Category: Corona Virus

(CNN) -- Mass vaccinations and natural protection from those already infected are likely to prevent a fourth wave of COVID-19 in the United States, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday.

"We're talking about some form of protective immunity in about 55% of the population," Gottlieb said on CBS's Face the Nation. "There's enough of a backstop here that I don't think you're going to see a fourth surge."

About 81 million people have had at least one dose of a vaccine, a number that is going up significantly every day. In addition, about 29 million people have tested positive for the virus and recovered, and tens of millions more have had COVID-19 without a positive test and have some natural immunity.

Still, the US will continue to see COVID-19 cases and deaths, Gottlieb cautioned, particularly as a dangerous variant first identified in the United Kingdom spreads.

"I think what you could see is a plateauing for a period of time before we continue on a downward decline -- in large part because (the UK variant) is becoming more prevalent, in large part because we're pulling back too quickly, with respect to taking off our masks and lifting the mitigation," he said.

Gottlieb also warned that the emergence of virus variants could change the nation's trajectory.

"The only thing that can be a real game changer here is if you have a variant that pierces prior immunity, meaning it reinfects people who've either already been infected or who have been vaccinated," he said.

Gottlieb's comments come as the number of US COVID-19 cases has plateaued at about 50,000 new cases per day over the last seven days. Several experts have warned of another surge as the US races to vaccinate and stay ahead of the variant.

"This is crunch time," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN on Saturday. "This is going to be our most difficult period right now in terms of seeing who wins out."

With about a quarter of all Americans having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine -- and about 13% fully vaccinated -- doubling down on safety measures now is what could help curb another surge, experts have repeatedly stressed.

"If we can hang on another month, another six weeks, that's going to make a huge difference," Hotez added.

However, air travel is hitting pandemic-era records and spring break crowds are swelling. In Miami Beach, officials declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to crowds the mayor says have been "more than we can handle."

And at least a dozen governors and multiple local leaders have eased restrictions this month, while several have done away with mask mandates completely.

In Michigan, where the governor announced a series of eased restrictions earlier this month, officials now say the state could potentially be at the start of another surge.

"Our progress with COVID-19 is fragile," Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, said in a news conference Friday. "While we're making great progress with our vaccination efforts and many people are doing the right thing by wearing masks and not gathering in large groups, what we are seeing now is very concerning data that shows that we are going in the wrong direction."

Case rates have been increasing for the past month, Khaldun said, and increased 77% since mid-February.

The state's percent of COVID-19 tests that are positive have also jumped 177% since mid-February, Khaldun said. And hospitalization rates have also been climbing for the past two weeks, Khaldun added.

Michigan has also reported the country's second-highest number of cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, after Florida, according to CDC data.

"It's immensely concerning," Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency room physician in the state, told CNN Saturday. "We know in the past, cases went up, then hospitalizations, then deaths followed."

Davidson told CNN he's even more worried now that variants are circulating, and hopes the state can make enough headway to protect residents.

"It remains to be seen," Davidson said. "We just would rather not wait and find out. We'd rather get people to mask up, keep distancing and get those numbers down."

More than 44 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

The growing numbers are encouraging, but experts say the country still has a long way to go to reach the levels needed to suppress spread of the virus -- and must address the vaccine hesitancy as well as political divisions that stand in the way.

In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson said Friday that while he encouraged everyone to get vaccinated and thinks it's the right thing to do, he knows there will be a "certain amount of people" who are not going to take the vaccine, "and they have every right to do that."

"We got to do a better job of making sure everybody understands the importance of the vaccine, and yet maintain the respect of people that don't want to take a vaccine, and it is going to be a challenge to see how many people we can get done, but we're going to do everything we can," the governor said.

A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS, showed that while 92% of Democrats say they have gotten a dose of the vaccine or plan to get one, that falls to 50% among Republicans.

The former head of Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, said he is very concerned by vaccine hesitancy fueled by politics.

"I'm very concerned that, for political motivation, people decide to actually place themselves and the people around them in harm's way by refusing to be vaccinated," Slaoui said in an interview broadcast Sunday on Face the Nation.

Slaoui also pushed back against President Joe Biden's criticism of the Trump Administration's vaccine plans, defending Operation Warp Speed's efforts last year.

"I do think that we had plans, and in fact, 90% of what's happening now is the plan that we had," Slaoui said.

"We contracted specifically 100 million doses of vaccine, but also built into the contract options to acquire more vaccines, once we knew they are effective. The plan was to order more vaccines when we knew they are more effective," he said. "What's happening is, frankly, what was the plan -- substantially, what was the plan."

CNN's Pete Muntean, Carma Hassan, Mirna Alsharif and Alec Snyder contributed to this report.

The rest is here:

Another coronavirus surge is unlikely but the pandemic isn't going away, former FDA chief says - FOX Carolina

Traffic passes along the Champs Elysee avenue near the Arc de Triomph in Paris, France, on Friday, March 19, 2021. French President Emmanuel Macronis locking down several regions including the Paris area, slowing down the countrys economic recovery as it struggles to contain a third wave of the coronavirus epidemic. Photographer: Cyril Marcilhacy/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The French capital and northern parts of the country will enter a new lockdown Friday, although schools and essential shops will stay open.

The country's seven-day average of new coronavirus cases rose above 25,000 this week for the first time since November.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel had announced an easing of lockdowns in March. That was when the number of infections per 100,000 people over seven days was at 65.

But that number is now at 96 and there are real fears that infections at Easter could mirror what they were at Christmas.

"The rising case numbers may mean that we cannot take further opening steps in the weeks to come," German Health Minister Jens Spahn told a news conference Friday, according to Reuters.

"On the contrary, we may even have to take steps backwards."

