Category Archives: Corona Virus

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

Small aerosol particles spewed while people breathe, talk and sing may contain more coronavirus than larger moisture droplets do. And the coronavirus may be evolving to spread more easily through the air, a new study suggests. But there is also good news: Masks can help.

About 85 percent of coronavirus RNA detected in COVID-19 patients breath was found in fine aerosol particles less than five micrometers in size, researchers in Singapore report August 6 in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The finding is the latest evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is spread mainly through the air in fine droplets that may stay suspended for hours rather than in larger droplets that quickly fall to the ground and contaminate surfaces.

Similar to that result, Donald Milton at the University of Maryland in College Park and colleagues found that people who carried the alpha variant had 18 times as much viral RNA in aerosols than people infected with less-contagious versions of the virus. That study, posted August 13 at medRxiv.org, has not been yet been peer reviewed. It also found that loose-fitting masks could cut the amount of virus-carrying aerosols by nearly half.

In one experiment, the Maryland team grew the virus from the air samples in the lab. That could be evidence that may convince some reluctant experts to embrace the idea that the virus spreads mainly through the air.

The debate over aerosol transmission has been ongoing since nearly the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, 200 scientists wrote a letter to the World Health Organization asking for the organization to acknowledge aerosol spread of the virus (SN: 7/7/20). In April, the WHO upgraded its information on transmission to include aerosols (SN: 5/18/21). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had acknowledged aerosols as the most likely source of spread just a few weeks before.

Previous studies in monkeys have also suggested that more virus ends up in aerosols than in large droplets. But some experts say that direct evidence that the virus spreads mainly through the air is still lacking.

Theres lots of indirect evidence that the airborne route breathing it in is dominant, says Linsey Marr, a civil and environmental engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who studies viruses in the air. She was one of the 200 scientists who wrote to the WHO last year. Airborne is a loaded word in infection control circles, she says, requiring health care workers to isolate patients in special rooms, wear protective equipment and take other costly and resource-intensive measures to stop the spread of the disease. For those reasons, infection control experts have been reluctant to call the coronavirus airborne without especially strong proof.

Most COVID-19 cases have been among close household contacts typically within the 6-feet splash zone of large droplets. It can be hard to tease out whether such infections were passed on by large droplet contamination or by breathing the same air. But for other situations, such as when patrons get infected while sitting across a restaurant from someone with COVID-19, aerosols are really the only explanation, Marr says.

Mechanical engineer Kwok Wai Tham of the National University of Singapore set out to sample how much virus COVID-19 patients produce when they breathe, talk or sing, in part, to address skeptics concerns. Im doing this to convince some very close friends, he says. He and colleagues rolled a mobile lab into 22 patients rooms and had volunteers stick their heads into a large metal cone.

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The researchers collected both aerosols and larger droplets that the patients exhaled while breathing quietly for 30 minutes, while repeating passages from Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham for 15 minutes, or while singing simple tunes like the Happy Birthday song, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or the ABCs for 15 minutes. The scientists tested both aerosols and large droplets in the air samples for coronavirus RNA and calculated how many copies of the viruss nucleocapsid protein gene, or N gene, were present. That gives an estimate of how much virus is in a sample.

Of the 22 patients who sang for science, only 13 spewed forth detectable levels of viral RNA. In general, singing created the most virus-laden aerosols, but some people generated more while talking. Those differences might be attributable to the volume at which volunteers sang, Tham says. Some people were shy and sang softer. Others were quite uninhibited.

The overall amount of virus that people produced varied widely. Scientists already knew that some people are more likely to spread the virus than others, including some people involved in superspreading events (SN: 6/18/20). In this new study, the differences werent due to symptoms some asymptomatic people made more virus than those with fevers, coughs or runny noses.

Only one factor stood out as affecting the amount of virus emitted. People who were earlier in the course of infection tended to produce more virus, the researchers found. That agrees with data from lab animal studies and other human studies suggesting that people are most contagious in the first week after catching the coronavirus (SN: 3/13/20).

