Category Archives: Corona Virus

Australia will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated tourists from February 21, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced, ending some of the worlds strictest and longest-running pandemic travel restrictions.

Its almost two years since we took the decision to close the borders to Australia, Morrison said during a media briefing on Monday.

If youre double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia.

Australia shut its borders in March 2020 to protect itself against a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

For most of the time since then, Australians have been barred from leaving and only a handful of visitors have been granted exemptions to enter.

The rules have split families, hammered the countrys large tourist industry and prompted sometimes acrimonious debates about Australias status as a modern, open and outward-looking nation.

With the rollout of its vaccination programme last year, Morrisons government has slowly relaxed the rules for Australians, long-term residents and students.

Mondays decision will see almost all remaining caps lifted.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it greatly welcomed the move.

The Asia Pacific region has been very cautious in its approach to border restrictions so far but in recent weeks, we have seen growing momentum towards relaxation of travel restrictions in the Philippines, Thailand, and to some extent New Zealand, Philip Goh, IATAs Regional Vice President for Asia Pacific said in a statement.

We urge other governments in the Asia Pacific to look at similarly further easing their border restrictions so as to enable aviation businesses to accelerate their much needed recovery and to bring maximum benefits to their economies.

Tim Soutphommasane, a professor of sociology at the University of Sydney, Australia, said the reopening of borders meant Australia can re-engage with the world. But challenges remain, he cautioned.

We may be seeing the beginning of the end for Fortress Australia, but psychologically the country still has some way to go, Soutphommasane told Al Jazeera.

The pandemic has seen Australia retreat into seeing itself as a sanctuary, sheltered from the rest of the world. With a highly vaccinated population, Australia should be confident about reopening. But there is still a lot of caution and anxiety, with the country still learning to live alongside the virus.

For most of the pandemic, Australia pursued what it called a COVID-zero policy that included strict snap lockdowns. But it abandoned the policy after rolling out vaccines.

Some 79 percent of Australias population has now received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and the country has pushed ahead with easing curbs even as the Omicron variant began to drive up infections.

The past week has seen a slowdown in daily infections and hospital admissions, with Australia reporting just over 23,000 new cases on Monday.

The figure marks the lowest daily case count this year and is well below the peak of 150,000 about a month ago.

Approximately 2.4 million cases have been recorded since the first Omicron case was detected in Australia in November. Until then, Australia had counted about 200,000 cases.

Some 4,248 people in Australia have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

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Australia to open borders to vaccinated tourists on February 21 - Al Jazeera English

In November 2020, Covid-19 cases in Iowa surged to 32,081 cases in a single week at the time, a record high. And that was only among the humans. As scientists would learn, an epidemic was also beginning to rage among the states many white-tailed deer.

A shockingly high number of deer 80 out of 97 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in a seven-week survey that followed the Iowa surge. We were gobsmacked, completely bowled over, says Vivek Kapur, a Penn State veterinary microbiologist who recently, with co-authors, published an analysis of the shadow deer epidemic in PNAS. We had no clue.

Its not just in Iowa. Evidence is mounting that deer infections have been widespread across the country. A separate study in Nature found infections in a third of deer surveyed in Ohio, and the USDA has reported coronavirus antibodies in Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania deer. Tens of millions of deer live across the United States. Its unknown how many total have been infected, but these studies suggest the numbers are high.

The deer themselves dont appear to get very sick from the virus lab studies show them developing asymptomatic infections when exposed but thats not the top concern here. Veterinary infectious disease experts are describing these outbreaks in deer as a possible Pandoras box and now that its open, theres a small but real chance it could lead to future variants that infect humans, or spread to other wildlife that could get sick.

Before starting the study, Kapur and his colleagues thought that deer would be highly unlikely to test positive for Covid-19. We thought it would be a long shot, Kapur says, to find even one positive test in a survey of deer that were killed by hunters or road accidents.

Theres only a limited window of time when a deers infection would show up on a PCR test before it clears their system. Thats what made the results so shocking: Our studies suggest that there were more deer, in terms of percentage of their population, than humans infected with this virus.

Despite the potential risks to animals and humans, the future of the coronavirus in animals may be largely outside of our control. We cant even control it in people, Sarah Olson, an epidemiologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, says. Theres hardly a chance were going to be able to control it in the wild. It creates a hugely chaotic space. And we dont have a lot of eyes on that space.

How the virus spreads among wildlife is a black box that scientists try to peer into through the tiniest of pinpricks. But what they do know is that when the coronavirus establishes itself in wildlife, it creates for itself a sort of insurance policy. We may be able to get the pandemic among humans under control, but the virus is likely to lurk in other species, making it that much harder to monitor and defeat.

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife is not the most pressing issue of the pandemic right now. Humans are still catching the virus from each other and dying from it. Still, these wildlife risks, if they are realized, could have serious consequences. Scientists want to be vigilant about dangers that could emerge from the wilderness.

The fact that SARS-CoV-2 can infect animals is not new. The virus probably originated in an animal species and then jumped to humans, a process that scientists call spillover. Since the pandemic began, there have been documented cases of many animals getting the virus, with various degrees of illness.

