Danish researchers have developed a novel test that can detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C from a single drop of blood. The team from <keyword id="569449" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="copenhagen-university-hospital" source="Orion">Copenhagen University Hospital</keyword> in Denmark developed a dried blood spot test, in which a single spot of blood is tested for nucleic acid from the three viruses. "We've shown that using existing hospital equipment, it is possible to detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C from a single drop of blood," said Stephen Nilsson-Moller at the varsity's <keyword id="15680029" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="department-of-clinical-microbiology" source="Orion">Department of Clinical Microbiology</keyword>. "Blood samples need to be analysed within six hours when kept at room temperature, while dried blood spots can last for nine months without refrigeration," he added. To do the test, the individual's finger is pricked and a few spots of blood are collected on filter paper and allowed to dry. The Hologic Panther System - testing equipment widely found in public health laboratories - then uses a technique called transcription-mediated amplification to analyse one of the blood spots for genetic material from the three viruses. The analysis is designed to be, and is normally, run on liquid samples of plasma or serum - not the dried samples used here. Twenty samples with known amounts of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C were analysed via the dried blood spot method (60 in total) and the viruses were detected in all of the samples. The plasma was also diluted to determine the lower limit of detection. This showed that it was possible to detect the viruses at levels that are much lower than are normally found in untreated patients. "The dried blood spot test is ideal for places where you don't want to use a needle for safety reasons or where it is less practical. This includes prisons, drug rehabilitation centres and homeless shelters," Nilsson-Moller said. "It is also suitable for developing countries or places where you run the risk of a blood sample being ruined before it is transferred to a laboratory that can analyse it," he noted. The findings will be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology &amp; Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) to be held in <keyword id="6379384" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="copenhagen" source="Orion">Copenhagen</keyword> from April 15 to 18. More than one million people a year are killed by hepatitis B or hepatitis C. About 650,000 people die from HIV-related causes annually and 1.5 million acquire HIV. The World Health Organization has made the elimination of all three viruses by 2030 one of its global health strategies but new tests are necessary if case numbers are to be reduced. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/ather-finally-focuses-on-affordable-electric-scooters-after-losing-its-lead-to-ola-electric-and-tvs-motor/articleshow/99456189.cms">Ather finally focuses on affordable electric scooters after losing its lead to Ola Electric and TVS Motor</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/personal-finance/news/these-financial-tasks-to-complete-in-april-to-set-the-course-for-the-new-financial-year/slidelist/99455421.cms#slideid=99456011">5 financial tasks to complete in April to set the course for the new financial year</a>

New test may detect HIV, hepatitis B and C from a single drop of blood

Children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus can experience symptoms of long COVID lasting at least two months, according to a study published in The Lancet Child &amp; Adolescent Health journal on Thursday. The largest study to date of long <keyword id="9022301" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-symptoms" source="Orion">COVID symptoms</keyword> in children aged 0-14 years used national level sampling of children in Denmark and matched <keyword id="8763838" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="COVID-19" source="Orion">COVID-19</keyword> positive cases with a control group with no prior history of the disease. "The overall aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of long-lasting symptoms in children and infants, alongside quality of life, and absence from school or day care," said Professor Selina Kikkenborg Berg, from <keyword id="569449" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Copenhagen-University-Hospital" source="Orion">Copenhagen University Hospital</keyword>, Denmark "Our results reveal that, although children with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis are more likely to experience long-lasting symptoms than children with no previous COVID-19 diagnosis, the pandemic has affected every aspect of all young people's lives," Berg said. Further research into the long-term consequences of the pandemic on all children will be important going forwards, the researcher said. Most previous studies of long COVID in young people have focussed on adolescents, with infants and toddlers seldom represented. In the study, surveys were sent to the mother or guardian of children between 0-14 years who had tested positive for COVID-19 between January 2020 and July 2021. In total, responses were received for almost 11,000 children with a positive COVID-19 test result who were matched by age and sex to over 33,000 children who had never tested positive for COVID-19. The surveys asked participants about the 23 most common symptoms of long COVID in children and used the World Health Organization definition of long COVID as symptoms lasting more than two months. The most commonly reported symptoms among children 0-3 years old were mood swings, rashes, and stomach aches. Among 4-11 years old the most commonly reported symptoms were mood swings, trouble remembering or concentrating, and rashes, and among 12-14 years old, fatigue, mood swings, and trouble remembering or concentrating. The results of the study found children diagnosed with COVID-19 in all age groups to be more likely to experience at least one symptom for two months or longer than the control group. In the 0-3 years age group 40 per cent of children diagnosed with COVID-19 (478 of 1,194 children) experienced symptoms for longer than two months, compared to 27 per cent of controls (1,049 of 3,855 children). For the 4-11 years age group the ratio was 38 per cent of cases (1,912 of 5,023 children) compared to 34 per cent of controls (6,189 of 18,372 children), and for the 12-14 years age group, 46 per cent of cases (1,313 of 2,857 children) compared to 41 per cent of controls (4,454 of 10,789 children) experienced long-lasting symptoms. The types of non-specific symptoms associated with long COVID are often experienced by otherwise healthy children; headache, mood swings, abdominal pain, and fatigue are all symptoms of common ailments that children experience which are unrelated to COVID-19. However, the study revealed that children with a positive COVID-19 diagnosis were more likely to experience long-lasting symptoms than children who had never had a positive diagnosis, suggesting that these symptoms were a presentation of long COVID. This is supported by approximately one third of children with positive COVID-19 tests experiencing symptoms that were not present before the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers said. In addition, with increasing duration of symptoms, the proportion of children with those symptoms tended to decrease. Generally, children diagnosed with COVID-19 reported less psychological and social problems than children in the control group, they said. In older age groups, cases often felt less scared, had less trouble sleeping, and felt less worried about what would happen to them, according to the researchers. A likely explanation for this is the increased pandemic awareness in older age groups, with children in the control group experiencing fear of the unknown disease and more restricted everyday life due to protecting themselves from catching the virus, they added. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/itc-seizes-the-market-its-sales-surpass-their-pre-pandemic-levels/articleshow/92400727.cms">ITC seizes the market; its sales surpass their pre-pandemic levels</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/maha-political-crisis-uddhav-thackeray-vacates-his-official-residence/articleshow/92400287.cms">Maha political crisis: Uddhav Thackeray vacates his official residence</a>

