Category: Corona Virus

Pharmaceutical company Moderna said its COVID-19 vaccine is 93 percent effective through six months after the second dose, but as new variants of the virus emerge, people who received the vaccine may need a booster shot before winter.

The company made the announcement as part of its second-quarter earnings release Thursday.

We are pleased that our Covid-19 vaccine is showing durable efficacy of 93 percent through six months, but recognize that the Delta variant is a significant new threat so we must remain vigilant, Moderna CEO Stphane Bancel said in a statement with the earnings release. Moderna president Stephen Hoge said during an earnings call that a third booster will likely be necessary to keep us as safe as possible through the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere.

The company is studying what type of booster will provide the best long-term protection against the Delta variant and other possible variants of the coronavirus. Moderna said both a third shot of the original vaccine and new versions have demonstrated robust antibody responses to COVID-19 variants of concern.

On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) asked for a moratorium on COVID-19 booster shots in higher-income countries, citing lower income countries lack of access to the vaccines. But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Wednesday that the WHO was offering a false choice, noting that the US has already donated 110 million doses of the vaccine to other countries. More needs to happen. But we believe we can do both, Psaki added.

Moderna said it sold $5.9 billion worth of its coronavirus vaccine during the six-month period ending June 30th, for a total of 302 million doses. The company reported a net income of $2.8 billion on total revenue of $4.4 billion for the three months ending June 30th, compared to $67 million in the year-ago quarter.

The rest is here:

Moderna says a third shot of its COVID-19 vaccine may be needed to protect against variants - The Verge

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 200.23 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.25 million. More than 4.28 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Sydney, Australia, has suffered its worst day of the COVID-19 pandemic to date, with 5 deaths and a record rise in locally acquired infections.

Japan is set to extend a state of emergency to 8 more prefectures to tackle rising COVID-19 case numbers.

The first Broadway play has opened in New York since the COVID-19 pandemic closed theatres last year. Vaccinations and masks are required for audiences.

Pfizer said yesterday that it will require all its US employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or take part in weekly testing.

The Indian government has asked state authorities to impose restrictions ahead of festivals around the country. It warned that overcrowding could lead to 'super spreader' events.

Thailand has reported a record 20,920 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

England has relaxed rules for travellers from France. From Sunday, fully vaccinated people will no longer be required to quarantine on return. It's also loosened restrictions on travel from seven other countries.

The spread of the Delta variant in the Americas is 'highly worrisome', Pan American Health Organization officials said yesterday.

As part of work identifying promising technology use cases to combat COVID, The Boston Consulting Group recently used contextual AI to analyze more than 150 million English language media articles from 30 countries published between December 2019 to May 2020.

The result is a compendium of hundreds of technology use cases. It more than triples the number of solutions, providing better visibility into the diverse uses of technology for the COVID-19 response.

To see a full list of 200+ exciting technology use cases during COVID please follow this link.

Confirmed global COVID-19 cases have passed 200 million, with cases rising in about one-third of the world's countries - largely driven by the Delta variant.

It means at least 2.6% of the world's population has been infected since the pandemic began, although the true figure is likely higher due to limited testing in many countries.

It took more than a year for the world to hit the 100 million case mark, but only just over six months for the next 100 million, according to Reuters. Nearly 4.4 million people have died from COVID-19.

If the number of infected people were a country, it would be the world's eighth biggest, behind Nigeria.

Cases are rising again globally.

Image: Our World in Data

The World Health Organization has called for a pause on COVID-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September.

Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus instead called for supplies to go to countries with low vaccination rates.

"I understand the concern of all governments to protect their people from the Delta variant. But we cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it," Tedros said.

"We need an urgent reversal from the majority of vaccines going to high-income countries to the majority going to low-income countries."

Written by

Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Go here to read the rest:

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 5 August - World Economic Forum

Another 126coronavirus cases have been reported across the state, Maine health officials said Wednesday.

Wednesdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 70,844,according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 70,718 on Tuesday.

Of those, 51,651have been confirmed positive, while 19,193were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 1,170. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats up from 1,091 on Tuesday.

