Category Archives: Corona Virus

In April 2020, tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo made the news when they came down with Covid-19. In the months following these surprising diagnoses, researchers and veterinarians found SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in nearly a dozen other species, both in captivity and in the wild.

How are so many animals catching the coronavirus? And what does this mean for human and animal health?

We are veterinary researchers who investigate animal diseases, including zoonotic diseases that can infect both humans and animals. It is important, for both human and animal health, to know what species are susceptible to infection by the coronavirus. Our labs and others across the world have tested domestic, captive, and wild animals for the virus, in addition to conducting experiments to determine which species are susceptible.

The list of infected animals so far includes more than a dozen species. But in reality, infections may be much more widespread, as very few species and individual animals have been tested. This has real implications for human health. Animals can not only spread pathogens like the coronavirus but also can be a source of new mutations.

White-tailed deer and mink are the only two species of animals that have been found harboring the virus in the wild. sandra standbridge/Moment/Getty Images

As of February 2022, researchers and veterinary diagnostic labs have confirmed that 31 species are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. In addition to pets and zoo animals, researchers have found that a number of nonhuman primates, ferrets, deer mice, hyenas, wood rats, striped skunks and red fox are among the animals that are susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2.

White-tailed deer and mink are the only two species of animals that have been found harboring the virus in the wild. Fortunately, most animals dont appear to experience clinical disease like humans do, with the exception of mink. However, even animals that dont appear sick may be able to transmit the virus to each other and, potentially, back to people. Still unanswered are many questions about which animals can contract the virus and what, if anything, that means for people.

There are three ways to study zoonotic diseases: by looking at pets or captive species like animals in zoos, testing wild animals for the coronavirus, or by exposing animals to the virus in a lab.

During the early stages of the pandemic, when a few pet owners or zoo caretakers observed animals with breathing problems or coughing, they arranged with veterinarians to get them tested for the coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention coordinate Covid-19 testing and management in animals. The same process of taking a sample and running it through a PCR machine to test for the coronavirus works just as well for animals as it does for people, though swabbing the nose of a lion or even a pet cat requires a bit more training and finesse. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories like our own run hundreds of thousands of tests for animal diseases each year, so we were able to easily begin testing for SARS-CoV-2.

Relying on previous research, scientists have been able to make some guesses as to which animals are susceptible and have been testing these hypotheses. Cats, hamsters, and ferrets were all infected during the first SARS outbreak in 2002, so researchers suspected they would be susceptible to the new coronavirus. Sure enough, research showed that SARS-CoV-2 readily infected these species in laboratory experiments. Mink are closely related to ferrets, and during the summer and fall of 2020, mink farms across the U.S. became sites of huge outbreaks after people passed the coronavirus to the animals.

Using computer models, scientists were also able to predict that the coronavirus could easily infect some species of deer using key proteins on their cells. Based on these predictions, researchers began testing white-tailed deer for the coronavirus and first reported positives in August 2021.

Most recently, on Feb. 7, 2022, researchers published a preprint paper showing that deer on Staten Island, New York, are infected with the omicron variant. Since this is the virus infecting most New Yorkers, this provides strong evidence that humans somehow transmitted the virus to deer. How deer in at least six states and Canada initially came in contact with SARS-CoV-2 remains a mystery.

Finally, to understand how the coronavirus affects animals, researchers have been conducting carefully controlled exposure experiments. These studies evaluate how infected animals shed the virus, whether they have clinical symptoms, and whether and how much the virus mutates in different species.

The risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 from an animal is, for most people, far lower than being exposed to it by another human. But if the coronavirus is living and spreading among animals and occasionally jumping back to humans, this process known as spillover and spillback poses its own threats to public health.

First, infection of animals simply increases the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 in an environment. Second, large populations of animals that can sustain the infection can act as a reservoir for the virus, maintaining it even if the number of infections in humans decreases. This is particularly concerning with deer that live in high numbers in suburban areas and could transmit the virus back to people.

Finally, when SARS-CoV-2 spreads from humans to animals, our laboratorys own work indicates that the virus very rapidly accumulates mutations. Viruses adapt to the unique characteristics body temperature, diet and immune composition of whatever animal they are living in by mutating. The more species infected, the more mutations occur. Its possible that the new variants emerging in people could infect new animal species. Or its possible that new variants could initially arise from animals and infect humans.

The story of SARS-CoV-2 in animals isnt over yet. According to the CDC, six of every 10 human infectious diseases can be spread from animals to people, and around three-quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals. Research has shown that investing in the study of zoonotic diseases could vastly reduce the costs of future pandemics, and this type of complex research has historically been underfunded. Yet despite this, in 2021, the CDC allocated only $193 million toward the study of emerging zoonotic infectious diseases less than a quarter of 1 percent of the CDCs total budget.

There are still many unknowns about how viruses transfer between humans and animals, how they live and mutate in animal populations, and the risks of species-jumping viruses. The more researchers know, the better health officials, governments, and scientists can prepare and prevent the next pandemic.

This article was originally published on The Conversation by Sue VandeWoude, Angela Bosco-Lauth and Christie Mayo at Colorado State University. Read the original article here.

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Deer and mink can harbor Covid-19: Why animal virologists say we need to worry - Inverse

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Another wave of COVID-19 infections may have begun in Europe as cases begin to tick up across the region, the World Health Organization and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said on Wednesday.

"Although we are not where we were one year ago, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over," WHO's Europe director, Hans Kluge, and ECDC's director, Andrea Ammon, said in a joint statement.

"We are unfortunately seeing indicators rising again in Europe, suggesting that another wave of infections has begun."