Long Covid symptoms can last up to two months in children says Lancet study

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The most common <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> variant in the US infects <keyword id="1862" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="kids">kids</keyword> more than the original virus.</li><li>But the variant, first found in the UK, is no more infectious or deadly in kids than in adults, experts told Insider.</li><li>This is despite anecdotal reports that, proportionally, more kids are showing up to hospital.</li></ul>The most common <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-variants-uk-south-africa-brazil-us-facts-questions-2021-1">coronavirus variant</a> in the US is estimated to be twice as infectious as the original, and can spread quickly amongst children. Anecdotal reports suggest young people are increasingly filling up US hospitals - but experts tell Insider that the variant, called B.1.1.7, isn't affecting kids any worse than adults.The variant became <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-director-says-uk-covid-19-variant-dominant-strain-us-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the most common strain</a> of the virus in the US on April 7. In Michigan, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-director-michigan-covid-19-surge-2021-4">the state with the most B.1.1.7 cases</a>, hospitalization rates were higher for kids in recent weeks, "therefore they must be sicker," Rudolph Valentini, chief medical officer for Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit,<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-19/covid-once-spared-the-young-now-more-are-going-to-the-hospital?sref=lAVQtUwz" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told Bloomberg on Monday</a>. "Until now we haven't seen transmission like this in kids in the pandemic," Michael Osterholm, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Minnesota and former advisor to President Joe Biden,<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-osterholm-interview-covid-variant-is-a-brand-new-ballgame-109642309532" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told Meet the Press</a> early April. "This B.1.1.7 variant infects kids very readily," he said.Higher numbers of kids in hospital doesn't necessarily mean the variant affects kids differently. Younger people, especially those under 16, are the least likely to be vaccinated. So while many adults are protected from <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>, including the variant, kids aren't, and some are ending up in hospital.And many experts - including from the UK, where the variant was first detected in December - aren't convinced it is more infectious for children than adults, and say the variant doesn't appear to make kids sicker, either. <h2>No evidence variant is not more infectious in kids than adults: Experts</h2>There's no evidence that B.1.1.7, the name of the variant, is more infectious in children than adults, Damian Roland, honorary associate professor in pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Leicester, told Insider. "Denmark has kept schools open for young kids (even without masks) and hasn't exploded," Dr. Alasdair Munroe, clinical research fellow in pediatric infectious diseases at University Hospital Southampton, <a href="https://twitter.com/apsmunro/status/1369981770532323328" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on Twitter March 11.</a>In Denmark, where there are high numbers of B.1.1.7, those under 20 years old were least likely to transmit the virus to others in the household, and those younger than 10 were less likely to catch it than young adults aged 25 to 45, according to a <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.28.21252608v1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pre-print study</a> from the University of Copenhagen posted March 5.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/governors-covid19-vaccine-restrictions-immunity-pfizer-2021-04">Just 3 governors haven't gotten their COVID-19 vaccine, Insider found. Here's who - and why.</a>Paul Offit, professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who has served on infectious disease advisory panels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/covid-more-young-people-hospitalized-as-more-contagious-variants-spread.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told CNBC </a>that kids were getting infected more frequently because of how contagious the virus is, not because the variant poses a particular risk to them.Roland told Insider that "it's not the variant, cases rise when you've got a lot of coronavirus around."A spokesperson for The Royal College of Pediatrics &amp; Child <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> (RCPCH) told Insider that "cases in children continue to reflect cases in adults generally." They said that the best way to protect the children is to maintain "low community infection rates."<h2>B.1.1.7 appears no more harmful to kids</h2>Dr. Stephen Schrantz, an infectious disease expert at University of Chicago Medicine,<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/16/covid-more-young-people-hospitalized-as-more-contagious-variants-spread.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> told CNBC</a> that young people, especially school-aged children, didn't tend to get sick because their immune systems react less severely to the virus."Roland told Insider that kids "very rarely" get sick with COVID-19. "Often it's children presenting with non-COVID illness and then happen to have it."About one-third of kids testing positive with COVID-19 in a London hospital during the second wave of the virus in the UK - when 70% of the capital's coronavirus infections were caused by B.1.1.7 - were admitted for another illness, according to correspondence published in the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00030-4/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lancet Child &amp; Adolescent Health medical journal</a> in February.A London-based study published in the same journal around <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(21)00066-3/fulltext#sec1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the same time</a> found that severe illness and death from COVID-19 in children was rare, accounting for just under 0.2% of all UK deaths in 10 to 19 year olds, and just under 2% for those under 9. More kids died from COVID-19 when there were lots of infections in the wider community, the study authors said.<div type="image" title="Kids coronavirus" height="1083" width="2000" msid="82198114" hostid="261"></div>Some children who contracted coronavirus have experienced Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a rare condition that can sometimes cause severe illness or death.It doesn't appear that the B.1.1.7 coronavirus variant increases the likelihood of developing MIS-C.Dr Liz Whittaker, consultant pediatrician at St Mary's Hospital in London, said in a <a href="https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/news-events/news/rcpch-responds-media-reports-increased-admissions-children-young-people-covid-19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement January, </a>when London had high levels of B.1.1.7 cases, that there were lots of children with positive COVID-19 tests, but "only small numbers" with severe disease or MIS-C, and these were within expected levels given the high infection rate at the time.The number of children hospitalized, admitted to intensive care, or dying from COVID-19 hasn't changed on a national level following the emergence of the B.1.1.7 variant in the UK, the RCPCH spokesperson said.In Michigan, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-people-variants-cause-another-covid-19-surge-michigan-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">those aged 20 to 29</a> and 30 to 39 years-old are most likely to be infected with coronavirus, <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/documents/coronavirus/20210413_Data_and_modeling_update_vSHARE_722188_7.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to state data.</a> But while hospital admissions are going up in all age groups by 25% each week, the highest rate remains those 50 to 59 and 60 to 69 - not younger people.

The most common coronavirus variant in the US is no worse for kids than adults, despite more children showing up at hospital, experts say

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The global <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> death toll has officially surpassed 1 million.</li><li>But experts believe that because of underreporting in several countries, the actual death toll is much higher.</li><li>Researchers also fear that undetected cases, like when a victim dies before getting tested, are contributing to an undercount.</li></ul>What started with a first reported death from coronavirus in Wuhan on January 11, has, in less than a year, become a tragedy of global proportions.And as the official death toll ticks over the 1 million mark, we're still asking how some of those lives could have been saved, and how we can prevent more loss and suffering.But how accurate are the statistics?The <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard</a> receives data from 188 countries and territories on deaths attributable to coronavirus. But some countries are not represented at all, and there's inconsistency among those who do keep a tally. Researchers with <a href="https://www.euromomo.eu/">EuroMOMO</a>, a European organization that tracks mortality data across the continent, have noticed the same trend."In a pandemic, especially in a new disease, you don't have a proper testing available," Lasse Vestergaard, EuroMomo project coordinator, told <keyword id="9054837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business-insider-today">Business Insider Today</keyword>. "Many infected cases will not be tested and therefore not confirmed. The counting of reported deaths is a key set of data — you know for sure these are confirmed cases of COVID. However, that does not necessarily give the full picture.""It doesn't get all cases. That 1 million had been reached a little while ago already."Undetected cases can skew the data, for example, by making the virus appear more deadly in one country than another.Similarly, some victims may die from COVID-19 without ever reaching a hospital or being tested.These numbers all feed into a country's mortality rate — the relationship between deaths and cases, or deaths per head of population.Experts say we could get a clearer picture if every country was like Belgium, hailed as the most accurate and honest in the world at reporting its COVID-19 deaths. The country has been unafraid to feature high in the mortality ranking by counting suspected coronavirus deaths alongside confirmed ones.<div type="image" title="Grave diggers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) bury a person, who presumably died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the special purpose section of a graveyard on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, Russia May 13, 2020. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov" height="2649" width="4134" msid="78396266" hostid="261"></div>Meanwhile, Bolivia is one country where critics say the toll from COVID-19 is much higher than official figures suggest."According to John Hopkins University, Bolivia ranks fifth for the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, with 65 deaths for every 100,000 (people)," Bolivian public policy analyst Andres Uzin said. "If we take into account the 20,186 excess deaths in Bolivia caused by the COVID pandemic, that figure would be 174 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. That would easily take us to first place in the world."Indonesia is also accused of underreporting. Gravediggers in Jakarta say the number of people they are burying has increased three or four times."Usually, we bury around 10 people every day," gravedigger Junaedi Bin Hakim said. "But for the last few days, when we handle COVID-19 burials, it has reached an average of 30 per day. And last Thursday, there were around 40 cases in one day."It's for this reason that many prefer to count "excess deaths" rather than reported COVID-19 deaths to get at a more accurate tally. EuroMOMO, the European mortality monitoring unit based in Copenhagen, Denmark, does just that. The project analyzes reported deaths alongside historical data for the 24 European countries in its network.Researchers take a country's overall mortality statistics, including those from COVID-19, and "compare it to what we would expect at this time of the year," Vestergaard said."That difference is what we define as the excess, and which is lastly attributable to COVID-19," he said. "So I think the 1 million is an underestimation. We're not sure exactly how much more, but perhaps about 20% to 30% higher than the official number."If we're having trouble counting how many people have died, can we predict the path the virus will take?Youyang Gu set out to do that in the spring, designing his own forecasting software, <a href="http://covid19-projections.com/">covid19-projections.com, </a>from his New York apartment. His computer models take Johns Hopkins data and run them through an AI simulator to get a glimpse of the future in 71 different countries around the world."We're currently forecasting about 200,000 additional deaths through November 1. And so that's about close to around 5,000 a day just for those 70 countries," Gu said.Were it possible to factor in all countries of the world, both reported and projected deaths would of course be far higher.So as the official tally of deaths from coronavirus passes 1 million, we can be sure of very little except that in reality, that number was passed some time ago — and that we may never know the full scale of the global tragedy."It really depends from country to country in terms of the true death toll but I think it's safe to say that the true death toll is going to be significantly higher than what is currently reported being reported right now," Gu said.

