Category: Corona Virus

Early in its existence, Covid-19 gained an ability that would prove decisive in its relationship with human beings. The virus picked up a seemingly small change in its genetic code. It was likely an unfortunate accident a fragment of genetic information from another virus got muddled up with that of the coronavirus while they were both infecting a bat.

Included within this tiny piece of genome, however, were the instructions that altered a key part of the virus its spike protein. This important protein studs the outside of the coronavirus and is the part that attaches to the outside of cells, helping the rest of the virus to sneak inside where it can replicate.

This change to Covid-19's spike protein meant it could hijack an enzyme found in the human body called furin. This enzyme acts like a pair of molecular scissors, normally cutting open hormones and growth factors to activate them. But when furin snips part of the Covid-19 spike protein, which is normally folded in a series of loops on the outside of the virus, it opens like a hinge.

"This exposes a new sequence in the spike protein," says Yohei Yamauchi, a reader in viral cell biology at the University of Bristol, UK, who has been studying how this change may have led Covid-19 to become more infective in humans. "It is one of the changes that make this virus really different from previous coronaviruses that caused Sars and Mers."

This new mutation meant Covid-19 could suddenly latch onto an important molecule found scattered around the outside of human respiratory cells called Neuropilin 1. This molecule helps to transport material inside cells and deeper into tissues the mutation was like handing Covid-19 the keys to a new door into our cells and meant the virus could replicate in greater numbers in the human airways.

Although this mutation was just one in Covid-19's short existence, it proved to be important. Some researchers believe it may be one of the key mutations that allowed the coronavirus to jump species and begin causing a rapidly spreading disease in humans. But almost as soon as it did this, it began picking up other mutations.

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How Covid-19 mutations are changing the pandemic - BBC News

Like the rest of Louisiana, the Baton Rouge region is coming down from a post-holiday peak for coronavirus, and a third surge that began in early November appears to be subsiding somewhat.

During that surge, 408 people in the region -- 156 of them in East Baton Rouge -- have died from the COVID-19 illness tied to the virus. Among the dead were Baton Rouge mayoral candidate and former state Rep. Steve Carter and Tangipahoa Parish fire service fixture, Amite Fire Chief Bruce Cutrer.

New cases, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and test positivity rates have all been trending downward in the 12-parish region as the Christmas and New Year's holidays fall farther in the rearview mirror, state data show.

But health officials warned that the recent improvements over the past three weeks are relative to the worst surge in cases since the pandemic hit the state nearly a year ago. The virus is still much more prevalent that it was at earlier points in the year, they said.

The Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,874 more confirmed coronavirus cases and 50 more confirmed deaths in its noon update Thursday.

And plenty of uncertainty remains about how the state will weather the next few months as people try to become vaccinated while more contagious variants of the virus begin to appear in Louisiana.

On Thursday, the state Department of Health warned two more cases of the U.K. variant had been found in the Lake Charles and New Orleans areas. While the cases only bring the confirmed total in Louisiana to three, state health officials warned many more undetected cases were likely.

"You ever overcorrect on the road and have that super uneasy feeling when you get back on the road? You know, just because you're back on the road doesn't make you feel any better?" asked Dr. Catherine O'Neal, chief medical officer for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and an infectious disease physician. "That's how people should feel."

"Where we are today should make people incredibly uncomfortable," O'Neal added. "I'm hopeful, but I'm very cautious, and I would hope that everybody would remain with the same caution that they have been. This is a very uneasy place to be now."

Still, there are some encouraging signs.

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New cases peaked around Jan. 8 to 12 and have been mostly headed downward for the rest of the month, state case trend data show. There was a one-day uptick through Wednesday after a big batch of tests were reported.

The seven-day average for new daily cases has fallen off more by than one-third in the Baton Rouge area between the highest point in January and Thursday. Some parishes, like Ascension, have seen even sharper drops, according to an analysis of raw case data.

Weekly positivity rates, which are a way to measure viral spread in the community, are also largely headed downward or stable.

East Baton Rouge Parish is below double-digits and hit 9% in the week ended Jan. 20, the lowest level since mid-December. Ten percent positivity or greater is considered a sign of uncontrolled spread.

