Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

At-home testing could transform the fight against the novel coronavirus. USA TODAY

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive for COVID-19Thursday using a rapid test conducted as part of protocol to greet President Donald Trump at Clevelands Burke Lakefront Airport.

TwoPCR teststaken later that day ultimately found DeWine tested negative.

"This is the same PCR test that has been used over 1.6 million times in Ohio by hospitals and labs all over the state, DeWine said in a released statement soon after the second tests results were released.

DeWines COVID scare underscores the fact thatnot all tests work the same way, nor do they alwaysprovide identical results. Even the same testtaken twicecan show contradictory outcomes.

"It's not that a test is good or bad," explained Dr.Dr. Gary Procop, the director of medical microbiology at theCleveland Clinic."Understand the test characteristics and use it correctly."

Dr. Michael Mina, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, saidDeWine's ability to quickly get asecond test showed "the system worked as it should."

Every test sometimes gives false positives which is better than telling someone they don't have COVID-19 when they do and being able to get a new result within a few hours meant he was inconveniencedonly briefly. "It's a whole lot better than if we weren't testing him at all and he were positive."

Here are answers to seven common questions about diagnostic COVID-19 testing. These tests are different thanantibody tests, which are usedto determine whether someone has had COVID-19 in the past not an active case.

Earlier: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tests negative on second COVID-19 test

USA TODAY Editorial Board: Time to get serious about COVID-19 testing

A rapid test, explained Dr. Sheldon Campbell, aprofessor of laboratory medicine at Yale School of Medicine, is a catch-all term for any quick test. Any test that provides results in 30 minutes to one hour, he said, falls under the umbrella of rapid testing.

"Seriously, its not a specific technical term," he told USA TODAY.

In rapid testing, explained Procop, there are two kinds of tests antigen tests and nucleic acid tests.

An antigen test, Campbell said,looks for the proteins that make up the virus coating.

Think of the virus like an M&M, Campbell suggests. Antigen tests look for traces of the hard-shell exterior of the virus, so to speak.

While they provide results more rapidly, they are not a perfect test. The Food and Drug Administration states that antigen tests are more likely to miss active coronavirus infections, and thus, cannot definitively rule out whether someone has COVID-19. DeWine's first test was an antigen test.

A PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test searches for the viral genome.This test, explained Campbell, makesthe virus easier to detect by "making a billion copies of a single target bit of the virus genome."

To go back to the M&M analogy, Campbell likens the viral genome to the chocolate core of the candy.

These tests are more commonand have a higher rate of accuracy.

Here's where things get a bit tricky. Generally, PCR tests tend to be more reliable.

"Its both more likely to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus and usuallyless likely to give a positive signal if no virus is present," said Campbell.

But Procop says the type of test is less relevant than the context in which it is performed. In a screening context, a patient generally wouldn't have symptoms of COVID-19, whereas in a diagnostic setting, patients get tested because they show symptoms.

"If you're using a highly sensitive test in a diagnostic setting," he said,"you don't need follow up. If you use it in a screening setting, you should have confirmation."

Essentially, if you're taking a test out of an abundance of caution and don't show any symptoms it's worth taking another one in the case of a false positive.

The super-short answer, joked Campbell, is that "(expletive) always happens." Anumber of factors contribute to the possibility that any lab test could result in incorrect outcomes.

Each test provides its own slew oferrors.

Antigen tests get false results because its procedure requires "sticking a labeled probe to the virus proteins."

"Despite the best efforts of the people who design the tests, sometimes the probe sticks to non-virus sticky stuff in the sample," Campbellsaid.

For PCR tests, the same sensitivity that contributesto its accuracy can create false positives. Abit of viral RNA from a previous patient can turn a testpositive.

There are also human errors that come into play, whether lab specimens improperly collected or labeled, or manufacturing errors with testing kits.

Absolutely. It remains unclear why that is, Campbell said, but a common theory he suggested is that "bits of non-infectious virus" slowly work their way out of the body even after symptoms have vanished.

"Some folks with COVID-19 stay positive for days or weeks after they get better," Campbell said.

That's also why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained Procop, changed its criteria for employees returning back to work,from two weeks to 10 days after a positive test.

"There'sa long tail of positivity after patients have recovered and we believe it's clinically meaningless," he said.

Expect the long swab. There are different nasal swabs with varying degrees of efficacy.

The long swab, otherwise known as the nasopharyngeal swab, is probably the bestand is most common if you do demonstrate symptoms of COVID-19.

An alternative is thenasal mid-turbinateswaband a less-invasive "anterior nares"swab, which are less effective but sufficient.

Still, the long swab is the gold standard. Campbell puts it this way: "The swab goes farther up your nose than maybe you thought it should, and done right it burns when its up there.But its over quickly, and feeling the burn means you know your test was done right."

Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote.

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested positive, then negative for COVID. 7 questions you might have about testing. - USA TODAY

Previous infections with common cold viruses can train the immune system to recognize SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study.

