Category Archives: Corona Virus

A federal judge dealt a blow to Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts effort to ban schools from mandating face masks, ruling that the ban violated a law that protects disabled students access to education.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel made the ruling in Austin in response to a suit brought by nonprofit advocacy group Disabled Rights Texas, who argued that Abbotts ban prohibited accommodations for disabled children particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, as the Associated Press reported.

Yeakel prohibited Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from suing school districts that require students to wear masks as a safety measure. Paxtonalready had sued 15 school districtsto overturn local mask mandates.

The news is expected to be welcomed by parents who have fretted about children returning to school in person, before most were eligible for vaccination.

Dont miss:White House says 900,000 5- to 11-year-olds were vaccinated during first week of eligibility for scaled-down dose

The U.S. is still averaging about 1,200 COVID deaths a day, according to a New York Times tracker, and, while cases are falling in most places, they are still averaging almost 77,000 a day, while more than 46,000 people are being hospitalized on average.

California, Colorado and New Mexico remain hot spots where cases are rising faster than in the rest of the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine tracker is showing that 194 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 58.5% of the population, a number that has barely moved in weeks.

In Europe, the only region where COVID fatalities and cases are still rising on a weekly basis, according to the World Health Organization on Wednesday, there was a flurry of grim news.

In the Netherlands, a panel of experts has recommended a partial lockdown that would be the first in Western Europe since the summer, Reuters reported.

Steps under consideration include canceling events, closing theaters and cinemas, and earlier closing times for cafs and restaurants, the NOS report said. Schools would remain open. The Netherlands has a vaccination rate of almost 85%, but hospitals are being filled mostly with unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people.

Neighbor Germany, also struggling with rising cases caused by unvaccinated people, is considering a set of new measures after it counted a record high of more than 50,000 new COVID cases on Thursday, the AP reported. Infections have risen so quickly in recent days that hospitals in especially affected regions canceled planned surgeries again so medical personnel could focus on COVID-19 patients.

One of the countrys top virologists, Christian Drosten, warned Wednesday that another 100,000 people could die in coming months if the countrys vaccination rate didnt accelerate quickly.

See: Unvaccinated people will hear you out on the COVID-19 shot as long as you dont work for the government

But the worst caseloads and death tolls are still being recorded in Eastern Europe, led by Russia, which counted another 1,237 COVID deaths on Thursday and 40,759 new cases, as the Moscow Times reported. Russia has been struggling to contain the spread of virus among its mostly unvaccinated population. Less than 35% of the Russian people are fully inoculated, despite the country repeatedly setting one-day death-toll records for weeks.

In Romania and Bulgaria, also hurt by low vaccination rates, morgues are rapidly filling, the Guardian reported.

Catalin Cirstoiu, the head of the university emergency hospital in Bucharest, where the morgue is filled to overflowing with coronavirus victims, told the AP the system is near a breaking point because of one thing: the populations inability to comprehend the need to get vaccinated. Data have shown Romanians and Bulgarians have little trust in their governments and are being bombarded with misinformation about vaccines.

Read now:Viewers of these news outlets are most likely to believe COVID-19 falsehoods

One Western European country is now considering a drastic step locking down the unvaccinated. Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg is threatening that very move in an effort to curb new cases and pressure people to get their shots, ABC News reported.

The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness climbed above 251.6 million on Thursday, while the death toll edged above 5.07 million, according todata aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. continues to lead the world with a total of 46.8 million cases and 759,065 deaths.

India is second by cases after the U.S. at 34.4 million and has suffered 462,189 deaths. Brazil has the second highest death toll at 610,036 and 21.9 million cases.

In Europe, Russia has recorded the most fatalities at 247,000, followed by the U.K. at 142,772.

China,where the virus was first discovered late in 2019,has had 110,458 confirmed cases and 4,809 deaths, according to its official numbers, which are widely held to be massively understated.

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Federal judge deals blow to Texas ban on face masks in schools, and Europe struggles to contain rising COVID-19 cases and deaths - MarketWatch

MOSCOW (AP) Russias COVID-19 cases hit another one-day record as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections and deaths that has persisted for more than a month.

The national coronavirus task force on Saturday reported 41,335 new cases since the previous day, exceeding the previous daily record of 40,993 from Oct. 31. The task force said 1,188 people with COVID-19 died, just seven fewer than the daily death record reported Thursday.

