Covid-19 Update: one study shows no benefit in malaria drug touted to treat covid-19; Herald-Leader covid-19 tracker shows nearly half of Ky. covid-19 deaths are in people over 90-HEALTHYLIVE

Drive-thru covid-19 testing at the Center for Rural Development in
Somerset. Twitter photos by Alex Slitz, Lexington Herald-Leader

As news develops about the coronavirus and its covid-19 disease, this item may be updated. Official state guidance is at kycovid19.ky.gov.

• New federal rules make it easier for people with opioid addiction to get treatment, Phil Galewitz reports for NPR. Under the national emergency declared by President Trump, a federal law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a provider before they could be prescribed medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder, like Suboxone, has been suspended and not patients can get these prescriptions via telemedicine, he reports. Addiction experts have been calling for this change for years. 
• The Associated Press reports that a malaria drug widely touted by the president for treating covid-19 showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals, with more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers report. The AP reports that the study of 369 patients is the largest look yet of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin, and notes that it has not yet been peer reviewed.  The NIH and others continue to do more rigorous tests. 
• The Lexington Herald-Leader covid-19 tracker has been updated. Daniel Desrochers reports that 108 of the state's 120 counties have reported positive cases. The data also shows that of the 154 deaths from covid-19: 1.08% are in people between the ages of 40-49; 1.64% between 50-59; 7.87% between 60-69; 13.73% between 70-79; 30.2% between 80-89; and 47.22% between 90-99. 
• State Rep. Roberth Goforth, R-East Bernstadt, told John Cheves with the Herald-Leader that several employees at Signature HealthCARE at Jackson Manor nursing home that has had 35 residents sickened and four residents dead from covid-19 texted him to say they were ordered back to work while they still had covid-19 symptoms, such as fever. At least 19 employyes at the facility have tested positive since April 6, and at least 10 have recovered, he reports. Signature HealthCare has about 40 facilities across the state. 
• Craig Martin, an infectious disease specialist who is a professor and associate dean at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy answers questions about what to expect around summer activities and vacations and covid-19 . He says, "We have to approach the summertime with caution. Unfortunately, planning events months ahead is risky." 
• The Associated Press reports that "a flood of new research" suggest many have had covid-19 with no symptoms, fueling hope that it will turn out to be much less lethal than originally feared. However, the problem is that this also means we don't know who around you might be contagious, which complicates decisions about opening the economy.  
• Tim Sullivan with the Louisville Courier Journal reports on the struggles of rural hospitals to survive as their main source of revenue, elective surgeries, has been cut off. “A lot of them are just hanging on and serving their populations as best they can,” Dr. Francis DuFrayne, chief medical officer for Owensboro Health, told Sullivan. “Short of a big infusion of cash, which I do not see coming, they’re going to continue to struggle.”
• The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy provides a breakdown of who the essential workers and frontline workers are in Kentucky, noting that women and black Kentuckians are over-represented in frontline industries, Jessica Klein writes on the KY Policy Blog. 
• Kristina Goetz with the Courier Journal tells the story of  Meghan Harpole, a nurse with covid-19 who thought she was going to die. "It felt like my bones were breaking," she said. 
• Mayors in Somerset and Prestonsburg have sent letters to Gov. Andy Beshear proposing plans to gradually re-open their economies, the Herald Leader reports. Beshear has said the number of  new cases or the rate of new cases must decline for 14 days before this can happen. 
• USA Today reports that the World Heath Organization says coronavirus originated in animals in China late last year and was not made in a lab as has been alleged. 

from KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS https://ift.tt/2Kkn6z7

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