Hurricane Hanna is the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. NASA/NRL hide caption

Hurricane Hanna is the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

Updated at 5:15 a.m. ET Sunday

South Texas is braced for flooding after Hurricane Hanna began battering the state. The first hurricane of the season made landfall twice Saturday as a Category 1 storm.

The first landfall happened at around 5 p.m. about 15 miles north of Port Mansfield, which is about 130 miles south of Corpus Christi, according to the National Weather service. The second landfall took place nearby in eastern Kenedy County. The storm arrived with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

Forecasters early Sunday downgraded Hanna to a tropical storm. But Chris Birchfield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Brownsville, told The Associated Press that residents needed to remain alert. Hanna's winds weakened, but the storm's real threat remained heavy rainfall.

"We're not even close to over at this point," Birchfield added. "We're still expecting catastrophic flooding."

The storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall to Texas' southern coast with the potential for "life-threatening flash flooding," according to the National Weather Service.

The center warned of storm surges as high as 5 feet along Texas' southern coast and said the upper coasts of Texas and Louisiana could expect 3-5 inches of rain. Isolated tornadoes could also appear.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said earlier in the week that the Texas Division of Emergency Management was preparing teams to help communities affected by the storm. He urged residents in the region to avoid roads that flood and listen to local warnings.

On Saturday, prior to the storm making landfall, Abbott issued a disaster declaration and said he had requested an emergency declaration from President Trump and FEMA.

"As Hurricane Hanna approaches, the Lone Star State is taking swift action to support the communities in the path of the storm," Abbott said. "We are closely monitoring the situation and working with local officials to help ensure they have the resources they need to keep Texans safe. I urge Texans in the region to take all necessary precautions and follow the guidance of local officials. I ask our fellow Texans to keep these communities in their prayers as they brace for this storm."

The city of Corpus Christi in Nueces County, which is already dealing with a spike in confirmed coronavirus cases, was among the communities bracing on Saturday for Hanna's arrival. On Friday, Nueces County reported 175 new cases of the coronavirus and five deaths. Of the county's 129 COVID-19 deaths, 119 of them have come in July, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

Ahead of the storm's landfall, the city closed at least one drive-through testing site through Tuesday, according to The Texas Tribune.

As Hurricane Hanna approaches, Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb said he felt certain that the region is prepared to handle both the storm and the pandemic.

"Don't feel like since we've been fighting COVID for five months that we're out of energy or we're out of gas. We're not. We can do these two things together and we're going to win both of them. And so, we'll get through this," McComb told The Associated Press.

But McComb's comments also reflected the realities of the pandemic as he urged residents to take masks with them if they have to evacuate and stay with others.

"We don't want to expose anyone during this storm. ... Even when you're in the house, I recommend wearing a mask if you're in crowded conditions" McComb told The Texas Tribune.

To the south of Corpus Christi in Cameron County, Judge Eddie Trevio told the AP that if families are evacuated to shelters, there are plans in place to make sure they are socially distanced from one another.

As the storm continues to make its path in south Texas, two other storms are being watched closely. Hurricane Douglas is in the Pacific and is expected to either pass nearby or over the main Hawaiian islands sometime Sunday. The National Hurricane Center warned of a "triple threat of hazards," including heavy rainfall and flooding, damaging winds and dangerously high surf.

Farther to the east and south of the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Gonzalo was downgraded to a depression Saturday afternoon. The system brought gusty wind to the southern Windward Islands on Saturday morning. The National Hurricane Center also warned of heavy rainfall with the potential for "life-threatening flash flooding" in the area.

Earlier this year, forecasters from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an above-average hurricane season with at least three to six major hurricanes in 2020.

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Hurricane's Fallout Batters Texas As The Region Confronts A COVID-19 Spike - NPR

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have risen to 16.2 million around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths now stands at more than 648,000.

Latin America is the worst-affected region, with almost 27% of worldwide cases, according to Reuters. It surpassed combined infections in the US and Canada for the first time on 26 July.

Morocco has locked down cities including Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakech following a spike in daily cases.

Florida now has more cases of coronavirus than New York, which was an early epicentre of infection in the US. It has more than 423,000, compared to 416,000 in New York.

The first global pandemic in more than 100 years, COVID-19 has spread throughout the world at an unprecedented speed. At the time of writing, 4.5 million cases have been confirmed and more than 300,000 people have died due to the virus.

As countries seek to recover, some of the more long-term economic, business, environmental, societal and technological challenges and opportunities are just beginning to become visible.

To help all stakeholders communities, governments, businesses and individuals understand the emerging risks and follow-on effects generated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Marsh and McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, has launched its COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications - a companion for decision-makers, building on the Forums annual Global Risks Report.

The report reveals that the economic impact of COVID-19 is dominating companies risks perceptions.

Companies are invited to join the Forums work to help manage the identified emerging risks of COVID-19 across industries to shape a better future. Read the full COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications report here, and our impact story with further information.

2. Asia-Pacific returns to lockdown amid second wave of infections

Lockdown measures are coming back into place around Asia, as authorities try to contain a second wave of cases.

In Vietnam, the city of Da Nang has been closed to tourists after four new cases were confirmed - the country's first since April. It is evacuating 80,000 visitors from the city.

From Wednesday 29 July, Hong Kong will make mask-wearing outdoors mandatory, restrict gatherings to no more than two people and ban dining in restaurants. It expects to record another daily total of more than 100 cases, according to the South China Morning Post.

Professor Brett Sutton, Victoria's chief health officer, said: Were at a very challenging stage with this wave. Theres probably not a country in the world that has gone through a second wave that hasnt found it particularly challenging."

Indonesia is expected to pass 100,000 confirmed cases on 27 July, having overtaken China as the country with the highest number of cases in East Asia.

Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases worldwide as of 26 July 2020, by region.

Image: WHO

3. WHO chief: We're all making life and death decisions

Treat the decisions about where you go, what you do and who you meet as a matter of life and death, the Director-General of the World Health Organization has urged.

Speaking at a media briefing, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic has changed the way we live our lives for good, and finding ways to live them safely will depend on making "good choices".

"It may not be your life, but your choices could be the difference between life and death for someone you love, or for a complete stranger."

Recent outbreaks have been associated with nightclubs and other social gatherings, even in places where transmission had been suppressed, he said, calling on people to not let down their guard against the virus.

"We must remember that most people are still susceptible to this virus. As long as its circulating, everyone is at risk.

"Dont expect someone else to keep you safe. We all have a part to play in protecting ourselves and one another."

Dr Tedros said people needed to understand their situation and how to minimize their exposure.

He urged everyone to ask themselves: Do you know how many cases were reported where you live yesterday? Do you know where to find that information? Are you being careful to keep at least one metre away from others? Are you still cleaning your hands regularly? Are you following the advice of your local authorities?

Catch up with the latest COVID-19 news and interviews via our World Vs Virus podcast:

Original post:

What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 27 July - World Economic Forum

An officer from the Lauderhill Police Department has died from coronavirus-related complications Sunday, officials said.

Corey Pendergrass had been a Lauderhill officer since 1997. He died on Sunday morning.

"It is with a heavy heart that the department announces the passing of our Brother, Officer Corey Pendergrass, who died this morning of complications related to COVID-19," officials wrote in a Tweet. "We will miss you tremendously."

