Category Archives: Covid-19

A poorly calibrated scale might, for example, tell you that bag of produce weighs and costs more than it actually does. Or it could register a lower weight and cost, shaving a few cents off your grocery bill at your grocer's expense.

Consider the number of transactions your local grocery store handles each day and the cumulative cost of misplacing cents becomes clear.

Fortunately, there's a team of people in Minnesota whose responsibility it is to inspect those and numerous other instruments.

Trouble is, the agency they work for is strapped for cash due to COVID-19. To stabilize their finances, they've asked the Minnesota Legislature for $1.5 million, or roughly 41% of their annual revenue, from the state general fund.

"We're really hopeful that we can get the funding through so that we are able to continue those services," Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold said.

The request underscores what officials say is an increasingly unstable source of revenue for the department's Weights and Measures Division. The division, which also inspects gas station pumps and performs fuel quality checks, is funded primarily by a $1 fee charged to fuel distributors for every 1,000 gallons of petroleum they receive.

Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold

Eighty-nine cents out of every dollar goes to the division, which is anticipating an $800,000 decrease in fee collections this fiscal year. That owes to a depressed level of motor travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Arnold.

Standing in a fluorescent-lit laboratory at the division's Burnsville headquarters one recent afternoon, Valare Falkner said it also threatens to delay the replacement of decades-old equipment used to screen fuel samples.

Save for three or four instruments, "almost everything in here is at or past its expected life," Falkner, the division's deputy director said.

The less equipment the lab has, the fewer tests that can be conducted, according to Falkner. And fuel samples the lab can't get to in time may then have to be sent to private labs that charge $150 to $200 per test, she said, "which isn't really feasible either for us."

If budget cuts were made, according to department spokesperson Mo Schriner, the division's field inspectors might also have to extend the amount of time that an given scale goes uncalibrated. They currently aim to inspect lightweight scales, such as the ones at the grocery store, at least once every two years, with industrial and agricultural scales receiving check-ups every year and a half to two years.

The dip in fee collections also raises questions about the fee's long-term viability given the gradual adoption of electric and more fuel-efficient cars, not that electrification has gone unnoticed in the world of weights and measures. The National Institute for Standards and Technology, the federal agency to which state weights and measures offices conform, already has plans to adopt official inspection methods for electric car charging stations.

At least for now, the department appears focused on securing a more stable source of funding for next fiscal year from the state general fund.

"If we can solve it for this session," Arnold said, then electrification will be "something that we can think more about in the long term."

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COVID-19 leaves Minnesota's Weights and Measures office strapped for cash | The Globe - The Globe

by: Robert Pandolfino, Nexstar Media Wire

FILE This Jan. 24, 2021, file photo shows a vial of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 in Seattle. U.S. regulators on Monday, May 10, 2021, expanded use of Pfizers shot to those as young as 12, sparking a race to protect middle and high school students before they head back to class in the fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

TAMPA (WFLA) In a move that took the country one step closer to pre-pandemic daily life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased the indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places.

But many are wondering what that will mean for the workplace will employers have the right to ask workers if they have received the COVID-19 vaccine? Or request proof of vaccination?

Companies including Delta have implemented new rules requiring new employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting Monday. The airline wont impose the same requirement on current employees, more than 60% of whom are vaccinated, a Delta spokesman said Friday.

Unlike Delta, airlines including American, United, Southwest and Alaska said they do not plan to require vaccination for current employees or new hires. But, American Airlines said it will give vaccinated employees an extra vacation day and a $50 gift card.

Jascha Clark, a shareholder at Salt Lake City law firm Ray Quinney & Nebeker, told KTVX there is guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on this topic.

Employers may ask employees if theyve been vaccinated against COVID-19 and may also ask employees to provide proof of vaccination, and the reason that this is allowed is because the EEOC generally prohibits inquiries that are disability related, he explained.

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that an employer can have a policy with a requirement that an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.