Infections have turned up in cats, dogs, lions, tigers, pumas, ferrets, mink, certain rodents, snow leopards, and others. The CDC even has guidelines to protect pets from Covid-19. When a virus jumps from animals to humans and then back to animals, scientists call that spillback.

Most of these infections in animals appeared to be self-contained. An infected house cat presumably stays in the house when infected it doesnt start a chain of transmission. They were all isolated cases, Suresh Kuchipudi, a Penn State infectious disease researcher who collaborated with Kapur, says of known cases in animals.

The deer infections were different. This is first time that a completely free-living animal species in the wild has been found to be infected, and that infection is widespread, Kuchipudi says.

How the deer got infected in the first place remains a mystery, but researchers believe the outbreak came from humans. The virus circulating in the deer had similar genetic sequences to the virus circulating in humans at the time that they got it.

I dont believe that theres much direct human-to-deer interaction, says Andrew Bowman, a professor of veterinary preventive medicine at the Ohio State University. He co-authored a separate study of infections in deer in Ohio, which also found widespread infection. Its not like deer and people are hanging out in bars and restaurants together. Instead, Bowman suspects the deer might be picking it up from some source of environmental contamination, like garbage or sewage.

Whatever happened to start the deer outbreaks, it appears to have happened many times. The genetic analysis in the PNAS paper finds evidence of several separate jumps from humans into animals. Further research needs to be done to identify the exact pathway, and hopefully to prevent the next leap.

Once the virus jumps into the deer, they are also spreading it to each other, the studies find. There was not just human-to-deer spillover, but there was also deer-to-deer transmission, as evidenced by genomic changes that would confirm that, Kuchipudi says.

There are two main reasons to be concerned about deer that spread the virus among themselves.

As viruses copy themselves in the human body, they slowly acquire genetic changes, which can lead to variants such as alpha and delta. Now imagine that a similar parallel trajectory was also happening in some animal populations, Kuchipudi says. When the virus becomes established in a new species, the evolution of the virus becomes twice as complicated.

This is the viruss so-called insurance policy. In theory, its possible that long after the pandemic dies down in humans maybe even 10 years from now deer could reinfect humans with a new variant that our immune system isnt as good at fighting off. (Theres even some speculation that the omicron variant emerged from an animal population.)

Then it comes back, and were fighting a whole new battle, Olson says.

So far, the scientists dont have any indication that a new dangerous variant is brewing within deer. Also reassuring: Right now, we dont have any evidence that any of these animals are transmitting back to people, says Angela Bosco-Lauth, who studies infectious disease and veterinary medicine at Colorado State University. I dont really see that as much of a threat.

But if a person were to catch the virus from an animal, it would be hard to prove it, Bosco-Lauth says. Scientists have only tested several hundred of the roughly 25 million deer in the United States, and many other species havent been studied.

If you had a group of animals that all had the same virus, that had the same genetic sequence, and then you found people downstream from that who had interacted with those animals and had the same sequence as the animal, that, to me, would be pretty solid proof that thats where it came from, she says. But that solid proof would be really hard to get. Scientists just dont do a lot of testing in animals.

The next concern is that the outbreak may not stop at the deer. Olson says the deer could potentially spread the virus to other animals.

Lets say a deer infected with the coronavirus comes into contact with other mammals for example, a predator like a mountain lion that kills a deer, or a scavenger like an ermine that nibbles away at a deers carcass. Olson says shes not aware of any documented cases of SARS-CoV-2 spreading from one species remains to a new species. But she says its plausible.

If those other species pick up the virus and start an outbreak among their kind, many different species could perhaps end up with Covid-19. Then you can think about almost like a complex network of animals passing the virus back and forth, right? Kuchipudi says. What is unsettling is that we have absolutely no clue if its happening or not.

All of this is hypothetical. But if it were to happen, we wouldnt necessarily find out. Contact tracing is hard enough in humans its even more daunting when you consider the size and scope of the animal kingdom. We have to approach this with humility, Kuchipudi says.

While researchers dont have evidence that Covid-19 is killing deer, it can be lethal for mustelids think measles, mink, and ferrets and endangered snow leopards. Considering how much the coronavirus has evolved in people, it could potentially evolve in a way that hurts some animals. Theres conservation threats there, Olson says.

The pandemic in humans is much more urgent than Covid-19 in animals. All of the scientists I spoke to agreed about that. The coronavirus is still killing thousands of people every day, and thats the problem that should get the bulk of our attention and resources.

Humans are doing such a great job at spreading Covid between each other, Bosco-Lauth says. I dont particularly worry about any animals maintaining this pandemic I think were going to do that just fine on our own.

On the other hand, the scientists say they want more visibility into whats happening in the animal world. We need wildlife surveillance, Olson says, meaning more testing of animals for coronavirus antibodies a sign they have been exposed or active infections. We just dont have the tools to begin to understand the system, to even start mapping whats going to happen here, because our ability to see it is so opaque right now.

Scientists still have a lot to learn about how viruses jump between species, Olson says, and what factors make these jumps more or less likely.