The study, published Aug. 4 in the journal Science, found that immune cells known as T cells that recognize common cold coronaviruses also recognize specific sites on SARS-CoV-2 including parts of the infamous "spike" protein it uses to bind to and invade human cells.

This existing immune system "memory" may explain why some people have milder COVID-19 infections compared with others; however, the authors stress that this hypothesis is "highly speculative" and requires more research to confirm. That's because it's unknown exactly how big a role T cells play in fighting COVID-19 T cells are just one part of a complex menagerie of molecules and cells that makes up our immune system.

"We have now proven that, in some people, preexisting T-cell memory against common cold coronaviruses can cross-recognize SARS-CoV-2, down to the exact molecular structures," study co-lead author Daniela Weiskopf, assistant professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology in La Jolla, California, said in a statement.

It's possible that this "immune reactivity may translate to different degrees of protection" against COVID-19, study co-lead author Alessandro Sette, a professor at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, said in the statement. "Having a strong T-cell response, or a better T-cell response may give you the opportunity to mount a much quicker and stronger response."

Related: COVID-19 antibodies may fade, but vaccine hopes have not

Previous studies have shown that upwards of 50% of people never exposed to COVID-19 have T cells that recognize SARS-CoV-2. This ability has been seen in people around the world, in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Singapore. Scientists hypothesized that this existing immunity could be due to previous infections with other coronaviruses, specifically those that cause common cold infections.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed blood samples collected from people between 2015 and 2018, well before COVID-19 first emerged in Wuhan, China.

These blood samples contained T cells that reacted to more than 100 specific sites on SARS-CoV-2. The researchers showed that these T cells also reacted to similar sites on four different coronaviruses that cause common cold infections.

"This study provides very strong direct molecular evidence that memory T cells can 'see' sequences that are very similar between common cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2," Sette said.

In addition to binding to the spike protein, the T cells also recognized other viral proteins beyond the spike.

Currently, most COVID-19 vaccine candidates target the spike protein, but the new findings suggest that including other proteins in a vaccine, besides the spike, might harness this T cell cross reactivity and potentially enhance the vaccine's potency, the researchers said, although much more research would be needed to show this.

The authors note that their findings of cross-reactivity with T cells are different from what has been seen with neutralizing antibodies another weapon of the immune system that blocks a pathogen from infecting cells. Neutralizing antibodies against common cold viruses are specific to those viruses and don't show cross-reactivity with SARS-CoV-2, according to previous studies, the authors said.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Common colds train the immune system to recognize COVID-19 - Live Science

AUSTIN, Texas The experimental vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 that was the first to enter human trials in the United States has been shown to elicit neutralizing antibodies and a helpful T-cell response with the aid of a carefully engineered spike protein that mimics the infection-spreading part of the virus.

The latest paper about a Moderna-NIH vaccine that recently entered phase 3 human trials was published today in the journal Nature; its leading authors are Barney Graham and Kizzmekia Corbett at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Vaccine Research Center, part of the National Institutes of Health, and Andrea Carfi of biotech company Moderna. It describes both preclinical results and important protein engineering led by a team at The University of Texas at Austin.

The paper describes in part work to stabilize an otherwise-shifting part of the virus: the protein that fuses with and infects cells, called the spike protein. Earlier research into coronaviruses was critical for the fastest-ever progression from virus genome sequencing to vaccine testing in humans, which took only 66 days.

Several things were key for rapid vaccine development, including understanding the precise atomic-level structure of the spike protein and how to stabilize it, said UT Austin associate professor of molecular biosciences Jason McLellan, an author on the paper. As fast as this all happened, the development was possible because of years of earlier research.

The members of the NIAID team and McLellan laboratory at UT Austin announced earlier this year that they had mapped the molecular structure of a stabilized spike protein within weeks of receiving the genetic sequence, publishing the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the journalScience. NIAID and the biotechnology company Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, worked to develop a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, which, according to the NIH, directs the bodys cells to express the spike in its prefusion conformation to elicit an immune response.Todays paper describes findings that the vaccine keeps infection from spreading into the airways of mice, produces neutralizing antibodies and prompts a response in immune cells called memory T-cells.

The stabilized spike protein, known as the S-2P protein, also features in several other coronavirus vaccines currently in clinical trials.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is a shape-shifter, changing its structure before and after fusing with cells. The immune system responds best when the spike protein is in its prefusion shape, so McLellans team reengineered the proteinin two key places to lock it into that shape.

McLellans postdoctoral researcher Nianshuang Wang had identified genetic mutations necessary to stabilize the shape-shifting spike protein for MERS-CoV back in 2017, and the team found the same tactic works with the new coronavirus. Using small genetic modifications to the gene sequence that encodes for the protein, the researchers essentially make part of the spring-loaded portion of the molecule more rigid, preventing it from rearranging.