An unvaccinated person is not automatically a threat to others, however, and the employer might also have to make accommodations depending on the reasons behind the vaccine hesitancy.

An employee with a religious objection or a disability may need to be excused from the mandate or otherwise accommodated, John Lomax, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer in Phoenix, told the Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, if an objecting employee is a union-represented employee, the employer may need to bargain and reach an agreement with the union before mandating vaccines.

Clark says he has been counseling clients that employers really do have a legitimate business reason to keep track of employees who have been vaccinated for safety reasons.

Employers can then use this information, together with the risk of transmission by people whove been vaccinated, to inform decisions about reopening and expanding the number of individuals in the area and that sort of thing.

But does asking for proof of vaccination violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, more commonly known as HIPAA? Clark says it doesnt.

Generally, HIPAA prevents healthcare providers from sharing information. Here, youre asking the employee themself to provide the information and so its their information theyre able to share it if they want to, he stated.

Could an incentive be the way to go for employers?

AsurveybyJobvites 2021 Job Seeker Nation Report, found that employers who incentivize getting the vaccine helps. Of the surveyed workers who disagreed with vaccine mandates in the workplace, one-third saidthey would get the vaccine if their employer incentivized them.

In a survey conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, more than 75,000 unvaccinated people were interviewed, and about a third of them said a cash payment of as much as $100 would make them more likely to get the COVID-19 shot.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine made a splash Wednesday when he announced that a special lottery for people who choose to get vaccinated.

Five lucky adult residents who get shots will receive $1 million during a series of weekly drawings. Five children between the ages of 12 and 17 will be able to will a full-ride scholarship to an Ohio state-run University.

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Can my employer ask if I have received the COVID-19 vaccine? What you need to know - WBOY.com

Virginia is ending its universal mask mandate and will lift all COVID-19 mitigation restrictions on May 28, two weeks earlier than planned, Gov. Ralph Northam announced late Friday afternoon.

In a brief video message, Northam said the state would follow the new guidance from the Centers of Disease Control and Preventionand no longer require fully vaccinated Virginians to wear masks indoors, except in certain circumstances, effective Friday at midnight. The move comes about 11 1/2 months after Northam put the mask mandate in place in late May 2020, as COVID-19 cases were soaring statewide.

Northam said businesses may still require patrons to wear masks indoors and that masks would still be required to be worn in schools. He cited the low rates of vaccinations among children as a reason for continuing to require masks in schools. Vaccines were just approved this week for adolescents aged 12 to 15, and no vaccine has been approved for children under age 12.

Northam previously had announced a plan to lift all of the state's coronavirus restrictions, such as capacity limits indoors and social-distancing requirements, on June 15. However, based on the state'simproving numbers, he said the restrictions would all be ended on May 28. This will follow a previously announced easing of many restrictions beginning tomorrow.

"Virginians have been doing the right thing and we're seeing the results," Northam said in the video. The state's number of new COVID-19 cases is at its lowest level since early last summer, and Northern Virginia's numbers are at their lowest since the first month of the pandemic.

"The vaccines are clearly working and they are saving lives," Northam said.

Nearly 4.1 million Virginians have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and over 3 million are fully vaccinated. Northam urged all Virginians to get vaccinated.

"It's very simple," he said. "It's either a shot or a mask. It's up to you."

The CDC guidelines state that fully vaccinated individuals do not have to wear masks in most indoor settings, except on public transit, in health care facilities and in congregate settings. Employees in certain sectors including restaurants, retail, fitness, personal care, and entertainment must continue to wear masks unless fully vaccinated under the CDC guidance.

Northam's office said in a news release that Virginia's state of emergency for the pandemic will remain in place at least through June 30 to give local governments flexibility and support vaccination efforts. Northam plans to take executive action to ensure individuals have the option to wear masks up to and after that date, as masks typically are otherwise illegal in Virginia.

Watch Gov. Ralph Northam's video update ending Virginia's mask mandate.