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WHO's region-wise data showed that only Europe recorded a rise in COVID-19 cases in the week ended Oct. 2, clocking an increase of 8% from the prior week.

Public health experts have warned that vaccine fatigue and confusion over available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake in the region. read more

Millions of people across Europe remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, the WHO and ECDC noted.

They urged European countries to administer both flu and COVID-19 vaccines ahead of an expected surge in cases of seasonal influenza.

"There was no time to lose," the WHO and ECDC said, adding that vulnerable groups, including people over 60 years old, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities, should get vaccinated against both influenza and COVID-19.

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Reporting by Manas Mishra and Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Europe likely entering another COVID wave, says WHO and ECDC - Reuters

India, Russia and Iran have authorized nasal vaccines. And while none of those have yet been proven to stop Covid transmission, officials say the U.S. could find itself at a global disadvantage, particularly if a deadlier variant emerges.

Intranasal vaccines vaccines that are variant-resistant those are critical tools to have in the toolbox for protecting Americans, not just for Covid but also for future pandemics and also for future biosecurity threats, Ashish Jha, the administrations Covid-19 response coordinator, told POLITICO.

Researchers working on nasal vaccines are hopeful that they could stop virus transmission by generating immunity against it in the nose and other parts of the upper respiratory system where the coronavirus enters the body. If that bears out in clinical trials, nasal vaccines would be superior to existing mRNA vaccines, which prevent severe disease but dont stop transmission.

Officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases are attuned to the danger of failing to develop such a nasal vaccine since it would protect people in case of a more contagious and deadlier coronavirus variant, said Karin Bok, the acting deputy director for pandemic preparedness and emergency response at the agencys Vaccine Research Center.

The center has mapped the nasal and oral Covid vaccines in development in the U.S. and abroad. It is also testing nasal versions of the Moderna vaccine and two other types of injectable Covid-19 vaccines in monkeys, Bok said. But that probably wont lead to a nasal Covid vaccine being approved in the U.S. anytime soon because funding for clinical trials and production is lacking.

Bok and Jha say the cost is high. If China were to develop a nasal vaccine capable of stopping Covid transmission, that could turn the tables on the current pandemic trajectory, which has the U.S. emerging and much of China stuck in lockdown.

Even though India, Iran, China and Russia havent proved their non-injectable vaccines stop transmission, the potential is there, experts said.

Countries where transmission is reduced are going to be healthier, are going to have stronger economies. And the U.S. needs to catch up, said Marty Moore, the founder and chief scientific officer of Meissa Vaccines, a small biotech company thats trying to develop a nasal vaccine in the U.S.

Many scientists believe the nose could hold the secret to stopping coronavirus transmission, but theres no consensus yet on whether nasal vaccines could be more effective than injectable ones, as evidence from clinical trials is necessary to prove it.

Disagreement in Congress about how to pay for additional aid or whether its needed, as well as disinterest from major drugmakers in spending their own money on something that may not be very profitable, could mean a foreign rival gets an advantage.

Writing in Science Immunology in July, Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, and Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiology professor at Yale, endorsed the potential of a nasal vaccine to stop coronavirus transmission. Breaking the chain of transmission at the individual and population level will put us in a far better position to achieve containment of the virus, they wrote, adding that the prospect of achieving this with nasal vaccines is high.

They called for U.S. government support in developing Operation Warp Speed 2.0, modeled on the initiative that created the first Covid-19 vaccines in record time. The Biden administration is working on that, but funding woes and pandemic fatigue have hampered its efforts.

Beyond effectiveness, a nasal vaccine could appeal to people who are squeamish about needles and to parents of young children who have mostly declined to get their kids inoculated. As of early October, only 9 percent of children ages 6 months to 5 years have gotten the shots, which were authorized by the FDA in June.

Outside of the government-funded research cited by Bok, two Washington University School of Medicine professors, David T. Curiel, a radiation oncologist, and Michael S. Diamond, a molecular microbiologist, invented the nasal vaccine authorized in India.

Curiel and Diamond told POLITICO they created it with the needs of the developing world in mind, given the lack of ultracold freezers needed to store mRNA vaccines. The two scientists licensed their vaccine to the Indian drugmaker Bharat Biotech, which tested it in clinical trials partially financed by the Indian government. They have also tried to solicit interest from large U.S. pharmaceutical companies about it and there was not as much excitement as we would have thought, Diamond said.

Their vaccine, named iNCOVACC in India, is based on an adenovirus that delivers the coronavirus spike protein.

Bharat Biotech tested it both as a primary vaccination series and as a booster for people who were vaccinated with injectable Covid shots available in India. The company said the clinical trials had successful results and that side effects were comparable to those from other Covid-19 vaccines, but it has not yet published the data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The Indian drug regulator approved the two-dose vaccine, which comes in the form of nasal drops, for adults who have not had a previous Covid-19 shot, Bharat Biotech said. The company has the right to sell it in India and most of the rest of Asia and Africa.

Elsewhere, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a global partnership financing vaccine development for epidemic threats, is developing a plan for nasal vaccine research projects.

For example, we are looking into whether nasal vaccines could be an option for our all-in-one coronavirus vaccine program funding the development of vaccines against both Covid-19 variants and other coronaviruses, said Melanie Saville, CEPIs executive director of vaccine research and development.

CEPI awarded nearly $5 million in seed funding to the Dutch company Intravacc for a nasal vaccine candidate that could work against multiple coronaviruses.

There are now 95 nasal vaccines under development around the world, according to health data company Airfinity. Six have reached the final Phase 3 in clinical trials.

