Category: Corona Virus

New Jersey on Sunday reported another 1,477 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2 more confirmed deaths, while statewide coronavirus hospitalizations were above 900 for the fourth straight day.

All 21 counties now have a high rate of virus transmission, according to a daily tracker from to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Under the agencys guidance, people in all 21 counties are recommended to wear masks in indoor public settings, regardless of vaccination status.

The Garden States seven-day average for newly confirmed positive tests increased Saturday to 1,555. Thats 7% more than a week ago and 214% higher than a month ago. Its the states highest average since May 3.

The delta variant accounted for 96% of cases in New Jersey based on a sampling of positive tests over the last two weeks of July, according to state data.

There were 927 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or suspected cases across New Jerseys 71 hospitals on Saturday night four more than the previous night and the most since May 14, when there were 930 people hospitalized. There were 136 patients discharged Saturday.

Of those hospitalized, 187 were in intensive care (three fewer than the night before), with 85 on ventilators (10 more).

Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce soon that New Jersey will require teachers to be vaccinated against the virus. It wasnt immediately clear whether Murphy would allow teachers to opt out in exchange for regular testing, which is being done in California.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter| Homepage

Though numbers have been climbing, hospitalizations and deaths in New Jersey have not risen anywhere near the pandemics peaks. More than 3,800 patients were hospitalized during the second peak in December. And New Jerseys numbers overall are not as bad as other states. That, officials say, is due at least in part to the states relatively high vaccination rate.

More than 5.47 million people who live, work or study in New Jersey have now been fully vaccinated in more than seven months since inoculations began, according to state data. About 4 million residents remain unvaccinated.

New Jerseys statewide transmission rate held steady at 1.25 for the second day in a row. But any number over 1 indicates that each new case is leading to more than one additional case and shows the states outbreak is expanding.

An early coronavirus hotspot, New Jersey has now reported 26,752 total COVID-19 deaths in more than 17 months 24,031 confirmed and 2,721 considered probable, according to the state dashboard. Thats the most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S.

In all, the state of 9.2 million residents has reported 937,187 total confirmed cases out of more than 14.91 million PCR tests since it announced its first case March 4, 2020. The state has also reported 137,003 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases.

Murphy said last week that of New Jerseys 4,332 positive tests between July 20-26, nearly 18% were so-called breakthrough cases of those who had been fully vaccinated, which is up from previous weeks.

As of Sunday there have been more than 211 million positive COVID-19 cases reported across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, with more than 4.4 million people having died due to the virus. The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 37.6 million) and deaths (more than 628,300) than any other nation.

Nearly 4.89 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally.

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1,477 new cases, 2 COVID deaths announced in N.J. on Sunday - NJ.com

COLUMBUS (WCMH) The Ohio Department of Health has releasedthe latest number of COVID-19 casesin the state.

As of Aug. 19, a total of 1,171,557 (+3,446) cases has been reported since the start of the pandemic, leading to 63,915 (+170) hospitalizations and 8,649 (+10) ICU admissions.

The 21-day average stands at 2,140. Before Wednesday, the last time it was above 2,000 was March 4.

The Department of Health reported 34 deaths, bringing the total to 20,648. The state is updating the number only after death certificates have been processed, usually twice a week.

Just as our kids are back in school, the Delta variant is sweeping across the state, taking aim at those who are unvaccinated, DeWine said in opening a news conference, where he was joined by state health director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff.

DeWine reiterated the Department of Healthsrecommendations for schools in the state, that masks be worn by students who cannot be vaccinated and staff members who are unvaccinated. Last school year, DeWine mandated masks in schools via health order, but his ability to issue those was curtailed by the General Assembly over the summer.

Instead, he appealed directly to parents the importance of mask-wearing, as school districts have the ability toset their own mask requirements. And he warned the alternative might be a return to remote and blended learning models used in the spring. He said mask-wearing is more important now than it was last school year, when the spread of COVID-19 was minimal, because the Delta variant is more contagious than earlier strands.

Last weeks 17,429 new cases were the most in a Monday-Sunday period since Feb. 8-14 (19,133).

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Coronavirus in Ohio Thursday update: More than 3,400 new cases reported - NBC4 WCMH-TV

Its impossible to say how the coronavirus will continue to evolve. Those changes, after all, are a result of random mutations.

But there are some fundamental principles that explain why the virus has morphed as it has, principles that could guide our understanding of its ongoing evolution and what that means for our future with the pathogen.

The great fear is that nature could spit out some new variant that completely saps the power of vaccines and upends the progress weve made against the pandemic. But to virologists and immunologists, such a possibility seems very unlikely.

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Thats not to say variants wont impair immune protection. Already, it appears Delta is causing breakthrough infections and symptomatic cases at higher rates than other variants. But vaccines have shown they dont lose much oomph at protecting people from hospitalization and death, no matter the variant theyre up against. The way the vaccines work leaves experts optimistic that mutations wont suddenly leave everyone vulnerable again.

I dont think that well end up with variants that completely escape antibodies or vaccine-induced immunity, said vaccinologist Florian Krammer of Mount Sinais Icahn School of Medicine. Already, Krammer said, weve seen the immune systems ability to neutralize viral variants drop to the greatest degree with the Beta variant but it still persists. Because of that, vaccines havent lost major steps at protecting people from the worst outcomes of Covid-19.

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Something unexpected could happen, scientists caution another twist in a pandemic full of them. Already, theyve had to reassess their thinking about the coronavirus evolution. This family of viruses proofreads itself as it replicates, which means it picks up mutations more slowly than viruses like influenza. For the first several months of the pandemic, the virus didnt seem to be changing in dramatic ways. But now, variants are dominating the conversation.

