Category: Corona Virus Vaccine

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 5:00 p.m., on July 19,2020, there have been 230,864 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 5,042 total cases and 100 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 (25/0), Berkeley (548/19), Boone(61/0), Braxton (7/0), Brooke (38/1), Cabell (222/7), Calhoun (5/0), Clay(15/0), Fayette (101/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (21/1), Greenbrier (78/0),Hampshire (50/0), Hancock (57/4), Hardy (48/1), Harrison (138/1), Jackson(149/0), Jefferson (268/5), Kanawha (520/12), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (20/0),Logan (45/0), Marion (134/3), Marshall (82/1), Mason (27/0), McDowell (12/0),Mercer (72/0), Mineral (71/2), Mingo (53/2), Monongalia (733/15), Monroe(16/1), Morgan (20/1), Nicholas (20/1), Ohio (177/0), Pendleton (19/1),Pleasants (5/1), Pocahontas (37/1), Preston (90/23), Putnam (111/1), Raleigh(92/3), Randolph (196/2), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (12/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor(29/1), Tucker (7/0), Tyler (10/0), Upshur (31/2), Wayne (149/2), Webster(2/0), Wetzel (42/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (198/9), Wyoming (7/0).

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 Preston and Wood counties in this report.

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

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 7-19-2020 - 5 PM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

WASHINGTON Russian hackers are attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research, the American, British and Canadian governments said Thursday, accusing the Kremlin of opening a new front in its spy battles with the West amid the worldwide competition to contain the pandemic.

The National Security Agency said that a hacking group implicated in the 2016 break-ins into Democratic Party servers has been trying to steal intelligence on vaccines from universities, companies and other health care organizations. The group, associated with Russian intelligence and known as both APT29 and Cozy Bear, has sought to exploit the chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

American intelligence officials said the Russians were aiming to steal research to develop their own vaccine more quickly, not to sabotage other countries efforts. There was likely little immediate damage to global public health, cybersecurity experts said.

The Russian espionage nevertheless signals a new kind of competition between Moscow and Washington akin to Cold War spies stealing technological secrets during the space race generations ago.

The Russian hackers have targeted British, Canadian and American organizations using malware and sending fraudulent emails to try to trick their employees into turning over passwords and other security credentials, all in an effort to gain access to the vaccine research as well as information about medical supply chains.

The accusations against Russia were also the latest example of an increasing willingness in recent months by the United States and its closest intelligence allies to publicly accuse foreign adversaries of breaches and cyberattacks. The American government has previously warned about efforts by China and Iran to steal vaccine research.

Attributing such attacks, however, is imprecise, an ambiguity that Moscow takes advantage of in denying responsibility, as it did Thursday.

Still, government officials, as well as outside experts, expressed strong confidence that Cozy Bear, controlled by Russias elite S.V.R. intelligence agency, was responsible for the attempted intrusions into the virus vaccine research.

We condemn these despicable attacks against those doing vital work to combat the coronavirus pandemic, said Paul Chichester, the director of operations for Britains National Cyber Security Center.

The head of the center, Ciaran Martin, told NBC News that the cyberattacks were first detected in February and that no evidence had emerged that data was stolen.

Government officials would not identify victims of the hackings. But the primary target of the attacks appeared to be Oxford University in Britain and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which have been jointly working on a vaccine, said Robert Hannigan, the former head of G.C.H.Q., the British intelligence agency.

Oxford scientists said on Thursday that they had noticed a surprising resemblance between their vaccine approach and the work that Russian scientists had reported.

Though Russia could be seeking to steal the vaccine data to bolster its own research, it could also be trying to avoid relying on Western countries for any eventual coronavirus vaccine.

While AstraZeneca has announced it will make the Oxford vaccine available at cost, governments and philanthropies have paid huge sums to the company to secure their place in line, even without any guarantee it will work. The United States has said it will pay up to $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca to fund a clinical trial and secure 300 million doses. Russia could find itself near the back of the line if the vaccine proves successful.

Russia clearly doesnt want to disrupt vaccine production, but they dont want to be dependent on the U.S. or the U.K. for production and discovery of the vaccine, said Mr. Hannigan, now an executive at the BlueVoyant cybersecurity firm. It not impossible to think Kremlin pride is such that they dont want that to happen.

An intense international race is underway to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus that has already killed 580,000 people and upended daily life around the world. More than 155 vaccines are under development, including 23 being tested on humans.

Some vaccines work by altering another common virus to mimic the coronavirus to prompt an immune response without making people sick. The research by Oxford and AstraZeneca is based on one such pathogen, a chimpanzee adenovirus. Russias Ministry of Health is trying to use two other adenoviruses but is not as far along in its testing as the Oxford researchers are.

Some officials suggested the Russian attacks have not been hugely successful but were widespread enough to warrant a coordinated international warning.

Across the globe, intelligence services have stepped up their focus on information surrounding the virus. The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, accused China last week of working to compromise American health care organizations conducting Covid-19 research.

Russia is not alone, said John Hultquist, the senior director of intelligence analysis at FireEye, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm. A lot of people are in this game even if they havent been called out yet. The whole pandemic is absolutely riddled with spies.

Chinese government hackers have long focused on stealing intellectual property and technology. Russia has aimed much of its recent cyberespionage, like election interference, at weakening geopolitical rivals and strengthening its hand.

