Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Controlrevised its COVID-19 guidelineson Monday to include that the novel coronavirus can be spread through aerosols, which "can linger in the air for minutes to hours" and travel farther than six feet.

Until now it was understoodthat the coronavirus is spread is through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes, and experts still believe that is the main way it is spread. But now experts also agree that airborne transmission is a key piece of the COVID-19 puzzle.

"I believe pretty confidently that there is some element [of airborne transmission]," White House advisor Dr. Anthony Faucisaid Wednesday.

Full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it impacts you

Heres how to interpret these new guidelines and stay safe:

So whats the difference between the virus spreading through respiratory droplets and being airborne? It comes down to the size of the dropletsand how they travel.

Respiratory droplets are larger thanaerosolswhich are microscopic droplets or particles. Because of their size and weight, larger respiratory droplets get "sprayed like tiny cannonballs onto nearby individuals" and typically fall to the ground in a matter of seconds, within six feet of the source, according to paper published Monday in the journalScience, whichcalled forstronger public health guidance on how the virus travels and spreads through the air.

Viruses in aerosols, on the other hand, are smaller and dont just drop theyre suspended in the air for minutes or hours and can be inhaled.

An easy way to visualize how these airborne particles act is to think about the way that cigarette smoke lingers and can be inhaled, Linsey Marr, coauthor of the paper and a professor of engineering at Virginia Tech, said in apressconference Monday. Like smoke, aerosols can accumulate in a confined space, like a poorly ventilated room or areas where people are breathing heavily.

Although aerosolized particles are much smaller than droplets, they can be concentrated enough to spread COVID-19 to other people, according to the CDC.

The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is still wear a mask, maintain social distance and avoid large indoor gathering. Remember: The virus is mainly spread through respiratory droplets when people have close contact with one another.

Wearing a standard double-layer cloth face mask can add a layer of protection, because it prevents your respiratory droplets from spreading. But they dont provide enough protection to filter out airborne or aerosolizedparticles, only aN95 respirator can dothat.But the CDC says N95 respirators should be saved forhealth care workers and other medical first responders.

Since airborne spread is a possibility, keep in mind that indoor gatherings (especially in places that are not well ventilated) with people outside your household increase your risk of infection. Going back to the smoking analogy, picture a person smoking a cigarette in the room with you. "What if all of the people in that situation are smoking? Are you going to be exposed? Will you breathe a lot of cigarette smoke? If yes, you need to do something to change the situation," Marr said in therelease.

Beyond wearing a mask and maintaining social distance,using portable air purifiersis one way to reduce airborne contaminants in a space. And simply opening windows to introduce clean air into your space is another way to increase ventilation.

In September, the CDCposted a draft of revised guidelinesthat included information about airborne spread, and then removed the update. The agency said it was still in the process of updating its recommendations when they were published in error.

The new guidelines published Monday cite "published reports showing limited, uncommon circumstances where people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than 6 feet away or shortly after the COVID-19-positive person left an area," the CDC said in astatement.

This article first appeared on CNBC.com. More from CNBC:

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Now the CDC Confirms COVID-19 Is Airborne Here's What That Means for You - NBC10 Boston

Heres what you need to know:Video

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[camera shutters] [from off-camera] Mr. President, how many staff are sick? How many of your staff are sick? [President Trump] Thank you very much. Thank you. [from off-camera] Do you think you might be a superspreader, Mr. President? [camera shutters]

After spending three nights at the Walter Reed medical center, President Trump returned on Monday evening to the White House, where he will continue to receive treatment for Covid-19. His physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, had said earlier in the day that the president was not out of the woods yet.

Mr. Trump, wearing a mask and a suit, passed through the hospitals large golden doors, paused atop a flight of steps and pumped his fist a few times at chest level. He did not respond to shouted questions from the news media as he walked past, unaccompanied. Thank you very much, everybody, he said with a wave.

Mr. Trump then boarded a black S.U.V. that drove him to his presidential helicopter, Marine One, for the short flight to the White House. He offered a thumbs-up just before stepping onto his helicopter, which departed just after 6:45 p.m. for the 10-minute flight.

After landing on the South Lawn, Mr. Trump ascended a flight of stairs and then turned to face his helicopter and the live television cameras and removed his mask before giving the departing Marine One a long salute.

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[no speech]

He then turned and walked into the White House residence without donning his mask. Several masked people, including what appeared to be an official photographer capturing the moment, were inside.

The three major network newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC carried it all live, the kind of blanket television coverage that Mr. Trump relishes. But after climbing the stairs, Mr. Trump appeared to be short of breath.

At a briefing earlier in the day, Dr. Conley said, Over the past 24 hours, the president has continued to improve, adding, Hes met or exceeded all standard hospital discharge criteria.

The presidents doctors evaded some key questions about the presidents condition, including his lung function and the date of his last negative coronavirus test before he tested positive. They said that he had received a third dose of the antiviral drug remdesivir, and that he has continued to take dexamethasone, a steroid drug that has been shown to be beneficial to patients who are very sick with Covid-19.

Were looking to this weekend, Dr. Conley said. If we can get through to Monday, with him remaining the same or improving better yet, then we will all take that final deep sigh of relief.

Dr. Conley did not give a firm answer about whether Mr. Trump would be confined to his residence. The West Wing is experiencing a growing outbreak, with Mr. Trumps press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, joining the list on Monday of his close aides who have tested positive.

The doctors remarks came after Mr. Trump tweeted that he would be returning to the White House, which is equipped with a medical suite. In doing so, as he has throughout the pandemic, he downplayed the seriousness of a virus that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States, writing in his post, Dont be afraid of Covid. Dont let it dominate your life.

After returning home, the president later posted a video on Twitter, where he again downplayed the virus, saying, One thing thats for certain: dont let it dominate you; dont be afraid of it. Youre going to beat it.

That exhortation quickly resonated, with some Democrats, scientists and relatives of victims denouncing the president as cavalier and dismissive about a disease that has killed so many, sickened more than 7.4 million and upended daily life across the country.

It was not the first time Mr. Trump has drawn criticism for being cavalier about the pandemic. On Sunday, when he left his quarters at Walter Reed to wave to supporters from an S.U.V., some doctors and others noted the irresponsibility of being in a sealed vehicle and potentially exposing Secret Service agents for an unnecessary stunt.

