Has COVID-19 become no more dangerous than the flu for most people? That’s a question that scientists are debating as the country heads into a third pandemic winter. Early in the pandemic, COVID was estimated to be 10 times more lethal than the flu, fueling many people’s fears. “We have all been questioning, ‘When does […]
Category: Personal
Poliovirus detected in wastewater near NYC
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday the state was stepping up its polio-fighting efforts as the virus that causes the life-threatening disease was detected in the wastewater of yet another county in the New York City area. Health officials began checking for signs of the virus in sewage water after the first case of […]
New Omicron Booster tested only on mice
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is using a controversial strategy to evaluate the next generation of COVID-19 boosters. The approach is stirring debate as the agency works to make new, hopefully improved, boosters available in September to help prevent severe disease and save lives in the fall and winter. For the first time, the […]
Gen Z’s are embracing ‘Situationships”
Long gone are the days when seeing a film or sharing a milkshake was all it took to solidify a couple as definitively together. Instead, modern dating has evolved into a delicate – at times complicated – series of ‘baby steps’ for young people. Research has shown that Gen Z’s attitudes towards dating and sex […]
Ultraprocessed foods linked to cancer and early death
Eating a lot of ultraprocessed foods significantly increases men’s risk of colorectal cancer and can lead to heart disease and early death in both men and women, according to two new, large-scale studies of people in the United States and Italy published Wednesday in British medical journal The BMJ. Ultraprocessed foods include prepackaged soups, sauces, […]
Marijuana use is now outpacing cigarette use
More people in the U.S. are now smoking marijuana than cigarettes, according to a Gallup poll. Cigarette use has been trending downward during the past decades, with only 11% of Americans saying they smoke them in a poll conducted July 5 to 26, compared to 45% in the mid-1950s. Sixteen percent of Americans say they […]
Young adults are using pot & hallucinogens at highest rates recorded
Young adults are using more weed and hallucinogens than ever. The amount of people from ages 19 to 30 who reported using one or the other are at the highest rates since 1988, when the National Institutes of Health first began the survey. “Young adults are in a critical life stage and honing their ability […]
COVID Fades As Major Issue For Americans
President Joe Biden’s victory lap this week to celebrate a string of recent victories in Congress comes as the administration faces a looming deadline to extend the public health emergency for COVID-19. But in a sign of how much has changed since the pandemic began, Biden’s expected extension of the public health emergency may not […]
The US is on a Covid plateau, what’s next?
The United States seems to have hit a Covid-19 plateau, with more than 40,000 people hospitalized and more than 400 deaths a day consistently over the past month or so. It’s a dramatic improvement from this winter — there were four times as many hospitalizations and nearly six times as many deaths at the peak […]
If you have had Covid, chances are you’ll get it again
A few months ago, we believed recovering from COVID-19 meant the chances of getting the virus again so soon were low. Scientists thought we were protected for at least six months after the initial infection. But now, as the hyper-transmissible BA.5 variant whips around the country, more and more reinfections are being detected in people […]
Over-the-counter birth control pills considered for first time
For the first time in the US, a pharmaceutical firm has asked to be allowed to sell birth control pills over the counter. The announcement comes just weeks after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The firm, Paris-based HRA Pharma, says its application to the Food and Drug Administration is unrelated. The […]
Covid Omicron offshoot BA.5 is everywhere
Once again, Covid-19 seems to everywhere. If you feel caught off-guard, you aren’t alone. After the Omicron tidal wave of that washed over the United States in January and the smaller rise in cases in the spring caused by the BA.2 subvariant, it might have seemed like the coronavirus could be ignored for a while. […]