Category Archives: Corona Virus

(WBNG) -- Broome County Executive Jason Garnar is expected to hold a coronavirus briefing Wednesday afternoon.

In Garnar's briefing on Feb. 17, he said a large portion of deaths in the county occurred in nursing homes. The nursing home with the most deaths in the county is Willow Point. More than 50 people have died from the virus.

The number of active cases in the county has dropped significantly in the past week. According to the Broome County COVID-19 Trackeron Feb. 17, there were 825 active cases, and as of Feb. 16 there were 570 active cases. Active cases have dropped by 255 in the past week.

According to theNew York State COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker,the Southern Tier has received 105,035 total doses (1st and 2nd), administered 99,349 total doses (1st and 2nd), and has administered/received 95% doses (1st and 2nd).

The Broome County rapid testing site it located at New Life Ministries at 201 Hill Ave. in Endicott until Friday, Feb. 19, and is open from 1 to 7 p.m.

Tune in to 12 News tonight at 5, 5:30, and 6 p.m. for the latest and check our website for updates.

Original post:

Garnar to hold weekly coronavirus briefing (Feb. 17) - WBNG-TV

Dr. Sheetal Khedkar Rao, 42, an internist in suburban Chicago, cant pinpoint the exact moment when she decided to hang up her stethoscope for the last time. There were the chaos and confusion of the spring, when a nationwide shortage of N95 masks forced her to examine patients with a surgical mask, the fears she might take the coronavirus home to her family and the exasperating public disregard for mask-wearing and social distancing that was amplified by the White House.

Among the final blows, though, were a 30 percent pay cut to compensate for a drop in patients seeking primary care, and the realization that she needed to spend more time at home after her children, 10 and 11, switched to remote learning.

Everyone says doctors are heroes and they put us on a pedestal, but we also have kids and aging parents to worry about, said Dr. Rao, who left her practice in October. After awhile, the emotional burden and moral injury become too much to bear.

Doctors, paramedics and nurses aides have been hailed as Americas frontline Covid warriors, but gone are the days when people applauded workers outside hospitals and on city streets.

Now, a year into the pandemic, with emergency rooms packed again, vaccines in short supply and more contagious variants of the virus threatening to unleash a fresh wave of infections, the nations medical workers are feeling burned out and unappreciated.

Over the last year, there have been the psychological trauma of overworked intensive care doctors forced to ration care, the crushing sense of guilt for nurses who unknowingly infected patients or family members, and the struggles of medical personnel who survived Covid-19 but are still hobbled by the fatigue and brain fog that hamper their ability to work.

Researchers say the pandemics toll on the nations health care work force will play out long after the coronavirus is tamed. The impact, for now, can be measured in part by a surge of early retirements and the desperation of community hospitals struggling to hire enough workers to keep their emergency rooms running.

Everyone wants to talk about vaccines, vaccines, vaccines, but for our members, all they want to talk about is work force, work force, work force, said Alan Morgan, chief executive of the National Rural Health Association. Right now our hospitals and our workers are just getting crushed.

Some health care experts are calling for a national effort to track the psychological well-being of medical professionals, much like the federal health program that monitors workers who responded to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

We have a great obligation to people who put their lives on the line for the nation, said Dr. Victor J. Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine.

Celia Nieto, 44, an intensive care nurse in Las Vegas, said many Americans had scant appreciation for the tribulations that she and her colleagues face day after day. There is the physical exhaustion of lifting and turning patients on their bellies so they might breathe easier, the never-ending scramble to adjust ventilators and pain medication, and the mental anguish of telling relatives she doesnt have the time to help them FaceTime with their loved ones.

It feels like were failing, when in actuality were working with what weve got and we dont have enough, she said. We feel quite helpless, and its a real injury to our psyches.

Dr. Donald Pathman, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he was struck by the early results of a study he has been conducting on the pandemics effect on clinicians who serve in poor communities. Many of the 2,000 medical, dental and mental health professionals who have participated in the survey so far say they are disillusioned.

There is a lot of personal trauma, Dr. Pathman said. Many people have been scarred by their experiences during the pandemic, and they will look to leave their practices.

In interviews, doctors who have recently left the field or are considering early retirement said the pandemic had exacerbated frustrations spurred by shifts in the business of medical care that often required them to work longer hours without increased compensation.