The global coronavirus death toll has officially reached 1 million — although experts believe the actual death toll is much higher

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An NBER working paper found older siblings tended to make more money than their younger siblings. </li><li>Higher hospitalization rates among younger siblings could affect their future earnings.</li></ul>For years, researchers have found that the eldest child tends to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/success-birth-order-psychology-2018-7">earn more money</a> and perform better on cognitive tests than their younger siblings. However, experts have disagreed on which factors are the biggest drivers of this trend.In an updated <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w29524">working paper</a> published in February by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the authors found that one key factor was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/siblings-birth-order-2018-4">holding back younger siblings</a>: They were more likely to get sick as infants.After examining data on first- and secondborn siblings born in Denmark between 1981 and 2017, the researchers found that younger siblings were two to three times as likely as their older siblings to be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-caught-rsv-flu-and-covid-before-his-first-birthday-2023-1">hospitalized</a> for respiratory conditions during the first year of their lives. The disparity was the largest when the secondborn child was born in the fall or winter — when respiratory illnesses are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rsv-respiratory-virus-is-infecting-children-across-the-south-2021-6">more common</a> — and when the siblings were closer in age."We believe that these patterns are explained by the fact that infants with older siblings have more virus exposure — due to their older sibling, who is often in group childcare and 'brings home' viruses," N. Meltem Daysal, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen and an author of the paper, told Business Insider via email.What's more, exposure to illnesses may have long-term financial impacts. When the researchers looked at the earnings of children born between 1981 and 1989 in Denmark, they found that among employed siblings, younger siblings earned 2.4% less on average than their older siblings at the same age, Daysal said."Younger siblings with higher virus exposure in infancy have lower earnings as adults," Daysal said of the paper's findings. "We think that the primary mechanism explaining this result is that severe respiratory illness among very young babies can lead to the impairment of brain development, which, in turn, can affect later mental health."Daysal added that younger siblings who lived in areas with higher rates of infant respiratory illness were more likely to use mental-health resources in young adulthood.She said their research found the disparity in early health outcomes explained roughly 50% of the earnings gap between younger and older siblings.<h2>Other reasons firstborn siblings might have an advantage</h2>Daysal told BI that studies across various countries and contexts corroborated the idea that older siblings tend to have more education and economic success than their younger siblings.For example, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/success-birth-order-psychology-2018-7">study of Norwegian men</a> published in 2007 found that the average difference in IQ between first- and secondborn children was about 3 points — and that this translated to a roughly 2% difference in annual earnings. A Career Builder <a target="_blank" href="https://press.careerbuilder.com/2011-09-22-New-Study-from-CareerBuilder-Shows-How-Birth-Order-Siblings-and-Astrology-Impact-Pay-Title-and-Profession">survey</a> of US adults from 2011 found that the firstborn child was the most likely to have a six-figure salary."Firstborn children do better on education, on earnings," Sandra Black, an economics professor at Columbia University who's conducted research on the subject, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.marketplace.org/2018/07/18/birth-order/">told</a> Marketplace in 2018. "And what we see also is that there is a declining pattern by birth order. So secondborn does a little bit worse than the firstborn, the thirdborn does a little bit worse."Some researchers have pushed back on certain findings. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/success-birth-order-psychology-2018-7">2015 paper</a>, for instance, found that the differences in IQ and personality among siblings were extremely small.A higher likelihood of respiratory illness as infants among younger siblings is far from the only explanation experts have raised for the disparity in outcomes.First, it's possible that parents become less invested in raising children after their firstborn — and that this can have negative implications down the road.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/born-to-lead-the-effect-of-birth-order-on-non-cognitive-abilities/">2017 study</a> of Swedish men found that compared with firstborn children, later-born siblings spent nearly an hour less a week on homework, were much less likely to read books, and were much more likely to spend time watching TV or playing on the computer. Parents also reported spending less time discussing schoolwork with their later-born children."We think these results suggest that parents invest less in later borns; e.g. being less strict and providing less parental supervision," the authors wrote.Another explanation: Firstborns benefit from helping out their younger siblings.In the organizational psychologist Adam Grant's <a target="_blank" href="https://adamgrant.net/book/hidden-potential/">book</a> "Hidden Potential," published in 2023, he cited research that found only children — with no siblings — tended to perform worse on cognitive tests than firstborns with younger siblings. He said this could be partially due to a "tutor effect.""If you're the firstborn in a big family, you learn through educating your little brothers and sisters," Grant wrote. "Interestingly, these benefits start to emerge around age 12, when older siblings have more to teach and younger siblings are more ready to learn."Some researchers have found that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/science/22sibling.html">biological differences</a> between siblings don't explain the disparity in outcomes.Grant cited a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-first-born-have-higher-iqs/">study</a> of 240,000 Norwegian teenagers that found younger siblings who had firstborn siblings who died in infancy went on to have higher intelligence scores than later-born kids with firstborn siblings. He said this suggested that any firstborn advantages were due to nurture, not nature."We can rule out biological and prenatal causes," he wrote.

Oldest siblings tend to make more money. Researchers have a new theory that explains why.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Researchers have debated how protective masks are from <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword>. A Danish study says they're not as effective as we think.</li><li>While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover-guidance.html">cites</a> 28 studies proving masks offer <keyword id="18088" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Protection">protection</keyword> to the wearer and those around them.</li><li>One inventor based in Toronto says his $379 BioVyzr with built-in air filters is an alternative to uncomfortable masks that allow air to pass through gaps.</li><li>Al-Qaysi told Business Insider the idea arose in April when he was concerned about his vulnerable mother becoming infected with COVID-19.</li><li>He said some say the visor is ridiculous, whereas others "don't care if it looks like an alien invasion," they just want to feel safe.</li></ul>As researchers worldwide clash on the effectiveness of masks, a Canadian inventor of a $379 COVID-19 helmet, Yezin Al-Qaysi, thinks he might have the solution.A <a href="https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6817">Danish study</a> published November 18 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found face masks don't fully protect the wearer against COVID-19.Researchers from Copenhagen University Hospital split 6,024 adults into two groups – one with face masks and one without. From early April to early June, 42 people in the mask group got infected, compared to 53 people in the unmasked group. The difference between the two groups wasn't drastically significant."Our study gives an indication of how much you gain from wearing a mask," said Dr. Henning Bundgaard, lead author of the study and a cardiologist at the University of Copenhagen, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/health/coronavirus-masks-denmark.html">The New York Times</a>. "Not a lot."This doesn't mean that people shouldn't be wearing masks to protect themselves. Masks have shown to help keep people indoors safe from the virus, such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/two-missouri-hairstylists-with-coronavirus-saw-140-clients-none-infected-2020-6?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">two hairstylists with COVID-19 seeing 140 clients</a> in their salon in June, but not infecting anyone.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which advises mask-wearing, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover-guidance.html">cites</a> 28 studies on their website showing that masks, from cloth to non-medical disposable ones, offer protection from COVID-19 to the wearer and the surrounding people. In the midst of the mask controversy, Al-Qaysi, co-founder of Vyzr <keyword id="28128" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Technologies">Technologies</keyword>, invented the <a href="https://www.vyzrtech.com/products/bio-vyzr">BioVyzr</a> – a fully encompassing shield that protects from all angles and has a built-in air purification system at the back. Al-Qaysi, co-founder of Vyzr Technologies, came up with the idea of the <a href="https://www.vyzrtech.com/products/bio-vyzr">BioVyzr</a> for his mother when infection rates began increasing in Canada in April."Living with someone who's immunocompromised, I've always known the limitations of masks... in this case it was my Mum," he told Business Insider. "We were really worried about her."<div type="image" title="Benefits of the BioVYZR 1.0. Copyright VYZR Technologies. " height="1242" width="2506" msid="79463046" hostid="261"></div>Al-Qaysi said that if you breathe in while wearing a mask, the air can pass through the gaps around your nose and jaw. Even N95 masks that have a filter are "only as effective as their fit," he said."In an enclosed space like an aeroplane, if some people don't wear a mask, it invalidates all of the other people wearing masks because those people are breathing in that air," according to Al-Qaysi.As well as the physical effect, Al-Qaysi focused on the mental impact of not being able to communicate properly with a mask on. "There is a value to opening up our faces again," he said.<div type="image" title="At the grocery store" height="780" width="1399" msid="79463047" hostid="261"></div>Al-Qaysi said the thing that makes the BioVyzr unique is that it not only filters the air the wearer breathes into the visor, but also filters the air going out to protect any surrounding vulnerable people.The BioVyzr, which Al-Qaysi says he wears all the time, weighs 2.5 kilograms, fully encloses his head, and stretches down to his chest. "Yes, it's big but it doesn't touch your face, it doesn't touch your hair, it doesn't rest on your head, it doesn't put any strain on your neck or it doesn't irritate your skin," he said. "It just feels like you're standing under an umbrella."<div type="image" title="Al-Qaysi wearing the BioVYZR" height="2794" width="2794" msid="79463049" hostid="261"></div>Being behind the BioVyzr's anti-fogging face shield isn't the easiest for communication – Al-Qaysi said wearers have to speaker louder and listen more carefully. "If you have earpods and pair them with a hearing aid app, you can easily turn your earpods into a hearing aid," he said. He also recommended wearers buy a voice amplifying microphone to attach to the hip.Al-Qaysi said he has got mixed reactions when wearing the shield in public. "Some think it's ridiculous... others just say: 'I don't care whether this looks like an alien invasion – this is something that is going to work for me,'" he said.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-exec-quit-after-lockdown-spent-in-meditation-2020-7?r=US&amp;IR=T?r=kd-sub-sub">This Google leadership exec quit after months spent meditating under lockdown: 'I could never go back to that lifestyle.'</a>Since April, Vyzr Technologies' campaign to build the BioVyzr has raised $753,730 on the crowdfunding site <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/biovyzr-venture-out-breathe-easy#/">Indiegogo.</a> Al-Qaysi said the Toronto-based company has sold "tens of thousands" of the visors and is shipping them mainly to Canada, the US and the UK.<div type="image" title="A man holding a BioVYZR, lightweight and versatile. Copyright VYZR Technologies" height="1278" width="2500" msid="79463056" hostid="261"></div>Along with vulnerable people, the visors are targeted to people who are coming face-to-face with hundreds of people every day. Teachers, dentists, healthcare staff, and public transit officers were just some of the people that Al-Qaysi mentioned where social distancing may not be possible and risk of contracting the virus is higher.<keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">Coronavirus</keyword> has infected more than 59.9 million people globally, and killed more than 1.4 million, according to the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html">COVID-19 tracker</a>.More than 60% of Americans say they always wear a mask in public, according to a<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1132-9"> University of Washington model</a> published October 23. At this rate, the amount of coronavirus deaths in the US could surpass 511,000 by the end of February, the model found.But if 95% of Americans wore masks, around 130,000 lives from the total figure could be saved, the researchers said.So whether it's a mask or a head visor, one thing is clear: wearing face protection can curb the spread of the coronavirus and save lives.