This virus has been surprising us, said Ramn Lorenzo-Redondo, a molecular virologist at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine.

Below, STAT outlines some of the key questions about the virus evolution and what it means going forward.

Why does the virus keep getting more transmissible?

When the coronavirus started circulating among people in late 2019, it was already quite the spreader. Cases overwhelmed Wuhan and led China to impose what were then jaw-dropping lockdowns.

But to the virus, people were a new host. A change in its RNA genome had enabled it to infect our cells, replicate inside them, and jump to other people, but the pathogen hadnt had much of a chance to figure us out yet. It had a lot of room to get better at using us to proliferate.

That meant there were a lot of low-hanging fruit mutations that the virus could pick up and that would give it a competitive advantage over other iterations of the virus. Its not that the virus was knowingly figuring out which mutations would make it a better spreader. But as the virus made copies of itself, sometimes it made errors. And by chance, some of those errors gave it a boost over its siblings, helping it outcompete them.

Its happened throughout the pandemic. An early change dubbed D614G led to a strain that was better at spreading than the very first version, enabling that variant to sweep around the world. For a while, that strain was dominant, but then Alpha appeared, and now Delta. Each subsequent iteration was a more effective spreader than the strains before it, so it outran the others. (One note about Alpha: scientists believe it emerged from a person who was immunocompromised and had a rare chronic Covid-19 infection, which allowed the virus to pick up a lot of mutations in a relatively quick period in one host, and then spread from there.)

One way to think about a virus transmissibility is on a curve, one that rises fast and tapers off toward some peak ability. Its going to get better at spreading comparatively quickly, particularly when theres been uncontrolled transmission for a year and a half. Over time, it could evolve more slowly, with fewer new combinations of mutations that might increase its transmissibility. Some scientists have questioned whether Delta is so transmissible that the virus might be nearing the flatter part of the curve. But to virologist Adam Lauring of the University of Michigan, We just dont know where we are in terms of that leveling off. Its possible then, that the virus could still stumble upon mutations that help it spread even more efficiently.

The virus could change in other ways too. If theres one silver lining about Delta, its that its so transmissible that its crowded out other variants that are more worrying from an immune perspective, namely Beta, as well as Gamma. But scientists caution that theres no fundamental reason why a variant couldnt emerge that combines Deltas spreading prowess with Betas ability to partially sneak around immune responses.

Such a variant might look different than we would imagine. Sometimes combining mutations that would seem to maximize transmissibility and immune-dodging abilities actually leads to a virus that fizzles out. Variants that can escape the immune response might be inept at hacking into cells to cause infections. But more worrisome variants are possible, and the best way to prevent them, experts say, is cutting transmission.

How will all this change as more people are protected?

Because basically everyone on the planet was susceptible to Covid-19 at first, the fastest-spreading variant has been able to outrun others. But as the environment changes, the pressures that select for certain characteristics do as well. And instead of a sprinter like Delta, a bulldozer could eventually get the advantage.

Take Beta and Gamma. These variants, which respectively appeared in South Africa and Brazil, emerged in areas that had massive first waves. Thats led to one hypothesis that the variants took off because they could circulate better among people who had previous infections. Viruses that didnt have those features couldnt find as many new cells to infect, and fell back.

Scientists cant say for sure thats what happened with Beta and Gamma perhaps they were just more transmissible in other ways. But it still holds that variants that have some ability to get around the immune response will get the upper hand in populations with greater levels of protection. They might not be causing severe disease in people who are protected whether from vaccination or past infection but if they can cause infections in at least some of those people and transmit from there, their prevalence will increase over other variants that have a harder time causing infections in protected people. (This appears to be happening with Delta to an extent, given that its now known that some vaccinated people transmit the variant.)

When populations have high levels of immunity, it favors [variants] that have some sort of escape mutation that doesnt throw a monkey wrench in the transmission side of things, said Michael Worobey, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona.

Now, you may be wondering: If thats the case, does that mean a population thats largely vaccinated will actually encourage the virus to evade protection?

Different forces are at play here. But one key factor is that by cutting how much the virus replicates both through preventing infections and by shortening the infections that do occur vaccines limit the likelihood of additional, more dangerous variants. People who are protected against the virus can act as evolutionary dead ends.

The pressure is there, but the opportunity is not, said Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport. The virus has to replicate in order to mutate, but each virus doesnt get many lottery tickets in a vaccinated person whos infected.

How will the virus future evolution affect vaccine protection?

The nightmare scenario is the virus changes in ways that completely escape immune response but that preserve its lethality and transmissibility. But many experts say that a sudden appearance of such a strain seems exceedingly unlikely. Variants could dent some of the defenses vaccines give us, but the immune response should still generally be able to protect us against severe disease.

A virus just cant change a couple amino acids and completely evade the totality of the immune response, said virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewans Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, referring to the building blocks that make up the virus.

Our first line of defenders is antibodies, some of which are trained to recognize specific pieces of the virus and prevent it from infecting cells. If mutations change those components akin to putting on a fake mustache and sunglasses then perhaps the antibodies geared to identify the virus upper lip or eyes might be fooled. The virus could gain a toehold and start an infection. But the vaccines have primed our bodies to recognize other parts of the virus, and to have waves of responders. Antibodies that latch on to other parts of the virus could kick in, and immune cells that help clear out infections before they cause much damage could arrive as reinforcements.