So far, Thams skeptical virologist friends arent convinced that hes demonstrated that aerosol transmission is the major route of COVID-19 spread. They say, we need the golden evidence. Show me a live virus that is retrieved from the air, Tham says.

Viral RNA could be debris from dead viruses that cant cause infection, says Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved in either study. In the absence of infectious virus, the significance of aerosols on transmission is still a bit unclear.

The study from the Maryland group may provide that evidence. In that study, people with asymptomatic or mild coronavirus cases recited the ABCs, shouted Go Terps! (the Maryland mascot) or sang Happy Birthday into a similar device. In this study, the infected people did the activities once while wearing a mask and once while not wearing one.

About 45 percent of fine aerosol particles contained viral RNA, as did 31 percent of coarse aerosols larger than 5 micrometers and 65 percent of droplets called fomites collected from swabs of the volunteers mobile phones, the researchers found.

In addition, the increased amount of alpha variant in aerosols may suggest that the coronavirus is evolving toward more efficient airborne spread, the researchers propose. The study was done from May 2020 to April 2021, before the delta variant began its surge in the United States.

Researchers were able to grow infectious virus from two of 66 aerosol samples, both collected while people were wearing masks. None of the coarse aerosols or fomites yielded any infectious virus.

Although the Maryland group used an efficient way to look for infectious virus in aerosols, it was still rare to find them, Pekosz says. It would be difficult to make the case that this was what is responsible for increased spread of alpha.

But Marr says the data do suggest the coronavirus is evolving toward more efficient spread through the air. Although the study involved only four patients infected with alpha, those people consistently released more virus than people infected with other variants. These results combined with epidemiological observations about the spread of alpha, and now delta, support the idea that these variants are supercharged when it comes to aerosol transmission, she says.

The masks volunteers wore in the Maryland study were mostly loose-fitting. They ranged from a single-layer homemade cloth mask early on and progressed over the course of the study to double-layer commercially made cloth masks, to double masks, surgical masks and one KN95 mask by the end. On average, the masks reduced the number of virus-containing, coarse aerosols produced by 77 percent compared with no mask. And virus-laden fine aerosols were reduced an average of 48 percent, though the reduction ranged from 3 percent to 72 percent. Masks performed equally well against the alpha variant as for other variants. Previous studies have suggested that well-fitting masks ones that seal tightly to the face and dont leave gaps at the tops, bottoms or sides for the virus to pass unfiltered may reduce coronavirus exposure by 96 percent if everyone is wearing them (SN: 2/12/21).

The latest results suggest that masks can help reduce the amount of virus people give off, though the coronavirus can still escape if the face coverings are worn loosely. With the dominance of newer, more contagious variants than those we studied, increased attention to improved ventilation, filtration, air sanitation, and use of high-quality tight-fitting face masks or respirators will be increasingly important for controlling the pandemic, the researchers wrote. Thats especially important in places with low vaccination rates.

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New studies hint that the coronavirus may be evolving to become more airborne - Science News Magazine

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This photo provided by Christina Tidmore shows Josh Tidmore Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 at Marshall Medical Center South in Boaz, Ala. Healthy and in their 30s, Christina and Josh Tidmore figured they were low-risk for COVID-19, and with conflicting viewpoints filling their social media feeds and social circles, they decided to wait to get vaccinated. On July 20, Josh came home from work with a slight cough they initially thought was sinus trouble. On Aug. 11, he died of COVID-19 at a north Alabama hospital as Tidmore watched a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband. (Christina Tidmore via AP)

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This photo provided by Christina Tidmore shows Josh Tidmore Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021 at Marshall Medical Center South in Boaz, Ala. Healthy and in their 30s, Christina and Josh Tidmore figured they were low-risk for COVID-19, and with conflicting viewpoints filling their social media feeds and social circles, they decided to wait to get vaccinated. On July 20, Josh came home from work with a slight cough they initially thought was sinus trouble. On Aug. 11, he died of COVID-19 at a north Alabama hospital as Tidmore watched a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband. (Christina Tidmore via AP)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Healthy and in their 30s, Christina and Josh Tidmore figured they were low-risk for COVID-19. With conflicting viewpoints about whether to get vaccinated against the virus filling their social media feeds and social circles, they decided to wait.