'They don't care whether it looks like an alien invasion':  A Canadian inventor says many people prefer his $379 BioVyzr COVID-19 helmet to masks

<ul class="summary-list"><li>About <a href="https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse">1.3 billion students</a> across the globe have been affected by school closings amid the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news">coronavirus pandemic.</a></li><li>Some Danish students <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-denmark-children-returning-to-school-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-2020">returned to school earlier this month, </a>but many parents aren't happy about it. </li><li>Prime Minister <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-latest-denmark-allows-some-children-to-return-to-school-2020-4">Mette Frederiksen </a>defended the decision, saying it would allow parents to return to work and "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/nursery-but-not-as-they-knew-it-norway-adjusts-to-life-after-lockdown">get the economy going again</a>."</li><li>A number of parents have said that they're going to keep their kids home and don't want their children to be "guinea pigs" for the rest of the world to observe.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>About <a href="https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse">1.3 billion students</a> across the globe have been affected by school closings due to the coronavirus pandemic. In <keyword id="49968" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Denmark">Denmark</keyword>, some students and teachers <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-denmark-children-returning-to-school-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-2020">are heading back to the classroom, </a>but many parents are opposed to the decision. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/denmark-free-education-creates-eternity-students-who-never-graduate-2017-11">Danish students</a> — up to fifth grade — returned to school on April 15, igniting a debate as to how to balance children's safety with pressure to return to some semblance of normalcy. To some parents, <a href="https://www.insider.com/the-latest-denmark-allows-some-children-to-return-to-school-2020-4">Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen</a>'s decision to have children return to school in phases, with the youngest starting first, has been cause for concern, since it could put their <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> at risk. But Frederiksen defended the decision, saying it would allow parents to return to work and "<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/nursery-but-not-as-they-knew-it-norway-adjusts-to-life-after-lockdown">get the economy going again,</a>" according to the Guardian.While some families are relieved to have their children's learning and daily routine reinstated, others are not and have decided to keep their children home until the pandemic's risks subside.<h2>Some Danish families are rebelling against the government's decision to open up schools</h2>"I won't be sending my children off no matter what," Sandra Andersen, founder of a Facebook group, "<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/2845505848837005/?fref=nf">My kid is not going to be a Guinea Pig</a>," whose members are against opening up schools, told Reuters. The group has more than 40,300 members. Many are worried that social distancing and strict hygiene measures will not be enough to stop their children from contracting COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.<div type="image" title="Denmark schools" height="3762" width="5016" msid="75434805" hostid="261"></div>Students who went back to school returned to classrooms that were adjusted to protect against the pandemic. The desks were spaced six feet apart, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-denmark-children-returning-to-school-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-2020">some lessons were being conducted in gymnasiums and outside</a>, Business Insider reported.Students are required to wash their hands at least once an hour, and they are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/coronavirus-schools-reopen/2020/04/18/0c3dfcb6-7e61-11ea-84c2-0792d8591911_story.html">allowed to play only in small groups</a>. Parents are no longer allowed inside school buildings.<div type="image" title="Denmark Schools" height="5504" width="7339" msid="75434814" hostid="261"></div><h2>Some researchers say closing offices is more important than closing schools </h2>Part of the reason why officials and some parents feel confident sending children back to school is that they appear to not spread the disease as much as older people do.To halt the spread of the coronavirus, workplace closures were found to be more helpful than school closures, according to a study published this month in the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(20)30095-X/fulltext">Lancet</a> and a separate <a href="https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=124_124999-yt5ggxirhc&amp;title=Flattening_the_COVID-19_peak-Containment_and_mitigation_policiescies">paper</a> published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Denmark was also able to ease up on restrictions due to the precautions the country took early on. The country <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-denmark-lockdown-cases-deaths-news-flatten-curve-a9465436.html">went into lockdown early.</a> When the prime minister made the announcement, only Italy was on lockdown at that point, the Independent reported. No one in Denmark had died and the country had about 500 confirmed cases. Over the course of a month, Denmark had 355 deaths and 7,711 cases. The UK had 16,000 deaths and 120,000 cases. The hospitals were never overwhelmed and the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/coronavirus-denmark-lockdown-cases-deaths-news-flatten-curve-a9465436.html">infection curve has been flattened.</a><div type="image" title="Denmark Schools" height="3542" width="4723" msid="75434820" hostid="261"></div>Schools in other countries are unlikely to open anytime soon. <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-coronavirus-and-school-closures.html">Many schools in the US, for example, have closed for the rest of the year</a>, affecting approximately 45.1 million public school students in the country, according to Education Week. Schools in New York, Montana, Wyoming, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Maryland have not closed for the academic year, but still could depending on a variety of factors. Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of experimental virology at the University of Copenhagen, told CNN that while he thinks that it's possible to begin opening schools in Denmark, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/europe/denmark-coronavirus-first-school-intl/index.html">it's still a risk, </a>and there still could be an uptick in cases once children and teachers begin congregating again. "(Students are) a relatively large group of people — about 10% of the Danish population — and one that is difficult to control in terms of social behavior and hygienic precautions," he told CNN. "The institutions have done a lot to reduce risk but whether that will work is something we will probably see in the next two weeks or so."<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/a-principal-lined-her-high-schools-driveway-with-senior-portraits-2020-4">A Florida principal lined her school's driveway with senior portraits to celebrate the graduating class</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/angelina-jolie-said-never-thought-be-anyones-mom-2020-4">Angelina Jolie said that when she was younger, she 'never thought I could be anyone's mom'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/dr-fauci-promised-tooth-fairy-wont-get-coronavirus-2020-4">Dr. Fauci promised a 7-year-old girl that the Tooth Fairy can't get the coronavirus and will continue her visits</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/a-5-year-old-girl-died-due-rare-complications-coronavirus-2020-4">A 5-year-old Michigan girl died from the coronavirus, but deaths in young children from the disease are still rare</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/denmark-starting-to-open-schools-but-some-parents-ebelling-2020-4">Insider</a>

