When could a COVID-19 vaccine be ready?
Top health officials say the end of this year would be a best case scenario. But scientists have never created a vaccine so quickly, and theres no guarantee any under development will ultimately work.
Worldwide, testing recently started or is about to start for about a dozen potential vaccines. The most promising vaccine candidates are expected to move into larger tests this summer.
How quickly those studies can determine whether the vaccines are safe and effective depends in part on how widely the coronavirus is still spreading. The studies will need to enroll 20,000 people or more for each vaccine candidate, with half of them getting the real vaccine and the rest getting a dummy shot. Then its a matter of waiting to see how many in each group become infected with the virus.
Answers will come faster if volunteers are recruited in places where outbreaks are worsening, a trend that can be hard to predict.
One way to speed up distribution is to start manufacturing doses before test results are in. But its a gamble that could mean throwing away tons of vaccines that fail.
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The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: FactCheck@AP.org.
This week, the UK hosts the Global Vaccine Summit which brings together the global health community to celebrate the power of vaccines and pledge to support immunisation for everyone, everywhere, by funding the next five years of work by Gavi, the vaccine alliance.
Since it was set up 20 years ago, Gavi has made sure the worlds poorest communities have had access to vaccines, and prevented more than 13 million deaths through routine immunisation. COVID-19 presents a major risk to their work.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, mass vaccination campaigns were paused to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. As well as official restrictions on peoples movements, some parents understandably worried and uncertain have been reluctant to take their children out to get vaccinated. This has been compounded by the new challenges facing health workers, including restrictions on travel, redeployment to the COVID-19 response, and a lack of protective equipment.
A recent statement from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi lays bare the immediate and quite staggering effects of this the biggest of which are being felt by children in low-income communities. It showed that routine immunisation services have been substantially hindered in at least 68 countries, affecting approximately 80 million children under the age of 1.
A further 24 million people in Gavi-supported lower-income countries are at risk of missing out on vaccines against polio, measles, typhoid, yellow fever, cholera, rotavirus, HPV, meningitis A and rubella. It is in these communities, that often have poor access to health care and treatments, that vaccines are of the highest importance. By providing protection against infection in the first place the vaccines can mean the difference between life and death.
Even in countries where COVID-19 transmissionremains high, the argument for keeping up routine immunisation is persuasive. New analysis has shownthat in Africa, for each death caused by COVID-19 acquired from an immunisation visit, there could be more than 100 childrens deaths prevented by continuing routine immunisation. A difficult and delicate balance must be struck between lockdown measures that reduce the risk of COVID-19 and maintaining safe immunisation that will prevent other devastating outbreaks in the months and years to come.
Mass immunisation not only saves lives, it also givesvital insights into the health of communities around the world. The fewer vaccines that are given, the fewer interactions there are between health care workers and communities. This effectively leaves local health systems blind to the spread of disease and whatthey need to doto prevent further infections. Without this insight that immunisation systems provide, it will be evermore difficult to target the most at-risk communities with the vaccines they need to stay healthy.
Keeping immunisation systems and structures active throughout this time also means that they will be ready and resourced to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine when one is developed. Billions of doses will be required to stop the spread of the virus. This enormous undertaking will require the support of regional and national immunisation systems to get the vaccine to everyone that needs one.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of a single vaccine for our health, for our connection to family and friends, and for economies around the world. During this crisis we must not develop tunnel vision and forget the importance of our existing vaccines or the dangers of the diseases they protect us from.
We need governments to continue to champion and invest in immunisation systems in every country, starting today. Supporting Gavi to deliver life-saving vaccines in the worlds poorest countries is a great way to do this. The world has never faced a problem like the one we are facing. We need short-term action as well as long-term thinking to balance getting control of the pandemic bydeveloping vaccines, tests and treatments,with maintaining essential routine immunisation. If we can do this, we can reach a world where everyone, everywhere has access to lifesaving vaccines.
On the heels of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) creating the Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program (CTAP)an emergency initiative aimed to support clinical trials that are testing new treatments for COVID-19Honeywell has introduced a technology package that can help accelerate the production of vaccines.
Last week, Honeywell announced Fast Track Automation. Using a combination of its proprietary automation and process technologies for the life sciences industry, Fast Track Automation enables vital vaccines, treatments, and therapies to move from regulatory approval to full production in as little as two months, depending on process requirements, the company said.
The offering brings together the cloud, virtualization, batch software, remote asset management from a data center, and the flexible assignment of computing power. The technology combination prepares manufacturing automation designs in parallel with clinical trials to ensure production is ready to go once a medical therapy is approved.
Specifically, the set up incorporates process automation elements that can be configured in a virtual environment, then implemented rapidly once a therapy is approved and ready to be produced for public distribution. Manufacturers can even use the system to digitize manual steps during clinical trials to better consolidate and analyze data and more seamlessly prepare electronic submissions for regulatory body review and approval, using this data to prepare final production automation design.
Fast Track Automation is a direct response to the global COVID-19 outbreak. According to the company, at the point in time when clinical trials are nearing completion, the ability to rapidly pivot and scale up to meet production demand will severely test existing technology infrastructures.
