Daily Archives: February 27, 2021

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday that the says that the 7-day average of confirmed cases in the U.S. has ticked up for the past three days, warning that "now is not the time to relax restrictions." Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday that the says that the 7-day average of confirmed cases in the U.S. has ticked up for the past three days, warning that "now is not the time to relax restrictions."

The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday of an uptick in the country's confirmed COVID-19 cases, saying recent progress may be "stalling" as highly infectious new variants become more predominant.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing that after weeks of declining cases and hospitalizations, the 7-day average in confirmed cases has ticked up in the past three days in what the CDC considers a "very concerning shift in trajectory." The most recent 7-day average of deaths is at about 2,000 per day, she said, which is slightly higher than that of the week before.

"Things are tenuous. Now is not the time to relax restrictions," Walensky said. "Although we have been experiencing large declines in cases and hospital admissions over the past six weeks, these declines follow the highest peak we have experienced in the pandemic."

In other words, she said, the decline in cases could taper off at a level that is still dangerously high.

Walensky warned of the threat posed by the continued spread of coronavirus variants. These variants now account for roughly 10% of U.S. cases, she said, up from between 1% and 4% in recent weeks. The prevalence of the B.1.1.7 variant first seen in the U.K. is even higher in certain parts of the country.

Scientists predict that the B.1.1.7 variant which is 50% more transmissible than the strain that has been circulating in the U.S. will become the country's dominant strain by mid-March. Walensky said that the spike in case numbers may be the first sign that it is starting to take over.

Other variants emerging in New York City and California also appear to spread more easily and account for a large portion of cases in those areas, she added.

"We may be done with the virus, but clearly the virus is not done with us," Walensky said. "We cannot get comfortable or give into a false sense of security that the worst of the pandemic is behind us."

Nearly a year into the pandemic, Walensky acknowledged that Americans are tired and longing for a return to normalcy. She implored them to be vigilant and continue taking protective measures to prevent another surge.

This is especially important, she said, with mass vaccination "so very close." Some 46 million people, or 14% of the population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Walensky. And with Food and Drug Administration experts meeting to evaluate the Johnson & Johnson vaccine today, she said the country may soon have a third vaccine in its toolbox.

Also on Friday, White House COVID-19 Senior Advisor Andy Slavitt said the Biden administration has been in discussions with ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft to arrange transportation to vaccine sites for vulnerable populations. Lyft and CVS are partnering to provide 60 million free rides, he said.

The administration is also working with a coalition of business groups to promote pandemic control measures aimed at making workplaces safer for customers, employees and communities, Slavitt said. Those measures include educating individuals about masking and social distancing on site, and providing employees with incentives to get vaccinated.

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'A Very Concerning Shift': CDC Head Warns Of Recent Uptick In COVID-19 Cases - NPR

Jeremy Lin, currently with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA's G-League, wrote a long Instagram post sounding off on the wave of anti-Asian American violence across the country.

"Something is changing in this generation of Asian Americans," he wrote. "We are tired of being told that we don't experience racism, we are tired of being told to keep our heads down and not make trouble. We are tired of Asian American kids growing up and being asked where they're REALLY from, of having our eyes mocked, of being objectified as exotic or being told we're inherently unattractive."

Lin's "tired of being told that we don't experience racism" line is likely a reference to some involved in social justice movements painting Asian Americans as people of privilege not deserving of the same protections granted to other minority groups. In November 2020, a school district in Washington received national attention after deciding that Asians Americans would no longer be classified as "people of color" because of levels of educational achievement.

"We are tired of the stereotypes in Hollywood affecting our psyche and limiting who we think we can be," Lin continued. "We are tired of being invisible, of being mistaken for our colleague or told our struggles aren't as real. I want better for my elders who worked so hard and sacrificed so much to make a life for themselves here. I want better for my niece and nephew and future kids. I want better for the next generation of Asian American athletes than to have to work so hard to just be 'deceptively athletic.'"

Lin and other Asian American athletes have often been referred to as "deceptively" or "sneakily" athletic in scouting reports contrasting them to their Black counterparts. He concludes his post by stating he's been called "coronavirus" on the court.

"Being an Asian American doesn't mean we don't experience poverty and racism," he writes. "Being a 9 year NBA veteran doesn't protect me from being called 'coronavirus' on the court. Being a man of faith doesn't mean I don't fight for justice, for myself and for others."

