Category: Corona Virus

A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey outlines a means to better estimate COVID-19 occurrence and trends in populations.

Currently, COVID-19 testing is primarily limited to self-selected individuals, many of whom are symptomatic or have had contact with someone who is symptomatic. While these tests are useful for individual medical treatment and contact tracing, they do not provide health officials with a complete picture of the disease across the population.

"Coordinated sampling of COVID-19 is key to informing health officials as they continue their efforts to control the pandemic, permitting better predictions of disease dynamics and decisions that help limit transmission," said James Nichols, USGS scientist emeritus and lead author of the study. The proposed sampling methods should also help officials determine the effectiveness of vaccines, social distancing, masks and other mitigation efforts.

By bringing its unique expertise in the design of data-gathering and monitoring systems, statistical analysis and mathematical modeling to human epidemiology, the USGS provides a means to fill the current information gap in testing data. This can benefit national and local governments and health officials as they develop interventions in response to new disease variants, plan for augmented vaccination efforts and prepare for future outbreaks.

With some countries experiencing surges in cases, Nichols points out, the proposed testing strategies can be applied within the U.S. and internationally for COVID-19 and other diseases.

One proposal in the study is to select a random sample within a population and survey those individuals for symptoms, such as elevated temperature, in order to gather more representative data on asymptomatic cases. This would help researchers estimate the proportion of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in the population.

The asymptomatic individuals, or a random subset of those individuals, could be tested for COVID-19 to help estimate infection probability for asymptomatic individuals in the population.

The strategies outlined in this new research would help strengthen current testing approaches and could be done with relatively few additional tests and non-invasive surveys, said Michael Runge, a USGS scientist and a co-author of the study. Strategic testing, based on specific objectives, can provide information valuable for decisions about both individual healthcare and protecting communities.

It is critically important to be clear about the goal of a surveillance program, said co-author Katriona Shea, a professor of biology and alumni professor in the biological sciences at Penn State. Without knowing exactly what you want to achieve, how can you achieve it? A surveillance program for individual outcomes would be designed differently than a program aimed to understand population level public health objectives.

Partners with the USGS in this study include Penn State, Lancaster University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Oxford, Stellenbosch University, University of Warwick and the National Institutes of Health.

Read the article, published in PLoS Biology, online at https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001307.

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Led Study Helps in the Fight Against the Coronavirus Pandemic - United States Geological Survey

Job openings are at a record high, leaving the impression that employers are hiring like never before. But many businesses that laid off workers during the pandemic are already predicting they will need fewer employees in the future.

As with past economic shocks, the pandemic-induced recession was a catalyst for employers to invest in automation and implement other changes designed to curb hiring. In industries ranging from hotels to aerospace to restaurants, businesses have reviewed their operations and discovered ways to save on labor costs for the long term.

Economic data show that companies have learned to do more with less over the last 16 months or so. Output nearly recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2021down just 0.5% from the end of 2019even though U.S. workers put in 4.3% fewer hours than they did before the health crisis.

When demand falls, its a natural time to retool or invest because you wont lose customers or sales while you tinker and shut things down, said Brad Hershbein, senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. You dont want to interrupt business when its at its peak.

The changes will require many workers to adapt. Though the job market is strong right now for highly paid professionals and low-wage service workers alike, not everyone can find a match for their skills, experience or location, creating a paradox of relatively high unemployment combined with record job openings. Economists say it can be a prolonged process for some laid-off workers to find jobs or acquire the skills needed for new careers.

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Many Jobs Lost During the Coronavirus Pandemic Just Arent Coming Back - The Wall Street Journal

Good evening. Im Karen Kaplan, and its Tuesday, July 13. Heres whats happening with the coronavirus in California and beyond.

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COVID-19 vaccines have made it possible for us to return to an almost normal life. With case numbers at levels not seen since March 2020, its tempting to think that the threat of serious illness is behind us.

But its not. Thousands of new coronavirus infections are being reported in the U.S. each day, and more than 2,500 COVID-19 patients are being admitted to hospitals every day, on average.

Its too late for vaccines to help these people. What they need is treatments. Which raises an important question thats often overshadowed by news about the vaccination campaign: Where are the medicines to make people with COVID-19 better?

So far, the Food and Drug Administration has approved only one new drug the antiviral medication remdesivir to treat COVID-19. Its modest yet statistically significant benefit in a government-sponsored clinical trial was seen as a pandemic turning point at a time when vaccines were still on the distant horizon.

The FDA has also granted emergency use authorization to several monoclonal antibody treatments. These drugs are designed to work just like the natural antibodies your immune system makes in response to a vaccine or infection. The Regeneron drug that was used to treat former President Trump is in this category.

A patient receives a monoclonal antibody infusion at Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Unfortunately, thats where the list of approved and authorized drugs ends. It may strike you as surprisingly short, considering how quickly pharmaceutical companies developed an array of COVID-19 vaccines and got nearly 3.5 million doses administered worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The Biden administration hopes to rectify this by investing $3.2 billion in federal funds to accelerate work on antiviral medicines for people with COVID-19. As my colleague Deborah Netburn explains, the ultimate goal is to create a pill that could be prescribed immediately after a patient receives a positive coronavirus test result.

It wont be easy. As weve learned from the Delta variant (and the Alpha variant before it), viruses are adept at mutating, and that means theyre good at finding ways to overcome the medicines we throw at them. A successful drug will have to stage a multi-pronged attack so that the coronavirus doesnt have much chance to develop resistance.

Juliet Morrison, a microbiologist at UC Riverside, described the attributes of the ideal pill: It would be able to prevent the coronavirus from getting into human cells; it would stop the virus from hijacking the cellular machinery of its human host to make copies of itself; and it would weaken the fortress that protects the virus genetic code.

Having a pill like this ready and waiting for newly diagnosed patients is key. That way, the disease could be tamped down before the immune system has a chance to go haywire and cause the kinds of problems that send patients to the hospital.

We would love to be in a situation like we are with influenza, where patients are diagnosed in a clinic or urgent care and then given a prescription for a pill that they can take at home that will prevent them from getting any sicker, said Dr. Aneesh Mehta, an infectious diseases specialist at Emory University Hospital.

It sounds like a lot to ask of a single pill, but experts like Mehta believe it can be done in the next six months.

I am very hopeful, he told Netburn. We have some very good candidates.

California cases, deaths and vaccinations as of 5:15 p.m. Tuesday:

Track Californias coronavirus spread and vaccination efforts including the latest numbers and how they break down with our graphics.

It stands to reason that an event as life-altering as the COVID-19 pandemic would do a number on the U.S. economy. Now that were emerging from the worst of it, the future is coming into focus and it includes a labor force with fewer baby boomers.

If youre not a baby boomer yourself, you might assume this has nothing to do with you. Youre still going to work, or planning to once the right job comes along.

But its not that simple. The interconnectedness of the economy means well all feel the boomers absence in the form of labor shortages, higher wages, and a more fragile Social Security system, among other things.

Were well-aware that tens of millions of jobs evaporated when the coronavirus forced all kinds of businesses to shut down or scale back their operations. Jobs are returning now, but a surprisingly high number of baby boomers arent taking them.

As my colleague Don Lee explains, many older workers who were forced to hunker down at home have decided theyd like to stay there. Even if they have the option of going back, theyve determined that the money they could earn by clocking in for a few more years simply isnt worth it.

The pandemic prompted Monique Hanis to reassess her priorities. Now 60, she realizes there are places shed like to travel with her 68-year-old husband while theyre young enough to enjoy them. Delaying for a few more years to extend her career in strategic communications now looks like an unnecessary risk.

You cant always get your healthiest time back, she said, and as we get older, that becomes a concern, to be able to physically do the things that we want to do.

A couple walk their bikes to the beach at Crystal Cove State Park, a popular tourist destination.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

When you add up all the people like Hanis who are coming to the same conclusion, what youll find is a significant hole in the labor force. And its an important one, since baby boomers have been making up for the worker shortage caused by the Trump administrations immigration crackdown and the declining number of young Americans entering the job market.

The fact that boomers were staying in the labor force has been an important contributor to economy-wide growth, said Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center.

The consequences of their absence will be felt far and wide, Lee writes:

Economic growth is likely to slow. Overall productivity will take a hit. Fewer workers will be contributing to Social Security. Income tax revenues will fall, putting pressure on government spending. Pensions and retirement savings will be drawn down, influencing the price of all kinds of financial assets. Competition for scarce workers will drive up wages, making it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to keep inflation in check.

We have a more dynamic economy when you have more people in the workforce who are productive and more robust consumers, said Jeffrey Korzenik, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Bank in Tampa, Fla. But theres no sign theyre coming back.

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Schools not even in session, but it still manages to get state health officials tied up in knots.

On Monday, California decreed that K-12 students who were not willing to wear a mask at school would be barred from campus and offered alternative educational opportunities instead. (Exceptions would be made for those who had a medical reason to be maskless.)

Just a few hours later, the decree was rescinded. Face coverings are still required, but local school officials will get to decide for themselves how to handle those who refuse to mask up.

The original, short-lived policy was meant to be helpful a way to provide clarity to educators looking to keep their school environments safe. Now, the status quo from the last school year is back in place.

California is one of only nine states with a mask requirement for schools. An additional eight states prohibit schools from requiring masks, and the vast majority are letting school districts come up with their own policies.

Some parents in Los Angeles are not happy with the mask mandate, telling my colleagues Howard Blume and Melissa Gomez that if thousands of people can crowd into Dodger Stadium without masks, why cant a few dozen kids in a classroom do the same?

But other parents said universal masking would help keep their children safe especially those who are too young to be vaccinated. This is especially true as the Delta variant spreads, and cases start to increase again in Los Angeles, said Katie Braude, chief executive of the local advocacy group Speak Up.

Braude may be onto something. Summer camps across the U.S. are reporting coronavirus outbreaks a development that could portend trouble for schools.

A Houston-area church camp that was attended by several hundred young people spawned a two-wave outbreak involving more than 130 kids and adults. In some cases, entire families are sick, pastor Bruce Wesley said on the churchs Facebook page.

An outbreak at a Christian youth camp in Illinois spread to 85 teens and adults, including one (unvaccinated) young adult who needed hospital treatment. A church summer camp near Wichita, Kan., was tied to a 50-person outbreak, and health officials in Floridas Leon County have linked higher coronavirus case numbers with summer camp activity.

Case counts have been rising in L.A. County as well. Officials reported 1,103 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the fifth consecutive day the number topped 1,000. Statewide, the average number of daily new cases is topping 2,000 more than double the figure two weeks ago, according to Times data.

Millions of Californians remain unvaccinated, a fact that makes health officials fear the numbers will get worse. In a telling sign of the power of vaccines, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said that more than 99% of the people coming down with COVID-19 were unvaccinated. That statistic also applies to Angelenos who die of COVID-19, she said.

L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl was more pointed in her critique of people who are still unvaccinated. She hopes they understand the impact that they have, not only on their communities and their families but on other people in their communities including healthcare workers, she said. It just strikes me as enormously selfish.

In other vaccine news, the FDA has added a new warning to the COVID-19 shot made by Johnson & Johnson, flagging a possible link to Guillain-Barr syndrome. Thats a disorder that can cause muscle weakness and occasionally paralysis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had received reports of 100 people who developed the syndrome after getting the J&J vaccine, but its not yet clear whether the shot triggered the illness. One hundred cases may sound like a lot, but its tiny compared to the nearly 13 million people who have received the single-dose vaccine.

Men accounted for most of the cases, which typically set in about two weeks after vaccination. Almost all of the patients were hospitalized, and one person died. The CDCs advisory committee of vaccine experts will examine the evidence linking the two at an upcoming meeting.

Pfizer is talking to U.S. regulators about authorizing a third dose of its vaccine, which the company said would serve as a booster.

The company said early data from an ongoing study suggest that a third dose prompted peoples antibody levels to increase by a factor of five or more. That immunity boost might give people extra power to ward off the Delta variant and other worrisome strains.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci said its too soon for the government to recommend a booster.

Right now, given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot, he said. However, he acknowledged that down the line, it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely that a booster will be necessary.

The head of the World Health Organization is not happy with Pfizer for trying to sell third doses to the U.S. when so many people around the world are still waiting for their first dose.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Pfizer and Moderna to go all out to supply COVAX, the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team and low and middle income countries with very little coverage. The massive disparity between rich and poor countries means that we are making conscious choices right now not to protect those in need, he said.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have agreed to send small amounts of their vaccine to COVAX, an initiative of the United Nations. However, the vast majority of their doses have been reserved by wealthy countries.

Todays question comes from readers who want to know: Are COVID-19 symptoms worse for people infected with the Delta variant?

As far as doctors and scientists can tell, the answer is no.

There do seem to be some mild differences in symptoms for instance, the Delta variant is more likely than other versions of the coronavirus to cause a runny nose, according to Dr. Otto Yang, an infectious disease expert at UCLA.

There are mild differences like that, but overall its very, very similar, he told my colleague Amina Khan. Cough, shortness of breath and fever are still the most important symptoms, he said.

Its hard to tell whether the Delta variant causes more serious disease because with COVID-19, the natural degree of severity is so widely variable it ranges from completely asymptomatic to severe illness and death, Otto added.

Dr. Robert Bollinger, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, seconded that view: I think the jurys still out on that.

The Delta variant may seem more dangerous because the people its infecting are younger than in the past. But thats not necessarily due to the virus, Bollinger told Khan. The more likely explanation is that the COVID-19 vaccination rate is higher for older people, leaving a greater proportion of younger adults vulnerable.

Reports of so-called breakthrough infections are starting to emerge with the Delta variant, but theres no reason to think theyre more likely to occur.

We havent seen evidence of that just yet, Bollinger said.

We want to hear from you. Email us your coronavirus questions, and well do our best to answer them. Wondering if your questions already been answered? Check out our archive here.

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Coronavirus Today: Where are the COVID-19 treatments? - Los Angeles Times

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. Two residents at Kingston Healthcare Center have tested positive for COVID-19.

Kingston Healthcare Center notified the Kern County Public Health Department Wednesday two residents tested positive for the deadly virus, according to local health officials.

Details are still limited at this time as KGET tries to confirm what the positive results mean for the other residents living in the home, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads in our community.

109 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 at the 184-bed facility since the beginning of the pandemic, according to state data. 19 residents have died.

Trouble surrounded Kingston during the pandemic, especially during the beginning. Before COVID-19 was widespread in Kern County, the virus crept into the nursing home and infected dozens of residents and staff. During the outbreak, former public health director Matt Constatine said, Basic disease control procedures are not being enforced.

Conditions improved after local and state health officials stepped in to assist staff in stopping the spread.

We reached out to Kingston Healthcare Center but our call went unanswered.

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Coronavirus returns to Kingston Healthcare Center, a local nursing home notorious for its handling of the pandemic - KGET 17

Locals line up with their tanks to refill oxygen during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Yangon, Myanmar, July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

July 14 (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar reported record numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths on Wednesday, as it suffers its most severe wave of infections so far.

Citing health ministry figures, state-run MRTV said there were 7,089 new cases and 145 deaths from COVID-19, a sharp rise from the previous day's figures.

Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Myanmar sees record coronavirus deaths and infections - Reuters

Theeighth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place onWednesday, 14 July 2021 from 11:30to16:00 Geneva time (CEST).

Proceedings of the meeting

Members and Advisors of the Emergency Committeewere convened by videoconference.

The Director-General welcomed the Committee and reiterated his global call for action to scale up vaccination and implement rationale use of public health and social measures (PHSM). He thanked the Committee for their continued support in identifying key challenges and solutions that countries can use to overcome the issues posed by the pandemic.

Representatives of the Office of Legal Counsel (LEG) and the Department of Compliance, Risk Management, and Ethics (CRE) briefed the members on their roles and responsibilities. The Ethics Officer from CRE provided the Members and Advisers with an overview of the WHO Declaration of Interest process. The Members and Advisers were made aware of their individual responsibility to disclose to WHO, in a timely manner, any interests of a personal, professional, financial, intellectual or commercial nature that may give rise to a perceived or direct conflict of interest. They were additionally reminded of their duty to maintain the confidentiality of the meeting discussions and the work of the Committee. Each member who was present was surveyed and no conflicts of interest were identified.

The Secretariat turned the meeting over to the Chair, Professor Didier Houssin.Professor Houssin also expressed concern over the current trends with the COVID-19 pandemic and reviewed the objectives and agenda of the meeting.

The Secretariat presented on the global epidemiological context, shared updates on travel guidance and measures taken by countries and provided an overview of the World Health Assembly 74s decisions and resolutions that relate to the role and functioning of the IHR Emergency Committee. The Secretariat also highlighted factors driving the current situation including:

The Committee discussed key themes including:

The pandemic remains a challenge globally with countries navigating different health, economic and social demands. The Committee noted that regional and economic differences are affecting access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. Countries with advanced access to vaccines and well-resourced health systems are under pressure to fully reopen their societies and relax the PHSM. Countries with limited access to vaccines are experiencing new waves of infections, seeing erosion of public trust and growing resistance to PHSM, growing economic hardship, and, in some instances, increasing social unrest.

As a result, governments are making increasingly divergent policy decisions that address narrow national needs which inhibit a harmonized approach to the global response. In this regard, the Committee was highly concerned about the inadequate funding of WHOs Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan and called for more flexible and predictable funding to support WHOs leadership role in the global pandemic response.

The Committee noted that,despite national, regional, and global efforts, the pandemic is nowhere near finished. The pandemic continues to evolve with four variants of concern dominating global epidemiology. The Committee recognised the strong likelihood for the emergence and global spread of new and possibly more dangerous variants of concern that may be even more challenging to control.

The Committee expressed appreciation for States Parties engaging in research to increase understanding of COVID-19 vaccines and requested that clinical trial volunteers not be disadvantaged in travel arrangements due to their participation in research studies. At the same time, the risk of emergence of new zoonotic diseases while still responding to the current pandemic has been emphasised by the Committee. The Committee noted the importance of States Parties continued vigilance for detection and mitigation of new zoonotic diseases.

The Committee unanimously agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes an extraordinary event that continues to adversely affect the health of populations around the world, poses a risk of international spread and interference with international traffic, and requires a coordinated international response. As such, the Committee concurred that the COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and offered the following advice to the Director-General.

The Director-General determined that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committees advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR.

The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months or earlier,at the discretion of the Director-General.The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work.

Advice to the WHO Secretariat

Temporary Recommendations to States Parties

While the Committee noted that there are nuances associated with diverse regional contexts related to the implementation of the Temporary Recommendations, they identified the following as critical for all countries:

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Statement on the eighth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)...

With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated.

California has already tried prizes and game show-style events to encourage people to get vaccinated. But 41% of Californians of all ages have yet to be inoculated. And two troubling and related trends are bringing calls for fresh thinking.

The coronavirus is spreading in California mostly among unvaccinated people. While cases and hospitalizations are still more than 93% lower than they were at the peak, new daily coronavirus cases have nearly tripled over the last month, from about 900 a day to more than 2,600 a day; hospitalizations have risen by nearly 75%, from 915 to 1,594.

Meanwhile, the pace of vaccinations continues to tail off. Only about 58,000 vaccine doses a day are being administered statewide, according to figures compiled by The Times. Though that average could rise as more data are reported, it wont come close to the peak of 400,000 a day.

The solution wont be easy, but officials and experts are pretty confident they know what will work.

First, sending trusted people in communities to advocate for vaccinations at events and doing door-to-door outreach can do wonders in convincing people to get vaccinated, said UC San Francisco epidemiologist Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. Getting vaccines into the offices of primary care physicians, where doctors can answer patients questions directly, can help too.

Another strategy would involve new requirements to get vaccinated, such as at workplaces, Bibbins-Domingo said. Short of that, she said, employers could require unvaccinated workers to get tested daily an approach that has been used elsewhere around the world.

When being vaccinated becomes the more convenient of the two options, that will drive people to be vaccinated, Bibbins-Domingo said. You have to make it slightly less convenient to be unvaccinated at this point.

If you choose to get tested every day, because you dont believe in vaccination, that might be fine. But I think for some, being tested every day or being tested at some very regular interval might be that the thing that says: Well, yeah, when I look at the risk and benefits, the vaccine is looking a little bit better.

Fully vaccinated people do have very good protection against coronavirus infection and illness. Between Dec. 7 and June 7, unvaccinated people in L.A. County comprised 99.6% of its coronavirus cases, 98.7% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 99.8% of deaths.

Nonetheless, outbreaks can still be disruptive and a vaccinated persons chance of getting infected, while quite small, is worse if theyre around unvaccinated and infected people. At the state Capitol, 10 people have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, including some who were fully vaccinated.

Some health experts have suggested that even vaccinated people wear masks voluntarily in indoor public spaces when weekly case rates are high, which would reduce the risk of a breakthrough coronavirus infection.

San Francisco has been a leader in imposing vaccination requirements for certain workers.

Already, San Francisco has ordered all workers in high-risk settings, such as hospitals, nursing homes and residential facilities for the elderly, homeless and jails, to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15. An exemption will be available for workers with valid religious and medical reasons, and they will be required to get tested for the virus weekly.

San Francisco has also ordered all 35,000 of its city workers including police, firefighters, custodians and clerks to get vaccinated or risk losing their jobs, unless they have a religious or medical exemption, once a vaccine has been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Currently, all three available vaccines are being distributed under an emergency use authorization.

The University of California and California State University systems have also announced they will eventually require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on campus properties. Dozens of colleges nationwide have said theyll require vaccination for enrollment in the fall, including Yale, Princeton and Columbia.

Even if mandates ultimately become more commonplace, on-the-ground outreach is still essential, experts say. And there is good reason to believe more of it will help.

San Francisco, for instance, has one of the highest vaccination rates in California 75% of residents of all ages are at least partly vaccinated, and 69% are fully vaccinated. While the per capita case rate has increased, its still half of L.A. Countys. And while hospitalizations are up in L.A. County, they remain generally stable in San Francisco.

San Franciscos outreach to the hard-hit Latino community in particular has been a model, with 72% of Latino residents having received at least one dose a rate even better than white residents, 65% of whom are at least partially vaccinated. In much of the U.S., the vaccination rate for Latinos lags behind white residents.

There have been teams that go out to places like San Franciscos Tenderloin District, where they interact with people on the streets, in stores and churches to promote vaccinations and administer the shots.

And that kind of interaction can make the difference: Some people can work long hours, and having vaccination advocates make their pitch and answer questions causes someone to finally decide to take the shot, Bibbins-Domingo said.

Its also important that the people delivering the messages and shots are well trusted in the community.

It is the linking to the conversation to the actual getting of the shot and getting the shot from somebody you know and trust that are the one-two punch to get the job done. And it has been working, Bibbins-Domingo said.

Its just a slow strategy, she added. But there are no shortcuts. We have to double down on doing this again especially for people for whom there are some barriers, whether it is just having the conversation or mistrust.

Convincing younger adults by using some combination of the following messages can work: Infected people who were unvaccinated have a greater risk of long-term illness, and unvaccinated people are at greater risk of transmitting the virus to friends and family, including people who have compromised immune systems and might be more likely to get sick.

For many, the personal touch may also be vital especially when it comes to combating misinformation surrounding the shots. As Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. Countys health services director, noted Tuesday: Relationships really matter.

One-on-one conversations its very labor intensive, not always very fast, it takes time. But thats been the best thing that has really helped, she said.

In Santa Clara County, which also has a high vaccination rate and stable hospitalizations, officials identified census tracts with the lowest vaccination rates and focused on them to launch vaccination clinics. Theyve also focused on essential workers in industries like child care, education and agriculture, and have worked with unions and employers to reach more people.

In the Central Valley, UC Merced Community and Labor Center Executive Director Ana Padilla said there still needs to be better access to the vaccine and good information about it to people like agricultural workers, who are now working the busiest time of the year. She suggested that there be a greater effort to link trusted community-based groups to administer vaccines near work sites, which will be better equipped to answer questions from workers.

If you work 8 to 8 every single day of the week so that you have enough money to get through those hard winter months, you dont have the options [to seek vaccinations] that other folks might believe that you have, Padilla said.

L.A. County where 60% of residents of all ages have at least one dose, and 52% are fully vaccinated is taking a similar approach in focusing vaccination clinics in hard-hit areas. But L.A. County has a far more vast challenge its the nations most populous county, and blanketing the county with intense outreach efforts might be more difficult here.

Times staff writer John Myers and intern Melissa Hernandez contributed to this report.

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Unvaccinated may require tougher tactics amid COVID-19 surge - Los Angeles Times

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 187.2 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.03 million. More than 3.44 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

More than 900,000 people in France rushed to set up appointments to get vaccinated on Monday night after the president warned that people would see curbs imposed on them if they did not have a health pass that covered a vaccine or negative COVID test.

Malaysia reported 11,079 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, the most number of cases recorded in a single day since the start of the pandemic.

Myanmar's military authorities pledged on Monday to ramp up oxygen supplies to help treat COVID-19 patients. The country saw a record 80 coronavirus deaths and 5,014 new cases on Monday, state-run MRTV said.

South Korea has halted its rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to people aged 55-59 for a week, after a spike in new cases sparked a rush for shots, booking up available supplies and crashing the official government reservation website. It came as daily infections topped 1,000 cases for the seventh day straight.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday added a warning to the fact sheet for Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine saying that data suggests there is an increased risk of a rare neurological disorder in the six weeks after inoculation.

Australian authorities reported a slight slowdown in new COVID-19 cases in Sydney on Tuesday, but may still extend a lockdown in the country's largest city to douse an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte conceded on Monday that coronavirus restrictions had been lifted too soon in the Netherlands and he apologised as infections surged to their highest levels of the year.

Sweden's government said on Monday it will move ahead with a planned easing of pandemic restrictions this week but warned that new variants of the virus demanded vigilance as it urged people to adhere to social distancing recommendations.

The Delta variant is fuelling a "two-track pandemic", the World Health Organization's Director-General has warned.

Speaking at a media briefing, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: "The Delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and death."

Delta is now in more than 104 countries and will soon become the dominant COVID-19 strain, he said. Cases have risen worldwide for four consecutive weeks, and after 10 weeks of declines, deaths are increasing again.

He warned that it's not hitting all countries equally, depending on vaccine access.

"We're in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries are increasingly divergent.

"The global gap in COVID-19 vaccine supply is hugely uneven and inequitable. Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses, before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable," said Tedros.

In 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance was launched at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, with an initial pledge of $750 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The aim of Gavi is to make vaccines more accessible and affordable for all - wherever people live in the world.

Along with saving an estimated 10 million lives worldwide in less than 20 years,through the vaccination of nearly 700 million children, - Gavi has most recently ensured a life-saving vaccine for Ebola.

At Davos 2016, we announced Gavi's partnership with Merck to make the life-saving Ebola vaccine a reality.

The Ebola vaccine is the result of years of energy and commitment from Merck; the generosity of Canadas federal government; leadership by WHO; strong support to test the vaccine from both NGOs such as MSF and the countries affected by the West Africa outbreak; and the rapid response and dedication of the DRC Minister of Health. Without these efforts, it is unlikely this vaccine would be available for several years, if at all.

Read more about the Vaccine Alliance, and how you can contribute to the improvement of access to vaccines globally - in our Impact Story.

"In places with high vaccination coverage, Delta is spreading quickly; especially infecting unprotected and vulnerable people and steadily putting pressure back on health systems."

In countries with low vaccine coverage, the situation is particularly bad, he added: "Delta and other highly transmissible variants are driving catastrophic waves of cases, which are translating into high numbers of hospitalisations and death."

He said the current wave of infections was demonstrating vaccines are "a powerful tool" to battle the virus, but warned they have "never been the way out of this crisis on their own".

How the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out differs around the world.

Image: Our World in Data

It comes as the World Health Organization's chief scientist on Monday advised against people mixing and matching COVID-19 vaccines from different manufacturers, calling it a "dangerous trend" since there was little data available about the health impact.

"It's a little bit of a dangerous trend here. We are in a data-free, evidence-free zone as far as mix and match," Soumya Swaminathan told an online briefing.

"It will be a chaotic situation in countries if citizens start deciding when and who will be taking a second, a third and a fourth dose."

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Tuesday that a sufficient number of hospitals combined with a speed-up in the vaccination rollout among the elderly meant the city will be able to hold a "safe and secure" Olympic Games in ten days.

But Koike, speaking to Reuters in an interview at the Tokyo government headquarters which has for the last few weeks doubled as a vaccination site, also warned that the coronavirus pandemic is far from over and the spreading Delta variant remains a risk.

"Very many people will be vaccinated in the coming ten days and during the Olympics. The biggest change as a result of that will be a substantive fall in the ratio of deaths and severe cases among the elderly," Koike said.

"Because of that, and because the medical system is ready, I think we can press ahead with a safe Olympics," said Koike, who has returned to work after a brief break due to fatigue during which she was admitted to hospital.

The Japanese capital entered its fourth state of emergency on Monday causing bars and restaurants to close early, amid a rebound in COVID-19 cases that also pushed the Games organisers last week to ban spectators from nearly all venues.

Spectators from abroad were already banned months ago, and officials are now asking residents to watch the Games on TV to keep the movement of people to a minimum.

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

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 13 July - World Economic Forum

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2021

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the following actions taken in its ongoing response effort to the COVID-19 pandemic:

The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) has been revised to include a warning about GBS and the Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers has been revised to include information about GBS. The warning in the Fact Sheet for Healthcare Providers Administering Vaccine notes that reports of adverse events suggest an increased risk of GBS. Additionally, the Fact Sheet for Recipients and Caregivers notes that vaccine recipients should seek medical attention right away if they develop any of the following symptoms after receiving the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine: weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, thats worsening and spreading to other parts of the body; difficulty walking; difficulty with facial movements, including speaking, chewing or swallowing; double vision or inability to move eyes; or difficulty with bladder control or bowel function.

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The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

07/13/2021

Original post:

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: July 13, 2021 - FDA.gov

A single change in a key viral protein may have helped the coronavirus behind COVID-19 make the jump from animals to people, setting the virus on its way to becoming the scourge it is today.

That mutation appears to help the virus spike protein strongly latch onto the human version of a host protein called ACE2 that the virus uses to enter and infect cells, researchers report July 6 in Cell. That ability to lock onto the human cells was stronger with the mutated virus than with other coronaviruses lacking the change. Whats more, the mutated virus better replicates in laboratory-grown human lung cells than previous versions of the virus do.

Without this mutation, I dont think the pandemic would have happened like it has, says James Weger-Lucarelli, a virologist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The coronaviruss global spread might have been less likely, he says.

Where exactly the coronavirus came from is still a mystery that researchers are trying to unravel (SN: 3/18/21). But figuring out how an animal virus gained the ability to infect people could help researchers develop ways to prevent it from happening again, such as with antivirals or vaccines, Weger-Lucarelli says.

The new findings hint that the mutation is important, but its potentially one of multiple changes that made the jump from animals to people possible, says Andrew Doxey, a computational biologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada who was not involved in the study. Its not necessarily the only mutation.

Virologist Ramn Lorenzo Redondo agrees. The researchers employed an approach that is not typically used for viruses, says Redondo, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. That means the method may have overlooked other important mutations.

In the study, Weger-Lucarelli and colleagues analyzed more than 182,000 genetic blueprints of the coronavirus, looking for signs of mutations that might have helped the virus adapt to and spread among humans. The team compared changes in the building blocks, or amino acids, of the virus spike protein with four coronaviruses from bats or pangolins that dont infect people. The scientists pinpointed one swap that replaced the amino acid threonine that is found in the animal viruses with the amino acid alanine that is found in the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The researchers predict that the mutation, named T372A, removes some sugars that coat the spike protein. Those sugars might be getting in the way, Weger-Lucarelli says, so removing them gives the virus better access to ACE2 to break into cells.

Experiments suggest thats true. Once a virus with an alanine gets into laboratory-grown human lung cells, it replicates more than versions with threonine, the team found. In the future, the researchers plan to explore the role other mutations might have played to help an animal virus adapt to humans.

Its unclear when the virus acquired the T372A mutation, says Arinjay Banerjee, a virologist with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, who was not involved in the study. A bat coronavirus with a threonine at that spot may have infected people first and then rapidly adopted an alanine, helping the virus transmit more efficiently among people. Or its possible that the alanine appeared in bats or in another animal before making the jump.

Those questions, I think, are still outstanding, Banerjee says.

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One mutation may have set the coronavirus up to become a global menace - Science News Magazine