Poland has also seen a huge surge in infections with approximately 52% of new cases linked to the variant from Britain, according to Reuters.

Total cases for the country pushed passed 2 million on Friday with 25,998 in the last 24 hours.

CNBC's Bryn Bache contributed to this article.

Read more from the original source:

Charts show that Europe's third coronavirus wave has begun - CNBC

Relman agrees that in the absence of conclusive evidence, the message on origins should be We dont know. After the Lancet statement, and then a subsequent paper on SARS-CoV-2s origins written by scientists who concluded that we do not believe any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible, he found himself increasingly disheartened by those who he claimed had seized on a spillover scenario, despite an amazing absence of data. Relman says he felt he had to push back. So he wrote a widely disseminated opinion piece in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claiming that a lab origin was among several potential scenarios; that conflicts of interest among those on all sides of the issue had to be revealed and addressed; and that uncovering SARS-CoV-2s true origins was essential for preventing another pandemic. Efforts to investigate the origins, he wrote, have become mired in politics, poorly supported assumptions and assertions, and incomplete information.

One of the first media calls after the opinion piece was published came from Laura Ingraham at Fox News, Relman says. He declined the interview.

When asked why he thought Daszak and others pushed so strongly against the possibility of a lab leak, Relman says they may have wanted to deflect perceptions of their work as endangering humankind. With so-called gain of function experiments, for instance, scientists genetically manipulate viruses to probe their evolutionsometimes in ways that boost virulence or transmissibility. This sort of research can reveal targets for drugs and vaccines for viral diseases, including covid-19, and was used at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in studies showing that certain bat coronaviruses were just a few mutations away from being able to bind to human ACE2. A 2015 paper in Nature Medicine notes that the potential to prepare for and mitigate future outbreaks must be weighed against the risk of creating more dangerous pathogens.

Relman proposes that among those trying to suppress the lab-release hypothesis, there might have been far too much protection of ones self and ones peers before allowing a really important question to receive a hearing. And scientists collaborating with researchers in China might worry about their working relationship if they say anything other than This threat comes from nature.

Other scientists say opposition to the lab-leak hypothesis was grounded more in a general disbelief that SARS-CoV-2 could have been deliberately engineered. This is what became politicized, Perlman says. As to whether the virus may have escaped after evolving naturally, he says that is more difficult to rule in or rule out.

FEATURECHINA VIA AP IMAGES

In an email message last week, Relman added that the question may never be fully settled. From the natural-spillover angle, it would take a confirmed contact between a proven naturally infected host species (e.g., bat) and a human or humans who can be shown with reliable, confirmed time-and-place details to have become infected as a result of the encounter, ahead of any other known human cases, Relman says, and then shown to have passed on the infection to others. As for the lab-leak scenario, there would need to be confirmed evidence of possession of the virus ahead of the first cases, and a likely mechanism for escape into humansall of which become less likely with the passage of time. Finding the possible immediate parents of SARS-CoV-2 would help to understand the recent genomic/evolutionary history of the virus, he adds, but not necessarily how and where that history occurred.

As it stands now, pandemic preparedness faces two simultaneous fronts. On the one hand, the world has experienced numerous pandemic and epidemic outbreaks in the last 20 years, including SARS, chikungunya, H1N1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, several Ebola outbreaks, three outbreaks of norovirus, Zika, and now SARS-CoV-2. Speaking of coronaviruses, Ralph Baric, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says its hard to imagine there arent variants in bats with mortality rates approaching MERSs 30% that also have a transmissibility that is much more efficient. He adds That is terrifying. Baric is emphatic that genetic research with viruses is essential to staying ahead of the threat.

Yet according to Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, lab-release dangers are growing as well. The risk increases in proportion with the number of labs handling bioweapons and potential pandemic pathogens (more than 1,500 globally in 2010), he says, many of them, like the Wuhan lab, located in urban areas close to international airports. The most dramatic expansion has occurred in China during the last four yearsdriven as an arms-race-style reaction to biodefense expansion in the US, Europe, and Japan, Ebright wrote in an email to Undark.China opened two new BSL-4 facilities, in Wuhan and in Harbin, in the last four years, he added, and has announced plans to establish a network of hundreds of new BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs.

Meanwhile, squabbles over SARS-CoV-2s origins continue, some of them heated. During a recent exchange on Twitter, Chan was compared to a QAnon supporter and an insurrectionist. A few months prior, she had tweeted about issues of research integrity and stated that if the actions of scientists and journal editors were to obscure the origins of the virus, then those individuals would be complicit in the deaths of millions of people. (Chan has since deleted that tweet, which she says she regrets posting.)

Tempers are high, Nielsen says, making it hard for qualified scientists to have any sort of serious discussion.

In Australia, Petrovksy says he is trying to stay above the fray. He says he was warned to avoid speaking publicly about his modeling findings. A lot of people advised us, Even if its good science, dont talk about it. It will have a negative impact on your vaccine development. You will get attacked; they will try to discredit you. But in the end, thats not what happened, says Petrovsky. Last year, amid the origins debate, his team became the first in the Southern Hemisphere to take a vaccine for covid-19 into human clinical trials.

If we are at the point where all science is politicized and no one cares about truth and only being politically correct, he says, we may as well give up and shut down and stop doing science.

Update: The story has been amended to indicate that more than one cave worker exposed to bat feces in Yunnan Province may have died.

Charles Schmidt is a recipient of the National Association of Science Writers Science in Society Journalism Award. His work has appeared in Science, Nature Biotechnology, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and the Washington Post, among other publications.

This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.

Read the original here:

Did the coronavirus leak from a lab? These scientists say we shouldnt rule it out. - MIT Technology Review

The number of identified coronavirus cases unsurprisingly climbed upward last week following a six-month low for Oregon.

