Category: Corona Virus

Congress is set to pass a nearly $1 trillion coronavirus relief bill that includes another round of stimulus payments for many taxpayers.

The slimmed-down checks are worth $600 for individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples earning $150,000, half the value of the first round of checks issued under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability, or CARES, Act. Taxpayers will also receive an additional $600 for each child under age 17.

Many Americans and economists have said that a one-time $600 payment is not enough to make up for months of missed rent and other bills. The federal relief package also includes enhanced unemployment benefits and funding for increased food aid and emergency rental assistance.

Here's what we know about the second round of economic impact payments:

The checks are worth $600 for individuals whose gross adjusted income was under $75,000 in 2019 and couples who earned under $150,000 the same income requirements as the first round of checks. The amount of the check then decreases by $5 for every $100 of income above those thresholds, phasing out completely at $87,000 for individuals and $174,000 for couples.

Dependents under age 17 are also eligible for $600 checks, and there's no cap on the number a household can receive. So if a single person earned $50,000 in 2019 and has four children under 17, the individual will be eligible for a $3,000 payment.

You need a Social Security number to qualify for a relief check. As noted above, individuals earning up to $75,000, and couples earning up to $150,000 will receive the full amount. After that, the checks will phase out as detailed above. Income is based on 2019 tax returns.

Once again, adult dependents do not qualify for a check. However, this time, eligible members of mixed-status families in which some members have Social Security numbers and some do not will be eligible for checks, says Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Under the CARES Act, households that had a single member without a Social Security number disqualified the entire household from receiving a payment. Crucially, citizen family members will also be able to receive the first check retroactively if they meet the other eligibility requirements.

Yes, as long as you meet all of the other eligibility requirements.

The checks are not taxable.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told CNBC on Monday that checks could start being sent as soon as next week.

But arrival timelines will vary for different taxpayers. The IRS started sending out the first round of payments about two weeks after the CARES Act was enacted in the spring. However, it took months for some people to receive their checks as the IRS worked out kinks and collected taxpayer information. Some people still have not received the first payment.

This time around, the IRS already has most taxpayers' information and the infrastructure to send out the payments, so turnaround might be quicker for many people.

The checks will be sent via direct deposit if you've already provided the IRS with your bank account information. If you received the first check directly into your account, then you're all set.

If the IRS doesn't have your direct deposit info, you will likely get a check in the mail, or a pre-paid debit card like the last round of payments.

Link:

Everything you need to know about the second round of coronavirus stimulus checks - CNBC

Levine reiterated the pleas that she, Gov. Tom Wolf, and other officials have been making for weeks now, urging Pennsylvanians not to travel for the holidays, to celebrate in-person only with immediate household members, to go out just when its necessary, and to follow other public health guidelines, such as wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping social distance from others during essential outings.

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Spike in new cases shows signs of slowing in Pa. and N.J.; Biden receives his first vaccine dose; when you can - The Philadelphia Inquirer

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a pandemic.

Since then, COVID-19 has affected tens of millions of people around the world, leading to new discoveries about the symptoms that can accompany the disease.

Recently, multiple case studies have suggested that persistent hiccups may be a potentially rare and unusual manifestation of COVID-19.

In this article, well discuss whether hiccups are a sign of the new coronavirus, when to contact your doctor about frequent hiccups, and other important information you should know about COVID-19.

According to the research, it is possible that hiccups are a rare sign of COVID-19.

In one recent 2020 case study, a 64-year-old man was found to have persistent hiccups as the only symptom of COVID-19.

In this situation, the subject of the study visited an outpatient clinic after experiencing a bout of hiccups for 72 hours.

Both blood testing and lung imaging were performed. They revealed evidence of infection in both lungs and low white blood cells. Follow-up testing for COVID-19 revealed a positive diagnosis.

In a different 2020 case study, a 62-year-old man was also found to have experienced hiccups as a symptom of the new coronavirus.

In this case, the subject had been experiencing hiccups for a period of 4 days before presentation to the emergency room.

Upon admission, further testing showed similar findings in their lungs, as well as low white blood cells and platelets. Again, testing for COVID-19 confirmed a positive diagnosis.

It is important to note that the studies mentioned above are only two individual case studies. They only demonstrate a potentially rare side effect of COVID-19.

More research is still needed to determine the link between chronic hiccups and the new coronavirus.

Hiccups are quite common and happen when your diaphragm involuntarily spasms or contracts. Your diaphragm is your muscle directly beneath your lungs that separates your chest from your abdomen.

Hiccups can be caused by everything from eating to swallowing air to stress, and much more.