Instead of a painful process of trial and error, the researchers designed the necessary mutations within about a day of receiving the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome. The McLellan lab completed the atomic-level structure, and graduate student Daniel Wrapp harvested and purified the spike protein. Soon after, Corbett and Graham at the NIAID verified that the S-2P protein generated potent antibodies in mice.

Scientists at UT Austin, NIAID, Moderna, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee co-authored the Nature study.

Funding for the research came from by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The University of Texas at Austin is committed to transparency and disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. The authors submitted required financial disclosure forms with the university and hold intellectual property rights that may yield revenue from discoveriesdescribed in this research.

Continued here:

Locking Down Shape-Shifting Spike Protein Aids Development of COVID-19 Vaccine - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

News Release

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Collaborative network to enlist medical imaging and clinical data sciences to reveal unique features of COVID-19.

The National Institutes of Health has launched the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center (MIDRC), an ambitious effort that will harness the power of artificial intelligence and medical imaging to fight COVID-19. The multi-institutional collaboration, led by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of NIH, will create new tools that physicians can use for early detection and personalized therapies for COVID-19 patients.

This program is particularly exciting because it will give us new ways to rapidly turn scientific findings into practical imaging tools that benefit COVID-19 patients, said Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., NIBIB Director. It unites leaders in medical imaging and artificial intelligence from academia, professional societies, industry, and government to take on this important challenge.

The features of infected lungs and hearts seen on medical images can help assess disease severity, predict response to treatment, and improve patient outcomes. However, a major challenge is to rapidly and accurately identify these signatures and evaluate this information in combination with many other clinical symptoms and tests. The MIDRC goals are to lead the development and implementation of new diagnostics, including machine learning algorithms, that will allow rapid and accurate assessment of disease status and help physicians optimize patient treatment.

This effort will gather a large repository of COVID-19 chest images, explained Guoying Liu, Ph.D., the NIBIB scientific program lead on this effort, allowing researchers to evaluate both lung and cardiac tissue data, ask critical research questions, and develop predictive COVID-19 imaging signatures that can be delivered to healthcare providers.

Maryellen L. Giger, PhD, the A.N. Pritzker Professor of Radiology, Committee on Medical Physics at the University of Chicago, is leading the effort, which includes co-Investigators Etta Pisano, MD, and Michael Tilkin, MS, from the American College of Radiology (ACR), Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, and Adam Flanders, MD, representing the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and Paul Kinahan, PhD, from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).

This major initiative responds to the international imaging communitys expressed unmet need for a secure technological network to enable the development and ethical application of artificial intelligence to make the best medical decisions for COVID-19 patients, added Krishna Kandarpa, M.D., Ph.D., director of research sciences and strategic directions at NIBIB. Eventually, the approaches developed could benefit other conditions as well.

The MIDRC will facilitate rapid and flexible collection, analysis, and dissemination of imaging and associated clinical data. Collaboration among the ACR, RSNA, and AAPM is based on each organizations unique and complementary expertise within the medical imaging community, and each organizations dedication to imaging data quality, security, access, and sustainability.

About the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB):NIBIBs mission is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating engineering and physical science with biology and medicine to advance our understanding of disease and its prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. NIBIB supports emerging technology research and development within its internal laboratories and through grants, collaborations, and training. More information is available at the NIBIB websitehttps://www.nibib.nih.gov.

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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NIH harnesses AI for COVID-19 diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring - National Institutes of Health

Nearly $6 billion has been allocated. Clinical trials are entering a crucial third phase, and Operation Warp Speed is getting closer to the goal of delivering 300 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by January.

But when Americans line up for their immunizations, the vaccine they receive might not be what they expect. The popular notion of a vaccine a shot in the arm that prevents diseases such as measles, polio or shingles for years or a lifetime may not apply.

Under recently released federal guidelines, a COVID-19 vaccine can be authorized for use if it is safe and proves effective in as few as 50% of those who receive it. And effective doesnt necessarily mean stopping people from getting sick from COVID-19. It means minimizing its most serious symptoms, experts say.

We should anticipate the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to be similar to the influenza vaccine, said Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland. That vaccine may or may not keep people from being infected with the virus, but it does keep people out of the hospital and the ICU.

Even with expectations scaled back, the development of a vaccine against a virus that no one knew about seven months ago is considered remarkable. One assessment calls it the compression of six years of work into six months.

Of the more than 150 vaccines in the works worldwide, Operation Warp Speed has identified 14 promising candidates. (A vaccine being developed by El Segundo-based ImmunityBio, headed by Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, is among the 14. It has not yet been tested in humans.)

Of those 14, seven have been designated as front-runners, including three whose early clinical trial results have undergone independent evaluation.

The vaccine being developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health was deemed promising in an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and two studies in the Lancet delivered a similar message for vaccines being developed at Oxford University and by the Chinese company CanSino.

These vaccines have induced an immune response in people participating in early tests, but inducing an immune response does not always mean success in fighting a disease. For instance, scientists recently developed a vaccine for another respiratory virus that increased antibodies but failed its Phase 3 clinical trial.

