Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Alphabet Incs YouTube said it would remove videos from YouTube containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, expanding its current rules against falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the pandemic.

YouTube have removed over 200,000 videos from its site.

Image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

The video platform said it would now ban any content with claims about COVID-19 vaccines that contradict consensus from local health authorities or the World Health Organization.

YouTube said in an email that this would include removing claims that the vaccine will kill people or cause infertility, or that microchips will be implanted in people who receive the vaccine.

A YouTube spokesman told Reuters that general discussions in videos about broad concerns over the vaccine would remain on the platform.

YouTube says it already removes content that disputes the existence or transmission of COVID-19, promotes medically unsubstantiated methods of treatment, discourages people from seeking medical care or explicitly disputes health authorities guidance on self-isolation or social distancing.

Conspiracy theories and misinformation about the new coronavirus vaccines have proliferated on social media during the pandemic, including through anti-vaccine personalities on YouTube and through viral videos shared across multiple platforms.

Although drugmakers and researchers are working on various treatments, vaccines are at the heart of the long-term fight to stop the new coronavirus, which has killed more than a million people, infected more than 38 million and crippled the global economy.

In its email, YouTube said it had removed over 200,000 videos related to dangerous or misleading COVID-19 information since early February.

Andy Pattison, manager of digital solutions at the World Health Organization, told Reuters that the WHO meets weekly with the policy team at YouTube to discuss content trends and potentially problematic videos. Pattison said the WHO was encouraged by YouTubes announcement on coronavirus vaccine misinformation.

The company also said it was limiting the spread of COVID-19 related misinformation on the site, including certain borderline videos about COVID-19 vaccines. A spokesman declined to provide examples of such borderline content.

YouTube said it would be announcing more steps in the coming weeks to emphasize authoritative information about COVID-19 vaccines on the site.

See the article here:

YouTube to ban videos spreading misinformation on COVID-19 vaccines - World Economic Forum

It took all summer and the first three weeks of fall for daily coronavirus infection test rates in Connecticut to climb back over 2% positive.

But it took only seven days until Tuesday to surpass 3%, prompting a worried appeal from Gov. Ned Lamont for public vigilance.

Were all going to have to be a little more disciplined, said the governor, who interrupted his own press conference on small business assistance to preview distressing infection statistics set to be released later Tuesday.

The rising infection levels also mean Connecticut wont be shifting to a slightly less-stringent travel quarantine program, the governor said.

And Lamont also said hes sticking with more lenient limits on business-related gatherings because he believes careless social gatherings are the chief culprits behind Connecticuts surging COVID-19 issues.

Its those small, informal interactions taking place now that are driving up numbers, the governor said, adding he understands residents are facing pandemic fatigue and have grown tired of the social distancing and other spread-control measures forced upon them since mid-March. It will be over a lot faster if you wear the mask and keep the distancing.

Lamont, who appeared at 1:30 at Lillys soul food restaurant in Windsor to announce a grant program, did not provide full numbers, which are expected later Tuesday.

But he said the daily infection rate for Monday which involves the share of coronavirus tests completed that day that turned up positive reached 3%.

Connecticut hadnt recorded a daily rate this high since June 5, when 4.4% or 358 of the 8,160 test results logged that day were positive.

And the latest report also means Connecticuts weekly infection rate a much more important COVID-19 metric for most healthcare experts has reached the 2% mark for the first time since early June.

For most of the summer, both daily and weekly infection rates hovered close to or less than 1%.

Lamont expressed concerns on Oct. 13, though, one day after Connecticut cleared the 2% mark for daily infections for the first time since mid-June.

The governor noted that the weekly rate at that time was about 1.5% and remained the lowest in the nation.

Five days earlier, on Oct. 8, Lamont went forward with the third phase of his plan to reopen business activity since widespread closures were ordered in March and April.

The latest round included permitting theaters and concert halls to reopen on a limited basis and increasing the indoor capacity of restaurants and event venues. Business leaders have said this is essential as New England weather turns crisp and customers might be wary about selecting outdoor seating.

Lamont stuck by the third phase of his reopening Tuesday, despite clearing the 3% infection level, but cautioned he would reconsider things if the rate approaches or clears 5%.

Lamont did recently empower 11 communities with high local infection rates most of which are located in eastern Connecticut to reverse the third phase of business reopening. To date, only Windham has chosen to do so.

The surging infection levels did prompt the governor Tuesday to reverse a plan hed announced just one day earlier, specifying when people arriving in Connecticut from other states might have to quarantine for 14 days.

Since July, Lamont has been requiring residents returning from vacation or visitors arriving here from other states to quarantine for 14 days if the state theyd left behind faced high infection levels according to either of two standards:

But Connecticut already is close to failing the second standard, so Lamont proposed a modestly easier test on Monday: Quarantines were to be required for visitors from a state that failed the 10 positive tests per 100,000 and also had a weekly infection rate in excess of 5%.

On Tuesday, though, Lamont said that after consulting with governors in New York and New Jersey whove been collaborating with Connecticut on this travel quarantine policy the original, more stringent, standards will remain in place.

