Category Archives: Corona Virus

As the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread, breakthrough infections of fully vaccinated people are ticking up in Los Angeles County, but inoculated people remain generally well-protected against hospitalizations and death.

Cumulatively, among 5.1 million L.A. County residents who are fully vaccinated, 0.53% have tested positive, 0.014% have been hospitalized and 0.0013% or 68 people have died.

Most of these deaths have happened, unfortunately, among people who were seriously ill with comorbidities and/or had immune compromised systems, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a recent briefing.

The latest data reflect the reality that the vaccines do not provide 100% protection, and that with these high rates of community transmission, more fully vaccinated people are getting post-vaccination infections, Ferrer said. However, this very same information also makes it clear how much protection vaccinated people still have. Most of us that are fully vaccinated ... dont get infected.

By far, the age group now most likely to get infected with the coronavirus in Los Angeles County is younger adults those 18 to 49. As of early August, for every 100,000 vaccinated younger adults, nearly 150 were getting infected weekly.

The coronavirus case rate was much worse among unvaccinated people. For every 100,000 unvaccinated younger adults, nearly 450 were getting infected weekly.

That means unvaccinated younger adults are three times as likely to get infected with the coronavirus as their fully vaccinated counterparts.

Those being hospitalized, however, are far more likely to be older, unvaccinated adults. The hospitalization rate among unvaccinated adults 50 and older has risen to a new summertime high: For every 100,000 unvaccinated older adults, nearly 60 were in the hospital with a COVID-19 infection.

But for every 100,000 fully vaccinated older adults, only five were in the hospital with a COVID-19 infection.

That means unvaccinated older adults are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized than their vaccinated counterparts. Unvaccinated younger adults are 25 times more likely to be hospitalized than those who are fully vaccinated in that age group.

If youre unvaccinated, youve got a lot of risk a lot of risk of being in the hospital and a lot of risk [of] dying, Ferrer said. And that includes younger people who are unvaccinated as well as older people, who always have more risk with this virus for having a bad outcome.

Those most at risk of dying from COVID-19 in L.A. County are unvaccinated residents 50 and older. Among every 100,000 residents in that age group, there were 5.9 deaths a week in early August, a death rate nearly 17 times higher than that of vaccinated residents among the same ages.

Younger unvaccinated adults, those between the ages of 18 and 49, are still fairly unlikely to die from COVID-19. But that cohorts death rate 0.9 death for every 100,000 younger adults is still more than 22 times higher than their vaccinated counterparts.

(Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)

Overall, people who are not fully vaccinated but require hospitalization tend to be younger the median age is 50, and many of those are between the ages of 35 and 63. This group is more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit or require sedation and the insertion of a breathing tube in their windpipe than vaccinated people.

By contrast, among those who are fully vaccinated and need hospitalization, patients tend to be older; their median age is 65, with many between the ages of 54 and 78.

Excerpt from:

Young adults most infected with coronavirus in L.A. County - Los Angeles Times

Massachusetts health officials on Monday reported a spike of 3,335 coronavirus cases over the weekend, as hospitalizations continued to rise amid the spread of the delta variant.

Cases have been jumping at a rapid pace as the more highly contagious delta variant spreads. The daily average of cases is now 1,013, which compares to the record-low daily average of 64 cases in late June.

The 3,335 new cases over the weekend was 339 more infections than last weekends report.

The daily percent positivity average is now 2.59%. The percent positivity had been climbing since the pandemic-low average of 0.31% in late June, but the average has started to decline from 2.98% two weeks ago.

State health officials also reported four new COVID deaths, bringing the states total recorded death toll to 18,179.

COVID deaths had been ticking up in recent weeks following the rise of infections and hospitalizations. The daily average of COVID deaths is now 4.3, which is up from the record-low daily average of 1.1 in July.

Hospitalizations continued to climb over the weekend. The increase of 63 patients now brings the total COVID patient total to 530 patients. That total is back up to where the Bay State was in the beginning of May.

There are now 139 patients in intensive care units, and 68 patients are intubated.

The daily average of 463 hospitalizations is more than five times the record-low daily average of 85 patients in July.

The state recently started listing how many of the current patients are vaccinated or unvaccinated. Of the total 530 COVID patients, 155 patients have been fully vaccinated or 29%. Those who are unvaccinated are at a much higher risk for a severe infection.

More than 4.45 million people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated.

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Massachusetts coronavirus cases spike 3,335 over the weekend, hospitalizations keep climbing - Boston Herald

The Oregon Health Authority on Monday reported a three-day total of 4,701 new coronavirus cases and 24 deaths as average daily cases and hospitalizations continue to set records in Oregon.

The announcement included data for three days, with 2,330 cases from Friday, 1,207 new cases from Saturday and 1,164 new cases from Sunday.

Oregon is now averaging more than 2,100 cases per day over the past seven days, with cases up 16% from the previous week. Cases have now climbed in Oregon for seven consecutive weeks, but the rate of acceleration last week slowed dramatically from previous marks.

The ongoing spike, linked to COVIDs highly contagious delta variant, continues to burn through the state, with the test positivity rate for the past three days sitting just below 12%, signaling unchecked spread. According to the state, 937 people are currently hospitalized with the disease, including 253 patients in intensive care. As of this morning, 47 adult intensive care beds were available out of 657 total.

Also Monday, Pfizer-BioNTechs coronavirus vaccine was granted full approval for anyone 16 or older, making it the first vaccine to move past emergency status in the United States. Still, despite hospitalizations and deaths largely impacting the unvaccinated, the summer surge has done little to convince more Oregonians to take the shot.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (29), Benton (61), Clackamas (366), Clatsop (19), Columbia (80), Coos (66), Crook (19), Curry (61), Deschutes (365), Douglas (398), Gilliam (5), Grant (10), Harney (14), Hood River (14), Jackson (308), Jefferson (34), Josephine (234), Klamath (71), Lane (659), Lincoln (41), Linn (186), Malheur (24), Marion (195), Morrow (29), Multnomah (582), Polk (113), Tillamook (49) Umatilla (69), Union (78), Wallowa (16), Wasco (23), Washington (401), Yamhill (82).