While there is no way to predict what lies ahead, experts say, the first round of COVID-19 vaccines will likely not eliminate the need for other public health measures, such as masks and social distancing.

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The minimum 50% efficacy recommendation spelled out in late June by the Food and Drug Administration would likely ease the burden on hospitals. And to whatever extent a COVID-19 vaccine prevents infection, it could reduce the spread of the virus and help to create pockets of immunity throughout the country, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylor College of Medicines National School of Tropical Medicine.

Ideally, you want an antiviral vaccine to do two things, Hotez said. First, reduce the likelihood you will get severely ill and go to the hospital, and two, prevent infection and therefore interrupt disease transmission.

In this case, he added, the bar does not seem that high.

Developing a vaccine capable of inducing sterilizing immunity that is, the ability to prevent the virus from causing an infection takes time and research, which might not be possible as death tolls continue to rise and the recession grows deeper. Yet with so many companies on the hunt for that vaccine, there is hope one of them might actually achieve it.

Dr. Mark Feinberg, CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, cites the success of the Ebola vaccine. Not only did it speed through its clinical trials from starting Phase 1 to getting early Phase 3 results in 10 months but it also was nearly 100% effective within 10 days of a single dose being administered.

Thats not likely to be the case now. The challenge is that the novel coronavirus hasnt been around long enough, Feinberg said.

Scientists had studied other coronaviruses SARS and MERS and mapped the novel coronavirus genome not long after the first COVID-19 deaths were recorded. They identified the spike protein on the virus outer shell, which the virus uses to infiltrate the host cell and created a three-dimensional model of the virus to see how antibodies block infection by binding onto the spike protein.

Even so, scientists dont yet know what immunity against the virus looks like. That information typically comes from studying the bodys natural response to disease. The number of T-cells and neutralizing antibodies that fight off an infection can become a blueprint for a vaccine.

But the novel coronavirus is not easily giving up those secrets.

Physicians have noted a wide range of immune responses to COVID-19, Feinberg said. Some patients produce high levels of neutralizing antibodies, while others produce only low levels.

Whats interesting is that all have recovered, and we do not know how they did this, said Feinberg, a former chief public health and science officer with the pharmaceutical giant Merck.

Scientists are also uncertain how long immunity from a natural infection or a vaccine lasts and whether a decline in antibodies in two to three months is cause for concern.

The third phase of clinical trials might answer some of these questions. Moderna is enrolling 30,000 people for its Phase 3 trial, which started Monday.

If we get a vaccine that is 60% efficacious, we can use the information to identify what distinguishes people who are protected from those who are susceptible, Feinberg said. Then we will know what the minimum target is for an immune response.

But the absence of that information does not preclude the distribution of a vaccine. Many vaccines are effective even though scientists dont know the amount of antibodies needed to prevent infection. A vaccine can even be effective if it doesnt prevent infection.

The polio vaccine that Jonas Salk developed does not stop the poliovirus from infecting the gastro-intestinal tract, said Feinberg, but it stops the virus from traveling to the central nervous system where it causes the diseases worst symptom, paralysis.

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With so many questions still unanswered, the effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine may not be known until well after Americans have received their shots.

Among the recommendations in the FDA guidelines is a provision for emergency use authorization, allowing for the distribution of a vaccine if the known and potential benefits of a product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product.

I imagine that it is likely that the FDA will issue an emergency use authorization if any of the vaccines in development show significant and convincing evidence of efficacy and safety, said Feinberg, whose research organization is collaborating with Merck to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Under an emergency use authorization, the vaccine could be administered before the completion of the Phase 3 trials, potentially helping to flatten the curve but giving scientists little time to study side effects or understand how it interacts with other vaccines.

Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, has raised concerns that the FDA would greenlight manufacturing and distribution of vaccines before the necessary reviews have been completed.

Offit worries that a vaccine with limited efficacy delivered prematurely might give people a false sense of being protected and lead to serious outbreaks of the disease.

We should wait for the completion of Phase 3 trials, no matter how long they take, he said. With luck, they could be finished in six to nine months.

But postponing the delivery date for a vaccine would not align with the January goal of Operation Warp Speed.

The Trump administrations ambitious timeline has led to $5.7 billion being allocated to seven companies, and critics like Hotez and Offit wonder if speed is getting in the way of science.

Dr. Robert Gallo, director of the Institute Human Virology at the University of Maryland, argues that Operation Warp Speed, a private-public partnership, is science by committee, directed by a few individuals, when there needs to be robust debate and exchange of information.

If science problems need innovation, then there needs to be wide openings for original thinking and a means to argue or counter without the worry that you cannot get funded, he said.

Gallo, who cofounded the Global Virus Network, is concerned that the seven front-runners in Operation Warp Speed are each using the same strategy for their vaccine, one designed to neutralize the spike protein.