Critics also noted the president is receiving care that isnt available to most people, including an experimental antibody treatment that is still being tested in clinical trials and has been given to only a few hundred people.

The manufacturer, Regeneron, has said that most of those who have gotten the cocktail have done so as participants in the trials, although in a handful of cases they have received it outside of the studies, as Mr. Trump did.

Dr. Conley would not discuss the findings of a scan of Mr. Trumps lungs, which can be affected by the respiratory virus. His doctors had earlier said that his blood oxygen levels had dropped at least twice, and that he had received supplemental oxygen, which would indicate that his lungs were not functioning properly.

There are HIPAA rules and regulations that restrict me in sharing certain things for his safety and his own health and reasons, Dr. Conley said, referring to a federal law that restricts what type of patient information health professionals can share. On Sunday, Dr. Conley was also evasive, avoiding questions about whether any lung damage or pneumonia was revealed by the presidents X-rays.

Mr. Trumps return home was a dramatic turn of events given that just a day earlier, his medical team had presented mixed messages about his condition, saying that the president was feeling well but also revealing that he had been prescribed the steroid dexamethasone, which is typically not used unless someone needs mechanical ventilation or supplemental oxygen.

Some medical experts said on Monday that given Mr. Trumps risk factors he is 74, male and overweight he should be closely watched for at least the first week of his infection because some patients quickly deteriorate several days into their illness.

I think it would be disastrous to be in a situation where he gets really sick at the White House, and youre having to emergency transfer him, said Dr. Cline Gounder of N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine, who has been caring for Covid-19 patients. To me, its not safe.

Dr. Mangala Narasimhan, the director of critical care services for Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York State, said that if the president does not need oxygen, it may be reasonable for him to go home, given that he can receive medical treatment at the White House.

But she said the information about his condition was too limited to allow outside experts to assess his condition. Were all guessing, she said.

She, too, warned that Mr. Trump was heading into a critical period. There could be a very rapid decline in these patients, she said, adding that some develop blood clots in their lungs and other pulmonary problems, and need to be quickly put on ventilators.

Public health experts had hoped that President Trump, chastened by his own infection with the coronavirus and the cases that have erupted among his staff members, would act decisively to persuade his supporters that wearing masks and social distancing were essential to protecting themselves and their loved ones.

But instead, tweeting on Monday from the military hospital where he had been receiving state-of-the-art treatment for Covid-19, the president yet again downplayed the deadly threat of the virus.

Dont be afraid of Covid, he wrote. Dont let it dominate your life.

The presidents comments drew outrage from scientists, ethicists and doctors, as well as some people whose relatives and friends were among the nearly 210,000 people who have died in the United States.

I am struggling for words this is crazy, said Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. It is just utterly irresponsible.

Fiana Garza Tulip, 40, who lives in Brooklyn and lost her mother to the virus, wrote in a text message that she was reeling after reading Mr. Trumps tweet, which she described as a slap in the face and a painful reminder that our president is unfit for office and that he does not care about human life.

My mom, a respiratory therapist, couldnt get tested at her hospital where she worked, she had to look for two days for a testing site while feeling the effects of Covid, she didnt want to go to a hospital because she said it was worse there and she didnt want to call an ambulance because it was too expensive. So she stayed home for a week and lost her pulse as soon as the medics put her on a gurney.

Shane Peoples, 41, whose parents, Darlene and Johnny Peoples, died of the coronavirus on the same day in September, said the presidents comments were frustrating.

Is he actually trying to put more lives at risk? Mr. Peoples said. He needs to be held accountable for the deaths that could have been prevented if he never downplayed it.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical School in Tennessee, called the presidents message dangerous because it encouraged his followers to ignore basic recommendations to keep themselves safe.

It will lead to more casual behavior, which will lead to more transmission of the virus, which will lead to more illness, and more illness will lead to more deaths, Dr. Schaffner said.

Mr. Trump has often ignored the recommendations of public health experts, repeatedly mocking people for wearing masks, for example.

I dont wear masks like him, he said of the Democratic presidential candidate, Joseph R. Biden Jr., at a debate last week. Every time you see him, hes got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from them, and he shows up with the biggest mask Ive ever seen.

Upon Mr. Trumps return on Monday evening from the Walter Reed medical center, he climbed the steps of the White House, turned to face the TV cameras that were carrying the news live, and removed his mask.

Top White House officials are blocking strict new federal guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, objecting to a provision that would almost certainly guarantee that no vaccine could be authorized before the election on Nov. 3, according to people familiar with the approval process.

Facing a White House blockade, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking other avenues to ensure that vaccines meet the guidelines. That includes sharing the standards with an outside advisory committee of experts perhaps as soon as this week that is supposed to meet publicly before any vaccine is authorized for emergency use. The hope is that the committee will enforce the guidelines, regardless of the White Houses reaction.

The struggle over the guidelines is part of a monthslong tug of war between the White House and federal agencies on the front lines of the pandemic response. White House officials have repeatedly intervened to shape decisions and public announcements in ways that paint the administrations response to the pandemic in a positive light.

That pattern has dismayed a growing number of career officials and political appointees involved in the administrations fight against a virus that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States.

The vaccine guidelines carry special significance: By refusing to allow the F.D.A. to release them, the White House is undercutting the governments effort to reassure the public that any vaccine will be safe and effective, health experts fear.

The public must have full faith in the scientific process and the rigor of F.D.A.s regulatory oversight if we are to end the pandemic, the biotech industrys trade association pleaded on Thursday, in a letter to President Trumps health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, asking for release of the guidelines.

The coronavirus outbreak in the West Wing continued to spread on Monday, as the White House press secretary and two of her deputies joined the list of aides close to President Trump who have tested positive for the virus, heightening fears that more cases are still to come.

The press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, announced on Twitter that she had tested positive and would be quarantining. Ms. McEnany said she had previously tested negative several times, including every day since Thursday, but health experts said she may have been infectious for days including when she spoke briefly to reporters without a mask outside the White House on Sunday.

Two other members of the press team, Karoline Leavitt and Chad Gilmartin, who is Ms. McEnanys relative, also tested positive but learned about their status before Ms. McEnany, according to two people familiar with the diagnoses.