Our solution allows for end-to-end manufacturing process and data visualization, providing real-time visibility and predictive insights while offering benefits like enhanced audit-readiness and data integrity, minimized regulatory risk, increased operational efficiencies and reduced rejects and waste, said Cynthia Pussinen, vice president and general manager, Life Sciences, Honeywell Process Solutions.
Fast Track Automation, available now, can be quickly scaled up or down depending on needed changes and demand.
Click here for more on Automation Worlds COVID-19 coverage.
A nurse prepares a vaccine to be given to a child. A revolutionary mRNA vaccine is hoped to provide an antidote for COVID-19 and against a whole new class of pathogens, or infectious agents, for which no vaccine exists yet. The traditional vaccine industry usually takes time to get themselves organised and develop a shot for a new infectious disease, averaging of 16 years. mRNA could potential speed up this process. In many ways, it digitises vaccine development, using nano technology, to enhance the human bodys own machinery to do exactly what the body does once infected. Image Credit: Reuters
Dubai: The world has reopened, but we're all still waiting for a vaccine. A COVID-19 jab is considered the key to lifting social-distancing measures, reopening schools, markets and events around the globe.
Among the front-runners in vaccine development, there are several methods being used: live-attenuated, inactivated, subunit, toxoid, DNA and mRNA.
Today, the most advanced method is the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid).
This relatively new platforms remains unproven, but holdsmuch promise.This technology, if it delivers, is hoped to speed up revolutionise vaccine development.
What do vaccines do?
In general, vaccines train and strengthen the bodys immune system to develop resistance against pathogens and illnesses by imitating an infection to kick up a natural immune response specific to the infectious agent (such as COVID-19 virus).
Why is an mRNA vaccine being dubbed 'revolutionary'?
Nucleic acids are the basic building blocks of life. An RNA (ribonucleic acid) vaccine or mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine is a new type of vaccine.
mRNA vaccine is seen as the new hope for the world, now among the most advanced in human trials (Phase-2) to screen a safe and effective COVID-19 shot that will be used on the world's healthy population.
Developing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 would render the virus no worse than the seasonal flu.
There are four phases in vaccine trials, the first 3 being the most crucial.
At the end of the Phase-1 trial of mRNA-1273, involving 45 volunteers, the company said the results were "encouraging", moving it closer to getting the licence for the first mRNA vaccine for human use.
On May 12, Moderna received fast-track approval from the USFood and Drug Administration (FDA) for mRNA-1273. On May 18, the company announced positive interim Phase 1 trial data.
On May 29, the first volunteer under Phase 2 testing of the vaccine was dosed, this time withan estimated 600 participants including adults below and above age 55.
Phase-3 study (involving thousands of volunteers) begins in July 2020 for Moderna.
Can mRNA vaccines be used to speed up vaccine trials against other infectious diseases?
Yes. mRNA is seen as the advanced biopharma industry's answer to a whole new class of pathogens or infectious agents for which no specific vaccines exist yet.
Vaccines are great, and have kept many infectious diseases at bay, saving tens of millions of lives.
However, the traditional vaccine industry usually takes time to get themselves organised and develop a vaccine, typically an average of 16 years.
mRNA speeds up this process. In many ways, it digitises vaccine development to enhance the human bodys own machinery to do exactly what the body does once infected.
mRNA vaccines are intended to kick up the production of antibodies within the human body, which will bind to fight (disable) potential pathogens when they enter the human body.
The mRNA sequence codes for antigens (disease-fighting agents), proteins that are identical or resemble those of the pathogen. Upon the delivery of the vaccine into the body, this sequence is translated by the host cells to produce the encoded antigens, which then stimulate the bodys adaptive immune system to produce antibodies against the pathogen.
Basically, an mRNA vaccine provides acquired immunity through an RNA-containing vector, such as lipid nanoparticles.
How does mRNA-vaccine technology work?
The mRNA sequence codes for antigens (disease-fighting agents), or proteins that are identical or resemble those of the pathogen.
Upon the delivery of the vaccine into the body, this sequence is translated by the host cells to produce the encoded antigens, which then stimulate the bodys adaptive immune system to produce antibodies against the pathogen.
Nature reports that thebiggest advantage of mRNA technology is rapid manufacturing of vaccines.
In theory, using mRNA as the basis of therapeutics and vaccines is characterised by a flexibility with respect to production and application.
"Any protein can be encoded and expressed by mRNA, in principle enabling the development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines fighting diseases as diverse as infections and cancer as well as protein replacement therapies," according toRNAbiology.
How many mRNA vaccines are on trial for COVID-19?
Among the top 10 front-runner candidate vaccines for COVID-19, there are currently two based on mRNA technology: one each by Moderna (US) and another by Pfizer/BioNTech/Fosun (US-Germany-China).
In total, there are 18 mRNA-based candidate vaccines in development globally for COVID-19, according to GlobalDatas Pharma Intelligence Center Drugs Database.
