Category Archives: Covid-19

ALBANY All state-imposed mask mandates have ended, and many COVID-19 protocols impacting the general public have disappeared.

But coronavirus is still present - and has been slowly ticking back up during the past two weeks in New York.

Statewide positivity rates plummeted from a high of 21 percent during the omicron surge in early January to a little under 1.5 percent March 12.

But ever since, COVID-19 has been slowly creeping back in, with a 2.3 percent positivity rate statewide Saturday based on a seven-day average.

And those numbers do not convey what certain parts of the state are experiencing as the low New York City rates pull the entire statewide positivity number down.

Central New York, for example, is seeing almost 9 percent of tests coming back positive, with Onondaga County reaching close to 10 percent as of Friday's data.

The Capital Region is also now higher than the state average, with an increase from 2.2 percent to 3.3 percent of tests coming back positive since March 14.

The widespread use of at-home COVID-19 tests also likely means the positivity rate is higher.

Indoor masking requirements in New York businesses ended Feb. 10. The slight uptick in cases is being felt about three weeks after the school mask mandate outside of New York City was lifted March 2.

There is also a new omicron variant, BA.2, that has taken over about half of positive tests in what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline as Region 2, which includes New York.

Omicron BA.2 is causing concern in other countries, with the elderly population being heavily impacted in Hong Kong. But experts here have said COVID-19 vaccination and boosters should provide ample protection - and that any surge in this variant is likely to most greatly impact the unvaccinated.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health virologist Andrew Pekosz said in an online Q and A last week that so many people were infected with omicron BA.1 during the surge in the U.S., there is the hope that there is some inherent immunity. He also said those who are boosted are best equipped to handle omicron variants.

"Its amazing how that message just maintains consistency," Pekosz said. "We did have to add the booster to deal with omicron, but at the end of the day, vaccination and boosting are doing a fantastic job of limiting severe disease and an okay job of limiting infection. They really are the tool to get us back to normalcy. "

The CDC has decided to take hospitalizations, and hospital capacity, into account when determining spread. And most of the U.S. is now labeled at "low" risk for COVID-19 - including most of New York.

But there are still hotspots. Franklin County in the North Country is the sole place statewide at "high" coronavirus risk as of Sunday. Neighboring Essex and Clinton counties are in "medium" risk, as is Onondaga and Hamilton counties.

Hospitalizations, an indication of severity of the disease, statewide remain low, at less than five COVID-19 cases per 100,000. As a comparison, at the height of the winter omicron surge, COVID-19 hospitalizations were at about 63 people per 100,000 across New York.

But it typically takes at least a few weeks to see if increasing COVID-19 positivity rates have translated into serious illness when looking at hospitalization data.

In Central New York, the region with the highest positivity rates in the state, hospitalizations have slightly increased since March 16 - the first time COVID-19 hospitalizations have started to trend upward there since late last year.

Read more here:

COVID-19 is slightly trending up in New York - should we be worried? - Times Union

More than three-quarters of Utahns support Gov. Spencer Coxs steady state COVID-19 plan to start treating the virus like the flu and other diseases with limited outbreaks rather than as an ongoing emergency, according to the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll.

And while 40% of Utahns believe it will still take a year or more for life to get back to normal from a pandemic that plagued the world for more than two years, thats down from 57% in January and 51% in February,during the last surge in cases.

Another 17% of Utahns say theyve already moved on.

The reality is, Utahns are looking at the situation and they are ready to transition now, said Jason Perry, director of the University of Utahs Hinckley Institute of Politics. Perry said because the governors plan has the backing of so many Utahns, it shows Cox and legislative leaders have found the mark for Utah on COVID-19.

The poll found 77% approved of the shift in the states COVID-19 response announced by Cox in mid-February, as case counts driven by the incredibly transmissible omicron variant of the virus were falling after reaching record-breaking highs. Just 18% disapproved, and 4% didnt know.

When it comes to getting past the pandemic, in addition to the 17% who say their lives are back to normal now a response added for the first time to the poll 13% of Utahns arent sure when that will happen, while 9% say it will take one to two months; 14%, three to six months; 7%, six to 11 months; 18% one year; and 22%, several years.

The poll was conducted March 9-21 by Dan Jones & Associates for the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics of 804 registered voters in Utah. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.45 percentage points.

The governors spokeswoman, Jennifer Napier-Pearce, said the state remains on track to meet the March 31 deadline Cox set for turning most of the testing and treatments for the virus over to private health care providers. Contracts the state has for providing those services will remain in place, however, to deal with any future surges.

Daily reports on cases, hospitalizations and deaths are also scheduled to end, but the state will keep watching for new COVID-19 outbreaks, including through measuring the presence of the virus in wastewater, as well as promoting vaccinations.

The governors office was pleased with the poll results.

We appreciate that the vast majority of Utahns see the wisdom in downshifting the states response to the pandemic even as we remain ready to ramp up quickly if we experience a spike, Napier-Pearce said. Were especially grateful to our health care and public health workers for getting us to this point.

Going forward, she said the state will continue to monitor the spread of the virus, focus on promoting vaccinations and follow other lessons learned over the past two years.

Although mask mandates are being lifted in other states to mark the change in how the virus is being managed, thats not the case in Utah. The Utah Legislature, which limited the powers of state and local leaders to respond to public health emergencies, overturned mask mandates approved in Salt Lake and Summit counties in January.

Dozens of people join the Concerned Coalition Public Health Rally at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022, where participants demanded partisan politics be removed from Utahs public health policies.

Mengshin Lin, Deseret News

Perry said the governors announcement on COVID-19 may not dramatically change anyones behavior, but it does send an important message to Utahns.

Its symbolic in a very clear way, where the state of Utah is saying were not going to see elected leaders having press conferences about COVID routinely, he said. This is not something were expecting our government to be heavily involved in by the end of March.

The upbeat attitude of many Utahns comes as the United States faces yet another potential surge in COVID-19, this time from so-called stealth omicron, a subvariant known by scientists as BA.2 thats believed to be even more transmissible than its predecessor and is responsible for new surges in Europe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as of the week ending March 19, the subvariant makes up just under 35% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States and more than 21% of the cases in the region that includes Utah.

