A recent study appearing in the journaleClinical Medicinesuggests that severe COVID-19 may be associated with persistent cognitive deficits, equivalent to a decline of 10 IQ points. In this study, severe COVID-19 was defined as COVID-19 that required hospitalization and critical care.

These cognitive deficits persisted until at least 6 months after contracting the SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a gradual improvement, if any, in these cognitive symptoms. These results underscore the importance of longer-term support for patients who have recovered from severe COVID-19.

According to official data from 2020, which is the same year that this study drew its data from, about 4 in 10 adults over the age of 18 are at risk of developing severe COVID-19 in the United States.

A significant minority of individuals with a SARS-CoV-2 infection experience persistent cognitive symptoms following the initial 4 weeks after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. Some of the common cognitive symptoms include problems with concentration, brain fog, memory, and executive function.

Although persistent cognitive symptoms are also observed in individuals with mild COVID-19, such deficits in cognitive function are more prevalent in individuals with severe COVID-19. Previous studies suggest that 36%76% of individuals with severe acute COVID-19 show cognitive deficits 6 months after illness onset.

However, further research is needed to understand the specific aspects of cognitive function that are affected after severe COVID-19 and the factors that predict these cognitive symptoms.

Previous studies characterizing persistent cognitive symptoms in COVID-19 patients have relied on self-reports, which are susceptible to bias. Other studies have used pen-and-paper neuropsychological tests to assess cognitive function.

However, these tests do not possess the sensitivity to detect small changes in cognitive function or distinguish the various domains or aspects of cognitive function impacted by a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

To address these concerns, the authors of the present study used computerized cognitive tests to objectively characterize specific domains of cognitive function impacted after severe acute COVID-19. These computerized tests also allowed the researchers to assess the magnitude of these cognitive deficits.

Individuals with COVID-19 also experience persistent mental health symptoms such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which could contribute to the deficits in cognitive function.

Another objective of the present study was to determine whether these mental health symptoms mediate the persistent cognitive deficits in COVID-19 patients.

The present study involved 46 patients who were previously hospitalized for severe COVID-19 and received critical care in Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, England. The former COVID-19 patients completed a series of computerized cognitive tests during a return visit to the hospital, an average of 6 months after the onset of the illness.

The performance of the 46 participants on the cognitive tests was compared with that of 460 individuals in the control group. The individuals in the control group were not hospitalized for COVID-19 and were matched for age, sex, and education levels. The researchers also used self-reports to assess symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

The researchers found that the COVID-19 patients had a lower score and a slower response time in the cognitive tests than the matched controls. People who had COVID-19 showed more pronounced deficits in specific domains of cognition, including processing speed, attention, memory, reasoning, and planning.

Notably, the deficits in cognitive function in the COVID-19 survivors were not associated with mental health symptoms present at the time of the cognitive testing, such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Instead, the performance in the cognitive tests was correlated with the severity of acute illness. For instance, cognitive deficits were more pronounced in individuals who required mechanical ventilation.

The researchers then compared the performance of COVID-19 survivors with over 66,000 individuals from the general population.

The magnitude of cognitive impairment in COVID-19 survivors was equivalent to the age-related cognitive decline expected during the 20year period between the ages of 50 and 70 years.

The studys lead author Professor David Menon, head of the Division of Anaesthesia at the University of Cambridge, says: Cognitive impairment is common to a wide range of neurological disorders, including dementia, and even routine aging, but the patterns we saw the cognitive fingerprint of COVID-19 was distinct from all of these.

Dr. Betty Raman, a cardiologist at the University of Oxford, told Medical News Today, This prospective cohort study of 46 individuals recovering from severe COVID-19 and large normative reference population by Hampshire and colleagues has shown a clear association between severity of infection and degree of cognitive impairment.

This multidimensional characterization of cognition provides a nuanced understanding of distinct patterns of cognitive impairment during the convalescent phase of severe COVID-19. Future efforts are needed to understand how this pattern varies in the context of other post-infectious syndromes and critical illness.

The study found that these cognitive deficits persisted until 6-10 months after the onset of COVID-19, and there was only a gradual improvement, if any, in cognitive performance. The persistence of these cognitive deficits highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms underlying these symptoms.

Scientists have proposed multiple mechanisms, such as direct infection of the brain by SARS-CoV-2 and disruption of blood supply to the brain, to explain the persistent cognitive symptoms in COVID-19 patients. Among these mechanisms, systemic or whole-body inflammation has emerged as the leading candidate responsible for persistent cognitive symptoms.

Dr. Roger McIntyre, a professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Toronto, told MNT, Inflammatory activation appears to be mediating these findings, highlighting the hazards of lengthy immune activation. The next steps are to unravel biological mechanisms more fully and identify prevention and treatment strategies.

Discussing major questions that need to be addressed, Dr. Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said:

This study shows that these deficits can be substantial and persist more than 6 months after the acute illness. The results are convincing and important and raise further questions. For example, what happens following a less severe infection? How long do the deficits last? What causes them and, critically, how can they be treated or prevented?

More:

Severe COVID-19 may cause cognitive deficits equivalent to 20 years of aging - Medical News Today

Situation Analysis

New cases, severe cases, ventilated cases and deaths have all shown a weekly decrease. The average number of new laboratory-confirmed (PCR positive) COVID-19 cases reported per day (8005) decreased by 35% in the past 7 days compared to the previous week (12,407). The average number of probable (ATK positive) cases reported per day over the last 7 also decreased by 24%

Bangkok continues to report the highest daily number of COVID cases (with a weekly average of 2,390) but reported a 7-day average decrease of 22.7% compared to the week before

The reduction in new cases has seen the average daily number of all currently 'active' COVID-19 cases (93,955) over the last seven days decrease by 35% compared to the previous week (which showed a decrease of 21%). Most cases continue to be monitored in hospitels, community isolation and home isolation. The average number of COVID cases occupying hospital beds per day over the past week (29,678) decreased by 21%

The weekly average number of daily deaths decreased by 45%. However, the daily average count of deaths remains high at 60. Although this is a significant drop from an average of 108 the week prior, most of these deaths would have been prevented if vaccination rates were higher The average daily number of severe COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (1,580) represented a decrease of 11% over the previous week (1,733).

The average daily number of ventilated COVID-19 cases over the past seven days (757) has decreased by 7.6% compared to the number the week before (827)

Although nationally new cases are decreasing, the policy of not confirming all probable cases by PCR testing, as well as the widespread use of rapid antigen tests (including those available 'over the counter' that may not be reported), continues to make it difficult to accurately monitor actual case counts. From the data reported, the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant is clear, with approximately half of all cases in Thailand reported in the last 4-months, when the Omicron variant started to dominate circulation

Vaccination in Thailand continues to significantly reduce levels of severe illness and deaths caused by circulating COVID-19 strains. High vaccination rates also help to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation in Thailand is improving, but there remains a long way to reduce the burden of ventilated cases and deaths from COVID-19 in Thailand. Vaccination rates remain low in some provinces and some important risk groups.

See the rest here:

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Thailand Situation Report 235 - 11 May 2022 - Thailand - ReliefWeb

WHO/CDC Label Name of Variant: Omicron

How contagious is this variant? Omicron is more contagious than the original COVID-19 virus and might be up to 3x more transmissible than Delta.

How sick do people get with this virus?Data suggests that illness might not be as severe as with other variants; symptom severity can vary depending on your vaccination status, age, history of prior infection and the presence of certain medical conditions . However, Omicron is capable of causing severe illness and death.

If I have already had COVID-19 before, am I still protected from this variant? Some reduced protection from natural infection is probable; reinfection cases have been observed with Omicron. Vaccine breakthrough infections, meaning infections in people who are vaccinated, are expected. Being up to date on recommended vaccines is effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and death.

Are there medications that can treat this variant? Yes. Antiviral drugs work against Omicron and one monoclonal antibody medication is effective.

