Daily Archives: September 4, 2021

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 219 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.54 million. More than 5.41 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Viet Nam could face a lengthy battle against COVID-19, its prime minister has warned. "The COVID-19 pandemic is evolving in a complicated and unpredictable manner and may last for a long time," Pham Minh Chinh said.

Thailand has said its COVID-19 vaccine regimen of a dose of Sinovac followed by AstraZeneca was safe and successfully boosted immunity among its first 1.5 million recipients.

Just over 10% of Venezuelans have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a doctors group.

The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17.

Australia is set to receive 4 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in a swap deal with Britain. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it should speed up the country's reopening.

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has announced new transport and social restrictions in a bid to tackle surging COVID-19 cases and alleviate pressure on hospitals.

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

Image: Our World in Data

The United States plans to invest $3 billion in the vaccine supply chain, White House COVID adviser Jeffrey Zients told a news conference.

"The investments we are making, the $3 billion, are in US companies that will expand their capacity for critical supplies," Zients said.

The funding - which will start to be distributed in the coming weeks - will focus on manufacturers of the inputs used in vaccine production as well as facilities that fill and package vaccine vials, he added.

Areas of focus will include lipids, bioreactor bags, tubing, needles, syringes and personal protective equipment, Zients explained.

Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on http://www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.

Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:

South Korea has extended social distancing restrictions for several weeks to contain COVID-19 outbreaks across the country. It comes ahead of a thanksgiving holiday later this month.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said the toughest level 4 restrictions in greater Seoul and level 3 curbs in the rest of the country would run through to 3 October.

However, restaurants and cafes in the greater Seoul area would be allowed to close an hour later and families would be allowed to gather in groups of up to eight people in the week of the 21 September Chuseok holiday. At least four of the eight will need to be fully vaccinated.

"We fear a spike in outbreaks from increased movement around the Chuseok holiday," Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol told a briefing.

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Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

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

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 3 September - World Economic Forum

Passengers queue up at Greece's Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport on Sept. 2. Recommendations about physical distancing prove hard to follow at airports and in the jetway leading to the plane. Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

Passengers queue up at Greece's Thessaloniki Makedonia Airport on Sept. 2. Recommendations about physical distancing prove hard to follow at airports and in the jetway leading to the plane.

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here.

I waited until I was vaccinated and the CDC had OK'd non-essential travel to plan a trip but that was before the delta era. Now I have a flight scheduled in September, and cases are skyrocketing. What are the rules for flying this fall? Should I cancel?!

That depends.

The decision to travel rests on both your personal risk tolerance and on public health considerations, say medical and travel experts. If you have a flight booked for the next few weeks, now is the time to reevaluate. Ask yourself these questions, suggests Dr. Jill Weatherhead, an assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine:

So when should you cancel a trip?

This is a particularly challenging moment of the pandemic to make decisions, our experts acknowledge, because there's just a lot we don't know about the coming months.

"We don't know what direction things will go; it's hard to predict right now," Weatherhead says. "Delta is a new variable, and some areas are not using the same mitigation strategies they used last year."

The governor of Hawaii has even asked all tourists to stay away until at least the end of October, while hospitals are at capacity.

"Given all that, my best advice is that everyone's travel threshold should be a bit higher right now," Wu says. "With this wave being so serious it is wise to scale back on activity that increases exposure risk."

Instead of canceling, however, consider postponing.

"It makes sense to wait if travel can be delayed," Wu says. "I would say delay until there's more certainty or maybe change it to a road trip" to a safer destination.

The good news is that most major airlines are still waiving change fees. One thing that hasn't changed, however? The telephone hold time. You could be waiting around 2 hours to talk to a human.

If you go:

If you do fly, the rules haven't changed for domestic flights: You're still required to mask up in airports, and you'll still reduce your risk by keeping a physical distance from others as much as possible and removing your mask as infrequently as possible. Although many people dropped some of the layering strategies after they got vaccinated, they still work and are particularly essential when you're in riskier-than-usual situations, Wu says such as the jet bridge between the airport and the airplane.

