Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara described his health challenges in going through COVID-19. Video produced Aug. 21, 2020. Wochit

To provide our community with important public safety information, our newsroom is making some stories related to the coronavirus free to read. To support important local journalism like this, please consider becoming a digital subscriber.

The Florida Department of Health reported 94new COVID-19 cases and fivenewdeaths Friday.

Friday's announcement is the largest daily increase in the number of cases since 124 were reported Sept. 19.

The total number of cases on the Treasure Coast increased to 15,981. The cumulative death toll increased to 532. Three new deaths were reported in Martin County, and two new deaths were reported in St. Lucie County. No new deaths were reported inIndian River County.

More: Horseshoe crabs have a vital role in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Here's why.

COVID-19 news on the Treasure Coast:Subscriptions start as low as $39 a year

Health officials have saidthe virus is not necessarily the cause of death, but they record people who at some pointtested positive for the virus and later die.

Here's a breakdown of the latest numbers across the Treasure Coast:

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Check back. To keep up with Treasure Coast-specific news, visit our website often. We will post a daily coronavirus blog on our site. Look at the date in the headline to make sure you have the latest news.

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COVID-19 on Treasure Coast: What you need to know Friday, Sept. 25 - TCPalm

Instead, we are waiting to see whether people are infected organically. This takes time. The longer that trials go on, the more valuable the results. But even if a trial lasted five years, the results wouldnt account for every possible long-term, real-world condition. The process can give only a window into whats likely to happen when billions of people take the product. But do not expect a vaccine to give you 100 percent certainty of protection.

Read: America is running low on a crucial resource for COVID-19 vaccines

Still, if everyone in a population takes a vaccine that is, say, 70 percent effective, the effects add up quickly. The result is a population that is protectedand that more quickly achieves herd immunity than a population with a less effective vaccine. Occasional cases of COVID-19 might arise, but enough people will not contract the virus to prevent widespread outbreaks. When Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, mentioned the possibility of a vaccine being 50 percent effective, he wasnt saying it as though the vaccine would be a failure. He was saying he would consider it a successan intervention worth using, and better than nothing. Though, his hope would be to start with a product thats somewhere closer to 75 percent effective.

No matter how effective the coronavirus vaccines prove to be, their overall impact will ultimately depend on how many people take them. That means how many people have access to them globally, as well as how many people consent to taking them. In a Pew Research Center poll out this week, only 21 percent of Americans surveyed said they would definitely take a vaccine if it were available now. This rate is half of what it was in May, and has decreased in step with the presidents unsubstantiated and impossible claims about a vaccine being widely available before the election. People will rightly require transparency and rigor from their politicians and public-health officials if a vaccine is to be widely trusted and used. The most valuable thing that any population can have in a pandemic is clear, accurate information. Without this, even a mythical, perfectly effective vaccine could fail to stop the pandemic.

Paging Dr. Hamblin is for informational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. By submitting a letter, you are agreeing to let The Atlantic use itin part or in fulland we may edit it for length and/or clarity.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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How Effective Does a Coronavirus Vaccine Need to Be? - The Atlantic

Its been half a year since COVID-19 upended peoples lives in Illinois.

Since businesses sent employees to work from home, and many shut down. Schools closed and shifted classes online. Parents scrambled to juggle both work and their kids learning. Isolation and loneliness set in as people tried to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Buzz words like social distancing became the norm, as well as masks covering most of peoples faces (and littering streets and empty playgrounds).

Illinois public health officials say COVID-19 has so far killed more than 8,500 people in Illinois and infected more than 280,000. Thats just cases that have been confirmed through testing.

WBEZ is revisiting several COVID-19-related health care issues we explored in the past six months to see whats changed or hasnt.

During the height of the pandemic this spring, when hospitals in Chicago were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, some small hospitals, with the least amount of resources and mainly treating low-income people of color, were stuck. They couldnt get many other hospitals to take their patients.

In Illinois, theres no agency coordinating how patients flow from one hospital to another. And theres no agency that has the power to force hospitals to take patient transfers.

The major gap has created a patchwork transfer system that has led hospitals to rely on old friends and connections to help move patients when theyre overwhelmed.

This remains the status quo. But hospitals are no longer brimming with patients sick with the coronavirus.

Still, with a potential uptick in cases in the coming months, its time to fix the issue now, said Illinois State Rep. La Shawn Ford, who represents some West Side communities hit especially hard during the pandemic. He said he plans to propose legislation when lawmakers meet in November to address hospital transfers for COVID-19 patients.

The pressure is not where it was, Ford said. But thats when we have to make sure that we fix it. Weve learned from the times when it was a crisis.

He said the balancing act will be to get more hospitals to take transfers, without overwhelming them.

It could have unintended consequences, Ford said, like patients lingering in emergency departments, waiting longer to get treated.

A spokeswoman from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which regulates hospitals, did not comment.

Norwegian American Hospital in Humboldt Park on the West Side had to work the phones this spring to get patients transferred. One day, Norwegian contacted 21 hospitals, some in suburbs nearly an hours drive from the West Side, and were able to transfer just two patients.

Heather Khan, Norwegians vice president of patient care services, said the hospital is in a better place now, with just two or three COVID-19 patients a day compared to nearly 40 a day for most of April and May.

I think it would take a lot to get to where we were before, because the beds have emptied out, Khan said.

But if and when Norwegian does get slammed again, the hospital would likely work the phones again, leaning on friends at other hospitals, Khan said.