On July 20, Josh came home from work with a slight cough initially thought to be sinus trouble. On Aug. 11, he died of COVID-19 at a north Alabama hospital as Christina Tidmore witnessed a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband.

She would say, I need a pulse. I would hear, no pulse, Christina Tidmore said through tears. They were trying so hard.

Nobody should go through this. He was only 36 and Im 35 and we have three kids.

She is now imploring young adults not to dismiss the risk and to consider getting vaccinated.

Josh was completely healthy, active, not a smoker. He would have turned 37 on Saturday.

Doctors say they are seeing a spike in cases among young adults and children as the highly contagious delta variant sweeps through unvaccinated populations. Medical officials say there is conflicting information on whether it makes people more severely ill or whether young people are more vulnerable to it, but its clear the contagiousness means more young people and children are getting sick.

There is no question that the average age of people who are being hospitalized is going down, State Health Officer Scott Harris said Friday.

I dont know if its clear that delta is worse in that age group or worse than any of the strains weve seen before. ... But what you have though is one that is just much, much more transmissible. Because seniors are the ones that are predominately the vaccinated population in our state, the most vulnerable are these younger people. So you see them getting infected at much higher rates than we had before.

In the past four weeks, people ages 25 to 49 years, made up 14% of all COVID deaths in the state. And people 50 to 64 years made up about 29%.

The state is also seeing a surge in COVID cases among children, although deaths so far have been rare. The state this week set a record for pediatric hospitalizations with 50 children hospitalized with COVID-19.

In the past four weeks, 6% of cases of COVID-19 in Alabama have been among children under five while 8% have been among children between the ages of five and 17, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

I am very concerned that the children of Alabama are experiencing more illness and hospitalizations as a result of COVID-19. Children can and do contract and spread COVID-19 disease. COVID-19 can be a very serious illness in children with at least 6% of children experiencing long-term consequences of this disease, said Dr. Karen Landers, a pediatrician with the Alabama Department of Public Health.

The Alabama Hospital Association said this week that 85% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

Christina Tidmore also had COVID-19 but recovered. She said she and her husband were not against vaccines - their children are current on their childhood immunizations.

But the couple was unsure about the coronavirus vaccine due to conflicting viewpoints on their social media feeds and in conversations.

She said that they didnt know hardly anybody that had gotten real sick and figured we would be OK. Josh himself in the spring shared an article critical of Dr. Anthony Fauci, writing, this is why I dont believe 99.9% of whats said about this virus.

Now, eligible family members are getting their coronavirus shots.

Its just a fight out there. This side and that side, and political garbage. ... You dont know who to believe, she said. Christina Tidmore said she has no doubt that they would have made a different choice now, knowing so many more people who have contracted the virus.

A jokester with a heart of gold, Josh loved to help others and to make people laugh, especially kids. He sauntered into Easter and Christmas gatherings wearing an inflatable dinosaur costume and ran around hugging family members. He would cheerfully photobomb beachgoers. He didnt hesitate to rush to help a motorcyclist injured in an accident near the north Alabama church his grandparents founded.

He could make you feel better when nobody else could. He would listen. He genuinely cared about everybody, Christina Tidmore said.

The family is relying on their faith to get through and Christina Tidmore wants to share her husbands story to help people as Josh would have wanted.

If you can try to save your life, then you probably should, she said of vaccinations.

I have lots of feelings and lots of regret and lots of what ifs, she said. you dont want to do that. You dont.

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Follow more of APs pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

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Though young and healthy, unvaccinated father dies of COVID - Associated Press

New Jersey on Sunday reported another 1,477 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2 more confirmed deaths, while statewide coronavirus hospitalizations were above 900 for the fourth straight day.

All 21 counties now have a high rate of virus transmission, according to a daily tracker from to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the agencys guidance, people in all 21 counties are recommended to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status.

The Garden States seven-day average for newly confirmed positive tests increased Saturday to 1,555. Thats 7% more than a week ago and 214% higher than a month ago. Its the states highest average since May 3.