St. James Parish government and the parish hospital have set up a call center and transportation services to streamline vaccinations for the c

In the Baton Rouge-area health region, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have fallen off 19% since a peak of 243 people on Jan. 14. The number sat at 197 through Wednesday, according to Thursday's data.

The state health region doesn't include several Baton Rouge area parishes: Livingston, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Assumption and St. James. But neighboring health regions that do include those parishes also have generally seen declines.

Susan Hassig, a Tulane University epidemiologist, said the January peak and subsequent fall off seem to correlate with the natural course of the virus after the surge of cases prompted by holiday gatherings primarily during Christmas.

"In terms of case count, we have finally made it through the holiday period of our discontent," she said.

The drop suggests that some of the unemployed are finding new jobs and that others have exhausted state benefits.

She and others don't think the decline in cases can be attributed to the state's vaccination effort, because not enough people have gotten both doses.

Out of 4.65 million people in Louisiana, 57,926 of them, or about 1.2%, have completed the two-dose regimen as of Thursday, state statistics show.

Hassig said she believes the effects of the vaccine will start to show up first when case numbers for those ages 70 and older start to drop and deviate from weekly case trends for other age groups that haven't been able to receive the vaccine.

Young adults and those in their 30s remain the age groups with the greatest number of new cases week to week. But almost all age groups have tracked one another through the pandemic's surges and troughs.

The exception has been the youngest children, who remain at low levels, state data show.

While cases are down from the peak, they are still well above the low points of the pandemic. Hassig described how the baseline in cases seems to be stair-stepping upward after each surge in cases comes to an end. She said she worried about the risk of another surge in cases and whether people would continue to avoid large gatherings, especially those related to the coming Mardi Gras holiday.

Also, a few parishes in the Baton Rouge area, like Assumption Parish, are still seeing rising positivity rates and daily new cases.

The small, rural parish south of East Baton Rouge saw the positivity rate rise by more than a quarter week-to-week to 15.3%. An Advocate analysis shows per-capita daily case trends are nearly double the regional average and well above the state average.

"It's widespread here," said John Boudreaux, the parish homeland security director. The parish is currently trying to boost vaccinations.

Hassig said it is her hope that greater vaccinations and other efforts to keep spread low will accumulate enough through the springtime to squelch another surge.

"But that's going to take people behaving right and taking the vaccine," she said.

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After soaring for weeks, coronavirus cases have slowed in Baton Rouge area. But they're still high. - The Advocate

More effective antiviral treatments could be on the way after research from The University of Texas at Austin sheds new light on the COVID-19 antiviral drug remdesivir, the only treatment of its kind currently approved in the U.S. for the coronavirus.

The study is published today in the journal Molecular Cell.

Remdesivir targets a part of the coronavirus that allows it to make copies of itself and spread through the body. For the first time, scientists identified a critical mechanism that the drug uses and unearthed information that drug companies can use to develop new and improved antivirals to take advantage of the same trick.

According to co-author Kenneth Johnson, the finding could also lead to more potent drugs, meaning a patient could take less of a dose, see fewer side effects and experience faster relief.

Right now, its a five-day regimen of taking quite a bit of remdesivir, said Johnson, professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin. Thats inconvenient and comes with side effects. What if you could take just one pill and that was all you needed to do? That would make a huge difference in terms of the here and now.

Study co-author David Taylor likens the trick the team identified to a paper jam in the viruss photocopier. Remdesivir shuts down this photocopier called an RNA polymerase by preventing copying of the viruss genetic code and its ability to churn out duplicates and spread through the body. The team detected where the drug manages to gum up the gears, grinding the machine to a halt.

We were able to identify the point where that paper jam happens, said Taylor, an assistant professor of molecular biosciences. We know now exactly whats creating this block. So, if we want to make the blockage even worse, we could do so.

The search for more potent antivirals could soon become more urgent as new strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, regularly emerge.

We might need other drugs that are like remdesivir, but different enough that they can then go after the mutated forms, Johnson said. Its like having a backup system, like having an emergency parachute in case the main chute doesnt work.

The studys co-first authors are postdoctoral researcher Jack Bravo and graduate student Tyler Dangerfield.