Officials cite Russias low vaccination rate as a major factor in the sharp rise in cases that began in mid-September. The task force reported about 57.2 million full-course vaccinations, or less than 40% of the countrys 146 million people.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin ordered many Russians to stay off work between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7. He authorized regional governments to extend the number of nonworking days, if necessary.

Several regions, including Novgorod in the northwest, Tomsk in Siberia, the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains and Kursk and Bryansk regions southwest of Moscow, have extended the nonworking period through the end of next week.

Moscows mayor said the situation in the capital had stabilized sufficiently for people to return to work there on Monday. People in the Russia-annexed Crimea region also will resume working next week.

Certain restrictions will remain in place in the Russian capital, such as a stay-at-home order for older adults and a mandate for businesses to have 30% of their staffs work from home. Access to theaters and museums is limited to those who either have been fully vaccinated, have recovered from COVID-19 within the last six months or can present a negative coronavirus test.

Russia has recorded more than 8.75 million confirmed virus cases and 245,635 deaths in the pandemic, according to the national task force, which counts only deaths directly attributed to the virus.

Figures from the state statistical service, which also counts deaths in which the virus was a contributing factor or was suspected but not confirmed, indicate the virus impact is significantly more severe; its most recent report tallied about 462,000 virus-connected deaths through the end of September.

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Follow all AP stories on the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com.hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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New infections hit record as Russia's COVID-19 wave persists - Associated Press

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New data from the Texas health department released Monday proves what health officials have been trying to tell vaccine-hesitant Texans for months: The COVID-19 vaccine dramatically prevents death and is the best tool to prevent transmission of the deadly virus.

Out of nearly 29,000 Texans who have died from COVID-related illnesses since mid-January, only 8% of them were fully vaccinated against the virus, according to a report detailing the Texas Department of State Health Services findings.

And more than half of those deaths among vaccinated people were among Texans older than 75, the age group that is most vulnerable to the virus, the study shows.

Weve known for a while that vaccines were going to have a protective effect on a large segment of our population, said Dr. Jennifer A. Shuford, state epidemiologist. By looking at our own population and seeing what the impact of the vaccines have been on that population, were hoping just to be able to reach people here in Texas and show them the difference that being fully vaccinated can make in their lives and for their communities.

The state health department study covers most of the positive cases and COVID-19 deaths reported in Texas among residents from Jan. 15 to Oct. 1. Its the first time state officials have been able to statistically measure the true impact of the vaccine on the pandemic in Texas which has one of the highest death tolls in the nation. The majority of Texans ages 16 and up didn't become eligible for the vaccine until late March.

State health officials also found the vaccine greatly reduced the risk of virus transmission, including the highly contagious delta variant that ravaged the state over the summer.

Only 3% of 1.5 million positive COVID-19 tests examined since mid-January occurred in people who were already vaccinated.

State researchers matched electronic lab reports and death certificates with state immunization records, and measured cases and deaths since mid-January, a month after the first shots were administered in Texas.

The study was done using data similar to those used by other states that conducted similar studies and methods recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Shuford said.

And while the outcome was not particularly surprising, Shuford said, officials hope that the new data will increase trust in the benefits of the shot.

Texas is a unique place; its got a lot of diversity, geographic and population-wise, Shuford said. We know that some people want to see actual numbers and that they want to see it for their own community. And so we are hoping that this reaches some of those people who have been hesitant and really just questioning the benefits of the vaccines.

In Texas, it literally requires a disaster like a pandemic before the state records precise information about vaccinations. As a result, there is a record for every single COVID-19 vaccine dose of the name and age of the person who received it plus the date it was administered. Normally, vaccination records are shown to schools by parents, but details of all vaccinations are not regularly kept by a state registry in Texas, unlike nearly every other state, because its a voluntary system.

However, state officials still dont have official numbers on how many vaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19 because hospitals are not required to report that level of data under state law.

But the states largest hospital districts and counties have reported that at least 90% of the hospitalized Texans with the virus were unvaccinated.

The states new health data comes as Republican state leaders grapple with local cities and school districts about masking, which has been proven to reduce transmission of the virus, and with federal officials over vaccine mandates.

