Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

Until the pandemic closed the doors in March, Gonzalo Guoron Tzian, 52, was a hospitality monitor with the Sacred Sleep Program for unhoused people at St. Johns The Evangelist Episcopal Church on 15th Street at Julian.

He arrived every morning at 5:45 a.m., threw open the church doors at 6 a.m., and welcomed 50 to 90 tired souls, up all night in the cold and the madness, to sleep safely in the pews till early afternoon.

My best moments are welcoming everyone in: HELLO, GOOD MORNING, COME IN, HAVE A REST, HAVE SOME FOOD, and I call them by their names. Many prefer their nicknames, so I learned those!

We have Chinese, Latino, Black and White. We even have Mayans from Guatemala, like me! We have old and young. Very old and very young. LGBTQ. Men, women. I put out mattresses on the pews, I make fresh coffee, I cut up the donated bread and pastries, I distribute hygiene kits, I make everyone feel comfortable in the sanctuary.

Illustration by Rini Templeton.

Guoron hadnt had much success overcoming his PTSD and depression until he began working as a bilingual peer counselor with the homeless, many of them suffering from similar maladies.

He was born into a family that has deep roots in the Mayan community of Guatemala. He speaks his native Mayan Kaqchikel, Spanish and English, and he loves teaching Kaqchikel.

Hed been a human rights activist and community organizer in his native Guatemala until, in 2003, a close colleague in his organization was assassinated and he had to flee in 2008, leaving behind two small daughters and his wife.

He made his way to San Francisco in 2010 and lived, as he puts it, from street to shelter, from street to shelter, sometimes from street to SRO to shelter, sometimes from street to another street. From street to car. From car to shelter. You know the shelter system: You only get a bed for three months; then you are out.

Guoron, who has twinkling eyes and a cheery and warmly gregarious demeanor that shows no trace of darkness, always speaks with high energy and volume (HOLA, HOLA, HOLA! he greets me). He smiles easily. He worked two jobs most of those homeless years, as a kitchen assistant on the Hornblower Cruises, and as a janitor at Nordstroms.

He drank a bit. OK, more than a bit. He learned English. He saw a therapist and took medicine. And he kept looking for a way to return to the meaningful work that had been his life in Guatemala.

Illustration by Rini Templeton.

Then, in fall 2015, he was accepted into the one-semester S.F. State University/RAMS course to become a Peer Mental Health Specialist. The course was designed to train people with lived experience in trauma, addiction, PTSD and other mental health diagnoses to work in community-based organizations and on the streets as frontline workers. With both bilingual and street survival skills, Guoron was quickly recognized as highly valuable in his new field.

What the course gave me, most of all: I learned to manage my own stress. I learned to deal with it, to calm it. I was able to stop all medicines. I learned by sharing stories with my fellow students, and I learned to be more responsible to myself: to eat regularly, to exercise, to keep going to AA meetings. This is what helped me to defeat the anxiety.

He ran harm-reduction groups. He learned de-escalation techniques.

And he found his place, working first as an outreach worker with the Mission SRO Collaborative, then with the Sacred Sleep Program. His work gave him the confidence to reconnect to his family, and he began calling his 90-year old mom in Tectan, Guatemala, on Skype. Then he reached out to his daughters. Last year, he went home for Christmas. It was so much happiness!!! I felt the tenderness and harmony of being with my family after so much time gone by.

Guoron knew the doors at St. Johns had to close when the shelter-in-place order came down in March. He got tested. He got unemployment. At first, he stayed in and read a lot, where he lives in the Excelsior.

I went to Target and bought books on science, on American history and biology. I decided to study. I just went out to get food and do laundry. At first. I kept hoping we would re-open.

Last week, after five months, his boss called him and eight other workers, and said there was no date to come back. He decided to get tested again, went down to 24th Street BART, then embarked on a search. Hed been wondering where his former guests were finding themselves, and he went looking.

Illustration by Rini Templeton.

So I go out to Target yes, I really like Target! near Fourthand Mission, I saw some of our guests there around Mission and Market. Near 4th Street. I said, WHAT A JOY TO SEE YOU GUYS, they looked RESTED, they looked GOOD, they looked CLEAN! I could see they had slept well, and before, well, they always looked exhausted. So, I asked, what happened? They told me they have been staying in a hotel: they change our sheets once a week they told me, they give us laundry bags to throw our clothes in and do our laundry, and they only let us stay ONE PERSON in ONE ROOM. Guoron pauses and laughs.

Some of them are even in the Marriott, I didnt believe it, but they look soooooo goood. Its an enormous irony that it took such a thing, a pandemic, a crisis, for them to get a dignified room, a dignified place to sleep with normal human conditions. I asked them, what are you going to do when this ends, and you have to leave? Guess we are going to have to get a job, is what a few told me! And we all laughed and joked around, behind our masks. WOW, I didnt expect how HEALTHY they looked!

But other former guests are not at the Marriott. Guoron walked home through the Mission.

