New cases of mpox in Los Angeles County rose considerably in the last two weeks, local health officials said Monday.
The concerning increase of the disease took reported cases from an average of fewer than two per week a level that had been consistent for several weeks to a total of 10 in the county in the last two weeks.
The virus, formerly known as monkeypox, spreads through close contact with body fluids, sores, shared bedding or clothing or respiratory droplets, the county health department said. A multi-country outbreak that began in May 2022 spurred the declaration of a public health emergency by the U.S. and the World Health Organization. Cases subsequently declined with vaccines and treatments.
Like COVID-19, mpox can be spread through droplets, especially when an infected person kisses someone else or coughs or sneezes near them.
Symptoms of the virus include rash or unusual sores that look like pimples or blisters on the face, body and genitals, as well as fever, chills, headache, muscle aches or swelling of lymph nodes.
Mpox is not life-threatening but can lead to severe illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The public health department advises:
Those with symptoms should be tested, the statement said, and healthcare providers should report any suspected cases to the department.
Many of the prevention tips issued by the county are standard safe-sex practices, including wearing condoms and exchanging contact information with sexual partners.
Jynneos, the two-dose vaccine recommended by county health officials, is the best way to prevent the spread of the virus, the statement said.
Though the vaccine is available to all, specific subgroups especially at risk of exposure to mpox are highly encouraged to get vaccinated: those who have sex with transgender people, those who engage in commercial and/or transactional sex and people living with HIV.
Partners of those listed above are also especially at risk, the county said.
Health officials in Los Angeles County, California, have issued a warning after the county witnessed a "concerning" increase in mpox cases in the past two weeks.
Ten new cases have been reported in the past two weeks, a notable rise from the prior average of fewer than two cases per week. In response to this surge, officials recommend enhancing testing and vaccination efforts to reduce the risk of severe illness and transmission.
Mpox is a viral infection caused by the Monkeypox virus. It can spread in several ways: through direct contact with infected wild animals, close contact with an infected person (including intimate or sexual contact), and exposure to body fluids, sores, or respiratory droplets from kissing, coughing, or sneezing.
"We had four cases about two weeks ago, and then six cases last week. And so to us, that's a sign that we are entering the summer season where people are more social and sexually active," Dr. Sonali Kulkarni, director of the HIV and STD programs at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, told ABC 7.
Individuals who develop symptoms should seek medical attention and get tested, the officials caution.
Symptoms of mpox typically manifest three to 17 days after exposure. The hallmark sign is a rash that can develop on the hands, feet, chest, face, mouth, or around the genitals. Other common symptoms include fever and chills, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, headache, and respiratory issues.
A person with mpox is infectious from the time symptoms appear until the rash has completely healed. To minimize the risk of infection, officials advise avoiding sex or intimate contact with anyone who has a new or unexplained rash or any related symptoms. They also recommend against sharing towels, clothing, bedding, fetish gear, sex toys, or toothbrushes. Additionally, using protective measures like gloves and condoms is strongly advised.
Another key tool for preventing mpox is the Jynneos vaccine, a two-dose series recommended for:
"People in high-risk groups are urged to get fully vaccinated with two doses for the best protection. Second doses can be given no matter how long it's been since the first dose. Residents can choose to receive the mpox vaccine subcutaneously (in the upper arm) or intradermally (under the skin on their arm or back). Vaccine boosters are not recommended at this time," the LA county officials said in the news release.
As the United States heads into the summer season, early indicators show the country is likely to experience an increase in COVID-19 infections.
For the week ending June 8, the latest date for which data is available, COVID test positivity was 5.4% across the U.S., an increase of 0.8% from the previous week, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In the Western region -- which is comprised of Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada -- COVID test positivity was 12.8%, higher than any other region of the U.S. The New England region -- made up of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont -- had the next highest test positivity rate at 5.4%, matching the national rate.
Wastewater data from the CDC shows that although viral activity levels are still low nationally, levels have more than doubled in the western U.S. over the last month.
Additionally, COVID emergency department visits for the week ending June 8 rose 12.6% from the week prior, according to CDC data.