The revelations came amid many unanswered questions about whether Mr. Trump could relocate to the White House without endangering himself and others and suggested that the White House does not have control of the virus.

Vice President Mike Pence, who tested negative on Sunday, was scheduled to travel to Utah ahead of Wednesday nights vice-presidential debate. Mr. Pence also plans to attend campaign events in Arizona and Florida this week before stopping in his home state of Indiana to vote early.

His doctor said in a statement on Friday that Mr. Pence was not quarantining because, as of that time, he had not been close enough to any individuals known to have the coronavirus for long enough to qualify as a close contact at high risk of infection.

Despite almost daily disclosures of new coronavirus infections among President Trumps close associates, the White House is making little effort to investigate the scope and source of its outbreak.

According to a White House official familiar with the plans, the administration has decided not to trace the contacts of guests and staff members at the Sept. 26 Rose Garden celebration for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Mr. Trumps Supreme Court nominee. At least 11 people who attended the event, including the president and the first lady, have since tested positive.

Instead, it has limited its efforts to notifying people who came in close contact with Mr. Trump in the two days before his Covid diagnosis on Thursday evening. The White House official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the matter, said that the administration was following guidelines from the C.D.C.

The contact tracing efforts have consisted mostly of emails notifying people of potential exposure, rather than the detailed phone conversations necessary to trace all contacts of people who have been exposed. These efforts, typically conducted by the C.D.C., are being run by the White House Medical Unit, a group of about 30 doctors, nurses and physician assistants, headed by Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician.

This is a total abdication of responsibility by the Trump administration, said Dr. Joshua Barocas, a public health expert at Boston University, who has advised the city of Boston on contact tracing. The idea that were not involving the C.D.C. to do contact tracing at this point seems like a massive public health threat.

Two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed online guidance about airborne transmission of the coronavirus, the agency has replaced it with language citing new evidence that the virus can spread beyond six feet indoors, adrift in the air.

These transmissions occurred within enclosed spaces that had inadequate ventilation, the new guidance said. Sometimes the infected person was breathing heavily, for example while singing or exercising.

Notably, the C.D.C.s new guidance softens a previous statement referring to the coronavirus as an airborne virus, a term that may have required hospitals to treat infected patients in specialized rooms and health care workers to wear N95 masks anywhere in a hospital.

The new version says the virus can be spread by both larger droplets and smaller aerosols released when people cough, sneeze, sing, talk, or breathe. But while the virus can be airborne under some circumstances, this is not the primary way the virus spreads.

The C.D.C.s revisions come as the Trump administration is contending with a rising number of such infections among the presidents inner circle. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, announced on Monday morning that she was positive for the coronavirus, the latest in a string of political figures heading into isolation following what may have been a so-called super-spreader event at the White House last month.

Despite the time that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden spent with President Trump during the presidential debate in Cleveland last week, Mr. Biden is continuing to campaign because he did not meet the C.D.C. requirement for close contact less than six feet of distance from an infected person.

But in a statement accompanying the new guidance, the C.D.C. said, People are more likely to become infected the longer and closer they are to a person with Covid-19.

Mr. Trump talked loudly and at length during the debate, which experts said could have released 10 times as much virus as breathing alone.

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On the schools in these areas not all of them have been tested. So we dont have data on all of the schools in these hotspot clusters that troubles me. They have sampled some schools in the clusters, but not all the schools. And these are the hotspot clusters, right? So you have to prioritize testing. You want to go to these schools first because you know they are in hotspot clusters. So some schools in those clusters we have not yet done testing on. Better safe than sorry. I would not send my child to a school in a hotspot cluster that has not been tested, where I did not have proof that the infection rate was low in that school. I would not send my child. I am not going to recommend or allow any New York City family to send their child to a school that I wouldnt send my child. Were going to close the schools in those areas tomorrow.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York refused on Monday to allow New York City to close nonessential businesses in nine hot spots in Brooklyn and Queens where the coronavirus has spiked, pre-empting a plan announced the day before by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The governor suggested that the ZIP codes that were being used to identify hot spots were too imprecise to guide shutdowns. The more pressing problem, he said, lay in schools and houses of worship, including many that cater to Orthodox Jews, rather than businesses that are not large spreaders.

The dissonance in messages from the states two most prominent politicians created confusion for residents, business owners and parents in the affected areas and drew scrutiny to the conflict between city and state over how to tackle early signs of a second wave of the virus in its one-time epicenter.

The governors announcement also seemed to be yet another manifestation of his long feud with Mr. de Blasio. Mr. Cuomo has frequently second-guessed or overruled the mayor, who is also a Democrat, during their tenures. Those clashes were cast in sharp relief during the early days of the pandemic, with the city and state at odds over the timing of shutting down the city businesses and its schools, among other issues.

On Monday, that disconnect continued, as Mr. Cuomo accelerated the mayors plan to close schools in newly hard-hit areas, moving the closure date up a day to Tuesday, and forcing parents in those areas to again rejigger their schedules to accommodate changes in their childrens routines. Mr. Cuomo said he spoke with Mr. de Blasio and Michael Mulgrew, the president of the citys teachers union, among other local officials, on Monday morning and added that all were in agreement on the need for additional data on cases at specific schools.

Mr. Cuomo did not rule out closing nonessential businesses or public spaces in the near future, and top aides suggested a state plan could be unveiled as soon as Tuesday. Mr. Cuomo said his administration was reviewing how best to do it without relying on geographic delineations from ZIP codes, which he said were arbitrary and might not accurately capture the areas where new cases are going up.

A ZIP code is not the best definition of the applicable zone, he said. If you have to circumscribe an area, make sure you have the right boundaries.

Cuomo administration officials later suggested that the boundaries for business closures could even exceed the ZIP codes where the increases are now occurring.

On Monday afternoon, not long after the governors news conference, Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference of his own that he still planned to close nonessential businesses in the nine ZIP codes. He added later that we obviously will follow state law, and if the state does not authorize restrictions were not going to act. But I find that very unlikely at this point.

Mr. Cuomo had also announced that the state would take over supervision of enforcement of mask and social-distancing rules in the hot spot clusters, presumably putting the State Police in charge of New York City Police Department officers. He added that local governments would need to provide personnel.

