Category: Corona Virus

Can dogs, cats and other pets contract COVID-19?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's possible for animals to get COVID from people, but there's a low chance of animals spreading the virus to humans.

Most animals infected with the coronavirus had close contact with people who had COVID, such as pet owners and caretakers, the CDC said online.

Reports of animals infected with COVID have been documented worldwide, specifically in companion animals, zoo animals, mink on mink farms and wild white-tailed deer in the U.S.

Although animals are able to contract and spread COVID, health officials said more studies are needed to know if and how different animals are impacted.

Based on current research, the CDC said there's no evidence that animals play a "significant role" in spreading SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19, to animals.

"Some coronaviruses that infect animals can be spread to people and then spread between people, but this is rare. This is what happened with SARS-CoV-2, which likely originated in bats," the CDC's website said.

Similar to humans, some animals with COVID are asymptomatic, though others could show signs of respiratory or gastrointestinal illness, health officials noted. Here are possible symptoms:

The CDC advised people with COVID to quarantine away from animals while infected with the virus.

However, because the risk for pets spreading the virus to humans is low, health officials said necessary veterinary care for COVID-positive animals should not be withheld.

Additionally, service animals must be allowed to remain with their handlers despite a positive COVID test, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Could there be a coronavirus vaccine created for animals one day?

"Yeah, there could be," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said during a Facebook live event earlier this year.

Arwady explained, though, that health officials would want to see that COVID infections were "serious" in animals or that pets were playing a large role in making humans seriously ill.

"One of the reasons we have rabies vaccines is that rabies is a really deadly human disease and can be a problem there," Arwady said.

Some animals have already been vaccinated against COVID, Arwady noted, although most of those cases were in zoo settings.

For dogs and cats, Arwady said there is no routine coronavirus vaccination recommended at this time, and she doesn't expect there to be one. But dogs and cats contracting the virus causes concern for another reason.

"For me, the concern about seeing COVID not just in dogs and cats but in animals in general, it tells us that there's what we call an 'animal reservoir for COVID-19' and that means that it's one of the most important things that makes it very unlikely that we would ever eradicate completely -- get rid of COVID. Because as long as there are animals that are able to have it, there are, you know, that remains a risk," Arwady said.

In February, a dog from Chicago became the first in Illinois to test positive for COVID-19, according to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Veterinary Medicine.

The animal had been experiencing respiratory symptoms since early January and subsequently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans, according to a news release from the college.

The dog developed signs of respiratory illness approximately one week after exposure, according to the veterinarian.

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Can Dogs Get COVID? What to Know About the Coronavirus and Pets - NBC Chicago

A man had his photo I.D. out and in his hand as walked up to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater on Broadway to see Come From Away, but no one checked it. The families streaming in to see The Lion King were told to have their tickets out and their masks on, but there was no mention of vaccine cards. And the Covid safety officers in neon yellow vests who used to patrol outside Six were gone.

Most Broadway theaters stopped checking the vaccination status of their patrons last week for the first time since they began to reopen last summer, easing safety protocols the same week rising coronavirus cases placed New York City into a higher risk level.

The industry hopes that doing away with vaccine checks which have also been eliminated at New York City restaurants, movie theaters and other venues will make theatergoing more attractive, and that the remaining mask mandate will help keep audiences safe as cases have risen, but hospitalizations and deaths remain low.

While some patrons welcomed the change, others said they felt uneasy about going into crowded theaters without the assurance that their seatmates were vaccinated, and several nonprofit Broadway theaters continue to require proof of vaccination.

I just dont feel as safe as I have the past several months, said Lauren Broyles, 44, an executive assistant from Hershey, Pa., who visited New York to see shows several times last winter but said she had stopped planning a summer theater trip after reading that Broadway dropped its vaccine mandate. Im waiting to hear whats next.

But Michael Anderson, 48, of Hudson, N.Y., who was standing in line the other day to see Hangmen, said he thought that while vaccine checks had made sense earlier, he felt they were no longer necessary. At this point, Im vaccinated and boosted, he said.

