Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Unicorn Vomit. Cotton Candy. Gummy Bear. Skittles.Some teenagers who tried these playful vaping flavors thought they were just inhaling water vapor — not also nicotine, a chemical considered as addictive as heroin and cocaine.Now, as a mysterious vaping-related lung disease has doctors and parents urging the nation’s 3.6 million young users to quit, many are finding that they physically can’t — they’re hooked. It’s exactly the kind of youth addiction crisis the Food and Drug Administration had warned of four years ago, when it tried...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Unicorn Vomit. Cotton Candy. Gummy Bear. Skittles.Some teenagers who tried these playful vaping flavors thought they were just inhaling water vapor — not also nicotine, a chemical considered as addictive as heroin and cocaine.Now, as a mysterious vaping-related lung disease has doctors and parents urging the nation’s 3.6 million young users to quit, many are finding that they physically can’t — they’re hooked. It’s exactly the kind of youth addiction crisis the Food and Drug Administration had warned of four years ago, when it tried...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The disease investigators arrived at the apartment in street clothes, carrying their gowns, gloves and face shields in Whole Foods bags. They didn’t knock on the door. Instead, they called the resident — a man in his 50s, then California’s first known coronavirus case — by phone. When he answered, he was instructed to move to the farthest corner of the apartment so the team could go inside and suit up. They had come to the apartment building in Orange County to make sure the man was where he promised to be — and that he was isolating...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The disease investigators arrived at the apartment in street clothes, carrying their gowns, gloves and face shields in Whole Foods bags. They didn’t knock on the door. Instead, they called the resident — a man in his 50s, then California’s first known coronavirus case — by phone. When he answered, he was instructed to move to the farthest corner of the apartment so the team could go inside and suit up. They had come to the apartment building in Orange County to make sure the man was where he promised to be — and that he was isolating...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It might be the next best thing to a coronavirus vaccine.Scientists have devised a way to use the antibody-rich blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors for an upper-arm injection that they say could inoculate people against the virus for months.Using technology that’s been proven effective in preventing other diseases such as hepatitis A, the injections would be administered to high-risk healthcare workers, nursing home patients, or even at public drive-through sites — potentially protecting millions of lives, the doctors and other...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It might be the next best thing to a coronavirus vaccine.Scientists have devised a way to use the antibody-rich blood plasma of COVID-19 survivors for an upper-arm injection that they say could inoculate people against the virus for months.Using technology that’s been proven effective in preventing other diseases such as hepatitis A, the injections would be administered to high-risk healthcare workers, nursing home patients, or even at public drive-through sites — potentially protecting millions of lives, the doctors and other...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement California public health officials have partially lifted restrictions on who should receive tests for the coronavirus, recommending for the first time that asymptomatic people living or working in high-risk settings such as nursing homes, prisons and even some households should now be considered a priority.The move makes California the first state to broaden restrictive federal guidelines and reflects increasing availability of testing, as major labs report sufficient supplies and excess capacity to run more procedures, according to...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement California public health officials have partially lifted restrictions on who should receive tests for the coronavirus, recommending for the first time that asymptomatic people living or working in high-risk settings such as nursing homes, prisons and even some households should now be considered a priority.The move makes California the first state to broaden restrictive federal guidelines and reflects increasing availability of testing, as major labs report sufficient supplies and excess capacity to run more procedures, according to...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It’s an obscure U.S. government bureau with many missions, including this vital one: hunting down viral diseases like COVID-19 that spill over from animals to the human world. But in late 2019 it found itself without a permanent leader, and squarely in the Trump administration’s budget-slashing sights.That all changed with the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 Americans and more than 100,000 people across the world.Now, the Global Health Bureau, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It’s an obscure U.S. government bureau with many missions, including this vital one: hunting down viral diseases like COVID-19 that spill over from animals to the human world. But in late 2019 it found itself without a permanent leader, and squarely in the Trump administration’s budget-slashing sights.That all changed with the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 20,000 Americans and more than 100,000 people across the world.Now, the Global Health Bureau, part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It was almost Shabbat, but Ariel Friedman was too busy to bake challah.Anxiety among the Bay Area therapist’s clients was spiking. It was mid-March 2020: More than 1,500 Americans had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Forty-one had died. Friedman’s clients — some with post-traumatic stress, others with obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression — wanted reassurance. But there was none to be given. Her office staff was on edge, too, as plans were made, then remade. They’d definitely stay open; they might stay open; no,...