Category Archives: Corona Virus

JUST A FEW months after Indias public-health systems collapsed under a tsunami of covid-19 infections, the country is starting to feel it has something to celebrate. In good time for the season of Hindu holidays now under way, on October 21st Narendra Modi, the prime minister, declared that India had administered its billionth dose of vaccine. In cities such as Delhi and Mumbai the dedicated covid-19 wards are virtually empty (smaller towns struggled to open any in the first place). A doctor at a major government hospital quipped that it must now be harder to contract the virus in Delhi than anywhere abroad. Indias economy is still wonky, but for most of the summer stockmarket indices have been reaching new heights. Yet this palpable sense of relief is hard to square with the recent memory of mass death, when fields of bodies were buried hastily along the Ganges. How did India manage to beat covid-19?

The plain fact is that, instead, covid-19 beat India. The world watched anxiously in April and May, when the caseloads were climbing almost vertically. The terror was justified. India was gripped by the first outbreak of the Delta variant (briefly called the Indian variant, until the WHO insisted on switching to Greek letters). Its ferocity taught lessons that some parts of the world are still learning. Indians died in untold numbers. To judge by the number of excess deaths, something like 2.3m lost their lives to the disease. Those who survived rued the governments failure to procure vaccines earlier, when India had positioned itself as a pharmaceutical factory for the world. The rate of vaccinations went from a trickle to an erratic drip, as systems of every kind shut down. And then in June, almost exactly as fast as the wave of infections had shot up, it shot down again. Not 10% of the population had been vaccinated (see chart). Within two weeks it was back down to pre-Delta levels. No thanks to any medical intervention.

A survey of blood samples published this week shows that more than 90% of Delhis residents have antibodies against covid-19 coursing through their veins. Having weathered the crisis at its worst, Indians are kept safe by natural immunity. The campaign to vaccinate India, slow and sometimes wobbly, has been making steady progress nonetheless. Sometimes it gets a fillip, as when a one-day jabbing extravaganza was organised to celebrate Mr Modis 71st birthday. During the darkest days of Indias pandemic, he had hidden himself out of view. Now Mr Modi is eager to put his portrait on every official vaccination certificate. On October 21st a private airline, Spicejet, emblazoned three of its planes with the prime ministers face to congratulate him on immunising so many of his countrymen. But the immunisation that mattered had happened months earlier.

More than half of all Indians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and almost 25% are considered to be fully vaccinated. That is a fine thing, as even natural immunity wanes. The government is now vaccinating a solid 6m or more every day, while monitoring a caseload of about 150,000 covid-positive patients. At the current rate of progress, India ought to have safeguarded itself against a third wave (really, a second wave of Delta) by the time one might recur on a cyclical basis. There is no more discussion of containing or extirpating the coronavirus. For most people who managed to hold on to their health and livelihood through this grim year, life is getting back to normal (though the nations schoolchildren and their parents, still reeling from the worlds longest school closures, would like to have a word). Once again India may be stumbling into the leadas the rest of the world adjusts itself to endemic covid-19.

More from The Economist explains:Why official covid-19 deaths do not capture the pandemics true tollWhat are DNA vaccines?Why Hong Kongs zero-covid strategy could backfire

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How did India beat covid-19? - The Economist

Last updated: October 26, 2021, 21:18 GMT

Data for the charts below is added, and charts updated, after the close of the day (GMT+0). For country-specific graphs, click on the country name on the main table

"Total Cases" = total cumulative count (245,185,115). This figure includes deaths and recovered or discharged patients (cases with an outcome).

On April 3, the French Government reported17,827 additional cases and 532 additional deaths from nursing homes that had not been reported previously. On April 2, it had reported 884 additional deaths.

On February 12, China reported 51,152 additional new cases due to a change in how cases were diagnosed and reported. More details

By removing deaths and recoveries from total cases, we get "currently infected cases" or "active cases" (cases still awaiting for an outcome).

(idea by Rudi Roth)

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Coronavirus Graphs: Worldwide Cases and Deaths - Worldometer

Scientists have long known that ultraviolet light cankill pathogens on surfaces and in air and water.UV robots are used to disinfectempty hospital rooms, buses and trains; UV bulbs in HVAC systems eliminate pathogens in building air; andUV lamps kill bugs in drinking water.