Who died: The state on Monday reported 24 new deaths linked to COVID-19. They were:

A 55-year-old Jackson County man who tested positive Aug. 14 and died Aug. 19 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

An 88-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Aug. 11 and died Aug. 19 at Mercy Medical Center.

An 81-year-old Deschutes County woman who tested positive Aug. 2 and died at St Charles Bend Hospital. Her date of death is being confirmed.

A 90-year-old Curry County woman who tested positive Aug. 6 and died Aug. 19 at Curry General Hospital.

A 68-year-old Clackamas County woman who tested positive Aug. 16 and died Aug. 19 at her residence.

An 84-year-old Jackson County man who tested positive Aug. 15 and died Aug. 19 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.

A 61-year-old Josephine County man who tested positive Aug. 14 and died Aug. 20 at a location still being confirmed.

A 75-year-old Lane County man who tested positive Aug. 20 and died Aug. 21 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

A 57-year-old Lane County woman who tested positive Aug. 19 and died Aug. 20 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

A 78-year-old Lane County man who tested positive Aug. 17 and died Aug. 20 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

A 74-year-old Lane County woman who tested positive Aug. 13 and died Aug. 19 at her residence.

A 61-year-old Lane County woman who tested positive July 9 and died Aug. 20 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

A 75-year-old Multnomah County woman who tested positive Aug. 3 and died Aug. 20 at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.

A 48-year-old Marion County woman who tested positive Aug. 17 and died Aug. 19 at University of Washington Medical Center.

A 49-year-old Lincoln County woman who tested positive Aug. 9 and died Aug. 19 at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend.

A 54-year-old Umatilla County man who tested positive Aug. 14 and died Aug. 17 at Good Shepherd Hospital.

A 66-year-old Umatilla County man who tested positive July 19 and died Aug. 13 at a location still being confirmed.

A 49-year-old Tillamook County man who tested positive Aug. 18 and died Aug. 18 at his residence.

A 65-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Aug. 13 and died Aug. 22 at Mercy Medical Center.

A 60-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Aug. 12 and died Aug. 19 at Mercy Medical Center.

A 69-year-old Douglas County woman who tested positive Aug. 7 and died Aug. 20 at Mercy Medical Center.

A 94-year-old Douglas County man who tested positive Aug. 6 and died Aug. 20 at Mercy Medical Center.

A 49-year-old Jackson County man who tested positive July 31 and died Aug. 16 at Ashland Community Hospital.

A 90-year-old Jackson County man who tested positive June 28 and died on Aug. 15 at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.

Each person had underlying health conditions or the presence of underlying conditions was being confirmed.

Hospitalizations: 937 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized, up 37 from Fridays report. That includes 253 people in intensive care, up 22 from Friday.

Vaccines: Oregon reported 4,491 newly administered COVID-19 vaccine doses, including 1,032 administered Sunday.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 257,644 confirmed or presumptive coronavirus infections and 3,036 deaths, still among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, 2,587,552 people have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 2,373,947 people are fully vaccinated.

Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell

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Coronavirus in Oregon: Cases up 16% in past week as FDA fully approves Pfizer vaccine - OregonLive

Hamilton County had 257 new coronavirus cases reported on Monday, bringing the total to 52,313.

There have been two more deaths from the virus, and the total is at 543 in the county. It is reported they were a man and a woman, both white, one age 71-80 and the other was age 81 or older.

There are 234 patients hospitalized and 65 are in intensive care units. Seven more are hospitalized with suspected COVID. There are 122 Hamilton County inpatients. This is the most patients Hamilton County has had in ICU since the virus starting, tying for the same number of 65 on Jan. 8.

The number of those who have recovered from coronavirus in Hamilton County is 48,711, which is 93 percent. There are 3,059 active cases.

The number of coronavirus cases in Tennessee is at 997,479 Monday with 4,120 new cases. There were 25 more deaths reported, for a total of 13,204, State Health Department officials said.

The state currently has 2,690 people hospitalized from the virus, which is 71 more than on Sunday. Testing numbers are above 8.904 million across the state.

The number of people who have recovered from coronavirus in Tennessee is 916,213, which is 92 percent.

Here are the numbers by county:

Bledsoe County: 2,557 cases, up 62; 13 deaths

Bradley County: 17,280 cases, up 379; 159 deaths

Grundy County: 2,046 cases, up 35; 35 deaths

Marion County: 3,883 cases, up 62; 51 deaths

Meigs County: 1,641 cases, up 39; 24 deaths

Polk County: 2,407 cases, up 39; 25 deaths

Rhea County: 5,159 cases, up 165; 83 deaths

Sequatchie County: 2,052 cases, up 45; 30 deaths

Knox County: 58,529 cases, up 1,141; 680 deaths, up 2

Davidson County: 100,728 cases, up 1,353; 994 deaths, up 5

Shelby County: 119,453 cases, up 2,579; 1,831 deaths, up 17

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Hamilton County Has Record-Tying 65 In Intensive Care From Coronavirus, 2 More Deaths; 234 COVID Patients Hospitalized - The Chattanoogan

July 31

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July 30

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July 26

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July 24

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July 23

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July 22

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July 21

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July 20

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July 19

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July 18

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July 17

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July 16

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July 15

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July 14

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July 13

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July 12

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July 11

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July 9

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July 8

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July 7

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July 6

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July 5

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July 4

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July 3

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July 2

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June 30

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June 29

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June 28

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June 26

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June 25

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June 22

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June 21

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ARCHIVE: Tracking the coronavirus in New Jersey - NJ Spotlight

Coronavirus UpdatesAug. 22, 2021Updated

Aug. 22, 2021, 1:00 p.m. ET

The Gulf Coast, a tourist haven that draws throngs of revelers to beaches across several Southern states, has been sorely afflicted as the Delta variant tears through the region, which has relatively low rates of vaccination and often lax safety measures.

