Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

It was as Orwellian a ploy as any Americans have seen in the past four years: a president whos running for re-election interfering with an agency thats supposed to be apolitical, in service of a campaign promise that no credible expert thinks is achievable and then accusing that same agency of partisanship. In any other administration, it would be a major scandal. Under Mr. Trumps leadership, it has become commonplace.

The most shameful of all Mr. Trumps meddling has been at the C.D.C., an agency designed to confront exactly the kind of pandemic America is now facing. Political appointees have prevented scientists at the agency from publishing a range of crucial guidelines and edicts meant to shepherd the nation through the pandemic. As a result, decisions across the country about school openings and closings, testing and mask-wearing have been muddy and confused, too often determined by political calculus instead of evidence.

The C.D.C.s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, has repeatedly walked back statements that counter the presidents own sunny assessment of the pandemic. Other scientists at the agency have been muzzled altogether holding few news conferences and giving almost no talks or interviews in the nine months since the coronavirus first reached American shores. Morale at the agency has reached a low point, with many career civil servants there telling The Times that they might resign if Mr. Trump wins re-election, and others speculating that the C.D.C.s ability to function at all, in this pandemic or the next, is in serious jeopardy.

The most immediate impacts of these machinations are plain to see. Pollution is up, fines for polluters are down, carbon emissions have risen and are poised to rise further. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and millions of livelihoods destroyed, by a pandemic that could have been contained. The nations standing in the wider world, and public trust here at home, have been eroded almost beyond recognition.

The longer-term impacts will be equally dire. Consider a future in which the empirical truths ferreted out by doctors, scientists and engineers no longer have currency because there is no one left to act on them. Real medicine and snake oil are sold on the same shelf, with no good way to tell the two apart. Vaccines are developed, but even the most pro-science families dont trust them enough to make use of them. We resign ourselves to the lead in our water, the pesticides in our food and the toxins in our baby bottles because we know that no one will resolve these crises in our favor. Lies and shrugs become the official response to any disease that threatens us.

Some of these things are already beginning to happen. Agencies that use science to protect human health have long been plagued by a lack of funding and too much political interference. But a world in which these agencies become fully ornamental would be dangerously different than the world we currently inhabit.

Its hard to say what chance science or civics have against so foolish and self-serving a commander in chief. But for now, at least, there is still cause for hope. Earlier this month, the F.D.A. updated its criteria for emergency authorization of a coronavirus vaccine, against Mr. Trumps stated wishes. After a brief standoff, the administration quietly backed off its opposition to the new guidelines, which should make it all but impossible for the president to rush a product through in the next few weeks.

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Covid-19 and Beyond: How Trump Has Hurt America's Health - The New York Times

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) Thirteen new COVID-19 deaths were announced along with a new active case count record in the latest update from the South Dakota Department of Health.

The death toll in South Dakota rose to 304. The 13 new deaths included eight men and five women. One death was listed in the 40-49 age range, one in the 60-69 age range, three in the 70-79 age range and eight victims listed in the 80+ age range. The new deaths were listed in the following counties: Beadle, Brule, Gregory, Jerauld (2), Lincoln, Meade (2), Minnehaha (3), Oglala Lakota and Pennington County.

On Thursday, 797 new coronavirus cases were announced, bringing the states total case count to 31,012, up from Wednesday (30,215). Total recovered cases is now at 23,576, up from Wednesday (23,320).

Active cases are now at 7,132, up from Wednesday (6,604). Its also the highest active case count in South Dakota since the pandemic started.

Current people in South Dakota hospitals for COVID-19 is at 304, up from Wednesday (303). Total hospitalizations for South Dakota residents from COVID-19 are now at 2,000, up from Wednesday (1,963).

Total persons tested negative is now at 193,227, up from Wednesday (192,106).

There were 1,918 new persons tested reported on Thursday.

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COVID-19 in South Dakota: 797 total new cases; Death toll rises to 304; Active cases at 7,132 - KELOLAND.com

Today, Hamm believes the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt, and that its attempting to spin up a coronavirus vaccine too quickly. (The latter is a worry of the scientific community too, stoked by President Donald Trumps ceaseless chatter about having a vaccine ready before Election Dayand the very name of the governments vaccine project, Operation Warp Speed.) Though Hamm fears contracting COVID-19, when the coronavirus vaccine becomes available, he intends to avoid getting immunized.