While they can be somewhat annoying, hiccups are rarely a sign of anything dangerous. Generally, hiccups only last a few minutes although in some cases, they have been known to last for hours.

According to the National Health Service, hiccups that last longer than 48 hours are considered a cause for concern and should be addressed by a doctor.

Medical treatment options for hiccups are generally reserved for people with chronic hiccups that dont resolve on their own. Some of these treatment options may include:

For most people, hiccups will resolve on their own they generally only become a concern if they become chronic or cause other health concerns.

You should talk with a doctor if your hiccups last longer than 48 hours, as this may be a sign of an underlying health condition.

You may also need to talk with a doctor if your hiccups cause you to be unable to eat, breathe, or do anything else you would typically be able to do.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most common symptoms of COVID-19 include:

Symptoms of COVID-19 can appear anywhere from 2 to 14 days after exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Depending on the severity of the disease, the symptoms can range from asymptomatic (no symptoms at all) to severe.

In some situations, COVID-19 can cause uncommon symptoms that are not listed above, such as dizziness or rash.

Even rarer, case studies like those mentioned above have shown how other unusual symptoms can be a sign of the new coronavirus.

If you are experiencing new symptoms and concerned that you may have developed COVID-19, speak with your doctor as soon as possible for testing.

While not everyone needs to be tested for COVID-19, the CDC recommends getting tested if:

There are two types of testing available for COVID-19: viral testing and antibody testing. Viral testing is used to diagnose a current infection, while antibody testing can be used to detect a past infection.

Tests are available nationwide at most local or state health departments, doctors offices, and pharmacies. Some states also currently offer drive-thru testing and 24-hour emergency testing when necessary.

We all play an important role in preventing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The best way to reduce your risk of contracting, or spreading, this new coronavirus is to practice personal hygiene and physical distancing.

This means following the CDC guidelines for preventing the spread of COVID-19 and being mindful of your own health and testing status.

Staying informed about current and developing COVID-19 news is also important you can keep up to date with Healthlines live coronavirus updates here.

Below, youll find some CDC recommended guidelines to protect yourself and prevent the spread of COVID-19:

According to the CDC, in December 2020, a vaccine from Pfizer was granted emergency use authorization and approval for a vaccine from Moderna is expected to follow.

It may take months before most people have access to this vaccine, but there are also treatment options available.

The current treatment recommendation for mild cases of COVID-19 is recovery at home. In more severe cases, certain medical treatments may be used, such as:

As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, so do new treatment options to help combat the disease.

Many of the symptoms of COVID-19 are commonly experienced among people who have developed the disease. However, research has suggested that some people may experience other rare and unusual symptoms.

In two recent case studies, persistent hiccups were the only outward sign of the new coronavirus. While this indicates that hiccups may be a potential symptom of COVID-19, more research is needed on this rare side effect.

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Are Hiccups a Sign of the New Coronavirus? - Healthline

When they called to tell me my COVID-19 test was positive, I thought there must have been a mistake. I felt perfectly fine, and in the long months of the pandemic my husband, Jeff, and I had been behaving the way much of the United States had: hyper-vigilant about where we went and who we saw, and careful to follow the recommended public health precautions.

Besides, Jeff had taken the same test at the same time, and his was negative. Since we did almost everything together, how could you explain that?

"It's a PCR test they're very accurate," said the woman on the phone from the Delaware Board of Public Health when I expressed some disbelief. We had taken the test not because we suspected anything but because, having driven from our home in New York City to Delaware for a weekend break, we wanted to be good citizens and follow New York's rules regarding travel out of state when we returned.

The woman on the phone went down a list of the things I needed to do: Stay home. Don't leave the apartment for any reason. And isolate from Jeff.

That last bit surprised me my husband and I certainly hadn't been isolating from one another between taking the test on Nov. 7 and getting the results late on Nov. 11, so what was the point in doing so now? If I was going to expose him, surely the most dangerous period had been those four crucial days when I was supposedly shedding the coronavirus in the bed we shared, the sips of bourbon we exchanged, and the three-plus hours in the car together, windows closed, during our drive home to New York on Nov. 9 after our weekend away.

As a science journalist who's written about emerging viruses for 30 years, I knew enough to ask the Delaware public health rep whether the lab report included a Ct number. Experts have been saying that the Ct (cycle threshold) number is crucial to understanding how the coronavirus spreads and how it causes disease. It can offer helpful information not only for epidemiologists but for individuals, too those of us desperate to predict, as I suddenly was, the likely trajectory of our illness after a positive test result.