But some scientists doubt that a nasal vaccine will be a game-changer.

William Haseltine, a former professor at Harvard Medical School with expertise in HIV/AIDS and genomics, believes that enthusiasm should be tempered about the potential of nasal vaccines to prevent infection, given that natural nasal exposure to the virus doesnt prevent people from getting reinfected.

Why in the world do you think that if you [spray] a vaccine up the nose you can do any better? he asked POLITICO.

Attempts to develop a nasal version of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the injectable version of which was widely used globally at the beginning of the vaccination campaign, experienced a setback after only a minority of participants in an early stage clinical trial showed some immune response in respiratory mucous membranes.

Haseltine argued that scientists still dont have a good understanding of nasal immunity and that government funding would be better directed to antiviral drugs that keep Covid-19 in check.

And Bok doesnt think any of the existing non-injectable vaccines stop Covid-19 transmission. I would be very surprised if India or China licensed it with data proving that an intranasal vaccine is better than the ones we have, she said.

Curiel and Diamond have licensed their vaccine for potential use in the U.S. to Pennsylvania-based biotech Ocugen.

The company is looking for both regulatory and financial support from the U.S. government to develop the vaccine as a booster, CEO Shankar Musunuri told POLITICO.

But without another Operation Warp Speed, there will be substantial delays in large-scale manufacturing, regulatory approval and distribution of a nasal vaccine, argued Topol and Iwasaki.

Iwasaki, who is working to develop a booster Covid-19 nasal vaccine, said she will probably need tens of millions of dollars to test it in clinical trials. Just trying to do this as a small academic lab is very different from a Warp Speed, she told POLITICO.

Thats unlikely to happen.

Congress last month passed a short-term measure to continue funding the government until Dec. 16 without any additional money for Covid-19. The White House had asked for $8 billion to fund the next generation of vaccines and therapeutics, including nasal vaccines.

There is no plan B: If Congress does not fund this, it will not happen, Jha said. America will fall further behind China and other countries.

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Without a nasal vaccine, the U.S. edge in fighting Covid is on the line - POLITICO

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of October 17, 2022, there are currently 915 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been six deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 7,476 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 73-year old female from Kanawha County, an 83-year old male from Wood County, an 84-year old male from Pendleton County, a 78-year old male from Wood County, a 65-year old female from Greenbrier County, and a 79-year old female from Boone County.

"The virus that causes COVID-19 has changed over time," said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. "Boosters are an important part of protecting yourself and your family from serious illness."

CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (7), Berkeley (76), Boone (7), Braxton (3), Brooke (15), Cabell (30), Calhoun (4), Clay (1), Doddridge (0), Fayette (19), Gilmer (2), Grant (6), Greenbrier (22), Hampshire (11), Hancock (9), Hardy (4), Harrison (48), Jackson (9), Jefferson (30), Kanawha (86), Lewis (6), Lincoln (11), Logan (27), Marion (35), Marshall (11), Mason (7), McDowell (13), Mercer (42), Mineral (19), Mingo (20), Monongalia (49), Monroe (4), Morgan (11), Nicholas (14), Ohio (17), Pendleton (0), Pleasants (2), Pocahontas (10), Preston (19), Putnam (18), Raleigh (47), Randolph (10), Ritchie (4), Roane (5), Summers (13), Taylor (11), Tucker (1), Tyler (3), Upshur (9), Wayne (11), Webster (4), Wetzel (2), Wirt (0), Wood (47), Wyoming (24). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.

West Virginians ages 6 months and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. All individuals ages 6 months and older should receive a primary series of vaccination, the initial set of shots that teaches the body to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. At this time, one Omicron booster shot (bivalent) is recommended for everyone ages 5 years and older who completed the primary series, and their most recent COVID-19 shot was at least 2 months ago.

Visit the WV COVID-19 Vaccination Due Date Calculator, a free, online tool that helps individuals figure out when they may be due for a COVID-19 shot, making it easier to stay up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine, visit vaccines.gov, vaccinate.wv.gov, or call 1-833-734-0965. Please visit the COVID-19 testing locations page to locate COVID-19 testing near you.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 10-17-2022 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Newshub can reveal that the Government is seeking to extend COVID-19 restriction powers for another two years.

Newshub has just been leaked a proposal. It's documentation in which the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet proposes that the legislation which underpins COVID-19 restrictions stay in place until 2025.

It wants the Act extended from its expiry date of May next year to May 2025.

It says this will ensure that the powers required to respond to COVID-19 - including new variants - remain available to the Government.

This comes as most countries are winding back their COVID-19 responses and it's likely going to cause upset among the business community.

Newshub asked the Prime Minister about when restrictions would end.

"I've always been cautious about making too many predictions about COVID," she said.

"What I can tell you is we are in a very different place than where we were a year ago. Highly vaccinated, anti-virals and we know so much more. You won't see things like some of those more necessary but harsh measures, they are off the table, but we do still ask people who are sick to stay home."

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister later said"we intend to announce the next steps shortly".

"Ministers have been reviewing the COVID-19 Act to ensure it is fit for purpose now that we're through the emergency response," they told Newshub.

"The Government's plan is to remove powers from the Act that are no longer required for the response, while still ensuring we can practically manage the ongoing impact of COVID."

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Coronavirus: Government seeking to extend powers behind COVID restrictions until 2025 - Newshub

(The Center Square) A coalition of leading House Republicans is raising the alarm and demanding answers after the Biden administration approved another round of grant funding for research on coronaviruses and bats in Asia.