People like Hamm might be the missing piece to the puzzle of ending the pandemic for good. Developing a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine will be a monumental achievement, but it might not be enough. Encouraging people to actually get the vaccine might be the real battle, and people are even less predictable than viruses.

If the coronavirus vaccine is 75 percent effectivewhich would be excellent, considering that the flu shot is only about 50 percent effectiveroughly two-thirds of the population would need to be vaccinated, according to Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. That number is enough to reach herd immunitythe level at which everyone is protected because there are not enough vulnerable people for the virus to pass between.

Read: A new understanding of herd immunity

Unfortunately, in some polls, far fewer than two-thirds of Americans say they are interested in getting a coronavirus vaccine. Though this number might change as we learn more about the vaccines effectiveness and side effects, at some points only about 50 percent of Americans have said they plan to get the vaccine when it becomes available. Some reports suggest that Facebook groups formerly dedicated to merely asking questions about vaccines have switched to more vociferous anti-vaccine views in recent months.

Convincing people like Hamm that the vaccine is safe and effective will be a thorny and complicated task, for which experts say there is no one best approach. Its something the United States government should start preparing for nowbut isnt.

Its hard to pin down just who, exactly, the vaccine-hesitant are. White adults are more likely to be vaccinated than Black adults are, perhaps because the latter have less access to medical care, and decades of maltreatment have eroded their trust in the medical establishment.

Anti-vaccine groups have also targeted Black people. About a decade ago, anti-vaxxers in Minnesota invited the discredited researcher Andrew Wakefield, who falsely tied vaccines to autism, to give talks to the states Somali immigrant community. Vaccination rates among Somalis plummeted, and a few years later, the community suffered a large measles outbreak.

Otherwise, experts told me, theres a loose correlation between being Republican and questioning vaccines, and also between harboring vaccine skepticism and believing in conspiracy theories or having a lower level of education. But in general, vaccine skepticism spans from Goop-reading Californians to the ultra-Orthodox Jews of New York. In some ways, being anti-vaccine is a deeply American sentiment: Its the stubborn belief that individuals know better than the government.

Read more from the original source:

How to Change the Mind of an Anti-vaxxer - The Atlantic

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) South Dakota is on pace for even more coronavirus deaths, hospitalizations and cases, according to several models that project the progress of the pandemic in the U.S.

The models are similar in their projections.

While universities and organizations are assembling models to project the pandemic in the U.S. and its states, South Dakota Department of Health officials said Oct. 14 that the state is not working with its own forecasts on the future of the pandemic in South Dakota.

As it has been since the beginning, COVID is somewhat unpredictable, DOH secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said.

The numbers that are being shared each week are critical to the response, she said. As cases increase, the state would expect to see increases in hospitalizations and other numbers, Malsam-Rysdon said.

To say because we have this many cases today means we will need this many hospital beds tomorrow just hasnt been proven or borne out, Malsam-Rysdon said.

A joint model from Google and Johns Hopkins predicts that South Dakota will have 4,200 new COVID-19 cases from Oct. 13 through Oct. 26. The state will have 92 more deaths.

Hospitalizations would peak at 355 hospital beds during this two-week period with 215 in intensive care units and 144 on ventilators.

The state had 13 more COVID-19 deaths reported on Oct. 15. There were 797 new cases which includes 700 RT-PCR and 97 antigen cases, according to the South Dakota Department of Health website.

The model broke down the numbers by county. Minnehaha County is projected to have 69 more deaths and 1,035 more new cases. The daily hospitalizations will peak at 164 for the area.

As of Oct. 15, the state had 304 COVID-19 patients in the hospital and a total of 2,000 total hospitalized since the pandemic started in the state.

The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington says South Dakota is on track for 332.36 deaths by Oct. 26. The state would have 579.83 new cases on Oct. 26. The model says if masks were mandated there would be 234.7 new cases that day.

The model projects 830 COVID-19 deaths by February 1, 2021.

On Oct. 26, 332 (331.8) hospital beds would be needed and 85 (84.6) ICU beds would be needed.

The models also reflect an uptick in hospitalizations and deaths which trail behind increases in cases.

In an Oct. 8 story by Courtney Collen published by Sanford Health News, Dr. Allison Suttle talks about the prior weeks COVID-19 numbers.

The story said While human behavior dictates how this virus spreads, Dr. Suttle says what weve seen in the last seven days will predict what we see next.

The Sanford story lists hand washing, social distancing of six feet, wearing a mask in public and staying home when sick as proper health and safety behaviors during the pandemic.