China is more well known for theft through hacking than Russia, which is of course better now for using hacks for disruption and chaos, said Laura Rosenberger, a former Obama administration official who now leads the Alliance for Securing Democracy. But theres no question that whoever gets to a vaccine first thinks they will have geopolitical advantage, and thats something Id expect Russia to want.

Still, a Russian intrusion could inadvertently damage some vaccine data and additional security protocols to protect from future cyberattacks could impose a burden on researchers. Private firms are more at risk than the public, said Mike Chapple, a former National Security Agency computer scientist who teaches cybersecurity at the University of Notre Dame.

The potential harm here is limited to commercial harm, to companies that are devoting a lot of their own resources into developing a vaccine in hopes it will be financially rewarding down the road, he said.

The Kremlin mocked the announcements Thursday, and Russian officials said they did not know who could have hacked the companies or research centers in Britain. One Russian official said the accusation was an attempt to discredit Moscows own work on a vaccine.

Dmitri S. Peskov, the spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, told reporters that the accusations were unacceptable. Russia has nothing to do with these attempts, he said.

Cozy Bear is one of the highest-profile, and most successful, hacking groups associated with the Russian government. It was implicated alongside the group Fancy Bear in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Though Cozy Bear is believed to have breached the committees computers, it played no known role in releasing stolen Democratic emails.

Cozy Bear has a long history of targeting governmental, diplomatic, think tank, health care and energy organizations for intelligence gain, so we encourage everyone to take this threat seriously, said Anne Neuberger, the National Security Agencys cybersecurity director.

The malware used by Cozy Bear to steal the vaccine research included code known as WellMess and WellMail. The Russian group has not previously used that malware, according to British officials.

But American experts say the tactics used in trying to obtain access to the vaccine data bear all the hallmarks of Russian intelligence officials. And American officials said they were confident in attributing the attacks to the Russian hacking group.

The American, British and Canadian governments said Cozy Bear used recently publicized weak spots in computer networks to get a foothold. If organizations do not immediately patch a vulnerability that a software company has identified, their networks can be exposed to hacks.

Once Cozy Bear hackers exploit those gaps to gain entry to a computer system, they create legitimate credentials to maintain access even after the hole is patched.

While the various Russian hacking groups often share similar targets, they are run by different intelligence agencies for different purposes.

Hackers with Cozy Bear are after information but do not generally release it publicly, according to government and outside experts. Fancy Bear, which works for Russian military intelligence and is also known as APT28, will often publicize the information it steals.

Cozy Bears ties are to the S.V.R., the Russian equivalent of the C.I.A., according to current and former officials. Unlike other Russian hackers, Cozy Bears operations are sophisticated, stealthy and hard to detect.

Their job is quiet, old-fashioned intelligence collection, said Mr. Hultquist, the cybersecurity analyst.

Reporting was contributed by Nicole Perlroth from San Francisco, David D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen Castle from London, Andrew Higgins from Moscow, and Charlie Savage from Washington.

Read more from the original source:

Russian Hackers Trying to Steal Coronavirus Vaccine Research - The New York Times

Schools out for summer. And maybe longer, as scientists race to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. But why is it taking so long?

The first of four episodes of Today, Explained to Kids: Summer Camp, Voxs explainer podcast for kids, answers that question by taking kids back to the Island of Explained to talk to scientist Maria Elena Bottazzi, a microbiologist who co-leads vaccine development at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, about the development of a vaccine. We also take a curious kid, Mikah, to meet the Experimoth and learn more about why designing an experiment isnt always as easy as it seems.

Listen to the episode with the young people in your life or just because and then come back here to download our episode discussion guide and a fun (and kinda gross) experiment you can do with kids (or, again, by yourself) that builds on what we learned in the episode.

Grown-ups: The discussion guide riffs on what we learned in the episode and the experiment to help start a conversation about social issues. Just like science experiments, its all about open-minded observation, asking questions, making predictions, and challenging conclusions.

Thanks to early childhood education specialists Rachel Giannini and Saleem Hue Penny for developing our learning materials!

Listen to more Today, Explained to Kids episodes:

Support Voxs explanatory journalism Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you, and our audience around the world, with information that has the power to save lives. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower you through understanding. Voxs work is reaching more people than ever, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles, videos, and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today.

The rest is here:

Covid-19 activities for parents, teachers, and students to explain coronavirus science to kids - Vox.com

For the 14th straight week, the state Department of Public Health released a breakdown of the total number of coronavirus cases in each Massachusetts city and town.

Until this week, the state provided data on the communities with the highest rates of cases per 100,000 people. This data was no longer included, but some new information offers a snapshot of cases in recent weeks.

Among cities and towns with at least 15 new cases in the last two weeks, these 25 communities have the highest percentages of positive cases in the last two weeks:

Data from between July 1, 2020, and July 15, 2020, omitting communities with under 15 new cases in that span. The state notes that previous reports were based on the number of people who tested positive, but this percentage is instead based on the total number of positive tests. Both tallies are listed in the chart above.

