At least 24 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as of Monday morning. Additionally, 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings.
Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care systems in California, said most of its facilities remain open and operational but seven remain closed, including facilities in the cities and neighborhoods of Pasadena, Rosemead, Santa Monica, Canyon County and Sylmar.
Keck Medicine of USC shared an update to its website stating that all affiliated hospitals remain open but at least nine clinics remain closed, including those in Arcadia, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge and Los Angeles.
Providence health care system, which serves five Western states including California, also announced that some of its outpatient services, such as doctors’ offices, were closed but that its hospitals remain open.
Adventist Health Glendale said in a statement on its website that its hospital and emergency department is operating as usual and patients are not being evacuated. However, some patients with elective procedures are being rescheduled to a later date and all non-essential visitation has been postponed.
“Some patients with elective procedures may be rescheduled for a later date – These patients will be contacted directly by their provider,” the statement said.
As of Sunday afternoon, UCLA Health said clinic operations were “impacted” in the neighborhoods of Calabasas, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena. However, it’s unclear from the UCLA statement how many clinics are closed.
“Affected patients will be contacted with additional information. Patients with questions or seeking to reschedule appointments are encouraged to contact their physician’s office or clinic,” UCLA Health stated on its website. “UCLA Health asks that visits to our medical center emergency departments be reserved for urgent and life-threatening medical conditions.”
Some health care centers are working to reopen after being temporarily closed. Cedars-Sinai shared in an update on its website Monday that it was planning to resume non-urgent and non-emergency procedures, some of which it had postponed because of the fires.
“Our Medical Network has reopened most outpatient offices and surgery centers that had been temporarily closed, including locations in Brentwood/West Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Pasadena and Santa Monica. We continue to do everything possible to minimize any disruptions to care,” Cedars-Sinai’s update stated.
Additionally, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has locations in four states including California, said its main campus in Duarte and all of its outpatient clinics are open as staff work to accommodate patients “whose care was impacted over the last few days.”
(NEW YORK) — Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, according to a new report.
The American Heart Association (AHA) report, published Monday in the journal Circulation, found that 941,652 Americans died from cardiovascular disease in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s an increase of more than 10,000 from the just over 931,500 reported to have died from cardiovascular disease in 2021.
It also means that a person in the U.S. dies of cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds, or nearly 2,500 people every day, according to the AHA report.
“The stats are pretty sobering from this report,” Dr. Tara Narula, ABC News chief medical correspondent and a board-certified cardiologist, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. “In fact, cardiovascular disease kills more Americans than all forms of cancer and accidents combined.”
Cancer and accidental deaths continue to remain the second and third leading causes of death, respectively, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The AHA report also found racial and ethnicity disparities, with Black Americans having the highest prevalence of cardiovascular disease. Between 2017 and 2020, 59% of non-Hispanic Black females and 58.9% of non-Hispanic Black males had some form of the disease, according to the report.
In addition, the report showed several heart disease risk factors continue to rise, with nearly 47% of American adults having high blood pressure and more than half, 57%, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
Additionally, 72% of U.S. adults have an unhealthy weight, with nearly 42% of adults having obesity, which also is a risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease, according to the AHA report.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Dhruv Kazi, associate director of the Richard A. and Susan F. Smith Center for Outcomes Research in Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center In Boston, said risk factors for cardiovascular disease are expected to rise over the next several years.
“Although we have made a lot of progress against cardiovascular disease in the past few decades, there is a lot more work that remains to be done,” Kazi wrote. “If recent trends continue, hypertension and obesity will each affect more than 180million U.S. adults by 2050, whereas the prevalence of diabetes will climb to more than 80 million.”
Overall, cardiovascular-related deaths have begun plateauing after ticking upward during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AHA. The report found death rates dropped during the survey period for all 10 leading causes of death except kidney disease, which increased by 1.5%.
The good news is that 80% of cardiovascular disease is preventable, according to Narula. Ways to lower the risk include eating a heart-healthy diet, getting regular exercise, quitting smoking, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep every night.
