Category Archives: Covid-19

Recent protests in Philadelphia and across the country have drawn young people. But for most of the pandemic, youth have been quarantined and away from their social circles, which could make depression and other mental illness worse. Cory Clark/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption

Recent protests in Philadelphia and across the country have drawn young people. But for most of the pandemic, youth have been quarantined and away from their social circles, which could make depression and other mental illness worse.

Audrey just turned 18 and relishes crossing into adulthood: She voted for the first time this year, graduated high school and is college-bound next month. The honors student typically wakes up "a bundle of nerves," she says, which had fueled her work volunteering, playing varsity sports and leading student government.

But for years, she also struggled with anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder all of which drove her to work harder.

"I was spending so much time on my homework, I felt like I was losing my friends so my thoughts would race over and over again about my friends," says Audrey. "And then I would have the difficult thoughts about suicide and some scarier stuff." (NPR agreed to use only her first name to protect her medical privacy.)

Audrey's psychological struggles landed her in mental health treatment last fall. There, she says, the coping skills she learned gave her perspective on quarantine: "I know all about how seeing friends and seeing people outside and social interaction is vital for survival."

There is a simmering tension between young people's desire to gather socially, and the growing threat from the coronavirus in the United States. The virus is now infecting more people in their teens and 20s than it had earlier in the pandemic, and that's contributing to outbreaks, especially in states in the South and West. As a result, public health officials are imploring young adults to limit social contact and take precautions to help protect their more vulnerable elders. But many young people see continued social isolation as a much greater risk than COVID-19 to their own mental health.

It's not that Audrey isn't worried about the pandemic; in fact, confirmed cases of the coronavirus are spiking in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C. So Audrey wears masks, washes her hands and stays 6 feet from friends. But for her generation, she says, infection isn't the primary threat.

"A lot of people are calling attention to coronavirus because it's right in front of us," she says. "But at the same time, teens' depression rate it's a silent threat."

The health risks of infection differ by generation. For many young adults, life lived at a social distance, with a lack of peer support, comes at a high cost to mental health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly half of people between 18 and 29 report feeling symptoms of anxiety or depression. That's significantly higher that the rate for both their parents and their grandparents. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people under 35.

Yet somehow, says Audrey, that's not talked about as much.

"We haven't seen the government or adults as passionate about the things we really care about, like mental health and climate issues," she says.

It might be tempting to think that FaceTime and Zoom provide substitutes for in-person social outlets, especially for a generation of digital natives who grew up with smartphones. But, therapists say, talking by small screen offers no replacement for a calming hug and can miss the subtleties of a compassionate expression.

Audrey's complaint is a common refrain among the adolescent and young adult patients whom psychologist Lisa Jacobs counsels. It is not that they aren't concerned about the risks of COVID-19, she says; it's just that their risk calculations differ.

"They are appropriately realizing that isolation is a risk for them as well it's a risk factor for depression, and depression is a risk factor for suicide," Jacobs says. "And 8% of American teens attempt suicide each year."

Jacobs says many of her young patients complain older generations failed to address the young people's fears of school shootings and climate change, for example.

"After not being protected, after not being taken seriously, they were asked to take extreme measures to protect other groups and to put themselves at risk by doing so," Jacobs says.

There is a biological basis for young people's need for socialization. Scientists say bonding isn't a luxury; it's critical for development.

Young brains need social connection to feel secure about their identity and place in the world, says Gregory Lewis, who studies the neurobiology of social interaction at Indiana University.

"We expect as a human being to have other people there to share the stressful times and to be our backup, and when they're not there physically, that in of itself tells our nervous system 'you're in a dangerous environment because you don't have these people here,' " he says.

That is less of an issue among older adults, Lewis says, who have had more time to develop their social networks both at work and around their community and more time to find partners who can help ground them emotionally. By contrast, he says, "younger people are missing a larger percentage of what previously was there to buffer them."

So the societal challenge, he says, is to find ways to help community members of all ages balance the risks of infection against the need to foster those essential social bonds.

Excerpt from:

Why Some Young People Fear Social Isolation More Than COVID-19 - NPR

Passengers are tested for COVID-19 at Beirut International Airport on July 1. Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Passengers are tested for COVID-19 at Beirut International Airport on July 1.

I've been stranded in Kenya since March, trying to get a "repatriation" flight to return home to the United States. I was finally able to book a flight but I'm still not sure I'll be able to board at the scheduled departure time a week from Saturday. Not only are cancellations part of the new normal for international flights, but passengers in some countries need to present evidence they're likely not infected with the novel coronavirus before being allowed to board.

In Kenya, that means going to a private laboratory chain within 72 hours of my scheduled departure time and undergoing a COVID-19 test, which will cost about 8,000 shillings about $80. The lab will provide documentation of my test results which I must present to airline staff at check-in.

As governments worldwide ease lockdown restrictions and lift bans on international travel, travelers will have lots of questions about how to proceed. Whether you are an expatriate hoping to return to your home country, a traveler with an urgent personal or business matter that requires an international trip or a tourist willing to consider a holiday in another country, here is what you need to know.