No vaccine is perfect. A small number of people get hospitalized with Covid-19 or even die after being vaccinated, often those with other health conditions. And its possible that variants could cause the vaccines to lose some of their effectiveness: perhaps they cause symptomatic disease at higher rates, and even increase the rate of severe disease or death by a hair. Concerns about the immune response waning in general, combined with the partial escape potential of Delta, are driving the debate about boosters, at least for certain groups of people. But overall, the vaccines are so protective that many virologists while cautioning they cant guarantee it dont see some variant arriving that alone upends the power of the shots.

One future for the virus is that it reaches some stability but then continues to change in small ways. People could become susceptible to an infection over time (whether thats every year or after several years isnt known and will likely vary) but will still generally be protected from worse outcomes. And with every exposure to the virus, including exposure-mimicking vaccines, our bodies will get better at warding it off, maybe even without symptoms. In that way, SARS-CoV-2 will eventually become another endemic respiratory virus.

The indications are that immunity is really protective against hospitalization and death, even if were going to be stuck in a groundhog day world where the virus keeps infecting people year after year even after theyve been exposed, Worobey said.

A lab study, published as a preprint this month, found that even if a variant emerged that could escape the immune protection people have a scenario that study author and virologist Paul Bieniasz of Rockefeller University called extremely unlikely to happen suddenly a booster shot could raise antibody levels to the point where people could fend off the evolved virus. Similarly, if the virus continues to evolve and leads to a more gradual erosion of immune protection, an extra jab could handle it, perhaps one thats tweaked to better suit the changes in the virus.

Even if the virus acquires those resistance mutations, its possible to generate an immune response thatll cope with that, Bieniasz said.

Helen Branswell contributed reporting.

See more here:

Why the coronavirus changed over time, and what it means going forward - STAT

12.49pm EDT 12:49

Rebecca Ratcliffe

The Covid Delta variant has swept across south-east Asia over recent months, prompting lockdowns and overwhelming hospitals from Malaysia to Thailand and Indonesia. Now the impact is being felt in the Philippines, just as the countrys chronic lack of health workers reaches a crisis point.

The disease has become very aggressive, said Michael Bilan, who works on a Covid ward in Manila. This time, patients tend to require a higher amount of oxygen, for longer, he said. The number of Covid patients is also at a record high: last week, 277 were receiving treatment. New wards have been opened to meet demand.

The Philippines is one of the worlds biggest suppliers of nurses, with 17,000 leaving to work overseas, including in the UK and the US, in 2019. But it is increasingly struggling to staff its own wards, where pay is low and conditions poor.

Last week, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines estimated 40% of private hospital nurses quit last year, and more have left followingafter new waves of infections this year.

12.33pm EDT 12:33

France has reported a further 68 deaths from coronavirus.

In total the country has had over 113,000 fatalities. France has 2,106 people in intensive care units with Covid-19, an increase of seven on yesterday, Reuters reports.

12.19pm EDT 12:19

Thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of France again against the governments Covid-19 vaccination policies, AFP reports. Saturdays protests were called for the sixth weekend in a row to denounce a new health pass system announced by President Emmanuel Macron that they see as unfairly restricting the rights of the unvaccinated. Under the system, introduced progressively since mid-July, anyone wishing to enter a restaurant, theatre, cinema, long-distance train, or large shopping centre must show proof of vaccination or a negative test. Around 200,000 people have marched in previous weekends, according to interior ministry figures, while organisers claim the real number is nearly double that. The government insists the pass is necessary to encourage vaccination uptake and avoid a fourth national lockdown, with the unjabbed making up eight or nine out of every 10 Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital.

11.51am EDT 11:51

As coronavirus cases continued to rise across the US, thousands were expected nonetheless to attend a concert in Central Park on Saturday night, staged to celebrate New York Citys recovery amid the pandemic.

Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli were included in the lineup for We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert. Most tickets distributed by the city were free, with attendees required to show proof of vaccination

Authorities in New York have been keen to push the idea of a comeback, with a focus on promoting civic engagement and tourism. Earlier this week, the city released a commercial featuring celebrities singing Billy Joels New York State of Mind at famous locations throughout the five boroughs.

11.34am EDT 11:34

More data from Italy. Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 3,733 Saturday up from 3,692 a day earlier.

There were 40 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 26 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 466 from a previous 455.

Some 255,218 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 220,656, the health ministry said, Reuters reports.

11.08am EDT 11:08

The UK has recorded 32,058 coronavirus cases a further 104 deaths in the latest 24-hour period, government figures show.

11.00am EDT 11:00

Italy reported 45 deaths, taking the total to 128,728, and 7,470 new cases on Saturday.

Yesterday it recorded 49 deaths and 7,224 cases.

10.55am EDT 10:55

Hi all, Im handing over to my colleague Nadeem Badshah so heres a round-up of todays developments

10.16am EDT 10:16

Martin Pengelly

Donald Trump was due to stage a rally in Alabama on Saturday night, in a city that has declared a Covid emergency and in support of a congressman who both backed Trumps attempt to overturn the election and this week sympathised with a man who threatened to blow up the US Capitol.

The former president will speak in Cullman, Alabama, in support of Mo Brooks bid for a US Senate seat.

Like other southern, Republican-run states, Alabama is struggling with a surge in cases of Covid-19 fueled by the contagious Delta variant. On Thursday, the city of Cullman declared a state of emergency.

We want to prevent as many non-Covid related things as possible, so our hospital can use its resources to focus on the pandemic and its variants, said Luke Satterfield, an attorney for the city, according to AL.com. We dont want to put any extra strain on them.

Trumps rally was set to take the stage at York Farms at 7pm local time. Local media reported that organisers expected about 40,000 to attend.