The Ct number tells you how many amplification cycles through the PCR machine are required before the lab can get a detectable level of viral RNA. If the lab had to go through the cycle just 20 times or so, that means you started out with a relatively high viral load, and it would make sense to expect that you'd get pretty sick. (Though even that is conjecture; no one has kept good track of the relationship between viral load and severity of symptoms, so what we're left with here is mostly an educated guess based on correlations seen in some observational studies.)

If, instead, it took more rounds of amplification say, 35 or 40 cycles to be able to detect virus in your sample, maybe that means you started off with very little virus at all.

According to an analysis by The New York Times last summer, the labs that keep track of Ct numbers tend to report them at 37 to 40 meaning they run a sample through 37 to 40 amplification cycles, if needed, before deciding whether to call it positive or negative. That could mean at least some of the people deemed positive for COVID-19 started off with minuscule amounts of virus. And while there's no direct evidence that people with those high cycle numbers would be less sick than those with low numbers, there's good evidence that they would at least be less contagious.

The Times analysis found, among other things, that the New York state laboratory uses a Ct of 40 to make a positive designation. If it used a Ct of 30 as a cutoff instead, the Times calculated, 63% of the people identified as positive would instead be told that no virus could be detected in other words, they'd be told they did not have COVID-19.

I was curious to know on which side of that boundary my own test fell.

The woman on the phone had never heard of the Ct number. She said I would get a follow-up call in two or three days from a Delaware contact tracer, and I could ask them.

And with that, I entered into a real-world demonstration of how little we really know about the coronavirus.

To begin with, no one from Delaware ever called me for a list of my contacts an indication of how, even before Thanksgiving, COVID-19 was already outpacing public health officials' ability to corral it. I did have a few contacts Jeff and I had been cocooning, but even cocoons are permeable, and though we'd dutifully worn masks in public, we had been in range of about half a dozen people in the previous week. I was left to alert those contacts on my own.

In addition, every time I tried to understand more about my own situation, I ran into a stone wall of incomplete information. That is a terrifying prospect at this moment in the pandemic as transmission, illness, and death rates from COVID-19 continue to ramp up exponentially.

After the call from Delaware, I put on my mask and made up the bed in the spare room, preparing for my 10 days of isolation inside our home, as the CDC recommends. Even though the fact that I felt perfectly fine made it all seem a bit surreal, Jeff and I decided to assume the test was right and to operate as if I really was infected, which meant staying at different ends of the apartment from each other. We're both lucky enough to be able to work remotely I freelance, he's a college professor so quarantining didn't have any financial repercussions for us.

"No, it's not wrong; PCRs are very accurate," my doctor said on a video call when I asked her whether the test might have been a false-positive. She said symptoms would probably show up within the next week. I told her that was not reassuring. "Anything I can do to try to stave them off?" I asked her.

Maybe I should take some Vitamin D, I thought. Or get a humidifier? How about my oxygen level; should I keep track of things with the pulse oximeter we bought months ago in our first round of pandemic panic?

"Nope," she answered, a bit too cheerfully, I thought, though it was hard to tell for sure with her mask on. My doctor seemed to think symptoms would be showing up soon, which was a scary prospect, and she told me to schedule another tele-visit if (when?) I started to feel really sick.

I went to bed the night of Nov. 11 completely symptom-free, yet anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop.

All the reading and reporting I had been doing since March suddenly became intensely personal. I was no longer just playing the odds by following public health advice about "mitigation," trying to limit spread in the highly unlikely event that I was spewing virus from my mouth and nose. This was the real thing now. For my husband's sake, I was trying to spread less of the virus I knew I was carrying.

I wore a mask, all the time. I opened all the windows in the apartment even though it was cold outside. I washed my hands so maniacally that the little diamond ring I inherited from my grandmother shone as if it were brand new. I closed the cover on the toilet whenever I flushed.

On Nov. 12 I still felt fine. I contacted the people I had interacted with just before my test: two couples in Delaware, in each instance outside and at a distance; and our housekeeper in New York, who had been in the apartment for a few hours on Nov. 4 and had worn a mask, as had Jeff and I. I told them I was sorry to have endangered them unwittingly. They all went for COVID-19 tests.

My doctor thought I was probably infected on Nov. 3 or 4, but wasn't that just a guess? Maybe it was Nov. 1, when I'd opted for in-person early voting. Maybe it was Oct. 31, when Jeff and I'd spent a few hours with our daughter, son-in-law and two young granddaughters, ages 2 and 5, in their Brooklyn neighborhood. We'd been mostly outside and mostly masked during the visit, but when it started to rain we had moved our bagel brunch into their garage-cum-party room, leaving all the doors and windows open. After they heard I'd tested positive, my daughter and son-in-law got tested, too, along with their 5-year-old.