The delta variant accounted for 96% of cases in New Jersey based on a sampling of positive tests over the last two weeks of July, according to state data.

There were 927 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or suspected cases across New Jerseys 71 hospitals on Saturday night four more than the previous night and the most since May 14, when there were 930 people hospitalized. There were 136 patients discharged Saturday.

Of those hospitalized, 187 were in intensive care (three fewer than the night before), with 85 on ventilators (10 more).

Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce soon that New Jersey will require teachers to be vaccinated against the virus. It wasnt immediately clear whether Murphy would allow teachers to opt out in exchange for regular testing, which is being done in California.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter| Homepage

Though numbers have been climbing, hospitalizations and deaths in New Jersey have not risen anywhere near the pandemics peaks. More than 3,800 patients were hospitalized during the second peak in December. And New Jerseys numbers overall are not as bad as other states. That, officials say, is due at least in part to the states relatively high vaccination rate.

More than 5.47 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey have now been fully vaccinated in more than seven months since inoculations began, according to state data. About 4 million residents remain unvaccinated.

New Jerseys statewide transmission rate held steady at 1.25 for the second day in a row. But any number over 1 indicates that each new case is leading to more than one additional case and shows the states outbreak is expanding.

An early coronavirus hotspot, New Jersey has now reported 26,752 total COVID-19 deaths in more than 17 months 24,031 confirmed and 2,721 considered probable, according to the state dashboard. Thats the most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.

In all, the state of 9.2 million residents has reported 937,187 total confirmed cases out of more than 14.91 million PCR tests since it announced its first case March 4, 2020. The state has also reported 137,003 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.

Murphy said last week that of New Jerseys 4,332 positive tests between July 20-26, nearly 18% were so-called breakthrough cases of those who had been fully vaccinated, which is up from previous weeks.

As of Sunday there have been more than 211 million positive COVID-19 cases reported across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 4.4 million people having died due to the virus. The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 37.6 million) and deaths (more than 628,300) than any other nation.

Nearly 4.89 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally.

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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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1,477 new cases, 2 COVID deaths announced in N.J. on Sunday - NJ.com

Rice University, a private institution in Houston, has done its best to build a wall against the Delta variant that is engulfing the state of Texas.

Unlike the states public universities, which cannot mandate vaccines or masks, Rice said it expected students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus adopting language that stopped short of violating Texas law and imposed stringent requirements for being on campus. It requires students and faculty members to wear masks indoors.

But as the virus surges in Houston, Rice became the second university in the state to shift classes online. On Thursday, the university announced that it had delayed the start of the fall semester two days until Aug. 25 and that classes would remain online through Sept. 3. Students may stay on campus, but those who had not yet arrived were encouraged to remain at home.

It also said that people in the Rice community had tested positive for the virus despite a high vaccination rate 98.5 percent for students.

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 did not release figures on the breakthrough cases.

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, a Republican, recently tested positive, despite being vaccinated.

Were in a hot spot right now, said David W. Leebron, Rices president, who described the decision to move temporarily to remote classes as a way of giving 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, known for its strong science curriculum, had adopted tough anti-coronavirus protocols, even as it worked to keep its campus open during the pandemic.

Mr. Leebron announced in May that all students who returned to campus for the fall semester were expected to be vaccinated. Those granted medical or religious waivers would be tested weekly.

Understand the Delta Variant

Rice has also required face coverings indoors for students, staff and faculty, even advising faculty members to mask while lecturing.

Detailed advice included specifics on mask construction and fit. A face mask must be multilayered, fit snugly against the sides of the face and under the chin without gaps, and completely cover the nose and mouth, the university said, adding that it was preferable to have a moldable nose piece to ensure a snug fit.

Rices stringent protocols had led to a low coronavirus positivity rate even before vaccines. And Mr. Leebron announced last year that the diseases low prevalence on campus was evidence that Rice could operate safely.

A. David Paltiel, a public health expert at Yale, said the new cases at Rice were not a sign that the universitys strong mitigation plans had failed, pointing out that even places with high vaccination rates would have cases.