The Oregon Health Authority recorded 2,272 confirmed or presumed infections for the week ending Sunday, March 14, up 31% from the previous week. Cases climbed despite a 27% decrease in week-to-week testing.

Oregons rise wasnt unexpected, however the previous weeks case count was the lowest since late September. Identified cases over the past four weeks have bounced up and down but generally have plateaued.

With more contagious variants circulating and businesses open for business, officials have warned theres risk for renewed spread. But deaths have plummeted in Oregon since the winter peak and climbing vaccinations will limit the number of people infected with a severe case of COVID-19.

Last week, ZIP codes in southern Oregon once again recorded the most new cases. Higher counts returned to the Portland area, as well.

The Oregonian/OregonLive is monitoring state coronavirus data, reporting by ZIP code the areas with the greatest weekly changes. Our analysis also highlights the areas with the most new cases in relation to population.

(Click here for an interactive map).

Heres a brief summary of the communities that added the most cases for the week ending Sunday, March 14:

97526 Grants Pass

This Josephine County ZIP code added 44 cases, raising its tally to 1,101. Thats the 52nd most in Oregon and 156th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97527 Grants Pass

This Josephine County ZIP code added 42 cases, raising its tally to 1,064. Thats the 55th most in Oregon and 173rd most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97501 Medford

This Jackson County ZIP code added 38 cases, raising its tally to 2,545. Thats the eighth most in Oregon and 44th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97301 Salem

This Marion County ZIP code added 38 cases, raising its tally to 3,482. Thats the most in Oregon and 32nd most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97230 east Portland/Gresham (Argay Terrace/Russell/Hazelwood/Wilkes)

This Multnomah County ZIP code added 36 cases, raising its tally to 2,463. Thats the ninth most in Oregon and 33rd most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97305 Salem

This Marion County ZIP code added 34 cases, raising its tally to 3,064. Thats the third most in Oregon and 22nd most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97045 Oregon City

This Clackamas County ZIP code added 33 cases, raising its tally to 1,955. Thats the 15th most in Oregon and 120th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97233 east Portland/Gresham (Hazelwood/Glenfair/Centennial/Rockwood)

This Multnomah County ZIP code added 33 cases, raising its tally to 3,157. Thats the second most in Oregon and 18th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97504 Medford

This Jackson County ZIP code added 31 cases, raising its tally to 2,129. Thats the 13th most in Oregon and 75th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

97420 Coos Bay

This Coos County ZIP code added 29 cases, raising its tally to 771. Thats the 75th most in Oregon and 195th most per capita since the start of the pandemic.

Heres a brief summary of the communities with at least 20 new cases that added the most new cases per capita for the week ending Sunday, March 14:

97526 Grants Pass

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 12 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, down slightly from the previous week.

The Josephine County ZIP code added 44 new cases, increasing its total to 1,101.

97527 Grants Pass

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 12 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, up slightly from the previous week.

The Josephine County ZIP code added 42 new cases, increasing its total to 1,064.

97470 Roseburg

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 11 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, down by about a quarter from the previous week.

The Douglas County ZIP code added 22 new cases, increasing its total to 549.

97801 Pendleton

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 11 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, up from the previous week.

The Umatilla County ZIP code added 22 new cases, increasing its total to 1,650.

97420 Coos Bay

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 10 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, down by about a third from the previous week.

The Coos County ZIP code added 29 new cases, increasing its total to 771.

97230 east Portland/Gresham (Argay Terrace/Russell/Hazelwood/Wilkes)

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 9 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, more than double from the previous week.

The Multnomah County ZIP code added 36 new cases, increasing its total to 2,463.

97220 east Portland (Sumner, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights)

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 9 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, more than double from the previous week.

The Multnomah County ZIP code added 26 new cases, increasing its total to 1,669.

97502 Central Point

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 9 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, down from the previous week.

The Jackson County ZIP code added 25 new cases, increasing its total to 1,220.

97501 Medford

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 8 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, down by about a third from the previous week.

The Jackson County ZIP code added 38 new cases, increasing its total to 2,545.

97233 east Portland/Gresham (Hazelwood/Glenfair/Centennial/Rockwood)

This ZIP code recorded new confirmed or presumed infections of 8 per 10,000 people during the week ending Sunday, up sharply from the previous week.

The Multnomah County ZIP code added 33 new cases, increasing its total to 3,157.

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

See the article here:

10 ZIP codes with the most new coronavirus cases in Oregon - OregonLive

(March 22, 2021) Three new coronavirus cases were reported on Nantucket Monday morning, increasing to 1,280 the total number of positive tests on the island since the pandemic began a year ago.

The results also included 22 negatives. Eighty-nine new COVID-19 cases have been reported on the island since March 1, and 18 in the past week. Health officials attributed the most recent surge to school-break-related travel. The public schools' winter break ended three weeks ago.

People ignored the travel orders and traveled anyway, Nantucket health director Roberto Santamaria said. This is the consequence of that.

Some of those who returned to the island infected with the virus then passed it on to others, he added.

"Though the people who were traveling may not be showing symptoms, they passed it on to other people, which has nowresulted in a secondary outrbeak. We must reiterate, mask orders, travel orders, social distancing, workplace orders and safety regulations are there not only to protect you, but to protect those who you come in contact with," Santamaria said.

"It is an understatement that no surge in cases is welcome. We must also recognize we are going to be particularly vulnerable in the coming weeks as the number of individuals on Nantucket climbs dramatically," Nantucket Cottage Hospital president and CEO Gary Shaw said in a statement to the community Friday.

"If the surge is not controlled it is not inconceivable that measures taken last year to stop the spread be reconsidered by the Department of Public Health, the town, and our Board of Health. Bells are ringing that we might listen and reflect on curbing behaviors that spread the virus."

