Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced plans to expand visitation at nursing and assisted living communities statewide, reports the Orlando Weekly . Chiefly, the state will permit outdoor visitation, regardless of whether the facilities have COVID-19 infections. Back in the spring, Florida barred visitors to nursing and assisted living communities as part of a concerted effort to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. On Sept. 1, though, the DeSantis administration issued an executive order authorizing visitation to resume and providing broad guidelines that nursing communities were required to follow. This most recent announcement will change the guidelines to allow expanded visitation. During an appearance late last week in Fort Myers, DeSantis reiterated his view that it is important for residents of senior care communities to have visits from family members. He reasoned, "If a family is in a situation where they are behaving in a safe way and the facilities are doing what they need to do, we need to be able to have family connections."

Diagnosed COVID-19 cases are once again on the rise in Orange County, N.Y., states News 12 Westchester . As a result, a new measure has been implemented in all county assisted living and nursing communities, long-term care homes, and hospitals to stop — or, at least, slow — the spread. The county has officially suspended all in-person visits. Residents must also quarantine for two weeks if they leave to see a doctor or for any other reason.

Politico sources say the Trump administration may soon unveil a plan to cover out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 vaccines for millions of Americans who receive Medicare or Medicaid. Under the planned rule, Medicare and Medicaid would cover vaccines that receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration — a change from current policy, according to sources. The regulations have been under development for weeks and are likely to be announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Earlier in October, the administration made a deal with CVS and Walgreens to administer an eventual COVID-19 vaccine with no out-of-pocket costs to seniors and health care workers in long-term care communities. At least two COVID-19 vaccine developers said they intend to apply for an emergency use authorization before the end of the year.

Although college hiring has been hard hit by the pandemic, steps employers have taken have allowed them to blunt its potential full impact, according to a survey of 158 members of the National Association of Colleges and Employers and 69 non-members. Hiring for Class of 2021 graduates is expected to edge down just 0.1 percent compared with 2020. In several employment sectors, organizations are increasing their college hiring, which is helping to drive the overall hiring outlook. While more than half of respondents expect to maintain their hiring level from last year, 31 percent of responding employers expect to decrease their hiring this year — a jump from just 6.3 percent that intended to shrink their hiring for Class of 2020 graduates. Meanwhile, 16.5 percent are planning to increase their hiring this year, which is down from 45.5 percent last year.

Researchers this week cautioned that people recovering from the coronavirus may suffer significant brain function impacts, with the worst cases of the infection linked to mental decline equivalent to the brain aging by 10 years, reports Reuters . A non-peer-reviewed study of 84,285 people, led by Dr. Adam Hampshire at Imperial College London, found that COVID-19 infection is linked to substantial cognitive deficits for months in some severe cases. His team analyzed results from people who completed the Great British Intelligence Test. Their findings were published online on the MedRxiv website. Hampshire says the cognitive deficits were of "substantial effect size," especially among people who'd been hospitalized with COVID-19. However, scientists not directly involved with the study urged viewing the results with caution. "The cognitive function of the participants was not known pre-COVID, and the results also do not reflect long-term recovery — so any effects on cognition may be short term," remarks Joanna Wardlaw, a professor of applied neuroimaging at Edinburgh University.

A letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said indirect deaths from COVID-19 among the older American population are much higher than previously assumed — and many fatalities have been of people suffering from dementia and Alzheimer's disease, reports Quartz . Between March 1 and Aug. 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted 225,530 excess deaths than previous years' averages, while deaths attributed to COVID-19 barely surpassed 150,500. The two leading causes of non-COVID-attributed deaths were heart disease and dementia, and the authors suspect the spike in dementia-related deaths stemmed from disrupted access to care. Because of the pandemic, nursing communities struggled with staffing and adequate protection for employees, while a tense atmosphere could elevate the risk of resident deaths. Routine checkups were suspended or performed via phone or computer, while limits to visitation may have contributed since loneliness correlates with higher risk of developing dementia in healthy adults. Another possible contributor is institutionalized racism, as black and Hispanic U.S. populations are more likely to develop dementia than whites and tend to receive later diagnoses. With a pandemic added to the mix, "the disparities are just magnified 10 times," laments Miguel Rentería at Columbia University Medical Center.

Six-plus months after going into lockdown, NBC Montana reports that The Springs at Butte assisted living community in Montana is working to make residents feel more comfortable while still adhering to safety precautions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Tonya Kish, life enrichment director, has been working to create activities for residents so they can still socialize. These have included bowling, game nights, and walking around the community's grounds in groups. For Springs at Butte residents, being able to socialize with their community has helped them remain grounded. Now, it has recently opened to monitored visitations and has also started doing Facetime on the computer. Finally, staff is publishing a newsletter for residents and their families so they can continue to stay connected while being locked down.

A study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions found that equol — a metabolite of dietary soy created by certain types of gut bacteria — may reduce a risk factor for dementia. ScienceDaily reports that older Japanese men and women who produce the metabolite exhibit lower levels of white matter lesions in the brain. "White matter lesions are significant risk factors for cognitive decline, dementia, and all-cause mortality," said Pitt Public Health Professor Akira Sekikawa. "We found 50 percent more white matter lesions in people who cannot produce equol compared to people who can produce it, which is a surprisingly huge effect." Although equol production did not apparently affect levels of amyloid-beta deposited within the brain, it was connected to lower white matter lesion volumes. Moreover, the researchers observed that high levels of isoflavones — soy nutrients metabolized into equol — did not impact white matter lesions or amyloid-beta when equol was not produced. Although Sekikawa hopes to assess the neuroprotective effects of equol supplements, for now he recommends caution for anyone who might think they will guard against dementia. "We cannot prove that equol protects against dementia until we get a randomized clinical trial with sufficient evidence," he explained.

The Brainerd Daily Dispatch reporting that Essentia Health is now enrolling older adults for a clinical study, dubbed PREVENTABLE, that aims to be one of the largest ever conducted among seniors. The study, which will include more than 20,000 participants and 100 sites nationwide, will randomize participants without heart disease or dementia to receive either atorvastatin or a placebo. Researchers will investigate whether taking atorvastatin, a drug commonly used to lower cholesterol also called Lipitor, can help men and women ages 75 and older maintain their health by preventing disability, heart disease, and even dementia. The study aims to be one of the largest ever conducted among older adults. The research team will follow participants for up to five years and test their cognitive and physical abilities, monitoring them for events such as heart attacks or strokes.

Faced with users who have deteriorating vision and dexterity, a growing number of companies are making their websites easier to read and navigate, observes the Wall Street Journal . Among them is the prescription-discount firm SingleCare. Owned by Boston-based RxSense LLC, it has been gradually redesigning its website to better serve the needs of users 50 and older since its 2015 launch. A study conducted by Beyond Consultancy and Savanta Group Ltd. found that 58 percent of adults age 65 and over have increased their use of technology over the last six months. However, only 42 percent say they find technology straightforward to use and 13 percent say they find going online a "frustrating experience." Seniors will quickly abandon a company website that is inaccessible to them, which — in the pandemic era — can equate to abandoning the company altogether, warns Beyond Consultancy CEO Nick Rappolt.