But even compared to other parts of the South that are struggling against the latest wave of the virus, the Gulf Coast stands out like an angry red scar on maps that depict coronavirus hot spots and hospitalizations.

The average per person hospitalization rate for Panama City, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; and Gulfport, Miss.; is considerably higher than that of their states as a whole, even though they are three of the four states with the highest rates in the country, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The per person average case rates in the surrounding counties are all more than twice the national average. The vaccination rate in all three counties is well below 40 percent, according to federal data.

It is almost like whats going on in the West, where you have lots of fuel, a source of ignition and then you end up with a large fire, said Dr. Bernard H. Eichold II, the health officer of the Mobile County Health Department. More than 90 percent of the countys 461 hospitalized Covid patients on Thursday were unvaccinated, he said.

The people inundating the hospitals along the Gulf Coast are not the high-risk, often older ones who were most vulnerable in the earlier waves of the pandemic. The Delta variant is spreading among younger people, many who thought they had nothing to fear and did not get vaccinated.

Weve had 44 year olds, 45, 35, that have died, said Tiffany Murdoch, a hospital administrator for Singing River Health System, which operates three hospitals in coastal Mississippi. Ive been a nurse for 15 years, and Ive never seen anything like it.

The regions thriving tourism industry, widespread opposition to masks and low vaccination rates collided with the contagious Delta variant earlier this summer and case numbers have surged since then.

After Fourth of July is when everything kind of went to hell in a handbasket, said Ms. Murdoch, noting that casinos in coastal Mississippi are open with no mask mandates and the beaches are packed.

While a growing number of Democratic-led states and cities nationwide have moved to require masks and vaccinations, Republican governors in hard-hit states like Florida, Mississippi and Alabama have resisted such mandates, despite the surge in cases.

As of Friday, 142 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 across Singing River Healths network, including 39 in I.C.U., and 94 percent were unvaccinated, officials said. The surge has prompted a shortage of I.C.U. beds and left staff overwhelmed.

If you walked into our emergency department right now you would be like, What is happening. Every single hallway has beds in it with patients, every chair, said Ms. Murdoch, describing the systems hospital in Gulfport, where staff have converted a surgical recovery room into an overflow I.C.U.

Last week, a husband and wife in their 40s, neither of whom were vaccinated, died within days of each other, she recalled. An unvaccinated 48-year-old nurse died on Monday. We had five people die, like room after room after room after room, just last Friday, she said.

In neighboring Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey reinstated Alabamas state of emergency last Friday, which had expired in early July, in an effort to expand hospital capacity. But Alabama ran out of I.C.U. beds earlier this week.

The surge worries Sara Miles Agee, a mother of young children in Mobile, where she said few people bother to wear masks and just 33 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

Its just really frustrating, she said. Were in dire straits down here. We have no I.C.U. beds. I dont know whats going to make people do the right thing.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas announced on Saturday that he had tested negative for the coronavirus, four days after testing positive. He said he will continue to quarantine at the recommendation of doctors.

In a video posted on Twitter, Mr. Abbott, 63, credited vaccines with protecting him from serious illness.

Im told my infection was brief and mild because of the vaccination I received, he said, So I encourage others who have not received the vaccination to consider getting one.

He added that Cecilia Abbott, his wife, continues to test negative.

Mr. Abbott, who did not experience symptoms from his infection and who began receiving monoclonal antibody treatment after his positive result, has been a vocal opponent of mask and vaccine mandates. In the days before he announced his test result, the governor attended multiple maskless indoor public events, including a crowded indoor political gathering hosted by a Republican club in Collin County, a hotly contested area of the fast-growing suburbs north of Dallas.

In Saturdays video, Mr. Abbott said he would continue working from the governors mansion, and planned to focus on opening facilities across the state where coronavirus patients can receive monoclonal antibody treatments. Texas health officials are hoping such centers can prevent patients from becoming seriously ill and alleviate pressure on overwhelmed hospitals across the state as infections reach levels not seen since January.

Phil Valentine, a prominent conservative radio host in Tennessee who refused to get vaccinated, then urged his followers to get a shot after being hospitalized with Covid-19, has died, his station said on Saturday.

Mr. Valentine scoffed at the need for vaccines, writing on his blog that his chances of dying from the virus, should he become infected, were way less than one percent.

He announced his Covid-19 diagnosis on July 11 and pledged to return to his show within a day or two.

Unfortunately for the haters out there, it looks like Im going to make it, he wrote. Interesting experience. Ill have to fill you in when I come back on the air. Im hoping that will be tomorrow, but I may take a day off just as a precaution.

Less than two weeks later, his radio station, 99.7 WTN, announced that the Nashville host was hospitalized in very serious condition, suffering from Covid pneumonia. The statement said Mr. Valentine had had a change of heart and urged others to get a vaccine.

Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an anti-vaxer he regrets not being more vehemently pro-vaccine, and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon, the station said.

Some people responded to the announcement with words of support for Mr. Valentine, while others said he deserved to get sick.

On Saturday, the station announced on Twitter that Mr. Valentine had died, urging followers to keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his wife, Jacqueline, have been hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19, Mr. Jacksons Rainbow PUSH Coalition said on Saturday in a statement.

Both were being treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, The Associated Press reported.

Doctors are currently monitoring the condition of both, the statement read. No further details were available about their condition. Mr. Jackson is 79, and Jacqueline Jackson is 77.

Mr. Jackson got vaccinated in January. He has been campaigning to convince more Black Americans to get inoculated.

Vaccination is imperative to save lives, particularly for African Americans, disproportionately the greatest victims of the virus, he said at the time.

He revealed in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinsons disease.

Mr. Jackson has been a civil rights advocate for more than 50 years and sought the Democratic presidential nominations in 1984 and 1988. He was a close associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The British government is starting an antibody surveillance program for adults who test positive for the coronavirus in order to develop a better understanding of its vaccine campaign and the immune response to different virus variants.