Will this variant affect a test for COVID-19? No real impact

Read the original post:

Variants of the Virus that Causes COVID-19 - Coronavirus - Virginia Department of Health

People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption

People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the country, the Delta variant of COVID-19 is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. who have so far not gotten a vaccine.

In many ways, American life is returning to normalcy: Masks are no longer required in many locations, schools and universities are slated to re-open, and the days of social distancing begin to fade as concerts and sporting events bring spectators back.

In the U.S., we're now averaging 154 deaths a day from COVID-19 a tiny fraction compared to the pandemic's peak -- and there are still some safety measures and restrictions in place. Late pandemic American life hasn't quite returned to the status quo, but it feels much closer to normal than it did six months ago.

But while we may long for authorities to give an all-clear and say the pandemic is history, the crisis isn't over, in the U.S. or abroad.

The question of when the crisis will actually be over is a layered one with different answers from a local, national and global perspective.

The U.S. declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020.

After many months in which the U.S. led the world in coronavirus cases, the virus is now under much better control, due to wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines.

That federal emergency status is still in effect it has been renewed several times, most recently in April. It can be extended by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for as long as the emergency is deemed to exist.

Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday. Newsday LLC/Newsday via Getty Images hide caption

Healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the "Hometown Heroes" ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday.

It's not clear whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue any sort of all-clear. The CDC did not respond to NPR on the matter.

Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, hopes that the CDC will eventually give Americans that go-ahead sign. He previously served in numerous roles over nearly 20 years at the CDC.

When the time comes, Mokdad tells NPR, "It's very important for our own CDC ... to say 'We're out of danger right now. We should move on with our lives.' "

He says there aren't set-in-stone metrics to determine when a pandemic is over, because the situation is dynamic and changing so fast. And the virus itself is evolving, too.

"When you look at the genetic makeup and sequencing of the virus ... and how it has been changing, there's still a lot of room for it to mutate. It's not at the end of the mutation cycle that it can do. So that virus could still carry a lot of surprises," he says.

The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF hide caption

The Foo Fighters reopened Madison Square Garden last month in New York City. The concert, with all attendees vaccinated, was the first in a New York arena to be held at full capacity since March 2020.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11 last year the same day that life began to change dramatically in much of the U.S.

So when the virus eventually is under control, will WHO declare the pandemic over?

Basically, yes.

When the worldwide spread of COVID-19 stops, it will no longer be considered a pandemic. "In general, if the worldwide spread of a disease is brought under control to a localized area, we can say that it is no longer a pandemic but instead, an epidemic," WHO tells NPR.

But it emphasized that the characterization of the outbreak as a pandemic has no formal meaning under international law.

What does have a formal meaning is a "public health emergency of international concern" a status assigned to COVID-19 at the end of January 2020. That's the highest level of health alarm under international law.

WHO convenes an international committee every three months to determine if an outbreak should still be considered such a global health emergency. When it's over, WHO says it's over. That's what it did last summer regarding an Ebola outbreak in Africa.

But it will most likely be a while before that happens.

As WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus frequently states: none of us will be safe until everyone is safe.

The Delta variant has spread just as fast through the U.S. as epidemiologists feared it would. It now accounts for more than half the cases in the U.S., and far more than that in certain states.

Lynn Goldman, an epidemiologist and dean of the school of public health at George Washington University, says the U.S. has certain things working for it, and some against it.

The good news is we've shown the ability to lower rates of transmission and deaths from the virus. And of course, Americans have widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The bad news is there's resistance to the two main ways to prevent transmission getting vaccinated and wearing a mask.

"And unfortunately, those two attributes tend to coincide within the same people and within the same population subgroups," Goldman says. In other words, many of the same people who don't want to get a vaccine also don't want to wear a mask.

Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May. Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag hide caption

Graduates participated in a USC commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May.

As a result, Goldman says, we're likely to see continued transmission of the virus in the U.S., concentrated in the areas with lowest rates of vaccination.

The current vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19, including the Delta variant. That means vastly different outcomes for those who are vaccinated and those who aren't. Last month, for example, 92 people died of COVID-19 in the state of Maryland. All of them were unvaccinated.

The most precise indicators of progress or problems are very local.

National and even state-level metrics for infection or vaccination rates can be misleading, Mokdad says. A state's overall vaccination rate can disguise much lower numbers in certain pockets that remain highly vulnerable to outbreaks.

Low vaccination rates make it easier for fast-spreading variants to take hold.

While there are many ways to track progress (or not) in controlling the virus, Mokdad says one especially useful metric is hospitalizations.

"There is no way to make a mistake or underreport hospitalization for COVID-19, because everybody who goes to a hospital right now is being tested for COVID-19," says Mokdad.

That's in contrast to cases, which can go uncounted due to a lack of testing, and the number of deaths, which can spike weeks behind other indicators when an outbreak hits.

Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

Accompanied by his family, a student gets vaccinated at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Tuesday in Winnetka, Calif.

Even though U.S. cases are much improved from the peak, unvaccinated people will continue to die from COVID-19 until we successfully control transmission.

Experts say the next big challenge will come this winter. Another wave is expected as people move inside during colder months. There will likely be some outbreaks as students go back to school children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccines.

How dangerous the virus continues to be will depend on vaccination levels of the population and the lethality of the variant circulating when winter comes. How quickly a state or local government is willing to go back into restrictive measures like wearing masks indoors will play a role, too.

"For the short term, it will be seasonal, like what we see with the flu, simply because we don't have enough vaccine to vaccinate everybody in the world," Mokdad says.

If we do the right things like increasing production of the vaccine, he says, it's possible we eventually won't have to worry about COVID-19 anymore.

Goldman sees two possible scenarios for the U.S. in the near future.

One is that the virus evolves to more readily evade the vaccines that have been administered.

If that happens, she says, "then we'll have to go into a whole other round of re-vaccinating everybody." Drugmakers are already working on booster shots in case they become necessary.

On the other hand, that might not happen, and the current vaccines will continue to be highly effective.

In that case, Goldman believes that within the next several months "we'll see near elimination of the pandemic, certainly in the United States and Europe, other wealthy countries, Japan, Taiwan," while efforts will continue to immunize people in the rest of the world.

It's very likely, Goldman says, that even when we can say the pandemic is over, transmission will continue in parts of the country that have low rates of vaccination.

But one thing is clear. No matter what happens, the effects of the pandemic including long COVID, mental health issues, and economic fallout won't end when the official emergency does.

The rest is here:

How We'll Know When The COVID-19 Crisis Is Over - NPR

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists all over the world have been struggling to pin down the origin of the coronavirus that caused it.

Linfa Wang knows they may never succeed.

Dr. Wang, a professor in the emerging infectious diseases program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, is an expert in bat viruses. He has joined the hunt for the origin of Covid-19 even though he and fellow scientists are still searching for the precise source of a different coronavirus: the one that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. That virus emerged in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people world-wide.

Research on the origin of SARS and other deadly viruses offers a cautionary example of the manifold challenges that confound the pursuit of the origin of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

SARS started as an outbreak in China, rapidly traveled around the world infecting and killing people, and disrupted the global economy. The Chinese government was criticized at home and abroad for not sharing information quickly enough with the public and with World Health Organization officials trying to get a handle on the disease.

View post:

Bat Scientists Warn That the World May Never Know Covid-19 Origins - The Wall Street Journal

The Lambda variant has become the dominant version of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Peru. Here a poll ... [+] worker sanitizes a polling station in Lima on April 10, 2021. (Photo by ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP via Getty Images)

Compared to all the attention that the Alpha and then Delta variants have been getting, theres been relative silence of the Lambda until now.

The Lambda variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus is not to be confused with the lambada, which is the forbidden dance. But this variant has been progressively dancing its way around the globe. Its already become the dominant strain in Peru, which has had the highest Covid-19 case fatality rate and deaths per capita in the world. It has also spread to at least 29 countries in five different World Health Organization (WHO) regions. So the question is: will this version of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) Lambda the world into even more trouble?