Remembered as a "gentle giant," Pendergrass was also described as a mentor who left an indelible impression on those he encountered, Lauderhill Police Chief Constance Stanley said in a statement.

"The men and women of the Lauderhill Police Department and the entire city were very fortunate to have such a wonderful, kind and giving individual, who was always there when you needed him," Stanley said. "Corey never let anything get the best of him and always looked at the positive side of things when faced with adversity."

Pendergrass is survived by his wife and children.

Florida's death toll for residents who have died from COVID-related causes reached 5,854 Sunday, as the state surpassed New York in number of cases.

Link:

Lauderhill Cop Dies of COVID-19 - NBC 6 South Florida

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Friday that a significant number of COVID-19 patients do not recover quickly, and instead experience ongoing symptoms, such as fatigue and cough.

As many as a third of patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized are not back to their usual health up to three weeks after their diagnosis, the report found.

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

"COVID-19 can result in prolonged illness even among persons with milder outpatient illness, including young adults," the report's authors wrote.

The acknowledgement is welcome news to patients who call themselves "long-haulers" suffering from debilitating symptoms weeks and even months after their initial infection.

"This report is monumental for all of us who have been struggling with fear of the unknown, lack of recognition and many times, a lack of belief and proper care from medical professionals during our prolonged recovery from COVID-19," Kate Porter, who is on day 129 of her recovery, wrote in an email to NBC News.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

Porter, 35, of Beverly, Massachusetts, has had low-grade fevers, fatigue, rapid heart beat, shortness of breath and memory and sleep issues since her diagnosis March 17.

"This gives me hope that we will gain access to more resources throughout our recovery and hopefully, get our lives back to what they once were," Porter wrote.

Download the NBC News app for full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

The CDC report is based on telephone surveys of 274 COVID-19 patients. Ninety-five of those patients, or 35 percent, said they "had not returned to their usual state of health" when they were surveyed, which was at least two to three weeks after their first test.

Many with long-term symptoms are otherwise young and healthy: Among those surveyed between ages 18 and 34, about 20 percent experienced lasting symptoms.

"This report indicates that even among symptomatic adults tested in outpatient settings, it might take weeks for resolution of symptoms and return to usual health," the CDC authors wrote.

The report also pointed out that in contrast, "over 90 percent of outpatients with influenza recover within approximately two weeks" after a positive flu test.

Among the patients who experienced lasting symptoms in the CDC report, 71 percent reported fatigue, 61 percent had lasting cough, and 61 percent reported ongoing headaches.

The CDC added that preventative measures, such as physical distancing, face masks and frequent hand-washing, continue to be important to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Follow NBC HEALTH on Twitter & Facebook.

Erika Edwards is a health and medical news writer and reporter for NBC News and "TODAY."

Link:

CDC: One-third of COVID-19 patients who aren't hospitalized have long-term illness - NBC News

Biotech company Moderna Inc. on Sunday announced up to $472 million in additional federal funding for development of a COVID-19 vaccine. This is in addition to $483 million Moderna has already received from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company is believed to be the frontrunner in the race to market a vaccine to combat the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 650,000 people worldwide.

"Following discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and consultations with Operation Warp Speed over the past several months, the company has decided to conduct a significantly larger Phase 3 clinical trial, leaving a gap in BARDA funding that will be closed by this contract modification," a press release on Sunday stated. "Under the terms of the revised contract, BARDA is expanding their support of the company's late stage clinical development of mRNA-1273, including the execution of a 30,000 participant Phase 3 study in the U.S."

Phase 3, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial is expected to include approximately 30,000 participants. The total value of the award is now approximately $955 million, according to the company.

"Encouraged by the Phase 1 data, we believe that our mRNA vaccine may aid in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing future outbreaks," Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel said in a statement.

Moderna shares have soared more than 270% this year.

"Working together with collaborators like NIH, the Company hopes to achieve a shared goal that the participants in the COVE study are representative of the communities at highest risk for COVID-19 and of our diverse society," according to the press release.

The Company remains on track to be able to deliver approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year.

Read this article:

Moderna to receive another $472 million from US for COVID-19 vaccine efforts - ModernHealthcare.com

7/26/2020

~409,585 positive cases in Florida residents and 4,926 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 120,600 individuals were reported to DOH as of midnight, on Friday, July 24. Today, as reported at 11 a.m., there are:

On July 24, 11.43 percent of new cases** tested positive.

There are a total of 414,511 Florida cases*** with 5,777 deaths related to COVID-19.

Since July 24, the death of one hundred twenty-four Florida residents who tested positive for COVID-19 have been reported in Alachua, Bay, Broward, Dade, Duval, Gadsden, Hernando, Indian River, Jackson, Lee, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Union and Volusia 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.

Continued here:

20200725 Florida Department of Health Updates New COVID-19 Cases, Announces One Hundred Twenty-Four Deaths Related to COVID-19 - Florida Disaster

We are near the end of July, and COVID-19 still is spreading uncontrollably in the Houston area. The public is bombarded daily with a slew of metrics: new cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths.

What do they all mean? Local government reporters Zach Despart and Mike Morris review this public data every day. We asked them to help you understand how to make sense of it all, starting with the question on everyone's mind: How bad is the situation now?

Mike Morris: Well, its not great. Were still adding more cases than public health officials can keep up with, a fifth of all tests conducted for the virus across the region are coming back positive a rate seven times higher than most of May and many local hospitals are under tremendous strain, particularly in their intensive care units.

The good news is that overall COVID hospital admissions finally are falling, with the rate of ICU admissions roughly flat.

Zach Despart: The first thing to keep in mind is that in order to get the full picture, you have to look at several metrics together. And because there sometimes are lags in how the government reports data, resulting in single-day spikes, its best to look at seven-day trends.

Lets start with cases. To see the daily counts, try the city-county COVID dashboard or the related Texas Medical Center chart. Our colleagues also track local and statewide metrics here.

Right now, the seven-day daily average of new cases in Harris County is 1,500. Thats high. To put that in perspective, Houston and Harris County health department contact tracers can handle about 600 cases a day.

Another data point is the number of tests that come back positive, which in the TMC system is at about 18 percent. On June 1, that figure was 5 percent. The governors team set 10 percent as a warning benchmark, which we exceeded a month ago.

Positive tests are called a leading indicator, which researchers can use to project hospitalizations and deaths. But it is an imperfect one; a limited ability for testing means that health experts believe the number of infections may be as much as 10 times greater than the documented figure.

Other metrics are more reliable.

MM: Hospitalizations are the best indicator of the virus spread, in large part because those with mild or no symptoms may never get tested or seek care, and, thus, may never show up in the data.

To gauge how the hospitals are doing, we look at two data sets: One is from the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, also known as SETRAC, which covers the 25-county region anchored by Houston. The other is from the Texas Medical Center, which pulls data from every facility in the region that is affiliated with seven large hospital systems headquartered in the huge medical complex south of downtown. The TMC figures come primarily from Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

On the SETRAC dashboard, you can see hospital beds in all 25 counties, or select one at a time. In Harris, only about half of the operational general beds are full, but thats not a useful way to measure the strain caused by the virus. The most valuable resource and the most limited one in a pandemic, when a lot of patients are severely ill at once is space in intensive care units. And the data shows ICUs have been near capacity across the county for much of July.