Dr William Smith, chief medical officer for Cullman Regional, told CBS42: We view this as a potential super-spreader event, just like last weeks Rock the South that was [at the same location]. Weve seen an increase in patients since that event last weekend and were concerned we could see the same impact.

10.15am EDT 10:15

US president Joe Bidens popularity is taking a hit over the summer surge in cases facing the US, according to a new poll.

Two-thirds of Americans approved of his handling of the pandemic last month but that has dropped to 54% now, according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

His overall job approval has also dropped from 59% to 54%.

Updated at 10.23am EDT

9.58am EDT 09:58

Martin Pengelly

Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor of Texas, has refused to apologise for blaming rising Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths on unvaccinated African Americans, comments one Black Houston official called racist and flat out wrong.

Doubling down on his remarks to Fox News, Patrick blamed Democrat social media trolls and said Democrats continue to play politics with peoples lives.

Sylvester Turner, the Democratic mayor of Houston, who is African American, said Patricks comments were offensive and should not be ignored.

Amid widespread concern over the spread of the Delta variant, Texas is experiencing its highest hospitalisation rates since January. It emerged this week that the state had asked federal authorities for more mortuary trucks.

The overwhelming majority of Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths in the US are among those who have not received a vaccine.

Speaking to Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday night, Patrick said: The biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated.

The last time I checked over 90% of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties, so its up to the Democrats just as its up to the Republicans to try to get as many people vaccinated.

In his statement on Friday, Patrick said federal and state data clearly indicate that Black vaccination rates are significantly lower than White or Hispanic rates. But statistics from the Texas health department did not back him up.

9.55am EDT 09:55

These are the images from inside Ho Chi Minh Citys supermarkets, where shoppers have rushed to grab food and supplies before a lockdown is enforced on Monday.

Panic set in despite the government saying it will deliver food to people, calling on the army to help with the lockdown procedures.

9.22am EDT 09:22

During a pre-match press conference, the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, revealed his approach to encouraging players to get vaccinated.

If all the scientists, the doctors ... say the only solution to eradicate or help to move forward from this pandemic...is to be vaccinated, I think they should consider it.

Updated at 9.45am EDT

9.10am EDT 09:10

The streets of Colombo have been deserted during the first full day of Sri Lankas 10-day lockdown.

Active since late last night, the lockdown was announced by the health minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, on Friday because of surging infections that doubled to a daily average of 3,897, according to the Reuters Global Covid tracker.

Businesses have closed and soldiers have been deployed to man checkpoints. A nightly curfew will become active from Monday.

Updated at 9.37am EDT

Excerpt from:

Coronavirus live: UK death toll rises by 104; fears of super-spreader Trump rally - The Guardian

Rice University, a private institution in Houston, has done its best to build a wall against the Delta variant that is engulfing the state of Texas.

Unlike the states public universities, which cannot mandate vaccines or masks, Rice said it expected students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus adopting language that stopped short of violating Texas law and imposed stringent requirements for being on campus. It requires students and faculty members to wear masks indoors.

But as the virus surges in Houston, Rice became the second university in the state to shift classes online. On Thursday, the university announced that it had delayed the start of the fall semester two days until Aug. 25 and that classes would remain online through Sept. 3. Students may stay on campus, but those who had not yet arrived were encouraged to remain at home.

It also said that people in the Rice community had tested positive for the virus despite a high vaccination rate 98.5 percent for students.

Ill be blunt: The level of breakthrough cases (positive testing among vaccinated persons) is much higher than anticipated, Bridget Gorman, the dean of undergraduates, wrote in a letter to the schools 8,000 graduate and undergraduate students. The university did not release figures on the breakthrough cases.

More than 12,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus in Texas, where officials have prohibited both masks and vaccine mandates, and where Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, recently tested positive, despite being vaccinated.

Were in a hot spot right now, said David W. Leebron, Rices president, who described the decision to move temporarily to remote classes as a way of giving the university time to assess the results of its recent testing.

Having new information of concern, as people worry about breakthrough infections, as people with children are worried around those issues, we wanted to have a little bit of time to gather data and look at it more carefully, he said.

Rice, known for its strong science curriculum, had adopted tough anti-coronavirus protocols, even as it worked to keep its campus open during the pandemic.

Mr. Leebron announced in May that all students who returned to campus for the fall semester were expected to be vaccinated. Those granted medical or religious waivers would be tested weekly.

Understand the Delta Variant

Rice has also required face coverings indoors for students, staff and faculty, even advising faculty members to mask while lecturing.

Detailed advice included specifics on mask construction and fit. A face mask must be multilayered, fit snugly against the sides of the face and under the chin without gaps, and completely cover the nose and mouth, the university said, adding that it was preferable to have a moldable nose piece to ensure a snug fit.

Rices stringent protocols had led to a low coronavirus positivity rate even before vaccines. And Mr. Leebron announced last year that the diseases low prevalence on campus was evidence that Rice could operate safely.

A. David Paltiel, a public health expert at Yale, said the new cases at Rice were not a sign that the universitys strong mitigation plans had failed, pointing out that even places with high vaccination rates would have cases.

Aug. 21, 2021, 11:10 a.m. ET

It will test everyones resolve when the case numbers start climbing on the dashboards, Dr. Paltiel said in an email. But lets try to focus on the outcomes that matter: total infections, hospitalizations, I.C.U. use and death. The Rice campus is likely to be among the very safest places in Houston.

Rice was the second Texas university to announce a move to remote learning. Last week, the University of Texas at San Antonio said it would begin with mostly remote classes, citing the citys high infection rate.