Could scientists vaccinate deer or other wildlife? Not really. Theres nothing to be done, Olson says. While some vaccines are formulated for animals and routinely administered to pets, we dont know enough about the immune system of the deer to know how it would respond to vaccines made for humans. Then come the logistical problems: Inoculations would need to be mixed with bait somehow, delivered via dart, or administered directly to captured animals. To top it off, one dose might not be enough.

How are you going to capture the same animal four times? Olson says. Theres just no toolbox for this.

For all these reasons, Covid-19 outbreaks in animals are not situations we can plausibly control. Rather, theyre something to monitor in case they start to look like pressing problems.

We have been focusing predominantly on humans because there is a global pandemic going, Kuchipudi says. But at the same time, we cant be ignoring this problem. The danger is then if we dont address it, we could be completely blindsided and caught by surprise when a new variant emerges.

The course of the pandemic continues to be impossible to predict, even in humans. The addition of it spreading in wildlife just makes it even harder. If theres a lesson here, its this: This virus never ceases to surprise us, Kapur says.

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Covid-19 in animals: Coronavirus spillover to deer could affect humans - Vox.com

Feb 5th 2022

SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING moves slowly. Depending on the academic field, it can take years for a single paper to get published in a well-regarded journal. In that time, a paper might undergo several rounds of peer-review by academic volunteers, followed by correctionsand possibly rejectionsbefore a new scientific result sees the light of day.

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This rigmarole is meant to ensure that the research that enters the scientific record is reputable, rigorous and trustworthy. That is admirableand the system generally works wellbut it also introduces a bottleneck, delaying the circulation of new scientific results. To get around this, scientists can release a preprint: a manuscript of a paper posted to a public server online before it has completed a formal peer-review process.

Preprints are commonplace in physics and mathematics. During the covid-19 pandemic, these publications took off in bio logy, genomics and medicine too, reflecting the urgency of communicating corona virus-related findings to other scientists, government officials, and the public.

Some have expressed concerns over the quality of preprints, however, arguing that publishing research prematurely risks undermining the integrity of science if conclusions may later need to be revised, after comments from peer-reviewers, say. Fortunately, a study published in the journal PLOS Biology this week suggests that they have little to worry about.

A team of researchers led by Jonathon Coates, a biologist at Queen Mary University in London, decided to analyse how reliable preprints were early in the covid-19 pandemic. They compiled a set of 184 research papers in the life sciences that had initially been posted as preprints on bio Rxiv and medRxivtwo large preprint serversand later published in one of 23 major scientific journals in the first four months of the pandemic.

They compared each preprint with its more polished version that had later appeared in a journal. They looked for content that had been added or removed from the body of the manuscript, tables or figures that had been rearranged, and when key wording had been changed.

Dr Coatess analysis found that 82.8% of coronavirus-related preprints and 92.8% of non-coronavirus-related preprints saw no material change to their conclusions upon journal publication. Of the changes that were made, most involved only strengthening or weakening of conclusions. Only one paper out of 184 saw one of its conclusions reversed. This is a welcome finding, says Dr Coates. Ultimately, scientists share preprints because they think the work is ready, not simply to rush it outthe results of our study reflect that.

That more coronavirus-related papers saw changes upon publication than non-coronavirus papers could reflect two factors, suggests Dr Coates. The first is that scientists were moving as quickly as possible to make coronavirus-related results public to aid the early pandemic response, meaning that the language in early covid-19 preprints was more likely to require a final edit. Dr Coates adds that, in his experience, journal editors were also being more rigorous in their treatment of early covid-19 research, precisely because the stakes were so high.

These findings support arguments made by advocates of open science, who say that new scientific results should be made available to other researchers and the public freely and quickly. Dr Coatess work suggests that the usual gatekeepers of the research, scientific journals, may add little scientific value to the original research manuscripts. Their large subscription fees, therefore, look increasingly at odds with the value they provide.

Dr Coates also discovered an annoying wrinkle in the publishing and sharing of data in the life sciences. Whenever his team tried to gain access to the supplementary data for a journal-published version of an article, all too often the links were dead or did not lead to the data they were looking for. That seems troubling, not least during a public-health crisis in which access to timely data has been critical in working out what to do and when.

To enjoy more of our mind-expanding science coverage, sign up to Simply Science, our weekly newsletter.

This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline "Handsome prints"

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Preprints on the coronavirus have been impressively reliable - The Economist

Washington, DC The Districts reported data for February 1, 2022 includes144new confirmed positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, bringing the Districts overall confirmed positive case total to 131,093.The District also reports 28new probable tests, bringing the overall positive probable tests since October 15, 2021to 9,023.

The District reportednoadditionallives lost related toCOVID-19.

Tragically, 1,290 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.

Below is the Districts aggregated total of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, sorted by ward of residence.

Below is the Districts aggregated total of confirmed positive COVID-19 cases, sorted by neighborhood of residence.

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

Below is the Districts Hospital Census and hospital bed availability at District hospitals.

Below is the ventilator use and availability at District hospitals.