So far, 210 subvariant cases have been identified in Utah as part of the 1,500 to 3,000 positive test samples subjected weekly to genome sequencing by the state laboratory, said Kelly Oakeson, the Utah Department of Healths chief scientist for bioinformatics and next generation sequencing.

Utahs subvariant cases are climbing, Oakeson said, but not as fast as previous variants, including delta, which turned Utah into the nations hot spot for COVID-19 last fall. Still, he said within a week or two, Utah will catch up to New York, where BA.2 is now the dominant variant.

There is some hope, Oakeson said. We know boosters work really well against severe disease and hospitalization. So if a good proportion of the population is boosted, thats going to help. We know there is some immunity and protection if youve been previously infected with the original omicron against BA.2.

There no doubt will be breakthrough cases and exceptions among those whove had omicron, he said.

But the idea is in the population as a whole, theres enough immunity out there that we shouldnt see another big, huge increase in hospitalizations and deaths, Oakeson said. However, he added, this virus has thrown us for a loop time and time again, and always likes to throw us curve balls so I dont want to be, you know, too optimistic.

Count Janice Gravenmier, a West Valley City dental office manager, among the Utahns who approve of the governors COVID-19 plan.

Weve all had the COVID. Ive had it. My whole family had it. Some of the girls at work have had it. And weve all been fine. It hasnt been too bad. I know the older people and immunocompromised have more trouble, she said. But when she caught the virus a few months ago, it felt like a cold.

I had to stay home from work but I did the housecleaning, scrubbing walls and cleaning stuff, Gravenmier said, while taking care of other family members with COVID-19. The grandchildren were like me, they were bouncing off the walls and having fun. They didnt care.

Gravenmier, who still has to wear a mask at work and helps keep surfaces at the dental office clean by repeatedly wiping them down, said she isnt worried about the subvariant. But she said the concerns that her employer and others in the health care field continue to have mean it could be a year before life returns to normal.

Its going to be a while, she said.

Kory Jasperson, of Bountiful, who retired from a post with a genetics laboratory last December, also agrees with the governor that its time to deal with COVID-19 differently.

Ultimately, returning back to a little of normalcy is going to have to happen at some point. This has been going on for two years, Jasperson said. I think most people are kind of, not necessarily done with it I mean theres still precautions that are needed but I think overall we have to start going back to some normalcy.

Still, he said he believes it will take several years to get back to pre-pandemic life.

Everybody is, for the most part, hyped up about COVID. I completely believe in COVID. Its (had) significant ramifications across the world but theres a group of the population that will have a hard time returning to normal life, Jasperson said, even as he and others resume shopping and other everyday activities without masks.

Theres always a possibility that a variant will be a superspreader, will be more lethal, or it will have more significant ramifications than the previous variant, or whatever the case may be, he said, although not particularly concerned about the BA.2 subvariant.

I think I am a little bit tired of worrying about it, but thats not necessarily the main reason, Jasperson said, because he and those close to him are vaccinated and boosted. Unless youre just going to stick in your house and then not ever go outside, youre ultimately always going to have the opportunity of getting infected.

Excerpt from:

Poll: Why Utahns say its time to treat COVID-19 like other diseases - Deseret News

She didnt quite recognize herself when she first saw the photo. Arms crossed, face partly covered with a white mask, standing defiantly in blue hospital scrubs, seeming to square off with a man in sunglasses holding a U.S. flag over his shoulders.

Lauren Leander had never been to a protest before she joined fellow nurses at the Arizona state Capitol in April 2020 on a day off from the COVID-19 ward at Banner University Medical Centerin Phoenix. She was hoping to silently confront a loud and rowdy group demanding that Gov. Doug Ducey lift all restrictions that aimed to curb the pandemic, then at its initial phase.

The woman in the photo looked strong. Leander, reflecting on that day two years later, said that wasn't the way she felt that day.

I felt really small at the time, she said during aninterview this yearI felt like a little nurse that wanted people to take this thing seriously. Like, wear a mask and listen to us.

Leander would end up getting a lot of people to hear her message after the photo of her at the Capitol was posted on azcentral.com andprinted in The Arizona Republic. The image resonated with people and buzzed around the nation and globe.

Duringthe next two years, Leanders life would alter drastically. Some of the changes spurred because she happened to be captured in a photothat forever froze a split second of time.

Much of that day was a blur for Leander, who spent the better part of the afternoon standing outside the grounds of the Capitol.

She had no vivid memory of the man who passed her carrying a flag. She didnt recall ignoring the questions from photographer Michael Chow, himself clad in an N95 mask, asking her what hospital she worked in.

It was a stream of people, she said. It was just nonstop.

People coughed on her as they passed, saying they were spreading to her the virus they were convinced was fake. Some questioned whether she was an actual critical care nurse or an actress.

Leander had read false theories about the pandemic online. But here were real-life people who believed them and were spouting them. And, to boot, coming up with conspiracy theories about her on the spot.

It was a good opportunity to really look them in the eye and figure out who those people were and what they had to say, Leander said.

As it happened, the day would also allow Leander to take a close look at herself and figure out who she was.

That introspection started after she came home. She was tired from hours of standing outdoors. She curled up for a nap.

She woke up to her phone buzzing with messages. The photo had started circulating. People were talking about the nurse who silently counterprotested at the Capitol. Friends had recognized her and were letting her know about the image.

Within days, Leanderwould become the most widely recognized nurse in the United States.

Leander did not always want to be a nurse. She changed majors at Arizona State University a few times before settling on it. A voice in the back of my head just told me nursing one day, she said.

She knew she had found her calling on a volunteer trip to Guatemala. The difference she made in giving one-on-one attention to people who didnt get health care regularly resonated with her.

She explored other jobs in the medical field, but nothing spoke to her like nursing. There was something about nursing, Leander said. Im your person. Im here for you. Im your advocate, tell me what you need. Its something so unique to nursing.