Weve seen an increase in cases which will continue and ultimately lead to hospitalizations. We start seeing those hospitalizations about two to three weeks after we see an increase in the number of cases. The only way we start seeing that trend decrease is if all the people start doing all of those behaviors (listed above) and then well see less cases, and then that downward trend, Suttle said in the Oct. 8 Sanford story.

The Centers for Disease Control lists multiple models in its forecasts for COVID-19 cases, deaths and related data.

The list includes Google and Johns Hopkins, the Iowa State model, the MIT model, the model from UCLA and about a dozen others.

Models from Iowa State and MIT all project steady daily increases in deaths in South Dakota. The COVID-19 forecast model from UCLA shows a nearly steady toll with no significant increase and no decreases after Oct. 1.

The UCLA model projects 229,000 total deaths in the U.S. on Oct. 31. Iowa State has 229,000. Iowa States range is from 228,000 to 230,000 while UCLAs range is from 226,00 to 230,000.

UCLAs model incorporates the reopening of states and lessened social distancing. Iowa States model does not make specific assumptions about interventions in effect.

The Bob Pango, or bobpango model, is also listed on the CDC website. Bob Pango has been analyzing data for 31 years, according to his website.

The bobpango model projects 43.463 deaths in the state as of Oct. 26. The high end of the model shows 372.21 deaths while the low end shows 328.902.

The projected number of active cases would be 3,813.6 on Oct. 26.

The model forecasts for longer than two weeks. By the end of the year, South Dakota would have 563.418 deaths and 5,160 current infections.

Under this model, South Dakota would have a projected 384.741 deaths as of Nov. 7. The high end of the model shows 483.537 on Nov. 7 while the long end range shows 354.954.

Keep reading

Your Guide To Coronavirus

KELOLAND News is covering the COVID-19 pandemic. This is your guide to everything you need to know to prepare. We also have the latest stories from across the globe feeding into this page.

LATEST STORIES

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) After a slight delay in reporting new COVID-19 case counts, three more deaths were announced by the South Dakota Department of Health Friday afternoon. On Friday, 793 new coronavirus cases were announced, bringing the []

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) The lasted coronavirus numbers for South Dakota have not yet been posted on the states Department of Health website.

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) More mass testing has taken place in South Dakota Department of Corrections facilities.

Read the rest here:

Models project what could be ahead for COVID-19 in South Dakota - KELOLAND.com

For a long time, drug makers have been the most hated industry in America. Companies are blamed for gouging prices on lifesaving drugs and enriching themselves through the opioid crisis, among other sins.

Now, with pharmaceutical companies racing to find vaccines to end the coronavirus pandemic, the industry is hoping to redeem itself in the publics mind.

The primary goal, of course, is to rescue the world from the grips of a vicious virus. But a big fringe benefit is to get public credit and to use an improved image to fend off government efforts to more heavily regulate the industry.

Consider Johnson & Johnson, one of the worlds largest health care companies.

In recent years, its reputation has been battered by accusations that products like its artificial hips and talcum powder have harmed customers. In 2019, an Oklahoma judge ordered the company to pay $572 million for contributing to the opioid epidemic.

This spring, Johnson & Johnson jumped into the hunt for a Covid-19 vaccine; its candidate is now in the final stage of clinical trials. (On Monday, the company said it had temporarily paused the study after a participant became sick with an unexplained illness.)

Regardless of whether the vaccine ever comes to market, the company is looking to create a surge of positive publicity from its work. Its chief executive, Alex Gorsky, went on the Today show this spring and called Johnson & Johnsons lab workers heroes. The company has produced a slick, self-promotional online video series, The Road to a Vaccine, featuring feel-good interviews with the companys scientists and segments on issues like whether it is safe to send children back to school.

Johnson & Johnsons efforts to develop a vaccine will show that J&J is a company full of people with heart and soul who are doing this 24-7, with all their science and know-how, Dr. Paul Stoffels, the companys chief scientific officer, said in an interview. While the companys image at times has been trashed, he said, I hope that we can get to a better reputation.

That is a widely held sentiment across the pharmaceutical industry. Companies are looking for public makeovers as a political battle over drug price controls looms. Others are seizing the once-in-a-generation opportunity to raise money for future projects from investors and the government.

For an industry demonized by consumers and politicians, the hunt for a vaccine offers a path to redemption, said J. Stephen Morrison, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington.