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

It will test everyones resolve when the case numbers start climbing on the dashboards, Dr. Paltiel said in an email. But lets try to focus on the outcomes that matter: total infections, hospitalizations, I.C.U. use and death. The Rice campus is likely to be among the very safest places in Houston.

Rice was the second Texas university to announce 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.

Northern Illinois University reached an agreement with its faculty this week that the school would move to remote classes if the coronavirus positivity rate rose to 8 percent. And professors at a number of other colleges around the country have requested a move to online classes as they brace for the possibility of coronavirus outbreaks.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where classes began this week, hundreds of faculty members have signed a petition requesting remote classes for at least a month.

Christopher M. Johns-Krull, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice who also serves as speaker of the faculty senate, said the university was evaluating data on the newly discovered cases, as well as performing contact tracing.

We wanted to put a pause on this to make sure, Dr. Johns-Krull said. Pushing things online allows us to spread out the arrival of students and allows us to have less mixing.

With its urban campus, Rice is surrounded by a community where the coronavirus is surging. As of Wednesday, Houston area schools had reported that nearly 3,000 students tested positive for the virus. Hospitalizations have also risen again in the state, nearing last years peaks, but Mr. Abbott has resisted calls for new mandates and doubled down on his ban.

Freshman orientation at Rice began on Aug. 15, with regular classes scheduled to begin on Aug. 23. The delayed in-person classes came as a disappointment to students who had looked forward to a semester resembling normalcy.

Jacob Duff, a sophomore who had come to campus as an orientation week adviser, said that advisers and arriving students had not immediately been tested for the coronavirus. He criticized the university for what he viewed as a failure, as well as for not providing a dedicated building for students who needed to be quarantined. Instead, he said, there was one room in his dormitory for quarantined students.

In a statement, Mr. Leebron said the university had not required immediate testing because of the high vaccination rate among students, but it had required testing within the first week.

As for a separate dorm for quarantined students, he said, Rice had never used more than 10 quarantine beds at a time so a full dorm seemed unnecessary and is now using empty residence hall and hotel rooms.

On Thursday, Rice notified students that it had instituted a return-to-campus testing requirement regardless of vaccination status.

The Rice administration had the entire summer to realize that the Delta variant would be an issue, said Mr. Duff, a music major from Georgia.

But, at the same time, he said, it was hard for anyone to know what kind of precautions to take.

None of us thought it would be like this, he said.

Kendall Vining, the president of Rices student association, had been preparing to return to campus after more than a year of virtual learning. Then, she got the word that students had tested positive.

Now, with additional breakthrough cases a possibility, she is worried that the delay may be longer than two weeks.

Thats what this is looking like for me: another semester of virtual learning, said Ms. Vining, a senior, who has decided to remain at home in Louisiana until in-person classes resume.

Im scared of these long-term effects that we dont know, she added. Im just scared of getting sick, period.

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Rice University Turns to Online Classes to Fend off Virus - The New York Times

Former Chase chief economist Anthony Chan on high unemployment claims and the labor market recovery.

States with Republican governors are leading the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, while those run by Democrats which tended to impose lengthier and stricter lockdowns on businesses are faced with significantly higher unemployment rates.

Labor Department data published last week shows the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates are all led by GOP governors while the 10 states with the highest percentage of out-of-work Americans are run by Democratic governors.

Blue states including Nevada (7.7%), New York (7.6%), New Mexico (7.6%), California (7.6%) and New Jersey (7.3%) had substantially higher unemployment rates than the national average of 5.4% in July, the data shows. By comparison, red states such as Nebraska (2.3%), Utah (2.6%), New Hampshire (2.9%), South Dakota (2.9%) and Idaho (3%) were well below the national average.

THESE STATES ARE ENDING $300 UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS - HERE'S WH

In fact, of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment rate, those led by Republican governors account for a vast majority: 16. Twenty-five of the 27 GOP-led states gained jobs in the last month, the data shows, while two of the states Idaho and Utah actually have more jobs than in February 2020, before the pandemic hit.

Conversely, just 13 states led by Democrats have recovered at least two-thirds of the jobs lost during the pandemic.

