Delayed Medical Care And Unmet Care Needs Due To The COVID-19 Pandemic Among Adults With Disabilities In The US healthaffairs.org
Read the original post:
The stopgap funding agreement to keep the government open past Friday does not have the Biden administrations requested funding for monkeypox or COVID-19. Earlier this month, the White Houseasked for $22.4 billion for COVID-related needs and $4.5 billion for monkeypox.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked during a briefing on Tuesday if the White House has given up on that funding? Our near-term priority is keeping the government open -- we've been very clear about that, she replied. We've been very clear since early 2022 about our COVID funding needs and have warned that, without congressional action, we would be forcedto make difficult trade-offs.
Already, there have been cuts to the testing program and being unable to take action that Republicans and Democrats support to have the United States lead the effort on the next generation of vaccine, the next generation of treatments, Jean-Pierre noted. And so, we're not going to give up. Here are some of the other recent headlines you might have missed.
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee announced on Tuesday that Elaine Howle, former California State Auditor, will serve as a special advisor to the committee for state, local, tribal, and territorial oversight. Also, two auditors from the Tennessee Comptrollers office joined the committees new auditor-in-residence program. These are both first-of-their-kind initiatives that bring together federal, state, and local auditors to advance coordinated oversight of pandemic spending, said the committee in a press release.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency took action to address inequities in minority and disadvantaged communities with respect to the locations of community COVID vaccine centers, the Homeland Security inspector generalsaid in a report published on Wednesday. FEMAs Civil Rights Advisory Group implemented a methodology that prioritized states based on the [Centers for Disease Control and Preventions social vulnerability index], which sought to address differences in coronavirus disease 2019 care and outcomes within communities of color and other underserved populations. Also, the agencys strategic plan for 2022-2026 outlines objectives for instilling equity in emergency management, among other actions FEMA is taking for future planning. The agency concurred with the IGs two recommendations for further action.
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have both now submitted applications to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for their updated COVID-19 boosters for kids. Pfizer's booster is for kids ages 5 to 11 and Modernas is for kids ages 6 to 17.
The new director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons testified on Thursday that as of earlier this month, almost 66% of federal inmates and 80% of employees are fully vaccinated. With possible monkeypox exposure in the prison system, BOP is working to ensure theyve learned lessons from COVID-19, Director Colette Peters said before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Despite President Bidens remarks that the pandemic is over, the Pentagon is pressing ahead with its policy, first enacted in March 2020, to help contractors mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic,Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The Defense Department was inconsistent and ineffective in verifying or crafting businesses as critical to national security in order to receive certain loans from the CARES Act, the Pentagon's watchdog said in a report published this week, which it did in conjunction with the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery. [Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment] officials were unable to fully support the rationale used during the analysis or decision-making process. Ultimately, Treasury Department officials made the final decision to approve Section 4003 loans; however, Treasury officials relied on the analysis performed by [acquisition and sustainment] officials to initiate the loan underwriting process, said the report. Furthermore, the DoDs lack of a documented definition and documentation trail put the Treasury Department at risk of potentially providing loans to companies that were not critical to maintaining national security.
Help us understand the situation better. Are you a federal employee, contractor or military member with information, concerns, etc. about how your agency is handling the coronavirus? Email us at newstips@govexec.com.
Read the original:
Coronavirus Roundup: White House Says It Hasn't Given Up on COVID-19 Funding - GovExec.com
LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is announcing the availability of an additional 289,000 COVID-19 tests through its expanded partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation throughProject Act.
The expansion will provide COVID-19 tests to 58,000 households located anywhere in the state free of charge. Households will receive one kit containing five tests.
We are pleased to announce the availability of these additional COVID-19 tests through our partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive. Testing remains a critical tool in managing the spread of COVID-19 and reduces the risk of spreading the virus to our loved ones and neighbors. We encourage residents to take advantage of these free tests as we head into the fall season when respiratory diseases, like COVID-19, spread most easily.
