Category: Corona Virus

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2 years into COVID-19 pandemic: If its still gone from hotels, is it ever coming back? – The Points Guy

February 28, 2022

2 years into COVID-19 pandemic: If it's still gone from hotels, is it ever coming back?

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2 years into COVID-19 pandemic: If its still gone from hotels, is it ever coming back? - The Points Guy

WA to introduce tougher COVID-19 restrictions from Thursday as cases in remote communities revealed as false positives – ABC News

February 28, 2022

WA will introduce stricterCOVID-19 restrictions from Thursday, with the peak of infections now expected to arrive earlier than forecast.

But those restrictions will be less severe than what was initially flagged, with some venues keeping a two-square-metre capacity limit, while others will move to the four-square-metre rule.

It comes after WA recorded 1,136 new local COVID cases, its highest daily total on record andthe fourth day in a row the state has topped 1,000daily cases.

Figures from the Health Department reveal an additional four travel-related cases, bringing to 5,540the total number of active cases in the state.

However, the number of COVID cases in Western Australias far north has been significantly reduced, with cases initially reported as COVID in two remote Kimberley communities now revealed to be a different virus.

There are 11 people in hospital with COVID, none of whom are in intensive care.

In announcing the introduction of 'level two' restrictions, Premier Mark McGowan said the peak of infections was now expected in the next "two to three weeks", rather than the end of March as initially forecast.

"Therefore, if we want a set of measures to be effective, they need to come in sooner rather than later," he said.

From 12:01am on Thursday, the same day WA's borders fully reopen, the following rules will apply:

Mr McGowan said the adjusted rules reflected WAs high vaccination ratesand balanced the impact on businesses.

"By using the 150 patron cap, instead of the four-square-metre rule, we spare smaller, lower risk venues such as cafes and restaurants from the impacts, while at the same time slowing the surge in cases,"he said.

Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson said the new restrictions would reduce hospital admissions by 234 on the day cases peak, and by 31 in the ICU.

Just over 6,000 people presented for a PCR test yesterday, while there were 476 self-reported rapid antigen tests.

Mr McGowan warned that while the rules would keep hundreds out of hospital, March would be the rockiest month the state hadendured during the pandemic, with rising hospitalisation numbers.

We would be irresponsible if we didnt have the most appropriate measures in place during the period where they are most required," he said.

He acknowledged the impact it would have on some businesses, but said it was hoped the restrictions would only be in place for a month and would be reviewed at the end of March.

Support for businesses will be announced later this week and high case load protocols for a range of industries would likely take effect soon.

The ABC understands that all 44 cases in Bidyadangaand 11 in Beagle Bay have been reclassified after additional testing by PathWest revealed the false positives.

In a statement this afternoon, a Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services spokesman said the results had become apparent after additional testing in Perth.

Expert medical scientists, including those from the Department of Health, have scrutinised the tests, and believe that the illness detected in Bidyadanga and Beagle Bay is not COVID-19, the statement reads.

However, we are currently still awaiting results on a number of tests.

Weak detection results using PCR tests can occur because of detection early or late in the course of infection, or occasionally they can be false positives."

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sandersonsaid the results came from two testing machines given to the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service by the Commonwealth.

"Its believed these machines reported results which are now believed to be false positives, she said.

"Health authorities have ceased using these machines and a replacement machine has been sent to Broome."

Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson said while the news was welcome, the precautionary approach was the right one.

"While it is unfortunate for the level of community concern and inconvenience, I would always prefer to react swiftly and take a precautionary approach, rather rather than regret delayed action."

The news leaves the current number of active COVID cases in the Kimberley at three, with two cases detected in Halls Creek and one in Broome.

News of positive cases in Bidyadanga, WAs largest remote community, sparked alarm last week, with the communitys leadership deciding to enter a voluntary lockdown with support from Health authorities and WA Police.

Residents in Bidyadanga and Beagle Bay received the news at community meetings on Monday afternoon.

Were pretty happy pretty stoked that we can get back to going back to work and seeing what the next step is, Bidyadanga local Francis Shoveller told the ABC.

But a lot of us had almost a week off work and [it] pretty much impacted all our kids and all our daily life activities.

KAMS said its emergency response, launched in the wake of the initial detections last week, would continue in both communities.

KAMS believes it is essential a testing laboratory be established in Broome, so regional results are made available promptly and delays currently experienced by people in isolation are limited," it said in the statement.

It is critical that all Kimberley communities continue to get vaccinated, use masks, and most of all, get tested when they have symptoms."

Mr Shoveller said the silver lining to the situation was the community now had reassurance swift and effective action would be taken in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.

Long-time Bidyadanga resident Frankie Shoveller said while it was a relief for the community, the lockdown had been alarming.

I think people were upset here being locked in the community with nowhere to go except being at home, we were really worried about food, he said.

He said the experience hit home for a community that has lived without COVID throughout the pandemic.

It showed [locals] what can take place with COVID, getting locked down and people coming in from the medical clinic to check people and people were quite scared with these mob coming in with uniforms and masks and things like that, but they were really happy with [them] going house to house and doing tests on them.