The numbers in Lawrence are particularly noteworthy. As part of the "Stop the Spread" initiative, it is one of eight communities that began offering free testing last week. In the last 14 days, only Boston, Worcester and Springfield saw more tests administered, but 6.32% of the tests in Lawrence came back positive the highest rate in the state among communities with at least 15 new cases. Fall River, also part of the initiative, followed with a rate of 6.25%.

Take a closer look at last week's list.

More here:

Coronavirus Hot Spots: The Mass. Communities With the Highest Rates of COVID-19 - NBC10 Boston

Then Governor Charlie Baker announced the start of Phase 2 in reopening the states economy on June 8, allowing hotels and short-term rentals to host leisure travelers after being closed to most business for much of the spring. And in a heartbeat, Ashe had the Edgartown home booked right back up.

The pandemic has brought a boom for short-term rentals on Cape Cod and the Islands as vacationers rush to book a cure for their cabin fever. In an unexpected twist for homeowners and agents who had braced for a bust, summer 2020 is turning out to be even stronger than previous years that did not have public health concerns or a recession hanging over the rental market.

According to WeNeedAVacation.com, a local website that markets short-term rentals on the Cape and Islands, total bookings so far are 24 percent above last year. Vacancy rates are at or below 5 percent for most of the summer, well below levels of last summer.

Julie Jason, co-owner of Waterfront Rentals in West Yarmouth, said half of the 160 rental contracts her agency lined up earlier this year were canceled at one point; now, nearly every single week is booked again.

The market right now, it just exploded, Jason said. Ive been doing this for over 20 years, and Ive never experienced the volume of inquiries and bookings for such a short period of time.

Hotels on the Cape are also enjoying a modest boost after a tough spring, though nothing like short-term rentals. Wendy Northcross, chief executive of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, said the occupancy rate for Cape Cod hotels peaked at 91 percent on Saturday, July 4. However, hotel room prices are much lower than last summer, while rates for short-term rentals have remained relatively steady.

Northcross said many business owners feel the numbers are better than they feared, especially with fireworks and other big events canceled. Beaches are open, and many restaurants offer outdoor dining.

Other parts of the country were not as fortunate as weve been, Northcross said. Knock on wood, our business is still OK. But its very uncertain.

Homeowners and real estate agents say rental homes give vacationers more flexibility for social distancing than hotels and motels. Michele Noonan said that was a definite selling point for her three-house compound in Dennis Port that she rents for $12,000 a week. She initially faced a slew of cancellations, but those weeks were quickly filled after Baker reopened short-term rentals.

Im still getting e-mails more than one a day sometimes from would-be vacationers in New England, Noonan said. I think everybody is afraid to fly. Two people who booked with me had international trips but they shifted their funds to stay local.

Some renters arent even technically on vacation and instead are using a Cape rental as a satellite work-from-home base. A consistent question I get is, How good is your WiFi? said Margie Nilson, a partner at Marietta Realty in Harwich.

David Southworth, co-owner of the Willowbend development in Mashpee, said remote-work urbanites from metro Boston and New York are looking for a change of scenery. The ownership rules at Willowbend require stays of at least one month for renters. But this is a high-end market: Rents are running as high as $50,000 a month, and that doesnt include the extra fee for access to the golf course and other country club amenities.

If a house has four bedrooms and a pool, you can pretty much get whatever you ask, Southworth said.

Kiersten Kaye and her husband rented a three-bedroom house near Craigville Beach in Barnstable for two weeks in August. They are working both weeks, though will take some time off during the day to relax.

Going into this, we did not have the point of view of vacationing, said Kaye, a Waltham resident who works at engineering software firm Dassault Systemes. We absolutely had the point of view of [needing] a change of scenery.

Kaye is staying at a house owned by Anne Mayo, who said she first started advertising the place for $2,500 a week at the beginning of June. Its now booked through Labor Day, and Mayo is still getting inquiries.

I was shocked at the surge, Mayo said. People are scrambling.

But the summer of 2020 has not been without its complications. Homeowners have had to adopt more stringent cleaning regimens, for example, as well as new protocols for bed linens. And face masks are now as common as beach chairs.

There are definitely twists on it, but its still your Cape Cod vacation, Nilson said. People were just so stir crazy, being at home during the quarantine. They really needed a beach on Cape Cod.

Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonchesto.

See more here:

Its a boom season for Cape rentals because of the COVID-19 pandemic - BetaBoston

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued an order Thursday requiring people to wear face masks in public throughout the state, which has had a surge in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks.The Republican governor had resisted a statewide mask mandate and opposed issuing a stay-at-home order earlier in the pandemic, but he signed the order requiring masks when social distancing isn't possible in the hopes of slowing the disease's rapid spread in the state. The order takes effect Monday.Hutchinsons decision comes amid growing support for mask requirements from business and health leaders and a day after Bentonville-based Walmart said it would require customers to wear masks in all of its U.S. stores. The states largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also called for a statewide requirement on Thursday.Hutchinson previously encouraged people to wear masks and allowed cities to pass ordinances requiring their use, but he stopped short of requiring them statewide. Surges leading to shortage of hospital beds in some areasWith skyrocketing coronavirus hospitalizations in several states, some hard-hit counties in Arizona and Texas are preparing for the worst.A total of 39 states reported an increase in the number of new cases from the week before. California, Florida, Arizona and Texas have become the states to watch as surging coronavirus cases lead to a shortage of hospital beds.In Arizona's Maricopa County, which has the most COVID-19 cases in the state, officials have been bringing in refrigerated trucks as morgues fill up.The medical examiner's office has ordered four portable coolers with additional ones expected in the coming days, said Fields Moseley, the county spokesman. The medical examiner's office morgue had a total of 156 deceased people with a surge capacity of just over 200, Moseley said Wednesday.It is unclear how many of the deaths are related to coronavirus the county has said fatalities go up in the summer due to the heat."Because we hit that surge capacity, multiple phone calls were made to funeral homes all over the county to try to assess their ability to make sure they were taking bodies in a timely fashion," Moseley said.Two counties in Texas Cameron and Hidalgo are sharing a large refrigerated trailer to store bodies of coronavirus patients because of a lack of space at the morgues. San Antonio officials have also said they're requesting refrigerated trucks."I'm pleading with everybody in our neck of the woods, help us do your part, people's lives are at stake not just the people getting sick, but doctors, nurses working to the bone, EMS personnel, transporting people," Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevio Jr. told CNN affiliate KVEO.The latest numbersThe United States has recorded nearly 3.5 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University, and at least 137,000 Americans have died. Across the world, 13 million people have tested positive for the virus.Thousands more Americans will die from the virus before a vaccine is developed, an influential model says.The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington is projecting 224,000 people will die from the virus by Nov. 1 an increase of almost 16,000 from the week before.That jump is due to skyrocketing cases around the country, particularly in Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, said Dr. Chris Murray, chair of the IHME.Officials look for options as hospitals fill upAs infections go up, officials nationwide are rushing to issue restrictions all over again.Gov. Brian Kemp extended Georgia's emergency coronavirus restrictions and said while people are "strongly encouraged" to wear face coverings they're not required. The order, which expires July 31, limits public gatherings to 50 people, mandates social distancing and prevents local governments from implementing stricter rules than the state's.The state reported 417 additional hospitalizations nearly double Tuesday's total and is turning a large convention center in downtown Atlanta into a potential overflow hospital.California the country's most populous state set two more records Wednesday with highs for hospitalizations and ICU admissions.The state announced 11,126 new cases, with a total of 6,786 COVID-19 positive hospital patients and 1,907 patients in the ICU. And in Los Angeles County, the public health director warned another stay-at-home order is likely."We can't take anything off the table there's absolutely no certainty of what exactly is going to happen next," Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.California met its goal to have 10,000 contact tracers statewide by July 1, but Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said it's not enough to handle the onslaught of coronavirus cases."We did not build the first contact tracing program on this level of transmission," Ghaly said. "Local and states across the nation have recognized the need to be targeted with some of our contact tracing at this moment in time."Florida reported 301,810 positive cases statewide Wednesday with 19,334 people hospitalized. More than 50 hospitals have reached intensive care unit capacity and show zero beds available, according to according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Eight of those hospitals are in Miami-Dade County.Florida set a new one-day coronavirus death record for the state with 156 new deaths reported Thursday, surpassing the previous high of 132 that was set Tuesday. In South Texas, hospitals in Laredo are full and the federal government is converting a hotel into a health care facility.Arizona health officials announced they're bringing nearly 600 critical care and medical-surgical nurses from out of state to help as they enhance their internal surge plans to fill staffing gaps."COVID-19 hospitalizations in Arizona have increased with hospitals reporting nearly 3,500 inpatients and more than 900 patients in their intensive care units," the Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement.Public health experts say the end of the pandemic remains out of sight, and several states took steps to mandate the wearing of masks.Alabama and Montana said they are required in public. In Montana, face coverings are mandatory in certain indoor group settings where more than 50 people gather and social distancing is not possible. More than 30 states now have mandates on face coverings in public.And in Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said he's tested positive for COVID-19 the same day the state reported a record high number of new cases.Stitt attended President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa last month and was spotted in the crowd without a mask. But based on contact tracing, the state's health officials said he did not contract coronavirus at the rally.There were 22,813 total cases in the state, up 1,075 from Tuesday, health officials said. At least 561 people are hospitalized due to the virus.Governor touts research unproven by scientistsHit hard by a surge in coronavirus cases, Florida's governor applauded positive results from antibody testing, calling it a "good sign." But scientists disagree.Antibody tests determine whether a person had COVID-19 in the past, after the infection's cleared. "That creates resistance in terms of the ability for the disease to spread," Republican Ron DeSantis said in a press conference.However, researchers including the World Health Organization have repeatedly said there's no evidence to show that prior infection and developing antibodies make someone immune to future infection.Last week, a Spain government study suggested that coronavirus antibodies wane after a few weeks. A smaller British study released prior to peer review suggests antibody response may start to decline within a month.And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has echoed a similar sentiment. "We do not know how much protection the antibodies may provide or how long this protection may last," it says on its website.Chicago teachers union wants virtual start to fall classesChicago Public Schools should start the fall semester with virtual classes rather than calling students back to buildings left empty since March, the union representing thousands of teachers in the nation's third-largest school district said Thursday.As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to rise in dozens of states, there is no way to ensure the safety of students and teachers in schools this fall, leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union said. The union also wants charter schools to start the year virtually.Conversations about whether to resume in-person classes this fall are roiling communities across the country. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have publicly pressured school officials to do so but officials in Los Angeles and San Diego, the two largest districts in California, said this week that their year will begin with online classes only.Stop the spread of COVID-19To help stop the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC recommends wearing a face mask.Masks are required in public places in some states and businesses. Several major retailers have announced mask requirement policies as the nation spikes in cases in certain areas. The CDC also recommends you keep 6 feet of distance between yourself and others.Make sure to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.For more tips on how to stay safe, CLICK HERE.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued an order Thursday requiring people to wear face masks in public throughout the state, which has had a surge in coronavirus cases over the past several weeks.