Perhaps you have seen UV wands, UV LEDs and UV air purifiers advertised as silver bullets to protect against the coronavirus. While decades of research have looked at the ability of UV light to kill many pathogens, there are no set standards for UV disinfection products with regard to the coronavirus. These products may work to kill SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but they also may not.

I am anenvironmental engineer and expert in UV disinfection. In May 2021, my colleagues and I set out to accurately test various UV systems and seewhich was the most effectiveat killing off or inactivating SARS-CoV-2.

David Herring, NASA via WikimediaCommons

Light is categorized by wavelength the distance between peaks of a wave of light and is measured in nanometers. UV wavelengths range from 100 to 400 nanometers shorter in wavelength than the violet hues in visible light and are invisible to the human eye. As wavelength shortens, photons of light contain higher amounts of energy.

Different wavelengths of UV light work better than others for inactivating viruses, and this depends on how well the wavelengths are absorbed by the viruss DNA or RNA. When UV light gets absorbed, the photons of light transfer their energy to anddamage the chemical bonds of the genetic material. The virus is then unable to replicate or cause an infection. Researchers have also shown the proteins that viruses use to attach to a host cell and initiate infection like the spike proteins on a coronavirus are alsovulnerable to UV light.

The dose of light matters too. Light can vary in intensity bright light is more intense, and there is more energy in it than in dim light. Being exposed to a bright light for a short time can produce the same UV dose as being exposed to a dim light for a longer period. You need to know the right dose that can kill coronavirus particles at each UV wavelength.

Ian Hooton, Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Traditional UV systems use wavelengths at or around 254 nanometers. At these wavelengths the light is dangerous to human skin and eyes,even at low doses. Sunlight includes UV light near these wavelengths; anyone who has ever gotten a bad sunburn knows just how dangerous UV light can be.

However, recent research has shown that at certain UV wavelengths specifically below 230 nanometers the high-energy photonsare absorbed by the top layers of dead skin cellsand dont penetrate into the active skin layers where damage can occur. Similarly, thetear layer around eyes also blocks out these germicidal UV rays.

This means that at wavelengths of UV light below 230 nanometers, people can move around more freely while the air around them is being disinfected in real time.

Karl Linden, CC BY-ND

My colleagues and I tested five commonly used UV wavelengths to see which work best to inactivate SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, we tested how large a dose is needed tokill 90% to 99.9% of the viral particles present.

We ran these tests in a biosafety level three facility at theUniversity of Arizonathat is built to handle lethal pathogens. There we tested numerous lights across the UV spectrum, including UV LEDs that emit light at 270 and 282 nanometers, traditional UV tube lamps at 254 nanometers and a newer technology called anexcited dimer, or excimer, UV sourceat 222 nanometers.

To test each device we spiked a sample of water with millions of SARS-CoV-2 viruses and coated a petri dish with a thin layer of this mixture. We then shined UV light on the petri dish until we achieved a specific dose. Finally we examined the viral particles to see if they could still infect human cells in culture. If the viruses could infect the cells, the dose was not high enough. If the viruses did not cause an infection, the UV source at that dose had successfully killed the pathogen. We carefully repeated this process for a range of UV doses using the five different UV devices.

While all of the wavelengths we tested can inactivate SARS-CoV-2 at very low doses, the ones that required the lowest dose were thesystems that emit UV light at a wavelength of 222 nanometers. In our experiment, it took a dose of less than 2 millijoules of energy per square centimeter to kill 99.9% of viral particles. This translates to needing about 20 seconds to disinfect a space receiving a low intensity of short wavelength UV light, similar to that used in our test.

These 222-nanometer systems are almost twice as effective as conventional UV tube lamps, which are often used in ultraviolet disinfecting systems. But importantly, the winning lamp also happens to be the safest for humans, too. At the same UV light intensity it takes to kill 99.9% of SARS-CoV-2 in 20 seconds, a person could be safely exposed to 222-nanometer light forup to one hour and 20 minutes.

What this means is thatwidely availabletypes ofUV lamplights can be used to safely knock down levels of the coronavirus with people present.

Many places or organizations ranging from theU.S. Air Forceto theSpace Needle in SeattletoBoeing are already using or investigating ways to use UV light in the 222 nanometer range to protect public health.

I believe that our findings are important because they quantify the exact doses needed to achieve various levels of SARS-CoV-2 control, whether that be killing 90% or 99.9% of viral particles.

