Tony Potts, 69, a retiree from Ormond Beach, Fla., receives his first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shot Tuesday as part of the company's phase three clinical trial. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

Tony Potts, 69, a retiree from Ormond Beach, Fla., receives his first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine shot Tuesday as part of the company's phase three clinical trial.

How much will vaccines against the coronavirus cost? Even though none has finished clinical testing, some clues about pricing are starting to emerge.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Moderna, one of the leading horses in the vaccine race, has already made deals at between $32 and $37 per dose of its experimental coronavirus vaccine in agreements with some foreign countries, rattling consumer advocates, who fear an unfair deal for U.S. taxpayers.

These Moderna prices reflected "smaller volume agreements," Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel said during a conference call Wednesday to discuss the company's second-quarter financial results. He added that the price would come down for larger volume agreements, hinting at a lower price for U.S. taxpayers.

Still, advocates are worried. Moderna has been developing its vaccine with hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of help from the federal government.

In mid-April, the drugmaker won a $483 million award from BARDA, the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, toward research and development of its coronavirus vaccine. And that award could ultimately be worth almost $1 billion if the company meets all its goals under the contract, according to federal records.

Moderna has been working on its vaccine with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which anticipates spending an additional $410 million on the effort. This includes money for preclinical and early clinical research, but the bulk of it is going toward the crucial phase three clinical trial that began on July 27 and will include up to 30,000 people.

Given the upfront investment in the Moderna vaccine by the government, there are sharp questions about its eventual pricing. "It's a classic example of taxpayers paying twice for medicines," says Zain Rizvi, a law and policy researcher at Public Citizen focused on pharmaceuticals. "Now it wants to turn around and charge those very same taxpayers the highest public price for a potential COVID-19 [vaccine]. That's outrageous."

The federal government has been announcing procurement agreements over the past few months with pharmaceutical companies that are part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's push to have a vaccine widely available by January. So far, the prices implied by publicly released deals work out to between $4 and $20 per dose.

Moderna's procurement contract with the United States hasn't been announced, but a company spokesperson told NPR in an email that it is "committed to responsible pricing."

Pfizer's agreement with the federal government is the most lucrative to date. The government agreed to buy 100 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, being developed with German biotech firm BioNTech, for $1.95 billion. That works out to about $20 per dose.

Since Pfizer's contract did not include research funding from the federal government, it's not under the same pressure as some of the other vaccine makers to keep prices low for U.S. taxpayers.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are expected to require two doses to protect against the coronavirus.

On July 21, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., asked vaccine manufacturers at a House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing whether they would commit to selling their vaccines "at cost," meaning for no profit.

She turned to Moderna's president, Stephen Hoge, first. "We will not sell it at cost," he replied.

"You will what?" she asked.

"We will not sell it at cost," he repeated. "No, ma'am."

Merck also declined to make this pledge during the hearing. AstraZeneca said its existing deal with the U.S. didn't generate a profit, and Johnson & Johnson said it wouldn't make a profit "during the pandemic."

Moderna views pricing of its coronavirus vaccine in two stages: the pandemic period and the endemic period, CEO Bancel said Wednesday during the conference call.

"At Moderna, like many public health experts, we believe that SARS-CoV-2 virus is not going away, and that there will be a need to vaccinate people or give them a boost for many years to come," he told investors.

During the pandemic period, he said the vaccine would be priced "well below value," but afterward, it would be more in line "with other innovative commercial vaccines." That means prices could go up.

That two-tiered pricing outlook highlights the U.S. government's misstep in failing to add reasonable pricing clauses to its contracts with drugmakers, says Kathryn Ardizzone, a lawyer with Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit public interest group that works on intellectual property issues.

"The reality is that this is not just a free market arrangement," she says. "The U.S. government has put up a billion dollars towards the development of the vaccine, and in doing so, should have realized that it has significant leverage and [negotiated] contract terms that are favorable to the American public and worldwide."

Not everyone agrees. Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University who specializes in intellectual property, says efforts to control vaccine and drug prices during the COVID-19 pandemic could have ripple effects in the biopharmaceutical industry, ultimately stifling innovation.

He says it's a slippery slope to say taxpayers are paying twice for pharmaceuticals because they also financed part of the research. "Because the government is involved in everything in our society, the principles we're establishing would justify the government to dictate prices on not just medicines but also on all products and services from automobiles to smartphones," he says.