The mayor said that he did not believe that the state could seize control of enforcement from local governments but that he agreed with Mr. Cuomo on the need for aggressive enforcement and that stronger restrictions that will allow us to turn the tide.

Outside of New York City, the governor said that schools in Rockland and Orange Counties, other hot spots the state has highlighted, could close in the future, but he said that he would first speak with local officials in those areas to decide whether doing so was necessary.

President Trumps declaration that he will leave Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and his impromptu ride in a motorcade around Bethesda, Md. has stunned health professionals. But even if he were not the president, his doctors would have to take extraordinary measures to keep him in the hospital against his will.

Under ordinary circumstances, a patient who wanted to leave the hospital against the recommendation of his or her doctor might be asked to sign a discharge form acknowledging that he or she was declining further treatment. At times, psychiatrists are called in to determine if the patient is capable of making such a decision.

In the medical lexicon, this is called leaving A.M.A. against medical advice. Roughly 2 percent of all patients do so, for varying reasons, often because they need to juggle work and home obligations. If the patient leaving against medical advice had a contagious disease, he or she would be asked to pledge to follow public health guidelines to keep those around him or her safe.

Having an infectious illness itself is not a reason to keep someone in the hospital, said Dr. Leana Wen, a former commissioner of health for the city of Baltimore. But if there is a suspicion that a patient will knowingly and purposefully endanger others, there would need to be a discussion had about keeping that patient in the hospital against his will.

That discussion would be a complicated legal one, governed by state and local public health laws and the Constitution. Both Dr. Wen and Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, raised tuberculosis a highly infectious disease as an applicable analogy.

In Baltimore, Dr. Wen said, the public health department routinely stepped in to ensure that patients in the hospital for tuberculosis treatment were kept there if they gave us reason to believe that if they were to leave that they would not take the medications that were prescribed and then they would be at high risk for infecting others. She said law enforcement often became involved.

In Tennessee, Dr. Schaffner said, doctors would be required to seek permission from a judge. The burden of proof is on the health care system, he said, to document that the person is a substantial hazard to others and then they can be confined until they complete their therapy.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published a handbook on tuberculosis control laws as a guide for medical professionals. Courts have struggled to determine when government authority to promote the populations health justifies encroaching upon established individual rights, the handbook says.

The White House physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, told reporters on Monday that Mr. Trump had not pushed them to do anything that was beyond safe and reasonable practice. And he noted that at the White House, Mr. Trump would have 24-7 world class medical care surrounding him.

Even so, Dr. Conley acknowledged that Mr. Trump is not yet in the clear, and said he would not take that final deep sigh of relief until at least next Monday, because the next few days will be critical. Other experts have raised blunt questions about why Mr. Trump would go home even to the White House so soon after diagnosis, especially given the unpredictable course of Covid-19.

Im worried about in two days he might suddenly crash and then on an emergency basis he would have to be rushed back, Dr. Schaffner said.

He also raised questions about the presidents ride through Bethesda Sunday afternoon. Ordinarily doctors want patients to self-isolate until they are 10 days from the onset of symptoms, and three days without symptoms.

Id be surprised if it were with medical concurrence, Dr. Schaffner said.

Sean P. Conley runs the White House Medical Unit and holds the title of Physician to the President. Conley is also a commander in the Navy, which means his patient is also his commander in chief. The arrangement turns the traditional power dynamic between a doctor and their patient on its head, with Dr. Conley ultimately forced to choose between compliance and disobedience should the president disagree with his recommendations.

The president has been a phenomenal patient during his stay here, and hes been working hand in glove with us and the team, Dr. Conley said at a news conference at Walter Reed, hours before the presidents departure from the hospital Monday afternoon. Conley refused to answer some of the questions asked by reporters, citing medical privacy laws.

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Live Covid-19 Updates on President Trump - The New York Times

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., October 5,2020, there have been 596,040 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 16,742 totalcases and 361 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 53-year old female fromKanawha County, an 86-year old female from Kanawha County, and a 70-year oldfemale from Putnam County. We extend our sympathies as we mourn thisloss to both the families and our state, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR CabinetSecretary.

CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(101), Berkeley (1,103), Boone (254), Braxton (13), Brooke (119), Cabell (905),Calhoun (27), Clay (37), Doddridge (32), Fayette (657), Gilmer (49), Grant(163), Greenbrier (135), Hampshire (111), Hancock (154), Hardy (96), Harrison(451), Jackson (291), Jefferson (451), Kanawha (2,910), Lewis (41), Lincoln(188), Logan (652), Marion (303), Marshall (186), Mason (148), McDowell (96),Mercer (439), Mineral (177), Mingo (399), Monongalia (2,108), Monroe (151),Morgan (65), Nicholas (125), Ohio (381), Pendleton (53), Pleasants (18),Pocahontas (60), Preston (161), Putnam (630), Raleigh (563), Randolph (270),Ritchie (13), Roane (56), Summers (59), Taylor (145), Tucker (43), Tyler (17),Upshur (117), Wayne (421), Webster (8), Wetzel (66), Wirt (12), Wood (382),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 Ohio County in this report.

Pleasevisit the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.

Free COVID-19 testinglocations are available today in Cabell, Taylor and Upshur counties:

Cabell County, October 5,9:00 AM 2:00 PM, Cabell County Health Department, 703 Seventh Avenue,Huntington, WV

Taylor County, October 5,12:00 PM 2:00 PM, First Baptist Church of Grafton, 2034 Webster Pike (US Rt.119 South), Grafton, WV

Upshur County, October 5,12:00 PM 6:00 PM, Buckhannon-Upshur High School, 270 BU Drive, Buckhannon, WV

And Tuesday inBarbour, Boone, Doddridge, Fayette, Marion, Putnam, and Taylor counties:

Barbour County, October6, 10:00 AM 2:00 PM, Barbour County Fair Grounds, 113 Fair Grounds Way,Belington, WV

Boone County, October 6, 1:00PM 4:00 PM, Boone County Health Department, 213 Kenmore Drive, Danville, WV

Doddridge County, October6, 1:00 PM 4:00 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

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

Testing is available to everyone,including asymptomatic individuals. For upcoming testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 10-5-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Amid a flurry of press conferences delivering upbeat news, President Trumps doctors have administered an array of experimental therapies that are typically reserved for the most severe cases of Covid-19. Outside observers were left to puzzle through conflicting messages to determine the seriousness of his condition and how it might inform his treatment plan.