The District currently has 51 intensive care unit (ICU) beds available in hospitals out of 345 total ICU beds.

Below is the Districts total lives lost due to COVID-19, sorted by race.

Below is the Districts total lives lost due to COVID-19, sorted by sex.

Below is the Districts total lives lost due to COVID-19, sorted by age.

Below is the Districts total lives lost due to COVID-19, sorted by ward of residence.

Guidance has been published for healthcare providers, employers and the public to provide information on what to do if you have been diagnosed with or are a contact of someone who has COVID-19. Residents are encouraged to get vaccinated at one of our free walk-up vaccination sites located throughout the District. For more information, please visit vaccines.gov.

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Coronavirus Data for February 1, 2022 | mayormb - Executive Office of the Mayor

The U.S. Army is developing a vaccine capable of protecting against multiple coronaviruses, but Dr. Fauci said it will be years before one is potentially available.

The discovery of the COVID-19 virus in 2020 prompted a global race for an effective vaccine. Scientists have now developed several vaccines to fight COVID-19. While the vaccines authorized for use in the United States still significantly reduce rates of hospitalization and death, concerns of vaccine efficacy have grown as variants such as omicron appear to evade some vaccine protections.

At a White House press briefing on Jan. 26, Dr. Anthony Fauci said that now there is an urgent need for a universal vaccine that could protect people from multiple COVID-19 variants, as well as other coronaviruses such as SARS. And some news outlets tweeted that the Army was developing a universal coronavirus vaccine.

THE QUESTION

Is the Army working on a universal vaccine that would protect people from multiple coronaviruses?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

Yes, researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are working to develop a universal vaccine that would protect people against multiple COVID-19 variants and other coronaviruses. But the vaccine likely wont be available to the general public for several years.

WHAT WE FOUND

According to a U.S. Army press release, researchers at the The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research began work on the universal coronavirus vaccine in early 2020, when they were given the first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus.

This vaccine would protect against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and may provide broad protection against variants associated with the alpha strain. It would also provide protection against other coronaviruses like SARS-origin viruses. The development of this vaccine could provide researchers with the tools they need to prevent another pandemic, the release said, by acting as the first line of defense against variants of concern and similar viruses that could emerge in the future.

DefenseOne reported the Army-developed vaccine uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein. This would allow the virus to attack multiple coronaviruses at the same time, because different strains could be built into the vaccine.

The first phase of clinical trials in humans began in April 2021. Prior to that, primates were used as test subjects. According to results of the animal testing phase, the antibody responses exceed those observed for other major vaccines and rapidly protects against respiratory infection and disease in the upper and lower airways and lung tissue of nonhuman primates.

The initial vaccine trials did not include the omicron variant, because the omicron variant did not exist at the time. The delta variant was included in initial testing.

Even though the Army is working on developing a universal coronavirus vaccine, that doesnt mean it will be available to the general public any time soon, if at all. For now, its still in the development and research phase in the U.S.

Dr. David Morens, senior advisor to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told VERIFY to make a universal vaccine is a challenge because if you try to broaden the recipe to add different viruses or variants, like the Army is working to do, your chance of success diminishes."

To make a mostly-universal or fully-universal vaccine is at the moment beyond our technical capacities for any virus group I know of, but that doesnt mean that basic science research wont in the future give us clues to go further, Morens said.

Its not only a question of mutations and bat emergences, its the whole question of breadth of coverage. How do you get a vaccine to do a hundred different jobs when it is barely possible to get it to do one? How do you get the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback to play all 22+ positions on the team at the same level? Morens added.

During a White House press briefing, Fauci also said it could be years before the vaccine would be available in the U.S.

I dont want anyone to think that pan-coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner in a month or two. Its going to take years to develop in an incremental fashion. Some of these are already in phase one clinical trials. Dont forget, however, that our current vaccine regimens do provide strong protection, particularly when used with a booster, against severe coronavirus disease and death, Fauci said. So, do not wait to receive your primary vaccine regimen. And if you are vaccine [vaccinated], please get your booster if you are eligible.

The Armys universal coronavirus vaccine effort is not the only universal vaccine in development. Scientists are also working on a universal flu vaccine, which, according to the National Academy of Sciences, could be available within the next ten years.

The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More

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Yes, the Army is working on a universal coronavirus vaccine - 12news.com KPNX

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 378.5 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.67 million. More than 10.08 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

More than half of Tokyo's hospital beds set aside for COVID-19 patients were occupied on Tuesday, a level that officials have previously flagged as a criterion for requesting a state of emergency. The capital and most of Japan are now under curbs to contain record coronavirus cases driven by the contagious Omicron variant.

The COVID-19 situation at the Beijing Winter Olympics is within the "expected controllable range", despite increasing positive cases being detected, a senior official at China's Olympics Pandemic Prevention and Control Office said on Tuesday. The Organizing Committee has reported 200 COVID cases since 23 January.

The British government said on Monday it planned to revoke mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health workers in England after warnings that an already-stretched service could face crippling staff shortages. Health minister Sajid Javid said the government would launch a consulation into whether the policy announced in November was still needed.