It's not clear exactly how much of the bill taxpayers are footing for Moderna's vaccine. Under its contract with BARDA, Moderna is required to disclose regularly the proportion of its funding that comes from the federal government. Public Citizen and Knowledge Ecology International say it hasn't.

"It appears to be violating that contract and implicitly downplayed the critical role of federal scientists in its press releases," Public Citizen's Rizvi said. "This is shocking in some way, but it's also just another example of the erasure of publicly funded science that large pharmaceutical corporations often do."

Gary Disbrow, BARDA's acting director, replied to the groups Thursday night.

"The trust of the American people is vital in the all-of-America response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," Disbrow wrote, stressing his colleagues' commitment to transparency regarding vaccine development. "The contracting officer responsible for the Moderna contract has been in touch with the company and will ensure their compliance with their contractual requirements."

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Vaccine Prices For COVID-19 Begin To Emerge : Shots - Health News - NPR

On March 27, Mayor Eric Garcetti virtually convened 45 mayors from around the world to share their experiences responding to COVID-19 as it rippled throughout the world. These mayors were part of C40 Cities, a network of 96 of the worlds largest cities focused on fighting the climate emergency.

Two weeks earlier the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared the outbreak a pandemic. The C40 quickly repurposed from its focus on tackling climate change to leverage its relationships, capacity, and expertise with cities to facilitate their leadership on the front lines of the response to COVID-19. In short order it rolled out a knowledge base, set up a recovery task force chaired by Mayor Beppe Sala of Milan, and signed up an influential set of global cities to make issues of equity and climate action central to COVID-19 response and recovery.

This is just one example of the diverse global activity and collective action facilitated by city-to-city networks since the onset of COVID-19. It stands in stark contrast to the challenges experienced by the traditional, nation-state multilateral system in facilitating global cooperation to address the crisis. Indeed, the difficulties traditional institutions have faced in providing a coherent and timely response to the pandemic accelerated the impulse for rapid city-to-city cooperation. This instinct was also intensified by the lackluster reaction by many national governments in providing guidance, coordination, and resources within their own countries. Cities and local governments banded together to move forward quickly and decisively.

The prevailing view is that cross-border collaboration and experience sharing among city officials reflect a type of global cooperation based primarily on pragmatism and problem-solving, rather than geopolitical interests, which differentiates it from traditional multilateralism. What is the COVID-19 crisis revealing about this thesis and the value, limitations, and likely evolution of global city-to-city cooperation?

Complementing direct bilateral relationships, a large part of city-to-city cooperation is structured through city networks, whose number has grown exponentially since the 1980s, estimated to total about 300 today. Each network emerged primarily to respond to a specific demand, with the resulting ecosystem encompassing a wide range of specific objectives and aspirations. Some seek to create a political forum for dialogue, cooperation, and knowledge sharing, such as the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which supports an international municipal movement. Others focus on specific sectors or topical areas, such as climate change (C40 Cities), resilience (Global Resilient Cities Network), and migration (Mayors Migration Council).

The pandemic catalyzed initiatives at the national, regional, and global levels. In the United States, the U.S. Conference of Mayors conducted a key survey of cities and facilitated collective advocacy to Congress for additional emergency COVID-19 relief. The mayors of Buenos Aires, Bogot, Lima, Madrid, Montevideo, and Santiago de Chile, all members of the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI), met virtually to share viewpoints and tactics to address the crisis. But many initiatives to support local action have had a global ambition, such as the Beyond the Outbreak platform created by UCLG, Metropolis, and UN-Habitat.

Certain cities belong to multiple networks; others may not belong to any. The decision to engage in city-to-city cooperation varies by their size, staff capacity and resources, and global ambition. The COVID-19 crisis is further forcing city officials to be selective about their engagement. Based on conversations with cities, the most often cited reasons for engaging in international cooperation in response to the pandemic include:

Given the pressures of COVID-19 response, the multiplicity of networks and opportunities, and the limits on resources and staff, cities are beginning to take steps to rationalize their selection and involvement in city networks. The pressures of the pandemic are creating an incentive to:

The creation of city networks has been mostly demand-driven, to meet unique needs in specific sectors or regions. While this provides networks with legitimacy and credibility from their members, it also means city networks have proliferated, creating a fragmented market We might expect city networks to evolve post-COVID along these lines:

Today, cities are in different phases of the pandemic, some still dealing with the emergency response, others reopening and edging toward recovery, and a few, unfortunately, staving off a second wave. At all these stages of the crisis, they are seeking tangible value from engaging with their global peers, disseminating best practices, accelerating the diffusion of innovations, and providing outside validation and elevation of a collective urban voice.

