As New York Citys Covid-19 Lockdown Nears, Confusion and Anger Reign The New York Times
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As New York Citys Covid-19 Lockdown Nears, Confusion and Anger Reign - The New York Times
The state has released the names of the members of its COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group, which will be responsible for advising the governor on distribution strategies and communicating with residents about the vaccine, Governor Ned Lamont said Friday.
The group's meetings are expected to start in mid-October and be open to the public.
The state Department of Public Health will oversee the group.
Full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it impacts you
With the pharmaceutical industry fast-tracking a Covid-19 vaccine, some have questioned whether the public can trust that it is safe. But Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts says people can rely on the scientific community to approve a vaccine that can be trusted.
The COVAX facility is a global effort to find, develop and distribute a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine to every country in the world. But the U.S. has declined to participate due to President Trumps lack of confidence in the World Health Organization. But can an America-first strategy for vaccine development work? The New York Times takes a closer look.
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Governor Announces Members of Connecticut COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group - NBC Connecticut
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) The Minnesota Department of Health announced its opening the states second COVID-19 saliva testing site in Winona on Wednesday.
Free saliva tests will be offered at the Winona Mall starting Oct. 14, and will be offered to any Minnesotan who believes they need to be tested including those not showing symptoms.
We cant let down our guard in our battle against COVID-19, said Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm. Saliva testing offers Minnesotans another option for seeking out testing when they need it. Increased access to testing and identifying positive cases as early as possible is a critical way to slow the spread of COVID-19, and to keep schools and the economy as open as possible.
The Winona Mall site will be open five days a week. Wednesday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
People are encouraged to make an appointment through the registration website, but walk-ins are welcome.
Health officials recommend those who are being tested to avoid eating, drinking, chewing, or smoking for at least 30 minutes prior to providing a sample.
Once at the site, they will self-administer the test by spitting into a funnel attached to a small tube. Clinic staff will be available on-site to monitor the collection process and ensure there is enough saliva to be tested.
Our saliva test is one of the most reliable COVID-19 tests available with a 99% effective rate, said Jason Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Vault Health. Its comfortable to take and can be done without in-person interactions, meaning no risk of virus transmission and no need for PPE to conduct the test.
Results are provided by email within 48 to 72 hours after being tested.
The state opened the first saliva testing site in Duluth on Sept. 23. Since opening, more than 7,000 people have been tested. State officials plan to open as many as eight more sites across the state in coming weeks.
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Minnesotas Second COVID-19 Saliva Testing Site To Open In Winona - CBS Minnesota
Already the most exhausting season in history, the 2020 NFL campaign now peeks its head around the corner into Week 5 amid cacophonous calamity.
Every morning brings fresh news of positive COVID-19 tests, schedule delays, amended protocols, questions that spawn more questions. Two games were postponed last week, and two more already have been postponed this week. The Tennessee Titans are under investigation and have been banned from their own facility for 10 days so far. The New England Patriots' two best players have tested positive for the coronavirus, and they haven't practiced yet this week after playing on Monday night. Both teams' Week 5 opponents wait for final word on whether and when they might play. No one knows where the next COVID-19-related issue will start, only that it will, and bring with it even more questions and complications.
It feels like a lot. It is.
But we're all in this together, so I thought this week I'd try to help put some things into perspective. The vast majority of the reporting I'm doing on the NFL these days is COVID-19-related, so let's apply some of what I've learned to some of the bigger questions you might have:
There have been positive tests on several teams, but so far only the Titans have experienced a full-fledged outbreak. There were only 58 positive tests (20 players, 38 other team personnel) among more than 330,000 NFL tests administered between Aug. 1 and Sept. 26. There were 26 positives (11 players, 15 personnel) between Sept. 27 and Oct. 3, and the bulk of those came from Tennessee.
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"We have said all along that we expect positive cases," NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills said in a statement Wednesday. "As long as the virus is endemic in our communities, we will see new cases among our teams. Risk mitigation, not elimination, is the key. Our protocols are designed to quickly identify new cases, get individuals the care they need and prevent further spread of the virus."