Click hereto read Shaw's complete statement.

The 18 new cases reported in the past week represent a 4.7 percent positivity rate.

"Our biggest line of defense is you working together with us to help prevent the spread of this heinous virus. We are in the 24th mile of a full marathon. The end is near, but we cant quit now," Santamaria said in a recent Twitter message.

There have been four COVID-19 Nantucket deaths since last March, the most recent Dec. 22, 2020, a man in his mid-80s.

The second round of Phase 2 vaccinations, which prioritize those 65 and older and those whose health conditions pose a greater risk for serious COVID-19 illness, began in early March. Appointments for teachers, childcare workers and school staff opened March 11, and front-line workers and those over 60 are eligible ot begin scheduling appointments today. The state last week rolled out its plan for vaccination of the general public, which is scheduled to begin April 19. (Click here for story.

As of Monday, 4,105 first doses and 1,483 second doses of vaccine have been administered on Nantucket.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 8 issued its first set of guidelines for fully-vaccinated people.Click herefor more.

Free asymptomatic testing under the state's "Stop the Spread" program is administered indoors at the VFW on New South Road from 8-10 a.m. Monday-Saturday, but is limited to 75 tests per day.

Symptomatic testing is provided at the hospital's drive-through portico on Prospect Street from 7:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Hospital staff have collected 28,433 nasal swabs for testing since the start of the pandemic. In addition to the 1,280 positive tests 4.5 percent of the total number returned 27,150 have come back negative, and three are awaiting results.

The Board of Health on Dec. 11, 2020 established a COVID-19 task force to better enforce and raise awareness of coronavirus regulations (Click herefor story).

Gov Charlie Baker late last month lifted the 9:30 p.m. statewide restaurant closing time, and in early March increased capcacity limits for restaurants, theaters, museums and other indoor locations. Additional capacity increases took effect today (Click herefor story).

Part-time in-class learning for Nantucket public-school students resumed Jan. 14 after being remote only since before Christmas. State officials are targetting April 5 for a full return to in-class learning for elementary-school students, and later in April for middle- and high-school students.

"I ask everyone on Nantucket to take personal responsibility and do all you can to reduce the potential for transmission in our community. That means wearing masks, staying physically distant, washing your hands, and not hosting or attending gatherings with people outside your immediate households," Shaw said recently.

"Most of all, we want our community to stay healthy, we want our economy to remain open, we want our public schools to be able to return to in-person learning. To that end, we must work together and apply the simple preventive measures that will keep this situation from spiraling out of control."

There have been 1,217 coronavirus cases confirmed on Nantucket in the past six months, beginning Sept. 9, 2020 with a spike linked to workers in the trades, followed by a second surge in late September tied to a church function in which a communal meal was shared.

A third spike in early November was again tied to workers in the trades, followed by significant surges related to holiday gatherings and travel at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's.

Prior to Sept. 9, Nantucket had one of the lowest COVID-19 rates in the state per 100,000 population, and the fewest confirmed cases of any county in Massachusetts.

The state's current travel order requires all those entering Massachusetts from out of state, excluding Hawaii, to quarantine for two weeks or produce a negative COVID-19 test from the most recent 72 hours upon arrival. Failure to comply could result in a daily $500 fine.

The Board of Health on Oct. 6, 2020 voted to require all people on publicly-accessible property across the island to wear a mask, not just downtown and in Sconset, as was previously mandated, and limited public gatherings to 10 people or less indoors and outside

It decided in mid-November against tightening restrictions to limit the total number of workers on a job site to six in an attempt to stop the spread (Click herefor story).

Nantucket Cottage Hospital does not have an intensive-care unit and only five ventilators. Shaw has said patients in need of acute respiratory care would be transferred to mainland hospitals if at all possible.

The criteria for symptomatic drive-up testing at the hospital includes at least one of the following signs or symptoms consistent with a viral respiratory syndrome: subjective/documented fever, new sore throat, new cough, new runny nose/nasal congestion, new shortness of breath, new muscle aches or anosmia (new loss of sense of smell). Close contacts of COVID-19 positive patients and pre-procedure patients can also be tested.

For more information about symptomatic and asymptomatic testing,click here.

Click hereto sign up for Above the Fold, The Inquirer and Mirrors twice-weekly newsletter, bringing you both the news and a slice of island life, curated with content created by Nantuckets only team of professionally-trained journalists.

For up-to-the-minute information on Nantuckets breaking news, boat and plane cancellations, weather alerts, sports and entertainment news, deals and promotions at island businesses and more, Sign up for Inquirer and Mirror text alerts.Click Here

View original post here:

Three new coronavirus cases reported on Nantucket Monday - The Inquirer and Mirror

by: Dr. Mary Gillis, D.Ed.

Posted: Mar 19, 2021 / 05:35 PM EST / Updated: Mar 19, 2021 / 06:51 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Some are calling the coronavirus vaccine the freedom shot. But health experts are saying not so fast.

Were not in the clear just yet. In fact, its possible we never will be.

We know its very difficult to eradicate viral diseases, Dr. Amy Beth Kressel, infectious disease specialist at Eskenazi Health, told News 8. We were successful with smallpox. Were getting very close with polio and measles. But we havent eradicated them and COVID is so difficult because so many people can be sick and not know it. I definitely think [the coronavirus] is something we will have. We wont eradicate it.

Health experts have also raised the question if COVID-19 booster shots will be in the publics near future. Kressel says this could be the case, but we first have to understand how the vaccines work particularly against the new variants spreading like wildfire through the country.

Theres the South African and Brazilian variants where the vaccines seem to have lower antibody levels that are active, but may still be good enough, she said. There still needs to be more data about that. And then there are two new strains from California that we dont have a lot of information about. So, there is work going on now if we might need boosters.

