Category: Corona Virus

Macau has closed all its casinos for the first time in more than two years and other cities in China have imposed more curbs asthey try to contain Omicron-fuelled outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Macaus more than 30 casinos will shut for at least a week, with residents told to stay home for all but essential trips.

Police will monitor flows of people outside and stringent punishments will be imposed on those who disobey, said the government, which is following mainland Chinas strict zero COVID approach.

Macau has recorded about 1,500 cases since mid-June, with some 19,000 people in mandatory quarantine.

More than 30 zones have been deemed high risk and have been locked down, with no one allowed to enter or exit for at least five days.

Many casinos had already been operating with minimal staffing for the past three weeks, but this is the first time they have been completely closed since February 2020.

The restrictions in Macau come as multiple cities on the mainland began adopting new curbs to control the spread of COVID-19.

In Shanghai, residents were bracing for another mass testing campaign after a case of the BA.5 sub-variant was found.

In the central province of Henan, the town of Qinyang has almost completely locked down its nearly 700,000 residents from Sunday, with one person from each household allowed out every two days to get groceries.

In some areas, people have been told not to leave home at all.

Four major districts in the northwestern city of Lanzhou, in Gansu province, and the southern cities of Danzhou and Haikou in Hainan province, are under temporary curbs for several days, with entertainment and cultural spaces closed.

The city of Nanchang in southern Jiangxi province, with 6.3 million residents, shut some entertainment venues on Saturday, although the duration of the curbs was not specified.

In the northwestern province of Qinghai, the city of Xining kicked off a mass testing campaign on Monday after one person tested positive on Sunday.

Several major districts in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou also began mass tests on Monday

Meanwhile, nearby Hong Kong said it was considering adding real-name registration to its COVID-19 contact tracing app to ensure people who had the virus or had been ordered to undergo testing did not continue to move about the city.

Hong Kongs new health minister, Lo Chung-mau, said the change would protect the freedoms of those without the virus.

Everyone agrees that those who have COVID-19 should actually not go out and harm the rest of the population, Lo told a television programme on Sunday. If we give COVID-19 positive people freedom and let them roam the surrounding areas, those without COVID-19 will have their freedoms affected.

The health code system is used in the mainland and Macau and has three levels: red, yellow and green. Only those whose app is green are allowed to enter places like restaurants.

Strict curbs have fuelled frustration among residents in the mainland as well as both Chinese territories.

Residents in Macau have already been tested six times for the coronavirus since mid-June and are expected to do rapid antigen tests daily. As part of the new measures, they will be required to take part in mass COVID-19 tests four times this week.

More than 90 percent of the territorys 600,000 people are fully vaccinated against the virus.

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Macau closes casinos for first time in two years over COVID - Al Jazeera English

WIMBLEDON, England With the final match looming, this years edition of Wimbledon has already proven many points.

Rafael Nadal can play top-level tennis with a zombie foot and a tear in an abdominal muscle, but only for so long. Iga Swiatek is beatable, at least on grass. With the Moscow-born, Kazakhstan-representing Elena Rybakina making the womens singles final, barring Russian players does not necessarily make a competition free of Russian players.

But perhaps most surprisingly, after 27 months of tournament cancellations, spectator-free events, constant testing and bubblelike environments, tennis may have finally moved past Covid-19.

For nearly two years, longer than just about every other major sport, tennis struggled to coexist with the pandemic.

Last November, when the N.F.L. the N.B.A., the Premier League and most other sports organizations had resumed a life that largely resembled 2019, tennis players were still living with restrictions on their movements, conducting online video news conferences, and having cotton swabs stuck up their noses at tournaments.

A month later Novak Djokovic, then the No. 1 mens singles player, contracted a second case of Covid just in time to secure, he thought, special entry into Australia to play the Australian Open, even though he was unvaccinated against Covid-19 and the country was still largely restricted to people who had been vaccinated. Australian officials ended up deporting him because they said he might encourage other people not to get vaccinated, a drama that dominated the run-up to the tournament and its first days.