Northern Illinois University reached an agreement with its faculty this week that the school would move to remote classes if the coronavirus positivity rate rose to 8 percent. And professors at a number of other colleges around the country have requested a move to online classes as they brace for the possibility of coronavirus outbreaks.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where classes began this week, hundreds of faculty members have signed a petition requesting remote classes for at least a month.

Christopher M. Johns-Krull, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice who also serves as speaker of the faculty senate, said the university was evaluating data on the newly discovered cases, as well as performing contact tracing.

We wanted to put a pause on this to make sure, Dr. Johns-Krull said. Pushing things online allows us to spread out the arrival of students and allows us to have less mixing.

With its urban campus, Rice is surrounded by a community where the coronavirus is surging. As of Wednesday, Houston area schools had reported that nearly 3,000 students tested positive for the virus. Hospitalizations have also risen again in the state, nearing last years peaks, but Mr. Abbott has resisted calls for new mandates and doubled down on his ban.

Freshman orientation at Rice began on Aug. 15, with regular classes scheduled to begin on Aug. 23. The delayed in-person classes came as a disappointment to students who had looked forward to a semester resembling normalcy.

Jacob Duff, a sophomore who had come to campus as an orientation week adviser, said that advisers and arriving students had not immediately been tested for the coronavirus. He criticized the university for what he viewed as a failure, as well as for not providing a dedicated building for students who needed to be quarantined. Instead, he said, there was one room in his dormitory for quarantined students.

In a statement, Mr. Leebron said the university had not required immediate testing because of the high vaccination rate among students, but it had required testing within the first week.

As for a separate dorm for quarantined students, he said, Rice had never used more than 10 quarantine beds at a time so a full dorm seemed unnecessary and is now using empty residence hall and hotel rooms.

On Thursday, Rice notified students that it had instituted a return-to-campus testing requirement regardless of vaccination status.

The Rice administration had the entire summer to realize that the Delta variant would be an issue, said Mr. Duff, a music major from Georgia.

But, at the same time, he said, it was hard for anyone to know what kind of precautions to take.

None of us thought it would be like this, he said.

Kendall Vining, the president of Rices student association, had been preparing to return to campus after more than a year of virtual learning. Then, she got the word that students had tested positive.

Now, with additional breakthrough cases a possibility, she is worried that the delay may be longer than two weeks.

Thats what this is looking like for me: another semester of virtual learning, said Ms. Vining, a senior, who has decided to remain at home in Louisiana until in-person classes resume.

Im scared of these long-term effects that we dont know, she added. Im just scared of getting sick, period.

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Rice University Turns to Online Classes to Fend off Virus - The New York Times

Most researchers say the screens most likely help in very specific situations. A bus driver, for instance, shielded from the public by a floor-to-ceiling barrier is probably protected from inhaling much of what passengers are exhaling. A bank cashier behind a wall of glass or a clerk checking in patients in a doctors office may be at least partly protected by a barrier.

A study by researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati tested different sized transparent barriers in an isolation room using a cough simulator. The study, which hasnt yet been peer-reviewed, found that under the right conditions, taller shields, above cough height, stopped about 70 percent of the particles from reaching the particle counter on the other side, which is where the store or salon worker would be sitting or standing.

But the studys authors noted the limitations of the research, particularly that the experiment was conducted under highly controlled conditions. The experiment took place in an isolation room with consistent ventilation rates that didnt accurately reflect all real-world situations, the report said.

The study didnt consider that workers and customers move around, that other people could be in the room breathing the redirected particles and that many stores and classrooms have several stations with acrylic barriers, not just one, that impede normal air flow.

While further research is needed to determine the effect of adding transparent shields around school or office desks, all the aerosol experts interviewed agreed that desk shields were unlikely to help and were likely to interfere with the normal ventilation of the room. Depending on the conditions, the plastic shields could cause viral particles to accumulate in the room.

If there are aerosol particles in the classroom air, those shields around students wont protect them, said Richard Corsi, the incoming dean of engineering at the University of California, Davis. Depending on the air flow conditions in the room, you can get a downdraft into those little spaces that youre now confined in and cause particles to concentrate in your space.

Aerosol scientists say schools and workplaces should focus on encouraging workers and eligible students to be vaccinated, improving ventilation, adding HEPA air filtering machines when needed and imposing mask requirements all of which are proven ways to reduce virus transmission.

The rest is here:

Why Anti-Covid Plastic Barriers May Make Things Worse - The New York Times

Former Chase chief economist Anthony Chan on high unemployment claims and the labor market recovery.

States with Republican governors are leading the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, while those run by Democrats which tended to impose lengthier and stricter lockdowns on businesses are faced with significantly higher unemployment rates.

Labor Department data published last week shows the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates are all led by GOP governors while the 10 states with the highest percentage of out-of-work Americans are run by Democratic governors.

Blue states including Nevada (7.7%), New York (7.6%), New Mexico (7.6%), California (7.6%) and New Jersey (7.3%) had substantially higher unemployment rates than the national average of 5.4% in July, the data shows. By comparison, red states such as Nebraska (2.3%), Utah (2.6%), New Hampshire (2.9%), South Dakota (2.9%) and Idaho (3%) were well below the national average.

THESE STATES ARE ENDING $300 UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS - HERE'S WH

In fact, of the 20 states with the lowest unemployment rate, those led by Republican governors account for a vast majority: 16. Twenty-five of the 27 GOP-led states gained jobs in the last month, the data shows, while two of the states Idaho and Utah actually have more jobs than in February 2020, before the pandemic hit.

Conversely, just 13 states led by Democrats have recovered at least two-thirds of the jobs lost during the pandemic.

