OSDH: 478 new COVID-19 cases, another death reported Sunday in Oklahoma – Enid News & Eagle

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ENID, Okla. The state COVID-19 numbers continue to increase, with 478 new cases and one death reported on Sunday, June 21, 2020, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

A Grady County woman in the 65 and older age group who tested positive for COVID-19 has died, according to OSDH data, bringing the overall total of deaths associated with the virus to 369.

There were two more cases in Northwest Oklahoma reported Sunday, one each in Kingfisher and Major counties, reported in Hennessey and Ringwood, respectively, according to OSDH data.

State numbers

There are 10,515 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma, an increase of 4.76% over Saturday's 10,037. Of those cases, 2,615 of those were active and 7,513, or 71.45%, were recovered, including 117 since Saturday's OSDH report.

Those numbers compare to a statewide cumulative total of 6,418 and 649 active cases just more than three weeks ago, according to May 30 OSDH data. The numbers have steadily climbed by 61% and 25%, respectively, since that time.

Cumulative totals of those testing positive in the state as of Sunday were 184 in the 0-4 age range, 573 in the 5-17 age range, 3,410 in the 18-35 age range, 2,342 in the 36-49 age range, 2,025 in the 50-64 age range and 1,981 in the 65 and older age range. The 18-35 age group continues to gain cases at a higher rate, with 228, nearly half the single day total, on Sunday.

The average age of those with COVID-19 is 44.8, according to OSDH data. Of those testing positive, 5,350, or 50.89%, have been female, and 5,091 or 48.42%, have been male. Seventy-four are listed as "unknown" gender, according to OSDH data on Sunday.

There has been a case of COVID-19 confirmed now in 76 of 77 counties, as OSDH data shows Shattuck in Ellis County has recorded its first case.

Of the overall 369 deaths in the state, 297, or 80.49%, have been 65 and older; 58, or 15.72%, have been in the 50-64 age group; 8, or 2.17%, have been in the 36-49 age group; and 6, or 1.63%, have been in the 18-35 age group. More men, 188 or 50.95%, than women, 181 or 49.05%, have succumbed to the virus, according to OSDH on Sunday. The average age of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 who have died is 75.1, according to OSDH.

Data shows deaths per county are 66 in Tulsa County; 65 in Oklahoma County; 40 in Cleveland County; 38 in Washington County; 17 in Wagoner County; 16 in Delaware County; 10 in Caddo County; 9 in Muskogee County; 8 in Osage County; 7 each in Creek, Greer, and Kay counties; 6 in Texas County; 5 in Comanche, Grady and Rogers counties; 4 each in Adair, Mayes, McClain and Pottawatomie counties; 3 each in Canadian, Jackson, Pittsburg, Seminole and Sequoyah counties; 2 each in Cotton, Lincoln, McCurtain, Ottawa, Pawnee and Pontotoc counties; and 1 each in Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Choctaw, Garfield, Garvin, Latimer, Leflore, Logan, Major, McIntosh, Nowata, Payne, Stephens and Tillman counties.

COVID-19 data released Sunday for Northwest Oklahoma counties shows Garfield with 55 cases, 46 recovered andone death, an86-year-old Garfield County woman, in April;Kingfisher with 19 cases, 12 recovered; Blaine with 14 cases, 10 recovered;Woodward with 12 cases, eight recovered; Major with eight cases, five recovered and one death, awoman in the 18-35 age group; Woods with five recovered cases;Grant with two recovered cases; and Alfalfa with one recovered case.

CumulativeCOVID-19 cases by city or townin Northwest Oklahoma include 52 in Enid (nine active); 10 in Woodward (three active); nine in Hennessey (six active); six each in Kingfisher and Watonga (one active); five each in Alva and Okarche (one active); four each in Fairview (one active); and Geary (one active); two each in Lahoma, Longdale (1 active) and Ringwood (one active); and one each in Cashion (1 active) Dover, Fort Supply (one active), Garber, Jet, Lamont, Laverne, Medford, Mooreland and Okeene, according to data released by OSDH on Sunday. Residents living in areas with under 100 in population or those with unknown addresses may be recorded as "other."

COVID-19 cases per county in Oklahoma as reported by the Oklahoma State Department of Health Sunday, June 21, 2020. SOURCE: OSDH

COVID-19 cases per city in Oklahoma as reported by the Oklahoma State Department of Health Sunday, June 21, 2020. SOURCE: OSDH

COVID-19 testing

State Health Department officials areencouraging Oklahomans to get testedfor COVID-19, saying recently that due to adequate supplies, residents no longer need to exhibit symptoms or report exposure to someone with the virus to get in line for testing.

Free testing for COVID-19 is ongoing at the Garfield County and other state Health Departments. Testing is by appointment only for Blaine County, 521 W. 4th, Watonga, (580) 623-7977; Garfield County, 2501 S. Mercer, Enid, (580) 233-0650; Grant County, 115 N. Main, Medford, (580) 395-2906; Kingfisher County, 124 E. Sheridan, courthouse annex room #101, Kingfisher, (405) 375-3008; Major County, 501 E. Broadway, Fairview, (580) 227-3362; Noble County, 300 Fir St., Perry, (580) 336-2257; Woods County, 511 Barnes St., Alva, (580) 327-3192; and Woodward County, 1631 Texas Ave., Woodward, (580) 256-6416. For a full list of county drive-through testing, go tohttps://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/drive-thru-testing. Some health department also advise the public to check their Facebook pages for more information regarding testing.

Emergency warning signs for COVID-19 are trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, new confusion or inability to arouse, bluish lips or face, according to the CDC. More information can be found athttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html.

Those with symptoms of COVID-19 should call ahead to local emergency rooms. Those with minor symptoms should contact their regular physicians.

Resources and information on COVID-19 can be obtained by calling 211 or going tohttps://covidresources.ok.gov/.

BREAKING NEWSon the COVID-19 threat and its impact is available athttps://www.enidnews.com/virusand isfree for all readers. That includes information on closings and cancellations.

Get full-access breaking news via text alerts at https://enidnews.com/textalerts.

For more local, state, national and global COVID-19 pandemic news, go tohttps://enidnews.com/news/covid19.

All breaking news is fully accessible on theEnid News & Eaglewebsite.

Information also can be found athttps://coronavirus.health.ok.gov/andhttps://www.cdc.gov/.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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OSDH: 478 new COVID-19 cases, another death reported Sunday in Oklahoma - Enid News & Eagle

TABC suspends West 6th Street bars permit for violating COVID-19 protocols – KXAN.com

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TABC suspends West 6th Street bars permit for violating COVID-19 protocols - KXAN.com

How PGA Tour pro Nick Watney’s positive COVID-19 test revealed the need for ongoing adjustments – ESPN

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- As illnesses go, Nick Watney likely proceeded like someone who simply was not at his best. He certainly was not violently ill Friday when he showed up at Harbour Town Golf Club. And despite warm, humid temperatures, he felt well enough to attempt to play the second round of the RBC Heritage.

But he knew something might be amiss due to the Whoop band he wears around his arm, a tool many golfers use as a way of regulating their health.

