Category Archives: Covid-19

HAMILTON A Butler County judge sided with a local hospital and reversed a previous court order forcing it to honor a prescription of ivermectin, which infectious disease experts have warned against as a COVID-19 treatment, for a patient who has spent weeks in the ICU with the disease.

After two days of testimony and arguments, Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster issued an order Monday siding with West Chester Hospital. He said the hospital bears no duty to honor a prescription written for Jeffrey Smith, 51, for ivermectin, a drug used as a dewormer in horses and an anti-parasitic in humans.

The drug has surged in popularity as a COVID-19 treatment, egged on by conservative politicians and media figures, despite adverse warnings from the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, the drugs manufacturer and others.

This Court is not determining if ivermectin will ever be effective and useful as a treatment for COVID-19, Oster said.

However, based upon the evidence, it has not been shown to be effective at this juncture. The studies that tend to give support to ivermectin have had inconsistent results, limitations to the studies, were open label studies, were of low quality or low certainty, included small sample sizes, various dosing regiments, or have been so riddled with issues that the study was withdrawn.

Julie Smith brought the lawsuit on behalf of her husband, Jeffrey Smith, who tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to the ICU July 15, where he remains today. He has been sedated, intubated and on a ventilator since Aug. 1.

The hospital refused to honor the prescription, prompting the lawsuit. On Aug. 23, another judge wrote an order demanding the hospital administer the ivermectin as prescribed. Mondays order nixes the August order.

Julie Smith testified that neither she nor her husband were vaccinated against COVID-19. She said it was experimental, so she didnt trust it.

We didnt feel confident it had been out long enough, she said during a hearing Thursday.

She later connected with Dr. Fred Wagshul, a founding physician of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, a nonprofit that touts ivermectin as a wonder drug. Wagshul is a licensed physician but is not board certified within any specialty and hasnt worked in a hospital for 10 years, according to his testimony.

He prescribed Jeffrey Smith 21 days worth of ivermectin without reviewing Jeffrey Smiths clinical information or talking to any of his treating physicians. He said the pharmaceutical industry and U.S. government have smeared ivermectin and censored its allegedly undeniable beneficial value.

However, when asked if it had benefitted Smith, he hedged.

I honestly dont know, but the rule of thumb is, when something is working, you dont stop it, he said.

Several witnesses for the hospital cast doubt on Wagshuls testimony and credibility as a physician. Dr. Ferhan Asghar, a surgeon and chief of staff at the hospital, said a physician who is not board certified would never be admitted to practice at West Chester, per hospital policy. He said it was also a concern that a physician would issue such a controversial prescription without seeing the patient or reviewing his information.

Dr. Jaime Robertson is an infectious disease physician who sits on a committee at UC Health, which staffs West Chester Hospital, to review available evidence to guide treatment for COVID-19 patients. He said the evidence doesnt necessarily conclude ivermectin doesnt work; instead, he said ivermectin bears risks just like any treatment but theres no conclusive evidence to show enough benefit exists to outweigh that risk.

I think the problem here is there are conflicting outcomes in public health literature, he said.

Dr. Daniel Tanase, Jeffrey Smiths treating physician, disputed any notion that the ivermectin demonstrably helped his patient, and said theres not enough evidence to support the use of ivermectin on COVID-19 patients.

We follow science and we follow what the guidelines are, he said. So yes, I dont think ivermectin is what he needs at this time.

On Aug. 26, the CDC issued a health alert warning of a five-fold increase of calls to poison control centers regarding ivermectin exposure compared to a pre-pandemic baseline. These included exposures related to topical and veterinary formulations of the drug.

Clinical effects of ivermectin overdose include gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, the CDC states. Overdoses are associated with hypotension and neurologic effects such as decreased consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma, and death. Ivermectin may potentiate the effects of other drugs that cause central nervous system depression such as benzodiazepines and barbiturates.

Several other federal authorities have issued similar warnings. Even Merck, which manufactures the drug, issued a statement in February affirming its position that theres no scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from ivermectin. The company also noted a concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.

Areview of available literature conducted in August by the journal Nature found theres no certainty in the available data on potential benefits of ivermectin.

Ohio Hospital Association President Mike Abrams said in a statement before Oster issued his order stating there is insufficient data to support ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. He called the initial order concerning in regards to forcing a hospital to use a drug unapproved for use.