Overall, the average unemployment rate in red states is 4.3%, while the average jobless rate in blue states is 5.9%, above the national average.

The data comes less than one month before supplemental unemployment benefits first established in March 2020 and renewed twice by Congress are poised to expire on Sept. 6 under the $1.9 trillion relief plan that Democrats passed in March. Some 7.5 million workers are expected to lose their benefits, according to a recent report published by the left-leaning Century Foundation.

The Biden administration has maintained that it's "appropriate" for the three relief programs to end on Labor Day, but encouraged states with high unemployment rates to continue repurposing federal funds to extend the assistance.

CONSUMER PRICES SURGE 5% ANNUALLY, MOST SINCE AUGUST 2008

"Even as the economy continues to recover and robust job growth continues, there are some states where it may make sense for unemployed workers to continue receiving additional assistance for a longer period of time, allowing residents of those states more time to find a job in areas where unemployment remains high," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh wrote in a Thursday letter to Democratic congressional chairmen.

Already, 23 states all but one of which is led by a Republican governor have ended the unemployment programs, a move intended to help businesses that are struggling to hire workers. (Arkansas, Indiana and Maryland were ordered by state judges to reinstate the relief programs.)

Critics argue that other factors, such as a lack of child care, are the reason for lackluster hiring and have said that opting out of the relief program before it's officially slated to end will hurt unemployed Americans, leaving them with no income as they search for a new job.

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The data released Friday shows little statistical evidence that prematurely ending benefits had a disproportionate impact on employment. And although they continued to pay out the benefits, nine states and the District of Columbia all saw a decline in unemployment last month.

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Red states leading US economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic - Fox Business

Small aerosol particles spewed while people breathe, talk and sing may contain more coronavirus than larger moisture droplets do. And the coronavirus may be evolving to spread more easily through the air, a new study suggests. But there is also good news: Masks can help.

About 85 percent of coronavirus RNA detected in COVID-19 patients breath was found in fine aerosol particles less than five micrometers in size, researchers in Singapore report August 6 in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The finding is the latest evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is spread mainly through the air in fine droplets that may stay suspended for hours rather than in larger droplets that quickly fall to the ground and contaminate surfaces.

Similar to that result, Donald Milton at the University of Maryland in College Park and colleagues found that people who carried the alpha variant had 18 times as much viral RNA in aerosols than people infected with less-contagious versions of the virus. That study, posted August 13 at medRxiv.org, has not been yet been peer reviewed. It also found that loose-fitting masks could cut the amount of virus-carrying aerosols by nearly half.

In one experiment, the Maryland team grew the virus from the air samples in the lab. That could be evidence that may convince some reluctant experts to embrace the idea that the virus spreads mainly through the air.

The debate over aerosol transmission has been ongoing since nearly the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, 200 scientists wrote a letter to the World Health Organization asking for the organization to acknowledge aerosol spread of the virus (SN: 7/7/20). In April, the WHO upgraded its information on transmission to include aerosols (SN: 5/18/21). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had acknowledged aerosols as the most likely source of spread just a few weeks before.

Previous studies in monkeys have also suggested that more virus ends up in aerosols than in large droplets. But some experts say that direct evidence that the virus spreads mainly through the air is still lacking.

Theres lots of indirect evidence that the airborne route breathing it in is dominant, says Linsey Marr, a civil and environmental engineer at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who studies viruses in the air. She was one of the 200 scientists who wrote to the WHO last year. Airborne is a loaded word in infection control circles, she says, requiring health care workers to isolate patients in special rooms, wear protective equipment and take other costly and resource-intensive measures to stop the spread of the disease. For those reasons, infection control experts have been reluctant to call the coronavirus airborne without especially strong proof.

Most COVID-19 cases have been among close household contacts typically within the 6-feet splash zone of large droplets. It can be hard to tease out whether such infections were passed on by large droplet contamination or by breathing the same air. But for other situations, such as when patrons get infected while sitting across a restaurant from someone with COVID-19, aerosols are really the only explanation, Marr says.

Mechanical engineer Kwok Wai Tham of the National University of Singapore set out to sample how much virus COVID-19 patients produce when they breathe, talk or sing, in part, to address skeptics concerns. Im doing this to convince some very close friends, he says. He and colleagues rolled a mobile lab into 22 patients rooms and had volunteers stick their heads into a large metal cone.

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The researchers collected both aerosols and larger droplets that the patients exhaled while breathing quietly for 30 minutes, while repeating passages from Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham for 15 minutes, or while singing simple tunes like the Happy Birthday song, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or the ABCs for 15 minutes. The scientists tested both aerosols and large droplets in the air samples for coronavirus RNA and calculated how many copies of the viruss nucleocapsid protein gene, or N gene, were present. That gives an estimate of how much virus is in a sample.

Of the 22 patients who sang for science, only 13 spewed forth detectable levels of viral RNA. In general, singing created the most virus-laden aerosols, but some people generated more while talking. Those differences might be attributable to the volume at which volunteers sang, Tham says. Some people were shy and sang softer. Others were quite uninhibited.

The overall amount of virus that people produced varied widely. Scientists already knew that some people are more likely to spread the virus than others, including some people involved in superspreading events (SN: 6/18/20). In this new study, the differences werent due to symptoms some asymptomatic people made more virus than those with fevers, coughs or runny noses.

Only one factor stood out as affecting the amount of virus emitted. People who were earlier in the course of infection tended to produce more virus, the researchers found. That agrees with data from lab animal studies and other human studies suggesting that people are most contagious in the first week after catching the coronavirus (SN: 3/13/20).