If that method proves ineffective, then the timeline for delivering a vaccine will be extended.

Im sure it is not wise to put all these eggs in one basket, he said.

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Coronavirus vaccines are in the works, but keep your mask - Los Angeles Times

MUSKEGON, MI A man whose long prison sentence on marijuana charges gained widespread attention after Michigan legalized the drug is hospitalized with COVID-19, one of more than 150 at the Muskegon Correctional Facility to have contracted the illness in the last week.

Flint native Michael Alonzo Thompson, now 69, was sentenced to 40 to 60 years on charges related to the sale of 3 pounds of marijuana to an undercover officer in 1996. He was brought to Duane L. Waters Hospital, inside the Michigan State Prison, in Jackson, last week, his attorney, his daughter, and a legal advocacy organization each confirmed to MLive.

I knew something was wrong the last time I talked to him. His voice didnt sound right, said his daughter, Rashawnda Littles.

Thompson contracted the virus months after advocates filed a clemency petition on his behalf, arguing that his punishment outweighed his crime, especially after Michigan legalized the substance that he was convicted of dealing.

They also argued that Thompson has maintained a near-perfect record throughout his 25 years of incarceration, indicating that he would not be a threat to society if released.

In an interview with MLive, Littles described a Navy veteran and family man who once received the key to the city of Flint for his efforts to disrupt gang violence.

I dont want my father to be a story, she said. I want him to be a man that we can remember as a success (that) he did his time with dignity, and got out to be with his family. Thats the story I want to hear.

The case has received national attention, as supporters, including some celebrities, calling for his release, including through the social media campaign, #FreeMichaelThompson.

And on Wednesday, Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a letter to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in support of commuting Thompsons sentence.

While technically legal, the sentence imposed on Mr. Thompson is the product of a different time in Michigan legal history. And it is a time that has passed, reads the letter, in part.

That letter joins one submitted in April by David Leyon, the Genesee County prosecutor, who argued that the mounting threat posed by COVID-19 rendered a reconsideration of Thompsons case more urgent.

RELATED: Coronavirus outbreak at Muskegon prison increases to more than 150 inmates

But his advanced age and illness are not likely to speed up his release, said Chris Gautz, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), because Thompsons conviction included weapons charges.

Thompsons case has received national attention in the last several months after he lost several prior attempts at clemency. Deedee Kirkwood, a Los Angeles-based cannabis activist who has been in daily contact with Thompson for about five years, helped to file one such petition before then-Governor Rick Snyder in 2018.

When that petition failed, Thompson had to wait two years to try again. The request was filed again in January, this time by attorneys at the Last Prisoner Project, a prison reform organization that works specifically with people serving long sentences for marijuana-related crimes.

The group filed a motion to expedite the petition in March, citing the health risk to Thompson, who has Type 2 diabetes and is classified as an older adult more at risk of experiencing the most adverse effects of COVID-19, said Sarah Gersten, that groups executive director.

Now, unfortunately, our worst fears have been realized, Gersten said, after Thompson informed his supporters on Friday, July 31, that he had been hospitalized with the illness.

Tens of thousands of people have written letters to Michigan lawmakers in support of that petition, Gersten said, and the social media campaign on Thompsons behalf has garnered some high-profile supporters, including comedian Sarah Silverman and television personality Montel Williams.

Thompson has also received support from Michigan officials, including Leyton, and Attorney General Nessel, who first expressed her support for Thompson via Twitter before submitting a letter to Gov. Whitmer, requesting that her office reconsider Mr. Thompsons application as expeditiously as possible and that he be released as soon as possible if your office will be granting his application.

A decades-long sentence like that imposed on Mr. Thompson is usually reserved for second-degree murder convictions or for particularly heinous rape cases involving multiple aggravated factors, Nessel wrote in her letter. Sentences of this length for selling marijuana are simply unheard of, even when accompanied by firearms offenses. Given that recreational and medicinal marijuana is now legal in Michigan, allowing Mr. Thompson to continue to serve this very draconian sentence is even more offensive and unreasonable.

Our hopes are that the Governors office and parole board hears these pleas from lawmakers and officials in their state that believe Michael should be free, Gersten said.

Many of Thompsons supporters argue that, because Michigan made recreational marijuana use and distribution legal in 2018, Thompson and other people incarcerated on marijuana-related charges should have their cases reconsidered.

This man is sitting here behind bars for the same thing you can go into a recreational store and buy, said Littles, Thompsons daughter.

But Gautz, the MDOC spokesperson, said that Thompsons earliest possible release date is 2038, and that only a commutation by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could supersede that.

Even with that possibility, he added, Thompson would have to go through several months of hearings before his case reached Whitmers desk, and the governor could not override that process.

Thompson was convicted on five felony counts related to selling marijuana to an undercover law enforcement officer, according to news reports of the time. The charges included three drug charges possession with intent to sell; conspiracy to possess with intent to sell; and selling marijuana and two weapons charges.