The team re-created in a lab dish the process that plays out in a patient who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 and then receives remdesivir. In a scientific first, the scientists developed a method for producing fully functional RNA polymerases to copy the viral genetic material. Next, they added a form of remdesivir. As the drug did its work, the researchers paused the process just after the reaction with remdesivir was completed (15-20 seconds) and took a 3D snapshot of the molecules in exquisite detail using a cryo-electron microscope in UT Austins Sauer Structural Biology Laboratory. The image allowed them to reconstruct exactly how remdesivir gums up the copying process.

Johnson said that SARS-CoV-2 is the third coronavirus to make the leap from animals to humans in less than 20 years. So even if this pandemic is brought under control soon, it still makes sense to continue developing weapons against coronaviruses.

This is not the last unique coronavirus thats going to come after us, Johnson said. Having better antivirals could buy us time to develop vaccines against potential future outbreaks.

The version of the paper published today is a pre-proof, meaning that it has been accepted for publication and peer reviewed, but has yet to be fully formatted for final publication. It is currently slated to appear in a print edition of the journal in April.

This work was supported in part by the Welch Foundation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH, Army Research Office, and the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation. David Taylor is a CPRIT scholar supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and an Army Young Investigator supported by the Army Research Office.

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Scientists Discover How Remdesivir Works to Inhibit Coronavirus - UT News - UT News | The University of Texas at Austin

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Biden's Executive Order Aims To Better Protect Workers From The Coronavirus - Forbes

CHAMPAIGN Did the smell and taste of your morning cup of coffee seem, perhaps, less robust than usual?

Its important to notice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, because sudden changes in smell and taste can be an early indicator of infection, said M. Yanina Pepino, a University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor.

Pepino is a leader of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, which has created a 30-day online smell and taste challenge using whatever beverage participants drink at the start of the day.

The challenge was designed to be quick and easy, Pepino said, and shes inviting the UI campus community and others to participate.

It takes just a couple of minutes a day, she said.

Its fun and its free, Pepino said.

And it may help catch more COVID-19 cases that otherwise would go undetected, she said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added the loss of smell and taste to the list of likely COVID-19 symptoms in April, and Pepino said its more likely to be a symptom in mild cases than severe ones.

In fact, she said, sometimes the only symptom of COVID-19 is a loss of the sense of smell.

Of course, your senses of taste and smell can be impaired for other reasons among them smoking and having a cold.

Having a weaker sense of smell is also normal for older adults after age 70, Pepino said.

But tracking your senses of smell and taste every day for a month can raise awareness of any changes and potentially signal the need for a COVID-19 test, she said.

Pepino said those taking part in the challenge are asked to choose whatever beverage they have when they wake up for the day because what people drink for breakfast tends to be the most consistent among their daily eating and drinking habits.

It doesnt have to be coffee. It can be tea, soda, orange juice or whatever other beverage you have every day for breakfast, she said.

After the initial sign-up, participants will be asked to update whether anything has changed for them in their COVID-19 status or symptoms and then rate how intense the smell and taste of their morning beverage is.

Theres also an option to take part in a longer survey, for those who are interested, Pepino said.

Those participating in even the shorter daily survey will also be contributing to ongoing research into the link between loss of smell and taste and COVID-19, she said.

Answers will be recorded for research anonymously in the database, so participants cant be personally identified from the data.

The smell-and-taste challenge survey has been translated into 10 languages and is being offered worldwide, Pepino said.

The Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research has already found in a crowd-sourced survey that an impaired sense of smell may be the best indicator of COVID-19 infection, even more so than a fever or cough among people who didnt have impaired smell or taste before, according to the UI.

You can find the new survey online at riech-check.de.

Ask the expert

Have a COVID question you'd like to ask C-U Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde? Email it to news@news-gazette.com.

