Category: Covid-19

MOREHEAD CITY The COVID-19 virus has been showing up in eastern North Carolinas wastewater during the past two weeks at levels not seen since the peak this past winter a troubling early warning sign for community spread and illness.

The latest wastewater sampling data on the states COVID-19 dashboard, which shows trends among people who use toilets connected to selected sewage treatment sites and is updated every Wednesday, indicate that the prevalence of the virus has significantly increased over the past 15 days and particularly in the coastal region. And the detection rate is at or above that of early 2022, when more than 200,000 new cases were being reported each week in North Carolina and more than 4,000 people were being admitted weekly to hospitals with confirmed cases.

Dr. Rachel Noble is a researcher at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City. Her lab analyzes wastewater samples for pathogens and works with other academics, the state Department of Health and Human Services, wastewater utilities and public health departments to provide the data driving the dashboard. She told Coastal Review Friday that the trends mean we are still in the upswing of the pandemic.

The numbers that were seeing now are either equal to or similar to the very highest numbers that weve seen since we started monitoring, Noble said.

The wastewater samples are screened for the genetic material in the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers can detect the viral RNA using a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test.

The dashboards latest 15-day rate of change shows detection increases of more than 100% in wastewater in Wilmington, New Hanover County, Beaufort and Roanoke Rapids. The latest percentile data show that most of the above sites are at or nearly at the peak levels seen in January, as indicated on the dashboard map by red or orange dots. But Noble said that because of recent heavy rains on the coast, the data may not fully reflect the extent of the virus spread in the communities where sampling is done. She said its likely a conservative estimate because of stormwater infiltration of sewer lines, a common problem with aging infrastructure.

One of the reasons why I would interpret those numbers a little bit cautiously is that we know that definitely in the eastern part of the state, if not in the majority of the state our wastewater in the summer months here has been diluted more by rainwater. And so those concentrations are still reading as being high, but if we were accounting for the dilution from rainwater, they would look even higher to us, she said.

Our sewer systems are not closed systems. They were actually engineered to be closed systems, but the sewage systems in North Carolina, they suffer from a lot of inflow that comes from rain.

Also flowing into coastal areas are throngs of tourists each week. The influx of summer vacationers means a lot more people are contributing to the wastewater systems here. And in coastal communities where there is wastewater monitoring, there are more and more viruses detected in the systems, Noble said.

We are getting this constant influx of new community members and a portion of those are infected. They might be asymptomatic. They might do what a lot of people are doing and say, Oh, I have just a little cold, and keep going through their vacation, but theyre still contributing viruses to the system, Noble said.

The more people who are exposed to the virus, the more opportunities the virus has to evolve and become more easily transmissible or cause more severe symptoms.

Viruses constantly mutate and these changes sometimes result in a new variant. According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the omicron virus spreads more easily than other variants but has generally less severe symptoms. And while omicron is still a variant of concern, it has evolved with numerous sublineages. These are still referred to as being in the omicron family, But weve gone all the way from BA.1 to BA.2 and now were at BA.4 and BA.5, Noble said.

When we do our analysis in the laboratory, were trying to basically figure out what the most dominant current lineage is or what the most dominant current variant is in any given location, and what were seeing in North Carolina right now is BA.4 and BA.5. Theyre still an omicron-type virus, but theyre not the original omicron that we saw in December and January, she said.

And while the BA.5 variant is highly contagious, the trade-off is that for most people, symptoms have been milder, especially those who have had a previous coronavirus infection or were vaccinated.

The CDC has labeled 41 of North Carolinas counties as high COVID-19 community levels because of BA.5. The number is up from 18 the previous week. These counties have a high risk of illnesses that could strain the healthcare system. Many of these counties are on the coast, especially in the northeastern part of the state. The BA.5 variant is causing repeat infections, including in people who have recent past infections from other variants or were vaccinated.

Meanwhile, many all of us are suffering from pandemic fatigue and some may be letting down their guard. Others may be resigned to the fact that everybody will at some point get the virus. Noble said she understands the mindset.

I think everybody is going to get it, she said. But, she added, theres still the problem that if people think, Well, everybodys going to get it, put away the masks, go to concerts, do what youre going to do normal life, the virus spreads and mutates even more.

We keep on giving the virus opportunity to mutate in a way that actually sends us right back to those really dangerous variants like delta and like alpha, which caused a lot of hospitalizations and a lot of deaths and a lot of very, very serious illness and long-term illness for people that were either obese or had diabetes or some in some cases, just genetic diseases, Noble said.

A premature return to pre-pandemic life comes with the risk that new variants will mean hospital beds are unavailable and elective surgeries must be postponed, she said.

I feel like were playing exactly into the virus hands by allowing that circulation, Noble said.

Officials say vaccines remain highly effective in preventing severe outcomes including hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

While Covid variants continue to infect people, we have the tools to protect ourselves from the most serious effects of this virus, Gov. Roy Cooper said last week. Get vaccinated and boosted, wear a mask indoors in crowds if you believe you need better protection and if you become infected, talk with a health professional quickly about effective treatments like Paxlovid. Cases are on the rise with this latest BA.5 variant so I encourage all North Carolinians to know their risk and take steps to protect themselves.