As we head into the fall, MDHHS encourage Michigan families to have a COVID plan.This includes keeping a supply of COVID-19 over-the-counter tests and well-fitting masks at home; staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters; and speaking to their health care provider about their eligibility for therapeutics that reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 disease.
All households in the state of Michigan can order their free COVID-19 tests throughAccessCovidTests.org. Each household will receive one kit with five tests, typically within a week of ordering. Individuals without internet access can contact 211for assistance ordering tests.
MDHHS continues to partner with libraries across the state to provide free at-home COVID-19 tests to Michiganders.Click herefor a list of participating libraries.
Private health insurers arerequired to cover up to eight at-home COVID-19 tests per month for each person covered by a health plan. Check with your insurer for the most up-to-date information for your specific plan.
For more information about testing, visitMichigan.gov/Coronavirus.
# # #
Originally posted here:
CDC says high community level of COVID soread in the Berkshires
PITTSFIELD Berkshire County has a high community level of COVID-19, according to the newest weekly data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To determine the community level, the CDC uses a combination of the case rate per 100,000 people, the new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 hospitalizations and the percentage of beds in use by COVID-19 patients.
This week there are 238 new cases and 11 new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents and 4 percent of hospital beds in the county are in use by COVID-19 patients.
Berkshire County is the only county in Massachusetts with a high transmission level, but neighboring Rensselaer and Columbia counties in New York, as well as Bennington County in Vermont also have high transmission rates. Massachusetts counties Franklin and Hampshire have medium community levels, while Hampden has low community levels.
The CDC recommends that in this situation people wear a mask indoors while in public, get tested when symptoms arise and take additional precautions if at risk for severe illness.
Additionally, the CDC recommends staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines. A booster shot for the Omicron variant was rolled out earlier this month, and is being distributed at Berkshire Health System for those who have already had two boosters.
According to CDC data, 76.5 percent of the population in Berkshire County has had at least one vaccine dose, while 61 percent are fully vaccinated.
To learn more about when, where and how to get vaccinated head to: http://www.berkshirehealthsystems.org/covid/vaccination-information
More:
CDC says high community level of COVID-19 in the Berkshires - Berkshire Eagle
Updated COVID-19 booster shots have been authorized by the FDA
The FDA gave emergency authorization to a reformulated COVID booster shot that targets both the original virus and the BA.4 and BA.5 variants.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
There were 9,047 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts, increasing the total number of cases to 1,878,650 since the pandemic began, the state Department of Public Health reported on Thursday.
In their weekly report, state officials also noted 1,293 new probable cases of coronavirus for a statewide total of 172,292.
As of Sept. 28, 245patients werehospitalized primarily with COVID-19-related illnesses, and 694total patients were hospitalized with the virus, the state agency reported.
Climate change: Rising seas, shrinking coasts: Take an augmented reality tour of damage caused by warming temperatures
Forty-eight patients were in intensive care units (ICUs), and 13 patients were intubated.
Closer to home, in Thursday's weekly report, state health officials said Barnstable County posted 331new coronavirus cases, for a total of 44,193 since the pandemic started. Dukes County (Martha's Vineyard) reported 14new coronavirus cases, for a to-date total of 4,144. Nantucket County reported fournew cases, for a total of 3,739.
Case numbers are higher than last weeks report, which showed 317 new cases on the Cape and Islands.
The states 14-day positivity rate was 7.68%. The 14-day positivity rate for Barnstable County came in at 9.3%, and 4.96% for Dukes and Nantucket counties.
Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis was treating 21 patients with coronavirus, none in the ICU. Falmouth Hospital reported sixpatients, none of whomwerein the ICU. Marthas Vineyard Hospital had onepatient. Nantucket Cottage Hospital had no patients being treated for coronavirus.
State health officials said Thursday there were 41 new deaths statewide among people with confirmed cases of COVID-19, increasing the total deaths to 20,292 since the pandemic began.