We dont want to blame the medical staff for anything, they just did their job and did whats right for the community.

Today's numbers reflect the typically lower testing rates on weekends, compared to the average of 11,300 PCR tests taken each weekday last week.

Looking at the number of local cases per 1,000 PCR tests can give a better idea of how quickly the outbreak is growing.

This time last week there were about 33cases per 1,000 tests.

But today, that figure was 108 a three-fold increase.

While testing numbers are influenced by a number of factors, including the amount of respiratory illness in the community, the overall figuresshow the growing spread of the virus through the state.

After announcing yesterday that every household in the state would be eligible to receive five free rapid antigen tests, Premier Mark McGowan this morning confirmed more would be offered in the future.

"We will do that, so [the] first round will be five free RATs per household, then we'll do further rounds just once we have more supply in stock," he told ABC Radio Perth.

Mr McGowan said the tests would prove useful in managing the virus as case numbers rose.

"It'll mean that people who are positive obviously know not to go to work and to isolate and so forth. So they're a great tool for making sure we don't infect other people in workplaces," he said.

The Premier also confirmed he had returned a third negative RAT after his chief of staff tested positive over the weekend.

"I'm pretty sure I'm fine, and I didn't take my mask off," he said.

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WA to introduce tougher COVID-19 restrictions from Thursday as cases in remote communities revealed as false positives - ABC News

Will one-way masking protect you from COVID in public spaces? : Goats and Soda – NPR

February 26, 2022

Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question you'd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line "Weekly Coronavirus Questions." See an archive of our FAQs here.

Lots of people are giving up masks in public places maybe they think the pandemic is over, maybe they're putting their faith in vaccines, maybe they're just tired of masking. But I still want to mask up when I'm around others omicron is out there, infections can happen if you're vaccinated. Is one-way masking wearing a mask helpful in any way?

It can be lonely out there as the solo masker in a sea of exposed chins and noses.

And there's no getting around the fact that having everyone wear a mask cuts down the risk of spreading the coronavirus in a public space much more effectively than a scattershot approach.

"One-way masking isn't doing that," says Kristen Coleman, an assistant research professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. "We're not maximizing the benefits of masks [if] only a proportion of the population" wears them.

But it looks as if an end to mask mandates will increasingly be the reality, given the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new guidance that much of the public can forgo masks if local hospitals are not dealing with a high level of disease.

But if you plan to continue wearing a mask, you can still get substantial protection as the sole mask-wearer what's being called "one-way masking" if you do it right.

If it's pouring outside, would you throw on a cotton hoodie and expect to stay dry?

The same principle applies to masks and pathogens.

Unlike a cloth or surgical mask, an N95 respirator (as well as similar products, like a KN95 or KF94) is specifically designed to filter out the tiny viral particles that stay suspended in the air when exhaled by someone who's infected and not just the larger respiratory droplets that spray out like cannonballs and fall to the ground at close range.

(These models are often referred to as masks but are technically known as respirators.)

"The only thing I recommend is something like an N95 respirator," says Lisa Brosseau, a bioaerosol scientist and industrial hygienist who's a consultant for the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Lots of studies dating well before the coronavirus pandemic, in the laboratory and in workplaces, demonstrate that fit-tested respirators protect the wearer from hazardous airborne contaminants, she says.

"From Day 1, we have collectively done a poor job at communicating the strong efficacy of N95 respirators," adds Coleman.

Of course, any kind of protection is better than nothing at all. If you have no other options, surgical masks are better than cloth masks because the material has electrostatic charge to trap incoming particles, says Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University but if you're serious, don't count on them to keep you safe when most people nearby are unmasked.

Karan has taken care of hundreds of COVID-19 patients over the past two years and knows how well N95s work, even if you're face-to-face with a contagious unmasked person.

"I've been very close to them while they were coughing and weren't able to wear masks and never got COVID from a patient," he says.

The only real downside of wearing an N95 is that some models can compress your face, pinch your nose and make it hard to breathe. The key is to find one that you can tolerate wearing, while making sure there aren't big gaps around your nose or chin (if your nostrils are showing, forget about it!).

"They all feel slightly differently," says Karan, who personally prefers a model made by 3M called the VFlex.

But keep in mind that an N95 on its own isn't foolproof.

Health care workers go through fit tests to ensure the ones they're wearing are sealed properly. Even so, Brosseau says research shows that about 10% of particles will leak through during the normal wear and tear of the day.

Of course, most of the N95-wearing public will not undergo a rigorous fit test. Brosseau had studied this scenario people who had no prior experience or assistance putting on a respirator. She found that the majority of them could get a fit that would result in about 20% leakage.

This drop in effectiveness should not deter you, she stresses.

"It just means that it doesn't offer that 95% protection that's been advertised, but it's still going to be providing more protection than a surgical mask or a cloth mask," says Coleman.

Even with a solid choice like an N95, you need to calculate the risks you'll face as a one-way masker.

"Just wearing a mask it helps, but it is not going to turn being indoors into something that has no risk," says Jose-Luis Jimenez, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and an aerosols scientist.