Russia reported a record daily number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the Omicron variant of coronavirus spread across the country, authorities said. New daily cases jumped to 125,836, up from 124,070 a day earlier. The government coronavirus task force also reported 663 deaths in the past 24 hours.

The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday gave full approval to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for people age 18 and older, making it the second fully approved vaccine for the virus. The Moderna vaccine has been authorized for emergency use in the United States since December 2020.

South Africa no longer requires those who test positive for COVID-19 without symptoms to isolate and has also reduced the isolation period for those with symptoms by three days, as the country exits its fourth wave of the coronavirus, a government statement said on Monday.

Indonesia's holiday island of Bali will start welcoming back travellers from all countries later this week, officials said on Monday, more than three months after announcing it was open to selected nationalities.

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

The study, which analyzed coronavirus infections in more than 8,500 Danish households between December and January, found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were roughly 33% more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with BA.1.

Worldwide, the "original" BA.1 subvariant accounts for more than 98% of Omicron cases, but its close cousin BA.2 has quickly become the dominant strain in Denmark, dethroning BA.1 in the second week of January.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was conducted by researchers at Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Copenhagen University, Statistics Denmark and Technical University of Denmark.

BA.2 cases have also been registered in the United States, Britain, Sweden and Norway, but to a much lesser extent than in Denmark, where it accounts for roughly 82% of cases.

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

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

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

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

Discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles from the COVID-19 pandemic have piled up to create tens of thousands of tonnes of medical waste, threatening human health and the environment, a World Health Organization report said on Tuesday.

The material, a portion of which could be infectious since coronavirus can survive on surfaces, potentially exposes health workers to burns, needle-stick injuries and disease-causing germs, the report said.

Communities close to poorly managed landfills can also be affected through contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease-carrying pests, it added.

The report calls for reform and investment including through the reduction in the use of packaging that has caused a rush for plastic and the use of protective gear made from reusable and recyclable materials.

It estimates that some 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment (PPE), or the equivalent of the weight of several hundred blue whales, has been ordered via a UN portal up until November 2021 - most of which is thought to have ended up as waste.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 1 February - World Economic Forum

LONDON A gaggle of masked nurses and doctors in blue paper gowns shuffled from one coronavirus patient to the next offering lifesaving care. Some patients had lingered for days or weeks. Others counted their stays in months.

If there was an end in sight to two years of pandemic, health care workers lamented, youd hardly know it here.

We live in this parallel universe, said Lucy Jenkins, who leads the team of critical care nurses at Homerton University Hospital in East London, comparing what health care workers on the frontline were experiencing with what the general public sees.

Political leaders have moved onto heralding the mild symptoms of the Omicron variant and declaring the pandemic all but over. The British government lifted nearly all coronavirus restrictions in mid-January as infection and hospitalization rates dropped steeply compared with early last year and as vaccines slashed the number of people falling seriously ill.

But for doctors and nurses a return to a normal rhythm of work is still a long way off. While Homertons intensive care units are no longer overflowing, as they were early last year, like many in England, they still face a steady influx of coronavirus patients.

So many people were infected by the coronavirus this winter a record of around 186,000 new daily cases in the first week of January that even if fewer of them ended up gravely ill, hospitals have remained under intense pressure.

In intensive care units like Homertons, which treat the most seriously ill, nearly all of those being tended are unvaccinated.

Since the start of the pandemic, the hospital has treated more than 2,000 coronavirus patients. Nearly 500 died from Covid, according to hospital data. The pandemic has by now engendered a lasting change in the way its intensive care unit, and many others in the country, work. We visited Homerton on Jan. 21.

10:30 a.m.: Morning ward rounds.

A team of doctors and nurses made their way around the escalation ward of the intensive care unit, set aside for treating coronavirus patients. They hover over charts and compare notes on the five patients. Each needs near constant care.

Four of them are hooked up to ventilators, and the rhythmic beeping of the machines hums steadily in the background.

This area was set up at the height of the pandemic to treat the most critically ill Covid patients. The space was originally a reception area for surgery and was never intended to be used for this specialized care. But since the spring of 2020, it has never closed.

Dr. Susan Jain, a specialist in anesthesia and intensive therapy, and a lead doctor, said it was like trying to set up a specialist unit in a living room. The area wasnt fit for the purpose.

Things have slowed, she said, but the staff are still on emergency footing.

We havent seen a point yet where were convinced that the number of Covid cases that are seriously ill are petering out, she said. So theres a sort of unpredictability hanging in the air, about how much and for how long the pressures continue, but it is there for the foreseeable future.

Mary Connolly, a senior nurse who has worked here for 32 years, moved with ease from bed to bed, rattling off vital details of the care of each patient. Nearly all they are now treating are unvaccinated, she explained. A handful deny that the virus even exists.

Its the new thing now, people are refusing to be tested at all, she says, shaking her head. A man with a tracheotomy moans as she and another nurse slide him up the bed to prepare him for an X-ray.

Dont pull it out, she says gently, as he grabs for the plastic pipe protruding from his neck.

