Category: Corona Virus

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Coronavirus tally: Biden administration urges Congress to provide COVID funding for boosters and testing – MarketWatch

March 16, 2022

The Biden administration made a firm push for Congress to provide additional funding to fight COVID-19 on Tuesday after $15.6 billion was dropped from a spending bill, arguing that it needs to make sure there are enough doses on hand to provide fourth jabs for all Americans if such boosters are needed - or to provide variant-specific vaccines if those are needed. Without additional funding, the government does not have the ability to maintain the country's domestic testing capacity beyond June, another official said. Officials also warned that providers soon would no longer be able to submit claims for testing, treating and vaccinating uninsured people, and the government would face a reduced ability to rapidly identify and assess new strains of COVID.The U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline, and the nation is now averaging 32,094 new cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, down 46% from two weeks ago. The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 26,436, down 44% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 1,226 a day, down 36% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number. Globally, there have been 461.8 million confirmed cases, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, and 6.05 million deaths. The U.S. leads the world with 79.6 million cases and 966,470 fatalities.

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Coronavirus tally: Biden administration urges Congress to provide COVID funding for boosters and testing - MarketWatch

Fight the Power: The coronavirus blues linger on – Charleston Post Courier

March 16, 2022

The thing I hate most during the day isn't traffic; it's not when Dunkin' makes my coffee order wrong or when your leg falls asleep from being on Instagram too long on the throne.

It's when I get a phone call. Like, legit, someone dialed my number instead of texting me.

I don't care if I'm lying on my bed using a large feather for a fan while eating grapes. If you call me, I will more than likely ignore your call and text back, "Can't talk, can text. What's up?"

I began to think about other things that fit these anti-social categories and realized that I've regressed in wanting to talk to people or hang out with them.

It wasn't that long ago that we would drive by our friends and family's homes, waving at them and giving air hugs. I remember bringing a bottle of Jack and sitting on the other side of the street while my buddies Dre and Sammy Lopez joined me for a drink but 200 feet away.

And funniest of all, I remember the surprise FaceTime calls. When that FT ring would pour out of my phone, I would get giddy and make sure I didn't have a boogie hanging from my nose, trying my best to look cute (hilariously enough, I looked like wolf-man jack because ain't nobody getting haircuts during the pandemic).

So why is it that when things open back up do I have this significant regression?

Two years ago, I just wanted to sit at a bar to drink and have a normal conversation about sports or something insane Kanye did. Now, as soon as I go out, I can't wait to get back home. I find myself unable to communicate with people in public again. When I look normal and do not have any issues, my anxiety level is through the roof, anticipating the end of whatever interaction I'm having.

I spoke to my friend Dr. Napoleon Wells,local-based clinical psychologist and author, about these feelings. I wondered if he's come across anyone else dealing with these feelings after dealing with COVID restrictions the past two years.

"We are seeing more studies emerging in and around what you have with the emotional and psychiatric correlates of having (lived) so long with Rona, he said. "I've just taken to calling it Coronaralized Anxiety Disorder and Ronaphrenia."

These comments were during a casual conversation with my bro, and it was an unofficial diagnosis with the term, but the ideals began to make sense as he further explained.

"It looks like anxiety in terms of engaging with other people but it also looks like depression in terms of day to day motivation and energy level. Sense of disconnection but wanting to be connected."

He also poses that our sense of reality has shifted when we ask, "What does it mean to be outside?"

The question also hits from a creative perspective. I make hip-hop music. One of the main genres that require crowd participation and energy. What happens when you're making music just in your home with no venue to perform it at or someone's car to bump it in and see that seductive head-nod?

The answer is simple: Own your feelings. My "Ronalized Anxiety Disorder," if you will.

During the past two years, I forced myself to create out of emotional survival and not commerce. I made music and hated 90% of it, but I could hear my emotions in real-time and hear the anguish I didn't know was there. I put some of those pieces, flawed and at times incomplete, in a project appropriately called the 'Rona Tape.'

After I put it out last week, someone called me, and in an out-of-the-norm moment, I answered the call. Funny enough, out of anguish, the project generated an hour-long conversation with my friend. It felt great. Now next time you call, there's a good chance I will answer.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Preach Jacobs is a musician, artist and activist and founder of Cola-Con and indie label Sounds Familiar Records. You can hear his podcasts and read more work at FightThePower.co.

