Category Archives: Covid-19

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COVID-19 vaccine opportunities this weekend in Austin and Travis County - KXAN.com

Heres what you need to know:Americans arriving from Wuhan, China, disembarked from a State Department-chartered plane to board buses at March Air Reserve Basenear Los Angeles in January 2020.Credit...Mike Blake/Reuters

The governments confused effort to retrieve Americans overseas during the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak compromised the safety of the evacuees, federal employees and communities near where Americans returned to, according to a new report published on Monday by Congresss nonpartisan watchdog.

The effort was so dysfunctional that federal health agencies could not even agree on the purpose and terms of the mission, contradicting one another about whether it was classified as an evacuation or repatriation.

The more-than-yearlong investigation by the Government Accountability Office concluded that the evacuation of Americans from China bogged down badly as different divisions within the Department of Health and Human Services argued over which was responsible. That fighting undermined the earliest attempts to protect those Americans after they returned from China, where the coronavirus was believed to have originated.

The G.A.O. said three agencies within the department the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and the Administration for Children and Families did not follow plans or guidance delineating their roles and responsibilities for repatriating individuals during a pandemic an event these agencies had never experienced.

The report built on previous reviews of the repatriation effort by health department lawyers and a whistle-blower complaint filed early last year. Last April, the departments top lawyer concluded that federal health employees without adequate protective gear or training interacted with Americans quarantined at the base, validating the whistle-blowers central complaint.

According to the G.A.O. report issued Monday, as the Administration for Children and Families, or A.C.F., began its role overseeing the repatriation of the evacuees, lawyers at H.H.S. determined that the flights from Wuhan, China, constituted an evacuation, not a repatriation, and therefore were the C.D.C.s responsibility.

For that reason, A.C.F. officials said resources from the federal governments repatriation program were not used. But the decision from H.H.S. lawyers was not communicated to the C.D.C., the report said, and G.A.O. investigators were not given an explanation of the distinction between a repatriation and evacuation.

A focus of the report is the federal governments response at March Air Reserve Base, near Los Angeles, where the health agencies functioned independently and without coordination, the G.A.O. said. As the A.C.F. prepared for the evacuees in late January, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response was abruptly put in charge on the day they arrived.

A.S.P.R.s Incident Management Team was not mobilized until after the flight landed and did not deploy to the site until January 31, the report said. That led to broad confusion about who was in charge, with A.S.P.R. officials believing they were only supporting other agencies there.

The report describes other significant missteps, some of which had already been made public. It cites last years report from H.H.S. lawyers describing a scene at the base in which an A.C.F. official told health department employees to remove personal protective gear at a meeting with evacuees, lest there be bad optics.

Federal health agencies also struggled to stop those on the base from leaving in the absence of a federal quarantine order, which lasted several days, the report said. One person with the potential to spread Covid-19 attempted to leave the base.

The G.A.O. also wrote that federal health officials disagreed on which agency was responsible for infection control on the base, while the use of personal protective gear was uneven among poorly-trained federal employees there. The dispute led to an almost comical bureaucratic tangle.

At first, A.C.F. and A.S.P.R. officials viewed the C.D.C. as the body with more expertise and authority, including under a section of the federal governments guidance on repatriation procedures related to Ebola. But C.D.C. officials told their colleagues that section was not applicable to other diseases, and that the agency was not responsible for managing the employees of other agencies. Still, the C.D.C. offered training after it was requested.

According to H.H.S., C.D.C. personnel on the ground provided inconsistent and informal infection prevention and control guidance for the first 3 days of the mission because of a lack of clear roles, the report said.

The G.A.O. noted that H.H.S. did not feature repatriation in its planning exercises for a pandemic, and therefore was not equipped to coordinate such an effort. Until H.H.S. conducts such exercises, it will be unable to test its repatriation plans during a pandemic and identify areas for improvement, the office wrote.

H.H.S. agreed with its recommendations, the G.A.O. said.

All adults in every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine, meeting the April 19 deadline that President Biden set two weeks ago.

For months Ive been telling Americans to get vaccinated when its your turn. Well, its your turn, now, Mr. Biden said Sunday on a program called Roll Up Your Sleeves on NBC. Its free. Its convenient and its the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Covid-19.

The United States is administering an average of 3.2 million doses a day, up from roughly 2.5 million a month before. More than 131 million people, or half of all American adults, had received at least one shot as of Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and about 84.3 million people have been fully vaccinated.

Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont were the last states to expand eligibility, opening vaccinations to all adults on Monday.

Its truly historic that we have already reached this milestone, said Dr. Nandita Mani, the associate medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Washington Medical Center.

After a slow start, the pace of vaccinations has risen considerably in recent months. Mr. Biden, who initially said he wanted states to make all adults eligible for a vaccine by May 1, moved the deadline up as vaccinations accelerated. Mr. Biden has also set a goal of administering 200 million doses by his 100th day in office, which the nation is on pace to meet.

The expansion of eligibility comes as medical officials investigate whether Johnson & Johnsons one-shot Covid-19 vaccine is linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder. All 50 states suspended administration of the vaccine last week, after federal health officials recommended a pause.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said on Sunday that federal regulators should come to a decision on Friday about whether to resume Johnson & Johnson vaccinations. Although he said he did not want to get ahead of the C.D.C. and the Food and Drug Administration, he said he expected experts to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of the vaccine.

Even if there is a link between the vaccine and the clotting disorder, the risk is exceedingly low, experts say.

Still, Dr. Mani said the pause was likely to harden the hesitancy of some Americans to get vaccinated.

At the same time, with the virus resurgent, public health experts are warning Americans not to let their guards down. The United States is averaging more than 67,000 new cases a day over the past seven days, up from over 54,000 a month ago, according to a New York Times database.

Seventy thousand cases a day is not acceptable. We have to get that down, said Barry Bloom, a research professor and former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He said more vaccinations would help, but people must remain vigilant about wearing masks and social distancing.

At its current pace, the United States will vaccinate 70 percent of its population by mid-June. But vaccine hesitancy could slow progress toward herd immunity, which will also depend on vaccinating children.

Were making tremendous progress, but were still in the race against this virus, and we need to vaccinate tens of millions more Americans, Mr. Biden said on Sunday. We could have a safe and happy Fourth of July with your family and friends in small groups in your backyard. Thats going to take everyone doing their part. Get vaccinated.

Pfizer announced this month that it had applied for an emergency use authorization to make children ages 12 to 15 eligible for its vaccine. Moderna is expected to release results from its trial in young teenagers soon, and vaccinations in this age group could begin before school starts in the fall.

Trials in younger children are underway. Dr. Fauci also said on Sunday that he expected children of all ages to be eligible for vaccination in the first quarter of 2022.

Although vaccinations have picked up in the United States, many countries still face dire vaccine shortages. About 83 percent of Covid-19 vaccinations have been administered in high- and upper-middle-income countries, while only 0.2 percent of doses have been administered in low-income countries, according to a New York Times vaccine tracker.