Its hard to say right now. Much to learn about the Lambda variant there is, as Yoda would say. Currently, the Lambda variant is like your dad wearing a one-legged cat suit thats way too tight for the first time. You can see some disturbing signs but you cant quite see or figure out everything thats going on yet.

The Lambda variant has been around for while. It was first detected in Peru back in August 2020 and has steadily grown in presence there. Eventually, the Lambda variant became the alpha or the top dog of Covid-19 coronavirus strains in Peru. Since April 2021, sequencing of Covid-19 coronavirus cases in the country has found the Lambda variant in over 80% of the samples. The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Peru particularly hard too. As of July 9, Peru has had a total of 2,074,186 reported Covid-19 cases with 193,909 of those resulting in death, yielding a 9.3% case fatality ratio and a 596.45 deaths per 100,000 people in the population, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Those numbers have made Peru number one globally in both categories. And in this case, being number one is not good.

Peru has had the highest per capita Covid-19 death toll in the world. (Photo by Raul Sifuentes/Getty ... [+] Images)

A June 15 WHO report noted elevated prevalence of the Lambda variant in multiple other South American countries as well, including Chile, Ecuador, and Argentina. According to a Public Health England report, as of June 24, 2021, this variant has appeared in 525 samples from the U.S., 87 in Germany, 86 in Argentina, 57 in Mexico, 43 in Spain, 19 in Israel, 15 in Colombia, 13 in France, eight in Egypt, seven in Switzerland, six in the United Kingdom, five in Italy, three in Brazil, and three in Canada as well as in single samples from the Netherlands, Aruba, Portugal, Denmark, Czech Republic, Turkey, Australia, Curacao, and Zimbabwe.

This version of the virus, otherwise known as the C.37 variant, made the WHOs Variants of Interest (VOI) list on June 14, 2021, joining other variants like the Eta, Iota, and Kappa ones. These Greek lettered names all may sound like fraternities or sororities but if someone asks you to rush the Lambda variant, its better to say, get the heck away from me. In this case, interest doesnt mean oh, that would be cool like a statue of Ariana Grande made out of hot dogs. Instead, interest here means that public health officials should watch the variant very closely because it could become a major threat. A VOI is a version of the virus that, in the words of the WHO, has genetic changes that are predicted or known to affect virus characteristics such as transmissibility, disease severity, immune escape, diagnostic or therapeutic escape and that is spreading so that it may be an emerging risk to global public health.

A VOI is one step below a Variant of Concern (VOC). The Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma variants have already made the VOC list. The Lambda variant doesnt qualify as a VOC at this moment because studies have not yet confirmed that it is more transmissible, causes worse illness, or better able to get past the Covid-19 vaccines or treatments than other versions of the virus.

The key words here are have not yet confirmed. There just havent been enough studies so far to draw any strong conclusions about the Lambda variant. The situation in Peru does raise concerns that the Lambda variant may be more transmissible and more likely to result in worse Covid-19 outcomes. However, other factors can affect the spread of the virus and resulting death rates such as access to health care and the presence or lack of control measures such as social distancing and face mask use. Therefore, Perus higher death rates may not be solely due to the characteristics of the virus. The spread of this variant to so many other countries does lend more support, though, to the possibility that it is indeed more transmissible.

Of course, every time a new variant emerges, a big question is how well currently available Covid-19 vaccines may protect against the variant. Early indications are that the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines may still offer good protection, as you can see by this tweet from Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine:

Hotez cited a pre-print thats been uploaded on to the bioRxiv website. This pre-print describes a study that took antibodies from the blood of people who had had Covid-19 previously or had received the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines and determined whether these antibodies were able to neutralize the Lambda variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The not so good news is that the Lambda variant was able to infect cells more readily than the original version of the virus. The good news is that the antibodies seemed to neutralize the Lambda variant. This provided evidence that the currently available Covid-19 mRNA vaccines may offer good protection against the Lambda variant and that the Regeneron monoclonal antibody therapy cocktail would remain effective against this version.

Keep in mind though that a pre-print is not the same as a peer-reviewed publication in a respectable scientific journal. All you need to upload a pre-print is a computer, Internet access, and someone besides a hamster to press the right keys on the keyboard. Hamsters are not always great with keyboards because they can end up typing out expletives. They also may trade dogecoin if they can access your computer. More studies are needed to determine whether the Lambda variant is actually more transmissible and more likely to cause more severe Covid-19 and whether it can get around the protection offered by currently available Covid-19 vaccines.

Anyone who understands the science of coronavirus replications and mutation will understand that variants will be a continuing threat until enough people are vaccinated and pubic health officials get the pandemic under control. Variants are not a scare campaign as the following tweet suggests:

The media isnt rolling out these variants, its viral replication thats doing this. Again, this is science. Continuing to overlook the science will continue to extend the current situation:

The emergence and spread of the Lambda variant is a reminder that the Covid-19 coronavirus is not going to stay the same. The virus is not like that adult who peaked in high school and still insists that beer funneling and giving people atomic wedgies are cool. Instead, the Covid-19 coronavirus is more like Madonna in that it continues to evolve and adapt to the times. Like a drunk person trying make photocopies of his or her butt, every time the virus replicates or makes more copies of itself, it can make mistakes. These mistakes result in mutations in the genetic codes of the resulting copies of the virus. Such mutants are in effect new variants.

Thats why its so important to slow the spread of the virus as much as possible at least until enough people can be vaccinated to break the chains of transmission. As long as the Covid-19 coronavirus remains so widespread, unvaccinated people can serve as variant factories. In other words, when you dont protect yourself against the virus, your body serve as a cheap motel. The viruses can essentially say, your body is a wonderland, I'll use my spike proteins. This isnt exactly what John Mayer has sung about because he is not a gigantic virus. But its close. Getting vaccinated wont completely protect you against getting infected, since the vaccine is not like a impenetrable concrete full-body condom. However, the vaccines do offer very good protection and may make the virus effectively say, Damn, baby, you frustrate me.

If you arent vaccinated, its best to maintain other Covid-19 precautions like wearing face masks and social distancing. This not only will protect you but also protect the rest of society by slowing the emergence of variants. Not slowing the emergence of variants could prolong the pandemic and get us to a point where we have fewer and fewer Greek letter to name the new variants.

See the article here:

Lambda Variant Of Covid-19 Coronavirus Is Spreading, What You Need To Know - Forbes

Strict lockdowns in New Zealand last year appear to have contributed to a recent outbreak in children of respiratory syncytial virus, or R.S.V., a highly contagious, flulike illness whose symptoms include a runny nose, coughing, sneezing and fever.

Children in New Zealand were mostly stuck indoors amid lockdowns last autumn, which runs from March to May in the Southern Hemisphere. After the country reopened last winter, health officials say, few of them contracted seasonal viruses and infections, probably because they had been underexposed to germs.

In a typical year, New Zealand sees a peak of cases of respiratory infections from June to September. But in 2020, the country experienced the complete absence of an annual winter influenza epidemic, with a 99.9 percent reduction in flu cases and a 98 percent reduction in R.S.V., according to a study published in Nature in February.

This year, however, the same children have been more vulnerable than usual to those same ailments.

Since the start of winter five weeks ago, during which there have been no coronavirus restrictions, childrens wards in New Zealand have seen dozens of patients, many of them infants, battling the sometimes deadly disease, while some elementary schools have reported having as many as half their students absent because of respiratory illnesses.

The country has reported 969 cases of R.S.V. in five weeks, compared with an average of 1,743 cases over the entire 29-week winter season in the five years before the pandemic, according to New Zealands Institute of Environmental Science and Research.

The recent surge has yet to reach a plateau, said Dr. Sue Huang, a virologist at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research and the lead author of the Nature study.

The exponential increase is very sharp, she said in a statement. The absence of R.S.V. last winter meant there is a young cohort of children from last year, plus a new cohort this year, who have not been exposed to the seasonal virus.

