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MONDAY, April 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A drug originally developed to treat Ebola is getting a second chance in the spotlight, as research teams in the United States, Asia and Europe race to test it against the new coronavirus. The drug, called remdesivir, has already been given to a limited number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, on a "compassionate use" basis. That included the first U.S. patient diagnosed with the disease -- a 35-year-old man in Washington state who sought care on Jan. 19, shortly after returning home from Wuhan, China. He ended up in the hospital, and after his lung function deteriorated, he was placed on oxygen and later given an infusion of remdesivir. He improved the next day, his doctors reported recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The...

MONDAY, April 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- At least 1 in 7 U.S. health care workers have to miss work to care for their children if the coronavirus pandemic keeps schools closed -- and their absence could result in more patient deaths, researchers say. Teams from Yale University and Colorado State University used U.S. Census data to project the child care needs of health care workers. "Closing schools comes with many trade-offs, and can create unintentional child care shortages that put a strain on the health care system," said study co-lead author Eli Fenichel, associate professor of bioeconomics and ecosystem management at Yale. About 29% of U.S. health care workers have children between 3 and 12 years of age, the analysis showed. In households without a non-working adult or a...

MONDAY, April 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Recovering alcoholic Catherine Collins normally attends five to seven face-to-face program meetings a week. Collins still attends meetings, but now they're online -- and there's something important that's missing. "In the real world, you're in a room full of people who have the exact same feelings. If I said 'I'm really struggling and I feel like picking up a drink,' people would understand it," said Collins, who is 22 years sober and works as business development liaison at the New England Recovery Center in Westborough, Mass. "It's a little more difficult if I say that in an online meeting," Collins continued. "No one can hug you after the meeting and say it's going to be OK. They can offer hope, but it doesn't replace the human...

MONDAY, April 6, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- White House officials told Americans on Sunday to brace themselves for what could be the toughest week of the coronavirus pandemic so far, as the country's death toll neared 10,000. During a media briefing on Sunday, President Donald Trump and his advisers predicted parts of the country were about to reach their respective peaks of COVID-19 cases, the Washington Post reported. While hailing a one-day decline in deaths in New York City, Trump warned that New York and New Jersey have "really become a very hot zone." Earlier in the day, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams was more emphatic about what is to come. "This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of most Americans' lives, quite frankly," Adams said during an appearance on Fox...