Category Archives: Corona Virus

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. After a surge of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases due to the omicron variant, many parents of K-12 students across the United States say that schools should offer a mix of in-person and online instruction in the winter season, a new survey by the Pew Research Center found.

The survey found that 53% of parents say schools should provide the mix of both types of instruction while 37% say schools should be fully in-person only, and 9% say schools should be fully remote.

When asked what factors schools should consider about offering in-person instruction this winter, many parents said schools should consider that students would fall behind academically (67%) or that their emotional well-being will be negatively impacted (61%) if they stay remote. Some parents (52%) also said they wouldnt be able to work if their kids are home for remote learning.

Other factors if kids went to school in-person include the risk to students or teachers of getting COVID-19 (43%) and spreading it (39%), and the financial cost to school systems to follow health guidelines to keep schools open safely (26%).

While a majority of parents think schools should offer a mix of in-person and remote instruction this winter, just 16% say this is the type of instruction their children are currently getting, according to the survey.

About 71% of parents said their kids are getting in-person instruction only, and 5% say their child is only learning remotely.

According to Pew, The analysis is based on a survey of 2,241 U.S. parents of children in K-12 schools who live in their household. The data was collected as part of a larger survey of 10,237 adults conducted Jan. 24-30, 2022.

In New York City, public schools have stayed open for in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 school year, even as cases rose because of the omicron variant.

As part of that effort to keep schools open safely, the city launched its Stay Safe and Stay Open plan that would double the number of students randomly tested at school, provide rapid at-home tests which reduced both the number of students who need to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, as well as limit classroom and school closures.

Under this plan, students who are exposed to COVID-19 at school are required to take two rapid at-home tests over the course of five days. If the tests come back negative and students dont have COVID-like symptoms, they can continue to attend school as normal.

Since it was enacted, the number of classroom closures has been seemingly nonexistent. The DOE hasnt reported full or partial classroom closures in the city and therefore, no school investigations or closures have been reported.

Ahead of the midwinter break, New York City education officials announced last week it would update the coronavirus policy to increase the number of students tested in the citys weekly in-school random surveillance testing program.

It anticipates students and staff are now more likely to engage in activities and settings with less stringent health and safety measures. in response, the DOE is increasing the number of students who will be PCR tested for COVID-19 in schools starting Monday.

Starting Feb. 7, schools will test the larger of either 10% of the schools student enrollment in grades 1-12, up to a cap of 250 students; or 20% of the schools unvaccinated student population.

This change, the DOE said, will allow schools with a high number of vaccinated students to test a larger group every week.

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Should school be fully in-person during coronavirus? Heres what U.S. parents think. - SILive.com

Oregon health officials reported 4,872 new coronavirus cases Friday, reflecting a continuing and swift downward trajectory in new daily cases.

Almost two weeks ago, Oregon logged more than twice the number of cases in one day as the current daily average, state data show, and cases are expected to continue to decline. Test positivity rates have fallen dramatically, as well, from around 27% of COVID-19 tests reported Jan. 20 coming back positive to 16% of the ones reported Friday.

Hospitalizations are expected to peak in the coming days, if they havent already, according to the most recent Oregon Health & Science University forecast.

Where the cases are by county: Baker (23), Benton (98), Clackamas (377), Clatsop (25), Columbia (46), Coos (84), Crook (48), Curry (24), Deschutes (258), Douglas (79), Grant (15), Harney (24), Hood River (28), Jackson (240), Jefferson (40), Josephine (129), Klamath (133), Lake (5), Lane (517), Lincoln (120), Linn (262), Malheur (46), Marion (563), Morrow (8), Multnomah (524), Polk (169), Sherman (1), Tillamook (40), Umatilla (107), Union (43), Wallowa (5), Wasco (31), Washington (641) and Yamhill (119).

Deaths: A 30-year-old woman from Deschutes County who tested positive Jan. 21 and died Feb. 3 at St. Charles Bend.

A 71-year-old man from Washington County who tested positive Dec. 28 and died Jan. 6 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

A 25-year-old man from Multnomah County who died July 23 at his residence.

A 61-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 27 and died Jan. 3 at Samaritan Memorial Hospital.

A 66-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Dec. 29 and died Jan. 3 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

An 83-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive on Jan. 5 and died Jan. 8 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

An 86-year-old man from Multnomah County who became symptomatic on Dec. 10 and died Dec. 12 at his residence.