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Most Broadway theaters have ended vaccination checks as coronavirus cases are rising. - The New York Times

The Washington National Cathedral will ring its bell 1,000 times, once for every 1,000 American deaths from COVID-19 on Monday evening.

The Washington National Cathedral will ring its mourning bell 1,000 times Monday evening, each toll of the bell representing 1,000 American deaths from COVID-19.

The event is meant to commemorate the lives of nearly 1 million Americans who have died from the coronavirus. Its beinglivestreamed at 6 p.m.

The Cathedral Choristers will also perform at the event.

The cathedral has held similar tributes to COVID deaths in the past, most recently in February when the U.S. surpassed 900,000 deaths to the virus.

The cathedral is at 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

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WATCH: Washington National Cathedral to ring bell 1,000 times for COVID-19 deaths - WTOP

Mild to moderation infection from COVID-19 could last for about one to two weeks for most people. In severe cases, recovery can be slower and symptoms could last up to six weeks or more.

One 2021 study published in the Lancet found that more than three-quarters of COVID-19 patients in a hospital in Wuhan, China, still had at least one symptom 6 months after their recovery.

Another study from Italy done much earlier in 2020 found that 87.4% of COVID-19 patients reported experiencing at least one symptom 2 months after they were discharged from the hospital.

Also read: Coronavirus: COVID-19 reinfection can occur sooner than you think; here's why immunity may wane faster

Study has also found that people with long-haul COVID-19 may not have had a severe case of the disease initially, which simply means that mild COVID can also lead to long COVID and should not be taken lightly. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), some people may experience long-term effects of COVID-19, whether they require hospitalization or not.

That said, there are certain symptoms that may start off with the onset of the infection, but may continue to linger on even after you've tested negative for the virus. Read on to find out what these symptoms are.

Read this article:

Coronavirus: COVID symptoms that could linger on to become long COVID | The Times of India - Times of India

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) Its almost time for kids across the Sunflower State to head to summer camp.

This year, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has a plan to keep campers as safe as possible when it comes to COVID-19.

The KDHE announced it would continue to offer free COVID-19 testing to summer camps for the entire summer season.

COVID-19 testing is a key strategy that summer camps can utilize to identify early cases and prevent transmission in the camp setting, the KDHE said when announcing the program extension.

Camps have the option to use over-the-counter tests, offering tests at camps, or a mix of the two for both screening testing and diagnostic testing.

If a camp decides to implement screening testing, the KDHE will provide two over-the-counter self-tests to campers and staff. The tests would need to be administered 48 and 24 hours before camp begins.

Camps could also decide to test campers and staff when they arrive if they decide to. Routine screening testing would then happen every other day while camp is in session.

Diagnostic testing will also be provided for anyone who experiences symptoms during camp.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment publishes a weekly COVID-19 summary. It is updated once a week on Friday by 12:30 p.m. if you want to track COVID-19 cases across the state.

According to the latest numbers, Johnson, Douglas, and Franklin counties are the only ones in the state that are considered having a high transmission rate.

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Kansas providing free COVID-19 testing to summer camps - KSN-TV

For a study, researchers wanted to determine how the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quarantine affected baseline health, medication use, health anxiety, and healthcare use in pediatric patients with the aerodigestive disease, and to look for any links between commonly prescribed medications and the risk of COVID-19 illness. Patients attending person to pediatric neurogastroenterology clinics between July 2020 and March 2021 were studied prospectively.

About 71.3% of the 202 recruited patients were seen in the center of the aerodigestive disorder, and 28.7% were seen in the functional abdominal pain (FAP)/motility clinic. During quarantine, 25.1% of all patients reported improved overall health; patients with aerodigestive illness (35.3%) reported greater rates of improved overall health than patients with FAP/motility problems (3.6%, P=.0001). Aerodigestive illness patients experienced fewer airway symptoms (P<.05) and used less medicine during quarantine (inhaled steroids, P<.05, and albuterol, P<.05). Despite objective improvement, there was considerable health-related distress, with higher anxiety levels reported during and after quarantine (P<.05), but no difference between patient groups (P>.11). During quarantine, patients continued to have access to healthcare. In all, 28.7% of patients were seen in the emergency room (FAP patients more than aerodigestive illness patients, P=.02), and 19.8% were hospitalized. COVID-19 testing was completed on 58.4% of patients, with 2.0% (n=4) of the whole cohort showing positive.