Watney, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday and withdrew from the tournament, relayed to Rory McIlroy via a text that an elevated respiratory rate via that band first told him "maybe I could have it.''

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And so Watney, 39, conveyed that to tour officials, consulted a physician, took another COVID-19 test -- he was negative for the one he took on Tuesday -- and then awaited the results at the course, while going about his business to prepare for the second round of the tournament.

It's fair to question why he was allowed to proceed in that manner, and perhaps that is a flaw in the PGA Tour's health and safety protocols as part of the coronavirus pandemic.

Why would you allow a symptomatic person to come to the course and practice?

Then again, doesn't Watney deserve credit for seeking medical attention when it's quite possible he could have tried to carry on and not said anything?

Therein lies the danger of banning someone who has "symptoms'' -- while also highlighting that no system can be perfect and there is some risk involved as sports attempt to come back after a lengthy shutdown.

"I hope not because it's not about yourself, right?'' McIlroy said when asked Saturday if he could see someone not reporting symptoms if they otherwise felt OK. "This virus isn't about ... most people that get it that are healthy are going to recover from it and be OK, but it's the people that you can infect. That's the big risk. I'd like not to think that people, if they were symptomatic, that they wouldn't report.''

And yet perhaps a player not in McIlroy's tax bracket might consider doing just that. Maybe he believes the risk is worth it, because he's in contention or needs the FedEx Cup points or sees an opportunity to make money after being denied that chance for so long.

There might be a hole in the PGA Tour's policy, but at least Watney took it upon himself to investigate.

"At this point, with who we have out here ... you have some older caddies out here, a lot of people out here. You have to err on the side of caution,'' U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland said. "Nick Watney is one of the nicest guys we have on tour. I hear he feels horrendous that he might infect someone else, which definitely wasn't the intent at all. I feel horrible for him, wish him the best.

"But for anybody's case, you better play it safe.''

As it stands now, the tour's policy allows a player who has been tested but not yet received a result to use practice areas. But he is not allowed to use the facilities, such as the locker room or clubhouse. Is that enough?

Perhaps a separate practice area could be set up. Maybe more of an emphasis on staying away from others until the result is known. While extreme, if as was the case on Friday when Watney was waiting for a result, hold his tee time so that there is not a rush to prepare and put yourself around others.

The tour also continues to stress to players and caddies their own responsibilities. It is not requiring them to stay in a specific hotel and it is not enforcing any lockdown orders away from the course. And depending on the area of the country the tour visits, outside variables come into play.

Carlos Ortiz told a story about the packed restaurants on Hilton Head Island, how he wanted to visit a few of them but ultimately decided to leave due to the crowds.

"It's a 30-minute wait and once you get in there, there's no social distancing, packed tables right by each other, kids running around,'' Ortiz said after shooting 63 at Harbour Town on Saturday. "Nobody wearing a mask. We talked about it on Tuesday when we saw it. We were like, "Oh, somebody's going to get corona here. It's crazy how busy it is here.''

Ortiz said he felt "paranoid'' when he learned of Watney's positive test.

"I think it's just a warning,'' he said. "We just need to be more careful.''

There is nothing to suggest Watney did anything but get unlucky. He did not test positive when he arrived on Tuesday. A few days later, he was feeling symptoms, and now the PGA Tour has its first COVID-19 case.

Watney, who has five PGA Tour victories, must now self-isolate in South Carolina for 10 days at the Tour's expense. There were 11 others the PGA Tour identified as having come in contact with him this week, all were tested on Friday, with the results negative.

McIlroy was not among those tested, feeling he was not close enough to Watney at any time to warrant it.

But he also knows this is a week-by-week endeavor. Positive tests are inevitable. Avoiding complacency remains the way for golf to continue safely.

"Starting up, people weren't nave,'' he said. "Statistically and looking at the numbers, someone was going to get it, and even being as careful as you can be, things happen, and you pick it up from somewhere.

"We're still in the middle of a pandemic. I think we've done really well to start golf again and get back up and play golf tournaments. I don't think anyone was blind to the fact that someone could catch the virus, and it's a shame that Nick did. But it's one case, and as long as it's contained to that and we move forward, we can keep playing.''

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How PGA Tour pro Nick Watney's positive COVID-19 test revealed the need for ongoing adjustments - ESPN

Cleveland ISD suspends all student activities after families test positive for COVID-19 – KHOU.com

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CLEVELAND, Texas Cleveland ISD has suspended all student activities until next month after two families tested positive for coronavirus, according to a letter posted Saturday to the school district website.

The school district said the cases were linked to the band, cheer and athletic summer programs.

The district said all activities have been suspended until July 5.

Its unclear if that case is connected to the two families. Administrators said anyone who may have been exposed has been notified and their families.

The district plans to give another update next week.

Heres the full statement posted to the Cleveland ISD website:

"As we continue honest, factual and open communication within Cleveland ISD during COVID-19, this message is to notify everyone that Cleveland ISD has had two families with confirmed positive tests for COVID-19. These positive tests have been associated with band, cheer, and athletic summer programs. I have deemed it to necessary, in the best interests of all students and staff, to suspend all student activities through Sunday, July 5, 2020.An update will be provided during our Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Cleveland ISD Facebook Live program at 11 a.m. You can also contact Steve McCanless at smccanless@clevelandisd.org if you have any questions or concerns regarding COVID-19.

As always, the safety and health of our students and staff are the priority during this outbreak. Thank you for your support.Respectfully, Chris TrotterSuperintendent of Schools"

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Cleveland ISD suspends all student activities after families test positive for COVID-19 - KHOU.com

Doctor Warns Of Risks In Rush To Embrace A COVID-19 Treatment – NPR

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Early results of a new study from University of Oxford researchers show that dexamethasone improved survival in some patients with COVID-19. Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

Early results of a new study from University of Oxford researchers show that dexamethasone improved survival in some patients with COVID-19.

Earlier this week, researchers in the United Kingdom announced preliminary results from a clinical trial that showed a low-cost steroid called dexamethasone appeared to lower the risk of death in patients with COVID-19.

The researchers said the anti-inflammatory drug reduced the number of deaths in COVID-19 patients on ventilators or oxygen alone by one-third.

But details of the study did not accompany the announcement. And the announcement followed several prominent revisions in the advice that researchers have given around the coronavirus in recent weeks.

Which is why Dr. Kirsten Lyke, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, warns that a premature endorsement for the treatment can carry risks.

Lyke, who is running a coronavirus vaccine trial, said that, particularly when dealing with a new kind of virus, we "need to be extremely cautious" when rolling out treatments that have not gone through a rigorous vetting process.

"This is a press release, so they're going to basically give us sort of the bottom line," Lyke said about the dexamethasone announcement in an interview with NPR's Weekend Edition. "But there's a lot to unravel."

Dexamethasone has been successful at treating inflammatory conditions like arthritis and asthma. The research team behind the trial wanted to figure out whether the drug could also alleviate lung inflammation in COVID-19 patients.

"Many of us would like to see the peer review paper to understand how these people were randomized, who was not randomized. That's important to know," Lyke said.

But, in a world not pressured by a pandemic, a legit vetting process like that can take years, said Lyke. And she worries that a hasty embrace of the drug could do more harm than good.