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the continued evolution of these networks. The forthcoming economic recovery provides another opportunity for cities to strengthen and prove their leadership on solving issues of global importance. The COVID-19 crisis revealed to the world that local leadership matters on the frontlines. Now it is an opportune time for city networks to upgrade their ability to realize the collective ambitions of urban leaders and redefine the face of global cooperation.

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How to make the most of city diplomacy in the COVID-19 era - Brookings Institution

Governor Tom Wolf and Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine today highlighted ongoing efforts to expand testing across Pennsylvania to ensure that every Pennsylvanian who wants a test can get one.

If we want to mitigate the spread of this very contagious virus, we must continue to understand how its impacting Pennsylvania. Most importantly, improving access to testing helps Pennsylvanians who want and need to test for COVID-19, Gov. Wolf said. Testing also provides us with critical data to understand where the disease is in our communities so that we can take the necessary proactive measures to stop the spread and continue to protect the public.

The Wolf Administration continues to work to further increase testing in Pennsylvania. This includes partnerships in place with Walmart and Quest Diagnostics, which provide direct access in many communities, including rural areas.

The administration also continues to work with laboratories across the state in order to enhance testing capacity in Pennsylvania, particularly as we see significant national delays in receiving test results due to other states experiencing major case increases.

In Pennsylvania, we are committed to ensuring that testing is accessible, available and adaptable, Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. Through working with our partners, including Walmart and Quest Diagnostics, we are helping to ensure that anyone who needs to get tested for COVID-19 in Pennsylvania can get tested. Testing, along with wearing a mask, washing your hands, maintaining social distancing and contact tracing are essential tools to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania.

Nine drive-thru Walmart testing sites launched on Aug. 5. These nine new sites are in addition to existing Walmart drive-thru sites in Clarion, State College, New Castle and Edinboro.

Walmart is happy to assist Governor Wolf with reliable timely COVID-19 tests via a convenient drive thru, said Jamie Reilly, Walmart regional health and wellness director.

Pennsylvania has conducted the ninth highest total number of tests for COVID-19 in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 1.6 million tests have been completed, which equates to 13 percent of the Pennsylvania population.

At the height of the first wave in April, statewide testing capacity was limited to under 8,000 tests per day. Pennsylvania is now averaging more than 22,000 test results per day, as of Saturday, Aug. 1, and is testing about 4 percent of the population each month.

The most updated testing sites and information is available at the Department of Health. Testing sites continue to be added.

For the updated commonwealth map of testing sites, visit Pennsylvania COVID-19 Viral Testing Sites.

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Wolf Administration Highlights Increased Efforts to Expand COVID-19 Testing Availability - pa.gov

Muslims were caught off guard last week, when the UK government suddenly announced local lockdowns in a slew of areas in northern England where cases have spiked. The announcement came just hours before Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest festivals in Islam.

The restrictions -- published late last Thursday evening -- banned people in the named areas from mixing with other households.

Local politicians and Muslim leaders criticized the timing of the announcement.

"The timing ... it focused people's minds [on Muslims]," Rabnawaz Akbar, a Labour Party councilor in Manchester, told CNN.

The government "have done it on the eve of Eid," leading people to think "it must be the Muslim community's fault," Akbar said. "You see how people would have come to the assumption. [The government] have done it without thinking but of course, they're highlighting a particular demographic. And people are angry and now that anger is focused on a particular community."

A Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement to CNN: "Decisions on lockdowns are based solely on scientific advice and the latest data. Where there are local outbreaks, our priority will remain taking whatever steps are necessary to protect people."

Akbar also criticized Craig Whittaker, a Conservative MP who suggested that England's ethnic minorities were not adhering to pandemic guidelines.

"What I have seen in my constituency is that we have areas of our community ... that are just not taking the pandemic seriously enough," Whittaker said Friday, when asked about the local lockdowns during an interview with LBC radio.

When asked if he was talking about the Muslim population, Whittaker replied: "Of course."