News 8s medical reporter, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Gillis, D.Ed., is a classically trained medical physiologist and biobehavioral research scientist. She has been a health, medical and science reporter for over 6 years. Her work has been featured in national media outlets. You can follow her on Facebook @DrMaryGillis and Instagram @reportergillis.

Go here to read the rest:

Pandemic to epidemic: Why one Indiana doctor says the coronavirus is here to stay - WISHTV.com

Usually Steve Smyka wouldnt be the one pressing linen at the Cedar Rapids Marriott every day. Hed be a little busy running the hotel.

But during coronavirus pandemic, even the general manager has his hands on the laundry.

Now were doing 10 jobs as opposed to the normal five, Smyka said.

Its part of whats been a challenging past 12 months for the hotel industry, with coronavirus wreaking havoc on the travel industry.

Ravi Patel, president of Coralville-based Hawkeye Hotels, said hotels were at all-time highs in occupancy, average daily rate, revenue per room and other metrics before the coronavirus.

Then came a very, very disappointing start to the pandemic. Hawkeye Hotels, which has properties across the country, lost 90 percent of its top-line revenue in the first month of the pandemic, he said.

Patel said the hardships affected each region differently.

We have properties in the South that have been rebounding much quicker than properties in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, in areas like that, he said.

In places such as Iowa City or Des Moines, Patel said demand is pretty severely depressed. University-related hotel stays have been down in Iowa City, and business travel is slow in Des Moines.

Patel and Smyka both noted a boost in business in Cedar Rapids, though, after the Aug. 10 derecho.

That wouldve been a pretty tough market for us, Patel said. But then there was some increased demand through recovery efforts after the derecho.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

At first, that came from people whose houses were uninhabitable. Then construction crews, recovery workers, contractors and others moved in.

It was fruitful for a while there, Smyka recalled. It was the silver lining of yet another crisis in 2020.

Across the country, extended-stay hotels have been quite a bit better than single-night hotels, Patel said. The derecho added to that in Iowa.

Youth sports tournaments also have provided a bright spot for hotels near youth sports venues.

When a youth baseball tournament is at Prospect Meadows in Marion, Smyka said it often results in another 50 to 100 rooms filled in the 220-room Cedar Rapids Marriott. Other days, its not so crowded.

Its very hit or miss, Smyka said.

Matt Traetow, the area general manager for Hotel Equities, has seen a similar trend with youth tournaments at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. Traetow manages the Homewood Suites across the street from Xtream Arena as well as managing the Home2 Suites also in Coralville.

We had three days of sellouts because of the events going on last week, Traetow said.

But when youth sports tournaments arent happening, the outlook is bleaker.

Business travel is slowly, slowly starting to gain a little, but thats going to take a while, Traetow said.

Business travel usually would be north of 80 percent of the hotels business, Traetow said. Now, it is about 50 percent.

Even with youth sporting events, Smyka said occupancy is far from pre-pandemic levels.

At the end of the day, were still talking less than half of what it would normally be, Smyka said.

Its funny because I hear myself getting excited about half of the occupancy I was doing at this time last year.

Patel expects the first quarter of 2021, from January to March, to look much like the last quarter of 2020.

Everyone was thinking as soon as 2021 rolled around, wed see a big bump, Patel said. That hasnt happened yet. ... We still have not seen the consumer confidence and the receptivity to travel yet.

But looking farther ahead, hoteliers are optimistic about the industry as vaccine rollout continues.

President Joe Biden told states that all adults should be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1. Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday said all of-age Iowans should be eligible to receive the vaccine starting April 5.

Jay Anderkin, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Cedar Rapids, said bookings in the area have grown stronger with each passing month.

Anderkin pointed to high school graduations, the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships and NJCAA Volleyball Championships as some of the upcoming events that should help his property and others in Cedar Rapids.

Smyka said the Cedar Rapids Marriott has been getting many calls about future events.

Theyre inquiring and theyre calling on fire, Smyka said. We cant field the calls fast enough.

Hes still short-staffed, though, as the hotel works to bring back employees.

You cant snap your fingers and bring people back, Smyka said.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

Before the pandemic, Smyka usually would have 140 employees at the Cedar Rapids Marriott. Now he has 53, causing him to take on untypical roles such as pressing linen.

At the same time, those event calls hes taking might not pan out right away.

Theyre still booking farther out on events, Smyka said. As they draw nearer, theyre still skittish.

While some industries such as financial services are nearing pre-pandemic levels of employment, the leisure and hospitality still is down 26,800 jobs between January 2020 and January 2021, according to data from Iowa Workforce Development.

Patel said his hotels have been bringing laid-off employees back pretty quickly in anticipation of the demand thats going to be here this summer and fall.

The company also is continuing to proceed with future hotel projects, which in some cases may not be ready to open until 2023.

We continue to plan to be very active and very bullish as we always have been, Patel said.

Hawkeye Hotels has needed to borrow money from local lenders while also taking advantage of federal programs such as the Payroll Protection Program.

Without that, we would be in a very, very different situation, Patel said.

Even with the anticipated uptick in hotel demand, hoteliers expect a longer wait until travel returns to 2019 levels.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ADVERTISEMENT

For us to get back to 85 percent to 90 percent of where we were pre-pandemic, its going to be well into 2022, Patel said. And probably not a full recovery until 2023, 2024.

In the meantime, Smyka has found one task that gives him a break kind of.

When I drive airline crews to the airport, its the only time I get to sit down and relax, Smyka said.

I actually look forward to get to drive to the airport uninterrupted for a little bit.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com

More here:

Eastern Iowa hotels get ready for gradual recovery from coronavirus pandemic - The Gazette

CHICAGO Officials in at least 20 states have committed in recent days to opening coronavirus vaccine appointments to all adults in March or April, part of a fast-moving expansion as states race to meet President Bidens goal of universal eligibility by May 1.