The lawmakers sent a letter to Anthony Fauci, who leads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and serves as the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.

We have grave concerns that one of your last acts at NIAID is to send even more taxpayer dollars to an organization whose prior involvement in the very same subject may have contributed to a global pandemic, the letter to Fauci, who is ending his decades-long role with the federal government in December, said. We write seeking information about your decision, including whether anyone at NIH has a financial or other non-official interest in EcoHealth continuing to receive taxpayer funds.

EcoHealth Alliance is the group that received funding to study bats and coronaviruses via the infamous lab in Wuhan, China. The contract with that lab has been severed, in large part due to international scrutiny and questions about its role in the origin of the pandemic.

Your decision to fund EcoHealth is especially galling because the company continues to stonewall information gathering about the grant-funded work it previously financed at the WIV, the letter said. NIH has requested all U.S. taxpayer-funded laboratory notebooks and experiment results from EcoHealths research conducted at the WIV. As of today, however, EcoHealth has yet to supply the records sought by NIH.

House Republican Whip and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Ranking Member Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., and House Committee on the Judiciary Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent the letter to Fauci.

The lawmakers called for more transparency, especially regarding the labs potential role in the COVID-19 pandemic, an issue still in dispute.

It is outrageous that the results of U.S. taxpayer-funded experiments are unavailable to the U.S. government, particularly when those experiments could shed light on the origins of a virus that has killed more than one million Americans, the letter said. It is unconscionable that you would choose to continue to fund a company that has violated its NIH grant terms in a manner that helps to keep this valuable information from the U.S. government and American taxpayers.

Based on the totality of circumstances surrounding EcoHealth and the WIV that have transpired over the past two and a half years, your decision to continue funding this entity is downright shocking, the letter adds.

Fauci announced earlier this year he would resign in December.

It has been the honor of a lifetime to have led the NIAID, an extraordinary institution, for so many years and through so many scientific and public health challenges, Fauci said in the announcement of his resignation. I am very proud of our many accomplishments.

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Shocking: EcoHealth Alliance receives another round of funding for coronavirus bat research in Asia - The Center Square

Introduction

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a new infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that has led to a pandemic and caused a universal concern [1]. The extraordinary condition of the pandemic and the need to adapt to the SARS-CoV-2 challenges resulted in significant costs to physical and mental health around the world [1-2], which increased associated morbidity and mortality in all ages. Furthermore, the unprecedented climate of fear, isolation, minimization of social interactions, and disruption of peoples daily routines changed the way in which all manner of activities were conducted, including education, work, social interaction, and hobbies for most people [3]. As a consequence, a number of health problems arose, including physical, psychological, social, and emotional.

In particular, education was a major field affected by the pandemic. The true extent of the impact on teaching and learning, for students and teachers alike, is yet to be fully determined [4]. During the pandemic, more than 80% of students around the world have been affected by school closures [5]. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), partial- or full-school closures were still affecting about 70% of the worldwide student population one year into the pandemic, and literacy levels were projected to decrease, with more than 100 million additional children affected. The more pessimistic scenarios refer to a looming "generational catastrophe" [6].

Balancing the above, we believe that there are several take-home messages that need to be recognized in an attempt to revive societys systemic approach. Educators have a responsibility to promote fundamental values and principles, while education is closely linked to health and well-being and is considered one of the most important modifiable social determinants of health [5,7]. Many countries have tried to keep schools open or re-open schools safely in the event of prolonged closures by putting in place locally adapted health and safety policies to protect learners and school staff [7]. The changes in the realm of education, and more specifically, preventive interventions in the context of health education, have drawn attention to difficulties and obstacles, but have also given prominence to new possibilities and opportunities.

In the current manuscript, we analyze five important aspects of the above-described landscape by exploring the lessons learned from the current pandemic while focusing on the opportunities lying ahead in school activities and interventions in order to further develop the important field of health education. We discuss five specific possibilities that have been highlighted and could serve as a symbolic transformation from VIRAL to VITAL in health education, which include: value in health, interventions in health education, transfer and diffusion of health messages, applications of online and distance learning, and life examples: from vague theory to real life. Each opportunity has been aligned with one relevant excerpt from ancient Greek literature.

"Health is best": The great Greek philosopher Plato argues that health is one of the best goods [8].

The threat, danger, and uncertainty of the pandemic have shifted societys focus on the values of life, health, and safety, which are recognized as valuable goods and demand particular attention, as opposed to the prevailing common perception that they are self-evident. In the famous pyramid of the hierarchy of human needs designed by the psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943: A Theory of Human Motivation), the scientist placed security at the base, as a fundamental good along with the main needs of survival [9]. However, the attribution of value to health is not self-evident. A large percentage of people, up to 40%, do not rank health in the top five values, giving priority to others, including the utmost value of freedom [10]. However, the value attributed to health is an important predictor of a person's intentions and behaviors [11-12], with the consequence that people adopt preventive behaviors only when they value health as a major asset. In other words, the more one considers health as a fundamental and primary need, the more one classifies it in its top values, the less one passes it as a given and self-evident, and the more one follows behaviors that protect and promote it [13].

The post-pandemic shift in social interest toward safety and health has consistently placed much higher importance on the strengthening, implementation, and adoption of preventive behaviors. As a consequence, several opportunities have emerged during the current pandemic regarding the value of health, which may be exploited in health education. Briefly, we may point out the reorganization of the human value system leading to the recognition of health as a primary asset and its placement in the center of people's interests; the reconstruction of the common prevailing perception that health is given and self-evident; the focus on safeguarding, defending, and strengthening health; and the need to promote, enforce, and implement preventive behaviors that protect health.