First: Flight schedules remain uncertain with frequent and last-minute cancellations and changes in departure dates and times, mainly because airlines can't fill enough seats on the plane to make it financially worth it. To make life less painful for passengers in these uncertain times, many airlines have dropped fees for changing flights and are even honoring unused but expired tickets.

Second: Some destinations have only opened their borders to travelers from select countries where there is a low or declining number of new COVID-19 cases. Those in countries such as the U.S., Brazil and Russia, where outbreaks are still surging, will not be permitted to enter any European country that has recently opened its borders, for instance. Cyprus will only allow incoming flights from about 35 mostly European countries, and Thailand will only allow in certain groups of foreigners such as students studying at Thai schools, those with valid work permits or spouses of Thai nationals.

Third: Many airlines and destination countries are now requiring passengers to undergo COVID-19 testing prior to boarding a flight and to provide a variety of paperwork proving they do not have the respiratory illness. Kenyan citizens returning home from India, for instance, are required to provide an electronic note from a physician confirming they have tested negative for the virus before they are allowed to fly. Those flying Kenya Airways have to arrange for a COVID-19 PCR test, which determines if a person is contagious within 72 hours of their flight and present negative test results to airline staff at check-in. Emirates airline has been conducting rapid COVID-19 blood tests at the airport, which take 10 minutes to return a result, for passengers flying through Dubai to destination countries that require documentation that you're COVID-19-free. Other airlines similarly require passengers to be tested between 2 to 7 days before their scheduled departure.

Dr. Lin Chen, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and president of the International Society of Travel Medicine, says that requiring passengers to show proof of their virus-free status is, overall, a good step to help prevent the transmission of the disease both during the flight and once passengers reach their destination.

However, these new measures are not perfect. Prospective travelers may test negative for COVID-19 days before their flight but can still be exposed to the virus between the time they go for testing and the time they board.

Moreover, COVID-19 testing is not foolproof. Testing may not be done properly and even if it is, there can be false negatives which might allow contagious individuals to board a flight. Another consideration: Depending on your country of residence, it may be difficult to get tested if there is a shortage of testing centers, health-care staff or testing equipment. And in some countries, expats may not be eligible to receive care from public health services while private health insurance policies may not cover the cost of testing if the test is not considered medically necessary.

Apart from logistical challenges, the looming question remains: is it safe to travel?

Scientific studies and outbreak investigations have found that COVID-19 transmission in crowded, indoor spaces such as cruise ships, churches and factories can be explosive.

But according to Chen, transmission of COVID-19 between passengers on airplanes is rare.

On one January flight from China to Canada, a passenger with a symptomatic case of COVID-19 did not infect any of the 350 passengers on board, according to a brief report by Canadian researchers. Similarly, on a flight from New York to Taipei, a passenger with COVID-19 also did not infect anyone else on board, according to Chen.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also asserts that the risk of getting an infectious disease on a flight is low while the United Nation's International Civil Aviation Organization states on its website that restricting international travel is not an effective means of containing outbreaks.

Yet despite these reassurances, there are documented cases of transmission of COVID-19 on an airplane. On a March 2 flight from London to Vietnam, a woman who was infected with the virus went on to infect at least 13 other passengers, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Health.

The IATA, International Civil Aviation Organization, World Health Organization, and the US Federal Aviation Association have all released guidelines for travel during the pandemic, and many airlines have adapted them and introduced protective measures to keep crew and passengers safe. For example, many airlines have stopped giving passengers reusable items such as blankets, magazines and headphones and have increased layover times and time between flights to allow for more thorough cleaning of the cabins. Most, if not all,airlines have also installed high efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filtration systems which are better at cleaning the air than most systems used in hospital isolation rooms, Chen says. Airlines provide information about their air filtration systems on their websites.

Chen says that passengers can further protect themselves by following all the anti-virus guidelines they would follow outside of the plane including wearing a mask, washing hands and practicing social distancing as much as possible. In addition, Dr. Chen recommends passengers avoid crowded areas of the airport, carry hand wipes, sanitize or avoid "high-touch" areas and bring their own food.

In addition, says Chen, travelers should research the current COVID-19 situation in their prospective destination country and the country's capacity to test and treat people with the viral illness. She also suggests finding out if the destination country has policies requiring people to wear masks in public or encouraging hand-washing and practicing social distancing while on public transit, grocery stores and other public-gathering places. Prospective travelers can find this information on national and international health agency websites including the World Health Organization and CDC and from health ministries, immigration offices and embassies in destination countries.

And then there are questions, if travel is optional, that only you can answer."For tourism or adventure travel, the individual traveler has to consider their own personal risk and whether they tolerate that potential risk of getting infected and whether they might bring it home to their family or community especially if they have older family members who are more susceptible to severe disease," Chen says.

Read this article:

The New Normal For International Air Travel In The COVID-19 Era : Goats and Soda - NPR

Since then, similar scenes have played out across Latin America, which has seen an explosive spread of the coronavirus. In Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, coffins were fashioned from cardboard boxes as bodies were left uncollected. In the Chilean capital Santiago, public hospitals were overwhelmed as lockdown was eased too soon.