The CDC and FDA announced last week that the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, a different type of coronavirus vaccine, may be used by adults ages 18 and older when it becomes available in the coming weeks.

Today, we have expanded the options available to adults in the U.S. by recommending another safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. If you have been waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine built on a different technology than those previously available, now is the time to join the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated. With COVID-19 cases on the rise again across parts of the country, vaccination is critical to help protect against the complications of severe COVID-19 disease, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement Tuesday.

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COVID-19 virus detection in wastewater samples on the rise | Coastal Review - Coastal Review Online

The BA.5 Covid-19 subvariant is now the most dominant strain in the country; the highly infectious variant has caused an uptick in cases and hospitalizations both in hotspots like New York City and the nation overall, but public health action and messaging is less aggressive than with previous outbreaks.

BA.5 typically causes familiar symptoms like fever, headache, muscle aches, cough, and sore throat but can still cause serious illness, especially in individuals with preexisting conditions. Its even entered the highest halls of power, with President Joe Bidens doctor saying in a letter Saturday that Biden is likely infected with BA.5. But theres been little focus on the national plan to keep the subvariant under control, which the Biden administration rolled out July 12.

Tracking BA.5s rise is complicated somewhat because of an increase in at-home rapid testing to confirm infection, rather than testing in a clinical setting, which would make its way to health authorities and paint a fuller picture of the data. While the number of cases is nowhere near the level of infections due to omicron last winter, the week-on-week total of hospital admissions overall has trended up steadily over the past month, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Furthermore, its likely that the full magnitude of the BA.5 outbreak isnt being captured by available data. In some places like San Diego that use wastewater monitoring, wastewater analysis showed a massive surge in copies of the virus shed into the communitys sewage 15.5 million copies per liter of wastewater on Wednesday of last week, versus 8 million copies per liter from the same location the previous week, according to the San Diego Union-Tribunes Paul Sisson. That trend directly contradicts data available from the San Diego County health department, which actually showed positive rates declining 8.3 percent over the same period. For comparison, Sisson reported, there were 47.6 million copies per liter in the same location on January 9, 2022, during the omicron wave.

BA.5s and its fellow omicron subvariant BA.4s advantage likely comes from a combination of increased transmissibility and mutations that enhance their ability to evade immunity people have from previous infection or vaccination, Natalie Dean, an associate professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics and of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, told Reuters. You dont even need an increase in transmissibility to explain the advantage, she said.

Given data showing low rates of severe illness and death in many places and fatigue with Covid-19 restrictions, many health authorities arent tightening previously loosened restrictions.

Im like everyone else: I hate wearing that mask. But more than that, I hate the idea that I might accidentally transmit to somebody else, Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County public health director, told the New York Times. Thats my biggest fear that were so anxious to be done with this virus that were getting complacent.

Throughout the pandemic, New York City has been a hot spot; crowded living conditions and public transit make it easy for the virus to spread through the air. While the citys BA.5 infection rate is nowhere near what it was with previous waves, its continuing to trend up and may even be much higher than available data shows.

As the Timess reporting points out, New York Citys test-and-trace program got phased out this April under Mayor Eric Adams who contracted Covid-19 that month. Restaurants no longer require proof of vaccination to enter, and the citys mask mandate ended in March, though masks are still required on public transit. Despite the citys uptick, and his own health departments recommendation that people mask indoors, Adams has repeatedly resisted bringing back the mask mandate.

We are always re-evaluating our response efforts to ensure we are providing New Yorkers with the best information possible and so that they can make the decisions that are right for them, Fabien Levy, Adamss press secretary, told Vox in an email. However, as City & State, an outlet covering the politics of New York City and Albany, noted earlier this month, the New York City Department of Health removed a color-coded alert system that included specific guidance about how to handle different levels of Covid-19 outbreak, including public health measures to enact. As the New York Times reported earlier this month, the system which Adams unveiled in March recommended that the mayor require face masks at indoor settings and crowded outdoor settings, and bring back the vaccine requirement to enter restaurants and bars.

As of Sunday, the website still states that the administration is re-evaluating the citys COVID Alert system, and advises users to check back here for updates in the coming weeks. It also recommends that New Yorkers wear a high-quality mask in all public indoor settings and around crowds outside, as there are currently high transmission levels of COVID-19 throughout the city.

Instead of bringing back such measures, Adamss office has promoted vaccination, at-home and community testing locations, and antivirals to address Covid-19.

New York is leading the nation in testing and treatment delivery, and, in the last six months alone, weve given out more than 35 million at-home tests to New Yorkers and delivered approximately 90,000 courses of Paxlovid, Levy said in his email to Vox. We review the numbers every day and will continue to follow the guidance of health experts to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy.

But New Yorkers are continuing to get sick, with reported Covid-19 cases up 22 percent over the past two weeks, hospitalizations up 25 percent, and deaths up 29 percent, according to the New York Times. Again, the numbers are still small in comparison; a daily average of 12 deaths is nothing like the daily averages in spring 2020. Vaccines and antivirals undoubtedly help prevent serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths but they need to be supplemented with other mitigation and support measures like masking, as Ed Yong pointed out in his article for the Atlantic earlier this month.

Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, and while hes reportedly still working and experiencing only mild symptoms, his age he is 79 years old puts him at increased risk for complications from the disease. He has twice been boosted, as Voxs Dylan Scott and Li Zhou wrote Thursday, and is being treated with paxlovid. In a short video address posted to Twitter, Biden assured the public that he was feeling fine and getting lots of work done.

Though he shared that he had been vaccinated and fully boosted, he didnt give any guidance for those watching no exhortations to get vaccinated or boosted, or to wear masks indoors. In the meantime, keep the faith, he said. Its going to be okay.

Thats not to say that the White House has made no effort of late to address the prevalence of BA.5; on July 12, the administration rolled out new guidance to manage the latest Covid-19 subvariant.

A press release announcing the strategy acknowledged that BA.5s apparent ability to evade at least some immunity has the potential to cause the numbers of infections to rise in the coming weeks, particularly where people are unvaccinated or where vaccine immunity is waning.

To address this, the White House proposal includes increasing access to antiviral treatments like the one Biden is taking, as well as continuing to encourage vaccine and booster uptake. Increasing availability of and access to free testing is also a key tenet of the strategy, as is better ventilation, increasing access to the preventive treatment Evusheld for immunocompromised people, and ensuring access to respirators and a clear indication of situations in which masking is advised.

That proposal at least presents a comprehensive if not aggressive approach to the new subvariant and the new normal of life with Covid-19. As experts have warned throughout the pandemic, relying on vaccines as a silver bullet, particularly when an omicron-specific vaccine booster is months away, wont stop Covid-19 and wont prevent new variants from forming. As Yong points out, we dont know what those variants will look like, and we have no way of predicting the seriousness of the resulting illness, or the ways theyll evade our immune responses in the future.

Everybodys hoping to get a degree of what they call endemicity living with the virus at a level that does not disrupt society, Anthony Fauci, the USs top infectious diseases expert, told Barrons in an interview Thursday. Thats where I think were going. I dont believe were going to eradicate this.

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The dominant BA.5 variant of Covid-19 signals were still not in the clear - Vox.com

President Joe Biden's doctor said Sunday that he "continue to improve significantly" after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.

Kevin O'Connor, Biden's physician, wrote in a letter released by the White House that Biden's primary symptom was a sore throat and that his runny nose, cough and body aches had all "diminished considerably."

Biden completed his third day of Paxlovid, a COVID treatment, on Saturday night.

"His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature all remain normal. His oxygen saturation continues to be excellent on room air. His lungs remain clear," O'Connor added in the memo to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Biden tested positive for the coronavirus three days ago. O'Connor wrote Saturday in a memo that he likely had the BA.5 subvariant, which now accounts for the majority of COVID-19 cases in the country and is more resistant to vaccines than prior strains.

The president appeared to contract a relatively minor case of the virus, according to the White House, with his symptoms consistently including a runny nose and a cough. He started experiencing a sore throat and body aches on Saturday.

O'Connor has never said Biden's pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate or oxygen were outside normal ranges throughout his infection.

President Joe Biden talks on the phone with his national security team from the Treaty Room in the residence of the White House in Washington, Friday, July 22, 2022.

Adam Schultz/The White House via AP

In addition to Paxlovid, Biden has been using an albuterol inhaler for a cough, according to O'Connor. He is fully vaccinated and double-boosted.

Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House's coronavirus coordinator, also expressed optimism on Sunday about the president's infection, saying, "He had a great day yesterday, was feeling well."

"This is a president who's double-vaccinated, double-boosted, getting treatments that are widely available to Americans and has at this moment a mild respiratory illness," Jha said on ABC's "This Week." "This is really good news, and this is both vaccines and treatments that are available to everyone. Really important that people go out and get vaccinated and avail themselves of these treatments if they get infected."

Biden began presenting symptoms Wednesday evening and ultimately tested positive Thursday, according to his aides.

White House spokesman John Kirby said Friday that Biden's positive test had "no impact" on "the national security decision-making process."

Seventeen people have been identified as close contacts of Biden's, though none of them tested positive for COVID-19. Among them are first lady Jill Biden, who is staying in Delaware until at least Tuesday, and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is maintaining her normal public schedule.

The president is working from the White House residence and will continue to do so until he tests negative.

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Biden's COVID-19 symptoms have 'diminished considerably,' his doctor says - ABC News

The last time the Orioles made the trip to face their American League East rival, the Toronto Blue Jays, two key members of the team werent available to join. Outfielder Anthony Santander and left-handed reliever Keegan Akin were added to the restricted list, missing the trip to Canada.

Now, though, as Baltimore finds itself in a wild-card race with a .500 record this late in the season for the first time since 2017, the club announced all players on its 40-man roster are vaccinated against COVID-19, ensuring none of those players will be left behind for the Orioles next trip to Toronto in mid-August.

The timing of the announcement comes as two stars for the St. Louis Cardinals are poised to miss their teams trip to Toronto. All-Star infielders Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, as well as catcher Austin Romine, were ruled out of the trip Sunday due to their vaccination status. They were added to the restricted list, which means they will not be paid or earn major league service time for the games they miss.