"Best to prevent than treat" The Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, claims that prevention is better than treatment [14].

Interventions in the framework of health education constitute a widely promoted goal in public health. Activities and interventions are a vital component of campaigns to raise awareness and inform not only the students but also the general public. It is of primary importance to raise awareness and inform the student population within the supportive environment of schools, an ideal setting to communicate with a large number of young people [15]. Such actions aim to promote health-positive attitudes among students by improving knowledge, rebuilding perceptions, changing beliefs, modifying misconceptions, prioritizing values, and reinforcing attitudes that value health.

The global health crisis highlighted and reaffirmed the value and usefulness of health education, with particular attention to personal hygiene, fresh air, healthy breathing, a balanced diet, physical activity, and quality of sleep. The children were asked to use their knowledge and skills about proper hand washing, covering their mouths in coughing and sneezing, using clean tissues, and many more hygiene measures in real-life scenarios [16]. This acquired knowledge was applied along with new ones concerning the more frequent washing of hands, the avoidance of finger contact with the face, the eyes, or the mouth, and the observance of social distance. Never before have the goals of preventive interventions in schools been served more effectively and proved to be so relevant and necessary to everyday activities [17]. In addition, the need for additional actions related to the expression of negative emotions, management, and control of anxiety, dysthymia, tension, stress, anxiety, fear, panic, or anger, which strongly manifested during the period of pandemic under the state of global threat, has emerged [18]. As a result of all of the above, emerging opportunities include the necessity of continuing and enhancing preventive interventions; the importance of health promotion as an educational priority; and the enrichment of school interventions by including stress and negative emotion management modules through the cultivation and strengthening of personal and social skills [19-20].

"We believe, the children, are the soul of the state." The wise ancient Greek legislator Solon claimed that children are the soul of each society.

As discussed below, children may also serve as vehicles for transferring ideas and information between the family and the greater community. This is important since public health and health education are closely interconnected as public health is considered the broadest bridge between science and society [18,21]. The current health "emergency" has made it clear that the effective transmission of health messages concerning universal measures to protect public health is a necessary precondition. According to the science of communication, extremely important elements are the content of the message, its expression, and the strengthening of its persuasiveness (exercise of persuasion) [22]. While it seems that parents are the ones who usually influence their children, the opposite may also be true, that is, children can be the ones who can influence the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of parents, but also their immediate community [23].

In important health-education issues, such as adhering to the no-smoking rule at home, children seem to play an effective role as counselors and facilitators in the transmission of anti-smoking messages to the home environment [24] as well as serving as educators of their peers in peer-to-peer activities [25-26]. Challenges, as well as opportunities, arose regarding the dissemination of health education messages through the active role of students who could act as transport vehicles outside the narrow confines of the classroom. Therefore, students could mobilize their parents, siblings, and other important adults by serving as catalysts, proving that their voice has power and deserves to be heard [24].

In such a way, the dynamics of the school could be expanded to achieve, through students, a new potential to serve as a no-barrier two-way multi-modal institution to promote communication and influence families and the wider community. The pandemic has forced us to make the connection between health education and the learners home as well as the wider society. Highlighted opportunities include the possibility of communication between the school and the students families and the wider community for the diffusion of health messages beyond the school hall and the implementation of a simple and promising practice of transmitting health-education principles via students to home environments and communities alike, serving as a new legacy for the future.

"The need is an invincible strength." The great dramatic poet Aeschylus emphasizes that the power of need is invincible [27].

Over the last decade, digital tools in general and virtual learning environments, in particular, became increasingly prominent in education, but for the most part, they did not replace in-person learning [28]. During the pandemic, the number of online classes skyrocketed on a global scale, with more than 1.5 billion students in 188 countries around the globe being involved [29]. However, little consideration was given to whether online distance learning (ODL) is equivalent and has a similar cost-benefit profile to in-person education [4,29]. As discussed below, the benefits of ODL do not seem to outweigh the costs. It should be noted, though, that ODL is not equivalent to the use of digital technologies in education. Digital technology can be used even during in-person learning, and it is necessary for students to familiarize themselves with digital methods of searching for information and obtaining self-acquired knowledge. The implementation of e-learning educational activities, incorporated under the pressing necessity of the pandemic, offered, in addition to knowledge, a reminder of life and continuity, which we can use, especially when addressing students of the online generation but also at older ages.

Among the advantages of ODL, we may quote that most of the terms (online learning, open learning, web-based learning, computer-mediated learning, blended learning, m-learning, etc.) provide the ability to use a computer connected to a network, which offers the possibility to learn from anywhere, anytime, at any pace, and with any means [30]. Online learning is defined as "learning experiences in synchronous or asynchronous environments using different devices (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, etc.) with internet access" [31]. There is a plethora of programs and applications which function as platforms for ODL, and they may be used in formal as well as informal education. Such technology enhances accessibility, can reach into rural and remote areas, and increases the potential for individualized instruction, while also providing flexibility and comfort [31-35]. As far as flexibility is concerned, learners can learn anytime and anywhere, as they can plan their time for the completion of courses and recorded lectures available online [32-33]. Furthermore, these applications are cheap and easy to use, while students and teachers can also save time and money by avoiding transportation, accommodation, and the overall cost of institution-based learning [31-35]. Finally, ODL contributes to the preservation of cohesion within the class in times when state restrictions do not permit in-person learning. Students have the right to continue their education in the light of potential new states of emergency, as was the case of the coronavirus outbreak [29].

