Virus becoming 3rd leading cause of death

COVID-19 is on track to become the third leading cause of death in the U.S. this year, following heart disease and cancer, the National Safety Council reported Tuesday. If it comes to pass, it would mark the first time since 2016 that preventable deaths, including fatal drug overdoses, auto accidents and falls, held the third-place position, the council said.

With the number of deaths attributed to the coronavirus now topping 170,000 in the U.S., the total has already blown past the 167,127 lives lost to preventable accidents two years ago, according to the council. “In a little more than six months, COVID-19 has claimed more lives than accidental drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes and falls combined during 2018,” the council said in a statement.

South Korea imposes new restrictions

South Korea, heralded for its response in slowing the spread of the coronavirus within its borders, is imposing new social distancing measures as it aims to curb a new surge of cases.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a televised address Tuesday that the new restrictions in Seoul were inevitable given that an outbreak there could lead to a nationwide surge.

Large public gatherings will be banned and churches and nightspots shut down in Seoul as well as nearby Gyeonggi province and the city of Incheon. South Korea tallied 246 new cases Tuesday, bringing its five-day total to 959. Chung didn’t say for how long the measures would be in place.

WHO: Don’t hope for herd immunity

The World Health Organization raised new alarms that young people unaware of their infection are increasingly driving the spread of COVID-19 and the world is nowhere near herd immunity. People in their 20s, 30s and 40s may be unaware they have an active case if their symptoms are mild or not present, but they are making up a greater share of the infected population, posing a risk to more vulnerable populations as they can still spread the virus, officials warned.

“The epidemic is changing,” said Takeshi Kasai, the WHO’s Western Pacific regional director, per Reuters.

Others at the WHO briefing warned that the world population was still a long way away from reaching herd immunity, the point at which enough of the population has antibodies to stop the spread of the virus. Emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said that we should not live “in hope” of achieving herd immunity, adding, “This is not a solution and not a solution we should be looking to.”

Are temperature checks best screening tool?

Temperature checks are one of the primary ways institutions use to screen for COVID-19 symptoms, but public health experts have said in recent days they are an imperfect tool.

“We have found at the NIH, that it is much much better to just question people when they come in and save the time, because the temperatures are notoriously inaccurate, many times,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said last week.

He said his temperature has read as high as 103 degrees when he came inside on a hot day but did not have a fever.

In addition to being an unreliable tool, the checks are limited by the fact that many people may have asymptomatic cases or have an active case but not yet developed a fever.

FDA flags accuracy issue with virus test

Potential accuracy issues with a widely used coronavirus test could lead to false results for patients, the Food and Drug Administration warned, issuing an alert to doctors and labs using Thermo Fisher’s TaqPath genetic test.

Regulators said issues related to lab equipment and software used to run the test could lead to inaccuracies. The agency advised technicians to follow updated instructions and software developed by the company to ensure accurate results.

A spokeswoman for Thermo Fisher said the company was working with FDA.