Connecticut is not an island unto itself, Lamont said, noting that infection rates are escalating in the Northeast and elsewhere. This is happening around our country, and this is happening around our region.

The governor added that the rising infection level underscored the need for more relief to small businesses, which may have to struggle with limited customers and various restrictions through the winter and spring until a coronavirus vaccine has been developed and circulated.

The administration proposed a $50 million grant program for businesses with fewer than 20 employees or with an annualized payroll $1.5 million or less.

Businesses could receive a one-time grant of up to $5,000.

Small businesses are truly are heart and soul of this economy, said Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner Glendowlyn Thames, who added that Connecticut has an estimated 50,000 businesses that fit this criteria, employing about 350,000 people statewide.

Thames said the goal is to provide assistance to roughly 10,000 businesses.

The program would be funded with federal coronavirus relief assistance. The state would begin accepting applications the week of Nov. 9 and provide grants by Dec. 30, Thames said.

Lamont launched a business loan program in late March using state funds. Originally budgeted at $25 million, it was doubled to $50 million but still fell far short of the demand for relief.

Despite doubling the programs budget, the administration closed the application period within two days after receiving requests for relief that quadrupled the available $50 million.

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At 3% positive, CT reaches another dangerous COVID-19 milestone and much faster than the last one - The CT Mirror

As COVID-19 numbers rise across the country, nursing homes are preparing for another wave of cases to hit their facilities.

When nationwide case counts started climbing in late September, so too did cases in nursing homes, according to an analysis of data from CMS and Johns Hopkins by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living. Nursing homes cases had been falling since a peak of 10,125 cases the week of July 26. Deaths were highest at the beginning of the pandemic when there were 3,222 COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes the week of May 31; however, death data for nursing homes isn't available for the weeks prior.

"The No. 1 factor in keeping COVID out of our nursing homes so we can protect our vulnerable population is reducing the level of the virus in the surrounding community," said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. "While the support we have received from Congress, the Administration and other public health agencies have helped our facilities fight this battle, we could still see another wave of COVID cases caused by the sheer volume of rising cases in communities across the U.S. given the asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread of this virus."

In the U.S., there were 252,929 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 143,848 suspected cases and 59,626 deaths in nursing homes, according to the latest available CMS data.

"Right now, we're not in an outbreak but we don't know when that outbreak will occur," said Janet Snipes, executive director of Holly Heights Nursing Center a 90-resident independent nursing home in Denver. "We're very concerned."

Holly Heights doesn't have any residents with COVID-19 right now but has been completing surveillance testing of staff after two asymptomatic employees tested positive at the end of September.

"We're very worried about it because we know as asymptomic people present, it's critical that we have the [personal protective equipment] we need," Snipes said. "We hardly had any PPE when we had our first outbreak, and it was devastating to residents and staff."

While Holly Heights has more PPE than it did when the pandemic started, it doesn't have different sizes of N95 masks, doesn't have fit testing for them and only has a few face shields, Snipes said. The facility has been stockpililing what PPE it can in preparation for an outbreak and the coming flu season but hopes the federal government will provide more testing, staff, resources and PPE.

The AHCA/NCAL and other long-term care advocates are calling on Congress to provide additional funding to better defend against COVID-19. "Without adequate funding and resources, the U.S. will repeat the same mistakes made during the initial outbreak last spring and the major spike over the summer. We need Congress to prioritize our vulnerable seniors and their caregivers in nursing homes and assisted living communities, by passing another COVID funding package before they leave town for the elections," Parkinson said.

Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, which represents not-for-profit nursing homes, said a new surge of COVID-19, coupled with the flu, could create greater shortages of personal protective equipment, testing supplies and trained staff.

"Americans are under increasing threat from a perfect storm of surging rates of COVID-19, the start of flu season and the failure of federal leaders to take needed action," said Smith Sloan said. "How will we ensure that older Americans and their care providers are not left out in the cold?"

The rest is here:

Nursing homes worry about third wave of COVID-19, related funding as cases rise - Modern Healthcare

Holidays are usually for gatherings but many get-togethers are complicated or canceled because of COVID-19. USA TODAY

The U.S. recorded more than 69,000new cases Friday for the first time since July, andupdated virus projections are bringing the long-feared "winter surge" of COVID-19 cases into focus as health experts warn anincreasing number of infectionsin the U.S. will soon mean more deaths.

The University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's latest modelupdates releasedthis weekcontain spots of good news:74,000 American lives can still be saved if mask use becomes nearly universal, and increased testing may explain why more young people are testing positive.

But the influential model still projects daily U.S. deaths will surpass2,000 in January, even with states reimposing stricter orders.

The guidance alsocalled out North Dakota specifically for its alarming death rate, following a well-documented lax approach to health mandates in the state: "North Dakota presently has one of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the world," a briefing on the model says.

The state joins South Dakota as havingsome of the lowest mask use rates in the nation.Rural counties across Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana sit among thetop in the nationfor new cases per capita over the last two weeks,

Some significant developments:

Today's numbers:The U.S. has reported more than 8.1million cases and 219,000deaths,according to Johns Hopkins data. There have been more than 39.6million confirmed cases around the world and nearly 1.1million deaths.