The program, which the U.K. Health Security Agency said would begin on Tuesday, will allow for up to 8,000 participants each day who book a P.C.R. test through the National Health Services test and trace program. However, the antibody tests, which will be free, will be sent only to those who test positive for the virus.

The information gathered will help gauge reinfection rates for those who had previously caught the virus, as well as measure breakthrough cases, and also study those who did not mount an immune response.

The British health secretary, Sajid Javid, said in a statement on Sunday that those who take part in the new public program would help strengthen our understanding of Covid-19 as we cautiously return to a more normal life.

Previously, antibody tests were mostly available for only clinical or research purposes.

The Health Security Agency said that it hoped that the data collected from the initiative would improve its understanding of the protection provided by antibodies after either infection or vaccination. It said the data could also provide insight about those who do not develop an immune response.

Upon testing positive for the coronavirus, those who have opted into the new program limited to those 18 and over will be sent two finger-prick antibody tests. The first must be done as soon as possible after the P.C.R. result, before the body has time to generate antibodies in response to the current infection, and the second 28 days later.

As the fourth wave of the coronavirus swells across the United States, driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, people who had booked late summer travel are now facing a familiar quandary: Should they once again cancel their plans?

For many among them, those who are vaccinated, headed to high-risk areas and concerned about breakthrough infections the answer is yes. New data shows that although vaccines provide strong protection against severe illness and hospitalization, even vaccinated people are at risk of contracting the virus and spreading it, and getting sick themselves.

But while the slowdown is puncturing hopes of a rebound after the travel industrys worst year in recent history, the dip in bookings is for now relatively small, according to travel advisers and hospitality companies. The hope is that the current situation will be more of a speed bump than a stoplight.

This week is the start of a new academic year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Most classes will be in classrooms after a year disrupted by the pandemic, with students and professors breathing the same air. And most people will be vaccinated.

The campus last week was just really just really thriving with excitement, said Robert J. Jones, the universitys chancellor.

During the 2020-21 academic year, the university implemented an ambitious experiment in virus surveillance. It included testing, two to three times a week, of tens of thousands of students, faculty members and staff members.

We still know of no hospitalizations or deaths caused by spread on our campus, said Martin D. Burke, a chemistry professor who led the universitys testing strategy.

A paper by Dr. Burke and other scientists argues that the universitys efforts benefited people beyond campus in the bordering towns of Champaign and Urbana. They reported the finding in a paper that has not yet been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

The analysis calculated the number of deaths expected for counties that are home to universities in the Big Ten athletic conference between July 6 and Dec. 23 last year, largely based on federal data but making adjustments for the social and economic makeup of the communities. For the University of Illinois, the number of deaths in Champaign County was significantly lower than expected, the researchers said, by 14.6 percent.

The Big Ten universities all imposed similar requirements for social distancing and masks, so the researchers argue that the comprehensive testing program at Illinois uniquely resulted in a protective effect for the communities in Champaign County.

Alex Perkins, a professor of biological sciences at Notre Dame, praised the paper overall but said the mortality analysis was not particularly convincing or conclusive.

A detailed analysis, Dr. Perkins said, would need to take into account the history of how the pandemic had played out in each community as well as nearby areas. I think it would take quite a lot of additional analysis to see how well that conclusion holds up, he said.

University officials acknowledge that during the year, there were missteps and that lessons were learned.

Carl T. Bergstrom, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Washington who had praised Illinoiss plan last year, said of the final tally, Its good, but its not great.

He added, It underscores how difficult control is in that kind of environment.

University officials are now grappling with the uncertainty arising from the Delta variant and how much testing and other measures will be needed.

Were still taking some of the same precautions, just to be on the safe side, Dr. Jones said. If the data and if the science says something different, we will turn on a dime. Absolutely.

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Covid-19 Vaccine and Variant News: Live Updates - The New York Times

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he has now tested negative for COVID-19, four days after testing positive for the virus.

I am told that my infection was brief and mild because of the vaccination I received, Abbott said in a video he posted on Twitter Saturday afternoon. So, I encourage others who have not yet received the vaccination to consider getting one.

Abbott said he will continue to quarantine as recommended by doctors and that the first lady, Cecilia Abbott, continues to test negative.

Abbott contracted the virus as the pandemic surges across Texas, with new cases and hospitalizations increasing to levels not seen since the wave in the winter, and the state nearing its previous pandemic peak.

The governor received Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment after testing positive. He said in the video statement he would continue working to open additional antibody therapy centers across the state. Texas recently opened nine antibody infusion centers statewide in an effort to reserve hospital capacity for the most serious cases and prevent hospitalizations.

Regeneron antibodies are recommended to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 for people 12 years and older who have tested positive and are at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19.

When Abbott announced he tested positive, he said he was not experiencing any symptoms. He did not say whether he experienced any symptoms throughout the past four days.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests negative for COVID-19 four days after positive test - The Texas Tribune

If Joe Bidens security staff are up to the mark, a new report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic will be placed on the presidents desk this week. His team was given 90 days in May to review the viruss origins after several US scientists indicated they were no longer certain about the source of Sars-CoV-2.

It will be intriguing to learn how Bidens team answers the critically important questions that still surround the origins of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Did it emerge because of natural viral spillovers from bats to another animal and then into humans? Or did it leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology? And, if so, had it been enhanced to make it especially virulent?

These are important questions to say the least. If we want to prevent another pandemic, it would be very useful to know how this one started. However, given the paucity of new information Bidens team will have unearthed over the past three months while the Chinese authorities have continued to provide little extra data it is unlikely hard answers will be provided this week.

Although allegations of a leak from the Wuhan institute had been aired by Donald Trump, and rejected flatly by the Chinese, little credence was given to the claim until May, when 18 leading scientists sent a letter to the journal Science in which they claimed both spillover and leak theories were equally plausible. They also accused a recent World Health Organization investigation at Wuhan of not giving a balanced consideration to both scenarios.