"If you look at the areas where we've seen rises and cases the vast majority -- not, by any stretch of the imagination, all areas -- but it is the BAME [Black, Asian, and minority ethnic] communities that are not taking it seriously enough," he added.

Whittaker's comments were met with an outcry and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked about them at a press briefing on Friday.

The British leader did not condemn the MP, and said: "Well, I think it's up to all of us in government to make sure that the message is being heard loud and clear by everybody across the country, and to make sure that everybody is complying with the guidance."

This week, the Downing Street spokesperson told CNN: "At Friday's press conference the Prime Minister apologized to all those who could not celebrate Eid in the way they had wished, and thanked the work of mosques and imams in getting the message out about the importance of following safety guidance.

"And he set out in his Eid message that he is hugely grateful to the Muslim community for their efforts and sacrifices throughout this pandemic."

"To single out one community this way is wholly wrong, stigmatizing and unbecoming of an MP," the group said in a statement.

Following the controversy, Whittaker said his evidence was based on data from local officials at Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire.

"In an age where authenticity is a behaviour scarcely exhibited by public figures, I am glad that I have chosen open, honest and frank discussion over political expediency and ... I make no apology for my comments," he added.

Tell MAMA director Iman Atta told CNN that far-right extremists had been blaming Muslims for the pandemic since the beginning of the UK's lockdown in March.

"In March, April, May, we saw a lot of conspiracy theories floating around," she said. "The far right were sharing photos of Muslims congregating and flouting the rules at mosques which were, in reality, shut down and not functioning. The photos were from last year," she said.

"And they have spread rumors online about how BAME communities are the ones spreading the virus, so [people] should not be interacting with them."

Atta's findings are echoed by those of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which represents several UK mosques and Muslim organizations.

Earlier in the lockdown "there were theories spreading that Muslims would gather secretly during Ramadan, that mosques were secretly open -- none of that was true and there was no evidence," Zainab Gulamali, a spokesperson for the organization, told CNN.

Gulamali added that she was disappointed that Johnson and his Conservative Party colleagues had failed to condemn Whittaker's comments on BAME people.

Johnson himself has repeatedly been accused of Islamophobia. He drew sharp rebukes from Muslim communities in 2018 over an article he wrote about Muslim women wearing burqas. The politician said women who wore the veil resembled "letter boxes" and "bank robbers."

He later offered a partial apology, saying: "In so far as my words have given offense over the last twenty or thirty years when I've been a journalist and people have taken those words out of my articles and escalated them, of course, I am sorry for the offense they have caused."

Crime figures suggest that the UK has become a more hostile place for Muslims in recent years. Despite accounting for less than 5% of the UK's 66 million-strong population, 52% of religious hate crime offenses committed in England and Wales between 2017 and 2018 targeted Muslims.

Much of the recent blame placed on Muslims appears to be driven by the fact that Covid-19 has hit the country's ethnic minorities hard.

"There is extensive racist commentary on social media," the researchers wrote. "Videos have also been circulated on social media showing the South Asian community flouting social distancing in an attempt to stir conflict."

"We don't want to sweep under the carpet the issues that [Muslim communities] do face," Rabnawaz Akbar said.

"A lot of people live in densely-populated terraced housing," he said, explaining that many Muslims "live with their parents or their grandparents, so you have multigenerational households. A lot of people work in low income and frontline jobs -- they're taxi drivers or health care [workers] ... they're inevitably going to be at risk of catching the virus."

"But rather than blame them, the solution is that local and central government should work with the communities to take extra precautions," he said.

Muslims are far from alone in shouldering increased racial resentment during the Covid-19 crisis.

For many minorities the new threat of the pandemic has only intensified the age-old danger of bigotry.

Excerpt from:

In the latest sign of Covid-19-related racism, Muslims are being blamed for England's coronavirus outbreaks - CNN

8/6/2020

~504,768 positive cases in Florida residents and 5,621 positive cases in non-Florida residents~

The Florida Department of Health (DOH), in order to provide more comprehensive data, releases a report on COVID-19 cases in Florida once per day. The DOH COVID-19 dashboard is also providing updates once per day. The state also provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county, which is available here.

In order to make the daily COVID-19 report easier to download and more accessible, the daily report will now separate case line data in a separate PDF. Both reports will continue to be updated daily. The case line data report is available here.