Many of the considerations should feel familiar at this point, if not hard-wired into our pandemic-weary brains.

Poorly ventilated indoor spaces, especially where people are talking loudly, singing or exercising, carry the highest risk. If you do go inside, the safest situation is an uncrowded venue. And the longer you spend indoors, the more you open yourself up to infection.

The final big risk consideration comes down to how many people are contagious in your community. Dr. Lisa Maragakis says you can look at the number of new cases per capita in your community over the past week.

"That number needs to be in the single digits somewhere between one to five cases per 100,000 before we've reached that low level where the probability is such that you're less likely to encounter someone with the virus," says Maragakis, who's senior director of infection prevention at the Johns Hopkins Health System.

And remember: There are no hard-and-fast rules.

For example, you can spend the same amount of time in similar indoor spaces, but the chance of infection can go up enormously depending on what people are doing.

"We've seen tons of outbreaks in choirs, none in libraries and movie theaters that I know of," says Jimenez, who has developed a tool that estimates risk in different scenarios.

Some researchers have tried to specifically quantify the risk of being infected when one person is wearing a mask and the other isn't i.e., one-way masking. But many factors come into play.

One recent modeling study found a 90% risk of being infected after 30 minutes when a person wears a surgical mask and is about 5 feet away from an infected unmasked person. Switching to a respirator drops that risk to 20% over the course of an hour. And if both people are wearing a respirator, it's under 1% in an hour.

Brosseau has also analyzed this kind of scenario, although with a different approach that looks at how long it would take to get a big enough "dose" of the virus that you'd likely be infected. She found it would be about an hour and 15 minutes for someone wearing an N95 (not fit tested) to get infected when in close contact with a contagious person.

Of course, all these estimates are based on certain assumptions and can't be taken as a strict guide. Brosseau's relies on the idea that there's a high risk of infection for two unmasked people in close proximity for 15 minutes but that time span comes from contact-tracing guidance used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not data about the virus.

"These are not bright lines between safe and unsafe," she says.

Even among experts, there's considerable variation in how much they're going to rely on one-way masking when infection rates are high in their community.

Karan feels comfortable going into places that would be considered riskier if he's wearing the N95 he likes: "I use that to work out in the gym. I wear it everywhere. I wear it in the hospital or just out and about."

Others play it much safer. Jimenez says he isn't going back to the grocery store yet, even with a high-quality respirator.

Brosseau is back to shopping for groceries but avoids busy times and still rules out certain destinations. "I haven't gone back to church since the beginning of the pandemic," she says.

The decision to be a one-way masker can also add to your pandemic stress. It can be awkward to be the only person in a public place who's wearing one. And given the way that masks have been politicized, you may feel that your decision to be a one-way masker could be taken as a confrontational action.

As a one-way masker, epidemiology professor Charlotte Baker at Virginia Tech often finds herself one of the few people wearing a mask. And she recognizes that it can be a lonely road.

She suggests giving yourself a little pep talk to strengthen your resolve: "I'm doing this so I can see my parents," or "I'm doing this so I can keep my kids safe." In her case, she is immunocompromised and reminds herself, "I don't want to die" but notes "that might be a bit too on the nose for many people."

And don't obsess about the non-maskers around you, she says: "I suggest ignoring people, focusing on the task at hand and getting out of there."

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Will one-way masking protect you from COVID in public spaces? : Goats and Soda - NPR

Coronavirus Briefing: England is Living with the Virus – The New York Times

February 26, 2022

England begins living with the virus

This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he was scrapping the remaining coronavirus restrictions in England, saying it was time to live with the virus.

While he did not declare the nations health crisis over, the move put his country ahead of most others in Europe regarding the speed with which it hopes to return to normal life.

For insight into the approach, I spoke with Claire Moses, a writer for The Morning in London.

What happened in this latest round of lifting restrictions?

Basically, everything has been lifted. A lot of things had been open already restaurants, pubs, movie theaters, you name it but now the final restrictions are also gone. That includes mask requirements, even on Londons public transportation, and legal isolation requirements, even if you have the virus.

We also have access to free rapid tests, which we get through the National Health Service, but those wont be free anymore after April 1. My guess is that will mean that people will stop testing, unless theyre very ill, because no one is going to say, Lets buy tests before we see each other. Its just not realistic.

What does lifting isolation requirements mean?

So if I test positive, I no longer have to isolate. Im still encouraged to stay home, but its no longer legally required. If you get Covid or a nasty flu, youre probably going to do the responsible thing and stay home anyway. But since you essentially no longer have to tell anyone if you test positive and after April, you may not even know if you are infected unless you pay for a test it may change the calculation for some people. Maybe you have a trip planned and youre not going to cancel it. Or maybe you have a party or a dinner you really want to go to, so you do. This makes everyones personal risk assessment very, very difficult.

Why is Boris Johnson doing this?