"People really want to get results out quickly," she said. "But at the same time, if things are released too early or there's harm that occurs from the intervention, that really erodes public trust."

Lyke said researchers need to be mindful to avoid a scenario where, as was the case with the drug hydroxychloroquine, a treatment is championed before it has a chance to stand up to strict scientific scrutiny.

That wasn't the first instance of confusion over messaging related to the science around the coronavirus. For example, public health officials' guidance on whether the public should wear masks initially fluctuated until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially recommended face coverings in April.

Lyke acknowledged the early mixed messaging was "frustrating" for researchers and the public alike, but reminded that one line of messaging around face coverings has been consistent.

"Typically, we say that using a mask doesn't necessarily protect you. It protects other people," she said. "It's really useless if you're the only one wearing it in a crowd. It has to be the entire crowd."

In order for such evidence-based health measures to work in the fight against the coronavirus, she said, everyone has to participate.

"There's a lot of individualism in the United States, but the pandemic and the virus don't really respect the individualism," said Lyke. "I think we need to really be stepping up as a group and protecting each other."

NPR's Elena Schwartz and Ed McNulty produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Emma Bowman produced the story for Web.

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Doctor Warns Of Risks In Rush To Embrace A COVID-19 Treatment - NPR

Clemson University & City officials announce increased COVID-19 detection within community – FOX Carolina

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Clemson University & City officials announce increased COVID-19 detection within community - FOX Carolina

Healthy teenager who took precautions died suddenly of Covid-19 – CNN

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That call would be the beginning of a 12-day journey that would end in tragedy.

"I can't tell you how a perfectly healthy 16-year-old boy can be making his own peanut butter sandwich late Wednesday night, getting his own tea out the fridge and head up to bed like any other teenager in the state or in the country is doing. And then within 24 hours is fighting for his life," Dawn said.

Andre, an easygoing sophomore at Lawrence North High School, loved YouTube and knew everything about video games; for his birthday in April, he asked for a game that wasn't set to be released until December, and his parents planned on getting it for him when it was released. He also loved photography and annoying his siblings and excelled at basketball and bowling.

Born prematurely at 25 weeks, he and twin sister Abby spent months in the hospital before they were brought home and later adopted by Dawn and her husband, Johnny. Though Andre was diagnosed with moderate autism, his parents were fierce advocates and he thrived with a positive attitude and a smile on his face. "He always just flew through," said Dawn.

In fact, Andre was the only family member who did not leave the house at all. But the virus has proven to be a wily foe, circulating in some communities before public health officials realized it was there. It found vulnerable people like Andre Guest despite all recommended precautions.

After Dawn left for work that morning, Andre normally self-sufficient asked his dad for help getting a drink. Odd. At 1:30 p.m., when Johnny went to check on Andre, the teen said he was tired, but, Johnny said, "his speech was really slurred. He could still understand me and answer me." A short time later, when Andre fell down in the bathroom, Johnny called his wife.

By the time Dawn got home, Andre had lost the ability to grip objects, he had trouble standing, his head and eyes were rolling, he could not hold his body weight up, and he appeared confused. She called an ambulance, which rushed Andre to the nearest emergency room, which transferred the critically ill teen to Riley Hospital for Children.

Although Andre had no underlying medical conditions, the first thing doctors discovered was that he had developed Type 1 diabetes his blood sugar was a dangerous 1,500 milligrams per deciliter, more than 10 times normal. Type 1 diabetes frequently comes to light for the first time in the setting of an infection.

Because he had a fever and cough and was breathing hard, he was tested for Covid-19. Negative. But the doctors were having trouble controlling the teen's blood sugar usually fairly straightforward with an insulin infusion in a first episode of diabetes. At the same time, his temperature kept rising and his breathing deteriorated even with increasing supplements of oxygen. A second Covid test came back positive and he was moved to a Covid unit.

Johnny and Andre's two sisters were subsequently swabbed, and they, too, were positive, though they had only mild fevers and fatigue. Dawn, who was at the hospital with Andre, decided not to get tested because, according to Riley's policy, if she tested positive she would not be allowed back into the hospital until she tested negative twice.

A few days later, Andre was on a ventilator, and doctors, trying to understand and treat his quickly changing illness, even tried "proning" placing him on his stomach to improve lung capacity.

Still, his mother thought he'd survive. He was getting superb care, and his blood sugar was finally at normal levels suggesting the worst of the infection had passed. He was young and had always been resilient.

On the morning of April 27, that hope quickly evaporated. His blood sugar spiked. His arterial line began to clot, suggesting coagulation problems that have been a hallmark of the disease. He went into cardiac arrest and, despite chest compressions, succumbed.

Andre is among the small number of children who have died of Covid-19 and Indiana's first recorded victim under age 18.

"They were wonderful there," Dawn said. "Every nurse and every doctor. I can't complain. We just didn't get the results that we wanted."

Despite stay-at-home restrictions, Andre's death resulted in an outpouring of support from the community. Letters and cards arrived from teachers recollecting their favorite encounters with the teen.

More than 70 cars drove by the Guests' house to express their condolences in a memorial organized by Lawrence Township where Andre attended school.

Marion County Northeast Special Olympics retired Andre's team basketball jersey No. 54 and sent it to the family's home.

With this virus, "you are taking care of your community, as much as you're taking care of yourself. You have no idea if you're a carrier or if you've touched something that has it on there," said Dawn.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Healthy teenager who took precautions died suddenly of Covid-19 - CNN

Fauci says US ‘still in the first wave’ as six states see record Covid-19 cases – The Guardian

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Americas top public health expert has warned the nation it is still in the first wave of coronavirus infections and deaths, as six states report record numbers of new cases amid continued rapid easing of lockdown restrictions.

Anthony Fauci, a member of the White House coronavirus taskforce, expressed worry about new hotspots for infections in major US states, while also advising that personally, I would not attend Donald Trumps first political rally in months, due on Saturday, in Oklahoma, where vast crowds are expected despite rising Covid-19 cases.

Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas reported record increases in coronavirus cases on Tuesday, while Nevada recorded its highest ever number of single-day cases.

In recent days North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama have reportedly set new highs in seven-day rolling average of Covid-19 cases, as many states have allowed some businesses and public spaces to reopen after months of restrictions.

As New York and other places are coming down, others are going up, Fauci, who is also the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Boston Globe about different areas seeing decreases or increases in new cases.

Obviously, were concerned about it.

Despite Oklahomas alarming rise in coronavirus cases a record 591 new cases were reported on Monday, and cases in the state rose by 68% last week Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahomas second-largest city, on Saturday his first since March, when the pandemic took hold in the US.

Fauci said he personally would choose not to attend such an event due to the risk of contracting coronavirus. And he warned that talk of whether the US was now experiencing a second wave of Covid-19 cases was premature.

We are seeing infections to a greater degree than they had previously seen in certain states, including states in the south-west and in the south, Fauci told the Daily Beast. I dont like to talk about a second wave right now, because we havent gotten out of our first wave.

Oklahoma health officials are urging anyone attending the rally to get tested before arriving, and then to self-isolate afterwards and get tested again. People over 65 have been told to stay at home. The Trump election campaign will recommend the indoor audience wear masks, but is not going to mandate it.

The Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said officials would try to make sure the event was as safe as possible. Ultimately, the president doesnt ask for permission before he goes to places, said Stitt on Wednesday.

The mayor of Tulsa, GT Bynum, also a Republican, said he would not attend the rally.

Vice-President Mike Pence has claimed the US has slowed the spread, and both Pence and the president have claimed the worrying increase in coronavirus cases is due to more testing.

Fauci said this was not true.

When you look at the number of hospitalizations, and you see some of the states say, Oh my goodness, Im having more hospitalizations than I had before, that cannot be due to increase in testing. That has to be due to increase in real cases, he told the Globe.

Hospitalizations are continuing to rise in the states reporting infection increases.

At Tucson medical center in Arizona on Monday, only one intensive care unit bed out of 20 was available.

ICU to be expanded, hopefully, in coming days, Dr Steven Oscherwitz, an infectious disease expert at the hospital, said in a tweet on Monday night. Not sure where people needing ICU care will be able to go, since most AZ [Arizona] hospitals are pretty full now.

Better contact your governor (quickly!)

I dont like to talk about a second wave right now, because we havent gotten out of our first wave

In Florida, 260 workers at the Orlando international airport tested positive for coronavirus, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said. DeSantis said almost 500 workers had been tested at the airport after two people contracted the virus.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would monitor the impact of the mass anti-racism protests the city has seen before allowing more businesses to reopen.

Were all mindful we had a very unique situation with the protests, De Blasio said on Wednesday, according to NBC News.

In Oklahoma Trump supporters have been camping outside the rally venue for days, despite the risks.

Tulsa residents and business owners were thwarted in their attempt to block the rally, which will take place at the indoor, 19,000-capacity BOK Center, on Tuesday. Residents had filed a lawsuit in an effort to have the rally cancelled, to protect against a substantial, imminent, and deadly risk to the community, but a judge refused the request.

On Monday Trump who has previously lied about the number of people at his rallies and events said almost 1 million people had requested tickets for the event.

Fauci has warned people against attending the rally, which had originally been planned for Friday, a date which marks the end of slavery in the US, before the Trump campaign switched the date amid widespread criticism.

Asked if he would personally attend the campaign rally, Fauci said: No.

Im in a high-risk category. Personally, I would not. Of course not, he said. With regard to Trumps rallies, Fauci said outside is better than inside, no crowd is better than crowd and crowd is better than big crowd.

Tulsas chief public health officer, Bruce Dart, and the Tulsa World newspaper have urged Trump to cancel the rally.

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Fauci says US 'still in the first wave' as six states see record Covid-19 cases - The Guardian

CDC to conduct COVID-19 survey house-to-house in Manassas area – WTOP

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The CDC will be conducting a survey in parts of Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William Co. in Virginia starting Monday in response to the coronavirus.

This article was written by WTOPs news partnerInsideNoVa.comand republished with permission. Sign up forInsideNoVa.coms free email subscriptiontoday.

As part of its COVID-19 response, the Centers for Disease Control will be conducting a survey in communities in Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County beginning Monday, June 22.

The survey is part of an effort to help stop the spread of the coronavirus in ZIP codes with more positive cases and in the Latino community, which has seen a disproportionate impact from the virus.

The three ZIP codes in the area of the city, 20109, 20110 and 20111, are among the top ZIP codesin the state for COVID-19 cases.

All three have seen cases more than double in the past month.

As part of the CDC study, a team will go house-to-house with a 30-question survey.

Questions will be related to health care and COVID-19. The survey is completely voluntary and no personally identifiable data will be collected.

The information collected will help the health professionals at the Prince William Health District and the CDC understand what resources are most needed by the community, the city release noted.

The CDC may also reach out by telephone as they are looking for some participants who have tested positive in the past.

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CDC to conduct COVID-19 survey house-to-house in Manassas area - WTOP

Source of Beijing’s big new COVID-19 outbreak is still a mystery – Science Magazine

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The Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market in Beijing in February. The market was shuttered on 13 June after it became the center of a new COVID-19 outbreak.

By Dennis NormileJun. 17, 2020 , 4:55 PM

Sciences COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center.

Beijings confirmation of a COVID-19 case on 11 June ended a run of 55 days without reported local transmission. Since then, the outbreak has burgeoned and the city has responded with fierce determination to rein it in. As of today, it has tested 356,000 people, confirming 137 cases, according to a news report by Xinhua, the state-owned news agency. The city has locked down some residential compounds, closed all schools, and canceled hundreds of flights.

Virtually all of the infections have been linked to a massive wholesale food market that has been temporarily shuttered. The link to the market has triggered comparisons to the seafood market in Wuhan that played a role at the early stages of the pandemic, and speculation that the virus arrived in fish imported from Europe. But the real source of the outbreak is still a mystery.

Beijing reported its last case of local COVID-19 transmission in mid-April. The current outbreak began when a man with no history of recent travel visited a doctor on 10 June with a fever and chills. He tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and was hospitalized the following day. Officials think he or a close contact was infected at the Xinfadi Agricultural Wholesale Market, a massive 112-hectare complex housing 2000 stalls selling produce, seafood, and meat with 10,000 customers and workers visiting daily, according to Xinhua. This led to the massive effort to test market workers, customers, and even residents of nearby neighborhoods.

Authorities have reported that a number of surfaces in the market tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, including a cutting board in a booth handling imported salmona finding that has drawn lots of attention in the local media. There is no evidence coronaviruses infect fish, but one hypothesis is that infected workers in Europe contaminated the fish or its packaging during processing. Genomic sequencing shows the viral variant behind the new outbreak is related to strains China has found in people returning from Europe, according to a China Daily report that quotes Yang Peng, an official with the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention and Control. In addition to seafood, Yang suggested imported meat as a possible source. But he acknowledged that a market employee or visitor may have picked up the virus elsewhere and simply spread it to other people at the market. Where exactly the virus came from is still uncertain,Yang said.

Dirk Pfeiffer, a veterinary epidemiologist at the City University of Hong Kong, doubts the virus arrived at the market in fish: I think it is much more likely, and therefore plausible, that it was brought to the market by infected humans.If the contaminated seafood hypothesis is true, other places handling European salmon should have seen outbreaks, adds epidemiologist Keiji Fukuda of the University of Hong Kong. The genomic sequence, which has not been made public yet, could offer more clues, he says.

Six months ago, many of the earliest COVID-19 cases were linked to another market, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China. Such markets host dozens to hundreds of independent operators offering a range of meat, seafood, and produce, and sometimes live wild game. Many scientists believe SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in bats and may have passed through an intermediate host before jumping to humansperhaps at the Wuhan market.

But Pfeiffer says the meat and live animals sold at the markets may not be the only reason viruses spread there. The sheer volume of people passing through and working in the markets and the suboptimal hygienic conditions inherently represent an increased risk for amplification of virus.The humid, chilled air at markets may provide an environment in which viruses thrive.

The virus return to Beijing is another cautionary tale to not take anything about COVID for granted,Fukuda says. With the vast majority of the world population susceptible to infection and the virus still circulating, it is possible for any country, including [those] that have made major efforts to reduce transmission, to experience an outbreakhe says.