The Republican governor had resisted a statewide mask mandate and opposed issuing a stay-at-home order earlier in the pandemic, but he signed the order requiring masks when social distancing isn't possible in the hopes of slowing the disease's rapid spread in the state. The order takes effect Monday.

Hutchinsons decision comes amid growing support for mask requirements from business and health leaders and a day after Bentonville-based Walmart said it would require customers to wear masks in all of its U.S. stores. The states largest newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also called for a statewide requirement on Thursday.

Hutchinson previously encouraged people to wear masks and allowed cities to pass ordinances requiring their use, but he stopped short of requiring them statewide.

With skyrocketing coronavirus hospitalizations in several states, some hard-hit counties in Arizona and Texas are preparing for the worst.

A total of 39 states reported an increase in the number of new cases from the week before. California, Florida, Arizona and Texas have become the states to watch as surging coronavirus cases lead to a shortage of hospital beds.

In Arizona's Maricopa County, which has the most COVID-19 cases in the state, officials have been bringing in refrigerated trucks as morgues fill up.

The medical examiner's office has ordered four portable coolers with additional ones expected in the coming days, said Fields Moseley, the county spokesman. The medical examiner's office morgue had a total of 156 deceased people with a surge capacity of just over 200, Moseley said Wednesday.

It is unclear how many of the deaths are related to coronavirus the county has said fatalities go up in the summer due to the heat.

"Because we hit that surge capacity, multiple phone calls were made to funeral homes all over the county to try to assess their ability to make sure they were taking bodies in a timely fashion," Moseley said.

Two counties in Texas Cameron and Hidalgo are sharing a large refrigerated trailer to store bodies of coronavirus patients because of a lack of space at the morgues. San Antonio officials have also said they're requesting refrigerated trucks.

"I'm pleading with everybody in our neck of the woods, help us do your part, people's lives are at stake not just the people getting sick, but doctors, nurses working to the bone, EMS personnel, transporting people," Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevio Jr. told CNN affiliate KVEO.

The United States has recorded nearly 3.5 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University, and at least 137,000 Americans have died. Across the world, 13 million people have tested positive for the virus.

Thousands more Americans will die from the virus before a vaccine is developed, an influential model says.

The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington is projecting 224,000 people will die from the virus by Nov. 1 an increase of almost 16,000 from the week before.

That jump is due to skyrocketing cases around the country, particularly in Florida, Texas, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, said Dr. Chris Murray, chair of the IHME.

As infections go up, officials nationwide are rushing to issue restrictions all over again.

Gov. Brian Kemp extended Georgia's emergency coronavirus restrictions and said while people are "strongly encouraged" to wear face coverings they're not required. The order, which expires July 31, limits public gatherings to 50 people, mandates social distancing and prevents local governments from implementing stricter rules than the state's.

The state reported 417 additional hospitalizations nearly double Tuesday's total and is turning a large convention center in downtown Atlanta into a potential overflow hospital.

California the country's most populous state set two more records Wednesday with highs for hospitalizations and ICU admissions.

The state announced 11,126 new cases, with a total of 6,786 COVID-19 positive hospital patients and 1,907 patients in the ICU. And in Los Angeles County, the public health director warned another stay-at-home order is likely.

"We can't take anything off the table there's absolutely no certainty of what exactly is going to happen next," Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.

California met its goal to have 10,000 contact tracers statewide by July 1, but Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said it's not enough to handle the onslaught of coronavirus cases.

"We did not build the first contact tracing program on this level of transmission," Ghaly said. "Local and states across the nation have recognized the need to be targeted with some of our contact tracing at this moment in time."

Florida reported 301,810 positive cases statewide Wednesday with 19,334 people hospitalized. More than 50 hospitals have reached intensive care unit capacity and show zero beds available, according to according to data released by the Agency for Health Care Administration. Eight of those hospitals are in Miami-Dade County.

Florida set a new one-day coronavirus death record for the state with 156 new deaths reported Thursday, surpassing the previous high of 132 that was set Tuesday.

In South Texas, hospitals in Laredo are full and the federal government is converting a hotel into a health care facility.

Arizona health officials announced they're bringing nearly 600 critical care and medical-surgical nurses from out of state to help as they enhance their internal surge plans to fill staffing gaps.

"COVID-19 hospitalizations in Arizona have increased with hospitals reporting nearly 3,500 inpatients and more than 900 patients in their intensive care units," the Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement.

Public health experts say the end of the pandemic remains out of sight, and several states took steps to mandate the wearing of masks.

Alabama and Montana said they are required in public. In Montana, face coverings are mandatory in certain indoor group settings where more than 50 people gather and social distancing is not possible. More than 30 states now have mandates on face coverings in public.