On the one hand, hes saying the virus is here to stay and we need to accept that and adopt it into our daily lives. But hes also in the middle of a major political scandal here. There is a police inquiry into whether he broke his own governments lockdown rules by attending multiple parties. So his critics are saying that lifting the remaining restrictions is a way to distract attention from that.

What are health experts saying?

Health officials are extremely wary, and N.H.S. leaders have also said theyre against the end of the free testing. Something else to keep in mind is that the lifting of all restrictions doesnt protect vulnerable people. They have warned that politicians shouldnt say the pandemic is over, because it isnt Covid is still among us, and while cases have been dropping dramatically, tens of thousands of people around the country still test positive every day.

The N.H.S. is also dealing with another crisis: The pandemic has worsened delays and backlogs. Millions of procedures have been delayed, including cancer screenings and essential care.

Whats the latest on Queen Elizabeth?

The queen, who is 95, seems to be having a mild case of Covid with coldlike symptoms. But she did cancel her virtual appearances. According to the media here, shes still performing some light duties. One of those duties, as the BBC reported, is reading state papers.

Whats life like in London these days?

Everything is open. More and more people are starting to return to the office. I was on the tube, what we call the subway here, during rush hour this week, and it was crowded. Even if it wasnt quite as crowded as two years ago. Nightlife is up and running. Theaters are full and the audiences seem extremely happy to be there. People are back in pubs. In many places in town, it looks like we are living with Covid.

How does that feel?

On the one hand it feels great, because who doesnt love normalcy? We love the theater. We love the pub. We love hugging each other. We love going to work sometimes. But on the other hand, this pandemic has been very scary for everyone in different ways, and especially so for people who are older or more vulnerable. So, going back to a world where it seemingly doesnt exist feels abrupt.

The World Health Organization announced plans to establish a training hub in South Korea to teach low- and middle-income countries to produce their own mRNA vaccines. The effort, which aims to train 370 people from around the world starting in July, would help to mitigate global vaccine inequality and the shortage of skilled workers in the vaccine manufacturing industry, the agency said.

The announcement followed the organizations ongoing effort in South Africa to reverse-engineer existing mRNA vaccines and share the technology with low-income countries, after attempts to cooperate with Pfizer and Moderna to share the technology had been unsuccessful.

The W.H.O. also said that African countries would be able to accelerate their vaccination programs because of a change in the system of vaccine distribution.

Whats at stake. The crisis has stoked speculations thatthe political future of Mr. Johnson might be at risk. Though few Conservatives in Parliament have publicly called on him to quit, if the investigation determines that he misled Parliament, it could cost him his job.

Previously, the agency would send vaccine doses to African countries as they became available. But since January, countries have been able to request the vaccines they need from the W.H.O. directly, specifying in what quantity and when. As a result, they have been able to significantly ramp up vaccination efforts.

The continent had been expected to reach the target of vaccinating 70 percent of the population by August 2024. But now, the W.H.O. said, it seemed like that target could be met by early 2023.

An average of about 90,000 Americans are being vaccinated per day, the lowest point since the early days of the campaign, The Associated Press reported.

Moderna said it expected to make at least $19 billion in Covid vaccine sales this year, CNBC reported.

The pandemic has increased reliance on pills for abortions in the U.S.

Is the BA.2 version of Omicron worse? Heres what you need to know.

A truck caravan, planned as an American version of the past months chaotic protest in Canada, left California for Washington, D.C.

Hopeful business executives are again planning for workers to return in person (fingers crossed).

A celebrated Broadway composer, who has suffered from long Covid for two years, is reclaiming his old life, breath by breath.

Well, we did EVERYTHING right. We wore masks, we ate all our meals with friends outdoors, we got vaccinated twice and then boosted. We made it just about two years without getting infected. We got the virus skiing in Park City in January 2022, where we again did everything outdoors and wore our masks indoors. It was a super frustrating experience to have played by the rules and still gotten sick. That experience definitely makes us feel more willing to live life a little bit more, because not doing so didnt really pay the expected dividends.

Ilene Winters, West Dover, Vt.

Let us know how youre dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter.

Sign up here to get the briefing by email.

Email your thoughts to briefing@nytimes.com.

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Coronavirus Briefing: England is Living with the Virus - The New York Times

Can pet dogs be infected with coronavirus? – University of Illinois News

February 26, 2022

On Feb. 6, a team led by pathobiology professor Ying Fang, a virologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, diagnosed a pet dog in Chicago with infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 in humans. This is the first dog in Illinois to test positive for the coronavirus. Fang spoke with News Bureau life sciences editor Diana Yates about this development and what it means for pets in the pandemic.

Do we know how this dog got infected?

Veterinarians believe the source of infection was a SARS-CoV-2-infected pet-sitter who had cared for the dog at the time of infection while the dogs owners were away.

What symptoms did the dog have that prompted the test?

The dog developed respiratory symptoms after exposure to the pet-sitter. When the dog failed to get better after a few weeks, the treating veterinarian, Dr. Drew Sullivan, the director of the Medical District Veterinary Clinic in Chicago, sent samples to my laboratory for testing. This clinic is owned and operated by the U. of I. College of Veterinary Medicine.