Last fall, a Gallup poll found that drug makers had the worst reputation of any American industry. Americans were twice as likely to rate the industry negatively as positively. Drug companies were even less popular than the federal government.

The pandemic and the high hopes for a fast, safe, effective vaccine appears to be changing that perception, at least for now. This spring, other opinion polls showed that Americans views of the industry were improving.

When Gallup released the results of this years annual survey, conducted in the first half of August, the results confirmed that the pharmaceutical industrys reputation had gotten a bit better. Now, it is second to last, having inched past the U.S. government.

Public opinion matters. The industry is facing a fight in Washington over price controls, which could take a bite out of companies profits in the United States. The latest salvo came last month when President Trump issued an executive order that called for capping the costs of some prescription drugs.

The industrys largest trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, is fighting back by invoking the industrys effort to fight the coronavirus. It denounced Mr. Trumps executive order as a reckless attack on the very companies working around the clock to beat Covid-19.

Kim Monk, managing director of Capital Alpha Partners, a policy research firm in Washington, said finding a safe and effective vaccine could help drug companies in their campaign to stave off price controls. You dont even need to say it, she said. Its part of the strategy.

To be sure, the race for a coronavirus vaccine is much more than a public relations play. Scientists at pharmaceutical companies take great pride in their work to combat human suffering. And there is immense prestige involved in being among the first to successfully conquer a devastating global pandemic.

There are also potentially enormous profits on the line.

Vaccines are often thought of as the pharmaceutical industrys sleepy, low-profit backwater, but that is not always the case, said Dr. David Bishai, a professor of health economics at Johns Hopkins Universitys school of public health.

Prevnar, a vaccine to prevent pneumococcal disease, which leads to ear and sinus infections, is Pfizers top-selling product, responsible for nearly $6 billion in revenue last year.

Mercks Gardasil, which protects against human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause cervical cancer, generated close to $4 billion in sales last year, making it the companys third-best seller.

While drug makers generally do not disclose what they earn on individual drugs, two of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, have said in securities filings that the profit margins in their vaccine divisions are greater than in their other lines of business.

Ronny Gal, an analyst at Bernstein, estimated that sales from a coronavirus vaccine could be up to $20 billion in the first year alone. And since diseases are rarely eradicated, vaccines tend to be a very long-term business, he said.

Two leading drug makers have pledged to not profit from their vaccines. But those promises are laden with caveats.

Johnson & Johnson has said it will sell the vaccine on a not-for-profit basis for emergency pandemic use. But the company hasnt explained in detail how it will define not for profit. In any case, when the emergency pandemic phase of the crisis ends, the company will no longer be bound by its pledge. Jake Sargent, a Johnson & Johnson spokesman, said the end of the emergency phase will be defined at a future date by global health authorities.

Another major drug company, AstraZeneca, has made a similar pledge not to profit on its vaccine, which is also in large clinical trials, during the pandemic. But in a contract with one of its manufacturers, AstraZeneca has suggested that it can declare the pandemic to be over as soon as July 2021 around the time that a successful vaccine is likely to be sold worldwide, according to The Financial Times.

The company has committed to supplying the potential vaccine at no profit during this pandemic period, said an AstraZeneca spokeswoman, Michele Meixell. It is too early to determine pricing post-pandemic.

The Covid-19 vaccine business is likely to be unusually lucrative because much of the risk has been taken out of the equation. The federal government has entered into deals with companies totaling more than $10 billion to develop, manufacture and distribute coronavirus vaccines. Drug companies usually spend small fortunes to market their products. But that will probably not be required to generate public interest in a coronavirus vaccine.

If you get a vaccine and it gets recommended by the C.D.C., you barely need a sales force, said Geoffrey Porges, the director of therapeutics research at the investment bank SVB Leerink.

A successful vaccine could be a transformative moment for unproven companies like Moderna and Novavax, which have never previously brought vaccines to market. But even being involved in the race is proving financially fruitful for smaller firms.

The German biotech firm CureVac, which says it hopes to have a successful vaccine by the end of the year, raised $245 million in August when it began trading on the Nasdaq. It is now valued at nearly $10 billion, despite never having brought a product to market.

Ms. Monk of Capital Alpha Partners said drug makers large and small were likely to benefit from any association with fighting the coronavirus. For an industry that is not viewed favorably by the public, she said, this is a real opportunity for them to put on a white hat and save the world.