I see them outside the closed shelter, the Santa Ana on Dolores Street, the Marta y Maria near Capp, when can we go back to the church? they ask me.

Guoron stops to take in the contradictions and bows his head, How are some at the Marriott and some on the street outside the closed Santa Ana? You know, I am 52 years old, I have lived a lot already, I, what I want to do now, I want to be a volunteer participant for the coronavirus vaccine trials, thats what I want. I am not working, but I need to do something for my conscience. This is what I will look for.

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Excerpt from:

Before COVID-19, Guoron greeted the homeless at St. John's. Now he visits some at the Marriott. - Mission Local

"I'm not anti-vaccine. My kids were both vaccinated with everything, but I would not take a Covid vaccine today," Bailey told CNN.

"I have underlying health issues ... I would want to see enough studies in a long-term period of what the ramifications are for the vaccine."

Bailey said she doesn't trust US President Donald Trump, and that consensus around a vaccine among the world's top scientists and at least six months of testing would be just "a start" in persuading her to take it. "It's much too soon for me, I'd have to say, 18 months."

Neil Johnson, a physicist at George Washington University who is studying vaccine skepticism on social media, told CNN the four most common objections are: safety; whether a vaccine is needed; trust of the establishment and pharmaceutical companies; and perceived uncertainty in the science.

To see how widespread hesitancy is, he suggests asking your family and friends whether they would take a Covid-19 vaccine if one were available now.

"I would be surprised if you ask 10 people and you get all 10 jumping and saying yes without adding any caveats," he said.

Doubts over Covid-19 vaccine

Johnson said this was a "massive issue" -- and possibly an even bigger one than the polls indicate.

"What the question probably should have said is, will you have the Covid vaccine, will you be first to have it? And of course, I think that the answer for that will be no, I'll wait 'til everyone else has had it.

"There's always doubt among the anti-vax[xers], but there's now a sufficient doubt among this undecided population.

"I'm very, very concerned, I don't think public health has had this challenge [before] ... because there haven't been social media and these kinds of online influences."

Global spread of vaccine hesitancy

Johnson told CNN that in Africa, misinformation is spreading about the program being used as a cover to sterilize swathes of the population. "The fear about that is actually huge in developing countries now," he said.

Countering the objections

"There's clearly cause for concern; the emphasis on speed, on rushing a new vaccine," Jeremy Ward, who published a study on vaccine hesitancy with French research consortium Coconel in The Lancet in May, told CNN.

"I think the main factor is trust in institutions," said Ward. He said coronavirus debates in France had become highly politicized. Coconel's study found that those who had voted for a far-left or far-right candidate, or didn't vote at all, were much more likely to say that they would refuse a vaccine.

His research suggests that Russia could have more vaccine refusers than any other country.

Ratzan said the issue isn't just the inaccurate information, it's the growing lack of trust in institutions. "I think we're starting to see these two factors really wear down the public psyche and vaccine acceptance along with it, which is a huge concern," he said.

An earlier CUNY School of Public Health Covid-19 study found that just 42% of likely vaccine refusers in New York would be swayed by approval from the FDA or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Several surveys and reports found hesitancy among Black and ethnic minority communities, which are disproportionately affected by the virus.

Time to prepare

Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO's Health Emergencies Program, said in a Thursday briefing: "People need to be allowed to have a conversation about vaccines, and have a proper conversation. It's not a one-way street. It's not about shoving things down people's throats. It's about having a proper discussion, good information, good discussion on this -- and people will make up their own minds."

"I think science and government have a job to do that is to make the case. I think communities and people have a job to do, which is to listen to that case, and hopefully the result of that will be a widely accepted successful vaccine that could bring this pandemic to an end," Ryan said.

Experts say we need a strategy for when a vaccine is produced, covering who will receive one first, how and where it will be distributed, possible different options, and how concerns will be addressed.

Ward emphasized that this is not just about convincing people a vaccine is safe but about doing everything possible to ensure it really is. "When you produce a new vaccine with such speed, it's not just communication, it's also transparency and making the right decisions," he said.

Community groups including the National Black Church Initiative have been working to ensure sufficient numbers of African Americans participate in vaccine trials. Ratzan said involvement from respected community members was vital to ensure people feel "they're being listened to, their concerns are met, and that the vaccine they are getting is held to the highest standards of safety and efficacy."

The timeline is vital. Ratzan added that with a new medicine, 18 months could be spent working with companies, medical groups and doctors and thinking about branding, social media or text campaigns. "We don't have any of that now," he said.