So far, Thams skeptical virologist friends arent convinced that hes demonstrated that aerosol transmission is the major route of COVID-19 spread. They say, we need the golden evidence. Show me a live virus that is retrieved from the air, Tham says.

Viral RNA could be debris from dead viruses that cant cause infection, says Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved in either study. In the absence of infectious virus, the significance of aerosols on transmission is still a bit unclear.

The study from the Maryland group may provide that evidence. In that study, people with asymptomatic or mild coronavirus cases recited the ABCs, shouted Go Terps! (the Maryland mascot) or sang Happy Birthday into a similar device. In this study, the infected people did the activities once while wearing a mask and once while not wearing one.

About 45 percent of fine aerosol particles contained viral RNA, as did 31 percent of coarse aerosols larger than 5 micrometers and 65 percent of droplets called fomites collected from swabs of the volunteers mobile phones, the researchers found.

In addition, the increased amount of alpha variant in aerosols may suggest that the coronavirus is evolving toward more efficient airborne spread, the researchers propose. The study was done from May 2020 to April 2021, before the delta variant began its surge in the United States.

Researchers were able to grow infectious virus from two of 66 aerosol samples, both collected while people were wearing masks. None of the coarse aerosols or fomites yielded any infectious virus.

Although the Maryland group used an efficient way to look for infectious virus in aerosols, it was still rare to find them, Pekosz says. It would be difficult to make the case that this was what is responsible for increased spread of alpha.

But Marr says the data do suggest the coronavirus is evolving toward more efficient spread through the air. Although the study involved only four patients infected with alpha, those people consistently released more virus than people infected with other variants. These results combined with epidemiological observations about the spread of alpha, and now delta, support the idea that these variants are supercharged when it comes to aerosol transmission, she says.

The masks volunteers wore in the Maryland study were mostly loose-fitting. They ranged from a single-layer homemade cloth mask early on and progressed over the course of the study to double-layer commercially made cloth masks, to double masks, surgical masks and one KN95 mask by the end. On average, the masks reduced the number of virus-containing, coarse aerosols produced by 77 percent compared with no mask. And virus-laden fine aerosols were reduced an average of 48 percent, though the reduction ranged from 3 percent to 72 percent. Masks performed equally well against the alpha variant as for other variants. Previous studies have suggested that well-fitting masks ones that seal tightly to the face and dont leave gaps at the tops, bottoms or sides for the virus to pass unfiltered may reduce coronavirus exposure by 96 percent if everyone is wearing them (SN: 2/12/21).

The latest results suggest that masks can help reduce the amount of virus people give off, though the coronavirus can still escape if the face coverings are worn loosely. With the dominance of newer, more contagious variants than those we studied, increased attention to improved ventilation, filtration, air sanitation, and use of high-quality tight-fitting face masks or respirators will be increasingly important for controlling the pandemic, the researchers wrote. Thats especially important in places with low vaccination rates.

Scientists and journalists share a core belief in questioning, observing and verifying to reach the truth. Science News reports on crucial research and discovery across science disciplines. We need your financial support to make it happen every contribution makes a difference.

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New studies hint that the coronavirus may be evolving to become more airborne - Science News Magazine

Low-vaccination communities in southern and eastern Oregon continue to stoke the states record-breaking surge in coronavirus cases, with the delta variant spreading most rapidly in areas resistant to inoculations.

And that trend appears to be generally true not just in the hardest-hit areas but all across Oregon for ZIP codes with at least 5,000 residents, as recent case rates tend to track closely to community vaccination levels.

The biggest coronavirus problems are concentrated in only a handful of Oregon ZIP codes with about 10% of the states population. But those account for an outsize 27% of all new or presumed infections for the week ending Wednesday, according to an analysis of state data by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Those 20 ZIP codes had extremely high case rates and extremely low vaccination rates, with each well below the statewide average of 60.2% among all residents.

Just like last week, the communities with the highest recent case rates are heavily concentrated in eastern and southern Oregon. And the names havent changed much, either.

Among ZIP codes with at least 50 new cases, Brookings along the southern Oregon coast had the highest weekly case rate, at 139 per 10,000 residents. Only about half of residents in that ZIP code are vaccinated.

The rest of the list is filled almost exclusively by locales in Douglas, Jackson and Josephine counties: Myrtle Creek, Winston, Sutherlin, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Central Point, Roseburg, Medford, Rogue River, White City and Eagle Point.

Vaccination rates in those ZIP codes range from a high of 55.8% in a portion of Medford to a low of 33.3% in White City.

Also on the list are ZIP codes for Tillamook on the Oregon coast, two outposts in Lane County near Eugene, and Umatilla, Hermiston and La Grande in eastern Oregon. Those, too, have low vaccination rates, from 52.9% in Junction City to just 31.1% in Umatilla.

The Oregonian/OregonLive provided its analysis to the Oregon Health Authority, asking the agency if it had any message for people living in those specific communities. The health authority has spent months promoting vaccinations as safe and effective, and as the best way to avoid severe COVID-19.

The agency pointed to comments by Patrick Allen, the director, during a news conference Thursday where state officials warned of a growing crisis as hospitals near capacity.

If you are unvaccinated, the delta variant changes everything, Allen said. You are more at risk people in their 20s, 30s and 40s have been hospitalized. Some have even died. Older adults and children around you are more at risk, if you get this highly contagious variant.

And if youre still not ready to get vaccinated, please take extreme precautions, he added. Avoid all non-essential activities. Stay away from large groups of people. When you do go out, wear your mask in public, even in outdoor spaces where you may be among crowds.