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Virginia lifts mask mandate, will end COVID-19 restrictions on May 28 - Inside NoVA

(NEXSTAR) With more than half the country at least partially vaccinated, many are eager to venture forth from their homes and travel.

But before you hit the road, its important to remember that COVID-19 is still prevalent in the U.S., and airports bring together people from all over the place not just from the region where the airport is located.

[Hawaii news on the goLISTEN to KHON 2GO weekday mornings at 7:30 a.m.]

So whats the worst contagion spot in an airport?

According to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, the main contagion spot is wherever noses and mouths get together.

Its hanging out at the food court, hanging out at the gate those are the hotspots, he said.

Chin-Hong said you should also be conscientious of how youre getting to and from the airport. Public transportation and ride shares are higher risk than traveling solo in a car, naturally.

The operating principle, Chin-Hong says, is the more unknown mouths and noses you get together, the higher the risk.

And in the airport, its not just people from around the country, but the world. You dont know where people have been, even if they had a negative test before [entering the country].

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently updated its domestic travel guidelines.

The organization recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated, and to continue following its recommendations for safe traveling: wearing a mask, staying 6 feet away from others, avoiding crowds and washing or sanitizing your hands frequently.

International travel is a bit stickier. The U.S. Department of State has a list of countries that it does not recommend people travel to at this time, including:

The State Department says to exercise increased caution in these countries:

For more information on places you can travel, check your desired countrys local embassy website or the U.S Department of State website.

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This is the biggest contagion spot for COVID-19 in airports - KHON2

Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Monika Deupala/File Photo

An international expedition abandoned its attempt to scale Mount Everest on Saturday, citing risks posed by an increasing number of COVID-19 cases at the base camp, the organisers said.

Some climbers were evacuated from Everest base camp in April after they fell ill with COVID-19 symptoms as Nepal battles a brutal second wave of infections.

Lukas Furtenbach, of Austrian expedition organising company Furtenbach Adventures, said his team of climbers from America, Norway, Israel, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Romania were abandoning the climb for safety reasons as the number of COVID-19 infections at the base camp was increasing.

"To climb ... with these massively increasing coronavirus numbers and risk the lives of our 20 climbers, 4 mountain guides and 27 Sherpas carelessly, would be irresponsible," Furtenbach said in a statement.

Infections at Everest base camp have surged as "elementary precautionary measures were simply not observed" by some teams, he said, without naming any expeditions.

Tendi Sherpa of the Iceland Trekking and Expedition company, which provided local support to the team, confirmed climbers were returning for fear of the disease.

Department of Tourism Director Mira Acharya said she had no information of any expedition evacuating due to COVID-19 fears.

"Doctors at the base camp said the situation was not as serious as it was reported," she told Reuters. "I did not see any terrible situation there," said Acharya, who returned this week after overseeing preparations at the base camp.

Nepal has reported 447,704 coronavirus cases and 4,856 deaths, according to government data.

The Himalayan nation, which earns millions of dollars from climbers every year, closed the mountain in March 2020 due to the pandemic, but reopened for this year's climbing season that started in April. It issued a record 408 permits to climbers attempting to scale the 8,848.86-metre (29,031.69-foot) peak.

Acharya said more than 150 people had climbed the mountain this month and others were waiting for a new weather window to open up.

Two climbers died of exhaustion on the mountain this week.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Foreign expedition abandons Everest attempt citing COVID-19 risks - Reuters

A recent headline was straightforward and factual but nevertheless was objectionable to some readers.

The headline in The Oregonian on Wednesday morning said: Unvaccinated 46-year-old Estacada teacher dies from COVID-19.

Ill admit when I saw it on the front-page proof Tuesday night, I paused. Does the headline read as if we are blaming the victim for her own death? And, as a mother myself, I thought of her two teenage children and wondered how they would feel reading the headline.

But I approved it as written. Headlines are difficult to write, especially for print editions where space is limited. Headline writers must succinctly capture the gist of the article in very few words. They also want to use everyday language and make the headline interesting enough that readers will go on to read the article.