Imagine coffee shops, grocery stores, school classrooms, restaurants and concert venues now made safe by this technology. And this is not a solution for just SARS-CoV-2. These technologies could help protect human health in public spaces in future times of crisis, but also during times of relative normalcy, by reducing exposure to everyday viral and bacterial threats.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

[Research into coronavirus and other news from science Subscribe to The Conversations new science newsletter.]

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/type-of-ultraviolet-light-most-effective-at-killing-coronavirus-is-also-the-safest-to-use-around-people-169602

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Type of ultraviolet light most effective at killing coronavirus is also the safest to use around people - The Denver Post

Oregon eked out its eighth straight week of declining coronavirus cases Monday apparently because of a data processing problem.

The Oregon Health Authority recorded 7,707 cases in the past week, down 4% from a week earlier. That includes 2,293 cases announced Monday for the preceding three days, and 12 more deaths.

Oregon had been on track to lose its weekly streak of declining cases and in fact was on pace to see cases increase by perhaps 10%. But the three-day tally of identified cases disclosed Monday came in low, with about 1,000 fewer cases and about 9,000 fewer tests completed than the same time a week ago.

State officials acknowledged the numbers are lower than expected, saying an unexpected server issue kept its case database down from 6 p.m. Friday through 9 p.m. Saturday.

We may see an increase in the total number of cases reported tomorrow, as local public health authorities work through a backlog of cases today, the agency said in a statement.

As reported, Oregon averaged 1,101 cases a day over the past week.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (6), Benton (53), Clackamas (203), Clatsop (8), Columbia (34), Coos (42), Crook (21), Curry (7), Deschutes (231), Douglas (79), Gilliam (2), Grant (2), Harney (5), Hood River (19), Jackson (108), Jefferson (38), Josephine (46), Klamath (61), Lake (9), Lane (203), Lincoln (43), Linn (150), Malheur (16), Marion (187), Morrow (7), Multnomah (329), Polk (31), Tillamook (10), Umatilla (32), Union (17), Wasco (24), Wallowa (7), Washington (223) and Yamhill (40).

Who died: Oregons 4,284th COVID-19 related death is a 68-year-old Douglas County woman who tested positive Sept. 29 and died Oct. 20 at Mercy Medical Center.

The 4,285th fatality is a 63-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive n Sept. 7 and died Oct. 20 at Mercy Medical Center.

Oregons 4,286th death is a 69-year-old Malheur County woman who tested positive Oct. 15 and died Oct. 21, at a location still be confirmed.

The 4,287th fatality is a 70-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive Sept. 30 and died Oct. 15 at Adventist Health Portland.

Oregons 4,288th death is a 64-year-old Multnomah County man who tested positive Oct. 13 and died Oct. 17 at Adventist Health Portland.

The 4,289th fatality is an 87-year-old Jefferson County woman who tested positive Oct. 18 and died Oct. 21 at her residence.

Oregons 4,290th death is a 102-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Sept. 7 and died Oct. 16 at his residence.

The 4,291st fatality is a 71-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Sept. 25 and died Oct. 19, at a location still being confirmed.

Oregons 4,292nd death is an 80-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Oct. 14 and died Oct. 22, at a location still being confirmed.

The 4,293rd fatality is an 82-year-old Josephine County man who tested positive Oct. 14 and died Oct. 22 at his residence.

Oregons 4,294th death is a 71-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Oct. 17 and died Oct. 22 at Mercy Medical Center.

The 4,295th fatality is a 79-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Sept. 28 and died Oct. 23 at Mercy Medical Center.

Each person had underlying health conditions or officials were confirming the presence of conditions.

State officials Monday said the 2,768th and 2,518th deaths, reported on June 29 and May 7, were the same person, and the extra fatality was removed from Oregons tally.

Hospitalizations: 571 people with confirmed COVID-19 infections are hospitalized, up 34 since Friday. That includes 123 people in intensive care, down five since Friday.

Vaccines: 5,702 people have been reported newly vaccinated since Friday.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 359,733 confirmed or presumed infections and 4,295 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 5,417,415 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,586,897 people and partially vaccinating 215,136 people.

To see more data and trends, visit https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

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Oregon posts 8th week of declining coronavirus cases -- as counties unable to report cases - OregonLive

DENVER (KDVR) TheCOVID-19 positivity and incidence rateshave risen over the last week in Colorado.