The delta variant is relentless in its search for new people to infect. Dont let it find you. The consequences for you, your family and our health care system could be catastrophic.

Meanwhile, removing population from the equation also shows that Oregons surging coronavirus case load is almost exclusively in ZIP codes outside the high vaccination Portland metro area.

Last weeks analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive identified 16 ZIP codes with at least 100 new cases over the week.

This time, there are 35 such ZIP codes. And only two of them covering parts of Hillsboro and Oregon City are in the metro area, and both have far fewer cases per 10,000 residents than the other areas rounding out the list.

Leading all of Oregon for new cases? Medfords two ZIP codes, with 394 and 355 cases, followed by two ZIP codes for Grants Pass, with 348 and 314 cases.

Across those four ZIP codes, just 48% of residents are vaccinated.

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt

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These are the ZIP codes causing Oregons record-breaking spike in coronavirus cases - OregonLive

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) As quickly as one COVID patient is discharged, another waits for a bed in northeast Florida, the hot zone of the states latest surge. But the patients at Baptist Healths five hospitals across Jacksonville are younger and getting sick from the virus faster than people did last summer.

Baptist has over 500 COVID patients, more than twice the number they had at the peak of Floridas July 2020 surge, and the onslaught isnt letting up. Hospital officials are anxiously monitoring 10 forecast models, converting empty spaces, adding over 100 beds and bracing for the worst, said Dr. Timothy Groover, the hospitals interim chief medical officer.

Jacksonville is kind of the epicenter of this. They had one of the lowest vaccination rates going into July and that has probably really came back to bite them, said Justin Senior, CEO of the Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance, which represents some of the largest hospitals in the state.

Duval County, which consists almost entirely of Jacksonville, is a racially diverse Democratic bastion, won by Joe Biden. The overwhelmingly white rural counties that surround it went firmly for Donald Trump.

But all had lower than average vaccination rates before the highly contagious delta variant swept through this corner of Florida, driving caseloads in a state that now accounts for one in five COVID patients hospitalized nationwide.

Nearly one-third of Jacksonvilles population is African American, and racial tensions here date back to the Civil Rights era, when 40 young Black people sat down at a whites-only department store lunch counter and were attacked with axes and baseball bats by 150 white men. That 1960 conflict was a turning point for equal rights in the city, but mistrust of government officials still lingers.

The city is just a five hour drive from the home of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, in which the government used unsuspecting Black men as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease. Groover, who is Black, understands why people are wary, even though his hospital system promises the highest quality of care to its community, using the most advanced technologies.

The system is working overtime to get a pro-vaccine message out, but its competing against rumors that filter through social media feeds to local BBQs and church congregations. Black leaders in the community told The Associated Press theyve heard everything, including that the government is using the vaccine to implanttracking devices.

A whole lot of rumors, said Dr. Rogers Cain, a Black primary care doctor with a predominantly Black practice, who said his elderly patients are easier to persuade to get the vaccine than his younger ones. Weve done a massive effort at educating. But it hasnt really came through.

The people that actually were closer to the Tuskegee incident are the ones who got the vaccine the quickest, he said.

While Duvals vaccination rate of 56% is in the middle among Florida counties, it has jumped 17% since early July, one of the largest increases in the state.

Vaccine skepticism also is high among the Hispanics who represent 10% of Duvals population, said Dr. Leonardo Alfonso. He rotates between emergency rooms at two other Jacksonville hospitals, working on his days off because they are so desperate for staff. One typically has around 50 patients, but some days it treats 100 or more.

The ICUs are brimming. Theyre running out of ventilators, Alfonso said with frustration. People are dying. Its so preventable.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently ordered a rapid response unit to help deliver monoclonal antibody therapy to a wider range of higher-risk patients who become infected, in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on local hospitals.

Alfonso says vaccinations could have blunted this surge, but when he asks patients if they got their shots, I get this deer in the headlights headlights look, kind of just a blank stare, like they didnt give it importance or they just blew it off or they thought they were young and healthy.

Persuading the hesitant to protect themselves and the people around them is a ground game, experts say.

Were getting out in front of every audience we possibly can, said Dr. Groover.

His father pastors one of the areas large predominantly Black churches, where Groover says some of the parishioners told him they dont need a vaccine because God would protect them. The doctor spoke to the congregation at a recent Sunday service, trying to dispel myths and describing how hes seen families devastated by infection and deaths that vaccines could have prevented.

I got about 10 texts later that day from people who went out to Publix that same day and got the shot, he said. A large majority of the membership now is vaccinated.

Across town at Impact Church, Pastor George Davis buried six church members under the age of 35 in just 10 days. All had been healthy, all unvaccinated. Friends hes lost include a 24-year-old man Davis had known since he was a toddler, a young woman on the worship team who celebrated her first wedding anniversary just weeks before her death, and another man in his early 30s that Davis had mentored for years.

The predominantly young, Black megachurch of 6,000 has a hipster vibe, with contemporary music, and jeans and sneakers welcome. Davis has partnered with community health officials to work through misconceptions about the delta variants impact after officials said for months that the disease couldnt hurt them much.

Now, his church members can simply walk across the hall each Sunday and talk with a medical expert about their vaccine concerns. Davis also hosted two vaccination drives, where more than 1,000 got shots.

As a pastor, honestly we really dont have much time to lick our wounds, he said. Like a police officer, if somebody they know has been shot, they still have to reach for their weapon to protect those that are left.

__

Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale. Terry Spencer contributed to this report.

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'Bracing for the worst' in Florida's COVID-19 hot zone - Associated Press