What we're reading:Italy, once an epicenter for COVID-19, is worlds apart from the United States in its handling of the pandemic. Italians have always looked up to the United States but what is happening now makes us watch in disbelief," saysone Italian professor.

Mapping coronavirus:Track the U.S. outbreak in your state

This file will be updated throughout the day. For updates in your inbox, subscribe toThe Daily Briefing newsletter.

The University of Notre Dame announced a return to stricter rules on gatherings after cases at the school surged in recent days. Officials say off-campus tailgates and watch parties following a recent football home game are part of the reason for the increasein cases.

In a letter posted Thursday to the universitys COVID-19 website, Vice President for Student Affairs Erin Hoffmann Harding and Vice President for Campus Safety and University Operations Mike Seamon said the number of close contacts for each positive case had increased substantially, with as many as 10 to 15 close contacts needing to quarantine. At one time, the number of close contacts was only five per positive test.

The increase, he said, would indicate theyre gathering in groups.

In August, the university temporarily pivoted to online learning to stem a rash of cases.

Andrew S. Hughes, South Bend Tribune

A retired firefighter who was upset with Wichita's mask ordinance was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill the mayor of Kansas' largest city, authorities said.

Police said the 59-year-old suspect who was arrested Friday could face a charge of criminal threat, the Wichita Eaglereported. Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple, a Democrat, said someone had read him text messages received by another city official that asked about the mayor's address and threatened his life.

He said he was going to kidnap me and slash my throat and he needed my address because I needed to see the hangman me and everyone who, something about tyranny, Whipple said. It sounded like the person was very upset about pretty much mask mandates and he said something about not being able to see his mother because of COVID restrictions on elderly homes.

Wichita police spokesman Charley Davidson said that no other local officials are believed to have been targeted.

The Associated Press

The White House quietly told Tennessee early this week that "a statewide mask mandate must be implemented" to curb its growing spread of COVID-19, strong instructions that the White House and governor did not discuss publicly before the report emerged in a records request.

The Oct. 11 state report for Tennessee, where Republican Gov. Bill Lee has let counties decide whether to require masks in public, first came to light in a records request by WUOT-FM. The Associated Press obtained the report from the Knox County Health Department afterward.

"A statewide mask mandate must be implemented to stop the increasing spread among residents in rural and urban areas of Tennessee," the item in a list of recommendations states.

Associated Press

Persistent layoffs are slowing momentum in the labor market, which bodes poorly for the broader U.S. recovery as millions of out-of-work Americans delay their mortgage and rent payments.

More than 6 million households failed to make their rent or mortgage payments in September, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's Research Institute for Housing America, a sign that the economic fallout from the pandemic is weighing on jobless Americans as Congress stalls on relief measures.

In the third quarter, the percent of homeowners and renters behind on their payments fell slightly from the prior quarter. Still, the overall amount remains high, experts caution.

Jessica Menton

New York will start allowing movie theaters to reopen with limited capacity Fridayin areas of the state where COVID-19 rates are low, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.

Theaters will be able to reopen outside New York City in counties that are below a 2% infection rate on a 14-day average and have no COVID hot spots, which would rule out Rockland and Orange counties, as well as a few counties upstate, including Broome. Theaters will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity with up to 50 people per screen.

The announcement comes after movie theaters have been pressing to reopen in New York, where infection rate is among the lowest in the nation.

Joseph Spector, New York State Team

After testing positive earlier this week for COVID-19, Alabama coach Nick Saban has been cleared to resume normal activities and will be on the sideline when the No. 2 Crimson Tide play No. 3 Georgia, the university said Saturday.

"Upon evaluation today, Coach Saban remains completely asymptomatic," Alabama team physician Dr. Jimmy Robinson said in a statement. "To address the potential for a false positive, the SEC Return to Activity and Medical Guidance Task Force Protocol allows for follow-up testing to clear the individuals return to activity. That protocol requires three negative PCR tests 24 hours apart."

Saban was tested on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and each test was negative, Robinson said.

Paul Myerberg

The Vatican says someone who lives in the same Vatican hotel as Pope Francis has tested positive for the coronavirus, adding to the 11 cases of COVID-19 among the Swiss Guards,who serve as ceremonial guards at papal Masses, guard the Vatican City gates and protect the pope.

The Vatican said Saturday that the resident of the Domus Sanctae Marthae has moved out temporarily and is in isolation, as are all the people who came into direct contact with him.

The hotel serves as a residence for Vatican-based priests as well as visiting clerics and lay people. Francis chose to live there permanently after his 2013 election, shunning the Apostolic Palace, because he said he needed to be around ordinary people. The hotel has a communal dining room and chapel where Francis celebrates Mass each morning.

At 83 and with part of a lung removed when he was in his 20s due to illness, the pope would be at high-risk for COVID-19 complications.

Associated Press

A USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Friday shows 16 states set records for new cases in a week while one state had a record number of deaths in a week.

New case records were set in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, and also Guam. Record numbers of deaths were reported in Wisconsin.

Mike Stucka

Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge,regional director for the World Health Organization in Europe,warnsthat the daily death toll on the continent could reach five times its April peak by January 2021.