Rush University Medical Center, a teaching hospital on the Near West Side, fielded hundreds of transfers from other hospitals in the spring, including from Norwegian.

Short of new rules that would help hospitals transfer patients, Rush has been partnering with Chicago public health officials to create a dashboard that would show where in real time there are available critical care beds for the sickest patients. The idea is to steer patients to those beds, even though public health officials cant force transfers.

But some hospitals are still reluctant to share that information, said Rushs chief medical officer, Dr. Paul Casey. Many hospitals are in bad financial shape after they had to cancel money-making elective surgeries during the beginning of the pandemic. The idea of having to share where you have a bed available, instead of using it for your own patient who could generate money for a hospital, could be tough for many hospitals.

The threat or the thought for hospitals that just went through a pandemic that independently was an incredibly challenging time, but on top of that taking away the financial driver of being able to do procedures, really leaves a lot of hospitals in a bit of a tailspin from a financial and operational perspective, Casey said.

In May, a WBEZ investigation found a dramatic drop in the number of people seeking medical care since the pandemic took off in March, potentially contributing to the climbing death toll during the pandemic.

Then earlier this month, a national poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard University revealed even more. Of nearly 530 people surveyed in Chicago, more than one in five people said they werent able to get medical care for a serious problem when they needed it during COVID-19. A majority of those respondents said they got sicker because of it.

In the early days of the coronavirus, hospitals told people to stay away. They needed all the available beds for patients with COVID-19. Doctors offices largely moved online, visiting with patients over video or on the phone.

NorthShore University HealthSystem in the northern suburbs was among hospitals where patients stopped showing up. At the time, cardiologist Dr. Mark Ricciardi told WBEZ he believed that some people could be ignoring their symptoms, like chest pain, and dying at home.

Now, Ricciardi said hes busy again and that people are likely more comfortable coming back, especially with constant messaging from hospitals and doctors that they are saf, that they wont get COVID-19 at the hospital or in a doctors office.

In April and May, I think the acuity of patients was worse, Ricciardi said. In other words, they were a little sicker. Now I think that acuity has returned to the level of acuity that we became accustomed to pre-COVID.

The emergency departments at NorthShores four hospitals are busier, too. People are coming back for the usual stuff, such as chest pain, heart attacks and strokes, said Dr. Ernest Wang, chief of emergency medicine.

And while the number of patients with coronavirus NorthShore treats has dwindled, like it has at other hospitals, Wang still worries the deadly disease could come back with a vengeance as people get used to living with it in their communities.

One of my colleagues walked into the ED yesterday and said, COVID is back, Wang said during an interview on Wednesday. I think we havent seen the real sick, dramatic presentations as much, so when we see it

He trailed off.

Another sign more patients are returning to the doctors office? At Esperanza Health Centers, a group of clinics on the Southwest and West sides, the number of deaths for their typically low-income and uninsured patients jumped early on in the pandemic, to 15 deaths in May. By July, the number was back to normal, with around three deaths, said Esperanzas chief medical officer Dr. Andrew Van Wieren.

I see a lot of people who previously were scared to come into the health center now want to come in, Van Wieren said, to get a flu shot or lab work done. I feel like I still do see a pretty significant divide. Some patients still dont want to come in at all. Some patients are willing to come into our health center but not willing to go to the hospital, because they determine thats higher risk in their mind, and then other patients are willing to go anywhere at this point.

When COVID-19 took off in Illinois in March, state public health officials and hospitals advertised top dollar to staff up quickly to treat an expected surge in patients.

Dr. Eileen Murphy, a local obstetrician and gynecologist, was among physicians who were paid some $200 an hour to work at a field hospital set up inside the McCormick Place Convention Center just south of downtown Chicago.

I did meet a fair number of people from out of state, Murphy said, describing her two tours of the field hospital. They literally flew in for the day. One woman was from the Midwest. Another was an ER type doc from Florida. I met a lot of nurses from out of state.

She never ended up working a shift. The field hospital, meant to relieve hospitals by taking their less sick COVID-19 patients, wound down after treating just 38 people. The venture cost about $65 million.

The state ended up hiring at least 400 health care workers to help treat patients in the spring and recruited more than 36,000 volunteers, a spokeswoman said. Some of those contracts have since ended.

Loretto Hospital, a small facility in Austin on the West Side that mainly treats low-income and elderly Black patients, feared that its nurses would get lured by McCormicks high salaries. CEO George Miller said that didnt end up happening, though the hospital did lose a group of physicians to the field hospital that were meant to staff Lorettos emergency department.

Now hes in hiring mode for more nurses.

We thought when flu came, theres going to be a second wave, Miller said. Were preparing for that.

University of Chicago Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Hyde Park on the South Side, has hired more than 200 nurses since June to fill vacancies and beef up staffing in the coming months. And the University of Illinois Hospital on the Near West Side plans to add at least 160 nurses as part of a tentative deal with its unionized nurses after they went on strike for a week.

But as some hospitals hustle to recruit more employees, other facilities are cutting staff or pay, even as COVID-19 could flare in the coming months.

Nobody wants to talk about this because theyre frankly afraid of losing their jobs, said Dr. Jay Chauhan, a head and neck surgeon in the suburbs and past president of the Chicago Medical Society. And really, where are you going to go?

To cut $187 million from its budget, the Cook County Health system is closing two clinics, suspending inpatient pediatric care at one of its hospitals and converting the emergency department at its other hospital into a 24-hour standby department. The health system is the largest provider of medical care by far than any other hospital in the area for people who cant afford to pay for it.

