Morning Break: Coronavirus Update; Lethal Anti-Vax Advice; Drug Lottery ‘Winners’

Note that some links may require subscriptions.

Coronavirus numbers as of 8:00 a.m. EST, courtesy of the Johns Hopkins dashboard tracker: 31,523 cases and 638 deaths.

Chinese researchers now believe pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are the source of coronavirus. (Fox News)

Biotech company Novacyt applied for FDA emergency approval of its proprietary PCR-based diagnostic test for coronavirus, which it says delivers results in 2 hours.

Makers of protective face masks shift into high gear (New York Times), but whether the masks are helpful depends on how you use them (CBC)

And a coronavirus roundup by CNBC covered social media outrage in China over the death of a whistleblower-physician whose warnings were stifled by the government, a shortage of protective gear in countries most affected by the illness, and Singapore health officials’ decision to raise the threat alert to the same level of the SARS outbreak in 2003.

A 4-year-old Colorado boy died of influenza after his mother took the advice of a Facebook anti-vaccine group and chose not to fill a prescription for the antiviral medication Tamiflu. (NBC News)

Take it from this healthcare management consultant: Hospital consolidation is not a bad thing.

The “little blue pill” has some men seeing red (and green and blue), and it has nothing to do with the cost. (CNN)

A California surgeon and his girlfriend expect to be exonerated of 2018 allegations that the two kidnapped, drugged, and raped multiple women.

A New Jersey jury decided that Johnson & Johnson should pay punitive damages totaling $750 million to four plaintiffs who successfully argued that the company’s talc-containing baby powder caused their cancers. (Reuters)

Amid controversy and ethical debates, “winners” of the first lottery for the pricey spinal muscular atrophy drug Zolgensma were announced this week. (STAT)

First came “impossible” meat and now scrambled eggs made of beans. (Vox)

The opioid pain reliever tramadol may increase the risk of fracture as compared with NSAIDs. (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research)

Morning Break is a daily guide to what’s new and interesting on the Web for healthcare professionals, powered by the MedPage Today community. Got a tip? Send it to us: MPT_editorial@everydayhealthinc.com

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from MedPage Today can be found here ***