Despite the heightened health-related worry, patients with aerodigestive illness ameliorated their airway symptoms and required fewer drugs during the epidemic. Despite the difficulties of receiving treatment as a result of the broad lockdown, all patient groups continued to receive care.

Reference:www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(21)01228-2/fulltext

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Impact of Coronavirus Disease on the Pediatric Population with Aerodigestive Disease - Physician's Weekly

Total vaccine doses distributed: 732,209,015

Patients whove received the first dose: 258,132,925

Patients whove received the second dose: 220,138,061

% of population fully vaccinated: 66.3%

% of infections tied to the Omicron Variant: 100%

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Coronavirus Omicron variant, vaccine, and case numbers in the United States: May 9, 2022 - Medical Economics

After more than two years of diligently following COVID-19 safety measures, avoiding high-risk situations, and sharing pointers with his legion of social media followers, Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSFs chair of medicine, found the pandemic hitting close to home over the weekend.

His wife, journalist and author Katie Hafner, tested positive for the coronavirus on Sunday morning, Wachter said. She had recently returned from a teaching at a weeklong writers workshop with about 50 other people. The couple both 64 years old, double vaccinated and double boosted had then flown to Palm Springs to visit with some older friends when she started feeling ill.

She felt mostly guilty, which is a fairly common feeling for people that have been very careful, Wachter, who had tested negative as of Monday afternoon, told The Chronicle. She felt less bad about her own clinical status and illness and more worried about whether she could infect these friends that we were visiting, or that she could infect me.

With the high attack rate of the BA.2 omicron subvariant and its sublineages, such as BA.2.12.1, Wachter said his odds of catching the virus after staying with his wife in a hotel room the night before her positive were about 50%.

One would assume that a bed sharer would have a higher rate than, say, the kids or roommate, Wachter tweeted. On the other hand, she tested neg. on our 1st day together, so I probably was only exposed to her while infectious for ~12 hrs.

The couple canceled their flight home Sunday evening. Although Wachter thought the chances of exposing other passengers were relatively low, he said, we knew it was the wrong thing to do.

With airline mask requirements now dropped, We knew that most people sitting near her would be maskless.

They instead made the nine-hour drive to San Francisco in a rental car, both wearing well-fitted N95 masks and keeping the windows open the entire time.

Wachter said given the typical 3-5 day incubation period, he wouldnt know if he was infected before Wednesday.

In 23 tweets, Wachter reviewed the couples precautions, their options after her positive test and what went into their decisions. Vaccines and treatment make COVID less worrisome today than in earlier pandemic phases, he said.

My mindset is that the state of COVID today is probably about what it's going to be for the foreseeable future, he told The Chronicle Monday. We are all going to have to negotiate some version of normal that works for us. For many people, that's going to be a state that involves taking more risks than you were willing to take a year ago.

With coronavirus infections and hospitalizations again climbing across California, especially in San Francisco and the Bay Area, Wachter earlier this month said he was resuming rigorous masking .

On Twitter, he shared a photo of Hafner hermetically sealed on their flight, with an N95 mask and fleece hood nearly completely covering her head and face. With their older friends in Palm Springs, given their age and medical comorbidities, Katie was very careful - masking when indoors with them, testing at SFO before boarding the flight for Palm Springs, then testing each morning (she was negative on Saturday), he said in the thread. When we ate with them, we ate outdoors only.

Wachter said their hosts tested negative Monday morning and will test every day for the next 3-5 days.

Id give them a 5-10% chance of turning positive, tweeted the doctor, who has been at the forefront of the COVID pandemic since early 2020.

His wife now is taking the treatment drug Paxlovid to reduce her chances of a severe outcome, Wachter said, noting that she feels crummy. But the key fact is that her vaccines, boosters, and Paxlovid bring her odds of a truly bad outcome (hospitalization, ICU, and death) down to near zero.

He said he himself would not start Paxlovid because it has not been shown to prevent infection for close contacts of an infected person.