The overall testing numbers support the NFL/NFL Players Association (NFLPA) belief that the protocols will work if they're followed. The Tennessee outbreak merits investigation into whether the Titans were following them. If they weren't, the league must make public the manner of the violations and the scope of the resulting discipline so that other teams know what can't be tolerated in an effort to play this season to its completion.
More outbreaks would mean more concern, and the potential for the season to shut down either temporarily or permanently. So they'll keep watching the Patriots, who've had three player positives in the past week. And they'll keep testing the Chiefs, who played the Patriots on Monday and so far have returned no positive tests. And they'll take at least some degree of instructive comfort from the fact that the Vikings, who played the Titans in Week 3, didn't have any positives after that game. And they'll apply all of this to the protocols as they continue to amend and enforce them where necessary.
An outbreak on one team isn't enough to force cancellation of the season. The past two weeks have tested the league's nerve, and its ability to pass that test as it continues over the coming months will be key to the season's survival and success.
As we wrote before the season began, flexibility is key. The Steelers-Titans Week 4 game was easy to move. It slides back to Week 7, when the Titans would have had their bye, while the Week 7 Steelers-Ravens game slides back to Week 8, when those two teams would have had their byes. The Patriots and Chiefs were able to move their Week 4 game back one day, from Sunday to Monday, in the wake of Cam Newton's positive test last Friday. The league is juggling Week 5 and Week 6 schedules but so far believes it can get away with changing dates, and not weeks, for Bills-Titans, Broncos-Patriots and Chiefs-Bills.
It won't always be this easy. After this week, four teams -- the Packers, Lions, Titans and Steelers -- will already have had their bye weeks. After next week, four more will have, and so on. As the bye weeks disappear, so do the easiest ways to reschedule games.
That means every team is going to have to stay loose and be prepared for imperfect solutions. Example: Bills-Titans this week couldn't move back from Sunday to Monday because the Bills' Week 6 game against the Chiefs was supposed to be on Thursday night three days later. So they moved Bills-Titans to Tuesday and Chiefs-Bills to the following Sunday. It's not necessarily fair to the teams, but everyone involved has to accept that some degree of unfairness will invade this season. It's either an imperfect, unfair season or no season at all.
The league could push back the start of the playoffs and dump all of the rescheduled games into a suddenly vacant "Week 18." It might end up having no choice. But the NFL isn't in love with that idea, mainly because it could create a situation in which the top-seeded playoff team in each conference -- which gets a first-round bye -- would go three weeks between its final regular-season game and its first playoff game. To which I say, OK, then let's play with the schedule some more. Move the current Week 17 schedule back to Week 18 and then dump the rescheduled games into what used to be Week 17. Then the 1-seeds would still get their byes but wouldn't have such a gap between the regular season and the start of their postseason. And any team that didn't have to reschedule would effectively get an extra bye week right at the end of the season.
Or, here's my suggestion: For this year only, go to eight playoff teams per conference, with no team getting a bye week. Let's March Madness this thing. The TV networks that have to rearrange things in-season would get bonus playoff games, and more paths to the playoffs might be nice in a year in which teams have endured so much disruption. Look, baseball cut to a 60-game season with seven-inning doubleheaders. The NBA went to Disney World to finish its season and didn't even invite every team. It's 2020. Things are weird. Lean into it. The goofiest solution might turn out to be the best.
The notion of sequestering every team in a hotel for the remainder of the season, allowing players and staff to leave only for practice, games and travel to road games, has been floated in multiple places. As of Thursday, it was not under consideration by the NFL. Players don't want to be away from their families that long, and there's some belief among NFL and NFLPA leadership that the number of people that would have to be in each "bubble" could raise, rather than lower, the likelihood of quick spread within a team. Argue with the logic all you want, but this is the way the league and the players are thinking on this, and again, they believe the protocols as established will work if they are followed.
Everything you need this week: Full schedule | Standings Depth charts for every team Transactions | Injuries Football Power Index rankings More NFL coverage
"It is critically important that we do not grow complacent in our rigorous application of measures proven to be impactful: always wearing face coverings, maintaining physical distancing and practicing healthy hand hygiene," Sills' statement on Wednesday continued. "This 2020 season, our common opponent is COVID -- it's all of us together versus the virus."
