TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who is currently serving as acting governor while Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is out of the state, has been taken to a hospital for an undisclosed medical issue.

Oliver, 71, was taken to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston and is unable to carry out the duties of acting governor, Murphy’s spokesperson Mahen Gunaratna said in a statement Monday. Under the state constitution, Democratic Senate President Nicholas Scutari will serve as acting governor.

Gunaratna said Oliver was receiving “medical care” but declined to elaborate.

Murphy’s office has said he’s out of the country on a family vacation in Italy, where he owns a home.

Oliver, a Democrat, has served as the state’s second lieutenant governor since 2018. She concurrently serves as the head of the Department of Community Affairs, which coordinates state aid to towns and cities and oversees code enforcement.

In 2010, she became the first African-American woman to serve as speaker of the state Assembly in the state’s history.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Institutes of Health is beginning a handful of studies to test possible treatments for long COVID, an anxiously awaited step in U.S. efforts against the mysterious condition that afflicts millions.

Monday’s announcement from the NIH’s $1.15 billion RECOVER project comes amid frustration from patients who’ve struggled for months or even years with sometimes-disabling health problems — with no proven treatments and only a smattering of rigorous studies to test potential ones.

“This is a year or two late and smaller in scope than one would hope but nevertheless it’s a step in the right direction,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University in St. Louis, who isn’t involved with NIH’s project but whose own research highlighted long COVID’s toll. Getting answers is critical, he added, because “there’s a lot of people out there exploiting patients’ vulnerability” with unproven therapies.

Scientists don’t yet know what causes long COVID, the catchall term for about 200 widely varying symptoms. Between 10% and 30% of people are estimated to have experienced some form of long COVID after recovering from a coronavirus infection, a risk that has dropped somewhat since early in the pandemic.

“If I get 10 people, I get 10 answers of what long COVID really is,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said.

That’s why so far the RECOVER initiative has tracked 24,000 patients in observational studies to help define the most common and burdensome symptoms –- findings that now are shaping multipronged treatment trials. The first two will look at:

— Whether taking up to 25 days of Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid could ease long COVID, because of a theory that some live coronavirus, or its remnants, may hide in the body and trigger the disorder. Normally Paxlovid is used when people first get infected and for just five days.

— Treatments for “brain fog” and other cognitive problems. They include Posit Science Corp.’s BrainHQ cognitive training program, another called PASC-Cognitive Recovery by New York City’s Mount Sinai Health System, and a Soterix Medical device that electrically stimulates brain circuits.

Two additional studies will open in the coming months. One will test treatments for sleep problems. The other will target problems with the autonomic nervous system — which controls unconscious functions like breathing and heartbeat — including the disorder called POTS.

A more controversial study of exercise intolerance and fatigue also is planned, with NIH seeking input from some patient groups worried that exercise may do more harm than good for certain long COVID sufferers.

The trials are enrolling 300 to 900 adult participants for now but have the potential to grow. Unlike typical experiments that test one treatment at a time, these more flexible “platform studies” will let NIH add additional potential therapies on a rolling basis.

“We can rapidly pivot,” Dr. Amy Patterson with the NIH explained. A failing treatment can be dropped without ending the entire trial and “if something promising comes on the horizon, we can plug it in.”

The flexibility could be key, according to Dr. Anthony Komaroff, a Harvard researcher who isn’t involved with the NIH program but has long studied a similarly mysterious disorder known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS. For example, he said, the Paxlovid study “makes all sorts of sense,” but if a 25-day dose shows only hints of working, researchers could extend the test to a longer course instead of starting from scratch.

Komaroff also said that he understands people’s frustration over the wait for these treatment trials, but believes NIH appropriately waited “until some clues came in about the underlying biology,” adding: “You’ve got to have targets.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Calling all exercise junkies! We’re getting in shape this summer and these running routes around NYC are perfect for your next jog or run. From iconic bridges and scenic waterfront paths to serene parks nestled within the urban jungle, our city is a runner’s paradise…offering a perspective of NYC that you have to partake in to understand.