The head of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Carissa Etienne, said this week: "The region of the America is clearly the current epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic."

There are many reasons for Covid-19's outsize impact on Latin America: high levels of inequality, the vast "gray" economy of informal workers, a lack of sanitation in crowded urban slums, as well as slow and uneven responses by governments.

Alejandro Gaviria, a former Colombian health minister, told CNN: "Latin America is very heterogeneous. In some cities, health infrastructure is similar to what you find in developed countries; in rural areas, infrastructure is poor in general. It is like having Europe and Africa in the same continent."

Latin American states have had dramatically different experiences with Covid-19. Uruguay, which has a well-funded public health system, embarked on an aggressive tracking and testing program when the pandemic arrived. Despite a change of government in the middle of the crisis, it has had a consistent policy on lockdown. Nearly 20% of the population downloaded a government app with guidance on the virus.

Paraguay, which is much poorer than Uruguay, appears to have benefited from an early lockdown. It also enforced quarantine measures for people entering the country from Brazil, the epicenter of infections in Latin America.

Crowded living conditions in poorer urban areas, where basic hygiene and social distancing are next to impossible, threaten the region with a growing tide of infections. As Dr. Marcos Espinal, chief of the Department of Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis at PAHO, told CNN: "In the barrios of Lima it's going to be very difficult to do social distancing."

Espinal noted that in some countries only a third of the population have a fridge, meaning people must shop daily.

Low Investment

Gaviria says there are many differences between countries, "but most people have access to some type of care. In Colombia, for example, coverage is close to 100%."

Quality is a different issue, though, he says -- a point echoed by Espinal at PAHO. All but five or six governments fall well short of the WHO target of spending 6% of GDP on health, he says. Peru, for example, spends 3.3%.

Some Amazon towns in Brazil are more than 500 kilometers from the nearest ICU bed. In 2016, there were fewer than three beds per 100,000 inhabitants in some northern states in Brazil, but more than 20 beds per 100,000 in the wealthier south-east. The PAHO has warned that the region won't overcome the virus unless it improves care for marginalized communities, such as indigenous peoples in the Amazon. CNN reported a surge of infections this week among the Xavante people in the north-east of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

Coronavirus is just one of multiple health crises in Latin America. Studies shown that poorer people in the region have higher levels of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart disease, all of which make them more vulnerable to Covid-19. This is especially problematic in Mexico and Brazil.

Fabiana Ribeiro, a Brazilian researcher currently at the University of Luxembourg, told CNN that a recent study showed the lowest survival rates were for rural patients of 68 and older, and for patients who were Black, illiterate or had previous conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

The winter months in the southern hemisphere bring other sicknesses, including flu and pneumonia. Francesco Rocca, president of the International Red Cross, said this week that Latin America's health emergency could worsen "with the arrival of the southern winter, the flu season in South America, and especially the hurricane season in the Caribbean."

Some governments -- Chile for example -- have warned private providers that they may take over beds as public hospitals buckle under the strain. Gaviria notes that in Colombia the government now controls access to ICU beds in both the private and public sectors -- "and decide where each new patient should go. They want to avoid rationing based on type of insurance or financial considerations."

The Pan American Health Organization has said that in the coming months robust testing and tracing programs will be critical. There are a few promising signs -- such as the mobile teams in Costa Rica checking on infections and quarantine. And in much of the region there is already a large network of labs established to test for flu that are being mobilized.

But testing capacity is hugely variable across the region. As of June 29, Chile had done nearly 5,800 tests per 100,000 population, according to the PAHO. Panama had done just under 3,000. But Brazil had done 230 -- and Guatemala 45.

"In Nicaragua, we don't even know how many tests are being done," says Espinal.

The impact of coronavirus in Latin America is likely to leave deep scars. The World Bank believes that more than 50 million people will see their incomes fall below the $5.50 a day poverty line. Some economists fear the economic damage may be on a par with the "lost decade" of the 1980s.

In the midst of a deep recession that may shrink the region's economy by one-tenth this year, the necessary investment in public health may not materialize. Espinal thinks that would be a big mistake. "There's no way," he told CNN, "countries can justify continuing investing at the same level even if the economy suffers."

Alejandro Gaviria, Colombia's former health minister and now rector of the University of the Andes, is apprehensive about what the rest of 2020 will bring. "Three problems overlap," he says, "a growing pandemic, a social devastation and an increasing fatigue with lockdowns. New lockdowns will only be possible with strict and repressive enforcement measures."

View post:

Latin America sees half of all new Covid-19 infections as health systems flounder - CNN

Haley Campbell was eager for her two older children, ages 11 and 6, to start school in the fall.

She imagined how their first day would go: special outfits, an encouraging pep talk, and kisses goodbye before dropping them off for sixth grade and kindergarten, respectively.

But two weeks ago, after she received a letter from the school outlining its COVID-19 protocols which included isolated lunches, staggered schedules and the possibility that remote learning could return at any moment, Campbell felt it wasnt worth sending her children back to school.