The episode crystallized how tennis, with its kinetic international schedule, had been subjected to the will and whims of local governments, with rules and restrictions shifting sometimes weekly. The frequent travel and communal locker rooms made the players something like sitting ducks, always one nasal swab away from being locked in a hotel room for 10 days, sometimes far from home, regardless of how careful they might have been.

Tennis, unlike other sports that surged ahead of health and medical guidelines to keep their coffers filled, has had to reflect where society at large has been at every stage of the pandemic. Its major organizers canceled or postponed everything in the spring and early summer of 2020, though Djokovic held an exhibition tournament that ended up being something of a superspreader event.

The 2020 U.S. Open took place on schedule in late summer without spectators. To be at the usually bustling Billie Jean King National Tennis Center those weeks in New York was something like being on the surface of the moon. A rescheduled French Open followed in the chill of a Paris fall with just a few hundred fans allowed. Australia largely subjected players to a 14-day quarantine before they could take part in the 2021 Australian Open.

As vaccinations proliferated later in the year, crowds returned but players usually had to live in bubbles, unable to move about the cities they inhabited until the summer events in the U.S. But as the delta variant spread, the bubbles returned. Then came Australia and Djokovics vaccine confrontation, just as disputes over mandates were heating up elsewhere.

In recent months though, as public attitudes toward the pandemic shifted, mask mandates were lifted and travel restrictions were eased, even tennis has seemingly moved on, even if the virus has not done the same.

There was no mandatory testing for Wimbledon or the French Open. People are confused about what they must do if they get the sniffles or a sore throat, and tennis players are no different. Many players said they were not sure exactly what the rules were from tournament to tournament for those who started not to feel well. While two widely known players, Matteo Berrettini and Marin Cilic, withdrew after testing positive, without a requirement to take a test, they, and any other player, could have opted not to take a test and played through whatever symptoms they were experiencing.

So many rules, Rafael Nadal said. For some people some rules are fine; for the others rules are not fine. If there are some rules, we need to follow the rules. If not, the world is a mess.

After nearly two years of bubble life though, hard-edge complaints about a dont-ask-dont-tell approach and safety mandates were virtually nonexistent.

Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia, whose country had some of the strictest pandemic-related policies, said she remained cautious, especially at the bigger events, but she had reached the point where she needed to find a balance between safety and sanity.

I just try to take care of myself as much as I can where Im still not completely isolating myself, where its not fun to live, said Tomljanovic, who lost to Rybakina in the quarterfinals.

Paula Badosa, the Spanish star, said she has stopped worrying about the virus.

I had all type of Covids possible, said Badosa, who first tested positive in Australia in January 2021 and has had it twice more. I had vaccination, as well. So in my case, if I have it again, it will be very bad luck.

Officials with the mens and womens tours said regardless of infection levels, their organizations had no intention of resuming regular testing or restricting player movements. They said they will follow the lead of local officials.

With testing, quarantine and isolation requirements having all but disappeared, or merely existing as recommendations, tennis finally seems to have entered a stage of pandemic apathy, much like a lot of society, Omicron and its subvariants be damned.

There is, of course, one major exception to all of this, and that is Djokovic, whose refusal to be vaccinated unique among the top 100 players on the mens tour will seemingly prevent him from playing in the U.S. Open.

U.S. rules require all foreigners entering the country to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Djokovic has said he believes that individuals should be allowed to choose whether to do so without pressure from governments.

Also, because he was deported from Australia, Djokovic would need a special exemption to return to the country to compete in the Australian Open in January. He has won the mens singles title there a record nine times.

Unless the rules change, he may not play in another Grand Slam tournament until the French Open next May, something he said he was well aware of but would not shift his thinking about whether to take the vaccine.

In other words, Covid really isnt done playing games with tennis.

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Tennis Is Done With Covid-19, but the Virus Isnt Done With Tennis - The New York Times

Coronavirus cases are rising in the U.S. again.