OHA believes it is an extraordinarily dangerous precedent for judges to practice medicine and order unproven medical treatments over the objections of highly-trained clinicians and against all standards established by the medical community, Baker said.

Bill Paiobeis, an attorney for West Chester Hospital, declined comment Monday, citing the potential for an appeal.

Ralph Lorigo, an attorney representing Smith, said he won the lawsuit in a way. He said Jeffrey Smith obtained 13-days worth of ivermectin, and the hospital has since told Julie Smith that theyre ready to begin to ween him off the ventilator.

Julie has won this case; I dont care what this judge says, Lorigo said in an interview. We are believers hes going to survive because of ivermectin.

He said hes not planning any appeal as one would effectively be moot.

This is a man who has been helped by the medication, and this is a judge who just doesnt get it right, Lorigo said.

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Judge reverses order forcing hospital to give ivermectin to COVID-19 patient - Ohio Capital Journal

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. A Georgia couple who were well-known business owners in their small community died on the same day of COVID-19.

Edwin (66) and Linda (58) McCullers both died at Memorial Hospital in Bainbridge on Aug. 28.

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Edwin McCullers was the owner of Flint River Outfitters, which sells hunting, fishing and other outdoor equipment. The business was closed until further notice after his death. Linda McCullers owned a hair salon.

The couple contracted the virus in mid-August.

They were both of the Methodist faith.

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There were dozens of tributes to the couple on social media.

Edwin and his dear wife Linda McCullers were two of the hardest working people I ever knew, one friend wrote on Facebook. They built several highly successful businesses over the years, but they always took the time to personally attend to each customer.

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The family encouraged everyone to wear masks in their joint obituary. Their funeral service will be private.

Bainbridge is a close-knit community that is home to around 13,000 people. It is the county seat of Decatur County and the hometown of UGA head football coach Kirby Smart.

A total of 66 people in Decatur County have died of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

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South Georgia couple who were business owners die of COVID-19 on the same day - WSB Atlanta

Kentucky saw its fourth highest number of new coronavirus cases Friday and again set new records for Covid-19 hospitalizations, intensive-care-unit and ventilator use, prompting Gov. Andy Beshear to call this "one of the most dangerous times we've had in this pandemic."

"I hope I can convey how real this is," Beshear said in a Facebook post. "I hope that we'll see more people out there wearing masks when they're in public, but indoors. Folks, it is a scary time -- definitely if you are unvaccinated, but if you are vaccinated too. Please get your shot of hope; put on your mask. We need everybody's help to stop this."

The state reported 5,111 new cases Friday, with 1,547, or 30 percent, in people 18 and under. The seven-day average is 4,282, a new high.

The share of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus dropped for the third straight day, to 13.17%. Beshear said Thursday that the drops are likely due to more testing.

Kentucky's infection rate is third in the nation,accordingtoThe New York Times. Only Tennessee and South Carolina have higher rates. The Times reports that Kentucky's daily average number of cases has risen 34% in the last two weeks.

The state says its daily rate of new cases over the last seven days is 89.89 per 100,000 residents. Counties with double that rate areOwsley, 262.1; Perry, 226.8; Leslie, 224.2; Bell, 219.5; Clay, 211; Whitley, 195.4; Russell, 183.3; and Breathitt, 179.8.

All but three counties remain in the red zone, for counties with more than 25 daily cases per 100,000 residents, considered a high level of transmission. They are Woodford, Trigg and Carlisle counties.

Kentucky hospitals reported 2,365 Covid-19 patients; 661 in intensive care, and 425 on mechanical ventilation.

All but two of the state's hospital readiness regions are using more than 90% of their staffed intensive-care beds, with the Lake Cumberland region and the western region that includes Owensboro and Hopkinsville at 100% capacity.

The state reported 24 more Covid-19 deaths Friday, bringing the death toll to 7,845.

Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center's morgue reached capacity on Wednesday night,accordingto a hospital news release posted on the hospital'sFacebookpage.Engle-Bowling Funeral Homein Hazard is providing additional morgue space as families make their funeral arrangements.

"This morgue capacity issue is a tragic consequence of this pandemic that could easily be prevented if more people would choose to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and take other precautions to help protect themselves and limit the spread of the virus to others by wearing a mask while indoors and social distancing," Dr. Maria Braman, ARH chief medical officer, said in a news release.

Vaccination rates have inched up in Kentucky, showing a 9% increase in the last seven days, with an average of 14,642 doses per day administered,accordingtoThe Washington Post.