As of Monday, the states 7-day positivity rate is 8.46%, which is up from 6.86%. The highest positivity rate in the state over the past seven days is Custer County with 22.7% positivity.

From Oct. 18 to Oct. 25,39 counties saw an increase in COVID-19 positivity, 22 saw a decrease in COVID-19 positivity, two counties administered fewer than 10 tests in the past week, and one county had a 0% positivity after administering fewer than 10 tests last week.

Hospitalizations are climbing sharply in Colorado, hitting thehighest levels since the end of 2020.

According to the New York Times COVID-19 map, Colorado is a COVID-19 hotspot right now.

According to theColorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the incidence rates are on the rise over the last seven days.

Heres a look atpositivity rates for every county over the last seven days:

Originally posted here:

COVID-19 surges in Colorado; state becomes a hotspot in the U.S. - FOX 31 Denver

Researchers have mapped the web of connections underpinning coronavirus conspiracy theories, opening a new way of understanding and challenging them.

Using Danish witchcraft folklore as a model, the researchers from UCLA and Berkeley analysed thousands of social media posts with an artificial intelligence tool and extracted the key people, things and relationships.

The tool enabled them to piece together the underlying stories in coronavirus conspiracy theories from fragments in online posts. One discovery from the research identifies Bill Gates as the reason why conspiracy theorists connect 5G with the virus. With Gates background in computer technology and vaccination programmes, he served as a shortcut for these storytellers to link the two.

Gates is a persistent figure in the anti-vaccine stories. Hes a great villain, says the folklorist Prof Timothy Tangherlini one of the authors of the research. Its Gates world-spanning influence in tech and then health that lodges him at the heart of a lot of conspiracies.

Bill Gates is in Africa, hes in everybodys house because everybodys got computers, and then hes pushing these vaccines.

Folklore isnt just a model for the AI. Tangherlini, whose specialism is Danish folklore, is interested in how conspiratorial witchcraft folklore took hold in the 16th and 17th centuries and what lessons it has for today.

Whereas in the past, witches were accused of using herbs to create potions that caused miscarriages, today we see stories that Gates is using coronavirus vaccinations to sterilise people. A version of this story that omits Gates but claims the vaccines have caused mens testicles to swell, making them infertile, was repeated by the American rapper Nicki Minaj.

The research also hints at a way of breaking through conspiracy theory logic, offering a glimmer of hope as increasing numbers of people get drawn in.

The diagram below is a small section of the anti-vaccine stories that the researchers found.

One name comes up a lot. Why do people blame Gates for everything?

Hes become a symbol for the worst parts of big tech, says Tangherlini.

Hes got information, hes got computing power and hes got more money than anyone else in the entire world. And from that perspective, his philanthropy can be seen as suspect: now hes decided to tell you how to live your life.

And while the results of his philanthropy may be an objective good, the lack of accountability of his funding and foundation is something that worries people. There are non-conspiratorial criticisms of his position as the most powerful decision-maker in global health, affecting the lives and healthcare of millions of the worlds poorest people.

He is not elected or accountable and though people know there is a lot of money, they are not sure where it is all going, or why.

He has this foundation that is a black box, and with black boxes you can ascribe all sorts of things to them. And hes going out and doing something that reeks of colonialism hes going out to help the poor black and brown people in Africa.

Bill Gates is in Africa, hes in everybodys house because everybodys got computers, and then hes pushing these vaccines. And we already have prior storytelling about vaccines as threatening or dangerous or coming from the outside.

Tangherlini says this is not what he personally believes about Gates but hes a great villain. The storytelling around him resonates with the antisemitic narratives circulating for centuries in Europe.

This whole idea of a blood libel. And poisoning the wells, why not throw that in. Poisoning the wells is very similar to this faulty vaccination movement. You see how these motifs circulate? And they are interchangeable, its like algebra.

Partly it is Gates foray into global medicine that has given him omnipresent villain status, not to mention his contact with the likes of Jeffrey Epstein, but there are other factors that mean it is him and not Jeff Bezos or Larry Page, for example, who is at the centre of the conspiracy theory web.

You can have only one person dominating these stories, says Tangherlini, and it is hard to add another one. If I started telling stories about Jeff Bezos, and if my friend hears it, he will say, Its a good story but Im going to turn it back to Bill Gates, so theres a regression to the mean.