Denmark is starting to open schools, but some parents are rebelling

Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefing free to your inbox.</a>Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: <a href="mailto:lbeaver@businessinsider.com">lbeaver@businessinsider.com</a><hr />2018 CES HEALTHTECH ROUNDUP: The latest advances in health technology were on full display at last week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At this year's show, we saw two themes: digital health innovation is no longer limited to fitness trackers and smartwatches, and the newest devices being offered are geared towards consumers taking health monitoring into their own hands. Here is a look at key healthtech products that were on display and could enable consumers to play a more active role in their own health. New consumer devices:<ul><li>Cardiomo, the digital healthcare heart monitor company, demonstrated its wearable vital monitor. The wireless monitor, which is attached to a user's chest via adhesive patches, continually collects vital data to spot potential heart abnormalities, <a href="http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/ces-2018-running-list-digital-health-products" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to MobiHealthNews. </li><li>Lenovo, the electronics manufacturer, introduced its Vital Motorola Moto Mod, a health accessory that is attached to the back of select Motorola phones to track key vital signs, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-moto-mods-hands-on-livermorium-vital/">according</a> to CNET. The Vital Moto Mod includes a proprietary finger cuff that allows users to measure their heart rate, respiratory rate, body temperature, blood oxygen levels, and blood pressure. </li><li>Oska Wellness, a consumer health technology company, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-app-driven-device-from-oska-pulse-oska-pulse-active-300579265.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a new mobile app that is capable of controlling the company's Oska Pulse Active electromagnetic field device. The device can be used to reduce muscle stiffness, relieve minor pain, and increase mobility for people who suffer chronic pain, as well as allow them to track and manage their pain via the app. </li></ul>Precision care:<ul><li>Exploragen, a DNA lifestyle company, is <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/exploragen-partners-with-sleepscore-labs-and-offers-free-dna-sequencing-kits-at-ces-2018-300579651.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">partnering</a> with sleep technology company SleepScore, to launch its SlumberType DNA app. The app allows users to turn their genetic information into personalized insights to optimize sleep. </li><li>DnaNudge, the UK-based startup, is aiming to offer consumers in-store DNA tests at supermarkets, in order to help people find healthy foods tailored to their needs, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-42577483/ces-2018-dnanudge-app-uses-saliva-to-recommend-what-to-eat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the BBC. After getting results from a rapid, in-store cheek swab genetic test, consumers can use a smartphone app or proprietary wearable device to scan food at their supermarket to see what is best for them to eat, according to their genetic makeup. </li></ul>AI DIGITAL ASSISTANT CAN HELP EMERGENCY DISPATCHERS: A Copenhagen-based digital assistant, called <a href="http://www.corti.ai/">Corti</a>, is helping Danish emergency dispatchers determine whether a patient is going through cardiac arrest, <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40515740/having-a-heart-attack-this-ai-helps-emergency-dispatchers-find-out?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTURnM01XUmxNVGxrWkdRMSIsInQiOiJNbUNqTEhaSnlIMGFnVnpHY1AzMmdzV1N4NFdZZTh4SThFemhDVkFLQmlFMmo2NFI2TVNDWGNhSVB5ZGNKTFFMY2J5QndsXC9">according</a> to Fast Company. Corti, which is also the name of the company that developed the AI, runs in the background of emergency dispatch calls and uses speech recognition software and machine learning (ML) to pick up background cues, such as breathing patterns, that allow it to determine whether a person is suffering from cardiac arrest. An early small-scale study found that the AI can diagnose cardiac arrests with 95% accuracy. That's compared to the average 73% accuracy of human dispatchers in Copenhagen. A larger study is planned. Corti demonstrates the potential of AI systems that can augment emergency services and triage - the faster and more accurately dispatchers can determine the nature of an injury, the better the outcome. For example, outside of the hospital, the chance of survival for someone in cardiac arrest decreases roughly 10% each minute. Given an early and accurate diagnosis from a digital assistant, the dispatcher might be able to coach people nearby through CPR, or even send out medical drones with defibrillators to the location, which could arrive ahead of ambulances. Corti is reportedly preparing to announce plans to expand into the US.UNITEDHEALTHCARE INTRODUCES SEVERAL DIGITAL HEALTH OPTIONS: UnitedHealthcare has unveiled several new digital health tools at the CES for members of its employer-sponsored plans, <a href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/technology/ces-2018-unitedhealthcare-unveils-new-tech-tools-like-apple-pay-digital-onboarding" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to FierceHealthcare. The insurance firm is enabling users of its Optum Bank health savings accounts to use Apple Pay, Apple's mobile wallet, when paying for specific medical services. This could become a popular payment option as it appears that consumers are starting to prefer digital payment options - for example, 95% of consumers would pay online if a provider's website had the option, <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/providers-driven-to-implement-patient-centric-financial-solutions-as-consumer-payment-responsibility-skyrockets-29-percent-black-book-survey-300542031.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a Black Book Research survey. UnitedHealthcare is also adding personalized videos that break down patients' claims, informing them how much they still owe. This could help to build customer satisfaction, as medical billing is a major pain point for patients. Nearly a third of patients say that confusion over how much insurance will cover versus patient responsibility contributes to payment delays, <a href="https://www.televox.com/news/west-study-56-americans-delay-paying-medical-bills-cite-high-deductibles-number-one-reason-missed-payments/">according</a> to a West study cited by Televox.HACKER ACCESSES BILLING RECORDS OF 280,000 OKLAHOMA STATE PATIENTS: In November last year, a hacker reportedly broke into the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences (OSUCHS) network gaining access to the Medicaid billing information of almost 280,000 patients, <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/nearly-280000-medicaid-patient-records-breached-oklahoma-hack">according</a> to Healthcare IT News. OSUCHS began notifying customers January 5 and has since updated its security features. Cybersecurity is an ongoing concern for the healthcare industry. Four in five US doctors have experienced a cyberattack of some sort, <a href="https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/4-out-of-5-us-physicians-have-experienced-a-cybersecurity-attack/512848/">according</a> to a study by Accenture and the American Medical Association. Despite this, a majority of US healthcare businesses lack a cybersecurity leader. Just 15% of organizations have a designated C-suite leader to manage enterprise-wide data security efforts, <a href="https://blackbookmarketresearch.newswire.com/news/84-of-healthcare-organizations-dont-have-a-cybersecurity-leader-as-the-20110145">according</a> to a recent Black Book Research study. As more of the medical industry goes online, the impact data hacking and internal errors will have on patient records and hospital operations will continue to grow. It's becoming more important than ever that healthcare organizations and systems shore up against these threats.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a53a74ac32ae6751a8b4d9f-960/accenture future attacks.png"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a53a74ac32ae6751a8b4d9f-2341/accenture future attacks.png" alt="accenture future attacks" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a>BI Intelligence</div></div></div>In other news…<ul><li>Royal Philips, the healthtech arm of global electronics company Philips, is launching its new mobile patient monitoring solution, the IntelliVue X3, that aims to make it easier for hospital staff to access patient information and data while in transit between departments, <a href="http://hitconsultant.net/2018/01/16/philips-patient-monitoring-solution/">according</a> to HIT Consultant. Because different hospital departments often run their patient data systems independently from one another, clinicians' view of their patient's condition can be limited as they travel. Enterprise-wide solutions such as the Intellivue X3 can help to provide a continuous flow of patient information for hospital staff, supporting more accurate, and up-to-date patient data.</li><li>Wearables and remote patient monitoring may have a limited positive impact on clinical outcomes, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-017-0002-4.pdf">according</a> (PDF) to a newly released meta-study of 27 global control studies from 2000 to 2016. The results could dampen recent hype over the potential of wearables like Fitbits and Apple Watches to improve patient care and rehabilitation.</li></ul><div id="categorypromo"><h2>Learn more:</h2><ul><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay1">Credit Card Industry and Market</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay2">Mobile Payment Technologies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay3">Mobile Payments Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay4">Mobile Payment Market, Trends and Adoption</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay5">Credit Card Processing Industry</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay6">List of Credit Card Processing Companies</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay7">List of Credit Card Processing Networks</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay8">List of Payment Gateway Providers</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay9">M-Commerce: Mobile Shopping Trends</a></li><li><a href="http://read.bi/pay10">E-Commerce Payment Technologies and Trends</a></li></ul><script src="//load.sumome.com/" data-sumo-site-id="ad2d02bb34b81e60382fbf1fd2c2e4d9230918d0b8ccae68c9d7bac17d286fa5" async="async"></script></div>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: CES 2018 healthtech roundup - AI digital assistant can help emergency dispatchers - UnitedHealthcare adds new digital features