In a survey released in September by the online site Medscape, two-thirds of American doctors said they had grappled with intense burnout during the pandemic, with a similar percentage reporting a drop in income. A quarter of respondents said their experiences with Covid had led them to exit the medical field.

Another survey, by the Physicians Foundation, found that 8 percent of doctors in the United States had closed their offices during the pandemic, translating to 16,000 fewer private practices.

Feb. 4, 2021, 1:46 p.m. ET

Dr. Erica Bial, a pain specialist from suburban Boston who barely survived Covid-19 last spring, said she felt increasingly drained.

We put on our masks and come to work every day because we dont have the luxury of working from home in our pajamas, but the apathy and ennui thats taken hold of society just makes our job feel thankless, said Dr. Bial, who works full time despite struggling with the lingering effects of her illness. Its so demoralizing.

Staffing shortages have been especially acute at nursing homes and long-term care facilities. They were already struggling to retain employees before the pandemic, but many are now facing an existential shortage of skilled workers. According to a study released last week by the nonpartisan U.S. PIRG Education Fund, more than 20 percent of the nations 15,000 nursing homes reported severe shortages of nursing aides in December, up from 17 percent in May, a significant jump over such a short period.

As more and more medical staff members fall ill or quit, those who remain on the job have to work harder, and the quality of care invariably suffers, said Dr. Michael L. Barnett, assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who served as a consultant to the study.

Its a recipe for a collapse in the work force, he said.

So far, the federal government has shown little interest in addressing what Dr. Dzau, of the National Academy of Medicine, writing in The New England Journal of Medicine, described as a parallel pandemic of psychological trauma among health workers.

He and other experts say the government should start by making a concerted effort to accurately count medical worker infections and fatalities.

There is no comprehensive federal government count of worker deaths. But according to a tally by Kaiser Health News and the Guardian, more than 3,300 nurses, doctors, social workers and physical therapists have died from Covid-19 since March.

Experts say the death toll is most likely far higher. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counts 1,332 deaths among medical personnel, which is striking given that its sister agency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, lists roughly the same number of deaths just among nursing home workers a small portion of those employed by the nations hospitals, health clinics and private practices.

A number of studies suggest that medical professionals made up 10 percent to 20 percent of all coronavirus cases in the early months of the pandemic though they comprise roughly 4 percent of the population.

Christopher R. Friese, a researcher at University of Michigan, said the governments failure to track health care workers had most likely contributed to many unnecessary deaths. Without detailed, comprehensive data, he said, federal health authorities have been hamstrung in their ability to identify patterns and come up with interventions.

The number of health care worker deaths in this country are staggering, but as shocking and horrifying as they are, we cant be surprised because some very basic tools to address the crisis were left on the shelf, said Dr. Friese, who directs the schools Center for Improving Patient and Population Health.

Jasmine Reed, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C., acknowledged the limitations of its coronavirus case data, noting that the agency relies on reporting from state health departments and that can vary according to the state. At least a dozen states do not even participate in the C.D.C.s reporting process, she said.

Many medical workers who have survived Covid-19 face more immediate challenges. Dr. Bial, the pain specialist from Boston, is still plagued by fatigue and impaired lung function.

The day before I got sick, I could comfortably run eight to 10 miles, said Dr. Bial, 45, who started a Facebook group memorializing doctors lost to Covid. Now I go out for a brisk walk and my heart is pounding. Im starting to wonder whether these effects could be permanent.

Dr. Andrew T. Chan, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who has been studying the pandemics disproportionate toll on health care workers, said his preliminary research suggested that long haulers in the medical field suffer greater health challenges than the overall population. That is in part because they are often exposed to increased levels of virus, which can lead to more severe illness.

Another factor, he said, is that the worsening staffing shortages in much of the country lead many Covid survivors to return to work before they have fully recovered.

Health care workers are likely to experience a greater risk of long-term complications, Dr. Chan said. Covid could impact our health care system for years to come by not only depleting our work force but by impairing the ability of survivors to do their jobs.

Continued here:

Health Care Workers Hit Hard by the Coronavirus Pandemic - The New York Times

Louisiana expanded its eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine on Thursday, allowing people 65 and older to now obtain the vaccine.

The vaccine was previously available to people 70 and older. By lowering the age by five years, an additional 275,000 people will be eligible for the vaccine in Louisiana.

Vaccines will also be available to people in the unified command group, state and local COVID-19 emergency response personnel and law enforcement, and March and April election workers.

The expansion in eligibility will start on Monday.

