticed,” one of my colleagues said of ageism in the American COVID-19 response and in medicine generally. But when you start to pay attention, you see it everywhere.

[Read: How the pandemic will end]

Take for example, the way my state tracks deaths from the flu, one of the most common and deadly infections. Even though older people are far more likely to die from it, until 2018, the California Department of Public Health counted flu deaths only for children and adults under 65. The main explanation given to the San Francisco Chronicle was that recording the far higher number of elder deaths would be too expensive and time-consuming. The problem is that when the impact of disease in a population is unknown, there’s little incentive to develop treatments tailored to that group’s needs. When the affected population is elders, the problem is especially bad: As we’ve already seen with the current crisis, many people say that elders are dying anyway and tend to blame old age itself for their deaths—not a flawed system.

Public responses to the coronavirus pandemic on social media have laid bare the not-so-subtle interplay between medical culture and American culture at large. Reactions to the virus’s spread in the U.S. range from blatantly ageist (the nicknaming of COVID-19 as “the Boomer remover” among some young people) to genuinely helpful and empathetic (some grocery stores reserving certain hours for elderly customers). Between these two poles lie stereotyping and reductionism: Recently, a Washington Post article about a large Florida retirement community highlighted different responses among older people to the outbreak. Some residents refused to practice social distancing, echoing misinformation they’d absorbed from certain media outlets, while others expressed fear about falling ill. A majority of the comments responding to the article, however, focused on the former reaction, castigating “old people” as a whole for being irresponsible.

As a geriatrician, I’m keenly aware of the immense health-care barriers that older people face, with or without a global pandemic. In the second week of March, my clinic was converted to telehealth to protect patients. On Monday, one patient visit went well, another had to be stopped because of multiple technical challenges, and all the others were canceled by patients who told our office staff that they couldn’t manage a video visit. My patients didn’t grow up with any of this technology, and the less fortunate among them live across the digital divide. (This crisis threatens to worsen well-documented inequities in our health-care system, not just for old people but also for people of color and poor people.)

[Derek Thompson: The coronavirus will be a catastrophe for the poor]

As a child, I learned about the “population pyramid,” or the triangle that illustrates the world’s demographic composition: lots of children, fewer adults, and very few elders. Today, we instead have a column, representing the much more equal numbers of children, adults, and elders in society. Long, full lives are our new normal—thanks in no small part to modern medicine. If the coronavirus pandemic has upsides, I hope one is that it challenges doctors, politicians, and everyone else to more thoughtfully adapt to this new reality for the human species.

Everyone can help create a less ageist culture and improve individual institutions. Aging experts like myself are (for now, digitally) collaborating to devise elder-specific protocols for managing COVID-19. These protocols include essential information, such as the fact that body temperature runs lower in many elders, so a thermometer reading of just 99 degrees Fahrenheit in an 80- or 90-year-old might signal fever. In hospitals, these guidelines would include other, less obvious recommendations, such as also allowing patients with dementia or delirium—whether or not they have COVID-19—to have a loved one by their side to limit terror, agitation, and the need for drugs proven to increase the time they will take up a much-needed bed. Such steps can boost early COVID-19 diagnosis and decrease suffering and complications in elders, thus benefiting all Americans by reducing the strain on our health-care system.

I can offer some good news. Both at UCSF and nationally, geriatricians and other aging specialists are starting to be included in teams to revise COVID-19 diagnosis, triage, and care protocols; increase access to telehealth; and evaluate options and ethics as resources become more scarce. This is significant progress. But it’s hard not to wonder where we might be—where older people might be—if their needs and the knowledge of the specialists devoted to them had been considered from the start.

Fortunately, we can still make a difference. Healthy people who are sheltering in place or social distancing can call, videochat, write cards to, and connect safely with isolated elders in their own families and communities. Keeping older people uninfected and alive shouldn’t be the country’s only goal for this vulnerable group, nor should it be once the pandemic passes. After all, living in a society that values your well-being and basic humanity matters, too.

Wall Street surges on hopes of slowing coronavirus deaths   3%

U.S. stocks surged on Monday, with each of the major indexes rallying more than 5%, after a drop in the daily death toll in New York, the country's biggest coronavirus hot spot, fueled hopes a leveling off of the pandemic was on the horizon.