Doctors around the world have warned of the risk of immunity debt, when a decline in the number of viral and bacterial infections during lockdowns is followed by more sickness once restrictions are lifted.

In a paper published in May in the journal Infectious Diseases Now, a team of French medical researchers suggested that less exposure to microbial agents could create a lack of immune stimulation for susceptible people, particularly in children. The longer these periods of viral or bacterial low-exposure are, the greater the likelihood of future epidemics, they wrote.

New Zealand closed its borders early in the pandemic, unveiling stringent lockdown measures that were lifted last April and May and have allowed the country to all but eliminate coronavirus transmission. No community cases have been reported for more than four months.

In other developments around the world:

Hundreds of Cubans took to the streets in cities around the country on Sunday to protest food and medicine shortages brought on by the pandemic, in a remarkable eruption of discontent not seen in nearly 30 years. Hundreds of people marched through San Antonio de los Baos, southwest of Havana, with videos streaming live on Facebook for nearly an hour before they suddenly disappeared. As the afternoon wore on, other videos appeared from demonstrations elsewhere, including Palma Soriano, in the countrys southeast. Hundreds of people also gathered in Havana, where a heavy police presence preceded their arrival.

Spain is facing a further hit to its summer tourism season after Germany classified the entire country as a risk area. As of Sunday, travelers entering Germany from anywhere in Spain, including its Balearic and Canary archipelagoes, will have to provide a negative coronavirus test or proof of vaccination or recovery to avoid quarantine. The Italian government also warned on Saturday that it was considering greater restrictions on travelers from Spain as well as Portugal. Both countries have been grappling with a surge in coronavirus cases fueled by the highly contagious Delta variant, particularly among unvaccinated young people.

Raphael Minder contributed from Madrid.

See more here:

New Zealand, where Covid-19 is dormant, fights another respiratory virus, and other news from around the world. - The New York Times

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)

Florida health officials reported an increase in COVID-19 cases and a higher positive test rate over the past week.

The number of virus cases in Florida rose by about 8,000 compared with the week before, for a total of 23,747 new cases, the state Department of Health reported Friday.

New cases of the coronavirus have been on the rise in Florida over the past month. The rate of positive tests was 7.8% last week after trending at about 4% positivity in recent weeks.

There were 172 deaths in Florida from COVID-19 last week, the health department reported.

More than 2,300 people were hospitalized in Florida with COVID-19 for the week of June 30 to July 6, according to the latest White House report. In comparison, 1,868 were hospitalized the previous week.

The state has recorded at least 2.4 million coronavirus cases and 38,901 deaths since the pandemic began, state figures show.

Officials also said the total number of Floridians who have been fully or partially vaccinated at around 11 million, or 58% of Floridians who are 12 and older.

See the original post here:

FLORIDA Florida reports rise in coronavirus cases over the past week WINK NEWS - Wink News

Scientists have long been interested in creating portable devices that can quickly and painlessly screen a person for disease simply by taking a whiff of their breath. But delivering on this dream has proved to be a challenge. Different diseases may cause similar breath changes. Diet can affect the chemicals someone exhales, as can smoking and alcohol consumption, potentially complicating disease detection.

Still, scientists say, advances in sensor technology and machine learning, combined with new research and investment spurred by the pandemic, mean that the moment for disease-detecting breathalyzers may have finally arrived.

Ive been working in the area of breath research for almost 20 years now, said Cristina Davis, an engineer at the University of California, Davis. And during that time, weve seen it progress from a nascent stage to really being something that I think is close to being deployed.

In May, when musicians from dozens of countries descended on Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for the Eurovision Song Contest, they had to pass a breath test before they were allowed onstage. The musicians were asked to exhale into a device the size of a water bottle called the SpiroNose, which analyzed the chemical compounds in their breath to detect signatures of a coronavirus infection. If the results came back negative, the performers were cleared to compete.

The SpiroNose, made by the Dutch company Breathomix, is just one of many breath-based coronavirus tests under development across the world. In May, Singapores health agency granted provisional authorization to two such tests, made by the domestic companies Breathonix and Silver Factory Technology. And researchers at Ohio State University say they have applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an emergency authorization of their coronavirus breathalyzer.

Its clear now, I think, that you can detect this disease with a breath test, said Paul Thomas, a chemist at Loughborough University in England. This isnt science fiction.

Read more from the original source:

Breath-Based Coronavirus Tests Are Being Developed - The New York Times

Anthony Fauci, the White Houses chief coronavirus medical adviser, said there should be more coronavirus vaccine requirements at the local level, though he has continued to insist that the federal government will not mandate them.

I have been of this opinion, and I remain of that opinion, that I do believe at the local level, there should be more mandates. There really should be, Fauci said Sunday on CNNs State of the Union, when host Jake Tapper asked whether he thought it would be a good idea for businesses and schools to require coronavirus vaccinations.

Were talking about life-and-death situations, Fauci added. Weve lost 600,000 Americans already, and were still losing more people. There have been 4 million deaths worldwide. This is serious business. So I am in favor of that.

As he has in recent weeks, Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert, expressed concern about vaccine hesitancy, even as the coronaviruss more contagious delta variant becomes dominant in the United States. Fauci also alluded to recent polling that shows such vaccine hesitancy has been driven by Republicans, which he suggested Sunday was because of ideological rigidity.

Why are we having red states and places in the South that are very highly ideological in one way not wanting to get vaccinations? Vaccinations have nothing to do with politics, Fauci said. Its a public-health issue. It doesnt matter who you are. The virus doesnt know whether youre a Democrat, a Republican or an independent . . . And yet there is that divide of people wanting to get vaccinated and not wanting to get vaccinated, which is really unfortunate, because its losing lives.

Fauci has in the past pointed to organizations and local entities that would probably require proof of vaccination, including cruise lines and universities.

So, notwithstanding guidelines from the [Centers of Disease Control and Prevention], there is going to be a situation where there are going to be requirements, he said in a conversation with The Washington Post in May. Its not going to be centrally mandated from the federal government, but almost certainly, individual organizations are going to want to require proof of vaccination before they allow people to come into their establishment without having to wear a mask.

In recent weeks, some GOP governors have been imploring residents anew to get vaccinated, calling it a race against the fast-spreading delta variant. One of those governors, Arkansass Asa Hutchison, said Sunday that he plans to travel to six cities in the state next week to promote the vaccines, because the uptake rate there remains lower than the national average.

There shouldnt be a partisan divide, first of all, Hutchinson said on ABC Newss This Week on Sunday. In the Southern states and some rural states, you have that more conservative approach, skepticism about government. And we just have to answer it just like we have all through history, that you overcome skepticism and mistrust by truth. You overcome resistance and obstinance with saying its important for our community, and its important for the health of our state and nation.

Still, scenes from the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas this weekend indicated that overcoming some Republicans refusal to get vaccinated may be a tall hurdle. At one CPAC panel Saturday, Alex Berenson, a former New York Times reporter who has been spreading anti-vaccination and other misinformation about covid on Twitter, falsely proclaimed that masks do nothing, nothing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

He also scoffed onstage at the government hoping that they could sort of sucker 90% of the population into getting vaccinated.

And it isnt happening, right? Berenson asked the audience. Many in the crowd cheered in response.

Showed a clip of that exchange Sunday, Fauci said it was horrifying.

I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that its a good thing for people not to try and save their lives, he told Tapper. I mean, if you just unpack that for a second, Jake, its almost frightening to say, Hey, guess what, we dont want you to do something to save your life. Yay! Everybody starts screaming and clapping. I just dont get that.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., also had strong words Sunday for his Republican colleagues who have been sowing fears about the coronavirus vaccines, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., comparing those going door to door to encourage people to get vaccinated to medical brown shirts from the Nazi era.

Its insanity. Its absolute insanity, Kinzinger said on CNNs State of the Union. At no point was anybody saying theyre going to break down your door and jam a vaccine in your arm despite your protests.