Dr. Funmi Olopade, the director of the Center for Global Health at the University of Chicago, said it was crucial for the United States to step up its role in the global vaccination campaign as supply increases. The virus, left to spread around the world, could continue to mutate and threaten the nations economic recovery, she said.

It is in everybodys self-interest to provide whatever we can in the way of excess vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, Dr. Bloom said.

President Bidens top pandemic advisers indicated on Monday that preventive measures to keep the coronavirus at bay, including mask wearing, might need to continue while the threat of another virus surge looms.

While were making extraordinary strides in the number of people vaccinated, we still have an extraordinary amount of disease out there, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a White House news conference. If we have a lot of circulating virus today, the vaccines will work in a month, but they may not work today. So we need to continue to keep the prevention measures up to prevent ongoing cases today.

Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the last dose in either the two-shot vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, or the one-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday about 132.3 million people have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, including about 85.4 million people who have been fully vaccinated.

But while new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and new deaths have declined from their peaks in January, they have stayed at a stubbornly high level in recent weeks, according to a New York Times database. The country is averaging more than 67,000 new cases a day, comparable to last summers surge, with high concentrations in Michigan and the Northeast. And new deaths have remained near an average of more than 750 a day over the last week.

Just before he took office, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said that he would ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days from the first day of his presidency. But even as that day fast approaches, and as more half of all American adults have received at least one vaccine shot as of Sunday, federal health officials have continued to urge caution as more contagious variants of the virus spread.

The more contagious and deadly B.1.1.7. virus variant first found in Britain recently became now the dominant version in the United States and has slammed Europe. The three U.S.-authorized vaccines Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, have been shown to be effective against B.1.1.7.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said that the level of virus circulating in the United States was still at much higher levels than in Israel. When you talk about the Israelis pulling back and getting to normal, their level of infection now is extremely low, Dr. Fauci said. Thats what were aiming for.

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

NEW DELHI Delhi enacted a weeklong citywide lockdown on Monday, as infections and deaths in India hit new daily records and several local governments, including in the national capital, reported shortages of oxygen, beds and drugs.

India reported more than 272,000 cases and 1,619 deaths on Monday, as a second wave of the coronavirus continued to spread across the country. The worsening situation has caused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain to cancel a planned trip to the country next week, a decision the British and Indian governments announced on Monday. Britain also said that most people who have traveled from India in the last 10 days will be refused entry beginning Friday.

Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, announced on Monday a citywide lockdown beginning at 10 p.m. and ending around 5 a.m. on April 26.

Our health systems have reached its limit, he said. We have almost no I.C.U. beds left. We are facing a huge shortage of oxygen.

All essential services, including grocery stores, pharmacies and food delivery, will be allowed, he said. Wedding ceremonies will be restricted to 50 people.

If we dont place a lockdown now, it could lead to a big tragedy, Mr. Kejriwal said.

Also on Monday, a court in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh ordered lockdown-like restrictions in the cities of Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur Nagar and Gorakhpur until April 26. Government offices, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and grocery stores with more than three workers will be closed in those cities.

Last week, the state government of Maharashtra, which includes the financial hub Mumbai, banned public gatherings and ordered most businesses to close for the next few weeks after hospitals there started being overwhelmed. Its chief minister appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use the Indian Air Force to airlift oxygen cylinders to meet the states demand.

The shortages have resulted in squabbles between opposition-led state governments and Mr. Modis government, which controls the supply of badly needed medical oxygen and drugs.

Mr. Modi and his top lieutenants have also come under pressure for holding political rallies gathering thousands of people, with almost no regard for social distancing, at a time when coronavirus cases in the country are spiraling out of control.

In other news from around the world:

Hong Kong said it would ban flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines for two weeks starting on Tuesday after detecting its first local case involving a variant of the coronavirus. A man who tested positive on Friday, after returning from Dubai and then completing his mandatory 21 days of quarantine, is the Asian financial hubs first case outside quarantine found to carry the N501Y spike mutation.

Airports in Australia and New Zealand were filled with emotional scenes on Monday as thousands of passengers were allowed to travel freely between the two countries for the first time in more than a year. The travel bubble, among the first of its kind in the world, establishes reciprocal quarantine-free movement between the two Pacific nations, subject to certain conditions.

The Democratic Republic of Congo started its vaccination campaign on Monday with the AstraZeneca vaccine after delaying inoculations over clotting concerns in Europe. Congo received 1.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through Covax, an international effort to procure and distribute vaccines.

Concerns over clotting from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have led to a suspension of the shots rollout in Greece. Inoculations with the vaccine were set to start in Greece on Monday but were paused pending the European Medicines Agencys review of the rare effects, set to be released on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Greece is lifting quarantine restrictions beginning Monday for arrivals from within the European Union and several other countries, including the United States and Britain.

It can still be tough to find a vaccine appointment in France, but a data scientists app is helping. Guillaume Rozier started a website on April 1 that, in less than a minute, scans all available appointments at certified vaccination centers throughout the country and helps users access booking sites. Powered by the work of a dozen volunteers, the search engine, Vite Ma Dose (My Dose Quickly), has drawn 2.5 million unique visitors in just days.

Emergent BioSolutions, the company whose Baltimore manufacturing facility ruined up to 15 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, said Monday that it has temporarily shut down operations at the plant at the request of the Food and Drug Administration and acknowledged that the company must make improvements to restore confidence in its work.

The unusual acknowledgment came as regulators continue to inspect Emergents Bayview facility, as the Baltimore plant is known. The New York Times reported earlier this month that the F.D.A. was initiating a for cause audit of the Baltimore facility and that production of new batches of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be put on hold while the review was underway.

In Mondays announcement, the company said that the F.D.A. inspection began a week ago and production stopped on Friday; the company also notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday of the changes.

In a brief statement to reporters, Emergent also said it was quarantining existing vaccine substance produced at Bayview until after the inspection is over and it has had a chance to fix any problems that turn up in the review. The companys stock has tumbled in recent weeks; it closed at $69.37 on Friday, down from $90.98 a month earlier.

We recognize the confusion these recent events may have caused our customers, our employees, and the public, the statement said. We are steadfastly committed to full compliance with the F.D.A.s strict requirements. We acknowledge that there are improvements we must make to meet the high standards we have set for ourselves and to restore confidence in our quality systems and manufacturing processes.

Beyond the ruined doses, Emergent has manufactured the equivalent of up to 62 million doses of Johnson & Johnsons single-shot vaccine, but the drug substance cannot be released for bottling until the F.D.A. certifies the Baltimore plant. The delay is yet another setback for Johnson & Johnson after injections were halted as federal health officials investigate reports of rare blood clots among a small number of vaccine recipients. It is unclear whether the vaccine was responsible for the clots.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on Monday that it is working with the F.D.A. and Emergent to address the findings of the inspection, and that it was premature to speculate on any potential impact this could have on the timing of our vaccine deliveries.