As for the idea of an NBA-style bubble with every team in it in one location? Where, exactly? Mars? When the NBA went to Orlando, Florida, each team was allowed to bring 37 people, including 17 players. Of the league's 30 teams, only 22 went. So that's a total of 814 people, plus officials, league personnel, media, etc. An NFL team has 53 players, plus 16 on the practice squad, and upward of 20 coaches. So that's 89 people per team before you even factor in executives or equipment staff. There are 32 NFL teams. Multiply 32 by 89 and you get 2,848 people, just counting players and coaches.
The situations are simply not comparable. There's no conceivable location that could have housed it, and the cost would have been enough to stagger even the mighty NFL. Never a possibility. No, this is going to have to work the way it's set up or not at all.
Something clearly went wrong in Tennessee, which has had 23 positive tests for COVID-19 since Sept. 24, and league and union investigators are working on finding out what it was. They're looking at video footage from around the facility to see whether mask guidelines were being obeyed. They're contact tracing to try to figure out how much of the spread was the result of the team flight to Minnesota. They want to find out whether rules were broken, which ones and by whom. We already know that players gathered for an in-person workout on Sept. 30 after the league informed the Titans (and the Vikings) on Sept. 29 that they weren't permitted to do so. But assessing blame and assigning punishment for that one piece of the situation isn't as important as figuring out how the outbreak started and blossomed in the first place.
If the Titans violated league protocols, and the resulting outbreak created all of this disruption to an already-fragile season, they will and should be subject to discipline. That could mean fines for players and/or coaches. It could mean suspensions for players and/or coaches. It could mean loss or alteration of draft picks. A league memo earlier this week even said teams could have to forfeit games if their bad behavior results in significant disruption to the schedule and to other teams.
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Adam Schefter reports on another Titans player testing positive for the coronavirus Thursday morning and predicts how Tennessee's Week 5 matchup vs. the Bills could play out.
The league doesn't want to have to impose forfeits. They see that as a last-resort measure in the event that rescheduling becomes impossible and a team's behavior is egregious. Per the agreement between the NFL and NFLPA, players don't get paid for games that aren't played because of COVID-19, which means they'd be penalizing the opposing team as well. So forfeiting is a long shot. But the word is right there in the official league memo, so the threat of it is real. If that doesn't get the attention of coaches and players, I'm not sure what will.
This was never going to be easy. It wasn't easy for the NBA, and it's at the finish line of its season. It wasn't easy for MLB, where multiple teams endured outbreaks once the season began and games had to be rescheduled all over the place, but the league has made it to its postseason. The NFL and the NFLPA spent six months, from March to August, negotiating the conditions under which a season could be played amid a pandemic, and they entered the season as prepared as possible but still knowing they couldn't possibly be prepared for everything. What they're trying to do can be done. It's going to require patience and sacrifice and flexibility on the part of everyone involved -- from the coaches to the players to the fans. Anyone who thinks they have a simple solution -- Make the Titans forfeit! Put the teams in bubbles! Add an extra bye week! Shut the whole thing down! -- is wrong.
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This has already been an exhausting season, and we're only a month into it. It's going to continue to be exhausting, because constant vigilance can't help but be so. The premise under which we're all operating is that it will be worth it, because we love football and want to be able to watch it (or play it, or coach it, whatever the case is). The past couple of weeks have been worrisome, but they haven't been devastating. Sixty-four of the sixty-five games that were supposed to be played by now have been played. Players who have tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered and returned to practices and games. Most everybody seems to have grasped the message and decided that forgoing some parts of their personal lives is the necessary cost if they want to keep working.
And so the NFL presses on, well aware that this might not work but determined to try. We won't know for sure whether the 2020 season can be completed until it has. The evidence we have so far shows us that it won't be easy but that it's not impossible.
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TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., October 7,2020, there have been 602,802 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 17,139 totalcases and 369 deaths.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 56-year old male from KanawhaCounty, a 65-year old male from Kanawha County, a 67-year old male from WyomingCounty, a 72-year old female from Harrison County, and an 81 year old male fromFayette County. It takes each of us doing our part to slow the spread of this disease,said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Our sympathies are extended tothe families of these West Virginians.
CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(116), Berkeley (1,148), Boone (262), Braxton (16), Brooke (124), Cabell (930),Calhoun (28), Clay (43), Doddridge (36), Fayette (664), Gilmer (49), Grant(163), Greenbrier (138), Hampshire (112), Hancock (160), Hardy (95), Harrison(473), Jackson (298), Jefferson (463), Kanawha (2,965), Lewis (42), Lincoln(191), Logan (673), Marion (311), Marshall (186), Mason (151), McDowell (96),Mercer (441), Mineral (179), Mingo (414), Monongalia (2,119), Monroe (155),Morgan (67), Nicholas (129), Ohio (392), Pendleton (54), Pleasants (20),Pocahontas (60), Preston (162), Putnam (647), Raleigh (571), Randolph (281),Ritchie (13), Roane (59), Summers (59), Taylor (150), Tucker (43), Tyler (17),Upshur (146), Wayne (425), Webster (9), Wetzel (65), Wirt (12), Wood (387),Wyoming (130).
Please note that delays may be experienced withthe reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As casesurveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal thatthose tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or eventhe state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to betested. Such is the case of Mercer and Waynecounties in this report.
Pleasevisit the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.
Free COVID-19 testinglocations are available today in Berkeley,Harrison, Kanawha, Logan, Mason, Monongalia, Putnam, Taylor, Wayne, and Wyomingcounties:
Berkeley County, October7, 4:30 PM 7:30 PM, Mountain Ridge Middle School, 2771 Gerrardstown Road, Gerrardstown,WV
Harrison County, October7, 10:00 AM 3:00 PM, Robert C. Byrd High School, 1 Eagle Way, Clarksburg, WV
Kanawha County, October 7,3:00 PM 6:00 PM, Bible Center Church, 1 Bible Center Way, Charleston, WV (flushots offered)
Logan County, October 7, 10:00AM 2:00 PM, Old 84 Lumber Building, 100 Recovery Road, Peach Creek, WV
Mason County, October 7, 4:00PM 6:00 PM, Faith Baptist Church, 2550 2nd Street, Mason, WV
Monongalia County, October7, 9:00 AM 4:00 PM, West Virginia University, Student Recreation Center, 2001Rec Center Drive, Morgantown, WV
Putnam County, October 7,1:00 PM 5:00 PM, Poca Driving Range, 1 Dot Way, Poca, WV
Taylor County, October 7,12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034 Webster Pike (US Rt.119 South), Grafton, WV
Wayne County, October 7, 9:00AM 1:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Ave, Wayne, WV 25570
Wyoming County, October 7,8:30 AM 10:30 AM, Christian Fellowship Worship Center, 1877 Bear Hole Road, Pineville,WV
Testing is available to everyone, includingasymptomatic individuals. For upcoming testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.
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COVID-19 Daily Update 10-7-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
The European health regulator said on Tuesday it would launch a rolling review of the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Pfizer PFE, +0.82% and BioNTech BNTX, +0.74%, days after it announced a similar decision for the competing vaccine of AstraZeneca AZN, -0.26% and the University of Oxford.
- A rolling review means the regulator will start examining the data from laboratory, animal and human testing in real time, without waiting for the whole set to be submitted at the end of the so-called Phase 3 trials.
- This does not mean that a conclusion can be reached yet on the vaccines safety and effectiveness, as much of the evidence is still to be submitted to the committee, the European Medicines Agency said in its release.
- As it did in the AstraZeneca case, the EMA said it had launched the process because preliminary results from nonclinical and early clinical studies in adults (...) suggest that the vaccine triggers the production of antibodies and T cells that target the virus.
- The chief executives of all major global pharmaceuticals companies pledged last month, in an unprecedented joint release, in response to pressure to speed up the research, to continue to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards regarding the conduct of clinical trials and only submit [a vaccine] for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study.
Opinion:AstraZenecas coronavirus vaccine setback shows why Big Pharma prefers to be safe than sorry. Which is good news
The outlook: The rolling review will save time on the approval process, but doesnt change anything to the clinical trials process, which will develop at pace. The regulators decision isnt a political one, and contrary to what has happened in the U.S., there has been no pressure from European governments on the regulator to speed up the approval of vaccines currently being developed. The EMA insists in its release that it will wait for all the data from the completed trials before it makes a decision. But once they are in, the bureaucratic process of decision will be faster than it would have been for an ordinary drug.