She decided, instead, to home-school her children this upcoming school year and resigned from her full-time job as an insulin pump technician to fully commit to it. She also pulled her 2-year-old son out of day care.

Kids need a safe space to feel comfortable learning and what was being described to me by the school is not good enough for my kids, Campbell, 29, who lives just outside Boise, Idaho, said. They need to be able to focus on learning, and not worry about what they can and cant touch, staying apart, and not being able to play with their best friend.

After being in survival mode with remote learning, she no longer wants to be at the discretion of the school. I know they are doing their best but I cant rely on the school anymore, I need to be in control and have the ball in my court, she said.

While there isnt comprehensive data on how many parents are planning on home schooling come fall, several states, including Texas, Utah and Washington, have reported sharp upticks in interest.

Over the last month, calls and emails from parents inquiring about home schooling have exploded, said J. Allen Weston, executive director of the National Home School Association.

Public schools across the country have started to reveal what a return to classrooms may look like amid the pandemic, but many parents have preemptively opted not to return and are planning to home-school instead, a decision experts say is a huge undertaking that parents should be well prepared for.

A lot of parents were disillusioned with what they saw over the last 120 days, said Luis Huerta, a professor of education and public policy at Teachers College at Columbia University. They felt the level of instruction was not up to par and that schools dropped the ball during the transition. That led many parents to reconsider, at least temporarily, that they need to take control of their children's education.

Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.

Even though parents have every right to that decision, they have to consider the extent to which they are prepared and have the skills to carry it out, he said.

Some families may have the ability to do it well and even better than their local school, but others will struggle, he said.

It will be a mixed bag based on the myriad of diverse experiences that parents experienced over these last few months.

Huerta added that if parents are exploring the idea of shifting to home schooling, they will need to be very aware of the challenges and rigor of executing it well, and need to be able to quickly tap into the many resources that can support them in that transition.

Jessica Bates, a Nashville-based mother of two, has already started preparations with curriculum research based on input from two of her sisters who are public school teachers. Her son will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

I'm very pro-school and very pro-public school and I never thought I would be thinking about home schooling, Bates, a freelance writer, said. But with COVID-19 spreading and my state opening back up as cases are rising, were concerned with my son going to school.

Bates said social interaction was the main reason for sending her son to school, but with the possibility of remote learning still high, she felt it was better to teach him herself.

COVID-19 has helped people to see that there are other education options out there that they had never seriously considered before, said Michael Hansen, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the director of the Brown Center on Education Policy. It allowed people to see flexibility and think outside the box about what schooling means and how it works best for their children.

Even though most students who are home-schooled during the pandemic will return to a traditional school setting once the public health crisis passes, 1 or 2 percent of them may end up sticking with it because it worked well, Hansen said.

Lara Miller, who lives with her immunocompromised mother, won't be sending her third grader and fifth grader back to school in the fall and is also researching home schooling options.

Despite the school's precautions, she said she is still not comfortable exposing her children to other kids.

"It was a tough decision, but as a family we decided it was best for me to keep them home and home-school," she said. Miller, who is self-employed, said she will have to take a step back from working and rely solely on her husband's income over the next year.

Parents are trying to decide what is right for them during an unprecedented time of crisis, which is not easy, said Kevin Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center and a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education.

But what is important to recognize is that what parents did with remote learning wasnt home schooling but an emergency response that involved trying the school in the home," he said. Home schooling is very different. It is very demanding and requires a lot of hard work, preparation and time.

Parents not only need to have the subject area knowledge but also knowledge of how to teach, and since that often requires a large commitment by at least one parent in order to be successful, it doesnt work with every situation, Welner added.

It's not for everyone and even those who think it might be for them at this point may find out it's not, he said.

But Haley Campbell is optimistic and wants to keep an open mind over the next year.

"No one has parented during this, so I just have to be flexible and adaptable," she said. " Its hard because you are responsible for these little lives, but I feel like I'm doing the right things for my kids."

Go here to see the original:

Parents are opting to home-school their children due to COVID-19 pandemic, but experts say it might not be for everyone - NBC News

Freedom from Covid-19.

"It feels amazing," Avery told CNN. "After knowing what all I've been through, it's still kind of hard to wrap my mind around. But I'm very thankful and grateful that I'm still here."

Avery, who turns 24 on July 4, recently returned home after spending 76 days in a Kansas hospital -- many of them sedated and on a ventilator -- battling the novel coronavirus.

"I'm going to be at home, safe and sound with my family," said Avery, a barber from Kansas City, Missouri, when asked how he would celebrate his birthday and Independence Day. "There will be plenty of other birthdays, I'm sure, down the line where I can make up for this one."

"You're just as at risk as anybody else," Avery said. "You can be the healthiest person on Earth, and you still risk your life every time you carelessly go out here and act like it's not real."

"It's very real," he said. "I was almost taken away from my family."

'It felt like someone was choking me'

By the time Avery arrived at Menorah Medical Center in Overland Park, Kansas, on April 6, he says he had what felt like every Covid-19 symptom, including chills, high fever and body aches. But what worried him most was his shortness of breath.

"Even if I was to take a deep breath it felt like someone was choking me," he said.