A 71-year-old man from Columbia County who tested positive Dec. 5 and died Jan. 7 at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center.

An 88-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Dec. 23 and died Dec. 26 at Providence Portland Medical Center.

A 94-year-old woman from Yamhill County who tested positive Sept. 9 and died Dec. 18 at her residence.

A 78-year-old man from Curry County who tested positive Dec. 8 and died Dec. 29 at Curry General Hospital.

A 102-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive Dec. 5 and died Dec. 27 at his residence.

An 87-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Nov. 18 and died Dec. 23 at his residence.

A 98-year-old woman from Lane County who tested positive Dec. 18 and died Jan. 12 at her residence.

A 69-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 21 and died Jan. 5 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center.

An 86-year-old man from Josephine County who became symptomatic on Dec. 7 and died Dec. 18 at his residence.

A 73-year-old woman from Clackamas County who tested positive Jan. 2 and died Jan. 6 at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center.

An 80-year-old man from Lane County who tested positive Jan. 24 and died Feb. 1 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.

A 78-year-old man from Yamhill County who tested positive Jan. 30 and died Feb. 1 at his residence.

A 72-year-old woman from Union County who tested positive Jan. 30 and died Feb. 2. Location of death and presence of underlying conditions are being confirmed.

A 90-year-old woman from Union County who tested positive Jan. 30 and died Feb. 2 at Grande Ronde Hospital.

A 63-year-old woman from Union County who tested positive Jan. 13 and died Feb. 2 at Grande Ronde Hospital.

A 76-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 4 and died Jan. 27 at Adventist Health Portland.

A 68-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 27 and died Jan. 28 at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center.

A 72-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 20 and died Jan. 31 at Adventist Health Portland.

A 67-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Feb. 1 at Adventist Health Portland.

A 65-year-old woman from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 12 and died Jan. 28 at Adventist Health Portland.

An 83-year-old man from Multnomah County who tested positive Jan. 9 and died Jan. 27 at Adventist Health Portland.

A 37-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive Jan. 18 and died Feb. 2 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

A 73-year-old man from Marion County who tested positive Dec. 28 and died Jan. 1 at Salem Hospital.

A 75-year-old woman from Marion County who tested positive Aug. 31 and died Sept. 5 at Salem Hospital.

A 47-year-old woman from Douglas County who tested positive Feb. 1 and died Feb. 3 at Mercy Medical Center.

A 75-year-old man from Clackamas County who tested positive Jan. 6 and died Jan. 28 at Adventist Health Portland.

All had underlying medical conditions or the state was confirming whether they did.

Hospitalizations: 1,092 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, up five from Thursday. That includes 172 people in intensive care, down 11 from the previous day.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 654,343 confirmed or presumed infections and 6,214 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 7,232,829 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,833,424 people and partially vaccinating 300,445.

To see more data and trends, visit https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/

Fedor Zarkhin

503-294-7674; fzarkhin@oregonian.com

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Coronavirus in Oregon: 33 deaths and 4,872 new cases as reported infections continue to decline - OregonLive

The UK has reported 54,095 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as well as a further 75 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, according to the latest government figures.

It follows 60,578 new cases and a further 259 deaths reported on Saturday, and 69,007 new cases and 91 deaths reported last Sunday.

In total more than 17.7 million people in the UK have tested positive for COVID-19, and more than 158,000 people have died within 28 days of a positive test.

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The most recent data says that as of Thursday 3 February, there have been more than 452 million virus tests conducted in the UK.

As of the same date there are 14,634 patients in hospital with COVID-19, 478 of whom are in ventilation beds.

As of Saturday there have been more than 138 million vaccinations given in total, including more than 52 million first doses, 48 million second doses, and 37 million booster or third doses.

It comes as a director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Europe is entering the "plausible endgame" of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, said the region had recorded 12 million new COVID-19 cases in the last week, with 30% of all cases since the pandemic began being reported this year.

But, he said, "for now, the number of deaths across the region is starting to plateau".

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, chairman of the Winton Centre for Risk of Evidence Communication at Cambridge University has confessed he didn't take the virus "seriously enough" at the start of the pandemic.

He added that he had a naturally optimistic personality "and that's why I'm very glad I'm not a government adviser".

"The pandemic has been a net lifesaver for younger people, if you look at people between 15 and 30 in 2020, 300 fewer died than would normally have died and that includes the 100 that died from COVID sadly," Sir David said.

