coronavirus – Page 4

How to use ventilation and air filtration to prevent the spread of coronavirus indoors

10Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

How to use ventilation and air filtration to prevent the spread of coronavirus indoors

The vast majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs indoors, most of it from the inhalation of airborne particles that contain the coronavirus. The best way to prevent the virus from spreading in a home or business would be to simply keep infected people away. But this is hard to do when an estimated 40% of cases are asymptomatic and asymptomatic people can still spread the coronavirus to others. Masks do a decent job at keeping the virus from spreading into the environment, but if an infected person is inside a building, inevitably some virus will escape into the air. I am a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Much of my work has focused on how to control the transmission of airborne infectious diseases indoors, and I’ve been asked by my own univer...

As the coronavirus rages in prisons, ethical issues of crime and punishment become more compelling

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

As the coronavirus rages in prisons, ethical issues of crime and punishment become more compelling

Across the United States, prisons and jails have become hot spots for COVID-19. Governments at the state and federal level are being pressed to release inmates before the end of their sentence in order to minimize the spread of the disease. So far more than 100,000 of them have been infected with the coronavirus, and at least 802 inmates and several correctional officers have died. New Jersey’s correctional facilities have been hit particularly hard. With 29 deaths for every 100,000 inmates, they have the highest COVID-19-related death rate in the nation. In response, New Jersey has already released more than 1,000 inmates, and Gov. Phil Murphy on April 10, 2020 authorized a case-by-case review of prisoners who are at greater risk. Additionally, the state legislature is considering a bi...

Lost your job due to coronavirus? Artificial intelligence could be your best friend in finding a new one

7Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Lost your job due to coronavirus? Artificial intelligence could be your best friend in finding a new one

Millions of Americans are unemployed and looking for work. Hiring continues, but there’s far more demand for jobs than supply. As scholars of human resources and management, we believe artificial intelligence could be a boon for job seekers who need an edge in a tight labor market like today’s. What’s more, our research suggests it can make the whole process of finding and changing jobs much less painful, more effective and potentially more lucrative. Make me a match Over the last three years, we’ve intensely studied the role of AI in recruiting. This research shows that job candidates are positively inclined to use AI in the recruiting process and find it more convenient than traditional analog approaches. Although companies have been using AI in hiring for a few years, job applicants ...

Yes, kids can get COVID-19 – 3 pediatricians explain what’s known about coronavirus and children

29Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Yes, kids can get COVID-19 – 3 pediatricians explain what’s known about coronavirus and children

We are three pediatric infectious disease specialists who live and work in West Virginia. The West Virginia University health system serves 400,000 children and according to our internal data, to date, 2,520 children up to 17 years of age have been tested for the coronavirus. Sixty-seven of them tested positive and one became sick enough to be admitted to the hospital. We are asked almost daily about children and COVID-19: Do they get COVID-19? Should they attend day care or school, play sports, see friends and attend summer camps? What are the risks to themselves and to others? Based on current research and our own experiences, it would seem that kids 17 years old and younger face little risk from the coronavirus. Nearly all children have asymptomatic, very mild or mild disease, but a s...

Why hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine don’t block coronavirus infection of human lung cells

24Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Why hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine don’t block coronavirus infection of human lung cells

The big idea A paper came out in Nature on July 22 that further underscores earlier studies that show that neither the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine nor chloroquine prevents SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – from replicating in lung cells. Most Americans probably remember that hydroxychloroquine became the focus of numerous clinical trials following the president’s statement that it could be a “game changer.” At the time, he appeared to base this statement on anecdotal stories, as well as a few early and very limited studies that hydroxychloroquine seemed to help patients with COVID-19 recover. Many in the antiviral field, including myself, questioned the validity of both, and in fact, one of the papers was later disparaged by the scientific society and the editor of the jo...

Coronavirus numbers confusing you? Here’s how to make sense of them

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, VIDEO REELS

Coronavirus numbers confusing you? Here’s how to make sense of them

Turn on the TV news, or look at a news website, and you’ll see charts, graphics, and dashboards that supposedly indicate the latest with COVID-19 – statistics revealing the number of tests, cases, hospitalizations and deaths, along with where they happened and whether they are rising or falling. Different stories are told depending on the dashboard. But one thing is certain: These indicators lag behind the actions we take, or don’t take, on COVID-19. As researchers who focus on public health, we can tell you that a fully accurate, real-time snapshot of the progress of the virus isn’t possible. Some don’t get tested There are many reasons for this. Here’s one: diagnostic testing data are incomplete. Someone infected with COVID-19 must first come in contact with the virus either through the...

Russian cyberthreat extends to coronavirus vaccine research

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, CYBERCRIME, TECHNOLOGY

Russian cyberthreat extends to coronavirus vaccine research

A Russian cyberespionage group that hacked into election networks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election is now attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine information from researchers in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. The governments of those three countries issued a warning on July 16 saying that the group known as APT29 or “Cozy Bear” is targeting vaccine development efforts. The group, which is connected with the FSB, Russia’s internal security service, had gotten inside the Democratic National Committee networks prior to the 2016 election. This latest incident illustrates yet again how, beyond carrying all of our phone, text and internet communications, cyberspace is an active battleground, with cybercriminals, government agents and even military personnel probing weaknesses in corporate...

How ‘good’ does a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine need to be to stop the pandemic? A new study has answers

15Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

How ‘good’ does a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine need to be to stop the pandemic? A new study has answers

The U.S. is pinning its hopes on a COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine, but will a vaccine alone be enough to stop the pandemic and allow life to return to normal? The answer depends on a how “good” the vaccine ends up being. In a study published July 15 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, my colleagues and I used a computer simulation of every person in the country to show how effective a vaccine would have to be and how many people would have to get vaccinated to end the pandemic. We found that a coronavirus vaccine’s effectiveness may have to be higher than 70% or even 80% before Americans can safely stop relying social distancing. By comparison, the measles vaccine has an efficacy of 95%-98%, and the flu vaccine is 20%-60%. That doesn’t mean a vaccine that offers less protectio...

Retractions and controversies over coronavirus research show that the process of science is working as it should

6Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

Retractions and controversies over coronavirus research show that the process of science is working as it should

Several high-profile papers on COVID-19 research have come under fire from people in the scientific community in recent weeks. Two articles addressing the safety of certain drugs when taken by COVID-19 patients were retracted, and researchers are calling for the retraction of a third paper that evaluated behaviors that mitigate coronavirus transmission. Some people are viewing the retractions as an indictment of the scientific process. Certainly, the overturning of these papers is bad news, and there is plenty of blame to go around. But despite these short-term setbacks, the scrutiny and subsequent correction of the papers actually show that science is working. Reporting of the pandemic is allowing people to see, many for the first time, the messy business of scientific progress. Scienti...

Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don’t fit their worldview – Coronavirus responses highlight how

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, SOCIETY

Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don’t fit their worldview – Coronavirus responses highlight how

Bemoaning uneven individual and state compliance with public health recommendations, top U.S. COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci recently blamed the country’s ineffective pandemic response on an American “anti-science bias.” He called this bias “inconceivable,” because “science is truth.” Fauci compared those discounting the importance of masks and social distancing to “anti-vaxxers” in their “amazing” refusal to listen to science. It is Fauci’s profession of amazement that amazes me. As well-versed as he is in the science of the coronavirus, he’s overlooking the well-established science of “anti-science bias,” or science denial. Americans increasingly exist in highly polarized, informationally insulated ideological communities occupying their own information universes. Within segments of t...