Without further ado, lace up your sneakers and get ready to hit the pavement because we have some new routes for you!

1) East River Greenway

This car-free path stretches down the east side of Manhattan, from Battery Park on the south end to 125th Street on the north end. It’s about 9 miles long, all while incorporating a 1.2 mile gap between 34th and 60th Street where the United Nations headquarters is (must use First and Second Ave to get around). This gap makes it easy to split into 2 routes!

Starting from the south, you can run along the East River and see the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge as well as Brooklyn. As you get further north you’ll run into views of the RFK Bridge and Roosevelt Island!

2) Summer Streets

New York City’s annual tradition of shutting down the most popular streets is happening again this year! On every Saturday this August (5th, 12th, 19th, 26), some of NYC’s most popular streets will go car-free in order for locals to take advantage of the open streets! This includes Park Avenue, Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, and many more. Utilize these shut-down roads as a route that you normally wouldn’t be able to! Check out all the street closures here.

3) Hudson River Park

On the opposite side of Manhattan lies Hudson River Park and the West Side Highway, a route that basically runs up the entire west side of NYC. You can start all the way up at Pier 97 in the north and trek through the path all the way down to Pier 25 in the south. It’s about 4 miles long and you’ll pass all sorts of piers, parks, and landmarks like Little Island, The Vessel, and Whitney Museum of American Art.

4) Brooklyn Bridge + Manhattan Bridge

If you want to transcend boroughs with a route, experiment with running over NYC’s iconic bridges! For this 4-5 mile route, we recommend starting in Lower Manhattan (near World Trade Center), running north and east over the Manhattan Bridge, looping around in Brooklyn and back over the Brooklyn Bridge pathway into Manhattan. Not only will you be able to check out the city’s most famous bridges, but the pedestrian pathways are perfect for seeing great skyline views while you run.

5) Central Park (Full Loop) 

Central Park is so massive that we had to split it up into two routes. On this more challenging route, it’s a full loop around the entire park, which equals up to about 6 miles. While you can start just about anywhere you wish, we always find the best starting point to be at 59th Street and 7th Avenue.

6) Central Park (Reservoir Loop)

The other shorter route that is much more popular for many Central Park runners is the 1.58 mile reservoir loop around the park’s massive body of water! This route has its own soft surfaced gravel running track that runners can use to their heart’s content. If you run this path, be sure to run counterclockwise so you don’t interfere with the flow of foot traffic!

7) Prospect Park

For all of our Brooklyn runners, you simply can’t go wrong with Prospect Park! With Grand Army Plaza serving as the perfect starting point, you can give this 3.5 mile route a try next time around. There’s a designated running lane along the Park Drive that makes it easy to get in your zone.

8) Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Moving onto Queens, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is one of the best running routes at your disposal. You can get anywhere from 3-4 miles if you complete a whole loop, starting at the boardwalk outside the 7 train’s Mets–Willets Point subway stop. You’ll run by Citi Field, the Fountain of the Planets, and much more too…it’s beautiful. Definitely go in the morning or at night, because during the day it could be busy and super hot.

9) Rockaway Beach

There’s no other feeling like the ocean breeze hitting your face while you’re running on the sand. At this NYC beach, you can either run on the sand to your heart’s desire, or take advantage of the over 5 mile long boardwalk that runs up and down Rockaway Beach. There’s a dedicated running lane as well as water fountains along the way too.

10) Silver Lake Park

In our opinion, Staten Island is such an underrated running spot! Especially Silver Lake Park, which has a decent body of water to loop around. If you start outside the Staten Island St. George Terminal and the Ferry Terminal Viaduct, you can get a 4.5 mile run in as you loop around the body of water in the park and back to the starting point. You’ll see Borough Hall, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and of course the gorgeous park.

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* This article was originally published here