And on Friday, the WHO warned that intensive care units in a number of European cities could reach maximum capacity in the coming weeks if the number of infections is not slowed.

New restrictions went into effect in several European nations in an effort to staunch the resurgence of the pandemic, including:

Associated Press

Anopen letterfrom the frontrunner COVID-19 vaccine producer published Friday ends any expectations a vaccine might be available before Election Day.

Pfizer Inc.CEO Albert Bourla'sletter says the earliest the companycould apply for authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine is the third week of November.

The CEO of the other frontrunner, Moderna'sStphane Bancel,said at a biotechnology conferenceon September 30 that it would not have enough safety data to apply for Food and Drug Administration authorization of its vaccine until November 25.

The other twoCOVID-19 vaccine candidates in final stageclinical trials in the United States, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca,are both on holdas possible adverse events are investigated.

Elizabeth Weise

Americans living or working in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted care living centers, will receive COVID-19 vaccinations for free if and when they become available, the Trump administration said Friday.

The administration announced a partnership with the nation's two largest drug store chains, CVS and Walgreens, "to provide and administer" the vaccines with "no out-of-pocket costs" for the recipients.

Trump, 74, vowed a vaccine would be available before the end of the year, despite his own federal health experts saying that timeline is highly unlikely, and that senior citizens would be "first in line."

The president made the announcement at an event billed as "Protecting America's Seniors" in Fort Myers, Florida. Trump is trying to shore up support among senior citizens, a key voting bloc that helped him win four years ago but which recent polling suggests has eroded in recent months.

Courtney Subramanian andNathan Bomey

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What makes congregating indoors so dangerous?Dr. Lewis Nelson, professor and chair of emergency medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, said one of the main reasons theres a higher risk of transmission indoors than outdoors is lack of ventilation. Additionally, indoor public places have more surfaces.

If I were to smoke a cigarette (inside), you would see the smoke particles linger, he said. Whereas outdoors the smoke kind of leaves."

Ventilation can be increased by opening a window, turning on a fan or even adding a portable air filter to a room. Most portable air filters cant filter out virus particles if they dont have HEPA filtration, but they still facilitate air circulation. Reducing the number of people in an indoor space also helps. Read more here.

Adrianna Rodriguez

COVID-19 widespread testing is crucial to fighting the pandemic, but is there enough testing? The answer is in the positivity rates. USA TODAY

Contributing: The Associated Press.

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Coronavirus updates: Cases again up at Notre Dame after parties; police say mayor threatened over mask mandate; Vatican guards test positive - USA...

Four COVID-19 vaccines have begun Phase 3 human clinical trials in the U.S. and a fifth is expected to be announced this month by Novavax. Two coronavirus vaccines are under development by Pfizer at the Michigan Center for Medical Research in Rochester and by Moderna at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.

Johnson & Johnson/Janssen and AstraZeneca clinical trials, which had been underway at the University of Michigan, have been paused in the U.S. over safety concerns. The AstraZeneca trial has been paused for more than a month after two people became sick. The J&J trial was paused last week when one person came down with an unexplained illness.

Still, the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna say their vaccines could be mass produced on a limited scale by the end of the year. The other drug makers say their vaccines are showing promise, but some experts believe mass production is more than six months away.

Pfizer's mRNA-based vaccine now requires ultra cold storage of -70 degree Celsius, rendering administration by doctor's offices, clinics and retail pharmacies virtually impossible.

Moderna's vaccine, also using the newer mRNA-based technology, currently requires -20 Celsius temperature, allowing for greater storage flexibility. The company also said its vaccine can be kept in normal vaccine refrigerators for up to seven days.

Novavax has said its vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8-degree Celsius temperatures in an unfrozen, liquid formulation that can be kept in a standard vaccine refrigerator. The Maryland-based drugmaker is taking a more traditional approach to vaccine development. It is using viral proteins rather than an mRNA genetic code approach to train the body against the coronavirus infection.

Merck and Sanofi, two veteran vaccine makers that got into the vaccine race this summer, are said to be close to beginning Phase 3 trials.

Once one or more vaccines are approved by the FDA, likely through an emergency use authorization, the companies will begin mass production.

Chaz Calitri, Pfizer's vice president of operations for sterile injections, said the drug company has been packaging the filled vaccine doses in Kalamazoo for its Phase 3 trial since earlier this year. More than 300 workers have been hired for the coronavirus vaccine effort, he said.

"If the vaccine is successful and we launch it, we expect to hire up to 700 people" in Kalamazoo, Calitri said. The plant has about 3,000 employees now.

Pfizer's COVID-19 clinical trials have been expanded to more than 44,000 people, including adding more minorities and teenagers and youth as young as age 12, officials said.

"What we will do is have the vials (of vaccine) packed in small pizza-shaped boxes and placed in a container packed in dry ice. It will be like a container in a container that will have a tracker," or a sensor that will monitor location and temperatures, Calitri said.

Doctors have asked Pfizer whether the company will develop a way to store the vaccines at temperatures greater than -70 degree Celsius. Pfizer said it was working on a plan to store its vaccines for up to 24 hours at standard refrigeration.

"They are still running tests to see if there can be less storage time and higher temperatures," Calitri said.