WHAT IS AN ANTIGEN?
The presence of antigens in the body normally triggers an immune response.
When was mRNA first used?
mRNA as a therapeutic was first promoted in 1989 after the development of a broadly applicable in vitro transfection technique. A few years later, mRNA was advocated as a vaccine platform.
It was deemed ideal as it brings together the immunological features of live "attenuated" vaccines such as endogenous antigen expression and T-cell induction with those of "killed" (or subunit vaccines_ like defined composition and safety.
What's the different between 'attenuated' vs 'inactivated' vaccine?
An attenuated vaccine is a vaccine created by reducing the virulence of a pathogen (disease-causing agent), but still keeping it viable (or "live"). Attenuation takes an infectious agent and alters it so that it becomes (theoretically) harmless or less virulent.
In contrast, an inactivated vaccine (or "killed" vaccine) is a vaccine consisting of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens that have been grown in culture and then lose disease-producing capacity.
Examples of inactivated vaccines include: inactivated poliovirus (IPV) vaccine, whole cell pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine, rabies vaccine and the hepatitis A virus vaccine.
Are there mRNA vaccines approved for use by humans for COVID-19?
No. Or not yet. But there are mRNA vaccines on trial as antidote to the coronavirus.
What are the leading mRNA vaccine candidates?
There are two, among the leading 10:
What are the advantages of mRNA vaccine over DNA or other traditional ones?
mRNA vaccines offer multiple advantages over DNA vaccines in terms of the following:
mRNA vaccines are also thought to have the potential to be used for cancer in addition to infectious diseases.
Multiple companies, including CureVac and Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech/Fosun work on the development of mRNA vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the mRNA vaccines pass rigorous trials proving they're safe and efficacious following trials on thousands of subjects/volunteers one key advantage hinges on rapidity of manufacture. This is because the process is cell-free and scalable.
A key advantage in mRNA technology is that the production facility could theoretically manufacture vaccines rapidly against multiple targets, with minimal adaptation to processes and formulation.Within weeks, clinical batches can be generated after the availability of a sequence encoding the immunogen.
In addition, new targets requiring multi-antigen approaches will benefit from the speed in which mRNA can render multiple constructs, according to Nature.
Who will approve the vaccine, and review the trials?
They will go through approvals in different jurisdictions. The Who keeps an online database of all the trials and their status. In the US, the vaccine must be approved the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration).
For Europe, its the EMA (European Medicines Agency). Every country has its own drug and vaccine regulatory body who also must approved the vaccine.
Who are the major vaccine developers?
Other major pharma giants in various stages of vaccine development include: AstraZeneca/Oxford GlaxoSmithKline/ Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson/US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In addition, there are Chinese, Indian, Italian biotech firms as well as Mexican, Japanese, Danish and Thai vaccine developers, among others.
What are the results of mRNA vaccine trials in human volunteers?
On May 18, 2020, Modern said its vaccine trials showed early signs of viral immune response. Moderna injected the first mRNA-based vaccines on human volunteers in March 16, 2020.
In the Moderna trial, researchers looked at blood samples taken from volunteers to check whether the vaccine helped them generate antibodies that could fight off an infection.
What they found: At two lower dose-levels used in the study, levels of antibodies found after getting a second booster shot of the vaccine either equaled or exceeded the levels of antibodies found in patients who had recovered from the virus.
Its an early sign that an antibody was made and can stop the virus from replicating. The company said that safety profile appeared to be good, and the reactions were typical of vaccines. They included injection site pain and redness, as well as temporary fever or chills that quickly go away on their own, said officials.
Meanwhile, Pfizer is also conducting clinical trials in the US and Europe for its BNT162 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 virus with with German mRNA company BioNTech.
I dont think theres a question of whether there will be spikes in cases in 10 to 14 days, Mark Shrime, a public-health researcher at Harvard, told me. With so many protests happening, that are getting so much bigger, I dont think its a question of if, but when and where.
Maimuna Majumder, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School, agrees. All things considered, theres little doubt that these protests will translate into increased risk of transmission for COVID-19, she told me by email.
Yet that risk does not lead Majumder to oppose the protests. I personally believe that these particular protestswhich demand justice for black and brown bodies that have been brutalized by the policeare a necessary action, she said. Structural racism has been a public-health crisis for much longer than the pandemic has. Even the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed black people disproportionately, Majumder told me. While about 13 percent of Americans are black, a quarter of all COVID-19 deaths where the victims race is known have befallen black people, according to the COVID Racial Data Tracker.
Adam Serwer: The coronavirus was an emergency until Trump found out who was dying
Alexandra Phelan, a professor of global-health law at Georgetown University, also told me she believed that the protests were justifiable, even amid the public-health crisis. She drew a difference between these protests, against police brutality, and the protests earlier this spring, which opposed mask mandates and social-distancing rules. At the very least, she said, many protesters this weekend were wearing masks, reducing the risk of transmission to the community.