The percentage of Kentuckians 18 and older who have received at least one dose of a vaccine is 69% and 57% of the total population has received at least one dose.

Other pandemic news Friday:

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Beshear calls it 'a scary time' because Covid-19 case average and hospital numbers hit new high; many intensive-care units full - Times Tribune of...

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear announced Saturday that he's calling Kentucky's Republican-led legislature into a special session to shape pandemic policies as the state struggles with a record surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The return of lawmakers to the state Capitol starts Tuesday and marks a dramatic power shift in coronavirus-related policymaking in the Bluegrass State following a landmark court ruling. Since the pandemic hit Kentucky, the governor mostly acted unilaterally in setting statewide virus policies, but the state Supreme Court shifted those decisions to the legislature.

Now, that burden will fall in large part on the General Assembly," Beshear said Saturday. "It will have to carry much of that weight to confront unpopular choices and to make decisions that balance many things, including the lives and the possible deaths of our citizens.

Beshear had sole authority to call a special session and set the agenda. At a news conference Saturday, he outlined pandemic issues he wants lawmakers to consider, including policies on mask-wearing and school schedules amid growing school closures due to virus outbreaks. But GOP House and Senate supermajorities will decide what measures ultimately pass.

Beshear told reporters Saturday he's had good conversations with top GOP lawmakers and that draft legislation was exchanged.

Republican House Speaker David Osborne said the proposals offered by lawmakers were the culmination of 18 months of research, discussion and input from groups and individuals directly engaged in responding to this pandemic.

While we are not yet in agreement regarding the specific language of the legislation we will consider, we are continuing discussions and have agreed it is in the best interests of our commonwealth to move forward with the call, Osborne said in a statement.

Lawmakers will be asked to extend the pandemic-related state of emergency until mid-January, when the legislature would be back in regular session, Beshear said. They will be asked to review his virus-related executive orders and other actions by his administration, the governor said.

On the issue of masks, the governor said his call will ask them to determine my ability to require masking in certain situations, depending on where the pandemic goes and how bad any area is.

Beshear ordered statewide mask mandates to confront previous virus surges and said Saturday he sees that authority as absolutely necessary to tackle the delta variant. Acknowledging the issue will be contentious, he suggested a more targeted approach.

If they wont consider providing that authority in general, my hope is that they will consider a threshold to where they will provide me that authority," the governor said.

Beshear also asked lawmakers to provide more school scheduling flexibility as many districts have had to pause in-person learning because of virus outbreaks. Several ideas are being considered, he said, including allowing local school leaders to use a more tailored approach when shifting to remote learning, allowing them to apply it to a single school or even a classroom rather than the entire district. That idea was discussed at a recent legislative committee hearing.

Key GOP lawmakers have signaled their preference for policies favoring local decision-making over statewide mandates to combat COVID-19.

Lawmakers also will be asked to appropriate leftover federal pandemic aid to further the fight against the coronavirus, the governor said. The funding would support pandemic mitigation and prevention efforts, including testing and vaccine distribution.

More than 7,840 Kentuckians have died from COVID-19, include 69 deaths announced on Thursday and Friday. The delta variant has put record numbers of virus patients in Kentucky hospitals, including in intensive care units and on ventilators. The state reported Friday that nearly 90% of ICU beds statewide were occupied.

The delta variant is spreading at a rate never seen before, impacting businesses, shuttering schools and worse causing severe illness and death, Beshear said Saturday.

We need as many tools as possible to fight this deadly surge in order to save lives, keep our children in school and keep our economy churning, he added.

Various emergency measures issued by Beshear are set to expire as a result of the court decision issued two weeks ago. Lawmakers will decide whether to extend, alter or discontinue each emergency order, while putting their own stamp on the state's response to COVID-19.

Throughout the pandemic, Republican lawmakers watched from the sidelines as Beshear waged an aggressive response that included statewide mask mandates and strict limits on gatherings. Republicans criticized the governor for what they viewed as overly broad and stringent restrictions, most of which were lifted in June.

The state Supreme Court recently shifted those virus-related decisions to the legislature. The court cleared the way for new laws to limit the governors emergency powers, which he used to impose virus restrictions. The justices said a lower court wrongly blocked the GOP-backed measures.