Another question is whether the vaccines will be a one-dose shot, like the proposed Johnson & Johnson/Janssen or Merck vaccines, or two-dose shots like the Pfizer, Moderna and others. Two doses will require careful tracking of people and appointment callbacks, similar to the vaccine for shingles.

Experts also are concerned that the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses will also require ramping up production of syringes and pharmaceutical-grade glass vials needed to transport and administer the vaccines. Operation Warp Speed has awarded major contracts to companies to build up inventories.

Julie Swann, a professor of industrial and systems engineering and department chair at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, said there are a number of logistical challenges in transporting and distributing COVID-19 vaccines, especially the Pfizer vaccine that appears the furthest along toward approval.

"It's not like the vaccines that you know, the seasonal flu vaccine that you might get at a Target or CVS, or your doctor's office. It's different than that," said Swann, who is a vaccine supply chain expert. "It has it has much greater perishability and needs to be kept at a much colder temperature. There's also going to need to be supplies of dry ice through the supply chain."

The Pfizer vaccine, for example, needs to be shipped in containers with dry ice that hold 975 doses.

"So you're going to send this specialized box of 1,000 doses to a hospital and you're only allowed to open it once a day because it will be frozen and you have to take out enough for those people," Swann said.

Vaccines with smaller doses per box, such as Moderna's, which is planned to be released with orders of 100 doses, can be shipped to physician offices, clinics and retail pharmacies, Swanson said.

"If it happens to be the Pfizer vaccine, with the ultra-cold requirements, it is likely to be shipped directly from the drug company to the hospital or large clinic," Swanson said.

CVS Health spokesman Mike DeAngelis said its Minute Clinic sites are well-positioned to administer COVID-19 vaccines.

"We look forward to playing a significant role in the vaccine distribution process, and our experience of providing millions of flu vaccinations each year is helping inform our plans," DeAngelis said in an email.

Most pharmacies and doctor offices have regular freezers and would only be able to store vaccines with lower temperature requirements for short periods of time.

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Once a COVID-19 vaccine is ready for prime time, how will people get it? - Crain's Detroit Business

Just as our final exit from the EU comes into view, noise from the media and politics about Covid-19 is sounding discomfortingly similar to the furies that erupted around the 2016 referendum.

On one side stands the political right, opposed to lockdown, apparently spurning the advice of experts, and seemingly convinced that a mixture of true-Brit common sense and derring-do will somehow see us through. The left, meanwhile, emphasises the importance of the science, and the prospect of disaster. As in the US, it is beginning to feel like any contentious political question will now trigger these polarised responses not necessarily in the population at large, but certainly among the people whose opinions define what passes for the national conversation.

News coverage of the second wave has so far tended to focus on which places should go in which official tiers, the distinction between pubs and restaurants, and the decision to send students back to universities. What has not been discussed nearly as much is the plain fact that the coronavirus crisis even more so in its second phase is all about basic inequalities, and the kind of questions of work, housing and poverty that deep crises always bring to the surface. In other words, Covid-19 is a class issue. That may sound simplistic, but what it actually denotes is an intricate set of considerations that the argument over lockdown is not acknowledging.

Since the start of the crisis, I have been regularly talking to many of the leaders in the north of England whose anger at condescending treatment from Boris Johnson and his colleagues continues to make the headlines. As many of them see it, one reason for the recent increases in infection is that the initial lockdown affected many of their areas differently than more affluent places. Rather than retreating inside to bake their own bread and have work meetings on Zoom, people in such trades as construction, warehousing and care work had to carry on venturing outside and mixing with others in the first wave, so levels of the virus remained comparatively high, even before the summer reopening then took them back to dangerous levels. Clearly, the ability to render yourself housebound is also dependent on whether your domestic environment makes remaining at home either viable or all but impossible. The basic point was recently nailed by the Financial Times writer Anjana Ahuja: This crisis has broadly separated us into the exposed poor and the shielded rich.

Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, recently told me about one correlation that highlights this disparity. He said that in a swathe of the country that takes in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Covid hotspots map on to areas that were the focus of the last Labour governments so-called Pathfinder scheme: the programme that aimed to replace old housing by bringing in private developers, and left a legacy of unfinished work and huge resentment. The quality of housing in those areas is still extremely poor, said Burnham. Lots of families live intergenerationally. Its very overcrowded. How would you self-isolate in a situation like that?

This is a good riposte to the oft-heard suggestion that most people who fail to follow the rules are degenerate Covidiots, and further proof that in a society as insecure as ours, trying to stringently control anything let alone a highly infectious disease will tend to be very difficult indeed. According to research done at Kings College London, only 18% of people self-isolate after developing symptoms, and only 11% quarantine after being told by the governments test and trace system that they have been in contact with a confirmed case. Among the factors the study associates with non-compliance are lower socio-economic grade, and greater hardship during the pandemic. A lot of people, it seems, would like to do what they are told, but simply cant.