Louisiana will allow people who are 65 and older to access COVID-19 vaccines starting Monday as the state sees more doses and some slowing app

There have been 534,985 doses of the vaccine administered statewide since the rollout began on Dec. 14. There are now 47,280 people who are fully vaccinated. The vaccines require two doses a couple weeks apart.

Here's who is newly eligibleon Monday:

The vaccine has been available to:

(information provided by the Louisiana Department of Health.)

View post:

Heres who will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines in Louisiana - The Advocate

Roughly 1% of New Jersey residents have received both doses of the coronavirus vaccine, sparking inquiries and concerns as to whether or not this means they no longer have to mask up.

The short answer? Yes, they do.

David Cennimo, an infectious disease specialist for the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said the most pessimistic reason why residents who have been inoculated should continue wearing a mask while in public and unable to social distance is because they could be in the minority of people for whom the vaccines are not effective.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been found to prevent 95% of cases of the virus, and the Moderna vaccine, 94.5% effective.

Beyond this reason, Cennimo said that its significant to note that medical experts dont know that people who have been given the vaccine cant still transmit the coronavirus.

Im vaccinated, but I dont know that I am not infected with COVID, Cennimo said. I know that I feel well; I know that I dont have a fever. But I could be harboring the coronavirus in my nose right now; I could be breathing it out so because of that its still my responsibility to wear a mask, because I dont know that Im infection-free.

And thats one of the hardest things to explain to people, because if you got it in your head that I just needed to get the vaccine and then everything was going to be good, then were just going to go back to normal, we dont have the data to tell you you can go back to normal yet, Cennimo said.

Its equally important to recognize that immunity does not kick in immediately after becoming vaccinated. It takes a week after the second dose for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to become 95% effective. For Modernas vaccine, efficacy reaches 94.5% two weeks after become fully vaccinated, The Washington Post reported.

I even have friends in medicine who were like, Oh, I want to go out to eat, I got my vaccine today. I was like, Please tell me youre joking, Cennimo said. You could go out to eat, but you could have gone out to eat yesterday. You got the vaccine in the last 24 hours; theres nothing different happening in your body.

So, will there ever be a time when New Jersey residents no longer have to wear a mask?

At some point, but not in the immediate future. While initially projecting that 60% to 70% of the U.S. population must be inoculated to achieve herd immunity, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and presidential advisor, has since revised this language and said that it may take closer to 90 percent immunity to bring the coronavirus to a halt, The New York Times reported.

Until then even if youve been fortunate enough to become vaccinated wear a mask.

Tell us your COVID-19 vaccination stories, send us a news tip or questions about the vaccination process on our tip form.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Caroline Fassett may be reached at cfassett@njadvancemedia.com.

Read more:

Should I still wear a mask after getting the coronavirus vaccine? Yes for many reasons. - NJ.com

SAN ANTONIO We know that surviving a COVID-19 infection helps the body build antibodies against the virus. But many have asked whether that means you should still get a vaccine.

We are still learning a lot when it comes to what is called natural immunity to COVID-19. But, we do know that the protection that someone gains from an infection varies from person-to-person.

So doctors say yes, you should still get a COVID-19 vaccine if you have already recovered from the virus.

Dr. Bryan Alsip from University Health said, "So it's felt that the vaccine, which has shown to be effective at preventing symptomatic disease, is a better way to ensure immunity."

Right now, it is not clear how long natural immunity can last.

But according to the CDC, current evidence suggests that getting the virus again is uncommon in the 90 days after infection.

Read the original here:

Vaccine Team: Getting the coronavirus vaccine after you get COVID-19 - KENS5.com

The global tally for confirmed cases of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 climbed above 104.4 million on Thursday, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll rose above 2.27 million. The U.S. has the highest case tally in the world at 26.6 million and the highest death toll at 450,805, or about a fifth of the global total. The U.S. added at least 118,991 new cases on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker , and counted at least 3,843 deaths. Case numbers have been declining, however. The U.S. averaged 136,438 new cases a day in the past week, down 30% from the average two weeks ago. Hospitalizations have also been falling, according to the COVID Tracking Project. There were 91,440 COVID-19 patients in U.S. hospitals on Wednesday, down from 92,880 a day earlier and the lowest level since Nov. 27. Brazil has the second highest death toll at 227,563 and is third by cases at 9.3 million. India is second worldwide in cases with 10.8 million, and now fourth in deaths at 154,703, after being surpassed by Mexico late last week. Mexico has the third highest death toll at 161,240 and 13th highest case tally at 1.9 million. The U.K. has 3.9 million cases and 109,547 deaths, the highest in Europe and fifth highest in the world.