Overall, the average unemployment rate in red states is 4.3%, while the average jobless rate in blue states is 5.9%, above the national average.

The data comes less than one month before supplemental unemployment benefits first established in March 2020 and renewed twice by Congress are poised to expire on Sept. 6 under the $1.9 trillion relief plan that Democrats passed in March. Some 7.5 million workers are expected to lose their benefits, according to a recent report published by the left-leaning Century Foundation.

The Biden administration has maintained that it's "appropriate" for the three relief programs to end on Labor Day, but encouraged states with high unemployment rates to continue repurposing federal funds to extend the assistance.

CONSUMER PRICES SURGE 5% ANNUALLY, MOST SINCE AUGUST 2008

"Even as the economy continues to recover and robust job growth continues, there are some states where it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time, allowing residents of those states more time to find a job in areas where unemployment remains high," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh wrote in a Thursday letter to Democratic congressional chairmen.

Already, 23 states all but one of which is led by a Republican governor have ended the unemployment programs, a move intended to help businesses that are struggling to hire workers. (Arkansas, Indiana and Maryland were ordered by state judges to reinstate the relief programs.)

Critics argue that other factors, such as a lack of child care, are the reason for lackluster hiring and have said that opting out of the relief program before it's officially slated to end will hurt unemployed Americans, leaving them with no income as they search for a new job.

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The data released Friday shows little statistical evidence that prematurely ending benefits had a disproportionate impact on employment. And although they continued to pay out the benefits, nine states and the District of Columbia all saw a decline in unemployment last month.

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Red states leading US economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic - Fox Business

COLUMBUS (WCMH) The Ohio Department of Health has releasedthe latest number of COVID-19 casesin the state.

As of Aug. 19, a total of 1,171,557 (+3,446) cases has been reported since the start of the pandemic, leading to 63,915 (+170) hospitalizations and 8,649 (+10) ICU admissions.

The 21-day average stands at 2,140. Before Wednesday, the last time it was above 2,000 was March 4.

The Department of Health reported 34 deaths, bringing the total to 20,648. The state is updating the number only after death certificates have been processed, usually twice a week.

Just as our kids are back in school, the Delta variant is sweeping across the state, taking aim at those who are unvaccinated, DeWine said in opening a news conference, where he was joined by state health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.

DeWine reiterated the Department of Healthsrecommendations for schools in the state, that masks be worn by students who cannot be vaccinated and staff members who are unvaccinated. Last school year, DeWine mandated masks in schools via health order, but his ability to issue those was curtailed by the General Assembly over the summer.

Instead, he appealed directly to parents the importance of mask-wearing, as school districts have the ability toset their own mask requirements. And he warned the alternative might be a return to remote and blended learning models used in the spring. He said mask-wearing is more important now than it was last school year, when the spread of COVID-19 was minimal, because the Delta variant is more contagious than earlier strands.

Last weeks 17,429 new cases were the most in a Monday-Sunday period since Feb. 8-14 (19,133).

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Coronavirus in Ohio Thursday update: More than 3,400 new cases reported - NBC4 WCMH-TV

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) As quickly as one COVID patient is discharged, another waits for a bed in northeast Florida, the hot zone of the states latest surge. But the patients at Baptist Healths five hospitals across Jacksonville are younger and getting sick from the virus faster than people did last summer.

Baptist has over 500 COVID patients, more than twice the number they had at the peak of Floridas July 2020 surge, and the onslaught isnt letting up. Hospital officials are anxiously monitoring 10 forecast models, converting empty spaces, adding over 100 beds and bracing for the worst, said Dr. Timothy Groover, the hospitals interim chief medical officer.

Jacksonville is kind of the epicenter of this. They had one of the lowest vaccination rates going into July and that has probably really came back to bite them, said Justin Senior, CEO of the Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance, which represents some of the largest hospitals in the state.

Duval County, which consists almost entirely of Jacksonville, is a racially diverse Democratic bastion, won by Joe Biden. The overwhelmingly white rural counties that surround it went firmly for Donald Trump.

