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MONDAY, May 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Jails and prisons are hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19, endangering both the inmates held within as well as the wider community, public health experts warn. The highly infectious virus easily passes from person to person, and prison conditions -- overcrowding with poor ventilation and shared living quarters -- make it even more likely that a COVID-19 outbreak can occur, said Dr. Alysse Wurcel, infectious diseases liaison for the Massachusetts Sheriff's Association. "When you find a case in the jail, at that point it is pretty much everywhere," said Wurcel, an assistant professor of community medicine and public health at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. Experts say an outbreak inside a correctional facility is also a public...

MONDAY, May 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- Roughly 16 million Americans have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but only a fraction have access to a lifesaving treatment called pulmonary rehabilitation. COPD is a family of diseases, including emphysema and chronic bronchitis, that make breathing difficult and worsens over time. The main cause is smoking. Other causes include secondhand smoke and exposure to polluted air, chemical fumes or dusts. There is no cure. But pulmonary rehab can help after a hospital stay, according to Dr. David Mannino, director of the Pulmonary Epidemiology Research Laboratory at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington. Pulmonary rehab teaches patients to exercise, eat well and use medications appropriately in order to regain their strength....

MONDAY, May 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- The coronavirus pandemic could scuttle more than 28 million elective surgeries across the globe this year, according to a new study. British researchers gathered information from surgeons at 359 hospitals in 71 countries about elective surgery plans, and used that data in a statistical model to estimate numbers in 190 countries. Based on a 12-week period of peak disruption to hospital services caused by the pandemic, 28.4 million elective surgeries worldwide could be canceled or postponed in 2020, the study found. Each additional week of hospital service disruption would cause 2.4 more million cancellations. "Although essential, cancellations place a heavy burden on patients and society," said study author Dr. Aneel Bhangu, consultant surgeon...

MONDAY, May 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- While most U.S. states had loosened social distancing restrictions by Monday, new data shows the number of coronavirus cases in the country has dropped in recent days. According to The New York Times, in New York state case counts have dropped over the last month, and they have also plunged in hard-hit Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some states, including Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska, are seeing hardly any new cases at all, the newspaper said. "We're seeing a decline; undoubtedly, that is something good to see," Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, told the Times. "But what we are also seeing is a lot of places right on the edge of controlling the disease." Of course, testing will be key to further efforts to control the...