International law would also understand the Floyd-inspired protests differently than it would the anti-mask protests, Phelan said, because it places a premium on the use of civil rights to keep governments accountable. These protests are currently the primary channel to seek accountability for the governance systems that have led to extrajudicial killings and police violence, but also for the disproportionate death from COVID-19 experienced by black and brown Americans.
Protesting is protected by constitutional and international law, and yet, at this moment, inescapably dangerous. People who wish to protest should focus first on mitigating their risk of passing the virus along to someone else, the experts told me. Protesters should wear a mask over their mouth and nose to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus. Theres probably evidencethough that evidence is weakthat masking protects me, but theres more evidence that masking protects you, Shrime said.
Read: The real reason to wear a mask
Since chanting seems to spread the virus, Majumder recommends that protesters use noisemakers, drums, and written signs. She also recommended that protesters carry shatterproof goggles and a saline spritz, in case they are pepper-sprayed. Soothing the irritant with a sterile solution can reduce coughing and sneezing, which are some of the major pathways through which the novel coronavirus is spread, she said.
As of Monday morning at least 1,790,191 Americans have contracted the virus and 104,383 have died. But some expect a jump in cases following days of demonstrations.
Spike in cases expected
"I am deeply concerned about a super-spreader type of incident," Walz said. "We're going to see a spike in Covid-19. It's inevitable."
"I would still wish that everyone would realize that when people gather it's inherently dangerous in the context of this pandemic, and I'm going to keep urging people not to use that approach and if they do they focus on social distancing and wearing face coverings," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday.
The mayor said he recognized the need to demonstrate following the death of Floyd but "It's a very, very complicated reality."
"You cannot see overt racism, you cannot see overt racist murder and not feel something profoundly deep, so I understand that," de Blasio added. "But the last thing we would want to see is members of our community harmed because the virus spread in one of these settings."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that while people have the right to protest, even during a pandemic, they also have a duty to protect the health of themselves and others.
"You have a right to demonstrate you have a right to protest, God Bless America," Cuomo said at a Saturday press conference. "You don't have a right to infect other people, you don't have a right to act in a way that's going to jeopardize public health."
"Demonstrate with a mask on," he said nodding to its effectiveness. "You're wrong not to wear a mask, I think you're disrespectful, I think you're putting other people's lives at risk needlessly."
Cuomo also noted how the coronavirus has brought long standing health disparities for the African American community to light once again.
"The coronavirus crisis has created a depth of pain that still has not been accounted for. So many New Yorkers have lost someone but that is particularly true in communities of color and particularly true in the African American community," Cuomo said. "That loss is being felt so deeply because every knows it's not based on equality ... communities of color lost so much more."
Protests taking focus off pandemic
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms also said she's worried about the impact the virus is having on the community during the protests. She told CNN she's been so busy with ongoing unrest in her city that she neglected to look at infection data for days.
"Last night I realized I hadn't looked at our coronavirus numbers in two days," Lance Bottoms told CNN's Jake Tapper during State of the Union. "That's frightening because it's a pandemic and people of color are getting hit harder."
"I am extremely concerned when we're seeing mass gatherings. We know what's happening in our community with this virus," the mayor explained.
"There's no questions that when you put hundreds or thousands of people together in close proximity when we've got this virus all over the streets is not healthy," Hogan said. "Two weeks from now across America we're going to find out whether or not this gives us a spike and drives the numbers back up."
"Most states had rules about no crowds of ten or more and now we're seeing thousands of people jammed in together in close proximity," Hogan added.
Health experts worried about spread
Health experts have also spoken out about the need for masks and other protective measures in light of racial disparities in the data showing minorities have an increased risk for catching the virus.
"There's going to be a lot of issues coming out of what's happened in the last week, but one of them is going to be that chains of transmission will have become lit from these gatherings," Gottlieb said. "And Minnesota, one of the hard hit states by the protests where you've seen large mass gatherings, that state has been seeing an uptick in cases to begin with. Even before these protests started, we saw rising hospitalizations in that state."
Other doctors told CNN that the racial disparity in the way coronavirus spreads will only be compounded by the protests.
"I think this week, more than any week, it is so important to call attention to the racial disparities that many of us in the public health community, John, have been talking about for months," Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and researcher at Brown University, told CNN's John King. "We know that blacks are two to four times more likely to die from Covid-19 compared to whites. And of course, other communities, like Native Americans and Hispanics, are disproportionately affected, as well.
"It's so tied up with our country's history of structural racism, historical injustices, as well as ongoing problems," Dr. Ranny noted.
Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of Harvard's Global Health Institute, said on the same show that he wished demonstrators would wear masks to protect themselves and others.
CNN's Kristina Sgueglia and Maggie Fox contributed to this report.
Mller pulled up a series of graphs and charts on her laptop. These showed that, per capita, Iceland had had more COVID-19 cases than any other Scandinavian country, and more than even Italy or Britain. There was an outbreak in a nursing home in the town of Bolungarvk, in northwestern Iceland, and one in the Westman Islands, an archipelago off the southern coast, which seemed to have started at a handball game. (In Europe, handball is a team sport thats sort of a cross between basketball and soccer.)