Whats the protocol for testing the SARS-CoV-2 virus in pets?

We conducted the real-time RT-PCR test. After my teams initial test, the sample was sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. This lab is part of the U.S. Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The Iowa lab confirmed the test result.

Can infected dogs infect humans?

Health officials have not seen a case of a dog infecting a human. In the case of this dog, even though it had respiratory symptoms for some time, its owners tested negative for COVID-19.

You are the principal investigator of a research project funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop better methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in companion animals. Why is this needed?

Im leading a team of investigators who will develop novel assays and an animal model system for SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics, pathogenesis and epidemiology studies in captive and companion animals. Our team includes several experts from the U. of I., including pathobiology professor Raymond Rowland, Dr. Leyi Wang of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and pathobiology professor Dr. Gay Miller; along with Dr. Diego Diel, professor Gary Whittaker and Dr. Andrew Miller of Cornell University.

What prompted this research?

Recent studies by us and others have found that felids, including domestic cats, tigers and lions are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. These findings cause great concern about the potential for human-to-animal and animal-to-human transmission, along with the virus mutations that appear as the virus goes back and forth between species.

Whats next for your team?

One of our goals is to design and prepare better, faster ways of detecting and tracking coronavirus in animals. We also hope to develop a feline animal model that will offer insight into how the disease behaves in cats. Our data will be incorporated into models for understanding the risk of animal infection for veterinarians, other animal care professionals and the general public.

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Can pet dogs be infected with coronavirus? - University of Illinois News

How Often Will We Need to Update COVID Vaccines? – The Atlantic

February 26, 2022

Last June, as the Delta variant sat poised to take the globe by storm, Pfizers CEO, Albert Bourla, promised the world speed. Should an ultra-mutated version of SARS-CoV-2 sprout, he said, his company could have a variant-specific shot ready for rollout in about 100 daysa pledge he echoed in November when Omicron reared its head.

Now, with the 100-day finish line fast approaching and no clinical-trial data in sight, the company seems unlikely to meet its mark. (I asked Pfizer about this super-speedster timeline; when we have the data analyzed, we will share an update, the company responded.) Moderna, which started brewing up an Omicron vaccine around the same time, is eyeing late summer for its own debut.

Not that an Omicron vaccine would necessarily make a huge difference, even if Pfizer had made good. In many parts of the world, the variants record-breaking wave is receding. Having a bespoke vaccine in 100 days would have been an unprecedented accomplishment, but Omicron was simply too fast for a cooked-to-order shot to beat it, says Soumya Swaminathan, the chief scientist at the World Health Organization. This time, all things considered, we got lucky: Our original-recipe vaccines still work quite well against the variant, especially when theyre delivered as a trio of jabsenough that some researchers have wondered whether well ever need the elusive Omivax.

But Omicron wont be the last antibody-dodging variant that splinters off of the SARS-CoV-2 treewhich means the vaccines, too, will need to keep coming. Tough decisions are ahead about what triggers might prompt a whole new variant-specific vaccine campaign, and how well manage the shift in time. That said, we dont have to resign ourselves to a bleak future of infinite catch-up, with shots always lagging strains. Vaccine updates might not be that necessary that often, and when they are, we can poise ourselves to rapidly react. Rather than scrambling to sprint after SARS-CoV-2 every time it surprises us, we could watch the virus more closely, and use the intel we gather to act more deliberately.

To vaccinate properly against a variant, we must first detect it. That means keeping tabs on the coronavirus and rooting out the places where it likes to hide and transform.

Flu presents an excellent template for this sort of viral voyeurism. The viruses that cause that disease also shape-shift frequently enough to elude the immune systems grasp. For decades, scientists have been maintaining a massive, global surveillance network, now made of some 150 laboratories, that each year amasses millions of samples from sick people and susses out the genetic sequences of the viruses that linger within. That information then goes to the WHO, which convenes two meetings each yearone per hemisphereto decide which strains should be included in next winters vaccine.

A watchdog system for SARS-CoV-2 could piggyback off of flus. The symptoms of the two diseases overlap; hospitals are already collecting those samples, says Richard Webby, the director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds. Youd just test them for two agents now. Scientists could scour coronavirus genomes for little red flagsbig-deal changes in the spike protein, say, that might befuddle antibodiesthen shuttle the most worrisome morphs to a high-security lab, where they could be pitted directly against immune molecules and cells. Based on flus model, ideal candidates for a vaccine revision might meet three criteria: Theyre riddled with unusual mutations; theyre recognized poorly by antibodies; and theyre spreading at least somewhat rapidly from one person to the next. A variant so heavily modified that it overcomes our immunity enough to make even healthy, vaccinated people quite sick would make the clearest-cut case for editing a shots recipe, Swaminathan told me.