Thompsons advocates say the weapons charges were unrelated to the drug dealing that guns were found in his home after he had been detained for dealing, that one was registered to his wife, and the others were antiques.

But because Thompson had a prior record three other felony drug charges he was not allowed to own a gun. That record also made Thompson subject to Michigans habitual offender statute, which lengthened his sentencing considerably.

In short, the extended sentence on the gun charges are what put Thompson behind bars for decades.

The judge in that case rejected a plea agreement negotiated with the prosecutors office, which would have seen Thompson plead guilty to just the two weapons counts, with the three drug counts dismissed and a sentence of probation.

In light of recent attempts at prison reform in the state, however, some in law enforcement such as Leyton, the prosecutor in the same county where Thompson was convicted have argued that Thompsons punishment no longer fits the crime.

I was not the elected prosecutor at the time but, what I can say based on my review of the case file almost 25 years later is that the sentence handed down by the judge certainly appears to be disproportionate to the crime committed, Leyton said in an April statement issued when he supported Thompsons petition for release.

Of about 39,000 people incarcerated throughout Michigan at the start of the pandemic, Gautz said that Michigan identified about 5,000 cases that could be reconsidered for parole, because those people had already served their minimum sentences.

About 3,500 people have been paroled since the start of the pandemic, Gautz said, but added that the move was not to open up space in crowded facilities.

Of those, Gautz said, the priority for parole included older inmates, and those with underlying health issues that could put them at greater risk for COVID-19.

While Thompson meets those two criteria, Gautz said, he would not have been included in that group of 5,000 because he has not served his minimum possible sentence.

Consequently, Gautz said, Thompsons case cannot be considered for a standard parole, but would have to receive a commutation from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directly. Thompson would first have to go through several hearings before his case even reaches her desk, he added.

That timeline and the law are still in place, Gautz said. It would be months before the Governor would be able to act, because of the confines of state law.

That process is affirmed in a press release corresponding with Nessels letter, which describes a hearing process involving the parole board and assistant attorney general, before a recommendation can be brought to the Governors desk.

But, Nessels letter also states, sentencing guidelines today would not have seen such a harsh punishment imposed on Thompson. The weapons charges may have been different because he was not carrying them at the time of the drug sale, and Thompsons offense would be sentenced to a maximum of four years imprisonment, or a maximum of eight years if charged as a second drug offense, reads the release.

Gersten, the Last Prison Project director, also described the limits of the state parole process, saying that the Michigan prison system unlike federal prisons does not have a strong compassionate release statute for people like Thompson to attempt to leverage.

Thompson has so far served 25 of his minimum 40-year sentence. Gersten called this a de facto life sentence, made all the more serious now that he has been exposed to a deadly virus.

For months, the Muskegon Correctional Facility, where Thompson has been housed for several years, avoided an outbreak of COVID-19. But when news of the first confirmed coronavirus cases within those walls emerged last week, Thompsons supporters say they feared for his health.

Now 155 cases have been confirmed inside the prison, which houses just over 1200 people. Inmates confirmed to have contracted the virus have been sent to the Jackson hospital where Thompson is, or to the Carson City Correctional Facility, according to Gautz.

Thompsons supporters were concerned when they learned that his close friend inside the prison had contracted the virus. That man had recently helped Thompson to organize an event in honor of George Floyd, the Minnesota man whose death at the hands of police sparked an international movement against police brutality.

On Friday, July 31, Gerstens team received news from Thompson that he, too, was sick, and had been transferred to the Jackson hospital.

Thompson is now extremely weak, said Kirkwood, Thompsons friend and advocate. She said he lacks the nutrition he needs to address his Type II diabetes, which she said he developed while in prison, and that the man she once knew to do 500 pushups a day while incarcerated now has no energy.

Gersten argued that, even if Thompson recovers, this outbreak indicates a lack of safety inside the Muskegon prison.

The response from (MDOC) has been, Were doing everything in our power to ensure the safety and health of people in our care, but we know that has not, to date, been the case, Gersten said. If that were truly the case, Michael would have never contracted the virus.

Gautz previously told MLive that inmates have been given access to cleaning supplies, including bleach, a previously-banned substance, and PPE including masks. He also said that all Michigan facilities were tasked with developing plans for dealing with outbreaks, and that the Muskegon prison is currently implementing theirs, including creating isolation units for people who had close contact with infected inmates.

Mass testing took place last week of the two units where cases were first identified, and another 762 people were tested on Tuesday, Aug. 5, Gautz said.

According to MDOC numbers, 68 people incarcerated across the state and two prison guards have died of COVID-19.

As Thompsons case makes its way through legal channels, his advocates say they want people to know about who the man is, beyond the crime he committed.

He is an amazing human being, He is full of virtues, said Kirkwood. He does not lie. He is a maximum, honorable human being.