"I was definitely thinking that something bad was about to happen," Avery said. "I immediately thought of my son. I immediately thought of my family."

Avery says he remembers very little of what came next. Once he arrived at the hospital, Avery remembers getting out of his car and into a wheelchair. He has a faint memory of being wheeled into the intensive care unit.

"I don't want to say I started to panic," he said, "but I was definitely scared. That's not a normal patient room. That's where you're critically ill."

Before getting sick, Avery had taken precautions to ensure his family's safety amid a lockdown, like making sure there was enough food.

"But I can't say that I took it as serious as I needed to," he said. "I didn't think it was as serious as it is."

'Older people were getting this virus'

"My take on it was that older people were getting this virus and they were more susceptible as far as getting really sick from it," Willetta Avery said.

"To hear my son was going through this was very, very terrifying," she said, adding that things "got real" when she learned her son needed a ventilator.

"And not knowing much about ventilators ... it scared me to know that he was going to have to be on one of those," she said. "That's when the seriousness of his illness just kind of slapped me in the face."

Willetta Avery remembers getting a call from the hospital at 4:30 a.m. on April 11.

"They were basically telling us Shakell was maxed out on ventilation support, that there was not much else they could do," she said.

The hospital finally allowed her to see her son.

"It was as if I would be seeing him for the last time," she said.

Avery's doctors at Menorah Medical Center collaborated with physicians at Research Medical Center in Kansas City -- both are part of the HCA Healthcare system -- to treat him with convalescent plasma.

'I beat Covid-19'

After Shakell came to, he still had trouble fighting the virus.

"Being independent, you're used to doing everything on your own," he said.

But he needed help getting up and going to the bathroom. He couldn't speak or walk. He also struggled with depression in the hospital, particularly when his family would come visit him at a tent the hospital set up outside his window.

"It was a great moment at the time being, but as soon as they left I went right back down," he said. "It was really tough being away from my girlfriend. It was tough being away from my son, my mom, my siblings."

Avery eventually started to improve and he came off the ventilator. He started physical therapy and was sent to a full rehabilitation center, where he was discharged late last month.

Shakell returned to Menorah Medical Center with his family on Tuesday to thank staff for helping him.

"I was more than grateful," Avery said. "I could have said 'thank you' an infinite amount of times, and it wouldn't have matched the intensity of how grateful I was."

Avery has a message for young people, and he says that he wants to be "as blunt as possible."

"Every time you carelessly step out your door -- no mask or no empathy for anyone else's life -- you're counting your days," he said.

"My advice would simply be to try not to be selfish, but as selfless as possible," he said. "Because you're not just hurting yourself."

Read more from the original source:

A 24-year-old Covid-19 survivor is celebrating a different kind of independence this July Fourth - CNN

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR)reports as of 10:00 a.m., on June 30, 2020, there have been 170,497 totalconfirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 2,888 total cases and 93 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASES PER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (15/0), Berkeley (438/18), Boone(21/0), Braxton (3/0), Brooke (8/1), Cabell (119/4), Calhoun (2/0), Clay(10/0), Fayette (66/0), Gilmer (12/0), Grant (15/1), Greenbrier (58/0),Hampshire (41/0), Hancock (19/3), Hardy (42/1), Harrison (61/0), Jackson(143/0), Jefferson (219/5), Kanawha (303/9), Lewis (18/0), Lincoln (8/0), Logan(23/0), Marion (54/3), Marshall (41/1), Mason (17/0), McDowell (6/0), Mercer(38/0), Mineral (54/2), Mingo (16/3), Monongalia (157/14), Monroe (12/1),Morgan (19/1), Nicholas (9/1), Ohio (90/0), Pendleton (12/1), Pleasants (4/1),Pocahontas (23/1), Preston (63/15), Putnam (54/1), Raleigh (52/1), Randolph(155/1), Ritchie (2/0), Roane (11/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor (15/1), Tucker(6/0), Tyler (4/0), Upshur (18/1), Wayne (110/1), Webster (1/0), Wetzel (10/0),Wirt (4/0), Wood (78/8), Wyoming (7/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Braxton County in this report.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.

Continue reading here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 6-30-2020 - 10 AM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

The Austin mayor said his city is dealing with the same situation Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are facing -- rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The positivity rate for COVID-19 cases in Austin is the highest in the country. That means of the number of coronavirus tests given in Austin, more people are testing positive there than anywhere else in the United States.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler says he is considering a 35-day stay-at-home order.

Adler said they have conferred with scientists and modelers to come up with the shortest period of time to slow down COVID-19 and reopen the economy with greater controls.

"Right now the trajectory in Austin would indicate to us that if we don't do something about the trajectory we're on, we could run out of hospital capacity in two weeks," he said. "ICUs potentially before that."

He said they're dealing with a situation similar to what is happening in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

Both Bexar, home to San Antonio, and Dallas counties reported more than 1,000 cases on Friday for the first time. Harris County, where Houston is, has reported more than 1,000 cases in a single day more than once.

The 2020 Austin City Limits Festival was canceled due to concerns about the spread of the disease. What will happen to University of Texas football?