But maybe it was none of these times. Maybe I got infected months ago, and this was just the long-simmering tail of a completely hidden infection. As far as the CDC knows, tests for COVID-19 can still be positive up to three months after the symptoms resolve. So can you count three months backward, too, for someone whose symptoms never appeared? This is when it would have been really handy to know the Ct number for my test.

On Nov. 13 I still felt fine, though I kept my mask on during a Zoom call with three old college friends, just to reduce the amount of virus I might be emitting into the apartment. I wore my mask during a call with both our daughters on Nov. 14, too, when we Zoomed in to do the Sunday Times crossword puzzle as a group.

"You're not going to infect us through the screen," my older daughter teased, but I kept the mask on anyway, I guess for the sake of Jeff, who was eating some of his meals in the room I was calling from. I really, really didn't want him to get infected; research finds men tend to get sicker with this coronavirus infection than women do.

All my contacts tested negative for COVID-19. That was reassuring. But not completely so, since most of them used a rapid antigen test that can have disconcertingly high rates of both false-negatives and false-positives. Once again, the details of trying to chart one individual's experience with the coronavirus revealed the patchiness of our ability to track the virus down, to test reliably for its presence, and to stay ahead of its devastation.

My lack of symptoms was beginning to feel, to be honest, too good to be true. Why should I be this lucky? Harboring a virus that has flattened America, causing disease, death and endless despair for hundreds of thousands of us. It made no sense that I should be spared the worst of its effects, when so many others with this diagnosis have been so grievously harmed.

I wasn't even an especially good candidate for getting off easy. I'm 67 part of the cohort of people at higher risk of death from COVID-19. And while I'm basically healthy and don't have medical conditions that can be associated with a bad COVID-19 outcome, my aging immune system is without doubt more sluggish than it used to be.

I researched further, trying to explain my inexplicable good fortune. Epidemiologists don't know much about what differentiates people with symptoms from those without, partly because asymptomatic cases who the CDC estimates make up some 40% of people with COVID-19 nationwide tend to be invisible.

Did I remain symptom-free because I always wear a mask? Studies suggest that the proportion of asymptomatic cases is higher in regions where a greater proportion of people are wearing masks in public. Maybe masks reduce the amount of virus you take in when you do get exposed, and maybe less virus means fewer symptoms.

Or maybe my luck could be traced to other habits. I encountered one study, for instance, that indicated that getting certain vaccines might offer some protection from COVID-19 as an unexpected benefit. Two weeks before my positive test I had gotten a pneumonia vaccine, and back in September I had gotten a flu shot. Could one of those immunizations have been relevant?

I'm just spitballing here. But, in a way, that's what even the experts have to do in many cases. Though they're learning all the time, they still know very little about exactly how this virus new to humans behaves in the context of any one person's particular mix of genes, physiology, environmental exposure or any of a number of other factors that could help explain why some are hit so much harder than others.

Jeff went for a second PCR test on Nov. 14 and, because of the overload of testing facilities in New York, he was still waiting for results on Nov. 17 when I emerged from my isolation period. I'd never developed any symptoms.

When Jeff's results came back the next day negative for COVID-19 we were greatly relieved, but also, perhaps perversely, a little disappointed. Now what lessons were we supposed to draw?

Maybe the caution we'd used during my week of isolation had protected him. Maybe my lack of symptoms showed I had a very low viral load and was never really going to pass it on. Or maybe my own test was a false-positive perhaps from contamination or a mix-up in the Delaware lab? and I never had COVID-19 at all.

Three weeks after my positive COVID-19 test, I walked over to a testing site in Manhattan to get my blood drawn for an antibody test, just to see my story through. It was negative another disappointment, and one more bit of data I wasn't quite sure how to interpret.

Antibody tests have a high rate of both false-negatives and false-positives. Combined with my positive PCR test for the virus, I would have considered a positive antibody test to be confirmation that I really had at one time been infected with the coronavirus, no matter how healthy I felt all along. But a negative antibody test? That presented more of a puzzle.

It could mean I was never infected with the coronavirus. Or it could mean I was just slow in building up a supply of antibodies, but they would show up eventually. Or it could mean, as I find myself musing now at 3 a.m., that I did in fact have an asymptomatic case, and I'm silently harboring a nice healthy store of T-cells another protective form of immune cells that most commercial labs don't look for yet. This last bit, I realize, is no doubt just middle-of-the-night wishful thinking.

But there's one thing I do know, in light of this experience: Despite a global scientific effort that has led to a spectacular burst of new information this past year about a previously unknown pathogen, we can say very little with confidence about how the coronavirus will behave inside any one of us.