View post:

Coronavirus tally: Global cases of COVID-19 top 104.4 million and U.S. death toll above 450,000 - MarketWatch

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, seen last year. Lawmakers repealed his executive order declaring a coronavirus emergency. He issued a new one. Morry Gash/AP hide caption

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, seen last year. Lawmakers repealed his executive order declaring a coronavirus emergency. He issued a new one.

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin approved a joint resolution Thursday overriding Gov. Tony Evers' most recent COVID-19 state of emergency, abolishing a state-wide mask mandate. In response, Evers declared a new state of emergency. Effective immediately, Wisconsinites must again wear masks in public places.

The legislature approved Joint Resolution 3 Thursday in a 52-42 vote in the Assembly, Wisconsin Public Radio reported. Democrats were joined by seven Republicans, but it wasn't enough. The resolution terminated Evers' Executive Order #104, calling the emergency declaration "unlawful."

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, told lawmakers to stand up against the governor. "I don't know when legislators became comfortable with delegating their authority to the executive branch, creating an office where he can do whatever he wants," Steineke said. "That's not how this was set up."

Steineke argued the pushback wasn't about masks, which were mandated in July by Evers' second public health emergency declaration. That said, Republicans also shot down an amendment introduced by Democratic lawmakers Thursday that would have implemented a statewide mask mandate, WPR reported.

Shortly afterward, Evers countered with Executive Order #105 and Emergency Order #1, complete with another mask mandate. In a statement released by the governor's office Thursday, Evers said his efforts to contain the coronavirus have been met with lawsuits and obstruction.

"Wearing a mask is the most basic thing we can do to keep each other safe," Evers said. "If the Legislature keeps playing politics and we don't keep wearing masks, we're going to see more preventable deaths, and it's going to take even longer to get our state and our economy back on track."

See the rest here:

One Emergency After Another: Wisconsin Governor And Legislators Battle Over COVID-19 - NPR

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Read more about the latest stimulus talks and other battles shaping up in Congress, check out coronavirus updates and see more stories trending online today.

House Democrats advance measure to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene from committees (CBS News)

Biden tells Democrats hes willing to target COVID relief checks, but not shrink them (ABC)

McConnell and the GOP are preparing a barrage of budget amendments to water down Bidens COVID-19 stimulus package (Business Insider)

Lawyer leading impeachment defense says Trump blameless for supporters riot at Capitol (radio.com)

U.S. mulls using law designed to prosecute Mafia against Capitol rioters (Reuters)

Wisconsin prosecutors seek arrest warrant for Kyle Rittenhouse, say he violated bond by failing to update address (AP)

Biden administration weighs plan to directly send masks to all Americans (NBC)

The US may soon have its first standards for consumer face masks. Are they strict enough? (CNN)

Global coronavirus vaccine confidence rising but just 54% would have it next week, study suggests (Yahoo)

U.K. to test mixing COVID-19 vaccines in world-first trial (Axios)

Younger adults responsible for most of COVID-19 spread: Study (ABC News)

Chinas coronavirus cases: Is the communist regime lying to the world? (Fox News)

A very different Super Bowl this year for sports bars (CBS)

Australian Open players isolating, tuneups paused after hotel worker tests positive for coronavirus (ESPN)

Golden Globes 2021: The Complete Nominations List (Variety)

Peeps Return with New Flavors for Spring After a Pandemic Hiatus (People)

Tokyo Olympics chief apologizes, but refuses to resign over sexist comments (CNBC)

Morgan Wallens Recording Contract Suspended Indefinitely, Is Dropped From Country Radio After Racial Slur (ET)

Taylor Swift Sued by Utah Theme Park Over Evermore Album Title (Billboard)

Here is the original post:

Congress divided on multiple issues, coronavirus and stimulus updates & more: Whats trending today - cleveland.com

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says President Biden told him from the outset: "We're going to make some mistakes along the way. We're going to stumble a bit. And when that happens, we're not going to blame anybody. We're just going to fix it." "Boy, was that refreshing," Fauci says. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says President Biden told him from the outset: "We're going to make some mistakes along the way. We're going to stumble a bit. And when that happens, we're not going to blame anybody. We're just going to fix it." "Boy, was that refreshing," Fauci says.