Though Mr. Trump left Walter Reed medical center on Monday night to continue his recovery in the White House, the future of his health status is unclear. Physicians have warned that the president remains at a precarious point in his disease course. The coronavirus can be a tricky adversary and for many people whose cases of Covid-19 are severe, the greatest threat to survival might not be the pathogen itself, but the deadly forces that the body marshals to fight it.

To quash the virus, the immune system unleashes an arsenal of powerful weapons. Sometimes these turn inward and destroy healthy tissues. Combatting this friendly fire has become as crucial a part of the Covid-19 treatment strategy as subduing the virus itself.

From the moment the coronavirus enters the body, the immune system mounts a defense, launching a battalion of cells and molecules against the invader.

Most people who are infected with the coronavirus recover, sometimes without ever experiencing symptoms, and do not progress to severe Covid-19. In some cases, the virus may even be brought under control before it has the chance to become established in the body.

Should the virus gain a foothold, it will swiftly infiltrate cells and repeatedly copy itself until levels of the virus, or the viral load, build up. The viral load may even peak before symptoms appear, if they appear at all.

Still, symptoms like fever, cough, congestion and fatigue all of which have been reported in Mr. Trump signal that an immune response is underway in the body and may be driving the viral load down. Once the immune system has finished the job, symptoms may abate without medical intervention.

In severe cases, however, the clash between the virus and the immune system rages much longer. Other parts of the body, including those not directly affected by the virus, become collateral damage, prompting serious and potentially life-threatening symptoms.

[For more details on the progression of a typical Covid-19 case, see Charting a Coronavirus Infection.]

A typical immune response launches its defense in two phases. First, a cadre of fast-acting fighters rushes to the site of infection and attempts to corral the invader. This so-called innate response buys the rest of the immune system time to mount a second, more tailored attack, called the adaptive response, which kicks in about a week later, around the time the first wave begins to wane.

In people with severe disease, however, the immune system appears to botch the timing. The first wave mobilizes too late and must play a frantic game of catch-up that persists even after reinforcements arrive. Unhindered, levels of virus rise dramatically, perhaps coaxing the immune system into prolonging its siege.

In response to the invading virus, the body rapidly deploys molecules called cytokines that act like microscopic alarms, mobilizing reinforcements from elsewhere in the body. Their arrival generates inflammation; tissues swell with blood and cells, and become warm, red and sore.

If the innate immune system makes early progress against the virus, the infection may be mild. But if the bodys defenses flag, the coronavirus may continue replicating, ratcheting up the viral load. Faced with a growing threat, innate immune cells will continue to call for help, fueling a vicious cycle of recruitment and destruction. Prolonged, excessive inflammation can cause life-threatening damage to vital organs like the heart, kidneys and lungs.

Certain cytokines, such as interferon, can also fortify cells against the coronavirus and curb its spread within the body. But scientists have discovered that the coronavirus may have the ability to delay the rise of interferon, allowing the pathogen to copy itself unchecked in severe cases of Covid-19.

Eventually, a second wave of immune cells and molecules arrives, more targeted than their early counterparts and able to home in on the coronavirus and the cells it infects.

A major contingent of this later wave are antibodies, molecules that can flag the coronavirus for destruction or block it from forcing its way into cells. In severe cases of the disease, antibodies seem to build up earlier and to higher levels than in milder cases. Experts are still unsure what consequences this robust antibody response may have on disease.

Also in the second wave are T cells, which can help immune cells called B cells mature into antibody-making machines or trigger coronavirus-infected cells to self-destruct. Some people might harbor T cells that already recognize the coronavirus, even before these individuals have been infected. Experts dont yet know if these pre-existing T cells play any beneficial roles.

One way for doctors to fight the coronavirus is through experimental treatments that may reduce the amount of virus in the body.

On Friday, the president received an experimental antibody cocktail developed by drug maker Regeneron. The next day he began a course of the antiviral remdesivir. Experts say such treatments might be best administered early in infection, to rein in the virus before it runs amok.

Regenerons product contains two types of monoclonal antibodies synthetic, mass-manufactured mimics of natural antibodies that, in the lab, sequester and neutralize the coronavirus. Monoclonal antibodies have not yet been given an emergency green light from the Food and Drug Administration to treat people infected by the coronavirus. But preliminary results suggest they might be able to reduce viral loads and speed recovery.

Remdesivir, on the other hand, acts on viruses that have already infiltrated cells. It thwarts the process by which the coronavirus replicates by jamming itself into new viral genes. The F.D.A. gave remdesivir emergency clearance to treat severely sick Covid-19 patients in May, after data showed it shortened hospital stays.

Several other treatments might work especially well in the early phase of disease. Some experts have noted that administering interferon shortly after infection could help reset an otherwise discombobulated immune response. But if the molecules are administered after too long of a delay, they could trigger the extreme inflammation found in seriously sick patients.

In severely sick patients, doctors might also administer treatments to tamp down an excessive immune response.

On Sunday, President Trumps doctors reported that he had also received a course of dexamethasone, a steroid that broadly blunts the immune response by curbing the activity of several cytokines. Dexamethasone has been shown to reduce death rates in hospitalized Covid-19 patients who are ill enough to require ventilation or supplemental oxygen. But it is far less likely to help and may even harm patients at an earlier stage of infection, or those who have milder disease. Experts say that administering dexamethasone inappropriately, or too soon, could undermine a helpful immune response, allowing the virus to ravage the body.

Dexamethasone belongs to a class of drugs called corticosteroids, which includes hydrocortisone and methylprednisolone two similar compounds that appear to also benefit severely sick Covid-19 patients.

It remains unclear when Mr. Trump contracted the virus and when his symptoms first appeared. But the acceleration of his treatment strategy strongly suggests that his condition may have been worse than officials or doctors let on.

At 74 years old and about 240 pounds, Mr. Trump occupies a high-risk age group and verges on obesity, a condition that can exacerbate the severity of Covid-19. Men also tend to have a poorer disease prognosis.