Governor Cuomo sees signs of pandemic 'flattening' in New York  

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday cited tentative signs the coronavirus outbreak was "flattening" in his state but warned against complacency as the U.S. death toll topped 10,000 and the number of cases reached 350,000.

U.S. death toll from coronavirus tops 10,000: Reuters tally  

The U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 10,000 on Monday, according to a Reuters tally.

S 500 set to recover $1 trillion in value as virus deaths slow  

The S&P 500 was on track to recover about $1 trillion in market value in a furious rally on Monday after a drop in the daily death toll in New York, the country's biggest coronavirus hot spot, raised hopes that the pandemic could level off soon.

US coronavirus death toll passes 4,000 as cases near 200,000  

The US death toll passed another marker on Wednesday, as coronavirus fatalities surpassed those of 9/11

Coronavirus: How Italian cities have dealt with rising demand for cremations  

Country currently has world's highest death toll for Covid-19

Coronavirus: US now has most cases in the world, overtaking China   2%

Trump administration urges American 'get back to work' as death toll reaches at least 1,100 and confirmed cases eclipse Italy and China

Italian FA president concedes that season may be over as coronavirus pandemic continues   -100%

Italy is the world's worst affected country, with the Covid-19 death toll passing 10,000 over the weekend

Spain to widen coronavirus tests as hopes rise for easing lockdown   -1%

Spain said on Monday it plans to widen coronavirus testing to include people without symptoms as a first step towards slowly easing a lockdown in the nation with the second highest death toll from the

Turkey reports 73 new coronavirus deaths, total now 574   32%

Turkey’s death toll from the new coronavirus rose by 73 on Saturday to total 574, and new confirmed cases rose by 3,135 to bring the country’s total to 27,069, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on

Italy records lowest coronavirus death toll in over two weeks  

Italy on Sunday recorded its lowest daily death toll from the novel coronavirus in over two weeks and saw the number of critical care patients decline for the second day.The 525 official COVID-19

Coronavirus: China reports new infections as country remains on guard against imported cases   6%

China confirmed 30 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, five of which were domestic cases in southern Guangdong province, including two children aged eight and three.The new cases take the country’s official total to 81,669. Three more people had died as of Saturday, bringing the death toll to 3,329, the National Health Commission said.The new cases in Guangdong, one of the main powerhouses of China’s economy, cast a shadow on its efforts to restart the economy and return to normal life and…

Coronavirus: Indonesia frees 18,000 inmates, as it records highest death toll in Asia behind China   -50%

Indonesia has released some 18,000 inmates in a desperate bid to stop the novel coronavirus from rampaging through its notoriously overcrowded prison system, authorities said on Thursday, as the country recorded the highest Covid-19 death toll in Asia behind China.The mass release comes days after the nation said it would free more than 30,000 inmates to take pressure off prisons and jails beset by unsanitary conditions and long at risk of infectious diseases.The United Nations has called on…

Coronavirus: Italy looks ahead to phase two as death toll slows  

Italy reported its lowest daily Covid-19 death toll for more than two weeks on Sunday as authorities began to look ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lockdown imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.The toll from the world’s deadliest outbreak reached 15,887, almost a quarter of the global death total, but the rise of 525 from a day earlier was the smallest daily increase since March 19, while the number of patients in badly stretched intensive…

Coronavirus latest: Spain deaths fall for third day; record spike in Tokyos daily cases   2%

Spain saw a decline in the number of new deaths from the coronavirus for the third consecutive day, raising hopes that the worst of the country’s outbreak may be over.The Health Ministry reported 674 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 12,418. The number of confirmed cases rose to 130,759, from 124,736 a day earlier. The latest daily death toll is now lower than in the UK, which reported 708 fatalities on Saturday.Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday plans to…

Coronavirus death toll: Americans are almost certainly dying of covid-19 but being left out of the official count   7%

The fast-spreading novel coronavirus is almost certainly killing Americans who are not included in the nation's growing death toll, according to public health experts and government officials involved in the tally.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts only deaths in which the presence of the coronavirus is confirmed in a laboratory test. "We know that it is an underestimation," agency spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said.