Kinzinger called on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and every other leader in the GOP to call out these garbage politicians playing on vaccine fears for their own selfish gain, saying such rhetoric would end in Americans dying if it did not stop.

This plane is going to crash into the ground, he said. Listen, if you are a Republican voter, do not listen to people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. The vaccine is safe. Covid is real. Get vaccinated.

The Washington Posts Tony Romm contributed to this report.

Here is the original post:

Fauci says there should be more coronavirus vaccine mandates at the local level - Anchorage Daily News

A person crosses the street during sunset, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Soweto, South Africa, April 1, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG, July 11 (Reuters) - South Africa extended tight COVID-19 rules on Sunday for another 14 days, maintaining restrictions that include a ban on gatherings, a curfew from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. and a prohibition on the sale of alcohol.

The country, the worst-hit on the African continent in terms of recorded cases and deaths, is in the grip of a third wave of infections driven by the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant.

"Our health system countrywide remains under pressure," President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address to the nation.

Early this month South Africa recorded a new record of over 26,000 daily cases, stretching hospitals to breaking point. read more

Ramaphosa moved the country to the fourth level of a five-tier restriction scale in late June as infections climbed, promising to review the restrictions after two weeks. read more

On Sunday he said the cabinet had decided to maintain "adjusted alert level 4" for another 14 days, although restaurants would be able to serve food on their premises again subject to strict health protocols. Gyms would also be allowed to reopen under certain conditions.

Ramaphosa added that a government advisory committee was working on how soon to bring Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine into the COVID-19 immunisation programme.

So far the vaccine campaign has been slow, with 4.2 million doses administered out of a population of 60 million, but officials are hoping to ramp up daily vaccinations to at least 300,000 by the end of August.

Ramaphosa said the African Union and European Union had reached an agreement for local pharmaceutical company Aspen(APNJ.J) to deliver more than 17 million Johnson & Johnson(JNJ.N) vaccine doses to South Africa and other African countries over the next three months.

Aspen is sourcing vaccine ingredients from J&J to package them in South Africa, a process known as fill and finish.

Ramaphosa said his country was negotiating for the drug substance to be produced locally, "so that we have a fully-owned African vaccine manufactured on African soil".

Reporting by Alexander WinningEditing by Peter Graff

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Continue reading here:

South Africa extends tight COVID-19 restrictions for another 14 days - Reuters

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 185.5 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.01 million. More than 3.32 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

US COVID-19 cases are up around 11% over the previous week, almost entirely among people who have not been vaccinated, officials said on Thursday, as the highly infectious Delta variant becomes the dominant COVID-19 strain in the country.

Viet Nam is aiming to vaccinate 50% of residents aged 18 or older by the end of this year and 70% by the end of March 2022, the health ministry said on Friday. It comes as tighter coronavirus curbs were imposed in more cities.

On Thursday, Indonesia reported a new daily record of 38,391 COVID-19 infections, plus 852 new fatalities, its second-highest daily death toll, official data showed.

Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths globally and in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

Africa has seen its worst pandemic week ever, as it passed the second-wave peak during the seven days ending on 4 July 2021. More than 251,000 new COVID-19 cases recorded on the continent.

Sixteen African countries are now in resurgence - with Malawi and Senegal added this week. The Delta variant has been detected in 10 of these countries.

Africa has just marked the continents most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.

The global vaccine distribution scheme COVAX aims to deliver 520 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa this year, its managing director said, with supplies ramping up from September after delays caused by Indian export restrictions.

In a news conference on Thursday organized by the World Health Organization's Africa region, Aurelia Nguyen, managing director of COVAX, said that the scheme had delivered around 25 million doses to 44 African countries so far, but she was not happy with the progress.

By the end of the first quarter of 2022, COVAX aims to supply nearly 850 million vaccine doses to the African continent, which has some of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates worldwide.

COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by continent

Image: Our World in Data

As part of work identifying promising technology use cases to combat COVID, The Boston Consulting Group recently used contextual AI to analyze more than 150 million English language media articles from 30 countries published between December 2019 to May 2020.

The result is a compendium of hundreds of technology use cases. It more than triples the number of solutions, providing better visibility into the diverse uses of technology for the COVID-19 response.

To see a full list of 200+ exciting technology use cases during COVID please follow this link.

The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said on Thursday, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the Games.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 variant was spreading, from becoming a flashpoint of new infections.

People will also be asked not to gather for events on public roads, such as the triathlon, though officials said some venues outside the greater Tokyo metropolitan area would allow small numbers of spectators.

"It is regrettable that we are delivering the Games in a very limited format, facing the spread of coronavirus infections," Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said, following talks between government officials, Tokyo organisers and Olympic and Paralympic representatives.

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

Read the original here:

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 9 July - World Economic Forum

The Netherlands reported more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, an eightfold increase when compared to last week after most restrictions were lifted despite the rise of the fast-spreading Delta variant.

The National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said 10,345 new cases were reported on Saturday, the biggest one-day increase since December 25. This compares to 1,146 new cases on the same day last week.

The coronavirus infection rate in the Netherlands has increased much faster than expected since society reopened almost completely on 26 June, the government said in a statement on Friday. Most infections have occurred in nightlife settings and parties with high numbers of people.

Even though the current surge is not posing a threat to vulnerable groups or the capacity of the healthcare system, such high numbers create a risk for people who are not (fully) vaccinated and raises the possibility of new variants, the government said. Some may also suffer from long COVID.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced new measures on Friday in an attempt to stop the unprecedented surge in new cases. These measures focus mainly on nightclubs, music festivals, and restaurants because most of the spread is occurring among young adults.

Fridays announcement followed an urgent advice from the Outbreak Management Team, which expects that pressure on the healthcare system will soon increase, even though it is currently declining. On Friday, only 12 people were admitted to hospital.

If the increase among teenagers and people in their early twenties continues, it will increasingly spread among the unvaccinated population and the vulnerable, and this group amounts to more than 3 million people, the team said in its advice. The pressure on the healthcare system will increase substantially in parallel.

Virologist Marion Koopmans, who is part of the Outbreak Management Team, said tougher restrictions cannot be ruled out if cases continue to rise in the coming days. We are closely watching what happens next week, she told local media.

More than 1.7 million people in the Netherlands have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, including 17,765 people who died, according to NewsNodes. Nearly 6.5 million people, or 37.1% of the population, is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

See the rest here:

Coronavirus cases in the Netherlands surge more than 800% in one week - BNO News

The coronavirus pandemic is not over. The trending Twitter hashtag #CovidisNotOver and fresh waves of outbreaks around the world have sent a strong message.

With increasingly transmissible COVID-19 variants including the delta and delta plus variants and the newer lambda variant becoming more prevalent and faltering vaccination campaigns, many places around the world are experiencing renewed outbreaks, reported the Deseret News.

Even previous pandemic success stories have begun to falter.

Currently, these are the top five worst outbreaks in the world.

Last week, the Southern African country of Namibia recorded the highest average rate of infections in the world, reported The Telegraph. Almost half of Namibias total COVID-19 cases have come in the last two months.

Mohammed Patel, a local paramedic, spoke to CNN about the straining health care system.

Delta has caused a whole lot of chaos, a whole lot of patients are suffering, their oxygen levels are dropping drastically daily there are patients that are suffering and there is no space in hospital, there is no ventilators available, Patel said. Its complete chaos.

According to Dr. Yakub Essack, the medical coordinator of a charity called Gift of Givers, the situation in Namibia is unlike any emergency situation hes ever dealt with.

In Thailand, coronavirus cases and deaths have more than doubled this week compared to last week, said Newsweek. Friday, the country reported more than 9,000 new cases and 72 new deaths, per Yahoo News. The health care system has begun to buckle under the increased demand.

The archipelago nation has now imposed a partial lockdown, but the restrictions are too little too late, said Newsweek. Cases are expected to continue rising.