News that the lab leak theory was being taken seriously by the new US administration triggered an onslaught from commentators, who have since alleged that the scientific establishment has been covering up for Chinese scientists errors. Among these accusations was one from Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of MI6, who claimed that some scientific journals absolutely refused to publish anything that disagreed with the Chinese view.

The main evidence to support a lab leak rests on the failure of scientists to pinpoint the intermediate animal that picked up the virus from bats and passed it to humans. In addition, the Wuhan institute is home to a laboratory that is headed by the virologist Shi Zhengli, who tracked down the bat origins of the last coronavirus Sars epidemic.

Her team specialises in collecting coronaviruses. Thus, one of the worlds coronavirus research centres was situated in the city where Covid-19 first materialised a coincidence that some conspiracy advocates find too much to accept.

Shi has rejected claims she had been working on enhancing a new virus to make it more virulent or that she or her staff had been infected with a new coronavirus that they had collected, a view supported by a recent review by scientists in the journal Cell: Despite extensive contact tracing of early cases during the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been no reported cases related to any laboratory staff at the WIV [Wuhan Institute of Virology] and all staff in the laboratory of Dr Shi Zhengli were said to be seronegative for Sars-CoV-2 when tested in March 2020, it states.

The fact that Sars-CoV-2 is highly transmissible among humans has also raised suspicions that it had been genetically enhanced. This notion is dismissed by Professor David Robertson, of Glasgow Universitys centre for virus research.

Yes, the virus is spread by asymptomatic carriers and that is perfect for human transmission. So how does a natural virus like that come into existence? It is so good at infecting humans, after all. But it is not just a human virus. We find it in pangolins. It goes from humans to mink very easily and it has infected deer in the US. It isnt a human- adapted virus. It is what we call a generalist or promiscuous virus.

However, the prospect that Covid-19 emerged from a lab leak was taken very seriously by some senior scientists, including Sir Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust. As he makes clear in his recent book, Spike: The Virus v the People, his initial horrified reaction to the emergence of Covid-19 was that it could have escaped from a virus research centre. Only intense consultations with other researchers caused him to change his mind.

As things currently stand, the evidence strongly suggests that Covid-19 arose after a natural spillover event, but nobody is yet in a position to rule out an alternative, he said.

This point is backed by Professor James Wood, of Cambridge University. I think there is very strong evidence for this being caused by natural spillovers but that argument simply does not suit some political groups. They promote the idea that Covid-19 was caused by a lab leak because such a claim deflects attention from increasing evidence that indicates biodiversity loss, deforestation and wildlife trade which increase the dangers of natural spillovers are the real dangers that we face from pandemics.

In other words, fiddling with viruses in laboratories is not the dangerous activity. The real threat comes from the wildlife trade, bulldozing rainforests and clearing wildernesses to provide land for farms and to gain access to mines. As vegetation and wildlife are destroyed, countless species of viruses and the bacteria they host are set loose to seek new hosts, such as humans and domestic livestock. This has happened with HIV, Sars and very probably Covid-19.

And that, for many scientists, is the real lesson of Covid-19.

This article was amended on 22 August 2021 to refer to Shi Zhengli at second mention as Shi, that being her surname.

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The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science - The Guardian

Heres what you need to know:Pfizer vaccines were administered at the St. John Chrysostom Catholic Parish in The Bronx on Sunday.Credit...James Estrin/The New York Times

The Food and Drug Administration is pushing to approve Pfizer-BioNTechs two-dose Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, further expediting an earlier timeline for licensing the shot, according to people familiar with the agencys planning.

Regulators were working to finish the process by Friday but were still working through a substantial amount of paperwork and negotiation with the company. The people familiar with the planning, who were not authorized to speak publicly about it, cautioned that the approval might slide beyond Monday if some components of the review need more time.

An F.D.A. spokeswoman declined to comment.

The agency had recently set an unofficial deadline for approval of around Labor Day.

The approval is expected to pave the way for a series of vaccination requirements by public and private organizations who were awaiting final regulatory action before putting in effect mandates. Federal and state health officials are also hoping that an approved vaccine will draw interest from some Americans who have been hesitant to take one that was only authorized for emergency use, a phenomenon suggested by recent polling.

Some universities and hospitals are expected to mandate inoculation once a vaccine is fully approved. The Pentagon this month said it planned to make Covid vaccinations mandatory for the countrys 1.3 million active-duty troops no later than the middle of next month, or sooner if the F.D.A. acts earlier.

Once it obtains the approval, Pfizer-BioNTech is planning to quickly ask the F.D.A. to approve a third dose as a booster shot. The Biden administration on Wednesday announced that fully vaccinated adults should prepare to get booster shots eight months after they received their second doses, beginning Sept. 20. Pfizer is expected to finish submitting data that it says shows a third shot is safe and effective next week.

The F.D.A. last week updated its authorizations of Pfizer-BioNTechs and Modernas vaccines to allow third doses for some immunocompromised people, a decision backed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Regulators are still reviewing Modernas application for full approval for its coronavirus vaccine, and a decision could come at least several weeks after the one for Pfizer-BioNTech. Moderna is planning to submit its data in support of a booster shot in September.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and utility officials asked residents to conserve water Friday to preserve the citys supply of liquid oxygen, which is being used to treat a surging number of Covid-19 patients.

During a Friday afternoon news conference, Linda Ferrone of the Orlando Utilities Commission asked residents to refrain from using excess water and to be prepared to do so for at least several weeks.

A Delta variant-driven surge has made Florida one of the nations worst-hit states, with new cases recently topping their winter peak. Hospitalizations in Orange County, where Orlando is, are up 58 percent over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Deaths in the Orlando area have overwhelmed crematoriums, which are running out of room to store bodies, local media reported.

The New York Times has previously reported on supply chain issues and oxygen shortages during the pandemic in India, northern Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere.

Its critical that we continue to work together and each one of us do our part, as we have done throughout this pandemic, to mitigate the impacts the virus continues to have on our community, Mayor Dyer said during the news conference. While this is another new challenge, I know that as a community, working together, we can overcome it with the help of our residents and businesses.