The numbers in the beginning were terrible, Mller said. She attributed the countrys success in bringing the caseload down in part to having got an early start. The trio, along with officials from Icelands university hospital, had begun meeting back in January. We saw what was going on in China, she recalled. We saw the pictures of people lying dead in emergency departments, even on the street. So it was obvious that something terrible was happening. And, of course, we didnt know if it would spread to other countries. But we didnt dare take the chance. So we started preparing. For example, it was discovered that the country didnt have enough protective gear for its health-care workers, so hospital officials immediately set about buying more.
Meanwhile, Mller began assembling a backup team. You know, everybody knows everyone in Iceland, she said. And so I rang up the president of the Icelandic Medical Association and the head of the nurses association. Doctors who had recently retired, nurses who had gone on to other jobsall were urged to sign up. When new cases started to be diagnosed in a great rush, the backup team, along with doctors whose offices had been shut by the pandemic, counselled people over the phone. If you were seventy, if you had high blood pressure, you got called every day, Mller told me. But, if you were young and healthy, maybe twice a week. And Im sure that this led to fewer hospital admittances and even to fewer intensive-care admittances.
This, in turn, appears to have cut down on fatalities. Icelands death rate from COVID-19 is one out of every one hundred and eighty confirmed cases, or just 0.56 per centone of the lowest in the world. The figure is so low that it raised some doubts. Mllers department decided to look into how many Icelanders had perished for any reason since the outbreak began. It turned out that over-all mortality in Iceland had actually gone down since the coronavirus had arrived.
I asked Mller about masks. In Massachusetts, an executive order issued by the governor requires that masks be worn by anyone entering a store, taking a cab, or using public transit, and violators can be fined up to three hundred dollars. In Iceland, masks arent even part of the public conversation. Mller said that wearing one might be advisable for a person who is sick and coughing, but that person shouldnt be walking around in public anyway. We think they dont add much and they can give a false sense of security, she said. Also, masks work for some time, and then they get wet, and they dont work anymore.
Mller was careful not to suggest that Iceland had beaten the virus. She seemed almost embarrassed by the idea of claiming credit for herself, for the trio, or for Iceland. The furthest she would go, when pressed, was to say, We are a nation thats used to catastrophes. We deal with avalanches, earthquakes, eruptions, and so on. Among the slides she showed me about the countrys experience with COVID was one labelled Success?
Iceland was one of the last (more or less) habitable places on earth to be settled by humans, sometime toward the end of the ninth century. Genetic analysis performed by deCODE shows that the islands original inhabitants were mainly men from Norway and women from the British Isles. (It seems likely that the women were seized by the Vikings and brought along by force.)
For centuries, hardly anyone from anywhere else bothered to travel to Iceland; it just didnt seem worth the effort. Isolation, combined with low population density, tended to keep out epidemicsthe island was, for example, spared the Black Death. But, when disease did slip in, the effects on a population that lacked immunity could be devastating. In 1707, an Icelander contracted smallpox during a trip to Copenhagen. He died on his way home and was buried at sea. His clothes continued on to the town of Eyrarbakki, on the islands southern coast, sparking an outbreak that, by 1709, had killed about a quarter of the country.
Today, Iceland is still far from anywhere. Its nearest neighbor, Greenland, is mostly ice, and the capital city of Nuuk is almost nine hundred miles away. But jets and cruise ships have turned Reykjavk into a bucket-list destination; last year, almost two million foreign tourists visited, four times the number that visited just a decade ago. Icelands first COVID casualty was, perhaps not surprisingly, a vacationer. The man, whose name was not released, was Australian. He died on March 16th, shortly after arriving at a medical clinic in Hsavk, a small town on the northern coast known for whale-watching. His widow, who also tested positive, was ordered into isolation, a development that prompted an outpouring of sympathy from Icelanders. A woman named Rakel Jnsdttir set up a Facebook group, With Love from Us, so that people could post messages to her; more than ten thousand people joined. You may not see us, you may not know us, but we all think of you and have you in our hearts, Jnsdttir wrote.
Icelanders, too, are big travellers: in 2018, more than eighty per cent of them vacationed abroad. I spoke to several people in Reykjavk whod brought the virus home from overseas. One was Brkur Arnarson, an art dealer. I went to speak to him at his gallery, i8, which was closed to the public at the time. (Rule 4b: Only those being interviewed should have direct interaction with the journalist.)
Arnarson, who represents, among others, the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, had been in New York, attending the Armory Show, at the beginning of March. After the show ended, hed gone to a crowded party where finger food was served. Im not a news guy, he told me. But I knew what was going on here in Iceland, and I knew what was going on in Europe. And I was struck by how New Yorkers were so confident. They didnt believe it was going to happen, or, if it was going to happen, somehow it was going to be O.K.