Read: The coronavirus will surprise us again

In September, the WHO formed a new technical advisory group thats been tasked with recommending ingredient adjustments to COVID vaccines as needed; Swaminathan envisions the committee operating parallel to one that calls the shots for flu. But over time, the conditions that demand we take quick action for COVID vaccines might not arise all that often. At least some coronaviruses are thought to metamorphose more slowly and less dramatically than flu viruses, once they settle into a population, which could mean a less frantic variant pummel than what weve experienced so far. Some experts also hope that as the world continues to rack up infections and vaccinations, our immunity against this new coronavirus will hold better. Our defenses against flu have always been a bit brittlevaccine effectiveness for these shots doesnt start terribly high, then drops rather rapidly. If our shields against SARS-CoV-2 are more stalwart, and the virus genetically quiets, perhaps we will need to rejigger COVID vaccines less often than we do for flu.

Even against Omicron, the most heavily altered variant of concern identified to date, vaccine protection against severe disease seems extraordinarily sturdy. I dont think the entire population is going to need annual vaccines, Swaminathan told me. (The important exceptions, she noted, might be vulnerable populations, among them immunocompromised people and older individuals.) And when we do need vaccine revamps, the blistering speed at which mRNA shots can be switched up will be an advantage. Because most flu vaccines need about six months to slog through the production pipeline, vaccine strains are selected at the end of winter and injected into arms the next fall. That leaves a gap for the viruses to morph even more. mRNA shots like Pfizers and Modernas, meanwhile, couldOmicron saga notwithstandingzing from conception to distribution in about half the time, and eliminate a good chunk of the guesswork.

Some parts of this relatively rosy future may not come to passor at least, they could be a long way off. We just dont understand SARS-CoV-2 as well as we do flu viruses. In most of the world, flu viruses tend to wax in the winter, then wane in the warmer months, giving us a sense of the optimal time to roll out vaccines. And flu evolution occurs in a linear, ladderlike fashion; last years major strains tend to beget this years major strains. That makes it reasonably straightforward to predict the direction that flu viruses are going in and design our vaccines accordingly, says Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern.

The evolution of SARS-CoV-2, meanwhile, so far looks more radial, Webby told me, with new variants erupting out of old lineages rather than reliably riffing on dominant ones. Omicron, for instance, wasnt an offshoot of Delta. If we saw ladderlike evolution, we would know we need an Omicron vaccine now, Florian Krammer, a flu-virus expert at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told me. Thats not what we have seen. The coronavirus has also so far been serving up new variants at an absolutely staggering clipfar faster than virologists expected it to at the pandemics startand scientists are unsure whether that churn will stop.

The coronavirus may eventually settle into more flu-like patternstrending its evolution to be more stepwise than starburst, or sticking to winter wavesas population immunity grows and it learns to better coexist with us. Host defenses, when theyre strong and abundant enough, have a way of constraining which paths a virus can take; perhaps they will slow the speed at which new variants arise and take over. The hope is that we head toward seasonality and stability, Helen Chu, a flu-vaccine researcher at the University of Washington, told me.

But theres no telling how long that transition will take, or how bumpy it will be, or if it will occur at all. Chu also worries that we dont yet have the proper infrastructure to pinpoint variants that gain steam in places where they can mutate unusually quickly: people with weakened immune systems, perhaps, or animals that can contract the pathogen and boomerang it back. (Similar events for flu, wherein other species pass a foreign version of the virus to us, can cause pandemics.) SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to prefer exactly the same real estate that flu viruses do, and so our surveillance strategies will need to look different too. Even flu monitoring has notable holes: It still lags, for instance, in low-resourced parts of the globe. We need eyes and ears everywhere, Swaminathan told me.

For at least the short term, our COVID-vaccine-update process is likely to remain a bit plodding; variants will crop up, and our shots will pursue them. Even late-arriving shot rewrites arent necessarily useless, Hodcroft pointed out. Say our next variant is an Omicron descendant; dosing people up with Omivax could still prep the body for whats up ahead, even if the shot arrives too late to prevent past surges. That said, well also have to be careful about going all in on Omicron; several experts recently warned me that its probably premature to totally trash our original-recipe shots. If we went straight for an Omicron vaccine and stopped the others, that could potentially open up an immunity gap for the ancestral strains to mutate, and their descendants to roar back, says Cheryl Cohen, a member of the WHOs technical advisory group on COVID-19 vaccines and an epidemiologist at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, in South Africa.

Read: Should we go all in on Omicron vaccines?

The pitfalls of pivoting from one spike version to the next are part of why this whack-a-mole approach of chasing single variants must end, says Raina MacIntyre, a member of the WHOs technical advisory group on COVID-19 vaccines and a biosecurity expert at the University of New South Wales, in Australia. Ideally, future vaccines should protect, with a single injection, against multiple variants at once. An easy first step would be to combine multiple spikes into one shotan Omicron-original combo, say, or an Omicron-Delta-original triple threat. Eventually, we might hit upon a universal formula that guards against all variants, including ones we dont know about yet, Hodcroft said. If the flus any indication, that could be an enormous challenge: Even after many years of study, weve struggled to find a catch-all shot for that disease. With SARS-CoV-2, we dont yet have a strong enough sense of all the evolutionary paths the virus could take; we may not be able to execute a wider-range shot until we understand our enemy better. Still, with so many efforts in the vaccine pipeline, Swaminathan is optimistic. I am fairly confident it is scientifically feasible, she said. It is no longer, Can we do it? It is, We can.