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Source of Beijing's big new COVID-19 outbreak is still a mystery - Science Magazine

Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19? – The New York Times

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The data are now overwhelming, from here in the U.S. and all around the world, that this infection is a grave threat to the elderly and chronically ill, but generally mild for younger, generally healthy people, said Katz in an interview.

Its also clear that many of the worried projections about social determinants of health and the consequences of mass unemployment are confirmed. We have, indeed, seen rising rates of addiction, domestic violence and mental duress.

We also know much more now, Katz continued, about the risks of exposure. This virus is not transmitted all that easily. Many people with transient, ordinary exposures dont get infected because of low exposure dose, partial resistance to this pathogen, or both.

All of this provides actionable intelligence, Katz argued. We can and must do a far better job of protecting the frail and elderly, especially in nursing homes, and all of those with serious chronic disease, he said. Then the rest of us can go about our business, but with policies in place to regulate any interactions we might have with higher-risk people, so we protect them, and with reasonable precautions for our own sakes, like wearing masks, practicing social distancing and avoiding crowded indoor settings, that limit exposure to high doses of coronavirus and our ability to pass it along.

We also can see now with cases spiking in locations around the country that did not experience an early wave of infection and are now opening up haphazardly how right it was to warn about the dangers of just flattening the curve without a risk-stratification strategy, added Katz. A flattened curve delays cases, it does not prevent them, because no immunity has been developed.

To get back to normalcy requires widespread immunity to the coronavirus, which happens in only two ways.

One is a vaccine that is safe, effective, mass produced and universally distributed. That would be the best solution, and God willing, a vaccine will come in the fall and everyone can get back to work safely in subsequent months. But it may not, and we cant just keep the economy on hold.

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Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19? - The New York Times

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Warns of Newly Discovered Potential Drug Interaction That May Reduce Effectiveness of a COVID-19 Treatment…

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For Immediate Release: June 15, 2020

Espaol

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning health care providers about a newly discovered potential drug interaction related to the investigational antiviral drug remdesivir, which has received emergency use authorization for the treatment of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe disease.

Based on a recently completed non-clinical laboratory study, the FDA is revising the fact sheet for health care providers that accompanies the drug to state that co-administration of remdesivir and chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine sulfate is not recommended as it may result in reduced antiviral activity of remdesivir. The agency is not aware of instances of this reduced activity occurring in the clinical setting but is continuing to evaluate all data related to remdesivir.

In addition, the FDA revised the fact sheet for health care providers to clarify dosing and administration recommendations and to provide additional safety data and supporting data from clinical trials conducted by both the National Institutes of Health and the drug sponsor, Gilead Sciences Inc. The fact sheet for patients and caregivers was also updated to include additional information about possible allergic reactions and to alert patients to tell their healthcare providers if they are taking chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine sulfate.

Over the course of this unprecedented pandemic, the FDA has issued emergency use authorizations for a variety of medical products after evaluating the available scientific evidence and carefully balancing any known or potential risks against the benefits of making these products available during the current public health emergency. We understand that, as we learn more about these products, changes may be necessary based on new data such as todays updates for health care providers about a potential drug interaction and other important information about using remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients, said Patrizia Cavazzoni, M.D., acting director of the FDAs Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. As we have done throughout the pandemic, the FDA continues to evaluate all of the emergency use authorizations issued and their related materials and will continue to make changes as appropriate based on emerging science and data.

Following an evaluation of the emergency use authorization criteria and the scientific evidence available, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) in May 2020 allowing for remdesivir to be distributed in the U.S. and to be administered intravenously by health care providers, as appropriate, to treat suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in adults and pediatric patients hospitalized with severe disease. The safety and efficacy of remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 continue to be evaluated, and preliminary clinical trial results have shown that on average, patients treated with remdesivir had more rapid time to recovery.

The EUA requires that fact sheets about using remdesivir in treating COVID-19 be made available to health care providers and to patients and caregivers. These fact sheets include information on possible side effects such as: increased levels of liver enzymes, which may be a sign of inflammation or damage to cells in the liver; and allergic reactions, which may include low blood pressure, high heart rate, low heart rate, shortness of breath, wheezing, angioedema (for example, lip or tongue swelling), difficulty swallowing, rash, nausea, vomiting, sweating, shivering and respiratory distress.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

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06/15/2020

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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: FDA Warns of Newly Discovered Potential Drug Interaction That May Reduce Effectiveness of a COVID-19 Treatment...

Covid-19 Is Bad. But It May Not Be the Big One – WIRED

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Along with scientists, many others, including legislators, former health agency leaders, and members of past investigatory commissions, are now saying that well need something similar to make sense of the Covid-19 pandemic. At least five proposals to launch an inquiry have been circulated in the House of Representatives, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

Given the colossal catastrophe we've experienced, there needs to be something of that ilk as a way of pulling the country together and laying down in a very clear way what happens next, says J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC, think tank. It needs to be done with investigative authority, and it's going to require exceptional leadership and speed.

We shouldnt think that, once we get to a vaccinewhenever that isand once were able to arrest this virus, that well be able to rest easy, Morrison continues. We are in a new era of more frequent, higher-impact, higher-velocity zoonotic threats.

The first task of any coronavirus equivalent of the 9/11 Commission would be simply to establish one narrative of the pandemic, because Americans have experienced its effects so differently depending on where they live. (New York, the hardest-hit state, has had more than 388,000 cases; Montana, with slightly more than 600 cases, has suffered least.) But just as with the World Trade Center attacks, examining how the US failed this year will require acknowledging the multiple ignored warnings, some from the federal government and others from academic research, that an overwhelming pandemic was on the way. (Within Morrisons CSIS, the Commission on Strengthening Americas Health Security predicted last November: The United States remains woefully ill-prepared to respond to global health security threats.)

But another part of the examination of 9/11 involved creating new structures in the government to stand up defenses against future attacks, such as the Department of Homeland Security. The already evident needs for preventing another pandemic catastrophe include shoring up deep stockpiles of supplies such as medications and personal protective equipment. Covid-19 might lead also to new federal initiatives or federal funding of academic initiatives. Last week, for instance, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, which in September 2019 wrote one of the reports predicting a coming pandemic, proposed that Congress create a national center for epidemic forecasting, a disease-prediction agency modeled on the federal entities that warn Americans against catastrophic weather in time to protect themselves.

The way this epidemic has gone has been the US government reaching out in an ad hoc way to modelers, who are mostly in universities or in the private sector, and getting them to answer questions on the fly, says Tom Ingelsby, the centers director and an infectious disease physician. We would never accept that for predicting hurricanes.

At the same time that they made that proposal, the Hopkins researchers also presented Congress with a plan for a $1.5 billion program, shared across multiple federal agencies, that could rapidly produce antivirals, vaccines, and diagnostic tests when theyre needed. That price tag indicates what one of the struggles of learning from Covid-19 is going to be: deciding how much money the country is willing to commit in advance to protect against threats whose arrival is unpredictable.

Its attitudes toward spending, after all, that helped turn the US Covid-19 response into a catastrophe. That includes both federal cutstake the National Security Council disbanding its global health security team and the White House slashing the CDCs budgetand private sector decisions, such as corporations offshoring mask manufacturing in order to reduce their labor costs.