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Coronavirus response | Wake up and smell the coffee - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

There are 10 residents of the West Piedmont Health District dead today from COVID-19, the second-highest single-day total since the pandemic began. These deaths could have occurred earlier -- VDH awaits death certificates before posting the data -- but it was remarkable surge in what has been the nation's deadliest month. Five of the deaths were of Henry County residents, 4 were from Martinsville and 1 from Franklin County. That's now 170 deaths in the district, with 109 of them residents of Henry County and Martinsville. There also were 109 more cases and 4 more hospitalizations reported by VDH. Henry County had 52 cases, and Franklin County had 30 (and a hospitalization). Patrick County had 14 and Martinsville 13 (with 3 hospitalizations)....As officials at the West Piedmont Health Districts and their medical partners and employment centers are starting the process of delivering the first of the two required injections, there is new leadership in place at Sovah Health-Martinsville....Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday he feels the frustration of Virginians who cannot get a clear answer on how to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine....Only half of COVID-19 vaccinesdelivered to US states have been used, but Biden administration officials say some of that is being reserved for the all-important second dose that completes the vaccine process. AndFEMA is close to finishing a request for up to 10,000 service membersto help administer vaccines. Meanwhile, Oklahoma is trying to return the state's $2 million stockpile of hydroxychloroquine, which had been touted by some as a treatment for COVID-19.In Peru, things are getting so badthat the country has instituted widespread lockdowns and is racing to secure more ICU beds.In India, a decline in caseshas led to some easing of public activity restrictions.Cases are trending lower in the USas well, but estimates claimanother 80,000 people could dieof the virus in the next few weeks....January has already become the worst month for USCovid-19deathssince the start of the pandemic.As of Tuesday, there have been more than 79,000 coronavirus fatalities, topping the record set in December....Biden, calling the push a wartime effort, said Tuesday the administration was working to buy an additional 100 million doses of each of the two approvedcoronavirus vaccines. He acknowledged that states in recent weeks have been left guessing how much vaccine they will have from one week to the next....Levar M. Stoney, the mayor of Richmond, has announced that he has tested positive for the coronavirus....How many variants of the coronavirus are there? Check this explainer....The Virginia Department of Health reportsthis morning there have been 493,674 cases and 6,308deaths statewide -- up by 80 since Tuesday. Some 21,113 people have been hospitalized. Henry County has had 3,684 cases, with 246 hospitalizations and 73 deaths. Martinsville has had 1,345 cases, with 115 hospitalizations and 36 deaths. Patrick County has had 1,035 cases including 76 hospitalizations and 28 deaths. Franklin County has had 3,271 cases, 104 hospitalizations and 33 deaths. Danville has reported 3,537 cases (64 deaths), and Pittsylvania County has had 4,039 (46 deaths).Johns Hopkins University's real-time mapshowed 100,977,927 cases worldwide and 2,177,418 deaths. In the U.S. there have been 25,599,961 cases and 429,178 deaths because of COVID-19.

(142) updates to this series since Updated 9 hrs ago

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Martinsville-region COVID-19/coronavirus daily update from state, nation and world: Jan. 28 - Martinsville Bulletin

Philly Fighting COVID CEO admits taking doses and administering them to friends as City Council demands answer  The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Philly Fighting COVID CEO admits taking doses and administering them to friends as City Council demands answer - The Philadelphia Inquirer

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) 24 new COVID-19 deaths in South Dakota were reported on Thursday, bringing the state total to 1,763.

The new deaths were 7 women and 17 men in the following age ranges: 30-39 (1); 40-49 (1); 50-59 (1); 60-69 (3); 70-79 (9) and 80+ (9).

Active cases of COVID-19 in South Dakota have dropped below 3,200 on Thursday, according to the latest update from theSouth Dakota Department of Health.

Active cases are at 3,137, down from Wednesday (3,238).

On Thursday, 187 new total coronavirus cases were announced bringing the states total case count to 107,795 up from Wednesday (107,608). Total recovered cases are now at 102,895.

Current hospitalizations are at 161, the same number from Wednesday (161). Total hospitalizations are at 6,242.

Total persons negative is now at 292,275, up from Wednesday (291,602).

There were 860 new persons tested reported on Thursday. Thursdays new person tested positivity rate is 21.7%.

The latest seven-day all test positivity rate reported by the DOH is 9.8%. The DOH calculates that based on the results of the PCR test results but doesnt release total numbers for how many PCR tests are done daily. The latest one-day PCR test positivity rate is 9.1%.

Vaccine tracking is now being reported by the state. As of Thursday, 41,267 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 46,617 doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered to 63,248 total persons.

According to the South Dakota Department of Health, 10,497 people have received the second dose of the Moderna vaccine, while 14,139 people have completed the Pfizer vaccine series.