See the rest here:

Vaccines are safe. But huge numbers of people around the world say they wouldn't take a Covid jab - CNN

The West Virginia Department of Health andHuman Resources (DHHR) reportsas of 10:00 a.m., on August 15, 2020, there have been 350,076 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 8,457 total cases and 160 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 67-yearold female from Pleasants County, an 88-year old female from Mercer County anda 95-year old female from Logan County. I urge everyone in West Virginia to dotheir part to reduce the spread of this virus throughout our communities so we canprotect one another and prevent further loss of life, said Bill J. Crouch,DHHR Cabinet Secretary.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour(31), Berkeley (733), Boone (117), Braxton (8), Brooke (74), Cabell (447),Calhoun (6), Clay (18), Doddridge (6), Fayette (166), Gilmer (18), Grant (131),Greenbrier (95), Hampshire (86), Hancock (112), Hardy (63), Harrison (243),Jackson (166), Jefferson (304), Kanawha (1,066), Lewis (28), Lincoln (105),Logan (354), Marion (199), Marshall (130), Mason (70), McDowell (66), Mercer(227), Mineral (126), Mingo (200), Monongalia (986), Monroe (20), Morgan (32),Nicholas (39), Ohio (278), Pendleton (42), Pleasants (14), Pocahontas (42),Preston (128), Putnam (216), Raleigh (292), Randolph (213), Ritchie (3), Roane(19), Summers (18), Taylor (61), Tucker (11), Tyler (15), Upshur (38), Wayne(218), Webster (4), Wetzel (45), Wirt (7), Wood (275), Wyoming (46).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county,or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the stateborder to be tested. Such is the case of Mineral andNicholas counties in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

On August 12, 2020, DHHR announced thatboth confirmed and probable deaths will be reported on the dashboard, per CDCguidelines. Probable deaths are defined as decedents who had no knownpositive laboratory test for COVID-19 but whose death certificate listsCOVID-19 as a cause of death or contributing factor, or decedents who weresymptomatic and had a known exposure to COVID-19.

Data ispublished daily at 10 a.m. on the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov.

Continued here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 8-15-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Air conditioners on a building. Scientists say there has been too little research into the role of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the spread of the coronavirus. Sami Sarkis/Getty Images hide caption

Air conditioners on a building. Scientists say there has been too little research into the role of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the spread of the coronavirus.

In the dog days of August, air conditioning is everywhere.

Is that a problem when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus?

The answer to that question rests on the way the virus is transmitted a topic that is still being researched.

Droplet transmission is considered the most common method: A virus-filled particle of breath or spittle comes out of the nose or mouth of an infected individual when they breathe, speak, cough or sneeze. These droplets generally disperse within a few feet of the person who expels them. But if they come into contact with someone's eyes, nose or mouth, they can transmit the virus.

Then there's aerosol transmission when an infected person expels microscopic infectious particles so tiny that they linger in the air and spread from person to person in air currents. Since they are much smaller than droplets, aerosols can travel greater distances and get deep into the lungs of someone who inhales them.

Among scientists, there is ongoing debate about the extent to which aerosol transmission causes infection. However, it has been generally accepted that it does occur, especially in closed indoor settings. Consequently, there's a possibility that air conditioning may be a potential route of transmission sucking in virus particles breathed out by an infected person and then blowing those infectious particles back out in the same room or even another room several floors away.

In fact, other infectious diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, chickenpox, influenza, smallpox and SARS have all been shown to spread through heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

But drawing definitive conclusions about the role that HVAC systems might play in spreading COVID-19 is difficult. There are only a few published studies looking at that issue, and experts admit there has been too little research into the role of HVAC systems in the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"We didn't focus on ventilation as much early on as we probably should have," says Abraar Karan, a physician and global health researcher at Harvard Medical School.

What we do know is this: HVAC systems primarily recirculate air in a room or a building and don't bring in any fresh air from outside. So yes, theoretically virus-containing aerosols could be sucked into an air conditioning system and then circulated around a building.

In one study, which is available online as a pre-print and has not undergone scientific review, researchers in Oregon collected samples from various places inside a hospital's HVAC system and found genetic material from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This demonstrates that it may be possible for the virus to be transmitted through HVAC systems.

However, researchers did not assess if the genetic material they found was able to cause infection, and they noted there were no confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with the samples found in the ventilation systems.

There is currently no other evidence documenting the possibility of COVID-19 transmission through an air conditioning unit.

The bigger risk, says Edward Nardell, a professor of environmental health and immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard Medical School, is that hot weather outside causes people to seek air-conditioned comfort indoors. And indoors, there is less ventilation and more opportunity to spread disease.

"It is not the air conditioner that is doing anything particularly," Nardell says. "It is the fact that you are indoors, you are not socially distancing and you are rebreathing the air that people have just exhaled."

When you shut the doors and windows to keep the hot air outside, you are essentially eliminating the flow of fresh air so everyone in the room is breathing and rebreathing the same air. If someone in the room is infected with COVID-19, then they are breathing out the virus, which can linger in airborne droplets and be inhaled by another person, potentially causing infection.

By comparison, if you were outside and near an infected person who breathed out some viral particles, there is a much larger volume of air flowing to disperse and dilute those particles quickly, reducing the risk of spread to another person nearby. That is why infectious disease experts consider outdoor gatherings and activities less risky than indoor ones (though not completely risk-free).