Lin has appeared in five games for the Santa Cruz Warriors this season.

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Warriors' Jeremy Lin says he's been called 'coronavirus' on the court - SF Gate

FEB. 26 -- As a week packed with pandemic-related news came to a close, Massachusetts public health officials confirmed 1,734 new cases of COVID-19 and announced 46 recent deaths caused by the virus.

The Department of Public Health said the state's cumulative case count rose to 547,358 infections and the state's death toll climbed with Friday's announcement to 15,703 people -- or 16,024 people when counting those who died with likely (but not test-confirmed) cases.

Between Thursday's daily report and Friday's update, DPH said, hospitals saw a net reduction of 47 COVID-19 patients. There were 807 people with COVID-19 being treated in Massachusetts hospitals, including 211 being treated in an intensive care unit.

The state's seven-day average positive test rate stands at 1.90 percent and DPH estimated Friday that there are 30,983 people in Massachusetts with active and contagious cases of COVID-19, roughly the same as the population of Gloucester.

As of Friday, there were 1,142,357 people in Massachusetts who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 480,196 people had received two doses and are considered fully vaccinated, an increase of 25,724 people since Thursday's report. Massachusetts has administered 1,622,553 of the 2,026,900 vaccine doses delivered here, roughly 80 percent.

On Friday morning, Baker traveled to Newburyport to highlight the schools and districts participating in the administration's weekly pooled COVID-19 testing program as he ups the pressure on municipalities to get children back into classrooms full-time. -- Colin A. Young

Lawrence Delegation Requests Meeting with Teachers: With the Baker administration ramping up its efforts to bring elementary school students back to the classroom by April, the legislative delegation from Lawrence and the city's Mayor Kendrys Vasquez requested a meeting with the Lawrence Teachers' Union to discuss a return to in-person learning. The lawmakers, led by Sen. Barry Finegold, and the mayor wrote a letter to the Lawrence Teachers' Union on Wednesday, the day after Gov. Charlie Baker and Education Commissioner Jeff Riley laid out their back-to-school plan. The elected officials started by acknowledging the hardships faced by teachers over the past year. "However, months of remote learning have had a severe impact on the socioemotional well-being of our students, and the districts ongoing failure to return to in-person education will exacerbate the achievement gap between students in Lawrence and those in wealthier communities," they wrote. The lawmakers agreed that younger elementary school students are the most in need of in-person learning and the least likely to spread COVID-19, but also said students in transition years like 6th, 9th and 12th grades should be prioritized for returns to the classroom. "Overall, Lawrence's students desperately need to return to in-person learning, and we want to work with you to do so in a safe and methodical manner. We look forward to scheduling a meeting with you and hearing your input on this pivotal issue," the officials wrote. - Matt Murphy 4:50 PM Fri

CDC Chief: "Now Is Not The Time to Relax Restrictions": A day after Gov. Charlie Baker announced he's loosening economic reopening rules due to improving COVID-19 data here, Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday that "now is not the time to relax restrictions." During a press briefing by the White House COVID-19 Response Team and public health officials, Walensky said COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions, and deaths all remain "very high," noting that the recent progress comes on the heels of "the highest peak we have experienced in the pandemic." In addition, she said the latest data "suggests that these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at, still, a very high number." The nation may also be starting to see the beginning effects of the spread of more transmissible COVID variants like B117, which accounts for about 10 percent of cases nationwide, up from 1 to 4 percent a few weeks ago, she said. And she cited new research this week about additional emerging variants in New York (B1526) and California (B1427) that she said also appear to spread more easily and are contributing to a large fraction of infections in those areas. "We are watching these concerning data very closely to see where they will go over the next few days," she said. "But it's important to remember where we are in the pandemic. Things are tenuous. Now is not the time to relax restrictions." - Michael P. Norton 2:53 PM Fri