They must choose which of many potential angles they will emphasize by calling them out in the headline.

In this case, I think we got it exactly right.

Samantha Fox, 46, was the first teacher known to have died with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in Oregon. An obvious reader question is whether she was inoculated with one of three highly effective vaccines that first became available in December, vaccines government officials are promoting as the best chance of ending the pandemic.

Yes, the vaccines are about saving your life, but also the lives of the people around you, President Joe Biden said last month. But theyre also about helping to get us get back to closer to normal.

It would be a reader question regardless, but the controversial decision by Oregons governor in January to prioritize educators over senior citizens for vaccines (when they were much harder to come by) also looms large. Many senior citizens were outraged by the decision when the death toll was highest among the oldest Oregonians.

In addition, the teachers mother spoke emotionally and in detail about the decision not to receive the vaccine, not due to political reasons but because of a dislike of injections and doctors.

Please, Foxs mother, Mary Beck, told reporter Fedor Zarkhin, if you can get the shot, get it.

The news of Foxs death came on the day Gov. Kate Brown announced the overall vaccination rate of Oregonians would be the determining factor for lifting most restrictions for all. Health officials announcing the change noted that vaccinations greatly reduced severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths.

Comments on our Facebook page were mixed on the question of highlighting Foxs unvaccinated status. Many understood immediately why we included it. Others found it to be victim-blaming.

Victim-blaming, the tendency to ascribe the blame for bad things to some choice or action of the victim, is baked into us. Its a psychological defense that allows us to believe -- however inaccurately -- that such bad things will never happen to us, because, after all, we wear our seatbelt religiously, never bike without a helmet, etc.

Other readers saw bias or an attempt to push an agenda in favor of vaccinations.

Brad Schmidt, the editor who has guided our coronavirus coverage over many months, said readers frequently contact the newsroom asking whether people who had died with COVID-19 had been vaccinated. The state health department discloses deaths daily but does not release the vaccination status of each fatality, instead releasing aggregated reports monthly.

So far, state officials have identified just eight people all 70 and older who died despite being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In this case, we knew that Fox had not been vaccinated, and we also knew that Foxs mother felt it had cost the family dearly, Schmidt said. The mothers decision to speak about Foxs vaccination status, in an effort to encourage more people to get vaccinated, was central to the story and an important point of clarity to include in the headline.

Some readers also expressed shock that teachers were allowed to skip the COVID-19 vaccines.

One reader wrote: Why was she allowed in the classroom without proof of vaccination? ... If you are drawing a public salary and working closely with the public, you should be required to be vaccinated and happily comply.

Some readers seemed to think Browns decision to place teachers ahead of others somehow meant that all educators would be vaccinated before returning to in-person teaching. Not so. There is currently no requirement that educators receive the vaccine, according to the Oregon Education Association.

Its undeniable that the issue of COVID-19 transmission, or lack thereof, in schools is an important one for teachers, parents and students.

As with all of our pandemic coverage, we seek to be fair, accurate and thorough. Being an honest broker of news and information has never been more important than during this deadly pandemic. We take the responsibility very seriously.

Thanks to our print and digital subscribers who help support such vital local journalism.

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Letter from the Editor: COVID-19 vaccine status of teacher was core to story - OregonLive

The school-age population accounts for a growing share of recent coronavirus cases across northern Michigan. Lisa Peacock, health officer for Otsego County, told NPR that without the school district's help it would be "literally impossible" to keep up with contact tracing. Getty Images hide caption

The school-age population accounts for a growing share of recent coronavirus cases across northern Michigan. Lisa Peacock, health officer for Otsego County, told NPR that without the school district's help it would be "literally impossible" to keep up with contact tracing.

Chris Hodges, the principal of Gaylord High School in Otsego County, Michigan, never thought he'd be a contact tracer.

"I definitely thought, you know, 'Why why am I doing this?'" he says with a laugh. "That's not what I went to school for."