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Kentucky governor calls special session on handling COVID-19 - ABC News

Workers load empty oxygen cylinders onto a supply truck for refilling, at the Medical College and Hospital, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kolkata, India, May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

BENGALURU, Sept 6 (Reuters) - India aims to ramp up its medical oxygen production capacity to 15,000 tonnes per day before a potential third wave of coronavirus infections that is expected to hit the country as soon as mid-September, an industry executive said.

The target implies a 50% jump from the maximum output of almost 10,000 tonnes reached earlier this year during the peak of the second COVID-19 wave, when hospitals ran short of the gas and relatives of patients had to search out oxygen cylinders.

Linde India (LIND.NS) supplied nearly one-third of the total oxygen demand during the peak.

Moloy Banerjee, head of Linde South Asia, said that while the government is targeting 15,000 tonnes of medical oxygen per day, Linde and other manufacturers were hoping to hit production of at least 13,500 tonnes per day ahead of the third wave.

As of Monday, India's total COVID-19 cases had reached 33.03 million, with the death toll at 440,752, according to health ministry data.

While demand for medical oxygen in India has considerably reduced since the peak, reaching near pre-COVID levels, gas companies along with the government are gearing up for a scenario where the third wave could be worse than the previous one.

The New Delhi government said last month it will increase oxygen production by setting up new manufacturing units or expanding the production capacity of existing units for uninterrupted oxygen supply during a health crisis.

Shares of Linde India rose to record levels in the days following the Delhi government's notification and have more than doubled for the year as of Monday's closing price.

"There have been discussions with the Delhi government since the second wave of COVID-19. We are still reviewing the policy and trying to see if it is workable for Linde," Banerjee added.

The company has not entered any formal agreement with the government.

Linde has also been in touch with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh states to support setting up of additional oxygen storage capacities and manufacturing units.

Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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India plans 50% increase in oxygen production before third COVID-19 wave - Reuters India

This obituary is part of We Will Remember, a series about those weve lost to the coronavirus.

Her daughter encouraged her to get testedeven though she had been fully vaccinated since February. Thats when Suzanne Martha Madigan found out she waspositive for COVID-19.

Madigan, 74, died May 16 at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit as a result ofcomplications from the illness.

The Warren resident was born in Detroit and grew up in St. Clair Shores, where she graduated from Lakeview High School. Madigan received a bachelors degree from Michigan State University and a masters degreein education from Wayne State University. She taught in the Grosse Pointe Public School System for 26 years.

Madigan met her husband, John, to whom she was married for more than 40 years, while at Michigan State University.They had five children and 13 grandchildren. He died in 2013.

After the death of her husband, Madigan spent a lot of time with her family and often found herself running from one event to the next, according todaughter Kelly Salamango.Her activities included spending time at her cottage off Lake St. Clair, attending grandchildrens sporting events, going out for dinner with her sisters and babysitting her grandchildren.

Madigan, known to many as Susy,loved flowers and spent lots of time tending to her meticulous garden.

In May 2019, Madigan was struck by a car in a parking lot after visiting her brother Duke, who had just undergonesurgery. She ended up breaking both of her wrists and femur and had to undergo surgery.

She spent the next few months in a rehab facility learning to walk again while her brother was in another rehab facility doing the same thing after his surgery, Salamango said. The joke between the two of them was who would get out first and get to go to their cottage.

Duke died in September2020. Salamango noted:Duke and Susy would talk every day (let's be honest multiple times a day) and were inseparable.

In April,Madigan, who was fully vaccinated, thought she had a sinus infection, so she had a telehealth appointment with her doctor. Her doctor agreed her symptoms suggesteda sinus infection, so he called in a prescription. Just to be safe, Salamango urged her mother to get tested for COVID-19. Theresults came back positive.

The next week, Madiganhad mild symptoms, was overly tired and didnt have much energy. Herson Matt took her to the hospital to be monitored becauseher oxygen levels were low. She was put on oxygen, and after her oxygen levels droppedagain, she was put on a ventilator.

Madigans family members relied on the hospital staff to give them updates two times a day and had Zoom calls becauseshe was unable to have visitors. Even though she was unable to respond, it was important for her family to let her know they were there with her, Salamango noted. Her mother diedMay 16.

It's surreal that she has gone through so much the last few years. We thought she was more protected from the virus since she was fully vaccinated and was very cautious if she had to go out, Salamango said. Yet the virus was just too powerful. We do find comfort in knowing she's reunited with our dad, her brother Duke, and her parents and other sister Nancy, who have all passed before her.