We typically look at the TMC data on this capacity point; while the SETRAC data is interactive and shows a longer-term trend, the TMC data, while not perfect, more clearly spells out ICU capacity. (Here is the explanation of what the phases of surge capacity mean.) The institutions have had a few hiccups in conveying exactly how urgent their capacity challenges are, though.

ZD: Long story short, in late June the TMC executives warned ICU usage was increasing at an alarming rate. Then the CEOs walked back their statements. And then the ICU slides disappeared from the TMCs online deck just after the system hit 100 percent of base capacity for the first time during the pandemic. Understandably, this alarmed some people, and we wrote a story about it. TMC replaced the data a few days later, removed the scary red and orange colors from the charts, and added context.

Does this switcheroo mean the data is untrustworthy, as some have suggested? Of course not. But some of the revised slides are wonky and require some explanation. Here are two we find particularly helpful.

MM: This chart on ICU occupancy is a graphic designers nightmare (spiky green boxes!), but its important. The column on the left shows the raw count of ICU patients (COVID patients and total patients, marked by yellow lines) and which phase of operations the combined count requires. TMC ICUs have been in Phase 2 for most of July, adding staff and equipment to convert normal beds into intensive care beds.

Now, lets look at the ovals listing percentages to the right. For much of July, COVID patients have made up roughly half of all medical center ICU patients (the oval at the bottom left). Thats a significant burden the state and county warning benchmarks consider anything higher than 15 percent a red flag.

What about the lighter blue percentage ovals? Those figures try to convey the wiggle room provided by surge capacity. As of Friday, for instance, if all Phase 2 beds were added, the medical center ICUs would be 85 percent full, with 42 percent of all ICU beds filled with COVID patients.

Dr. Marc Boom, CEO of Houston Methodist, and Dr. Jim McDeavitt, dean of clinical affairs at Baylor College of Medicine, said they know the capacity slides can be hard to interpret.

What were all seeing is people on either extreme trying to use data to prove their more extreme views, whether its somebody looking at that and saying, Theres no problem, look at all these beds, or frankly people looking at, Oh my gosh weve gotten through Phase 1, the sky is falling, Boom said. Both of those are wrong.

If the dark blue of Phase 1 is your favorite restaurant on a Wednesday night, McDeavitt said, the sky blue of Phase 2 is that restaurant on Mothers Day.

When we get up into the light blue zone (Phase 3), thats when we start to deliver care in a way nobody really wants to, like putting two beds in one room or putting beds into places in a hospital where we wouldnt normally put beds, McDeavitt said.

And that gray box at the top? Armageddon, McDeavitt said. We have medical ships showing up in the port of Houston. That scenario, Boom agreed, would be like New York City in March. The gray box, he said, certainly is not meant to reassure people that theres some endless supply of beds.

One last thing to note here is that this ICU capacity data is aggregated from multiple facilities, and that not every hospital has the same ability to add surge beds. For example, Harris Countys public safety net hospitals have regularly reported ICU usage above 100 percent during the pandemic and continue to transfer patients to other facilities due to a lack of space.

A lot of people have focused on this projection slide, but its not a crystal ball. Its a simple calculation: If ICUs continue to be this full, how quickly will the TMC enter its two phases of surge capacity at the current rate of COVID ICU admissions?

Hospitals have some control over one part of that equation: The numbers of non-COVID patients in intensive care, many of whom are there to recover from procedures that can be delayed. We saw this play out this month: TMC ICUs were initially projected to enter Phase 3 (formerly dubbed unsustainable surge capacity) within two weeks, but that date always stayed 12 to 13 days away.

There are two reasons for this: The count of non-COVID patients fell 16 percent between July 2 and July 5 as procedures were postponed, and has not returned to its early-July levels. And that was followed by two weeks during which the 7-day average growth in COVID ICU cases slowed every day.

ZD: And heres a brief primer on the SETRAC data. We primarily look at three data points: COVID cases occupying general beds, those in ICU beds and total ICU usage.

This graph (click here and then click the "Hospital/COVID census" button) shows how many COVID patients are hospitalized in the 25-county region, split between general beds (blue) and the portion of those that are in the ICU (red). There are thousands of general beds available across the region, though that figure still is useful because it helps predict future ICU usage. Why? Because some of those people, unfortunately, get sicker and need intensive care.

The number of ICU patients is of particular concern, because those resources are more limited.

This chart (click here and then click the "ICU Bed Usage" button) shows the total ICU usage in the region (blue) and the share of those patients that are being treated for COVID (green). As you can see, weve been pretty close to using up all the base ICU capacity since early June. And remember, this is an average of dozens of hospitals; some are into their surge capacity while others are below it.

The second marker to watch here is the share of ICUs that are filled with COVID patients. Under the state benchmark, this figure should be no higher than 15 percent; for more than a month it has been above 40 percent. Why is this concerning? COVID patients need to be isolated from others and require more staff attention and supplies, such as PPE, than other ICU cases.

And some of these ICU patients die, bringing us to our last data point.

MM: Whats helpful to understand is that these metrics increase in succession. In June we saw an increase in cases after the state began to reopen. In late June and early July, hospitalizations surged. Mid-July, predictably, has brought an increase in deaths. Harris County has reported 596 fatalities to date, while the state has tallied 4,717. Most have come since June. (You can find these stats in the statewide data dashboard.)

The statewide death rate as a share of total cases, however, is quite low just 1.2 percent, well below the 7.7 percent rate in New York, which was battered by the virus in the spring.

Why is that? Three primary reasons: the Texans who made up the recent case surge often were younger and more capable of fighting off the disease, doctors have gotten better at treating it over the past six months, and many of the patients who are among the recent surge in cases are still fighting the disease it is inevitable that a portion of them will die. Some critics of Texass coronavirus restrictions including a brief stay-at-home order and current mask rules point to the low death rate as evidence those measures were unneeded.

Doctors stress its important to consider that the outcomes of a COVID infection arent binary; that is, life or death. McDeavitt said he is confident that once intensive studies are completed on the lasting damage the virus does to the body, researchers will find non-trivial percentages of patients with permanent lung damage, with cognitive impairments, and with heart attacks, strokes and other maladies caused by blood clots.

ZD: These data sets, while sometimes hard to read, are valuable for us and the public to understand the spread and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic here. Feel free to ask us questions via email or Twitter, and continue to follow the Chronicles coronavirus coverage.

zach.despart@chron.com

mike.morris@chron.com

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So, how bad is COVID-19 in Houston? A guide to reading the data - Houston Chronicle

So-called serology research looks for antibodies in the blood that fight the illness, and how many of us have them. Other research looks at how long these antibodies last. The latest results from these studies are said to show us two kinds of bad news -- that immunity after exposure to the illness is not such a sure thing, and that the number of us who have been exposed and fought off COVID-19 are fewer than hoped.

This pushes our goal of herd immunity farther into the distance, potentially even calling it into question altogether. But in measuring antibodies for COVID-19, might we have overlooked other blood markers that help fight off the sickness? Is it possible we are under-estimating both how long immunity lasts, and how close to herd immunity we really are?

Consider some recent observations.