(NEW YORK) — Authorities are looking into online accounts believed to be those of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Ivy League graduate charged with murder in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street, that have posted about health struggles and possible medical successes.
Mangione appeared to operate a Reddit profile where he detailed health issues including back pain, brain fog and sciatica. The account made several posts on a subreddit dedicated to spondylolisthesis — a condition where a vertebra slips out of alignment. Mangione also might have planned to read or already read multiple books on back pain based on a Goodreads account associated with him.
Law enforcement sources have told ABC News that the Reddit profile — which has since been taken down — is being reviewed for additional details about the extent of the injuries mentioned. A Reddit spokesperson told ABC News regarding the page that their policy is to suspend accounts that may potentially be related to suspects in high-profile criminal investigations.
Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4. Written on the shell casings were the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” according to police sources. Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday after nearly one week on the run. He allegedly had a spiral notebook detailing plans about how to eventually kill the CEO, according to law enforcement officials.
Mangione is being held without bail in Pennsylvania, where he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun. Defense attorney Thomas Dickey told reporters on Tuesday that Mangione will plead not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges. He said he anticipates that Mangione will also plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
The posts and reading lists paint a picture of someone seeking answers, sharing how spinal fusion surgery brought the author relief after years of discomfort.
“Chronic pain can be incredibly debilitating. It can affect every aspect of your life,” Dr. Joseph Shrand, chief medical officer of Riverside Community Care in Massachusetts and a Harvard Medical School faculty member, told ABC News.
While the Reddit posts suggest a spinal surgery was a significant moment in his life, the author of the posts said the procedure left him pain-free, and he frequently encouraged others to undertake similar procedures.
In an August 2023 post, the user remarked how his spinal injury was once “completely devastating” and worried he was “destined to chronic pain and a desk job for the rest of my life” before considering surgery.
Chronic pain, defined as pain lasting three months or more, affects about 50 million U.S. adults, according to the National Institutes of Health. Of these, 17 million Americans experience “high impact” chronic pain, which is so debilitating that it disrupts daily activities like work, self-care and relationships, the NIH says.
Women, older adults, and those living in poverty or rural areas tend to report the highest rates of persistent pain. So do people who are divorced or separated, identify as bisexual, or say they are generally in poor health, according to the NIH.
Studies suggest that chronic pain can put people at a higher risk of mental health struggles, as well as create a financial burden.
Research shows that between 35% to 45% of those with chronic pain experience depression, while anxiety disorders are similarly common. Pain may interfere with sleep, increase stress, and create cycles of declining mental and physical health.
“Chronic pain puts you at a disadvantage mentally because you may think other people see you as broken,” Shrand said. “There will be times where you may feel in such physical pain that it becomes emotional pain, too.”
Some studies suggest a biological link between chronic pain and mental health disorders. For example, depression can heighten pain sensitivity, reinforcing the connection between the two, according to a study in the journal Neural Plasticity.
Chronic pain affects every facet of life. It can limit employment opportunities, disrupt social connections and lead to cognitive challenges, including “brain fog.”
“People have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning because their backs hurt, which means that they’re potentially at risk of coming into work late, which then puts them at risk for the cascade effects of all those things that can happen because they are now perceived as a person who isn’t doing their job right,” Shrand said.
Chronic pain can lead to a substantial financial burden, as well. According to one Journal of Pain study, individuals with severe pain spend more than $4,000 more annually on health care versus those without pain.
Managing chronic pain requires a combination of medical, psychological and lifestyle interventions, but insurance often prioritizes medications and procedures with inconsistent results.
For instance, lumbar fusion surgeries — such as the one purportedly described by Mangione — are commonly performed but often fail to provide lasting relief, according to various studies.
When Mangione was arrested on Monday, he had “written admissions about the crime” with him, according to the New York arrest warrant.
Mangione had several handwritten pages on him that expressed a “disdain for corporate America” and indicated “he’s frustrated with the health care system in the United States,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
The words on the bullets echo the title of the 2010 book “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.” Police are aware of the similarity, and are investigating whether one possible motive is anger at the insurance industry, sources said.