Eighteen states reported more cases in the week of June 30-July 7 than in the week before, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.

Although the increase in cases doesnt approach the meteoric levels of previous waves, health experts said what's recorded is likely an undercount because of underreported test results.

Read more from reporter Adrianna Rodriguez here.

It's Monday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from theUSA TODAY Network. Here's more news to know:

See our COVID-19 resource guide here. See total reported cases and deaths here. On vaccinations: About 78% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 67% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Cady Stanton, USA TODAY Nation NOW reporter, @cady_stanton

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Coronavirus Watch: What to know about the state of the pandemic - USA TODAY

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK| Plaquemine Post South

New coronavirus cases leaped in Louisiana in the week ending Sunday, rising 11.2% as 15,535 cases were reported. The previous week had 13,968 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Louisiana ranked second among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 4.6% from the week before, with 750,600 cases reported. With 1.4% of the country's population, Louisiana had 2.07% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

John Hopkins University has been collecting data from Louisiana on an erratic schedule, skewing week-to-week comparisons.

The Fourth of July holiday disrupted who got tested, when people got tested and when both test results and deaths were reported. This may significantly skew week-to-week comparisons.

Iberville Parish reported 132 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 123 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 9,936 cases and 152 deaths.

Within Louisiana, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in East Carroll Parish with 670 cases per 100,000 per week; West Carroll Parish with 600; and Bossier Parish with 564. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were East Baton Rouge Parish, with 1,402 cases; Caddo Parish, with 1,069 cases; and Jefferson Parish, with 1,069. Weekly case counts rose in 45 parishes from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in East Baton Rouge, Ouachita and Orleans parishes.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Across Louisiana, cases fell in 19 parishes, with the best declines in Richland Parish, with 95 cases from 160 a week earlier; in Caddo Parish, with 1,069 cases from 1,122; and in St. Mary Parish, with 125 cases from 164.

In Louisiana, 13 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 26 people were reported dead.

A total of 1,326,364 people in Louisiana have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 17,431 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 88,593,875 people have tested positive and 1,020,861 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, July 10. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

Hospitals in 39 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 42 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

Excerpt from:

Iberville Parish reported 132 additional COVID-19 cases this week - Post South

Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK| Henderson Gleaner

New coronavirus cases leaped in Kentucky in the week ending Sunday, rising 24.6% as 9,704 cases were reported. The previous week had 7,786 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Kentucky ranked 22nd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 4.6% from the week before, with 750,600 cases reported. With 1.34% of the country's population, Kentucky had 1.29% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 24 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

The Fourth of July holiday disrupted who got tested, when people got tested and when both test results and deaths were reported. This may significantly skew week-to-week comparisons.

Henderson County reported 84 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 69 cases and two deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 14,474 cases and 173 deaths.

Union County reported 17 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 25 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 4,436 cases and 57 deaths.

Webster County reported 26 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 13 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 4,049 cases and 50 deaths.

Within Kentucky, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Breathitt County with 554 cases per 100,000 per week; Lyon County with 463; and Washington County with 455. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.

Adding the most new cases overall were Jefferson County, with 1,625 cases; Fayette County, with 780 cases; and Hardin County, with 370. Weekly case counts rose in 59 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Daviess, Woodford and Pulaski counties.

>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases

Across Kentucky, cases fell in 58 counties, with the best declines in Jefferson County, with 1,625 cases from 2,063 a week earlier; in Bullitt County, with 156 cases from 312; and in Calloway County, with 118 cases from 204.

In Kentucky, 44 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 39 people were reported dead.

A total of 1,414,766 people in Kentucky have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 16,216 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 88,593,875 people have tested positive and 1,020,861 people have died.

>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States

USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, July 10. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:

Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:

Hospitals in 39 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 35 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 42 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.

The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.