Traditionally, the U.S. has seen increases in COVID every summer, typically after the Fourth of July, but public health experts said Americans will likely see a "drift upwards" rather than a surge. They added that the average person will be able to safely navigate a rise in cases but that high-risk individuals who could develop serious illness need to be remain on alert and be careful.
"To put it proportionally to like where we were in many winters, we are at a very, very low rate of COVID, compared to some of our peaks," Dr. Cameron Wolfe, a professor of medicine in the infectious diseases division at Duke University, told ABC News. "Like compared to early 2022, for example, when omicron first emerged, this is night and day different. But there's just this little drift upwards, perhaps in the last few weeks."
Increases have been seen in several states, most notably on the West Coast. In Los Angeles, the county's Department of Public Health reported an average of 121 cases on June 13, up from a daily average of 106 instances one week prior.
However, experts said a combination of us learning how to better manage the virus and having high levels of immunity means COVID will not be a major threat to the average person.
"Our bodies have learned how to manage the virus over the last four years, meaning that many people have had successive waves of infection, many people have had initial vaccinations," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News. "So that combined immunity gives a big force field that can help protect us during the summer. Although most people will be fine, there are still some people that are going to get very sick."
As of Tuesday, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. remain stable. For the week ending May 18, the last week of complete data, there were 311 deaths due to COVID, which is the lowest death figure recorded in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic.
Chin-Hong said most hospitalizations and deaths are occurring among high-risk groups, including elderly individuals aged 75 and older and people who are immunocompromised, such as those who have undergone organ transplants or are on medications that suppress the immune system.
He recommends the average person track COVID wastewater data from the CDC to see if it's trending upwards in their area and to keep masks and COVID rapid tests handy in case they need them, but he added that an increase in COVID should not be cause for fear.
"I think there's a fine balance between ignoring everything and being scared by everything," Chin-Hong said. "It's like when you're crossing the street. You never just run across a busy road; you always look both ways, but it doesn't mean you don't go to the next destination. So, I think in the new phase of COVID, that's the way we should think about it."
Similarly, Wolfe said people should assess their individual risk and take more precautions if they will be around high-risk individuals such as senior citizens or sick patients. He also recommended getting the newest updated COVID vaccine that will likely be rolled out in late September.
"Very much in the same way that flu vaccines are tailored each year to adapt to the strains that we see, the same is occurring with COVID," Wolfe said. "And I think for someone who might be themselves or someone in their family or close contact known to be high risk I'm going to be still actively encouraging those people to get vaccinated."
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Reel back to June 2021. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., did not yet wield the committee gavel. But he had questions about COVID-19, which gripped the planet.
"For most of the pandemic, anyone who raised questions about the origin of the virus was dismissed as a crazy conspiracy theorist," opined Green on the House floor.
Many were even reluctant to dip into the idea that COVID-19 could have come from a lab in China in 2021.
FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON: WHO NEEDS WHO?
Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., is a doctor and the top Democrat on the House panel investigating the start of the pandemic. Some Republicans touted the lab leak theory. Yet Ruiz was careful to note that the concept was far from proven. The Department of Energy and FBI suggested a lab leak was the culprit. But most U.S. intelligence agencies suspected the virus emanated from nature.
"They do not strongly with high confidence say that this was a lab leak," said Ruiz at a July 2023 hearing. "But we heard that they do from the other side. Thats a lie."
Like Green, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., argued in 2023 that Democrats "accused everyone who believes that there was a lab leak to be a conspiracy theorist."
But the theory of a lab leak potentially sparking the pandemic no longer flits around the fringes.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is sworn in prior to testifying before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The House COVID committee unearthed a message last year from Dr. David Morens an associate of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci was the public face of the pandemic response. He just retired as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Morens wrote that "Tony doesnt want his fingerprints on origin stories."
In an appearance on Fox in January 2023, Fauci declared that "the evidence points very strongly, very strongly to this being a natural jump from an animal species to a human."
But Fauci may have tempered those views.
"Ive also been very, very clear and said multiple times that I dont think the concept of there being a (lab) leak is inherently a conspiracy theory," said Fauci to the House coronavirus committee this month. "What is a conspiracy is the kind of distortions that it was a lab leak and I was parachuted into the CIA like Jason Bourne and told the CIA that they should really not be talking about a lab leak."