About 53% of the Texas population is fully vaccinated. More than 70,000 Texans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The new report is particularly well-timed, officials say, because gatherings throughout the holiday season could touch off another surge as families get together many of them for the first time since last year and around 9 million Texans remain unvaccinated.

Texas saw its deadliest surge of the pandemic in January, when more than 400 deaths were reported daily at its peak, a trend health officials said was likely a direct result of the holidays.

The recent Texas Coronavirus Antibody Response Survey, commissioned by the state health department in partnership with the University of Texas System, estimated that about 75% of Texans roughly 22 million people likely have some level of protection against the virus, either by natural immunity from being infected or through vaccination.

But that doesnt mean infected people are immune indefinitely or that they shouldnt get the vaccine, health experts say.

In fact, doctors, scientists and health officials urge those who have been infected to get vaccinated anyway, saying the vaccine provides a strong boost in immunity even to those who have some level of natural protection.

The Texas CARES study found that fully vaccinated participants showed significantly higher antibody levels than those who were unvaccinated but had been infected.

A week ago, the CDC found that while both vaccination and natural infection provide about six months of protection from infection by the virus, the vaccine provides a higher, more robust, and more consistent level of immunity than natural infection does.

And while the fact that a solid majority of Texans are estimated to have some protection from the virus bodes well for the state in its fight against the pandemic, Shuford said, it still means that millions of Texans are vulnerable to severe illness or death from the highly contagious virus, without any vaccine or natural immunity.

Those susceptible populations can still get infected, and the holidays are the perfect time for that, she said. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. These are all times that people gather together, and COVID-19 can easily be transmitted at these gatherings.

Mandi Cai contributed to this report.

Disclosure: University of Texas System has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Unvaccinated Texans make up vast majority of COVID-19 cases and deaths this year, new state data shows - The Texas Tribune

The U.K. says it's the first country to approve an oral antiviral medication to fight COVID-19. "This is important, because it means it can be administered outside of a hospital setting, before COVID-19 has progressed to a severe stage," said MHRA Chief Executive Dr. June Raine. Justin Tallis/Pool/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The U.K. says it's the first country to approve an oral antiviral medication to fight COVID-19. "This is important, because it means it can be administered outside of a hospital setting, before COVID-19 has progressed to a severe stage," said MHRA Chief Executive Dr. June Raine.

Merck's antiviral pill that fights COVID-19 in adults with the disease won its first authorization in the world Thursday, as the U.K.'s medical regulator announced that the drug is "safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalization and death" in mild to moderate cases.

The drug is a "game changer," British Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said. Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics developed the oral antiviral.

"Today is a historic day for our country, as the U.K. is now the first country in the world to approve an antiviral that can be taken at home for COVID-19," Javid said.

The U.K.'s authorization is based on clinical studies that showed the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by about 50% for at-risk adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 cases.

The drug, which is called molnupiravir and will be sold under the name Lagevrio in the U.K., helps people cope with COVID-19 by interfering with the virus's ability to replicate itself.

"This prevents it from multiplying, keeping virus levels low in the body and therefore reducing the severity of the disease," the U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, said.

"Lagevrio is another therapeutic to add to our armory against COVID-19," said MHRA Chief Executive Dr. June Raine. "It is also the world's first approved antiviral for this disease that can be taken by mouth rather than administered intravenously. This is important, because it means it can be administered outside of a hospital setting, before COVID-19 has progressed to a severe stage."

Because of its ability to tamp down on viral levels in the body, the drug works best when it's taken very soon after infection preferably within five days of the first symptoms.

The MHRA approved the drug for people who have mild or moderate cases of COVID-19, along with at least one risk factor, such as obesity, heart disease or being 60 or older.

COVID-19 rates are currently high in the U.K. with 1.1 million cases over the past 28 days the second-most cases in the world (after the U.S.), according to Johns Hopkins University.

In late October, the prevalence of infection rose to 1.72%, or about 1 in 58 people overall, according to interim results of a large study that were released Thursday.

Outside of the U.K., molnupiravir is still being evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, according to Merck.

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Merck's COVID-19 antiviral pill is now approved in the UK : Coronavirus Updates - NPR

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 250.4 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.05 million. More than 7.28 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

The UK has said it will recognize vaccines on the World Health Organization's Emergency Use Listing later in November, adding China's Sinovac, Sinopharm and India's Covaxin to its list of approved vaccines for inbound travellers.