Read all of our coronavirus coverage here.

Perplexingly, theres another facet of homeland security for which the US has no difficulty organizing long-term spending. The Department of Defense forecasts its weapons needs and designsand procures its jets and transport vehiclesover decades. It commits federal money years in advance of deploying anything it buys.

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Covid-19 Is Bad. But It May Not Be the Big One - WIRED

Risk of COVID-19 exposure ‘higher than ever,’ as Utah reports 407 new cases and four deaths – Salt Lake Tribune

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Editors note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every weekday morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.

As Gov. Gary Herbert and leaders of the Utah Legislature touted plans to reopen the states economy past the coronavirus pandemic, new data from public health officials Wednesday served as a reminder that the virus isnt finished with Utah.

Utah had the third largest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases Wednesday, with another 407 Utahns confirmed to have contracted the virus and another four Utahns dying from it, the Utah Department of Health announced Wednesday.

The risk of exposure to COVID-19 is higher than ever in Utah, said Dr. Angela Dunn, the states epidemiologist, in a news conference. She urged people to continue to practice social distancing, frequent and proper hand-washing, using hand sanitizer and wearing masks.

Three of the new fatalities were in Salt Lake County, and were people between the ages of 60 and 85, Dunn said. One, a man, was in a long-term care facility, the other two a man and a woman were hospitalized at the time of their deaths. The fourth person who died was a man, between the ages of 18 and 60, who lived in Garfield County, and was hospitalized.

Those four people bring the states death toll from COVID-19 to 149. Dunn said UDOH follows national guidelines to determine whether a persons death is attributable to COVID-19, rather than other factors. The rule of thumb, she said, is whether that individual, if not for COVID-19, would not have died.

When asked if Utah has flattened the curve in COVID-19 cases, Dunn said, unfortunately, we have not hit that plateau. Utah has confirmed more than 200 cases per day for the last 21 days; before that streak, the state had topped 200 a day just once since the pandemic began.

The new cases reported Wednesday bring the states overall case count to 15,344.

Herbert used Wednesdays news conference to unveil volume 4 of the Utah Leads Together economic plan, much of which will be voted on in Thursdays legislative special session. He said public health officials had expected a rise in COVID-19 cases because of more abundant association, of people seeing more of each other, during the states gradual reopening.

Infection rates are not the only criteria to watch, Herbert added, noting that the number of hospitalizations and the mortality rate are also key indicators.

The state reported 29 more people hospitalized with COVID-19 since the previous days report. As of Wednesday, Dunn said, 147 patients still are in the hospital. The total number of hospitalizations since March is 1,102.

Labs in Utah have processed tests for another 2,992 people in a day, with the days rate of positive cases at 13.6%. The total number of Utahns tested since the pandemic began now sits at 278,692.

Dunn said the state is not using the COVID-19 antibody test produced by Chembio, which was recently used at drive-up testing stations in Draper, Riverton, Bluffdale and Vineyard. Local governments had secured the Chembio tests through newly registered company RapidScreen Solutions but the Food and Drug Administration revoked certification of the test Tuesday, citing problems with its accuracy.

RapidScreen Solutions screened 3,430 people from 63 Utah cities over seven days, and found 406 people (11.8%) who tested positive for one or both antibodies, a statement from the city of Draper said. Of the positive results, the city said, 47.4% reported no history of COVID-19 symptoms.

Salt Lake County continues to be particularly hard hit by COVID-19, according to Wednesdays numbers. In addition to three deaths, the states most populous county had 16 new hospitalizations and 193 new cases.

And demographic figures show Utahs minority communities suffering disproportionately from COVID-19. Just over two out of every 1,000 Caucasians have contracted the virus, compared with 14.5 out of every 1,000 Hispanic and Latino people in Utah, 12 out of every 1,000 Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, just over 7 out of every 1,000 African Americans, and 6.4 out of every 1,000 American Indian or Alaska native.

One example of that disparity is the outbreak at the JBS Beef Plant in Hyrum, where many of the employees are refugees and migrants and 287 of the nearly 1,400 employees who were tested for COVID-19 came back with a positive result. Dunn said the outbreak in Hyrum has made the leap from plant employees to the community at large. It is kind of a larger-scale response up there, she said.

We know this virus doesnt treat everyone the same, said Sen. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and president of the Utah Senate. Adams added that the economic plan the lawmakers will discuss Thursday is a way that we can open the economy and still protect the medically frail.

Herbert said the economic plan carries the simultaneous goal of saving peoples lives and protecting peoples livelihoods. He added, its a false choice to say we can only do one and not the other.

Adams expressed concern about the number of medical fatalities in the state, outside of COVID-19. Perhaps some people are hesitating getting preventive medical care, Adams said, adding that hospital visits are down, but the severity of those visits are up.

Herbert and other officials urged Utahns to continue to take personal responsibility to protect themselves and their communities.

For those who care about their neighbors, wear a mask, Herbert said. He cited a Salt Lake Tribune/Suffolk University poll, published early this week, that found 73% of likely voters in the upcoming Republican primary see wearing a mask as a sign of respect.

However, Utah is not considering stricter rules to enforce mask-wearing, Dunn said; officials instead are expecting people to do the right thing.

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Risk of COVID-19 exposure 'higher than ever,' as Utah reports 407 new cases and four deaths - Salt Lake Tribune

This Star Is So Huge that Saturn’s Orbit Would Fit Inside It – Futurism

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An international team of researchers has found that the red supergiant star Antares is even more gigantic than initially thought, Space.com reports.

Previous research found that Antares, which is located about 550 light-years away in the Scorpius constellation, is about 700 times larger than the Sun but that number increases dramatically when mapped in a different spectrum.

The size of a star can vary dramatically depending on what wavelength of light it is observed with, Eamon OGorman, astronomer at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and lead author of a new study about the project published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics this week, said in a statement.

The longer wavelengths of the [Very Large Array] revealed the supergiants atmosphere out to nearly 12 times the stars radius, OGorman added.

The team used the latest readings from both the Very Large Array combined with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to study Antares atmosphere and, in the process assembled the most detailed map in existence of any star besides our Sun.

Supergiant red stars are the largest stars found in the universe in terms of volume, but not mass. Theyre relatively cool and form from stars that start to collapse in on themselves. Once their time is up, they collapse into a supernova.

The region just above red supergiants surface, the chromosphere, is cooler than the Suns. Its chromosphere is also far more extensive, stretching to 2.5 times that of its radius, compared to the Suns chromosphere, which extends to only 0.5 percent of its radius.

We found that the chromosphere is lukewarm rather than hot, in stellar temperatures, OGorman explained. The difference can be explained because our radio measurements are a sensitive thermometer for most of the gas and plasma in the stars atmosphere, whereas past optical and ultraviolet observations were only sensitive to very hot gas and plasma.

By scrutinizing the stars chromosphere, they could even tell where winds on its surface start from.

Knowing the actual sizes and temperatures of the atmospheric zones gives us a clue of how these huge winds start to form and how much mass is being ejected, co-author Graham Harper of the University of Colorado said in the statement.