We're still unable to tell a fully fleshed-out story about a particular individual's encounter. Not the beginning, about how and when the virus was transmitted; nor the middle, about what symptoms it will cause; nor, especially and most distressingly, anything about how it will end.

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Tested Positive For COVID Virus, But Don't Have Symptoms. What's That Mean? : Shots - Health News - NPR

Another 11 Mainers have died as health officials on Saturday reported 402 new coronavirus cases across the state.

Saturdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 18,739. Of those, 16,266 have been confirmed positive, while 2,473 were classified as probable cases, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency left Fridays cumulative total at 18,337, meaning no revision of the previous days report was required. As the Maine CDC continues to investigate previously reported cases, some are determined to have not been the coronavirus, or coronavirus cases not involving Mainers. Those are removed from the states cumulative total. The Bangor Daily News reports on the number of new cases reported to the Maine CDC in the previous 24 hours, rather than the increase of daily cumulative cases.

11 more people have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 292. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.

New cases were reported in Androscoggin (27), Aroostook (19), Cumberland (145), Franklin (12), Hancock (3), Kennebec (32), Knox (3), Lincoln (8), Oxford (28), Penobscot (37), Piscataquis (3), Sagadahoc (15), Somerset (15), Waldo (10), Washington (14) and York (21) counties, state data show. Information about where an additional 24 cases were reported wasnt immediately available.

The seven-day average for new coronavirus cases is 449.0, down from 449.7 a day ago, up from 364.9 a week ago and up from 189.4 a month ago.

Saturdays report marks the ninth time in 11 days when new cases surged past 400. Maine hasnt seen a day with fewer than 200 new cases since November.

Health officials have warned Mainers that forceful and widespread community transmission is being seen throughout the state. Every county is seeing high community transmission, which the Maine CDC defines as a case rate of 16 or more cases per 10,000 people.

There are two criteria for establishing community transmission: at least 10 confirmed cases and that at least 25 percent of those are not connected to either known cases or travel.

So far, 971 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. As of Friday, 177 of those people were currently hospitalized, with 46 in critical care and 15 on ventilators.

Meanwhile, 22 more people have recovered from the coronavirus, bringing total recoveries to 10,766. That means there are 7,681 active confirmed and probable cases in the state, which is up from 7,312 on Friday.

A majority of the cases 11,053 have been in Mainers under age 50, while more cases have been reported in women than men, according to the Maine CDC.

As of Friday, there had been 1,068,605 negative test results out of 1,093,010 overall. About 2.2 percent of all tests have come back positive, Maine CDC data show.

The coronavirus has hit hardest in Cumberland County, where 5,690 cases have been reported and where the bulk of virus deaths 83 have been concentrated. Other cases have been reported in Androscoggin (2,131), Aroostook (401), Franklin (384), Hancock (472), Kennebec (1,391), Knox (294), Lincoln (234), Oxford (841), Penobscot (1,520), Piscataquis (89), Sagadahoc (287), Somerset (625), Waldo (334), Washington (290) and York (3,732) counties. Information about where an additional 24 cases were reported wasnt immediately available.

As of Saturday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 17,466,837 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 313,672 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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11 more Mainers die as another 402 coronavirus cases are reported across the state - Bangor Daily News

Some people who suffered from severe COVID-19, such as this patient in China, may have a Neanderthal gene variant that made them sicker by giving the coronavirus an extra way into cells.

By Ann GibbonsDec. 18, 2020 , 7:45 PM

Sciences COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

If you become infected with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, you might wish there was a fast way to check your Neanderthal ancestry. A small but significant number of people have an ancient gene variant from the extinct hominin that may double, or even quadruple, their risk of serious complications from COVID-19.

The finding, posted last week as a preprint onbioRxiv, shines a light on an enzyme called dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4). Scientists already know the protein allows another coronavirus, which causes Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS), to bind to and enter human cells. The new analysis, ofDPP4gene variants among COVID-19 patients, suggests the enzyme also provides SARS-CoV-2 with a second door into our cells, along with its usual infection route via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor on cell surfaces.

The conclusion remains tentative. Other groups looking in genetic databases for factors that influence COVID-19 severity have not flagged the DPP4 gene. But the work is provocative because it suggests some diabetes drugs, which target the cell surface protein, could help treat the disease. We want to put this finding out there quickly so people can systematically test if DPP4 could be a [therapeutic] target in patients with COVID, says study co-author Svante Pbo, an evolutionary geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

The preprint adds to the evidence that DPP4 may really play a role in the infection for SARS-CoV-2, says virologist Jianhong Lu of Chinas Central South University, who wasnt involved in the new work. In June, he and colleaguesreported iniSciencethat DPP4 should be a good binding partner for the protein called spikeon the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, based on comparing amino acid sequences and crystal structures of the enzyme and spikes established partner, ACE-2. Another team, however, had earlier ruled out DPP4 as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor after finding the virus did not bind with it in cell line studies.