There were 19 deaths statewide from probable cases of COVID-19. The number of deaths from probable cases is 1,414 in Massachusetts.
Labor shortage: Can the migrants dropped off on Martha's Vineyard help solve the labor shortage?
Barnstable County posted three new deaths, the state agency reported. The total probable and confirmed deaths from COVID-19 is 660 in Barnstable County. There were no new deaths in Dukes and Nantucket counties combined, for a total fatality count of 22 since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The two-week COVID-19 case count, total case count and 14-day testing positivity rate for Cape Cod towns follows:
Barnstable (126; 11,360; 10.08%); Bourne (69; 4,204; 9.57%); Brewster (22; 1,727; 6.05%); Chatham (15; 1,035; 9.5%); Dennis (35; 2,747; 9.3%); Eastham (9; 600; 7.41%); Falmouth (81; 5,486; 7.63%); Harwich (17; 2,474; 7.95%); Mashpee (47; 3,066; 8.31%); Orleans (24; 934; 14.97%): Provincetown (less than five; 484; 1.64%); Sandwich (58; 4,166; 11.07%); Truro (less than five; 204; 5.56%); Wellfleet (five; 327; 7.94%) and Yarmouth (84; 5,379; 11.72%).
Contact Asad Jung at ajung@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter: @asajungcct.
Get the Cape Cod news that matters delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our free newsletters.
Go here to see the original:
COVID-19 update: 3 deaths, 349 new cases on Cape and Islands - Cape Cod Times
Cases with critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are often complicated due to the severe lung injury caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. COVID-19 has already claimed more than 6.5 million lives worldwide, but there is limited data on the long-term trajectories of lung function in COVID-19 survivors.
To address this gap, a recenteClinicalMedicinestudy analyzed the data from a prospective longitudinal cohort follow-up study of COVID-19 survivors over two years after infection.
The lung function rehabilitation after severe COVID-19 has attracted a lot of attention. Prior research has documented a gradual improvement with some abnormalities remaining. Two key limitations of this strand of research are limited sample size and a short follow-up period of around one year. Moreover, data on lung-function trajectories in patients after discharge are not available.
A thorough search of articles, published until July 5, 2022, was conducted on PubMed. Researchers could identify only seven longitudinal studies to assess the changes in lung function, over time, across at least two follow-up visits. However, the effects of lung-function impairment on exercise capacity and quality of life were uncertain. Further, no data were obtained on the long-term determinants and trajectories of lung-function changes.
In the present study, data from a large, longitudinal, 2-year study were analyzed. The dataset contained in-depth assessment reports of patients who recovered from COVID-19. The data were used to study actual values of forced vital capacity (FVC), diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLco), and total lung capacity (TLC). The participants were categorized into scale 3, scale 4, and scale 5-6 groups per a seven-category ordinal scale.
To conduct a comprehensive assessment of pulmonary function test (PFT), exercise capacity, dynamic changes in dyspnea symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were included and compared across the three groups. The exercise capacity was assessed by distance walked in 6 minutes (6MWD). Additionally, the potential factors influencing the recovery of lung function were explored, and trajectories of alterations in lung function in COVID-19 survivors were provided.
It was observed that 288 subjects improved PFT between 6 and 12 months of infection. The participants in the scale 5-6 group showed a marked higher increase of PFTs concerning the participants in scale three and scale four groups. Treatment with corticosteroids was identified to be a protective factor for the improvement of PFTs. But, despite the initial promising results, further research needs to be conducted to fully understand the role of corticosteroids in lung-function recovery.
Critical patients were observed to have significantly more dyspnea and reduced exercise capacity at six months. However, no difference was noted at two years. Mild reductions in PFTs did not seem to significantly affect HRQoL and exercise capacity.
The study documented a trend in the Post-COVID lung function change, i.e., a decline in PFTs between the first and second years after COVID-19, consistent with the lung function change of other SARS survivors. However, early lung rehabilitation after hospital discharge (6-12 months) was also emphasized, sometimes as early as during hospitalization.