Still, many of the factors that drive severe Covid-19 remain mysterious. Several of the treatments Mr. Trump has received are inaccessible to most people, outside of clinical trials studying hospitalized patients who are very sick. To date, no fully F.D.A.-approved treatments for Covid-19 exist. And researchers are still puzzling the dynamics of a successful recovery a line of inquiry complicated by the growing number of Covid-19 survivors who continue to experience symptoms months after their infections have resolved. Whats next for Mr. Trump, and many others like him, is an open question.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Taison Bell, University of Virginia; Deepta Bhattacharya, University of Arizona; Akiko Iwasaki, Yale University; Marion Pepper, University of Washington; Ilan Schwartz, University of Alberta.

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Charting a Covid-19 Immune Response - The New York Times

This is partly the case because trial drugs are usually evaluated based on whether they lower cases of hospitalization. But hospitalization rates may not be the only, nor the best, endpoint for clinical trials not when time is pressing. Hospitalization rates for Covid-19 patients involved in early-treatment trials in the United States have tended to be below 5 percent, which means that a study that hopes to demonstrate a statistically significant difference between a drug and a placebo requires the participation of more than 1,000 people.

Endpoints other than lower hospitalization rates could be set for assessing trials; one of them could be determining whether certain drugs shorten the duration of patients symptoms. Such criteria would allow for still rigorous but much speedier testing involving, say, fewer than 100 participants. Smaller, nimbler studies would also promote comparison among a greater breadth of promising medicines, all with an eye toward getting effective drugs to the market as quickly as possible.

The most crucial area where the search for perfection could come at the expense of the greater good is the development, assessment and licensing of vaccines.

As with antiviral therapies, a vaccine should not be distributed to the public without its safety and efficacy having first been demonstrated in randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. But at issue, again, is how we choose to define efficacy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration typically approves vaccines that are at least 50 percent effective at preventing a disease. But even a vaccine less effective than that could substantially lower the number of cases of coronavirus infection and Covid-19-related deaths, if it were rolled out fast enough and given first to the people most likely to get infected or to infect other people. As others have argued, vaccines dont just prevent a disease; they can stop the pathogen that causes it from being transmitted.

Mass immunization programs benefit not only the people who are vaccinated, but also everyone else, since they are less likely to come into contact with an infected person. For example, the widespread inoculation of children in the United States with a vaccine for the pneumococcus bacterium, a common cause of pneumonia, has been shown to curb deaths and hospitalizations from the disease among adults.

Similarly, some of the people most at risk of developing severe cases of Covid-19 the elderly, the immunocompromised may not adequately respond to a vaccine. But they could nevertheless be shielded by one if a sufficient proportion of the total population were inoculated with it.

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Against the Coronavirus, Imperfect Measures Do the Most Good - The New York Times

The 29-year-old lawyer from Macon, Georgia, was sick through Easter, before eventually clearing the coronavirus, developing antibodies and gradually building up his stamina again by early May.

He donated convalescent plasma on May 18 and received a letter two weeks later confirming that he was positive for coronavirus antibodies. A swab test around that time came back negative for the virus itself.

Life felt like it was returning to normal. He started jogging again and by late June, he felt confident enough to visit his family in South Carolina, where they played tennis and ventured out on a lake in a boat.

But then inexplicably he came down with Covid-19 symptoms again just before the Fourth of July.

He tested positive again

Josey's second round of Covid-19 rendered him almost entirely inactive for four weeks.

He and his internist aren't sure whether the virus was never fully defeated or whether he may have gotten reinfected, perhaps during his weekend trip to see his folks.

His doctor declined to comment for this story, citing concerns about patient privacy.

Whatever the underlying cause, Covid-19 rocked his world again. The disease stole his lung stamina again, but it also presented with symptoms that differed from his first case. It caused fatigue so severe his doctors tested him for mononucleosis. He lost his appetite and dropped weight.

"I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs or go for a walk in my neighborhood," he said.

He spent six weeks in total lockdown quarantine, fearful of passing the virus to others. Fortunately, none of the 15 or 20 people he was exposed to in late June tested positive.

"I joked (to the doctors) when I tested positive round two. I was like, 'Do y'all want to do a case study on me now?' And they were like, 'Probably.'"

Josey continued working in his job practicing law, but only because he could accomplish tasks much of the time while lying down in bed using his laptop. He worried, however, how people waiting tables or landscaping yards might have fared in similar situations, working on their feet all day without access to short-term disability protections.

"I would have lost my job," he said.

But his own case grew more complicated. He tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, a marker often associated with lupus. His lymph nodes visibly swelled around his neck.

A CT scan of his lungs didn't show any scarring, but he was still having trouble taking a full breath.

"In July, I would have been worn out just by talking. I wouldn't have been able to make it through the length of this phone conversation," he said in an interview. "I'm still on steroid inhalers to help keep the shortness of breath at bay."

His various treatments and supplies, including nebulizers, inhalers, breathing medications and a spirometer, keep multiplying.

"I literally told my wife I'm bound to just create a box that's like 'Covid treatment kit' or something," he said. "Let's not get rid of the stuff because I may need to pull it out again for a third time."

Science still emerging around possible reinfections

The fevers, shortness of breath and aches of Josey's apparent second case of Covid-19 were similar to what he felt after he first tested positive and developed his original course of symptoms.

Cases like his are rare.

"People are beginning to question if indeed reinfection does happen not too long after infection," said Dr. Susan Kline, a professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases and international medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. "These reports that have come out have us questioning how many others this has happened to."

It can be common for some families of viruses to go latent and then reactivate. For instance, the varicella-zoster virus can cause chickenpox in children, go dormant and then reactivate as herpes zoster, or shingles, which causes painful rashes in adults.

Previous coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS and seasonal cold bugs, tended not to do that, however. And it seemed unlikely SARS-CoV-2 would reactivate in previously sick people, though the science is still emerging, Kline explained.

"I don't think we have good evidence for that, but we can't rule out that possibility," she said.

Antibodies may not last long

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August issued new guidance explaining that those who test positive for coronavirus do not need to quarantine or get retested for up to three months as long as they do not develop symptoms again. In many cases, it's unclear if someone actually got Covid-19 twice.

The recommendations are "based on the latest science about COVID-19 showing that people can continue to test positive for up to 3 months after diagnosis and not be infectious to others," CDC spokesperson said in August.