Emergent is a longtime government contractor that has spent much of the last two decades cornering a lucrative market in federal spending on biodefense. The Times reported last month that sales of its anthrax vaccines to the Strategic National Stockpile accounted for nearly half of the stockpiles half-billion-dollar annual budget throughout most of the last decade, leaving the federal government with less money to buy supplies needed in a pandemic.

The companys Bayview plant is one of two federally designated Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing that were supposed to be at the ready in the event of a pandemic. The Times reported earlier this month that the Trump administration awarded a $628 million contract to the company, mostly to reserve space in the Baltimore facility, despite a history of problems.

The plant was supposed to make two similar, but not identical, vaccines: one by Johnson & Johnson and the other by AstraZeneca. But sometime in February, workers accidentally mixed the ingredients of the two vaccines, ruining the doses and prompting the F.D.A. audit.

The Biden administration then stepped in and ordered Johnson & Johnson to take charge of manufacturing at the facility, and told Emergent to stop manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine to avoid future mix-ups.

This inspection is ongoing, the company said Monday. While we await the F.D.A.s full feedback, we are working with J.&J. and the F.D.A. on strengthening the supply chain for this vitally important vaccine.

Federal health officials are investigating a handful of new, unconfirmed reports that have emerged after Johnson & Johnson injections were paused nationwide, to determine whether they might be cases of a rare, serious blood clotting disorder that caused the pause, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. It is unclear as yet whether the vaccine was responsible for the original few cases.

Right now, we are encouraged that it hasnt been an overwhelming number of cases but we are looking and seeing what has come in, the director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said at a White House news conference on the pandemic.

Last week, federal health officials said they wanted vaccine recipients and medical providers to be aware of the original cases and to report any incidents of serious adverse reactions to the shots. Health officials called for the pause after six women ages 18 to 48 developed the blood clotting disorder within about one to three weeks after Johnson & Johnson injections. One died, and as of last week, a second remained hospitalized in critical condition.

On Wednesday, two more cases were added to the list: a seventh woman, and a man who participated in Johnson & Johnsons clinical trial. Seven of the eight recipients had blood clots in the brain. The clotting disorder seemed to be combined with low levels of platelets, blood cells that typically prevent clotting. The cases were reported either to the C.D.C.s database or directly to Johnson & Johnson.

Dr. Walensky said Monday that officials are pursuing the more recent reports and verifying whether they do in fact reflect a true case.

In a follow-up statement, the C.D.C. said: At this time, no additional cases of the rare form of blood clots post-vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been confirmed. If any new cases are confirmed, the agency said it would present that data to a C.D.C. advisory committee that is scheduled to meet on Friday.

The committees experts could recommend lifting the pause, modifying it or limiting the use of the vaccine.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a White House medical adviser, said on the NBC program Meet the Press on Sunday that he seriously doubts the vaccine will be permanently pulled. But he said, I do think that there will likely be some sort of warning or restriction or risk assessment.

Experts are trying to determine whether the rare blood clotting disorder is in fact linked to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The investigation follows actions by European regulators who concluded that another vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and based on a similar technology may be linked to a rare clotting disorder.

An earlier version of this item incorrectly described blood platelets. They are components of blood that are needed for clotting, not blood cells that typically prevent clotting.

The New York State attorney general has opened an investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos use of state resources in relation to his recent book, a chronicle of the states battle against coronavirus.

The word of the investigation came days after the attorney general, Letitia James, received a referral on the matter from the state comptroller. On Monday, a spokeswoman for Ms. James confirmed that the office had received the referral.

The investigation follows a March 31 report in The New York Times and subsequent reporting in other publications that detailed how junior staff members and senior aides worked on the book.

The governor, a third-term Democrat, has insisted that any work by government employees was voluntary, allowing that some minor work may have been incidental.

Mr. Cuomos office rejected any assertion of criminality in regards to the book, suggesting it was a politically motivated attack.

The investigation deepens the legal and political woes confronting Mr. Cuomo, who faces scandals involving his personal behavior and professional conduct, including a federal investigation into his handling of the states nursing homes during the pandemic.

Ms. James is already overseeing an inquiry into multiple allegations of sexual harassment against the governor.

The United States military will begin offering to vaccinate the detainees at Guantnamo Bay on Monday in an effort to protect troops stationed there and help restart the stalled war crimes hearings, an administration official with knowledge of the Pentagon plan said.

The U.S. Southern Command, which has oversight of the prison, sought permission during the Trump administration to vaccinate the detainees, who include Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other men accused of conspiring to carry out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A memo dated Dec. 23 described the detainees as a high-risk community, and invoked both the Geneva Convention and Department of Defense guidance.

But the Pentagon postponed plans to start the vaccinations on Feb. 1, after elected officials and victims of the attacks accused the Defense Department of putting terrorism suspects ahead of the American people, who were only just starting to get access to the vaccines in substantial numbers then.

By Monday, the official said, all of the adults at the remote base in Cuba had been offered a vaccine, including the troops and civilian Defense Department employees 1,500 in all who work at the detention operation. An undisclosed number of staff members at the prison had declined.

The vaccines are not mandatory for the military or civilian Defense Department employees.

The administration official said the decision to vaccinate the detainees was intended in part to protect those service members who had declined to be vaccinated. As of Monday, all adults in every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico are now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine, meeting the April 19 deadline that President Biden set two weeks ago.

New Yorkers will soon be able to get vaccinated against the coronavirus under the 94-foot-long model of a blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday, as the museum long popular with tourists and students on field trips is set to be one of the citys newest mass vaccination sites.

Vaccinations at the museum on the Upper West Side will begin on April 23 and be open to all city residents, with special appointments set aside for public housing residents and people who work at cultural institutions like museums, Mr. de Blasio said. People can register for appointments starting on Tuesday, and appointments will be available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday through Tuesday every week.

The whale, which is made of fiberglass and polyurethane and was renovated in 2003, has been on display since 1969. The museum said that anyone who got vaccinated there would get a voucher for complimentary future admission for a group of four people.

The announcement on Monday came as the city crossed 5.7 million vaccination doses on Sunday, and as the city recorded some positive signs in the fight against the pandemic. Mr. de Blasio said on Monday that the seven-day average rate of positive test results citywide was 4.91 percent, down from 6.64 percent at the beginning of April. The seven-day average number of hospitalizations has also been trending downward over the last few months, from 337 on Feb. 14 to 162 on Apr. 14.

Officials hoped that the opening of the new site would bolster the vaccination effort and be a symbol of the citys economic and cultural revitalization.

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Covid-19: U.S. Efforts to Retrieve Americans Overseas in Early Outbreak Threatened Their Safety, Report Says - The New York Times

The samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Washington universities are studying how the virus is transmitted from humans to pets.

SEATTLE A group of dogs are the first known animals in Washington state to show evidence of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA).

The dogs were sampled as part of the COVID-19 and Pets Study that the University of Washington (UW) started in early 2020 to examine pets from households where humans have tested positive for COVID-19.

