Motorcycle crash leaves 1 deadLee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
FORT MYERS Students affected by COVID-19 able to graduate for the first time For many young people, COVID stripped away one of their greatest rites of passage: graduation.
Deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County Authorities are at the scene of a deadly crash on State Road 29 in Hendry County on Friday afternoon.
Public health screenings in the U.S. (Credit: CDC via MGN) Coronavirus began in China several months ago, and since then, the virus – and fear of it – have been spreading around the world. There is no vaccine for coronavirus yet, but there is a treatment for fear. It’s called facts. And here is a dose of them: What is Coronavirus? Coronavirus causes a respiratory disease called COVID-19. Symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Most cases (about eight out of ten) are mild. The more serious cases can lead to severe lung damage. Coronavirus is thought to spread mostly through close contact. An infected person coughs or sneezes, sending droplets containing the virus through the air. Someone nearby – say, up to about six feet away – breathes those droplets and can become infected. The virus can also spread hand-to-hand. You touch an object that has the virus on it, then touch your mouth, nose, perhaps even your eye. Scientists are studying how long the coronavirus can survive on various surfaces or whether there are other ways of spread. Lines form outside a department store selling masks in Seoul, South Korea, February 28, 2020. (Credit: KIM HONG-JI/REUTERS) Mortality rate Just two days ago, a study from China of nearly 1,100 patients with COVID-19 reported a mortality rate of 1.4 percent; that means that of every thousand people infected, 14 will die. The death rate with flu is about 1 in a thousand. But some scientists feel the actual rate with coronavirus may be lower, and, in fact, closer to flu, because there are likely many cases we don’t know about, either because they are mild or the patients have no symptoms at all. Also, people who are older or who have other ailments, such as diabetes or lung disease, appear to be at greater risk for getting a severe case of coronavirus. But for some reason children seem to be relatively spared. Testing kits Right now, there’s a shortage of testing kits for the virus. When more testing is available, we’ll get a better idea of how widespread this virus is. We’ll be able to screen communities for both active infection and evidence of past infection. What are “Community Spread” cases? In the United States, we’re starting to hear about a small number of cases of COVID-19 from what’s called community spread. That means there is no clear source of infection (such as travel to an affected region, or close contact with a patient). This is not at all surprising, especially since people will likely not have effective immunity to this new type of coronavirus. We should expect the number of these community spread cases to continue to rise. A traveler wearing a mask as a precautionary measure due to the coronavirus is seen at Salgado Filho Airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil, February 27, 2020. (Credit: DIEGO VARA/REUTERS) Is there a vaccine? Vaccines are being developed at record speed, and several will begin clinical testing in the coming weeks. But it will take time to confirm their safety and their ability to protect against the virus. So, they aren’t expected to become widely available for at least a year. Antiviral drugs and other therapies are also being studied, but for now the main treatment involves supportive care, including breathing tubes in cases of severe lung damage. How to protect yourself and others So, where does that leave us? What can you do to protect yourself? Here are a few suggestions: 1. Get the flu vaccine, and get your family protected. The flu can mimic coronavirus and make you think you have COVID-19 when you don’t. 2. Stuff your mother could have told you: Wash your hands, including the tips of your fingers, for 20 seconds (I know that’s a long time, but do the best you can); keep your hands away from your face; and cough into the crook of your arm, not into your hand or – worst of all – into the air. 3. Stay home if you’re sick. You’re not doing the boss a favor by coming to work and making everyone else sick. 4. Stay informed. A great source of information is the CDC website, cdc.gov. It’s especially helpful for information and advice about travel. What about those surgical face masks so many people are wearing? They may give some partial protection by catching droplets containing virus, but the virus is so tiny it can go right through the mask, or around it. If you’re sick, a mask might help protect others, but the CDC does not recommend it for routine use. What should we expect in the future? Since this is a new type of coronavirus, it’s very difficult to predict. Respiratory viruses often like cold, dry air and may possibly start to die down with warmer, moister weather. But we don’t know that for sure, and there could be more waves of infection to come. Bottom line: There’s no way of knowing right now how long coronavirus will remain a problem. One thing we should definitely expect is another outbreak of another type of virus. COVID-19 is just the latest example of a deadly viral disease jumping from animals to people. SARS, MERS and Ebola are others. We need to study why this has been happening. In Asia, deforestation may have increased contact between humans and bats, which can carry the virus that causes SARS or COVID-19. And we must think globally about how to prevent and respond to future outbreaks.