Pbo and co-author Hugo Zeberg, also an evolutionary geneticist at the Max Planck, have now highlighted DPP4 again. Most Europeans, Asians, and Native Americans harbor a handful of genes from Neanderthals,up 1.8% to 2.6% of their DNA,thanks to ancient dalliances between some of our ancestors and this close relative. The researchers had already uncovered evidence that having one chromosomal section traced back to Neanderthalscould protect against COVID-19whereas another, on chromosome 3, could make it worse.

Studies of ancient DNA in Neanderthal fossils have shown that the hominins DPP4 gene subtly differs from the typical human one. Pbo and Zeberg examined whether that Neanderthal gene variant or others from the extinct species appear more often in people with severe cases of COVID-19 than in uninfected people. For that, they turned to the latest data release in October from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative, which has collected genome information and COVID-19 status on many people from other studies or databanks.

They searched only for Neanderthal versions of genes in people who had had severe COVID-19, which gave them a quick way to see whether these archaic genes influenced how living people responded to the coronavirus. The Neanderthal version of DPP4 popped up at higher frequency in the genomes of 7885 people hospitalized with severe COVID-19 than in a control group, Zeberg says. If a person had a single copy of the Neanderthal gene variant, they had double the risk of severe COVID-19 when infected; if both their copies of DPP4 were Neanderthal, their risk quadrupled, the team reports.

The researchers estimate that between 1% and 4% of Europeans and Asians have inherited a Neanderthal version of the DPP4 gene. A key question now is, how do the Neanderthal differences in the gene change its activity or alter the function of the protein? In addition to revealing the link to the MERS coronavirus, past studies have shown that it plays a role in the breakdown of glucose, or sugars, in the cell. Thats why DPP4 has become the target of diabetes drugs. Yet the Neanderthal changes to the DPP4 gene likely dont affect the shape or function of the enzyme directlythey are all in its promoter region, which typically affects just where in the body and how much the gene is active.

Such research intrigues evolutionary biologists because it shows that modern humans quickly acquired gene variants from Neanderthals that may still influence how some of us respond to diseases today. A 2018 study by population geneticist David Enard of the University of Arizona found that living humans have inherited a disproportionate number of Neanderthal variants of immune genes that target RNA viruses like coronaviruses, compared with genes that respond to DNA viruses. This suggests Neanderthals suffered from different RNA viruses than modern humans, and when the two mated, our ancestors picked up new pathogens from Neanderthals, as well as immune genes to fight those microbes.Still, the DPP4 finding suggests gene variants that were adaptive in the past, can be detrimental, following changes in lifestyle and environment, says population geneticist Lluis Quintana-Murci of the Pasteur Institute.

One way to put the COVID-19 risk from Neanderthal genes in perspective, Enard adds, is to compare it with the much higher odds of developing severe disease from SARS-CoV-2 posed by living in poverty and having poor access to health care. These socioeconomic factors have a much stronger role than any genetic effect inherited from a Neanderthal, he says

Continued here:

Neanderthal gene found in many people may open cells to coronavirus and increase COVID-19 severity - Science Magazine

The West VirginiaDepartment of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of December 19, 2020, there have been 1,378,211total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 71,215 total cases and 1,122deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 77-year old male from MarionCounty, an 82-year old male from Raleigh County, an 82-year old male MineralCounty, a 75-year old male from Marshall County, an 82-year old female fromGreenbrier County, a 75-year old male from Marshall County, a 90-year oldfemale from Jefferson County, a 69-year old female from Berkeley County, an 81-yearold male from Hancock County, a 65-year old female from Gilmer County, a 76-yearold male from Hancock County, a 90-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 70-yearold male from Hancock County, a 50-year old male from Marshall County, a 67-yearold male from Raleigh County, an 88-year old female from Hancock County, an 86-yearold female from Jefferson County, a 64-year old male from Wood County, a 74-yearold female from Cabell County, a 77-year old female from Kanawha County, a 72-yearold male from Morgan County, a 58-year old male from Hampshire County, a 101-yearold female from Monongalia County, an 87-year old female from Putnam County, an86-year old female from Cabell County, a 79-year old female from KanawhaCounty, a 68-year old male from Monongalia County, a 78-year old female fromKanawha County, a 93-year old male from Harrison County, a 70-year old malefrom Morgan County, an 81-year old male from Marshall County.