690 Boxes of Moderna, 60 of Pfizer: A lot of attention has been paid in recent weeks to the limited supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses Massachusetts receives each week from the federal government, so the head of the state's COVID-19 Command Center broke it down for lawmakers Thursday. "I just want to describe what 139,000 doses looks like, to be very specific," Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said. "It is 60 boxes of Pfizer and 690 boxes of Moderna per week. One requires ultra-cold storage and the other requires freezer capacity, along with the requirements that once the vial is punctured it must be used within six hours. Unlike flu vaccines, these are highly fragile. You can't break the boxes apart, you can't really move them apart." Sudders said the supply is "insufficient" and argued that the circumstances warrant a "streamlined and tightly-managed distribution process" like the one the Baker administration recently put into effect. Some lawmakers on the COVID-19 Committee were upset during Thursday's hearing about the number of doses being distributed to mass vaccination sites versus to local boards of health. In the weekly vaccine report published as Thursday's hearing was concluding, the Department of Public Health said that 40 percent of the roughly 1.9 million doses delivered here have gone to hospitals, 23 percent have gone to pharmacies and the federal program that vaccinates at nursing homes, 10 percent have gone to local boards of health, and nine percent to mass vaccination sites. "We understand and completely concur that there cannot be one channel for administration to achieve effectiveness, efficiency and equity," Sudders said. "But there also can't be unlimited channels when there is constrained supply. Until we have an unconstrained vast supply of vaccine, we must maintain a streamlined and tightly-managed distribution process." -- Colin A. Young 9:49 AM Fri

Before Hearing, 10,000+ Qs&As: Thursday was the first time lawmakers called Baker administration officials in front of them for an oversight hearing on COVID-19 issues, but it was far from the first time the administration fielded questions from legislators on the topic. When Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders logged into the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management hearing, she thanked co-chair Sen. Jo Comerford for having worked with Rep. Denise Garlick to convene 27 bi-weekly "legislative sessions" over the last year. Those sessions, Sudders said, "yielded more than 10,050 questions from the Legislature and responses from us." Comerford thanked Sudders for being so available to lawmakers over the course of the pandemic. "What you said, I could have said verbatim just in terms of the way in which you've made yourself available to brief the Legislature," Comerford said. "And I'm deeply grateful to you and to your team for the way in which you really, you've hit it out of the park in terms of having conversations with us. And certainly your staff, helping us put out fires, as it were, as we move through the entire COVID pandemic." -- Colin A. Young 9:20 AM Fri

Summer Camp Decision Hailed as Critical: A state senator from Pittsfield whose district features dozens of overnight and day camps is celebrating Gov. Charlie Baker's decision to permit overnight camps to open in the first step of Phase 4. While that step is scheduled to start March 22, the Baker administration said Thursday that its decision will mean overnight camps can open this summer. Sen. Adam Hinds said the decision followed "months of countless phone calls, letters and meetings with the administration," and that it represents a "victory for working parents," and will facilitate planning and employee recruitment. According to the senator's office, there are 1,000 summer camps in Massachusetts and those camps are responsible for an annual economic contribution of $1.3 billion and over $220 million in directly paid wages. "The decision by the Baker administration to allow overnight and day camps to operate this summer is a huge win for the 250,000 children served by summer camps across the Commonwealth," said Matt Scholl, board president of the Massachusetts Camping Association. "The data is clear that camps can effectively uphold the health and well-being of our children and staff when following evidence-based protocols. Children have never needed summer camp more - prioritizing camp is a choice to prioritize healthy and thriving children." - Michael P. Norton 7:02 AM Fri

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Coronavirus updates: Mixed reactions to Mass. reopening - The Daily News of Newburyport

A large nationwide study has found important differences in the two major ways in which children have become seriously ill from the coronavirus, findings that may help doctors and parents better recognize the conditions and understand more about the children at risk for each one.

The study, published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA, analyzed 1,116 cases of young people who were treated at 66 hospitals in 31 states. Slightly more than half the patients had acute Covid-19, the predominantly lung-related illness that afflicts most adults who get sick from the virus, while 539 patients had the inflammatory syndrome that has erupted in some children weeks after they have had a typically mild initial infection.

The researchers found some similarities, but also significant differences in the symptoms and characteristics of the patients, who ranged from infants to 20-year-olds and were hospitalized last year between March 15 and October 31.

Young people with the syndrome, called Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children or MIS-C, were more likely to be between 6 and 12 years of age, while more than 80 percent of the patients with acute Covid-19 were either younger than 6 or older than 12.

More than two-thirds of patients with either condition were Black or Hispanic, which experts say most likely reflects socioeconomic and other factors that have disproportionately exposed some communities to the virus.

Its still shocking that the overwhelming majority of the patients are nonwhite and that is true for MIS-C and for acute Covid, said Dr. Jean A. Ballweg, medical director of pediatric heart transplant and advanced heart failure at Childrens Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, who was not involved in the study. Theres clearly racial disparity there.