The leader of the school board of Orange County has said the district should begin mandating masks in its schools.

That would defy the states Republican governor, who has refused to budge on his ban on mask mandates, though several school districts have gone ahead with them.

According to documents obtained by Politico, educators in Broward and Alachua counties have received orders from the state to reverse their mask requirements within 48 hours or face losing their salaries. President Biden stated earlier this week that his Education Department may take legal action to deter states from barring universal masking in classrooms.

Rice University, a private institution in Houston, has done its best to build a wall against the Delta variant engulfing the state of Texas by imposing stringent requirements for being on campus.

Unlike the states public universities, which cannot mandate vaccines or masks, Rice requires student and faculty members to wear masks and has testing protocols for all visitors. And while Rice has not risked running afoul of Texas law by requiring vaccines, it has told students they are expected to be vaccinated.

Still, the virus has surged in Houston, and on Thursday, Rice became the second university in the state to shift classes online, dampening hopes for a return to normal college life this fall. Rice delayed the start of school by two days until Aug. 25 and said that classes would remain online through Sept. 3.

It also said that members of the Rice community had tested positive for Covid despite the high vaccination rates 98.5 percent among the student body.

Ill be blunt: the level of breakthrough cases (positive testing among vaccinated persons) is much higher than anticipated, Bridget Gorman, the dean of undergraduates, wrote in a letter to the schools 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students. The university didnt specify how many breakthrough cases there were.

More than 12,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in Texas, where officials have prohibited both masks and vaccine mandates, and where Gov. Greg Abbott recently tested positive.

Were in a hot spot right now, said Rices president, David Leebron, adding that the decision to move temporarily to remote classes was made to give the university time to assess the results of its recent testing.

Having new information of concern, as people worry about breakthrough infections, as people with children are worried around those issues, we wanted to have a little bit of time to gather data and look at it more carefully, he said.

Rice was the second Texas university that has announced a move to remote learning. Last week, the University of Texas at San Antonio said it would begin with mostly remote classes, citing the citys high infection rate.

Face masks will be required in all public indoor spaces in Boston starting Aug. 27, the citys mayor, Kim Janey, announced on Friday. The measure is intended to impede the spread of the coronaviruss extremely transmissible Delta variant.

We know that masks work best when everyone wears one, Ms. Janey said in a statement. Requiring masks indoors is a proactive public health measure to limit transmission of the Delta variant, boost the public confidence in our businesses and venues, and protect the residents of our city who are too young for vaccination.

Bostons Public Health Commission issued the order not long before more than 50,000 college students return to the area and more than 50,000 public school students start class, the city said in a release.

The seven-day average of new reported cases in Suffolk County, which includes Boston, has been above 140 for more than a week, up from fewer than 10 in late June, and hospitalizations have also increased, according to data compiled by The New York Times though both numbers are well below their peaks from last winter.

Boston joins San Francisco, Los Angeles County, Chicago and Washington, D.C., on the list of cities that have instituted similar mandates. However, New York City, which has a strict requirement that patrons and employees of indoor establishments provide proof of at least one vaccine shot, has not imposed a mask rule.

And Republican governors in hard-hit states like Florida and Texas have banned mask mandates, though some districts and municipalities have imposed them anyway.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, also a Republican, has not taken as strong a stance, but he has so far declined to impose a mask mandate for the commonwealths public schools, despite a strong push to do so from Massachusettss largest teachers union.

In a radio interview earlier this month, Mr. Baker said he thought such decisions were better left to localities.

Im not going to get into making decisions that I believe in many cases ought to be driven, at the end of the day, by the folks at the local level who know those communities best, Mr. Baker said.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said earlier this week that it will not sanction religious exemptions to Covid vaccine mandates, joining a growing chorus of other Catholic dioceses that are declining to give their parishioners an excuse for not getting inoculated.

Individuals may wish to pursue an exemption from vaccination based on their own reasons of conscience, Kenneth A. Gavin, the chief of communications for the archdiocese, wrote in a statement. In such cases, the burden to support such a request is not one for the local Church or its clergy to validate. Neither the Archdiocese nor its parishes would support exemption requests, he said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the news on Wednesday.

Other dioceses around the country, including those of New York City, San Diego and Honolulu, have made similar statements. Some, like that of El Paso, Texas, have even imposed vaccine requirements for their employees.

The Vatican announced in February a vaccine requirement for its employees in Rome, but quickly reversed the rule after criticism.

The issue has become a matter of contention within the church, as it has within the broader society, with more conservative church leaders supporting people who choose not to get vaccinated while more progressive ones, like Pope Francis, argue in favor of vaccines.

Earlier this week the Pontiff released a public service advertisement in which he called getting vaccinated against Covid-19 an act of love.

But for many Catholics some vaccines are morally questionable, because they can be developed using human cell lines derived from fetuses aborted decades ago, and mandating them is seen by some as an infringement on individual liberties.

Bishops in South Dakota, for instance, have argued in favor of religious exemptions for vaccination.

A Catholic may, after consideration of relevant information and moral principles, discern it to be right or wrong to receive one of the available Covid-19 vaccines, two bishops wrote in a public letter earlier this month. If he or she thus comes to the sure conviction in conscience that they should not receive it, we believe this is a sincere religious belief, as they are bound before God to follow their conscience. We support any Catholic who has come to this conviction in seeking religious exemption from any Covid-19 requirement.

For his part, Francis said getting vaccinated against the virus was a moral act.

Getting the vaccines that are authorized by the respective authorities is an act of love, and helping the majority of people to do so is an act of love, Francis said in the advertisement. Getting vaccinated is a simple yet profound way to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable.

Shefali S. Kulkarni contributed reporting.

An antibody drug developed by AstraZeneca was strongly effective in preventing Covid in a study that mostly enrolled high-risk people, the company announced on Friday.

The findings raise hopes that the drug, which is easier to administer and designed to stay in the body for much longer than the available antibody treatments for Covid, could provide long-lasting protection for people with weakened immune systems who do not respond well to vaccination.