Mercy Hospital in Bronzeville on the Near South Side plans to close entirely next year.

Ironically, Mercys planned closure has been a boon for another financially-stretch hospital: Roseland Community on the Far South Side. CEO Tim Egan said hes fielding calls and resumes from Mercy employees as he looks to staff up. He recently hired a Mercy physician to be the medical director of Roselands emergency department.

Jaline Gerardin, an assistant professor at Northwestern University who models COVID-19 data for Illinois public health officials, is keeping a close eye on whether Illinois could have another bump in COVID-19 cases.

Intervention fatigue is a real thing, Gerardin said. If there is an increase in transmission, are we going to detect it quickly, or are we going to only notice it once theres already kind of substantial transmission and more hospitalizations and deaths happening?

And then theres the flu colliding with COVID-19 this fall and winter. Doctors are pushing flu shots, hoping to control the spread of one disease while scientists work to create a coronavirus vaccine. Then figure out a way to get the public vaccinated.

Another thing doctors are focusing on while waiting for a vaccine? Testing more people for COVID-19 to contain the spread.

Kristen Schorsch covers public health on WBEZs government and politics desk. Follow her @kschorsch.

See original here:

As Winter Approaches, Are Chicagos Health Care Systems Better Prepared For COVID-19? - WBEZ

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the first pandemic in history in which technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, informed, productive and connected.At the same time, the technology we rely on to keep connected and informed is enabling and amplifying an infodemic that continues to undermine the global response and jeopardizes measures to control the pandemic.

An infodemic is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance alternative agendas of groups or individuals. Mis- and disinformation can be harmful to peoples physical and mental health; increase stigmatization; threaten precious health gains; and lead to poor observance of public health measures, thus reducing their effectiveness and endangering countries ability to stop the pandemic.

Misinformation costs lives. Without the appropriate trust and correct information, diagnostic tests go unused, immunization campaigns (or campaigns to promote effective vaccines) will not meet their targets, and the virus will continue to thrive.

Furthermore, disinformation is polarizing public debate on topics related to COVID-19; amplifying hate speech; heightening the risk of conflict, violence and human rights violations; and threatening long-terms prospects for advancing democracy, human rights and social cohesion.

In this context, the UN Secretary- General launched the United Nations Communications Response initiative to combat the spread of mis- and disinformation in April 2020. The UN also issued a Guidance Note on Addressing and Countering COVID-19 related Hate Speech (11 May 2020).

At the World Health Assembly in May 2020, WHO Member States passed Resolution WHA73.1 on the COVID-19 response. The Resolution recognizes that managing the infodemic is a critical part of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic: it calls on Member States to provide reliable COVID-19 content, take measures to counter mis- and disinformation and leverage digital technologies across the response. The Resolution also calls on international organizations to address mis- and disinformation in the digital sphere, work to prevent harmful cyber activities undermining the health response and support the provision of science-based data to the public.

The UN system and civil society organizations are using their collective expertise and knowledge to respond to the infodemic. At the same time, as the pandemic continues to create uncertainty and anxiety, there is an urgent need for stronger action to manage the infodemic, and for a coordinated approach among states, multi-lateral organizations, civil society and all other actors who have a clear role and responsibility in combatting mis- and disinformation.

We call on Member States to develop and implement action plans to manage the infodemic by promoting the timely dissemination of accurate information, based on science and evidence, to all communities, and in particular high-risk groups; and preventing the spread, and combating, mis- and disinformation while respecting freedom of expression.

We urge Member States to engage and listen to their communities as they develop their national action plans, and to empower communities to develop solutions and resilience against mis- and disinformation.

We further call on all other stakeholders - including the media and social media platforms through which mis- and disinformation are disseminated, researchers and technologists who can design and build effective strategies and tools to respond to the infodemic, civil society leaders and influencers - to collaborate with the UN system, with Member States and with each other, and to further strengthen their actions to disseminate accurate information and prevent the spread of mis- and disinformation.

Originally posted here:

Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: Promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformation - World Health...

WHO, the UN, UNICEF, UNAIDS, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UNESCO, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN Global Pulse initiative and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), together with the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Uruguay held a webinar on the margins of the 75th UN General Assembly to draw attention to the harm being done by the spread of misinformation and disinformation, the latter being deliberate misinformation to advance an agenda.

As soon as the virus spread across the globe, inaccurate and even dangerous messages proliferated wildly over social media, leaving people confused, misled and ill-advised, said UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres. Our initiative, called Verified, is fighting misinformation with truth. We work with media partners, individuals, influencers and social media platforms to spread content that promotes science, offers solutions and inspires solidarity. This will be especially critical as we work to build public confidence in the safety and efficacy of future COVID-19 vaccines. We need a peoples vaccine that is affordable and available to all.

Misinformation and disinformation put health and lives at risk, and undermine trust in science, in institutions and in health systems, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. To fight the pandemic we need trust and solidarity and when there is mistrust, there is much less solidarity. False information is hindering the response to the pandemic so we must join forces to fight it and to promote science-based public health advice. The same principles that apply to responding to COVID-19 apply to managing the infodemic. We need to prevent, detect and respond to it, together and in solidarity.

On top of the immediate impact on pandemic responses, disinformation is undermining public trust in democratic processes and institutions and exacerbating social divides, said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. Its one of the most concerning governance challenges of our time. UNDP is actively collaborating with Member States, fellow UN agencies, and other partners to find holistic responses which respect human rights.