For reasons that are unclear, while Hispanic young people seemed equally likely to be at risk for both conditions, Black children appeared to be at greater risk for developing the inflammatory syndrome than the acute illness, said Dr. Adrienne Randolph, the senior author of the study and a pediatric critical care specialist at Boston Childrens Hospital.

One potential clue mentioned by the authors is that with Kawasaki disease, a rare childhood inflammatory syndrome that has similarities with some aspects of MIS-C, Black children appear to have greater frequency of heart abnormalities and are less responsive to one of the standard treatments: intravenous immunoglobulin.

The researchers found that young people with the inflammatory syndrome were significantly more likely to have had no underlying medical conditions than those with acute Covid. Still, more than a third of patients with acute Covid had no previous medical condition. Its not like previously healthy kids are completely scot-free here, Dr. Randolph said.

The study evaluated obesity separately from other underlying health conditions and only in patients who were age 2 or older, finding that a somewhat higher percentage of the young people with acute Covid had obesity.

Feb. 26, 2021, 11:02 p.m. ET

Dr. Srinivas Murthy, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, who was not involved in the study, said he was not convinced that the findings established that healthy children were at higher risk for MIS-C. It could be mostly a numbers game, with the proportion of kids infected and the proportion of healthy kids out there, rather than saying that theres something immune in healthy kids that puts them at a disproportionately higher risk, he said.

Overall, he said, the studys documentation of the differences between the two conditions was useful, especially because it reflected a reasonably representative set of hospitals across the U.S.

Young people with the inflammatory syndrome were more likely to need to be treated in intensive care units. Their symptoms were much more likely to include gastrointestinal problems and inflammation and to involve the skin and mucous membranes. They were also much more likely to have heart-related issues, although many of the acute Covid patients did not receive detailed cardiac assessments, the study noted.

Roughly the same large proportion of patients with each condition more than half needed respiratory support, with slightly less than a third of those needing mechanical ventilation. Roughly the same small number of patients in each group died: 10 with MIS-C and eight with acute Covid-19.

The data does not reflect a recent surge in cases of the inflammatory syndrome that followed a rise in overall Covid-19 infections across the country during the winter holiday season. Some hospitals have reported that there have been a greater number of seriously ill MIS-C patients in the current wave compared with previous waves.

I am going to be fascinated to see comparison from Nov. 1 forward versus this group because I think we all felt that the kids with MIS-C have been even more sick recently, Dr. Ballweg said.

An optimistic sign from the study was that most of the severe cardiac problems in young people with the inflammatory syndrome improved to normal condition within 30 days. Still, Dr. Randolph said any residual effects were still unknown, which is why one of her co-authors, Dr. Jane Newburger, associate chief for academic affairs in Boston Childrens Hospitals cardiology department, is leading a nationwide study to follow children with the inflammatory syndrome for up to five years.

We cant say 100 percent for sure that everythings going to be normal long-term, Dr. Randolph said.

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New Findings on 2 Ways Children Become Seriously Ill From the Coronavirus - The New York Times

Need to stay updated on coronavirus news in Texas? Our evening roundup will help you stay on top of the days latest updates. Sign up here.

Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that Texas is looking at when it will be able to lift all statewide orders related to the coronavirus pandemic and that an announcement is forthcoming.

Abbott made the comments at a Corpus Christi news conference where he was asked when the statewide mask mandate would end as Texans continue to get vaccinated. That requirement has been in effect since July.

Abbott called it a great question.

Were working right now on evaluating when were gonna be able to remove all statewide orders, and we will be making announcements about that pretty soon, Abbott said, without giving a specific time frame.

In addition to the mask mandate, statewide orders in effect include a policy that rolls back business reopenings in a hospital region if its COVID-19 patients exceed 15% of hospital capacity for seven days. Abbott put that policy in place in last fall.

Only 5.1% of Texans had been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, though Abbott has been optimistic that the pace will pick up as more vaccines are made available to Texas.

Experts say Texas is a long way from reaching herd immunity through the vaccines. Hitting the 70% to 80% level that many estimate is needed would mean vaccinating some 22 million people, or nearly 100% of adults in the state, according to census numbers. The vaccines are currently not approved for children under 16, who make up about 23% of the population.