In what has become a regular part of his school day, Hodges fields reports on his charges such as hearing from the Health Department of Northwest Michigan that a student had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and was in school for three days when she might have been contagious.

One Tuesday in April, after the school day was over, he found himself walking the almost-empty halls with a laptop and a tape measure, making a list of other students who sat close enough to their sick classmate that they would need to quarantine.

Lisa Peacock, health officer for the department, says that without the school district's help it would be "literally impossible" to keep up with contact tracing.

Gaylord High School principal Chris Hodges measures the space between seats in a yearbook class. A student in the class tested positive for covid, and Hodges is working with the local health department to trace people who might have been exposed to her at school. Brett Dahlberg/WCMU hide caption

Gaylord High School principal Chris Hodges measures the space between seats in a yearbook class. A student in the class tested positive for covid, and Hodges is working with the local health department to trace people who might have been exposed to her at school.

The school-age population has accounted for a growing share of recent coronavirus cases across northern Michigan, and Peacock says quickly identifying people exposed to those cases and telling them how to quarantine is crucial to protecting communities and containing spread.

When Hodges first started helping the health department with contact tracing, he found himself calling teachers on weekends, holidays and late in the day after they'd gone home, asking them where a particular student sat and struggling to orient himself in the classroom as they described the student's position over the phone.

It happened so often that he's now requiring each teacher to keep an up-to-date seating chart in a bright-yellow folder on top of their desk, so he can find it easily.

But in this case, the teacher, Hannah Romel, was still at school. The student Hodges was tracing is in her yearbook class, which has different seating arrangements every day. Romel handed Hodges the three charts, and he got to work.

In each place Romel had marked the student, Hodges extended his tape measure to the surrounding desks.

Teachers have spaced their seats out as much as they can, he says, but sometimes they can't quite get to the 6-foot distance required to avoid counting a student as a close contact.

(The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance last month to allow for 3-foot distancing between desks, but only in communities where transmission is low. In this district, Superintendent Brian Pearson explains, during Michigan's recent surge in cases, 6-foot separation is the standard.)

Hodges moved quickly, both because if he didn't complete the contact tracing the same day, the school can't open the next, and because he wanted to get in touch with the families of students exposed to the virus right away.

"We want to make those phone calls as soon as we can, so that those students aren't at work, aren't at church, aren't going to other people's houses. We want to prevent the spread of COVID not only inside our walls, but in our community," he says.

Hodges then passes on the information, about who was in close contact with the infected student, to the local health department. Other nearby school districts run similar operations.

Nationally, this kind of relationship between schools and health departments is not typical in normal times, but it is happening with some regularity during the pandemic, according to Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs for the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Public health funding has declined over the past few decades, she says, forcing local departments to cut staff members who could have boosted their contact-tracing capacity.

Still, getting schools and health departments to work together can greatly help communities, Casalotti says.

Peacock, the local health officer, says that once her staffers get word of exposures at local schools, they will also get in touch with the families to talk them through the details.

"People always have questions," she says. "They have questions about 'What does this mean? What does it mean that I'm quarantined for 14 days?' We recognize that."

And, in some cases, the health department needs more information than Hodges can give, Peacock adds. They might want to find out whether a coronavirus variant is at play, or do a more detailed investigation of how students got sick and where they were, when they were contagious.

Back in Romel's yearbook classroom, Hodges found two students had sat within an area just shy of 6 feet from their classmate who tested positive. They'll need to quarantine for two weeks from the date of this last exposure.

Romel says she's still surprised when she gets the news that a student has gotten sick or infected.

"I worry about the kid," she says. "I hope that it's a mild case, and they get to just be OK and get back to school after their quarantine period and come back and be learning with us again."

After a quick chat with Romel about whether the class did any group work on the days in question (they didn't, which Hodges says is a relief, because it complicates his process), he headed off to the next classroom.

In all, 14 students will be quarantined as a result of exposure to this coronavirus case.