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a9719e0aae6052b008b45a5-1500/shutterstock529056829.jpg" border="0" alt="woman sad lonely upset" data-mce-source="plantic/Shutterstock" />plantic/Shutterstock</div></div></div><ul><li>A new study has found a link between loneliness and increased risk of death from heart problems.</li><li>Researchers found people with heart diseases were more likely to die if they had poor social connections. </li><li><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-loneliness-bad-brain-body-what-to-do-2018-5?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Loneliness can have a detrimental impact on both our minds and bodies</a>.</li><li>And going through tough moments in life, including disease, can be even harder without a support network.</li></ul><hr /> Our hearts can sometimes respond dramatically to our emotional state. For example, <a href="http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/Cardiomyopathy/Is-Broken-Heart-Syndrome-Real_UCM_448547_Article.jsp#.Wx46gjNKh-U" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Broken Heart Syndrome</a> is when heartbreak triggers sudden, intense chest pain, which can lead to severe heart muscle failure - despite the heart being otherwise healthy.According to a new study, <a href="https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/loneliness-is-bad-for-the-heart?hit=wireek" target="_blank" rel="noopener">presented last weekend at EuroHeartCare 2018</a>, the European Society of Cardiology's annual nursing congress, loneliness can be a strong predictor of dying too soon.The research, led by Anne Vinggaard Christensen, a PhD student at The Heart Centre, Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark, investigated whether loneliness was associated with worse health in 13,463 people with various heart problems. Researchers used data from questionnaires the patients had filled out about their physical and mental health, lifestyle, smoking habits, and friendships.Specifically, friendship questions were based around living alone, whether they felt lonely, and whether they felt they had someone to talk to. It was important to collect a wide range of information, because <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/people-are-most-likely-to-be-lonely-as-teenagers-and-young-adults-2017-12?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being lonely and being alone are not the same thing</a>."Loneliness is more common today than ever before, and more people live alone," said Vinggaard Christensen. "Loneliness is a strong predictor of premature death, worse mental health, and lower quality of life in patients with cardiovascular disease, and a much stronger predictor than living alone, in both men and women."This was true regardless of the type of heart disease, and even when the results were adjusted to take into account the patient's age, level of education, other health problems and diseases, BMI, smoking, and alcohol intake. Overall, loneliness was associated with a doubled risk of death for women, and nearly double for men.Both men and women who felt lonely were three times more likely to report being anxious or depressed, and their quality of life was significantly lower. Vinggaard Christensen said it could be because people with poor social support could look after themselves less, in terms of taking their medicine and their lifestyle, but the results strongly support the hypothesis that loneliness is to blame."We live in a time when loneliness is more present and health providers should take this into account when assessing risk," she said.The new study supports previous research that has shown how loneliness can impact our health in a serious way. For example, one study found how scoring low on social support can <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/effects-loneliness-health-2018-6?op=1/#loneliness-can-increase-your-risk-of-an-early-death-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carry a similar health risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day</a>. Another showed how it can <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/effects-loneliness-health-2018-6?op=1/#loneliness-can-trigger-inflammation-in-the-body-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increase inflammation</a>, because our bodies may still perceive being alone as a threat - dating back to our caveman days.Whatever the physiological reasons, it is clear loneliness is detrimental to our physical and mental health. We are social animals, and if our <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-are-extroverts-or-introverts-2018-4?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">social lives aren't fulfilling us to the level we desire</a>, the tough moments in life can feel even harder. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-when-you-stare-at-sun-2018-5">What happens when you stare at the sun</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/utd7wK5k-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Loneliness really is bad for your heart, according to a new study