Misinformation is one of the fastest growing challenges facing children today, said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. It takes advantage of the cracks in trust in societies and institutions and deepens them further, undermines confidence in science and medicine, and divides communities. In its most pernicious forms, such as when it convinces parents not to vaccinate their children, it can even be fatal. Because misinformation is more a symptom than a sickness, countering it requires more than just providing truth. It also requires trust between leaders, communities and individuals.

We can beat COVID-19 only with facts, science and community solidarity, said Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima. Misinformation is perpetuating stigma and discrimination and must not come in the way of ensuring that human rights are protected and people at risk and those marginalized have access to health and social protection services.

Since the start of the pandemic, UNESCO has mobilised its international networks of media partners, journalists, fact-checkers, community radio stations, and experts, to give citizens the means to fight against false information and rumours phenomena that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, said Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General. Collective mobilisation to promote quality and reliable information, while strictly ensuring respect for freedom of expression, is essential. A free, independent and pluralistic press is more necessary than ever.

Trust is a cornerstone of our digital world, said Houlin Zhao, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union. Building on the long-standing WHO-ITU BeHe@lthy BeMobile initiative, ITU has been working with national ministries of telecommunications and health and mobile network operators since the beginning of this crisis to text people who may not have access to the internet, providing them with science- and evidence-based COVID-19 health advice directly on their mobile phones.

WHO and partners urged countries to engage and listen to their communities as they develop their national action plans, and to empower communities to build trust and resilience against false information.

Engaging communities on how they perceive the disease and response is critical to building trust and ending outbreaks, said Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Secretary General. If our response does not reflect the communities concerns and perceptions, we will not be seen as relevant or trusted by affected populations, and the epidemic response risks failure. More than ever, local responders are at the forefront of this crisis. We need to recognize the incredible role they play in understanding and acting on local knowledge and community feedback.

The co-hosts also called on the media, social media platforms, civil society leaders and influencers to strengthen their actions to disseminate accurate information and prevent the spread of misinformation and disinformation. Access to accurate information and the free exchange of ideas online and offline are key to enabling effective and credible public health responses.

"UN Global Pulse was set up a decade ago inside the UN System to pioneer the use of real-time and predictive insights to protect vulnerable communities in times of crisis, said Robert Kirkpatrick, Director of UN Global Pulse, the United Nations Secretary-Generals initiative on big data and artificial intelligence (AI). During this pandemic we have seen a tremendous increase in requests for advanced analytics from across the UN System and Member States. We will continue to work with WHO and other partners to help identify and combat mis- and disinformation.

Note to Editors

WHO defines an infodemic as an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes accurate information as well as mis- and disinformation.

In May 2020, WHO Member States passed Resolution WHA73.1 on the COVID-19 response at the World Health Assembly. The Resolution recognises that managing the infodemic is a critical part of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic: it calls on Member States to provide reliable COVID-19 content, take measures to counter mis- and disinformation and leverage digital technologies across the response. The Resolution also called on international organisations to address mis- and disinformation in the digital sphere, work to prevent harmful cyber activities undermining the health response and support the provision of science-based data to the public.

Read the rest here:

COVID-19 pandemic: countries urged to take stronger action to stop spread of harmful information - World Health Organization

The horseshoe crab, with its blue blood and helmet-like shell, is like a real-life dinosaur. Their blood is widely used for research. Fort Myers News-Press

The horseshoe crab's fluorescent blue blood is its best line of defense against toxins. For 40 years, humans have harnessed that same power to help keep us safe.

GREENVILLE, S.C. Allen Burgenson had a job, his father explained as they stood on the sand.

This was Allen's first fishing trip, but he wasn't going to take anything from the bay. Hewas to return the water's gifts to the deep, where they'd belonged for hundreds of millions of years.

If he spotted a horseshoe crab on its back, his father said as he held Allen's hand, that meant it was in trouble and needed Allen's help to get home. Allen just had to flip it over. Its10legs could make it the rest of the way back to the crashing waves.

Allen did just that on that day in 1963 in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, when he was 3years old. That's what he still does today. Whenever Burgenson enjoys a stroll along the East Coast, he is still a lookout for the stranded sea creature that's unlike anything else on the planet.

In 1963, Burgensondidn't know that inside each of those ancient animals he saved was something that would help save millions of us during his lifetime.

In 2020, the horseshoe crab is poised to assume a vital role in a drug the whole world awaits, a COVID-19 vaccine.

Without masks and a vaccine, we could reach Herd Immunity from COVID-19, but deaths would skyrocket. We break down the science of it. USA TODAY

Around the same time Burgenson was a boy on a beach,Jack Levin and Frederik Bang collaborated on horseshoe crab blood experiments. Their work led to a process that channels the almost magical force of the horseshoe crab's immune system, one that's helped the animal survive longer than most of the species that ever roamed the Earth or scurried across the ocean floor.

Since the late 1970s,horseshoe crab blood has been approved to make what's called the Limulus amebocyte lysate test, or the LAL test an alarm system triggered by a type ofbacteria that can cause fever, and in some cases,death.

It works like this: A mixtureof lysate is made from the horseshoe crab's amebocyte or blood cells. That fluid is added to whatever material a researcher is testing for safety. Depending on the test, the fluid willeither clot or change color to signal the presence of a dangerous toxin.

John Dubczak, an executive director with Charles RiverLaboratories, one of the companies licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce the LAL test, said it"has unequivocally elevated the quality and safety of injectable pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices, and that includes all of vaccines that protect us."

