Month: June 2020

High blood pressure may mean higher risk of hospitalization or severe illness.

High blood pressure, a common disease affecting about 45% of Americans, is sometimes called the ‘silent killer’ because it can lead to early death even without symptoms. But new research shows that people with high blood pressure may be more likely to be hospitalized and become severely ill with the virus that causes COVID-19.

High blood pressure is blood pressure greater than 120/80. In fact, the most common underlying condition in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is high blood pressure, or hypertension, according to studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Lancet and by the Centers for Disease Control.

Though hypertension is quite common among Americans, in some studies a staggering number of patients with COVID-19 had underlying hypertension. In one study, 63% of patients with COVID-19 in the ICU had baseline hypertension.

Researchers are not sure why so many hospitalized and ICU patients with COVID-19 have underlying hypertension. However, as we learn more about this new illness, some experts suspect that the subtle organ damage caused by high blood pressure may be giving these patients an inherent disadvantage in their fight against the virus.

Hypertension can have damaging effects on many organs including the heart, blood vessels, lungs, brain and kidneys. Medical experts learning more about the novel coronavirus have found that this respiratory disease can also affect many organs, especially the heart and blood vessels — bad news for those with hypertension.

“While pneumonia is the most common complication of the virus, it can also damage the cardiovascular system. That’s why people with high blood pressure, heart disease, and heart failure are at risk … and [may be] less likely to weather the storm of COVID,” said Craig Smith, MD, interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at UMASS Memorial Medical Center.

Is everyone with high blood pressure at risk?

Not all hypertension is the same. Physicians make the distinction between ‘controlled’ and ‘uncontrolled’ hypertension. A person with ‘controlled’ hypertension achieved a healthy blood pressure with medication or other means, while a person with ‘uncontrolled’ hypertension still has a blood pressure above the healthy range.

To date, studies have not distinguished between controlled versus uncontrolled hypertension.

But Dr. Smith said, “Uncontrolled hypertension is more likely to be associated with long term damage to the heart and kidneys, which do make you more likely to be more sick if you are COVID positive.”

However, those with controlled hypertension should not consider themselves out of the woods.

What should those with high blood pressure do to stay safe?

During this time it is important to continue getting your routine check ups. Fears of getting infected when leaving the house and many offices being closed may make it more challenging to get this care. Telemedicine might be a good alternative if you can’t see you doctor in person.

And while public health measures like hand washing, wearing a mask and social distancing are important for everyone, those with hypertension should be particularly cautious: for them, a COVID-19 infection may be more dangerous.

“In addition to practicing safe measures to avoid virus exposure, the biggest issue would be to focus on the hypertension itself”, said Dr. Smith. “By all accounts, the most important thing is to make sure you continue to take the meds that have your blood pressure under control… other medical conditions are not on hold just because COVID is here!” he added.

As the nation grows weary from pandemic isolation and states begin slowly opening up, those with high blood pressure have an extra reason to stay indoors a little longer.

Nancy A. Anoruo, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine physician, public health scientist and contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Embassies in London and Berlin.

LONDON —
Hundreds of demonstrators were seen chanting and carrying Black Lives Matter signs outside a number of U.S. embassies in Europe and across the world over the weekend, as the protests against the killing of George Floyd spread internationally.

On Saturday and Sunday, crowds gathered outside the U.S. embassies in London and Berlin to protest against the death of Floyd and show solidarity with the protests in the U.S. with chants of “I Can’t Breathe” a regular feature of the weekend demonstrations.

In London, hundreds took part in a “Black Lives Matter” demonstration beginning with protesters taking a knee for nine minutes in Trafalgar Square before marching onto the U.S. Embassy.

“Well, we’ve seen for hundreds of years black people and people of color be absolutely abused and killed on the streets and it’s just getting worse and worse,” one London protester said. “We’ve had enough, and if they’re not going to listen we’re just going to scream louder and louder.”

London’s Metropolitan Police announced they arrested 23 people for “various offenses” across the U.K. capital on Sunday, and said they were on hand to make sure crowds complied with social distancing regulations.

Two black soccer players in Germany referenced the protests after scoring goals in weekend games. Jadon Sancho, an English player for Borussia Dortmund, wore a shirt underneath his jersey saying “Justice for George Floyd.” Marcus Thuram took a knee after scoring a goal for Borussia Mönchengladbach in tribute to the U.S. protests.

In Canada, thousands took to the streets in Vancouver and Montreal, echoing the chants heard across the U.S. in mostly peaceful protests Sunday. In the Montreal gathering, crowds were dispersed after projectiles were thrown at the police later in the evening.