India could resume delivery of COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX, the vaccine-sharing facility, in a few weeks time. It would mark the first time since April that supplies have been shared via COVAX.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 antibody cocktail has cleared the first step towards regulatory approval in Australia.

Oral pills from Merck and Pfizer/BioNTech might have been shown to blunt the worst effects of COVID-19 if taken early enough, but doctors have warned people not to confuse the benefits of the treatments with the prevention offered by vaccines.

The Danish government has proposed reinstating the use of a digital 'corona pass', to be used when Danes visit indoor bars and restaurants, as COVID-19 cases rise.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals said yesterday that a single dose of its antibody cocktail reduced the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 81.6% in a late-stage trial, in the two to eight months period following the drug's administration.

Bulgaria has reported a record number of new daily COVID-19 deaths, as the country deals with a fourth wave of COVID-19 cases.

Thousands have gathered in New Zealand to protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and government lockdowns. You can read more about vaccine mandates here.

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

Image: Our World in Data

Unvaccinated people are 16 times more likely to end up in intensive care units or die from COVID-19, the Australian state of New South Wales has said in a report. Officials have urged people to get vaccinated as the country tries to live with COVID-19.

The data from state health department showed only 11% of people out of 412 who died from the Delta outbreak over four months through early October were fully vaccinated. The average age of those deaths was 82.

Only around 3% of people in intensive care units had two doses, while more than 63% of the 61,800 cases detected between 16 June and 7 October were unvaccinated.

"Young people with two doses of a vaccine experienced lower rates of infection and almost no serious disease, while those unvaccinated in this age group were at greater risk of developing COVID-19 and needing hospitalisation," NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said in a statement.

Global confirmed COVID-19 cases have passed 250 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. It comes as some countries in Eastern Europe continue to experience surging cases while others lift travel restrictions and resume tourism.

The daily average number of cases has fallen by 36% over the past three months, according to a Reuters analysis, but the virus is still infecting 50 million people worldwide every 90 days due to the highly transmissible Delta variant. By contrast, it took nearly a year to record the first 50 million COVID-19 cases.

Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases globally.

Image: Our World in Data

Health experts are optimistic that many nations have put the worst of the pandemic behind them thanks to vaccines and natural exposure, although they caution that colder weather and upcoming holiday gatherings could increase cases.

"We think between now and the end of 2022, this is the point where we get control over this virus... where we can significantly reduce severe disease and death," Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization's Technical Lead on COVID-19, told Reuters.

The COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship is a coalition of 85 global leaders, hosted by the World Economic Forum. Its mission: Join hands in support of social entrepreneurs everywhere as vital first responders to the pandemic and as pioneers of a green, inclusive economic reality.

Its COVID Social Enterprise Action Agenda, outlines 25 concrete recommendations for key stakeholder groups, including funders and philanthropists, investors, government institutions, support organizations, and corporations. In January of 2021, its members launched its 2021 Roadmap through which its members will roll out an ambitious set of 21 action projects in 10 areas of work. Including corporate access and policy change in support of a social economy.

For more information see the Alliance website or its impact story here.

Written by

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: Top news stories about the coronavirus pandemic on 9 November | World Economic Forum - World Economic Forum

People queue to receive a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a night of vaccinations with music, at the Arena Treptow vaccination centre in Berlin, Germany, August 9, 2021. John Macdougall/Pool via REUTERS

FRANKFURT, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Germany's coronavirus infection rate has risen to its highest level since the start of the pandemic, public health figures showed on Monday, and doctors warned they will need to postpone scheduled operations in coming weeks to cope.

The seven-day incidence rate - the number of people per 100,000 to be infected over the last week - rose to 201.1, higher than a previous record of 197.6 in December last year, the figures from the Robert Koch Institute showed on Monday.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 4,782,546 from 4,767,033 a day earlier. The number of deaths increased by 33 to a total of 96,558.

Christian Karagiannidis, scientific director at the DIVI association for intensive and emergency medicine, said an expected rise in coronavirus cases in coming weeks meant some scheduled operations would have to be postponed.

"We will only be able to cope with the burden of all emergencies if savings are made somewhere else, though definitely not with surgical cancer treatments," he told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper.

Germany has already had to relocate some patients from regions with overburdened hospitals.

The three German parties in talks to form a coalition government by early December have agreed not to extend a nationwide state of emergency.