"I can't imagine a world without a vaccine, where you put 95,000 people in a stadium," Adler said.

Adler said even a small number of infected people could spread quickly from that crowd and out into the community, when fans go home.

"Frankly I'm not sure how teams get through an entire fall in that kind of proximity and keep everybody safe," he said.

Adler, a Democrat, has served as the mayor of the state capital since January 2015.

Statewide Headlines

Ross Ramsey, with the Texas Tribune, joins Jason Whitely.

1. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick took issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci last week when the doctor said that states like Texas have skipped over reopening guidelines. The lieutenant governor said in an interview that Texas hasnt skipped over anything. Patrick added that Dr. Fauci has "been wrong every time on every issue." The lieutenant governor issued a statement later asking why Fauci had nothing to say about mistakes made in New York and even California. Dr. Fauci is the nation's top infectious-disease specialist. Is there any kind of political strategy in what the lieutenant governor said?

2. Bars are now suing the state after the governor ordered them to close. Gov. Greg Abbott caved with Shelley Luther and her hair salon in Dallas. How might this play out?

Mask wearing will 'increase freedom'

For weeks, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams has supported wearing face masks. But he understands the challenge of getting people to wear one.

Adams had this message for Texans:

"If you want to see the Dallas Cowboys play again in person, if you want to see the Houston Texans play again in person, if we want to get back to some sense of normalcy -- with church, with school, with businesses, then the fastest way to make that happen is by wearing a face covering."

Adams called wearing a mask "a small inconvenience that will actually increase your freedom."

The best way to ensure communities can reopen, said Adams, was to follow these public health precautions.

Adams has three kids, and said he and his family are actively discussing whether their children will go back to school in person.

He said things are changing quickly for COVID, but said, in order for school to take place safely, schools need to be preparing now by considering everything from transportation to distancing to online access.

Second shutdown could be catastrophic for restaurants

The Texas Restaurant Association is concerned that some cities might restrict restaurant operations again as the coronavirus continues its spread.

All of those factors could have dire consequences for restaurants.

Emily Williams, president and CEO of The Texas Restaurant Association, said another shutdown would paralyze the industry.

"With the first shutdown, we're projecting about 30% of our 50,000 restaurants won't make it through," she said.

The TRA estimates 50-75% of restaurants would close if a second shutdown occurred.

The TRA has put together its "Survival Plan," which outlines what the $66 billion industry needs to move forward. It includes tax relief, liability protection, and an assistance fund to help restaurants deal with the demands of COVID-19.

Reporter Roundtable

Featuring Jason, Ross, Bud Kennedy of the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, and Berna Dean Steptoe, WFAA political producer.

1. Joe Biden had a good week last week. Now the talk is about who he will select for a running mate. The Democratic National convention is about six weeks away. Is there a running mate who would help or hurt him in Texas? Selecting a woman -- any names he might be considering that we havent heard?

2. It's the middle of an exhausting, frustrating year. Some public officials are just beaten down. Should more retirements at all levels be expected after the November elections?

More Inside Texas Politics:

Read more here:

Inside Texas Politics: Austin mayor says based on current COVID-19 trajectory, city could run out of hospital beds in 2 weeks - WFAA.com

Local health officials are being kept in the dark about Covid-19 infections in their area by Whitehalls refusal to share all of its data, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has warned.

Public health officials and council leaders also told the Observer that they were receiving only partial postcode data, which prevents them from precisely monitoring local areas, and could allow the virus to spread.

Burnham has urged ministers to change their approach after a week that saw Boris Johnson impose a local lockdown on Leicester when health secretary Matt Hancock, revealed that the city had seen a surge of 944 Covid-19 cases over two weeks.

Amid a public row between ministers and Leicesters mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, health officials finally began sharing more data with the city authorities last Wednesday. Previously, all councils had to wait for official Public Health England data to be published, which meant a two-week lag.

Yet significant problems remain, Burnham told the Observer. We need a new principle going forward: everything the government knows, we should know and at the same time that they know it. Because we cannot contain this virus if people at a local level are being kept in the dark.

Public Health England (PHE) wrote to councils directors of public health last Monday with details of how to access pillar two data that taken from home testing kits and mobile testing sites set up by Deloitte. Until that point, local authorities had only pillar one data how many people in hospitals had tested positive. In Manchester, there had been 78 pillar one cases, but that jumped to 465 when pillar two figures were revealed.

We get pillar two data once a week, on a Monday morning, Burnham said. But a lot can happen in seven days. So if were going to manage and chase this virus down on the ground, we need the same daily data that the government gets.

Its as if the government doesnt trust the professionals working at local level

They also wont provide patient-identifiable data. Our teams tell me that is crucial, but the government cites patient confidentiality. Our teams are experienced public health staff they know how to deal with data confidentially. Its as if the government doesnt trust the professionals working at local level.

Government health sources insist that data protection issues limit who can access postcode-level data, since if the information were to leak beyond councils and the NHS, it could be used to identify individuals.

This week, the government is expected to publish an outbreak framework as guidance on what might trigger further local lockdowns. Ministers are understood not to be following the approach used in Germany, where local lockdowns are considered whenever the number of cases reaches a threshold of 50 per 100,000 people.

A further problem for local health teams is that there is a huge quantity of testing data to decipher, including hospital admissions, contact-tracing data from the NHS system and their own local intelligence.

Louise Jackson, portfolio holder for public health and wellbeing at Bedford Council, said her teams were still not getting good-quality information.

They tell me there are duplicates for example, if there are four results in one postcode area, does that mean youve got four cases, or one person who has been tested four times? They just dont know. The local data dashboards only give the number of tests, not how many were positive or where they are. Its very, very messy.

A senior director of public health, speaking anonymously, said: The government says data is now flowing, but thats just spin. Its not granular enough, its not quick enough and its not frequent enough. What weve been told is that the commercial company operating pillar two didnt set the data up so it can shared easily, and that the quality was poor as well.

MPs have raised questions about the role of Deloitte, which was appointed to run testing centres in March. In a written answer last week, health minister Nadine Dorries admitted that the government contract does not require the company to report positive cases to PHE.Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow who tabled the question, said: This is a mess. Local authorities need clear data about positive tests: where theyve happened, whos involved and who is isolating. And that should be what the government has commissioned. Its becoming very clear thats not the case.

Deenan Pillay, a professor of virology at University College London and a member of the Independent Sage group of scientists, said he was consulted by Deloitte about setting up the testing sites in March.

I told them one of the key things would be data flow, since that is critical to optimal use of the data for individual clinical care and pandemic control, he said.

Health data is a very complex area, and the problems we are seeing are some of the consequences of this being set up as a structure separate from the NHS, rather than being linked to the NHSs laboratory and data systems.He said that testing did not just happen in a lab but was a whole process that began with collecting the right patient information. NHS tests use patients NHS numbers, allowing results to go to their GP, Pillay said.

We are now seeing the consequences of this lack of data integration with primary and secondary care, PHE and local directors of public health, which needs a lot of behind-the-scenes retrofitting.

Whitehall did not respond to questions from the Observer about the sharing of data.

Deloitte said that the consultancy had designed the online form used to book and register tests and had commissioned testing sites, but did not run either them or the testing labs. Test results are sent from labs to the National Pathology Exchange, which connects NHS labs with other parts of the NHS, including NHS Digital.

Continued here:

Local officials kept in the dark by Whitehall on Covid-19 testing data - The Guardian

The confluence of warmer weather and the sudden age of quarantine has led to a national surge in bicycle sales.

These days people are buying whatever they can get their hands on, Bob Addams said of his Elizabethown shop, Bicycle Outfitters. Theyre not worried about color and size.

Retail cycling sales in the U.S. increased by 75% in April to more than $1 billion, according to NDP Group. It is the first time the market research company recorded more than $1 billion in industry sales for a single month April sales are usually between $550 million and $575 million.

Its one of the few things left that people can do, Addams said.

But there is a problem: Addams said his shop is virtually empty and it may stay that way for a while.

I dont expect to get more inventory for the sales floor until next year, said Addams, adding bikes from his vendors are backordered to at least December.

Im trying not to complain, he said, noting weve been lucky to remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic, unlike many other businesses that were ordered closed, some which never reopened.

But we wouldve been able to sell all sorts of other bikes and get more, Addams said. My sales were up to this point, but going forward, its going to be horrible.

He said the repair side of his business is through the roof but noted its almost impossible it will entirely make up for lost bike sales.

Addams isnt alone as bike shops across Lancaster County and the nation face a supply problem compounded by the pandemic.

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

Like Addams shop, business has been brisk at Lancaster Bike Shop in Manheim Township, where service manager Rusty Gramm said sales in May were nearly double than normal.

But most bicycles are made overseas, including Europe and Asia, and Gramm said he was told several vendors ceased production when the pandemic reached their areas, which has led to a shortage.

The months-long pause in production was compounded by a spike in demand domestically.

Gramm said Lancaster Bike Shop is starting to run scarce on bikes. Fully stocked, he said the shop has anywhere between 150 to 200 bikes. In late June, the shop had 40 bicycles, and dropping.

Its great that there are people wanting to get on bikes, but (the industry doesnt) have the infrastructure to keep this up, said Adriana Atencio, director of development at the Common Wheel.

The Common Wheel, with its bike shop at 324 N. Queen St. and its co-op at 701 E. King St., has no new bikes left priced under $1,000, Atencio said. Bike parts and accessories such as vehicle bike racks have also flown off of shelves.

Its a shortage nationwide, she said, adding that the Lancaster city-based nonprofit has received calls on bike availability from as far as Texas.

Gramm remains optimistic, saying his vendors were eventually able to ramp up production again, and Lancaster Bike Shop is expected to receive additional bikes by late July or early August.

I think were going to catch up (with demand) he said. And were really excited that people are riding bikes.

Subscribe today for only $2

' + submsgtxthtml + '

Get unlimited access to breaking news, ancestry archives, our daily E-newspaper, games and more.

Subscribe today for only $2

' + submsgtxthtml + '

Get unlimited access to breaking news, ancestry archives, our daily E-newspaper, games and more.

Subscribe today for only $2

' + submsgtxthtml + '

Get unlimited access to breaking news, ancestry archives, our daily E-newspaper, games and more.

Subscribe today for only $2

' + submsgtxthtml + '

Read this article:

Lancaster County bicycle shops face inventory shortage brought by COVID-19 and warmer weather - LancasterOnline

A hallway leads to a makeshift isolation ward for COVID-19 patients. Kirk Siegler/NPR hide caption

A hallway leads to a makeshift isolation ward for COVID-19 patients.

In the Idaho mountain town of Grangeville, population 3,200, signs in windows on Main Street advertise that Border Days "is on."

The annual Fourth of July celebration boasts street dances, Idaho's longest-running rodeo and even the world's largest egg toss. Like in a lot of small towns, Grangeville's economy has been struggling throughout this pandemic.

Border Days planners decided to go ahead with an altered, if slightly scaled back version of the festival this year amid worries about a possible spike in coronavirus cases.

Grangeville's population tends to skew older and underinsured.

"It's going to be a little risky," said Joel Gomez, owner of The Trails Restaurant & Lounge. "I feel like we're going to get hit with the corona after this."

With so many other July Fourth events canceled in the rural Northwest, local business owners such as Gomez are preparing for an onslaught of potentially thousands of tourists descending on the town.

Trails is one of the festival's street dance and live music venues. Gomez is moving everything he can outside, taking reservations and spacing out tables.

Border Days organizers say they're taking similar COVID-19 precautions. There have been only three confirmed cases in Idaho County since March. People around here have been taking the virus seriously, Gomez says, but after two months of shutdowns, his business is barely hanging on.

"It's one of those things that you have to survive," he said. "You've got people out there [trying] to feed their family. We are in the same boat."

Up the street, at the 16-bed Syringa Hospital and Clinic, CEO Abner King says his staff is prepared for a possible surge in coronavirus infections in a couple of weeks.

"It's pretty hard to do an egg toss in a socially distancing manner," he chuckles.

Syringa Hospital's CEO, Abner King, says his staff is ready for a possible surge in COVID-19 patients, as long as larger regional hospitals aren't overwhelmed. Kirk Siegler/NPR hide caption

Syringa Hospital's CEO, Abner King, says his staff is ready for a possible surge in COVID-19 patients, as long as larger regional hospitals aren't overwhelmed.

Syringa doesn't have an intensive care unit or even a ventilator. Most patients in need of critical care are transferred to larger regional hospitals, which so far during the pandemic have not been overwhelmed themselves as first feared.

Syringa staff members have been preparing and instituting precautions for months, yet to date they've not treated a single COVID-19 patient.

"That's the tough part about all this, because you get all ready for this big emergency and then nothing happens and then you have to fight complacency a little bit," King says. "We prepared for a flood, and then we were hit with a drought."

That "drought" has severely affected Syringa's bottom line. The irony is that small-town hospitals like this one are now on the brink of going broke during the pandemic. King says people just stopped coming into the hospital, its clinic and even its emergency room. All elective procedures were canceled. Since the pandemic took hold in March, revenue here has dropped by half.

Across the U.S., rural "critical access" hospitals were already closing at an alarming rate before the pandemic. Twelve have shuttered since the start of this year alone.

"Even without the pandemic, there's not a lot of room for surprises and errors," King said.

One of the main reasons that the hospital has stayed afloat since March is because of federal relief money. Among other things, it has helped pay for personal protective gear and other supplies as well as the construction of a temporary isolation ward for COVID-19 patients.

Past the hospital's small nursing station and down toward the end of a short corridor, there is a makeshift wall of heavy-duty plastic beneath the fluorescent lights. More air-handling units are on back order too, should the hospital need to convert more rooms to negative pressure.

Hospital leaders say a separate chunk of federal relief money, roughly $1.8 million in payroll protection loans, has also been a lifeline for avoiding layoffs.

That money is running out in the next few days, but King says business has recently picked back up to near pre-pandemic levels, as non-COVID-19 patients are starting to return to the clinic and hospital.

This is big, because in small towns like Grangeville, the hospital is often one of the largest employers.

"It's been stressful because it's just the unknown," said Melissa Holman, a nurse at the clinic. "You come to work and you never know if you're going to be exposed, and I have family members that are high risk."

Holman is back at work now after taking a voluntary furlough for 2 1/2 weeks this spring. It has been a struggle. Her husband is a rancher. They have two young kids, one in elementary school and another in day care; both the school and day care closed. A furlough did mean that she and her family could stay on the hospital's insurance.

Holman is watching as coronavirus cases are rising steeply elsewhere in Idaho. Worried about a similar fate for Grangeville, she's not convinced that school will reopen here as planned come fall.

"That could bring another hardship against our family trying to cover child care and homeschooling, along with maintaining a full-time job," Holman said.

Read more here:

On The Brink, Rural Hospitals Brace For New Surge In COVID-19 Cases - NPR