And in Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said he's tested positive for COVID-19 the same day the state reported a record high number of new cases.

Stitt attended President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Tulsa last month and was spotted in the crowd without a mask. But based on contact tracing, the state's health officials said he did not contract coronavirus at the rally.

There were 22,813 total cases in the state, up 1,075 from Tuesday, health officials said. At least 561 people are hospitalized due to the virus.

Hit hard by a surge in coronavirus cases, Florida's governor applauded positive results from antibody testing, calling it a "good sign." But scientists disagree.

Antibody tests determine whether a person had COVID-19 in the past, after the infection's cleared. "That creates resistance in terms of the ability for the disease to spread," Republican Ron DeSantis said in a press conference.

However, researchers including the World Health Organization have repeatedly said there's no evidence to show that prior infection and developing antibodies make someone immune to future infection.

Last week, a Spain government study suggested that coronavirus antibodies wane after a few weeks. A smaller British study released prior to peer review suggests antibody response may start to decline within a month.

And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has echoed a similar sentiment. "We do not know how much protection the antibodies may provide or how long this protection may last," it says on its website.

Chicago Public Schools should start the fall semester with virtual classes rather than calling students back to buildings left empty since March, the union representing thousands of teachers in the nation's third-largest school district said Thursday.

As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to rise in dozens of states, there is no way to ensure the safety of students and teachers in schools this fall, leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union said. The union also wants charter schools to start the year virtually.

Conversations about whether to resume in-person classes this fall are roiling communities across the country. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have publicly pressured school officials to do so but officials in Los Angeles and San Diego, the two largest districts in California, said this week that their year will begin with online classes only.

To help stop the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC recommends wearing a face mask.

Masks are required in public places in some states and businesses. Several major retailers have announced mask requirement policies as the nation spikes in cases in certain areas.

The CDC also recommends you keep 6 feet of distance between yourself and others.

Make sure to wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

For more tips on how to stay safe, CLICK HERE.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What you need to know about COVID-19: Arkansas to require face masks - WYFF Greenville

As scientists race toward a coronavirus vaccine, some worry that key steps might be missed  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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As scientists race toward a coronavirus vaccine, some worry that key steps might be missed - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Written by Abhishek De, Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: July 16, 2020 6:19:27 pm Nasal Coronavirus (Covid-19) Vaccine: People get tested for Covid-19 at a NDMC dispensary in New Delhi. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

While most of the 160 Covid-19 vaccine candidates under various stages of development are conventional intramuscular injection, several research groups and firms, including in the United States, Canada and India, are working on nasal coronavirus vaccines. Instead of a jab into the upper arm, these types of vaccines will be delivered to the respiratory tract, either via a nasal spray or aerosol delivery.

Since coronavirus is a respiratory infection and invades the airway, scientists from the UKs Oxford University and Imperial College and US Yale University have said administering a vaccine at the entry points would train the mucosa to identify Covid-19 and block it from getting through. Scientists have identified two specific types of cells in the nose as the likely initial infection points for SARS-CoV2.

Mucous membranes are squishy tissues that line the surfaces of internal organs like lungs and respiratory tract and catch pathogens that try to get into the body.

The hope is that mucosal vaccines will do all that their intramuscular competitors can and more, mounting a multi pronged attack on the coronavirus from the moment it tries to breach the bodys barriers, the New York Times quoted Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona, as saying.

Intranasal vaccines are delivered to the respiratory tract, spritzed through the nose or mouth, to target the immune cells that are found around the mucosal tissues. While an intramuscular vaccination mainly induces an antibody response, a nasal vaccination is beneficial as it triggers mucosal, as well as systemic immunity. Moreover, intranasal vaccination may also offer protection at other mucosal sites such as the lungs, intestines and genital tract.

T cells and B cells are the major cellular components of the bodys immune response. In normal circumstances, upon vaccination, B cells would provide antibodies called IgG to search for pathogens. Other cells, called T cells, either helps B cells produce antibodies or seek out and destroy infected cells.

In case of intranasal vaccination, the B cells that reside around mucosal tissues can make another type of antibody called IgA that plays a large role in heeling gut and airway pathogens. Nearby T cells can then memorise the features of specific pathogens and patrol the places they first encountered them.

Fact Check: Why the Russian COVID-19 vaccine still has miles to go

At present, five firms in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Finland and India are working on developing a nasal vaccine to cure Covid-19.

Canadian vaccine candidate: Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are developing a DNA-based vaccine candidate that can be given via nasal route. For the vaccine, the scientists are using the bacteriophage-based approach. This will allow the vaccine to stimulate an immune response in the nasal cavity and target tissues in the lower respiratory tract.

Intravacc: Dutch research and development vaccine institute Intravacc, Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR) and Utrecht University are jointly developing an intranasal vaccine. According to a statement by Intravacc, the vaccine candidate contains a Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vector that expresses the novel coronavirus immunogenic spike protein, a key target for neutralising antibodies. The company stated that NDV demonstrated safety for intranasal delivery in mammals, including primates.

AdCOVID: Biopharmaceutical firm Altimmune, in collaboration with DynPort Vaccine, has developed a intranasal Covid-19 vaccine candidate, AdCOVID. In pre-clinical studies, the experimental vaccine has shown strong serum neutralising activity besides potent mucosal immunity in the respiratory tract. The company expects to start manufacturing during the third quarter of this year.