"I traveled this summer and I think the most dangerous part was the jet bridges, which still get backed up and crowded," he says. "There's not a lot you can do, but keep your mask on. The more you can avoid that crowd the better."

The snack cart presents another potentially risky situation, so take your snack to go (save it for your destination) or eat it quickly when others have their masks on, Wu and Weatherhead suggest.

Logistically, travelling domestically remains fairly straightforward: There are no temperature checks or verification systems to check your vaccination or COVID-19 testing records. (Once you get to your destination, however, your vaccination card may be required to eat at restaurants or go to concerts.)

If you're travelling overseas, things are now a little more complex: The European Union took the U.S. off its "safe list" this week, meaning individual countries may impose quarantine and testing restrictions in order to visit. Be sure to check the requirements of the country you're travelling to as well as the CDC's list of countries not to travel to.

While the CDC doesn't officially recommend testing after you're back home] if you're vaccinated, "if you have risk factors or around folks who may be frail or unvaccinated, I don't think it's a bad thing to be extra careful and get tested," Wu says.

What if you're not vaccinated?

Like most activities involving other people, travelling while unvaccinated is a lot riskier. In fact, this week the CDC asked all unvaccinated people to avoid travel over the Labor Day holiday.

"If you're going to travel anyway and not be vaccinated, then really do your best and follow protocols [masking and physical distancing] for your own safety and those around you," Wu says. And, he says, quarantine or get tested after your trip!

A simpler solution? Weatherhead and Wu say if you're eligible, get vaccinated.

Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She's written about COVID-19 for many publications, including Medscape, Kaiser Health News, Science News for Students and The Washington Post. More at sheilaeldred.pressfolios.com. On Twitter: @milepostmedia.

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Travel In The Delta Variant Era: What You Should Know To Stay Safe : Goats and Soda - NPR

Scientists have warned the coronavirus will keep evolving as it spreads around the world, and there are now multiple new variants being watched closely by global research teams.

One of those, B.1.621, also known as mu, has been dubbed the latest variant of interest by the World Health Organization (WHO). Another, C.1.2, is the subject of headline-making new research exploring how it behaves. Other variants are likely waiting in the wings, yet to be detected.

So why do these new variants matter, what are they capable of, and how much should Canadians care?

Right now, the highly-contagious delta variant deemed a variant of concern by the WHO back in May is dominating Canada's COVID-19 cases, making up more than 90 per cent of reported recent infections according to federal data.

But that doesn't mean other emerging variants don't warrant close observation.

"Looking at this virus, it's obvious that we will have new variants," said Alyson Kelvin, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) at the University of Saskatchewan.

"What we need to do is to be ready for identifying cases as well as other variants that are inevitably going to start emerging around the world."

Here's what Canadians need to know:

B.1.621 is the latest variant of interest, according to the WHO, and was given the designation and a catchier Greek alphabet-based name, "mu" on August 30.

"The mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape," reads the WHO's latest weekly epidemiological update.

That means those with some level of immunity to earlier strains, either by previous infection or vaccination, mightbe susceptible to infection from mu but that's only according to preliminary data and "needs to be confirmed by further studies," the update continued.

The variant was first detected in Colombia back in January, and since then, the country has experienced hundreds of cases and the variant has also been reported in 39 other countries around the world.

Here in Canada, it's barely making a splash: Mu cases have been reported for weeks, but so far, the variant hasn't made up more than three per cent of cases in any given week and recently totalled just 0.3 per cent though federal data since mid-July is still accumulating and could change.

The variant C.1.2 isn't deemed a variant of interest or concern yet by the WHO, but researchers are pushing the organization to watch it closely.

A team of scientists from South Africa detected the new variant, which was first observed in May and has since spread to seven other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to a preprint study that hasn't yet been peer-reviewed.

"It's still not clear where this came from," noted Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases specialist with McMaster University in Hamilton. "It was first identified in South Africa but people need to know that South Africa has actually quite good sequencing networks and so it may not be the origin."

Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist and one of the authors of the research on C.1.2, told Reuters the variant may have even more immune-evasion properties than delta, based on its pattern of mutations, and that the findings had been flagged to the WHO.