In her letter to the governor, Nessel touched upon Thompsons record in prison, calling him a model prisoner, and citing numerous positive reports from corrections officers for his work assignments

The fact of Thompsons COVID-19 diagnosis also played a role in exposing how Thompsons sentence has grown obsolete, Nessel goes on to argue.

If the trial court had sentenced him proportionately, Mr. Thompson would not have been anywhere near a prison as COVID-19 spread through our States prisons despite the best efforts of the MDOC to contain it, she wrote.

Read more on MLive:

Coronavirus outbreak at Muskegon prison increases to more than 150 inmates

Replacement for Muskegon-area Habitat for Humanity launches after embezzlement scandal

Some Michigan residents among first to receive trial coronavirus vaccine

More here:

Sick with COVID-19, inmate cant get out of prison even with AG, prosecutor backing him - MLive.com

The fight against Covid-19-related conspiracy theories will be fought on multiple fronts. It requires a broad public health campaign and for social media companies to control the spread of disinformation. But all of us can play a part in this effort. Most people will know someone who has succumbed to conspiracy theories about the current crisis.

1. Acknowledge scale of the task

Lack of evidence of a conspiracy, or positive proof against its existence, is taken by believers as evidence of the craftiness of those behind the plot, and their ability to dupe the public. So arm yourself with patience, and be prepared to fail.

2. Recognize the emotional dimension

Conspiracy theories seduce not so much through the power of argument, but through the intensity of the passions that they stir. Underpinning conspiracy theories are feelings of resentment, indignation and disenchantment about the world. They are stories about good and evil, as much as about what is true.

This gives conspiracy theories a strong emotional dimension. Tempers can flare and conversations turn into a shouting match. It is important to prevent this from happening. Be prepared to de-escalate the situation and keep the dialogue going, without necessarily giving ground.

3. Find out what they actually believe

A minority of committed believers treat conspiracy theories as the literal truth and are particularly resistant to persuasion. Many others might not see themselves as "believers," but are willing to accept that conspiracy theorists might be onto something and are at least asking the right questions. Establishing the precise nature, and extent, of someone's belief, will enable you to better tailor your response.

Background research will help you to focus the discussion on the substance of the claims. Never question someone's intelligence or moral sense, as this is the quickest way to end a conversation.

4. Establish common ground

One of the main problems with conspiracy theories is that they are not confined to tinfoil-hat-wearing kooks or political extremists. In times of crisis and uncertainty, they can contaminate the worldview of otherwise reasonable people.

Conspiracy theories make reality seem less chaotic, and tap into broader, often well-grounded concerns about the world such as the concentration of financial and political power, mass surveillance, inequality or lack of political transparency. So when talking about conspiracy theories, start by acknowledging these broader concerns and restrict your discussion to whether conspiracy theories can provide an adequate or meaningful answer.

Many people come to conspiracy theories through genuine, albeit misguided, curiosity about how to make sense of the world. They sometimes see themselves as healthy skeptics and self-taught researchers into complex issues. Avoid criticising or mocking this. Instead, present it as something that, in principle, you value and share. Your aim, after all, is not to make them less curious or skeptical, but to change what they are curious about, or skeptical of.

The kernels of truth on which conspiracy theories are based are a solid starting point for a discussion. Agreement on at least some of the facts will allow you to focus on the leap of imagination that allows two and two to make five.

5. Challenge the facts, value their argument

Debunking conspiracy theories requires a two-pronged approach. The first involves challenging evidence and its origins. Address specific claims and discuss what constitutes a credible source. Offer to look at the evidence together, including on fact-checking websites.

If you are talking to a staunch believer, he probably won't even engage with you on this. But if he has not yet fallen down the rabbit hole, he might, and this may lead him to start questioning his views.

Covid-19-related claims are in the same genre. Setting these conspiracy theories in their historical context can demonstrate that they offer nothing new, and don't ask the right questions about the pandemic and its causes. This just might encourage the person to direct their curiosity and skepticism to more worthwhile concerns.

6. Finally, be realistic

There is, of course, no guarantee that this advice will be effective. There are no incontestable arguments or fail-proof strategies that will always convert a conspiracy theorist to skepticism. Therefore, set realistic expectations. The aim of talking to conspiracy theorists is not to convert them, but to sow doubt about an argument, and hopefully enable them to gradually build up resistance to its seductive appeal.

Jovan Byford is a senior lecturer in psychology at The Open University. Disclosure: Byford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.

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Covid-19 conspiracy theories: 6 tips on how to engage anti-vaxxers - CNN

A coronavirus vaccine will likely be ready for distribution by the end of the year or early 2021, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said more than 25,000 people have registered to participate in clinical trials for possible vaccines.

From everything weve seen now in the animal data, as well as the human data we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021, Fauci said during a Congressional hearing. I dont think its dreaming.

A vaccine would likely go to essential workers and high-risk individuals first before distributed to the public. The Department of Defense and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would work together to distribute some 300 doses of the vaccine, Fauci said.

The U.S. currently has 4.6 million cases of coronavirus and at least 154,779 deaths.