"So that's 300 fewer families mourning the death of a young person because of the pandemic.

"Now that's because young people were essentially locked up, they couldn't go out driving fast, they couldn't go out and get drunk, and they couldn't get into fights and whatever, and so all these lives were saved."

However, the professor said that this doesn't necessarily mean he advocates for lockdowns, because "on the flip side of that you have a big increase in mental health problems".

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COVID-19: UK reports 54,095 new cases of coronavirus and further 75 deaths - Sky News

Washington, DC The Districts reported data for February 2, 2022 includes191new confirmed positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, bringing the Districts overall confirmed positive case total to 131,284.The District also reports 32new probable tests, bringing the overall positive probable tests since October 15, 2021to 9,055.

The District reported that one additional resident lost his life due toCOVID-19.

Tragically, 1,291 District residents have lost their lives due toCOVID-19.

Visit coronavirus.dc.gov/data for interactive data dashboards or to download COVID-19 data.

Below is the Districts current Key Metrics Summary Table.

Below is the Districts aggregated total of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, sorted by age and gender.

Patient Gender

Total Confirmed Positive Cases

%

Female

%

Male

%

Unknown

%

All

131,284*

100

69,703

100

59,993

100

1,588

100

Unknown

272

<1

96

<1

139

<1

37

2

0-18

25,679

20

12,803

18

12,460

21

416

26

19-30

36,726

28

21,082

30

15,240

25

404

26

31-40

26,451

20

13,918

20

12,186

20

347

22

41-50

15,575

12

7,989

12

7,387

12

199

13

51-60

12,342

9

6,131

9

6,110

10

101

6

61-70

8,160

6

4,170

6

3,944

7

46

3

71-80

3,835

3

2,092

3

1,722

3

21

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Coronavirus Data for February 2, 2022 | mayormb - Executive Office of the Mayor

Just getting on the ice on Sunday felt like a victory.

Tahli Gill of Australias mixed doubles curling team had her bags packed and a flight booked to return home. Any hopes of finishing her Olympic run had seemingly been dashed by a series of positive coronavirus tests.

Yet, after a whirlwind of developments on Sunday, Gill and her partner, Dean Hewitt, notched Australias first-ever wins in curling. The pair beat Switzerland, 9-6.

I only had time to pull out my uniforms, Gill told reporters after the match, recounting the dizzying turn of events that led to health officials delivering an unexpected reprieve that sent her scrambling to make the game. I only played with one glove!

She had been excluded from her final two matches after a series of positive tests on Saturday, Australian Olympic officials said. Gill had alternated between positive and negative tests in recent days, which she had blamed on the residual effects of contracting the virus in December.

The call came late on Sunday when Chinese officials decided that Gills CT levels, a measure of how much viral material is detected, were within an acceptable range.

It was a sudden turn after Australian Olympic officials said that discussions with the health authorities and the International Olympic Committee went late into Saturday without success. By Sunday, Australian officials said, they were making plans to get Gill and Hewitt home after Gill had been moved into an isolation hotel.

When word started trickling in of a possible reprieve, Hewitt said he was reluctant to believe it. Dont do this to us, please! he said of the tantalizing possibility of returning. Are you serious?

The news was true.

It was just crazy, mate, Hewitt said after the game on Sunday. The excitement in the room was unbelievable.

That excitement, Hewitt said, fueled their play on Sunday. You dont realize what youve got until its gone, he said. The win? That was a bonus.

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For Australian Curler, a Positive Covid Test and Then a Surprise Win - The New York Times

Fourmore Mainers have died and another 1,095coronavirus cases reported across the state, Maine health officials said Saturday.

Saturdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 181,010,according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 179,915 on Friday.

Of those, 133,351have been confirmed positive, while 47,059were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

Three men and a woman have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,804.

Two were from Androscoggin County, one from Kennebec County and one from Somerset County.

Of those, one was 80 or older, two were in their 70s and one in their 60s.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 14,112. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats down from 14,224 on Friday.

The new case rate statewide Saturday was 8.18 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 1,352.43.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old account for the largest portion of deaths. More cases have been recorded in women and more deaths in men.