The CDC's guidance came after a number of scientific studies produced evidence that coronavirus immunity may not be long-lasting.

They make Josey question what's next in his life.

"If you operate under that three-month rule, do I have any immunity right now, if any, and how long can I expect that to last?" he wondered. "I know that my antibody time from round two is probably coming to a close."

Antibodies may begin to fade just 20 to 30 days after Covid-19 symptoms first appear, one study released in July showed.

Recently, a man in Hong Kong tested positive twice, becoming the world's first officially documented case of coronavirus reinfection after scientists sequenced the genomes of the viral strains that sickened him.

And scientists from the University of Nevada at Reno and the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory reported on August 28 in a pre-print study that a 25-year-old man had tested positive with two distinctly different coronavirus infections.

He became the first official US case of reinfection.

In order to prove that Josey's second case of Covid-19 is also a distinct reinfection, scientists would need to perform genetic sequencing of virus samples to see if his second Covid-19 case emerged from a different virus strain, Kline said.

Remaining hopeful

He is almost entirely back to normal now, but being rocked by illness is seared in his memory.

"When I look back on the year, like I'll be extremely thankful because I do have my life and I've got my health. I've still got a job, and I still have a place to live," Josey said. "A lot of people have been impacted by this and lost everything or lost a loved one."

Exasperated by the twists and turns of his journey, and unable to sleep one night in July, he posted in the Survivor Corps group. Responses poured in with other survivors offering encouragement and retelling what they were going through.

He felt buoyed.

"I try to stay patient and be grateful. They keep me grounded," he said. "I haven't felt isolated or alone."

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This survivor may have had Covid-19 twice - CNN

The Virginia Department of Health reported only 3 deaths statewide from COVID-19 this morning, and one of those was in Martinsville (and one in Danville, too). That's now 21 residents of the city -- one of the least in the state to have a case of the virus -- who have died. VDH tracks deaths by the locality of residence and releases very little other information. There have been 77 deaths in the West Piedmont Health District. The surge in cases in Franklin County again dominated the data from the district, accounting for 15 of 18 new cases. Henry County had the other 3. There were no new hospitalizations. Did you check out the profile of Sharon Ortiz-Garcia, the "detective" who hunts down cases of the novel coronavirus in the West Piedmont Health District? She is the one her verifies and follows the 52 new cases and another death that emerged on Saturday. All attention Sunday of course was on the conflicting information from President Trump's doctors about his condition and his treatment. And there were questions about how the White House was handling contact tracing after the big Rose Garden vent on Saturday. The president also stunningly got into an SUV and drove around to wave at supporters who gathered outside Walter Reed Army Hospital. Some questioned the judgment about that. A poll by The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that there's a wide bipartisan divide over who is responsible for the virus: 56% of Americans say the U.S. government has substantial responsibility, compared to 47% who place that much blame on the governments of other countries and only 39% who say the same about the World Health Organization. New York City is tightening restrictions on certain parts of the city where virus hotspots have emerged. Worldwide cases have exceeded 35 million and in the U.S. probably by Tuesday will surpass 7.5 million.The Virginia Department of Health reportsthis morning there have been 152,557 cases and 3,276 deaths statewide -- up by 3 from Sunday. Some 11,259 people have been hospitalized. Henry County has had 1,107 cases, with 121 hospitalizations and 26 deaths. Martinsville has had 402 cases, with 62 hospitalizations and 21 deaths. Patrick County has had 283 cases including 52 hospitalizations and 26 deaths. Franklin County has had 429 cases, 19 hospitalizations and 4 deaths. Danville has reported 958 cases, and Pittsylvania County has had 1,080.Johns Hopkins University's real-time mapshowed 35,231,182 cases worldwide and 1,037,914 deaths. In the U.S. there have been 7,418,836 cases and 209,734 deaths in the U.S. because of COVID-19.

(181) updates to this series since Updated 14 hrs ago

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Martinsville-region COVID-19/coronavirus daily update from state, nation and world: Oct. 5 - Martinsville Bulletin

The changes were announced in a memo from Commissioner Roger Goodell, obtained by CNN from a league source.

The memo describes the video monitoring system as being used to ensure compliance with the leagues mandate that team personnel wear personal protective equipment at all times while in a team facility or traveling.

Teams were given a stern reminder that they must follow the health and safety protocols already in place or risk the financial consequences and competitive imbalance that would come from missing games.

"If it is determined that club personnel or players failed to have followed the protocols, discipline will be issued and will escalate where noncompliance continues," Goodell writes in the memo. "Protocol violations that result in virus spread requiring adjustments to the schedule or otherwise impacting other teams will result in additional financial and competitive discipline, including the adjustment or loss of draft choices or even the forfeit of a game."

The league levied fines against 10 members of the Las Vegas Raiders, a league source told CNN on Monday. The fines come a week after the 10 Raiders players failed to wear facial coverings while attending a fundraising event hosted by tight end Darren Waller.

Waller was fined $30,000, while his nine teammates were docked $15,000 each. Most notable among those fined $15,000 were quarterback Derek Carr and tight end Jason Witten. The other players fined were Derek Carrier, Zay Jones, Nevin Lawson, Foster Moreau, Nathan Peterman, Hunter Renfrow and Erik Magnuson, who is a member of the team's practice squad.

Derek Carr expressed regret over the situation at a news conference last week.

Carr told reporters, "I hate that a few moments without our masks on led to a story about our team and all this kind of stuff, especially after the fines that were brought on a couple of weeks ago. We felt terrible about that."

Rescheduled games after positive tests

Sunday's Patriots game against the Kansas City Chiefs was rescheduled following positive Covid-19 tests on both teams, the NFL said this weekend. It was being played Monday night.

There were no new positive tests among the two teams reported Monday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told CNN.

The Patriots-Chiefs game was the second this weekend to be rescheduled. The Tennessee Titans' Sunday game against the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed to October 25 after the Titans announced a flurry of positive tests within the organization --10 players and 10 staff members, according to officials -- last week.

CNN's Coy Wire, Wayne Sterling and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

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The NFL will now record players and coaches to make sure they're adhering to coronavirus protocols - CNN

To cope, on Sunday, Covid-19 survivors and families of victims placed 20,000 empty chairs on the lawn across from the White House. The display represented less than a tenth of the US death toll from Covid-19.