That sounds like a lot, but Hodges says that's a far cry from a single day last month, when 15 students tested positive, and each of them had several close contacts. The number of students who had to quarantine from those potential exposures was in the dozens.

Making phone calls to families informing them their child will need to stay home from school for up to two weeks is not an enjoyable part of the day, for him or the families, said Hodges, but in the long run he's gratified to play a role in mitigating the extent of the pandemic.

This story comes from NPR's reporting partnership with WCMU and KHN.

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Schools Are Helping With COVID-19 Contact Tracing : Shots - Health News - NPR

How this hurts the Blues

Jeremy Rutherford, Blues beat writer: If Perron has indeed tested positive for COVID-19, and he's not a "false positive," which the Blues have had a couple of cases of, then this is extremely difficult news for the club.

Ryan O'Reilly may be the captain and the heart of the Blues, but Perron is equally important to the team's success,

Perron had three points (1G, 2A) in Thursday's 7-3 victory over Minnesota, becoming the first player since Pavol Demitra in 2002-03 to average a point-per-game for the Blues in the regular season.

Rutherford: Perron could miss as much as two weeks in quarantine, which means this could be the end of his season if the Blues are eliminated by the Avalanche in the first round.

Perron is the third Blues player to be added to the list recently, joining Walman and Walker. The Blues thought that Walman was a false positive because he had been vaccinated, but it turned out to be a true test. He has missed the last three games. Walker was on the taxi squad and was recently assigned to the AHL.

Rutherford: It's doubtful that the NHL would consider postponing playoff games, but it's too soon to speculate at this point.

The Blues will continue to be tested, and if no further positive cases come up, then the league would assuredly go on with the series as scheduled. But the concern for the club is going to be if it's facing some sort of outbreak with three players being adding to the COVID-19 list within the last week.

Sources have told The Athletic that all but eight Blues players were vaccinated. But with Walman testing positive after being vaccinated, there has to be worry within the organization.

(Photo: Scott Rovak / NHLI via Getty Images)

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Blues' David Perron placed on COVID-19 protocol list days before playoffs - The Athletic

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by a type of coronavirus that emerged in late 2019 called SARS-CoV-2.

Most people with COVID-19 develop mild illness. Older adults and people with existing conditions like diabetes, cancer, or kidney disease are at the highest risk of developing severe symptoms. Its estimated that more than 80 percent of COVID-19 deaths are in people over 65.

The coronavirus can attack your lungs and heart. It can cause chest pain or a burning sensation in your lungs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists persistent pain or pressure in your chest as a sign that you should seek emergency medical care for COVID-19.

Keep reading to learn why COVID-19 sometimes causes chest pain and when you should seek medical attention.

Burning in your chest can have many potential causes that range from mild to life threatening.

Visit a doctor right away if your chest pain is intense or accompanied by other concerning symptoms. Its especially critical to see a doctor if youre at risk of heart or lung problems.

Go to the nearest emergency room or call 911 if you have the following symptoms:

Chest pain or burning can be a sign of COVID-19. Discomfort in your chest may occur along with shortness of breath or trouble breathing. Studies have found that up to 17.7 percent of people with COVID-19 report chest pain.

People with severe COVID-19 are more likely to report trouble breathing or chest pain than people with mild illness. Research has found that chest pain is reported about three times more often in people who die from COVID-19 than those who survive.

Its thought that chest pain may be a result of heart injury or inflammation of the tissues surrounding the lungs.

The coronavirus can enter your cells through a receptor called angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). ACE2 is found in many parts of your body, including your lungs, heart, and gastrointestinal tract. Once the virus enters your cells through ACE2, it can lead to cellular damage and inflammation.

The release of molecules called inflammatory cytokines by your immune system may also cause damage to heart cells. This phenomenon is called cytokine storm syndrome.

Its been suggested to contribute to left ventricle dysfunction (or weakness of the heart muscle) in people with COVID-19 who also have heart complications. Lung dysfunction and low oxygen levels can also contribute to heart damage.