Test results for more than 104,100 individuals were reported to DOH as of midnight, on Wednesday, August 5. Today, as reported at 11 a.m., there are:

On August 5, 8.34 percent of new cases** tested positive.

There are a total of 510,389 Florida cases*** with 7,747 deaths related to COVID-19.

Since August 5, the death of one hundred twenty Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have been reported in Brevard, Broward, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Dade, Escambia, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jackson, Lake, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Volusia and Walton counties.

Florida long-term care facility data:

The antibody COVID-19 test results report will be provided once a week and contains county, race and lab information on antibody COVID-19 tests conducted in Florida. The report for antibody tests conducted by private health care providers is available here and the report for antibody tests conducted at state-supported COVID-19 testing sites is available here.

More information can also be found here.

* Florida residents that are diagnosed with COVID-19 and isolated out of state are not reflected on the Florida map.

**This percentage is the number of people who test positive for the first time divided by all tests, excluding people who have previously tested positive.

***Total cases overview includes positive cases in Florida residents and non-Florida residents tested in Florida.

More Information on COVID-19

To find the most up-to-date information and guidance on COVID-19, please visit the Department of Healths dedicatedCOVID-19 webpage. For information and advisories from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), please visit the CDC COVID-19 website, this website is also available in Spanish and Creole.For more information about current travel advisories issued by the U.S. Department of State, please visit the travel advisory website.

For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, please contact the Departments dedicated COVID-19 Call Center by calling1-866-779-6121.The Call Center is available 24 hours per day.Inquiries may also beemailed toCOVID-19@flhealth.gov.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Florida Department of Health, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @HealthyFla. For more information please visit http://www.FloridaHealth.gov.

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20200806 Florida Department of Health Updates New COVID-19 Cases, Announces One Hundred Twenty Deaths Related to COVID-19 - Florida Disaster

The Kima:w Medical Center on the Hoopa Valley Reservation. | Image via kimaw.org.

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Health officials with the Hoopa Valley Tribe have confirmed nearly two dozen cases of COVID-19 on the reservation since Monday morning, and according to Chairman Byron Nelson, Jr., the outbreak is tied to a family trip outside the county.

Basically its one family that had been exposed, he told the Outpost via phone this morning. Theyre being monitored and quarantined, and the county is doing the [contact tracing] on all those cases.

The tribe has identified 23 cases since Monday morning. All of those cases remain active, according to the tribes Office of Emergency Services dashboard. On Tuesday, the tribe issued a press release announcing that the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council had chosen to shut down non-emergency operations for two weeks to allow for contact tracing and other precautions.

That evening, Dr. Eva Smith, medical director at the Kima:w Medical Center, reported another 12 positive cases, and on Wednesday night another five were confirmed, bringing the total number of active cases on the reservation to 23. Prior to Monday, the tribe had only identified a single positive case.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the official countywide COVID-19 case tally stood at 62 active cases and 255 total cases since the first one was identified on Feb. 20. County health officials do include Hoopas case numbers in the countys totals, though as Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich explained yesterday, theres sometimes a lag as the county receives and vets the results.

Nelson said health care workers at the Kima:w Medical Center use both rapid testing kitsthat can provide results within 15 minutes and the more-common molecular testing methods, which require sending samples to commercial labs or the county for results.

At an emergency meeting this morning, the Hoopa Valley Tribe finalized the roster for a COVID-19 response team, Nelson said. This afternoon, on Hoopa Tribal Radio KIDE FM, some key members of that team discussed the outbreak and the tribes response.

One of the things we really want to emphasize is please stay within your household bubble, said Dr. Stephen Stake, chief operations officer at the Kima:w Medical Center. He urged reservation residents to stay away from groups and other households.

Greg Moon, the COVID-19 response teams incident commander, said tribal employees have been placed in key positions and the team is making some great strides right away.

Were taking full authority to mobilize the tribe in this effort, Nelson said. Were making executive decisions, trying to get ahead of this.

Moon said tribal leaders are working to bring in more health care resources. Imagine a tent city coming in here with ventilators, he said. Its not gonna be a small deal; its gonna be a big deal.

The Kima:w Medical Center has conducted about 30 tests per day this week, according to Dr. Stake. He urged reservation residents who need testing to call the facility at (530) 625-4261, ext. 0218.

Nationwide, the New York Times reported last week, there are strong indications that Native Americans have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.