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Henderson County reported 84 additional COVID-19 cases this week - The Gleaner

A new study posted tothe medRxiv* preprint serverinvestigated the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on mental health, the important health determinants, and disparities resulting from such effects. To fully understand these effects, the researchers designed a pan- Canadian population-based prospective COVID-19:HEalth and Social Inequities across Neighbourhoods(COHESION) cohort.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly diminished several social factors, including possibilities of access to resources that promote health and wellbeing and in-person social contacts. Patient safety efforts to curb transmission have halted economic activity, resulting in huge unemployment and income losses, limiting people's daily mobility and opportunity for face-to-face social communication. COVID-19 restrictions such as lockdown, confinement, and physical separation lessen social interactions, raise a sense of isolation and emotional distress, and reduce levels of social engagement. These factors have significantly impacted the wellbeing and mental health of global populations.

According to evidence from Canada, certain populations, including adolescents, older individuals, women, and racialized communities, are disproportionately at risk for social isolation, domestic violence, and anxiety. Restrictive measures impede daily movement and physical activity, and lower activity zones have been associated with depressive symptoms and sleep problems. Additionally, dwindling outdoor spaces and legislative restrictions limit regular commute; hence, residential living circumstances have gained an increasingly vital role.

Studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of COVID-19 is higher among priority communities struggling under substandard social and environmental conditions. Urban sprawl and living in poor housing facilities affect mental health and wellbeing. Furthermore, continued proximity to home surroundings during lockdowns exacerbates these effects.

Economic distress, associated with wage abatement and job insecurity, has significantly contributed to Canadians' mental health burdenand is also linked to housing instability and food insecurity. As a result, harmful health behaviors such as alcoholism or drug abuse are on the rise and have been related to worsening mental health outcomes.

In the face of these circumstances, there is a growing need to comprehend the relationships between factors like living conditions and neighborhood and behavioral patterns, for example transportation, interpersonal interactions, sleep, and mental wellbeing dynamics specifically, the unanticipated long-term ramifications of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and mitigation measures. Furthermore, the impacts are likely to differ among demographic groupings, for instance according to gender, age, racialized communities, or deprivation level.

This study entailed COHESION Study; the COHESION Project is a two-phase, pan-Canadian, population-based, prospective cohort study. COHESION Phase 1 took place between May 2020 and September 2021. During this time, the COHESION research platform gathered monthly data related to COVID-19, including infection and vaccination status, beliefs and attitudes pertaining to pandemic-related measures, and information on participants' health and wellbeing, sleep, boredom, adaptability, drug use, living standards, interpersonal relationships, events, and transportation. COHESION Phase 2 began in May 2022. All Phase 1 participants were invited to join in Phase 2, and an additional 10,000 people were recruited.

The present study reported that COHESION was unique in incorporating the Visualization and Evaluation of Route Itineraries, Travel Destinations, Activity Spaces, and Social Interactions (VERITAS-Social) questionnaire into the baseline, as well as follow-up surveys of the two phases. It was modified for COHESION to identify a probable list of up to twenty tasks.

Veritas-Social is an interactive questionnaire based on a map that collects a person's social network and activity locations. It is adapted from the VERITAS tool, which provides information on places and activities.

Phase 2 of COHESION would continue to implement the survey method at the health region level, based on Census data from 2016 (i.e., age composition, gender, income, educational attainment, and ethnicity). Researchers gathered geo-target respondents based on sampling quotas.

The Phase 1 COHESION Study involves 1,268 participants who are mostly from Ontario (47%) and Quebec (33%), of the age-range 48 16 years old, and are mostly women and White, having a university degree (63%) and living in large urban areas.

The first year of follow-up demonstrated considerable temporal fluctuations in standardized measures of wellbeing, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and psychological distress, as indicated by the monthly prospective questionnaires.

Significant temporal fluctuations in standardized indices of wellbeing, anxiety, depressed mood, loneliness, and emotional stress were observed during the first year of follow-up. At baseline, 72%, 14%, and 18% of subjects indicated a monthly usage of alcohol, cigarettes and/or vaping, and cannabis, respectively.