READ MORE: New map reveals just how enormous the supergiant star Antares really is [Space.com]

More on red giants: Giant Star Betelgeuse May Have Eaten a Smaller Companion

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This Star Is So Huge that Saturn's Orbit Would Fit Inside It - Futurism

A Space Probe Just Took the Closest Pictures of the Sun Ever – Futurism

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The European Space Agencys Solar Orbiter probe just made its first close approach of the Sun, getting within 77 million kilometers (47.8 million miles) of the stars surface about half the distance between Earth and the Sun.

During its approach, it snapped the closest images of the Sun ever captured which will be released in mid-July, according to a statement.

We have never taken pictures of the Sun from a closer distance than this, ESAs Solar Orbiter Project Scientist Daniel Mller said in the statement.

While weve been able to zoom in further using solar telescopes from Earth such as the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, this spacecraft was able to get a much clearer look from outer space, unobstructed by Earths atmosphere.

For the first time, we will be able to put together the images from all our telescopes and see how they take complementary data of the various parts of the Sun including the surface, the outer atmosphere, or corona, and the wider heliosphere around it, Mller added.

Scientists will also be able to get an unprecedented peek at the structure and composition of solar winds, according to the scientists.

For the in-situ instruments, this is not just a test, we are expecting new and exciting results, Yannis Zouganelis, ESAs Solar Orbiter Deputy Project Scientist, said in the statement.

The Solar Orbiter will get even near to the Sun later, getting as close as 42 million kilometers (26 million miles) closer than Mercury.

The record still belongs to NASAs Parker Solar Probe, which in November 2018 became the closest man-made object to the Sun ever sent into space, at just 24 million kilometers (15 million miles) from the surface.

The images taken by the Solar Orbiter will take a week to travel the 134 million kilometers (83 million miles) back to Earth. The images will then be processed and released to the public in mid-July.

READ MORE: Solar Orbiter makes first close approach to the Sun [ESA]

More on the Sun: The Highest Def Photo of the Sun Looks Like Popcorn

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A Space Probe Just Took the Closest Pictures of the Sun Ever - Futurism

You May Be At Risk of Severe COVID If You Have This Blood Type – Futurism

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According to a new study by European researchers, people with type A blood are at a much higher risk of developing severe COVID-19, suggesting there may be a way to explain which COVID-19 patients get far sicker than others, Reuters reports.

It could also help health practitioners determine who is more at risk of developing a serious illness as a result of the coronavirus. The research could even point researchers towards developing more effective drug treatment plans.

Out of 1,610 patients with respiratory failure from Italy and Spain alongside a control group of 2,250 the risk of developing severe COVID-19 was 45 percent higher for those with type A blood. For those with type O blood, the risk was 35 percent lower.

The studywas published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

The findings [] provide specific clues as to what disease processes may be going on in severe COVID-19, co-author Tom Karlsen, from Oslo University Hospital in Norway told Reuters in an email.

If confirmed, this wouldnt be the first time the severity of a disease was linked to blood types. For instance, people with blood type O only rarely develop severe malaria symptoms, as German broadcaster Deutsche Welle points out.

Its still far too early to draw any definitive conclusions, though. Scientists are racing at breakneck speeds to find treatment plans and a cure. No stone is being left unturned but even researchers can end up stumbling on early findings.

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You May Be At Risk of Severe COVID If You Have This Blood Type - Futurism

COVID Could Be Making People So Lonely That They’re Getting Sick – Futurism

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As we enter another week of pandemic lockdown, scientists are working to understand the toll extended isolation takes on our minds and bodies.

The medical effects of loneliness are difficult to measure especially because loneliness is a subjective experience that varies wildly from person to person. But semantics aside, a clear trend is emerging, CNET reports, and its not great.

Extended loneliness can have serious psychological impacts, like exacerbated depression, anxiety, and increased irritability, according to 2018 research posted in the journal The Lancet. But the impacts extend far beyond psychological health.

Its very distressing when we are not a part of a group, Brigham Young University psychologist and neuroscientist Julianne Holt-Lundstad told CNET. We have to deal with our environment entirely on our own, without the help of others, which puts our brain in a state of alert, but that also signals the rest of our body to be in a state of alert.

Loneliness has been linked to all sorts of medical problems, like cognitive decline in old age, cancer, and heart disease, CNET reports. Though the causal relationship between loneliness and disease is poorly understood, there seems to be a genetic mechanism, potentially triggered by prolonged loneliness, that increases the risk of those diseases.

The subjective experience has to be translated somehow in the brain into biology, and so thats [what] were looking at now, Turhan Canli, an integrative neuroscientist at Stony Brook University, told CNET.

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COVID Could Be Making People So Lonely That They're Getting Sick - Futurism

Life in a post-coronavirus world: will it feel so very different? – The Guardian

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Has there ever been an easier time to be a futurist? Im distrustful of the profession at the best of times, since it involves making pronouncements about a time that hasnt arrived and not being held to account for your errors when it does arrive, because then its no longer the future, and thus no concern of the futurists. But these days, as the world staggers uncertainly out of lockdown, its even easier. All you need to say is that in life in general, or in whatever field youre supposedly expert, everythings going to change. Education, the economy, travel, work, dating, sport, the advertising industry, the world of aluminium can manufacturing: recent stories have promised massive transformation in them all. Or as a great sage (on the groundbreaking satire The Day Today) put it a quarter of a century ago: If youve got a history book at home, take it out, throw it in the bin its worthless.

My objection isnt that any of this is necessarily false. (Although taken literally, it is, because history never unfolds in absolutes: for example, its always jarring to be reminded that most people spent the Great Depression in work, not unemployed.) Rather, its the implication that life, in years to come, is going to feel very different indeed. And one of the few things we can be pretty sure of is that it wont. For most of us, most of the time, itll feel normal.

Part of the reason is hedonic adaptation, our tendency to swiftly adapt emotionally to positive or negative changes in our circumstances, drifting back towards our baseline levels of curmudgeonliness or cheer. Another is the focusing illusion, whereby we overestimate the impact that any given change will have on our lives. The cumulative result is that any future change in your situation like never shaking hands again, wearing a mask in public, or even something huge, like losing your job is likely to make less of a difference than you think. After the attacks of September 11, we were told the world would never be the same again, and it wasnt. But for all except those most directly affected bereaved by war, imprisoned in Guantnamo it soon felt normal. And so it goes, through history: each time a huge event disrupts a civilisations ordinary way of life, the ordinary way of life its disrupting is what people formerly thought of as the terrible climate ushered in by the last huge event.

None of this means things will be fine. They may well be worse: a world with less human contact, or more joblessness, is surely objectively worse, however normal it feels. But it does mean that if you found life generally meaningful in the post-9/11 world, or the post-financial-crisis world, the chances are youll do so in the post-coronavirus world as well.

In any case, as the political scientist Mark Lilla pointed out in a recent essay, even to ask a question such as How different will the future be? is to assume an oddly passive stance towards it. The future doesnt exist so we should ask only what we want to happen, and how to make it happen, given the constraints of the moment. Were never really waiting to see how the future unfolds. Were creating it as we go.

Being certain about the future would drain your life of meaning, Susan Jeffers argues in her self-help book Embracing Uncertainty.