In all, 23 samples from dogs tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, according to the WSDA in a release Wednesday.

While these are the first known cases of pets testing positive in Washington, they are not the first in the United States. There have been 82 cats and 64 dogs that have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the U.S., according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The virus is not just affecting companion animals, either, but also zoo animals across the country. Earlier this week, some otters at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The aquarium said the otters may have gotten the infection from an asymptomatic staff member.

Fourteen tigers have also tested positive in the U.S., according to the USDA data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the USDA both state there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus to humans.

"These detections are not a surprise given the other cases reported across the country," Washington State Veterinarian Dr. Brian Joseph said in a statement. "While there is no significant public health risk, we would advise pet owners who are COVID-positive to take measures to protect their pets from the virus."

The CDC recommends people with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 should avoid contact with animals, including pets, livestock and wildlife. If a person with COVID-19 must care for pets or other animals, they should wear a mask and wash their hands before and after interacting with them.

If an animal does become sick, the owners should contact a veterinarian.

The COVID-19 and Pets Study at the UW is being done in partnership with the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) at Washington State University.

Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, director of the UW Center for One Health Research and principal investigator for the COVID-19 and Pets Study, said they are continuing the study as human vaccine rollout is taking place and will see whether any change in household transmission to pets occurs.

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23 dogs in Washington test positive for COVID-19 antibodies - KING5.com

While vaccinations reduce the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections, there is still a need for drugs that can treat people who have contracted the virus.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have recommended two drugs to treat COVID-19: the steroid dexamethasone and the antiviral drug Remdesivir.

Doctors limit the use of dexamethasone to severe disease, where trials have shown it to reduce mortality in mechanically ventilated patients by a third.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

Remdesivir can decrease the length of time a person has COVID-19 and does provide some benefit to some people, but it has little effect on its own. Remdesivir also requires intravenous administration, which lessens its clinical use.

Researchers with the NIH have found that the oral antiviral drug MK-4482 effectively fights SARS-CoV-2 infections in hamsters.

MK-4482, which scientists are now testing in human clinical trials, reduced the level of SARS-CoV-2 replication and disease damage in the lungs of hamsters. The researchers administered MK-4482 orally.

If trials can confirm the therapeutic value of MK-4482 in humans, it will be the first drug for SARS-CoV-2 that people can take orally in the community.

The research appears in the journal nature communications.

Scientists initially developed MK-4482 as an anti-influenza drug by the Drug Innovation Ventures group of Emory University in Atlanta, GA, with funding support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The original names for MK-4482 were molnupiravir and EIDD-2801.

When scientists hydrolyze MK-4482, the resulting compound is EIDD-1931, originally developed at the beginning of this century for treating hepatitis C.

The compound shows promise for stopping MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-1 in epithelial cells in vitro and in mouse models.

Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics are currently conducting Phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of MK-4482 as a SARS-CoV-2 treatment.

Rocky Mountain Laboratories, which is a branch of NIHs National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton, Montana, conducted the study of MK-4482 in hamsters. Researchers there collaborated with scientists at the University of Plymouth in the United Kingdom.

Last year, the researchers developed the model for emulating human SARS-CoV-2 infections and mild cases of COVID-19 in golden Syrian hamsters. The team determined the dosing of MK-4482 for the hamsters based on its previous successful use in stopping SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV.

In the current study, the researchers tested the effects of MK-4482 using three hamster groups, allocating six hamsters to each group. The researchers gave the drug to the first group of hamsters at 12 hours and 2 hours before infecting them with SARS-COV-2. The second group received MK-4482 12 hours after infection.

The researchers gave MK-4482 to the hamsters in both these groups every 12 hours for 3 days.

Researchers infected the third control group with the virus but did not treat them with MK-4482.

When the trial concluded, the researchers found that the animals who had received the drug had 100 times lower levels of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in their lungs than the untreated group.

These hamsters had also developed significantly fewer lesions in lung tissue than their untreated counterparts.

The authors of the research note that after they submitted their work for publication, a second study reporting MK-4482s effectiveness for treating SARS-CoV-2 was released.

While the two studies differ in some details, both studies support a significant effect of MK-4482 pre-treatment on SARS-CoV-2 replication in the lung, both in terms of viral RNA and virus titer [virus load], which was also reflected in decreased lung pathology.

If MK-4482 proves as successful in ongoing human clinical trials as it has been for hamsters, it would be an easy-to-take, oral medication for those who have contracted SARS-CoV-2 and those who have developed symptoms of COVID-19.

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COVID-19: Oral drug treats SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters - Medical News Today

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Infielder JT Riddle was placed on the COVID-19 injured list by the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.

Riddle, in his fifth season, appeared in four games for the Twins this season, going 2-for-6 (.333) with a run scored.

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"JT did not test positive for COVID. There are a lot of different COVID protocols. JT falls within one of them," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He'll be also traveling on his own back to Minneapolis where he'll quarantine there for a period of time, and then hopefully by the end of the week, we'll have this resolved with him."

To replace Riddle on the 26-man roster, the Twins selected the contract of catcher Tomas Telis from the taxi squad.

Telis, who spent the 2020 season at the alternate training site in St. Paul, Minnesota, has appeared in 122 career major league games, hitting .230 (58-for-252) with eight doubles, three triples, one home run and 24 RBIs over parts of five seasons with Texas and Miami (2014-18).

The Twins lost Wednesday in 10 innings to the Oakland Athletics 13-12, falling to 0-3 since their return from a COVID-19-related pause.

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Veteran infielder JT Riddle added to the COVID-19 injured list by Minnesota Twins during road trip - ESPN

The WestVirginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reportsas of April 18, 2021, there have been 2,611,346total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 148,887 total cases and 2,785 total deaths.

DHHR hasconfirmed the deaths of a 63-yearold female from Kanawha County, an 81-year old male from Kanawha County, a 92-yearold female from Harrison County, a 63-year old female from Berkeley County, andan 88-year old male from Mineral County.

We are saddenedto report the loss of more West Virginians, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR CabinetSecretary. We extend our sympathies to the affected families.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour(1,347), Berkeley (11,601), Boone (1,881), Braxton (861), Brooke (2,121),Cabell (8,610), Calhoun (271), Clay (454), Doddridge (548), Fayette (3,260),Gilmer (735), Grant (1,239), Greenbrier (2,615), Hampshire (1,715), Hancock(2,713), Hardy (1,436), Harrison (5,405), Jackson (1,912), Jefferson (4,345),Kanawha (14,083), Lewis (1,137), Lincoln (1,396), Logan (3,003), Marion(4,151), Marshall (3,274), Mason (1,935), McDowell (1,484), Mercer (4,565),Mineral (2,765), Mingo (2,421), Monongalia (8,949), Monroe (1,072), Morgan(1,088), Nicholas (1,507), Ohio (4,046), Pendleton (686), Pleasants (832),Pocahontas (640), Preston (2,809), Putnam (4,815), Raleigh (6,121), Randolph(2,494), Ritchie (659), Roane (579), Summers (765), Taylor (1,196), Tucker(523), Tyler (670), Upshur (1,816), Wayne (2,819), Webster (455), Wetzel(1,195), Wirt (381), Wood (7,575), Wyoming (1,912).