So far, 4,019 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 339 are currently hospitalized, with 83 in critical care and 36 on a ventilator. Overall, 47 out of 379 critical care beds and 245 out of 328 ventilators are available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Saturday was 30.03 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (18,232), Aroostook (8,615), Cumberland (37,861), Franklin (4,451), Hancock (5,296), Kennebec (17,441), Knox (4,284), Lincoln (3,815), Oxford (8,849), Penobscot (20,308), Piscataquis (2,274), Sagadahoc (3,776), Somerset (7,610), Waldo (4,473), Washington (3,161) and York (30,592) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasnt immediately available.

An additional 440 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Saturday, 978,717 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 76.4 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Saturday afternoon, the coronavirus had sickened 76,379,284 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 901,703 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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4 more Mainers have died and another 1,095 coronavirus cases reported across the state - Bangor Daily News

Jerusalem, February 6, 2022- An additional grant of US$3.75 million was allocated to the ongoing West Bank and Gaza COVID-19 Emergency Response. The additional financing will continue to support the Palestinian Authority's response to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring continuity of essential health services and contributing to long-term resilience.

The grant will be contributed from the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) Multi-donor Trust Fund administered by the World Bank. It is a flexible mechanism for rapid financing to support countries and territories to improve their capacities to prepare for, prevent, respond to, and mitigate the impact of epidemics on populations.

"*COVID-19 continues to pose a high risk of morbidity and mortality, as well as a burden to healthcare systems. Due to low capacity of testing in the Palestinian territories, the number of COVID-19 cases are underestimated. Still, the numbers of new infections reported daily continue to reach new highs. The additional financing will support the original project by providing immediate response to COVID-19, but also contributing to long-term resilience,*" said Kanthan Shankar, World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza.

Beyond strengthening the overall healthcare services and clinical capacity in immediate response to COVID-19 under the framework of the parent project, the new grant focuses on procuring supplies and equipment that could be utilized to promote resilience to future pandemics and health shocks. These include medicines for the treatment of health emergencies and chronic conditions as well as emergency medical devices and equipment including defibrillators, vital-signs monitors, emergency trolleys, patient beds, mobile blood banks, ultrasound machines, generators, and more.

The operation will also seek to reduce limitations to access to healthcare experienced by rural and marginalized communities. For instance, women in remote areas often find it difficult to access health services due to distance to health facilities and lack of transportation. Mobile clinics financed through the additional financing will ensure equitable access to quality care for populations that are often left behind. The World Bank will continue to strengthen resilience and pandemic preparedness in the health system through technical and operational engagement with the Ministry of Health and other partners in the sector.

Mary Koussa

+(972) 2-2366500

mkoussa@worldbank.org

Serene Jweied

+1 (202) 473-8764

sjweied@worldbankgroup.org

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New US$3.75 million Grant to Help Palestinians Fight the Coronavirus Outbreak and Future Health Shocks - occupied Palestinian territory - ReliefWeb

THORNTON, Colo. It's been nearly two years since the start of the pandemic in Colorado. One man who made a miraculous recovery after contracting the virus is reflecting on the last year.

On February 8, 2021, Jaime Gonzalez-Tolentino was admitted to the hospital during a battle with the virus and was given a 1% chance of survival. Nearly a year later he and his family share this story of a miraculous recovery.

Gonzalez contracted a severe case of the coronavirus in 2021 after suffering a stroke and battling Pneumonia just a few years earlier. He was in a coma, intubated, and put on an ECMO machine that provides heart and lung support. The days in the hospital turned into months.

"They told me, you know, he has a 1% chance. I mean, there was just, they didn't have any hope for him," said Jaime's oldest son, Jesus. "It was hard, especially me being the oldest. And, you know, how are you going to tell your siblings, your younger siblings that his dad is going to, is going to die?"

Despite all odds against them, his family did not lose hope and did what they could to help. Jaime's oldest son suggested a rare steroid treatment. With few options left one doctor agreed to try it.

She took a leap of faith on us because we told her that we were people of faith that we believe God was going be there for us," said Jesus.

On Easter Sunday, April 4, 2021, which also happened to be Jaime's youngest son's birthday, a miracle happened: the dad-of-three woke up after a couple of months in a coma.

Jaime says he remembers that moment, being surrounded by his family and mother. He says seeing their excitement gave him the same feeling and motivation to push forward.

Gonzalez spent exactly 100 days hospitalized before making it home on May 20, 2021. Since then, Jaime has been able to resume his normal life with a few restrictions like having to use an oxygen pack.