Scientists do not yet know for sure whether or how well the vaccines prevent the spread of the virus, though some preliminary research has suggested that some vaccines might be able to do so to some extent.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that people who have received two doses of the vaccine continue to avoid crowds, stay at least 6 feet away from people who live outside their households, and wear masks to cover their nose and mouth.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease doctor, has repeatedly said that he does not know when Americans will be able to return to normal, but that they may still need to continue wearing face masks into 2022.

Abbott has faced scrutiny from some of his fellow Republicans for how he has wielded his executive authority to issue statewide pandemic rules, and multiple GOP proposals have been introduced at the Legislature to curb his power. He has expressed openness to reforming executive authority while also promising that we will not have any more shutdowns in Texas.

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Gov. Greg Abbott weighing end to mask order, other Texas coronavirus rules - The Texas Tribune

The Secretary-Generally has repeatedly called for the vaccines to be "a global public good", accessible to all people, everywhere.

All UN staffers at UN Headquarters are waiting their turn for the vaccine based on the local rollout plan, and Mr. Guterres is among the first in the Big Apple-based UN familyto receive a jab, based on his eligibility - he's over the standard UN retirement aged of 65.

The UN chief spoke to the site manager, Yaeshea Braddock, while getting his second innoculation about the importance of fair access to all.

Mr. Guterres said he was privileged to be receiving the vaccine, when "so many areas of the world" were, so far, without access.

Ms. Braddock told the UN chief that sites such as theirs were providing importantaccess to minority communities, but"it's not everything we need", she added, and she said some visitors were hesitant about taking the vaccine.

"Because of misinformation, because of historical mistrust" on the part of African-Americans, she explained, who had been used for testing "without our knowledge" in previous decades.

"For African-Americans - I am one myself - I think it's particularlyimportant for me to be vaccinated, to show my community that's it's safe and that I believe in it, and that this vaccine process was one of the most studied, with our involvement, in proportion to society...We were included in this process."

New York school workers, first responders, public transit workers and grocery workers join the over-65s in the current list of those eligible for shots within the five boroughs of the city.

In December, Mr. Guterres declared that he would happily receive the vaccine in public, and said that, for him, vaccination is a moral obligation: Each one of us provides a service to the whole community, he said, because there is no longer a risk of spreading the disease.

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UN chief returns to the Bronx for second coronavirus shot - UN News

NEW YORK (AP) February is usually the peak of flu season, with doctors offices and hospitals packed with suffering patients. But not this year.

Flu has virtually disappeared from the U.S., with reports coming in at far lower levels than anything seen in decades.

Experts say that measures put in place to fend off the coronavirus mask wearing, social distancing and virtual schooling were a big factor in preventing a twindemic of flu and COVID-19. A push to get more people vaccinated against flu probably helped, too, as did fewer people traveling, they say.

Another possible explanation: The coronavirus has essentially muscled aside flu and other bugs that are more common in the fall and winter. Scientists dont fully understand the mechanism behind that, but it would be consistent with patterns seen when certain flu strains predominate over others, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a flu expert at the University of Michigan.

Nationally, this is the lowest flu season weve had on record, according to a surveillance system that is about 25 years old, said Lynnette Brammer of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hospitals say the usual steady stream of flu-stricken patients never materialized.

At Maine Medical Center in Portland, the states largest hospital, I have seen zero documented flu cases this winter, said Dr. Nate Mick, the head of the emergency department.

Ditto in Oregons capital city, where the outpatient respiratory clinics affiliated with Salem Hospital have not seen any confirmed flu cases.

Its beautiful, said the health systems Dr. Michelle Rasmussen.

The numbers are astonishing considering flu has long been the nations biggest infectious disease threat. In recent years, it has been blamed for 600,000 to 800,000 annual hospitalizations and 50,000 to 60,000 deaths.

Across the globe, flu activity has been at very low levels in China, Europe and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. And that follows reports of little flu in South Africa, Australia and other countries during the Southern Hemispheres winter months of May through August.

The story of course has been different with coronavirus, which has killed more than 500,000 people in the United States. COVID-19 cases and deaths reached new heights in December and January, before beginning a recent decline.

Flu-related hospitalizations, however, are a small fraction of where they would stand during even a very mild season, said Brammer, who oversees the CDCs tracking of the virus.