One of the patients being cared for in the unit is Dean Gray, 47. He has been there for five days and is the only patient not on mechanical ventilation. Tubes run from the cannula inserted in his heavily tattooed hand. An oxygen mask is fixed over his nose and mouth.

Feb. 3, 2022, 3:15 p.m. ET

I sit at his bedside as he tells me how he had traveled to London to see his family for Christmas. He and his mother became sick with the coronavirus around the same time. She was admitted to the hospital first. He was brought in on the day she died.

I never got to see her, he said.

Mr. Gray chose not to get vaccinated and said his reluctance comes from distrust of the government and worries that the true scale of the pandemic was exaggerated.

Youve got Boris Johnson going to parties, and its really sort of put me against it, he said, pointing to the recent government scandal amid allegations that the prime minister lied about attending parties during lockdown. If all of these problems hadnt arose, I probably would have been vaccinated. But if the milk seems to be sour, I am not going to drink it.

Visitors are not allowed in areas where coronavirus patients are treated, but an exception has been made in Mohammed Tahirs case. He has been hospitalized for the last six months after contracting the coronavirus in August.

For a time he was doing better and was moved out of intensive care, but he returned in December. His bed stands alone in a separate bay. Unlike everyone else on the ward today, he was vaccinated before getting sick.

When his son, Omar Tahir, arrived for an hour visit, Mohammeds expression immediately eased. He gets anxious without his family by his side, Omar explained. So Omar quit his job and moved home to be closer to the hospital and to be with his mother, he said.

A job can be replaced, but you cant replace him, he said.

Omar rubs his fathers frail legs with lotion, his hand moving with care over the sharp angle of his shin bone. Mohammed signals to him to drive safely on his motorbike, his hands gesturing as if gripping handlebars, and he cracks a smile.

Around the world. Several countries are easing their pandemic protocols, though publichealth leaders at the World Health Organization continued to urge caution about relaxing restrictions. In Austria, a sweeping Covid vaccine mandate is set to become law.

Developments in the research field. Intranasal vaccines currently under developmentmay make better boosters by stopping the coronavirus in mucosal linings of the airways. Nasal immunization has already been shown to be effective in protecting mice, ferrets, hamsters and monkeys against the coronavirus.

Mohammed looks deep into his sons eyes and smiles, rarely breaking eye contact. When it comes time to say goodbye, Omar wipes away tears.

As evening comes, Ms. Jenkins, who leads the nurses here, finds out they will be getting three more patients. Its always a logistical stretch.

Adding to the difficulty is the fact that coronavirus patients are treated in a separate part of the unit and the nurse-to-patient ratio is higher in intensive care than other parts of the hospital.

An uptick in patients coupled with a staff shortage caused mainly by the pandemic, Brexit and burnout have meant the hospital has to rely on more temporary I.C.U. nurses. So even as patient numbers have dropped, the pressures remain.

I think people are exhausted, they are burned out, Dr. Jain said. The incentive to work in any of these environments is very little, thats a big problem.

Still, things have improved compared with this time last year when my colleague, Andrew Testa, visited the unit. It was the height of the second wave of coronavirus infections battering Britain, and the unit was brimming with patients. Every bed was full, with 22 Covid patients in total.

Now, there are typically between a half dozen to a dozen coronavirus patients on any given day, the hospital said.

But many health care workers are still grappling with months of observing illness and death on a scale they had never experienced, with some suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

It was the sheer volume, Dr. Jain said, adding that it was the same in hospitals across the country. It was mass death and also it felt like it could have been avoided.

Outside, banners line the street facing the main entrance with messages for the staff: Thank you to all the hard workers at Homerton Hospital. We love you, reads one.

The banners edges are now tattered and blackened by the exhaust of the cars that have passed by since they were first hung in 2020, when the pandemic began.

In many ways, the staff inside feel far from those early days. In some ways, little has changed, but what has changed is profound.

You know, in Wave 1, we were heroes, said Ms. Jenkins, the leader of the nursing team. By Wave 2, we were the enemy. And thats hard.

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One Day in the Parallel Universe of a London I.C.U. - The New York Times

Exposing people to a tiny amount of coronavirus led to infection on average 42 hours later, according to preliminary results from the first British study testing participants response to the virus.

A study of 36 highly screened healthy people who had volunteered to be infected with the virus, found that in the 18 people who became COVID-19 positive (defined as two positive PCR tests), the time between exposure and viral detection was significantly shorter than existing estimates putting the average incubation period at five to six days.

The study found that the smallest planned dose of the virus administered up the nose was enough to infect half of the participants, aged between 18 and 30, so no higher doses were tested.

Once infection was detected, there was a steep rise first in the amount of virus found in the throat, followed by the nose, where virus levels were the highest.

Virus levels peaked at around five days, but high viral load was still picked up in lab tests up to 12 days later for some. There were no severe symptoms or clinical concerns, with mild symptoms ranging from sore throat to aches and pains, and headache.

While this human challenge study used a virus isolated early in the pandemic, the researchers are planning a next study using a Delta strain, most likely in vaccinated volunteers.

The researchers told journalists they intend to begin the study in spring and expect it to contribute to data on the new COVID-19 vaccines and antivirals.