Thisis an incredibly difficult time for the families and friends of these WestVirginians, especially during the holiday season, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHRCabinet Secretary. We offer our sympathies to each and every person connectedto these individuals.

CASESPER COUNTY: Barbour (605), Berkeley (5,084),Boone (900), Braxton (210), Brooke (1,144), Cabell (4,390), Calhoun (114), Clay(223), Doddridge (200), Fayette (1,477), Gilmer (270), Grant (647), Greenbrier(1,087), Hampshire (780), Hancock (1,529), Hardy (614), Harrison (2,323),Jackson (982), Jefferson (2,020), Kanawha (7,611), Lewis (392), Lincoln (634),Logan (1,364), Marion (1,415), Marshall (1,767), Mason (886), McDowell (796),Mercer (2,114), Mineral (1,978), Mingo (1,207), Monongalia (4,596), Monroe(522), Morgan (525), Nicholas (546), Ohio (2,185), Pendleton (214), Pleasants(277), Pocahontas (314), Preston (1,259), Putnam (2,629), Raleigh (2,292),Randolph (983), Ritchie (282), Roane (254), Summers (354), Taylor (565), Tucker(267), Tyler (272), Upshur (699), Wayne (1,468), Webster (119), Wetzel (576),Wirt (173), Wood (4,076), Wyoming (1,005).

Please note that delaysmay be experienced with the reporting of information from the local healthdepartment to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local healthdepartment level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may notbe a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in questionmay have crossed the state border to be tested. Such is the caseof Calhoun County in this report.

Please visit the dashboard located at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more information.

Free COVID-19 testing daily events scheduled fortoday:

BerkeleyCounty

9:00 AM 12:30 PM, 891 AutoParts Place, Martinsburg, WV

HampshireCounty

9:00 AM 3:00 PM, HampshireCounty Fair Grounds (at the dining hall), Fairground Drive, Augusta, WV

HancockCounty

OhioCounty

11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Valley Grove Volunteer Fire Department, 355Fire House Lane, Valley Grove, WV

11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Warwood Fire Station #9, 1301 Richland Avenue,Wheeling, WV

11:00 AM 4:00 PM, Wheeling Island Fire Station #5, 11 NorthWabash Street, Wheeling, WV

Putnam County

9:00 AM 5:00 PM, Liberty Square, 316 Putnam Village Drive,Hurricane, WV (pre-registration: bit.ly/pchd-covid)

Additional testing will be held on Monday,December 21, 2020 in Berkeley, Cabell, Clay, Hardy, Logan, Mineral, Monongalia,Nicholas, Ohio, Putnam, Taylor, and Wayne counties.

There are many ways to obtain free COVID-19 testing in WestVirginia. Please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

Read more here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 12-19-2020 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will receive the shot the following week to avoid a situation in which all of the leaders of the incoming administration experience side effects at the same time.

"It's based on a recommendation by our medical and health experts," Psaki said.

Biden has in recent days expressed a strong desire to take the vaccine both to ensure continuity of government and set a good example for the general public. But he does not want to create the impression that he's cutting the line in front of health workers, nursing home residents and other vulnerable groups.

Vice President Mike Pence, who received the vaccine Friday morning alongside Second Lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, said he hoped the televised event will help calm distrust of a vaccine produced in record time.

"We wanted to step forward and take this vaccine to assure the American people that while we cut red tape, we cut no corners," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) both received the vaccine Friday, as well, sharing photos of themselves with congressional medical staff on Twitter.

"Just received the safe, effective COVID vaccine following continuity-of-government protocols. Vaccines are how we beat this virus," McConnell tweeted. "Now back to continue fighting for a rescue package including a lot more money for distribution so more Americans can receive it as fast as possible."

See original here:

Biden to receive coronavirus vaccine in public on Monday - POLITICO

The pandemic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (shown above) mayunder certain conditionsintegrate its genetic material into human cells, confounding COVID-19 diagnostic tests.

By Jon CohenDec. 16, 2020 , 6:30 PM

Sciences COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

People who recover from COVID-19 sometimes later test positive for SARS-CoV-2, suggesting their immune systems could not ward off a second attack by the coronavirus or that they have a lingering infection. A study now hints at a different explanation in which the virus hides in an unexpected place. The work, only reported in a preprint, suggests the pandemic pathogen takes a page from HIV and other retroviruses and integrates its genetic codebut, importantly, just parts of itinto peoples chromosomes. The phenomenon, if true and frequent, could have profound implications that range from false signals of active infection to misleading results from COVID-19 treatment studies.