AstraZeneca said it would ask regulators to authorize the therapy, though it is not clear who the company will seek to reach with the drug.

Some people with weakened immune systems became eligible last week to start receiving third doses of the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, a decision prompted by data indicating that they were not sufficiently protected by an initial series of shots.

But some immunocompromised people remain ineligible, and even a third shot may not be enough protection for others.

There are tens of thousands of patients for whom a drug like this is really important, said Dr. Myron Cohen, a University of North Carolina researcher who has worked on monoclonal studies but was not involved in AstraZenecas trial. I get emails every day from people who say, I cannot respond to a vaccine. What can I do? Or, Can you help me?

Antibody drugs are becoming an increasingly important tool in the United States as hospitals have been overwhelmed with cases caused by the Delta variant. The treatments, designed to mimic the immune response generated naturally in response to an infection, have almost entirely been used to keep vulnerable people who are already sick with Covid from getting worse.

But AstraZenecas drug is the latest to show that the therapies can also help people before theyre infected.

The antibody drug being predominantly used in the United States, from Regeneron, was recently authorized to prevent Covid-19 in a limited number of high-risk patients, including people with certain health conditions who are not vaccinated or may not mount an adequate immune response. Those people are eligible to get the treatment for prevention if they have been exposed to the virus or live in nursing homes or prisons.

AstraZenecas trial, which enrolled more than 5,000 people in the United States and Europe, found that people who received the treatment had a 77 percent reduced risk of developing Covid within six months compared to people who got a placebo.

Dr. Rajesh Gandhi, an infectious diseases physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that he and other physicians would welcome another treatment option. With Delta and other variants, the more tools we have, the better, he said. And so this in my mind, is potentially another tool, especially if it prevents symptomatic Covid in those at most risk.

For weeks in June and July, workers at a Maine factory making one of Americas most popular rapid tests for Covid-19 were given a task that shocked them: take apart millions of the products they had worked so hard to create and stuff them into garbage bags.

Soon afterward, the manufacturer, Abbott Laboratories, announced layoffs, canceled contracts with suppliers and shuttered the only other plant making the test, in Illinois, dismissing a work force of 2,000. This is all about money, Andy Wilkinson, a site manager, told the workers in Maine.

As virus cases in the U.S. plummeted this spring, so did Abbotts Covid-testing sales. But now, amid a new surge in infections, steps the company took to eliminate stock and wind down manufacturing are hobbling efforts to expand screening as the highly contagious Delta strain rages across the country. Demand for its 15-minute antigen test, is soaring again as people return to schools and offices.

Yet Abbott has reportedly told thousands of newly interested companies that it cannot equip their testing programs in the near future. CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens locations have been selling out of the at-home version, and Amazon shows shipping delays of up to three weeks. Abbott is scrambling to hire back hundreds of workers.

America was notoriously slow in rolling out testing in the early days of the pandemic, and the story of the Abbott tests is a microcosm of the larger challenges of ensuring that the private sector can deliver the tools needed to fight public health crises, both before they happen and during the twists and turns of an actual event.

Businesses crave certainty, and pandemics dont lend certainty to demand, said Stephen S. Tang, chief executive of OraSure Technologies, which in the midst of the testing slump in June received emergency F.D.A. authorization for its own rapid test, InteliSwab, long in development. But the company is not yet supplying retail stores.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sean Parsons, chief executive of Ellume, the Australian manufacturer of a competitor rapid test, said this week that demand was 1,000 times greater than forecast and the company was racing to set up a U.S. plant.

Abbotts decisions have ramifications even beyond the United States. Employees in Maine, many of them immigrants from African countries, were upset at having to discard what might have been donated. Other countries probably could have used the materials, according to Dr. Sergio Carmona, chief medical officer of FIND, a nonprofit that promotes access to diagnostics.

This makes me feel sick, he said of the destruction, noting that more than a dozen African nations have no domestic funds to buy Covid tests.

In an interview, Robert B. Ford, Abbotts chief executive, argued that the discarded materials finished test cards should not be viewed as tests. Kits for sale also include swabs, liquid buffer and instructions.

Emily Anthes contributed reporting.

Signature Theater, a prominent Off Broadway nonprofit, has postponed its return to the stage over concerns about the persistent coronavirus pandemic, becoming the first major New York theater to take such a step.

The theaters leadership announced the postponement Friday afternoon, just days before rehearsals were to begin for Infinite Life, a new play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker, who was also planning to direct the work. The production was supposed to run from Oct. 5 to Nov. 7.

Due to ongoing health and safety concerns, Signature Theater and Annie Baker have decided to postpone the upcoming production of Infinite Life, the theater said in a statement. Signature will continue, in discussion with artists, to evaluate on a case-by-case basis how to proceed with other programming planned for this season. The company and artist agree that this is the best choice for this show at this time.

Around the country, there have been a number of cancellations and postponements of pop music tour dates and festivals because of the rise in coronavirus cases caused by the spread of the Delta variant. There have been several theater postponements in California, including at Berkeley Repertory Theater, which recently cited the Delta variant in delaying until next year a Christina Anderson play that had been scheduled to begin in October.

It is unclear whether the postponement of Infinite Life is an outlier or a first indication that the theater industry is getting cold feet about the many reopenings planned this fall, on Broadway and off. Two Broadway shows, Springsteen on Broadway and Pass Over, are already running, and 15 more plan to start next month; there are also some plays already running in commercial and nonprofit venues around the city, and many of the citys larger nonprofits plan to resume presenting shows during the fall.

New York Citys high school student athletes and coaches participating in high-risk sports will have to be vaccinated in order to play, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday. The announcement represents the first student vaccine mandate in New York City, and could set the stage for broader mandates for the citys roughly 1 million public school students later this year.

About 20,000 students and staff about half of the total Public School Athletic League will have to receive at least one vaccine dose by the first day of competitive play. That means students with fall seasons, including football and volleyball players, will have to be at least partially vaccinated by the first few weeks of school.