The other major risk is that air conditioning units, fans or even an open window can create strong enough air currents to move virus-containing droplets around a room. This happened in January at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, where a person with COVID-19 infected five other people sitting at neighboring tables from 3 to 6 feet away, according to a study by scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. After examining video footage of the diners who were infected and simulating the transmission of the virus, scientists concluded that the small outbreak was caused by strong air currents from the air conditioning unit above the diners, which was blowing virus-containing aerosols from an infected person to those nearby. The restaurant also had no windows and thus no ventilation bringing in fresh air and diluting virus particles in the air.

The fact that aerosolized viral droplets can move in air currents in this way means that if you are in a room with an infected person and fresh air is not circulating, even if you are socially distancing to keep 6 feet apart at a minimum, you may not be safe, Nardell says. Although there are currently no published studies that have examined exactly how far airborne COVID-19 particles can travel, previous research on influenza found that viral particles may travel upward of 30 feet in the air.

To be clear, this is only a concern in shared public places. At home, the risk of contracting COVID-19 through air currents or air conditioning units is no more likely than spreading the virus through close contact or touching contaminated surfaces.

And it's not just warm weather and air conditioning that poses a threat. Cold weather in the winter that similarly forces people to go inside and crank the heat also creates an environment with little ventilation where viral particles can be spread through the air and cause infection. Ride-sharing services and taxis are another place where you may be in a closed space with someone who is infected. Virus particles could spread through air currents in the car, Karan points out.

Whether you're taking a taxi or escaping the heat or cold indoors, Karan's advice is the same.

"I would say keep the windows open and talk to your employers about [whether] they're looking into air filtration systems that are able to filter a wide range of particles," he says. He also adds that we need to design a better protective mask, one that can filter out the virus and is comfortable enough to wear all day.

To Karan, the looming question is: How do we live safely indoors with COVID-19? That is the next frontier.

Link:

What We Know About How Air Conditioners Spread COVID-19 : Goats and Soda - NPR

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Sarah Milne at Silverdale Waterfront Park on Wednesday with a portrait of her great aunt, who died from COVID-19 last month. Though Milne has not tested positive for COVID-19, she says her family has paid the "ultimate price" in the pandemic with the death of a beloved family member.(Photo: MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)

Shannon George didnt even know she had it at first. Kim Silke couldnt get out of bed for days; her husband, meanwhile, didnt show any symptoms. Joseph Saromines spent more than three weeks in the hospital.

They all had COVID-19. They just didnt have it the same way.

For people whove gotten infected, the novel coronavirus has manifested in a wide range of experiences. Some say it's feltlike little more than a head cold while others havecomplications that turn fatal.

Stories from Kitsap County underscore how the highly contagious coronavirus can be utterly unpredictable for those who get it.

Since the pandemic started in March, Kitsap County has seen more than 800 confirmed cases, with adisproportionate impact felt bypeople of color. Each caserepresents far more than a data point for those whove contracted the virus and the people who know them.

In interviews with the Kitsap Sun, community members shared their personal experience with COVID-19and how it feels to have it or to know someone whodoes:The anxiety over deciding whether to go to the emergency room if you have trouble breathing; the unease about not knowing where yougot infected and the fear about unwittingly spreading it to others; the deep pain of losing a loved one.

Silke, 53, of Port Orchard, came down with the virus after she and her husband visited their daughter and son-in-laws place in Arizona in mid-April. While three of the four of them tested positive for the virus Silke, her husband and their son-in-law her daughters test came back negative.

For Silke, the virus came on slowly. She says it felt like coming down with a cold to start. But then a few days in, she began having difficulty breathing and had to go to the emergency room.

Read More: Why dont we know more about that COVID-19 case? The balance of health privacy laws and public interest

So I had a little bit of a meltdown and thought for sure I was dying, said Silke, who was concerned after seeing the reports about people hooked up on ventilators. That was the nerve-wracking part of realizing that I had the same virus and it could turn on me very quickly.

Doctors ended up giving her an inhaler, which helped herbreathing. Even still, she felt extremely fatigued. For a day or two, she lost her sense of taste and smell. I just slept. There were a couple days I never got out of bed, she said.

At the same time, Silkes husband, who also tested positive for the virus, didnt show any symptoms. This whole time my husband has it and is completely normal, she said. Not even a clue that he would have it.

Danny Fultonwoke up in mid-July with a scratchy throat and a small cough. At first, he thought it was just allergies.

After Fulton'swork sent him home, the 32-year-old Bremerton resident got tested and the next day the results came back positive.

Initially it was fine and nothing was going on and then bam, a wave of fever came on, said Fulton, explaining how each day around noonanother wave of fever would hit and cease to relent. I think the lowest it ever got down to was maybe 100 degrees.

When his fever hit 103 degrees, Fulton went into the emergency room, where he was hooked up to an IV for fluids and given antibiotics for pneumonia.