Therefore, throughout the study, wellbeing dropped in waves, although sleep duration remained unchanged. However, loneliness levels remained higher during all follow-up waves compared to the pre-pandemic era. Moreover, fluctuations in mental health indices were detected throughout the follow-up period. Depression and emotional stress indices were much lower during the festive season.

The study emphasizes the significance of monitoring and evaluating the unforeseen consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and health equity. Effective and modified public health policies and programs are warranted, for instance pedestrianizing streets, extending access to parks, improving housing conditions and neighborhoods, providing permanent supportive housing, and implementing neighborhood greening programs.

The study presents a complete picture of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health and wellbeing of the Canadian population. Flexible infrastructure can address the local needs of the population and could enable better recuperation from the impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

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How the COVID-19 pandemic affected mental health and wellbeing, key determinants of health, and health inequities - News-Medical.Net

For a study, researchers sought to summarise the existing research on the psychological effects of the 2019 coronavirus illness (COVID-19) on people with allergy conditions and highlight any areas that still require further study. Case studies, published guidelines from expert groups specializing in allergic diseases, mixed-method studies documenting patient and caregiver experiences, and original publications and abstracts employing online and telephone surveys were included. Risk factors for unfavorable psychological outcomes in people with asthma and other chronic respiratory illnesses include asthma severity, female sex, and a history of anxiety and depression. It was probably because of the perception of a high risk of serious illness from COVID-19. According to one study, individuals with allergic rhinitis scored significantly higher on anxiety and depression than healthy controls (P<.001). Parents and other caregivers during COVID-19 were most affected psychologically by food allergies. The psychological toll on parents of children with asthma was also significant. Patients with asthma experienced significant psychological effects from COVID-19. Little information has been published on the effects of COVID-19 on patients with allergic rhinitis and food allergies. It was crucial that doctors were aware of the potential link between mental illness and chronic allergic diseases and referred these patients, and their caregivers, to the appropriate resources while continuing to manage their allergic disease as COVID-19 research continues to advance and the literature captures later stages of the pandemic.

Source sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1081120621013107

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Effects of Coronavirus on People with Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis, And Food Allergies - Physician's Weekly

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before a Senate hearing in June.Credit...Haiyun Jiang The New York Times

As the coronavirus pandemic entered its third year, the American public had lost much of its trust both in public health experts and in government leaders, and was less worried than before about Covid-19, according to a survey conducted in early May and released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.

Confidence ratings for public health officials, like those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; for state and local elected officials; and for President Biden fell in a range from 43 percent to 54 percent in the survey much lower than during the early stages of the pandemic.

The survey found a wide partisan gap in attitudes. Overall, 52 percent of respondents said that public health officials had done an excellent or good job at managing the pandemic. But while 72 percent of Democrats in the survey said they felt that way, only 29 percent of Republicans did.

Democrats were also more likely than Republicans 67 percent to 51 percent to say they had at least some confidence in how prepared the nations health care system was to address a future global health emergency.

Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Stanford Medicine who chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics committee on infectious diseases, said the pandemic only widened the countrys partisan divide over those issues.

I think that mistrust in government and politicians, and even to a certain extent science, started well before the pandemic, and it just was exacerbated, Dr. Maldonado said.

Pandemic fatigue and a growing notion that Covid is now a part of everyday life probably played a role in the changing public attitudes identified in the Pew survey, according to Dr. Robert Wachter, a professor and the chair of the medicine department at the University of California, San Francisco.

I think peoples thinking is very much influenced by the fact that the chances youre going to die of Covid have gone down substantially on a per-case basis, Dr. Wachter said.

Public confidence in medical centers and hospitals remained high: Eight out of ten respondents said those institutions were continuing to manage the pandemic well, a small decline from 88 percent two years ago.