In folklore, we have this law of self-correction. So if something doesnt quite fit, you go back to the way you heard it from 15 other people. I might be saying Jeff Bezos. But if three other people are saying Bill Gates, its going to be Bill Gates.

Conspiracy theories often crop up after catastrophic or unusual events and they thrive in environments where there is a lack of trusted information, says Tangherlini.

In 16th and 17th century Denmark, catastrophic events from floods to poisonous algae mixed with the massive change brought by industrialisation. For those isolated on small farms, access to trusted, consistent information was scarce and stories about witches start to take hold.

Today its clear that coronavirus has been a catastrophic event that has impacted everyones lives. On the face of it, a lack of information is not a problem in wealthy countries. However, the overload of information online can produce the same effect that Danish farmers faced several centuries ago a lack of trusted information.

This is where conspiratorial storytelling comes in and these stories start to get created. Then, as now, stories are a powerful way of talking about what we fear.

In a conspiracy theory universe...

... makes technologies like microchips

... use technologies like milking pins, ointments and brooms

... through vaccination, he implants the microchips in people and activates them with 5G

... witches use the technology in improper ways, such as by flying on brooms

... as servants of Satan, they work to achieve his goal

In a conspiracy theory universe...

... is part of a cabal of child traffickers

... kidnap children and make the children work for them

... with the help of Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Gates traffics children

... the witches help robbers steal children

... Gates eats the children, as part of a Satanic ritual

... the robbers eat the childrens hearts

These stories are not just alerts, they are spaces where people try to figure out what to do as well as who is with them and against them.

In a conspiracy theory universe...

... are part of an elaborate cabal

... and the Chinese government

... centered on Satan, involving priests, lords and outsiders, such as wanderers

... fund research facilities in China. The research is into bioweapons

... (in Danish folklore 'outsiders' often includes Norwegians)

... their goal is to destroy the US

... their goal is to destroy the Christian world

Many innocent people, mainly women, were killed in witchcraft trials. Today vaccine hesitancy is causing unnecessary deaths from coronavirus.

In a conspiracy theory universe...

... makes vaccinations using his research facilities but they are not intended to cure

... devise poisons or evil charms, using power from Satan

... the vaccinations are intended to sterilise

... the poison causes miscarriages

... and kills people and cows

Tangherlini uses an example to explain how a 18th-century Danish farmer could start with a sick cow and end up with a story about a witch.

In contemporary retelling of this, it is one dimensional: The farmers all believed that if their cow was sick, there was a witch. Thats not the way people believe in things. It is more of a negotiation, he says.

The farmer has heard stories about witches poisoning cows, but one neighbour tells him he should change the hay in his barn. Another advises him to see a healer.

Everyone agrees the cow is sick. But this back and forth over the cause is a way of establishing the threat to that community, and what can save them from it. Surprising events and other people acting out their beliefs can create a reinforcement effect. And that is what the professor has seen on Reddit forums and Facebook groups today.

A diagram of story elements is not going to deradicalise someone who believes vaccines are implanting microchips in peoples arms. In our information overloaded world, more information is unlikely to change someones mind either. This project is more about understanding how these stories work rather than changing minds.

But it does raise one tantalising possibility that perhaps this mapping what one of the authors, Pavan Holur, calls an AI mirror held up to online conversations lets people see the totality of the belief system they are tying themselves into.

While someone might think vaccines are unsafe, they do not necessarily think 5G causes coronavirus.

If people are looking at it and thinking Wait a minute, I dont trust at least this part of the narrative, Tangherlini says, you might be able to fracture those low-probability links between domains. And if you can fracture or question them, you get the potential for community level change.

With 98.8% of Englands coronavirus deaths in the first half of 2021 being people who were not fully vaccinated, anti-vaccine conspiracies have life and death consequences. Any interventions that loosen their grip could save lives.

In the end it was significant social change that shifted peoples beliefs on witches in Denmark. People were still telling witchcraft stories into the 1900s, centuries after they first appeared.

Belief in stories about witchcraft in Denmark really started to drop off in the early 20th century. Multiple things were going on access to healthcare, WW1, more understanding of medicine and infection and the impact of radio. Now something people will say is, There was a witch who used to live down there.