COVID-19 cases may be surging across the state and the nation, but in former hotspots for the virus like Wuhan, China; New York; Spain; Sweden and the Lombardy region of Italy, case numbers and deaths have been declining steadily. Lombardy, once the source of a horrific COVID-19 outbreak, recently had two straight days with no deaths linked to the virus.

These declines have come about despite seroprevalence surveys that say just 5, 15 or 20% of the population has had the illness in those locales, and other data suggesting that antibodies fade quickly. For health officials, such big declines, with only small exposure to illness in the population, prove the power of lockdowns, social distancing, masking, handwashing and PPE.

Others have begun to argue something far more hopeful. That while masking, social distancing and handwashing and lockdowns are all powerful tools in reducing the spread of illness, they aren't enough to get the credit for so many hotspots having gone cold. Instead, they say, more of us may be immune than we realize.

"When we get exposed to an infection, two big types of immune responses occur," says Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, an oncologist at Mayo Clinic who conducts research on the type of blood cells that help us fight infection. "One is called antibody-mediated immunity. This is where you make specific proteins called antibodies to fight infections."

"The second type of response is called cell-mediated (or T-cell) immunity. Here you don't make antibodies, but you actually have specific cells that target the offending infection." Serologic studies measure antibodies, but do not measure cell-mediated immunity.

In addition, Rajkkumar says, serologic tests can miss antibodies that are present in lower concentration than the assay can detect, or we may have other antibodies directed at the virus than what a given serologic test is designed to identify.

"The virus has many proteins," he says, "and it is possible that a person is developing antibodies against other parts of the virus that we are not checking."

Some even wonder if recent immunizations in children are what's made them less susceptible to bad outcomes from COVID-19.

"Back in March when we were all thinking out loud," Rajkumar says, "one of the thoughts I had was, why were children relatively protected from being seriously ill with COVID-19? Was it because of the multiple childhood vaccines they receive leading to a more responsive immune system?"

Answering these questions in the lab is no small task.

"We would have to do T-cell assays in a well-defined population to find out how many people have only antibodies, how many have only T-cells responses, and how many have both," he explains. "Then we need adequate follow-up to determine what proportion get COVID-19 in the future. Those studies are hard to do."

Researchers do know some persons appear to have T-cells that are cross-reactive to SARS-Cov-2 from blood samples collected before the pandemic. A recent study from Sweden has shown there are close family contacts who have reactive T-cells after having been exposed to COVID-19 without developing antibodies.

"I think the big decline in new cases we see in many hotspots are partly explained by masks, partly explained by social distancing, and may partly be explained by a larger portion of the population already being exposed."

"All of these observations put together makes us wonder if a greater proportion of the population is not susceptible to COVID-19 than what current sero-prevalence studies suggest," Rajkumar says.

Rajkumar has been sharing these questions on Twitter, and they are the subject of lively interactions between some of the nation's top scientists.

So, if serology studies only show us part of the picture, how many of us are potentially immune to COVID-19?

"I think it's much higher," Rajkumar says. "I think it's at least double what sero-prevalence studies are reporting."

See the article here:

What if more of us have fought off COVID-19 than we think? - Grand Forks Herald

Over 100 days in quarantine have come and gone for New Jerseyans. Yet COVID-19 is rising among young people. Is this worth worrying over?

Stay alert, not anxious, advised Dr. Mikhail Mike Varshavski of Chatham Family Medicine, in a virtual interview hosted Thursday by the Atlantic Health System, parent organization of Morristown Medical Center.

During his half-hour talk, titled Community Conversations: Why COVID-19 Is Increasing Among Young Adults, Varshavski credited an increase in COVID cases to the increased availability of testing.

During a COVID briefing earlier this month, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichelli said New Jersey has seen a 10 percent increase in coronavirus infections in the 18-29 age group since April. Persichelli attributed this to partying.

While acknowledging partying has had an effect, Varshavski said there are multi-variables why young folks are getting this.

One reason for the increase, he said, is that more young people are getting tested.

When the pandemic began, we really urged people to save testing for those who really need it because we were short on supplies.

Since this increase in cases should not be seen as a red flag, according to Varshavski, we absolutely need to return back to normal, but we need to do it smart.

If we just keep America shut down completely, we are now increasing the harms and really getting limited benefit return on that, he said. Isolation for the human mind is toxic.

As the total days in quarantine are stacking up, young folks, a demographic excluding children and those over 40, are experiencing caution fatigue.

We actually have something similar to that in the healthcare space called Alarm Fatigue, he said.

If you have a monitor thats constantly beeping, giving off alarmswhen its doing it too much, our brains stop paying attention to it and thats dangerous.

Therefore, it is imperative for individuals to return back to their routines. Safely, that is.

The main thing that causes anxiety with this pandemic is the break up of our routine,Varshavski said,.

He suggested getting people back to work and reopening schools.

Does that mean theres a one-size-fits-all solution? he asked. Absolutely not.

Varshavski suggests constantly analyzing data from schools to monitor the potential spread of the virus and ensure that it is limited.

At the same time, he said its still vital that people avoid high-risk activities, especially young people.

Asymptomatic or presymptomatic, which describes those not yet showing symptoms, can be spreading this virus rapidly, Varshavski said.

As a young person, you could be the super spreader that gets your grandparents sick, your family members sick, the people around you at your job sick, who may not have a great immune system.

In the meantime, before everything reopens, he said it is important to stay in contact with family and friends. While following social distancing guidelines, of course.

If you are communicating with loved ones virtually during this time, Varshavski continued, it also is wise to recognize the dangers of spreading misinformation on social media.

When viewing a misleading graph posted on Instagram or a fake quote shared on Facebook, you should pause and take care before you share, Varshavski said.

Sometimes, he said, sharing unreliable social media content will cause more anxiety and damage.

MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Read more from the original source:

Chatham Doctor: Beware 'caution fatigue' with COVID-19, re-open safely - Morristown Green

OGDEN Next month, when students, faculty and staff return to Ben Lomond High School following an extended absence caused by the global pandemic, one of their own will be missing.

According to her obituary, on June 23, COVID-19 claimed the life of Darla Checketts, 58, a family and consumer science teacher at the school.

Tammy Brown-Johansen, who also teaches FACS classes at Ben Lomond, has been a friend and neighbor of Checketts for more than two decades. She doubts that the word got out to all the students, so it will be a difficult time when they return to school and Ms. Checketts is nowhere to be found.

Its going to be rough when the students come back and go, Well, where is she?, Brown-Johansen said. Theyll have questions. Some of them, these inner-city kids, bond with these teachers, and this will be hard.

Its a tragedy; its horrible. For the family, its devastating, but for us ... Brown-Johansen said, trailing off.

After Checketts died, Brown-Johansen remembers being at the school one day when she ran into a couple of the student custodians who clean the building over the summer.

One of the custodians was one of Darlas students, Brown-Johansen recalls. I told her Darla passed, and this cute little student contacted all her friends, and they collected money to have a tree planted in the forest in her name.

Some of those students showed up at Checketts viewing.

And then they gave me the $60 left over from their collection for me to give it to the family, Brown-Johansen said.

For these students many from lower-income families that donation represented a lot of money, Brown-Johansen said.

STERLING SCHOLAR

According to her obituary, Darla Jean Payne Checketts was born Jan. 20, 1962, in Ontario, Oregon, the oldest of four children. She grew up in Kaysville, graduating from Davis High School in 1980, and was chosen as the Sterling Scholar in home economics.

