Category: Covid-19

Its definitely a time to be more vigilant, she said.

She said she recommended that people who have been in higher-risk settings should look out for COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, runny nose, cough, and fatigue.

If symptoms develop, people should get tested to find out if they have COVID-19, she said.

Even if a first rapid test is negative, she recommended, people should mask up until taking a second test two or three days later. If they continue to be worried after a second negative rapid test, they could consider getting a PCR test, she said.

Since people can have COVID-19 and be asymptomatic, people who have no symptoms could also decide to take a test two or three days after theyve possibly been exposed, she said, particularly if they plan to be in contact with vulnerable people like the elderly.

The Boston Public Health Commission tweeted a strong recommendation that people who attended a Fourth of July gathering test for COVID-19.

The holiday arrived as concerns have been growing about the arrival of the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and particularly BA.5, which are highly transmissible and appear to be better able to evade the immunity people have built up from getting sick from COVID-19 previously or getting vaccinated.

The new subvariants are likely to cause an increase in cases, Assoumou said. BA.4 and BA.5 accounted for an estimated 17.8 and 41.6 percent of cases, respectively, in New England in the week ended Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard estimated last week that by mid-July the two variants will account for over 90 percent of cases in Massachusetts.

But Assoumou also emphasized that people can protect themselves.

Were not back in 2020. Were not helpless, she said. We have the tools.

She recommended people get vaccinated, get boosted, wear masks in indoor public settings, get tested, and make sure to use anti-COVID-19 medications if theyre at high risk of complications from the virus.

Matthew Fox, a professor of epidemiology and global health at the Boston University School of Public Health., said an increase in cases could be ahead.

With BA.5 being so transmissible and evading prior immunity and with so much travel and reduced vigilance, I do think there is a possibility we see an infection bump spurred by this holiday weekend, he said.

The good news is that many events were/are outside so hopefully that mitigates a bigger impact, but I do think people should be monitoring for symptoms, testing if they have any concerns, and taking more precautions, he said.

Andrew Lover, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said its quite possible well see a spike this coming week and next from the Fourth. BA.5 is rising fast in many places.

Theres some suggestion from Italy and Germany that it may cause fairly severe symptoms, and hospitalizations are rising in several European countries, Lover said in an e-mail. However, we dont have a good handle on any differences in symptoms yet.

Testing whenever possible should be a high priority for anyone with symptoms, he said.

Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com.

Originally posted here:

Experts: Keep a sharp eye out for COVID-19 symptoms now that Fourth gatherings have passed - The Boston Globe

What is the purpose of these Policies?

The Restart Plan has been prepared to inform students, faculty, staff, regulatory bodies, andthe general community about Jersey College's policies and procedures that are beingimplemented with regards to protecting our community against the spread of COVID-19. Theunderlying principle for this Plan is that a safe learning environment requires personalresponsibility. Individuals must maintain social distancing, appropriately use personal protectiveequipment ("PPE") and be accountable for self-isolating. Through personal responsibility, riskscan be reduced and in-person campus activity can resume.

The three fundamental safety principles are: (i) Maintain Social Distancing, (ii) Use Personal Protective Equipment, and (iii) Be accountable

Masks and Cloth Face Coverings: Masks or cloth face coverings arerequiredto be worn at all times while an individual (student, faculty, staff, or guest) is on a campus. Such coveringsmustcover the nose, mouth, and chin. Jersey College will provide students, faculty, and staff with a cloth face covering.

Students may not drink or eat food in any building, except in designated cafeterias. Eating and drinking is permissible outside ofeach building (i.e., at a picnic table, under a tree, or in a car) provided that students maintain atleast three (3) feet of distance and wear face coverings while not actively eating or drinking.

Recommendations or suggestions for improvements and suspected violations of the policies and procedures should be forwarded to CAO@jerseycollege.edu

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Many of them infect animals, but some coronaviruses from animals can evolve (change) into a new human coronavirus that can spread from person-to-person. This is what happened with the current novel coronavirus known as COVID-19. Diseases from coronaviruses in people typically cause mild to moderate illness, like the common cold. Some, like the SARS or MERS viruses, cause serious infections like pneumonia. The name of this new virus is SARS-CoV-2; the disease caused by this virus is known as COVID-19.

The Federal Governmentand various states maintain robust websites dedicated to COVID-19. The websites include information including, but not limited to: (i) general information about the virus, (ii) testing information, (iii) resources for residents, (iv) travel and other restrictions, and (v) announcements.

As with other respiratory illnesses, there are steps that everyone can take daily to reduce the risk of getting sick or infecting others with circulating viruses.