Madigan leaves to cherish her memory children Matthew (Shannon), Patrick (Rosanna), Timothy (Jennifer), Michael (Amber), and Kelly (Jason) Salamango; grandchildren Brady, Jack, Katie, Aubrey, Liam, Molly, Haley, Lacey, Lachlan, Stella, Miles, Quinn and Finnegan; and many family members and friends.

If you have a family member or close friend who has died from COVID-19 and you would like to share their story, please visit our memorial wall and select Share a story.

Brendel Hightower is an assistant editorat the Detroit Free Press.Contact her at bhightower@freepress.com.

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Retired teacher from Warren died of COVID-19 several months after being vaccinated - Detroit Free Press

The report was published online Sept. 1 in the journal BMJ .

It's not surprising that the risk to teachers is not higher than other groups, said Douglas Harris, Schlieder Foundation Chair in public education at Tulane University in New Orleans, and director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans.

In schools where masks and social distancing are mandated, the risk of spreading COVID-19 is cut dramatically, he said.

"I think, for the most part, schools are handling it in a sensible way and I think, for the most part, it's sensible keeping the kids in school when it's safe," Harris said.

Of course, vaccination is the key to beating the pandemic, he added.

"I think in the U.S., there's an ongoing debate about whether vaccines can be mandated. That's the elephant in the room. I think that that almost has to happen if we're really going to get back to normal," Harris said.

Harris believes that school systems should mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers and all students, including young children once a vaccine has been approved.

"We already do that for, for children, they're already required to get vaccinated for other things," he said. "It's hard to see why you wouldn't require it. In this case and really that is the only way we get back to normal, this could go on for years."

As more adults are vaccinated, the virus will attack mostly the unvaccinated, especially children, Harris said.

But everything should be done to minimize the spread of the virus and keep schools open, he said.

"There are health consequences to closing schools," Harris said. "We tend to focus on the immediate effect of schools opening and spreading the virus, which is clearly important and probably the first consideration, but when you close the schools you create a new set of problems, mental illness and child abuse, and all sorts of economic side effects."

More information

For more on COVID-19 and schools, see the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SOURCES: David McAllister, MD, MPH, professor, clinical epidemiology and medical informatics, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Scotland; Douglas Harris, PhD, professor, economics, and Schlieder Foundation Chair, public education, Tulane University, New Orleans, and director, Education Research Alliance for New Orleans; BMJ , Sept. 1, 2021, online

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Teachers Have No Higher Risk of Severe COVID-19 - WebMD

Stay Safe Reopening Plan

As we welcome customers and staff back to city buildings, we have created a Stay Safe Reopening Plan to guide our efforts. Read reopening plan hereVersion OptionsCovid-19 (Coronavirus) InformationHeadlineStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening PlanStay Safe Reopening Plan.

This 5-stage plan provides a general framework and guidelines for all city services and departments, in accordance with guidance provided by the State of Washington. This plan is the basis for how the City will continue to:

Provide services and programs, and continue field operations Conduct public events and meetings Manage the timeline for reopening facilities Implement staffing schedules Apply CDC recommendations and maintain sanitation and janitorial services

Reopened July 1, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday - Friday

City Hall Redmond Community Center at Marymoor Village Public Safety Building Fire Stations

Due to recent increases in COVID-19 cases, face coverings are now required inside city facilities regardless of vaccination status.

Redmond Pool is reopened

Reopening later this year Bytes Caf for senior programming Old Firehouse Teen Center

The City will continue to follow Washington States guidelines for the suspension of the in-person requirement for the Open Public Meetings Act until the suspension is lifted (anticipated June 30) after which time:

Council meetings have resumed in Council Chambers as of Tuesday, July 6, 2021 and are running hybrid, in-person and virtual. The City follows Washington State guidelines for open public meetings. Watch Council Meetings View Council meeting dates, agendas and materials

Parks and Recreation have outlined the "Play Safe, Stay Safe" plan to reopen park amenities, facilities and activities.

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COVID-19 Resources & City Reopening Plan | Redmond, WA

All around the world, there seem to be signs that immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, doesn't last very long after you're vaccinated.

Israel is now having one of the world's worst COVID-19 surges about five months after vaccinating a majority of its population. And in the U.S., health officials are recommending a booster shot eight months after the original vaccine course.

So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine? Six months or so? And at that point, how much protection is left over?

It all depends on which type of immunity you're talking about, says immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis. Six months after your vaccine, your body may be more ready to fight off the coronavirus than you might think.