BIDEN'S ATTORNEY GENERAL IS FIGHTING BACK AS THE GOP-LED HOUSE CONTEMPLATES CONTEMPT
In 2020, Fauci cited an article from the British scientific magazine Nature when talking about what caused the pandemic. The House COVID committee is scrutinizing communications between Fauci and the essays authors just before the item went to print. Some Republicans accuse Fauci of trying to use the article to shield criticism about a possible lab leak.
The Senate probed the origins of the pandemic at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing this week.
"Today we are here to examine one of the most critical and debated questions of our time," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has long been suspect of what the government said about what fueled the pandemic.
"Just like the Hunter Biden laptop story, the experts said this was disinformation," snapped Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., about the lab leak concept.
Tulane Medical School Dean Dr. Robert Garry co-authored the 2020 article in Nature. Garry argued it wasnt plausible for a lab leak to trigger the pandemic.
Dr. David Morens testified in Congress about released emails between Morens and an NGO president that received federal funding for COVID-19 research in Wuhan, China. (House Oversight Committee)
"So youre saying that (idea) came to you overnight?" questioned Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
"There was new data," replied Garry.
"Like a revelation from God? Overnight? Ive figured it out, and now I can definitely rule it out. Its amazing! Is that what happened?" countered Hawley.
"Its just the scientific method," responded Garry.
Garry holds firm that he believes the pandemic started in nature. But he concedes some of the science evolved.
Thats why Republican senators chided Garry about the article, leaning on a zoonotic origin of the pandemic.
STATUESQUE REV GRAHAM TRIBUTE COMES TO THE CAPITOL, BUT SHIES AWAY FROM THE LIMELIGHT
"That is scientific misconduct and fraud," charged Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. "The reason the American public legitimately don't trust scientists and health agencies because people like you, you bear that responsibility for violating the public's trust from your scientific misconduct. And fraud."
"It was not fraud," countered Garry. "We didn't put anything in that paper that we didn't believe was true. The conclusions of that paper have held up very well. In fact, there's been an abundance of scientific evidence that has come forward since then to support all the conclusions, everything we wrote in that paper. So, there's no fraud."
But even other scientists upbraided Garry.
"This is the most egregious form of scientific misconduct. Publishing a paper where you know the conclusions are untrue," alleged Dr. Richard Ebright of Rutgers University.
Still, questions linger about what went down in Wuhan, China. Thats the site of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Its close to the Wuhan wet market. Thats the locale some identify as the geographic center of the pandemic.
"It's one jump from one animal to one human. The most likely place that happens is in a laboratory," said Steven Quay of Atossa Therapeutics and a former Stanford University faculty member. "The Wuhan Institute (of) Virology. Thats where Id look."
A worker takes a swab sample for a COVID-19 test at a mobile test site on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
However, China is seemingly impenetrable when it comes to providing western investigators data about the pandemic.
"The Chinese government may never fully disclose all the information they have about the initial COVID-19 outbreak," said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich., who called the hearing.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., is advocating a 9/11-style commission to investigate the origins of COVID. Marshall also raised the possibility of classifying COVID-19 as a bioweapon. The Kansas Republican framed this in the context of national security.
"What did the U.S. do to contribute to (this) and how do we keep this from happening again?" asked Marshall.
Some senators acknowledge that the start of COVID many remain a stumper.
"We might be 98% or something. But we'll always be a little uncertain," said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
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And like much of the pandemic, that uncertainly seems to be the only thing wedoknow for sure.
Coronavirus
Subjects who kept virus at bay showed rapid response in nasal immune cells and more activity in early-alert gene
Wed 19 Jun 2024 12.45 EDT
Scientists have discovered differences in the immune response that could explain why some people seem to reliably escape Covid infection.
The study, in which healthy adults were intentionally given a small nasal dose of Covid virus, suggested that specialised immune cells in the nose could see off the virus at the earliest stage before full infection takes hold. Those who did not succumb to infection also had high levels of activity in a gene that is thought to help flag the presence of viruses to the immune system.