Delays maybe experienced with the reporting of information from the local healthdepartment to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local healthdepartment level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may notbe a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in questionmay have crossed the state border to be tested. Such is the case of Grant and Taylor counties in thisreport.

West Virginians may pre-registerfor their COVID-19 vaccination at vaccinate.wv.gov. TheCOVID-19 dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov showsthe total number of vaccines administered. Please see the vaccine summary tabfor more detailed information.

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is availabletoday in Boone, Doddridge, and Nicholas counties, and on Monday, April 19 in Barbour,Berkeley, Boone, Jefferson, Lincoln, Mineral, Monongalia, Morgan, Nicholas,Ohio, Wayne, and Wirt counties:

Boone County

1:00 PM 4:00 PM, Boone County HealthDepartment, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville, WV (pre-registration:https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

Doddridge County

10:00 AM 5:00 PM, Doddridge County Park,1252 Snowbird Road, West Union, WV

Nicholas County

11:00 AM 3:00 PM, Richwood City Hall, 6White Avenue, Richwood, WV (pre-registration:https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

April 19

Barbour County

9:00 AM 11:00 AM, Barbour County HealthDepartment, 109 Wabash Avenue, Philippi, WV

1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Junior Volunteer FireDepartment, 331 Row Avenue, Junior, WV

BerkeleyCounty

10:00 AM 5:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg,WV10:00 AM 5:00 PM, Ambrose Park, 25404 Mall Drive, Martinsburg, WV

Boone County

12:00 PM 6:00 PM, Boone County HealthDepartment, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville, WV

JeffersonCounty10:00 AM 6:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV

12:00PM 5:00 PM, Shepherd University Wellness Center Parking Lot, 164 UniversityDrive, Shepherdstown, WV

LincolnCounty

9:00 AM 3:00 PM, Lincoln County Health Department, 8008 Court Avenue, Hamlin, WV (pre-registration:https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

MineralCounty

10:00AM 6:00 PM, Mineral County Health Department, 541 Harley O. Staggers Drive,Keyser, WV

MonongaliaCounty

9:00AM 11:00 AM, WVU Recreation Center, lower level, 2001 Rec Center Drive,Morgantown, WV

Morgan County

11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Valley Health WarMemorial Hospital, 1 Health Way, Berkeley Springs, WV

Nicholas County

10:00 AM 2:00 PM, St. Lukes UnitedMethodist Church, 18001 West Webster Road, Craigsville, WV (pre-registration:https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)

OhioCounty

11:00AM 4:00 PM, Wheeling Island Fire Station, Station #5, 11 North Wabash Street,Wheeling, WV

WayneCounty

10:00AM 2:00 PM, Wayne Community Center, 11580 Rt. 152, Wayne, WV

WirtCounty

11:00AM 5:00 PM, Matheny Funeral Home, 448 Juliana Street, Elizabeth, WV

For more free COVID-19 testingopportunities across the state, please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

Link:

COVID-19 Daily Update 4-18-2021 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Heres what you need to know:Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said he expected a panel to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of Johnson & Johnsons Covid-19 vaccine.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

A decision about whether to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should come this Friday, when an expert panel that is advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet, according to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert.

I think by that time were going to have a decision, Dr. Fauci said on Sunday on the CNN program State of the Union.

I dont want to get ahead of the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. and the advisory committee, he added, but said he expected experts to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of the vaccine.

Federal health agencies recommended putting injections of the vaccine on pause on Tuesday while they investigated whether it was linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder. All 50 states,Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have stopped administering the vaccine.

The unusual disorder includes blood clots in the brain combined with low levels of platelets, blood cells that typically promote clotting. The combination, which can cause clotting and bleeding at the same time, was initially documented in six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who had received the vaccine one to three weeks prior. One of the women died, and another was hospitalized in critical condition.

This pattern has prompted questions about whether vaccinations could resume in men or in older people. But because women fill more of the health care jobs for which vaccinations have been prioritized, it is not clear how much the problem might affect men, too. On Wednesday, two more cases of the clotting disorder were identified, including one in a man who had received the vaccine in a clinical trial.

About 131.2 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, or roughly half of all American adults, according to the C.D.C. More than seven million of those people have received Johnson & Johnsons shot. If there is a link between the vaccine and the clotting disorder, the risk remains extremely low, experts say.

Its an extraordinarily rare event, Dr. Fauci said on the ABC program This Week. The pause was intended to give experts time to gather more information and to warn physicians about the clotting disorder so that they can make more informed treatment decisions, said Dr. Fauci, who appeared on four TV news programs on Sunday morning.

European regulators have been investigating similar cases of the unusual clotting disorder in people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Some European countries have since stopped administering that vaccine altogether, while others have restricted its use in younger people.

Dr. Fauci also expressed frustration that a disturbingly large proportion of Republicans, who have been critical of many coronavirus restrictions, have expressed a reluctance to be vaccinated. Its almost paradoxical, he said. On the one hand they want to be relieved of the restrictions, but on the other hand, they dont want to get vaccinated. It just almost doesnt make any sense.

The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.

Dr. Fauci said that he expected all high school students to become eligible for vaccination before school begins in the fall, with younger children eligible no later than the first quarter of 2022.

Michigan may finally be starting to turn a corner, after enduring more than a month of explosive coronavirus spread, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Sunday.

We are starting to see the beginning of what could be a slowdown, Ms. Whitmer said on the NBC program Meet the Press.

Michigan is still averaging more than 7,600 new cases a day, according to a New York Times database more than at almost any time during the holiday surge. But that figure hasnt increased by more than a few hundred for more than a week, suggesting that the current wave may be cresting. Hospitalizations and deaths, which usually lag behind new cases by several weeks, are still rising.

Governor Whitmer cited the states continuing mask mandates, capacity restrictions and her call for a voluntary two-week pause in indoor dining, youth sports and in-person schooling as factors that may have helped combat the surge. She defended her decision to not try to go further, with the kinds of closure and stay-at-home orders imposed early in the pandemic.

Fifteen months ago, we didnt know the virus could be contained by the simple act of wearing a mask, she said on Sunday. We didnt have the testing or the vaccines. Were now in a much different position.

The governor suggested that she probably could not have locked the state down again, in any case. In the waning months, I have been sued by my Legislature, I have lost in a Republican-controlled Supreme Court, and I dont have all of the exact same tools, she said.

Despite those things, we still have some of the strongest mitigation measures in the country, she added. Were still doing what we can.

Ms. Whitmer lauded the Biden administration for helping the state get more therapeutics and boots on the ground to help staff vaccination sites and hospitals. She said she had asked the federal government for even more help.

She said her states initial success in limiting the viruss spread had, paradoxically, made it more vulnerable to a later surge.