Social distancing means remaining out of public places where close contact with others may occur [e.g., dormitories, schools and other classroom settings, cafeterias, shopping centers, movie theaters, stadiums, workplaces (unless the person works in an office space that allows complete distancing from others), and local public conveyances (e.g., bus, subway, taxi, ride share)] for the duration of the potential incubation period.

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COVID-19 :: Jersey College

Most people who contract COVID-19 likely won't experience symptoms for more than two weeks at most, but could test positive even after that.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some people who contract COVID-19 can have detectable virus for up to three months, but that doesn't mean they are contagious.

When it comes to testing, the PCR tests are more likely to continue picking up the virus following infection.

"PCR test can stay positive for a long time," Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said in March.

"Those PCR tests are very sensitive," she added. "They keep picking up dead virus in your nose for sometimes for weeks, but you can't grow that virus in the lab. You can't spread it but it can be positive."

The CDC notes that tests "are best used early in the course of illness to diagnose COVID-19 and are not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to evaluate duration of infectiousness."

For those isolating due to a COVID infection, there is no testing requirement to end isolation, however, the CDC recommends using a rapid antigen test for those who choose to take one.

Arwady said that guidance is likely related to determining whether or not someone has an "active" virus.

"If you did want to get a test on please don't get a PCR. Use a rapid antigen test," she said. "Why? Because the rapid antigen test is the one that will look to see...do you have a high enough COVID level that you are potentially infectious? Now, a PCR test, remember, can pick up up sort of traces of the virus for a long time, even if that virus is bad and even if it's not potentially transmitting."

So what else do you need to know about testing for COVID?

According to the CDC, the incubation period for COVID is between two and 14 days, though the newest guidance from the agency suggests a quarantine of five days for those who are not boosted, but eligible or unvaccinated. Those looking to get tested after exposure should do so five days after the exposure or if they begin experiencing symptoms, the CDC recommends.

Those who are boosted and vaccinated, or those who are fully vaccinated and not yet eligible for a booster shot, do not need to quarantine, but should wear masks for 10 days and also get tested five days after the exposure, unless they are experiencing symptoms.

Still, for those who are vaccinated and boosted but are still looking to be cautious, Arwady said an additional test at seven days could help.

"If you're taking multiple at home tests, you know, the recommendation is five days later take a test. But if you have taken one at five and it's negative and you're feeling good, chances are very good that you're not going to have any more issues there," she said. "I think if you're being extra careful there, if you wanted to test again, you know, at seven even, sometimes people look at three to get an earlier sense of things. But if you're gonna do it once do it in five and I feel good about that."

Arwady said testing is likely not necessary after seven days following exposure for those who are vaccinated and boosted.

"If you had an exposure, you're vaccinated and boosted, I don't think that there is any need to be testing, frankly, past about seven days," she said. "If you want to be extra careful, you can do it at 10, but just with what we're seeing, I would consider you really in the clear. If you're not vaccinated or boosted, I certainly have a much higher concern that you could get infected. Definitely, ideally, you'd be seeking out that test at five and I would do it again, you know, at the seven, potentially at that 10."

If you had symptoms, the CDC says you can be around others after you isolate five days and stop exhibiting symptoms. However, you should continue to wear masks for the five days following the end of symptoms to minimize the risk to others.

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How Long Can You Test Positive for COVID-19 Following Infection? - NBC Chicago

As can be seen in the U.K.'s Heathrow Airport on June 1, 2022 in London, England, many people have ... [+] stopped maintaining Covid-19 precautions such as face mask wearing and social distancing. This may have been fueling the BA.5 Omicron subvariant upswing that has hit the U.K. and is now reaching the U.S. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Lets clear up one misconception. Viruses arent like deodorant on your armpit or a fart in a room. They dont necessarily automatically get weaker over time. In fact, often its quite the opposite. Mutations and natural selection can help subsequent versions of a virus get stronger and stronger in different ways, which seems to be happening with the Covid-19 coronavirus. And Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, has called the currently spreading version, the Omicron sub-variant BA.5, the worst version of the virus that weve seen.