Flu death data for the whole U.S. population is hard to compile quickly, but CDC officials keep a running count of deaths of children. One pediatric flu death has been reported so far this season, compared with 92 reported at the same point in last years flu season.

Many parents will tell you that this year their kids have been as healthy as theyve ever been, because theyre not swimming in the germ pool at school or day care the same way they were in prior years, Mick said.

Some doctors say they have even stopped sending specimens for testing, because they dont think flu is present. Nevertheless, many labs are using a CDC-developed multiplex test that checks specimens for both the coronavirus and flu, Brammer said.

More than 190 million flu vaccine doses were distributed this season, but the number of infections is so low that its difficult for CDC to do its annual calculation of how well the vaccine is working, Brammer said. Theres simply not enough data, she said.

That also is challenging the planning of next seasons flu vaccine. Such work usually starts with checking which flu strains are circulating around the world and predicting which of them will likely predominate in the year ahead.

But theres not a lot of (flu) viruses to look at, Brammer said.

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Amid COVID-19 pandemic, flu has disappeared in the US - WBRZ

UCSD, SDSU and USD open vaccinations up to teachers, faculty and student employees. CSU San Marcos reports zero cases out of nearly 1,000 tests

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. Hundreds of students, teachers and faculty working at local universities are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine after San Diego County announced that those in Phase 1B-Tier 1 are eligible starting Saturday, February 27.

This comes after a big slowdown in vaccine deployment nationwide. But with cancellations and site closures of vaccination centers still looming, the certainty of a smooth transition is up in the air.

UC San Diego is closing the Petco Park super station this weekend for the third time this month due to low supplies, while schools like San Diego State and University of San Diego recently secured several hundred doses to vaccinate more eligible campus community members.

CSU San Marcos, however, is still waiting on a shipment of vaccine doses.

For every step throughout the pandemic, local universities have played an integral part in the process. From large student gatherings contributing to increased coronavirus case rates to universities researching the intricacies of the global pandemic to find answers.

As San Diego County approaches the one-year mark since its first reported case of the coronavirus, we are fighting the important battle of making sure vaccines are distributed to enough people as fast as possible.

Local universities have added pressure as they are responsible for thousands of students living on-campus. And with the planned return of full, in-person instruction for some later this year, the clock is ticking.

Theres a lot of coronavirus headlines involving local universities this week. Lets get into it.

UC San Diego juggles vaccinating the county and its own community

The Petco Park super station, which is run by UCSD Health, is closing for the third time this weekend. The closure is due to a national shortage of the Moderna vaccine and will be closed from Saturday, Feb 27 to Tuesday, March 2.

Bittersweet news as more than 500,000 residents in San Diego County now qualifies for the vaccine as of this weekend.

Petco is the only site so far that is closed. Other super stations along with UCSDs very own vaccination site at the RIMAC recreation center are open for appointments.

In fact, RIMAC was designed to serve only UCSD and UCSD Health community members, but as of this week, is open for everyone in the county who is eligible for the vaccine, according to an email sent to News 8 from Senior Communications and Media Relations Manager Yadira Galindo.

RIMAC got off to a slow startwhen looking at its target of 5,000 vaccinations per day. In the first two weeks of operating, more than 3,700 first doses and 2,127 second doses were administered. This is according to a release from UCSD Health from February 17.

The station at RIMAC is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Appointments for the on-campus station can now be scheduled through the County of San Diegos website.

An email sent to campus employees by UCSD Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla on Friday afternoon announced that UC San Diego Health has earmarked 10,000 appointment spaces at RIMAC for campus employees. This includes faculty, staff and postdoctoral researchers.

We are prepared to administer vaccines as quickly as possible, contingent upon the allocation provided to UC San Diego Health, the email stated, in part.

Chancellor Khosla also wrote that UCSD hopes to complete these campus community inoculations over the next ten days.

UCSD has reported 46 cases among students, both living on and off-campus, for the entire month of February. This is approximately .001% of 40,068 tests reported from the university.

San Diego State secures more vaccines while preparing for in-person classes.

After waiting nearly three weeks, San Diego State finally got a second batch of 300 vaccine doses and started administering them to eligible campus community members Friday, February 26 at Student Health Services Calpulli center.

These doses will go to campus community members 65 and older, in addition to the newly-eligible faculty, staff and student employees, according to an email sent from the university.