Instead, they presented a draft law late on Monday that would amend existing legislation to allow for measures such as compulsory face masks and social distancing in public spaces to continue to be enforced until March next year.

The draft law is due to be presented to the Bundestag lower house of parliament on Thursday and voted on in a special session a week later.

Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder earlier called for more decisive action in view of the new peak in the incidence rate. More needs to be done "than a little compulsory testing in old people's homes", he told Deutschlandfunk radio.

He called for tests to be offered free of charge again, vaccination centres to be reactivated and for states and the federal government to coordinate their strategies. Germany has abolished free testing to incentivise people to get vaccinated.

Writing by Vera Eckert, Paul Carrel and Sarah Marsh, Additional Reporting by Alexander Ratz; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Mark Heinrich and Alex Richardson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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German coronavirus infection rate hits highest since pandemic began - Reuters

At the faculty and staff meeting, people anonymously asked questions ranging from who the vaccine mandate will impact to how long they need to continue wearing masks on campus. Parents asked many of the same questions, and while generally students will not be required to be vaccinated, UND is still sorting through who will be required to receive coronavirus vaccines.

In early September, President Joe Biden enacted a mandate requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to receive the vaccines. That mandate has since been pushed back until early January, before it goes into effect. Some people asked what could happen to an employee who refuses the vaccine, and administrators said the regulations have been softened somewhat, and they can discuss vaccines with an individual and provide them with educational material, before taking punitive steps that could include termination.

UND President Andrew Armacost said more information will be forthcoming once school officials have worked out who needs to get the vaccination, and that they are still working to parse the rules associated with the mandate.

Our hope is to be as precise as possible and identify those who are directly involved or indirectly involved with those specific federal contractors and contracts, and then apply the vaccine mandate there, Armacost said.

Religious and medical exemptions will be available for employees, but they will need to follow a process to realize those exemptions, as well as do some paperwork and provide documentation indicating they qualify for them.

When asked about the ongoing mask mandate, which came up at both the faculty and parents/students meeting, Armacost said it will continue until the rate of transmission falls to 55 people per 100,000. Recently Armacost said that the rate has been hovering around 250 or 300 people per 100,000.

Jed Shivers, vice president of finance and operations, said the U.S. tends to follow Europe in terms of rising and falling waves of the virus. Shivers said cases have been rising there, and that the university may have some ways to go before rates fall.

I think it's important for us to recognize that we're not done with this yet, Shivers said.

Provost Eric Link said masks must be worn in the classroom, even if a faculty member is more than six feet away from students. A faculty member told Link that he has seen people on campus not wear masks. Wearing masks, Link said, can prevent an entire class from having to quarantine should a person in that class wind up testing positive.

Parents and students asked a variety of questions ranging from the availability of vaccines and boosters on campus to how students can get food over the Thanksgiving holiday. The shots are widely available, as will dining services be over the holiday. Orlynn Rosaasen, director of dining services, implored students to work part-time at dining services in order to expand options and raise the quality of the meal experience.

UND Aerospace Dean Robert Kraus and Associate Dean Beth Bjerke told parents the school will take part in a mental health and aviation summit on Dec. 15, in response to the recent death of John Hauser, who died in a plane crash on Oct. 18. Kraus previously told the Herald that Hauser was experiencing mental health issues before the crash.

The summit will be held with members of the Federal Aviation Administration along with representatives of United Airlines, as well as other schools.

We're not going to solve this issue internally at UND, and it's an issue that others are concerned about as well, Bjerke said, about mental health issues in aviation. We're trying to bring this conversation more to a national level.

Kraus said UND Aerospace will undergo something akin to an internal audit, designed to see if the aviation program places some students under undue stress, and decide if changes are needed,

UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences Dean Joshua Wynne, when asked about heart inflammation caused by some vaccines, said it is still preferable to receive the shots. Incidences of that side effect art not wide spread, Wynne said.

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Coronavirus and vaccinations remain a concern for UND faculty and staff, as well as parents - Grand Forks Herald

New research from the US has shown that white-tailed deer are being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. Antibodies were found in 40% of deer that were tested from January to March 2021 across Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York state. A second unpublished study has detected the virus in 80% of deer sampled in Iowa between November 2020 and January 2021.