Over the last two weeks, COVID-19 cases in Tunisia have increased by 138% to hit all-time highs, according to Our World in Data. Friday, Tunisia reported 9,823 new cases and 134 new deaths Thursday, per WHO data.

We are in a catastrophic situation, Nisaf Ben Alaya, a Tunisia health ministry spokesperson, said, per Al Jazeera. The health system collapsed.

The country has reimposed a total lockdown across most of the country and a partial lockdown on the capital, according to Al Jazeera. So far, only 4% of the population has received a coronavirus vaccination.

By absolute numbers, Indonesias outbreak is large and deadly. Previously called a coronavirus time bomb, the worlds fourth most populous country is being devastated by the current surge in cases, reported the Deseret News.

Hospitals have begun running low on or completely out of necessary oxygen. Some hospitals have temporarily closed or turned patients away due to staff and supply shortages, said The Guardian. One hospital even began using the front yard to treat emergency patients while using the building to isolate COVID-19 patients.

Thursday, Brazil reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases and new deaths in the world, per WHO data. The country currently has the second-highest death toll in the world after the U.S., but experts predict that fatalities in Brazil will soon surpass the U.S., said BBC.

Professor Pedro Hallal, an epidemiologist leading the largest COVID-19 research study in Brazil, spoke to BBC about the outbreaks.

Read the original here:

COVID outbreaks: Where are the worst COVID-19 surges in the world? - Deseret News

For 28-year-old Londoner Dan Mountford, baking had always been a hobby.

But a year ago, at the height of the Covid pandemic, he quit his job as a science teacher to pursue this passion.

I wanted to do something that I am really passionate about and since I began working as a baker I take enormous satisfaction in coming to work every day, knowing Ill be doing something I am genuinely interested in, he said.

Mountford is one of the more than three-quarters of people in the UK who say the coronavirus pandemic has made them re-evaluate the most important aspects of their lives.

More than a third of the 2,000 people surveyed for the thinktank Global Future said they had thought about changing jobs, while a separate third had looked at moving house. One in 10 people said they had looked at moving abroad and just under one in 10 had considered breaking up with their partner or starting a new relationship.

Mountford said the change was about doing something he really enjoyed.

Theres zero bureaucracy, I dont have to answer any emails, he said. Theres none of that kind of stuff that I was frustrated about with teaching.

I was fed up with the pressure put on teachers and the bureaucratic elements of the job, and since Ive left, Ive seen this pattern still affecting people in the profession.

His decision came at a cost, though. He now gets up very early in the morning, works weekends and unsociable hours and took a considerable pay cut.

Some people were shocked that I decided to take such a large cut in salary, but others understand the importance of me doing something I love and support the decision, he said.

Though lots of people will be dreaming about a drastic move, unlike Mountford, the poll found 80% of people had done little or nothing to achieve change, partly as a result of social and economic obstacles.

Two in five of those surveyed claimed money concerns were preventing them making changes and 31% cited a lack of opportunity. Young people aged 18 to 25 were most likely to be upset if they could not make changes in their life after lockdown.

Despite this, 40% of people said they would miss at least one element of lockdown life.

Gurnek Bains, a cultural psychologist, founder of Global Future and author of the report How Covid Changed Our Minds, said the pandemic had been a wake-up call for many people and he urged the government and employers to put in place structures to help people make changes to their daily lives

The pandemic forced us to confront the big questions about what we do, where we live and who we love, said Bains.

The problem is that the British people have changed, but Britain has not. Structural barriers continue to restrain our freedom to act on our dreams.

There is a risk of a dangerous rift between peoples desires and realities. As many people remain immobilised by socioeconomic barriers, we could face a dangerous tidal wave of dissatisfaction just as lockdown lifts.

We particularly need to support young people whose lives have been most acutely affected by the pandemic, and who are boldly asking these existential questions.

Separate polling from Aviva found almost half of employees had become less career-focused as a result of the pandemic, up from a third in August 2020.

The insurers research over 18 months found that 44% of people said they were unable to switch off from work as many employers are seen to encourage an always-on, ever-present culture.

More than a third felt their work-life balance had improved during the pandemic, yet one in five had been negatively affected.

The research also exposes the gender divisions behind many peoples pandemic experience, as women are more concerned about burnout and less likely to feel that hard work entitles them to take me time back during office hours.

Go here to read the rest:

Over three-quarters of Britons re-evaluate their lives during Covid - The Guardian

JERUSALEM, July 11 (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it will begin offering a third dose of Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) vaccine to adults with weak immune systems but it was still weighing whether to make the booster available to the general public.

The rapid spread of the Delta variant has sent vaccination rates in Israel back up as new infections have risen over the past month from single digits to around 450 a day, and the country has moved to fast-track its next Pfizer shipment.

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said that effective immediately, adults with impaired immune systems who had received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine could get a booster shot, with a decision pending on wider distribution.

Pfizer and partner BioNTech SE , the main suppliers in a swift Israeli vaccination rollout that began in December, said on Thursday they will ask U.S. and European regulators within weeks to authorize booster shots.

The two companies cited an increased risk of infection after six months in seeking permission for a third shot.

Drawing criticism from some scientists and officials, the companies did not share the data showing that risk, but said it would soon be made public. They also cited recent Israeli data. read more

"We are examining this issue and we still do not have a final answer," Horowitz, speaking on Kan public radio, said about a booster for the general population in Israel.

"In any case we are administering as of now a third shot to people suffering from immunodeficiency."

About half of the 46 patients presently hospitalised in Israel in severe condition are vaccinated, and the majority are from risk groups, according to the health authorities. About 5.7 million out of Israel 9.3 population has received at leas one dose.

Israel was not going to rush into any decision on booster shots for the general public, Sharon Alroy-Preis, head of public health at the Health Ministry said.

"It's rather complex. We're presently seeing outbreaks largely among children and their parents who weren't necessarily vaccinated in January and February and we need to identify the (statistical) biases," Alroy-Preis told Kan.

It was still unclear, Alroy-Preis added, whether the vaccine was simply less effective against the Delta variant and if illness rates among those vaccinated in January and February were higher than for those who were inoculated later.

SUPPLY GAP

Horowitz said that separately, the health ministry would plug a Pfizer supply gap for ongoing two-dose inoculations of the general adult population by using Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) vaccines already in stock.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in broadcast remarks to his cabinet on Sunday that he has agreed with Pfizer to bring forward the next delivery of doses to Aug 1. The shipment had been widely expected to arrive in September.

There was no immediate response from Pfizer to a request for comment.

Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Read the original post:

Israel offers third shot of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to adults at risk - Reuters

People wearing protective masks shop in a Walmart store on May 18, 2021 in Hallandale Beach, Florida.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

As the highly transmissible delta Covid variant continues to spread rapidly across the United States and elsewhere around the world, scientists and other health experts are warning that indoor mask mandates and other public health measures will likely make a return in the U.S. this fall.

The country, which just celebrated the Fourth of July with some of its first large gatherings in more than a year, is headed toward a "dangerous" fall season when delta is expected to cause another surge in new coronavirus cases, health experts say. Already the dominant variant in the U.S., delta will hit the states with the lowest vaccination rates the hardest unless those states and businesses reintroduce mask rules, capacity limits and other public health measures that they've largely rolled back in recent months, experts say.

With new mutations discovered every few weeks, many scientists now predict that Covid will continue circulating around the world for at least the next two to three years, requiring nations to reinstitute public health measures on an ad hoc basis for the foreseeable future. Authorities in Australia, South Africa and Asia have recently reintroduced curfews or other measures to curb rising delta outbreaks. Japan just declared a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and banned spectators at the Olympics. High vaccination rates in the U.S. and the warm summer months have bought the country some extra time, but outbreaks across the world are giving Americans a preview of what may come this fall.

Health workers chat near an ambulance at the parking lot of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, amid a nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, in Pretoria, South Africa, January 11, 2021.