And in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, crowds chanting “I Can’t Breathe” were dispersed by police in riot gear outside the state government palace on Sunday as anti-government protests against police brutality in Brazil fed off the global sentiment felt by the killing of Floyd.

Last year in Rio up to 1,402 people between January and September were killed by police, particularly in operations in the favelas, according to Human Rights Watch.

In Iran and China, two countries which the U.S. has been heavily critical of human rights abuses, state run media and foreign ministers criticised the American handling of the George Floyd protests.

Manslaughter charges have been brought against Derek Chauvin, the white police officer accusing of kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes, and tthe National Guard has been activated in Minneapolis and 17 states.

As nationwide protests over the weekend turned violent in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump‘s national security adviser continued to place blame solely on the far left, despite a report from the Department of Homeland Security that finds extremist groups across the ideological spectrum are attempting to exploit the demonstrations.

In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Robert O’Brien echoed statements from Trump and Attorney General William Barr pointing to a militant left-wing group, claiming, “it’s the violent antifa radical militants that are coming out under cover of night, traveling across state lines, using military style tactics to burn down our cities.”

But the administration’s own intelligence shows that far-right groups and even white supremacists are also attempting to take advantage of the unrest.

“The Department of Homeland Security, which reports to you, has put out intelligence notes over the weekend warning that domestic terrorists from the far-right and the far-left — both — are looking to exploit this,” ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos said to O’Brien. “It’s not just antifa and the left, they’re saying they’re worried about the far right as well.”

“Everything I’ve seen … and the reports we’re receiving is that this is antifa, they’re crossing state lines, and we’ve seen this happen before,” O’Brien responded. “We’ll keep our eyes open for anyone else that wants to take advantage of the situation, whether it’s domestic or foreign. But right now, I think the president and Attorney General Barr want to know what the FBI has been doing to surveil, to disrupt, to take down antifa to prosecute them.”

Stephanopoulos pointed to a warning to law enforcement this week in which federal authorities flagged incendiary messages sent Wednesday by a racially motivated group that “incited followers to engage in violence … by shooting in a crowd.”

“You said you haven’t heard about any other incitement from the right, but the DHS warning that went out this week noted specifically that the white supremacist extremist telegram channel was inciting the violence as well,” Stephanopoulos said. “They’re saying it is both sides that are inciting violence from the outside.”

Still, O’Brien insisted the images of destruction, violence and vandalism that played out live on television over the weekend were the fault of left-wing extremists.

“I think the actual perpetrators of the violence, the ones that are on the street that are burning down minority-owned businesses and restaurants who have already suffered through this terrible COVID situation and are at risk of losing their business and now they’re seeing them burn to the ground, those are antifa radical militants,” O’Brien responded.

“Look, I condemn all extremists on the right or on the left, but the ones who are out on the streets throwing the Molotov cocktails and attacking our police — who are acting, you know, for the most part with restraint and heroically — you know, that has to stop,” he continued.

Stephanopoulos also asked O’Brien about the role the president’s rhetoric is playing in stoking unrest across the country, including an inflammatory tweet Friday morning stating, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Twitter flagged the message with an unprecedented advisory stating that it “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.”

“Does the president — should he be taking responsibility for those tweets, as well?” asked Stephanopoulos.

“The reason he uses Twitter is to get directly to the American people — I think what he said about those tweets is that he wants to deescalate violence and doesn’t want people looting,” O’Brien said, after earlier noting that he was with Trump when the president first viewed the video of Floyd’s death and that Trump immediately tweeted a demand for an investigation.

Stephanopoulos later probed O’Brien about the evidence that “foreign adversaries” are attempting to exploit the unrest, referring to a tweet by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Saturday in which he said he was “seeing VERY heavy social media activity on #protests & counter reactions from social media accounts linked to at least 3 foreign adversaries.”

“Sen. Rubio is spot on. And I’ve seen a number of tweets from the Chinese today that are taking some sort of pleasure and solace in what they’re seeing here,” O’Brien said.

He also delivered a message about the difference between the U.S. and its adversaries.

“I want to tell our foreign adversaries, whether it’s a Zimbabwe or a China, that the difference between us and you is that that officer who killed George Floyd, he’ll be investigated, he’ll be prosecuted and he’ll receive a fair trial,” O’Brien said.

“There’s a difference between us and you, and when this happens, we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll clean it up. It’s not going to be covered up.”

When asked whether the officers who witnessed Floyd’s arrest and failed to act should also be prosecuted, O’Brien called it “an absolute outrage.”