The new case rate statewide Wednesday was 0.94 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 529.32.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 103, up from 93.1 a day ago, up from 66.9 a week ago and up from 22 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 900.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers younger than 20, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men.

So far, 2,159Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those who are currently hospitalized wasnt immediately available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Wednesday was 16.13 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (8,521), Aroostook (1,999), Cumberland (17,626), Franklin (1,422), Hancock (1,431), Kennebec (6,767), Knox (1,203), Lincoln (1,129), Oxford (3,706), Penobscot (6,561), Piscataquis (613), Sagadahoc (1,490), Somerset (2,355), Waldo (1,170), Washington (965) and York (13,886) counties.

An additional 723 vaccine doses were administered in the previous 24 hours. As of Wednesday, 769,763 Mainers have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 817,929 have received a final dose.

As of Wednesday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 35,242,078people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 614,317deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the number of cases reported in the past 14 days.

More articles from the BDN

See more here:

126 more coronavirus cases have been reported across Maine - Bangor Daily News

6.34pm EDT 18:34

Heres a round up of this evenings Coronavirus news

5.51pm EDT 17:51

Travellers to US will have to be vaccinated White House says

The United States government is working on plans to introduce mandatory vaccination requirements for travellers hoping to enter the country. The Associated Press report that a White House official said on Wednesday that nearly all foreigners arriving into the US will have to be vaccinated against Covid.

If it goes ahead the new requirement will be part of the Biden administrations phased approach to easing travel restrictions on foreign visitors. No timeline has been put in place for the rule and travel restrictions remain in place severely curtailing international trips to the US.

5.32pm EDT 17:32

Jessica Elgot

UK Government announces changes to travel rules

Millions of Britons have been given the green light to travel to Europes holiday hotspots, avoiding quarantine on return from France and Spain where concerns have been raised about Covid variants.

Ministers announced on Wednesday that fully vaccinated holidaymakers returning from France would no longer need to quarantine and ditched plans for a watchlist of amber countries such as Spain.

The move is likely to partially revive the struggling tourism sector but will raise questions about whether the government is being complacent about the spread of the Beta variant.

The decision to abandon plans for a watchlist under pressure from mutinous cabinet ministers will also put UK tourists at risk of having their plans aborted without any notice, raising the spectre of a repeat of last summers chaotic travel corridors.

A number of key destinations as well as international travel hubs will be removed from the red list India, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. Indias placement on the red list was the subject of substantial controversy after MPs accused Boris Johnson of delaying its inclusion in the spring as cases rapidly rose and the new Delta variant emerged.

Mexico, Georgia, Runion and Mayotte are to be added to the red list. More countries will also be added to the green list where travellers can go regardless of vaccine status. New green list countries are Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway. All changes come into effect at 4am on Sunday 8 August in England.

5.08pm EDT 17:08

Australian authorities warn Covid cases will rise despite lockdowns

Coronavirus cases in Australia, while still low, are rising in some areas despite weeks of lockdown, with authorities warning that infections will rise further because of the more contagious Delta variant.

New South Wales, Australias most populous state, reported 124 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, up from 110 a day ago. Most cases were in the state capital Sydney which is in its fourth week of a lockdown.

We anticipate case numbers will continue to go up before they start coming down and we need to brace ourselves for that, said Gladys Berejiklian, premier of NSW. She added: Until we have enough of our population fully vaccinated, we will be living with some level of restriction.

Vaccination rates have not matched those seen in some European countries, with only about 20 per cent of over 16s fully vaccinated.

The country is still pursuing a hardline Zero Covid policy, attempting to eliminate all cases through tough border controls and contact tracing internally. In Melbourne a school of 2000 students and 300 staff was closed after one female teacher in her 20s tested positive. The entire school are now isolating and being tested.

Victoria state, entering a second week of stay-at-home orders, had 26 new cases, up from 22.

Sydney is in lockdown until August 28th at the earliest.

4.33pm EDT 16:33

Mental health services across Europe suffered during the pandemic new research shows

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared early on that mental health services should be considered an essential service to be maintained during the pandemic. But new pan-European research shows that psychiatric services were reduced to emergency care only in many countries, with many other services being switched from in person to online.

The European Psychiatric Association (EPA) surveyed 857 psychiatrists and found that in most European countries, 50% of face-to-face psychiatric consultations were replaced with remote consultations. In Western Europe this was much higher.

3.14pm EDT 15:14

Rupert Neate

City of London still fairly empty says L&G boss as Covid restrictions lift

The boss of one of the UKs largest insurance firms has suggested that employers in Londons financial district may be struggling more than those in other cities to persuade office workers to return to their desks as coronavirus restrictions ease.

Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, said there were a lot fewer people working in the City compared with urban centres across the UK, Europe and the US, adding that it may take years for the historic streets to return to pre-pandemic levels of bustle.

Some 525,000 people work in the City, thats an awful lot of people, he said in an interview from his office in L&G headquarters near Moorgate station in the City of London. When Im looking out of my office window, the streets look fairly empty.

Wilson said central London employers, local authorities and the Lord Mayor of London would need to do a really good job over the next few years to attract workers who often commute long distances into the centre of the capital to come to their offices more regularly.

2.46pm EDT 14:46

Vaccinating older teenagers has been welcomed by many scientists as the logical next step in the rollout of the vaccine PA Media reports.

But some experts believe more research is needed before extending the programme further. Prof Russell Viner, professor of child and adolescent health at UCL, said more safety data is needed before we consider vaccinating younger teenagers.

He said: Any decisions about vaccinating children and teenagers must balance risks and benefits, and this is never easy.

He welcomed the decision to vaccinate teenagers, saying: Vaccinating older teenagers is a reasonable first step and will be important for young people themselves in the return to school, and also benefit wider society including the elderly and younger children.

This step is particularly useful now as high vaccination levels are concentrating infection amongst the unvaccinated children and teenagers.

Chief executive of NHS Providers Chris Hopson said: We urge everyone, including 16 and 17-year-olds, to have their Covid-19 jab when they are offered it, in line with the advice of Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Englands deputy chief medical officer. Prof Jonathan Van Tam, said the governments scientists are committed to giving the JCVI time to assess the impact of vaccination on healthy children aged 12 to 15, adding the option has not been ruled out.

Updated at 3.25pm EDT

1.43pm EDT 13:43

Christopher Knaus

Errors with the Australian immunisation register have prevented a frontline health worker from properly recording her two Covid vaccine doses, a problem that is being increasingly reported.

Guardian Australia this week revealed multiple instances of erroneous coronavirus vaccine records on the Australian Immunisation Register, the national database used to track vaccine status.

Some reported errors with only a first dose or second dose showing when both doses had been administered. Others said they were recorded as already being fully vaccinated despite not having a single dose.

1.29pm EDT 13:29

Denis Campbell

The NHS has lost its prestigious ranking as the best health system in a study of 11 rich countries by an influential US thinktank.

The UK has fallen from first to fourth in the Commonwealth Funds latest analysis of the performance of the healthcare systems in the nations it studied.

Norway, the Netherlands and Australia now provide better care than the UK, it found. The findings are a blow to the NHS, which had been the top-rated system in the thinktanks two previous reports in 2017 and 2014. The US had by far the worst-rated system, despite spending the most on care.

The Washington-based Commonwealth Fund blamed the NHSs slip down its league table on the delays patients face in accessing care and treatment, lack of investment in the service and poverty.

1.18pm EDT 13:18

The makers of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V have pledged to resolve delivery delays this month after several South American countries complained to Russia.

The delays occurred due to a production scale up and would be fully resolved this month, Russias Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) that financially backs Sputnik V, said, according to AFP.

Sputnik V will double its capacity in September thanks to a partnership with the worlds largest vaccine producer, the Serum Institute of India, the statement said. It added that Sputnik V has built production partnerships with producers in 14 countries.

Several Latin American countries that have relied on the Russian vaccine to protect their populations have in recent weeks complained to Moscow about delivery delays. Inoculation with Sputnik V requires two doses that differ from one another and cannot be swapped or mixed with other vaccines.

Guatemala last week cancelled its order of a second batch of eight million Sputnik vaccines due to a delivery delay of a previous order. Argentina the first Latin American country to approve the Sputnik vaccine also complained to Moscow about the delivery delays, AFP reports.

1.11pm EDT 13:11

Vincent Ni

As the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread across at least 17 provinces, China is now facing a new dilemma: is its once-successful zero tolerance approach to containing the spread of the virus over, and what comes next?

Unlike Britain and Singapore, where officials have explicitly encouraged people to learn to live with the virus, China has yet to officially shift its messaging.

But experts are asking what next for the countrys strategy, now that its clear the virus is not going away any time soon. Last week, Chinese virologist Zhang Wenhong widely known as Chinas Dr Fauci wrote in an essay about the need for the wisdom of long-term coexistence with the virus.

Zhang said the recent outbreak in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing should serve as food for thought for the future of our pandemic response. The data tell us that even if each of us were to be vaccinated in the future, Covid-19 would still be endemic, but at a lower level with a lower fatality rate. After the liberalisation of vaccines, there will still be infections in the future he wrote.

Less than a week after Zhangs opinion piece was published, the Delta variant has now spread to more than half of Chinas 31 provinces, shutting down transport routes.

On Wednesday, China reported 96 new cases 71 of them were locally transmitted. Residential areas, including those home to more than 10,000 people in the capital Beijing, have been sealed off for mass testing. In Wuhan, where the virus was first reported in late 2019, authorities have begun testing all 11 million residents.

Updated at 2.17pm EDT

See original here:

Coronavirus live news: research shows extent of mental health impact in Europe as it happened - The Guardian

Florida governor Ron DeSantis earned a new moniker this week as the resurgent coronavirus continued to wreak havoc on his state: the Pied Piper of Covid-19, leading everybody off a cliff.

Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, coined the term as Florida continued to set records for new cases and hospitalizations, recorded worrying increases in both deaths and rates of positivity, and led the nation in pediatric Covid admissions.

With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading, a state comprising little more than 6% of the US population was accounting for one in five of the countrys new cases, recording 50,997 in the three days to Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

DeSantissays the spike is seasonal and opposes lockdowns or new restrictions. The Republican governor followed up his executive order banning mask mandates in schools by dismissed the burgeoning crisis in Floridas hospitals as media hysteria.

You try to fearmonger, you try to do this stuff, DeSantis snapped at a reporter who asked him at a press conference in Miami on Tuesday about the states new high for Covid hospitalizations a total of 11,863.

Our hospitals are open for business. Were not shutting down. Were gonna have schools open. Were protecting every Floridians job in this state, we are protecting peoples small businesses. These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic, he said, referring to mask mandates.

The governors single minded desire to keep the state open despite the Delta variant-fuelled spike has drawn criticism from local political leaders to the White House, where Joe Biden said on Tuesday: I say to these governors, Please help. But if you are not going to help, at least get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing.

DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential candidate in 2024 if Trump doesnt run, and a possible running mate if he does, shares the former presidents prioritizing of the economy.

But Gelber said he thought DeSantiss stance could backfire and end up hurting businesses.

Im the mayor of a hospitality town. I think most people coming here would rather be in a place that they feel safer than a place that they feel like they may be getting the virus, he told CNN.

Hes like the Pied Piper, just leading everybody off a cliff right now, letting them know that they dont have to like the CDC, they dont have to wear masks, they can do whatever they want in the midst of an enormous pandemic and Florida, by wide margins, is easily the worst state in the country.

The mayor said he felt hamstrung by legislation signed by DeSantis in May that gave him veto power over coronavirus mandates by municipalities.

Were not allowed a mask edict now. We were one of the first cities to require it and the governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state.

Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor and Democrat seeking to unseat DeSantis next year, said his rivals betrays a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of children and teachers.

On Tuesday, officials in Broward county, the nations sixth-largest school district, which last week voted to enforce mask-wearing, said they would back down, although appeared to be reconsidering their position a day later.

With his latest stunt the Governor ignores science and the facts that masks work, Crist said in a statement to the Guardian.

For the past year, masks kept Floridas schools from becoming major contributors to the viruss spread. They enabled our kids to be in the classroom safely. Now, with only a week until school starts back, Florida tragically leads the nation in children hospitalized due to the virus.

He wants to defund the school systems trying to keep them safe. Its unconscionable.

In an emailed response to the Guardian, DeSantiss press secretary, Christina Pushaw, countered Gelber and Crists assertions that mask mandates were effective. In Texas, she said, cases declined following the lifting of a mandate in March, while in California numbers surged at the start of the year with a mandate in place.

The governor and Florida department of health have always encouraged Floridians to protect themselves and their communities. The best way to do that is to get vaccinated, she said.

Dr Jay Wolfson, professor of public health medicine at the University of South Florida, does not expect DeSantis to change course.

The one driving force that most affects the governors decisions in the states policies is deaths. As long as deaths remain stable or under control, the rates of hospitalization and infectiousness are likely not going to elicit mandating masks or vaccines or doing anything else that would jeopardize the economic policies, he said.

Balancing public health policy interests against economic policy interests can be a delicate game and there are compelling interests on both sides.

These judgment calls are not always based exclusively on educational or health issues, theyre based on political, pragmatic realities, and thus far the governor has been successful in demonstrating he has a significant amount of political support for the positions that hes taking.

Read more here:

The Pied Piper leading us off a cliff: Florida governor condemned as Covid surges - The Guardian

Much of the pathology underlying Covid policy arises from the fantasy that it is possible to eradicate the virus. Capitalizing on pandemic panic, governments and compliant media have used the lure of zero-Covid to induce obedience to harsh and arbitrary lockdown policies and associated violations of civil liberties.

Among all countries, New Zealand, Australia and especially China have most zealously embraced zero-Covid. Chinas initial lockdown in Wuhan was the most tyrannical. It infamously locked people into their homes, forced patients to take untested medications, and imposed 40-day quarantines at gunpoint.

On March 24, 2020, New Zealand imposed one of the most onerous lockdowns in the free world, with sharp restrictions on international travel, business closures, a prohibition on going outside, and official encouragement of citizens to snitch on neighbors. In May 2020, having hit zero-Covid, New Zealand lifted lockdown restrictions, except quarantines for international travelers and warrantless house searches to enforce lockdown.

Australia also took the zero-Covid route. While the initial steps focused on banning international travel, the lockdowns there also involved closed schools, occasional separation of mothers from premature newborns, brutal suppression of protests, and arrests for wandering more than 3 miles from home.

New Zealands and Australias temporary achievement of zero-Covid and Chinas claimed success were greeted with fanfare by the media and scientific journals. Chinas authoritarian response seemed so successfuldespite the countrys record of lying about the virusthat panicked democratic governments around the world copied it. The three countries lifted their lockdowns and celebrated.

View original post here:

Eradication of Covid Is a Dangerous and Expensive Fantasy - The Wall Street Journal

CNN

Coronavirus testing in the United States is down from where is has been at previous points in the pandemic. However, health officials are working to get those numbers up again.

In a discussion on Tuesday hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said there are plans to expand testing capacity in the United States, and that research is ongoing into improving test access.

In a briefing by the White House Covid-19 Response Team on Monday, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said the federal government has communicated to states that it is prepared to help increase testing capacity.

Last week we reiterated to all governors that we stand ready to help them in meeting this moment, whether that be through more testing, increasing treatments, vaccine access and uptake, or other state-specific needs, he said.

The 7-day average of new tests is now just over 584,000 per day, down from over 1.5 million per day six months ago and about 900,000 per day a year ago, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Medical personnel conduct Covid-19 testing at a "drive-through" site in Miami, on August 3, 2021. - In Florida cars are lining up for Covid-19 testings once again, amid record hospitalizations, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis downplays the outbreaks severity, blaming media hysteria. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

Dr. Patrick Godbey, president of the College of American Pathologists, agreed that there is a need for greater testing.

I think more testing is a good thing, for many reasons. One of the important things to remember is, first of all, bad data is worse than no data at all, Godbey told CNN.

When we talk about testing, we need to remember that all testing is not created equal. And we need to have reliable, accurate testing. Thats always been, and continues to be, fundamental in dealing with this pandemic. The basic question is, do you have it or not? Only good testing can answer that question.

Testing at this stage of the pandemic takes many forms, including at-home tests performed alone or with a virtual aide, or a test administered by a doctor or pharmacist. The gold standard of Covid-19 tests is an rt-PCR test, a type of nucleic acid amplification test, which detects viral RNA.

PCR tests are what the CDC uses to assess community positivity rates, or the percent of positive tests in a community, which is typically a county.

A persons risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection is directly related to the risk for exposure to infectious persons, which is largely determined by the extent of SARS-CoV-2 circulation in the surrounding community, the CDC said in its latest guidelines for Covid-19 prevention strategies.

The agency uses the percentage of positive PCR tests in an area combined with the weekly number of new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people to assign communities a transmission level ranging from low to high. Transmissions levels then feed into decisions about Covid-19 mitigation efforts in an area.

PCR tests are also what Godbey would get in a scenario where he is a vaccinated person worried hes been exposed to Covid-19.

I would like nucleic acid amplification test. I would like it performed in a laboratory close to home so that I can get the results quickly, he said.

Under guidelines released last week from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people vaccinated against Covid-19 should be tested three to five days following a known exposure to the virus. The guidance is a change from the agencys previous recommendation that vaccinated people dont need be tested for Covid-19 following exposure unless they became symptomatic.

The advantage in getting a vaccine is to keep you from getting severely ill. It doesnt mean that you cant harbor the virus for some time. And in order to keep the spread down, its still important for you to be tested, Godbey said.

Godbey said some available testing options, like over-the-counter tests which a person performs themselves, may present accuracy issues. To get an accurate result, the person getting the test would need to follow the directions meticulously, and even then, environmental factors can get in the way.

If you buy it, and you put it in your car in Atlanta and then leave it in the car for a while, it gets to be over 100 degrees in the car. That can affect the accuracy of the test. The ones that you have to send away, you have to be careful about how theyre shipped, he said.

See the rest here:

US planning to expand coronavirus testing, Fauci says - CNN

Return to Fall 2021

Owl Nation is looking forward to a return to campus for fall 2021. The health and safety of our entire campus community is our top priority and as we prepare to welcome our new and returning students, faculty and staff back to the nest, we will continue to follow the guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control, the Georgia Department of Public Health, and the University System of Georgia.

As long as they remain asymptomatic, fully vaccinated individuals do not have to quarantine following a known exposure to COVID-19. If you have been fully vaccinated and are identified by the KSU COVID Response Center as a close contact to a confirmed case, please email proof of your vaccination to covidresponse@kennesaw.edu to avoid the quarantine requirement.

During the week of July 24 and July 30, there were 6 reported cases of COVID-19. Please note that this number includes individuals working or studying remotely.

We have established a response team of trained professionals to respond to confirmed COVID-19 cases on campus.

In partnership with Wellstar Health System, KSU began administering vaccines for all faculty, staff and students in January 2021 and will continue to offer vaccines to the campus community at no cost. In addition to the on-campus option, members of the community have received vaccinations at the many off-campus sites available through the state. Therefore, it is impossible for the University to know how many people have been vaccinated. However, the University has and will continue to encourage faculty, staff and students to receive the vaccine on campus or through other providers.

Students, faculty and staff should not be asked about their vaccine status, and students should not be segregated in a classroom or from other instructor-student interactions (office hours, group work, field trips, labs, etc.) based on their vaccination status.

Good mental health and wellbeing are the foundation for your success in college. Being proactive, advocating for what you need and taking steps to build your personal resiliency is easier than ever. Wellbeing@KSU is brought to you by the Division of Student Affairs.

Student appointments and services are available in the following manner (Masks are recommended for in person appointments):

You should direct them to report this information through the KSU self-report form found here. Please be mindful that health information is protected by federal law and that you should not share this information with other employees or students. KSU will follow DPH guidance as it relates to notification of COVID-19 cases on campus.

Pursuant to updated guidance from the University System of Georgia (USG), all vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are encouraged to continue wearing a face covering while inside campus facilities. Unvaccinated individuals are also strongly encouraged to continue to socially distance while inside campus facilities.

In accordance with USG policy, institutions will be returning to campus in the fall with no social distancing measures required. Faculty, staff and students are strongly encouraged to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Read this article:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and Resources - News

A male deer trots through the underbrush. New research has found that more than 30 percent of blood samples from White-tailed deer in several US states contained antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Credit: Whwthunts via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Since making the leap to people, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has wrought havoc on human populations. Now the virus appears to be surging among some wild animals as well. A new US government study of white-tailed deer reported that many had been infected, raising the potential that even if the virus is eventually controlled or even eradicated in humans, another common animal could provide it a reservoir and spawn future outbreaks.

The US Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service tested 481 samples collected between January 2020 and March 2021 from deer in Illinois, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania and found that 33 percent tested positive for antibodies to the COVID-19 virus. While many animals appeared to have been infectedmore than 60 percent of samples in Michigan tested positive, for examplethe agency said there were no reports of deer appearing clinically ill.

Researchers want to know how the deer got infected in the first place. Linda Saif, a virologist at The Ohio State Universitytold Nature that a critical question is how the virus spread to deer and if it will spread from infected deer to other wildlife or to domestic livestock such as cattle. The animal and plant health service said the deer could have been exposed to the virus by people, other deer, other animals, or the environment.

Laboratory experiments have shown that deeralong with several other animals, including cats, nonhuman primates and deer miceare susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. For the most part infected animals dont get very sick.

Researchers want to know which species are susceptible to the virus in part to better understand the potential for spillbackor the reverse of the natural spillover from animals to people that many scientists believe caused the pandemic. With spillback, infected people could spread the disease to other species and create a new reservoir for the virus. Transmission among animals could also lead to new variants. In experiments, researchers have shown that the virus begins to mutate quickly after spreading among just a handful of animals.

While its not known whether deer can spread the virus to peoplethe government researchers believe the risk is lowthere have already been documented cases of farmed minks spreading the disease to workers. Hundreds of people in the Netherlands were infected with mink-related variant viruses last year.

White-tailed deer are common in North America.

Read the rest here:

White-tailed deer are getting coronavirus infections: How big of a problem is that? - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

As the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus rips through the unvaccinated population in the United States, Florida is heading toward its worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

The state is still about one month away from its peak, according to an epidemiologist who has been tracking the viruss reach there.

Short term and long term, the cases are going to explode, Edwin Michael, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, said in an interview on Monday. We are predicting that the cases will be peaking the first week of September.

Dr. Michael models predictions of the coronavirus statewide and in each Florida county, and his teams work is used by officials and hospitals to support plans and responses to the pandemic.

Our simulations show that if we dont slow the hospitalizations, if we dont prevent the wave of coming infections, we might exceed Floridas bed capacity in early September, he said.

In the last week, hospitals around the state are reporting an average of 1,525 adult hospitalizations and 35 pediatric hospitalizations a day, and cases have risen to levels not seen since January.

We need a two-pronged approach, Dr. Michael said. Get as many people vaccinated as possible, especially the pediatric population. But to prevent the coming waves, we need to couple it with social-distancing measures and face-mask mandates.

He lamented that it was too late for vaccinations which take five weeks from the first dose to full protection to prevent the coming peak, and he insisted that the only way to have a quick impact on the Labor Day wave was to have the extra protective measures.

The next four weeks are going to be so crucial, he said. Schools and universities are reopening in Florida. This is going to be a dangerous period coming.

The pace of vaccination has plunged since April. That, coupled with a collapse in people taking precautions, allowed Delta to flourish. Barely 5 percent are practicing social measures, he said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has opposed mask mandates and vaccine requirements and has restricted local officials ability to put steps in place that, scientists say, would stem the rising tide of cases.

On Friday, Mr. DeSantis barred school districts from requiring students to wear masks when classes begin next week, leaving it to parents to decide whether their children wear masks in school.

In Florida, there will be no lockdowns, Mr. DeSantis said. There will be no school closures. There will be no restrictions and no mandates.

Original post:

Florida Faces its Worst Coronavirus Wave Yet - The New York Times