While the Reddit posts suggest a spinal surgery was a significant moment in his life, the author of the posts said the procedure left him pain-free, and he frequently encouraged others to undertake similar procedures.
One of Mangione’s apparent posts on the r/Spondylolisthesis subreddit in February 2024 referred to having had a surgery for the condition six months prior. The author said that “[w]within 7 days of the fusion I was on zero pain meds.”
Many widely used approaches, such as opioids or steroid injections, provide only temporary solutions to chronic pain. Meanwhile, treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga and acceptance therapy show promise but remain difficult to access due to cost and insurance coverage gaps.
However, many chronic pain patients face a maze of treatments that don’t fully address their needs or the root causes of their pain.
Shrand said the best approach often requires a combination of solutions.
“You can’t just attack the physical. You’ve got to address the biological, mental and social aspects of life,” he said. “You can manage this pain — it’s part of your body, and we can find a way to take care of you.”
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, Aaron Katersky, Kerem Inal, Chris Looft and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Friday marks five years since the COVID-19 virus was declared a public health emergency by the United States. But five years later, the virus is still killing thousands, according to experts.
“One of the things we have learned is that COVID came to us new, and now is integrated into our way of life,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “COVID is not going away, and it still causes a substantial amount of illness each year.”
While the world might not be in a global pandemic anymore, Sean Clarke, a professor of nursing leadership at New York University, said COVID is still a constant presence.
“The virus is still persistent and still moving. It’s still not a trivial thing,” Clarke told ABC News. “It hasn’t vanished, it’s just at a different point.”
Since 2020, over 7 million lives have been lost to the virus, according to the World Health Organization. Social distancing, wearing masks and introducing COVID-19 vaccines led the WHO to declare on May 5, 2023, that the virus was no longer a global health emergency. However, that didn’t mean COVID-19 could be immediately disregarded, said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“It is with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” Ghebreyesus said in 2023. “However, that does not mean COVID-19 is over as a global health threat.”
There have been 2,861 reported COVID-19 deaths in the world in the last 28 days, according to the WHO, with the U.S. making up 2,100 of those deaths. Hospitalizations and emergency department visits are also on the rise, and death rates for COVID-19 are at 1.8%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Despite five years of research developments, treatments and diagnostic tests, Schaffner told ABC News that COVID-19 will always be around, with two peaks each year — one in the summer and one in winter.
“We are going to have to keep living with this virus as we live with others,” Schaffner said.
The thousands of deaths and rise in hospitalizations will not decrease until more people take advantage of getting vaccinated, Schaffner told ABC News.
While COVID-19 vaccines are available for adults and children, vaccination rates are low. As of Jan. 4, less than 25% of adults were vaccinated with the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.
“There are still people who are being admitted who’ve never been vaccinated at all and others who are not up to date in their vaccinations,” Schaffner said. “That’s unfortunate because the data continues to show that vaccination is the single most important preventive measure.”
Since COVID-19’s introduction, many patients have reported experiencing long COVID-19, where symptoms continue for years after the initial infection. According to the Mayo Clinic, some researchers have estimated that 10% to 35% of people who have had COVID-19 went on to have long COVID.
Schaffner said the way to diminish cases of long COVID is to keep up with vaccinations, which will reduce the chance of acquiring the virus and eliminate the possibility of developing long COVID.
“Anything we can do to reduce the occurrence and the severity of that acute infection will result in a reduction in the risk of long COVID,” Schaffner said. “Vaccination helps prevent and reduce the severity of the initial infection, it also reduces the risk of you getting long COVID.”
Looking at the next five years, Schaffner said the virus will continue to evolve or mutate, which will lead to updated vaccines on an annual basis. But, COVID-19 might also become even more intense, Schaffner said.
“This virus could mutate again and become more severe,” Schaffner said. “We don’t know if that’s going to happen. But when it comes to viruses, it’s very hazardous to predict the future, because they’re so unpredictable.”