People with a history of cardiovascular disease seem to be at an elevated risk of heart damage. A July 2020 study found approximately 30 to 60 percent of people with heart injury have a history of coronary heart disease or high blood pressure.

The pleural space is an area between layers of the sac that surrounds each of your lungs. Inflammatory molecules released into the pleural space can trigger pain receptors and potentially cause chest pain or burning.

COVID-19 can also lead to the development of pneumonia, which can cause chest pain. Pneumonia is an infection of the alveoli of your lungs. Your alveoli are the tiny air sacs where oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange occurs.

Experiencing throat and chest burning together can be a symptom of COVID-19. COVID-19 has been linked to symptoms like throat pain and acid reflux.

In an August 2020 study, researchers found that in a group of 405 people with COVID-19, 61.2 percent had digestive symptoms. About a quarter of them had a previous history of gastrointestinal disease.

The most common digestive symptoms reported were:

Many other conditions besides COVID-19 can cause burning or pain in your throat and chest. Some potential causes include:

Some people with COVID-19 may experience a burning feeling in their stomach and chest together. Vomiting, acid reflux, and diarrhea may all contribute to discomfort in or around your stomach.

Some other potential causes include:

The CDC lists the following as emergency symptoms of COVID-19. If you notice any of these symptoms or anything else concerning, you should seek emergency medical care:

COVID-19 affects People of Color differently. People of certain races and ethnicities have a higher risk of developing severe symptoms or dying from COVID-19.

One reason for this is systemic racism and healthcare inequities, which elevate the risk of developing underlying health conditions, affect socioeconomic status, and limit access to quality healthcare. All these factors play a role in determining the risk of certain groups.

The CDC reports the following risk ratios compared with white, non-Hispanic people:

Researchers are continuing to examine the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccines can potentially cause a burning sensation in the chest in rare instances. The most typical side effects of vaccines include:

One June 2021 case study describes a 56-year-old man who went to the emergency room after chest pain onset 3 days after the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The chest pain resolved after 4 hours. The man spent 7 days in the hospital, and acute myocarditis was suspected. Acute myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle tissue.

Skin-related side effects of COVID-19 are relatively common. An April 2021 study looking at side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in Czech healthcare workers found that 5.2 percent of people experience at least one skin-related side effect.

A rash was the most common side effect, and the chest and trunk were the second most common location affected behind the arms.

A burning sensation in your chest has many possible causes. If your chest pain is persistent and accompanied by other COVID-19 symptoms, its a good idea to seek medical attention.

If your pain is accompanied by any of the following symptoms, its also a good idea to see a doctor:

Chest pain or burning can potentially be a sign of COVID-19. Chest pain is more common in people with severe COVID-19 than mild illness.

A burning sensation in your chest can have many other potential causes that range from mild to potentially life threatening. Its critical to seek emergency medical attention if your chest pain is accompanied by warning signs of a heart attack, such as pain that spreads down your arm, neck, or back.

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Chest Burning Sensation and COVID-19: An Emergency Symptom - Healthline

A light micrograph of a mature sporangium of a mucor fungus. India is seeing a rise in cases of mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images hide caption

A light micrograph of a mature sporangium of a mucor fungus. India is seeing a rise in cases of mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection.

It's called the "black fungus," and it can be deadly. It's also adding to India's growing COVID-19 woes at the moment.

On Sunday, the Indian Council of Medical Research and India's Health Ministry issued an advisory calling for better awareness, screening and management of mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection.

"While exact numbers are not available, we're seeing a rise in cases in Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra," says Dr. Aparna Mukherjee, a scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research and one of the experts who wrote the advisory.

The symptoms of mucormycosis are mild at first and can often be missed in the initial stages.