Such high levels of infection led the researchers to conclude that deer are actively transmitting the virus to one another. The scientists also identified different SARS-CoV-2 variants, suggesting there have been many human-to-deer infections.

The large numbers of white-tailed deer in North America and the fact that they often live close to people provide several opportunities for the disease to move between the two species. This can include wildlife management operations, field research, recreation, tourism and hunting. In fact, hunters are likely to be one of the most obvious sources of potential reinfection as they regularly handle dead animals. It has also been suggested that water sources contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 might provide a pathway for transmission, although this has yet to be proved.

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Human-to-deer and deer-to-deer transmission are believed to be driving the rapid spread of the disease within white-tailed deer populations across the US. This is particularly apparent during the early months of 2021 when COVID infections were spiking in the human population. Previous studies have shown that SARS-CoV-2 can be passed from humans to domestic and captive animals including cats, dogs, zoo animals and, most notably, farmed mink. But, until now, the disease had not been shown to spread in wildlife species.

These aspects of their ecology and behaviour have made them a species of particular concern when it comes to the spread of diseases, including bovine tuberculosis and chronic wasting disease. These pathogens have already led to considerable effects on the health of wild and domestic animal populations around the globe.

The findings from these latest studies have raised concerns that white-tailed deer could be a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Not only could this readily infect large numbers of animals, but also, more worryingly, it could spill back to humans.

This type of infection cycle was documented in workers on infected mink farms, which ultimately led to the Danish government euthanising their entire captive population of 17 million animals. It is important to underline that there is currently no evidence of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from white-tailed deer to humans. Initial experimental work has also suggests that infected deer tend not to have symptoms. Still, disease transmission in wildlife populations has considerable implications for human and animal health.

There is the possibility that viral mutation in a reservoir host, such as white-tailed deer, could lead to new variants of the disease. These variants may lead to greater infection rates, increased virulence (severity of symptoms) and prove more effective at evading the human immune system. Likewise, any reinfection from wildlife reservoirs could also complicate our long-term efforts to fight and suppress the disease.

Influenza, which jumps readily between birds, humans and other mammals (particularly pigs), presented similar problems. These multiple reservoirs of disease can lead to new strains emerging that humans have lower immunity against, as was the case with swine flu in 2009.

It is important to note that there are limitations to these studies, both in terms of the methods used and the limited geographical range of investigation. The most recent and unpublished study used the latest genetic approaches to reliably detect SARS-CoV-2 in tissue samples but focused only on deer in Iowa. Whereas the antibody tests in the first study were conducted across four states but only show that the animal has been exposed to the virus. Yet the combined findings have highlighted that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be widespread in white-tailed deer.

There is a great deal that we still need to learn about the developing situation with COVID and deer. The most important topics to focus on include understanding how the virus is being transmitted from humans to deer and determining the risk of spillover back into the human population. Research is urgently needed to assess the risk that this potential reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 presents to humans, as well as the possible spread of the virus to other wildlife species that deer interact with, such as predators and scavengers.

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White-tailed deer found to be huge reservoir of coronavirus infection - The Jerusalem Post

COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen significantly in the Inland Empire and Central Valley, bringing new concerns about whether the shift represents a precursor to a wider spike in COVID-19 in California as the winter holidays approach.

Across the state, both cases and hospitalizations hit a plateau after months of decline. Hospitalizations have remained fairly flat in some areas with relatively high vaccination rates, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County.

But in some areas with lower vaccination rates, such as Riverside, San Bernardino and Fresno counties, conditions are deteriorating, with hospitalizations up by more than 20% in recent weeks. And even some places with relatively high vaccination rates are seeing COVID-19 hospitalizations tick upward; in Orange County, COVID-19 hospitalizations are up by 16% since Halloween.

Health officials have been warning about a potential new rise in COVID-19 in California as seniors who got their shots last winter and havent received a booster shot may start to see their immunity wane, leaving them exposed to greater risk for infection and hospitalization, and as people gather indoors more as the weather cools and the holidays approach.

Demand for booster shots has fallen below expectation in California. And each infected Californian is increasingly spreading the coronavirus to more people; as of Saturday, computer models estimated that every infected Californian was spreading the virus on average to 0.96 other people; if that number rises above 1, that will set the stage for further growth of the pandemic.

COVID cases are beginning to rise. Winter months [mean] people indoors and more possibilities for spread, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Tuesday morning.