"If you were vaccinated six months ago, your immune system has been training for six months you are better ready to fight a COVID-19 infection," says Ellebedy.

A series of new studies, including two led by Ellebedy, suggests that mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger the immune system to establish long-term protection against severe COVID-19 protection that likely will last several years or even longer, Ellebedy says.

To understand what he's talking about, let's say you received the second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine six months ago. Right away, your immune system got to work and began making antibodies.

These antibodies are a bit like archers outside the moat of a castle. They set up in the lining of your nose and throat, ready to shoot down (aka neutralize) any SARS-CoV-2 particles that try to enter the moat (aka your nasal tissue).

These antibodies can prevent an infection, says bioimmunologist Deepta Bhattacharya at the University of Arizona. They stop the virus from entering cells and setting up shop. They are the body's front-line defense.

But right after vaccination, this initial round of antibodies has a few problems. The antibodies are a bit wimpy. They're not that well trained at killing SARS-CoV-2, and they're not very durable, Bhattacharya says.

About a month after the second mRNA shot, the number of antibodies in the blood reaches its peak level and then starts to decline. The antibodies themselves degrade and the cells that make them die, a study published in the journal Nature reported in June.

This happens with every vaccine, whether it's for COVID-19, the flu or measles, Bhattacharya says. "In every single immune response, there is a sharp rise in antibodies, a period of sharp decline, and then it starts to settle into a more stable nadir."

The media has largely focused on this decline of antibodies as the cause of "waning immunity." And it's true, Bhattacharya says, that this decline in antibodies, combined with the high potency of the delta variant, which began dominating many countries this year, is likely increasing the rate of infection in fully vaccinated people.

"If you get a big dose of delta, as the variant often gives, the virus can slip past the initial wall of antibodies," he says. "So I think we may be seeing some signs of that. But the [level of breakthrough infections] is probably not as dramatic as I think it's being made out to be."

Why? Because the media has largely overlooked several key facts about the antibodies present eight months after the vaccine. For starters, they're more powerful than the original ones triggered by the vaccine, Bhattacharya says.

While the first round of archers (antibodies) was out guarding the moat of your castle (respiratory tract), the immune system wasn't just sitting around idly, hoping those soldiers would be enough. Instead, it was busy training better archers and a whole bunch of foot soldiers too.

After your second shot, the immune system sets up a training center in the lymph nodes to teach special cells how to make more powerful antibodies, the Nature paper from June reported.

"The quality of the antibody improves over time. It takes far fewer of those new antibodies to protect you," Bhattacharya says. "So I think that worrying about antibody decline is not something that's productive," he adds.

At the same time, the cells that make these souped-up antibodies become souped up themselves, he adds. In the training center, they learn how to make a huge amount of the highly powerful antibodies.

"These cells are remarkable," Bhattacharya says. "They're estimated to spit out something like 10,000 antibody molecules per second." So you don't need many of these cells to protect you against a future infection.

"We've done some back-of-the-envelope calculations to figure out how many of these cells are needed to protect a mouse from a lethal infection. It's three," Bhattacharya says. "Of course, we're bigger than mice. But you get the sense that it doesn't take many to offer good protection."

On top of that, these cells learn something remarkable in the training center: how to persist. "They're essentially given the gift of eternity," says immunologist Ellebedy.

He and his colleagues have found that by about six months after vaccination, these antibody-producing cells go into the bone marrow, where they can live for decades, perhaps even a lifetime, studies have found, and continue to produce antibodies the entire time. In one 2008 study, researchers identified antibodies that could neutralize the 1918 flu in the blood of people who were exposed to the virus 90 years earlier.

"We looked in the bone marrow and have seen these cells in people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2," Ellebedy says. "Now we are finishing research that shows these cells appear in the bone marrow after vaccination as well."

Called long-lived plasma cells, these cells will likely pump out antibodies into the blood for decades, Ellebedy says, giving people some sustained, long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2. (There is a caveat: If the virus changes too much, these antibodies won't be as effective.)

"The antibodies are maintained at very low levels, but they're the first line of defense against an infection," Ellebedy says. "If you're taken by surprise by SARS-CoV-2, these antibodies will slow down the replication of the virus" until reinforcements come along.

And reinforcements will likely come!

On top of training up better archers (antibodies) and factories to create them (plasma cells), the immune system has also been training up the equivalent of foot soldiers, several studies have found. These foot soldiers are called memory B cells and memory T cells, and they largely serve as a surveillance system, looking for other cells infected with SARS-CoV-2.