Fulton was back to full strength two weeks later. Hes just thankful that hes in pretty good physical health.

Shannon George doesnt know how she picked up the coronavirus. Before she was tested in late July, George said her symptoms were so minor she didnt even think she had COVID-19.

I kind of felt like I had really bad allergies almost to the point where it felt like I could have sinus infection coming on, said George, 40, of Suquamish. I would have never known that that's what this is.

Dezerae Hamblin, CNA, takes a specimen from Mike Grennan, PA-C, after testing a walk-up patient at the Peninsula Community Health COVID-19 testing site at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.(Photo: Meegan M. Reid / Kitsap Sun)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about half of transmission occurs before people experience symptoms. About 40% of people who are infected may not even show symptoms, according to the CDCs best estimates. Others are sick for weeks on endand still feel the impactmonths later.

George says she started feeling more symptoms before her test even came back positive. Some days, she felt crummy, with a fever that had spiked and rescinded. Other days, she felt slightly better with a slight headache and sinus congestion. Eventually, she lost her sense of taste and smell. But, she said, it was nothing severe enough to make me worry about it.

George'scase is why health officials have emphasized the need for people to contact their doctor and get tested for COVID-19, even if they only have minor symptoms, and to stay home when sick.

Health officials urge people who feel sick to get test for COVID-19, even if they only have minor symptoms.(Photo: Courtesy of the Kitsap Public Health District)

Kitsap health officials have also urged people to follow the states safety guidelines, like practicing social distancing, avoiding gatherings of more than five people, and wearing a face mask in public to protect others. Those aremeasures that health experts say are the countrys main defense against the virus until there is a vaccine.

Though George says she wasnt too concerned about her own health, she has worried about who she may have spread the virus to. It terrifies me to know that I could have put my loved ones at risk, she said. Luckily, her family and friends havent tested positive.

While she no longer has the virus, George says shes continuing to be cautious about following the states health guidelines: She tries to stay mostly at home. She always wears a mask. And she stays away from larger gatherings.

Im being more mindful. Im being more careful, she said. Theres no way Im going to put anybody else at risk. That was my biggest fear.

While many have felt only minor symptoms of COVID-19, some people have experienced more severe cases.

In Kitsap County, 59 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19 to date, including four people last week. For many, a hospital stay has been anything but easy.

Laurel Saromines said that was the case for her 81-year-old husband, Joseph, who spent 24 days at an Oregon hospital. (Because the couple recently moved to Bremerton from West Seattle, Josephs case is not included in Kitsaps count.)

Laurel, 75, said the couple tested positive in mid-March after going down to Oregon for ski vacation. Joseph had been fighting what doctors thought was a bad cold for weeks, which had resulted in pneumonia. It turns out, Laurel and Joseph both had COVID-19.

In the hospital, Joseph had been transferred to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator for five days, Laurel said. Even afterward, he relied on oxygen and needed a feeding tube. I was very concerned. But I didnt spend my time worrying about it.I spent a lot of time praying, Laurel said.

Related: From anti-maskers to large gatherings: Kitsap community navigates divides over state's COVID-19 rules

Five months later, Joseph is getting better but he still isnt back to full health, Laurel said. He has trouble swallowing and can only eat small amounts of soft foods. He still gets worn out easily and has some breathing issues. Hes been back to the hospital twice for extreme dehydration and a blood transfusion.

While Joseph was more vulnerable to the illness because of his old age, along with having diabetes, Laurel says her husband was in very good shape from serving as a ski instructor, playing tennis and golfing. That was really probably what allowed him to fight this, she said.

Other families have not been so fortunate. To date, COVID-19 has killed at least seven people in Kitsap County, making up a sliver of the more than 1,755 Washingtonians lost during the pandemic.

A sign reading "Rest in peace, from your brothers and children," at the grave of Mariano Matias Mendoza, who died from COVID-19 at the end of July.(Photo: Austen Macalus / Kitsap Sun)

That included 80-year-old Joanne Granni Jo Hunter, a longtime Bremerton resident known for her caring soul, and 55-year-old Mariano Matias Mendoza, remembered as a leader in Bremertons Guatemalan community.

Sarah Milne, 29, of Bremerton, also knows what its like to lose someone to COVID-19. Her great aunt Rosita Fothergill died from the virus last month at a Seattle hospital. She was 82.

Milne, who has not tested positive for COVID-19, says her great auntspent several weeks on a ventilator after she couldnt breathe, walk or even stand because of the virus. The ordeal was even more difficult because loved ones couldnt be alongside the familys matriarch in the hospital. The tight-knit family is still unable to gather together to mourn Rositas death.

A look into area deaths: Kitsap County sees rising COVID-19 deaths

No one could say bye to her, Milne said. It pains my heart because we couldnt do anything for her for four weeks. We would go see her. We couldn't embrace her...We just wanted her to know that we loved her.