A widespread lack of access to testing in the early weeks of the U.S. outbreak means people with respiratory illnesses died without being counted, epidemiologists say. Even now, some people who die at home or in overburdened nursing homes are not being tested, according to funeral directors, medical examiners and nursing home representatives.

Postmortem testing by medical examiners varies widely across the country, and some officials say testing the dead is a misuse of scarce resources that could be used on the living. In addition, some people who have the virus test negative, experts say.

As a result, public health officials and government leaders lack a complete view of the pandemic's death toll as they assess its course and scramble to respond.

Scientists who analyze mortality statistics from influenza and other respiratory illnesses say it is too early to estimate how many fatalities have gone unrecorded. For a disease with common symptoms such as covid-19, they said, deaths with positive results almost certainly represent only a fraction of the total caused by the disease.

"You can't rely on just the laboratory-confirmed cases," said Marc-Alain Widdowson, an epidemiologist who left the CDC last year and now serves as director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp in Belgium. "You're never going to apply the test on everybody who is ill and everybody who dies. So...

Germany reports third straight drop in daily rate of new coronavirus infections   60%

Germany's reported death toll rose by 184 to 1,342

Trump says 'toughest' weeks ahead as coronavirus spreads  

The president initially had suggested the country could reopen by Easter but pulled back seeing projections of a staggering death toll even if restrictive measures remain in place.

Spanish parking lot converted into huge makeshift morgue as Covid-19 deaths surge (VIDEO)  

An indoor parking lot in Barcelona has been converted into a makeshift extension of the morgue, as the city struggles to cope with the death toll from the novel coronavirus.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Covid-19 deaths in Belgium top 1,000 as worldwide cases approach one million   20%

Belgium’s death toll from the Covid-19 virus has topped 1,000, officials have confirmed, with 183 new deaths in the last 24 hours.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Spain surpasses 100,000 Covid-19 infections, records 5th consecutive day with 800+ deaths   10%

Spanish authorities have confirmed that the total number of coronavirus infections in the country has surpassed 100,000, while the daily death toll reached over 800 fatalities for the fifth consecutive day.
Read Full Article at RT.com

As California faces tough weeks ahead, the public will play a key role in slowing outbreak  

The number of California coronavirus cases swelled to more than 12,000 on Friday, with the death toll topping 275. About 2,200 people are hospitalized.

Coronavirus continues to take a high toll in Italy and Spain  

Over the weekend Spain and Italy death tolls are the largest of the EU countries

US death toll from coronavirus tops 10,000 as officials say this will be the most challenging week yet  

In just six weeks, the US death toll from coronavirus went from zero to more than 10,000.

A difficult week ahead in the coronavirus fight begins with a US death toll nearing 10,000   25%

The coronavirus pandemic -- with a death toll nearing 10,000 -- is not yet under control, a top US health official warned as the nation prepares to enter its most critical week yet in the fight against the outbreak.

More than 10,000 people in the US have died from coronavirus. And officials say this will be the most challenging week yet   -25%

In just six weeks, the US death toll from coronavirus went from zero to more than 10,000. Yet there are also signs of progress. More Americans are finding creative ways to help. And in the US epicenter of coronavirus, the worst might be over soon.

New Yorkers hunker down as city braces for critical phase   -7%

New Yorkers hunkered down on Sunday as the city entered a critical phase in the coronavirus crisis - a period authorities warned would bring soaring death tolls and even more challenges for an overburdened health care system.

U.S. deaths from COVID-19 climb to over 10,000: Johns Hopkins   4%

The death toll in New York, the state hardest hit by COVID-19, was "effectively flat" for the second day in a row, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his daily news conference on Monday, but the U.S. as a whole saw the death toll from the pandemic climb to over 10,000.

Frances daily toll of coronavirus hospital deaths falls for second straight day   -1%

France's daily death toll from the novel coronavirus fell in the past 24 hours and admissions into intensive care also slowed, the health ministry said on Sunday, thanking citizens for largely respecting a lockdown to halt the spread of the virus.

Spain's pace of coronavirus deaths slows again  

Spain's pace of new coronavirus deaths slowed for the fourth day Sunday as the government contemplated a gradual easing of a lockdown since mid-March in the country with the second highest death toll from the global pandemic.