To enter Canada, travelers are required to have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or a second dose of another COVID-19 vaccine at least 14 days before entry. Otherwise, they must go through a quarantine process of 14 days an option thats not possible given the in-and-out nature of a baseball series.

Other teams have felt the loss of players who were unable to enter Canada for a series due to their vaccination status, such as the Kansas City Royals, who had 10 players absent. That included All-Star outfielder Andrew Benintendi, first baseman Hunter Dozier, second baseman Whit Merrifield, outfielder Michael A. Taylor and outfielder Kyle Isbel.

The Philadelphia Phillies placed J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, Aaron Nola and Kyle Gibson on the restricted list for their trip, and Realmuto told reporters its just not worth it because he was not going to let Canada tell me what I do and dont put in my body for a little bit of money.

Without Santander in Toronto for Baltimores trip north in June, outfielder Kyle Stowers made his major league debut. As a switch hitter, Santander is a key player in the heart of the Orioles lineup, hitting .241 with 16 homers. Akin has carved an important role out of the bullpen, throwing more than one inning in 22 of his 24 appearances while holding a 2.36 ERA.

As the hunt for a wild-card berth materializes entering Sunday, the team was 3.5 games out of the third slot the Orioles wont be without those two contributors for the games against the Blue Jays from Aug. 15 to 17 or Sept. 16 through 18. The ability to play in Toronto also potentially boosts Santanders trade value.

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All members of the Orioles' 40-man roster are now vaccinated against COVID-19 - Baltimore Sun

Steve Barnes| Special to the Times Record

Faucis resigning, I said, mistakenly; it wasn't even noonand already it had been a long day.

Not resigning, retiring.

And then corrected myself a second time: Not right away, but when Bidens term is up.

And then another tweak: Well, this term, the one thats up in two years. The ultimate length of the incumbent presidents tenure is unknowable.

To that news: Oh, she replied, the medical pro who is one of my two best frontline sources on COVID-19 in Arkansas, the other being my daughter-in-law. COVID-19, yes, and its variants and, now, its subvariants. Letters and numbers, punctuated with hyphens or decimal points.

The news broke a few minutes before the nurse and I spoke. Anthony Fauci, universally known as the nations leading infectious disease expert, told a Washington-based news site that he would almost certainly step down in 2025 from his post as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Hes been with the agency since 1968 and has been its leader since 84. Since the winter of 2020, the first season of COVID, hes been under fire from both ends of the political spectrum. On occasion, the left accused Fauci of essentially kowtowing to President Donald Trump and thus failing to champion a more vigorous response to the pandemic. But far more oftenthe rounds were fired from the right, and so vitriolic and so threatening did they become, and as they sometimes still are, that Fauci may be the first government doctor to be assigned a security detail.

Fringe conservative figures on the national scene demanded Faucis head on a pike, and not a few Arkansas politicians zestfully joined in. While the latter pols were at it, they made clear they had no use for the Arkansas medical establishment, especially Dr. Jose Romero, then Gov. Asa Hutchinsons secretary of health.

I offered to email the nurse, a veteran registered nurse, some of the clips regarding Fauci that were starting to flood the Internet.

She laughed. Whos got time to read them?

Was her hospital among those in Arkansas dealing with the resurgence of COVID-19 cases?

Of course, she said immediately, almost snappishly.

She and her colleagues on the floorhad just begun to get a handle on their clinical situation, the staff shortages, which bled over into their personal lives, when up jumped the devil. She, they, had been expecting it. There was no way to avoid a significant uptick in the case count given Arkansascomparatively low vaccination rate.

All it took was another shapeshift of the virus, which every clinician knew was not only inevitable but imminent. So once there was COVID-19, then the delta variant, followed by the omicron variant, with BA.2 and BA.4 close behind, and now BA.5.

The pros say there quite certainly will be subsequent variants, new mutations; and no one who knows his or her stuff is proclaiming victory in sight, light at the end of the tunnel. Each turn of the virus seems more easily transmissible, hence the abrupt rise in the overall case numbers, and the accompanying increase in hospitalizations, and the consequent impact on Arkansaspublic and private treasuries.

I read aloud to my nurse source a quote from a Pennsylvania physician, a ranking virologist and pediatrician named Paul Offit of the Philadelphia Childrens Hospital. COVID-19 and its seemingly endless chain of variants will be here for my lifetime, my childrens lifetimes, and their childrens lifetimes,Offit told The Washington Post.

I waited for my nurse friend to react but she said nothing for a time, as if I was about to give her some additional happy news.

Well, okay, fine, she finally replied. Not so much sarcasm as weariness. In the background I could hear some of those noises that are common at a nurses station.

Hold on, she said, and spoke with someone on the floor,presumably a coworker.

After a few moments she returned to our conversation, but only to end it:I gotta run, okay?

Okay.

I reached out to my daughter-in-law to see if she had to run, too. Yes, she did, although on this day she was dealing with patients with problems other than COVID. But shes due for another rotation in the emergency room, so she expects to see a few more Arkansans stumble in, or be rolled in, blue from lack of oxygen, gasping for breath, confessing assuming they are able to speak that they had postponed vaccination, or didnt believe in it; or were certain their ailment was something else, anything elsethan that COVID stuff, which we all know is overblown.