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Life in a post-coronavirus world: will it feel so very different? - The Guardian

Legendary occultist Aleister Crowley’s son from Cornwall who tried to take over the government – Cornwall Live

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Aleister Crowley is one of the 20th centurys most infamous characters.

The self-styled Great Beast also dubbed The Wickedest Man In The World was a leading occultist, linked to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and black magician.

Crowley lived his sexually freewheeling life very much by his own edict of "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".

He visited west Cornwall and it is said by some that he summoned up the very Devil himself in Carn Cottage, which led to a womans death, and performed a black mass down the hill in Zennor church.

What many may not realise is that in 1934, Crowley, then aged 58, was introduced to a 19-year-old from Newlyn named Patricia Doherty.

Three years later she gave birth to the boy Crowley considered his son and heir, Randall Gair Doherty, who was nicknamed Aleister Ataturk.

Ataturk, who was based in west Cornwall for many years, lived a life that was both colourful and tragic; blighted by schizophrenia and the pressure of being Aleister Crowleys son.

Also known as Aleister Macalpine and Count Charles Edward D'Arquires (or D'Arquies), he was best known for considering himself the Adjudicator of the Supreme Council of Great Britain.

According to the Cornish writer Des Hannigan, who knew Aleister Ataturk, the Supreme Councils Acting Private Secretary, Peter Bishop, believed that everyone should sit at the bottom of Cornish mine shafts and be transformed into super beings when a shaft of sunlight struck them.

Writing on the Art Cornwall website, Mr Hannigan said: I was walking down Madron Hill one day when Aleister stopped in a fairly smart car. I was delighted to see him although he had become very pompous and even more otherworldly.

He gave me a lift into town and right there and then offered me the job of Fisheries Minister in his 'Government'. 'You would be ideal, Hannigan', he said, 'not just because of your fishing background but because you have the right appearance. Blond hair and blue eyes...' I decided that Aleister, who was always right of centre to say the least, had tipped over into the (fascist Oswald) Mosley mindset. I declined the exalted position.

Ataturk was very serious about taking over the UK government by persuasion.

In 1976 he hired a posh limousine, complete with Supreme Council pennants, and was chauffeur-driven to London with Bishop alongside him.

Always renowned for his dress he was often seen around west Cornwall in jodhpurs, riding boots and sunglasses Ataturk left Madron for 10 Downing Street, dressed in uniform with gold trimmings, epaulettes and velvet cape.

The colourful pair tried to get into Downing Street for an audience with Prime Minister Harold Wilson in order to persuade him to join their Supreme Council.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the PM refused their offer after receiving their message. Ataturk and Bishop stayed in the Dorchester Hotel all the same.

In the 1960s, Ataturk lived in a caravan in the grounds of his mother's house Wheal Betsy at the top of Chywoone Hill in Newlyn.

Later he lived in the imposing former Madron Workouse, which was built in 1838 and intended to accommodate 400 inmates.

It was while living there that Ataturk started a family and styled himself Count Charles Edward D'Arquires (or Darquies), a title given to him by his father when he was young.

The Cornishman newspaper reported how he was asked to quit the property by bailiffs in 1976. A crowd gathered to see him leave, in full regalia, as he set off in a chauffeur-driven Austin Princess for London where he was planning to meet the French ambassador to see if our granite heritage can be saved.

The newspaper reported: The Supreme Council aims to save the nation from its dilemma and darkness and in a bid to save his home, a former isolation hospital now known as Mount View Flats, he decided to appeal to France for help.

The Tricolour of France was hoisted to fly alongside the Union Jack, and he asked for the protection of the Republic of France, and wrote seeking the support of the President, M Giscard DEstaing.

I have done this because I am a French count and also because this was built by French prisoners of war in 1836, he said.

His bid to create a Supreme Council fizzled out and in the ensuing years Ataturk became deeply religious and, sadly, his mental health deteriorated. At one point he was found living on a park bench, just off Talbot Road in London with his suitcases neatly organised beside him.

He died in a car crash in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, in 2002 aged 65.

Many people in west Cornwall still remember the tall, formidable man and his outlandish dress and behaviour.

The son of a devout Christian couple, Edward Alexander Crowley was born in Leamington Spa in 1875. His father was a preacher, but after his dad died of tongue cancer when Edward was just 11, he turned to the dark side.

After Malvern School and Tonbridge College, he read Natural Sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge. He would outright defy all Christian morals by smoking and having sex with prostitutes. For his behavior, his mother referred to him as the Beast, a title which he reveled in.

On a visit to Sweden, he experienced a life-changing vision which persuaded him of his spiritual vocation, a calling which he marked by changing his name to Aleister.

In 1889, Crowley met a chemist named Julian L Baker, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which he subsequently joined. The order was devoted to studying paranormal activity and all matters of the occult.

Crowley continued to experiment with his bisexuality and sex with prostitutes. However, while the lifestyle for him was eye-opening and spiritual, the higher level members of the Golden Dawn considered it too libertine and refused to allow him entry into the upper levels, writes All That's Interesting.

Crowleys interests combined the erotic and the esoteric. He published poetry, including a volume of verse described by one critic as the most disgusting piece of erotica in the English language'.

Gradually he evolved his own set of beliefs which drew on Oriental, ancient Egyptian, and an assortment of other traditions. His sexual preoccupations were equally various. He took many lovers both male and female and practised a form of sex magic.

A brilliant climber, big game hunter, and inveterate traveller, Crowley explored Mexico, India, Egypt, America, and much more besides. In the first two decades of the 20th century, he wrote a series of tracts outlining his philosophy.

The Law of Thelema a word taken from the Greek for Will was, he claimed, dictated to him by an ancient Egyptian spirit. It laid out the key principle of life, as Crowley saw it: the pursuit of each individuals will, unconstrained by popular opinion, law, or conventional ethics.

In 1920, he moved to Sicily, where he established the Abbey of Thelema as the headquarters for his new religion. Here he pursued spiritual enlightenment, declaring himself Ipssissimus beyond the Gods in 1921.

He also experimented with sex and drugs. In 1923 an Englishman died in mysterious circumstances after a ritual during which he was said to have consumed the blood of a cat. The British press and the Italian fascist government were equally appalled. Crowley was expelled from Sicily, the Abbey closed, and the group dispersed.

During the Thelema Abbey scandal, one newspaper referred to Crowley as the wickedest man in the world. He would have denied this, claiming that his work was truly good because it freed men from earthly rules and opened up truly spiritual experiences.

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Although impoverished, disgraced, and a near-skeletal heroin addict, Crowley never lacked followers.

He fathered several children (including Cornwall's Aleister Ataturk), most of them illegitimately, and was still in demand as a medium and a magus to the end, designing a new sequence of tarot cards and commentating on it at some length in his Book of Thoth of 1944. He died, in Hastings, in 1947.

His fame only increased after death. There are still groups who call themselves Thelemites, and his tarot cards and books are still popular.

He was taken up by the counter culture of the 1960s and can be seen on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album and featured in David Bowie's song Quicksand.

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Legendary occultist Aleister Crowley's son from Cornwall who tried to take over the government - Cornwall Live