Read more here:

Covid-19 Vaccines Offer Drug Makers Chance at Salvation, Financial and Beyond - The New York Times

The spread of novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria continues to record increases as the latest statistics provided by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reveal Nigeria now has 60,655 confirmed cases.

On the 13th of October 2020, 225 new confirmed cases and 1 death were recorded in Nigeria, having carried out a total daily test of 969 samples across the country.

To date, 60,655 cases have been confirmed, 52,006 cases have been discharged and 1,116 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. A total of 558,313 tests have been carried out as of October 13th, 2020 compared to 554,006 tests a day earlier.

According to the NCDC, the 225 new cases were reported from 11 states- Lagos (165), FCT (17), Rivers (13), Ogun (12), Niger (8), Delta (4), Ondo (2), Anambra (1), Edo (1), Ekiti (1), Kaduna (1)

Meanwhile, the latest numbers bring Lagos state total confirmed cases to 20,251, followed by Abuja (5,849), Plateau (3,545), Oyo (3,315), Rivers (2,674), Edo (2,637), Kaduna (2,520), Ogun (1,952), Delta (1,807), Kano (1,740), Ondo (1,652), Enugu (1,309), Kwara (1,050), Ebonyi (1,044), Osun (906), Abia (898), Katsina (896), Gombe (883). Borno (745), and Bauchi (710).

Imo State has recorded 585 cases, Benue (483), Nasarawa (472), Bayelsa (403), Jigawa (325), Ekiti (324), Akwa Ibom (295), Niger (269), Anambra (255), Adamawa (248), Sokoto (162), Taraba (108), Kebbi (93), Cross River (87), Zamfara and Yobe (79), while Kogi state has recorded 5 cases only.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Western diplomats warn of disease explosion, poor handling by government

In a move to combat the spread of the pandemic disease, President Muhammadu Buhari directed the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days, which took effect from 11 pm on Monday, 30th March 2020.

The movement restriction, which was extended by another two-weeks period, has been partially put on hold with some businesses commencing operations from May 4. On April 27th, 2020, Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari declared an overnight curfew from 8 pm to 6 am across the country, as part of new measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19. This comes along with the phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos, and Ogun States, which took effect from Saturday, 2nd May 2020, at 9 am.

On Monday, 29th June 2020 the federal government extended the second phase of the eased lockdown by 4 weeks and approved interstate movement outside curfew hours with effect from July 1, 2020. Also, on Monday 27th July 2020, the federal government extended the second phase of eased lockdown by an additional one week.

On Thursday, 6th August 2020 the federal government through the secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 announced the extension of the second phase of eased lockdown by another four (4) weeks.

READ ALSO: Bill Gates says Trumps WHO funding suspension is dangerous

Continue reading here:

COVID-19: Spike in new cases suggests a looming second wave of the pandemic - Nairametrics

Heather Griggs, a registered nurse and operations chief of the Umatilla County Public Health Department contact tracing center in Pendleton, Ore., updates a list of job assignments. Griggs is among the thousands of contact tracers nationwide. Ben Lonergan/AP hide caption

Heather Griggs, a registered nurse and operations chief of the Umatilla County Public Health Department contact tracing center in Pendleton, Ore., updates a list of job assignments. Griggs is among the thousands of contact tracers nationwide.

The United States has more than 50,000 contact tracers for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to a survey of states conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in collaboration with NPR.

The total number of contact tracers reported in all U.S. states and territories was 53,116. That's four times the number of contact tracers states reported to NPR in its initial survey in late April, but it falls far short of the more than 100,000 that public health experts have been calling for since the pandemic began seven months ago.

"I see us inching up in terms of increasing the contact tracing personnel, [though] still only really halfway to where we need to be," says Danielle Allen, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University and a co-author of a handbook of COVID-19 policy. This latest survey shows a nearly 30% increase from NPR's last survey in early August, which found 41,122 contact tracers across the country, but some of that increase is due to the fact that more states are now included.

Contact tracing staffing "feels stagnant," says Crystal Watson, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She oversaw the survey in collaboration with NPR. "I don't see a lot of evidence that we have a new push or renewed interest in trying to prepare for what we might see this winter," she says, "and we're already seeing cases tick up across the U.S. and in Europe."