But students who play winter and spring sports like basketball, ice hockey and lacrosse, along with wrestlers, have several months before they have to start the vaccination process. And more than 20,000 students and staff who participate in sports considered low-risk, including baseball, soccer, tennis, track and gymnastics, will not have to be vaccinated.

Private schools can determine their own mandates for student athletes.

The first day of school for all students is Sept. 13, which means eligible students who are still unvaccinated will not be fully protected by the start of school, even if they begin their vaccination process immediately. Just under 60 percent of all eligible New Yorkers ages 12 to 17 have received at least one dose, according to the city, but its not clear how many of those children are public school students.

The mandate follows guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that students playing contact sports should be vaccinated to prevent canceled or virtual sports seasons. Last year, some districts across the country saw higher transmission among high-risk sports teams than in classrooms.

The state of Hawaii has already mandated vaccines for its high school student athletes. But vaccine requirements for eligible public school students remain extremely rare. The Culver City school district in California is believed to be the first district in the country to issue a broad vaccine mandate for all its eligible students.

A federal appeals court has allowed the Biden administrations replacement evictions moratorium to stay in place for now, issuing a swift ruling on Friday in a politically charged case that is speeding its way toward the Supreme Court.

In a one-page, unsigned order, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to block the government from enforcing the emergency public-health policy while a legal challenge to it brought by landlords, including the Alabama Association of Realtors, plays out.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment. But Patrick Newton, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, which is not a party to the case but supports the landlords and has been speaking on their behalf, expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would now move quickly to block the policy.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed the evictions moratorium on Aug. 3 in counties where Covid-19 is raging, a category that currently covers about 91 percent of counties in the United States. It replaced an earlier nationwide ban on evictions that had been in effect since September and was extended several times.

The ban ultimately expired in July, a month after the Supreme Court allowed the moratorium to continue but strongly suggested that five justices would block the policy if the government extended it past its scheduled expiration.

President Biden, who initially had no intention of reviving the ban, reversed course in early August after coming under intense pressure to act by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats. In the interim, the Delta variant sent new coronavirus cases soaring even as it became clear that most of the $46.5 billion that Congress had appropriated for emergency rental assistance funds had yet to reach tenants.

Of the 1.5 million nursing home staff members in the United States, some 540,000 are unvaccinated. Their fate could be directly impacted by a policy announced on Wednesday by President Biden requiring all nursing home employees to be vaccinated, with the rules likely to take effect sometime in September. Facilities that fail to meet that target could face fines or lose eligibility to receive federal reimbursement, a vital source of income for many.

The practical effect is that workers will have to be vaccinated or lose their jobs.

Janet Snipes manages Holly Heights Care Center in Denver. She wants to see all nursing home workers vaccinated, but not at the risk of losing employees who wont comply, in an industry with a high turnover rate and a labor shortage.

Ms. Snipes said several employees had told her that they might leave, including one she described as her best nurse. Getting vaccinated is the safest thing for our residents and our staff, but we feel strongly he needs to mandate for all health care settings, Ms. Snipes said of Mr. Biden. We cant afford to lose staff to hospitals and assisted living facilities.

Several major nursing home chains, and some states, have already imposed vaccine mandates. Industry officials said inoculations were strongly advised, but their position on the new policy echoed that of Ms. Snipes.

We will lose tens of thousands, maybe hundred thousands, of workers, said Mark Parkinson, president and chief executive of the American Health Care Association, a major nursing home trade group.

Dr. Lee A. Fleisher, chief medical officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said recent data indicated a direct relationship between rising infections at nursing homes and unvaccinated staff.

Of the 625,000 Covid deaths in the United States to date, nearly one-fifth 133,700 have been nursing home residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The industry is again experiencing rising infection rates and deaths among residents, although none approaching the peak figures of last year.

Global Roundup

The lockdown in Sydney, Australias largest city, has been extended for another month as a Delta outbreak continues to surge.

Sydney has now recorded over 10,000 infections and 65 deaths since the outbreak began in mid-June. This week, daily case numbers jumped from the 400s to the 600s, forcing the state government to extend the lockdown, which began in late June, to Sept. 30. It had previously been scheduled to be lifted later this month.

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Covid News: F.D.A. Expected to Fully Approve Pfizer Vaccine Next Week - The New York Times

Most researchers say the screens most likely help in very specific situations. A bus driver, for instance, shielded from the public by a floor-to-ceiling barrier is probably protected from inhaling much of what passengers are exhaling. A bank cashier behind a wall of glass or a clerk checking in patients in a doctors office may be at least partly protected by a barrier.

A study by researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati tested different sized transparent barriers in an isolation room using a cough simulator. The study, which hasnt yet been peer-reviewed, found that under the right conditions, taller shields, above cough height, stopped about 70 percent of the particles from reaching the particle counter on the other side, which is where the store or salon worker would be sitting or standing.

But the studys authors noted the limitations of the research, particularly that the experiment was conducted under highly controlled conditions. The experiment took place in an isolation room with consistent ventilation rates that didnt accurately reflect all real-world situations, the report said.

The study didnt consider that workers and customers move around, that other people could be in the room breathing the redirected particles and that many stores and classrooms have several stations with acrylic barriers, not just one, that impede normal air flow.

While further research is needed to determine the effect of adding transparent shields around school or office desks, all the aerosol experts interviewed agreed that desk shields were unlikely to help and were likely to interfere with the normal ventilation of the room. Depending on the conditions, the plastic shields could cause viral particles to accumulate in the room.

If there are aerosol particles in the classroom air, those shields around students wont protect them, said Richard Corsi, the incoming dean of engineering at the University of California, Davis. Depending on the air flow conditions in the room, you can get a downdraft into those little spaces that youre now confined in and cause particles to concentrate in your space.

Aerosol scientists say schools and workplaces should focus on encouraging workers and eligible students to be vaccinated, improving ventilation, adding HEPA air filtering machines when needed and imposing mask requirements all of which are proven ways to reduce virus transmission.

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Why Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers May Make Things Worse - The New York Times