Less than three weeks into the new Biden administration, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who has headed up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, is encouraged by the new president's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was very clear what President Biden wanted ... and that is that science was going to rule," Fauci says. "That we were going to base whatever we do, our recommendations or guidelines ... on sound scientific evidence and sound scientific data."

But there was something else that Biden promised, which Fauci found equally reassuring: "He said, 'We're going to make some mistakes along the way. We're going to stumble a bit. And when that happens, we're not going to blame anybody. We're just going to fix it.' "

"Boy, was that refreshing," Fauci says.

Fauci has worked with seven presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden. Much of his career has been devoted to researching viruses and the immune system. During the AIDS epidemic, he made major contributions to the understanding of how HIV affects the immune system and was instrumental in developing drugs that could prolong the lives of people with HIV.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci became something of a medical celebrity as a member of the former administration's coronavirus task force who publicly disagreed with President Donald Trump about COVID-19 treatment, the value of masks and about the timeline for reopening. In return, Trump called Fauci an "idiot" and tweeted about firing him.

"What I think happened is that the [Trump] White House, in general the president was looking for people who were saying things that were compatible with what his feeling was about, where he wanted to go," Fauci says.

Looking ahead, Fauci says the pandemic is far from over especially as the virus mutates and new strains emerge. He says controlling the spread of the virus will help tamp down mutations. The key is to vaccinate "as many people as quickly and as efficiently as you possibly can" and "to double down on the public health measures of uniform wearing of masks, physical distancing, avoiding congregate settings particularly indoors."

Fauci notes that any vaccination efforts should address the needs of the larger global population.

"You've got to be able to get with the help of the developed world the entire world vaccinated," he says. "As we allow this infection to exist to any degree in any part of the world, it will always be a threat. So we've got to approach this the way we approach smallpox, the way we approach polio, and the way we approach measles and other devastating global outbreaks."

On the major new mutations in the coronavirus and how that affects our strategy to fight it

I think people need to understand something that's very important: RNA viruses SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus will mutate, and the more the virus replicates, the more opportunity you give it to mutate. So when you have so much infection in the community, as we have had in the United States over the last few months, where you literally have hundreds of thousands of new infections per day we were up to between 300,000 to 400,000 [cases] a day. We're down now between 100,000 to 200,000 per day. But we still have 3,000 to 4,000 deaths per day. That means the virus has almost an open playing field to replicate, [which] means you give it an opportunity to mutate.

So even though this is a challenge, we should not be set back by this. We can meet the challenge and you meet the challenge by first getting a handle on the degree of mutations by doing good genomic surveillance, No. 1, but No. 2, by doing whatever you can to prevent the replication of the virus by vaccinating as many people as quickly and as efficiently as you possibly can.

And also to double down on the public health measures of uniform wearing of masks, physical distancing, avoiding congregate settings, particularly indoors.

One of the things that we do know is that the vaccines that we have, although they are less effective in preventing disease ... when you look at serious disease with hospitalizations and deaths, the vaccines still have a pretty important, positive effect even on the mutants.

But we don't want to get confident about that. We've got to be able to match future vaccines and upgrade them to be able to be directed specifically at these troublesome mutants that have evolved.

On the misleading idea that a good way to conquer COVID-19 might be to simply let more people get infected and gain immunity that way

[Trump] wanted to focus on things other than the pandemic. So anyone who would come in, like [coronavirus adviser] Dr. [Scott] Atlas, and say, "Just let people get infected, you'll get herd immunity and everything will be fine" was a welcome strategy or a welcome philosophy.

But as it turns out and we know right now very clearly that that was an incorrect strategy, if you actually pursued a strategy of "don't try and intervene. Don't wear a mask. Don't worry about congregate settings, just let the virus take its course and try and protect the vulnerable." ... We cannot effectively protect the vulnerable [that way], because they were such an important part of our population.

So if you look at the number of people right now who have died, it's close to 450,000 people. And if you look at the seroprevalence in the country how many people already will have gotten infected there are certain areas where it's high, 20-plus%. But as an average for the country, it's probably somewhere less than 20%, which means that if you wanted to get the 70 or 85% of the people that need to be infected to give you herd immunity, a lot more people will have died. We've already had 430,000 [to] 450,000 people who have died, and we aren't even anywhere close to herd immunity.