Here are six takeaways from this latest survey

1. Most states' contact tracing workforce falls short of need

Only a handful of states currently have enough public health workers to investigate their coronavirus cases, according to an NPR analysis. This has been the case each time NPR has surveyed states. This time, only Oregon and Vermont and Washington, D.C., have enough. Four more states Maine, Montana, New York, and Hawaii have enough when reserve staff are included. And 44 states fall short of need.

The analysis, based on state case counts over the past 14 days, was done using an estimating tool developed by The Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at the George Washington University. As in June and August, NPR assumed workers are calling 10 contacts per case and that tracers reach 45% of contacts and follow up with them every other day a conservative estimate, to reflect the real-world challenges health workers face.

2. Amid case surges, contact tracing can't solve everything

Watson says states need to keep increasing staffing to help curb transmission, but that contact tracing can't stop the pandemic on its own especially when cases are surging in many places.

She and her team landed on a new threshold above which contact tracing can't keep up: 10 coronavirus cases per day per 100,000 people. That threshold is "based both on the data that we're seeing and on discussions that we've had with public health officials at the local and state levels."

"It's easy for these systems to become overwhelmed," Watson explains. When cases rise, they can rise quickly much faster than a public health team can hire more tracers. The threshold underscores that contact tracing "is not the silver bullet it is a necessary component of a successful response, but we can't rely on it once we have out-of-control epidemics in communities," she says. Instead, communities need to turn to more aggressive interventions, such as closing businesses and mask mandates.

Jane Yackley, an epidemiologist with the Tennessee Department of Health, agrees that contact tracing can only be successful when combined with other measures. She highlights the need to "make staying home the easy choice" for people who are infected or exposed.

"Contact tracing continues to be one piece of the puzzle; it will not eradicate COVID-19 and it cannot work if people cannot (or will not) comply," Yackley wrote in response to the survey. "The perceived 'failure' of contact tracing is a failure of expectations. Contact tracing alone cannot control this level of disease."

3. States adapt to surging cases and plan to hire more staff

Asked if they had needed to change their contact tracing process during a surge, six states said they had, 21 reported they had not, while others said the question was not applicable or the answer was unknown.

"I do think that many programs will be overwhelmed at some point during this pandemic," Watson says. "So it's worth considering what that means for contact tracing whether it means that more federal support is needed, more reserve staff or different approaches to contact tracing when transmission gets really high."

More than half of states that responded to the survey said they plan to hire still more contact tracers, even seven months into the response. In all, states reported plans to bring on more than 3,500 workers.

"I think it means they can now see the value of it both for actually contributing to disease suppression and for delivering really valuable data, intelligence and knowledge," Allen says. "They realize they need to catch up."

One state that said that increased cases were causing delays in contact tracing efforts was Wisconsin. "We are maximizing limited resources in attending to the surge in number as well as the increased complexity of cases," Elizabeth Goodsitt, a communications specialist wrote in response to the survey.

She noted that "the fluctuations in workload makes staff retention challenging," and funding issues may be hindering local health departments from hiring and training up new staff quickly.

Michigan, which had relied primarily on volunteers to handle contact tracing, has also had to adjust. "This worked really well until colleges and schools led to large increases so we are flexing to more paid staff," Katie Macomber of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services wrote in response to the survey.

4. More states are sharing contact tracing data with the public

Contact tracing is also a tool for understanding where transmission is happening in a community.

"The thing that's incredibly valuable about contact tracing at this point is the literal intelligence the knowledge and understanding that it gives decision-makers," Allen says. "If you can work out that you have a whole cluster coming from one specific kind of activity, then that's what you shut down you have to shut down everything."

In this survey, nearly every state reported gathering transmission information and other metrics from contact tracing. Twenty-two states reported sharing that information publicly on a government website up from 14 states last time.

Watson points out that public information about contact tracing staff numbers is surprisingly less likely to be public than details about transmission.

5. Many states have launched apps but are concerned about public acceptance

The traditional method of contact tracing is people and resource intensive trained public health workers call and interview every person who tests positive and follow up with that person's close contacts for days to ensure that they quarantine.

Since the spring, there has been a great deal of interest in a technological shortcut. North and South Dakota were early adopters of contact tracing apps. Since Google and Apple joined forces to facilitate the creation of contact tracing apps, Virginia has launched one, along with New York and New Jersey.

In all, the new survey found 20 states reported currently using a contact tracing app or related technology, with nine more planning to deploy one in the future. The main concerns states cite about these apps were related to getting the public to use and accept this technology, with privacy concerns close behind.