Wednesday's study, a collaboration between Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, hVIVO, the Vaccine Task Force and the Department of Health and Social Care, is available online but has not yet been peer reviewed.

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Study finds coronavirus infection after exposure faster than expected - POLITICO Europe

How Spotify is responding to Joe Rogan podcast, COVID misinformation

As musicians leave Spotify, the streaming service plans to add content advisories before podcasts discuss COVID-19.

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY

As the U.S. inches up to a 64% vaccination rate for the entire population, only 42% of those eligible for a booster have gotten the extra shot, and experts arent sure what will move the needle, so to speak.

Perhaps this will win over some converts:

Fully vaccinated Americans are 14 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than those who havent gotten the shots. Boosted Americans are 97 times less likely.

Those were the figures presented Wednesday by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on reports from 25 jurisdictions in the week ending Dec. 4. For every 100,000 people, 9.7 of those who were unvaccinated were killed by the coronavirus, compared to 0.7 of those fully vaccinated and 0.1 of the boosted.

She said more recent information during the omicron wave further underscores the value of getting boosted, prompting Dr. Anthony Fauci to say, The data are really stunningly obvious why a booster is really very important.

They spoke at a briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team, during which Walensky confirmed the omicron surge is abating, with new infections nationwide down 36% to a daily average of 446,000 compared to the previous week, and hospitalizations dropping 14% to 17,100. Those are still stunningly high numbers, though, and deaths have risen 4% to 2,300 a day.

With the mixed news above, similar to other waves throughout the pandemic, our data continue to reinforce the critical importance of vaccination, Walensky said.

That also applies to those who are pregnant or couples who may want to conceive in the future. Fauci highlighted two recent studies that showed vaccination had no impact on fertility, which actually diminished temporarily among males infected with the virus.

New data adds to previous studies that indicate the COVID-19 vaccination does not negatively impact fertility, Fauci said. And of course, as weve all said over and over again, vaccination is recommended for people who are trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.

For many who are already parents, news that their children under age 5 may become eligible for the vaccine by the end of this month could relieve concerns about their exposure to the virus.

Response team coordinator Jeff Zients said about 18 million children in that age group would qualify once the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC give their OK, adding that the administration is already working on distribution plans for the low-dose vaccine.

Well be ready to start getting shots in arms soon after FDA and CDC make their decisions, Zients said.

Also in the news:

The Food and Drug Administration said its vaccine advisory committee will have a virtual meetingFeb. 15 to discuss Pfizer-BioNTech's requestfor an emergency use authorization of its COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 4 years. The companies appliedfor the EUA on Tuesday, and if cleared the shots could be available as soon as late February.

The breakthrough mRNA technology used in the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is being employed forthe first time in human clinical trials designed to develop an HIV vaccine, the Washington Post reports.

Tonga entered a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the Pacific islandnation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami.

India Arie and Graham Nash have joined the list of musicians asking that their music be removed from Spotifyfollowing Neil Young's protest over podcaster Joe Rogan spreading false informationabout vaccines on the platform.

Today's numbers:The U.S. has recorded more than 75million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 893,000 deaths,according toJohns Hopkins University data.Global totals: More than 383million cases and over 5.6million deaths. More than 212million Americans 63.9% are fully vaccinated,according totheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.

What we're reading:Thenational debtsurpassed $30 trillion for the first time Tuesday, fueled in part by thecoronavirus pandemicand what economists describe as years of unsustainable government spending that could have long-term consequences for every American.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more?Sign up forUSA TODAY's freeCoronavirus Watch newsletterto receive updates directly to your inbox andjoin ourFacebook group.

Even though infections from the omicron variant are decreasingacross the country, the CDC's national ensemble forecast predicts the U.S. will reach933,000 to 965,000 COVID deaths by Feb. 26, the higher figure being nearly 75,000 more than the current total.

That's in part because deaths from the coronavirus typically lag infectionsby about three weeks, and the nation experienced an unprecedented spike in casesin January.

The weekly ensemble, acompilation of predictions from diverse sources that the CDC says has been "among the most reliable forecasts in performance over time,'' envisions a stable or uncertain trend in the number of fatalities reported over the rest of the month.

The Army will immediately begin discharging soldiers who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Under a directive issued by Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, commanders are to initiate "involuntary administrative separation proceedings" against unvaccinated soldiers with noapproved or pending exemption request, the Pentagon said in a statement Wednesday.The order applies to regular Army, reservists and cadets.

Army readiness depends on Soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nations wars,Wormuth said in a statement. Unvaccinated Soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August ordered vaccination for every service member. The Army has not yet involuntarily separated any soldiers for failing to get vaccinated. The Navy announced it would begin dischargingunvaccinated members in December; the Air Force began letting go ofunvaccinated people that same month.

More than 100 people have joined a lawsuit against New Orleans mayor and health director over COVID-19 restrictions recently extended to Mardi Gras parades and other events leading up to Fat Tuesday on March 1.