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COVID-19 in South Dakota: 24 new deaths reported; 187 new total cases; Active cases at 3,137 - KELOLAND.com

WASHINGTON Will coronavirus be the new flu? As new strains of the virus pop up, several drug companies have already started making and adjusting their vaccines or making boosters.

This has led many people to wonder if we will have to get a different vaccine for each strain or get a new vaccine each year.

Will we need a vaccine booster for every new strain of the virus?

We wont know for some time.

Dr. David Dowdy, an Epidemiologist from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. William Schaffner, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Robert Amler, a former CDC Epidemiologist and Dean at New York Medical School.

The answer is, 'yes' and 'no,' Dr. Amler explained.

With COVID, we'll just have to follow what happens, Dr. Schaffner followed up.

It doesn't mean that each new strain is going to be resistant if you will to any vaccine, Dr. Dowdy finished.

As you can see the consensus is: We dont know yet.

But lets breakdown why we dont know. Each year, you get a new flu vaccine because influenza is an unstable virus.

On the other hand, measles, also a virus, is really very stable, Dr. Schaffner compared. So the vaccine we used 40 years ago, works perfectly fine.

I think it's important for people to realize that the mutation rate for the coronavirus is not as high as for the flu, Dr. Dowdy explained.

The coronavirus ranks somewhere in the middle of a stable virus-like measles and the always mutating virus influenza.

Whether or not each strain and each year requires a different vaccine or a booster, is still being studied.

If we see changes, and if we see a loss of efficacy against some of the newer strains, then a newer brand of vaccine or a newer preparation of vaccine may be necessary, Dr. Amler said.

I would anticipate we may need to be updated every few years, but probably not every single year, and certainly not with every single stream, Dr. Dowdy said.

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VERIFY: Will we need a booster vaccine for every new strain of coronavirus? - KARE11.com

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) Sedgwick County says it is about to get 7,000 more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

In a Thursday afternoon news conference, Sedgwick County Commissioner Pete Meitzner described the supply of vaccine the county is getting as a trickle. But after he said that, Deputy County Manager Tim Kaufman announced the new doses coming next week.

Id like to share some good news that weve received from KDHE, he said. Theyve informed us that our health department should begin to receive a regular weekly shipment from the states allocation next week. We anticipate receiving 7,000 Pfizer doses. Its our understanding we can plan on receiving 7,000 weekly doses, weekly, for the foreseeable future.

Dr. Garold Minns, the county health officer, said that the county is focusing on vaccinating healthcare workers and those residents who are 65 and older.

77% of our county residents that have passed away from COVID-19 are over the age of 70, he said.

Because the supply has not been what the county hoped, it is starting with older people in that age group and slowly adding younger people. The current age limit is 80 and older.

Sedgwick County has a website for people in those groups to schedule a vaccination. Click here. Those who do not have computer access can call 316-660-1029. Caregivers for elderly parents can fill out the online form for them.

The county will only schedule appointments for the vaccine doses it has on hand. It does not keep a waiting list. The appointments are only for Sedgwick County residents.

Also, the county will hold a drive-thru vaccination clinic Monday at the Wichita Transit System, 777 E. Waterman, for those who may have mobility issues. The drive-thru clinic is by appointment only.

Sedgwick County said the hospitals and long-term care facilities have been getting their vaccine doses directly from the federal government and those numbers are not included in the county totals.

Minns also discussed the importance of getting the second dose of the vaccine.

The second dose in some sense is the most important as receiving a second dose boosts your immunity up to 95 to 98% effectiveness, he said.

He also stressed that it is important to continue to wear a mask after getting vaccinated to protect people who have not been vaccinated.

The Sedgwick County Health Department updated its COVID-19 dashboard Thursday afternoon to show that there have been 13 more deaths linked to the virus. It brings the countys death toll to 375.

But the number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus is not going up as quickly as it was in November and December.

The countys positivity rate is down to 7.6% after a high of 22.4% in November.

County list updated: Jan 27, 2021Sources:Kansas Department of Health and EnvironmentNebraska Department of Health and Human ServicesOklahoma State Department of Health

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Sedgwick County to get 7,000 more doses of the coronavirus vaccine, taking appointments - KSN-TV