Remembering her great aunts infectiouslaugh, rigorous work ethic and kind personality, Milne saidher family has paid the ultimate price" during a pandemic wheresome people refuse to wear a mask. Wouldn't you do anything you could to protect the people you love? To protect your own? And to protect everyone? she asked.

Milne says she hopes people will take the efforts necessary to help curb the virus spread, especially aspeople continue to die.

You might not know anybody that is ill, she said. You might not know anybody that has passed. But this is taking lives and this is painful.

Austen Macalus is the Kitsap Sun's social services reporter covering health care, homelessness and how programs are serving those in need. He can be reached at austen.macalus@kitsapsun.com or 360-536-6423.

This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up for a digital subscription.

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From zero symptoms to fatal complications, Kitsap community members share their experiences with COVID-19 - Kitsap Sun

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the state reported consecutive days of triple-digit coronavirus deaths.

Since the pandemic began, officials have confirmed more than 235,000 coronavirus cases in Georgia, though many of those people have since recovered. Gwinnett County has had the second most infections in the state with 21,411 confirmed cases. Only Fulton County has reported more.

In addition, Gwinnett reported four more COVID-related deaths on Saturday, bringing the countys death toll to 287.

The 15-year-olds death comes as many Georgia school districts have reopened for in-person learning. In Cherokee County, the number of public school students and teachers placed under quarantine for COVID-19 doubled from last week, with the number of new infections nearly tripling.

As the second week of school came to a close Friday, the district reported 80 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and said 1,106 students and employees are quarantined as a result.

The first week of school ended with 28 cases and 563 under quarantine in the district of about 40,000 students, AJC.com previously reported. All six Cherokee County high schools are reporting new cases, and two of them Etowah and Woodstock have closed as a result of the outbreaks.

So far, the youngest confirmed COVID-19 death in Georgia was a 7-year-old boy from Savannah.

Chatham County officials said the child died about three weeks ago after having a fever-fueled seizure in the bathtub and drowning. He was not believed to have had any pre-existing conditions either.

More here:

15-year-old Gwinnett boy dies of COVID-19 - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Tocilizumab among patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit: a multicentre observational study  The Lancet

Read more:

Tocilizumab among patients with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit: a multicentre observational study - The Lancet

At some hospitals, officials have been able to use existing facilities. In Tyler, Texas, the UT Health North Campus medical center is an old tuberculosis hospital, with rooms that use negative air pressure to prevent viruses from spreading.

But in other locations, like Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., finding the right spot has been a struggle. Dr. Joshua Purow, who is overseeing the Eli Lilly outpatient trial at the hospital, rushed to get his site ready once he saw that infections were rising in the area.

Updated August 12, 2020

But Holy Cross turned down his first choice, a corner of the emergency department, out of fears that the space would be needed for more severe Covid-19 patients. The idea of installing an outdoor tent was deemed too complicated, and refurbishing a room in a nearby office building would take precious weeks.

Weeks passed before Dr. Purow finally secured a place to run the trial. It was in the emergency department, the first place he had requested.

We finally have it all set up to go, Dr. Purow said. But now, our numbers are declining a little bit. Were not seeing as much as we thought we would.

So far, he said, he has enrolled just one participant, out of a hoped-for 25. Over all, the Eli Lilly outpatient trial is aiming for including 400 patients. The similar Regeneron study has a goal of enrolling about 1,500 patients.

Not every trial site is seeing such hurdles. Dr. Jason Morris, who is overseeing the Eli Lilly study at his physician practice, Imperial Health, in Lake Charles, La., has already exceeded his goals and has enrolled about 45 patients. Dr. Morris said he or another doctor calls each person who tests positive for the virus at the groups urgent care clinic and tells them about the study.

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Coronavirus Antibody: Clinical Trials of Drugs Are Taking Longer Than Expected - The New York Times

With several coronavirus vaccine studies underway and the news that Russia has approved the first immunization against COVID-19 despite limited testing, we asked Chicagoans: Once a vaccine is available, will you get it? Some answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Once it is well-tested as safe and effective, people who dont get vaccinated will be regarded as negligent like homeowners without working smoke detectors. Kenneth Mayka

Absolutely not! I dont get the flu or pneumonia shot, and I definitely wont be getting this one either. They have rushed this shot, and I do not trust that its safe. Melissa Haney

Of course, I will get it! I will do anything preventative. Always get flu shots, pneumonia shots, shingles shot. Beverly Hendrix Crocker

Nope. Something that they whipped up in a lab that hasnt been around long enough to observe side-effects or long-term effects. I cant do it! BeBe Jones

It depends on the circumstances related to the vaccine. If its rushed, without any reliable data, without widespread acceptance from medical groups with high respectability, then likely not. Otherwise, after a few months, once the most at-risk groups have been inoculated, then Ill talk to my doctor about it. Ronald Raadsen

I am not an anti-vaxxer in any way, but I will pass on this for the time being. I am also a high risk person, and years of real testing needs to be done. Kevin Fitz

