Tuesday, November 5

Tag: deaths

Air Pollution And COVID-19 Deaths – Studies Raising Questions About EPA’s ‘Acceptable Risk’
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Air Pollution And COVID-19 Deaths – Studies Raising Questions About EPA’s ‘Acceptable Risk’

The pandemic is putting America’s air pollution standards to the test as the COVID-19 death toll rises. The U.S. government sets limits on hazardous air pollutants to try to protect public health, but it can be difficult to determine where to draw the line for what is considered “acceptable risk.” Power plants, factories and other pollution sources release hundreds of million pounds of hazardous pollutants into the air every year. As the coronavirus spreads, the pattern of deaths suggests there are serious weaknesses in the current public safeguards. Several studies have explored connections between air pollution and severe cases of the respiratory illnesses. The latest, published on Oct. 26, estimates that about 15% of people who died from COVID-19 worldwide had had long-term exposure ...
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Pneumonia Vaccines May Reduce Deaths From COVID-19 Until A Coronavirus Vaccine Is Available
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COVID-19

Pneumonia Vaccines May Reduce Deaths From COVID-19 Until A Coronavirus Vaccine Is Available

The yearly influenza season threatens to make the COVID-19 pandemic doubly deadly, but I believe that this isn’t inevitable. There are two commonly given vaccines – the pneumococcal vaccine and the Hib vaccine – that protect against bacterial pneumonias. These bacteria complicate both influenza and COVID-19, often leading to death. My examination of disease trends and vaccination rates leads me to believe that broader use of the pneumococcal and Hib vaccines could guard against the worst effects of a COVID-19 illness. I am an immunologist and physiologist interested in the effects of combined infections on immunity. I have reached my insight by juxtaposing two seemingly unrelated puzzles: Infants and children get SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but very rarely become hospital...
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During The Summer Of COVID, Dementia Deaths Rise Leading To Concern
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

During The Summer Of COVID, Dementia Deaths Rise Leading To Concern

Deaths from dementia during the summer of 2020 are nearly 20% higher than the number of dementia-related deaths during that time in previous years, and experts don’t yet know why. An estimated 61,000 people have died from dementia, which is 11,000 more than usual within that period. “There’s something wrong, there’s something going on and it needs to be sorted out,” Robert Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent interview with Politico. “This is highly unusual.” As a geriatrician, I find this statistic sad but not shocking. I care for dementia patients in my clinical practice. I see firsthand how the isolation caused by the pandemic has changed their lives, whether they’re home alone, living with a caregiver, or in ...
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Black deaths matter: The centuries-old struggle to memorialize slaves and victims of racism
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IN OTHER NEWS

Black deaths matter: The centuries-old struggle to memorialize slaves and victims of racism

In an open lot just a block or so from where George Floyd was killed while being detained by officers, 100 plastic headstones were carefully placed. Created by artists Anna Barber and Connor Wright, the “Say Their Names Cemetery” sprung up in south Minneapolis in early June, as protests over police brutality prompted a more wide-ranging conversation over the legacy of slavery and racism in the United States. Each headstone documents a victim of police violence – their name, age, date and location of death. Accompanying the biographical information reads a simple epitaph: “Rest in Power” – a reworking of “rest in peace” that has gained popularity among Black Lives Matter activists and supporters to commemorate the dead. #SayTheirNames The cemetery forms part of a wider #SayTheirNames camp...
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Coronavirus deaths and those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery have something in common: Racism
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Coronavirus deaths and those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery have something in common: Racism

The COVID-19 pandemic and the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery are two major catastrophes that shine a light on longstanding social inequities and injustices toward African Americans. Emerging research in the field of social genomics demonstrates how social stress, such as racism and discrimination, can shift the body’s biological resources toward a state that increases risk for disease. For example, our research group has found that racial discrimination may be impacting the way genes are expressed, leading to increased levels of dangerous stress hormones. These differences were found even when social determinant factors such as poverty and other forms of stress were accounted for. Hence, racial discrimination experiences may also explain why African Americans continue to remain...
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Why are white supremacists protesting the deaths of black people?
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IN OTHER NEWS

Why are white supremacists protesting the deaths of black people?

As protests about police violence among black people continue and become more widespread across the U.S., certain individuals and groups have begun to stand out – including anarchists, agitators and members of a variety of far-right groups. With the country’s long history of racist killings, it may be confusing to think that racists and white supremacists are among those objecting to the killing of people of color. But people affiliated with far-right groups aren’t trying to be part of the overall protest movement. Having researched these groups, we think it’s likely that they are attempting to hijack the event for their own purposes. As researchers of street gangs and far-right groups, we see that in this case, they want to stoke a civil war between the races – one they think they can ...
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George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery deaths: Racism causes life-threatening conditions for black men every day
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IN OTHER NEWS

George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery deaths: Racism causes life-threatening conditions for black men every day

High-profile police shootings and deaths of black men in custody – or even while out jogging – bring cries of racism across the country. The May 25 death of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis and the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia on Feb. 23, 2020 by a white father and son have resulted in outrage and protests in cities across the U.S. But, as a public health researcher who studies the effects of racism on the health of black men, I have found that the life-and-death effects of racism in the U.S. go far beyond police shootings. I also have found that, while racism harms many groups of people, black men are paying the highest cost. As a result of racism, and associated poverty and injustice, life expectancy at birth of black men is 71.9 years, fa...
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Why cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Why cellphone videos of black people’s deaths should be considered sacred, like lynching photographs

As Ahmaud Arbery fell to the ground, the sound of the gunshot that took his life echoed loudly throughout his Georgia neighborhood. I rewound the video of his killing. Each time I viewed it, I was drawn first to the young black jogger’s seemingly carefree stride, which was halted by two white men in a white pickup truck. Then I peered at Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, who confronted Arbery in their suburban community. I knew that the McMichaels told authorities that they suspected Arbery of robbing a nearby home in the neighborhood. They were performing a citizen’s arrest, they said. The video shows Arbery jogging down the street and the McMichaels blocking his path with their vehicle. First, a scuffle. Then, gunshots at point-blank range from Travis McMichael’s weapon....
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Robin Williams’ suicide was followed by a sharp rise in ‘copycat’ deaths
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CELEBRITIES

Robin Williams’ suicide was followed by a sharp rise in ‘copycat’ deaths

“Hanged.” The front page of the New York Daily News said it all in one word on Aug. 13, 2014. Above the capital letters, which filled nearly a third of the page, was a photo of comedian Robin Williams with a somber expression, dead at age 63. The headline, unfortunately, contravened the most basic recommendations of the World Health Organization and suicide prevention experts for how the media should cover suicide, including “toning down” accounts, to avoid inspiring similar deaths. News of Williams’ death appears to be associated with a nearly 10 percent rise in the number of suicides in the United States in the five months that followed, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. That increase was especially large among men ages 30 to 44, whose suicide rate rose...
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