But all had lower than average vaccination rates before the highly contagious delta variant swept through this corner of Florida, driving caseloads in a state that now accounts for one in five COVID patients hospitalized nationwide.

Nearly one-third of Jacksonvilles population is African American, and racial tensions here date back to the Civil Rights era, when 40 young Black people sat down at a whites-only department store lunch counter and were attacked with axes and baseball bats by 150 white men. That 1960 conflict was a turning point for equal rights in the city, but mistrust of government officials still lingers.

The city is just a five hour drive from the home of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, in which the government used unsuspecting Black men as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease. Groover, who is Black, understands why people are wary, even though his hospital system promises the highest quality of care to its community, using the most advanced technologies.

The system is working overtime to get a pro-vaccine message out, but its competing against rumors that filter through social media feeds to local BBQs and church congregations. Black leaders in the community told The Associated Press theyve heard everything, including that the government is using the vaccine to implanttracking devices.

A whole lot of rumors, said Dr. Rogers Cain, a Black primary care doctor with a predominantly Black practice, who said his elderly patients are easier to persuade to get the vaccine than his younger ones. Weve done a massive effort at educating. But it hasnt really came through.

The people that actually were closer to the Tuskegee incident are the ones who got the vaccine the quickest, he said.

While Duvals vaccination rate of 56% is in the middle among Florida counties, it has jumped 17% since early July, one of the largest increases in the state.

Vaccine skepticism also is high among the Hispanics who represent 10% of Duvals population, said Dr. Leonardo Alfonso. He rotates between emergency rooms at two other Jacksonville hospitals, working on his days off because they are so desperate for staff. One typically has around 50 patients, but some days it treats 100 or more.

The ICUs are brimming. Theyre running out of ventilators, Alfonso said with frustration. People are dying. Its so preventable.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently ordered a rapid response unit to help deliver monoclonal antibody therapy to a wider range of higher-risk patients who become infected, in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on local hospitals.

Alfonso says vaccinations could have blunted this surge, but when he asks patients if they got their shots, I get this deer in the headlights headlights look, kind of just a blank stare, like they didnt give it importance or they just blew it off or they thought they were young and healthy.

Persuading the hesitant to protect themselves and the people around them is a ground game, experts say.

Were getting out in front of every audience we possibly can, said Dr. Groover.

His father pastors one of the areas large predominantly Black churches, where Groover says some of the parishioners told him they dont need a vaccine because God would protect them. The doctor spoke to the congregation at a recent Sunday service, trying to dispel myths and describing how hes seen families devastated by infection and deaths that vaccines could have prevented.

I got about 10 texts later that day from people who went out to Publix that same day and got the shot, he said. A large majority of the membership now is vaccinated.

Across town at Impact Church, Pastor George Davis buried six church members under the age of 35 in just 10 days. All had been healthy, all unvaccinated. Friends hes lost include a 24-year-old man Davis had known since he was a toddler, a young woman on the worship team who celebrated her first wedding anniversary just weeks before her death, and another man in his early 30s that Davis had mentored for years.

The predominantly young, Black megachurch of 6,000 has a hipster vibe, with contemporary music, and jeans and sneakers welcome. Davis has partnered with community health officials to work through misconceptions about the delta variants impact after officials said for months that the disease couldnt hurt them much.

Now, his church members can simply walk across the hall each Sunday and talk with a medical expert about their vaccine concerns. Davis also hosted two vaccination drives, where more than 1,000 got shots.

As a pastor, honestly we really dont have much time to lick our wounds, he said. Like a police officer, if somebody they know has been shot, they still have to reach for their weapon to protect those that are left.

__

Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale. Terry Spencer contributed to this report.

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'Bracing for the worst' in Florida's COVID-19 hot zone - Associated Press

Low-vaccination communities in southern and eastern Oregon continue to stoke the states record-breaking surge in coronavirus cases, with the delta variant spreading most rapidly in areas resistant to inoculations.

And that trend appears to be generally true not just in the hardest-hit areas but all across Oregon for ZIP codes with at least 5,000 residents, as recent case rates tend to track closely to community vaccination levels.