The current study only showed this integration in a lab dish, although it also cites published sequence data from humans infected with SARS-CoV-2that suggest it has happened. The authors emphasize that their results dont imply that SARS-CoV-2 establishes permanent genetic residence in human cells to keep pumping out new copies, as HIV does.

Other scientists are divided about the importance of the new work and its relevance to human health, and some are harshly critical. There are open questions that well have to address, saysmolecular biologist Rudolf Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who led the work.

Yet a few veteran retrovirologists are fascinated. This is a very interesting molecular analysis and speculation with supportive data provided, says Robert Gallo, who heads the Institute of Human Virology and looked at the newly posted preprint at Sciences request. I do not think it is a complete story to be certain but as is, I like it and my guess is it will be right.

All viruses insert their genetic material into the cells they infect, but it generally remains separate from the cells own DNA. Jaenischs team, intrigued by reports of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 after recovering, wondered whether these puzzling results reflected something of an artifact from the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, which detects specific virus sequences in biological samples such as nasal swabs, even if they are fragmented and cant produce new viruses. Why do we have this positivity, which is now seen all over the place, long after the active infection has disappeared? says Jaenisch, who collaborated with the lab of MITs Richard Young.

To test whether SARS-CoV-2s RNA genome could integrate into the DNA of our chromosomes, the researchers added the gene for reverse transcriptase (RT), an enzyme that converts RNA into DNA, to human cells and cultured the engineered cells with SARS-CoV-2. In one experiment, the researchers used an RT gene from HIV. They also provided RT using human DNA sequences known as LINE-1 elements, which are remnants of ancient retroviral infections and make up about 17% of the human genome. Cells making either form of the enzyme led to some chunks of SARS-CoV-2 RNA being converted to DNA and integrated into human chromosomes, the team reports in their preprint, posted on bioRxiv on 13 December.

If the LINE-1 sequences naturally make RT in human cells, SARS-CoV-2 integration might happen in people who have COVID-19. This could occur in people coinfected with SARS-CoV-2 and HIV, too. Either situation may explain PCR detecting lingering traces of coronavirus genetic material in people who no longer have a true infection. And it could confuse studies of COVID-19 treatments that rely on PCR tests to indirectly measure changes in the amount of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in the body.

David Baltimore, a virologist at the California Institute of Technology who won the Nobel Prize for his role in discovering RT, describes the new work as impressive and the findings as unexpected but he notes that Jaenisch and colleagues only show that fragments of SARS-CoV-2s genome integrate. Because it is all pieces of the coronaviral genome, it cant lead to infectious RNA or DNA and therefore it is probably biologically a dead end, Baltimore says. It is also not clear if, in people, the cells that harbor the reverse transcripts stay around for a long time or they die. The work raises a lot of interesting questions.

Virologist Melanie Ott, who studies HIV at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, says the findings are pretty provocative but need thorough follow-up and confirmation. I have no doubt that reverse transcription can happen in vitro with optimized conditions, Ott says. But she notes that SARS-CoV-2 RNA replication takes place in specialized compartments in the cytoplasm. Whether it happens in infected cells and leads to significant integration in the cell nucleus is another question.

Retrovirologist John Coffin of Tufts University calls the new work believable, noting that solid evidence shows that LINE-1 RT can allow viral material to integrate in people, but hes not yet convinced. The evidence of SARS-CoV-2 sequences in people, Coffin says, should be more solid, and the in vitro experiments conducted by Jaenischs team lack controls he would have liked to have seen. All in all, I doubt that the phenomenon has much biological relevance, despite the authors speculation, Coffin says.

Zandrea Ambrose, a retrovirologist at the University of Pittsburgh, adds that this kind of integration would be extremely rare if it does indeed happen. She notes that LINE-1 elements in the human genome rarely are active. It is not clear what the activity would be in different primary cell types that are infected by SARS-CoV-2, she says.

One particularly harsh Twitter critic, a postdoctoral researcher in a lab that specializes in retroviruses, went so far as to call the preprints conclusions a strong, dangerous, and largely unsupported claim. Jaenisch emphasizes that the paper clearly states the integration the authors think happens could not lead to the production of infectious SARS-CoV-2. Lets assume that we can really resolve these criticisms fully, which Im trying to do, Jaenisch says. This might be something not to worry about.

Here is the original post:

The coronavirus may sometimes slip its genetic material into human chromosomesbut what does that mean? - Science Magazine

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Read more from the original source:

Coronavirus & COVID-19 Overview: Symptoms, Risks ...