Arnarson started to feel crappy almost as soon as he got home. His daughter signed the family up for COVID tests that were being offered by deCODE; when his came back positive, Arnarson went into isolation in a studio loaned to him by an artist friend. Every day, someone on the team of nurses and doctors phoned him. They asked, How are you doing? What are your symptoms? Are you getting all the help you need? he recalled. And that was really amazing. It was so comforting, knowing that they were doing this. He was given a number to call in case of an emergency: I dont think they were getting many calls, because they were so proactive. While he was in isolation, his wife and his daughter, whod originally tested negative for the virus, came down with it. They received the same treatment. None of them ended up going to the hospital or to a clinic.
After large protests sent people streaming into downtown Seattle over the weekend to demonstrate against racial injustice, experts and public-health officials are cautioning that the demonstrations, the first large gatherings since the pandemic was declared, could set back the regions recovery from the novel coronavirus.
Many demonstrators wore face coverings, but crowds filled cityscapes that made social distancing all but impossible.
With the virus still coursing through the community, King County approached the weekends protests on precarious footing. The infection rate remained too high in recent weeks for King County to advance to the second phase of Gov. Jay Inslees Safe Start plan to reopen society, unlike most counties in the state.
King County, the states most populous county, has reported 8,092 total cases and 567 deaths, accounting for 50.7% of the states death toll as of the end of the day Saturday. State health officials confirmed 353 new COVID-19 cases in Washington on Saturday, with no new deaths.
The update brings the states totals to 21,702 cases and 1,118 deaths, according the Department of Healths (DOH)data dashboard.
So far, 360,899 tests for the coronavirus have been conducted in the state, per DOH. Of those, 6% have come back positive.
The following graphic includes the most recent numbers from the Washington State Department of Health, released Sunday.
For those who have attended protests or large gatherings, officials atPublic Health Seattle & King Countyhave offered answers to questions they've received about those events and the spread of COVID-19.
The questions and answers were released Monday on the agency's blog,Public Health Insider.
Q: If people chose to attend a protest, are there steps to take to help lower the risk of transmission of COVID-19 in our community?
A: Outdoor gatherings are lower risk than indoor gatherings. The larger the gathering, and the longer youre there, the higher the risk of catching or spreading COVID-19.
People who have been at group gatherings should monitor their health for 14 days afterwards. Anyone who develops symptoms of COVID-19 should gettested right away, whether theyve been at a protest or not.
Remember that physical distancing and other measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 are not all-or-nothing even if you attended large group gatherings, its just as important that you continue to stay home whenever possible, remain at least 6 feet away from others and wear a face covering when in public, wash your hands, and avoid touching your face.
Q: Do people who have attended protests need to get tested for COVID-19?
A: If you currently dont have any symptoms, you do not need to get tested right now. However, if you develop even mild symptoms such as a cough, congestion or runny nose, you should contact your health provider to help evaluate symptoms and need for testing. There arenumerous low-barrier testing sitesfor people who cannot access testing through their regular health care provider.
Those having trouble accessing COVID-19 testing or have other medical questions related to COVID-19 are advised to call the Public Health information line at206-477-3977.
To read the complete blog post,go here.
Nicole Brodeur
Gov. Jay Inslee today issued higher education and workforce training requirements in Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the state's reopening.
The guidelines do not apply to higher education institutions, but only to workforce training programs that require in-classroom/lab practicums, according to a statement issued by Inslee's office.
Before the higher education and workforce training programs can restart, all school are required to develop a "comprehensive Phase 1 COVID-19 exposure control, mitigation, and recovery plan," the statement said.
Higher education institutions and workforce training providers remain "strongly encouraged" to to continue remote learning to limit in-person interactions. The plan must also include policies for PPE utilization; on-site physical distancing; hygiene and site decontamination procedures, among other measures. Employees and students must also be trained on the safety protocols before activities begin.
Failure to meet the requirements could result in sanctions, including work and instructional activities being shut down.
Through the Washington "Safe Start"plan, more businesses and activities will re-open in phases, withadequate safety and health standards in place. Each phase will be at least three weeks.
Additionally,counties with less than 25new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents over a 14-day spancan apply to move to Phase 2 of Safe Start before other parts of the state. County variance applications will be approved or denied by the secretary of the Department of Health.Twenty-six counties have been approved to move to the next phase.
WASHINGTON Federal health authorities have received reports of nearly 26,000 nursing home residents dying from COVID-19, according to materials prepared for the nations governors. That number is partial and likely to go higher.
A letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports more than 60,000 cases of coronavirus illness among nursing home residents. A copy of the letter and an accompanying chart were provided to The Associated Press.
The numbers, which had been promised by the end of May, are partial. The letter said the data are based on reports received from about 80% of the nations 15,400 nursing homes.
CMS, which is responsible for nursing home quality standards, also told the governors it is increasing penalties for nursing homes failing to comply with longstanding infection control requirements.
Read the full story here.
The Associated Press
More testing for COVID-19 will be available at the Tacoma Dome throughout the month of June, as the QFC and Fred Meyer grocery stores are offering free drive-thru tests.
The service will be available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Anyone who would like to get tested may sign up online. Health insurance is not required.
Test results will be available within 48 hours.