The crab usually no bigger than about 19 inches across, has a significance that outsizes its foot or claw print.The Limulus polyphemus, or Atlantic horseshoe crab, lives only up and down the East Coast and a small part of Central America. Less than half a million horseshoe crabs were brought to biomedical facilities in 2018, according to the most recently published data from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

"The world's health care can thank the horseshoe crab," Burgenson said.

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On Sept. 16, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a Senate panel that a vaccine might not be ready until next year. On thesame day he testified, the novel coronavirus cases totaled about 30 million globally, and there were about 942,000 associated deaths.

No matter what vaccine in trial wins the race to market, LAL will be the standard to test the safety of any materials that go into the medication, as well as the final product itself. All of that LAL will come from four production facilities in South Carolina, Massachusetts, Maryland and Virginia.

The demand of 5 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses won't be a burden, said Burgenson, chair of the Horseshoe Crabs Advisory Panel to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. He estimated that at most,the facilities would need about three days of normal production to provide the material needed to test the vaccine's safety, and one of those days of productionto test the vaccine itself.

This gift will be given by an animal that's been long misunderstood and maligned, said Burgenson, a microbiologist with almost 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

The horseshoe crab has long been overlooked and overfished. Humans are the biggest threat to theinvertebrate whose ancestry traces to the age before the dinosaurs, more than400 millionyears before humans walked the Earth.

And when we did finally meet them, we didn'teven get the thing's name right. Turns out, the horseshoe crab is not even a crab.

Tampa officials closed Ben T. Davis beach in July 2008 after dead fish and horseshoe crabs washed up on shore.(Photo: Chris O'Meara, AP)

Horseshoe crabs are more closely related to the spider than the crab, saidDaniel Sasson, assistant marine scientist at South Carolina's Department of Natural Resources. Like the spider, it has a lot of legs and eyes and pincer claws they use to feed.

That's not to say they don't have anything in common with the crab. Like a crustacean, theyshed an exoskeleton as they grow. You might have seen one washed ashore, especially after a storm.

It's got something that looks like a tail called atelson used to flip over the body, which can weigh 10 pounds. It's not poisonous. It's not a weapon, even though it looks scary enough to show up in a sci-fi scene.

All these attributes add up to one rugged, hardened tank-looking thing.Asteroids and volcanoes haven't even been able to take them out.

The blue blood is its best line of defense. Cells essentially builda fortress in seconds.

Amoebocytes, a type of blood cell, can "detect any outside particle," Sasson said, and once they do, they spring into action, whether the enemy invader is in the bloodstream or a wound outside of the body.

"How quickly the blood coagulated around the wound was amazing," he said. "Say you break off a piece of a claw. You'd see a little bit of blood for, you know, 10,15 seconds. And then it would stop because it would already have coagulated completely where the wound was."

Each year, the horseshoe crab crawls to the beaches to reproduce, and this ritual provides a rich and unusual opportunity for up-close study on beaches from Mexico to Florida, Georgia to Maine.

The peak is typically during evening high tides under a full or new moon. Females will lay about 4,000 greenish eggs, each about the size of the head of a pin. She might lay several clusters over the course of the season, up to 100,000 in all.

Some males arrive on land attached to the female's back. Others join them to compete to mate. They will huddle together, often in clusters of five or six. In Delaware Bay, the clusters are big enough to call galaxies.

Sasson saw the spectacle once. He heard it first.

"You could hear the clacking of their shells from, you know, way before you got to the beach," he said. Hundreds of thousands will swarm the beaches, he said. A dozen to 20 might pile up on top of each other within a few feet.

Horseshoe crabs, which mate year-round but more frequently in March and April, hook up in April 2019 on the south side of the Titusville Causeway east of the Max Brewer Bridge in Florida. Citizen scientists Laurilee Thompson and Bill Klein counted 5,000 crabs.(Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)

South Carolina has some of the strictest and earliest horseshoe crab protections in the country. Since the early 1990s, state law prohibits anyone from even holding a horseshoe crab without a permit.

The horseshoe crab populationhas been stable or growing for many years. The state keeps count, doing a random survey by trawling annually.

Other regions don't fare as well. New York's stock assessment is poor. Factors that contribute to marine animal population decline range from pollution to loss of coastal habitat from development or the rising seas.

Concern for the horseshoe crab's future spiked in the late 1990s. The red knot shorebird population was declining, signaling trouble on the horseshoe crab front. The migratory birds relyon the horseshoe crab eggs for fuel to fly about 20,000 miles each year.

In Delaware Bay, as many as a million of thebirds will stop to gorge themselves during spawning, often doubling their weight.

Subsequent regulations and other protections have helped both the red knot and horseshoe crab numbers bounce back. That's not been the case on the other side of the globe.

The Atlantic horseshoe crab's Asian cousins have been decimated in some places, Burgenson said.They do not enjoy the same legal protections. In Asia, the horseshoe crab is used for medical purposes, bait and food.

When it comes to the conservation effort, the horseshoe crab does have a bit of an image problem. All the things that make it a survivor the hard covering, the spiky tail, the bright, blue blood make it not cute and cuddly.

Burgenson does what he can to change people's perspective. He even gave his grand-niece a plush toy version of the horseshoe crab for her crib collection.

He leads educationallectures as the chair of the horseshoe advisory panel. This month,he's doing a Zoom talk about the role of the horseshoe crab in the COVID-19 vaccine.