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Finland nasal spray: Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Helsinki are developing a Covid-19 vaccine that will be administered as a nasal spray using gene transfer technology. Professor Seppo Yl-Herttula has told the media that clinical trials would begin in autumn. The vaccine, based on an adenovirus carrier, will contain genetic information on how to produce coronavirus surface protein in humans. The administration of the vaccine into the nose and upper respiratory tract will start the formation of antibodies against the virus.

CoroFlu: Besides Covaxin, Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with University of WisconsinMadison and vaccine firm FluGen, has also developed CoroFlu, a one-drop Covid-19 nasal vaccine. CoroFlu will likely undergo human clinical trials by the fall of 2020. CoroFlu has been developed on the backbone of FluGens existing flu vaccine candidate M2SR, which is a self-limiting version of the influenza virus that induces an immune response against the flu.

The voice behind the possible benefits of an intranasal vaccine for Covid-19 gained traction after Professor Robin Shattock, an immunologist at Imperial College London, told the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee that a second wave of studies looking into mucosal immunisation should be carried out, a report in The Daily Mail said.

Sarah Gilbert, professor of vaccinology at Oxford University, also said that oral or nasal vaccination would have much stronger mucosal response. This takes the vaccine itself right down into the lungs where it can access the same tissue that would be reached by the virus infection, she said. However, she had a word of caution also, saying that delivering a vaccine through the nose is actually getting very close to the brain. Putting it down into the lungs, youre exposing a very large surface area to the new entity, she further said.

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Explained: How will Covid-19 nasal vaccines work, which firms are developing it? - The Indian Express

A Bangladesh hospital owner has been arrested over allegations he issued thousands of fake negative coronavirus test results, as the Australian state of Victoria recorded the worst daily rise in cases for the nation since the pandemic began, and global coronavirus cases passed 13.5 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Regent hospital owner Mohammad Shahed was arrested trying to fleeing to India in a burqa after a nine-day hunt, police said. He is one of more than a dozen people detained by authorities in recent days over allegations that clinics in Uttara and Mirpur issued fake certificates to patients saying they were virus-free without testing them.

Experts say false documents have worsened the already dire virus situation in the country of 168 million people by casting doubt on the veracity of certificates issued by clinics.

Bangladesh has reported just over 193,000 infections and 2,457 deaths so far but the real figures are likely much higher because little testing has been carried out.

Police spokesman Colonel Ashique Billah told AFP: He was arrested from the bank of a border river as he was trying to flee to India. He was wearing a burqa.

His hospitals carried out 10,500 coronavirus tests, out of which 4,200 were genuine and the rest, 6,300 test reports, were given without conducting tests.

Shahed is also accused of charging for the certificates and virus treatments despite agreeing that his hospitals in the capital, Dhaka, would provide free care.

Italy last week suspended flights to Rome from Bangladesh after several passengers arriving from Dhaka tested positive for Covid-19. Some of those who tested positive in Italy were allegedly carrying negative coronavirus certificates from Bangladesh, said Shakirul Islam of migrant rights group OKUP.

The government must ensure quality of Covid-19 tests in local laboratories for the sake of its overseas job market, said Islam.

Nearly $19bn was sent back to Bangladesh by an estimated 12 million migrant workers last year, according to the central bank.

In Australia, the state of Victoria, reported two more deaths and 317 cases on Thursday: the largest daily increase in cases for an Australian state since the start of the pandemic. Two men in their 80s died, bringing the total coronavirus deaths in the state to 29 and upping the national toll to 113. There are 109 people in hospital with 29 in intensive care, with total of 4750 cases since the pandemic began, state premier Daniel Andrews said.

The state government has paused some elective surgeries including hip and knee surgery at Melbourne health services to make sure extra beds are available.

In the United States, Dr Anthony Fauci, the senior public health expert on the White House coronavirus task force, said the US needed to focus from a federal level on getting the virus now surging in the south and west under control rather than these games people are playing.

Weve got to almost reset this and say, OK, lets stop this nonsense, he said in an interview with the Atlantic when he was asked to describe the truth about the federal response to the pandemic.

Faucis comments came as US cases increased by a world daily record of more than 67,400, taking the total to nearly 3.5 million confirmed infections.

In better news, Fauci predicted on Wednesday the country would meet its goal of a vaccine by years end, he told Reuters in an interview, saying, I feel good about the projected timetable.

His comments follow promising early-stage data for Moderna Incs coronavirus vaccine, released on Tuesday, that was developed by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Fauci directs.

The news about the vaccine being developed by Moderna affected markets, which rallied in response to the rising hopes for a Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, and the S&P 500 climbed back to where it was a few days after it set its record early this year.

Other key global developments include:

Canadas efforts to flatten the curve have put the country on the brink of zero deaths for the first time since March, but officials see worrying signs of a new spike as provinces lift restrictions.

Brazils president, Jair Bolsonaro, has again tested positive, he told reporters on Wednesday in Brasilia, suggesting he has yet to recover from an infection first diagnosed last week, Reuters reports.