These findings shed new light on the crucial early events that either allow the virus to take hold or rapidly clear it before symptoms develop, said Dr Marko Nikoli, senior author of the study at University College London and honorary consultant in respiratory medicine. We now have a much greater understanding of the full range of immune responses, which could provide a basis for developing potential treatments and vaccines that mimic these natural protective responses.
As part of the UK Covid-19 Human Challenge study, 36 healthy adult volunteers without previous history of having Covid and who were unvaccinated were administered a low dose of the virus through the nose. The study was carried out in 2021 at the height of the pandemic.
In 16 volunteers, the researchers monitored activity in immune cells in the blood and the lining of the nose to provide the most detailed timeline of immune activity before, during and after infection. These participants were found to fall into three distinct groups: six people developed a sustained infection and became ill; three people became transiently positive but without developing a full infection; and seven experienced an abortive infection. This subset never tested positive, but the tests showed they had mounted an immune response.
In the abortive and transient groups, samples taken from before exposure to Covid showed these volunteers had high background levels of activity in a gene called HLA-DQA2. This was seen in antigen-presenting cells, which flag danger to the immune system. These cells will take a little bit of the virus and show it to immune cells and say: This is foreign: you need to go and sort it out, said Dr Kaylee Worlock of UCL, first author of the study.
The findings, published in Nature, suggest that people who have high levels of activity in this gene may have a more efficient immune response to Covid, meaning the infection never gets beyond the bodys first line of defence. However, they were not completely immune the volunteers were followed after the study and some later caught Covid in the community.
In the people who briefly tested positive, the scientists also recorded a rapid immune response in nasal cells, within a day of exposure, and a slower immune response in blood cells. By contrast, those who developed a full infection had a much slower nasal response, starting on average five days after exposure, allowing the virus to establish itself.
The team said the findings could provide a basis for developing more effective treatments and vaccines that mimic optimal protective responses.
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Powered by the dominant new COVID-19 variant KP.3, a wave of summer COVID-19 infections may be upon us. But the size of that wave remains unknown.
[1]
[2]
[3]But hospitalizations remain low.
Weve seen a steady stream of people very sick with COVID but overall its still a handful, says Peter Chin-Hong, MD, an infectious disease specialist affiliated with University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Hospitalizations usually lag a little behind other COVID indicators, so I think we will see them increasing but not as much as in the past.
He adds that many severe illnesses are now often avoidable due to vaccines and treatments such as nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid), which prevent an infection from becoming serious.
[4]
The leader of the FliRT pack is a new strain called KP.3, which now makes up 25 percent of COVID cases, surpassing KP.2, which just weeks ago was the primary cause of COVID in the United States and now accounts for 22.5 percent of infections.
The difference between the two variants is an additional mutation within the spike protein, says Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City. It is believed this mutation helps to make binding to our cellular receptors a little bit easier. Overall KP.3 and KP.2 are very similar to each other, however. They are both variants from the JN.1 lineage.
While both strains appear to be highly contagious, Dr. Chin-Hong notes that its difficult to determine at this point if one is much more transmissible than the other. The KPs are duking it out for whos No. 1, he says.
The dominance of the FLiRT variations is influencing public health policymakers as they consider how the COVID vaccine should be reformulated moving forward.
[5]
Regardless of which variant you pick to target, my feeling is that theyre all so related that you cant go wrong with any one of these they will still provide the main benefit, which is preventing hospitalization and death, particularly in the vulnerable, says Chin-Hong.
[6]
Chin-Hong says hes seeing fewer symptoms that were common in 2020, like shortness of breath and loss of taste and smell, and that some people are experiencing nausea and diarrhea symptoms they may not realize can be linked to COVID.
Because COVID-19 symptoms are often similar to those of allergies or the common cold, doctors warn that the only way to know for sure is to take a COVID test especially if you are especially vulnerable to severe infection (if you are older, for instance, or are immunocompromised) and want to stave off serious disease with a course of Paxlovid. You should also test if you spend time with anyone at high risk whom you might infect.
I absolutely do think people dismiss COVID-19 symptoms as allergies or a summer cold, says Dr. Hawkinson. That is why, especially if you are at higher risk for severe disease, it is important to have a plan such as testing early for COVID-19, and possibly a couple days in a row.