The reduction in values of total lung capacity (TLC) and DLco were higher in COVID-19 survivors compared to age-related lung function decline in healthy adults. However, the duration of the 2-year follow-up was still short to best study the trajectories of lung function changes in COVID-19 survivors.
Regarding dyspnea, a marked difference was observed across the three groups in the first year after infection. More critical patients showed a greater improvement in 6MWD than others over two years. Higher age and female sex showed a negative relationship with 6MWD, which suggested that the recovery of exercise capacity post-COVID-19 could be driven by demographic characteristics.
The present study showed that the trajectories of post-COVID lung function varied across patients with different degrees of illness severity. A key limitation of the study was the lack of pre-COVID PFTs, which made it difficult to ascertain whether the lung recovered to the pre-COVID status.
Additionally, the follow-up sample size for PFT was small, owing to the loss of some survivors, which could have led to sampling bias. Lastly, the authors highlighted that this was a single-center study that considered hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the early stage of the pandemic. As a result, the representativeness of the cohort could be questioned, owing to the subsequent emergence of new variants of concern. However, the systematic error should be reduced due to the single-center nature of the study design.
See the original post:
Study on the lung-function trajectories in COVID-19 patients - News-Medical.Net
Being vaccinated against the coronavirus can cut the risk of having long covid symptoms 12 weeks after the infection by 41 per cent
By Jason Arunn Murugesu
Being vaccinated against the coronavirus may reduce the risk of long covid among people who catch SARS-CoV-2
Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The risk of long covid may be considerably lower in people who catch the coronavirus after being vaccinated.
Daniel Ayoubkhani at the UKs Office for National Statistics (ONS) and his colleagues looked at a random sample of people, aged 19 to 69, who tested positive for the coronavirus between April 2020 and November 2021.
The sample included 3090 people who had received a second dose of either the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or Oxford/AstraZeneca
Read more:
Coronavirus vaccines could cut the risk of long covid by two-fifths - New Scientist
Data last updated by Worldometers.
This website was developed by Navid Mamoon (@navidmx) and Gabriel Rasskin, (@gabrielrasskin) two students at Carnegie Mellon University.
The goal of this project is to provide a simple, interactive way to visualize the impact of COVID-19. We wanted people to be able to see this as something that brings us all together. It's not one country, or another country; it's one planet and this is what our planet looks like today.
Realtime data is from Worldometer's real-time updates, utilizing reliable sources from around the world. Vaccination data is from Our World in Data. The TODAY cases/deaths are based on GMT (+0). The website pulls new data every 2 minutes, refresh to see any changes.
If you have questions, suggestions, or feedback, please send us an email! We also have a Facebook page, so be sure to like and follow for future updates as we take this project further.
With over 160 million users, servers and maintenance costs can be high. We appreciate any help.
Privacy Policy
Continue reading here:
New Infectious Threats Are Coming. The US Probably Wont Contain Them. The New York Times
Here is the original post:
New Infectious Threats Are Coming. The US Probably Wont Contain Them. - The New York Times
CNN
There are signs that the United Kingdom could be heading into a fall Covid-19 wave, and experts say the United States may not be far behind.
A recent increase in Covid-19 cases in England doesnt seem to be driven by a new coronavirus variant, at least for now, although several are gaining strength in the US and across the pond.
Generally, what happens in the UK is reflected about a month later in the US. I think this is what Ive sort of been seeing, said Dr. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London.
Spector runs the Zoe Health Study, which uses an app to let people in the UK and US report their daily symptoms. If they start to feel bad, they take a home Covid-19 test and record those results. He says that about 500,000 people are currently logging their symptoms every day to help track trends in the pandemic.
Spector says the study, which has been running since the days of the first lockdown in England in 2020, has accurately captured the start of each wave, and its numbers run about one to two weeks ahead of official government statistics.