Siphiwe Sibeko | Reuters

"I could foresee that in certain parts of the country, there could be a reintroduction of indoor mask mandates, distancing and occupancy limits" in the coming months, said Lawrence Gostin, director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law.

He said he fears there will be "major outbreaks" in the U.S. this fall, especially in states with low vaccination rates.

"We are heading for a very dangerous fall, with large swaths of the country still unvaccinated, a surging delta variant and people taking off their masks," Gostin added.

The warning from scientists and other health experts comes as many businesses and offices across the U.S. have largely done away with their mask requirements, social distancing and other pandemic-related restrictions.

Almost immediately after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people didn't need to wear masks in most indoor settings in mid-May, WalmartandCostcofollowed suit, allowing fully vaccinated customers and employees to go maskless unless required by state or local laws. Likewise, Detroit automakers and the United Auto Workers union late last month agreed to make face masks optional for employees who are fully vaccinated.

A General Motors assembly worker loads engine block castings on to the assembly line at the GM Romulus Powertrain plant in Romulus, Michigan, U.S. August 21, 2019.

Rebecca Cook | Reuters

Other businesses like Apple and Amazon are making a big push for most of their workers to return to the office in some capacity this fall as more Americans get vaccinated against the virus. Goldman Sachs workers returned to the office last month while Citigroup and JPMorgan expect their employees to come back on a rotating basis this month.

Confirmed Covid infections in the U.S. have dropped to their lowest levels since the beginning of the pandemic, averaging about 15,000 new cases a day over the last seven days from a peak of around 251,000 average new cases per day in January, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Hospitalizations and fatalities have also fallen, with Covid deaths averaging about 225 a day down from a peak of more than 3,400 deaths a day on average in January.

If daily Covid cases should rise again in the fall, as health experts expect they will, some employers in states with low Covid vaccination rates may have to grapple with the difficult choice of reimplementing public health measures, such as wearing masks and social distancing, capacity limits, or sending office workers back home altogether.

There will be "two Americas," said Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine advocate who has served on advisory panels for both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. "There is the vaccinated America and the unvaccinated America, and I think the unvaccinated America is about to pay a price for that."

There are about 1,000 counties in the U.S. that have Covid vaccination coverage of less than 30%, mostly located in the Southeast and Midwest, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently said. The agency is already seeing increasing rates of infection in those areas due to the further spread of the delta variant.

That's prompted some state and local health officials to reinstitute public health measures they had previously dropped.

In Mississippi, for example, where less than a third of the state's eligible population is fully vaccinated, officials last week recommended that all residents continue to wear masks indoors as delta becomes the dominant variant in the state. About 96% of new Covid cases in Mississippi are among unvaccinated people, state health officials said on a call with reporters.

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said people may want to consider wearing masks in states like Mississippi where transmission is high and vaccinations are low, even if they are fully inoculated.

"Depending on your personal situation, you might," Fauci said in an interview scheduled to air Friday with SiriusXM's "Doctor Radio Reports" with Dr. Marc Siegel. "For example, someone who's an elderly person who may not actually have a full robust protection, even though the protection is very, very high, or someone with an underlying condition" may still want to wear a mask, he said.

Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19 in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on May 11, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Jim Lo Scalzo | Getty Images

Officials in Los Angeles County, California, also recommended last week that "everyone, regardless of vaccination status," wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.

Offit, who advises the FDA on Covid vaccines, said he expects several more states to reimplement indoor mask requirements this fall.

The United States is still "undervaccinated," and states with low vaccination rates are likely to get hit the worst, Offit said. Less than half of the U.S., about 158 million people, has been fully vaccinated, with more than a dozen states fully immunizing less than 40% of their populations, according to CDC data. In Texas, the second-most-populated state behind California, just 42% of its residents are fully inoculated, the data shows.

Even people who are fully protected have cause for concern when it comes to Covid variants, Offit said. While the vaccines protect well against severe disease and death, they may not protect as well against mild disease or spreading Covid to others, he said. No vaccine is 100% effective, he noted.

"It is not a bold prediction to believe that SARS-CoV-2 is going to be circulating two or three years from now. I mean there are 195 countries out there, most of which haven't been given a single dose of vaccine," Offit said. "Will it still be circulating in the United States? I think that would be very, very likely."

Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, agreed that more states will have to reimplement mask mandates this fall. More vulnerable Americans may even need to wear masks every year during peak Covid and flu transmission season: November to April, he said. However, he noted it may be difficult to get some Americans to use face coverings now that the pandemic has waned.

"Given pandemic fatigue, it is going to be harder to get most Americans to follow guidance on mask use and social distancing. When cases and hospitalizations begin to surge again, potentially not until the fall or winter, then it may be easier to persuade some to take measures to be careful," he said.

People crowd outdoor dining at a restaurant as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are eased in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S., April 4, 2021.

Emily Elconin | Reuters

Dr. Vin Gupta, a Harvard-trained lung specialist and NBC contributor, said mask requirements should be reimplemented this fall but enforced at the local level and dependent on what's happening in the surrounding community with Covid vaccination rates and transmission.

"There has to be some specificity there and several local jurisdictions have to make their own decision, especially as the seasons shift and get back into cold, dry air," he said.

In the meantime, the federal government's mask mandate on public transportation, including airplanes, commuter buses and rail systems, is scheduled to expire Sept. 13 unless the CDC extends it once again.

Whether the CDC does so is an open question, scientists said. Walensky and the White House have both indicated that there is no desire to reinstitute lockdowns and will leave much of the decisions on public health measures up to the states.

"A lot of this isn't science. It's political science," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease professor at the University of Toronto. "If you have high rates of community transmission of Covid-19 and you have high rates of unvaccinated individuals, it makes sense to mask indoor from a scientific perspective. Whether or not that will be converted to policy is a different question."

Read the original:

Americans will need masks indoors as U.S. heads for 'dangerous fall' with surge in delta Covid cases - CNBC

Actor and comedian Rob Schneider's tweets and re-tweets about Covid-19 vaccines and precautions got ... [+] a bunch of responses and his name trending on Twitter. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Actor and comedian Rob Schneider was trending on Twitter on Saturday. And its not because hes coming out with a new movie sequel named Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo Endgame or Deuce Bigalow: Pitched Tent Perfect.

Theres no indication that such sequels are in the works. Instead, his name seemed to be trending because he sent a series of tweets and re-tweets about the Covid-19 vaccines and other Covid-19 precautions that then got quite a lot of responses. For example, here was one of the exchanges:

Hold on a Second. Did he actually refer to the Second Amendment, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms one when telling people not to get the Covid-19 vaccines?

Its one thing to decide not to get the Covid-19 vaccine. No one is really forcing anyone to get vaccinated. Instead, there are efforts to clear up any misconceptions about the vaccine. This includes helping people really understand the facts behind the good protection offered by the vaccine and its safety record. It also involves dispelling myths such as unfounded claims that the Covid-19 vaccines are designed to alter your genes and claims that Covid-19 vaccination is a human experiment rather than an effort to stop the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

At the end of the day, if you still dont want to get the Covid-19 vaccine, thats your choice. Just remember though that every choice has its consequences. You wont be able to do everything that you may want to do. Its similar to how deciding not wearing shoes and a shirt may prevent you from getting service at a business, or a job, or a date. Or maybe the shirtless may get you a date, depending on what you have up there.

Its another thing to tell other people to not get the Covid-19 vaccine during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. Such vaccination is a population intervention and not just an individual one. Getting more people vaccinated will decrease the risk of infection for everyone, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Its totally something else to invoke the Second Amendment. Was Schneider actually suggesting that others should use the Second Amendment against Covid-19 vaccination:

Or was he somehow confusing the right to bear arms with the right to have bare arms?

Schneider didnt stop there. He sent out a number of different tweets and re-tweets that all railed against Covid-19 precautions in ways that werent exactly consistent with scientific evidence. For example, this tweet seemed to equate face mask use with child abuse:

As another example, he re-tweeted a tweet that said the vaccine is only to prevent the infection in the person getting the vaccine, which is just not scientifically accurate. The greater the percentage of the population that is vaccinated, the lower the risk of infection for everyone, including those who are not vaccinated. This is the established principle of herd immunity.