By this time of year, many Americans may have received their last COVID shotmonths ago and their immunity may be wearing off somewhat, according to Chin-Hong. This may partially explain why COVID numbers are currently up.
Warm weather is also a factor. While we think of winter as a time for viral spread, summer conditions increase transmission as well. When its hot and muggy outside, more people tend to gather indoors for the air conditioning, giving the virus a chance to transmit.
[7]This means more people congregating close together in airport terminals and airplane cabins, and a greater likelihood for disease spread.
People should be aware and vigilant but not scared, says Chin-Hong. Everyone, including immune-compromised people and older people, can navigate this surge very smoothly because of the availability of vaccines and antiviral drugs.
The circulation of respiratory viruses is normally highest in the fall and winter but COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been increasing over the spring and as we approach the summer.
According to the government's respiratory virus dashboard, cases of COVID-19 have been on the rise since around April, prompting caution from health and science experts.
"We have to remember COVID is not gone. So, this is a little different than things like influenza where we see it nearly disappear in the summer. The last two summers, COVID has really hung around and as a result, we continue to see waves and upticks of virus throughout the year," said Craig Jenne with the University of Calgary's department of microbiology, immunology, and infectious diseases.
"There's a good chance, as we see the numbers rise in the community, that summer cold might be a COVID infection."
While case numbers are expected to continue to trend upward, particularly around summer gatherings like the Calgary Stampede, Jenne doesn't expect anything alarming.
"I don't think we're going to see a risk of filling hospitals or straining the systems but virus in the community does mean those of us that have family members may be at risk, there's that increased chance that they contract it," Jenne said.
"One of the things this virus does like is large gatherings and in a couple weeks, we're going to see one of the largest gatherings in Calgary."
There are several reasons for the recent rise, including the emergence of new variants in Alberta, with KP.2 and KP.3 making up more than half of the cases across the province.
"This is a virus that keeps changing and it will for the next several years," Jenne said.
"But we're also seeing cycles in peoples' immunizations. So people who for example were getting shots for early fall to prepare for the winter, we're now six or seven months out and unfortunately, immunity wanes with regard to coronavirus both vaccine-induced immunity but also immunity you will receive if you're infected and have recovered."
According to the provincial dashboard, just shy of 17 per cent of Albertans have received a COVID-19 vaccine since last summer.
Abdul Kanji, pharmacist at Corner Drugstore in East Village, says people aren't coming through the doors looking for a vaccine in the summer but he encourages people to check in with their pharmacist to make sure they're up to date.
"We had a full family down (who) ended up in the hospital. Luckily, nothing serious. They got some medication and stayed home and quarantined. COVID is still around but right now, people are not too keen to get the shots," he said.
"We'll look up your records and see how many shots you've had."
Kanji says it's important people still test when they have symptoms because those infected also have immunity for six months and that can impact when to get a booster shot.
"A lot of allergies right now as well, so it's kind of confusing if it's an allergy, if it's a common cold, a viral infection or COVID-19 but talk to your pharmacist, right? We'll run through the checklist," he said.
Rapid at-home test kits are still available in Alberta but are no longer free at all pharmacies.
According to provincial data, there were 422 new COVID cases in Alberta last week, 178 people were in hospital from the virus and eight were in the ICU.
Two more Albertans died from COVID last week, for a total of 605 since August 2023.
WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) Scientists debated the origins of COVID-19 on Tuesday, trading barbs over whether the bulk of evidence available points to a natural spillover event from a wild animal or a virus designed in a lab and then let loose through an inadvertent leak.
The hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was part of ongoing efforts in Congress to apply the lessons learned during the pandemic to prevent or blunt the next outbreak.
Gregory Koblentz, associate professor and director of the Biodefense Graduate Program at George Mason University in Virginia, said during thetwo-hour hearingthat debate continues in the scientific community about the origins.
The possibility that SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately developed as a biological weapon has been unanimously rejected by all U.S. intelligence agencies, Koblentz testified. While the intelligence community is divided on the origin of the pandemic, most of the agencies have determined that the virus was not genetically engineered.