This is the basic point the government does not seem to have grasped painfully highlighted by Johnsons claim that infections increased because the public became complacent. Threatening people with fines of up to 10,000 if they fail to self-isolate and, we now learn, passing their details to the police is an example of the same cast of mind, less likely to persuade people in precarious circumstances to follow the rules than to keep their distance from the authorities. The fact that some people on very low incomes are finally eligible for a lump sum of 500 to cover a fortnights quarantine will not solve what is obviously a massive problem; in terms of basic practicalities, it is of a piece with Rishi Sunaks plan to pay only two-thirds of lost wages to people affected by local restrictions.

But before anyone on the left starts feeling too self-righteous, they also have questions to answer. There is a cold, dogmatic attitude in certain quarters that seems to define itself against anything that smells of Tory laissez-faire. Earlier in the year, it was manifested in rigid opposition to schools reopening, as some people averted their eyes from the inequalities the suspension of education was making worse. Now, some of the same voices stridently argue for strict national measures, as if that proposition is straightforward. It is actually not just complex, but full of potential contradictions. A prime example: given that poverty and precarity are what make millions of people vulnerable to both Covid infection and the life-threatening complications that can come with it, the hardship that any lockdown creates will make those problems even worse. This, surely, is the circuit that desperately needs to be broken, but after so many wasted years it will take a long time to do it.

In the meantime, a daily ritual of political futility goes on. Some people on the right yearn for a return to shrunken government, rugged individualism and the primacy of the economy, whatever that is. On the opposing side, people would like us to diligently follow the edicts of a reborn state, but social conditions are too far gone to allow many people to do anything of the kind. To those at the sharp end of this crisis, neither position will sound particularly convincing.

So it is that increasing numbers of people ignore the current political drama, and muddle through as best they can. Parallels with the vote to leave the EU are not only about the divisive arguments that have gripped the political class, but the fact that many of the same places whose experience fed into their vote for Brexit Hartlepool, Preston, Oldham, Middlesbrough are also suffering the worst of the pandemic. The inequality they embody remains the essence of the 21st-century British condition: four years on from 2016, this is still a country so imbalanced that it keeps falling over.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist

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The pitched battle over lockdowns is missing the point: Covid-19 is a class issue - The Guardian

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Alaska is in the middle of an unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases: The current surge far exceeds any other previous increases and has lasted more than three weeks.

Cases of the disease caused by the new coronavirus are showing up in every corner of the state with eight of the states 11 regions in a high-alert zone as Alaska reported one more death and 204 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, according to the Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard.

The surge in cases parallels rising virus case numbers in several parts of the Lower 48. Alaskas daily reported cases have hit triple digits for 24 straight days.

The death reported Saturday involved a Fairbanks man in his 90s who died recently, according to the state health department. In total, 67 Alaskans with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic began here in March.

Statewide as of Saturday, 50 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 while 18 other hospital patients were awaiting test results, according to state data. Hospitalizations for COVID-19 are often referred to as a lagging indicator, which means people may show up to the hospital weeks after initially testing positive.

Of the new cases, it wasnt clear how many patients were showing symptoms of the virus when they tested positive. While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department only represents one person.

The current surge is different from the states previous spike in July, state health officials said on a call with reporters Thursday: There are more cases at the moment, but theres also more testing available though the state still needs more. Plus, there are more cases all over the state, in several rural communities, compared with the concentrated outbreaks in fish processing plants that took place in July.

We have much better treatment and understanding of the disease now than we did in July, and so we think that that is playing a role in deaths as well as hospitalizations, Alaskas chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, said during a Thursday call with reporters.

But the biggest difference between the current spike and the summer surge is that its colder, Zink said. More people are indoors and more people are fatigued. Challenges only mount as more people head inside for the season.

We understand this disease better every day, Zink said. And so we really want to encourage Alaskans to be hopeful (and) at the same time being able to be resilient. I think that this fall and winter could be very challenging as cases are increasing.

But its not too late to slow down the current surge in cases, health officials say.

We know what works with COVID," said Dr. Joe McLaughlin, state epidemiologist. "Weve demonstrated it in Alaska, weve demonstrated it in the United States and weve demonstrated it in multiple countries across the globe. Mitigation works.

Several data points and indicators are the worst theyve been since the start of the pandemic.

Between Oct. 4 and Oct. 10, Alaska witnessed a continued spike in cases, with 40% more cases than the week before.

The states reproductive number, which is the average number of people one single person infects with the virus, saw a significant increase recently up to 1.18 by Oct. 10. A reproductive number over one means the states epidemic is growing because each person is spreading the virus to more than one person.

The states positivity rate, or the percentage of positive tests out of total tests, continued to climb this week with a 4.94% positivity rate as of Saturday, just slightly lower than the national average of 5.3%.

While many states have a higher positivity rate than Alaska does, this rise is concerning because the positivity rate is our best measure of whether our testing capacity can keep up with current cases. A rise in positivity rate reflects that testing is not increasing as fast as the current increase in cases, state health officials wrote in a recent report.

While Alaska has the lowest death rate per capita in the country, Vermont and Wyoming have had fewer total deaths.

State health officials say they have no reason to think that the virus in Alaska is any less severe compared with other places. They say recent studies show that COVID-19 strains in the state are as severe, if not more so, than the strains in other parts of the Western U.S.

This means that the virus present in many communities in Alaska has the ability to make people of all ages very sick if it is allowed to continue to spread, state health officials said.