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How Often Will We Need to Update COVID Vaccines? - The Atlantic

Spokane Valley COVID-19 testing site moving to a new location – KHQ Right Now

February 26, 2022

SPOKANE, Wash. The Community COVID-19 Testing Site operated by Discovery Health MD with support from Spokane Regional Health District (SRHD), currently located at theSpokane County Fair and Expo Center in Spokane Valley, is closing on Monday, February 28, at 5:30 pm in preparation for its move to the new location. The new site is aiming to open Monday, March 7, 2022.

The drive-up testing site, located at 13414 E. Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley, will be open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. to conduct PCR (lab-based) testing for those who are experiencing COVID-19-like symptoms or who have confirmed exposure to a positive case. Appointments can be madeonline. Appointments are recommended, although not required.

Discovery Health MDs Chief Growth Officer Daniel Pulse says theyre pleased to continue offering their services and expertise to the Spokane Valley area. Discovery Health MD is a Northwest company that provides COVID-19 testing and vaccination services to individuals, communities, and companies directly, and through partnership with state and local health organizations.

We have been advocating for testing in various regions around the state. We know that some areas have seen extremely high positivity rates, and our teams are motivated to do what we can to continue offering equitable access, says Pulse.

SRHDs Health Officer Dr. Francisco Velzquez explained testing is an important element in the three-prong approach to decreasing potential disease transmission.

Testing, along with vaccines and public health measures, will continue to play a critical role as we go forward, said Velzquez. COVID-19 transmission is currently on the decline, but we must remain diligent in our mitigation efforts to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and mortality.

Although Omicron rates are seeing a bit of a drop from those immediately following the holidays, local medical experts agree, testing is still the best way to keep you and your family safe. This convenient drive-thru testing facility is available in Spokane Valley if you have any symptoms or think you might have exposure.

For more information visit thetesting information page in the COVID-19 section of SRHD.orgor call (800) 525-0127, then press #.

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Spokane Valley COVID-19 testing site moving to a new location - KHQ Right Now

Palm Springs to remove its COVID restrictions, realign with CA guidance starting Monday – kuna noticias y kuna radio

February 26, 2022

Palm Springs will remove its coronavirus restrictions and align with state guidance starting Monday, Feb. 28.

Palm Springs City Manager Justin Clifton made the announcement during Thursday's city council meeting.

Starting on Feb. 28, Palm Springs will no longer require masks indoors or proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 tests in bars and restaurants.

Clifton was given the authority to decide when to remove the city's restrictions, two weeks ago. The decision would be made after two consecutive weeks of declining cases, which the city has done.

I am pleased to report that our COVID-19 case rate in Palm Springs is now lower than the county and state average, Clifton said. Due to this recent data, case numbers in Palm Springs are expected to decrease even more in the coming week -- and we feel confident that local restrictions can now be lifted."

Palm Springs has typically had some of the strongest COVID-19 restrictions among Coachella Valley cities. In the past, Palm Springs has gone above some the state requirements, such as vaccination requirements and outdoor mask mandates.

Currently, the state does not have a mask mandate for vaccinated individuals.

Check Out: The Associated Press reports that the CDC will significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines on Friday

The city has the fourth most cases and third most deaths among the seven valley cities, however, its numbers held steady since last fall. This data also doesn't account for the population.

According to a presentation during Thursday's city council meeting, Palm Springs is reporting 19 cases per 100K per day, below the state and county case rate, which is around 19.

"All of the city data appears to be at a similar place to where we were in early October," said Daniel DeSelms, the city's Emergency Management Coordinator.

Masks continue to be required indoors at City Hall and in all other City facilities until Cal/OSHA requires otherwise, city officials added.

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Palm Springs to remove its COVID restrictions, realign with CA guidance starting Monday - kuna noticias y kuna radio

Sunshine Biopharma Expands Anti-Coronavirus Drug Development Program By Signing A Collaboration Agreement With The University Of Arizona – BioSpace

February 26, 2022

MONTREAL, Feb. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBFM and SBFMW) (the Company or Sunshine Biopharma), a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of oncology and antiviral drugs today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the University of Arizona for the purposes of advancing the development of novel PLpro inhibitors discovered by University of Arizona and University of Illinois Chicago researchers. The development of the Companys lead PLpro inhibitor, SBFM-PL4, is currently continuing at the University of Georgia. At the University of Arizona, the research effort will focus on determining the in vivo safety, pharmacokinetics, and dose selection properties of 3 university owned PLpro inhibitors followed by efficacy testing in MA10 mice infected with SARS-CoV-2. Molecules showing efficacy in infected mice will be advanced to human trials.

We are delighted to be working with the University of Arizona Coronavirus research team led by Dr. Gregory Thatcher as well as the commercialization team at Tech Launch Arizona, said Dr. Steve Slilaty, CEO of Sunshine Biopharma. It is of paramount importance to find a wide array of inhibitors for PLpro, as this virus encoded protease is responsible for suppression of the human immune system thereby enabling the virus to cause severe illness, he added.