As for his wifes guilt about carrying COVID to their friends home, Wachter said, I told her this level of COVID risk is the way the world will be for many years, and making choices like teaching at this course is something we need to learn to live with.

Earlier this year, during the winter omicron surge, Wachters 28-year-old son was infected after watching a movie with a friend.

In his Twitter thread, Wachter compared todays COVID risks with earlier in the pandemic.

There is good evidence that being fully vaccinated halves the odds, and at least theoretical reasons to believe that early use of Paxlovid might also help, he said. If I turn positive in the next few days, my odds will be similarly favorable. So - though getting COVID still sucks - theres a lot to be grateful for.

However, Wachter noted Monday that long COVID and other possible impacts of the virus on the heart, brain and lungs still weigh heavily in his decision making process.

I still think it may turn out to be that the most harmful legacy of COVID is if it meaningfully increases your chances of long term noninfectious complications like heart attacks or diabetes. It's still in my calculus when I ask myself how important this activity is and is it worth it for me to do this, and is it worth it not to have my mask on?

Aidin Vaziri (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

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UCSF's Bob Wachter was traveling with his wife when she tested positive for COVID. Here's how they handled it - San Francisco Chronicle

BILLINGS - A free, walk-in COVID-19 vaccination clinic will be held Friday, May 13 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at RiverStone Healths Lil Anderson Center (4-story building) at 123 S. 27th St.

All approved doses of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines will be available for people over age 5, RiverStone Health officials said in a press release.

For second, third, or booster doses, please bring your COVID-19 vaccination card with you. If you have misplaced your vaccination card, go to covid.riverstonehealth.org to request a new one.

Free at-home COVID-19 test kits also will be available at the vaccination clinic.

For the week ending Saturday, May 7, the Billings hospitals together had an average of six COVID-19 inpatients daily, the press releae states. The week averaged one patient a day in the ICU and none requiring a ventilator.

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevents reports[cdc.gov] the 7-day moving average of daily new cases increased 21.4% last week compared to the week before. Many counties in the northeast part of the country are now listed as high transmission in the CDCs Community Levels report[covid.cdc.gov]. Because of the prevalence of home testing, new cases of COVID-19 are likely underreported.

We recognize the low rates of hospitalization in our county and are grateful that the burden on our healthcare professionals is easing," said Yellowstone County Health Officer John Felton. "However, we must remember that COVID-19 continues to circulate in our community and can pose serious risk to vulnerable people. I urge people to get vaccinated and remain up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations.

Vaccination remains the safest, most effective measure for reducing the risk of serious illness and death from this virus. Free COVID-19 vaccinations are available by appointment at RiverStone Health Clinics in Billings, Bridger, Joliet and Worden and through the RiverStone Health Immunization Clinic. Call 406-247-3382 or 406-247-3350.

Free at-home COVID-19 test kits may be picked up at any RiverStone Health Clinic during regular operating hours or in the lobby of the Lil Anderson Center, the four-story building at RiverStone Health, 123 S. 27th St.

If you test positive for COVID-19, contact your healthcare provider right away. You may be eligible for prescription treatment medications. These medications must be started soon after a positive test to be effective.

For more information about COVID-19, go to covid.riverstonehealth.org.

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Free COVID-19 vaccination clinic to be held in Billings - Q2 News

Taipei is easing COVID-19 curbs even as its daily cases are rising, in a strategy radically different from Beijings zero-tolerance policy that has shut down many Chinese cities and sent the economy into a tailspin.

On May 5, Taiwan recorded more than 30,000 new COVID-19 infectionscrossing that daily threshold for the first time since the pandemic began. The current wave of infections looks to get worse for the island of 23 million, which has so far registered nearly 232,400 casessome 215,000 since Januaryand 886 fatalities.

Daily caseloads are expected to rise even further because of the Omicron variant. Health minister Chen Shih-chung said earlier that Taiwan was on track to record up to 100,000 new infections daily, much more than the initial projection of 45,000.

Yet, in the face of this spike, the government has signaled a shift in the pandemic strategy it has been following for two years, away from virus suppression characterized by draconian travel restrictions, mask-wearing mandates, and fastidious contact tracing. A month into the launch of a new Taiwanese model of COVID-19 containment, asymptomatic and mild cases are being isolated at home, save for infected children. Close contacts need only be quarantined for three days instead of the earlier 10. Quarantine for arrivals will be cut down from 10 to just seven days.