However, it's not known yet if the variant is actually more contagious,or more capable of evading the immunity provided by either vaccines or a prior coronavirus infection.

"These things need time to see," Chagla said. "Delta is incredibly fit, and incredibly virulent and replaces [other strains] aggressively. We still haven't seen suggestions of this yet [with C.1.2]."

WATCH | Herd immunity harder to achieve thanks to variants, says government scientist:

Given that delta makes up the lion's share of Canada's COVID-19 cases and there's still much we don't know about mu or C.1.2 concerns over emerging variants need to be put into context.

Chagla said it's important to keep studying and monitoring the C.1.2 variant, but "there's no need for panic yet."

There has been an increased spread of C.1.2, and it's a rising percentage of sequenced cases in various countries outside of South Africa, Chagla said, but nothing on the scale of delta and it remains to be seen if we'll experience more global spread.

"It's still not clear whether or not that just means there's a lot of local spread amongst particular groups that just seems to be over-represented or if it's a legitimate growth pattern," he added.

"We still don't know, if you put things in the same pool, whether or not delta is going to be much more virulent."

Chagla says that much like other variants that have emerged over the course of the pandemic including variants of concern like alpha, beta, lambda and, now, mu they could either be overtaken by delta or "burn themselves out over time."

"Right now, it seems that there aren't a large number of cases for [C.1.2]," Kelvin said. "But now that we have this identified, then surveillance centres around the world can start to determine, are they seeing numbers of these cases as well?"

To figure out how often variant cases are appearing here, the Public Health Agency of Canada works with the provinces, territories,and the Canadian COVID Genomics Network (CanCOGen)to sequence a percentage of all positive COVID-19 test results.

Sequencing reveals the genetic code of the virus, showing which variant was involved in a specific case of COVID-19, and those results are reported each week.

Dr. Catalina Lopez-Correa, chief scientific officer at Genome Canada and executive director ofCanCOGen, said there is still "very little data" from the real world on the increased threat of the variant.

"The key message for Canada is that we are actively monitoring for this variant," she said."It has not been detected yet here and we are also actively following up all the data that is published and shared across the globe."

New variants have emerged throughout the pandemic in populations with low vaccine coverage that have been hit hard by unchecked COVID-19 transmission including India, South America and Africa and experts say this trend is likely to continue until more of the world is vaccinated.

"This is an incredibly big reminder even if this is a false alarm of what global vaccine equity means," said Chagla.

"Many of us starting to see the delta wave in Sub-Saharan Africa were very, very worried about what could come of that."

WATCH | WHO calls for vaccine equity:

Chagla says the region has low vaccination levels, poor quality healthcare systems and a large population of immunocompromised individuals, with rates of HIV in some countries as high as 15 to 20 per cent of the adult population.

"That was kind of a mixing pot of bad scenarios to lead to the development of a variant so I don't think we can be surprised to see that something seems to have shown up," he said.

"And we kind of just watch it happen in that sense,and we continue to watch it happen."

It's also clear these variants don't stay put.

Even if they emerge in one area of the world, cases later appearelsewhere meaning other countries,including Canada, are eventually impacted yet again by this ever-evolving virus.

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From mu to C.1.2, here are the latest coronavirus variants scientists are watching closely - CBC.ca

Nurses work at a COVID-19 testing day for students and school faculty at Brandeis Elementary School on in Louisville, Ky. Jon Cherry/Getty Images hide caption

Nurses work at a COVID-19 testing day for students and school faculty at Brandeis Elementary School on in Louisville, Ky.

Not long ago, Denver Public Schools nurse Rebecca Sposato was packing up her office at the end of a difficult school year. She remembers looking around at all her cleaning supplies and extra masks and thinking, "What am I going to do with all this stuff?"

It was May, when vaccine appointments were opening up for the majority of adults and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were loosening mask guidance.

"I honestly thought we were trending down in our COVID numbers, trending up in our vaccine numbers," she says. "And I thought the worst was over."