Leander worked in the critical care unit of Banner University Medical Center, a unit that she said, pre-pandemic, worked as a well-oiled machine.

On a typical shift, she would deal with rattlesnake bites, respiratory failureor variousdiseases. On some shifts, she was part of the code team, meaning she would be called into action when someone had shallow breathing or weak heart beats.

We were always busy, she said. We were just damn good at it.

Then came the pandemic.

A unit would be dedicated solely to dealing with COVID-19 patients. Leander volunteered to work with them.

She said she did so because she realized she was young, healthy and living alone. Other nurses were pregnant, she said, or mothers to young children.

The first COVID-19 patient at her hospital was a 27-year-old woman who was pregnant. Leander provided care for her, at times performing manual compressions on her chest to help her breathe. When that patient died, the death hit her hard.

That changed everything for me, she said. The woman was not older or with preexisting conditions, the markers that were supposed to lead to death. Leander realized she was not just susceptible to the virus, but could die from it.

In the early days of the pandemic, there was little known about how the virus was spread and, Leander said, little availability of protective equipment.

Leander said she worked with her first COVID-19 patients wearing a paper surgical mask and a paper gown that left her neck exposed. In this outfit that medical guidance would later show to be inadequate she would work on patients, including compressing on their chests to keep them breathing, leaving her covered in their secretions.

We were in next to nothing, she said.

Leander settled into a confining pace: work, home and back to work. She knew she was exposed to the virus every time she worked and didnt want to spread it to her friends or family.

Leander saw news coverage of re-open rallies in other cities. She saw that nurses had come out to counterprotest, dressed in surgical scrubs and wearing masks. In Denver, nurses blocked traffic, momentarily stopping a convoy of cars that circled that state's Capitol.

On the morning of April 20, Leander got word that there was a reopen rally planned for the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix. It happened to be her day off.

She texted some nurse friends to see if she could gather an impromptu group to mirror what had been done in Denver. Anyone interested, come join me, she said, recounting the general message she sent in texts messages and through social media. Weve got to go. We have to be there.

Leander heard the crowd at the Capitol before she saw them. There were horn honks as cars circled the streets around the government buildings.

I got goosebumps, she said. This is going to be big.

She and three other nurses stood on 17th Avenue, along a raised crosswalk that led from the Wesley Bolin Plaza to the three buildings that housed the state House, state Senate and executive officers.

Signs had phrases such as, Economic suicide is not the answer or Give me freedom or give me COVID. The few attendees with masks were those carrying long guns across their bodies, some dressed in Hawaiian shirts indicative of the extremist group, Boogaloo Boys. There were scattered signs showing support of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

On the plaza, a crowd listened to speeches shouted through a microphone passed around to willing speakers. One man said he would rather die of the novel coronavirus than have his freedom restricted. Another, who would briefly draw the attention of law enforcement, suggested that Democratlawmakers needed to be shot.

After the speeches, the crowd made its way to the Capitol. And right past the line of nurses.

Leander and her fellow nurses had decided to stay silent, not engaging or arguing with the protesters. I was not there to start a fight, she said.

But she was surprised that their mere presence inspired such ire.

We were triggering for them, Leander said.

The nurses became the target of invective. It seemed like everyone who passed by had a mean comment.

She and her handful of fellow nurses were vastly outnumbered.

It was a David and Goliath moment, she said. I was looking up at this beast that had been created and was spreading like wildfire.

It was like there was two pandemics: the virus and misinformation.

One man, wearing wrap-around sunglasses, had a U.S. flag attached to a pitchfork he held above his head. He walked close past Leander.

It was the shot that Chow, The Republic photographer, has envisioned when he saw Leander standing ramrod straight on the crosswalk. Chow framed Leander in his viewfinder and waited for someone to enter the frame opposite her.

When this pitchfork-carrying man did, he snapped. Though the resulting image cut off the tines of the pitchfork.

'That's the one there': A photo of a protesting nurse in Phoenix goes viral

The photographer tried to get Leanders name. She did not respond to his question.

But someone verified to the photographer that the woman was indeed a nurse. It was Sandra Leander, the mother of Lauren Leander.Though, she declined to give Chow her daughter's name.

Sandra Leander was there because Lauren Leander had called her parents to tell them of her plan to be at the protest.Sandra, sensing her daughter wanted her there for moral support, decided to head to the Capitol.

Her father, Tom, had obligations for his job with Fox Sports Arizona, where he hosted the pre-and post-game shows for the Phoenix Suns. While the NBA had stopped playing games, Leander was hosting interview shows and lookbacks at classic games to help the channel fill the schedule.

Looking back, Tom Leander said during a phone interview this month that he was glad he wasnt there. Im not sure how I would have handled it, he said.

At the Capitol, Sandra Leander texted her daughter, trying to find out where she was amid the sea of people. Then, she spotted her at the crosswalk on 17th Avenue. It was the first time the two had seen each other without a barrier between them in two months.

Sandra said, during an interview this month, that she caught her daughter's eye and they nodded at each other.

Leander and the nurses moved with the crowd to the Capitol mall. She stood in front of the stone building, now a museum, that sits at the center of the mall.

At that point, a reporter from a television station approached her. Leander knew the reporter through her father, Tom, and felt comfortable talking to him.

Im here for my patients, she said. I am here for the people that are dying alone. Im here for the people that cant see their families in the last moments of their life. Im here for the people that are truly sick and that are overflowing our ICUs at this moment.

As she spoke, protesters gathered around trying to engage her further. But Leander ignored them as best she could. She stayed silent.

Sandra Leander had stayed distant from her daughter before. But, here in front of the old Capitol building, she got close enough to hear what protesters were saying while they walked past.

"I heard people say they hoped she caught the virus and dies," Sandra Leander said. "I heard pretty much every vile word you can think of."

At one point, Sandra Leander put herself between a protester and her daughter. As she did so, she could feel her blood boiling.

"If I didn't leave, I would have been in trouble," Sandra Leander said.

The protesters entered the lobby of the Executive Tower. Leander and her fellow nurses waited outside.