Nelson and the team hes helped assemble are aiming to contain the spread of this outbreak on the Hoopa Valley Reservation.

I hope it stops here, he said.

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Outbreak of COVID-19 Cases in Hoopa Tied to Family That Traveled Out of County, Tribal Chairman Says - Lost Coast Outpost

Thomas Jefferson Health District

RICHMOND The Virginia Department of Health reported Thursday that the statewide total for COVID-19 cases is 95,867 an increase of 818 from the 95,049 reported Wednesday.

The 95,867 cases consist of 92,244 confirmed cases and 3,623 probable cases. There are 2,299 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia 2,191 confirmed and 108 probable. Thats an increase of 25 from the 2,274 reported Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Thomas Jefferson Health District reported 17 new cases, for a total of 1,845 in the entire health district. One new hospitalization was also reported, along with three fatalities.

Two new fatalities were reported in Charlottesville along with one new fatality in Fluvanna County. There have been 44 fatalities associated with the novel coronavirus in the entire health district.

Albemarle County is now reporting 798 cases and 52 hospitalizations. 16 fatalities have been reported in the county.

The city of Charlottesville has reported 505 cases, 25 hospitalizations and 15 fatalities.

Fluvanna County has reported 179 cases, 31 hospitalizations and nine fatalities.

Greene and Louisa Counties both have reported two fatalities each. 153 cases have been reported out of Greene, while 174 cases have been reported out of Louisa. To date, eight hospitalizations have been reported in Greene, with 22 hospitalizations reported in Louisa.

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20 COVID-19 outbreaks in TJHD, 44 fatalities, 1,845 total cases - The Daily Progress

Approving a vaccine in the U.S. usually takes years, but COVID-19 vaccines are moving through in record time. What does that mean? USA TODAY

NEWARK -Twenty three residents have died from coronavirus at one nursing home in Licking County and 10 at another, according to the Licking County Health Department.

Last month, the agency announced an outbreak at Newark Care and Rehabilitation. They were initially notified of the outbreak at the beginning of July.

On Wednesday morning, Licking County Health Commissioner Chad Brown reported 73 Newark Care and Rehabilitation residents and 45 staff members have tested positive for coronavirus, and 23 residents have died from the virus. Brown noted they are working to get the number of active cases from the facility.

Billie Mominey said her mother was one of the first to contract the virus in that facility. Shesaid before her mother's COVID-19 test results came back they had moved her to a different unit in the facility. Within hours, Mominey said thetest results came back positive.

Mominey claimed her mother was not the only resident moved prior to receiving results from their coronavirus test.

More: Evans remembered for dedication to shoe store, downtown, community after COVID-19 death

Newark Care and Rehabilitation at 75 McMillen Drive in Newark(Photo: Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate)

According to Mominey, her mother spent a little over two weeks in the hospital before returning to Newark Care and Rehabilitation. She said there are staff members doing an excellent job, making sure she eats and getting her into a wheelchair to make sure she's still moving.

"But that was a horrible call, sending those patients throughout the building before knowing if she (or they) were positive or not," Mominey said.

Newark Care and Rehabilitation administration could not be reached for comment.

At Middleton Senior Living in Granville, Brown said 10 residents have died from coronavirus. As of Wednesday morning, Brown said 16 residents and 11 staff members have tested positive. He noted the facility has six active cases in residents and two active staff cases. Thatoutbreak was initiallyreported on July 21.

Brown reported 16 resident cases, five staff cases and zero deaths from coronavirus at Arlington Care Center in Newark.

Similar to how LCHD has worked with Newark Care and Rehabilitation during the outbreak, Brown said they've provided Middleton and Arlington's administrative team with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the Ohio Department of Health, as well as personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing supplies.

Brown said staff at Licking County Health Department communicate with the three nursing homes daily.

Middleton Senior Living in Granville

In a statement from Middleton Senior Living, administration said their hearts are with their employees, residents and staff during this time.

"We have been inspired by our staff courage and loyalty. Our team at Middleton Senior Living is comprised of very experienced and talented managers who call the residents their family," they said. "We remain uplifted by the outpouring of support from our families and their testimonials regarding our loving care to our residents."

Middleton administration said they're committed to their safety measures and are following their procedures regarding universal precautions throughout the community. They noted they are adhering to all state regulations and health department guidance.