Michelle Baruchman
CHICAGO In the weeks since America began reopening on a large scale, the coronavirus has persisted on a stubborn but uneven path, with meaningful progress in some cities and alarming new outbreaks in others.
A snapshot of the country on a single day last week revealed sharply divergent realities. As the United States marked the tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the contrasting picture was unmistakable a murky, jumbled outlook depending on ones location.
Around Chicago, Wednesday was one of the most lethal days of the pandemic, with more than 100 deaths. Among the dead: a woman in her 30s, and four men past their 90th birthdays.
In the Boston area, where an alarming crisis of a month ago has given way to cautious optimism, businesses were reopening that day and new cases numbered in the dozens, no longer the hundreds.
Around Rogers and Springdale in northwest Arkansas, which the virus had barely touched in the pandemics early weeks, poultry workers spent part of Wednesday planning a protest as outbreaks in at least two plants were driving a sudden surge in infection numbers.
The dizzying volatility from city to city and state to state could continue indefinitely, with vastly different policy implications for individual places and no single, unified course in sight.
Read the full story here.
The New York Times
Frontier Airlines on Monday will begin creening the body temperature of all passengers and crew prior to boarding flights.
Those with a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher will not be allowed to travel. Face coverings will continue to be required for all passengers and crew and must be worn throughout the entire flight.
Temperature screenings are the latest addition to our comprehensive, multi-layered approach to supporting the health and well-being of everyone onboard our aircraft, said Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle, in a news release, while pushing for the Transportation Security Administration to conduct screenings before individuals reach their gate.
Temperature screenings will be administered through touchless thermometers. Riders and crew members with readings of 100.4 degrees or higher will be given time to rest before undergoing a second check, if time permits.
Passengers whose flights are canceled may rebook a flight for a later date.
Michelle Baruchman
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans say the coronavirus outbreak has exacted a severe economic toll on their communities, but a majority of a divided country still says controlling the viruss spread is more important than trying to restart the economy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The nationwide survey finds that despite the shared disruption of their daily lives since stay-at-home orders began, partisans differ sharply on how the country should move forward.
In the starkest split, 57% of Americans overall and 81% of Democrats say trying to control the spread of the coronavirus is most important right now, even if it hurts the economy. A far smaller 27% of Republicans agree, while 66% of them say restarting the economy is more important, even if it hurts efforts to control the virus. Nearly 6 in 10 independents say their priority is trying to control the viruss spread.
Read the story here.
The Washington Post
The coronavirus pandemic has created a slew of negatives in 2020, as millions of U.S. residents are unemployed, and deaths have surpassed 100,000 nationally. But theres also a gem of a friendship and bonding with a family that never would have been cultivated without the virus.
It serendipitously lined up, Chris Settle of Seattle said of welcoming a budding Malawian soccer standout, Lughano Nyondo, to quarantine with his family of five, including his daughter Ruby.
Its all sort of a gift to have this special kid in our lives, he continued. Its the farthest thing from an imposition. With everything that everyone is dealing with (during the pandemic), to have her around is inspiring to stay positive. She helps us get through this.
The plan was for Lughano pronounced Lu-WAH-no to stay with the Settles in their North Seattle home for two weeks. The 15-year-old was discovered at age 12 by Ascent Soccer academy in Mzuzu, Malawi, receiving a scholarship through the nonprofit to attend Indian Mountain School (IMS) in Connecticut.
During the private boarding schools spring break, Lughano flew to Seattle to reunite with friend Ruby Settle, work out with her OL Reign Academy team and see the regions sights.
This was a reunion, as the pair already had met in Lyon, France, as part of filming for a docuseries titled, This Girl Wears Cleats.
Laura Carriker, a Mercer Island-based director, had selected five Puget Sound-area girls and five from across the globe to film the past three years as they either tried to make their respective national teams or developed in the sport like Ruby and Lughano. Seven of the girls, with a few parents as chaperones, then met each other in France, attending the World Cup semifinal and final together. The series does not have a release date.
Four days after her March 7 arrival in Seattle, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. Suddenly the weeks stretched to months and frayed to uncertainty as schools closed and travel concerns prevented Lughano from returning to Malawi.
Read the story here.
Jayda Evans
A Seattle-based factory trawler cut short its fishing season off the Washington coast after 85 of 126 crew tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement released Sunday by American Seafoods, which operates the vessel.
The test results for the FV American Dynasty are a somber finding for the North Pacific fishing industry, which has been trying to keep the novel coronavirus off the ships and shore-based plants that produce much of the nations seafood. The outbreak also underscores the toll coronavirus continues to take on the food-processing industry across the nation. In Washington state, outbreaks in meat plants and fruit and vegetable fields and packing facilities prompted Gov. Jay Inslee to order new protections for agricultural and food processing workers.
As part of the effort to keep outbreaks from impacting the seafood industry, the American Dynasty crew, prior to heading off to sea May 13, were screened for the viral infection and underwent quarantines of at least five days. They also underwent additional testing for the antibodies created by the virus.