It's one of the few formal public remembrances of coronavirus victims in the US since the pandemic began.

The event was spurred by a few things, said Chris Kocher, founder of Covid Survivors for Change: The tragedy of 200,000 lives lost, the six-month mark of the pandemic and the absence of national recognition for those killed by coronavirus.

"We are living through this collective national trauma -- we're six months into the pandemic and still sort of reeling from it," Kocher told CNN. "A big part of compounding people's grief ... is the lack of acknowledgment, lack of recognition."

So the group decided on the National Mall, within view of the White House, as the venue where they'd mourn the dead and call lawmakers to action to prevent further deaths.

People like Lisa Billings, an ER nurse from New York, shared how the virus had touched their lives. Billings' brother, Leo, died from the virus three weeks after his admission to the hospital. His death prompted Billings to connect her patients with their family members over the phone to overcome restrictions on visitors.

The group recruited volunteers to set up the scores of empty chairs -- one chair for every 10 lives lost to coronavirus. Kocher said he wanted a display that "captured the sheer volume of loss," Kocher said.

"The numbers speak for themselves," he said.

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Covid-19 survivors set up 20,000 empty chairs near the White House to remember the more than 200,000 coronavirus victims - CNN

Dola Banerjee homeschools her children in New Delhi in August. Jyoti Kapoor/The India Today Group via Getty hide caption

Dola Banerjee homeschools her children in New Delhi in August.

By now, it's become clear that the coronavirus pandemic is not gender neutral. While men are more likely to die from the virus itself, "in terms of the economic and social fallout, it's really women that are particularly affected," says Silke Staab, a research specialist with U.N. Women.

Around the world, reports of domestic violence have surged dramatically, as women find themselves trapped at home with their abusers. Women also face a massive increase in unpaid caregiving. Meanwhile, research suggests women are also bearing the heaviest economic fallout because they're more likely to work in jobs that lack social protections like unemployment benefits.

"What we really wanted to see is how our governments respond to these challenges," says Staab.

To find out, Staab and her colleagues at U.N. Women, together with the U.N. Development Programme, compiled the COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, released on Monday. The database analyzes more than 2,500 responses to the pandemic in 206 countries and territories from March to August and assesses whether those measures address violence against women and girls, women's economic security and support for unpaid caregiving.

The bad news: Just 12% of countries had measures that addressed all three areas, and 1 in 5 countries hadn't tackled any of them.

But the findings also point to bright spots in the global response. "What the tracker shows is that countries are taking action and that we can learn from what they're doing. And I hope some of the examples can also serve as an inspiration on that front," she says.

We spoke with Staab about what countries are getting right when it comes to addressing the special challenges facing women in three key areas.

"One of the really positive things that the tracker highlights is that many countries 135 in total have taken some sort of measures to respond to the surge in violence against women," Staab says, adding that there's real recognition that the situation is critical for women across the world. "We need to see those recognitions be backed up with more funding."

She says Canada is an exemplar in this area: It has channeled up to $22.5 million toward shelters and sexual assault centers, with an additional $7.5 million in funding for a network of shelters that specifically supports indigenous women and children fleeing violence.

Sweden's response also gets high marks from Staab: The country has provided about $10.5 million in funding directly to shelters and hotlines that combat violence against women, children and LGBT people. That financial commitment is worth highlighting, she says, "because in many countries, these [groups] are the first responders."

Overall, the global response was weakest here: Just 10% of measures explicitly aimed to support women's financial security, Staab says. That's despite the fact that other surveys have found women are more likely than men to report a loss of income during the pandemic.

Around the world, domestic workers 80% of whom are women, according to the International Labour Organization have been particularly hard hit. Many have found themselves dismissed or suspended without pay by employers who are now working from home or perhaps are facing their own financial insecurity, she says. In Latin America, several countries have stepped up with noteworthy responses: Peru and Ecuador have launched public information campaigns to draw attention to the rights of domestic workers. Argentina extended paid leave to this group as well as an emergency relief payment of $155 every 2 months (although the government is now evaluating whether to continue these payments).

"We've also seen, particularly in some African countries, interesting measures to support women businesses and women entrepreneurs," says Staab.

For instance, Egypt, Morocco and Togo are giving cash or subsidized credit to women who work as market vendors or traders in the informal economy as well as to women-led cooperatives. Togo's program is a standout, Staab notes, because it uses a cellphone app to transfer cash, eliminating the need to wait in lines. All three countries are also training and providing other support to women so they can sell their wares, mostly agricultural products, online.

Meanwhile, Morocco has also set up a certification system for women-led cooperatives to make 30,000 reusable masks per day, according to the tracker.

Whether it's caring for kids at home who would otherwise have been in school or daycare, or ministering to a sick loved one, women around the world are shouldering a surge in unpaid caretaking duties. The overall global response in this area "is really in no way commensurate to the crisis," says Staab. Only a third of countries largely in Europe and North America, plus Australia, New Zealand and parts of Latin America have adopted any measures that tackle the burden of unpaid care in any way. "That's really just not enough," Staab says.

Most of the measures related to paid family and sick leave during the pandemic.

Some countries, like Poland, South Korea, Italy and the Cook Islands, are offering cash allowances or stipends to parents caring for children at home because of school and daycare closures. Spain has encouraged telework and allowed workers to adapt and reduce their work hours as necessary to care for dependents. Austria is partly subsidizing up to three weeks of care leave at full pay for employees with kids.

Staab also points to Australia's innovative move at the start of the pandemic to keep afloat childcare centers many of which are small, independent businesses predominantly staffed by women. In exchange for government-relief funds, child care facilities had to stay open and provide free, government-subsidized care to all parents, with priority given to children of essential workers. While Australia has since significantly scaled back these measures, Staab says governments "really need to think about" offering more affordable, subsidized child care options longer term as they work to rebuild their economies.

"We know from previous crises that not only does women's employment suffer a great deal, but it often recovers at a much slower rate than men's when economic growth resumes," she says. "And a lot of that has to do with care responsibilities. And so affordable child care is a key component of any economic recovery strategy."

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UN Tracks How Countries' COVID-19 Responses Are Protecting Women : Goats and Soda - NPR