After a while, the crowd subsided. Leander went back to the crosswalk along 17th Avenue. But, she said, after seeing the same handful of cars drive around, she decided to call it a day and head home.

Leander had been fostering two kittens at her apartment. She curled up with them and fell asleep.

After her nap, she realized that The Republic photo was getting attention.

The photo was on the front page of the April 21, 2020, edition of The Arizona Republic.

Sandra Leander said she remembered picking up the newspaper from the driveway, opening it. "My mouth dropped open," she said.

Tom Leander also saw the photo for the first time on The Republic's front page.

The quiet conviction she had, he said, of his reaction. Theres chaos surrounding her and her just being silent and strong. Thats what really captured everybodys attention and respect.

The next day, Lauren Leander spoke with a Republic reporter. That story attached a name to the viral photo. And more people wanted to speak to Leander.

She spoke with local TV news outlets. Then came the calls from national outlets. It snowballed from there, Leander said.

She appeared on Chris Cuomos show on CNN. She appeared on ABCs Good Morning America. She appeared on The View. There were podcasts and radio shows.

In normal times, such a media tour would have involved flights and hotel rooms. But, in the midst of the pandemic, Leander appeared on all these shows remotely over video conference. Her mother, the former TV reporter, gave her tips on lighting.

Leander knew that this attention would be fleeting. She wanted to use the opportunities she had to speak up for others in her profession, to try to get people to pay attention to the toll the virus was taking.

It was not something I planned for myself, not something I tried to get, not something I would have ever wanted, she said. For whatever reason, I was just the person who was supposed to be there.

Leander started using her sudden popularity to raise money to send food and medical supplies to the Navajo and Hopi communities, which had been hit hard by the pandemic. Her campaign raised more than $250,000.

Beyond the media appearances, Leander was still working shifts in the critical care unit of Banner hospital. The pace became unrelenting and Leander had no idea how long it would continue.

Leander said she received a few messages on Instagram from people who were at the April 20 protest and later became sick with COVID-19. That event was a super spreader, she said.

The messages were apologetic, she said, with the people thanking her for her work and expressing regret for attending the protest.

In the first weeks of the pandemic, Leander said she and her fellow nurses felt celebrated. People were ordering food to be delivered to the hospital to feed the staff. It was an unexpected show of community generosity.

But that ended abruptly, Leander said, after Memorial Day. There was a very clear end to it, Leander said.

She would send messages and photos to her parents. In one, sent on July 4, 2020, she was dressed in full plastic protective gear, including a helmet with a wide face shield. Tom Leander thought it looked like something given to astronauts by NASA.

Tom Leander posted the photo on Twitter with a message about how peoples actions affect his daughter and other health care workers. Here she is celebrating her 4th of July tonight, he wrote.

There was no end to the work in the COVID-19 unit. And, still, no end to what Leander saw as the infection of disinformation.

Some patients refused to believe they had COVID-19, she said. She took verbal darts from family members of patients who felt the same way. Thats the stuff that sticks with you, she said. Thats the stuff that wears on you.

Leander never contracted the virus herself, despite the constant exposure.

Thats a testament to masks, she said. Thats a testament to vaccines.

Over time, the attention died down. The invitations to appear on television shows slowed to a trickle. Her social media mentions and messages became normal.

All around Leander at the hospital, nurses were feeling burnout and, by December 2020, started to leave.

Leander said there were unfulfilled promises about hazard pay, new protective equipment and extra staffing.

I held out as long as I could, she said. Finally, it got to the point where I had to admit I couldnt do it anymore.

She stuck around until March 2021, just after an appearance on ABC's "GMA3" meant to mark the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. Leander said she didnt feel any excess pressure to stay because of her fleeting media profile. She simply stayed as long as she could, and that was longer than some, working ajob she saw as a calling.

I felt like I was leaving my family, she said.

Soon after she left, her body rebelled.

After two days, pea-sized welts developed on her wrists and ankles. They then spread to her back and ears. They were hives, something new for Leander. Her doctor gave her steroids and with some rest, they went away.

Read the rest here:

How a photo changed the life of a nurse who worked the COVID-19 unit of a Phoenix hospital - The Arizona Republic