On the origin of the FDA's "emergency use authorization," which has been used to speed COVID-19 vaccines to market

To get a drug out as quickly as you possibly can, based on the fact that the benefit looks like it was better than the risk and you didn't have to fully show efficacy yet, originated way back during the years of HIV. Compassionate use of a drug even before you get an emergency use authorization originated way back in the days of HIV, because we didn't have compassionate use to any great extent until we got into the situation with HIV in the early and mid 1980s. So there's a very good connection between some of the things that we're doing now with interventions for COVID-19 that actually originated way back when we were doing HIV in its very early years.

On two things he learned from the AIDS epidemic that he's applying to the COVID-19 pandemic now

One of them is the importance of getting the community involved and dealing with the community and their special needs. ... We have a disparity here that is striking and needs to be addressed that if you look at the incidence of infection and the incidence of serious disease, including hospitalization and deaths, brown and Black people suffer disproportionately more than whites. ...

So I think that shines a bright light on what we probably should have done all along and certainly must do in the future, is to address those social determinants of health that actually lead to the great disparity of suffering in COVID-19 among brown and Black people. We had the same sort of thing with the disparities of infection in certain demographic groups with HIV. So from an epidemiological standpoint, there were similarities there.

We also learned the importance of fundamental basic science in getting solutions. ... Back in the early days, getting infected with HIV was a virtual death sentence for the overwhelming majority. ... It was the fundamental basic science of targeted drug development that allowed us to develop combinations of drugs first single drugs and then a couple at a time, and then triple and more combinations of drugs that ultimately completely transformed the lives of people living with HIV, to the point where you went from a virtual death sentence to being able to lead essentially a normal life, as well as not infecting anybody else. ...

We know now that something we've called "treatment as prevention" [works] which means if you treat someone who's living with HIV and suppressed the level of virus to below detectable, you make it essentially impossible for that person to infect someone else. So we got there through basic science.

On being vilified by AIDS activists early on in the AIDS crisis, who believed the government should expand access to experimental medicines, and how that compares to being vilified during the COVID-19 pandemic by people who are anti-science and anti-mask

That really is a stark contrast. The [AIDS] activists were justified in their concerns that the government (even though they weren't doing it deliberately) were not actually giving them a seat at the table to be able to have their own input into things that would ultimately affect their lives. So, even though they were very theatrical, they were very iconoclastic, they seemed like they were threatening, ... never for a single moment did I ever feel myself threatened by the AIDS activist.

In fact, one particular situation, I think, was very telling. At a time when there was a lot of pushback against the government and not listening to the valid concerns of the activists, I was invited to go down and I went with just one of my staff at the time to go down essentially alone to the gay and lesbian community center in the middle of Greenwich Village to meet with what must have been anywhere from 50 to 100 activists in this meeting room. Just me and one of my staff. And they were angry with the federal government because they felt the federal government was not listening to them, and they were right I think they had a really good point.

Not for a second, did I feel physically threatened to go down there, not even close. I mean, that's not the nature of what the protest was. And I think one of the things about it was that not only were they not threatening at all in a violent way, but ultimately they were [also] on the right side of history.

On his early research into the AIDS epidemic, visiting gay bathhouses to gain a better understanding of the then-mysterious outbreak that was killing gay men

This was the very, very early years of the outbreak. In fact, it may even have been before we even discovered that HIV was the cause. And we were seeing these large numbers of mostly gay men who were formerly otherwise well, who were being devastated by this terrible, mysterious disease. And it was so concentrated in the gay community that I really wanted to get a feel for what was going on there that would lead to this explosion of a sexually transmitted disease. So I did. I went to the Castro District [of San Francisco]. I went down to Greenwich Village and I went into the bathhouses to essentially see what was going on.

And the epidemiologist in me went, "Oh, my goodness, this is a perfect setup for an explosion of a sexually transmitted disease!" And the same thing going to the gay bars and seeing what was going on. And it gave me a great insight into the explosiveness of the outbreak of a sexually transmitted disease. So I think it was important, because it gave me a really on-the-ground feel for what was actually dynamically going on.

On whether COVID-19 will be with us forever like influenza

I don't think we need to make that assumption. That certainly is a possibility that you would have enough virus floating around and changing from year to year, that you would have to treat it in some respects, the way we treat seasonal influenza, where you have to upgrade the vaccine almost every year.