The survey found that Americans have grown less worried about catching the virus or unintentionally spreading it to others. Most respondents said they thought the worst of the pandemic was over, and only about a quarter saw the coronavirus as a significant threat to their personal health, down from 30 percent in January.

The average number of new confirmed cases reported daily across the United States surged to record highs in January, driven by the Omicron variant. The surge receded swiftly as the winter ended, but the average started to rise again in the spring. In recent weeks since the survey was taken, the number of new confirmed cases has been around 100,000 a day, according to a New York Times database.

Those figures are thought to understate the true number of infections, however, because of increasing reliance on at-home testing, the closings of mass testing sites and reduced frequency in data reporting by states. New deaths have fallen significantly since the winter surge, and Covid now kills fewer than 400 people daily in the United States.

Though many people are still becoming infected, survey data shows that public concern about the virus has declined substantially. The Pew survey found that 76 percent of respondents in May thought the worst of the pandemic was over, compared with about half in January.

Thats the first time during the entire outbreak that weve had a majority of Americans saying this, said Alec Tyson, an associate director of research at the Pew Research Center and a lead author of the survey.

A narrow majority of respondents in the latest survey 55 percent said they thought vaccination had been somewhat or very effective at curbing the spread of the coronavirus. About half felt that way about wearing masks indoors. Respondents were more skeptical about the efficacy of people staying at least six feet apart indoors, with only 34 percent considering that practice at least somewhat effective.

The survey found very wide partisan gaps in attitudes toward all those preventive measures, especially mask-wearing, with Republicans far more likely than Democrats to say they did little or no good.

The poll included 10,282 adults who were surveyed online between May 2 and May 8.

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The pandemic has eroded Americans' trust in experts and elected leaders alike, a survey finds. - The New York Times

The dominance of the coronavirus variants BA.4 and BA.5 as well as the ending of any protective measures against COVID-19 have produced a rapid increase in the number of infections. On Thursday, the Robert Koch Institute, Germanys central agency for infectious diseases, reported 135,402 new coronavirus infections, and on Tuesday there were as many as 147,489. The 7-day incidence rose to over 690 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, from 650 on Monday.

These figures do not even begin to reflect the real extent of the disaster. The abolition of free testing, the scrapping of compulsory testing for certain activities, and the dramatic reduction of testing options mean that only a portion of total infections is registered. Every day, 100 to 200 people are dying of COVID-19. Officially, there have already been 142,000 coronavirus deaths in Germany.

As a result of the murderous policy of mass infection, the hospitals, which have been at their limits for two-and-a-half years, are once again on the brink of collapse. On Monday, according to the daily report of the Intensive Care Register of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), the number of coronavirus intensive care patients rose above 1,000. This is the highest number of patients since mid-May.

The scientific director of the DIVI, Christian Karagiannidis, warned that the hospital bed occupancy rate for the summer season was relatively high. The number of available beds will continue to decline due to staff shortages, he added. It is not only the increasing number of hospital admissions that is pushing the entire health care system to the limit. Ever-increasing numbers of employees are getting infected and are therefore absent from the workplace.

The chief executive of the German Hospital Society (DKG), Gerald Ga, told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND): We receive reports from all federal states that individual wards and departments must be closed due to staff shortages. At times, even emergency room admissions are affected.

We see bottlenecks in hospitals, especially in Schleswig-Holstein with its particularly high infection rates, said Susanne Johna, chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors union, in Handelsblatt. The health system is reaching its limits in places. In the third year of the pandemic, this is a real disaster.

Looking ahead to the upcoming autumn wave, Johna explained: Then we will not only be dealing with a coronavirus, but probably also with an aggressive flu wave. This combination of coronavirus and influenza waves would be a real problem, as the health care system would then have to deal with two serious diseases on a large scale.

Entire departments of large hospitals are already paralysed. The University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) had to close several wards at its Kiel and Lbeck sites due to staff shortages. On July 1, 479 employees were in isolation, a number that rose to over 600 by July 8.