In other words,she would be sayingwell, okay, fine before the week ends, before Faucis stewardship ends, before the plague ends.

Steve Barnes is the host of "Arkansas Week" on Arkansas PBS.

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The resurgence of COVID-19, the retirement of Fauci | Barnes - SWTImes

(Related) Gov. Ducey's denial of grant money to school districts with mask mandates sparks controversy

Two school districts in the Phoenix area will reportedly not receive federal grant money, after Governor Doug Ducey's office determined that they were not in compliance with state law, and therefore not eligible for the money. FOX 10's Nicole Garcia reports.

PHOENIX (AP) - A judge has dismissed Arizona Gov. Doug Duceys lawsuit challenging the Biden administrations demands that the state stop sending millions in federal COVID-19 relief money to schools that dont have mask requirements or that close due to outbreaks.

The state filed the lawsuit earlier this year after the U.S. Treasury Department demanded that Ducey either restructure the $163 million program to eliminate restrictions it says undermine public health recommendations or face a repayment demand.

The Treasury Department also wanted changes to a $10 million program Ducey created that gives private school tuition money to parents if their childrens schools have mask mandates.

In a ruling earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Steven Logan concluded it was reasonable for the Biden administration to say that the money couldnt be spent on efforts that would undermine compliance with COVID-19 prevention guidelines. The judge said a program that requires noncompliance with guidelines may worsen the pandemic and create more negative effects, which goes against the purpose of the relief fund.

MORE: Controversy flares as Gov. Ducey denies grant money to districts with mask mandates

While Ducey claimed the American Rescue Plan Act wasnt clear in the conditions it imposed on using the relief money, the judge agreed with the Biden administrations argument that the permissible uses for the funds under the law and its authorization for the Treasury Department to issue appropriate regulations put the state on notice about the conditions associated with accepting the money.

Duceys lawyers have said in court records that the governor is appealing the ruling. Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin said on Saturday that the governors office was reviewing the decision.

The lawsuit said the Treasury Department created restrictions on spending the money Arizona receives under the American Rescue Plan Act on its own and without legal authority. It asked a court to declare that the Treasury Departments rules are illegal and permanently block enforcement and any demands that it pay back the money spent on the two programs.

The Treasury Department started demanding that Ducey change the programs in October. It was part of a concerted effort to force Arizona and some other Republican-led states that have opposed mask mandates or were using pandemic funding to advance their own agendas to end those practices.

Ducey rejected Treasurys request the following month, and the Biden administration followed up with a formal demand that it cease using the money for the disputed programs or face either repayment demands or withholding of additional money it is set to receive under Bidens COVID-19 relief bill.

MORE: Arizona is most guilty of COVID-19 'panic buying,' study says

At issue are two state programs the Republican governor created last summer meant to help schools and students.

Arizonas Education Plus-Up Grant Program provides $163 million in funding to schools in higher-income areas that received less than $1,800 per student in federal virus aid. Districts that require face coverings or that have closed due to virus outbreaks are ineligible.

Another called the COVID-19 Educational Recovery Benefit Program provides for up to $7,000 for parents if their childs school requires face coverings or quarantines after exposure. It lets parents use the money for private school tuition or other education costs and its design mirrors the states existing school voucher program.

MORE: Arizona governor's $10M Educational Recovery Fund in question by some parents still waiting for the money

Ducey created the programs in part to up the pressure on school districts that had mask mandates or other COVID-19 restrictions, saying they were hurting children and parents who had endured more than a year of school shutdowns, remote learning and other restrictions.

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Judge tosses Arizona suit over limits on COVID-19 relief funds - FOX 10 News Phoenix

For the first time since mid-March, the number of people being treated for COVID-19 in Fredericksburg-area hospitals has climbed to more than 30 patients.

But health officials say its too early to determine if this is another surge or a blip on our radar, said Mary Chamberlin, former public information officer for the Rappahannock Area Health District.

She commented on the numbers last week before her contract ended. Chamberlin is among more than 50 health-district workers, hired in 2020 to work on COVID issues, who got two weeks notice that their contracts were ending. Another 19 people initially were affected but their contracts were restored.

Mary Washington Hospital has treated the bulk of virus patients since the pandemic began and the recent uptick has had minimal impact on the intensive care unit, said Dr. M. Stephen Mandell Jr., senior medical director of Mary Washington Healthcare. He said its become rare for a COVID patient to require ICU treatment.

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Often, patients are hospitalized for other medical conditions, then discover they have the virus after routine testing.

However, Mandell said those who develop serious illnesses tend to have underlying health conditions or suppressed immune systems due to certain medical conditions or because theyre undergoing treatment for diseases like cancer. They face higher risk from BA.5, the latest and seemingly more contagious subvariant to make its way across the globe.

This is significant, particularly with those more vulnerable in our population, he said. It is important to take this seriously, particularly if one has underlying risk factors. As with any infection, COVID can bring serious consequences to that population.

Hospitalizations tend to be the best indicator of significant COVID-19 disease impact at this point in the pandemic, said Brenden Rivenbark, chief operating officer of the Three Rivers Health District, which includes Westmoreland County and other localities in the Northern Neck. Theyre also a lagging indicator and typically occur one or two weeks after cases go up as a persons condition worsens.