Yes, I will. I have no problem getting vaccinated. Erika Hoffman

Absolutely! As an RN of 45 years, I believe in the importance of vaccinations and the establishment of herd immunity. Pat Doran Adamski

Yes, I will take the vaccine. Vaccines have prevented many people from sickness and/or dying from common diseases. In some cases, the diseases has been wiped out due to vaccines. Gail Chapman

Yes. Vaccines, clean water and sanitation are the greatest contributors to civilization. As a child, I had many so-called childhood diseases that my children did not have because of the benefit of vaccines. Kathy Martinez

Yes, absolutely. I have four high-risk people in my home. Tricia Fitzgerald

Nope, I know what a sketchy scam the FDA approval process is. Ken Jackson

Sign me up. The one year I missed my flu shot, I had the worst flu ever. Not to mention the benefits of vaccines for smallpox, measles, mumps and rubella. Gloria Warshaw

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Will Chicagoans get the COVID-19 vaccine once its available? What our survey found. - Chicago Sun-Times

Covering COVID-19 is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas about the coronavirus and other timely topics for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.

The race is on to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Thats good. But it wont be worth much if we have no plan to distribute it.

My colleagues at PolitiFact explored the question of whether there is a national distribution plan. The answer, sadly, is no. But the people who plan such things said they are working on it. Lets take a look at how this might unfold nationally and the key role your state will have in distributing a vaccine.

PolitiFact found:

There is no national COVID-19 vaccination distribution plan, yet. So that is true, said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Most of the experts we spoke with said the governments efforts have been too slow, and states face too many unknowns to do their part in planning to vaccinate millions of people.

This is going to be the most challenging, complex mass vaccination program ever attempted, said Dr. Kelly Moore, who works at the Immunization Action Coalition and ran Tennessees H1N1 vaccination program.

PolitiFact laid out the next steps:

Results of the third phase will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. After the FDA licenses the vaccine, recommendations will be given about who should get the vaccine, and distribution will follow, said Dr. Carol Baker, a pediatrician who is an alternate liaison to a COVID-19 vaccines working group.

Federal health officials have generally predicted that the vaccine will be available in early 2021.

There are two committees working on recommendations for the CDC about vaccine distribution.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a long-standing committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, formed a COVID-19 vaccines working group in April. The groups next meeting on Aug. 26 will be publicly livestreamed. Recommendations about who should get the vaccine first are expected by the fall.

PolitiFact explained that your state will have a key role in vaccine distribution. In fact, by the end of next month, your state should have a plan to present to the feds. Whats in that plan?

PolitiFact reported:

The CDC launched a pilot program with North Dakota, Florida, California and Minnesota as well as the city of Philadelphia to work on a vaccination response, according to a letter written by Nancy Messonnier, a CDC official, Aug. 4.

While the letter says that the pilot program will be a model for other states, it doesnt give states much time to receive and implement the best practices from that pilot program.

The states have until the end of September to develop vaccination plans that will then be reviewed by the CDC and Operation Warp Speed, the federal governments effort to fast-track the availability of vaccines. Those plans should include mass vaccination clinics, signing agreements with providers and identifying high-risk communities that will require additional outreach.

PolitiFact said states may draw on their experience with H1N1 vaccination programs and even the seasonal flu vaccines. But this is a way different mountain to climb. 90 million Americans got the H1N1 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine goal is 300 million. And remember, COVID-19 will probably require two shots and occasional boosters.

There are other challenges your states will face:

Vaccines may have cold storage rules of around minus 80 degrees Celsius, far colder than other vaccines. Weve never distributed a vaccine that required that before, Moore said. We dont have a cold chain that exists currently that can take that.

Journalists, this would be a good time for you to think through how you will cover the distribution story when it starts to take shape. Public information will be crucial who should get it, where to go, side effects and also protests, disinformation and debates over who should get the vaccine first.

Imagine what will happen when and if employers require employees to be vaccinated.

And it will probably be important to educate people about the importance of getting a second shot, assuming that will be needed. It is likely that a vaccine will cause at least a small reaction, similar to a mild case of the flu. You can imagine that it might be difficult to persuade people to go through that twice.

The people drafting the plan to distribute vaccines will also have to come up with campaigns to persuade people to get them. It would be wise to hook in celebrities from a range of demographics and political influences from the arts, sports, social media and TV.

Celebrities have a long history of speaking for and against vaccines.

Celebrities who oppose mandatory childhood vaccines gave energy to the modern movement. But in 1956, one of the hottest celebrities at the time, Elvis Presley, stood before cameras and allowed a doctor to stick a needle in his arm and deliver a polio vaccine to prove that he believed the vaccine was safe.

Cambridge University historian Stephen Mawdsley wrote that Presleys backing of the polio vaccine led to a jump in young people getting vaccinated. Until then, they accounted for a big hole in the national vaccination effort. The Guardian quoted Mawdsley:

The [Dr] Salk vaccine against polio had just been produced and young children were being vaccinated in their millions. However, teenagers, who were also vulnerable to polio, were not taking up the vaccine, Mawdsley said. Elvis was approached to provide publicity aimed at teenagers and agreed to help to put things right.