Keep your immunity up, he added. Get your booster.

Officials are hopeful that strict vaccination requirements in some of Californias most populated areas will help slow the spread of cases in the winter. In Los Angeles, a new city rule generally requiring patrons to show proof of full vaccination to enter venues like indoor restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, and hair and nail salons went into effect Monday, but wont be enforced until after Thanksgiving.

Only weeks ago, officials in the San Joaquin Valley were optimistic that trends were headed in the right direction. But now, officials say hospitals in Fresno County, the most populous county in the region, really have never left the crisis, said Dan Lynch, director of the Central California Emergency Medical Services Agency.

The bigger hospitals are probably between 110% to 130% of normal capacity. And they are all holding ICU patients, again, back in their emergency departments, Lynch said. Were seeing the hospital emergency departments overwhelmed.

Most hospitals have been forced to postpone scheduled surgeries, and some patients needing specialty care may need to be referred to other parts of California, officials said.

Many of the COVID-19 patients needing hospitalization are unvaccinated people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, said Fresno County interim health officer Dr. Rais Vohra. Fresno County on Wednesday was forced to reimplement a measure to no longer automatically transport all 911 patients to emergency rooms, a policy it had ended on Oct. 22 because officials thought the regions surge of the Delta variant was fading.

If you asked me two weeks ago what I thought would happen, I really thought that we were going to have a nice, relaxing November, Vohra said. Now, its been very humbling just because this pandemic keeps throwing us curveballs and this November plateau is really keeping us very busy.

Of Californias five regions as defined by the state Department of Public Health, the San Joaquin Valley has the worst COVID-19 hospitalization rate, with 25 COVID-19 hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents; followed by rural Northern California, which has a rate of 16 and the Greater Sacramento area, with a rate of 14.

The statewide rate is 10, and the two most populous regions have rates below that: Southern Californias rate is 8, while the Bay Areas is 4. Some experts believe its a sign of concern when COVID-19 hospitalization rates are 5 or greater for every 100,000 residents.

Within Southern Californias most populated areas, the Inland Empire has the worst COVID-19 hospitalization rates, with San Bernardino and Riverside counties reporting respective rates of 14 and 11. San Diego County is reporting 8; Orange County, 7; L.A. County, 6 and Ventura County, 4.

Since mid-October, COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by more than 27% in both San Bernardino and Fresno counties; while in Riverside County, numbers are up by 21% over the last two weeks.

While health officials have largely been optimistic that the states relatively high level of vaccine coverage will keep conditions from deteriorating to the devastating extent seen last fall and winter, the turning of the calendar carries a host of additional risks.

Colder weather, even in normally balmy parts of California, will increasingly push people to gather indoors where the risk of coronavirus transmission is higher. Theres also an apparent seasonality to the coronavirus itself, which makes it easier to spread when temperatures fall.

A packed slate of holidays will also entice people to travel and gather, possibly to an extent not seen since the pandemic began.

Add it all up, and you have a recipe for another potential coronavirus resurgence.

Its already happening in other parts of the nation.

Even in highly vaccinated places like New Hampshire and Vermont, you can see how these northernmost tiers of counties are starting to develop outbreaks and more transmission, as is Alaska, Dr. George Rutherford, a UC San Francisco epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert, said recently at a campus forum.

The biggest concentration of coronavirus cases has expanded from Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and Wyoming, and is spreading farther south, through Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

States with both low vaccination rates, like Wyoming, where only 44.4% of residents are fully vaccinated, are seeing among the nations highest case rates, as are several states with vaccination rates similar to Californias 61.8%, such as Colorado (62.1%), New Mexico (62.5%) and Minnesota (61.6%), Rutherford said.

Thats why Colorado, New Mexico and Minnesota could be warning signs of Californias future, Rutherford said. Those three states have weekly coronavirus case rates that are triple what California is reporting now; Wyomings is more than 3 times worse than Californias.

Rutherford said, relatively speaking, L.A., Orange and Ventura counties are doing well, but warned that San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties have a fairly high level of cases.

These factors all suggest that it is urgent that unvaccinated people get their shots, including children age 5 to 11 who just became eligible last week, Rutherford said. People who have recovered from COVID-19 still need to get immunized, too; a study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said COVID-19 survivors who remained unvaccinated were five times more likely to get a new coronavirus infection compared with fully vaccinated people who had never been infected.