From mid-March to mid-July, COVID-19 hospitalizations at Mary Washington, Stafford Hospital and Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center ranged from the teens to high 20s, according to the local health district. Then, on Monday, July 18, the health district reported 30 patients and on Friday, 32 people hospitalized.

Cases and hospitalizations have been climbing across the area, state and nation in wake of BA.5, an omicron subvariant thats highly transmissible, even among those whove had past immunity due to vaccines or previous infections.

A stuffy nose and sore throat seem to be the predominant symptoms of the variant, Rivenbark said.

Mandell maintains that the unvaccinated still face higher risks from this variant, and that being vaccinatedand boostedremains a persons best defense against a serious case of COVID.

However, only half of local residents who have been fully vaccinated have had a booster shot, according to the Virginia Department of Health.

In the Rappahannock Area Health District, which includes Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford, 217,405 people have been fully vaccinated. Thats 60% of the population, ages 5 and older.

Only 30% of the same age group has had a booster shot or additional dose, according to state data.

Other factors beyond a highly contagious subvariant may be causing cases, and hospitalizations, to rise again, said Dr. Ekta Gupta, who works with infectious diseases at Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center. She believes its because people are not wearing masks as oftenif at alland because theyve resumed travel and other activities.

There seems to be an attitude of we will always have to live with COVID so lets get back to the way we used to conduct business or live our lives, Gupta said. We also have less travel restrictions, less mask mandates and we are not keeping up with vaccine recommendations.

The doctor believes advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proven to help us get to this point, and I hope there is more progress to come.

However, other recommendations have changed in Virginia recently, just weeks before students are expected to head back to school. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on July 14 that those exposed to someone with COVID-19 at child care, schools or camp settings no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine.

He said the pandemic is disrupting workplaces and family life when entire child care facilities, camps and classrooms shutter in response to as few as two cases. Youngkin said he opted for the optional quarantine after exposure as the severity of the disease decreases.

Health district representatives will meet with school officials this week to discuss the new quarantine guidance and offer any clarification they can, Chamberlin said.

It is important to note that isolation guidance for those infected with COVID has not changed, she said. The best recommendation for all of us to follow is that if were sick, we need to stay home.

She also said testing continues to be an important tool.

As of Friday, the positivity rate, which measures the rate of positive tests among all those taken, was 26%. However, that doesnt includes at-home tests, and some health officials estimate the number of casesand there were 892 new ones in the RAHD last weekactually may be six to 10 times higher than whats being reported.

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area COVID-19 hospitalizations on the rise again - Fredericksburg.com

A Coral Princess cruise ship with more than 2,000 passengers onboard is stranded at sea.

Strong winds and 20-foot waves are preventing the ship from safely docking in Australia, per reports.

This isn't the ship's only challenge in recent days. Last week, it reported 120 cases of COVID-19 onboard.

Passengers on the Coral Princess cruise ship, now stuck off Australia's coast, can't seem to catch a break.

Last week, the ship reported 120 cases of COVID-19. Now, its 2,000-plus passengers are stranded at sea.

Strong winds and 20-foot waves are preventing the vessel from safely docking, according to news reports from The Daily Mail and Sky News Australia. The ship was supposed to dock in Brisbane at 7am local time Friday, the last day of its weeklong voyage, with stops along the Queensland and New South Wales coasts, but bad weather has made that impossible.

It's unclear when the ship will be able to dock.

"The Port of Brisbane is closed ... " a Princess Cruises spokesman told The Daily Mail Australia, citing "adverse weather conditions associated with the East Coast Low off Queensland."

The ship's arrival and reopening of the port will depend on when conditions improve, the spokesman said.

The ship has been hit with waves measuring roughly 20 feet, according to passenger footage cited by The Daily Mail. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning for winds with gusts up to roughly 55 miles per hour, for parts of the southern Queensland coast Friday.

Princess Cruises did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Cursed cruise ship where 120 passengers tested positive for COVID-19, now is facing 20-foot waves and brutal wind, stranding it off Australia - Yahoo!...

On a bustling Friday morning, the aroma of rice and beans wafts through a cloud of hairspray in Romys Beauty Salon in Meriden. Merengue music soothes the senses. Customers exchange pleasantries in Spanish as Romy Norwood offers each a small bowl of arroz y habichuela, the Dominican staple of rice and beans. Later in the day, Norwood repeats the courtesy with small mugs of strong coffee, cafecito, prepared by her mother, Yolanda Sosa, in the kitchenette in the rear of the shop. Unlike Norwood and her mother, most clients arent wearing a mask.

Neither Norwood nor anyone in her immediate family has been infected with COVID-19. Norwood, 46, and her husband, Jeffrey Norwood, 65, live in Cheshire with their children Jennifer, 14, and Ramon, 12, and their dog, Zeus. Since the start of the pandemic, Norwood says, they have been vigilant about wearing masks, social distancing and getting tested and vaccinated. Two beloved aunts succumbed to COVID in the Dominican Republic, where Norwood grew up, but everyone else in her family has remained healthy, including 73-year-old Sosa, who splits time between Norwoods Cheshire home and her own home in the Dominican Republic.