Read:Second coronavirus wave could delay Europes recovery: ECB President Lagarde
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With no coronavirus vaccines approved for full use, many people are turning to vitamins and other supplements to bolster their immune system and help them fight off COVID-19.
While plenty of posts on social media push these supplements as personal coronavirus shields, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, cautioned last month that most so-called immune boosting supplements actually do nothing.
However, there is one supplement that may be of use to the immune system vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin.
If you are deficient in vitamin D, that does have an impact on your susceptibility to infection, Fauci said in an Instagram Live interview with actress Jennifer Garner. So I would not mind recommending and I do it myself taking vitamin D supplements.
Fauci was not speaking about COVID-19 specifically, but about vitamin Ds general role in supporting the immune system in particular, about the benefits of this nutrient for people who are deficient.
Right now, the National Institutes of Health says theres not enough evidence to show that vitamin D can prevent or treat COVID-19.
But there is enough evidence that scientists are exploring the benefits of this and other supplements against the coronavirus.
Earlier research showed that vitamin D reduces the risk of respiratory tract infections other than COVID-19. The benefits varied quite a bit among these studies, but vitamin D supplementation seemed to be more helpful for people who were deficient in this nutrient.
More recent research suggests that vitamin D deficiency may increase the risk of coronavirus infection and severity of COVID-19.
For example, some studies found that COVID-19 deaths tend to be higher in countries farther away from the equator, where many people are deficient in vitamin D due to the reduced amount of sunlight, especially during winter.
We make vitamin D by being exposed to sunlight, and in the colder months people can become deficient, said Nicole Avena, PhD, an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
Many factors could account for the greater number of COVID-19 cases in more northerly latitudes. But a study published last month in JAMA Network Open reinforces the importance of vitamin D for a healthy immune system.
In our study, patients who have lower vitamin D levels were more likely to test positive for COVID-19, said study author Dr. David Meltzer, a professor of medicine at The University of Chicago Medicine.
This trend still held when they tried to control for other factors age, obesity, other medical conditions that might worsen COVID-19 and are linked to lower vitamin D levels.
Other studies show that patients with lower vitamin D levels who are diagnosed with COVID-19 tend to have worse outcomes.
One of these was published last month in PLoS ONE. Researchers found that people hospitalized for COVID-19 who were deficient in vitamin D were more likely to have severe symptoms or die from COVID-19.
Not all research, though, supports the link between vitamin D and COVID-19.
A UK biobank study published earlier this year in Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews found no link between vitamin D levels and coronavirus infection.
However, Meltzer and his colleagues pointed out in their paper that the UK researchers measured vitamin D levels up to 14 years before COVID-19 testing and didnt look at whether people had been treated with vitamin D since then.
This could have weakened the observed link between vitamin D levels and coronavirus infection, they wrote.
Scientists are also eyeing other nutrients as potential treatments for COVID-19, including zinc and vitamin C, both touted for their cold-fighting benefits.
In one study, researchers from Spain reported that patients with low blood levels of zinc were more likely to die from COVID-19.
Their results were presented last week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) Conference on Coronavirus Disease. This research has not been peer-reviewed, so it should be viewed with some caution.
All of these studies are observational, meaning researchers collected data on people over time, rather than assigning people to different treatments. That makes it impossible to show a cause-and-effect relationship between vitamin D and COVID-19.
Whats needed are randomized controlled trials (RCTs), the gold standard of clinical research. Some of these are already underway.
In one study carried out in Spain, researchers gave calcifediol, an active form of vitamin D, to 50 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Another group of 26 patients didnt receive vitamin D.
All patients were treated equally with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.
Only one of the patients treated with vitamin D ended up in the intensive care unit, while half of the untreated patients did.
There are some imperfections [to the study] its not a very large study, there are some slight imbalances between the groups but its pretty impressive, said Meltzer.
While this study used vitamin D to treat people who already had COVID-19, Meltzer says the nutrient might work equally well at keeping people out of the hospital.