"They're patrolling all over," Ellebedy says, checking to see if a cell has SARS-CoV-2 hiding in it. "It's almost like going through the neighborhood, house by house, and just making sure it's clean."

These foot soldiers can't prevent an infection from initially occurring, but they can quickly stop one once it occurs, says immunologist Jennifer Gommerman at the University of Toronto. "Because of the vaccine-generated 'memory' of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you get a very brisk cellular immune response."

OK. So now we've got all the information to understand what's going on with the COVID-19 vaccine and immune durability.

About six months after the shots, the antibodies in the blood have fallen as expected. They're also a bit less effective against the delta variant. "Together, that means there are more symptomatic infections as we go further out from the vaccination rollout," Gommerman says.

But in vaccinated people, these infections will most likely be mild or moderate because the immune system isn't starting from scratch. In fact, it's the opposite. It has been training cells and antibodies for months.

"You still have all this immunity inside of your body that will then say, 'OK, we've had a breach, and it's time to bring in the cellular immunity and respond to this threat,' " Gommerman says. "And because of vaccination, you have cells that can do that really quickly."

And so, overall, you'll be less sick than if you weren't vaccinated and be much less likely to end up in the hospital, she says.

"That's really what the vaccines were designed to do to teach the immune system to deal with this invader if an infection does occur," Gommerman says. "And the vaccines do that remarkably well."

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How Long Does Immunity To COVID-19 Last? : Goats and Soda - NPR

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) From the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the destructive waters of Superstorm Sandy, to real estate scams in Queens, Debbie Cohen for eight years covered the stories big and small in her hometown of New York City.

Cohen decided it was time for a career change.

She moved to Virginia Beach in 2017 and enrolled in graduate school at Regent University. In the School of Government, she earned two masters degrees: one has an emphasis in health care policy, the other in national security affairs and cyber security.

Hampton Roads is a long way from living in the Big Apple, but Cohen enjoyed the family atmosphere at Regent University, swimming off the Oceanfront, kayaking at First Landing State Park, and long walks along the Atlantic Ocean.

The pandemic slowed down her efforts to find a job in her new field, but she did secure some temporary positions that allowed her to work from home.

Earlier this year, she considered getting the potentially life-saving coronavirus vaccine but decided against it because of her history of allergies. Another complication: she was struck by a car while walking in a parking lot along Indian River Road.

Three weeks ago, Cohen, a friend, and his wife contracted the coronavirus. Cohen and the wife survived but the man was killed by COVID-19.

Cohen spent two weeks at Sentara Princess Anne Hospital where she was treated with the drug Remdesivir. Last week, she was transferred to Consulate Health Norfolk, where she is seen by a doctor three times a week and is visited by a nurse four to five times a week. She said she has COVID-pneumonia, which has left her too weak to even walk. She remains on oxygen, steroids, and antibiotics.

10 On Your Side first introduced Cohen to the public last week when she cried out for help when, in sweltering temperatures, the air conditioning system failed in part of the Consulate Health Care building at 3900 Llewellyn Avenue in Norfolk. Technicians and city officials responded and the problem was corrected, according to the city.

Last week, Cohen said she felt as if COVID-19 is killing her. This week, that fear persists.

This COVID is real, it really takes you down, said Cohen in a recorded Zoom interview.

In the interview, Cohen fluffed up her long blonde locks and proceeded to explain how it feels to suffer from pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs.

I still feel like I cant breathe Im dying from COVID I know everybody is praying for me churches, friends family, and school. It cuts off your breathing and you try to catch your breath and take a breath, but its impossible, she said.

She has advice for the vaccine-hesitant: Dont do what I did.

Im going to take the vaccine and Im advising everyone this is not a hoax. Help our children help your grandchildren, implored Cohen.

She is also frustrated with how the pandemic has been politicized and the proliferation of conspiracy theories.

I want to tell everybody this is not a government conspiracy. The vaccine does not have chips in it or fetal tissue, said Cohen. It doesnt matter if you are a liberal, a Libertarian, Republican, or a Democrat, it [the virus] doesnt discriminate.

Cohen is waiting for more details on her prognosis for the lung disorder. Until then, she is leaning on loved ones, including a Regent University professor, who have offered prayers.

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Former journalist recovering from COVID-19 in Norfolk: It is not a hoax - WAVY.com