Dr. Ronak Shukla, an ear, nose and throat doctor assigned to COVID-19 care at the government-run LG Hospital in Ahmedabad, treated a 35-year-old male patient who recently recovered from COVID-19 after being administered oxygen for a week in the intensive care unit. Several days after recovering from COVID-19, the patient was back, complaining of an intense headache, pain in the sinus area and the right eye, blurred vision and swollen cheeks. An endoscopic examination revealed discoloration a blackened area around the nasal sinuses.

The disease progresses rapidly and "attacks blood vessels and live tissues," Shukla says. "As it kills them, it turns them all black and that's where [the disease] gets the name 'black fungus.' " In just three days, it can spread to the eyes or the jawbone. In such cases, the only way to stop the spread to the brain is to remove the infected eye or jawbone surgically.

"Once it spreads to the brain, the fatality rate is over 50%. It's sad to think that people who've gone through the immense distress of COVID now have to deal with this severe disability as well," he says.

Mucormycosis isn't a new disease, Shukla says. It's caused by a group of molds, called mucormycetes. Individuals are infected after inhaling fungal spores found naturally in India's environment and soil. "For most people with a healthy immune system, exposure to the fungus really won't matter," he says. "They won't get sick."

India's current battle with COVID-19 may be brewing many of the complications that are leading to an unprecedented rise in these cases, doctors suggest. India has reported 23 million COVID-19 infections and a death toll of more than 250,000 people, accounting for 1 in 5 active infections worldwide.

"Mucormycosis is an opportunistic infection," Mukherjee says. "Before COVID, people were far more likely to contract it only if they were in a situation where their immunity was weak, say after an operation, a prolonged hospital stay or [an organ] transplant, but today COVID-19 has weakened immunity considerably, leaving more people vulnerable to the disease."

Shukla says there are now 100 cases in public hospitals in Ahmedabad, when previously, there were only two to three cases a year.

People who have gotten sick with mucormycosis have had three factors in common, says Dr. Devashish Palkar, a psychiatry resident now treating COVID-19 patients in critical care at the government-run New Civil Hospital in Surat. Thirty cases of mucormycosis have been admitted to the hospital over the past week, he says, and new cases are popping up every day. "COVID-19 is the main culprit, followed by uncontrolled or newly diagnosed diabetes. And finally, the added effects of steroids which though are lifesaving drugs can render you immunocompromised if used at higher doses than recommended or for a longer duration."

"We need to find a way to moderate the drugs," Palkar says, "but with such virulent attacks of COVID, the patient might die without the medication."

Treatment for mucormycosis involves identifying the condition in infected patients quickly, removing all infected tissue through surgery and following up with an antifungal injection called Amphotericin B. The injection costs 3,000 rupees ($40) in India. It has to be administered every day for 21 to 42 days. States such as Mumbai are now making the injections available free at public hospitals since their cases are rising, too. Rajesh Tope, health minister of Maharashtra, says the state may have over 2,000 cases of mucormycosis.

Timely intervention helped save his patient, Shukla says, and he did not suffer other complications.

But as the pandemic rages in India, hospital hygiene will eventually need to come into scrutiny. "If the hygiene in hospitals isn't adequate, then the damp [and dirty] surfaces [such as hospital devices and equipment] can breed the fungal spores, exposing patients when their immunity is most compromised," Shukla says.

COVID-19 patients using oxygen concentrators are also at risk, Shukla says. The devices come equipped with a humidifier bottle to prevent the patient's airways from becoming too dry while breathing directly from the concentrator. But it's where fungal spores can thrive. "If the humidifiers are not properly cleaned or if they don't work, then the chances of contracting mucormycosis are higher," Shukla says.

Even though it's an invasive disease, it can be treated, so there's nothing to panic about right now, Mukherjee says. The advisory was issued to create a greater awareness of the condition among medical professionals who may not have seen many cases. "At the moment, we need to suspect it early and detect it early to save lives," she says.

Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, India, who has written for The International New York Times, BBC Travel and Forbes India. You can follow her @kamal_t.

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'Black Fungus' Infection Adds To India's COVID-19 Burden : Goats and Soda - NPR