Last week, Brown told The Advocate the outbreaks would be considered under control once they've gone four days with zero new cases.

As of Tuesday, Brown said Newark Care and Rehabilitation had gone five days without any new cases in residents. He desribed it as an "encouraging development."

For the outbreaks to be considered cleared, Brown explained they would have to go through two incubation periods, or 28 days, without any new cases.

Last week, the outbreak at Newark Care and Rehabilitation prompted residents' loved ones to seek help from the Licking County Commissioners.

More: Loved ones seek help from commissioners regarding Newark nursing home outbreak

At their Thursday meeting, Stephen Short, of Laurelville, told the commissioners his uncle, Bob Evans, was placed in hospice after contracting the coronavirus while a resident at Newark Care and Rehabilitation. Evans has since died.

Newark Care and Rehabilitation at 75 McMillen Drive in Newark(Photo: Sara C. Tobias/The Advocate)

Mandy Wilson, whose brother receives care at Newark Care and Rehabilitation following an accident that left him paraplegic, told The Advocateher brother has described the facility as prison-like.

"Before he was enjoying it. He actually got the good care he needed," Wilson said. "Since March, it's just been a horror story for him."

Other than video chats, Wilson said their family has only been able to visit him through glass.

"It's very hurtful," she said. "It's kind of like somebody died, but you can still hear their voice and talk to them."

Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Newark Advocate today to access all of our content online at offers.newarkadvocate.com.

Wilson said she understands lockdown units in the facility, but says no one is allowed to go outside. She claimed staff have proper personal protective equipment, but the patients don't.

"He says it's like prison. He has no rights," Wilson said. "There's some good nurses and some good aides. He feels like he's in solitary confinement, looking at the four walls. He's telling me 'I think we're going to die in here.'"

Melisa McKinley Bay said her mother was in Newark Care and Rehabilitation for physical therapy.Only July 7, Bay said the nursing home called to say they were discharging her mother. Although her mother was supposed to be in the facility for physical therapy, Bay said her mother was extremely weak. And within eight hours, had fallen and was taken to Licking Memorial Hospital, where she tested positive for coronavirus.

Bay expressed frustration over a lack of communication from the nursing home, saying their family could've removed her from the facility a lot sooner if they'd known.

Bay said her mother, who was 74, diedin Licking Memorial on a ventilator about two weeks ago.

"Something has to be done because 23 (deaths) is way too many," Bay said. "One is way too many."

Bay said she felt the nursing home hadbeen trying to hide the outbreak and had dumped her mom to avoid another coronavirus case.

"She hugged everybody. She would smile - she had the best smile. She was a jokester. She saw the good in everybody," Bay said. "This is serious...It's sad to watch your loved one go through this and to go through it alone. The staff at Licking Memorial was great...but it's so hard. They're still alone. That's probably the hardest part was she was alone when she passed."

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Families express outrage as 33 dead from COVID-19 at two Licking County care facilities - The Newark Advocate

LUBBOCK, Texas As of July 22, Whisperwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center reported 25 COVID-19 deaths in residents to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and was one of only two nursing homes in the state with the most reported virus deaths.

The other nursing home with 25 deaths was Brenham Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Brenham, Texas, according to HHS. One nursing home in Houston had a reported 24 deaths.

Lakeside Rehabilitation and Care Center reported 10 virus deaths in residents and was in the top 50 in terms of number of coronavirus deaths in Texas nursing homes, according to HHS. Bender Terrace reported 4 deaths, or in the top 150 for COVID-19 deaths in state nursing facilities.

Of the 1,215 nursing homes in the state of Texas, 628 of them had at least one case of coronavirus in its residents, according to HHS data. Of those, 329 had at least one resident who had died from the virus.

In total, Whisperwood had 84 residents test positive for COVID-19, as well as 32 employees. There were no active coronavirus cases in Whisperwood residents as of July 22, according to HHS data.

According to a list of nursing homes provided by the HHS, Whisperwood has a total capacity of 126. That would mean that, at least 60 percent of all Whisperwood residents were infected with the virus, with at least 19 percent of all residents dying.

EverythingLubbock.com reached out to Whisperwood by phone on Thursday afternoon. If Whisperwood accepts the invitation to comment, an update will be provided.

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Lubbock nursing home one of two in Texas with most COVID-19 resident deaths - KLBK | KAMC | EverythingLubbock.com