In Ohio, all adults will be allowed to seek shots starting March 29. In Connecticut, April 5. In Alaska and Mississippi, all adults are already able to book appointments.

And on Thursday and Friday, officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Maryland, Missouri, Maine and Vermont said that all adults would be allowed in April to sign up for a shot, while the governors of Utah and North Dakota set universal eligibility to begin this month.

But even as the pace of vaccinations has accelerated to about 2.5 million shots each day nationwide, the country finds itself at a precarious point in the pandemic. Cases, deaths and hospitalizations have all fallen sharply from January peaks, yet infection levels have plateaued this month, at about 55,000 new cases a day. While governors relax restrictions on businesses like bars, indoor gyms and casinos, highly infectious variants are spreading and some states, especially on the East Coast, have struggled for weeks to make any progress in reducing cases.

I think it is a race against time, said Dr. Stephen J. Thomas, SUNY Upstate Medical Universitys chief of infectious disease. Every single person that we can get vaccinated or every single person that we can get a mask on is one less opportunity that a variant has.

As parts of the country continue to see progress, many Americans are booking spring break trips, dining in newly reopened restaurants and replanning summer weddings that were abruptly canceled in 2020. On Friday, federal health officials relaxed a six-foot distancing rule for elementary school students, saying they need to only remain three feet apart in classrooms as long as everyone is wearing a mask. That move was intended to encourage more schools to open for in-person classes.

All the while, the path ahead and public guidance about how people should behave in this moment seems uncertain, even contradictory.

Though deaths have dropped considerably in New York, progress in reducing cases has stalled. The state has more recent cases per capita than everywhere except New Jersey, and the New York City metro area has the countrys second-highest rate of new infections, behind only Idaho Falls, Idaho.

People will be reckless, I dont know how else to say it, said Carol Greenberg, a pet care worker in Jersey City, N.J., who said she worried that people were starting to act in ways that did not accurately reflect the number of new virus cases in that state, where more than 26,000 new infections were reported in the seven-day period ending Thursday.

Ms. Greenberg, 61, has been fully vaccinated, but her adult children have not, and she said she wondered whether all the reopening announcements of late were wise. In recent days, Gov. Phil Murphy urged a return to in-person instruction at New Jersey schools and announced a loosening of restrictions at restaurants, bars, salons and other businesses.

No vaccine has yet been authorized for use in people under 16, though trials are underway to see if they are safe and effective in children.

Epidemiologists said they viewed the current moment in the pandemic as a sprint between vaccinations and newly confirmed cases of the virus, particularly infections that are spreading because of variants that can be more contagious. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert, warned Friday that its really quite risky to declare victory before you have the level of infection in the community to a much, much lower level than 53,000 cases per day.

So it is unfortunate, but not surprising, to me that you are seeing increases in number of cases per day in areas cities, states or regions even though vaccines are being distributed at a pretty good clip of 2 to 3 million per day, Dr. Fauci said.

In Chicago, where students in the nations third-largest public school system have returned to classrooms, and where parks, bars and movie theaters are reopened, city officials announced that restaurant employees, construction workers and people who have pre-existing health conditions would be newly eligible for vaccination by the end of March. Cook County, which includes Chicago, has averaged between 600 and 700 cases each day for nearly a month, down from about 4,500 cases a day at its November peak.

Weve weathered a lot of storms over the course of this year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago said after visiting a vaccination site this week. Weve got to stay diligent. Weve got to continue to work hard. But we are moving exactly in the right directions.

March 19, 2021, 8:12 p.m. ET

Still, the citys usual outsize enthusiasm for observing a springtime ritual going out on St. Patricks Day was muted, at best. On Wednesday, few pedestrians were wandering on downtown streets, typically packed with revelers on the holiday. The Chicago River had been dyed its traditional bright shade of green, but the popular Riverwalk alongside it was nearly empty.

Jacob Roberts, 29, was downtown on Wednesday, taking a vacation from his home in Washington State. The trip to Chicago was a bucket-list visit he had always wanted to take.

I was cooped up in Washington and getting sick of everybody looking kind of down in the dumps, he said. But its honestly the same thing everywhere you look right now.

Though tourism has yet to return in force in places like New York and Chicago, the countrys outlook in battling the virus appears far better than when winter began.

No state is reporting case numbers anywhere near record levels, and the sort of explosive case growth seen in hard-hit areas through 2020 has almost completely abated. Kansas is averaging about 215 new coronavirus cases a day, down from more than 2,000 in early January. In California, around 2,900 cases are reported most days, down from about 40,000 in mid-January. And North Dakota, which has the countrys most known cases per capita, is now regularly adding fewer than 100 cases a day, in a state with a population of 762,000.

A projection by the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggests that coronavirus cases will continue to slowly decline in the United States in the coming months.

But with most Americans still unvaccinated and variants continuing to spread, there are warning signs in the data. Vermont, which escaped the worst of the pandemic in 2020, has struggled all of this year to curb an outbreak. Michigan, which had appeared to bring the virus under control in January, has seen case numbers increase by more than 80 percent over the last two weeks, though they remain well below their December peak. In South Florida, infection levels have remained persistently high, with about 1,000 cases reported each day in a single county, Miami-Dade.

Even in states where the virus appeared far from under control, officials have proceeded to lift restrictions on businesses, and companies have pushed for reopenings. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced that indoor fitness classes may resume on March 22. In Southern California, where cases peaked early this winter, officials at Disneyland said that after more than a year of being closed, the theme park would open on April 30 with rules in place limiting capacity.

Around the country, some people said they were hesitant to dive back into old routines, even if their elected officials have indicated that it is permissible to do so.