He says doctors at his latest appointment have told him that his health is progressing and his lungs are improving. His message to those who hear his story is, "Life is beautiful and is something that should be enjoyed by everyone."

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Thornton man given 1% survival chance reflects 1-year after COVID hospitalization - The Denver Channel

The test kits alone, the city estimated, caught 25,000 cases. School attendance hovered around 70 percent in early January, as children were out sick or kept home by their parents to try to avoid infection.

While Omicron often causes milder illness in adults, it sometimes has a more severe impact on children, particularly those too young to be vaccinated, creating new challenges for health care workers. Hospitalization rates for children rose more quickly than in previous waves, mirroring trends elsewhere.

Still, of the 181 children that Cohen Childrens Medical Center in Queens admitted with Covid-19 in the recent wave, only one, an unvaccinated 17-year-old boy, died, a spokesman said. From Jan. 1 to Jan. 27, three children under 18 died of Covid-19 in the city, bringing the citys total death toll in that age group during the pandemic to 32, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Although Omicron is receding quickly, the wave is not totally gone. There were 2,633 people with Covid-19 in city hospitals on Feb. 2, fewer than half than at the Omicron peak, but still more than four times as many as before the variant was first detected in December.

Even with the numbers declining, medical workers on the front lines say staffing shortages remain acute.

At SUNY Downstate, employees from across departments pitched in when the emergency room was taking in four times its regular number of patients in early January. Vaccines and new treatments helped limit severe cases. But there were too many patients flooding the entire health system at once to load balance, or transfer patients, between Downstate and other hospitals that were also being hit hard.

Still, strategies that had been developed after earlier waves helped, said Patricia A. Winston, the hospitals senior vice president for operations. Those included regular check-in calls with state and city officials and the Greater New York Hospital Association, a trade group that followed the situation across medical centers.

Before, it was like, you were in this by yourself, Ms. Winston said. Now you talk to each other and work together and figure out how to strategize. Even if you cant move somebody, you have someone to talk to.

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How New York Citys Hospitals Withstood the Omicron Surge - The New York Times

A statistician has said he was "overly-optimistic" at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, chairman of the Winton Centre for Risk of Evidence Communication at Cambridge University confessed he "didn't take it seriously enough".

He added that he had a naturally optimistic personality "and that's why I'm very glad I'm not a government adviser".

"The pandemic has been a net lifesaver for younger people, if you look at people between 15 and 30 in 2020, 300 fewer died than would normally have died and that includes the 100 that died from COVID sadly," Sir David said.

"So that's 300 fewer families mourning the death of a young person because of the pandemic.

"Now that's because young people were essentially locked up, they couldn't go out driving fast, they couldn't go out and get drunk, and they couldn't get into fights and whatever, and so all these lives were saved."

However, the professor said that this doesn't necessarily mean he advocates for lockdowns, because "on the flip side of that you have a big increase in mental health problems".

Sir David, who has been a regular commentator on the pandemic, admitted he had an "optimistic" disposition during the pandemic.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, he said: "I think it's very important that we have to acknowledge that we can never take an objective view about evidence, we always bring our, I think, personalities into it, and mine is unfortunately very optimistic and that's why I'm very glad I'm not a government adviser, I don't think I'd be very good at it because I do tend to hope for the best and sort of expecting the best as well.

"I was terribly over-optimistic at the start of the pandemic and didn't take it seriously enough."

'Could he have been caught earlier?'

Sir David was knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics, including leading the statistical team for the public inquiry into high rates of deaths among babies following heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

He also discussed his work as an expert witness to the public inquiry into serial killer doctor Harold Shipman.

Shipman was jailed for life in January 2000 for murdering 15 patients while working in Manchester but official predictions are that he killed between 215-260 people during a 23-year-period in West Yorkshire.

He said: "I was part of the team that was asked to say 'well, could he have been caught earlier if people had been looking at the data?'.

"We looked at the statistical methods that were used in industrial quality control, where you monitor whether a process is going out of kilter by seeing whether you're getting more failures than you would expect and, in Harold Shipman's case, it was looking for when more people were dying in his practice than you would expect.

"And we adapted the methods used in industrial quality control and showed that, actually Shipman could have been caught much earlier and if someone had been looking at the data and had blown the whistle you might have been able to save 200 lives."

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COVID-19: Cambridge professor admits he was 'over-optimistic' at the start of the coronavirus pandemic - Sky News