"I'm curious to see how many people download these apps, how much of a push public health departments put on people adopting them I think really remains to be seen," Watson says.

And it may be difficult to measure how much these apps help curb the spread of the virus, Allen says. "Precisely because they're privacy protective, it's actually very hard to figure out what kind of impact they've had," she explains.

Looking to countries like Switzerland that have been using apps, she says they "definitely catch some cases, but it's at the margins, it's not like it's a transformative thing. It's definitely not the kind of thing that's going to make or break our response."

In other words, there's no getting around the need for many trained public health workers who can do the time-consuming, labor-intensive work of making a lot of phone calls.

6. Still no significant federal resources

States have tried to meet the need for contact tracers without a lot of help or resources from the federal government. Some have relied on volunteers; others have raised money from private philanthropists.

The need is significant. In April, a group of former federal officials who wrote a letter to Congress calling for increased contact tracing support estimated that $12 billion in federal funding would be needed to pay for new hires. There are some efforts in Congress to better fund and coordinate contact tracing, but the prospects of a coronavirus relief bill have grown dim with the election only weeks away.

Watson says that in the face of rising case numbers, members of the public and policymakers might be tempted to "blame contact tracing for failing if transmission starts to run away again and I think it's not fair to put that on contact tracing, especially when it's not been resourced appropriately."

Without this financial support, Allen says the country's contact tracing workforce will likely "just keep inching up," even if coronavirus cases spike.

See original here:

Contact Tracing Survey: US Workforce Surpasses 50,000 But Falls Short Of Need : Shots - Health News - NPR

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) Here is the latest COVID-19 data from the Virginia Department of Health.

According to the health department, Virginia now has 160,805 cases 151,357 confirmed and 9,448 probable. Since yesterday 1,235 new cases have been reported.

A total of people have been hospitalized due to the virus and 3,372 people have reportedly died because of it thats 11 new deaths in the last 24 hours.

The states positivity rate remains at 4.5 percent.

If you would like to get tested for COVID-19, the following testing locations are free.

RICHMOND

CHESTERFIELD

FREDERICKSBURG

Virginia Commonwealth University

As of Oct. 12, the college has reported:

University of Richmond

As of Oct. 12, here is what the college has reported:

James Madison University

The universitys dashboard as of Oct. 9 shows that:

See the rest here:

Coronavirus update: VDH reports more than 1,200 new cases of COVID-19 - 8News

Nearly 22,000 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Greenwood County as of Sunday and local health officials use different types of tests to meet different needs.

Dr. Chris Oxendine at Abbeville Area Medical Center said the best way to break down test types is by ones used to determine acute infection, which includes PCR and antigen testing, and testing to determine if someone had been previously infected, which is testing for antibodies.

PCR, or polymerase chain reaction tests, are considered the most sensitive tests available and are often used in hospital labs and by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

This takes genetic material from the virus and amplifies it, allowing for the increased sensitivity, Oxendine said in an emailed statement. The downside of this test is the turnaround and cost.

AAMC sends samples for these tests out to be completed by state-approved labs, but Oxendine said the hospital will soon be able to run these tests in-house. Hospital staff uses these types of tests in mobile testing events.

Rapid antigen tests are used for point-of-care testing at AAMC, Oxendine said. These test for specific types of proteins that are part of the virus. While these tests are typically less sensitive than a PCR test, the benefit is the results come quicker and they are less expensive, making them more accessible for clinics, nursing homes and other similar settings.

Antibody tests dont check if the patient is sick but instead looks to see if they were infected in the past and have since developed an immune response. AAMC will soon be able to run these tests, and in mid-November will be a part of a DHEC and University of South Carolina prevalence study.

A selection letter will be mailed to a random sample of people across South Carolina, Oxendine said. If the letter recipient chooses to participate they will come to AAMC and have labs taken at no cost to the patient. This information will be shared with the state.

At Self Regional Healthcare, staff members are using four different test platforms, but all are PCR based tests, said Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs Dr. Matt Logan.

Cepheid is a rapid test used mostly for patients being admitted to the hospital, and it yields results in about 45 minutes to 2 hours.

Abbott ID Now is used in Selfs urgent care centers, but once supplies are more readily available, the hospital wants to expand use. The Abbott tests can only be run one at a time, and its less sensitive than other test platforms if the patient is asymptomatic, but it yields results in about 15 minutes.

Since these machines can only run 4-5 tests per hour, it is not appropriate for use in our drive-through testing line, Logan said in an emailed statement.