I used to be regular at a gym twice a week or so, and I havent been since last February at all, said Paul Eustice, 64, who lives in downtown Chicago. I will not go in there where people are breathing heavily.

Last week, air travel in the United States rose to its highest level since the pandemic hit, and airline executives said that bookings in the coming months indicate an eagerness from Americans to begin traveling in large numbers again.

Some of them are among the newly vaccinated.

Since vaccinations began in December, the federal government has delivered more than 154 million vaccine doses, and about 77 percent have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Friday, 67 percent of the countrys older population had received at least one vaccine dose, according to C.D.C. data, with 40 percent fully vaccinated.

A majority of states have said they will expand vaccine eligibility to their general population on or before May 1, the deadline that Mr. Biden set last week, and officials have spoken more openly about what life might be like when the pandemic ends.

As more Montanans get the vaccine, Gov. Greg Gianforte said as he announced that all Montana adults would be eligible April 1, we will begin to approach the time when we are no longer in a state of emergency and we can remove our masks and throw them in the trash.

Contributing reporting were Brandon Dupr from Chicago, Will Wright from Jersey City, N.J., Danielle Ivory, Alex Lemonides and Isabella Grulln Paz from New York, Alyssa Burr from Muskegon, Mich., and Zach Montague and Sheryl Gay Stolberg from Washington.

The rest is here:

U.S. Rushes to Expand Covid Vaccine Eligibility in a Race Against Time - The New York Times

BATAVIA Active COVID-19 cases again increased above 200 on Friday in the GLOW region.

A total of 57 new cases were reported Friday, along with 42 recoveries.

The number of active cases increased to 206. That compared to 194 active cases on Thursday and 176 active cases on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the Finger Lakes Vaccine Hub just launched a Finger Lakes Vaccine Finder to help those seeking vaccination. Find it at flvaccinehub.org/getting-your-vaccine/-vaccine-finder.

Heres a county-by-county look at the data.

Genesee County on Friday reported 36 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 4,516 cases since the pandemic arrived in the region in March.

The new cases include people under the age of 20 and in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 80s. They include people in the countys western, central and eastern regions.

Two of the new positive individuals are inmates at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center.

The county also reported nine new recoveries, bringing its total to 3,949.

In Genesee County, 13,222 residents, or 23.0 percent of the population, have received at least one vaccine dose; 7,202 residents have completed the vaccine series.

Of the 83 active cases, one is hospitalized.

New York state is reporting a total of 120 COVID-19-related deaths in Genesee County.

There have been 107,744 total tests for the virus conducted in Genesee County. The results include 103,228 negative tests for an infection rate among those tested of 4.19 percent.

Orleans County reported six new positive cases for a total of 2,504 since the pandemic began.

The individuals are under the age of 20 and in their 40s and 50s. They include people in the countys eastern, central and western regions. One of the new positive individuals was under mandatory quarantine prior to testing positive.

The county reported seven new recoveries for a total of 2,107.

In Orleans County, 7,587 residents, or 18.7 percent of county residents, have received at least one vaccine dose; 3,623 residents have completed the vaccine series.

Among the 41 active cases in Orleans County, three are hospitalized, according to county health officials.

The state is reporting Orleans County has had 82 COVID-related deaths.

To date, there have been 57,855 total tests conducted for county residents, with 55,351 of them negative, for an infection rate of 4.33 percent among those tested.

Wyoming County reported six new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing its overall total to 2,248 community cases since the pandemic began, according to the Wyoming County Health Department.

Three are from the northwest quadrant, which includes Attica, Bennington, Orangeville and Sheldon; one is from the southwest quadrant, which includes Arcade, Eagle, Java and Wethersfield; one is from the southeast quadrant, which includes Castile, Gainesville, Genesee Falls and Pike; and one is from the northeast quadrant, which includes Covington, Middlebury, Perry and Warsaw.

Two of the new cases are under the age of 20, one in his or her 20s, one in his or her 30s, one in his or her 40s, and one in his or her 60s.

There were no new cases at state correctional facilities in Wyoming County. Those facilities have had a total of 509 cases. The cases at state correctional facilities are managed by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and are not included in the Wyoming County total.

As of Friday, the county had 26 active cases under mandatory isolation, 111 people in mandatory quarantine, and 14 in precautionary quarantine after traveling out-of-state. In Wyoming County, 8,596 residents or 21.4 percent of county residents, have received at least one vaccine dose; 4,423 residents have completed the vaccine series.

The number of recoveries increased by 12, bringing the countys total to 2,173.

Wyoming Countys death total is being reported at 49 by county health officials. That is same number the state Department of Health is reporting.

To date, there have been 63,854 total tests conducted for county residents, with 61,606 of them negative, for an infection rate of 3.52 percent among those tested.

The Livingston County Department of Public Health reported nine new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, increasing its overall total to 3,850.

There are 56 active cases among Livingston County residents, according to the countys COVID-19 tracking map, marking an decrease of five since Thursday.

There have been no hospitalizations since Feb. 24, according to county health data.

Livingston County also recorded 14 new recoveries, bringing its total to 3,750.

Active cases include 21 in Geneseo; nine in Mount Morris (up one); seven in Caledonia; four in Livonia; three in Hemlock (down four); two each in Conesus and Groveland (up one); and single cases in Avon (down one), Dalton, Dansville (down one), Lakeville, Leicester, Lima (down one), Nunda (down one), and Piffard (new).

The county has reported 44 COVID-19-related deaths, according to the county tracking map. New York state has logged 57 deaths in Livingston County.

Livingston County has administered 106,764 tests for COVID-19 among county residents. The results include 102,914 negative results, according to the countys COVID-19 tracking map. The infection rate among those tested is 3.61 percent.