Residents in Wuhan, China, were first diagnosed with an atypical pneumonia-like illness in December 2019, according to a COVID-19timelinefrom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Initial cases all appeared linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market at the time, though there has since been much speculation about the types of research taking place at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Koblentz said he believes the available evidence points to a spillover event from an animal, though he added a research-related accident cant be ruled out at this time.
The lack of transparency and data from the Chinese government has significantly hindered scientists efforts to unify around the origin of COVID-19, he said.
Richard Ebright, board of governors professor of chemistry and chemical biology and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology at Rutgers University in New Jersey, testified he believes a large preponderance of evidence indicates SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, entered humans through a research incident.
Ebright also leveled criticism at fellow panelist Robert Garry, who, along with a handful of co-authors,published an opinion articlein the journal nature medicine in March 2020, titled The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2.
In the commentary, Garry and the other scientists wrote, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.
Ebright said during Tuesdays hearing that the opinion article represented scientific misconduct up to and including fraud, a characterization that Garry rejected during the hearing.
The authors were stating their opinion, but that opinion was not well-founded, Ebright said. In March of 2020, there was no basis to state that as a conclusion, as opposed to simply being a hypothesis.
Garry, professor and associate dean of the School of Medicine at Tulane University in Louisiana, argued on behalf of the spillover event during the hearing, testifying that the virus likely didnt move directly from a bat to humans, but went to an unidentified intermediary animal.
The bat coronaviruses are viruses that are spread by the gastrointestinal route, Garry said. For a virus like this to become a respiratory virus its just going to require too many mutations, too many changes for a bat virus to spill directly over to a human being. That could only really happen in nature with replication through an intermediate animal.
Garry also defended gain-of-function research during the hearing, arguing that it has had some beneficial impact, though he noted that it does need appropriate safeguards and restrictions.
Lawmakers and pundits have used several, often evolving, definitions for gain-of-function research in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Society for Microbiologydefinesit as techniques used in research to alter the function of an organism in such a way that it is able to do more than it used to do.
When research is responsibly performed on highly transmissible and pathogenic viruses, it can lead to advances in public health and national security, Garry testified.
Without gain-of-function research, wed have no Tamiflu. Without gain-of-function research, we wouldnt have a vaccine to prevent cancer caused by infection by the human papilloma virus, Garry said. And without gain-of-function research, we wont be able to identify how novel viruses infect us. And if we dont know how they infect us, we cannot develop appropriate treatments and cures for the next potential pandemic creating virus.
New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan raised several questions about whether theres enough oversight of how the United States spends research dollars as well as what mechanisms are in place to monitor how private entities conduct certain types of research.
While their research has the potential to cure diseases and boost our economy, unless they accept federal funding, there is very little federal oversight to ensure that private labs are engaged in safe and ethical research, she said.
Koblentz from George Mason University said there is much less oversight of biosafety and biosecurity for private research facilities that dont receive federal funding.
In order to expand the scope of oversight to all privately funded research, (it) would require legislative action, Koblentz said.
Congress, he said, should establish a national bio-risk management agency that would have authority over biosafety and biosecurity regardless of the source of funding.
At the end of the day, it shouldnt matter where the funding comes from in terms of making sure this research is being done safely, securely and responsibly, Koblentz said.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, ranking member on the committee, said the panel will hold an upcoming hearing specifically on gain-of-function research, including what steps Congress should take to ensure it doesnt put the public at risk.
Committee Chairman Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said during the hearing that lawmakers must learn from the challenges faced during this pandemic to ensure we can better protect Americans from future potential biological incidents.
Our government needs the flexibility to determine the origins of naturally occurring outbreaks, as well as potential outbreaks that could arise from mistakes or malicious intent, Peters said.
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, after listening to some of the debate, expressed exasperation that so much attention is going toward what caused the last pandemic and not on how to prepare for the next one.
Given the fact that it could have been either, we know what action we ought to take to protect from either, Romney said. And so why theres so much passion around that makes me think its more political than scientific, but maybe Im wrong.
The United States, he said, shouldnt be funding gain-of-function research and should insist that anyone who receives federal funding follow the standards of the International Organization for Standardization.