SHS will prioritize vaccine appointments for those SDSU and SDSU Imperial County employees, including student employees, who have been working on campus since March 2020 as well as those who have currently scheduled appointments for second doses, the email stated, in part.

Since January 20,SDSU has reported 169 total cases of coronavirus among all campus community members, 85 of which have been from students living on-campus.

San Diego State continues to issue code compliance citations to students and organizations that refuse to follow COVID-19 health orders. So far, 176 contacts to people or organizations have been made since January 1.

SDSU did not immediately answer questions as to how many were either people or organizations and did not specify if any of the violations sent this year have led to suspensions.

The Daily Aztec, SDSUs student-run newspaper, wrote about how suspensions resulting from last semesters violations are causing parents to revolt against the university. Some are even considering legal action.

On Monday, March 1, more than 1,000 students at SDSU will return for in-person learning. Only a fraction of classes normally offered will be in-person. 123 courses are being offered in-person with 231 total sections offering proper social distancing, according to the university.

The university originally wanted a two-week quarantine of all students on-campus before opening up the school for in-person classes around the first week of February. The severity of the pandemic following the holiday spike forced the university to postpone.

CSU San Marcos reports zero cases out of nearly 1,000 tests, still waiting on vaccines

CSU San Marcos announced an expanded surveillance testing program for any campus community members visiting the university on February 15.

Communications Specialist Brian Hiro emailed News 8 on February 24 that of 956 tests among students, zero of them came back positive since surveillance testing started on February 15.

On Friday, Hiro could not immediately give a specific number, but wrote that there were still zero confirmed cases.

Hiro confirmed that CSUSM was approved to receive doses of the coronavirus vaccine, but as of Wednesday afternoon, did not receive any shipments.

The only current active cases on thecoronavirus dashboard at CSUSMlist two employee cases.

Hiro wrote to News 8 these cases are connected because they are spouses of each other. Both employees work in the same building but in different departments.

To date, no additional employees have tested positive from any potential exposure that may have occurred while these employees were working on campus, but before they knew they had COVID, Hiro wrote.

University of San Diego lists stay-on-campus order early, receives new batch of vaccine

More than 1,000 students have been sequestered to their dorms, restricted from leaving campus while University of San Diego was dealing with a massive spike in coronavirus cases.

The lockdown came from a video statement by President James T Harris, who put some of the blame on off-campus student parties. He said the lockdown would last until the end of the month.

In an email to News 8, Elena Gomez, communications officer with USD, said the order was lifted as of Thursday, February 25.

Outdoor dining for students on-campus will resume on Monday, March 1. Students are also expected to continue participating inRady Childrens Hospital weekly COVID-19 testing on campus.

As of February 16, 416 campus community members have tested positive for COVID-19 at USD since January 17. 151 are from students living on-campus.

The last two weeks have seen decreased cases among on-campus cases. 82 total cases were reported and 22 were from students living on-campus.

We're very appreciative of our student's cooperation to the "Stop the Surge" campaign and with the success in decreasing cases, Gomez wrote in the email.

USD also received a second shipment of vaccines. Though USD could not be reached to specify how many doses the university obtained, USD did confirm approximately 500 eligible USD faculty, staff and students also received their COVID-19 vaccine through the campus health center earlier this month.

A similar number of doses this time around is expected for the private college.

Continued here:

Colleges and coronavirus: February 26, 2021 - CBS News 8

Vivek Murthy, President Bidens nominee to be surgeon general, testified during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday morning that one of the biggest challenges during the pandemic has been learning about the virus while responding to it and communicating clearly changes in the approach to fighting the pandemic to the public. He told lawmakers that if confirmed, he would first and foremost work with the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], with the [National Institutes of Health] and other scientific entities in government to make sure we are clear on what the science says and communicate that clearly to the public.Also, public education starts with listening to understand the publics needs and concerns, not just speaking, he said.

Dr. Rachel Leland Levine, nominee for Health and Human Services Department assistant secretary for health, also testified during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.

She said she has a unique perspective having been Pennsylvania secretary of health during the pandemic, in addition to being president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. I know first hand the importance of the collaboration and coordination between federal public health officials, state public health officials and local public health officials, she testified. Levine would be the highest-ranking transgender federal government official, if confirmed. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed.

An analysis by the Food and Drug Administration, posted on Wednesday, says that Johnson & Johnsons coronavirus vaccine fits the requirements for emergency use authorization. The agencys advisory committee will meet on Friday to consider the findings.

