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Even if someone is infected by the novel coronavirus and remains asymptomatic — free of coughing, fever, fatigue and other common signs of infection, that doesn't mean the coronavirus isn't taking a toll. The virus can still be causing mild — although likely reversible — harm to their lungs. (Huang, 6/23)

Critically ill COVID-19 patients were 10 times more likely than hospitalized patients with less severe coronavirus infections to have cardiac arrest or heart rhythm disorders and die, but these conditions are likely not due to infection with the novel coronavirus, according to a study published yesterday in Heart Rhythm. Using clinical records, researchers reviewed the characteristics of all 700 COVID-19 patients admitted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from Mar 6 to May 19. (Van Beusekom, 6/23)

Aerosolized SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, remained infectious for as long as 16 hours, according to a study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Using nebulizers and a custom-built rotating drum, US researchers aerosolized the viruses once each in primate head-only exposure chambers or 30-liter rodent chambers in four aerobiology laboratories. They measured the short-term aerosol efficiencies of SARS-CoV-2 and compared them with those of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, the related coronaviruses that cause SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome, and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), respectively. (6/23)

Guinea’s best hope for coronavirus patients lies inside a neglected yellow shed on the grounds of its main hospital: an oxygen plant that has never been turned on. The plant was part of a hospital renovation funded by international donors responding to the Ebola crisis in West Africa a few years ago. But the foreign technicians and supplies needed to complete the job can’t get in under Guinea’s coronavirus lockdowns — even though dozens of Chinese technicians came in on a charter flight last month to work at the country’s lucrative mines. Unlike many of Guinea’s public hospitals, the mines have a steady supply of oxygen. (Hinnant, Petesch and Diallo, 6/24)

A pandemic is hard on everyone. And even though older people face greater risks from the novel coronavirus, a UNICEF report released on Tuesday points to another particularly vulnerable population: youth. The report is titled Lives Upended: How COVID-19 threatens the futures of 600 million South Asian children. According to the report, the pandemic is "unraveling decades of health, education and other advances for children across South Asia." (Kritz, 6/23)

Kaiser Health News: Drinking Surged During The Pandemic. Do You Know The Signs Of Addiction?

Despite the lack of dine-in customers for nearly 2½ long months during the coronavirus shutdown, Darrell Loo of Waldo Thai stayed busy.Loo is the bar manager for the popular restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, and he credits increased drinking and looser liquor laws during the pandemic for his brisk business. Alcohol also seemed to help his customers deal with all the uncertainty and fear. (Smith, 6/24)

As Bay Area restaurants reopen, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how to keep patrons and workers safe. And although the CDC recommends takeout, delivery, curbside pick-up and drive-through services to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, many Bay Area residents are eager to dine out at their favorite eateries again. There’s a new, pandemic-era social contract, the first rules of which are maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask. (Ramakrishnan, 6/23)

Kaiser Health News: Sex In The Time Of COVID: Gay Men Begin To Embrace A ‘New Normal’

Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a primary care physician in Los Angeles, has treated gay men for decades. Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he said, many patients have so dramatically changed their sexual behavior that they shrug off the need for routine screenings for sexually transmitted diseases. “They say, ‘I haven’t had any contact since I saw you last, so there’s no need to do any STD tests,’” said Klausner, an adjunct professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases at UCLA. (Tuller, 6/24)

During the first week of the shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Neal Brandenburg’s daughters were bouncing off the walls. The stay-at-home dad usually has the house to himself while his wife is at work and daughters Noa, 6, and Ruby, 11, attend Culver City schools. “The ‘staycation’ with children was not going smoothly,” he said. “I just desperately needed something to do that could entertain them.” (Sturgill, 6/21)

Software engineer Tim Brookins didn’t build his Bison Tracker app with the coronavirus pandemic in mind. He was just looking for a fun way to chart the annual migration of fans from his home state of North Dakota to Texas for the national championship football game. But in a surprising turn of events, the backbone of the Bison Tracker app has become one of the first digital contact tracing tools to be deployed on the state level — and Brookins is one of the lead engineers shepherding the effort. (Brodwin, 6/24)

Back in April, the Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, was a poster child for corporate failure to protect workers from the coronavirus. Dozens of plant employees every day were showing up in clinics with symptoms of COVID-19. Nafissa Cisse Egbuonye, the public health director for Black Hawk County, Iowa, where the plant is located, recalls telling plant managers: "There is a huge volume [of cases]. There is an outbreak!" (Charles, 6/22)

Some mental health and addiction services providers say they are missing out on federal coronavirus aid due to confusing requirements and miscommunication from the Trump administration. Congress appropriated $175 billion three months ago to help health providers weather the COVID-19 crisis, but little of that funding has made its way to addiction and mental health clinics that primarily treat low-income Medicaid patients. Providers are now struggling to keep their doors open. (Hellmann, 6/23)