Mawdsley documented that moment in a film in which Presley starts by saying, Hey kids, could I talk to you for about 30 seconds? This is Elvis Presley. He goes on to urge kids to give to the March of Dimes, which funded research and treatment for polio victims. In the 1950s, the March of Dimes started Teens Against Polio expressly to raise awareness among young people. In fact, one tactic was to promote the No Shot, No Date movement, in which young women were urged to deny dating anyone who had not gotten their polio shot.

(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)

Teens Against Polio sponsored dances and concerts where the price for entry was a vaccination record. The effort to get young people vaccinated included weekend teens only events and the government rolled out mobile clinics to reach young people living in rural areas.

(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)

And the effort included public appearances from young people who had been affected by polio, including in front of school assemblies, where they talked about the difficulties of living with polio and how they wished they had had the opportunity to be vaccinated. The result was a dramatic increase in teen vaccinations and a steep decline in new polio cases.

(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)

The list of celebs who would be the most influential for an inoculation campaign might begin with some of the A-listers who have tested positive for the virus. It is a pretty long list. Wouldnt you say that when Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive that it focused early attention on COVID-19? Who is the Elvis of today who would influence younger people to take a vaccination?

Speaking of celebrity influence, CNNs Dr. Sanjay Gupta published an essay Wednesday about his familys decision not to send his three teen and preteen daughters back to the classroom next week.

Gupta said he visited the school and talked to the principal about what precautions were in place and how the school would test kids. He was satisfied the school was doing everything right. But he writes, when his family examined the evidence about whether all the precautions would be enough to keep his daughters safe, they made a decision not to return to in-person classes:

It is a lot to consider, but in the minds of our family, the evidence is clear. After considering all the objective criteria and assessing the situation in our own community, we have made the decision to keep our girls out of school for the time being. This was not an easy decision, but one that we believe best respects the science, decreases the risk of further spread and follows the task force criteria.

As a compromise, we will allow our children to have a physically distanced orientation meeting with their new teachers so they can meet them in person before starting to interact with them on a screen. And, after two weeks, we will reassess. It will also be important for us to understand what the triggers will be in our school, in terms of newly diagnosed infections or illnesses, that will require a return to virtual learning. Full and honest transparency from everyone will be more necessary than ever.

None of this is easy, and some families may arrive at a different conclusion after looking at the same data. In the age of COVID-19, it seems we are all forced to become amateur epidemiologists, while also being the best parents we can be.

As if we needed further evidence that the pandemic touches us all in different ways, bass fishing tournaments are scrambling to navigate travel restrictions that make it difficult for anglers to safely participate. I guess I figured that since such things happen outdoors, it would be no problem, but states want travelers from highly infected states to quarantine for a couple of weeks, which puts a crimp in plans.

States have built elaborate plans to prevent boat ramps from being congested and require registration for tournaments of a certain size.

This is the kind of story topic that sends your readers/listeners/viewers the signal that you understand they have a wide range of interests.

Major League Baseball is seeing some wisdom in the bubble idea when it comes to playoffs. ESPN reported that a single-city bubble plan like the NBA is using would not work for baseball, but a two-city plan is gaining traction. The network reported:

Because of MLBs expansion to 16 playoff teams, the league would need at least three hubs to complete its wild-card round before shrinking to a two-hub format for the division series. The league championship series and World Series could be held at one or two stadiums. Remaining in one metropolitan area would allow teams to avoid air travel and perhaps remain at a single hotel for the entire postseason, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 27. MLB also could hold wild-card-round games at home sites to mitigate concerns over scheduling up to three games at a single site and move to a bubble format starting in the division series, sources said.

Southern California, the greater Chicago area and the New York metropolitan area would make the most sense because of the available stadiums, sources said. Concerns about weather in late September and deep into October make the Los Angeles area the most logical choice to host an entire postseason, though the sources cautioned that because of the nascent nature of discussions, no favorite has emerged.

Major League Baseball is taking this notion seriously because just one positive test on one team could make a huge difference in a playoff. That player would have to sit out for two weeks, which would essentially be an entire series.

Air travel is at its highest level since March. It has risen and fallen before during the pandemic.

MarketWatch quoted an expert as saying that people may be trying to slip in a quick vacation before schools reopen.

A tweet and a response:

Welcome to the club. We feel your pain.

Charmin (@Charmin) August 10, 2020

Well be back tomorrow with a new edition of Covering COVID-19. Sign up hereto get it delivered right to your inbox.

Al Tompkins is senior faculty at Poynter. He can be reached at atompkins@poynter.org or on Twitter, @atompkins.

Read more from the original source:

What's the plan to distribute coronavirus vaccines? There isn't one yet. - Poynter