About the University of Arizona

The University of Arizona, a land-grant university with two independently accredited medical schools, is one of the nation's top 50 public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the university is widely recognized as a student-centric university and has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The university ranked in the top 20 in 2019 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading Research 1 institution with $734 million in annual research expenditures. The university advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 66 leading public and private research universities in the U.S. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually.

About Tech Launch Arizona

Tech Launch Arizona is the office of the University of Arizona that creates social and economic impact through commercializing inventions stemming from university research. The office builds connections between talented UA faculty, researchers and staff and experienced entrepreneurs and investors,to create an ecosystem that refines ideas that start in research andinnovation andgrows them into products and businesses that benefit society. TLA supports entrepreneurship through a variety of initiatives, including training startup teams in customer discovery, providing funding to advance early-stage inventions toward market readiness, and hosting challenges to help students and faculty move innovative ideas from concept to societal impact. In FY2021, TLA took in 274 invention disclosures, had 100 U.S. patents issued, and executed 124 licenses and options for UArizona technologies. The university has launched more than 100 startups since the office was founded in 2012.

About Sunshine Biopharma

In addition, to working on the development of a treatment for COVID-19, Sunshine Biopharma is engaged in the development Adva-27a, a unique anticancer compound. Tests conducted to date have demonstrated the effectiveness of Adva-27a at destroying Multidrug Resistant Cancer Cells, including Pancreatic Cancer cells, Small-Cell Lung Cancer cells, Breast Cancer cells, and Uterine Sarcoma cells. Clinical trials for Pancreatic Cancer indication are planned to be conducted at McGill Universitys Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada. Sunshine Biopharma is owner of all patents and intellectual property pertaining to Adva-27a.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions of Sunshine Biopharma, Inc. (the Company) that involve risks as well as uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, including statements related to the Companys drug development activities, financial performance, and future growth. These risks and uncertainties are further described in filings and reports by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors detailed from time to time in the Companys filings with the SEC. Reference is hereby made to cautionary statements and risk factors set forth in the Company's most recent SEC filings.

For Additional Information:

Camille Sebaaly, CFODirect Line: 514-814-0464camille.sebaaly@sunshinebiopharma.comwww.sunshinebiopharma.com

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Sunshine Biopharma Expands Anti-Coronavirus Drug Development Program By Signing A Collaboration Agreement With The University Of Arizona - BioSpace

COVID-19: Information for Household and Close Contacts – Ministry of Health

February 26, 2022

Last updated: 24February 2022

In light of new variants of COVID-19, such as Omicron, the Ministrys approach to case management and contact tracing will continue to be updated to reduce widespread community transmission.

On this page:

See also:

If you live with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 (a case) then you may receive a text message telling you that you are a household contact which will provide you with a link to find out what this means.If you have a NZ mobile, then these texts will come from 2328. If you are concerned that a text is not genuine, you can call or email Healthline and request a call back.

If you live with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 you must follow these steps (whether you are vaccinated against COVID-19 or not):

The factsheet below provides helpful information on COVID-19 and precautions you can take to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. The fact sheet should be read together with the advice onself-isolationorstaying at home (viewable atAdvice for people with COVID-19)and any specific advice that may be given to you by your doctor, Healthline(0800 358 5453) or public health official.

If you are a household contact who is vaccinated and asymptomatic, and work for a critical service, you may be able to continue to work through theClose Contact Exemption Scheme.

Last updated 24February 2022.

You may be told that you are a close contact by someone you know who has tested positive for COVID-19, your employer, or your education provider.

You are considered a close contact if you have:

The above only applies if you have been in contact with a COVID-19 case during their infectious period, which is two days before symptom onset or the date they were tested (if they have no symptoms).

If you have been told you are a close contact, then:

Close contacts are not required to isolate during Phase 3.

If you have been identified as a close contact, you may choose to change your behaviour based on personal circumstances. This could include working from home, not visiting vulnerable family or friends, or isolating if you choose to. You can find advice here: Isolating from others

If you use the NZ COVID Tracer app and have Bluetooth enabled, you may get an orange alert telling you that you are a close contact. The alert will tell you what to do - it is important that you follow these instructions. Learn more about the NZ COVID Tracer app.

Information on how to contact Healthline if you are deaf or hard of hearing can be found atCOVID-19: Information and advice for the deaf community.

Regardless of guidelines for testing and self-isolation, any time you develop symptoms of COVID-19 stay at home and get a test.

If you are required to self-isolate the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is available to help you. Most people can manage self-isolation with help from whnau, family and friends. There may be financial help available if you need it. MSD can also connect you to local community organisations for help with food and other welfare needs.

There are section 70 orders that legally require those who have been identified as a household contact to isolate at home.Read the section 70 public health orders.

You can find out how your personal information is managed throughout the contact tracing process at COVID-19: Your privacy.

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COVID-19: Information for Household and Close Contacts - Ministry of Health

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