Irelands prime minister, Micheal Martin, said on Wednesday night the government continues to advise against non-essential overseas travel, as he announced that a planned move to phase 4 reopening had been postponed to 10 August because the countrys reproduction rate the number of people infected by a virus carrier had increased to more than 1.

South Africa surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases late on Wednesday. The countrys 311,049 cases make up close to half of Africas total.

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Global report: Bangladesh hospital owner accused of faking thousands of Covid-19 test results - The Guardian

This week a UK study has been generating headlines that suggest those who get coronavirus may develop antibodies for only a few months.

But what do we really know about how we generate an immune response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19? And is such research a setback for vaccine development? Three experts we spoke to didn't think so.

Researchers from Kings College London announced findings this week of a study that looked at people who had recovered from COVID-19 infection.

The research found levels of antibodies that can fight the virus peaked in the blood three weeks after people got sick, and then declined after as little as two to three months, in some cases to nothing at all.

This is important because getting sick and creating a good level of antibodies to a particular virus means your immune system is better able to fight the virus the next time you're exposed to it.

And this is why most vaccines aim to produce antibodies against the virus they are designed to protect you from.

The UK research is yet to be peer reviewed or published, but according to Australian immunologist Stuart Tangye of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the findings are in line with those from a number of other studies.

"There was a paper in Nature Medicine recently highlighting that the longevity of that antibody response isn't great," said Professor Tangye, who is part of a global consortium of researchers looking at how people's genetics affects their ability to fight off the virus.

He said other findings, from researchers at the coalface in China, also showed great variability in antibody response, and a decline in a large proportion of people after eight weeks.

So what does this mean for vaccines against SARS-CoV-2?

"Ninety to 95 per cent of all successful vaccines that are out there at the moment really rely on antibody production," Professor Tangye said.

But along with other researchers he is still optimistic about future options.

"It's not a roadblock, it's more of a pivot.

"We just need to be clever and use the information in going forward."

There is much we still don't know about our body's immune response to coronavirus, and what role other parts of the immune system might play in developing immunity.

"Antibody levels specific for COVID-19 wane over time but we don't know what the implications of this are," said immunologist Emily Edwards from Monash University.

She pointed to the role of B cells that produce antibodies and 'remember' viruses they encounter, therefore working much quicker next time around.

"Just because the levels of antibodies in the blood have decreased it doesn't mean that the memory B cells aren't there to produce more antibodies if they see the virus again," she said.

Dr Edwards also said there was some evidence that another group of immune cells, called killer T cells, could kill SARS-CoV-2 infected cells, but more research was needed on this.

She said studies of recovered patients were helping in the development of vaccines by giving us a picture of what the immune system looks like after the virus leaves the body.

"It's like an imprint of what type of response we want to generate when looking for a vaccine," Dr Edwards said.

Immunologist Jennifer Juno of the Doherty Institute is helping define this imprint, with newly-published results in Nature Medicine this week.

Dr Juno and colleagues also found some people recovering from COVID-19 produce more antibodies than others and so theoretically could have better immunity, at least in the short term.

They are currently following up to see if they find the same drop-off over time.

But significantly, this team found these people had higher levels of a particular group of T cells.

These T cells, which also remember viruses, help B cells to make antibodies.

Dr Juno thinks this group of T cells may be a good marker to use in testing whether vaccines are doing their job.

"I am still quite optimistic about the vaccine landscape," she said.

"Some of the early data from vaccine candidates in animal models shows you can induce antibody levels from a vaccine that are either as high as what we see with natural infection, or even higher."

Dr Juno said there was a lot of interest in the possibility that existing immunity to common colds, some of which are caused by other coronaviruses, could protect us from the new virus.

But she said there is no evidence for this, and this immunity is often short-lived anyway.

Dr Edwards added that the fact so many people are getting severely sick from COVID-19 also argued against this possibility.

Like Dr Juno, Professor Tangye is optimistic about a vaccine.

Breaking down the latest news and research to understand how the world is living through an epidemic, this is the ABC's Coronacast podcast.

He said the fact that a small proportion of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 do actually produce lots of effective antibodies means it may be possible to mix ingredients called adjuvants into a vaccine to better stimulate the immune system and encourage production of more antibodies.

Although, Professor Tangye said, just like we get a regular flu shot we might need to have a yearly coronavirus jab although it wouldn't be just in winter like the flu.

Whatever the case, Professor Tangye said it was important not to rely on any one thing.

"We need a multipronged approach."

"We need to be hitting every part of the immune system which is going to give you some protection against infection."

And, he added, even if a successful vaccine eludes us, as it has so far with HIV, then it might be possible to manage COVID-19 with drugs.

"While we still don't have a vaccine for HIV it's now a liveable chronic disease and that's been achieved through antiviral drugs," Professor Tangye said.

Apart from high profile candidates such as remdesivir, he points to an approach taken by colleagues at the Garvan Institute that involves making artificial antibodies in the lab that could be injected into people, called convalescent plasma therapy. He says this could be used as a "bridge" to a vaccine.

Another potentially helpful tool Dr Edwards is involved in developing, is a rapid test to tell who has immunity to COVID-19, who remains infectious, and who is at risk of developing a severe form of the disease.

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Coronavirus immunity: Any antibodies we develop to COVID-19 seem to drop off within months. So what does this mean for a vaccine? - ABC News