“I can’t imagine that they won’t be charged. I don’t want to pre-judge anything, but what we saw was horrific, and to have stood by and allowed that to happen is, you know, shows a lack of humanity.”

Astronauts on board the Dragon successfully docked at the International Space Station Sunday morning, 19 hours after the successful NASA-SpaceX launch.

At 10:16 a.m. Eastern time, the Dragon spacecraft carrying veteran NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley rendezvoused with the space station 262 statute miles above the border of China and Mongolia.

“Docking soft capture. We have docking,” NASA mission control in Houston announced.

The accomplishment came at 18 hours and 58 minutes after the rocket, commercially built by technology entrepreneur Elan Musk and his SpaceX team in Hawthorne, California, propelled the astronauts into a new chapter of space exploration, marking the first time a privately funded space program teamed with NASA on such an endeavor.

Shortly after linking up with the space station, 12 latches of the Dragon were deployed creating an airtight seal that would allow Behnken and Hurley to enter a vestibule and go into the space station.

“It’s been a real honor to be just a small part of this nine-year endeavor since the last time a United States space ship docked with the International Space Station,” Hurley said after the historic accomplishment.

About 2 hours after docking, the astronauts opened the final of three hatches and entered the space station dressed in dark shirts, light-colored pants and white socks. Behnken was the first to through the hatch, entering the space station at 1:22 p.m. Eastern time quickly followed by Hurley.

On the other side of the hatch they were greeted with hugs by NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and his two crewmates, Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. Hurley and Behnken entered the space station while orbiting 262 miles over Turkmenistan.

Flight director Zeb Scoville, who was at mission control in Houston, congratulated the crew.

”Bravo on a magnificent moment in spaceflight history, and on the start of a new journey that has changed the face of space travel in this new era of space transportation,” Scoville said.

Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator who was at mission control in Houston, was among the first to greet them.

“Welcome to the space station,” Bridenstine told them. “I tell you, the whole world saw this mission and we are so so proud of everything you have done for our country and in fact to inspire the world.”

Hurley responded, saying, “I appreciate that sir. It’s obviously been our honor to be just a small part of this.”

“It’s great to get the United States back in the crew launch business and we’re just really glad to be on board this magnificent complex,” Hurley said.

Bridenstine asked if they were able to get any sleep Saturday night and into Sunday morning.

“We did get probably a good seven hours or so of the opportunity for sleep and I did succeed at sleep and Doug did as well,” Behnken said. “The first night is always a little bit of challenge but the Dragon was a slick vehicle and we had good airflow and so we had an excellent, excellent evening.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was also on hand in Houston to congratulate the astronauts and asked them how the Dragon handled in space.

“It flew just like it was supposed to,” Hurley said. “We had a couple of opportunities to take it out for a spin, so to speak, once after we got into orbit last night and again today about 20 minutes before we docked and my compliments to the folks back in Hawthorne [California] and SpaceX for how well it flew. It’s exactly like the simulator and we couldn’t be happier about the performance of the vehicle.”

Cruz reminded the astronauts about the problems in the United States on the ground, referring to the violent protests stemming from the police-involved killing of African American George Floyd and the continuing battle against the coronavirus.

“I have to say this launch and y’all’s docking is a powerful inspiration of what we can do when we come together,” Cruz said.

Hurley responded by recalling that nine years ago he was among the crew that docked space shuttle Atlantis to the space station, ending a 30-year shuttle program and that ever since then SpaceX, NASA and the commercial crew program have been working to restore American launch capability.

“This is just one effort that we can show for the ages in this dark time that we’ve had over the past several months to kind of inspire especially the young people in the United States to reach for these lofty goals and work hard and look what you can accomplish,” Hurley said.

Following the SpaceX launch on Saturday, Bridenstine said he was “so proud” of the achievement.

“For the first time in nine years, we have now launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. I’m so proud of the @NASA and @SpaceX team for making this moment possible,” Bridenstine tweeted.

Speeding into orbit at more than 17,500 mph, the Dragon spacecraft, now named Endeavour, was able to track down the International Space Station in about the same amount of time it takes for a commercial flight to travel from New York to Sydney, Australia. But the docking procedure was done slowly and cautiously.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were on hand at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to watch the launch on Saturday afternoon. The blast-off was initially scheduled to take place on Wednesday but was postponed due to weather conditions.

“It is absolutely our honor to be part of this huge effort to get the United States back in the launch business. We’ll talk to you from orbit,” Hurley said minutes before launch.