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement It was almost Shabbat, but Ariel Friedman was too busy to bake challah.Anxiety among the Bay Area therapist’s clients was spiking. It was mid-March 2020: More than 1,500 Americans had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Forty-one had died. Friedman’s clients — some with post-traumatic stress, others with obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression — wanted reassurance. But there was none to be given. Her office staff was on edge, too, as plans were made, then remade. They’d definitely stay open; they might stay open; no,...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement New data showing that two COVID-19 vaccines are far less effective in South Africa than in other places they were tested have heightened fears that the coronavirus is quickly finding ways to elude the world’s most powerful tools to contain it.The U.S. company Novavax reported this week that although its vaccine was nearly 90% effective in clinical trials conducted in Britain, the figure fell to 49% in South Africa — and that nearly all the infections the company analyzed in South Africa involved the B.1.351 variant that emerged there...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement New data showing that two COVID-19 vaccines are far less effective in South Africa than in other places they were tested have heightened fears that the coronavirus is quickly finding ways to elude the world’s most powerful tools to contain it.The U.S. company Novavax reported this week that although its vaccine was nearly 90% effective in clinical trials conducted in Britain, the figure fell to 49% in South Africa — and that nearly all the infections the company analyzed in South Africa involved the B.1.351 variant that emerged there...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement They are frontline workers with top-priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine, but they are refusing to take it. At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half of the 700 hospital workers eligible for the vaccine were willing to take the shot when it was first offered. At Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one in five frontline nurses and doctors have declined the shot. Roughly 20% to 40% of frontline workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement They are frontline workers with top-priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine, but they are refusing to take it. At St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Tehama County, fewer than half of the 700 hospital workers eligible for the vaccine were willing to take the shot when it was first offered. At Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, one in five frontline nurses and doctors have declined the shot. Roughly 20% to 40% of frontline workers who were offered the vaccine did the same, according to county public health...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement /Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser.  /Protesters stand on top of a bus stop at the Los Angeles Civic Center to demonstrate for justice Wednesday night.   /Protestors turn on their cell phone flashlights at Los Angeles City Hall at 9 pm on Wednesday as part of a silent protest against the death of George Floyd.  /A protester confronts National Guardsmen as thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles to demonstrate for justice in the George Floyd murder by cop case Wednesday. ...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement /Protesters stand on top of a burned LAPD cruiser.  /Protesters stand on top of a bus stop at the Los Angeles Civic Center to demonstrate for justice Wednesday night.   /Protestors turn on their cell phone flashlights at Los Angeles City Hall at 9 pm on Wednesday as part of a silent protest against the death of George Floyd.  /A protester confronts National Guardsmen as thousands of protesters march down Spring Street in Los Angeles to demonstrate for justice in the George Floyd murder by cop case Wednesday. ...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Los Angeles and Orange County health officials are of a patient with the new strain of coronavirus. But they are stressing that there is no evidence the virus has been spread beyond the two patients.The Orange County recently visited the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.The patient is in good condition and is in isolation at a hospital.They are following up with anyone who has had close contact with the patient, but also noted that people with casual contact — such as visiting the same grocery store or movie theater — “are...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Los Angeles and Orange County health officials are of a patient with the new strain of coronavirus. But they are stressing that there is no evidence the virus has been spread beyond the two patients.The Orange County recently visited the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.The patient is in good condition and is in isolation at a hospital.They are following up with anyone who has had close contact with the patient, but also noted that people with casual contact — such as visiting the same grocery store or movie theater — “are...WW…