SUNY Geneseo reported 22 active cases among its college community on Friday, according to the SUNY Geneseo COVID-19 tracker. That represents no change compared to Thursday.

A total of 63 people were in mandatory quarantine with 22 in precautionary quarantine. Fourteen people were isolating off-campus, while eight were isolating on-campus, according to SUNYs COVID-19 tracker.

View original post here:

COVID-19 Update: Active coronavirus cases still rising in GLOW region - The Daily News Online

One year ago, Caron Eaton was so sick she couldnt walk to her bathroom without losing her breath.

It was a foreign feeling for a 57-year-old woman who raised twin daughters as a single mom, works two jobs and rarely takes a sick day.

COVID-19 was still a foreign concept to most people when Eaton got sick. She thought there was no way she could have contracted the disease that, at the time, was largely associated with foreign travel.

A trip to the doctor confirmed the threat was real, and it was on Rock Countys doorstep. Eaton had the countys first confirmed case of COVID-19.

Words such as quarantine, isolation, social distancing and contact tracing became part of the nations vernacular over the past year, but for Eaton, the words were part of her everyday life sooner than for almost everyone else she knew.

Today, Eaton is eager to get back out into the world, to travel and to spend time with those she loves.

But COVID-19 continues to live with her, and some symptoms refuse to go away.

I just dont feel like I did before COVID, Eaton said.

Since Eaton tested positive, more than 14,500 other Rock County residents have also tested positiveand the number keeps growing.

Of those, 163 have died and many more were hospitalized.

Health officials say Rock County is moving in the right direction, but relaxing safety guidelines too quickly could mean more people will get sick like Eaton did.

A March to remember

On March 8, 2020, Eaton traveled to Elgin, Illinois, to attend a trade show for her second job selling Paparazzi jewelry.

She remembers feeling sick and having a horrible cough two days later. She stayed home from work, something she said she hardly ever does.

Days later, she saw a doctor, who recommended she be tested for COVID-19.

It took days of being sick before Eaton started to consider she might have the disease. She said she felt sick in a way she never had before, and something inside her just felt different.

Tests for influenza and COVID-19 both came back positive, Eaton said.

It wasnt long before the entire county knew about Eatonnot by name, but by the disease that left her hardly able to care for herself.

The Rock County Public Health Department announced news of the first case March 19, 2020. Mercyhealth confirmed the next day that the case involved an employee.

Eaton has worked at Mercyhealth for 10 years as a financial counselor for cancer patientsa job she said she absolutely loves.

While Eaton contracted the first confirmed local case of COVID-19, it is impossible to know whether she was the first to bring the coronavirus to the county because testing for the virus was limited at the time. For weeks before that, health officials advised the community to act as if the virus was presentbecause it likely already was.

Backlash

Eaton now belongs to a group of thousands of people who can relate to her experience. But she felt alone when she was sick and isolating at home with her 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, helping to care for her.

News of the first positive case of COVID-19 started spreading online even before Eaton got off her first phone call with a health department nurse, she said.

Eaton didnt tell many people about her positive test because it was hard to find anyone who could relate to her. The reaction she saw from strangers online was so negative that she said she stopped using Facebook for about a week.

One man spouted off about how angry he was at Eaton for traveling to Illinois. Eaton recalled another woman writing that she had the right to know Eatons home address so the woman could sit outside Eatons house to make sure Eaton didnt leave.

It was surprising to see such negativity from strangers, she said.

March 2020 was a scary time for people, Eaton said, and hardly anyone understood what the country would be up against. She encourages people to be patient with those who have or have had COVID-19 because the disease affects everyone differently. And for some, it sticks around.

Symptoms that stay

Eaton was so sick at times during her isolation that she worried she would need to be hospitalized. She tried as hard as she could to avoid it because the thought if being hooked to a ventilator horrified her.

Of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rock County, 5%about 728 peoplehave been hospitalized, according to county health data.

After two weeks, Eaton felt better and experienced what she called a honeymoon phase. She felt like she had recovered.

Eventually, COVID-19 symptoms began creeping back. She had difficulty breathing, muscle pain, joint pain and brain fog.

Eaton remembers being so tired that she had to close her office door and nap during her lunch break.

The brain fog caused her to forget things quickly and sometimes feel disconnected from a conversation, she said.

Some of Eatons Paparazzi clients reached out to her after virtual events because Eaton would hold up one piece of jewelry while describing a different piece.

Eaton said her symptoms persisted through most of September before finally letting up.

Even after a year, she still feels occasional muscle and joint pain and fatigue.

Eaton said she worries when she reads stories about possible long-term effects for people who have had COVID-19.

Health officials worldwide are still trying to understand what COVID-19 might do to peoples bodies long term, if anything. Eaton doesnt want her fear or symptoms to keep holding her back.

As a single mom, I learned over the years ... you just have to keep going no matter what, Eaton said. That is where my mentality comes from.

Living again

Eaton said she jumped at the opportunity get vaccinated for COVID-19. She thought it was important because of her health care job and that it would allow her to get back to fully living again.

As of Thursday afternoon, 21.9% of Rock County residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state health department.

Health officials agree the vaccine is the best way to fight the virus and get life back to normal.

State health officials expect to offer the vaccine to all people older than 16 on May 1.

Eaton has big plans on the horizon. She had planned to visit Amsterdam with a friend in 2020, but that was canceled because of the pandemic. Now she plans to tour five European countries in 2022 and hopes to take trips to visit her daughter Sammi, who will soon be based on Coronado Island off the coast of Southern California with the U.S. Navy.

She said she continues to live with waves of COVID-19 symptoms, but she is learning each day how to cope with them.

I am tired of staying at home, she said. It is time I start living again.

View post:

Rock County's first COVID-19 patient ready to live again - Gazettextra