Over the past week, Anchorage saw a 40% increase in new cases, said Dr. Janet Johnston, epidemiologist with the Anchorage Health Department, at a Friday briefing. It was the first week that Anchorage averaged above 100 new cases per day, with 102.2 new cases a day on average.

Given estimates that only one in 10 people with COVID-19 are actually identified as being infected, Johnston said its possible as many as 8,500 people in Anchorage are infectious with the virus.

Statewide as of Saturday, several regions of the state had tilted into the high alert zone, with more than 10 cases per 100,000 people reported over the last two weeks. The high alert level indicates there is widespread community transmission of the virus and many undetected cases as well as frequent outbreaks, according to the state health department.

Some places, like Anchorage, Northwest Alaska and the Fairbanks North Star Borough, reported triple that threshold, with averages in the low 30s. Other regions, like the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Kenai Peninsula Borough, newly entered the red zone on Saturday, with a little over 10 cases per 100,000.

Only three regions on the states alert level map were not in the red zone as of Saturday, including the Southwest region and much of Southeast Alaska outside of the City and Borough of Juneau.

Of the 201 new cases of COVID-19 involving residents, 90 were in Anchorage; three were in Chugiak; 10 were in Eagle River; one was in Girdwood; one was in Homer; one was in Kenai; four were in Soldotna; two were in Sterling; one was in Kodiak; two were in Healy; 15 were in Fairbanks; four were in North Pole; five were in Delta Junction; two were in Tok; five were in Palmer; 15 were in Wasilla; three were in Willow; five were in Utqiagvik; 12 were in Juneau; two were in Ketchikan; three were in Petersburg; one was in Craig; one was in Unalaska; three were in Bethel; and two were in Chevak.

Among communities smaller than 1,000 not identified to protect confidentiality, there was one in the northern Kenai Peninsula; one in the Fairbanks North Star Borough; two in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area; one in the Nome Census Area; and three in the Bethel Census Area.

Of the three nonresident cases, two were in Anchorage and one was in Wasilla.

The states testing positivity rate as of Saturday was 4.94% over a seven-day rolling average.

[Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the individual who died was from Anchorage. He was a Fairbanks resident.]

The rest is here:

Alaska is approaching 4 weeks of triple-digit daily COVID-19 case counts in an unprecedented surge - Anchorage Daily News

In this Fool Live video, Healthcare and Cannabis Bureau Chief Corinne Cardina and longtime Motley Fool contributor Brian Orelli discuss the drugs that President Donald Trump received to treat his case of COVID-19. They discuss the difference between an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and a full approval. They also get into whether it's worth investing in companies making COVID-19 treatments considering that data from late-stage clinical trials testing coronavirus vaccines are imminent.

Corinne Cardina: For anyone who has been living under a rock, on Friday, last Friday, President Trump announced that he and the First Lady have confirmed cases of COVID-19. Later that day, he was admitted to the Walter Reed Medical Center. His doctor said he received an eight gram dose of Regeneron's (NASDAQ:REGN) experimental antibody cocktail. He also received remdesivir, Gilead Sciences' (NASDAQ:GILD) antiviral treatment and a common steroid treatment called dexamethasone.

The President has since left the hospital. He tweeted a video crediting Regeneron's experimental treatment with his recovery. Of course, all this excitement has bled over into the stock market. Regeneron's stock is up seven percent since Friday, Oct. 2, continuing a nice if volatile streak since the pandemic began. It's actually up a little more than 60% since Jan. 1.

All that is to say that it's a great time to take a fresh look at all the stocks involved in the COVID-19 treatment field. Today, we're going to dive into some of the stocks investors might have their eye on. Brian, let's start with a question that I think a lot of us have as we toggle back and forth between news on treatments and news about the development of a vaccine. Will the need for these COVID-19 treatments decrease substantially once a safe and efficacious vaccine is widely distributed? Is this a fleeting field, a band-aid while we wait for a vaccine, or is it here to stay?

Brian Orelli: It obviously depends on how well the vaccines work. It's likely they won't be 100%. Even people who do get the vaccine, eventually, some of those people will get COVID and will need treatment. So I think the treatments aren't going away completely.

Will the demand go down as the amount of vaccine goes up assuming the vaccine works? Yes, absolutely. But we also don't really know how many people are going to be interested in taking the vaccine and also how much the vaccine is going to be available. Certainly in the beginning, only the most at-risk people are going to be able to get the vaccine. Until everybody is vaccinated, and that will be a long time, and maybe never if people decide they don't want to take it, then that's the only way we get it so that there wasn't any treatments needed.

Corinne Cardina: Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of uncertainties and question marks that's basically going to decide that as things keep coming out about the vaccine trials.

Speaking of the treatments, a lot has been said about emergency-use authorizations. Can you tell us what that means compared to true FDA approvals? Do emergency-use authorizations expire?

Brian Orelli: Yeah. First, let's start off with what you need to get one, and then you need less data basically to get an emergency-use authorization compared to a FDA approval. The reason is because they understand that there's a higher risk and so therefore you can have less data and still be able to get the emergency-use authorization. Then the authorization only lasts as long as there's an emergency. As soon as the pandemic is over, the companies would have to apply for a full approval if they wanted to keep their drugs or vaccines on the market.