Beginning at age 14, Checketts spent nine summers working in West Yellowstone, Montana, with the goal of paying for all her college expenses, according to the obituary. Her plan worked, and she graduated from Utah State University with a bachelors degree in home economics education.

A fan of the Peace Corps, Checketts spent two years teaching home economics at a high school in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She later taught at the high school in Malad City, Idaho, for five years.

In 1989, Checketts married Cameron Checketts in the Logan Temple, and they raised five children at their home in West Point. She was a stay-at-home mother, working at a local preschool when her children were at school.

Brown-Johansen says she and Checketts had a lot in common they lived in the same neighborhood, their daughters were the same age, and the two women had studied the same major in college.

It was Brown-Johansen who approached Checketts about a teaching job at Ben Lomond High.

As her kids got older and her youngest, twin boys were in high school, we were in need of another family and consumer science teacher, Brown-Johansen said. It was a part-time position, and Darla only wanted to work part time. I asked her to please come and work with the students at Ben Lomond.

For five years, Checketts worked with Brown-Johansen and two other teachers in the FACS department at the school. She knew how to help students who were struggling in an academic setting, her colleagues say.

SILENT LEADER

Ben Lomond High Principal Steve Poll remembers Checketts as a quiet but powerful force at the school.

She was not one of those teachers who has a loud, big presence on campus, he said. She was more of a silent leader.

Poll said Checketts chose to teach half-time at the school every other day so she could spend time with family.

She still liked to teach, but she also wanted to be there for her grandkids, Poll said.

Poll praised Checketts strong connection with her students. He said she was one of those dedicated teachers who would sacrifice her own personal time to help her charges.

Makenzie Thompson, who also teaches in the FACS department at Ben Lomond, frequently saw that personal sacrifice in action. In a social media post after Checketts death, Thompson wrote: There were many lunches where she wouldnt take a break because she was busy tutoring or letting students retake tests. ... She worked diligently to empower and teach her students enough so they could make better futures for themselves.

Thompson also praised Checketts organizational skills, calling her the most organized teacher I have ever met.

The poor dear had to share a classroom with me this past year and let me just say that I have kind of embraced the chaos of glitter everywhere and students leaving their stuff in each crevice like its their bedroom, Thompson said. Despite this, Darla just went with the flow and made the best of the situation.

ALL ABOUT FAMILY

Brown-Johansen echoes the organized-yet-laid-back vibe of her friend. She said that although Checketts was incredibly clean and organized, shed let her whole house get messed up playing with the grandkids.

Theyd be making something in the kitchen, and thered be flour all over the place, Brown-Johansen said. But it was OK, because her grandkids were with her.

On the day Thompson posted her social media tribute to the person she called her sweet friend/work mom, she and Brown-Johansen had just gone through Checketts classroom, collecting her personal belongings to return them to her family.

Darla did not have many personal items at the school, Thompson wrote. They all fit in 1 box, but in that single box there were 3 framed pictures of her family.

Thompson says that showed Checketts priorities. She loves her children and husband so much and I know that she will continue to love and watch out for them, she wrote.

However, both Thompson and Brown-Johansen say their friend saw her students as her kids as well.

My only thing Id want people to know is that she really, really, really cared about the kids at school, Brown-Johansen said. Thats the thing about working at Ben Lomond. Its not a job; its a stewardship. If its not about the kids, youre not doing it right. And she knew that, and she did it right.

WHAT HAPPENED?

According to Brown-Johansen, Checketts son had recently returned home from an LDS mission.

He was the first one sick, then she got it, and then her husband got it, she said. I didnt even know she was ill. She was only ill one week.

Brown-Johansen said Checketts had gone to the doctor the night before she died because she wasnt feeling well and said she couldnt breathe.

They knew she had it ... but they sent her home; they didnt think she needed to be hospitalized, Brown-Johansen said.

The next day, her condition worsened. Her son, whod been frequently checking on her, decided to take her back to the hospital.

He went in to get her to take her to the emergency room and she was gone, Brown-Johansen said.

Brown-Johansen remembers the last time she was with her friend. It was June 2, just three weeks before her death, and the teachers in the FACS department were meeting at the school to deep-clean the kitchen in the foods lab at the school. She doesnt specifically remember their final conversation, but shes fairly certain it had to do with either kids or school.

It was always either talking about her children, or my children, or the kids at school, she said. Thats what we mostly talked about.

COVID WAKE-UP CALL

Thompson says shes taken the opportunity of her friends death to refresh her commitment to following the recommended safety guidelines during the pandemic including wearing face masks and maintaining social distance in public.

Even though the percentage of COVID-19 cases compared to the general population may not seem scary to some, please know that the family and friends of that percentage of peoples lives have been altered forever, she writes.

Adds Brown-Johansen: This has been a wake-up call to those who think COVID-19 isnt real.

Poll, the principal at Ben Lomond, said the personal nature of the loss makes it a bit more real for everyone involved.

The thing that makes it seem a little more concerning is that it was somebody that we actually know, Poll said. Its not a news story, its not somebody in New York, its not a number or a statistic its somebody you know.

Poll said he realizes that some educators may be uncomfortable about going back into the classroom this fall, but he said district and school administrators have been attacking the problem for months now.

I can see teachers being more concerned because they havent been in on the day-to-day planning, Poll said. But the administration, weve worked on it all summer long, and we have a good plan.

Still, Poll said Checketts death has been a shock to the entire community.

It definitely hits home, he said.

A viewing for Checketts was held July 10 in Layton; a graveside service followed the next day at the West Point City Cemetery.

Brown-Johansen said she feels empty and cried forever over the loss of her friend.

It was like losing my sister, she said. Honestly, it makes me sad to talk about her, but it also makes me sad not to talk about her.

As for Thompson, she said the family and consumer science department at Ben Lomond High will be forever altered.

Even though Ive only known Darla for 4 years, I feel like its been much longer, she wrote in her online tribute. I dread returning to school without my friend. Our team will not be the same without her.

View original post here:

Ben Lomond High teacher, victim of COVID-19, remembered as caring educator - Standard-Examiner

Robert and Janice Beecham have been married for 46 years, and this year they are happy to be recovering after a spring full of turmoil.

"It's a blessing to be here because a lot of people didn't make it," Janice told CNN.

Robert Beecham said he and Janice had been following the safety rules but he started to feel symptoms of Covid-19. A week and a half later he still wasn't feeling well so the couple got tested for the virus.

The next day, on March 25, he called his son and agreed to be taken to the hospital.

"He knew me agreeing without a fight meant that I was feeling pretty terrible," he said.

His anniversary was a motive to get home

Robert was admitted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas alone, and found out the next day that he was COVID-19 positive. He was moved to another floor and started his road to recovery, a feat he attributes to his doctor, Satyam Nayak.

"Dr. Nayak and I would open up casual conversations and it would take my mind off the virus," he said.

Robert told the doctor about having two strokes, one in 2012 and 2016, and missing out on an anniversary. He found himself in the same situation this year, so Nayak decided to use that as motivation to get him home.

Nayak came up with a plan where Robert could go home and get the care he needed from his wife. He made it home in time for their April 15 anniversary.