The 2020 festival was recognized afterward as a super spreader that turned New Orleans into an early pandemic hot spot. Last year, parades were canceled and bars were shuttered.This month, masks are required in bars, restaurants and other public spaces. And children as young as 5 must show proof of vaccination or a recent negative test for the virus to get into indoor public areas.

The lawsuit against Mayor LaToya Cantrell and health director Jennifer Avegno targets mask and vaccination mandates.City Hall spokesman Beau Tidwell said the city normally doesn't publicly respond to litigation.

However, in this case I think its worth noting that the guidelines that we put in place saved lives, full stop," Tidwell said. "The vaccine mandate and the mask requirements are going to remain in place throughout Mardi Gras.

Contrary to scientific evidenceand warnings from health agencies, hundreds of doctors nationwide continue to prescribe ivermectinencouraged by a little-known national group of physicians to prevent and treat COVID-19.Many of the doctors follow treatment guidelinesset by an organizationcalled the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which promotesthe controversial drug along with other unproven therapies. The group's protocol is a laundry list of ivermectin and other prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, vitamin supplements and herbs, none of which have been scientifically proven to work against COVID-19. Read more here.

Theres a group of physicians who will abandon the science in order to satisfy the unscientific demands of patients, said Dr. Gregory Poland, professor of medicine and infectious diseases and director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. Its disinformation. Youre failing to use proven therapies in favor of disproven therapies, and thats wrong.

Adrianna Rodriguez

Although overall child COVID-19 case counts are on their way down in the United States, the January numbers were 3.5 times higher with the omicron variant than what was seen with the previous delta surge, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.Theincrease in cases has resulted in more pediatric hospitalizations and the rise of a dangerous disorder called MIS-C,or Multisystem InflammatorySyndrome in Children. MIS-C, a condition leading to inflammation in the bodyaffecting organs such asthe heart and lungs, occurs about four weeks after infection and can cause high fever, rash, and in some children, other serious health outcomes.

Dr. John Vanchiere,president of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics,said about 6,000 cases of MIS-C have been documented nationwide.

"Their whole immune system is really turned on inappropriately," Vanchiere said. "That inflammation can have long-term effects on the heart and particularly the coronary arteries. We're worried aboutthat."

Even before the pandemic, advocates and health experts had warned of loneliness and social isolation among the nations older adult population. Now, nearly two years in, they say government mandates and precautionary measures meant to control the virus by limiting social interaction have taken an emotional, mental and physical toll.Geriatric workers say rates of depression and anxiety have risen among their clients in that time. In more severe cases, those conditions have led to cognitive and physical deterioration, or worse.

People experienced cognitive decline from having no stimulation, and that has persisted, said Stacey Malcolmson, Senior Sourcepresident and CEO. For those with underlying mental health conditions like dementia or Alzheimers, weve been finding that that cognitive decline is irreversible.

Marc Ramirez

A Michigan woman who previously owned a home health agency that was never operational during the pandemic received $37,657 in federal funds designated for the medical treatment and care of COVID-19 patients, the Department of Justice said.The woman pleaded guilty Tuesday in the Eastern District of Michigan to stealing government funds and using them for her own personal expenses. She previously owned 1 on 1 Home Health in LaPorte, Indiana, which she had closed in early 2020.

The woman was indicted in February of last year in the first criminal charges for the intentional misuse of funds distributed from the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund.

Grace Hauck, USA TODAY

Contributing: The Associated Press

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Boosted Americans 97 times less likely to die of virus than unvaccinated; CDC predicts 75,000 more deaths by Feb. 26: Live COVID-19 updates - USA...

Eighteenmore Mainers have died and another 1,402coronavirus cases reported across the state, Maine health officials said Thursday.

Thursdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 178,501,according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 177,099 on Wednesday.

Of those, 131,530have been confirmed positive, while 46,971were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

Eight men and 10 women have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,777.

Two were from Androscoggin County, two from Aroostook County, two from Cumberland County, two from Kennebec County, three from Oxford County, three from Penobscot County, two from Waldo County and two from York County.

Of those, six were 80 or older, six were in their 70s, four in their 60s, one in their 50s and one in their 40s.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 14,177. 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 up from 14,159 on Wednesday.

The new case rate statewide Thursday was 10.48 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 1,333.69.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 998, down from 1,015.4 the day before, down from 1,028.9 a week ago and up from 706.7 a month ago.

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, 3,979 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 346 are currently hospitalized, with 80 in critical care and 31 on a ventilator. Overall, 52 out of 380 critical care beds and 245 out of 322 ventilators are available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Thursday was 29.73 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (17,967), Aroostook (8,525), Cumberland (37,075), Franklin (4,416), Hancock (5,206), Kennebec (17,185), Knox (4,251), Lincoln (3,771), Oxford (8,817), Penobscot (20,090), Piscataquis (2,254), Sagadahoc (3,718), Somerset (7,503), Waldo (4,415), Washington (3,139) and York (30,169) counties.

An additional 1,339 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Thursday, 977,759 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 76.4 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Thursday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 75,701,825 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 894,569 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

More articles from the BDN

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18 more Mainers have died and another 1,402 coronavirus cases reported across the state - Bangor Daily News