Read More: How Hong Kong Became Chinas Biggest COVID Problem

Premier Su Tseng-chang said this new approach isnt exactly living with COVID-19, as the virus would not be allowed to spread unchecked. But prevention of the virus from spreading is to be balanced with reopening the economy and allowing people to live normally, he emphasized. There would be no stringent lockdowns, Su told reporters on May 1. Health officials are to focus on minimizing severe cases and maintaining effective control of mild or asymptomatic ones.

On the other side of the Taiwanese Strait, the zero-COVID policy has seen drastic restrictions on normal life. Entire cities in mainland China have been locked down for weeks. Ports and factories have had their operations suspended. Health apps on mobile phones govern access to transport and public facilities. Though curbs are now being loosened in Hong Kong, harsh travel restrictions over the past two years have temporarily reduced the proud aviation hub and freewheeling financial center to a shadow of its former self.

Experts say Taiwan must find its own approach given the highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant. Any containment protocol has to be dynamically revised according to the situation of the epidemic or other characteristics of this virus, says Chen Chien-jen, who was Taiwans vice-president from 2016 to 2020 and is an epidemiologist by training.

Pedestrians wearing protective masks cross a street at a shopping district in Taipei, Taiwan, on Saturday, April 16, 2022.

Lam Yik Fei/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Taiwan has successfully fended off COVID-19 outbreaks in the past. The island banned flights from across the strait in January 2020, immediately after the virus was detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. Swift tracing of close contacts, mass testing, and a centralized mask distribution system helped Taiwan avoid a lockdown, save for some soft curbs a year ago to control an outbreak of the Alpha variant.

Last summer, Taiwans COVID-19 response was again put to the test in the face of hundreds of new infections. At the time, the island was struggling to source COVID-19 vaccines and only 3% of its eligible population was vaccinated. New arrivals were required to undergo a 14-day quarantine, and strict contact-tracing policies were imposed on restaurants, stores and other businesses. Taiwans COVID-19 cases ballooned to around 11,000 by June 2021 and more than 800 people died during the wave.

Taiwan also began rolling out its locally developed vaccines around the same time. Chen tells TIME that a high vaccination rate, and the availability of rapid testing and antiviral therapies, had to be in place before Taiwan could move away from its de facto zero-COVID policy. The island has now vaccinated 79% of its population, secured some 40 million test kits, and will have obtained 700,000 courses of Pfizers COVID-19 drug, Paxlovid, by June. Around 180,000 courses have already been distributed to hospitals and pharmacies.

Read More: Global Shortages Loom as China Lockdowns Continue

There has been some vaccine resistance among Taiwans elderly. There will still be groups who feel that since they had almost no chance of getting the virus when Taiwan had no cases, [they dont] need to get the vaccine now, says Wayne Soon, a history professor at Vassar College in New York, who studies medical ideas and practices in East Asia. But COVID-19 immunization among those aged 75 and above has now reached 72.5%, with nearly 60% in the same age group having received a booster.

In Hong Kong, by comparison, only around 25% of those aged 80 and above were vaccinated by January, just before a massive surge in infections. This led to many severe cases, overwhelming the health care system. Roughly 9,300 people have died of COVID in the territory, with 98% of those fatalities occurring in the latest, Omicron-driven outbreak. Over 95% of those who died were aged 60 and above.

Hong Kong, too, appears to be walking back its previous zero-COVID protocols, with curbs easing on businesses and travel. Huang Yanzhong, a global health policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations tells TIME that Hong Kong can likewise expect numbers to surge as regulations are loosened, but cases should be asymptomatic or mildas are 99% of the cases in Taiwans current wave of infection.

You cannot expect to move away from zero-COVID unless they experience this stage, this feature, this spike in cases, including the severe cases and also the mortality rate, Huang says. But that can be managed. That transition can be achieved [at] a manageable level.

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Taiwan Is Abandoning Its Zero-COVID Strategy - TIME