What we know about the COVID-19 BA.2 subvariant

Updated: 9:55 AM EDT Mar 27, 2022

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THURSDAY. WE'RE BACK TO THE 60S BY FRIDAY. JENNIFER: NEW DEVELOPMENTSN I THE COVID PANDIC.EM OMICRON SUBVARIANTA. B2 HAS BECOME MORE PREVALENT IN THE UNITED STATES. MEANTIME, VACCINE MANUFACTURERS ARE CLOSE TO PRODUCING A SHOT FOR KIDS UNDER THE AGE OF 5. JOINGIN US, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY, WE HAVE DR. CHRISTOPHER THOMPSON JOINING US AGAIN. THANKS FOR JOINING US THIS MORNING. >> THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. JENNIFER: WHAT IS THE LATEST ON THE BA.2 VARIT?AN >> IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING MORE PREVALENT WORLDWIDE. 'SIT STILL NOT THE PRIMARY ONE CIRCULATGIN IN THE U.S. ROU ORIGINAL OMICRON IS STILL PREVALENT HERE. IT SMSEE TO BE MEOR TRANSMIBL, MORE INFECTIOUS. IT DOESN'T SEEMO T CAUSE MORE SEVERE DISEASE. THIS IS GOING TO BE SIMILAR TO OMICRON, EXCEPT IT MAYE B EASIER TO CATCH THIS ONE. >> IT SEEMS THAT MTOS OF THE PEOPLE BEING HOSPITALIZED ARE THOSE NOT VACCINATED. >> VACCINATION SEEMS TO BE VERY PROTECTIVE DEFENSE SEVERE DISEASE AND AGAINST DEATH. JENNIFER: WE'VE BEEN RUNNING A STORY ALL MORNING LONG ABOUTHE T POSSIBILITY OF A FOURTH BOOSTER FOR PEOPLE 50 AND OLDER. DO WE KNOW IF THIS IS REALLY NECESSARY? >> WE DON'T YET. AGAIN, LIKE YOU JUST IDSA, THE PEOPLE WHORE A GETTING THE SICKEST WITH THIS HAVEN'T BEEN VACC INATED AT ALL. SO A FOURTH BOOSTER SHOT WOULD CERTAINLY IROMPVE HOW WE'RE DOING AND PRENTGVE SIT, IF THE COST WOULD OUTWEIGHHE T BENEFITS. WE NEED TO GET MORE INFO. JENNIFER: WITH TRANSMISSION RATES GOING DOWN, AIRLINES ARE ASKING THE WHITE HOU TSEO REMOVE MASK MANDATES FOR TRAVEL. IS THAT TIME TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. >> IT'S BEEN HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THE OFF-RAMP IS FOR MASKING. THE GHHI QUALITY MASKS,HE T QN95S HAVE BEEN PROTECTIVE. THE CLOTH MASKS WITH OMICRON AND BA.2RE A LESS PROTECTIVE. AIRLINES HAVE GOOD FILTRATION SYSTEMS. I DON'T KNOW HOW OFTEN THEY CHANGE THEM,UT B THEY HAVE GOOD FILTRATION SYSTEMS. THE MANDATE, IT MAY BE TIME FOR THAT TO GO AWAY. I WOULD STILL WEAR A MASK INN A EN CLOSED OR CROWDED SPACE. JENNIFER: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE POSSIBLE VACCINE FOR KIDS UNRDE THE AGE OF 5? >> SO THE DATA IS NOT AS GREAT AS IT WAS FOR ADULTS. WE'RE SEEING GREAT PROTECTION AGAINST SEVERE DISEASE AND AGAINST DEATH, BUT THATAS W PRETTY RARE FOR KIDS ANYWAY. WHAT WE ARE SEEGIN IS ABOUT A 30 TO 40 PERCENT PROTECTION AGASTIN GETTING THE INFECTION IN THE FIRST PLACE BY THE DETECTION METHODS WE HAVE. IT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL. IT'S NOT AS GOOD AS WHAT THE ADULTS WERE GETTING. JE

What we know about the COVID-19 BA.2 subvariant

Updated: 9:55 AM EDT Mar 27, 2022

As the omicron subvariant BA.2 has become more prevalent in the United States, vaccine manufacturers are close to producing a shot for children under the age of 5. Loyola University Maryland associate professor of biology Christopher Thompson explains what we know about the BA.2 subvariant.

As the omicron subvariant BA.2 has become more prevalent in the United States, vaccine manufacturers are close to producing a shot for children under the age of 5. Loyola University Maryland associate professor of biology Christopher Thompson explains what we know about the BA.2 subvariant.

Originally posted here:

What we know about the COVID-19 BA.2 subvariant - WBAL TV Baltimore

While the winters blizzard of Omicron cases may be a fading memory for those who have peeled off their masks and moved on with their lives, the risk of COVID infection and serious complications for others remains all too real. There are still hundreds of new infections reported every day in Massachusetts, with those with chronic health problems, a weakened immune system, or not fully vaccinated or boosted most vulnerable to serious illness.

Now, Gaffney fears the new cuts will mean that many lower-income patients here and around the country who fall seriously ill with COVID may face huge bills they cannot afford. Or worse, they may just forgo care.

These measures did a lot and made it more equitable for so many, said Gaffney, a critical care physician and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. The pandemic is not over yet as much as we want it to be. And until it is, we need to maintain these types of supports and coverage.

Or as he summed up his frustrations recently on Twitter: The rationing of COVID-care by ability to pay begins.

Gaffneys concerns are echoed by other medical, public health, and community leaders, who say state and federal cuts to COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccination initiatives will widen already yawning gaps between haves and have nots. Higher infection and death rates among Black and brown communities, already a hallmark of the pandemic, will grow larger, they say, in the event of another surge.

The Baker administration, citing a sharp decline in reported infections, said on March 4 that it will shutter three-quarters of the states free Stop the Spread testing sites at the end of the month. That will leave 11 of 41 operating, including just two in Western Massachusetts. The sites were opened in communities hit hardest with infections and deaths through much of the pandemic.

Additionally, the Biden administration, blaming a lack of COVID funding from Congress, as of March 22 stopped paying for testing and treatments for millions of uninsured patients, including more than 200,000 in Massachusetts.

And come April 5, the federal government will cease reimbursing providers who administer vaccines to the uninsured. Federal rules prohibit providers from passing COVID vaccination costs on to patients, forcing those who care for the uninsured, typically community health centers, to find other ways to cover those costs.

It feels like we are going to go back in time and pretending we havent learned what we learned in the last two years about what inequity means, said Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association.

Its not just saying there isnt the same level of access and care. It means people will die at different rates, Pavlos said. Its so disheartening.

The cuts are being carried out as COVID cases rise in the United Kingdom and several other European countries, often a bellwether for whats to come in the United States. At the same time, the steep decline in new cases in Massachusetts has bottomed out.

A Baker administration spokeswoman said that regardless of the cutbacks, any resident, no matter their insurance status, will still be able to get a vaccine for free at any of the eight remaining state-sponsored vaccination sites, which are located in Lynn, Danvers, Boston, Brockton, Taunton, Lowell, Barnstable, and Springfield, as well as at local health departments.

While the Baker administration is closing most of its free COVID testing sites, it said it has recently distributed 10 million free at-home COVID tests to schools, day cares, shelters, immigration-focused community organizations, and other settings.

The administration also noted that other states are also winding down their publicly funded testing sites, including Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The traffic through Massachusetts free Stop the Spread COVID testing sites continues to decline, and the 11 sites that will remain open now account for more than 70 percent of traffic at the state-funded free sites, the administration said.

There are still hundreds of other sites that perform COVID tests in Massachusetts, but most require an appointment, often a hurdle for people in low-wage jobs who cant easily schedule time off from work.

The Baker-Polito Administration is analyzing the impacts of this lapse in federal funding, but regardless, the people of Massachusetts have tools to keep themselves and their loved ones safe from COVID-19 including therapeutics, vaccines, and widely available testing, the administration said in a statement.