Janice has a positive test of her own

Meanwhile, Janice had just recovered from having surgery in February after finding out about a second battle with breast cancer and a new diagnosis with ovarian cancer. She also tested positive for COVID-19, but luckily, she told CNN, her symptoms were mild.

"Once I got home, and we did the quarantine, I was getting progressively better but Janice still had issues with her health," Robert said.

"We're best friends, it was just tough," Robert told CNN.

Because of her diagnosis, Janice had not yet started the chemo treatments required for her cancer diagnoses.

Now, after surviving two surgeries, two coronavirus diagnoses, chemo and being declared cancer free, the Beechams only have one thing to say.

"It would have been impossible to make it with all the odds against you without God, and he has been our help, all these many years," Robert said.

Janice still has preventative radiation coming up, but the two said they are blessed to be alive and blessed to have celebrated another year together.

Link:

They have been married 46 years and just overcame Covid-19, cancer and chemo together - CNN

BATON ROUGE There are still 20,000 freeCOVID-19tests available for anyone to take advantage of.

That's out of a total of 60,000 provided by the federal government.

Originally, the goal of the program was to use all the tests in twelve days. But when that didn't happen, Mayor Broome announced the sites willremainopen until supplies last.

We've been very lucky that we've been allowed to keep them open until we exhaust all 60,000 tests, said community testingcoordinator, Kim Hood. Sixty thousand tests over twelve days would have been a pretty big lift for a metropolitan area the size of Baton Rouge.

There are a handful of testing locations. The latest site opened up downtown at the Capitol Park Welcome Center.

We really intended it as a way for folks who live and work downtown be ableto accesstesting as part of their workday. So either on their way into work or on their way home or on their lunch break. Weve seen steady numbers go through there and it's been good, said Hood.

So far, just over 40,000COVID-19testshave been completed. Hood expects the kits to run out during the first week of August.

We just want to make the service available for as long as we can whether it's because someone is symptomatic and they need to come get a test with afive-dayturnaround, or because they are just concerned about theirCOVIDstatus and want to know. Some are getting ready to go back to school, so we're just very happy that we're able to make it available, said Hood.

The testing site locations include:

-HealingPlace Church (closed Sundays)-LSU(Alex Box Stadium)-SouthernUniversity (FGClark)-CortanaMall-LamarDixon Expo

- Capitol Park Welcome Center

The Mayor's office says though residents can simply show up at any of the above sites for a test, itis encouragedthat all who are able pre-register atwww.DoINeedaCovid19Test.com

At the testing sites, residentsshould bepreparedto give medicalpersonneltheir phone number and email address.

Read more here:

Twenty thousand COVID-19 tests still available in surge testing program - WBRZ

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 5:00 p.m., on July 20,2020, there have been 234,857 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 5,142 total cases and 100 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (25/0), Berkeley (549/19), Boone(58/0), Braxton (7/0), Brooke (38/1), Cabell (219/7), Calhoun (5/0), Clay(17/0), Fayette (101/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (25/1), Greenbrier (80/0),Hampshire (51/0), Hancock (61/4), Hardy (48/1), Harrison (140/1), Jackson(149/0), Jefferson (269/5), Kanawha (534/12), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (21/0),Logan (47/0), Marion (136/3), Marshall (82/1), Mason (30/0), McDowell (11/0),Mercer (74/0), Mineral (73/2), Mingo (60/2), Monongalia (748/15), Monroe(16/1), Morgan (21/1), Nicholas (21/1), Ohio (179/0), Pendleton (19/1),Pleasants (5/1), Pocahontas (38/1), Preston (92/22), Putnam (115/1), Raleigh(105/3), Randolph (199/2), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (12/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor(29/1), Tucker (7/0), Tyler (10/0), Upshur (31/2), Wayne (160/2), Webster(2/0), Wetzel (41/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (203/9), Wyoming (8/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is thecase of Boone, Cabell, Fayette, and McDowell counties in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

Follow this link:

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-20-2020 - 5 PM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Most Americans (71%) have heard of a conspiracy theory circulating widely online that alleges that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak. And a quarter of U.S. adults see at least some truth in it including 5% who say it is definitely true and 20% who say it is probably true, according to a June Pew Research Center survey. The share of Americans who see at least some truth to the theory differs by demographics and partisanship.

Educational attainment is an especially important factor when it comes to perceptions of the conspiracy theory. Around half of Americans with a high school diploma or less education (48%) say the theory is probably or definitely true, according to the survey, which was conducted as part of the Centers American News Pathways project. That compares with 38% of those who have completed some college but have no degree, 24% of those with a bachelors degree and 15% of those with a postgraduate degree.

This analysis about Americans views of the veracity of the conspiracy theory that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak is based on a survey of 9,654 U.S. adults, conducted June 4 to 10, 2020. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology.

The survey was conducted as part of the Centers American News Pathways project, which studies how Americans are engaging with and perceiving news coverage of the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has tracked how Americans perceive the news about COVID-19, including the reliability of information about the pandemic.

White, Black and Asian Americans include those who report being only one race and are not Hispanic; Hispanics are of any race. Other races and ethnicities are not included.

This analysis about Americans views of the veracity of the conspiracy theory that powerful people intentionally planned the coronavirus outbreak is based on a survey of 9,654 U.S. adults, conducted June 4 to 10, 2020. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology.

The survey was conducted as part of the Centers American News Pathways project, which studies how Americans are engaging with and perceiving news coverage of the 2020 election and the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has tracked how Americans perceive the news about COVID-19, including the reliability of information about the pandemic.

White, Black and Asian Americans include those who report being only one race and are not Hispanic; Hispanics are of any race. Other races and ethnicities are not included. Asian adults were interviewed in English only.

Visit our interactive data tool to access the questions included in this post, as well as survey data about the coronavirus outbreak and the 2020 presidential election.

Partisan affiliation also plays a role in perceptions of the theory. About a third (34%) of Republicans and independents who lean to the GOP say the theory that powerful people intentionally planned the COVID-19 outbreak is probably or definitely true, compared with 18% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Its worth noting there is no significant difference in how likely partisans are to have heard at least a little about the theory: 72% of Republicans have heard of the claim, compared with 70% of Democrats.

Conservative Republicans are especially likely to see at least some truth in the theory: Roughly four-in-ten (37%) say it is probably or definitely true. This contrasts with 29% of moderate and liberal Republicans, 24% of moderate and conservative Democrats and 10% of liberal Democrats.

Roughly a third of Black (33%) and Hispanic adults (34%) say the theory is probably or definitely true, compared with about two-in-ten white adults (22%) and Asian Americans (19%). And women are slightly more likely than men (29% vs. 21%) to see at least some truth in the conspiracy theory that powerful people planned the outbreak.

There are some minor differences by age, too.About a quarter of adults under the age of 65 say the theory is probably or definitely true, compared with two-in-ten adults 65 and older.

Note: Visit our interactive data tool to access the questions included in this post, as well as survey data about the coronavirus outbreak and the 2020 presidential election.

See the rest here:

A look at the Americans who believe there is some truth to the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 was planned - Pew Research Center

Who We Are

The COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) was formed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the US National Institutes of Health to respond to the global pandemic. Using the infectious disease expertise of their existing research networks and global partners, NIAID has directed the networks to utilize their experience and expertise to address the pressing need for vaccines and antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN)

The UCSD Mother-Child-Adolescent Programprovides comprehensive, family centered care of women, children, youth and families. This internationally recognized multidisciplinaryspecialists provides medical care, clinical research trials, patient education, counseling, case management, peer advocacy, and community education. Its team of investigators is highly experienced in vaccine clinical trials with an emphasis on the prevention of respiratory viral diseases.