What we know is that our success at keeping Covid spread down for such a long period of time has left us with vast reservoirs of people who dont have antibodies, she said. That was a good thing until the variants came on stage.

She said that seasonal travel patterns, notably spring-break vacations and the return of snowbirds who spent the winter in warm states like Florida, had also played a role in seeding outbreaks in Michigan.

Health officials in Colorado are warning about another wave of infections as new coronavirus cases in the state jump to levels not seen since January and as counties start to loosen virus restrictions.

The state is reporting an average of 1,661 new cases a day, up by 18 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations have climbed by 19 percent in the same time period. Deaths from the virus, which tend to lag behind infections for several weeks, have slightly increased.

We are seeing what appears to be the beginning of a fourth wave of Covid-19 in Colorado, Scott Bookman, the states Covid-19 incident commander, said at a news briefing on Thursday. He urged people to remain vigilant about getting tested as more of the states population becomes vaccinated.

As in many parts of the country seeing caseloads rise, health officials say the increase has been fueled in part by the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, particularly the B.1.1.7 variant first found in Britain. That variant is estimated to be about 60 percent more contagious and 67 percent more deadly than the original version. B.1.1.7 is now the most common source of new coronavirus cases in the United States, and tracking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that variants of concern, including B.1.1.7 and a variant that emerged in California, CAL.20C, now make up more than half of all new coronavirus cases in Colorado.

Even as cases mount, the state on Friday ended its dial system that required counties to place capacity limits on restaurants, offices and gyms, depending on case counts, positive test percentages and hospitalizations in those areas. That change shifted control of pandemic regulations to local counties, prompting concerns from some public health experts that the move could result in cases and hospitalizations continuing to rise. Several counties experiencing an increase in cases and hospitalizations, like El Paso and Douglas Counties, have said they do not plan to impose restrictions beyond those mandated by the state.

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The state still requires counties to comply with its mask mandate which will stay in place through May 2 and with limits on indoor mass gatherings.

I am concerned that without policies and behaviors to slow transmission, said Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, we will continue to see increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations among those who are not yet vaccinated.

It worries me, Dr. Bill Burman, director of Denver Public Health, said about counties that were choosing to be more lax with restrictions. Denver eased some regulations on Friday but kept in place certain restrictions, like capacity limits on bars, offices and retail stores.

An analysis published this month and led by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health found that delaying policy changes, at the state or local level, until mid-May would prevent large numbers of deaths and hospitalizations. According to the report, mobility in the state is also reaching its highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

State officials defended the change last week, pointing to the relatively low number of hospitalizations and deaths compared with the peaks seen in December. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said at a news briefing on Tuesday that he was confident that counties could take on greater responsibility, but he urged people to remain cautious.

I think that the number of cases and hospitalizations will sadly continue to go up before it goes down, Mr. Polis said, adding that he hoped it would be a short peak as more people get vaccinated.

About 41 percent of the states population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 25 percent have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State officials said they would continue to monitor hospitalization levels. Under the governors public health order, the state could require counties to put in place additional restrictions if their resident hospitalizations threatened to exceed 85 percent of hospital capacity.

To some, Alaskas announcement that it would try to entice travelers by offering Covid-19 vaccinations at its airports might signal the states plucky resolve and determination to revive a tourism industry that has been devastated by the pandemic.

To others, its a sign of everything that is wrong with the way that the United States is distributing its vaccines, as calls for more doses in surge-stricken Michigan are rebuffed.

Its hard for me to believe that weve so maldistributed a vaccine as to make this necessary, said Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. You dont want to exchange a bad carbon footprint for a vaccination.

Starting on June 1, any tourist traveling to Alaska will be able to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at the Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan airports. Its part of a larger multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, funded by federal stimulus money, to attract tourists back to the state, Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, a Republican, announced.

We believe theres a real opportunity to get folks to come to Alaska again, Mr. Dunleavy said at a news conference on Friday.

Alaska is the latest state to announce plans to extend vaccine eligibility to nonresidents as production and distribution have increased around the country. Twenty-one other states do not have residency requirements for vaccination, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some U.S. experts have worried for months about the growth in vaccine tourism Americans crossing state lines to get a vaccine where there are excess doses. Virologists like Dr. Brilliant say that rather than incentivizing people to fly to Alaska to get a shot from the states abundant vaccine supply, doses should be redistributed to states most in need and no longer be allocated strictly by population.

Alaska is not lacking vaccines, said Heidi Hedberg, the states director of public health. Health administrators will begin the airport vaccine program for tourists at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, with a five-day trial at the end of April to gauge interest. Some visitors may have to get their second dose of mRNA vaccines in their home states, depending on how long they remain in Alaska.

Almost 40 percent of Alaskans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to a New York Times database. Thirty-two percent of the states population is fully vaccinated. The state has used 68 percent of its doses.

Alaska was the first state to open up vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 or older living or working in the state, on March 9. At the time of the announcement, Alaska had the highest vaccination rate in the country.

The United States has continued to speed up vaccination efforts, and is now averaging 3.2 million doses a day, up from roughly two million a day in early March. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday that about 129.5 million people had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Brilliant said states like Michigan, the center of the countrys worst surge, should be receiving larger allocations of doses.

The Biden administration and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, have been at odds over her calls for an increase in her states vaccine supply. But the Biden administration held fast to distributing vaccines by state population, not by triage.

The vaccine should go where it will do the most good, Dr. Brilliant said. Given the scarcity of vaccine in the world, every dose should be given in a way that is most effective at stopping this pandemic.

But the issue could be moot by the time that Alaskas tourist vaccination program begins in earnest on June 1: most Americans who want to be vaccinated might already have received at least one dose by then, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Were going to reach a point where people dont need to fly to Alaska to get vaccinated, he said. I think its going to be more of the case that, heres an opportunity to visit Alaska and its convenient to get vaccinated.

French authorities will tightly restrict who can travel to France from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, and will impose a 10-day quarantine on those who do, in the hope of staving off worrisome coronavirus variants circulating in those countries, the government announced on Saturday.

The announcement adds to a shifting patchwork of international restrictions that have complicated travel around the world.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced late on Saturday that, starting April 24, travelers arriving from any of the four countries will have to quarantine for 10 days. Police officers will check on them to ensure that they comply.

Entry from the four countries will be limited almost exclusively to French citizens and their families, citizens of other European Union countries, and foreigners with permanent homes in France. Travelers must have tested negative for the virus within a shorter time before takeoff, and will be given antigenic tests on arrival.

These are the countries that are most dangerous, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Frances foreign minister, told France 3 television on Sunday.

Nearly all flights between France and Brazil will remain suspended at least until the new rules take effect and possibly longer, the government said.

The tightened restrictions were necessary because of the uncontrolled spread of the virus in certain countries, including widespread transmission of virus variants like those first identified in Brazil and South Africa that appear to be more resistant to some current Covid-19 vaccines, Mr. Castex said in his statement.

Frances decision adds to a complex tangle of rules and policies about international travel that can vary widely from country to country and month to month.