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e5580bd4e9203c008b6067-889/ap17279072885867.jpg" alt="puerto rico one month later AP_17279072885867" data-mce-source="AP/Ramon Espinosa" data-mce-caption="Roberto Figueroa Caballero sits on a small table in his home that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in La Perla neighborhood on the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017. Figueroa, who wanted to stay at home with his dog during the storm, said he was evicted by police and taken to a shelter for the night. When he returned the next day and saw what was left of his home, he decided to put his salvageable items back where they originally were, as if his home still had walls, saying that it frees his mind." />AP/Ramon EspinosaRoberto Figueroa Caballero sits on a small table in his home that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in La Perla neighborhood on the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017.</div></div></div><ul><li>Just 15% of Puerto Rico currently has electricity three weeks after Hurricane Maria struck.</li><li>48 people have died, but officials expect that number to rise.</li><li>The country is struggling to keep its vulnerable populations alive as hospitals deal with the lack of power and low supplies of medications.</li><li>Hospitals workers told Business Insider that they are running rescue missions to bring services and medication to people trapped in their homes.</li></ul>Nearly a month after Hurricane Maria barreled across Puerto Rico, <a href="https://www.fema.gov/hurricane-maria?utm_source=hp_promo&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=disaster">85% of the US territory</a> remains without power.The death toll has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/14/us/puerto-rico-recovery/index.html">climbed to 48</a>, though officials expect that number to rise once more accurate counts can be made. Some 117 people are missing.Residents on the ground told Business Insider that in some ways, people are worse off now than they were just days after the storm hit. A lack of electricity underlies many of the island's most pressing problems, but the most dire issue is how to keep people alive.Although <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-recovery.html">98% of the island's hospitals are reportedly open</a>, very few of them have steady electricity. Patients at hospitals that lack generators are being referred to facilities that do have them, and doctors at those hospitals are struggling to cope with the influx.Emergency health services are paralyzed. Many sick people are trapped in their homes with no one to call and no phone line - cellular or otherwise - to call from. Those with lifelong medical conditions are helpless to get the medications they need."We can't even text our neighbors to have dinner - of course we can't call 911," <a href="https://twitter.com/mizmaritz?lang=en">Maritza Stanchich</a>, a professor of Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, told Business Insider<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e555a51f848931108b60ce-1200/ap17288788457044.jpg" alt="puerto rico one month later AP_17288788457044" data-mce-source="AP/Ramon Espinosa" data-mce-caption="A doctor gives a general check-up to a child living in a shelter set up at a school for residents left homeless by Hurricane Maria in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Last week, the FDA said it's worried there could be shortages of about 40 critical medicines because of the disruptions caused by the hurricane at the dozens of drug and device factories in Puerto Rico on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017." />AP/Ramon EspinosaA doctor gives a general check-up to a child living in a shelter set up for residents left homeless by Hurricane Maria on Friday, Oct. 13.</div></div></div><h2>'You can't get sick now'</h2>In some cases, instead of seeing patients at the hospital, health workers are going door to door on what are essentially rescue missions to help people trapped in their homes."Yesterday alone, we saw 130 patients, sometimes climbing over fences to reach patients unable to move who are essentially trapped in their homes and are being kept alive and fed by neighbors," said a hospital worker who declined to give her name since she was not authorized to speak publicly.Supplies of life-saving medications like oxygen and insulin are running out. Some of them have spoiled. In other cases, there simply isn't enough to go around.Lisandra Figueroa <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-power-hospitals.html?_r=0">told the New York Times</a> that her father passed away a few days ago at age 58 after going a week without the oxygen he needed to breathe."A lot of people died, and are still dying. You can't get sick now," she said. One woman living outside San Juan, who also requested to remain anonymous, said her grandfather lives in the center of the country and relies on dialysis to clean his blood. Powerless to get to a hospital, he hasn't had the procedure in three weeks."He's stuck in his house in the middle of the island because there are no roads," the woman said. "We really need a helicopter at this point."People with diabetes and other life-threatening diseases who rely on refrigeration to keep their medications stable remain some of the most vulnerable on the island. Six days after the storm hit, Stanchich <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-people-conditions-days-no-power-water-hurricane-maria-2017-9">told Business Insider </a>that during a visit to see a neighbor in the hospital, she came across a woman crying in the hallway."She was pleading for ice because her husband's insulin was out," Stanchich said.Insulin, the hormone that regulates blood-sugar levels and can be taken intravenously, must be refrigerated and <a href="https://www.iddt.org/about/living-with-diabetes/storing-insulin">can be only kept at room temperature</a> (up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for 28 days, according to the Independent Diabetes Trust. Even evening temperatures in Puerto Rico have exceeded that level most days since the storm.Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the US. The latest estimates suggest that roughly <a href="https://nccd.cdc.gov/brfssprevalence/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=DPH_BRFSS.ExploreByTopic&amp;irbLocationType=StatesAndMMSA&amp;islClass=CLASS03&amp;islTopic=Topic18&amp;islYear=1996">16% of Puerto Ricans have diabetes</a>, compared with about 10% of the rest of the US population."The problems are compounded by the fact the heat and humidity are overwhelming, even by Puerto Rican standards," Diego Ramirez-Bigott, a longtime resident of the Ocean Park neighborhood of San Juan, told Business Insider shortly after the storm hit.Antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases, which were previously rarely used, are also suddenly in demand since contact with flood water puts people at risk of exposure to dangerous <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-power-hospitals.html?_r=0">microbes like Leptospira</a>, which can lead to kidney and liver damage and even death if left untreated.<h2>Where is the aid?</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e554c3d4e9201f008b604d-1200/ap17288717160797.jpg" alt="puerto rico one month later AP_17288717160797" data-mce-source="AP/Ramon Espinosa" data-mce-caption="People affected by Hurricane Maria wash clothes and others bathe in water piped from a creek in the mountains, in Utuado, Puerto Rico, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017. Residents of the area drive to the pipes to bathe because they were left without water supplies due to the damage caused by Hurricane Maria." />AP/Ramon EspinosaArden Dragoni, his wife Sindy, their children and dog sit inside what remains of their home destroyed by Hurricane Maria.</div></div></div>President Donald Trump has expressed frustration at the obligation to provide aid to the US territory's 3.4 million American citizens, <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/918432809282342912">writing on Twitter</a> last week that "we cannot keep FEMA, the Military &amp; the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!"The same day Trump issued that tweet, Energy Secretary Rick Perry <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-rick-perry-call-puerto-rico-a-country-1071782467636">referred to the island as a "country"</a> (rather than part of the US) while answering questions about attempts to revive Puerto Rico's electrical grid. Shortly after those statements, however, Congress passed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/12/us/politics/house-congress-disaster-relief-hurricanes-wildfires.html?_r=0">a disaster relief package</a> to help several states as well as the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.But many residents on the ground told Business Insider that it is seems as if no aid has arrived."We went somewhere today where they still hadn't seen any help," the hospital worker said. "There is a huge problem because the lack of communication has made it so that people have no idea what help is available or when FEMA is coming."Many of the island's roads remain impassible - of 5,073 total miles of roadways, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-recovery.html">just 392 miles' worth are open</a>, the New York Times reported. And even in areas that have received emergency supplies, many have yet to be distributed. Diana Isabel Sotomayor, who is from Puerto Rico but is currently studying at the University of Copenhagen, has been following the situation closely on social media since her family is there. About a week after the storm hit, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-people-conditions-days-no-power-water-hurricane-maria-2017-9">Sotomayor told Business Insider</a> that she had seen reports of food and water at the ports, but that it was "a matter of distribution - the roads are destroyed."<h2>The fate of Puerto Rico's grid</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e556ad1f848923008b6382-1200/ap17288725639319.jpg" alt="puerto rico one month later AP_17288725639319" data-mce-source="AP/Ramon Espinosa" data-mce-caption="In this Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017 photo, a teenager left homeless by Hurricane Maria looks out the window of the school-turned-shelter where he's living in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Many schools on the island are functioning as temporary shelters for those affected by Hurricane, delaying student's education." />AP/Ramon EspinosaA teenager left homeless by Hurricane Maria looks out the window of the shelter where he is living on Thursday, Oct. 12. It has no electricity.</div></div></div>At a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-power-hospitals.html?_r=0">news conference</a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/puerto-rico-power-hospitals.html?_r=0"> last week</a>, Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo Rosselló, said they aimed to restore 25% of the electrical system "within the next month."That still leaves thousands of people without the electricity they need to keep themselves cool in the heat, run life-preserving hospital equipment, and charge phones and other battery-powered devices. In this vacuum, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-powerpack-batteries-arrive-puerto-rico-2017-10">Tesla has started shipping its massive Powerpack batteries to the island</a>.While many have been quick to point to Puerto Rico's bankrupt economy as the source of its woes, Puerto Rico isn't the only part of the US with infrastructure that's vulnerable to natural disasters.After Hurricane Irma lashed Florida and caused power outages throughout the state, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-nursing-home-hurricane-irma-deaths-hollywood-hills-2017-9">eight people trapped in a nursing home died</a> after the facility's backup generator failed to come online to power the air conditioning. That was a failure on the part of the nursing home and the larger region to plan for a natural disaster, <a href="http://web.pdx.edu/~vshandas/">Vivek Shandas</a>, an urban-planning professor at Portland State University, told Business Insider.Still, it wasn't shocking, since most parts of the US badly need to update levees, buildings, transit hubs, and power lines, he said."Generally speaking, the US gets about a D+ for things like this," Shandas said. "Much of our infrastructure was built in the late 1800s, and it's beginning to fall apart." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-footage-hurricane-map-harvey-irma-maria-2017-10">This incredible NASA video shows the most destructive hurricanes of 2017 so far</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/yAEWDpS8-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

4 out of 5 Puerto Ricans are still without power - but darkness is far from the island's biggest problem