And he still flips upside-down horseshoe crabs when he sees them.

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Horseshoe crabs have a vital role in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Here's why - USA TODAY

From Sept. 22 to Sept. 28, our Student Opinion column will be devoted to the issues well be discussing in our Civil Conversation Challenge, but, as always, any teenager is invited to respond. We hope youll not only post your own thoughts, but also reply to the comments of others.

Should masks be worn by all Americans? Should schools reopen with in-person classes? Have state and local governments been too quick or too slow to lift restrictions on public activity? Should we rush to make and distribute a coronavirus vaccine, even if it means skipping or shortening trials?

These are just some of the questions we hope you will explore in this Student Opinion forum, part of our Civil Conversation Challenge.

Some background on the issue:

As of Sept. 23, there have been over 6.8 million cases of coronavirus and over 200,000 deaths in the United States. The country represents only 4 percent of the worlds population yet accounts for roughly 20 percent of all confirmed deaths.

The economic effect on the United States has been devastating as well. Over 40 million people have lost their jobs since March 2020 and the countrys G.D.P. fell 9.5 percent from April to June the biggest contraction in U.S. history.

But these numbers only scratch the surface. The virus has upended our lives in ways that would have been unimaginable one year ago from how we work and play, to how we go to school, see our families and friends, cook, greet each other and exercise.

President Trump, who declared himself a wartime president, has talked about his travel ban on China in late January, declaration of national emergency in mid-March, and push for vaccines and treatments as major achievements. He has declared his handling of the pandemic as phenomenal, and stated We have done a job, the likes of which nobody has ever done.

However, critics charge that Mr. Trump misled the public by downplaying the virus, comparing it to the flu and saying that it would go away. He resisted masks, sidelined experts, held large rallies, denounced lockdowns and failed to get tests and protective equipment ready.

And now, only weeks away from the presidential election, the choice between Democrats and Republicans has become, in many ways, a referendum on President Trumps handling of the pandemic.

Do you think President Trump has provided effective leadership during the pandemic? How might a Biden administration handle the crisis differently? What would a second term for President Trump mean for our ongoing fight against the pandemic? Do you think Republicans or Democrats have better ideas on how to combat the coronavirus and revitalize the economy?

Where to learn more:

To keep this list manageable, were focusing on the candidates positions and New York Times resources, but we encourage you to consult a variety of reliable sources to learn about this topic.

_________

Possible questions to address:

Why does this topic interest you? How have your experiences shaped your opinions? What questions or concerns does this topic raise for you?

How has the pandemic affected you, your family or your community? In what ways has it disrupted or changed your education? How has it changed who you are and how you view the world?

Do you think our leaders have served us well during this crisis? How would you rate President Trumps response? Congresss? How well have your state and local leaders responded? What policies and actions have been effective, in your opinion? Which ones have been ineffective, or even harmful? Why?

How should the government support the economy, workers and families during the pandemic? The pandemic has devastated the American economy. Some sectors, like restaurants, travel and live entertainment, have been hit hard and millions have lost their jobs. Others, like online shopping and home renovations, have been booming. The federal government has provided some relief for suffering businesses and people who have lost their jobs, including direct payments to taxpayers, increased unemployment benefits and loans to small businesses. Many argue that more relief is needed, though Democrats and Republicans are struggling to agree on what kind and how much. In addition, many public health experts argue that the best way to stabilize the economy and get people back to work is to get the pandemic under control, which the United States has failed to do on the whole. What measures do you think are most important to support the economy? To support workers and families?

How do you think existing inequalities in our society have shaped the pandemics physical, social and economic toll? An Op-Ed from April argues:

The pandemic may have reminded Americans that they were all still bound together. But it also began demonstrating, day by day, how dangerously far apart they were.

Sick people, lacking paid leave, couldnt afford to stop working. Others who lost their jobs lost their health insurance, too. White-collar workers on lockdown discovered they were counting on people without health care to endanger themselves by delivering food. Poor children began falling behind in school because their parents couldnt afford internet access. African-Americans in states like Louisiana began dying in numbers out of all proportion to their share of the population.

What weaknesses in our society have been exposed by the pandemic? And what can we do to address those inequalities to strengthen our society?

What should education look like as we navigate this pandemic? The New York Times Magazine asks, Will this be a lost year for Americas children? The pandemic has disrupted traditional schooling for millions of children, with cities and suburbs across the country switching to remote-only or hybrid models of instruction. How can leaders on local, state and federal levels better support the nations most vulnerable students: homeless students, those who do not have access to computers, laptops or the internet and students with special needs? What role should the president play to support students, teachers, parents and schools during the pandemic?

What should be our countrys approach to masks? In our increasingly polarized country, even mask wearing has become a deeply politicized issue. Most public health experts believe that wearing masks in public helps to slow the transmission of the coronavirus. Mr. Biden has said every American should wear a mask while outside for at least the near term and that all governors should mandate mask wearing. President Trump, on the other hand, has ridiculed mask wearing at times and mocked Mr. Biden for his mask wearing at a campaign rally. Is this political divide about wearing masks, that has sometimes even turned violent, inevitable? How should we balance individual freedom and liberty and the needs of the larger community?