There is a way, if done properly, to avoid that, and that is, for example, if we successfully vaccinate 70 to 85% of the people in the United States and dramatically diminish the level of infection if we were living in a vacuum in only the United States, then I don't think we'd have to worry about seasonal turnover and having to match. But we live in a global community and unless we get the rest of the world adequately vaccinated and unless we don't have the opportunity of this virus to mutate in a place that doesn't have access to vaccines, we will always be threatened.

Fresh Air's interview with Dr. Fauci was recorded as part of a WHYY Zoom event at which Fauci accepted WHYY's annual Lifelong Learning Award.

Sam Briger and Seth Kelley produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Deborah Franklin adapted it for the Web.

Continued here:

Dr. Fauci On Vaccinations And Biden's 'Refreshing' Approach To COVID-19 - NPR

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EmitBio Inc., today announced new evidence from laboratory testing that demonstrates its proprietary light technology can inactivate multiple coronaviruses, beyond the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, to include the highly lethal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). These findings indicate a likelihood the company's technology will also be effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants (mutations).

"Over the last 20 years we have seen three life-threatening coronavirus outbreaks, SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV, and now SARS-CoV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19," stated Neal Hunter, Executive Chairman of EmitBio. "Having this countermeasure at-the-ready will not only help current COVID-19 patients but will also provide protection against future outbreaks. We are moving aggressively to make sure that everyone around the world has access to this technology."

The World Health Organization reports that MERS-CoV has a 35 40% fatality rate in those testing positive, with common signs and symptoms at hospital admission that include fever, chills, muscle pain, headache, non-productive cough and shortness of breath.Most cases have been linked to residents of the Arabian Peninsula, but cases have been reported outside of this region due to travelers returning home from Saudi Arabia.

In a controlled laboratory environment, precise wavelengths of light achieved >99.9% reduction in MERS-CoV viral load at doses of energy that have previously been proven safe to human tissue. These data extend the company's ability to inactivate different coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2 and MERS), providing a reasonable likelihood that visible light therapy will kill coronaviruses that may exist in animal populations, but do not yet exist in the global human population.

"What we learned from these findings is that our visible light is effective at inactivating viral particles before infecting the cell, much like antibodies inactivate viruses and prevent them from entering cells," stated Dr. Adam Cockrell, Director of Virology Research, EmitBio. "The inactivation appears to hold true against two coronaviruses (SARS-CoV-2 and MERS), which are far more genetically unique than the subtle mutations arising around the world in variants of SARS-CoV-2. It's not just the recent globally circulating variants that are of concern to the coronavirus research community, but also the imminent threat of coronaviruses that have not yet emerged into the human population."

EmitBio has developed a novel, hand-held treatment device* that directs energy into the upper respiratory tract with 100% of dose available at the site of need, thereby avoiding the possible side effects of systemic treatments. This device has been designed as an at-home treatment for mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. The company recently reported results from a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial with the investigational treatment device, which showed a 99.9% reduction in viral load in adults with COVID-19. These clinical study results confirmed the expectations derived from in-vitro experiments that showed the antiviral effects of safe visible light on SARS-CoV-2.

"On a scale of genetic variation from A to Z, if you consider SARS-CoV-2 as A, and MERS-CoV as Z, and we can kill them both, then we can most likely kill everything in between," concluded Hunter.

AboutEmitBioInc.

EmitBio Inc. is a life science company using the precise delivery of light to stimulate, heal and protect the body. EmitBio is comprised of a superior team of internationally recognized light science specialists merged with immunology and virology life science experts, prepared to react quickly to the pandemic and rapidly scale manufacturing for lifesaving medical breakthroughs. For more information, visithttp://www.emitbio.com/.

EmitBio Inc. is headquartered in Durham, NC and is an operating subsidiary of KNOW Bio LLC.

* The EmitBio device is investigational and is not yet available for sale pending FDA action.

Scientific Collaboration:

The research team at EmitBio welcomes inquiries and offers of scientific collaboration from the global research community. Please direct communication to:

collaboration@emitbio.com

Media Contact:

John Wallace

jwallace@decacommunications.com

(619) 200-7856

Investor Contact:

John Oakley, Chief Financial Officer

joakley@knowbiollc.com

(919) 939-7715

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emitbio-demonstrates-new-treatment-is-effective-against-multiple-types-of-coronavirus-301222119.html

SOURCE EmitBio Inc.

Read the original:

EmitBio Demonstrates New Treatment Is Effective Against Multiple Types Of Coronavirus - The Mountaineer