However, several disadvantages of ODL may also apply and need to be considered. ODL requires familiarity with the specific technology being used. It focuses on the cognitive component and the transfer of information while diminishing the role of emotional stimuli and the possibility to convert information into experience. Furthermore, ODL is associated with emotions of isolation and loneliness, and it makes learners attention more susceptible to distractions. There are several indications that it is less effective, but this requires additional long-term evaluation [4,18,32-33,36-37]. Effective teaching does not depend only, or even mainly, on the quality of the information. The way in which information is transferred is as important as the information itself. This depends on the way in which the teacher expresses himself and addresses the students [38-39]. More specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education of healthcare professionals, which relies on various sources of learning from teachers, peers, and patients [6]. Variations in eye contact, voice intensity, voice pitch, the pace of speech, body language, the atmosphere within the classroom, and the sense of group cohesion are all significantly damped down with ODL [40-42]. Furthermore, interactive learning opportunities, such as the ability of students to assume active roles, participate in live dialogue and discussions, the expression of doubt and disagreement, and the opportunity to debate, argue, and express thoughts and opinions, are all achieved to a lesser degree with ODL. Students are encouraged to participate more when they are being taught in person [32,43]. Passive listening is not as effective in achieving the desired learning outcomes since learning is influenced by an interaction of personal, behavioral, and environmental factors [44]. As such, the educational process has the teacher-learner relationship at its center [45].

ODL mainly focuses on information as its nature severely limits the ability to learn behaviors and instill values, which, according to Banduras Social Learning theory, are learned through the process of observation and emulation of role models in the environment [46-47]. Thus, online distance learning with social isolation is even more disadvantageous at younger ages. Finally, it limits the ability of the teacher to gain real-time feedback from students, which is a crucial factor in improving effectiveness and promoting motivation [32,44]. We always keep in mind that the center of every educational process is the human relationship between teacher and student [18].

Take-Home Message

The experience of the pandemic can function as a motivator to introduce further preventive interventions in health education, especially via online platforms, since this form of education was imposed in many parts of the world as part of the response to the pandemic. However, the scientific literature and our common experience show that the benefits of traditional in-person learning outweigh the advantages of ODL, which can nevertheless have a complementary role in cases where in-person learning is not physically possible or too costly [48]. Opportunities in this aspect include the possibility of using e-learning as an educational tool and a springboard for the utilization of internet applications in preventive interventions in the context of health education; the recognition of the need for improvements in online distance learning in terms of enhancing the interaction, feedback, and participation of learners while reducing cognitive load; and the exploration of the hybrid learning mode, by combining classical personal learning with e-learning activities, which seems to be more attractive and acceptable to students.

"Deeds and not words." The ancient Greek poet Aeschylus says that deeds are those that have value, not words [27].

What we teach in schools in the context of health education refers to protecting students from future hazards that seem distant, uncertain, vague, and frequently underestimated by children, due to their lack of perception of vulnerability and sense of omnipotence. Young people generally feel strong, healthy, and invulnerable. They avoid thinking about future problems; they are complacent or ignore them based on the phenomenon of optimistic bias. However, the advent of the pandemic also overturned this rule, in light of the fact that the danger from SARS-CoV-2 did not occupy only the press and the media, but took on the dimensions of an individual. The real-life threat was transformed from distant and future into tangible and imminent, giving flesh and blood to the invisible enemy that emerged as a present and immediate danger.

According to the Health Belief Model [49], the degree and likelihood of adopting a health-related behavior (such as the SARS-CoV-2 prevention and control measures) is determined by the perception of the threat, that is, the degree to which the disease is perceived as threatening, and by the perceived susceptibility and severity of the disease. In other words, the children who were taught about the hazard of coronavirus felt and understood that what they learned was not about a theoretical danger or a hypothetical issue, or even an abstract and imaginary danger, but a tangible reality and threat, the consequences of which could affect them and their family as well as the social environment. Even if they did not become sick themselves or members of their immediate family, they experienced significant changes in their daily lives, from the obligation to wear a mask, restrictions on leaving home, to changes in school, and the way they attended classes.

During the pandemic, the students practically recognized their personal involvement with the problem of COVID-19 disease, realized the danger on a personal level, and clarified the meaning of preventive practices, thus mobilizing themselves by willingly applying personal hygiene and protective measures, aiming to protect their own health and defend the safety of their own loved ones, transferring the principles of theory to real life. Opportunities arising from the above observations, which may promote health promotion and disease prevention programs, are supported by the transformation of theoretical knowledge into practice, hypothetical problems into experience, and general instructions into rescue tools; the application of theoretical principles of health education into real-life scenarios, students recognition of their personal relationship with the problem of COVID-19 and the development of awareness of the problem on a personal level of risk, which led them to understand the value and meaning of preventive practices; students mobilization to willingly implement measures for the protection of their own health and their loved ones; and understanding of preventive interventions in the context of health education, concerning not only the future but also the current risks that are prevented through the adoption of positive health behaviors.

The great historian, Thucydides, characterized the war as a "violent teacher," which creates "stressful" needs and takes away the comfort of life while changing people's behaviors by bringing to the surface features that were left well hidden under the convenience of everyday life during times of peace. This process leads to scraping the glaze of comfort and serenity, setting aside pretexts, and letting the forces of survival emerge. Similarly, we could view the current crisis of the pandemic, which in the field of education put us in front of many obstacles and challenges, but also unfolded hidden possibilities, prospects, and opportunities, acting as a "violent teacher" worth recognizing and exploring. As time passes and the pandemic seems to be fading, we could forget the difficulties we faced, but it is worth keeping and further exploring what they taught us.