The shortage of personnel, which has been rampant for a long time, is also having a major impact in other federal states. The situation in Saxonys hospitals is also extremely tenuous due to coronavirus cases in the workforce and the general lack of nursing staff. The economic situation and staff shortages make the situation more difficult, said the deputy managing director of the Saxony Hospital Association Friedrich R. Mnchen. He pointed out that future service restrictions cannot be ruled out.

The provision of care has already deteriorated compared to the time before the pandemic. At the St. Georg Clinic in Leipzig, around a quarter fewer beds are currently in operation. This is due to staff shortages and COVID-19 absences.

According to a spokeswoman for the hospital, more nurses than ever before have decided to leave the health care system in the last two years. Only the dedicated commitment of our employees has so far prevented the closure of entire wards, she said.

Only five of 11 operating theatres were in operation in the Asklepios Klinik Nord Heidberg in Hamburg last week, according to the company. All areas of the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) are also affected by staff shortages. Around 250 of more than 14,400 employees are currently in isolation. Therefore, since the beginning of the pandemic, planned and non-urgent operations have had to be postponed again and again and beds have had to be closed, the hospital said.

Throughout Germany, dozens of other hospitals have agreed to reduce their operating capacities.

At the hospital in Erding, Bavaria, an average of 140 out of 800 employees are currently ill every day. In addition, there are numerous vacancies that cannot be filled. In the meantime, one ward is completely closed, while others can only be operated to a limited extent and some planned operations cant be carried out.

The Merkurnewspaper reported on a doctor at a Munich hospital. There are currently only three out of eight operating theatres in operation, he explained. Ongoing operations are sometimes aborted due to an emergency. And its now midsummer, not winter. The doctor said he has never experienced such a dramatic shortage of personnel.

The strike by nurses at the university hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia also demonstrates the catastrophic situation in health care. Employees are now in their tenth week of strike action at six university hospitals. While the Verdi trade union is working to break the strike by concluding a so-called relief collective agreement, the workers are protesting against the unsustainable conditions that endanger the lives and well-being of patients and employees.

Even in the face of these disastrous developments, the government is sticking to its pandemic policy. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (Social Democrats) and other government representatives have made it clear that effective measures such as lockdowns and school and business closures will no longer be considered under any circumstances. Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated in his summer interview with public broadcaster ARD: School closures should no longer take place.

Some states have repealed the last few remaining measures. In Bavaria, the state government recently abolished the compulsory requirement to wear a mask on public transport. Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (Christian Social Union) defended the decision with the right-wing mantra: We are thus focusing more on the personal responsibility of the citizens.

Under conditions of staff shortages due to coronavirus infections, Free Democratic Party Vice-President Wolfgang Kubicki called for a further reduction of the quarantine period for people who test positive to three days.

The trade unions are also defending the profits before lives policy. Maike Finnern of the teachers union (GEW) told the RND that new school and day care closures in the autumn must be prevented. It is precisely the reopening of child care facilities and schools that have led to an explosive increase in infections and facilitated the spread of virus mutations.

In Berlin, the Social Democrat/Left Party/Green state government, the so-called red-red-green Senate, is implementing an austerity policy on health care. The district of Neuklln alone is to reduce its coronavirus staff from 54 to 10 employees. Neukllns public health doctor Nicolai Savaskan stated that this will no longer guarantee the protection of vulnerable groups in old peoples homes and nursing homes. That means serious cases and deaths, said the doctor.

Read more from the original source:

German hospitals face deepening crisis as COVID-19 infections and deaths rise - WSWS

By NPR News

July 8, 2022News from NPR, World

As summer travel surges, so does COVID. Experts share advice on how to prepare ahead of time in case you are infected on a vacation or visit and what to do if you get that dreaded positive test.

(Image credit: Malaka Gharib/NPR)

Read More at NPR

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Coronavirus FAQ: I took a trip and caught COVID. What should I do? When can I go home? Nation & World News - WUFT