When available, Self staff use the Panther test platform for drive-thru testing. Its a rapid test that allows batches of specimens to be run at the same time, with results sometimes available the same day. The most common test at the drive-thru line, however, is still the DHEC swab. These cotton swabs are sent off to a testing lab, and yield results within two or three days.

All of the above tests are frequently in short supply in the U.S., so there are days when we must make substitutions based on what we can source at the time, Logan said. We do have ability to test for COVID-19 antibodies in the blood, however, testing for antibodies is not appropriate to diagnose acute COVID-19 infection. This is because developing antibodies after infection with COVID-19 takes time and the response is variable from person to person.

Work is still underway to develop and improve testing platforms, along with the continued work on developing a vaccine for the virus. For now, however, health officials are still recommending hand hygiene, wearing masks and social distancing as the main ways to avoid getting sick or spreading the virus.

Contact staff writer Damian Dominguez at 864-634-7548 or follow on Twitter @IJDDOMINGUEZ.

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Hospital officials go over the types of COVID-19 tests used - Index-Journal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will try to put his bout with COVID-19 behind him when he returns to the campaign trail on Monday, beginning a three-week sprint to the Nov. 3 election with a rally in the vital battleground state of Florida.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump, with bandages seen on his hand, takes off his face mask as he comes out on a White House balcony to speak to supporters gathered on the South Lawn for a campaign rally that the White House is calling a "peaceful protest" in Washington, U.S., October 10, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

The event at an airport in Sanford, Florida, will be Trumps first campaign rally since he disclosed on Oct. 2 that he tested positive for COVID-19. Trump, who spent three days in the hospital for treatment, said on Sunday he was fully recovered and no longer infectious, but did not say directly whether he had tested negative for the virus.

The Republican president is seeking to change the dynamics of a race that opinion polls show he is losing to Democratic rival Joe Biden just 21 days before Election Day.

For months, Trump had worked furiously to shift public attention away from the virus and his handling of the pandemic, which has infected nearly 7.7 million people in the United States, killed more than 214,000 and put millions out of work.

But his own illness has put the spotlight squarely on his coronavirus response during the closing stretch of the race.

Biden, in a sign of fresh optimism as he leads Trump in national and many key state polls, heads on Monday to Ohio, a state Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2016. It is Bidens second campaign trip in as many weeks to Ohio, which was once thought out of reach but where polls now show a tight race.

Trumps rally in Florida, and planned rallies in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Iowa on Wednesday and North Carolina on Thursday, will be watched closely to see whether the president has changed his approach to campaigning since contracting the virus.

He has been criticized for failing to encourage supporters at campaign events, and even White House staff, to wear protective masks and abide by social-distancing guidelines. At least 11 close Trump aides have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump, speaking from a White House balcony on Saturday, urged hundreds of largely Black and Latino supporters to help get out the vote. Standing alone, Trump was not wearing a mask as he spoke. Most in the crowd were wearing masks but not following social-distancing guidelines.

Asked on Saturday if Trump should be resuming rallies, Biden said it was important that he makes it clear to all those in attendance the importance of staying socially distanced and wearing masks.

Thats the only responsible thing to do, Biden told reporters.

Trump told Fox News in an interview on Sunday that he felt good and pointed to his physicians memo from Saturday saying he had taken a test showing he was no longer infectious.

I passed the highest test, the highest standards, and Im in great shape, Trump told Sunday Morning Futures.

Trump also said, without producing evidence, that he was now immune, an assertion that drew a flag from Twitter for violating the social media platforms rules about misleading information related to COVID-19.

The scientific research has been inconclusive on how long people who have recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies and are protected from a second infection.

Most recent polls in Florida, where a Trump loss would dramatically narrow his path to re-election, show Biden with a small lead. Trump won Florida over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 by just 1.2 percentage points, which helped propel him to the White House.

On his visit to Ohio, Biden will deliver a speech in Toledo meant to undermine what polls show is Trumps last greatest strength, the view among some voters that the former real estate entrepreneur is better on handling the economy.

Biden also will attend a get-out-the-vote event in Cincinnati, his campaign said.

Trump has pulled back his advertising in Ohio in recent days, while Biden has increased his, another sign of the opportunity the former vice president and his fellow Democrats see to make more states competitive than they initially imagined.

Reporting by John Whitesides; Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney

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Trump tries to put COVID-19 behind him with campaign rally in Florida - Reuters