Continued here:

Opportunities in Health Education in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Transforming Viral to Vital - Cureus

(The Hill) Chief White House medical adviser AnthonyFauci on Sunday said COVID-19 was politicized by a triple whammy as the pandemic hit an already divided nation during a contentious election year.

It got political very, very quickly because we had the misfortune of an outbreak, and a double misfortune of an outbreak in a divided society, and the triple misfortune of a divided society in an election year, Fauci said in an interview airedon ABCs This Week.

I mean, you couldnt get more cards stacked against you, than right there. It was a triple whammy.

Fauci has served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, working under seven administrations, but surged into the spotlight as the lead voice of the Trump White House response to COVID-19.

He became a lightning rod for criticism and conspiracy theories throughout the pandemic, with some on the right insisting that Fauci was a Democratic puppet. The doctor also faced death threats for his public health guidance.

To say that I, who have been an advisor to seven presidents, and have never ever veered one way or the other from an ideological standpoint, for somebody to say that Im political, I mean thats completely crazy, Fauci said Sunday.

Fauci announced earlier this summer that he plans to step down from his position by the end of President Bidens time in office.

He later made it clear that his move away from his government position isnt a retirement, and that he plans to pursue other professional goals away from the White House.

Excerpt from:

Fauci says COVID-19 was politicized by triple whammy of outbreak, division and 2020 election - WJTV

Dear Advice Team: Do medical experts have any idea yet how long immunity from the bivalent COVID booster will last? I know that previous boosters showed waning immunity over time, and Im wondering what this means for vulnerability around the holidays. Also, are there any rumblings about if/when the next round of boosters will be available?

Welcome to Pandemic Problems, an advice column that aims to help Bay Area residents solve their pandemic and post-pandemic conundrums personal, practical or professional. As COVID evolves into an endemic disease, we know readers are trying to navigate the new normal. Send your questions and issues to pandemicproblems@sfchronicle.com.

Todays question is fielded by The Chronicles Anna Buchmann.

Dear Reader: Your questions about the new COVID-19 vaccine boosters are very timely. We are just six weeks into the rollout of the bivalent shots so-called because they target two coronavirus strains, the ancestral version plus the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants currently circulating and as you note, many of us are making holiday plans that involve travel and gathering with others.

Meanwhile, bivalent booster eligibility has already expanded to include younger children as of Wednesday, everyone ages 5 and up may receive one dose of Pfizers bivalent mRNA booster (for the Moderna version, its 6 and up) at least two months after completing their primary vaccine series or at least two months after their last dose of the original monovalent booster.

Health officials are urging people to get the new boosters to help head off a potential winter COVID-19 surge, with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showing less than 6% of eligible people had gotten the bivalent shot as of Monday. The CDC now says you are up to date on COVID vaccination after receiving a primary series and the most recent booster dose recommended.

With that context, your first question was about the immunity we get from the bivalent booster and how long it lasts.

Compared with the original booster, the bivalent boosters nearly double the levels of antibodies that can prevent omicron from infecting cells, according to Dr. Nadia Roan, a UCSF immunologist and investigator at the Gladstone Institutes. But in the real world, its not currently clear how much more protective the bivalent booster is, she said via email.

As for immunity duration, if BA.4 and BA.5 stay dominant, the new booster could give excellent protection against even a mild infection for four to six months, UCSF infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Chin-Hong said in an email. However, if more immune-evasive variants gain a greater foothold, the booster could grant maximum protection for about two to four months, decent protection for about four to six months, and less protection after six months, he said.

Both Roan and Chin-Hong agreed that those up to date on their vaccinations will have long-lived protection against serious disease and death from COVID perhaps more than a year without further boosters, Chin-Hong said.

You asked specifically about the holiday season. By that time, those who received the bivalent booster at the start of the rollout can expect full protection against serious disease and death for sure and likely substantial protection against even a mild infection for that time period provided the variant mix (all flavors of omicron) stays similar, Chin-Hong said.

If you have not had COVID or received one of the original boosters in the past few months, I would suggest getting the bivalent soon, Roan said. Thats because after boosting, antibody levels spike in about a week and stay elevated before declining steadily, she said. Those antibodies decrease your chances of infection.

So if you wanted (to) maximize protection for the holiday season, it could be timed 2-3 weeks before then, she said.

Chin-Hongs advice was to get the bivalent booster by Halloween.

Not only will it make you more confident about trick-or-treating, you will optimize your protection against infection for when we expect cases to increase, he said.

Send your questions and issues to pandemicproblems@sfchronicle.com.

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Full protection will kick in within two weeks, he said. This will increase your chances of not missing Thanksgiving dinner, that family reunion or long-awaited vacation trip.

Your final question was about a possible next round of boosters. Both Roan and Chin-Hong said they had not yet heard any discussion on that front, though Chin-Hong said its possible we may get updated COVID boosters annually, like the flu vaccine.

Any reformulation of the boosters for next winter, possibly by September 2023, would depend on what happens with variants, Chin-Hong said. If omicron continues to dominate, the formula might not change.

But it is very likely that COVID will continue to mutate, he said.

Pandemic Problems is written by Chronicle Advice Team members Annie Vainshtein, Kellie Hwang and Anna Buchmann, combining thorough reporting and guidance from Bay Area experts to help get answers and find a way forward.

Read more:

How long does immunity from the new COVID bivalent boosters last 'in the real world'? - San Francisco Chronicle

In recent weeks many children have returned to in-person learning and resumed after-school activities and sports. Some public health measures used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 such as masks and social distancing, which are also effective against other respiratory viruses, have been lifted in many schools across the United States. While all of this has brought back a much-needed sense of normalcy for children and their families, it has also come with some challenges, including a significant increase in respiratory illnesses among kids.

