Scientific American
What’s Your Risk of Catching COVID? These Tools Help You Find Out
A look at apps that predict the chance of infection and illness, depending on what you’re doing and where you are
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As an emergency physician, Megan Ranney is used to dealing with hard questions about injury and illness. But during the COVID-19 pandemic, she has found herself scrambling for answers. “I kept getting asked by people whether it was safe to do certain activities,” says Ranney. “‘Is it safe to go to the beach, or to an outdoor party or a restaurant?’”
Millions have struggled with the same questions throughout 2020. Scientists and clinicians are still learning about the epidemiology and pathology of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and, for the public, it can be difficult to understand how to maintain some semblance of normality while minimizing the risk of infection.
news conference today. i will be joined by our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta. what do you make that they re saying about the calculator? well, they have been saying it for a while now, the calculator has been in the works for a few years now. basically, what happened in the last several days they greatly expanded a group of people who should be recommended the statin drugs. so if you have diabetes, type 1 or 2, you would be recommended a statin drug, if you have heart disease of any kind, you would be recommended a statin. if your bad cholesterol is above 190, you would be recommended the statin, 10 years of having heart disease, at 7%, that is the one drawing the confusion. what people are focused on. if you put the numbers in on a risk calculator, for a 60-year-old man who has basically normal numbers,
190, you would be recommended the statin, 10 years of having heart disease, at 7%, that is the one drawing the confusion. what people are focused on. if you put the numbers in on a risk calculator, for a 60-year-old man who has basically normal numbers, cholesterol below 200, for example, he would meet the criteria, he would be recommended the statin drug, even though he has relative normal numbers. i m 44 now, pretty good numbers, my risk is low, around 1%. but if i do everything right over the next 20 years, my cholesterol stays fine, my blood pressure stays fine, i don t smoke or become diabetic, then my risk goes up to 8%, and i would be recommended a statin, why should the people get statins if their numbers look pretty good.
it s 5:00 a.m. in the east. let s get started. first, it s a super soaker. tropical storm hammering florida with extreme weather. the slow-moving snow sith off the coast of alabama and the florida panhandle. the outer bands whipping up dangerous surf and triggering this huge water spout off juneau beach. also spawn ag deadly tornado in florida as it drenches the coast. officials say a woman was found dead in a home in venus located in the middle of the state between port st. lucie and sarasota. a child in one of the damaged homes was also injured and taken by the hospital. people say they were blind-sided by the twisters. i got my wife and my dog put them in a hallway there and said it s coming. about that time it started blowing real hard. it happened real fast, in a matter of 30 seconds. we saw a bunch of wind pick up. shoved into the bathroom. scared half to death. it was pretty traumatic. meteorologist alexandra steele is tracking the storm for us. slow and fierce.
gdp growth below 2% here. that means our economy is not growing fast enough. it s growing but not fast enough. your most important asset, your home, despite government efforts to prop up housing markets, home prices have fallen in the last three and a half years. and jobs, 20 consecutive months of jobs gains. it s these last five months right here, this slowdown in jobs growth right here, that could cost the president his job. that s at least what the republicans are hoping for. pete dominick, host of sirius standup. president obama did not cause this recession but three and a half years into his term the recovery is now slowing. i want you to listen to this clip from the today show. it was taped in february 2009 just two weeks after the president took office. a year from now, i think people are going to see that we re starting to make some progress. there s still going to be some pain out there. if i don t have this done in three years, there s going to be a one-term pro