Germany loosened some of its travel restrictions last week, removing Britain, Ireland, Finland and Barbados from its list of at-risk areas, meaning that travelers from those countries no longer need to quarantine upon arrival.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said that his country was in no hurry to reopen its borders, which have largely been closed to anyone other than returning Australian citizens.

I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country, which is so different to the rest of the world today, Mr. Morrison told reporters on Sunday.

Unlike the many European countries that have kept restaurants closed, travel restricted and face masks mandatory to combat a new wave of infections, Australia has its coronavirus epidemic largely under control and residents are mostly free to travel domestically and dine out.

More people are flying every day, as Covid restrictions ease and vaccinations accelerate. But dangerous variants have led to new outbreaks, raising fears of a deadly prolonging of the pandemic.

To understand how safe it is to fly now, The Times enlisted researchers to simulate how air particles flow within the cabin of an airplane, and how potential viral elements may pose a risk.

For instance, when a passenger sneezes, air blown from the sides pushes particles toward the aisle, where they combine with air from the opposite row. Not all particles are the same size, and most dont contain infectious viral matter. But if passengers nearby werent wearing masks, even briefly to eat a snack, the sneezed air could increase their chances of inhaling viral particles.

How air flows in planes is not the only part of the safety equation, according to infectious-disease experts. The potential for exposure may be just as high, if not higher, when people are in the terminal, sitting in airport restaurants and bars or going through the security line.

The challenge isnt just on a plane, said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist specializing in infection prevention. Consider the airport and the whole journey.

The National Institutes of Health is investing $33 million in research projects run by institutions around the United States that could help officials safely reopen schools serving vulnerable students and under-resourced rural, urban and Native American communities.

The projects focus on expanding coronavirus testing for children of color, children from low-income families and children with developmental disabilities or complex medical conditions. The projects are part of an N.I.H. program called Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations, or RADx-UP, and include initiatives among Native American communities.

Establishing frequent Covid-19 testing protocols for schools in vulnerable and underserved communities is essential to the safe-return-to-school effort, and these projects will inform decision makers on the best strategies to accomplish this, Dr. Eliseo J. Prez-Stable, director of N.I.H.s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and co-chair of the RADx-UP program, said in the announcement on Thursday.

Although remote schooling has been a challenge for many families, certain vulnerable populations have faced additional obstacles. Low-income families, for instance, may not have access to computers or high-speed internet connections, while children with developmental disabilities may miss out on speech therapy, occupational therapy and other services that are typically tied to in-person schooling.

The new research projects encompass a wide variety of schools, ranging in size from 50 to 3,500 students.

One study, led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, will survey parents of children with disabilities to identify the best communication strategies for promoting in-person learning and examine ways to increase participation in a weekly coronavirus testing program. Another will assess the feasibility of at-home and school-based coronavirus testing programs for children with complex medical needs.

A project based at Duke University will explore whether rapid coronavirus tests can reduce the spread of the virus in schools and help build trust with Black and Latino families, encouraging them to send their children back into the classroom.

The RADx-UP program plans to distribute more funding, and expand its efforts to more locations, in the months ahead, the N.I.H. said.

JERUSALEM Buoyed by its recent success in combating the coronavirus, Israel lifted its outdoor mask mandate on Sunday, while schools fully reopened for the first time since September.

The country has been taking rapid steps back to normalcy in the wake of its world-leading vaccination campaign and plummeting infection rates. About 56 percent of the Israeli population has been fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.

Finally, I can breathe again! Eli Bliach, 35, an entrepreneur, said while walking mask-free in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday morning.

With the sun out and temperatures rising, some people joked about avoiding mask tan lines.

But other Israelis were hesitant to remove the layer of protection that had felt so alien at first, but that many have since gotten used to.

I am not confident that the pandemic is over, said Ilana Danino, 59, a cosmetician and caregiver who was still wearing a mask while walking down an almost empty street in the city center. It is still out there all over the world.

Besides, she said, I feel good with this on, gesturing to the air around her and explaining that springtime could still bring allergies and the spread of other viruses.

Israels health minister, Yuli Edelstein, urged people to continue carrying masks with them for entry into indoor public spaces, where they are still required.

Daily new coronavirus infections in Israel have fallen from a peak of 10,000 in January to around 100 on some recent days. Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science said on Twitter last week that with 85 percent of people 16 and older in Israel either vaccinated or recovered from the virus, Life is close to pre-Covid.

As part of the transition, Israel has introduced a green pass system allowing people who are vaccinated or recovered to dine indoors in restaurants, stay in hotels and attend large cultural, sports and religious gatherings.

But there is some new concern after several cases of a virus variant with a double mutation first detected in India, B.1.617, were identified in Israel last week. Prof. Nachman Ash, Israels coronavirus czar, told the Hebrew news site Ynet on Sunday that the variant might have some characteristics that could make those who have been vaccinated vulnerable to infection.

Israel is working to prevent any further entry of the variant, he said, while trying to learn more about it and how it is behaving in other parts of the world.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced on Saturday that New Yorkers who are 50 or older could now walk in and receive the coronavirus vaccine at more than 30 city-operated sites.

No appointment necessary, the mayor said on Twitter. One person accompanying the over-50 walk-in candidate can also receive the shot. Mr. de Blasios aim is to fully vaccinate five million of the citys eight million residents by June.

Before Saturday, the city allowed walk-in vaccinations only for people 75 and over.

The city listed 31 locations across the five boroughs where walk-ins would be accepted, including three that usually operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bathgate Contract Postal Station in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens. That list of locations will be updated weekly.

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Covid-19: Fauci Expects Decision on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine This Week - The New York Times

ANAHEIM, CALIF. Instead of playing amid 80-degree afternoon heat before jetting off to Oakland in time for Monday's series opener with the Athletics, the Twins saw hardly much sun at all.

Maybe some muted rays from behind their hotel room windows, just a fraction of a perfect SoCal spring Sunday.

After calling off two of the three games against the Angels, Major League Baseball also postponed Monday's game at the Athletics while the Twins deal with COVID-19 issues. There are four positive cases on the Twins: one staff member and three players.

Shortstop Andrelton Simmons was the first to test positive ahead of the California trip and stayed back in Minnesota. A non-uniformed staff member then tested positive ahead of Friday's game, a 10-3 loss at Angel Stadium, and that sent a handful of other staff into contact-tracing quarantines. Before Saturday's scheduled game, two more players tested positive, including left fielder Kyle Garlick. All have either shown mild symptoms or been asymptomatic.

The Twins could potentially next play at Oakland on Tuesday as part of a straight doubleheader to make up for Monday's postponement. That would begin at 5:30 p.m., though it depends on what continued testing and contract-tracing reveal about the Twins' situation.

Derek Falvey, Twins president of baseball operations, said on WCCO Radio Sunday that the tests done Saturday evening "came back in a good direction." Everyone took two more tests Sunday morning, including a rapid-results one that is prone to false positives. Manager Rocco Baldelli and another staff member experienced false positives just before leaving for California, though further testing eventually cleared them.

