Hi, I鈥檓 back with a revamped Friday Breeze, tackling a few hot health care topics of the week and some news you may have missed. Here鈥檚 what the Breeze blew in this week, in these dog days of our COVID-constrained, socially distant summer:
Schools Reopen: No Easy Answers for Keeping Kids Healthy
It鈥檚 back-to-school time, which means pencils, books, hand sanitizers and, for some, . The vice president visited a campus of Thales Academy in Apex, North Carolina, saying, 鈥淲e’ve got to open up America’s schools, and Thales Academy is literally in the forefront.” Unfortunately, a few days later, Thales suffered a setback when a fourth grader at its Wake Forest campus tested positive for COVID-19.
Things weren鈥檛 much better in other states, either. Groups of students and teachers in , , , and have been forced into quarantine after being exposed to the virus. When a at North Paulding High School north of Atlanta went viral this week, Superintendent Brian Otott acknowledged that the photo 鈥渄oes not look good聽鈥 but said the school was following state health recommendations. (On Thursday, two teens who posted the photo were .) And this just in: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for in-person classes this fall across a state that was once the epicenter of the global pandemic.
Day cares and preschools might offer a glimpse into how to keep children safe. As KHN鈥檚 Anna Almendrala wrote this week, the facilities are 鈥減art of an unplanned national experiment鈥 for parents weighing the pros and cons of in-person school. So far, the number of outbreaks at child care centers has remained low.
Other nations are , with varied success. puts students in 鈥渕icro-groups鈥 of 12. Kids in New South Wales, Australia, go to school just . In Dandwal, India, . Israel, convinced it had beaten the virus, opened every school in May. By the first week of June, more than 2,000 students, teachers and staff had tested positive. (鈥淸Other nations] definitely should not do what we have done,鈥 said the advising Israel鈥檚 National Security Council. 鈥淚t was a major failure.鈥)
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Tests Positive, Then Negative: Can We Fix Our Testing System?
I live in Ohio, and the whole state practically gasped Thursday when Republican Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive for COVID-19. Everyone asked, 鈥淗ow could this happen to someone who steadfastly supports wearing a mask?鈥 Then, on Friday, another gasp when 鈥 followed by a collective, 鈥淲ell, of course that happened.鈥
It鈥檚 an understatement to say we have had major problems with our COVID testing system. Some places are flush with them; others aren鈥檛. Celebrities, the , and , but many regular folks have been turned away multiple times, waited more than a week for results or were told their results were lost. Frustrated with delays, six states (Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Virginia) announced this week in an effort to reduce turnaround time.
Meanwhile, some people are pushing for , the idea being that you could identify outbreaks, trace them, quarantine people and move on with life. But . One: Most tests take samples from behind the nose or the back of the mouth and will come out positive only if that area contained the virus. In some people, however, the virus has been shown in large quantities only deep in their lungs. And two: A false-positive result sidelines a healthy person, leading to unnecessary quarantining that can affect their mental health, job, school, etc. Kelly Stafford, wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, wrote on Instagram this week that her family was harassed and put through after Matthew tested false-positive for COVID.
Hurricane Isaias: How Do You Evacuate But Stay Socially Distant?
For just about everyone on the East Coast, the big talker of the week was Hurricane Isaias. (That鈥檚 pronounced 鈥.鈥) Isaias skimmed Florida鈥檚 Atlantic coast as a Category 1 hurricane and banged its way up the East Coast before making landfall Monday near . All told, Isaias killed nine people, spawned more than 30 tornadoes (here鈥檚 one in Marmora, New Jersey), and forced thousands to evacuate. One major health concern was whether people in the path of the storm 鈥 including 鈥 could . 鈥淲e were prepared with non-congregate sheltering,鈥 said Mike Sprayberry, director of North Carolina Emergency Management, 鈥渂ut many people heeded the advice to stay with family or friends or at a hotel. It wasn鈥檛 needed.鈥 Hurricane season is in full swing (it doesn鈥檛 end until Nov. 30), so 鈥 and more .
Beirut Blast: The Lasting Health Effects of a Massive Explosion
About 150 people were killed and 5,000 hurt when a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate . Ammonium nitrate, an odorless, crystal salt, is a common but highly explosive chemical that was used in several other devastating blasts, including , in 2015 (165 killed); in 2013 (15 killed); and in 1995 (168 killed). Tuesday鈥檚 blast, involving about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, was roughly equal to the power of 1,155 tons of TNT, according to one weapons investigator, making it 鈥渕any times larger than the most powerful conventional airdropped bomb in the U.S. arsenal [the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast],鈥 .
The blast released nitrogen oxides, ammonia and carbon dioxide into the air. According to and the American Lung Association, some of their health effects include lung damage, asthma attacks, lower birth weight in newborns, blindness, convulsions, suffocation and death. In the years after the Oklahoma City bombing, doctors tracked survivors鈥 physical and emotional health. A said that up to a third of survivors reported having anxiety, depression, PTSD, asthma, bronchitis and problems with their hearing. As , the mayor of West, Texas, put it this week: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 seem to learn that chemical is deadly.鈥
Other Stories You May Enjoy:
- Why yes, you can use an Instant Pot to clean your N95 respirator:
- When the phrase 鈥渕oney laundering鈥 gets taken literally:
- So. Much. Trash!
- Fashion designers are making dresses that look like COVID:
Happy reading! Have a great weekend.
鈥 Lauren