Only if there were no signs that they were actively infected or contagious were they cleared to board their vessel, said American Seafoods chief executive Mike Dunham, in a written statement.
Somehow, the virus still found its way on board.
Read the story here.
Hal Bernton
Starting Monday, Sound Transit is reintroducing fares on Link light rail and Sounder, but at a temporarily reduced cost
The agency is also increasing Link train service to one run about every 20 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes on the evenings and weekends, according to the transit agency.
The agency is introducing the temporary recovery fares as the region prepares for the next phases of recovery and the expected gradual return of riders.
The fare of $1 on Link and $2 on Sounder is available from ticket vending machines through June 30.
In addition to ticket vending machines, Recovery Fare tickets are available on a contact-free basis through the Transit GO Ticket app.
Riders using ORCA cards, including ORCA LIFT, will continue to be charged full fare that can be used for transfers. Recovery Fare paper tickets and Transit GO tickets cannot be used for transfers.
The agency said in an emailed statement that it hopes charging reduced fares will mitigate the "dramatic increase in unsanitary conditions, rider complaints and incidents of vandalism" reported after fares were temporarily suspended in March. "The issues have been associated in part with riders taking repetitive trips without apparent destinations," the agency said.
Transit staff will continue to wear face masks, and all Sound Transit passengers will be directed to wear face coverings consistent with expanded public health directives, the agency said.
"Under current health directives customers are reminded to limit travel to essential trips. Riders should also follow social distancing and other critical health guidelines to protect the community. Sound Transit will continue expanded disinfecting of transit vehicles and facilities, with particular emphasis on ticket vending machines and other high-touch areas including hand rails."
Christine Clarridge
Prince Joachim, 28, who is a nephew of Belgium's King Philippe, attended a social event with the family of a Spanish female friend, his lawyer's office confirmed to CNN on Monday.
"I would like to apologize for travelling and not having respected the quarantine measures," the prince said in a statement released by the Crdoba law office of Mariano Aguayo.
"I did not intend to offend or disrespect anyone in these very difficult times and deeply regret my actions and accept the consequences."
The prince had traveled from Belgium to Spain on May 24 and attended a social gathering with "12 or 27 guests" on May 26, the palace press office said. He tested positive for Covid-19 two days later.
Under Spain's state of emergency, travelers arriving in the country, with a few exceptions, are required to go into quarantine for two weeks.
In addition, gatherings of more than 15 people who don't live together are not currently permitted under the confinement rules in place in Crdoba.
Authorities are now investigating whether the social event the prince attended had more than 15 people in attendance, the spokeswoman for Rafaela Valenzuela, the Spanish government's chief representative in Crdoba, told CNN Monday.
The spokeswoman added that regional health authorities had informed the Spanish government that there may have been up to 27 people at the event.
Police in Spain have the power to fine individuals who break confinement rules. Amounts vary across the country but several hundred thousand fines have been issued since the state of emergency began on March 14.
But a spokeswoman for the prince's law office told CNN there were two social events on consecutive days last week at which the prince met with the family of a female friend. Neither event was attended by more than 15 people, she added.
The prince is now in isolation with mild coronavirus symptoms, the spokeswoman said.
Prince Joachim is the third child of Princess Astrid, the younger sister of King Philippe.
Spain has been one of the European countries hit hardest by Covid-19, with more than 239,000 confirmed cases and more than 27,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
As the infection rate has declined, the government has slowly eased confinement restrictions, while focusing on early detection through increased testing and contract tracing to quickly stamp out any new outbreaks.
CNN's Abel Alvarado, Laura Perez Maestro and Helena de Moura contributed to this report.
By Christopher Burns, BDN Staff June 1, 2020 12:01 pm Updated: June 1, 2020 3:30 pm
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Another 24 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in Maine, health officials said Monday.
There have now been 2,349 cases across all of Maines counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 2,325 on Sunday.
Of those, 2,093 have been confirmed positive, while 256 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
No new deaths were reported Monday, leaving the statewide death toll at 89.
So far, 284 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 52 people are currently hospitalized, with 17 in critical care and 10 on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC.
Meanwhile, 1,586 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 674 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. Thats down from 684 on Sunday.
A majority of the cases have been in Mainers over age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.
As of Saturday, there have been 51,041 negative test results out of 53,843 overall. About 5 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.
The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 1,189 cases have been confirmed and where the bulk of virus deaths 50 have been concentrated. It is one of four counties the others are Androscoggin, Penobscot and York, with 304, 100 and 391 cases, respectively where community transmission has been confirmed, according to the Maine CDC.
There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel. That second condition has not yet been satisfied in other counties.
Other cases have been detected in Aroostook (10), Franklin (36), Hancock (11), Kennebec (128), Knox (20), Lincoln (20), Oxford (33), Piscataquis (1), Sagadahoc (30), Somerset (22) Waldo (51) and Washington (2) counties. Information about where another case was detected wasnt immediately available Monday.
As of Monday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 1,795,555 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 104,484 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Watch: What Maine says about people of color being affected by coronavirus