See the article here:

Here Are the Treatments President Trump Received for COVID-19, None of Which Are FDA "Approved" - Motley Fool

Are we going with it, or not? And what is the language? Pelosi said on ABCs This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Asked about the timeframe later on Sunday, Pelosi's office clarified that an agreement would need to be clinched by Tuesday night. If not, a bill would need to be pushed until after the election.

Pelosi and Mnuchin have been negotiating on and off since August about the size and scope of Congress next stimulus package, with much of the U.S. economy still in tatters as the pandemic rages on. Washington has already approved more than $3 trillion in aid, but it's been six months since any new cash has gone out the door.

Those bipartisan talks have intensified in the last few weeks, though many lawmakers and aides say theyve grown skeptical that an accord can be reached let alone passed through Congress in the final days before the election.

Pelosi also reiterated to her members Sunday afternoon that she believes a deal is within reach, even as key issues remain.

I am optimistic that we can reach agreement before the election, Pelosi wrote in a letter to update her members on the talks Saturday afternoon. Democrats are fully prepared to move forward once we reach agreement, she added.

The situation has been made even more complicated by President Donald Trump himself, who called off the talks during his own battle with Covid-19 only to backtrack a day later, and then call for an even bigger deal.

Pelosi said Sunday that she and Trump administration officials are still seeking clarity on the GOPs specific offer on a national testing and contract tracing plan, which remains one of the key areas of disagreement.

Were seeking clarity, because with all due respect to some of the people in the president's administration they're not legislators, she said, noting the administration had made small adjustments in language that were actually significant.

They changed shall to may, requirements to recommendations, a plan to a strategy, not a strategic plan. They took out 55 percent of the language that we had there for testing and tracing, Pelosi said.

Pelosi and Mnuchin spoke for more than an hour Saturday night, where Pelosi received some encouraging news on testing but remained not in agreement in other areas, according to her spokesman Drew Hammill.

There remains an array of additional differences as we go provision by provision that must be addressed in a comprehensive manner in the next 48 hours, Hammill said Saturday night.

Pelosi elaborated on the GOPs latest proposal in her letter to House Democrats on Sunday, describing the changes to the testing plan as unacceptable.

Other differences, Pelosi said, include funding for state and local governments, the child tax credit, child care programs and the Trump administrations attempts to undermine the census. All of the issues were discussed on the call Saturday evening.

Even if a deal on coronavirus relief between Pelosi and the White House is reached, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would need to bring it to the Senate floor and get Senate Republicans on board with the package. The matter could also be complicated by Mnuchin's focus abroad, leading an Israeli-American delegation to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates this weekend.

McConnell did say Saturday that he would put a deal on the floor if it ever came together: If Speaker Pelosi ever lets the House reach a bipartisan agreement with the Administration, the Senate would of course consider it.

But the Senate GOP has been perennially skeptical of any funding agreement over $1 trillion, let alone a deal closer to $2 trillion as Pelosi and Mnuchin have been discussing.

Under pressure to pass some kind of relief bill before the election, McConnell has instead teed up Senate votes next week on a much narrower proposal than what Democrats and Mnuchin have floated.

Speaker Pelosi keeps saying she feels nothing is better than something and clinging to far-left demands that are designed to kill any hope of a deal, McConnell said Saturday.

Senate Democrats have not yet said whether they will block the measure, saying they dont know the specifics of the proposal.

We dont know what the substance is, we dont know the procedure hes proposing, so were not going to comment until we get more, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Sunday, though he was critical of the GOP maneuver broadly.

Its a total stunt, Schumer said.

Mnuchin who has been largely optimistic throughout the talks acknowledged earlier this week that the odds were diminishing to reach a deal before the election. He told the Milken Institute Global Conference that getting something done before the election and executing on that will be difficult.

Heather Caygle contributed to this article.

Read more from the original source:

Pelosi: Covid-19 relief bill hinges on next 48 hours - POLITICO

In just six months, the worlds largest randomized control trial on COVID-19 therapeutics has generated conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of repurposed drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.

Interim results from the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, coordinated by the World Health Organization, indicate that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients.

The study, which spans more than 30 countries, looked at the effects of these treatments on overall mortality, initiation of ventilation, and duration of hospital stay in hospitalized patients. Other uses of the drugs, for example in treatment of patients in the community or for prevention, would have to be examined using different trials.

The progress achieved by the Solidarity Therapeutics Trial shows that large international trials are possible, even during a pandemic, and offer the promise of quickly and reliably answering critical public health questions concerning therapeutics.

The results of the trial are under review for publication in a medical journal and have been uploaded as preprint at medRxiv available at this link: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.15.20209817v1

The global platform of the Solidarity Trial is ready to rapidly evaluate promising new treatment options, with nearly 500 hospitals open as trial sites.

Newer antiviral drugs, immunomodulators and anti-SARS COV-2 monoclonal antibodies are now being considered for evaluation.

Link:

Solidarity Therapeutics Trial produces conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of repurposed drugs for COVID-19 in record time - World Health...