By all accounts, Norwood and her loved ones appear to have dodged the most severe health outcomes of COVID. This is especially good news for the Norwoods since Black and Hispanic families have been disproportionately impacted by the virus in health outcomes and as small-business owners. According to a report by the U.S. Small Business Association, the total number of people who were self-employed and working declined by 20.2 percent between April 2019 and April 2020. Hispanic people experienced a more significant decline, at 26 percent. The biggest declines were experienced among Asian and Black people, with 37.1 percent for Asians and 37.6 percent for Blacks.

Norwoods beauty salon was shuttered for almost six months during the pandemic. I didnt have an emergency plan, Norwood says in Spanish. Some clients died of COVID, and others simply have not returned to her salon. She decided to forgo a federal PPP loan and incurred credit card debt. She estimates her business has returned to 75 percent of its pre-pandemic performance.

One way or another, COVID will get you, Norwood says about the mental fatigue her family has experienced. She says hypervigilance, anxiety and fear have crept in, replacing many of the happy feelings they had when they settled in Connecticut. The disease has taken an emotional toll on the family. They have been uninfected yet greatly affected by COVID.

While taking a leisurely Sunday drive through Meriden in 2006, Norwood was attracted to the citys quiet beauty and spirit. There were Black and brown people like her and Jeffrey. Spanish was spoken in bodegas. At the time, the couple was living and working in West Haven after having met in The Bronx. Norwood also liked that Meriden was far enough away from West Haven that she would not work in direct competition with her former beauty salon employer. So, she and Jeffrey, a physician at the West Haven VA Medical Center, moved to Meriden, and she opened Romys Beauty Salon on West Main Street. They lived in the upstairs apartment. In 2007, they were married in Jamao al Norte, Norwoods hometown in the fertile Cibao region of the Dominican Republic.

In Meriden, Norwood established a loyal clientele, and the couple started its family. Business was good. They became parishioners at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church, where today Norwood serves as a eucharistic minister and a leader on the parish council. As Jennifer and Ramon grew up, the family began to vacation two or three times a yearthe Bahamas, Mexico, Italy, Punta Cana. They went on cruises.

In March 2020, the Norwoods flew to the Turks and Caicos Islands to seek refuge from the global pandemic. Looking over their shoulders on the flight from Bradley International Airport, they realized they were the only passengers on the plane, Norwood says. When they arrived at Providenciales, Norwood recalls, tourists were scrambling to leave the island. The last flight to the United States departed shortly after their arrival. They initially embraced the lockdown in their hotel room, thinking they would weather the hype and fly home to normalcy.

Then all flights were grounded in Turks and Caicos. A curfew was imposed. They were permitted outdoors for one hour a day. Groceries at the local supermarket were rationed. Food quickly became a scarce resource. Leftovers, Norwood says, became the dreaded meal of the day. They were stuck, marooned on a tropical island, and werent even allowed to swim.

Then the hotel manager demanded $10,000 a week from Jeffrey Norwood to remain in their room beyond their original reservation. So, they found an online rental, bought linens and rid the house of cockroaches. It was a mess, Norwood says. They hunkered down.

Their only outside contact was Zeus, a scroungy, flea-infested watchdog.

At first, the family didnt have much to do with the spotted pit bull-dalmatian mix. They kept their distance. Could he transmit the virus? Norwood recalls thinking at the time, given the widespread uncertainty about COVID. Zeus was always hungry and thirsty. He scratched at their front door at night. Later they would learn he had been whipped with sticks and left outdoors during hurricanes.

Then one day, Zeus joined the family members on a walk during their one hour outdoors. When he was grazed and injured by a passing vehicle and began yelping, recalls Norwood, they decided to allow him into the house to clean him up and help him heal. Thus began the process of adopting Zeus.

The Norwoods spent a month on the island before Jeffrey chartered a private jet to fly his family home to Connecticut. They submitted the paperwork for Zeus. A month later, Jeffrey drove to Miami, picked up Zeus and returned to Cheshire.

I believe Zeus is an angel, says Norwood, her eyes sparkling, as she recounts how the Turks and Caicos misadventure represents both the best and worst of their pandemic experiences. God sent him to care for and protect us, she says. Today, she says, Zeus is king of the house. He has three beds, all the food he wants, adding that he adores her mom.

COVID has affected the Norwood family in myriad ways.

Were without life, Norwood says in Spanish while taking a break between clients at her salon. No more family movie nights with popcorn, she says. No vacations. No romantic getaways. No games. No fun.

There have been a few weekend trips to New Hampshire, where they rent a house, but they take their food and sequester, Norwood says. The kids dont want to go back to New Hampshire, she says, because they arent allowed to leave the house. Im up to here with COVID, says Norwood. I dont want to hear anything else about COVID.

She says her moms help at home and in the salon has been unconditional. After the debacle on Turks and Caicos, Norwood described how she would come home from the salon, strip down in a separate area and shower. Her moms Dominican cooking was always waiting for her. My mother is everything to me, she says.