It felt exceedingly treacherous and painstaking getting Major League Baseball back on the field, some 3½ months after it was effectively shuttered by a global pandemic, through a bitter and halting economic negotiation that still failed to deliver an agreement, and with seemingly each day bringing another body blow to the sport — in the form of a nasty letter from MLB to its players’ union or vice versa, or a fresh leak designed to embarrass the other side. And then it was finally over Tuesday night, and the sport had a date for the reopening of “spring” training camps (July 1) and a new Opening Day of July 23 or 24, nearly four months behind schedule. The season will be 60 games, by far the shortest in the sport’s modern history, followed by a postseason. (Sheinin, 6/23)

Major League Baseball (MLB) and its players’ association agreed to a shortened 60-game 2020 season on Tuesday, ending weeks of heated talks between team owners and their players. Players will report for spring training by July 1 with the season set to begin on July 23 or July 24, MLB said. MLB postponed its 162-game regular season in March due to the coronavirus pandemic and had struggled to broker an accord between the two sides. (Tennery, 6/23)

Infectious disease experts, economists and politicians have raised concerns about a second wave of coronavirus infections in the United States that could worsen in the coming months. But some, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, said it is too soon to discuss a second wave when the United States has never emerged from a first wave in which more than 120,000 people have died and more than 2.3 million Americans have had confirmed infections with the novel coronavirus. (Steenhuysen, 6/23)

From its address on the west side of the Hudson River to its tiny balance sheet, Cross River Bank is nothing like Manhattan’s Wall Street behemoths. But as part of the government’s efforts to stave off an economic catastrophe, it stands among giants. Cross River has churned out loans to more than 106,000 businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, a centerpiece of the government’s $2 trillion CARES Act. That puts it just behind three of the country’s most prolific lenders: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. (Cowley, 6/23)

As colleges around the country map out plans to reopen their campuses in the fall, they have embarked on some unique and pricey shopping expeditions: sourcing miles of plexiglass, hundreds of thousands of face masks and, in the case of the University of Central Florida, trying to get in an order for 1,200 hand-sanitizer stations before neighboring theme parks could buy them all up. Costs for protective gear, cleaning supplies and labor for employees to take students’ temperatures and conduct hourly wipe-downs of doorknobs are already running into the millions of dollars. (Korn, 6/24)

As American parents and students begin to consider what school will look like in the fall, children across much of the world have returned to schools already, finding them barely recognizable, with new layouts and routines adapted for the coronavirus pandemic. Cafeterias look like exam halls with desks spaced out, temperatures are checked, shared computers are unplugged, and there are no sports. For some, yellow signs on the ground dictate which directions they should walk, with paths divided by ages. For others, school has been reduced to a few hours a day or takes place only on alternating days. (Craymer and Jeong, 6/23)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health officials has identified an outbreak of Cyclospora infections in several states linked to bagged salad mixes. Cylcospora, according to the CDC, is an intestinal illness caused by the Cyclospora cayetanensis. While no illnesses have been reported in Michigan, the ALDI Little Salad Bar brand Garden Salad sold at Michigan ALDI stores and in other nine other states is being recalled. (Selasky, 6/23)

Yet another unfortunate outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic: More people with cancer are going undiagnosed and untreated. With health and government officials focused on COVID-19, and people afraid to go to doctor's offices and hospitals for fear of catching the disease, cancer experts see a new emerging public health crisis going unnoticed which may lead to more cancer deaths. (David and Carrington, 6/24)

If you have inflammatory bowel disease, you may be at greater risk for developing dementia, a new study suggests. Inflammatory bowel disease, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects more than 3 million US adults and millions more around the world. It intermittently triggers stomach pain, diarrhea and bloody stools. (Rogers, 6/23)

Big problems are rarely solved with simple solutions. The opioid crisis is an example. This is an important opportunity to make changes that can save and change tens of thousands of lives — and we already know what needs to be done and how to do it. In today’s society, where we see problems fixed by the end of a 30-minute sitcom, we are sometimes lulled into believing that issues in our own lives similarly can be fixed by a quick pill or the stroke of a pen. However, as we all know too well, health care issues tend to be complicated and involve many stakeholders. The opioid epidemic is no exception, juggling the interests of insurance companies, governments, medical providers, social workers, therapists, pharmacies, facilities and the patients themselves. All of this is done in the backdrop of other limitations, including geography, time, economics and societal stigmas. (Adam Bruggeman, 6/23)

Cyberbullying is linked to a variety of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, not only in victims but cyberbullies as well, according to a new study of over 2,000 UK teens. Over a quarter of cyberbullies suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, the study, published Tuesday in the Archives of Disease in Childhood Journal, found. (Marples, 6/24)

When Travis Flores, 29, received his third double-lung transplant in May, his partner, Clément, was only allowed to visit once, and they were separated by a glass barrier. “I tried my hardest to build my strength up as quickly as I could to get out of there, so that I could be with him again and be with my family again,” Flores, who spent three weeks at the UCLA Medical Center following his operation, told NBC News. “There were moments where I was so tired that I didn't think I was going to be able to keep going, but there's so many reasons to keep fighting.” (Lang, 6/23)