One possibility is that vitamin D is not preventing COVID-19, he said, but is causing people who are infected to have such minimal symptoms that they never get tested, never get found.
More research is needed to know if this is true.
Two randomized controlled trials starting at the University of Chicago should provide some answers. In both, people will be treated with vitamin D and then followed to see if they contract the coronavirus and how severe their symptoms are.
One trial focuses on healthcare workers. The other will recruit people from the community, with an emphasis on enrolling Black and Hispanic people, who are at high risk for both vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19.
At the Cleveland Clinic, researchers are enrolling people into a study to see if vitamin C or zinc or a combination of the two can reduce the duration of COVID-19 symptoms. Patients will be given the supplements after they have tested positive for COVID-19.
How soon results are available from these studies depends on how quickly researchers can enroll people into the studies. Meltzer says study volunteers are essential for the success of COVID-19 research.
People who can enter clinical trials do a tremendous service to society, he said.
Although Meltzer is enthusiastic about the potential benefits of vitamin D, he cautions that we wont really know until the randomized controlled trials are finished.
This doesnt mean we should let down our guard or not do any of the other things were doing, he said. I certainly wouldnt stop wearing a mask and go to a big party thinking everything was going to be OK because I was taking vitamin D.
Even before these studies are finished, there are good reasons to consider taking a vitamin D supplement.
The vast majority of Americans are vitamin D deficient and could probably benefit from some modest level of vitamin D supplementation, at very little risk, said Meltzer.
In the United States, an estimated 41 percent of adults are deficient in vitamin D. People with darker skin are at greater risk 63 percent of Hispanic people and 82 percent of Black people have low vitamin D levels.
Other factors increase the risk of vitamin D deficiency, including age, limited sun exposure, obesity, and certain medical conditions.
Avena says it is difficult to get enough vitamin D from foods. So taking a supplement may be advised, she says, but always check with your doctor first.
Meltzer says he takes 4,000 international units (IU) per day. The National Institutes of Health says this is the upper limit of what is safe for the vast majority of people.
Dont consume more than 4,000 IU per day of vitamin D without your doctors permission, said Avena. It exceeds the safe upper limits of intake.
Larger doses can be toxic and should only be taken under medical supervision.
Avena says zinc may also be helpful once you feel symptoms of a cold coming on.
She recommends taking between 13.3 milligrams and 23 milligrams of zinc every 2 hours while you have cold symptoms, but no longer than 1 week. This is the dose found in over-the-counter gummies and lozenges.
As with vitamin D, we dont yet know if zinc will reduce symptoms of COVID-19.
While most people get enough zinc from food sources, some groups vegetarians, people with gastrointestinal diseases, people who misuse alcohol are at higher risk of zinc deficiency and might want to consider taking a supplement.
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Alaska on Wednesday reported 116 new cases of COVID-19, according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 dashboard.
One new death reported Wednesday involved a male Anchorage resident in his 70s, the state health department said.
In total, 59 Alaskans have died with COVID-19 since the pandemic began here in March.
Wednesday marked two straight weeks that Alaska has seen new daily case counts exceeding 100, the longest such streak since the pandemic began.
Statewide as of Wednesday, 34 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized while another 12 patients were awaiting test results.
Of the 116 new cases of COVID-19 involving residents, there were 56 in Anchorage; 28 in Fairbanks; five in North Pole; three in Seward; two in Chugiak; two in Kotzebue; two in Juneau; one in Bethel; one in Eagle River; one in Healy; and one in Big Lake.
Among communities smaller than 1,000 not identified to protect confidentiality, there was one new case in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area; one in the Northwest Arctic Borough; and 12 in the Nome Census Area.
No new nonresident cases were reported on Wednesday.
It wasnt clear how many of the people involved in the new cases were showing symptoms of the virus when they tested positive.
In total, 9,861 residents and nonresidents in Alaska have tested positive for the virus since March.
The states test positivity rate as of Wednesday was 4.28% over a seven-day rolling average, the highest it has been. The rate reflects the number of positive results divided by total tests performed. Health officials say levels over 5% may indicate communities arent doing enough testing.