How should we balance safety and urgency in developing a coronavirus vaccine? Researchers across the world are racing to produce a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine. Currently, 37 vaccines are being tested in clinical trials on humans, and at least 91 vaccines are in the preclinical phase. Mr. Trump has made optimistic assertions that a vaccine could be ready before the Nov. 3 election, but many scientists, regulators and public health experts are concerned that the rush to distribute a vaccine before it has been fully tested for safety and efficacy is potentially dangerous. Mr. Biden has accused the president of trying to rush out a vaccine for electoral gain. Are you concerned that politics and the United States election might affect the vaccine approval process? Should drug manufacturers push ahead to make and distribute a coronavirus vaccine, even if it means skipping or shortening trials?

What does the future look like? How should we prepare? What steps should our government leaders take? In the Opinion essay What the Fall and Winter of the Pandemic Will Look Like, Jeneen Interlandi, a member of the Times editorial board, writes:

Its safe to assume that case counts will rise in the coming months, as colder weather forces more people indoors (in the North, at least) and as more students and teachers return to in-person schooling. Colleges are already grappling with outbreaks, and infected students are already returning home to seed a further spread in their own communities.

Are you optimistic about the next phase of the pandemic? Will countries like the United States see the virus slow in the months ahead? Or is a new surge on the way? Do you think new restrictions and lockdowns are coming? Can businesses, workers and the nation survive another round of shutdowns and closures?

Students 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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Civil Conversation Challenge for Teenagers, Forum 2: Covid-19 and Our National Response - The New York Times

News Release

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Trial evaluating investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.

A fourth Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun enrolling adult volunteers. The trial is designed to evaluate if the investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (JNJ-78436725) can prevent symptomatic COVID-19 after a single dose regimen. Up to 60,000 volunteers will be enrolled in the trial at up to nearly 215 clinical research sites in the United States and internationally.

The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnsondeveloped the investigational vaccine (also known as Ad.26.COV2.S) and is leading the clinical trial as regulatory sponsor. Janssen, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, are funding the trial.

U.S. and international trial sites part of the NIAID-supported COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) will participate in the trial. The CoVPN is composed of existing NIAID-supported clinical research networks with infectious disease expertise and designed for rapid and thorough evaluation of vaccine candidates and monoclonal antibodiesfor the prevention of COVID-19.

Four COVID-19 vaccine candidates are in Phase 3 clinical testing in the United States just over eight months after SARS-CoV-2 was identified. This is an unprecedented feat for the scientific community made possible by decades of progress in vaccine technology and a coordinated, strategic approach across government, industry and academia, said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. It is likely that multiple COVID-19 vaccine regimens will be required to meet the global need. The Janssen candidate has showed promise in early-stage testing and may be especially useful in controlling the pandemic if shown to be protective after a single dose.

The Janssen vaccine candidate is a recombinant vector vaccine that uses a human adenovirus to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in cells. Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that cause the common cold. However, the adenovirus vector used in the vaccine candidate has been modified so that it can no longer replicate in humans and cause disease. Janssen uses the same vector in the first dose of its prime-boost vaccine regimen against Ebola virus disease (Ad26.ZEBOV and MVA-BN-Filo) that was recently granted marketing authorization by the European Commission.

Preclinical findings published in Nature show that the investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine induced neutralizing antibody responses in rhesus macaques and provided complete or near-complete protection against virus infection in the lungs and nose following SARS-CoV-2 challenge. The safety, reactogenicity and immunogenicity of the investigational vaccine are being evaluated in a Phase 1/2a trial in the United States and Belgium enrolling adult volunteers. Positive interim results from the Phase 1/2a clinical study demonstrated that the safety profile and immunogenicity after a single vaccination were supportive of further development.

Scientific partners from government, industry and academia are working hand-in-hand to develop safe, effective vaccines to put this pandemic in our rear-view mirror, said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. While administrative steps are being streamlined to speed the process, safety and effectiveness measures are just as rigorous than ever.

The Phase 3 trial is being conducted in collaboration with Operation Warp Speed (OWS), a multi-agency collaboration overseen by HHS and the Department of Defense that aims to accelerate the development, manufacturing and distribution of medical countermeasures for COVID-19. OWS and CoVPN also are assisting with additional COVID-19 preventive candidate vaccines, including mRNA-1273, an investigational vaccine co-developed by NIAID and the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna, Inc., and AZD1222, a vaccine candidate being developed by United Kingdom-based biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

To have just one candidate vaccine in Phase 3 trials less than a year after a virus was first reported would be a remarkable accomplishment; to have four candidates at that stage is extraordinary, said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. By building a portfolio of candidate vaccines, Operation Warp Speed is maximizing the chances that we will have substantial supplies of a safe and effective vaccineand maybe multiple vaccine optionsby January 2021.

The Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public-private partnership helped to ensure the protocols of all NIH- and OWS-supported Phase 3 trials of investigational vaccines use the same assays and are designed to evaluate the same primary objective: whether the vaccine can prevent symptomatic COVID-19. This approach enables transparent evaluation of the relative performance of each vaccine approach across trials.

Paul A. Goepfert, M.D., director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic at the University of Alabama in Birmingham; Beatriz Grinsztejn, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Clinical Research on HIV/AIDS at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Glenda E. Gray, M.B.B.Ch., president and chief executive officer of the South African Medical Research Council and co-principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), will serve as principal investigators for the Phase 3 trial of the investigational Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.

Volunteers must provide informed consent to participate in the trial. After providing a baseline nasopharyngeal and blood sample, participants will be assigned at random to receive either a single dose of the investigational vaccine or a saline placebo. The trial is blinded, meaning neither investigators nor participants will know who is receiving the investigational vaccine. Participants will be followed closely for safety and will be asked to provide additional blood samples at specified time points after the injection and over two years. Scientists will analyze the blood samples to detect and quantify immune responses to COVID-19. Of note, specialized assays will be used that can distinguish between immunity as a result of natural infection and vaccine-induced immunity.