But whats considered widely available to some is not to others.

While rapid tests are available widely, its not as easy for people to understand how to use them, and Im worried that we wont have an infrastructure for [traditional] PCR testing to scale back up in an upcoming surge in the fall, said Phoebe Walker, director of Franklin Countys Cooperative Public Health Service, which includes 16 communities.

A new study from a team of Boston researchers and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention backs up growing concerns about equity and the use of rapid COVID-19 at-home tests.

In online surveys of more than 400,000 adults nationwide between last August and mid-March, the researchers found that white people were approximately twice as likely to report using the at-home tests as those who are Black. The gap was smaller but still measurable when comparing white respondents with those who are Hispanic, Asian, or a member of other minority groups.

The researchers also found that people in households making $150,000 or more were more than twice as likely to report using the tests as those making half that amount. Similarly, those with a postgraduate degree were more than twice as likely to have used at-home tests, compared to those who said they had a high school degree or less.

Dinanyili Paulino, chief operating officer of La Colaborativa, a social services agency in Chelsea, said many people who seek help from her organization have not yet received free at-home tests.

These are people working under the table ... and for $15 or $20, do you think they are going to buy a test and wait to be reimbursed, or buy rice and beans, she asked. Or they dont have insurance, or they dont have access to technology to get the reimbursement.

Paulino said its not uncommon for people in the largely Hispanic community to be bewildered by the complex instructions that come with the tests, even though they often are written in English and Spanish.

People come into La Colaborativa with the instructions and see if we can do it for them, she said. And they want us to wait with them for the results.

Jessica Collins, executive director of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, said people arent clamoring for tests as much as they were during the recent Omicron surge, prompting her social service agencies to focus their attention on getting more people vaccinated.

State data show that more than three-quarters of residents are fully vaccinated, but disparities still exist among different racial and ethnic groups in many communities. In particular, those gaps are significant for booster shots. The latest data show that 60 percent of white residents have received a booster, but just 38 percent of Hispanic and 42 percent of Black people have.

Collins is concerned the state and federal cutbacks in COVID services and funding will leave Massachusetts and the country flat-footed, should there be another surge in infections and hospitalizations.

Whats the plan for ramping back up? Will they be using an equity-based model, with people welcome to come in, no questions asked and no insurance needed? she said. Dont make us refight that equity conversation.

Community health centers are the safety net for many lower-income people, communities of color, and those without insurance who are more likely to feel the impact of the state and federal cutbacks.

Data show the centers have administered more than 900,000 COVID tests during the pandemic; nearly three-quarters of those tests were to people of color.

And of the 1 million doses of vaccines administered by the centers, two-thirds were to people of color.

Michael Curry, chief executive of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, said the state has designated about $5 million in COVID reserve funds to health centers for future testing and vaccinations.

He said the centers also recently distributed 271,000 at-home test kits to patients, but developed simplified instructions in eight languages to go with them.

As a person who is very vigilant about how we address health equity, I know if we are not prepared, we will see higher rates of hospitalization and deaths [again] in certain pockets and that absolutely concerns me, he said

He said the growing chorus of medical and health leaders expressing concerns about the cuts to COVID services and funding is vital.

It makes all the rest of us recalibrate and think about, are we doing the right thing? Curry said. I am thankful they are beating the drums about testing and access and I am listening to the drums.

Kay Lazar can be reached at kay.lazar@globe.com Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar.

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Cuts to COVID-19 testing, treatment, and vaccination worry health care leaders - The Boston Globe

Here's a quick wrap of each Australian jurisdiction's latest COVID-19 statistics today Monday, March 28.

You can get a more detailed, visual breakdown through the ABC's Charting the Spread storyright here.

This will be updated throughout the day, so if you do not see your state or territory, check back later.

You can jump to the COVID-19 information you want to read by clicking below.

No more COVID-19 deaths were recorded in that state's latest figures.

There are 252 cases in hospital, with 21of those in intensive care and six requiring ventilation.

There were 8,739 new cases reported today and 56,997 active cases.

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The state has recorded threemore COVID-19 deaths.

There are 1,270cases in hospital, 55 of those in intensive care.

There were 16,199 new cases announced today.

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There were no new COVID deaths in the last reporting period.

Hospital cases stand at 299, with 14 of those in ICU.

The state recorded 7,816 new cases and there are62,299 active cases.

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Tasmania has recorded 1,726 new COVID cases, up from 1,517 yesterday.

There is no-onein ICU and 27 patients in hospital with the virus. Ten of thoseare being treated specifically for COVID symptoms.

There have been no new deaths.

The ACT has recorded 701 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday.

There are 46 people in hospital with the virus in Canberra, including four patients in intensive care.

Of Canberra's children aged five to 11,79.9 per cent have received a vaccine dose and 72.4per cent of Canberrans aged 16 and older have received their booster.

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The state has recorded 7,288 new COVID-19 cases in the latest reporting period.

There are 210 cases in hospital, and nine in intensive care.

No new deaths were reported.

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COVID-19 case numbers from around the states and territories - ABC News

As dramatic as the covid-19 omicron variant spike was in early 2022, health experts across the world were encouraged to see it drop just as quickly.

In Pennsylvania, the total number of reported statewide positive test results this past Friday was just 598, nowhere near the 33,398 positive tests reported at the peak (Jan. 7, 2022) of the omicron surge in the region.

And in Westmoreland County, daily reported positive test results have dropped since the start of March from 50 to 4.

But, some experts say, the key word there is reported.

Home test kits became widely available last year, and demand took off when the omicron wave hit. But many people who take home tests dont report results to anyone. Nor do health agencies attempt to gather them.

That is a concern with a new variant, BA.2, causing case counts to rise globally.

Mara Aspinall is managing director of an Arizona-based consulting company that tracks covid-19 testing trends. She estimates that in January and February, about 8 million to 9 million rapid home tests were being done each day on average four to six times the number of PCR tests.

Were not in a great situation, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a Brown University pandemic researcher. The case numbers are not as much a reflection of reality as they once were.

And while positive test results, hospitalizations and deaths are falling in the U.S., that is not the case everywhere.

The World Health Organization this week reported that the number of new coronavirus cases increased two weeks in a row globally, likely because covid-19 prevention measures have been halted in numerous countries and because BA.2 spreads more easily.

Some public health experts arent certain what that means for the U.S.

BA.2 accounts for a growing share of U.S. cases, the CDC said more than one-third nationally and more than half in the Northeast. Small increases in overall case rates have been noted in New York, and in hospital admissions in New England.

Some of the northern U.S. states with the highest rates of BA.2, however, have some of the lowest case rates, noted Katriona Shea of Penn State University.

Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said hospitalizations are an important figure that is easier to track.

As the focus shifts to severe disease, the day-to-day tally of cases has less importance, Adalja said. Hospitalizations are in unequivocal indicator of a communitys burden of severe covid-19. Cases are always going to be there with an endemic respiratory virus the goal is to shift cases to the mild spectrum. The focus always shouldve been primarily on hospitalizations as a function of hospital capacity in a given geographic area.

Hospital admissions are a lagging indicator, given that a week or more can pass between infection and hospitalization. But a number of researchers believe the change is appropriate. They say hospital data is more reliable and more easily interpreted than case counts.

Spencer Fox, a University of Texas data scientist who is part of a group that uses hospital and cellphone data to forecast covid-19 for Austin, said hospital admissions were the better signal for a surge than test results.

There are concerns, however, about future hospital data.

If the federal government lifts its public health emergency declaration, officials will lose the ability to compel hospitals to report covid-19 data, a group of former CDC directors recently wrote. They urged Congress to pass a law that will provide enduring authorities so we will not risk flying blind as health threats emerge.

With the Mayo Clinic reporting that roughly 65% of the eligible U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, Adalja said the country is coming closer to the point where covid-19 is an endemic virus, just like the other members of this viral family that cause 25-30% of our common colds.

The U.S. is likely at this point though a combination of vaccination and infection-induced immunity and unlikely to see hospitals face the level of pressure form the virus they felt in the past, Adalja said. The appearance of any new variants would occur in a context of high population immunity and the availability of antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, severely constraining the ability of any new variant to cause the level of disruption its predecessors once could.

Staff writer Patrick Varine contributed.

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Home testing, new variant add uncertainty to latest round of covid infections - TribLIVE

(NEXSTAR) With the rise ofthe BA.2 variant of COVID-19, a subvariant of omicron that isalso called stealth omicron, are people who caught the virus in the last wave susceptible again?

Early research indicates its not likely the subvariant will reinfect most people who just caught omicron in this recent wave of cases, but it is possible.

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A study of 2 million people in Denmark conducted between November and February found 187 instances of reinfection. Of those 187 cases, 47 were people who had the BA.1 variant, then caught the BA.2 variant.

According to Healthline, the majority of the people in the study who caught both omicron subvariants were young and unvaccinated. They did not have severe cases.

The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and former Harvard researcher, raised a warning flag on Twitter in February, citing other early studies that showedomicrons protectiveness from reinfection doesnt last long.

Our results suggest that Omicron-induced immunity may not be sufficient to prevent infection from another, more pathogenic variant, should it emerge in the future, he tweeted, quoting thestudy.

It may seem counterintuitive, but people who only had a mild case of omicron the first time around may also be more likely to get it again.

If you had a mild infection, didnt get a very good immune response, and you get exposed again with a big dose of the virus, its definitely possible, Dr. Stanley Weiss, professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told Yahoo.

However, because there is so much similarity between the two subvariants of omicron, many people infected in the most recent winter surge could be protected in the short term.

I think [reinfection] is unlikely because there is so much shared similarity [between the two types] that the minor differences are probably not enough to allow it to evade immunity to omicron, said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, head of Brigham and Womens Hospitals infectious disease division, in an interview withWBTS last month.

As with other variants, any added protection you get from a recent omicron infection also wanes over time. Abouttwo-thirds of those infected with omicronin the U.K. were people who had caught the alpha or delta variant in past COVID waves, a study from Imperial College London found.

I suspect over time, yes, you probably can get reinfected. But we dont have that data yet because omicron has only been around since October/November, John Hopkins Senior Scholar, Dr. Amesh Adalja, toldKHOU.

Protection from the COVID vaccines is more reliable, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. A fully vaccinated person who had a breakthrough infection isbest protected against future infection, a recent CDC study found.

Vaccinated and boosted people were also far less likely to have severe symptoms associated with an omicron infection.

Get more coronavirus news: COVID vaccines, boosters and Safe Travels information

The BA.2 subvariant makes up about 23% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., according to the CDCs last estimate. Epidemiologists point out its presence has been doubling about every week.

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Can you catch the omicron COVID-19 variant twice? - KHON2

File photo of a vaccination clinic in Fulton March 2021 - Judy Grandy, director of environmental health for the Oswego County Health Department, is pictured talking with a patient. Photo courtesy of Sonia Robinson.

OSWEGO COUNTY The Oswego County Health Department continues to offer COVID-19 vaccines for county residents at weekly vaccination clinics, with Wednesday walk-in clinics starting April 6.

Following more than a year of holding vaccination clinics in locations throughout the county, the health department is transitioning to include the COVID-19 vaccine as part of weekly vaccine clinics offered at the Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic in Oswego. Anyone seeking the COVID-19 vaccine, or other general immunizations, can call the Oswego County Health Department at 315-349-3547 or schedule a COVID-19 vaccine online.

COVID-19 vaccines are also available at medical provider offices and local pharmacies.

To view a list of upcoming clinics and schedule an appointment, go to health.oswegocounty.com/vaccines and scroll down to the calendar to click on the date and dose needed.

The following upcoming clinics are scheduled:

Tuesday, March 2912:30-3:30 p.m. Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., OswegoGeneral childhood and adult immunizations, including COVID-19 vaccines. Appointments are required.

Wednesday, March 303:30-4:30 p.m. Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., OswegoAnyone aged 12 and older can receive a first, second or booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Anyone aged 18 and older can receive a Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine or booster dose. Appointments are required.

Tuesday, April 512:30-3:30 p.m. Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, 70 Bunner St., OswegoGeneral childhood and adult immunizations, including COVID-19 vaccines. Appointments are required.

Starting April 6, the Oswego County Health Department will hold walk-in clinics each Wednesday at the Nick Sterio Public Health Clinic, from 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Attendees aged 5 and older can receive age-appropriate recommended doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and anyone aged 18 and older can receive recommended doses of the Modern or Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

At-home COVID-19 test kits will be distributed to individuals who are vaccinated at upcoming clinics. Test kits will be distributed while supplies last.

Face masks are required at all health care settings regulated by the state Department of Health, including the Oswego County Health Department and any vaccination site.

For more information, go to the Oswego County Health Departments COVID-19 page at health.oswegocounty.com/covid-19 or call the COVID-19 hotline at 315-349-3330.

Residents should contact their medical providers directly for personal medical advice related to COVID-19 vaccinations, booster shots or treatments.

Under New York State Public Health Law, the Oswego County Health Department is the local public health authority regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response within the County of Oswego. The Oswego County Health Department works closely with New York State Department of Health regarding COVID-19 monitoring, response and reporting.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Continues To Be Offered At Clinics This Week - Oswego Daily News

Two years have passed since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Connecticut. The first case was announced on March 8, 2020.

It would not be long before the pandemic changed life as we knew it. Social distancing became an everyday practice and face masks became a necessity when interacting with anyone outside your household.

In the last two years, there have been 727,542 cases of COVID-19 in the state and 10,515 COVID-19 related deaths.

Two years later, COVID-19 is still affecting lives, but vaccinations have provided hope and many restrictions put in place have been lifted, including face mask requirements.

Here is a look back at the early days of the pandemic.

The first case of COVID-19 in Connecticut was announced on March 8, 2020.

Two years after being hospitalized, Chris Tillett, who was Connecticut's first COVID-19 patient, says he hopes the pandemic can be a learning experience for everyone.

In the initial days of the pandemic, the state lab was able to complete between 15 and 20 COVID-19 tests per day and there were only a few labs that could handle tests and people getting tested needed to be referred by a physician in advance.

On March 10, 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont declared civil preparedness and public health emergencies in response to the pandemic, which allowed him to temporarily suspend some state laws and regulations.

By March 12, 2020, the governor banned all events in the state with more than 250 people.

Schools were beginning to close because of the pandemic and the governor signed an order to modify the state law requiring schools to be in session for at least 180 days.

Among the actions the governor took was an order for the state Department of Motor Vehicles to extend license renewals.

Restrictions were placed on visits to nursing homes.

On March 14, a moratorium on all utility shut-offs went into place and several state agencies rolled out measures to promote social distancing.

At that point, there had been 20 positive cases of COVID-19 in the state.

Lamont signed his third executive order, which relaxed in-person open meeting requirements and eased telework requirements, allowing more state employees to work from home.

On March 15, 2020, Lamont canceled classes at all public schools statewide, which was originally supposed to be in effect from March 17 through at least March 31.

In May 2020, Gov. Ned Lamont would announce that schools would be closed for the rest of the academic year.

He authorized the DMV commissioner to close branches to the public, conduct business remotely, and extend deadlines.

Amid a national shortage of hand sanitizer, the state allowed pharmacies to make and sell their own.

Many businesses were closing their doors and the governor announced on March 16, 2020 that small businesses and nonprofit organizations in Connecticut that were negatively impacted by the pandemic would be eligible for disaster relief loans.

By March 16, 2020, gatherings of more than 50 people were prohibited, drive-through COVID-19 testing started at some hospitals and several businesses were ordered to closed by 8 p.m.

The governor also announced that the State Department of Education was working with school districts to develop distance learning plans and ensure students had access to nutritious meals.

The governors of Connecticut, New York and New Jersey worked together with a regional approach to dealing with COVID-19, which included that restaurants and bars that served food would temporarily be required to move to take-out and delivery services only and bars that did not serve food would have to close.

Price gouging had become an issue and by March 17, 2020, Attorney General William Tong reported receiving 71 complaints about price gouging on basic supplies.

On March 18, 2020, the governor announced the first COVID-19 death in the state. https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2020/03-2020/Governor-Lamont-Statement-on-the-First-Coronavirus-Death-in-Connecticut

On March 18, 2020, Lamont announced that indoor malls and places of amusement other than parks and open space areas would close by the night of March 19.

A day later, on March 19, Lamont postponed the states presidential primary, allowed eating establishments to sell alcohol with take-out food orders, closed barbershops, hair salons and tattoo and piercing parlors, and expanded telehealth.

On March 20, 2022, Lamont started Stay Safe, Stay Home, which directed non-essential businesses to close by 8 p.m. on March 23, 2020, and for those that had to remain open to implement social distancing.

He called for all non-essential public community gatherings of any size to be canceled or postponed.

People were also asked to limit outdoor recreational activities to non-contact and avoid activities where they come in close contact with other people.

By March 26, 2020, there were more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut and 21 deaths.

As the pandemic extended, the state Department of Labor was inundated with unemployment claims and held frequent briefings on the status of processing what they called an overwhelming surge in claim applications resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the pandemic stretched to months, Lamont called in the National Guard for help.

To help reduce the spread of the virus, a regional travel advisory went into effect.

It required people coming in from states with a significant community spread of COVID-19 to self-quarantine for 14 days.

During the summer travel season of 2020, it affected where people could freely travel to and from or to quarantine upon returning home.

By Aug. 3, 2020, there had been more than 50,062 cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut and more than 4,400 deaths.

As of Monday, March 7, 2022, there have been 727,542 cases of COVID-19 in the state and 10,515 COVID-19 related deaths.

At the height of the pandemic, thousands of people were hospitalized with COVID-19.

As of Monday, 145patients were hospitalized with COVID-19,and 64, or 44.1%,are not fully vaccinated.

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Two Years Later: A Look Back at Beginning of COVID-19 Pandemic in CT - NBC Connecticut