The biggest coronavirus problems are concentrated in only a handful of Oregon ZIP codes with about 10% of the states population. But those account for an outsize 27% of all new or presumed infections for the week ending Wednesday, according to an analysis of state data by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Those 20 ZIP codes had extremely high case rates and extremely low vaccination rates, with each well below the statewide average of 60.2% among all residents.

Just like last week, the communities with the highest recent case rates are heavily concentrated in eastern and southern Oregon. And the names havent changed much, either.

Among ZIP codes with at least 50 new cases, Brookings along the southern Oregon coast had the highest weekly case rate, at 139 per 10,000 residents. Only about half of residents in that ZIP code are vaccinated.

The rest of the list is filled almost exclusively by locales in Douglas, Jackson and Josephine counties: Myrtle Creek, Winston, Sutherlin, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Central Point, Roseburg, Medford, Rogue River, White City and Eagle Point.

Vaccination rates in those ZIP codes range from a high of 55.8% in a portion of Medford to a low of 33.3% in White City.

Also on the list are ZIP codes for Tillamook on the Oregon coast, two outposts in Lane County near Eugene, and Umatilla, Hermiston and La Grande in eastern Oregon. Those, too, have low vaccination rates, from 52.9% in Junction City to just 31.1% in Umatilla.

The Oregonian/OregonLive provided its analysis to the Oregon Health Authority, asking the agency if it had any message for people living in those specific communities. The health authority has spent months promoting vaccinations as safe and effective, and as the best way to avoid severe COVID-19.

The agency pointed to comments by Patrick Allen, the director, during a news conference Thursday where state officials warned of a growing crisis as hospitals near capacity.

If you are unvaccinated, the delta variant changes everything, Allen said. You are more at risk people in their 20s, 30s and 40s have been hospitalized. Some have even died. Older adults and children around you are more at risk, if you get this highly contagious variant.

And if youre still not ready to get vaccinated, please take extreme precautions, he added. Avoid all non-essential activities. Stay away from large groups of people. When you do go out, wear your mask in public, even in outdoor spaces where you may be among crowds.

The delta variant is relentless in its search for new people to infect. Dont let it find you. The consequences for you, your family and our health care system could be catastrophic.

Meanwhile, removing population from the equation also shows that Oregons surging coronavirus case load is almost exclusively in ZIP codes outside the high vaccination Portland metro area.

Last weeks analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive identified 16 ZIP codes with at least 100 new cases over the week.

This time, there are 35 such ZIP codes. And only two of them covering parts of Hillsboro and Oregon City are in the metro area, and both have far fewer cases per 10,000 residents than the other areas rounding out the list.

Leading all of Oregon for new cases? Medfords two ZIP codes, with 394 and 355 cases, followed by two ZIP codes for Grants Pass, with 348 and 314 cases.

Across those four ZIP codes, just 48% of residents are vaccinated.

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

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These are the ZIP codes causing Oregons record-breaking spike in coronavirus cases - OregonLive

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, pictured here in July, is not experiencing any symptoms, his office said Tuesday. Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images hide caption

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, pictured here in July, is not experiencing any symptoms, his office said Tuesday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been fully vaccinated, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced Tuesday. Abbott has opposed mask mandates, and his orders have drawn legal challenges.

The Republican governor is experiencing no symptoms and "has been testing daily, and today was the first positive test result," his office said.

Abbott "will isolate in the Governor's Mansion and continue to test daily. Governor Abbott is receiving Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment," the statement said.

Texas first lady Cecilia Abbott tested negative.

With more than 16,000 new daily cases, Texas is one of the states with the highest risk of COVID-19.

Last week, Abbott directed state officials to use staffing agencies to find additional medical personnel from outside Texas as the state's resources became overwhelmed. He also asked hospitals to postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.

The Biden administration is suing the state of Texas to block Abbott's order for state troopers to stop vehicles carrying migrants on grounds that the migrants may spread COVID-19. But medical experts say migrants are no more likely to have the coronavirus than any other travelers who are crossing the border, or anyone living in U.S. COVID-19 hot spots.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive For The Coronavirus - NPR