And people who are immunocompromised or are seniors need to get additional vaccinations to improve their immunity, Rutherford said. The CDC says that less than 33% of fully vaccinated California seniors age 65 and over have received a booster dose, which is a big problem that needs to be addressed, Rutherford said.

That means theres a race to get more seniors boosted before their immunity wanes too much, Rutherford said. A study published in the journal Science recently showed that all three COVID-19 vaccines available to Americans have lost some of their protective power, with vaccine efficacy among a large group of veterans dropping between 35% and 85%.

Some experts have already expressed hope that the worst of the pandemic is over and another surge is unlikely. Other experts, including Rutherford, are not so sure. While Rutherford said he expected that California should be out of this by spring, November will probably be decisive in giving us a clue in how the rest of the fall and winter will unfold.

If we get out on the other side of it and have high levels of people vaccinated, a lot of vaccine coverage, then I think we might be able to really kind of throw the masks away, return to normal, Rutherford said. Its not inconceivable that the Bay Area and urban Southern California could really walk away with high levels of vaccination especially if we can get it into these younger kids that will really create something that looks like herd immunity.

Rutherford added: If not, then were gonna have to string this out longer.

Part of the pandemics future in California, too, will depend on getting more people around the world vaccinated, reducing the risk of an even more problematic variant emerging, Rutherford said.

L.A. Countys months-old mandate to wear masks in indoor public places will likely be in place through the end of the calendar year. Special state rules for so-called mega-events, which were initially set to expire this month, have instead been extended indefinitely.

Were worried about the winter, Ill just be honest, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during a recent briefing. We dont like what were seeing in Europe. We know theres seasonality to this virus, we cant escape that reality. We know that people go indoors more, even here in L.A. County, when the weather gets colder. And we know the holidays are coming.

According to a recent survey commissioned by the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., 29% of Americans said they were likely to travel for Thanksgiving up from 21% last year. The share of people who said they were likely to do so for Christmas, 33%, was also up from last years 24%.

Of those surveyed, 58% said they were planning to vacation somewhere within driving distance on account of the pandemic.

Unlike last year, health officials arent directly recommending residents avoid traveling for the holidays. Instead, theyre reiterating the importance of taking precautions.

This is where people, vaccinated or not, should really continue to practice the preventive measures weve been talking about from the beginning of this pandemic, which includes washing your hands frequently, wearing a mask, trying to keep your distance, being in well-ventilated areas, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong, a deputy health officer for Orange County.

Times staff writer Melissa Healy contributed to this report.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations rising in parts of California - Los Angeles Times

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Denmark wants to again consider COVID-19 as a socially critical disease, paving the way for the reintroduction of a digital pass months after the label was removed and restrictions were phased out.

The move, which still needs approval in parliament, will also allow Denmark to reintroduce other restrictions if deemed necessary. A majority seems to be backing the suggestion of the minority Social Democratic government.

The pass was introduced on July 1 but removed on Sept. 10, when Denmark declared that the outbreak no longer was to be considered a socially critical disease, citing the high rate of vaccination.

However, Denmark has like many other countries seen an uptick in cases, with health authorities saying the number of infections and hospitalizations has risen faster than expected.

On Monday, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said the COVID pass must apply to nightclubs, cafes, party buses and indoor restaurants but also outdoor events where the number of people exceeds 2,000.

The Danish pass app shows a QR code with a green banner if the holder is fully vaccinated or received a first dose at least two weeks ago, has recently recovered from COVID-19 or has had a negative test in the past 72 hours. A paper version is also available.

The call to reintroduce the pass was immediately welcomed by the industry.

Kristian Noergaard, a senior member of Horesta, the employers' organization for the hotel, restaurant and tourism business, said that to them the most important thing is that we avoid more shutdowns. It will be a disaster for a business that will have to pay off the debt from previous closures for a long time to come.

At the same time, we expect that the initiative can create security around the running of many Christmas events, he said in a statement.

Brian Mikkelsen, head of the Danish Chamber of Commerce, said they too backed the reintroduction of the pass because new shutdowns must and should be avoided."

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Follow all of APs pandemic coverage a t https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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Denmark wants to reintroduce phased-out coronavirus pass - The Boston Globe