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59ca963919d2f5d7008b5df2-1200/rts1dg8l.jpg" alt="RTS1DG8L puerto rico" data-mce-source="Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-caption="ocal residents react while they look at the water flowing over the road at the dam of the Guajataca lake after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Guajataca, Puerto Rico September 23, 2017" />Reuters/Carlos Garcia RawlinsPuerto Ricans react while they watch the water flowing over the road at the dam of the Guajataca lake.</div></div></div>The devastation in Puerto Rico is visible everywhere. It can be seen in hospitals, where life-saving medications are at risk of spoiling; at gas stations, where lines of cars stretch as far as the eye can see; and outside banks, where people rise before the sun to try their chances at an ATM.But hope is visible in the US territory too. It's evident on roads, where parents drive hours to get reception to call their children; in houses, where neighbors share food and water; and outside cafes, where people create makeshift concerts using whatever instruments they have.That's the situation people on the island are describing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-no-power-electricity-blackout-2017-9">after nearly a week without power</a> or access to basic resources like running water in the wake of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/hurricane-maria-2017">Hurricane Maria</a>. The storm barreled across Puerto Rico last Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, lashing homes, ripping up roads, and scattering palm trees like matchsticks.The storm <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/910553252034416641">wiped out what remained</a> of Puerto Rico's already vulnerable and storm-ravaged electric grid. Of the more than <a href="http://abc13.com/maria-leaves-entire-island-of-puerto-rico-without-power/2435282/">1 million Puerto Ricans who had seen their power cut by Hurricane Irma</a>, some 70,000 still hadn't seen the lights come back on as Maria closed in. Close to 100% of the island's 3.4 million US citizens are <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-maria-puertorico-power/power-blackout-leaves-darkened-puerto-rico-isolated-and-paralyzed-idUSKCN1C10FA">still without</a><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-maria-puertorico-power/power-blackout-leaves-darkened-puerto-rico-isolated-and-paralyzed-idUSKCN1C10FA"> power</a>, and emergency services have attempted to siphon what electricity they can get to hospitals. The vast majority of health services have still been put on hold, however, since most of the island's hospitals remain without power.<h2>Communication breakdown</h2>On the ground, basic communication has been interrupted so severely that Puerto Ricans outside the island have more information than those inside. As of Sunday, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/23/puerto-rico-aid-hurricane-flooding-243061">less than 300 of the island's 1,600 cellphone towers</a> were up and running. Residents cannot communicate with one another or family members in other parts of the world."I think that part is worse than not having water and electricity," <a href="https://twitter.com/mizmaritz?lang=en">Martiza Stanchich</a>, a professor of Caribbean studies at the University of Puerto Rico, told Business Insider during a phone call. Stanchich said she'd driven for hours to get cellphone reception. "That is worse - not knowing about your loved ones."This inability to communicate is putting a strain on all aspects of life on the island, from simple check-ins to emergency assistance. "We can't even text our neighbors to have dinner, of course we can't call 9-1-1," she said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59c3d7669803c51e008b86be-2000/rtx3h8gi.jpg" alt="hurricane maria puerto rico" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-caption="A woman reacts while she looks at the damages in the house of her mother after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Guayama, Puerto Rico September 20, 2017." />REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsA woman reacts while she looks at the damages in the house of her mother after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Guayama, Puerto Rico September 20, 2017.</div></div></div>For the millions of young people accustomed to being connected 24/7, the situation is surreal. Diana Isabel Sotomayor, who is from Puerto Rico but currently studying at the University of Copenhagen, told Business Insider that she did not hear from her parents or grandparents for a week."The people that are outside know more than the people that are there," Sotomayor said over Skype. "It's been really emotional because we're not there but we're hearing the worst from the situation - these individual stories of true chaos."With no internet, people are relying on printed <keyword id="6355005" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="News">news</keyword>, word of mouth, and the radio. But even those options are limited, residents said.For days after Hurricane Maria struck, only one radio station was operating. As of Monday, officials had yet to hear any word from nine of Puerto Rico's 78 municipalities, <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/puerto-rican-official-hurricane-set-us-back-20-30-years">Talking Points Memo reported</a>.After days without access to news, Stanchich said she and a friend got in a car and drove 20 minutes to the headquarters of the main newspaper, El Nuevo Dia. They picked up hundreds copies of every issue from Thursday to Monday and took them back to San Juan, where they live."When we arrived in the plazas people literally ran to us to grab them," she said.<h2>'We need a helicopter at this point'</h2>Many residents are essentially trapped in place because the hurricane ravaged roads and highways. The majority of flights out of the island have been cancelled.Sotomayor's grandfather, who lives in the hills of San Juan, relies on dialysis to clean his blood. Powerless to get to a hospital, he hasn't had the procedure in six days."He's stuck in his house in the middle of the island because there are no roads," Sotomayor said. "We really need a helicopter at this point."The problems are the worst for the elderly and people with disabilities. Stanchich said that one of her neighbors, an elderly woman who recently had knee-replacement surgery, was released from the hospital two days ago. But the rehabilitation center she was supposed to go to for physical therapy is closed. And Stanchich's building has no elevator, meaning the woman, who lives alone, would be stuck.Stanchich said she begged the hospital staff to let her stay. When they resisted, Stanchich asked if another rehab center could take her. The staff had no phone access, so showed her the location of other facilities on a map. "They said, 'Here's the other center. You can go there and ask,'" Stanchich said. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59ca963925acc21e008b62aa-1200/rts1dsdw.jpg" alt="RTS1DSDW puerto rico" data-mce-source="Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" />Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins</div></div></div>With little electricity and refrigeration, people with diabetes and other life-threatening diseases who rely on refrigeration to keep their medications stable are extremely vulnerable. While at the hospital, Stanchich came across a woman in the hallway who was crying. "She was pleading for ice because her husband's insulin was out," she said.Puerto Rico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the US. The latest estimates suggest that roughly <a href="https://www.cienciapr.org/en/blogs/conocimiento-tu-salud/diabetes-mellitus-puerto-rico-opportunities-be-discovered">16% of Puerto Ricans have diabetes</a>, compared with 10% of the rest of the US population. Insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels and can be taken intravenously, must be refrigerated and <a href="https://www.iddt.org/about/living-with-diabetes/storing-insulin">can only be kept at room temperature (up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for 28 days</a>, according to the Independent Diabetes Trust. Even evening temperatures in Puerto Rico have exceeded that level on most days since the storm."The problems [are] compounded by the fact the heat and humidity are overwhelming, even by Puerto Rican standards," Diego Ramirez-Bigott, a longtime resident of the Ocean Park neighborhood of San Juan, told Business Insider via Facebook message after our call with him was dropped.<h2>Basic services are interrupted</h2>It's not just food and water that are lacking. Most of the island's schools are shuttered, along with many of its gas stations. Without electricity, many ATMs do not work, so people cannot withdraw funds.A bank near San Juan opened temporarily for the first time since the storm at 9:30 a.m. yesterday. "People were lined up around the block at 6:00 a.m," Stanchich said.Lines for gas also stretch as far as the eye can see in many places, sometimes causing traffic jams. "We were going to the hospital to visit a friend and we're of course low on gas - we have a quarter tank - and people are waiting hours and hours on the gas lines," Stanchich said. "Some people ran out while they were in line."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59ca963825acc22d008b62b0-1200/rts1dd6l.jpg" alt="RTS1DD6L puerto rico" data-mce-source="Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-caption="People queue to buy gasoline after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Caguas" />Reuters/Carlos Garcia RawlinsPeople queue to buy gasoline after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Caguas</div></div></div>Emergency supplies have been shipped into some areas, but most have yet to be distributed because of road closures. Sotomayor, who has been keeping up with the situation on social media, said she has seen reports of food and water at the ports, but said "it's a matter of distribution - the roads are destroyed."<h2>Networks of resilience</h2>Despite the dire circumstances, people are coming together to find joy and relief where they can.After a nighttime curfew was imposed in San Juan, Stanchich said she saw people crowded around to listen and dance to some live music that broke out on the spot."We're breathing," she said. "Everybody's doing their best.Sotomayor has also been astounded by the messages of hope and resilience she has seen on social media. Puerto Ricans both on and outside the island are sharing information to help deliver aid and respond to emergencies. (Estimates put the Puerto Rican population living stateside, otherwise known as part of the Puerto Rican diaspora, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130624074723/http://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2013/6/20/48030/15-million-Dominicans-live-in-the-US-Pew-study">at over 5 million</a>.)<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59ca963919d2f513788b478c-1200/rts1dlqw.jpg" alt="RTS1DLQW puerto rico" data-mce-source="Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-caption="Men carry a container filled with water on the street after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico September 24, 2017" />Reuters/Carlos Garcia RawlinsMen carry a container filled with water on the street after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico September 24, 2017</div></div></div>"The 'diaspor-icans' as we call ourselves have been the ones connecting people and connecting news across towns," Sotomayor said. "I think for the first time the diaspora has really created this really powerful network to engage in a meaningful way."On Sunday, Sotomayor finally learned that her parents and grandparents were safe. Her mother drove for four hours to get enough cell signal to call an aunt in Washington, DC."She just told my aunt, 'Look we don't know anything. You guys know a lot more than we do,'" Sotomayor said.Many Puerto Ricans have been dismayed by what they see as an insufficient response from President Donald Trump, who <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/politics/trump-nfl-tweets/index.html">has been largely silent</a> on what Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rossello has called a humanitarian crisis.On Monday, the President acknowledged the situation amidst a <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912080538755846144">stream of tweets about the National Football League</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912478274508423168">tweeting</a>, "Texas &amp; Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure &amp; massive debt, is in deep trouble." He did not issue assurances or mention plans to support the territory at that time, but said <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912651215997202432">on Tuesday</a>: "We are working hard. Much food and water there/on way."Sotomayor has been one of many Americans voicing frustration with Washington's response. "Our president is tweeting about the NFL and then other people are like, 'Oh your cruise is ruined,'" she said. "But actually 3.4 million US residents live there. People don't really grasp that it's home for us." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-irma-lightning-space-footage-2017-9">Incredible footage from space shows massive lightning storms in Hurricane Irma</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/SavCps9N-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

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Loneliness really is bad for your heart, according to a new study

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4 out of 5 Puerto Ricans are still without power - but darkness is far from the island's biggest problem

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People in Puerto Rico describe devastation after 6 days without basic resources: 'People on the outside know more than we do'

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18 Libraries Every Book Lover Should Visit In Their Lifetime

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