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Fight the Power: The coronavirus blues linger on - Charleston Post Courier

In-Depth: What we know about COVID and pregnancy after two years – ABC 10 News San Diego KGTV

March 16, 2022

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - For two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed pregnancy from one of the happiest times in many people's lives into a constant state of worry and fear.

"It was eye-opening to see these young, healthy women get sick and get sick quite severely," says Dr. Joanna Adamczak, the Chief Medical Officer at Sharp-Mary Birch Hospital for Women and Newborns.

Dr. Adamczak says the number of women getting pregnant declined throughout the pandemic. Meanwhile, fear kept many of the women who did get pregnant from attending routine medical appointments.

"The mood, in the beginning, was everywhere, fear," Dr. Adamczak says. "Fear of the unknown."

Because COVID-19 was a brand new virus, no one knew how it would impact pregnant women or their unborn children. And even when vaccines got approval, the lack of pregnant women involved in the trials meant there was very little information on how they could affect pregnancies.

"We had very little data," says Dr. Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego Health. "Our recommendations were based on hypotheses and theories."

But a lot of that fear went away as more information came out. Research done in San Diego helped provide answers.

A June 2020 report from the National Institutes of Health found that pregnant women were particularly at-risk for COVID-19 infections. Not only were the women more susceptible to severe outcomes like hospitalizations or death, but their unborn babies were also at risk. They had higher incidences of preeclampsia, hypertension, premature birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth/miscarriages.

"We knew it was bad," said Dr. Gyamfi-Bannerman. "But then we had data to confirm it."

A lot of that data came from UC San Diego's MotherToBaby and the Center for Better Beginnings. They launched a handful of studies to follow pregnant women throughout the Pandemic and learn the impacts. Around 3200 women signed up over two years.

"We've had to learn what are the risks to pregnant women who become infected," explains MotherToBaby Co-Director Dr. Christina Chambers. "All of which led to, don't get infected if you can avoid it. And if you do get infected, seek treatment immediately."

MotherToBaby also worked to determine if the COVID-19 vaccine would be safe for pregnant women to take and if it would still provide protection against the virus.

As data showed vaccines were safe and effective for pregnant women, MotherToBaby became an essential CDC resource advocating for vaccinations.

"We have taken tens of thousands of calls and questions from pregnant women or women planning pregnancy," says Dr. Chambers. "All of them ask what we know about the safety of the vaccine."

Meanwhile, MOMI CORE, the Mother Milk Infant Center for Research Excellence, led a study to determine if COVID-19 could be passed from mother to baby through breast milk. It took just 160 days for them to publish a study showing that the infection did not transmit through breastfeeding. They also found that protective antibodies from infection or the vaccine did.

"The speed sounds fast," says MOMI CORE Director Dr. Lars Bode. "But really, that's 160 days of uncertainty. 160 days, half a year can be a very long time if you don't know exactly if your breast milk is safe or not."

Still, having all of that data gave doctors the tools they needed to debunk many of the myths surrounding the virus and its impact on pregnancy and lactation.

As studies continue, they hope to shed more light on the issue.

"We are in a much better place now than we were," says Dr. Gyamfi-Bannerman.

In the future, doctors say COVID-19 will become a manageable risk during pregnancy, similar to the flu or other respiratory diseases. They think booster shots may be recommended, along with masking and extra health and safety precautions during pregnancy.

"It's going to become part of daily life," says Dr. Gyamfi-Bannerman. "But, thankfully, we have treatments for that."

And research will continue. Dr. Chambers says they hope to follow many of their pregnant volunteers for years to learn how their children develop.

"For COVID, especially, and also for the vaccines, we need to capture the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes," she says. "We really want to know how your kids are doing when they're four or five."

Dr. Bode adds that it will be essential to keep all of the connections, funding, and protocols from this Pandemic in place. That will help researchers work quickly when the next Pandemic arrives.

And doctors on the front lines say women must get vaccinated and stay in contact with their physicians.

"Speak to your health care providers," says Dr. Adamczak. "Talk to them about your fears and your concerns."

For the latest information about COVID and Pregnancy, visit the CDC website here.

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In-Depth: What we know about COVID and pregnancy after two years - ABC 10 News San Diego KGTV

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