Originally posted here:
Tracking COVID-19 in Alaska: One death and 116 infections reported Wednesday - Anchorage Daily News
Members of the public in Japan will be given a dose of vaccine against the novel coronavirus for free, according to a health ministry policy approved Friday by its advisory panel, in a bid to curb serious and fatal cases of infection.
The policy addresses the first dose for everyone amid uncertainty at this stage over how many times a vaccine would need to be administered.
Photo illustration shows a disposable syringe with hypodermic needle, CORONA VIRUS written on a black board behind. (LightRocket/Getty/Kyodo)
Whether the policy will cover foreign residents in Japan has yet to be officially determined, a ministry official said, while offering his personal opinion that it would be natural to include them for the sake of public health.
The Japanese government is trying to secure enough vaccines by the first half of 2021 to administer to all members of the public, having earmarked a budget of 671.4 billion yen ($6.4 billion).
It has agreed with British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. to receive 120 million doses of vaccine from each company when successfully developed, and is also negotiating with U.S. firm Moderna Inc. for 40 million doses or more.
In case a vaccination causes serious side effects, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to have the state, not companies, redress patients and pay damages through a law revision at an extraordinary Diet session expected to start later this month, it said.
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Coronavirus vaccination to be given for free in Japan - Kyodo News Plus
TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., October 6,2020, there have been 599,040 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 16,936 totalcases and 364 deaths.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 82-year old male from KanawhaCounty, a 64-year old female from Cabell County, and a 72-year old male fromCabell County. We offer our deepest sympathy as our state grieves furtherloss, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.
CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(109), Berkeley (1,118), Boone (259), Braxton (13), Brooke (123), Cabell (914),Calhoun (28), Clay (37), Doddridge (35), Fayette (662), Gilmer (49), Grant(163), Greenbrier (138), Hampshire (112), Hancock (155), Hardy (95), Harrison(464), Jackson (295), Jefferson (451), Kanawha (2,930), Lewis (41), Lincoln(189), Logan (664), Marion (311), Marshall (186), Mason (149), McDowell (96),Mercer (449), Mineral (178), Mingo (410), Monongalia (2,115), Monroe (155),Morgan (65), Nicholas (125), Ohio (384), Pendleton (53), Pleasants (20),Pocahontas (60), Preston (161), Putnam (641), Raleigh (567), Randolph (280),Ritchie (13), Roane (56), Summers (59), Taylor (147), Tucker (43), Tyler (17),Upshur (127), Wayne (426), Webster (9), Wetzel (64), Wirt (12), Wood (384),Wyoming (130).
Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the localhealth department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain countymay not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual inquestion may have crossed the state border to be tested.Suchis the case of Hardy and Wetzel counties in this report.
Pleasevisit the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.
Free COVID-19 testinglocations are available today in Barbour, Boone, Doddridge,Fayette, Kanawha, Marion, Putnam, Taylor, and Upshur counties:
Barbour County, October6, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Barbour County Fair Grounds, 113 Fair Grounds Way,Belington, WV
Boone County, October 6,1:00 PM 4:00 PM, Boone County Health Department, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville,WV
Doddridge County, October6, 1:00 PM 6:00 PM, Doddridge County Park, 1252 Snowbird Road, West Union, WV
Fayette County, October6, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, J.W. and Hazel Ruby WV Welcome Center, 55 Hazel RubyLane, Mt. Hope, WV
Kanawha County, October6, 9:00 AM 3:00 PM, Perrow Presbyterian Church, 5345 Big Tyler Road, CrossLanes, WV, (flu shots offered)
Marion County, October 6,12:00 PM 3:00 PM, Marion County Health Department, 300 Second Street,Fairmont, WV
Putnam County, October 6,9:00 AM 1:00 PM, Teays Valley Baptist Church, 3926 Teays Valley Road,Hurricane, WV
Taylor County, October 6,12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034 Webster Pike (US Rt.119 South), Grafton, WV
Upshur County, October 6,12:00 PM 6:00 PM, Buckhannon-Upshur High School, 270 BU Drive, Buckhannon, WV
Testing is available to everyone, includingasymptomatic individuals. For upcoming testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.
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COVID-19 Daily Update 10-6-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