Now, four months later, the pandemic is already upending the new school year across the country, as the highly transmissible delta variant continues to cause a spike in cases. In Arizona, coronavirus outbreaks are forcing thousands of children and teachers to quarantine. In Georgia, many districts that began classes in-person without mask mandates switched back to remote learning after the virus spread. And in Oregon, some districts delayed the start of the school year after teachers were exposed to possible infection.

School nurses are tasked with caring for the health and safety of children at schools, and managing a third school year in a pandemic has put even more strain on those in a profession already facing staffing shortages.

Katherine Burdge is a school nurse in Tampa, Fla., where classes started at the beginning of August amid a struggle between school districts and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who threatened to cut state funding for public schools that required students and staff to wear masks.

A judge ruled that DeSantis' executive order banning mask mandates was unconstitutional, but Burdge says school nurses are "dealing with the repercussions" of the back and forth. Her district of Hillsborough County had to isolate or quarantine more than 13,000 students and staff in just the last month over 2,500 of whom tested positive for the coronavirus.

"We're dealing with COVID on the front lines every day," she says. "It's a serious manifestation that is just overwhelming the district, the state, everybody."

Eileen Gavin, a school nurse in Monmouth County, N.J., also says it's been overwhelming and cites a beat up and faded "Parking For School Nurses Only" sign as a visual representation for how she and other school nurses are feeling.

"It's kind of like Groundhog Day: another year of contact tracing and vaccinating and kind of leading the kids back to school safely," Gavin says. "So, I do think we are traumatized."

Gavin says nurses continue to show up and do their jobs, but are feeling the strain of a workload that has expanded beyond what they could have predicted.

"It really is a lot to bear," she says. "We are the only healthcare professional in the schools and we have input and weigh in on so many things."

Gavin says she spends a lot of time talking with parents to help them sift through "the noise and the misinformation and give them valid resources" on dealing with the coronavirus.

"We assist in giving them the information so they can make an informed decision to keep their child healthy and safe," she says.

Burdge, who's also the President-elect of Florida's School Nurses Association, similarly says that school nurses want to be a resource for parents, but that the fight over masks between public officials in her state has caused some grief.

"We don't want to have those nasty words or fights or debates or anything along those lines with them," Burdge says. "We are a resource for them, and open communication, I think, is key at this point."

Sposato says that where she is in Denver is "very pro mask." She thinks Burdge's experience dealing with outbreaks likely intensified by DeSantis' order to eliminate mask mandates indicate "why we need to be following the health guidelines and scientific evidence on this," she says. "The health guidelines work."

Sposato says her greatest fear heading into this new school year "is that one of the mutations is going to outflank the vaccine, and we will see steeper, higher numbers of COVID being present in our community."

Gavin says her biggest fear is over school closures. "Kids need to be in school. We need to be in school," she says. She hopes that putting layers of protection in place will allow the year to commence safely. "We need to kind of stand firm with that so that we can keep our schools open for our kids.

Burdge says school closures are on everyone's minds, but that she's also concerned "for our nurses and their safety and well-being that we are going to get burnt out."

"Our school nurses are exhausted," Gavin says. "I think last year I had said school nurses felt like the weight of the pandemic was on their shoulders. We're on our knees now, with the weight of the pandemic on our shoulders."

Elena Burnett and Amy Isackson produced and edited this story for broadcast. Cyrena Touros adapted it for the web.

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School Nurses Are Overwhelmed Entering A 3rd School Year Affected By COVID-19 : Back To School: Live Updates - NPR

Joe Rogan has told his Instagram followers he has been taking ivermectin, a deworming veterinary drug formulated for use in cows and horses, to help fight the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration has warned against taking the medication, saying animal doses of the drug can cause nausea, vomiting and in some cases severe hepatitis. Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images hide caption

Joe Rogan has told his Instagram followers he has been taking ivermectin, a deworming veterinary drug formulated for use in cows and horses, to help fight the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration has warned against taking the medication, saying animal doses of the drug can cause nausea, vomiting and in some cases severe hepatitis.

Joe Rogan, the mega-popular podcast host who has suggested that young, fit people don't need to get the COVID-19 vaccine, has announced he tested positive for the virus, but is feeling fine thanks to a cocktail of unproven medical treatments.