To Conduct Phase 3 Efficacy Trials to prevent infection and COVID-19 disease. CoVPN will work to develop and conduct studies to ensure rapid and thorough evaluation of United States government-sponsored COVID-19 vaccines and antibodies for the prevention of COVID-19 disease.

The CoVPN expects to open four Phase III vaccine efficacy trials trials that make sure the vaccine works - in 2020, with the potential for additional trials to follow. Each study is anticipated to enroll roughly 30,000 people, and participants will either get the vaccine product or a sterile saltwater injection (placebo). Some trials may be conducted only in the United States, while others will enroll global communities.

The first Phase III vaccine trial will be of the Moderna mRNA vaccine that is planned to begin enrollment in the end of July 2020.

These efficacy trials hope to enroll persons who are at risk for exposure to SARS-CoV-2. This risk could be associated with, but is not limited to:

Read the original:

Overview of the COVID-19 Prevention Network Study - UC San Diego Health

Read: We dont even have a COVID-19 vaccine, and yet the conspiracies are here

The good news, because it is worth saying, is that experts think there will be a COVID-19 vaccine. The virus that causes COVID-19 does not seem to be an outlier like HIV. Scientists have gone from discovery of the virus to more than 165 candidate vaccines in record time, with 27 vaccines already in human trials. Human trials consist of at least three phases: Phase 1 for safety, Phase 2 for efficacy and dosing, and Phase 3 for efficacy in a huge group of tens of thousands of people. At least six COVID-19 vaccines are in or about to enter Phase 3 trials, which will take several more months.

We are almost five months into the pandemic and probably another five from a safe and effective vaccineassuming the clinical trials work out perfectly. Even when a vaccine is introduced, says Jesse Goodman, the former chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, I think we will have several months of significant infection or at least risk of infection to look forward to.

All of this means that we may have to endure more months under the threat of the coronavirus than we have already survived. Without the measures that have beat back the virus in much of Europe and Asia, there will continue to be more outbreaks, more school closings, more loneliness, more deaths ahead. A vaccine, when it is available, will mark only the beginning of a long, slow ramp down. And how long that ramp down takes will depend on the efficacy of a vaccine, the success in delivering hundreds of millions of doses, and the willingness of people to get it at all. It is awful to contemplate the suffering still ahead. It is easier to think about the promise of a vaccine.

Theres a lot of hope riding on these vaccines, says Kanta Subbarao, the director of the World Health Organizations flu collaborating center in Melbourne, who has also worked on other coronavirus vaccines. Nobody wants to hear its not just right around the corner.

Vaccines are, in essence, a way to activate the immune system without disease. They can be made with weakened viruses, inactivated viruses, the proteins from a virus, a viral protein grafted onto an innocuous virus, or even just the mRNA that encodes a viral protein. Getting exposed to a vaccine is a bit like having survived the disease once, without the drawbacks. A lot remains unknown about the long-term immune response to COVID-19, but, as my colleague Derek Thompson has explained, there are good reasons to believe getting COVID-19 will protect against future infections in some way.

Vaccine-induced immunity, though, tends to be weaker than immunity that arises after an infection. Vaccines are typically given as a shot straight into a muscle. Once your body recognizes the foreign invader, it mounts an immune response by, for example, producing long-lasting antibodies that circulate in the blood.

More:

A Vaccine Reality Check - The Atlantic

Negotiations over Americas next Covid-19 rescue bill remained in flux on Friday, as the virus posed new risks to parts of the midwest and south, the death toll rose and extra federal payments that helped avert financial ruin for millions of unemployed people were set to expire.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, sent senators home ahead of the weekend, promising a Republican proposal for new relief efforts would be ready on Monday. But Democrats warned that time was wasting amid GOP infighting as the crisis spirals.

As Republicans struggled, the nations infections passed 4 million and the number of deaths rose by several thousand to nearly 145,000. New jobless claims topped 1m and the unemployment rate stood at 11%, higher than during last decades Great Recession.

Senate Republicans had been expected to unveil their counterproposal this week to a $3tn bill relief bill Democrats passed in May. But GOP lawmakers and the Trump administration remained divided over key aspects of the proposal in a head-spinning week of start-and-stop progress.

McConnells proposal was expected to include a fresh round of direct $1,200 cash payments to Americans, along with $105bn to help reopen schools, $25bn for virus testing and McConnells top priority of a liability shield to protect businesses, hospitals and others against Covid-19 lawsuits.

Senate Republicans got the president to abandon his push for a payroll tax break, which they argue does little to help out-of-work Americans. But the White House added new priorities in turn. Those include money for a new building to replace the FBIs ageing J Edgar Hoover Building in downtown Washington, across the street from the newer Trump hotel.

One sticking point is how to cut the $600 weekly jobless benefit boost the federal government has added to the weekly unemployment checks that states send since the start of the pandemic. That benefit officially expires on 31 July, but due to the way states process unemployment payments, the cutoff was, in effect, on Saturday.

Republicans largely believe the add-on is too robust and becoming a disincentive for returning to work. Under McConnells plan, senators proposed cutting it to $200 and then transitioning over the next few months to a new system more closely linked to states own payment levels. An administration official granted anonymity to discuss the private talks said the White House viewed that proposal as too cumbersome and the $200 boost as too high. The White House floated cutting the unemployment benefits boost to as little as $100.

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, on Friday rejected the idea of a temporary extension of the enhanced unemployment benefits.

I would be very much averse to separating [unemployment benefits] out and lose all leverage [on Republicans] for ... meeting all of the other needs, Pelosi told reporters.

Richie Neal, the Democratic chairman of the House ways and means committee, said the country was on the eve of an economic catastrophe.

People need the sustenance of day-to-day life, Neal said at the Capitol. He said the extra aid not only helped cash-strapped families but was key to fueling the economy as Americans go without paychecks. The recovery is going to be slow, he said.

Continue reading here:

Negotiations over US Covid-19 relief bill remain in flux as key benefit expires - The Guardian

OAKLAND (CBS SF) East Oakland residents are being urged to avoid social gatherings because they are leading to a surge in COVID-19 cases. On Friday, public health officials warn the number of positive COVID-19 cases are skyrocketing there partly due to the large parties and gatherings at Lake Merritt.

The surge has been directly related to parties and social gatherings and, of specific concern, are large gatherings at Lake Merritt, according to the leaders citing data released this week by Roots Community Health Center, which is based in East Oakland.

The health center reported in July that 40 percent of the positive cases in Oakland were due to large gatherings and parties.

They pointed to the numbers in four zip codes representing East Oakland are some of the highest per 100,000 residents in the region. The zip code 94621 has 1,743 cases per 100,000 residents, 94601 has 1,870 cases per 100,000 residents, 94603 has 1,730 cases per 100,000 residents and 94605 has 689 cases per 100,000 residents.

For weeks now, neighbors who live in the adjacent 94606 zip code around Lake Merritt have been warning the city and county officials about the rowdy parties and illegal vendors who are setting up shop at the lake, which attract even more people.