The Biden administration brought on Lauren Silvis, former FDA chief-of-staff, to be a consultant on the COVID response team, BioCentury reported. The appointment brings regulatory expertise and a link to one of the few Trump administration officials who is widely respected across the political spectrum, said the report. Silvis served as chief of staff for former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb from May 2017 to June 2019, and as deputy director for policy of FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health from 2015 to 2017.

Dr. Stephen Hahn, former FDA commissioner, joined the board of directors of Blackfynn, which develops treatments for Parkinson's and neurodegeneration. This makes him among the first high-ranking Trump health officials to land a private-sector role since Bidens inauguration, Politico noted on Wednesday.

The White House said on Wednesday that the Health and Human Services and Defense departments will deliver millions of masks to federally qualified community health centers nationwide. These approximately 1,300 health centers will be eligible to receive high-quality masks for free. Two-thirds of the people served by community health centers are living in poverty, 60% are racial and/or ethnic minorities, and nearly 1.4 million are un-housed, said a fact-sheet from the White House. Anyone in the community will be eligible to pick up masks from their local community health center.

Also, Defense and USDA are working to distribute masks to many of the nations 300 food banks, which reach a vast network of 60,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, and other food distribution points where masks will be distributed to individuals and families, the White House said.

Using money from the COVID-19 package enacted in December, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning a $2 billion program to help families pay for coronavirus funerals, but it's being delayed over concerns that it is susceptible to fraud, Politico reported on Thursday. While the agency has run similar programs over the years for other emergencies and major disasters, this is poised to be the largest the agency has ever mounted, said the report. FEMA is scrambling to find safeguards that would prevent fraudsters from forging death certificates in an attempt to collect thousands of dollars for funerals that either never happened or were for people who died from another cause.

The Government Accountability Office summarized on Wednesday its 44 recommendations in its reports on the federal governments response to the pandemic between June 2020 and January 2021. Of the 44 recommendations we have made to date, 16 fall into one of the following public health areas: COVID-19 testing, vaccines and therapeutics, medical supply chain, COVID-19 health disparities, and COVID-19 health data, said the watchdog. Most of the recommendations have not been implemented. We maintain that doing so would improve the governments response.

The Agriculture Department outlined on Wednesday how its implementing President Bidens national strategy to combat the pandemic. In addition to various programs, it has 354 personnel deployed to help with vaccine efforts nationwide.

The New Yorker published a profile on the secret life of White House staff on Wednesday, which dives into how Trump officials functioned during the pandemic. Timothy Harleth, White House chief usher installed by President Trump then fired by the Bidens, told me that the residence staff took COVID-19 precautions more seriously than others at the Trump White House, said the report. By his count seven or eight residence staff workers contracted the virus. Once they recovered, those workers were asked to fill in for others, because of their presumed immunity...According to [a career White House employee] Jason, the lifers were given conflicting advice: stay home; later, come in.

Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.

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Coronavirus Roundup: Administration To Deliver Millions of Masks; Agencies Have Yet to Implement Many of Watchdog's Recommendations - GovExec.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio will see a big boost in the supply of Moderna and Pfizer vaccine headed this way next week. And soon we could see thousands of Johnson & Johnson shots in the state.

Were talking about how things are looking up on This Week in the CLE.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editor Kris Wernowsky and me.

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Here are the questions were answering today:

Whats the great news for the many, many people seeking to get coronavirus vaccines in Ohio?

How might social justice advocates, including the mother of Tamir Rice, might have thwarted a return of Steve Dettelbach as the U.S. Attorney in Cleveland?

What is Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts tactic for trying to ensure that the state follows the state constitution and draw new congressional districts that reduce gerrymandering?

Who is blocking anyone in Ohio from finding out whether a single person has been arrested in the massive unemployment fraud that has victimized uncountable residents and cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars?

Josh Mandel, a declared Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, showed reporters his sealed divorce file Thursday afternoon. What does it show?

Is the Cleveland School system breaking its word to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine about starting classes on Monday, a promise that resulted in DeWine providing the vaccine needed to protect Cleveland teachers?

Whats the latest effort to rebuild the tree canopy that once defined Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

What is the significance of the Club Azteca building that a group of activists is trying to protect from demolition?

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Great news for Ohio, with much more coronavirus vaccine headed here: This Week in the CLE - cleveland.com