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Why people believe Covid conspiracy theories: could folklore hold the answer? - The Guardian

Twenty-fivemore Mainers have died while health officials on Tuesday reported another 882coronavirus cases across the state since the weekend.

Tuesdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 101,849,according to the Maine CDC. Thats up from 100,967 on Saturday.

Of those, 72,649have been confirmed positive, while 29,200were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

Two people from Androscoggin County, one from Cumberland County, two from Franklin County, one from Hancock County, seven from Penobscot County, one from Sagadahoc County, three from Somerset County, two from Waldo County and six from York County have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 1,147.

Thirteen were women and 12 were men. Of those, 12 were 80 or older, three in their 70s, six in their 60s, one in their 50s, two in their 40s and one in their 30s.

Robert Long, a spokesperson for the Maine CDC, said that 19 of those deaths were confirmed as a result of a review of vital records.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 6,909. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats up from 6,019 on Saturday.

The new case rate statewide Tuesday was 6.59 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 760.97.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 464, up from 463.6 the day before, down from 527.9 a week ago and down from 468.9 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases have been recorded in women and more deaths in men.

So far, 2,747 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 215 are currently hospitalized, with 79 in critical care and 30 on a ventilator. Overall, 46 out of 367 critical care beds and 201 out of 305 ventilators are available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Tuesday was 20.52 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (10,726), Aroostook (3,854), Cumberland (21,782), Franklin (2,277), Hancock (2,753), Kennebec (9,720), Knox (1,954), Lincoln (1,798), Oxford (5,105), Penobscot (12,115), Piscataquis (1,311), Sagadahoc (1,973), Somerset (4,318), Waldo (2,443), Washington (1,844) and York (17,870) counties. Information about where an additional six cases were reported wasnt immediately available.

An additional 3,263 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Tuesday, 909,909 Mainers are fully vaccinated, or about 76.8 percent of eligible Mainers, according to the Maine CDC.

New Hampshire reported 651 new cases on Tuesday and no deaths. Vermont reported 139 new cases and no deaths, while Massachusetts reported 3,392 new cases and 20 deaths.

As of Tuesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 45,558,326 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 737,615 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

More articles from the BDN

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25 more Mainers have died and another 882 coronavirus cases reported since Saturday - Bangor Daily News

Posted: Oct 26, 2021 / 03:06 PM CDT / Updated: Oct 26, 2021 / 03:44 PM CDT

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is encouraging all Kansans to celebrate Halloween safely by following a few, easy COVID precautions.

The department said Kansans can enjoy Halloween safely by getting testedprior toenjoyingactivities with people outside of their immediate family, respectingsocialdistancing guidelines, and wearing masks to help keep young trick or treaters safe.

While new COVID-19 cases are down since a peak in September, the transmission of the virus continues to be high.

To reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends trick-or-treating outside in small groups and avoiding crowded indoor parties. Wear a mask if you are unable to maintain social distance both indoors and outdoors.

We know Kansas families are looking forward to celebrating Halloween this year, saidLee Norman, M.D., Secretary ofKDHE.Its a fun holiday for the whole family, but unfortunately COVID-19 is still putting our communities at risk. Since outdoor activitiespose less of a risk, trick-or-treating is the perfect way to enjoy the spooky season and help reduce the spread. There are easy ways we can all stay safe getting tested and getting vaccinated, if eligible, can keep the virus from spreading while we gather for candy apples and other Halloween treats.

The KDHE says to find a free testing location near you, visit:knowbeforeyougoKS.com or learn about vaccines at kansasvaccine.gov

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Kansas Department of Health offers tips to scare off coronavirus before celebrating Halloween - KSN-TV

Massachusetts had the third-highest rate of COVID-19 infections in the United States by July of last year, according to a Northeastern University study that modeled how the coronavirus emerged on the nations coasts but spread most rapidly in the Northeast in the first wave.

By July 4 last year, 13 percent of Massachusetts residents had been infected with the virus, behind only New Jersey, with 15.2 percent, and New York with 13.3 percent, according to the paper published online Monday in Nature. In contrast, Oregon had the lowest so-called attack rate at that point, with only 0.7 percent of residents infected.

The first US case had been detected in Washington state on Jan. 21 last year, a few weeks after the announcement of a puzzling cluster of unusual pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. The first infection in Boston was diagnosed on Feb. 1 in a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston who had traveled from Wuhan. Still, COVID seemed a remote threat to many in Massachusetts until the Biogen conference in late February ignited a super-spreader event.