Of course, his tweets alone didnt get his name to trend. That would have required him to send out at least a thousand tweets in one day. Instead, his tweets garnered a bunch of tweet responses and re-tweets such as:

And this:

As well as this:

But not everyone may have known who Schneider is:

After all, the Deuce Bigelow movies, his stint as the copy guy on Saturday Night Live, his role on The Hot Chick movie, and all the Adam Sandler vehicles that he acted in came before 2010:

This tweet offered a perspective from @KellyScaletta:

Again Schneider is entitled to make his own choices about whether to get the Covid-19 vaccines. The key is to remember that every choice has its consequences. Everyone cant do whatever they want in life. For example, not everyone is allowed to act in Adam Sandler movies. As another example, you cant just pee anywhere you want to pee.

However, it needs to be clear that Covid-19 vaccines have gone through extensive testing and scrutiny, certainly much more than many dietary supplements and food items that are currently on the market, for example. The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is real. Its killed over four million people around the world and over 600,000 in the U.S. Its caused a lot of suffering. Currently, the only real ways to stop the spread of the virus are some combination of vaccination, social distancing measures, and face mask use.

Again, getting more people vaccinated will decrease the risk of infection for everyone, both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Delaying vaccination will just allow the Covid-19 coronaviruses to keep infecting people and keep making copies of themselves, which in turn can lead to more variants emerging. And while Schneider did play the copy guy, this one situation where making copies is not a good thing.

In 2008, Schneider acted in an Adam Sandler movie entitled You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Similarly, you dont want to mess with the Covid-19 coronavirus. It would be better to get vaccination coverage high enough to really interrupt transmission so that society can truly return to normal.

Here is the original post:

Rob Schneiders Tweets About Covid-19 Vaccines Got These Responses - Forbes

The U.S. reaches universal eligibility

The United States passed a significant milestone in its vaccine rollout: As of today, all adults in every state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine.

The states had rushed to meet the April 19 deadline set by President Biden two weeks ago, and today the final states Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont expanded eligibility.

After a slow start in December, the pace of vaccinations in the U.S. has picked up considerably in recent months. More than 131 million people, or half of all American adults, had received at least one shot as of Sunday, and about 84.3 million people had been fully vaccinated, a third of the adult population. At its current pace, the U.S. will vaccinate 70 percent of its population by mid-June, but experts are warning Americans not to let their guards down. The virus is resurgent and the U.S. is averaging more than 67,000 new cases a day over the past seven days, up from over 54,000 a month ago.

The next phase of the rollout will bring its own challenges. Some scientists and health officials believe that making more people eligible will ultimately get more people vaccinated more swiftly. But others have said they are worried that some of the most vulnerable people, including those 65 and older, may have trouble competing for a shot. About a fifth of that group has not received even one shot.

As the vaccine supply expands, the extent of vaccine skepticism in the country will also come into focus. To combat vaccine hesitancy, the Biden administration is making an intense push today, which officials have likened to a get out the vote effort that will roll out on social media and radio and television programs.

Officials are particularly concerned about a rise in vaccine hesitancy as federal health officials pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson dose while regulators examine six cases of rare blood clots among recipients. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel is expected to meet on Friday and make recommendations about the vaccines use.

A year in, and we are languishing. Thats the academic term for the collective fog weve endured for more than a year trouble concentrating, trouble staying motivated, trouble getting excited about the future.

Languishing isnt burnout, which is more a lack of energy. Its not depression, with its lack of hope. Instead, its a sense of stagnation, of emptiness, of just-getting-by, a malaise that might be the dominant emotion of 2021.

Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at Wharton, suggested we think of languishing as a midpoint between flourishing and depression.

Flourishing is the peak of well-being: You have a strong sense of meaning, mastery and mattering to others. Depression is the valley of ill-being: You feel despondent, drained and worthless, Grant writes.

Theres still more research to do, but giving the emotion a name might give us a way to move forward, Grant argues.

It could give us a socially acceptable response to How are you?

Instead of saying Great!' or Fine, imagine if we answered, Honestly, Im languishing. It would be a refreshing foil for toxic positivity that quintessentially American pressure to be upbeat at all times.

For the first eight months of the lockdown, my husband and I literally did not know anyone personally that had Covid. We were compliant using masks, sanitizer and delivery options. My husband got antsy and began venturing out but with caution. Most of the time it was outdoor camping. On Jan. 5 my husband started showing symptoms. Alarmed but hopeful, we treated it with everything we could and took all the medical advice. On Jan. 15 he was feeling better, had energy and color in his face. We were so relieved. Jan. 16 he woke up and was struggling to breathe. I took him to the E.R. but couldnt go in with him. He called later to say he was on antibiotics, antibodies, and oxygen and the doctor was going to keep him overnight. He felt better and his spirits were good. Three days later he went into respiratory distress, was moved to I.C.U. and put on a ventilator. My husband died Feb. 10, 2021. He turned 50 while in the hospital. The worst part was not being at his side. It breaks my heart to think he couldnt feel the comfort of our touch. Even though we were able to FaceTime our voices many times before he passed, I mourn not being at his side almost as much as his absence.

Joanne Atoigue, Las Vegas

Let us know how youre dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com.

View post:

Coronavirus Briefing: What Happened Today - The New York Times

A total of 173 students and staff at 41 K-12 school districts have been infected by coronavirus in new school-related outbreaks, according to data released Monday, April 19, by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The data was collected on Thursday, April 15, and includes preschools and daycares in those buildings

Last week, the state reported 201 infections in new outbreaks at 48 K-12 school districts and three colleges.

The biggest new outbreak involves 21 students and staff at Imlay City Middle School near Lapeer.

K-12 school outbreaks were identified in 28 counties. Below are those outbreaks listed by county.

A cumulative total of 8,559 individuals have been sickened in ongoing outbreaks, the April 19 report says. Ongoing outbreaks include clusters identified earlier but that had at least one additional case in the past 28 days.

Last week, there was a cumulative total of 9,886 cases in ongoing outbreaks.

Most of those ongoing outbreaks involve college communities, and most of those outbreaks occurred outside classroom settings. A total of 7,895 infections linked to ongoing outbreaks have occurred in and around 18 college communities. That compares to 7,827 cases on 23 campuses reported last week.

Among K-12 schools, there were 2,166 staff and students infected in ongoing outbreaks at 269 schools serving pre-K through high school.

The latest list includes buildings with at least one case in the past 28 days.

The largest ongoing outbreaks in K-12 schools: 56 at Ruth Fox Middle School in Lapeer; 54 at Lapeer High School; 50 at Imlay City High School; North Branch Elementary, 48, and East Grand Rapids High School, 45.

Outbreak data for K-12 schools includes only cases in which the student or staff was infected at school or at a school-related function. Those who caught the virus outside of school are not included.

A COVID-19 outbreak is defined as two or more cases with a link by place and time indicating a shared exposure outside of a household.

Below is an online database that allows readers to search outbreak data by school name or by city or county. The number of those infected is a cumulative total since the original outbreak. (Note: Washtenaw County only reports cumulative totals for the past 28 days.)

Below is an interactive map showing both new and ongoing outbreaks listed in the Monday, April 19, report. It shows outbreaks reported as of April 15. You can put your cursor over a dot to see the underlying data.

More on MLive:

One public Michigan university is requiring COVID-19 vaccination for students. Will others do the same?

Michigan high schools look to build on lessons as prep sports enter widespread testing for spring

What to do, and not do, with your COVID-19 vaccine card

Delayed care and surge in coronavirus cases overwhelms Michigan hospitals for a third round

See more here:

173 infected in new coronavirus outbreaks at 41 schools, says Michigans April 19 school outbreak report - mlive.com