Neighbors shared cell phone videos with KPIX showing cars completely blocking off Lakeshore Avenue on recent weekends. They said hundreds of people from as far away as Sacramento came throw block parties. No masks and no social distancing in the large crowds. Most neighbors like Gregory Anderson and his wife Claudia Paredes couldnt even leave their home.

As a pregnant person, I do not feel comfortable coming out to the lake to even walk our dog during the weekends because its so packed, said Paredes.

Many neighbors said they are fed up and they feel trapped.

I dont really come on weekends, I try to come on off times, said Kim Cortigiano who lives near Lake Merritt.

Its like a block party as vendors set up shop hoping to take advantage of the crowds. Johnny Soohoo, who also lives near the lake said, Its hard to control people. Im sure its a concern if there are a lot of people but people are going to do what theyre going to do.

We should all be alarmed by the new data, said councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose district includes part of East Oakland.

On Friday afternoon, she and fellow councilmembers, along with health officials, held another press conference at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, to remind people to not party. Theyve done many of these messaging events in recent months, yet parties and COVID-19 cases keep going up. KPIX asked them if the message is not working, whats the new approach?

(We) need to be operating with the goals of equity and inclusion, said councilwoman Fortunato Bas.

I am trying to stay away from the conversation of enforcement because one of the most unsuccessful ways of getting someone to actually change their behaviors over the long term is by forcing them to do something, said councilman Loren Taylor.

Their solution is more education and more messaging to the vendors and party-goers.

Your education message has not worked. Why dont you educate people by enforcing the rules? Not picking anyone in particularly, said neighbor Frederick Holland.

Without that, its kind of an empty measure when people know okay nothing is going to actually happen,' said another neighbor Gregory Anderson.

Neighbors want a balance of education and enforcement to keep COVID-19 cases down and bring their quality of life back.

Public officials get out there and admonish and guide and say please give the lake a break. Its too soft and its not going to happen, said R.J., whos lived near the lake since 1976.

A city administrator at the press conference said they know the vendors are operating illegally at the lake. He said they have been educating the vendors what they are doing is wrong. They will start to issue warnings in the coming days.

Alameda County is expected to reach 10,000 cases of the coronavirus this week, said Dr. Nicholas Moss, interim Alameda County health officer. That number is three times the number on June 1.

New cases are mostly in younger adults, with 65 percent occurring among residents 18 to 50 years old, he said.

African Americans are two times more likely to die from the virus than whites, he said. Latinx residents are more than six times likely to get COVID-19 than whites, Moss said.

He said social gatherings are playing a much larger part than expected. Moss asked residents to wear a face covering even when talking. He urged residents to stay six feet away from each other and stay home until getting the results of a COVID-19 test if a test was done.

Were tired, we want to socialize, said Dr. Noha Aboelata, CEO of Roots Community Health Center. People are clustering together. Please spread out.

She asked residents to think about what the feeling will be like if they catch the virus and must call everyone they have been in contact with.

Its not just inconvenient it is a challenge to adhere to this guidance, said city councilman Loren Taylor, who also represents part of East Oakland.

But he said we must stay vigilant.

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Skyrocketing COVID-19 Cases In Oakland Traced To Large Parties, Gatherings At Lake Merritt - CBS San Francisco

CHICAGO (CBS) The clock is ticking for Chicago bars and restaurants.

New rules kick in at midnight that could force some businesses to close their doors. CBS 2s Jermont Terry reports from Old Town where neighborhood bars are trying to figure out ways to stay open.

Since its comes down to whether you sell food, a few pubs are considering getting temporary food licenses in the hopes of not losing completely out.

Along North Avenue, youll find plenty of people dining out inside restaurants. Some businesses check customers temperature in addition to requiring masks.

But even if you have a mask, you cant enter Old Town Ale House.

Manager Tim Polk believes the rollback restrictions coming from the city, requiring businesses who dont sell food to close again is unfair.

Were put on hold until further notice, Polk said.

The bar finds itself shutdown, once again.

We could have opened up on June 26. We didnt actually open up until the 15th of July, said Polk. Another place like this can have people sitting and drinking just because they have food. Food would only complicate things. I dont see why were being singled out.

The Old Town bar has served some big Chicago politicians and celebrities since opening in 1958. It has kept the same feel, but recently the owners did some renovations spending big bucks to keep up with COVID-19 requirements.

We put in some new windows double-hung windows there so nice ventilation and exhaust fans, Polk said. We just upgraded a lot of stuff.

Now with the latest restrictions, The Old Town Ale House hopes it can survive. Several small bars are getting hit the hardest. The National Restaurant Association predicts 75% of operators wont survive the next six months. But Polk is optimistic.

Im concerned it might be a roller coaster kind of thing, Polk said. Who knows about the closings.

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Some Chicago Bars Close Up Again Amid The Resetting Of COVID-19 Rules - CBS Chicago

Given the increase in the spread of COVID-19 in our community, our infectious disease team is encouraging high-risk patients to take special precautions.

Dr. Christopher Penn, infectious disease physician at LMH Health, reminds us that COVID-19 is a new disease, and as such, theres limited information about the impact of underlying medical conditions and how they might create additional challenges for patients with COVID-19.

The CDC indicates that patients of any age with the following conditions are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19:

Additionally, people with the following conditions might be at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19:

If you fall into one of the above categoriesor if you live with someone who doesDr. Penn said its all that much more important to protect yourself from exposure to COVID-19. This means limiting your interactions with other people as much as possible.

Yes. Dr. Penn explained that our hospital and clinics have the most up-to-date COVID-19 precautions in place. These safeguards help protect you, our staff and ultimately the community. As we contact you to schedule or remind you of an appointment, we will ask several screening questions to verify your health status. We will gather as much registration, health history, insurance and payment information in advance as possible, and we will also notify you of changes to our process when you arrive at our campus and entrances.

Not every health need requires an in-person visit. LMH Health offers TeleCare, a service that is available to almost all clinics and appointments. Any existing or new patient can take advantage of this serviceall you need is a smart device such as a tablet, smartphone or laptop. TeleCare can be very effective even outside of a pandemicthink of it as another convenient option for care delivery. Ask your treatment team if a TeleCare visit is an option for you.

Dr. Penn said that the most important thing for all patients to keep in mindespecially those who fall into a high-risk category due to certain conditionsis to avoid any and all delays to necessary emergency care. Delaying your care can create even more significant health issues, and the infection prevention measures in place in our Emergency Department are meant to keep you safe.

If you cant avoid interaction altogether, remember that the virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person, specifically:

You can best protect yourself and those around you by following this guidance from the CDC:

Monitor your health daily, and be alert for fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other symptoms of COVID-19. If you think youve been exposed to COVID-19, call your healthcare provider before coming in. If you dont have a provider, you can contact Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.

You can also keep track of your symptoms, and watch for emergency warning signs. Seek care immediately if you have trouble breathing or experience confusion, chest pain or chest pressure.

For nearly 100 years, our community has relied on LMH Health to provide exceptional, safe care. This has always been our top priority, and it remains true now more than ever. Our purpose is to be A Partner for Lifelong Health, in all times, but especially in these challenging ones.

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High-risk individuals urged to take special precautions to protect against COVID-19 | LMH Health | Lawrence, KS - LMH Health