After seeing a downward trend for the past few weeks, the Zoe study saw a 30% increase in reported Covid-19 cases within the past week.
Our current data is definitely showing this is the beginning of the next wave, Spector said.
On Friday, that increase was reflected in official UK government data too, although it was not as large as the increases reported by Zoe loggers.
Data from the National Health Service showed that after falling for nearly two months, the seven-day average of new cases in England and Wales rose 13% for the week ending September 17 over the week before. The seven-day average of hospitalizations was up 17% in the week ending September 19 compared with the week prior.
The data aligns with what models have predicted would happen in both the UK and the US.
They predicted that wed get a June to July peak and then thered be a month where nothing happened in August and then it would flatten in in August and September and then start again in October. So its exactly matching what the modelers have have been predicting, Spector said.
In the US, some models have predicted that Covid-19 cases will begin to rise again in October and continue to increase into the winter. Experts are hopeful that because most of the population now has some underlying immunity to the coronavirus, this wave would be less deadly than weve seen in previous winters.
Its not clear whats driving the increase in the UK or whether it will be sustained.
These trends may continue for more than a week or two, or they may not, said Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England.
Broken down by age, he says, there are clear increases among adolescents who are around middle school age and younger adults, those 25 through 34.
It wouldnt be surprising if there were some increase in infection as people come back from summer holidays and as the schools reopen, McConway said in a statement to the nonprofit Science Media Centre. Even if it is, theres certainly no clear indication yet that it will continue.
Hes not the only one who needs to see more data before calling this the start of a new wave.
Question one is, how significant is that rise? Is it, for instance, the beginning of something, a new wave, or is this a temporary blip because of all of the getting together around the Queens funeral and other events that have been going on? said Dr. Peter Hotez, who co-directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston.
A second important question will be whether the increase is being driven by a new variant.
Thats the worst possible situation. Because historically, when that situation occurs in the UK, its reflected within a matter of weeks in the United States, Hotez said. That was true of the Alpha wave; that was true of the Delta wave; that was true of Omicron and its subvariants.
Thats where the US may catch a break this time around.
Instead of new variants, Christina Pagel, a professor of operational research at University College London, thinks cases are going up in the UK because of a combination of waning immunity and behavioral changes.
Many people in the UK are several months past their last Covid-19 booster or infection, and government statistics show that just 8% of adults 50 and older have gotten an Omicron-specific vaccine since the government started its fall vaccination campaign in September. School and work have fully resumed after the summer holidays, and people are spending more time indoors as the temperature drops.
Immunity is also waning in the United States, and Americans have also been slow to get boosted. Just 35% of those for whom a booster is recommended have had one, according to CDC data.
The updated boosters in the US are slightly different from the ones in the UK. The UK is using vaccines that have been updated to fight the original version of Omicron, which is not circulating anymore. US boosters have been updated to fight the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are currently causing infections both here and abroad. Its not clear whether the strain differences will have an effect on cases or disease severity.
There are a mix of new variants offshoots of BA.4 and BA.5 that are waiting in the wings. They represent just a small proportion of total cases, but several are growing against BA.5, which is still dominating transmission.
It is very likely that these will accelerate current increases and cause a substantial wave in October in the UK, Pagel said in an email to CNN.
Other experts agree with that assessment.
There is talk about a bunch of lineages with concerning mutations, including BA.2.75, BQ.1.1, etc, but none of these are of high enough frequency in the UK right now to be driving the change in cases, Nathan Grubaugh, who studies the epidemiology of microbial diseases at the Yale School of Public Health, said in an email to CNN.
He says the mix of variants in the UK seems to be much the same as it is in the US, at least for now.
We are seeing the increase in many respiratory viruses right now in the US, so its not a stretch to think that a new COVID wave (or ripple) will be coming soon, he wrote.
Originally posted here:
Rising Covid-19 cases in the UK may be a warning for the US - CNN