The Twins received results Sunday evening that revealed no further positives. Falvey also said the team will test again Monday morning and that those results would affect whether the Twins can fly to Oakland on Monday or whether that series goes on at all.

The team is also testing its non-traveling party in Minnesota as a precaution, because it's unclear exactly when or how the virus infiltrated the clubhouse. A source said Saturday the team did not think Simmons' case caused the following three.

The three players who tested positive likely will have to stay in Anaheim and quarantine for 10 days, unless they're up for a very long drive to Minnesota. The players who tested positive Saturday even had to drive themselves individually back to the team hotel in last-minute rental cars. The staff put into precautionary quarantine Friday should be free to travel Monday, as long as tests remain negative.

Testing has revealed that the current version of COVID-19 making its way through the Twins is one of the variant strains.

"It does create a little bit more uncertainty about the go-forward and how long it takes for someone who may have been infected to turn positive," Falvey said on WCCO. "So there's a lot of things we're working with our medical staff on to determine how comfortable we would be 72 hours out, subsequent to that, another day, another day, another day after that."

Falvey is working on rescheduling the two Angels games, but finding corresponding off days has been a logistical nightmare, as that would likely be necessary with Oakland if the doubleheader doesn't get played. Being on the West Coast has also complicated the Twins' ability to call in reinforcements should more players test positive. They have a five-man taxi squad on the trip (an infielder, outfielder, catcher and two pitchers), but anyone from St. Paul would have to fly commercial four hours to meet the team.

Like the Twins, the A's are not quite to the 85% vaccination threshold that would allow for loosened COVID-19 protocols, manager Bob Melvin said Sunday. Many of the Twins' tier one personnel took the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine April 8 and are not quite to the two weeks of developed immunity from that. It's also still unclear how the vaccines work against the various COVID-19 strains.

"There's not one person in our group who is not frustrated," Baldelli said Saturday. " We knew that with our vaccine effort going on just after we returned home for our first homestand, we were pretty close to getting where we needed to be. But obviously not close enough. And now we're going to have to deal with whatever comes our way. Things are not going to be easy because of it. We're going to have a great deal of challenges in addition to everything that we've already gone through."

So for now the Twins are left to persevere through the dark times, peering from behind the thin pane of glass separating them from the light.

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Monday's Twins game also postponed as team deals with positive COVID-19 tests - Minneapolis Star Tribune

MEDFORD, Ore--On Sunday, Jackson County Public Health reported 20 new cases of coronavirus, taking last week's total to around 280 cases. This means for the fifth week in a row, Jackson County has experienced a rise in new Covid-19 cases.

According to reports taken by Jackson County Public Health, Jackson County has seen a steady rise in new Covid-19 cases dating all the way back to the week of March 14.

In that time, going from March 14 till last week, Jackson County has reported 168, 195, 229, 267 and now 280 cases.

To find the last time that Jackson County experienced five weeks in a row of cases increasing, you'd have to go all the way back to October. During that streak, cases had increased every week over a six-week time frame and hit all-time Covid records for the county.

Jackson County is also 77 cases away from reaching 10,000 total cases since the start of the pandemic.

But even with new Covid-19 cases rising, vaccinations in Jackson County are increasing.

According to data collected by the Oregon Health Authority, Jackson County health officials have vaccinated almost 70,000 Oregonians throughout the county. That's more than one in every four residents have recieved at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Jackson County is also making progress when it comes to getting people fully vaccinated. OHA says that of the 68,435 people in Jackson County that have been vaccinated, 43,389 of those people are fully vaccinated.

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Jackson County reports fifth week in a row of increased Covid-19 cases - KDRV

3 Stars for Sunday in the NHL1. Boston Bruins top line

Honestly, you could probably pick Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak for each of the three stars for Sunday in the NHL and call it a night. Even if, uh, they played during the afternoon.

Either way, it isnt easy to distinguish the top star from the Bruins 6-3 win against the Capitals.

From a volume perspective, Brad Marchand led the way. He generated two goals and two assists for four points. Interestingly, its been feast-or-famine for Marchand lately. Over the last five games, Marchands been held pointless on three occasions, yet two outbursts put him at six points (4G, 2A) in his past five contests.

With Taylor Hall bolstering what now looks like a strong Bruins second line, Bostons in a better position to handle the occasional pointless night from one or more members of The Perfection Line.

Speaking of the others, Bergeron didnt get involved in a late empty-net goal, but ended up with three points (2G, 1A) and matched Marchands +4 rating. Pastrnak grabbed one of his assists on that ENG, yet was still prolific with three helpers and a +3 rating.

While 1,000 Games Club Member Nicklas Backstrom enjoyed a strong showing with two assists of his own, it wasnt enough as the Capitals fell to the Bruins and that Perfection Line.

For a significant chunk of Sundays OT loss to the Islanders, the Flyers likely believed they deserved better.

Through the first 40 minutes, the Flyers generated 23-15 shots on goal advantage, firing 15 on Sorokin during the second period alone. The Flyers couldnt beat Sorokin once, though, as the young goalie put together a 30-save shutout.

Going forward, the Islanders shouldnt hesitate to give Sorokin reps. Hes now won four of five games, allowing two goals or fewer in each of those appearances. A lot of the Islanders success comes down to their defensive system, but Sorokins looking solid in his own right.

No doubt about it, the Canucks came into Sundays return from a lengthy COVID-related absence with some self-doubt. They also faced a Maple Leafs team that would be a challenge under even the most optimal circumstances.

Now, the Canucks fighting through that COVID disruption isnt about one game. If anything, they might actually feel it more and more as the grind of their schedule truly sets in. But on Sunday night, Braden Holtby was absolutely brilliant in helping the Canucks squeeze out an OT win vs. the Maple Leafs.

Its not as if the Maple Leafs laid an egg in the Canucks COVID return. Toronto fired 39 shots on goal, testing Holtby often. The veteran goalie made 37 saves, including the highlight of the night for Sunday in the NHL.

If allowing two goals disqualifies Holtby in your mind, you could instead roll with Bo Horvat. The Canucks captain helped his team rally from a 2-0 deficit, scoring two goals (including the overtime game-winner) and an assist.

Braden Holtby left Wayne Simmonds (and the rest of us) stunned with a beautiful windmill save. Shades of Dominik Hasek here:

This is a quirky one from the NHL. That said, if the Rangers defy the odds and make the playoffs, theyll do so in part based on dominating the Devils:

Bruins 6, Capitals 3Rangers 5, Devils 3Sabres 4, Penguins 2Golden Knights 5, Ducks 2Islanders 1, Flyers 0 (OT)Canucks 3, Maple Leafs 2 (OT)

James OBrienis a writer forPro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line atphtblog@nbcsports.comor follow him on Twitter@cyclelikesedins.

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The Buzzer: Canucks win in return from COVID-19 protocol (Sunday in NHL) - NHL