In an Instagram video, the 54-year-old host of The Joe Rogan Experience, said he felt "very weary" on Saturday and got tested for the coronavirus the following day.

"Throughout the night I got fevers, sweats, and I knew what was going on," Rogan told his 13.1 million followers.

After the diagnosis, he said he "immediately threw the kitchen sink at it."

His methods included taking ivermectin, a deworming veterinary drug that is formulated for use in cows and horses. While a version of the drug is sometimes prescribed to people for head lice or skin conditions, the formula for animal use is much more concentrated. The Food and Drug administration is urging people to stop ingesting the animal version of the drug to fight COVID-19, warning it can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, neurologic disorders and potentially severe hepatitis requiring hospitalization.

Rogan added that his treatments also included monoclonal antibodies, Z-pack antibiotics and a vitamin drip for "three days in a row."

"Here we are on Wednesday, and I feel great," he said.

Rogan has won legions of dedicated listeners by courting controversy on his show. In October, he came under fire for interviewing far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on his Spotify show. More recently, he faced criticism after saying that young and otherwise healthy people don't need a COVID-19 vaccine.

"People say, do you think it's safe to get vaccinated? I've said, yeah, I think for the most part it's safe to get vaccinated. I do. I do," Rogan said in an April 28 episode of the podcast.

"But if you're like 21 years old, and you say to me, should I get vaccinated? I'll go no. Are you healthy? Are you a healthy person?"

Rogan continued, "If you're a healthy person, and you're exercising all the time, and you're young, and you're eating well, like, I don't think you need to worry about this."

He later explained he is not "an anti-vax person" and joked he is not "a respected source of information, even for me."

Read this article:

Joe Rogan Says He Has COVID-19 And Has Taken The Drug Ivermectin - NPR

Mike Berry, his wife Kari, and their four kids contracted COVID-19 in January. Mike, who was active with no underlying conditions, suffered severe symptoms and nearly lost his life.

I woke up in the hospital with a body that didnt function anymore, Mike said. I had to learn how to breathe, walk, stand, sit. All the things we take for granted. My main goal through it all was to be back with my family.

Eight months later, hes still fighting to get better.

My life now revolves around physical therapy and kidney dialysis three times a week, Mike said. Any activity, even talking, makes it difficult for me to breathe. I'm on oxygen 24/7. The longest lasting effects have been kidney failure, which Im in right now, and lung damage.

TMJ4

Submitted

We don't want to have to see others go through the same thing, said Keri, Mikes wife. Just because youre lucky enough to survive COVID-19, doesnt mean its over. Our lives are forever changed.

We spoke with a young woman named Abigail who decided to speak out for the same reason.

I wouldnt wish this on anyone, Abigail said.

TMJ4

Abigail works in healthcare and contracted COVID-19 in March of 2020. Her case was much less severe, but like Mike, she still suffers from persistent side effects of the virus, months after beating it.

I slowly started to notice my functioning kept worsening, Abigail said. The new phase of this has been debilitating migraines. For me, the aftereffects have been worse than the actual virus.

These COVID-19 survivors with lingering symptoms are known as long-haulers.

According to a study from the University of Washington, more than one in four COVID-19 patients are long-haulers.

Some of the most common long-haul COVID-19 systems are breathing difficulties, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and kidney problems. But doctors say people have also reported digestion issues, hair loss, heart problems, anxiety, and depression.

Abigail has found some help through a program at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin called the Post-Covid Multi-Specialty Clinic, which is seeing a lot of these long haulers.

Dr. Rahul Nanchal, who is a critical care provider in the Intensive Care Unit, is among those leading the clinic.

This is the first time in a very long time weve seen a new infectious disease that has affected millions of people in such a short amount of time, said Dr. Nanchal. We are charting a new course in all of this and are trying to provide care as best we can. People are suffering from these long-term symptoms. Its affecting their quality of life. The more we endeavor to monitor them, and help them, the faster we can find solutions.

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Father recovering from severe COVID-19 symptoms 8 months later - WTMJ-TV