Here are the latest coronavirus headlines:

Mississippi could be worst in country for COVID-19

The director of the Harvard Global Health Institute is warning that Mississippi could become number one in the country for coronavirus.

Mississippi will become the nations No. 1 in new cases/population. Already No. 1 on test positivity, Jha tweeted this week. Jha said Mississippis testing is down 8% while cases are up 37%.

Jha suggested Mississippi close or limit operations at stores, bars and restaurants.

As of Aug. 1, the state has reported 60,553 cases and 1,703 deaths.

Florida passes grim milestone

Florida has surpassed its record for the most COVID-19 deaths in a single week. The state has reported 1,230 coronavirus deaths in the past seven days. On Friday, the state had 257 coronavirus deaths, the most in a single day. On Sunday, Florida recorded 62 additional deaths, bringing its total to 7,084.

In the past week, Florida has recorded 63,277 new coronavirus cases.

33% of recent COVID cases in Louisiana are those between ages 18-29

More than 30% of the recent COVID-19 cases in Louisiana are between ages 18-29, health officials said.

Louisiana has added 3,477 new coronavirus cases since Friday with 33% among people between 18-29. Children under 18 account for 10% of the new cases, higher than the over-70 age group.

Louisiana has 119,000 coronavirus cases with 3,893 deaths.

View original post here:

Coronavirus update: Covid-19 vaccine ready by end of year, early 2021, Fauci says - AL.com

The West Virginia Department of Health andHuman Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on August 3,2020, there have been 294,902 total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 6,973 totalcases and 117 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (29/0), Berkeley (634/23), Boone (79/0), Braxton (8/0), Brooke(60/1), Cabell (328/10), Calhoun (6/0), Clay (17/0), Doddridge (4/0), Fayette(131/0), Gilmer (16/0), Grant (80/1), Greenbrier (87/0), Hampshire (74/0),Hancock (98/4), Hardy (53/1), Harrison (197/1), Jackson (157/0), Jefferson(287/5), Kanawha (838/13), Lewis (26/1), Lincoln (67/1), Logan (154/0), Marion(175/4), Marshall (125/2), Mason (49/0), McDowell (43/1), Mercer (165/0),Mineral (111/2), Mingo (132/2), Monongalia (909/16), Monroe (18/1), Morgan(25/1), Nicholas (31/1), Ohio (255/0), Pendleton (37/1), Pleasants (7/1),Pocahontas (40/1), Preston (101/23), Putnam (171/1), Raleigh (189/7), Randolph(202/3), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (14/0), Summers (6/0), Taylor (52/1), Tucker(11/0), Tyler (12/0), Upshur (36/2), Wayne (183/2), Webster (3/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (225/11), Wyoming (23/0).

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 individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.Such is the case of Brooke and Randolph counties in this report.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR. Visitthe dashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

On July 24,2020, Gov. Jim Justice announced that DHHR, the agency in charge of reportingthe number of COVID-19 cases, will transition from providing twice-dailyupdates to one report every 24 hours. This became effective August 1, 2020.

Read the original here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 8-3-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Moderna Inc. is now entering Phase 3 clinical trials for one of the most promising COVID-19 vaccines currently in development.

SEATTLE More than a dozen potential COVID-19 vaccines are in development around the world, and a few are now entering the final phase of human test trials.

So far, only five companies have reached advanced clinical trials and seek to introduce a vaccine as early as the end of this year or early 2021.

Among the most promising so far is the vaccine being developed by Moderna Inc.

"This is really the great public health challenge for all generations," said Geoffrey Baird M.D., Ph.D., a board-certified pathologist at UW Medicine, and acting chair of Laboratory Medicine.

Baird said he is encouraged by the results seen in test trials so far. So, how does it work?

The Moderna Inc. vaccine works by injecting 0.1 milligrams of a lab-engineered piece of Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) into the body. The RNA works like a set of instructions for the body to begin creating antibodies. It does this by creating spike proteins on the outside of some cells to fend off any coronavirus. The spikes look just like the spikes on the outside of the virus that causes COVID-19.

The vaccine is being inoculated in two separate doses, each about a month apart.

"In the vaccine trial, one of the first thing they saw is people felt a little sick, explained Baird. They had some chills, some fever, and it made them feel under the weather. And that's a sign, believe it or not, that it's working. Your body is building an immune response."

Baird reiterated that the COVID-19 vaccine does not cause COVID-19.

Around 30,000 test patients were recruited as part of the Moderna Inc. vaccine trial. Half of the test patients (15,000 people) are injected with the vaccine, and the other 15,000 receive a placebo.

Scientists are hoping many of the test subjects who received the placebo will stumble into the virus naturally out in the community and become infected. That way, researchers will know if the vaccine is working properly.

Scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, are cautiously optimistic that a vaccine will be available to some groups before the end of 2020.

Excerpt from:

How does the COVID-19 vaccine work? - KING5.com