Childrens hospitals in major U.S. cities have been reporting unusually high numbers of sick patients with respiratory illnesses caused by viruses other than the coronavirus. These include respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), enteroviruses(EV) and rhinovirus(RV), which mostly cause coldlike symptoms such as a runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever.

Normally, these viruses emerge in the winter months. During this time, also known as respiratory viral season, pediatricians and hospitals are prepared to deal with an influx of patients sick with these viruses. However, this year the season started sooner than expected, and the number of children needing hospitalizations has been so high that in some areas hospital systems are already overwhelmed.

In general, pediatric hospitals operate relatively close to their capacity, Dr. Michael Chang, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at UTHealth Houston and Childrens Memorial Hermann Hospital, told Yahoo News. So when you see patients needing hospitalization for respiratory viruses at unusual times of the year, then it's easy to kind of reach capacity for hospitals.

In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted public health departments and doctors treating pediatric patients about some of these respiratory viruses. The agency issued a health advisory warning about an increase in the number of pediatric hospitalizations for severe respiratory illness where patients were testing positive for rhinovirus and/or enterovirus, including enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) which has been linked to a rare but serious condition called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The main purpose of the advisory, the CDC said, was for doctors to keep this information top of mind when diagnosing and treating respiratory illnesses in children, as some of these viruses can have clinically similar presentations and be indistinguishable from one another.

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Chang said his home state of Texas is in the middle of a big RSV surge right now, which started a couple of weeks ago and wasnt expected until at least late October. We have something like 20% of our tests for RSV are positive, which is well above the 10% threshold that we consider kind of the epidemic level of RSV, he said.

Cases of enterovirus D68 have also gone up and are at a higher rate than baseline, according to Chang. He noted that the numbers for enterovirus are not as high as those seen in previous surges. However, he said doctors are not exactly sure how far into the surge they are because this is happening at an unusual time.

In addition, doctors in the state have started to see a number of flu cases again, earlier than expected. COVID-19 cases, however, are going down, Chang said.

Why are these respiratory viruses surging right now?

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted not only peoples lives but also historical seasonal patterns for other common respiratory viruses. Chang said these patterns have completely changed, and while its unclear why, it likely has a lot to do with human behavior.

We were really focused on those infection prevention techniques, which again, not only do they work for SARS-CoV-2, but they really work for most of the respiratory viruses, he said. We knew that those infection prevention techniques could work for the flu and RSV. It's just that we never executed them on such a global scale, right? Like we never did it in such a widespread fashion where so many people were wearing masks, so many people were isolating, so many people were physical distancing. So we never got to see the impact that those types of preventions on such a large scale could have for RSV and flu, but were obviously very effective.

Chang explained that the past two winters were among the mildest influenza seasons on record. Similarly, doctors didnt see much RSV in the winter of 2020-21, when the country was facing a COVID-19 surge and there were tight public health restrictions in place. However, as some of these pandemic restrictions were loosened last summer, there was a major surge of RSV. He said two things were unusual about it: how early it happened well before winter and how severe some of the cases were.

This year, RSV is once again surging earlier than usual, and flu cases have also started to increase in some parts of the country, particularly the Southeast and South Central U.S. According to health experts, we could face a severe flu season that coincides with a winter surge of COVID-19.

Another explanation for why these winter respiratory viruses are affecting us more now, experts say, is not necessarily because theyve changed but because we have less immunity against them.

Basically for two years, two winters where kids and adults would have been infected by RSV or by the flu, they didnt have it, and so some of that immunity that we would have had from infection before, we don't have now, Chang explained.

Which symptoms should parents be on the lookout for?

For most parents, all these viruses are pretty much going to be indistinguishable, Chang told Yahoo News. Common symptoms are a runny nose, sore throat and coughing. These, the pediatrician said, can last three to five days, sometimes peaking on day five, just before they start to subside.

Most children, he said, recover fully from these viruses with no long-term complications. However, parents of children with asthma or reactive airway disease (when asthma is suspected but not confirmed)need to be more cautious about these viruses, particularly enterovirus D68, which can cause more severe disease.

Certainly any time that you notice that theyre having difficulty, like with shortness of breath at rest, or if theyre having trouble completing their sentences, if theyre wheezing a lot, coughing is more severe, any type of shortness of breath and then any type of chest pain, you are going want to ... seek medical attention, Chang said.

Infants and younger children, particularly if they were born premature or have a history of underlying congenital heart disease, are at increased risk of severe illness from RSV, he explained.

The main things you want to look out for are difficulty with feeding, difficulty with catching their breath if they're taking a bottle or breastfeeding. Certainly decreased feeding, decreased appetite, he said.

How can parents best protect children right now?

There are currently no vaccines available for RSV, enterovirus D68 or rhinovirus. But Chang said the best way to protect children this winter is to make sure parents and children are vaccinated against those viruses that we do have vaccines for, such as flu and COVID-19.

Everybody who qualifies for [a] flu shot, which is pretty much everyone from 6 months to adult, should go and get their seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible, Chang said.

He also urged those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 to get their shots.

The best way to minimize the risk of severe illness and hospitalization, whatever your age, whatever your underlying conditions, is to get vaccinated and be fully up to date on your SARS-CoV-2 immunizations, including the new bivalent boosters.

Cover thumbnail photo: Peter Cade via Getty Images

See the rest here:

Respiratory illnesses have spiked among children. Here's what parents need to know. - Yahoo News