But the Northeastern researchers said its impossible to rule out transmission of the virus in parts of the United States and Europe as early as December 2019. International air travel was the key driver at first, with the earliest cases likely introduced on the West and East coasts in cities with major airports, they said. The Trump administration imposed restrictions on travel from China that went into effect on Feb. 2 last year.

After that, the contribution from mainland China became barely visible, according to the study, and interstate travel became the main transmission source. By April 30, 2020, domestic travel accounted for 69 percent of introductions in Massachusetts.

Once the virus arrived in the United States and Europe, the researchers said, public health surveillance systems were slow to detect its spread within communities.

We really didnt understand what was happening around us in early 2020 because we didnt have the testing capacity, at least at that point, said Jessica T. Davis, a Northeastern PhD candidate and one of the lead authors of the study.

By early March 2020, health officials were detecting only 1 to 3 in 100 COVID infections in parts of the United States and Europe, the researchers said.

Our results suggest that many regions in the US and Europe experienced an onset of local transmission in January and February 2020, during the time when testing capacity was limited, the study read. If testing had been more widespread and not restricted to individuals with a travel history from China, there would have been more opportunities for earlier detection and interventions.

The study did not say what proportion of infections are being detected today.

Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen surveillance at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and co-lead author of a recent study of an outbreak of breakthrough cases in Provincetown, said it wasnt surprising that the virus spread undetected early in the pandemic. But the Nature study, she said, underscores just how much we might have missed.

Alessandro Vespignani, director of Northeasterns Network Science Institute, oversaw the study, a follow-up to another paper his team published in April last year.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jonathan.saltzman@globe.com.

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New research shows how and when COVID-19 first spread to Massachusetts - BetaBoston

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nurse Ashley Hafer fills syringes with the Moderna vaccine on Thursday, March 18, 2021, at the Utah Film Studios in Park City.

| Oct. 26, 2021, 7:31 p.m.

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Ten more Utahns died of COVID-19 in the past day, according to the Utah Department of Health. One of them was between the ages of 25 and 44, and four were 45-64.

In the past week, 54 Utahns have died of the coronavirus. Since the beginning of October, the number of deaths totals 216 6.8% of the 3,159 COVID-19 deaths in the Beehive State since the pandemic began. And there are still five more days in the month.

The states health department on Tuesday reported 1,614 new coronavirus cases. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,520 per day.

Intensive care units in the state remain near capacity. According to UDOH, 92.5% of all ICU beds and 94.8% of ICU beds in larger medical centers are occupied. Of all ICU patients, 31.1% are being treated for COVID-19.

An additional 2,042 Utahns were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus in the past day, bringing the total to 1,744,521 53.3% of Utahs total population.

Vaccine doses administered in the past day/total doses administered 12,251 / 3,689,812.

Utahns fully vaccinated 1,744,521.

Cases reported in past day 1,614.

Cases among school age children Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 324 of the new cases announced Tuesday 20.1% of the total. There were 155 cases reported in children aged 5-10; 80 cases in children 11-13; and 89 cases in children 14-18.

Tests reported in past day 7,728 people were tested for the first time. A total of 15,977 people were tested.

Deaths reported in past day 10.

There were three deaths in Washington County: Two men between the ages of 45-64, and one man 65-84.

Two Box Elder County residents died: A woman 45-64, and a man 65-84.

Other deaths were: A Salt Lake County woman 85-plus, a Davis County woman 45-64, a Morgan County man 65-84, a Tooele County man 65-84, and a Weber County woman 25-44.

Hospitalizations reported in the past day 524. That is six fewer than reported on Monday. Of those currently hospitalized, 198 are in intensive care four more than reported Monday.

Percentage of positive tests Under the states original method, the rate is 20.9% over the past day. That is higher than the seven-day average of 16.8%.

The states new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesdays rate was 10.1%, lower than the seven-day average of 11%.

[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Heres what that means.]

Risk ratios In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 16.1 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a UDOH analysis. The unvaccinated also were 10.7 times more likely to be hospitalized and 5.4 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.

Totals to date 544,145 cases; 3,159 deaths; 23,778 hospitalizations; 3,667,771 people tested.

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More than 200 Utahns have died of COVID-19 in October alone - Salt Lake Tribune