The trial is designed primarily to determine if the investigational vaccine can prevent moderate to severe COVID-19 after a single dose. It also aims to understand if the vaccine can prevent COVID-19 requiring medical intervention and if the vaccine can prevent milder cases of COVID-19 and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.

An independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) will provide oversight to ensure the safe and ethical conduct of the study. All Phase 3 clinical trials of candidate vaccines supported through Operation Warp Speed are overseen by a common DSMB developed in consultation with ACTIV.

Adults who are interested in joining this study can visit Coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org or ClinicalTrials.gov and search identifier NCT04505722.

About the COVID-19 Prevention Network: The COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) was formed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health to respond to the global pandemic. Through the CoVPN, NIAID is leveraging the infectious disease expertise of its existing research networks and global partners to address the pressing need for vaccines and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. CoVPN will work to develop and conduct studies to ensure rapid and thorough evaluation of vaccines and antibodies for the prevention of COVID-19. The CoVPN is headquartered at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. For more information about the CoVPN, visit: coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org.

About HHS, ASPR, and BARDA: HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of ASPR is to save lives and protect Americans from 21st century health security threats. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in the innovation, advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats. To date, BARDA-supported products have achieved 55 FDA approvals, licensures or clearances. To learn more about federal support for the nationwide COVID-19 response, visit http://www.coronavirus.gov.

About Operation Warp Speed:OWS is a partnership among components of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, engaging with private firms and other federal agencies, and coordinating among existing HHS-wide efforts to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.

About the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases:NIAID conducts and supports research at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on theNIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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Fourth large-scale COVID-19 vaccine trial begins in the United States - National Institutes of Health

As pharmaceutical companies race to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine, many people are wary of a shot that is working its way through the approval process at record speed duringa highly politicized pandemic, NBC News reports. While some professions could require employees to get the vaccine, experts say schools almost certainly will require students to potentially setting the stage for a showdown between reluctant parents and education officials.

"We want to make sure kids return to in-person learning as quickly as possible, and we do see a vaccine playing a huge part in the process," said school law attorney Brian Schwartz, an adjunct professor of education law at the University of Illinois Springfield. "This is going to be a huge issue, and I don't think most people understand that yet."

It is an especially delicate time for parents to hesitate about vaccinating their children. Vaccines have long been a hot button issue, particularly as a small but vociferous group has spread false information, such as the debunked myth that themeasles-mumps-rubella shotcauses autism.

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

As with other vaccines, the decision whether to require one for COVID-19 in schools will be made at the state and school district levels. While all 50 states require student vaccinations, a patchwork of laws allows for parental objections: All states allow for exemptions for children with medical reasons, and 45 states plus Washington, D.C., grant exemptions on the basis of religious objections,according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. On top of that, 15 states allow for philosophical exemptions for people who object to immunizations on the basis of personal, moral or other grounds.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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Many Parents Are Hesitant to Give Their Kids a COVID-19 Vaccine. What If Schools Require It? - NBC Southern California

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., September 23,2020, there have been 525,236 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 14,504 totalcases and 319 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 91-year old female from KanawhaCounty and an 80-yearold male from Kanawha County. The continued loss of West Virginia livesweighs heavily on all of us, with the greatest sadness borne by family andfriends, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour(48), Berkeley (952), Boone (203), Braxton (13), Brooke (111), Cabell (741),Calhoun (25), Clay (36), Doddridge (18), Fayette (580), Gilmer (33), Grant(152), Greenbrier (124), Hampshire (103), Hancock (142), Hardy (82), Harrison(344), Jackson (252), Jefferson (425), Kanawha (2,415), Lewis (38), Lincoln(157), Logan (588), Marion (259), Marshall (163), Mason (138), McDowell (80),Mercer (404), Mineral (171), Mingo (367), Monongalia (1,948), Monroe (147),Morgan (53), Nicholas (96), Ohio (359), Pendleton (52), Pleasants (16),Pocahontas (59), Preston (150), Putnam (522), Raleigh (487), Randolph (237),Ritchie (11), Roane (49), Summers (46), Taylor (120), Tucker (17), Tyler (15),Upshur (63), Wayne (367), Webster (7), Wetzel (50), Wirt (12), Wood (354),Wyoming (103).

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 Brooke and Hancock counties in this report.

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

Free COVID-19 testing locations areavailable today in Boone, Logan, Mingo, Monongalia, Putnam and Wayne counties:

Boone County, September23, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Whitesville Fire Department, 1190 Raleigh Street,Whitesville, WV

Logan County, September23, 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Old 84 Lumber Building, 100 Recovery Road, Peach Creek,WV

Mingo County, September23, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Larry Joe Harless Center, 202 Larry Joe Harless Drive,Gilbert, WV

Monongalia County,September 23, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, West Virginia University, Student RecreationCenter, 2001 Rec Center Drive, Morgantown, WV

Putnam County, September23, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Winfield High School, 3022 Winfield Road, Winfield, WV

Wayne County, September23, 9:00 AM 1:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Avenue,Wayne, WV

Testingis available to everyone, including asymptomatic individuals. Upcoming testingevents will be held this week in Cabell, Jackson, Marion, Summers, and Wyomingcounties. For more testing locations, pleasevisit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 9-23-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources