Category: Corona Virus

Heres what you need to know:Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert, said he expected a panel to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of Johnson & Johnsons Covid-19 vaccine.Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

A decision about whether to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine should come this Friday, when an expert panel that is advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet, according to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations leading infectious disease expert.

I think by that time were going to have a decision, Dr. Fauci said on Sunday on the CNN program State of the Union.

I dont want to get ahead of the C.D.C. and the F.D.A. and the advisory committee, he added, but said he expected experts to recommend some sort of either warning or restriction on the use of the vaccine.

Federal health agencies recommended putting injections of the vaccine on pause on Tuesday while they investigated whether it was linked to a rare blood-clotting disorder. All 50 states,Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have stopped administering the vaccine.

The unusual disorder includes blood clots in the brain combined with low levels of platelets, blood cells that typically promote clotting. The combination, which can cause clotting and bleeding at the same time, was initially documented in six women between the ages of 18 and 48 who had received the vaccine one to three weeks prior. One of the women died, and another was hospitalized in critical condition.

This pattern has prompted questions about whether vaccinations could resume in men or in older people. But because women fill more of the health care jobs for which vaccinations have been prioritized, it is not clear how much the problem might affect men, too. On Wednesday, two more cases of the clotting disorder were identified, including one in a man who had received the vaccine in a clinical trial.

About 131.2 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, or roughly half of all American adults, according to the C.D.C. More than seven million of those people have received Johnson & Johnsons shot. If there is a link between the vaccine and the clotting disorder, the risk remains extremely low, experts say.

Its an extraordinarily rare event, Dr. Fauci said on the ABC program This Week. The pause was intended to give experts time to gather more information and to warn physicians about the clotting disorder so that they can make more informed treatment decisions, said Dr. Fauci, who appeared on four TV news programs on Sunday morning.

European regulators have been investigating similar cases of the unusual clotting disorder in people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Some European countries have since stopped administering that vaccine altogether, while others have restricted its use in younger people.

Dr. Fauci also expressed frustration that a disturbingly large proportion of Republicans, who have been critical of many coronavirus restrictions, have expressed a reluctance to be vaccinated. Its almost paradoxical, he said. On the one hand they want to be relieved of the restrictions, but on the other hand, they dont want to get vaccinated. It just almost doesnt make any sense.

The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020.

Dr. Fauci said that he expected all high school students to become eligible for vaccination before school begins in the fall, with younger children eligible no later than the first quarter of 2022.

Michigan may finally be starting to turn a corner, after enduring more than a month of explosive coronavirus spread, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Sunday.

We are starting to see the beginning of what could be a slowdown, Ms. Whitmer said on the NBC program Meet the Press.

Michigan is still averaging more than 7,600 new cases a day, according to a New York Times database more than at almost any time during the holiday surge. But that figure hasnt increased by more than a few hundred for more than a week, suggesting that the current wave may be cresting. Hospitalizations and deaths, which usually lag behind new cases by several weeks, are still rising.

Governor Whitmer cited the states continuing mask mandates, capacity restrictions and her call for a voluntary two-week pause in indoor dining, youth sports and in-person schooling as factors that may have helped combat the surge. She defended her decision to not try to go further, with the kinds of closure and stay-at-home orders imposed early in the pandemic.

Fifteen months ago, we didnt know the virus could be contained by the simple act of wearing a mask, she said on Sunday. We didnt have the testing or the vaccines. Were now in a much different position.

The governor suggested that she probably could not have locked the state down again, in any case. In the waning months, I have been sued by my Legislature, I have lost in a Republican-controlled Supreme Court, and I dont have all of the exact same tools, she said.

Despite those things, we still have some of the strongest mitigation measures in the country, she added. Were still doing what we can.

Ms. Whitmer lauded the Biden administration for helping the state get more therapeutics and boots on the ground to help staff vaccination sites and hospitals. She said she had asked the federal government for even more help.

She said her states initial success in limiting the viruss spread had, paradoxically, made it more vulnerable to a later surge.

What we know is that our success at keeping Covid spread down for such a long period of time has left us with vast reservoirs of people who dont have antibodies, she said. That was a good thing until the variants came on stage.

She said that seasonal travel patterns, notably spring-break vacations and the return of snowbirds who spent the winter in warm states like Florida, had also played a role in seeding outbreaks in Michigan.

Health officials in Colorado are warning about another wave of infections as new coronavirus cases in the state jump to levels not seen since January and as counties start to loosen virus restrictions.

The state is reporting an average of 1,661 new cases a day, up by 18 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. Hospitalizations have climbed by 19 percent in the same time period. Deaths from the virus, which tend to lag behind infections for several weeks, have slightly increased.

We are seeing what appears to be the beginning of a fourth wave of Covid-19 in Colorado, Scott Bookman, the states Covid-19 incident commander, said at a news briefing on Thursday. He urged people to remain vigilant about getting tested as more of the states population becomes vaccinated.

As in many parts of the country seeing caseloads rise, health officials say the increase has been fueled in part by the spread of more contagious variants of the virus, particularly the B.1.1.7 variant first found in Britain. That variant is estimated to be about 60 percent more contagious and 67 percent more deadly than the original version. B.1.1.7 is now the most common source of new coronavirus cases in the United States, and tracking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that variants of concern, including B.1.1.7 and a variant that emerged in California, CAL.20C, now make up more than half of all new coronavirus cases in Colorado.

Even as cases mount, the state on Friday ended its dial system that required counties to place capacity limits on restaurants, offices and gyms, depending on case counts, positive test percentages and hospitalizations in those areas. That change shifted control of pandemic regulations to local counties, prompting concerns from some public health experts that the move could result in cases and hospitalizations continuing to rise. Several counties experiencing an increase in cases and hospitalizations, like El Paso and Douglas Counties, have said they do not plan to impose restrictions beyond those mandated by the state.

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The state still requires counties to comply with its mask mandate which will stay in place through May 2 and with limits on indoor mass gatherings.

I am concerned that without policies and behaviors to slow transmission, said Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, we will continue to see increases in Covid-19 hospitalizations among those who are not yet vaccinated.

It worries me, Dr. Bill Burman, director of Denver Public Health, said about counties that were choosing to be more lax with restrictions. Denver eased some regulations on Friday but kept in place certain restrictions, like capacity limits on bars, offices and retail stores.

An analysis published this month and led by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health found that delaying policy changes, at the state or local level, until mid-May would prevent large numbers of deaths and hospitalizations. According to the report, mobility in the state is also reaching its highest levels since the start of the pandemic.

State officials defended the change last week, pointing to the relatively low number of hospitalizations and deaths compared with the peaks seen in December. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said at a news briefing on Tuesday that he was confident that counties could take on greater responsibility, but he urged people to remain cautious.

I think that the number of cases and hospitalizations will sadly continue to go up before it goes down, Mr. Polis said, adding that he hoped it would be a short peak as more people get vaccinated.

About 41 percent of the states population has received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine, and 25 percent have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

State officials said they would continue to monitor hospitalization levels. Under the governors public health order, the state could require counties to put in place additional restrictions if their resident hospitalizations threatened to exceed 85 percent of hospital capacity.

To some, Alaskas announcement that it would try to entice travelers by offering Covid-19 vaccinations at its airports might signal the states plucky resolve and determination to revive a tourism industry that has been devastated by the pandemic.

To others, its a sign of everything that is wrong with the way that the United States is distributing its vaccines, as calls for more doses in surge-stricken Michigan are rebuffed.

Its hard for me to believe that weve so maldistributed a vaccine as to make this necessary, said Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the effort to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. You dont want to exchange a bad carbon footprint for a vaccination.

Starting on June 1, any tourist traveling to Alaska will be able to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine at the Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau or Ketchikan airports. Its part of a larger multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, funded by federal stimulus money, to attract tourists back to the state, Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska, a Republican, announced.

We believe theres a real opportunity to get folks to come to Alaska again, Mr. Dunleavy said at a news conference on Friday.

Alaska is the latest state to announce plans to extend vaccine eligibility to nonresidents as production and distribution have increased around the country. Twenty-one other states do not have residency requirements for vaccination, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some U.S. experts have worried for months about the growth in vaccine tourism Americans crossing state lines to get a vaccine where there are excess doses. Virologists like Dr. Brilliant say that rather than incentivizing people to fly to Alaska to get a shot from the states abundant vaccine supply, doses should be redistributed to states most in need and no longer be allocated strictly by population.

Alaska is not lacking vaccines, said Heidi Hedberg, the states director of public health. Health administrators will begin the airport vaccine program for tourists at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, with a five-day trial at the end of April to gauge interest. Some visitors may have to get their second dose of mRNA vaccines in their home states, depending on how long they remain in Alaska.

Almost 40 percent of Alaskans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to a New York Times database. Thirty-two percent of the states population is fully vaccinated. The state has used 68 percent of its doses.

Alaska was the first state to open up vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 or older living or working in the state, on March 9. At the time of the announcement, Alaska had the highest vaccination rate in the country.

The United States has continued to speed up vaccination efforts, and is now averaging 3.2 million doses a day, up from roughly two million a day in early March. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday that about 129.5 million people had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Brilliant said states like Michigan, the center of the countrys worst surge, should be receiving larger allocations of doses.

The Biden administration and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, have been at odds over her calls for an increase in her states vaccine supply. But the Biden administration held fast to distributing vaccines by state population, not by triage.

The vaccine should go where it will do the most good, Dr. Brilliant said. Given the scarcity of vaccine in the world, every dose should be given in a way that is most effective at stopping this pandemic.

But the issue could be moot by the time that Alaskas tourist vaccination program begins in earnest on June 1: most Americans who want to be vaccinated might already have received at least one dose by then, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine scientist at the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Were going to reach a point where people dont need to fly to Alaska to get vaccinated, he said. I think its going to be more of the case that, heres an opportunity to visit Alaska and its convenient to get vaccinated.

French authorities will tightly restrict who can travel to France from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and South Africa, and will impose a 10-day quarantine on those who do, in the hope of staving off worrisome coronavirus variants circulating in those countries, the government announced on Saturday.

The announcement adds to a shifting patchwork of international restrictions that have complicated travel around the world.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced late on Saturday that, starting April 24, travelers arriving from any of the four countries will have to quarantine for 10 days. Police officers will check on them to ensure that they comply.

Entry from the four countries will be limited almost exclusively to French citizens and their families, citizens of other European Union countries, and foreigners with permanent homes in France. Travelers must have tested negative for the virus within a shorter time before takeoff, and will be given antigenic tests on arrival.

These are the countries that are most dangerous, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Frances foreign minister, told France 3 television on Sunday.

Nearly all flights between France and Brazil will remain suspended at least until the new rules take effect and possibly longer, the government said.

The tightened restrictions were necessary because of the uncontrolled spread of the virus in certain countries, including widespread transmission of virus variants like those first identified in Brazil and South Africa that appear to be more resistant to some current Covid-19 vaccines, Mr. Castex said in his statement.

Frances decision adds to a complex tangle of rules and policies about international travel that can vary widely from country to country and month to month.

Germany loosened some of its travel restrictions last week, removing Britain, Ireland, Finland and Barbados from its list of at-risk areas, meaning that travelers from those countries no longer need to quarantine upon arrival.

But Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia said that his country was in no hurry to reopen its borders, which have largely been closed to anyone other than returning Australian citizens.

I will not be putting at risk the way we are living in this country, which is so different to the rest of the world today, Mr. Morrison told reporters on Sunday.

Unlike the many European countries that have kept restaurants closed, travel restricted and face masks mandatory to combat a new wave of infections, Australia has its coronavirus epidemic largely under control and residents are mostly free to travel domestically and dine out.

More people are flying every day, as Covid restrictions ease and vaccinations accelerate. But dangerous variants have led to new outbreaks, raising fears of a deadly prolonging of the pandemic.

To understand how safe it is to fly now, The Times enlisted researchers to simulate how air particles flow within the cabin of an airplane, and how potential viral elements may pose a risk.

For instance, when a passenger sneezes, air blown from the sides pushes particles toward the aisle, where they combine with air from the opposite row. Not all particles are the same size, and most dont contain infectious viral matter. But if passengers nearby werent wearing masks, even briefly to eat a snack, the sneezed air could increase their chances of inhaling viral particles.

How air flows in planes is not the only part of the safety equation, according to infectious-disease experts. The potential for exposure may be just as high, if not higher, when people are in the terminal, sitting in airport restaurants and bars or going through the security line.

The challenge isnt just on a plane, said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist specializing in infection prevention. Consider the airport and the whole journey.

The National Institutes of Health is investing $33 million in research projects run by institutions around the United States that could help officials safely reopen schools serving vulnerable students and under-resourced rural, urban and Native American communities.

The projects focus on expanding coronavirus testing for children of color, children from low-income families and children with developmental disabilities or complex medical conditions. The projects are part of an N.I.H. program called Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations, or RADx-UP, and include initiatives among Native American communities.

Establishing frequent Covid-19 testing protocols for schools in vulnerable and underserved communities is essential to the safe-return-to-school effort, and these projects will inform decision makers on the best strategies to accomplish this, Dr. Eliseo J. Prez-Stable, director of N.I.H.s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and co-chair of the RADx-UP program, said in the announcement on Thursday.

Although remote schooling has been a challenge for many families, certain vulnerable populations have faced additional obstacles. Low-income families, for instance, may not have access to computers or high-speed internet connections, while children with developmental disabilities may miss out on speech therapy, occupational therapy and other services that are typically tied to in-person schooling.

The new research projects encompass a wide variety of schools, ranging in size from 50 to 3,500 students.

One study, led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, will survey parents of children with disabilities to identify the best communication strategies for promoting in-person learning and examine ways to increase participation in a weekly coronavirus testing program. Another will assess the feasibility of at-home and school-based coronavirus testing programs for children with complex medical needs.

A project based at Duke University will explore whether rapid coronavirus tests can reduce the spread of the virus in schools and help build trust with Black and Latino families, encouraging them to send their children back into the classroom.

The RADx-UP program plans to distribute more funding, and expand its efforts to more locations, in the months ahead, the N.I.H. said.

JERUSALEM Buoyed by its recent success in combating the coronavirus, Israel lifted its outdoor mask mandate on Sunday, while schools fully reopened for the first time since September.

The country has been taking rapid steps back to normalcy in the wake of its world-leading vaccination campaign and plummeting infection rates. About 56 percent of the Israeli population has been fully vaccinated, according to a New York Times database.

Finally, I can breathe again! Eli Bliach, 35, an entrepreneur, said while walking mask-free in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday morning.

With the sun out and temperatures rising, some people joked about avoiding mask tan lines.

But other Israelis were hesitant to remove the layer of protection that had felt so alien at first, but that many have since gotten used to.

I am not confident that the pandemic is over, said Ilana Danino, 59, a cosmetician and caregiver who was still wearing a mask while walking down an almost empty street in the city center. It is still out there all over the world.

Besides, she said, I feel good with this on, gesturing to the air around her and explaining that springtime could still bring allergies and the spread of other viruses.

Israels health minister, Yuli Edelstein, urged people to continue carrying masks with them for entry into indoor public spaces, where they are still required.

Daily new coronavirus infections in Israel have fallen from a peak of 10,000 in January to around 100 on some recent days. Prof. Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science said on Twitter last week that with 85 percent of people 16 and older in Israel either vaccinated or recovered from the virus, Life is close to pre-Covid.

As part of the transition, Israel has introduced a green pass system allowing people who are vaccinated or recovered to dine indoors in restaurants, stay in hotels and attend large cultural, sports and religious gatherings.

But there is some new concern after several cases of a virus variant with a double mutation first detected in India, B.1.617, were identified in Israel last week. Prof. Nachman Ash, Israels coronavirus czar, told the Hebrew news site Ynet on Sunday that the variant might have some characteristics that could make those who have been vaccinated vulnerable to infection.

Israel is working to prevent any further entry of the variant, he said, while trying to learn more about it and how it is behaving in other parts of the world.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York announced on Saturday that New Yorkers who are 50 or older could now walk in and receive the coronavirus vaccine at more than 30 city-operated sites.

No appointment necessary, the mayor said on Twitter. One person accompanying the over-50 walk-in candidate can also receive the shot. Mr. de Blasios aim is to fully vaccinate five million of the citys eight million residents by June.

Before Saturday, the city allowed walk-in vaccinations only for people 75 and over.

The city listed 31 locations across the five boroughs where walk-ins would be accepted, including three that usually operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bathgate Contract Postal Station in the Bronx and Citi Field in Queens. That list of locations will be updated weekly.

Continued here:

Covid-19: Fauci Expects Decision on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine This Week - The New York Times

Another two Mainers have died as health officials on Monday reported 260 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 5,559. 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 5,522 on Sunday.

Its the third day in a row when Maine saw new cases fall. Last week, Maine had back-to-back days that saw new cases climb above 500. This decline, though, comes as the state winds back up from the weekend, which usually see a lower level of new cases than weekdays.

Two men in their 50s and 40s from Oxford County have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 767.

Mondays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 57,545, according to the Maine CDC. Thats up from 57,285 on Sunday.

Of those, 43,192 have been confirmed positive, while 13,192 were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.

The new case rate statewide Monday was 1.94 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 429.95.

Maines seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 475.4, down from 480.4 a day ago, up from 327.6 a week ago and up from 204.3 a month ago. That average peaked on Jan. 14 at 625.3.

The most cases have been detected in Mainers in their 20s, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men. For a complete breakdown of the age and sex demographics of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, use the interactive graphic below.

So far, 1,772 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Of those, 105 are currently hospitalized, with 32 in critical care and 14 on ventilators. Currently, 99 out of 382 critical care beds and 238 out of 319 ventilators are available. Meanwhile, 446 alternative ventilators are available.

The total statewide hospitalization rate on Monday was 13.24 patients per 10,000 residents.

Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (6,480), Aroostook (1,561), Cumberland (15,417), Franklin (1,142), Hancock (1,201), Kennebec (5,138), Knox (911), Lincoln (782), Oxford (2,966), Penobscot (5,076), Piscataquis (423), Sagadahoc (1,179), Somerset (1,691), Waldo (788), Washington (809) and York (11,979) counties. Information about where an additional two cases were reported wasnt immediately available.

For a complete breakdown of the county by county data, use the interactive graphic below.

Out of 3,311 COVID-19 tests reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, 4.5 percent came back positive.

An additional 2,541 Mainers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours. As of Monday, 566,822 Mainers have received a first dose of the vaccine, while 429,790 have received a final dose.

New Hampshire reported 307 new cases on Monday and four deaths. Vermont reported 147 new cases and no deaths, while Massachusetts reported 1,407 new cases and seven deaths.

As of Monday evening, the coronavirus had sickened 31,727,833 people 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 567,649 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Nationwide, 212 million doses of the vaccine have been administered, an increase of 3 million since Sunday, according to Bloomberg.

Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the number of new coronavirus cases.

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2 more Mainers die and another 260 coronavirus cases are reported across the state - Bangor Daily News

More than a month has passed since Gov. Greg Abbott ended virtually all statewide restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Nationwide, new coronavirus cases are on the rise as new variants of the virus spread. And about four-fifths of Texans are not yet fully vaccinated.

But at least for now, the most dire predictions of a new major wave of cases in Texas have not come true, prompting a mix of theories from public health experts.

Those experts caution that a major increase in cases could still come and it may still be too early to tell whether Abbotts decisions to lift the statewide mask mandate and allow businesses to fully reopen could prompt a new wave of infections. Still, daily new cases and the positivity rate have leveled off over the past month, while deaths and hospitalization have gone down substantially.

Experts point out that vaccination is ramping up, many businesses are still requiring masks and there are unique factors impacting individual metrics like a drop in demand for testing that is driving down raw case numbers.

They also emphasize that, especially at this point in the pandemic, a stabilization of such metrics, or even a modest decline, is not exactly cause for celebration.

I think we couldve been even lower at this point in time, if not for Abbotts latest decisions, said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, an infectious disease specialist at UTHealths McGovern Medical School in Houston. The fact that were sort of stable is not necessarily good news because were stable at a very high level. Its like everybody saying youre at a stable cruising speed but at 100 miles per hour.

Abbotts decision to end most statewide restrictions went into effect 35 days ago, on March 10. The seven-day average for daily new confirmed cases was 3,020 on that day; it was 2,456 on Tuesday. The seven-day average of the states positivity rate the ratio of cases to tests was 6.24% on March 10; it was 5.89% on Monday. (The latest positivity-rate figures are considered preliminary and subject to recalculation as more test results come in from the date in question.)

Deaths and hospitalizations, which lag new cases, have seen steeper drops since March 10. The seven-day average of new daily deaths was 187 on March 10; it was 64 on Tuesday. There were 4,556 Texans hospitalized with the virus on March 10; there were 3,002 on Tuesday.

The four key metrics are way down from peaks earlier in the year, when the state was seeing daily new caseloads approaching 20,000, a positivity rate that went above 20%, hospitalizations that topped 14,000 and weeks of more than 300 deaths per day.

At the same time, vaccinations have climbed steadily as the state has expanded eligibility, opening up to everyone age 16 and older on March 29. The percentage of fully vaccinated Texans more than doubled from March 10 to Monday, when it was 1 in 5 Texans.

Overall, its great news, said state Rep. Chris Turner, the House Democratic Caucus chairman who has been critical of Abbotts decisions throughout the pandemic. Im very glad that so far the governors decisions have not resulted in an increase in cases.

Clearly the massive investment in vaccines and the improved distribution of vaccines across the country since President Biden came into office is having a tremendously positive impact on protecting people from COVID-19, Turner added.

Despite the numbers in Texas, it has been an open question as to how long it takes after the lifting of restrictions to see a spike in the data. The incubation period for the virus the time between when someone is exposed to it and when they start showing symptoms is believed to be two to 14 days, and not everyone immediately stopped wearing masks and visiting fully reopened businesses on March 10.

Meanwhile, the rise of more transmissible variants across the country has added another threat. Average daily infections rose by almost 7% nationwide over the past week as officials race to vaccinate people as quickly as possible. Those efforts might be hampered in the short term after Texas paused the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine so federal health authorities could review six reports of blood clotting among 6.8 million doses nationwide.

The nations top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, was asked in a TV interview last week about Texas numbers and gave an uncertain response about what was driving them at the moment. Speaking with MSNBC, he said it can be confusing because you may see a lag and a delay because often you have to wait a few weeks before you see the effect of what youre doing right now.

Weve been fooled before by situations where people begin to open up, nothing happens and then all of a sudden, several weeks later, things start exploding on you, Fauci said. So weve got to be careful we dont prematurely judge that.

Until recently, Abbott has been restrained in openly touting the Texas trend lines, instead focusing much of his celebratory public messaging on vaccination progress.

We absolutely are not declaring victory at this time, Abbott told Fox News on Sunday. We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but theres simple math behind the reason why we continue to have success, he added, citing the combination of increasing vaccinations and the acquired immunity among Texans who have already had the virus and recovered from it.

However, Abbott went on to make a dubious claim: that the state is very close to herd immunity, or the point at which enough people have been vaccinated or have already become infected and recovered to protect the rest of the population. Abbott said that despite acknowledging in the same response that he does not know what the herd immunity threshold is for the virus, an uncertainty echoed by the public health community.

Fauci has said herd immunity against the coronavirus could require as much as 90% of the population to be vaccinated. Ostrosky said classically in epidemiology, we talk about herd immunity in the 60 to 80% range.

In any case, experts agree that Texas is not anywhere near herd immunity. As of Monday, just 20.1% of Texans had been fully vaccinated and 9.72% had tested positive for the virus. There could be overlap between the two groups the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who had the disease get a vaccine.

In the meantime, though, public health officials are keeping a close eye on the core metrics and whether they creep up as more Texans take advantage of the end of the mask mandate and businesses reopening at full capacity. Ostrosky acknowledged that so far, the numbers are not what we were expecting.

The question is how come and the answer in my mind is vaccines, Ostrosky said. I think were making really good headway with the vaccination program. We were sort of aggressive moving through the stages [of eligibility].

I think our saving grace was the vaccines despite the not-so-good choices that some of our fellow Texans are making with regard to practices like masking, Ostrosky added.

Jaquelin Dudley, the associate director of the LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease at the University of Texas at Austin, said the underreporting of previous cases could be masking the extent to which the states population is already immune. Combined with the vaccination effort, were definitely impairing the ability of the virus to spread at this juncture in the pandemic, she said.

She and other experts also cited anecdotal evidence that most businesses, especially in the states major metropolitan centers, are still requiring masks despite the lack of statewide mandate.

I think its too early to drop mask mandates, and thats really been left up to the individual businesses, Dudley said. Certainly the places that I know of are still requiring masks, and Im sure thats helping.

One of the strongest arguments to keep wearing masks is the rise of variants, Dudley said. There are currently five "variants of concern" in the United States, according to the CDC, which is studying how effectively current vaccines address them.

When it comes to steeper drops in deaths, Dudley said she thinks the state has just got a lot better about treating the infection after confronting the pandemic for over a year.

Ben King, a clinical assistant professor and epidemiologist at the University of Houston College of Medicine, said the downward trend in both deaths and hospitalizations could reflect Texas prioritization of the highest-risk population the elderly for immunization.

Both Texas and Florida made national headlines late last year for bucking CDC guidance and prioritizing older people over essential workers in their vaccine rollouts. And Abbott further prioritized older Texans with his Save Our Seniors initiative, which has deployed National Guard troops to help vaccinate homebound seniors. Over 100 counties have taken part in the the program, which has been underway for six weeks.

There are also simple statistical truths behind the latest numbers. Since earlier this year, the number of tests administered has dropped, and with it, the number of cases identified. The falloff in testing is not for a lack of supply, according to experts, but due to an apparent lack of demand as Texans fatigued by the virus see less of a need to get tested in the pandemics final stages.

While the positivity rate has remained stable, experts said the end of the pandemic is especially not the time to let up on testing. King said Texas plan to provide state-licensed summer camps with COVID-19 rapid antigen tests is exactly the way we need to be thinking.

We want to see testing go way up, but we also want to see cases go way down, said King, who agreed with Ostrosky that any flatlining of metrics at this point is "not what we need."

We have to be crushing [the curve] at this point, King said. Abbott's latest decisions "could be just stretching out the flatness of the curve, which just makes it harder to get to zero, which is obviously what we all want.

Experts also point out that the changing of seasons could be keeping the numbers relatively low. As the weather gets warmer, people are gathering more outside and not inside, where the virus is more likely to spread.

The experts, though, are pleading with the public to still take the pandemic seriously, even as the numbers look good and the statewide restrictions fall further in to the rearview.

If we dont focus and all were asking for is two more months were really gonna lose all that ground we gained, Ostrosky said.

Disclosure: UTHealth and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Texas coronavirus cases haven't surged since governor lifted mask order - The Texas Tribune

TORONTO -- As more and more Canadians are being given access to COVID-19 vaccines, people are being reminded not to question their co-workers or loved ones as to how they were eligible to get their shot.

Public health and sociological experts urge people to mind their own business as others may have underlying health conditions they wish to keep private.

There's a very natural human tendency to want to know why someone got something that we want, Maria Sundaram, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Torontos Dalla Lana School of Public Health, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

There are a lot of different reasons why people may be eligible but they dont have to disclose [them] to people, Sundaram said on Monday. She urged people to assume that if others have gotten the jab, it is because they needed to.

Public health advocates have long lobbied on a federal and provincial level to give priority access to at-risk populations such as Canadians with disabilities or those with obesity. As part of some provinces Phase 2 rollout, some people in these groups, as well as those with underlying health factors, have been encouraged to get vaccinated.

Sundaram said peoples reasons for getting vaccinated arent always apparent, and added that it is their prerogative to explain it or not.

There are a lot of different reasons why someone who is younger might be prioritized -- chief amongst them is that they have a job that is serving all of us, she said, referring to health-care workers and those working in long-term care homes.

Amy Hanser, an associate sociology professor at the University of British Columbia, encourages people not to give way to their curiosity or bring up vaccine eligibility first -- even if theyre not necessarily mean spirited.

I think one of the consequences of this whole COVID pandemic is that, suddenly, we care about aspects of other people's lives that we never used to worry about, Hanser told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Monday.

She added that this can manifest in people asking others, Why did you get the vaccine? But it can also be reflected in judging how and if others are following public health restrictions.

Dont assume people jumped the line or say something that could be stigmatizing or embarrassing for another person, Hanser said.

I think the best advice is just don't ask people, especially if they don't seem like they want to offer a further explanation.

She admits it is normal to be feeling degrees of vaccine envy, in that people wish they were getting the shot too.

For example, after recent outbreaks, residents in ski-town Whistler, B.C. are being offered early COVID-19 vaccines. Although Hanser wishes she too was getting the vaccine, she said, from an epidemiological standpoint, vaccines simply need to get into the arms of those at risk.

The only thing that really matters ultimately is that people don't get sick, she said.

The vaccine has created the sense of who should get it first and so people sometimes want to just to police that or [say] they maybe don't agree with it, she added.

Sundaram, who is glad that people are getting vaccinated, reminded those left out of vaccine eligibility at the moment that it is not a zero-sum game, in that if someone gets a vaccine, it means I cant have that vaccine.

While many in the medical community have heavily criticizing the vaccine rollout in provinces such as Ontario for excluding swathes of essential workers, Sundaram urged them not to focus their anger on patients.

What I find useful is, again, to keep in mind that anyone who's getting vaccinated is benefitting me, because the more people that are vaccinated, the more benefit I get from reduced risk of transmission, Sundaram explained.

And to that extent, you can try to celebrate that and be happy that that's happening, she added.

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Why you shouldn't ask people how they got their COVID-19 shot before you - CTV News

Hospital workers tend to a Covid-19 patient at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England, last month. Researchers have found that the so-called U.K. variant of the coronavirus isn't more likely to lead to death or severe illness. Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Hospital workers tend to a Covid-19 patient at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, England, last month. Researchers have found that the so-called U.K. variant of the coronavirus isn't more likely to lead to death or severe illness.

People infected with the U.K. variant of the coronavirus didn't experience more severe symptoms and weren't more likely to die from this particular strain, according to a new study of hospitalized patients published Monday.

The strain, called the B.1.1.7 variant, remains more contagious than original strains of the virus however, according to the study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The U.K. strain is believed to have first emerged in England in September 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is now the most common strain in the U.S.

Researchers for The Lancet study collected samples from patients at the University College London Hospital and the North Middlesex University Hospital between Nov. 9 to Dec 20, 2020. The samples were collected just prior to a surge in hospitalizations in England and Ireland due to the rapid spread of this particular strain of the coronavirus.

Scientists sequenced samples from 341 patients and found 58 percent were positive for the B.1.1.7 variant. The other 42 percent were infected with a different strain, according to the study. Researchers compared the severity of symptoms between the two groups and found those with the B.1.1.7 strain were not particularly worse off than those with other virus variants.

Patients who tested positive for the the B.1.1.7 variant also reportedly had higher "viral loads," or greater amounts of the virus in their bodies.

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U.K. Coronavirus Strain Does Not Lead To More Severe Illness And Death, Study Finds - NPR

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) State health officials say 24.5% of Kansans have finished getting their COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says 1.06 million Kansans have received at least one dose. That is up 15,082 since Friday morning. 713,463 Kansans have completed getting their shots.

The KDHE releases the vaccine and the coronavirus case updates each Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Since Friday morning, the number of Kansas deaths linked to COVID-19 increases by 2, bringing the states death toll to 4,955. There have been 17 new hospitalizations linked to the coronavirus. The KDHE does not track recoveries.

Of 3,986 people tested for the coronavirus, 429 tested positive for the virus.

County coronavirus cases updated: April 19, 2021Weekly doses updated April 19, 2021Sources:Kansas Department of Health and EnvironmentNebraska Department of Health and Human ServicesOklahoma State Department of Health

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Coronavirus in Kansas: Almost 25% of Kansans are finished getting COVID vaccine - KSN-TV

The latest:

The Ontario government voted against a series of Opposition motions aimed at supporting essential workers on Monday, including one that sought to create a provincial paid sick-leave program.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath presented the motions which required unanimous consent of the legislature to pass during a session on Monday. She called on Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives to pass the sick-leave motion, but the government voted against the measure.

Government House Leader Paul Calandrasaid he anticipates the federal government will announce further enhancements to itssick-day program today. The province has thus far rejected calls for a provincial program, saying it would be needless overlap withfederal supports.

Advocates have been calling on the Ford government to bring in paid sick leave for months, saying it would help support essential workers during the pandemic.The provincial COVID-19 science advisory table and other health experts have repeatedly called onFord and his cabinet to institute a provincially run paid sick-leave program.

The federal counterpart, the Canadarecovery sickness benefit (CRSB), is "too complicated, not enough and the help comes too late," Dr. Peter Jni, the science table's director, told CBC News Network on Monday.

WATCH | Support essential workers , expert tells Ontario government:

Ontario reported 4,447 new cases of COVID-19 and 19 related deaths on Monday. Meanwhile, students across the province returned to the virtual classroom as school buildings remain shuttered following the spring break.

Faced with surging cases and a strained health-care system,checkpoints are also now posted at interprovincial border crossings in Ontario. Ford announced restrictions on travelling between provinces on Friday as part of a bid to curb transmission and ease some of the pressure on the health-care system.

As of 6p.m. ET on Monday, Canada had reported 1,131,779confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 88,327considered active. A CBC News tally of deaths stood at23,667.

Canada has now administered more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to the latest figures from CBC's vaccine tracker.

InQuebec on Monday, health officials reported1,092 new cases of COVID-19 and 15 additional deaths. According to a provincial dashboard, hospitalizations stood at686, with 183 in intensive care.

Across the North,Nunavut on Monday reported six new cases, bringing the number of active cases in the territory to 28. Premier Joe Savikataaq said all of the cases were in Iqaluit.

In Atlantic Canada,Nova Scotiareported 15 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, whileNew Brunswickreported nine new cases. BothNewfoundland and LabradorandPrince Edward Islandreportedthree new casesin their respective provinces.

P.E.I. is also increasingtravel restrictions in an effort to control the number of COVID-19 cases in the province. All non-resident travel to the island from outside Atlantic Canada is on hold until at least May 17, while rotational workers and truck drivers who arrive in the province will need to isolate until they receive a negative COVID-19 test, even if they are vaccinated.

Manitobareported 108 new COVID-19 cases on Mondayand became the latest province to lower the age eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines.Anyone 40 and over can now get the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine a change thatfollows similar moves by Ontario and Alberta overthe weekend.

The province is also tighteningsome of its COVID-19 restrictions due to rising case numbers. Starting Tuesday, weddings, funerals and outdoor public gatherings will be capped at 10 people down from 25 and capacity at retail stores will drop to 33 per cent from 50 per cent as of Wednesday.

Premier Brian Pallistersaid the measures are needed to contain the spread of the coronavirus whilevaccination effortscontinue.

Saskatchewanreported 243 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, whileAlbertareportedreported 1,391 new cases and three related deaths.

British Columbiaannounced thatresidents aged 40 and over in 13 high-risk communities will be the focus of an immunization program this week with the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine.

The province which announced 2,960 new COVID-19 cases and eight related deaths over the last three days also announced a slew of travel restrictions and extended pandemic restrictions on indoor dining at restaurants and bars until the end of the long weekend in May.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the measures, which also restrict adult activities at gyms, will continue beyond the initial three-week deadline because the province is in "a very challenging situation."

As of early Monday afternoon, more than 141.5million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a tracking tool maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than three million.

The World Health Organization's emergency committee recommended on Monday that proof of vaccination not be required as a condition of international travel, maintaining its stance on the issue under growing debate.

WATCH |Joy, tears, hugs as Australia, N.Z. begin travel bubble:

In theAmericas, the White House said that"it has never been easier" to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot as all people 16 and older are eligible for vaccines nationwide as of Monday. President Joe Bidenencouragedpeople to book appointments immediately and to encourage family and friends to do the same.

On Sunday the country reached the milestone of having 50 per centof adults at least partially vaccinated.

Schools in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires will open after all on Mondayafter a court overruled a federal order requiring classes to go online for two weeks amid a surge in cases that has brought hospitals to near collapse.

In theMiddle East,vaccination against COVID-19 is a requirement to perform the Umra pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi state TV said on Sunday, citing a government official.

In theAsia-Pacificregion,New Delhi imposed a week-long lockdownon Monday night to prevent the collapse of the Indian capital's health system, which authorities said had been pushed to its limit amid an explosive surge in coronavirus cases.

In scenes familiar from surges elsewhere, ambulances catapulted from one hospital to another, trying to find an empty bed over the weekend, while patients lined up outside of medical facilities waiting to be let in.

"People keep arriving, in an almost collapsing situation," said Dr. Suresh Kumar, who heads Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, one of New Delhi's largest hospitals for treating COVID-19 patients.

Pakistan's minister for planning and development said Monday that authorities are struggling to maintain the much-needed supply of oxygen to hospitals for COVID-19 patients. Asad Umar, who also oversees Pakistan's response to the coronavirus, said on Twitter that hospitals were continuously receiving coronavirus patients amid a surge in new cases.

In Africa, Tunisiaannounced the closure of all schools until April 30, as well as restrictions on movement, to slow the spread of COVID-19.

InEurope,Austria will only use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine once the European Medicines Agency has approved it, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, amid growing public frustration with the pace of vaccinations.

The European Union has exercised an option to acquire an additional 100 million doses of thePfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine, the two companies said.

The rest is here:

Coronavirus: What's happening in Canada and around the world on Monday - CBC.ca

The Seeker poured a strong cup of chai and lit a cigarette. He was onto something.

Alternating between a smartphone and a laptop, the former science teacher from the northeast Indian city of Bhubaneswar punched keywords into the search bar of CNKI, one of China's foremost databases of scientific papers.

Coronavirus, SARS, horseshoe bat, Yunnan.

It was May 18, 2020. At the time, the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, had infected fewer than 5 million people worldwide. Scientists were still attempting to unravel many of its mysteries. Chief among them was where, exactly, the virus had come from. The Seeker, too, was hooked on that mystery.

After a lot of trial and error, the Seeker stumbled upon exactly what he was looking for: a master's thesis written by a Chinese doctor. The document contained an account of six cases of "severe pneumonia caused by unknown viruses" in workers who had been cleaning an abandoned copper mine in Yunnan, China, in 2012. The patients' symptoms seemed eerily similar to those of COVID-19. Three of the patients, it said, died from the mystery illness.

The Yunnan mine and its resident bats, the Seeker knew, had been sampled by researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He'd uncovered a missing puzzle piece: an association between the closest known relative of the coronavirus and research conducted at the institute in Wuhan, China.

"Finding it, at that moment, felt big," the Seeker, says, "like a homicide detective solving a cold case."

Minutes after reading the abstract, he posted his find to Twitter, in a long tweet thread tagging members of a loosely defined group known as Drastic, a "Decentralized Radical Autonomous Search Team Investigating COVID-19." The master's thesis had the potential to rewrite the origin story of the pandemic.

A majority of scientists and experts agree that the coronavirus emerged after jumping from a wild animal to humans somewhere in or around Wuhan, where the first cases appeared in 2019. The pathogen is believed to have lived most of its life inside a bat, before acquiring genetic mutations, potentially through another species, and infecting humans.

Bats exiting a cave in Thailand. In a mine in southern China, bats were sampled by the Wuhan Institute of Virology after a spate of SARS-like pneumonia cases in 2012.

But an alternative theory posits that the pandemic began after SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, potentially the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A joint study by the World Health Organization and Chinese scientists in January and February 2021 considered this scenario "extremely unlikely." From the earliest days in the pandemic, it was represented as a conspiracy theory built on misinformation and fear.

But Drastic, and an increasing number of scientists, are convinced it requires further investigation.

In searching for the complete and naked truth surrounding the origins of COVID-19, this motley group of strangers has challenged the prevailing theories of the virus' beginnings by picking apart inconsistencies and trading data in the highly polarized theater of Twitter. This unorthodox approach has seen them branded by scientists and researchers as maniacs, thugs and conspiracy theorists. They've also been accused of racism, and their scientific credentials have been questioned.

On Twitter, where access to world-renowned scientists is just a click away, members of Drastic have targeted virologists and epidemiologists who refuse to engage with the lab leak theory, and they've even falsely accused some of working for the Chinese Communist Party. As a result, some scientists have understandably dismissed Drastic's findings and investigation out of hand.

But over the past year the group's discoveries have proven too important to ignore.

Two months before the Seeker's discovery, Rossana Segreto stumbled upon her own revelation. Segreto, a microbiologist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, had been growing skeptical about the coronavirus origin story from "very early on" in the pandemic. She'd quickly come around to the idea the virus may have leaked from a lab.

In March 2020, Segreto noticed an inconsistency in one of the papers on SARS-CoV-2's potential origins, published in Nature on Feb. 3, 2020. The research was led by Zhengli Shi, a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Shi has a long history working with bat coronaviruses, earning her the infamous title of China's "Bat woman."

Her Nature paper was big news because it described, for the first time, the closest relative of SARS-CoV-2: RaTG13, a bat coronavirus collected by her team. The research showed RaTG13's genetic fingerprint was 96.2% similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. It didn't show where RaTG13 was discovered.

The trouble with investigating the origins of COVID-19 is often not what is said, but what is unsaid.

Just two days later, another paper described an even closer match for SARS-CoV-2. It was dubbed "BtCov/4991." The paper showed 4991 had been discovered by Shi's group in an abandoned mineshaft in Yunnan, in 2013, and brought back to the virology institute in Wuhan.

However, unlike RaTG13, 4991 wasn't a whole genetic fingerprint, it was just a leftover fragment of one. Segreto wondered if it matched any other viruses known to science.

She turned to an online tool called BLAST, which functions like a search engine to match genetic fingerprints of discovered viruses. When she ran 4991 through the tool in March 2020, it returned a 100% match with RaTG13.

The 4991 fragment was actually just a small piece of RaTG13. They were the same virus.

The WIV had not documented the name change, which obscured where RaTG13 was originally discovered (an addendum was added to the paper by Shi's team on Nov. 17, 2020, nine months after it was published).

"I was so surprised," Segreto says.

It was a critical moment, made all the more startling when the Seeker discovered the master's thesis (a translation was later provided by Independent Science News). Taking the two pieces together, Drastic was able to link RaTG13 to the mineshaft in Yunnan, 1,000 miles southeast of Wuhan, where workers fell ill in 2012 from a COVID-like disease.

Twitter has been the platform of choice for Drastic's investigating, but their findings have often been ignored.

The lack of transparency from the Wuhan Institute of Virology prompted another Drastic member, Monali Rahalkar from India's Agharkar Research Institute, to publish a list of questions surrounding the miners' illnesses in October 2020. Many remain unanswered.

"The researchers at the WIV state that they have not closer virus to SARS-CoV-2 than RaTG13, and RaTG13 is clearly not the source of SARS-CoV-2 (it's far too distant). To me, these statements ring true because they would have very likely already published the sequence of any such virus if it had existed, particularly a virus that they would then do more work on. As such, the miners story tells us nothing about the emergence of SARS-CoV-2," according to Edward Holmes, a virologist at the University of Sydney.

As for their illness, experts at the Wuhan Institute of Virology retested blood samples from the sick miners, finding there was no evidence they were infected by a coronavirus. Instead, those experts suggest the miners may have suffered from a fungal infection. According to the Seeker's thesis find, which includes the opinion of China's foremost SARS expert, this is simply untrue.

Whether the miners' story can reveal more about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 is still to be explored, but the issues around transparency from researchers at the WIV has left a dangling thread Drastic continues to tug.

When Yuri Deigin first heard the lab leak hypothesis in January 2020, he thought it was all "bullshit conspiracy theory." He wanted to smash those conspiracy theories with "cold, hard scientific facts." So he started doing a little digging on some of the laboratories in Wuhan.

"Once I actually started reading up on what kind of research they were doing, I was worried that, you know, this could have been a lab leak," he says.

Deigin, a Russian-born scientist working on developing drugs to combat aging, published an article on Russian blog site Habr and on Facebook about a month before the Seeker found the master's thesis. In it, he questioned whether SARS-CoV-2 could have escaped from a lab. Prominent Russian biologists immediately discredited the work, suggesting he was pushing forward "crazy narratives."

When he posted a version in English on Medium, vocal virologists working on the coronavirus in the West mostly ignored it or disparaged it. One compared it to a racist manifesto. But Drastic took notice.

Deigin began convening with the group via Twitter. It was one of the few platforms where discussions on lab leaks were occurring. Facebook had flagged such pieces as "false information" in February and "it was impossible to post anything on Reddit and not have it taken down," Deigin says. (The COVID-19 subreddit is still removing lab leak content from Drastic members because "the authors are not scientists outright, or not in relevant fields.")

Part of the problem is that the origins story has become entangled in geopolitics and conspiracy. Bad actors have seized upon the lab leak theory for political gain, sometimes attempting to shift the blame for catastrophic failures in managing the pandemic. Instead of remaining a scientific debate, the origin story morphed into a political one. For instance, in March 2020, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began propagating the idea that SARS-CoV-2 may have leaked from a Wuhan lab. The lab leak became intertwined with Trump, foreign policy and the right. Deigin says Trump weighing in "poisoned" the discussion.

The COVID19 subreddit removed Drastic content because it does not class the group as "reputable authors with relevant expertise."

In collaboration with Segreto, Deigin published a piece in open access journal BioEssays on Nov. 17, 2020 stating that "researchers have the responsibility to consider all possible causes for SARSCoV2 emergence." The piece discusses another loose thread Drastic has investigated for months: the modification and deletion of a 10-year-old database of viruses maintained by Shi's team at the WIV, taken offline in September 2019, allegedly to protect against hacking attempts.

Shi told the BBC that the database contains no new information and that all the work regarding bat coronaviruses found by the Institute has been published. But Deigin, other Drastic members and a growing number of scientists are calling for the database's contents to be made public.

Deigin sees himself as something of an outsider and says investigating the origins of SARS-CoV-2 hasn't threatened his professional life. It's a different story for Segreto. Her family is "not happy" about all the time she dedicates to the theory, she says, and some of her colleagues are concerned it could ruin the image of their university.

But Segreto says she's motivated by trying to prevent the next pandemic. "I hope my daughter will understand me one day," she says.

Spend long enough in the Twitterverse looking into the lab origins debate, and you'll start to see a few familiar profiles. The most prolific appears to be helmed by a one-eyed, cartoon lab monkey: Twitter user @BillyBostickson.

Bostickson, whose profile picture shows the aforementioned monocular primate, says they have been using a pseudonym for 10 years for professional reasons in "a country with vicious state subversion laws." Since February, they've been working 15-hour days, spending a majority of their time neck-deep in SARS-CoV-2 research. "I feel burnt out," they recently tweeted.

Bostickson conceived and named Drastic, was one of the first people to bring members together in early 2020, and often collates the team's findings and outstanding questions in extensive Twitter threads. Before 2020, Bostickson says they hardly knew how to even compose a thread on the site, but the social media network has become invaluable. "Twitter serves as a very intuitive searchable database," they say.

Since early 2020, Drastic has swelled to 28 members. While Bostickson and others have organized the group and built a website, there's no overarching, obvious hierarchy. Members work in subgroups on specific questions related to the origins of SARS-CoV-2 but there are "very few rules," according to Gilles Demaneuf, a New Zealand-based data scientist who is part of the group. "I think the only rule we have is to respect people, and we're not pressing people to tell us who they are," he notes.

About half of the members prefer to remain anonymous, citing safety concerns, fear of losing their jobs and a constant stream of hacking attempts, according to Demaneuf. Drastic is only interested in telling the public enough about themselves to convince people they're "not a bunch of wackos hiding behind the internet," he says.

Even as Drastic has rattled cages and unearthed a trail of obfuscation, their heavy-handed approach hasn't always been received positively.

But working under pseudonyms has allowed for mudslinging and vitriol to fly. "It's nasty because people hide behind anonymity," says Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist from the University of New South Wales and WHO adviser. You don't have to search for very long to run into Drastic members clashing with prominent virologists. Many members have been blocked by those who have vocally supported a natural origin of SARS-CoV-2.

There have been ugly incidents on Twitter, further complicating genuine debate around the origins question.

Segreto, for instance, was falsely accused of attacking Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security, though this was denied by her former head of department. Rasmussen has stated Segreto has participated in attacks against her online, calling the conducthurtful and upsetting.

Holmes, the virologist at the University of Sydney, has collaborated closely with researchers in China and co-authored a highly cited Nature Medicine paper supporting the natural origin theory in March 2020. Bostickson has dubbed him a "Chinese puppet," and others have erroneously suggested that Holmes, with researchers working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology including Shi Zhengli, conspired to keep the origins of the pandemic a secret. Holmes has blocked many Drastic members on Twitter because member's tweets have descended into personal attacks. He vehemently denies Bostickson's baseless claims.

Members of the WHO-China mission, including Peter Daszak (right), arriving at the Wuhan Institute of Virology

Members of a WHO-China mission to study the origins of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan earlier this year have also come under fire. Much of the venom has been aimed at Peter Daszak, president of nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, a New York nonprofit that has helped fund research into coronaviruses in China. Daszak's close association with the WIV and its staff was perceived as a conflict of interest during the WHO-China study, and he has been a lightning rod for criticism. "Daszak needs to be charged with crimes against humanity," one Drastic member wrote.

The abrasive attacks have, at times, overshadowed the team's work.

"While I admire their tenacity, they are very much on the edge from a scientific perspective," says Nikolai Petrovsky, a vaccine developer at Flinders University in Australia. "They definitely have a role, but more as detectives sifting through the evidence than as scientific commentators."

The trouble with investigating the origins of COVID-19 is often not what is said, but what is unsaid.

Drastic's discoveries don't provide definitive evidence of a lab leak and don't prove any deliberate malfeasance on behalf of the Wuhan Institute of Virology or its collaborators, but they do highlight important holes in the story. At the very least, those holes reveal a problematic lack of transparency, but at worst Drastic members suggest they're indicative of a coverup, potentially implicating researchers in China and abroad.

On the other hand, many virologists point to Wuhan's wet markets as a starting point in the pandemic, but definitive evidence implicating the markets is lacking, too. Especially when it comes to the Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market, once thought to be pandemic Ground Zero. Eyewitness testimony from Chinese citizens and market authorities state that no live animals were sold there, and the data gathered so far has not located SARS-CoV-2 in any animal samples. The implication here, then, is that citizens and market officials must be obscuring the truth.

The only way to resolve these issues is to gather more evidence. Drastic has been doing what they can with online tools and databases for over a year. But there is now a chorus of voices asking for an independent investigation to occur.

On March 5, a group of scientists and researchers, in collaboration with some Drastic members including Demaneuf and Segreto, published an open letter in The Wall Street Journal and French publication Le Monde calling for a "full and unrestricted investigation" into the origins of the coronavirus. They reason that such an investigation can only be carried out by a team independent of the WHO, which did not have the capability to adequately scrutinize a leak when it visited Wuhan in early 2021.

A wet market in Shanghai. A similar kind of market, selling vegetables, seafood and wildlife has been implicated in the early spread of COVID-19, according to a WHO-China study into the pandemic's origin.

Some signatories of the open letter have pointed out how important Drastic has been in finding clues and gathering data, including the link between RaTG13, the master's thesis and the miners. Yet even as Drastic has rattled the cages and unearthed a trail of obfuscation, their heavy-handed approach hasn't always been received positively by virologists, other researchers or the WHO.

A recent 120-page report, released by the joint WHO-China team in Wuhan, found a laboratory origin of the pandemic to be "extremely unlikely." The highly anticipated study offered a number of recommendations for continued work in tracing the origin of the coronavirus, but none describes ongoing investigation of a lab leak.

It made no reference to the sick miners, except in an annexed section detailing a visit to the WIV, and didn't provide raw data from the missing databases Drastic has called for. Some members expressed their disappointment in the report, others suggested it was "doctored." They weren't alone. On the day of the report's release, 14 countries, including the US, the UK and Australia, published a statement voicing concerns about a lack of access to complete, original data and samples in Wuhan.

The highly politicized debate and lack of definitive evidence surrounding the origins of SARS-CoV-2 suggests we're still far from solving the puzzle. But in just over a year, a motley group of strangers have come together and helped shift the narrative -- if only slightly. "Working together we have been able to change the idea of a lab leak from conspiracy to a real possibility," says Segreto.

It was once taboo to even mention an accidental leak. In March, once the WHO-China mission was complete, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO's director general, said that "all hypotheses remain on the table."

"Do we ever get an answer?" Deigin asks. "I hope, eventually, we do."

Updated April 19: Includes full quote regarding the miners and denial of Bostickson's accusations from Edward Holmes.

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How the coronavirus origin story is being rewritten by a guerrilla Twitter group - CNET

Johns Hopkins University says that more than three million people have died since the start of the pandemic last March.

According to their data, the U.S. has the highest amount of confirmed deaths at more than 566,000.

Brazil and Mexico follow behind the U.S. at about 368,000 and 211,000 confirmed deaths.

The World Health Organization is warning that this week is a critical point in the pandemic as global deaths are averaging 12,000 per day.

They also say case counts around the world are nearing all time highs that have not been seen since January.

For all the latest global coronavirus data, including cases, deaths and recoveries, click here.

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Coronavirus Crisis: More Than Three Million People Have Died Due To Virus - 9 & 10 News - 9&10 News

WASHINGTON (AP) The State Department is urging Americans not to travel overseas because of the risks from the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. hasnt had a global warning against international travel since August, when guidance was revoked by the Trump administration. The department said Monday that a revaluation of travel advice for countries around the world would result in about 80% of them being classified as Level 4 or do not travel. Travel is also discouraged for the remaining 20%, though not as emphatically. The department says it will begin to be roll out new advice for specific countries over the coming week.

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US warns against travel to 80% of world due to coronavirus - WBNG-TV