Her husband is fearful of getting COVID. Norwood says her husband doesnt talk about what he has experienced as a physician on the front lines. He still wears two masks and goggles or a shield, whether hes getting gas or going to a Mets game, Norwood says. In 2018, the couple relocated to Cheshire for its schools. When they returned to school, Jennifer and Ramon had fallen behind. Norwood says Jennifer has become less sociable and more of a homebody. She avoids crowds lest she be exposed to the virus. She has been bullied at school, where classmates have ridiculed her hair and body type. Her children have become anxious, Norwood says.

During the spike in infections last December, Norwood decided to keep Ramon home from school until the end of February, when he turned 12 and was eligible for the adult vaccine. She felt the higher dosage would be more protective and worth the wait. However, school officials hounded Norwood about Ramons absence. She suspects online instruction is purposely inferior to persuade parents to return their children to school.

Tengo temor porque el COVID es impredecible, Norwood says in Spanish. Im fearful because COVID is unpredictable. It may not affect you at all or it may send you to the hospital, she says. She fears for her children and her elderly mother. With all of her precautions, clients still sneeze while touching their hair, face and shoulders, she says. Many have later called to inform her that theyve tested positive. Jeffrey prefers that she close the salon and not work, she says.

I got the works, says longtime customer Jeannette Solano, 53, of Meriden, about getting her hair washed, colored and beautified by Norwood on a recent Saturday afternoon. For Solano, the salon experience is a reprieve from the daily grind of the pandemic. Estaba muy triste, she says in Spanish, I was very sad about Norwood salons hiatus in 2020. Describing Norwood as friendly, humble and fun to be around, she says she stops in once a month. Romy does it right, she says, explaining how a hairdresser recently damaged her hair during a visit home to the Dominican Republic. Solano has received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, she says.

During an afternoon lull at the salon, the air conditioner quits. Norwood sits down and asks Sosa to wash her hair. A few minutes later, Norwoods back on her feet. At the end of her 10-hour shift, the salon is quiet. Norwood sits beneath a hair dryer, elevates her bare feet and closes her eyes for 20 minutes. I need this, she says.

In July, Norwood, her children and her mother plan to vacation for three weeks in her pueblo Dominicano, Jamao al Norte. Jeffrey is not going, she says. I miss my life before COVID. I miss the freedom. The river, the food, the people, the beach, says Norwood during a break between clients. I cant wait.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team , a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.

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Uninfected yet greatly affected by COVID-19: 'One way or another, COVID will get you' - CT Insider

A drone pilot delivers aid to people in the Catapilco, Valparaiso Region of Chile during the COVID-19 lockdown. Texas A&M researchers examined whether drones could also be used to deliver COVID-19 test kits.

Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images

Researchers at theTexas A&M University School of Public Health have developed a new COVID-19 test distribution method that uses drones to quickly deliver at-home diagnostic tests to individuals who suspect they have COVID-19.

The coronavirus pandemic showed that a key part of controlling the spread of a contagious disease is to quickly and accurately identify who has been infected. This allows for distancing and quarantining of infectious people to reduce transmission. At the same time, it is important to limit contact between people who need to be tested, others seeking diagnosis and health care workers administering tests. Home test kits have made it possible for people to get an accurate diagnosis without coming into contact with others but getting tests to people who need them can be a challenge, something drone deliveries could overcome.

COVID-19 diagnostic tests that use a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique are highly accurate but take hours to process, and it can sometimes take days for patients to get results back. In contrast, faster antigen-based tests can give results in as little as 15 to 30 minutes. Home antigen test kits allow people who suspect they may have COVID-19 to test themselves at home, which can limit exposure to other patients at testing sites as well as health care workers administering tests. Getting faster results while minimizing exposure to other people is a one way to further limit the spread of the disease.

In a new article published in theJournal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, Murray Ct, associate professor at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, and colleagues from the University of Houston developed a new technique for scheduling the delivery of COVID-19 diagnostic tests using a truck to dispatch the drones and drones to deliver the tests. The researchers tested various scenarios to better understand the capability of their approach.

Ct and colleagues approach examine their problem as separate truck and drone components. First, they optimize the truck schedule to minimize travel distance and then focus on minimizing drone delivery time. The first stage of their proposed method works to find a feasible set of truck and drone routes. The second stage uses a heuristic algorithm that tries different combinations of routes to find improvements to their initial solution.

Using a real-world scenario, they were able to find a good routing schedule within approximately one hour of computing time. The researchers then developed a way of showing their methods effectiveness based on the total time needed to complete the deliveries, the number of people involved in the process and the virus transmission rate compared to face-to-face testing. They found that the proposed truck and drone delivery method could reduce transmission during testing by a factor of 7.5. For example, if the rate of transmission was 100 per day, the proposed research has the potential to reduce this rate to 13.3 per day.

Their study demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed delivery scheduling method, which could also be used in other applications such as testing of other infectious diseases like influenza. The researchers also note that their model could be used for both rural areas, where patients are spread over long distances, and urban areas, where many patients live in a single region. Another future direction the researchers note is investigating how driving restrictions like speed limits, traffic lights and traffic congestion influence truck and drone scheduling methods.

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Are Drones The Optimal Way To Distribute COVID-19 Tests? - Texas A&M University Today