Yeah, calling the BA.5 the worst version is like calling The Last Knight the worst Transformers movie or Police Academy: Mission to Moscow the worst of the Police Academy films. Its the worst version of whats been getting progressively worse, and you never know when another even worse version will emerge. Topol used the worst word in a Substack post entitled The BA.5 story that he linked to in the following tweet:

Spoiler alert. The BA.5 story aint a positive one for the U.S. right now, unless many more people and politicians can somehow change the lets pretend that its over and not around anymore approach to the pandemic, which may work with zits but doesnt work with Covid-19. As you can see, Topol wondered on the tweet why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not been issuing more warnings about the Omicron BA.5 subvariant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

After all, theres nothing to suggest that BA.5 will be much less problematic than past versions of the virus. As I covered for Forbes back on May 17, data had already suggested that the BA.5 was more transmissible than its predecessors, which prompted the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to reclassify the BA.5 as a variant of concern (VOC). Therefore, it hasnt been a surprise that the BA.5 has been moving towards becoming the dominant version of the virus in various parts of the world. About a week ago, on June 27, Eric Feigl-Ding, PhD, an epidemiologist and Chief of the COVID Risk Task Force at the New England Complex Systems Institute, tweeted out some graphs from an article written by John Burn-Murdoch for the Financial Times showing the BA.5-fueled rises in hospitalizations in Europe:

The BA.5 now appears to be fueling yet another Covid-19 surge in New York City (NYC). A tweet from Jay Varma, MD, Professor at Weill Cornell Medical School and former Senior Advisor for Public Health to the NYC Mayor, showed how things are high in NYC, but not in a good way:

And unlike that wild weekend in Las Vegas that involved a tooth, a tiger, and a Mike Tyson, in this case, what happens in NYC wont stay in NYC. Any wave in NYC will likely lead to similar waves throughout the U.S.

This has been the case throughout the pandemic with new and more transmissible versions of the SARS-CoV-2 replacing earlier versions and causing new surges. But what may be particularly concerning about the BA.5 is how different its structure is from those of the earlier Omicron subvariants that emerged this past Winter and how quickly those changes have occurred. Topol pointed to studies that have shown that the differences between the BA.5 Omicron subvariant and BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron subvariants are substantially greater than the differences between Delta, Beta, and Gamma variants and the original version of the virus that started this whole pandemic. Keep in mind that there was a whole year and a half between the original version and the Delta variant, whereas BA.5 has emerged no more than half a year after the first Omicron variant.

For example, a publication in Science Immunology cited by Topol presented an antigenic map of the spike proteins of the various major versions of the SARS-CoV-2 that have emerged since early 2020. An antigenic map is a diagram that shows how similar versus different the structures of various proteins are. The map makes it clear how different the BA.5 spike protein is from BA.1 and BA.2 spike proteins and how this different is much greater than the differences between the original viruss spike protein and the spike proteins of the Delta, Beta, and Gamma variants.

As Topol indicated, the big concern is BA.5 potentially being whats called immune escape. This has nothing to do with escape rooms and instead is a situation where the virus looks so different from previous versions that any existing immune protection that you may have doesnt adequately recognize this new version of the virus. Its kind of like you running into that acquaintance who has had a ton of botox and plastic surgery since your last meeting and asking him or her, who are you? Have we met before?

To understand the concept of immune escape, imagine dating someone earlier in your life like in college who turned out to be a nightmare. Say after the break-up, you imprint that persons behaviors and superficial characteristics like his or her appearance in your head. You tell yourself never again, that you will recognize the warning signs much earlier. For example, if that person wore his or her hair in a shag, a mullet, or a shullet, which is a cross between a shag and a mullet, you may say that you are never going to date someone with such a hairstyle ever again. You may equate shullet with danger, for example. As former U.S. President George W. Bush once said, Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again. Well, what if someone else enters your life, someone with a very different appearance but a toxic personality similar to that of your college squeeze. If you are so focused on scanning for shullets, you may not recognize that this person sans shullet nevertheless has the same personality that caused you grief in college. Your guard may be down simply because the person looks different.

In a similar vein, will your immune system recognize the BA.5 since it is so different from the previous versions that your immune system may have been exposed to via either vaccination or prior infection? The differences arent just in the spike protein. As the Outbreak.info website shows, the BA.5 includes mutations changing other parts of the virus as well.

Whats the evidence that these differences may lead to immune escape for the virus? Well, Topol referenced a publication in Cell that showed how antibodies against the BA.1 subvariant didnt neutralize the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants very well. Although antibodies aint your entire immune response, this raises concerns that your immune system wont be able to readily recognize the BA.5.

One way to deal with this immune escape subvariant is to update the Covid-19 vaccines to include mRNA for the BA.5 subvariant spike protein. But as Topol alluded to in his Substack post, there are several obstacles. First of all, Moderna and Pfizer have been focusing on updating the vaccines to account for the earliest Omicron variants, which Topol had pointed out were already very different from the BA.5. By the time these early Omicron-updated vaccines are available in the late Summer, early Fall, there could very well be a new subvariant, even more different than the BA.5. Rather than staying proactive and ahead of the curve, anticipating what may happen in the near future, the U.S. public health response had frequently been reactive. That is wait for it, wait for it, wait until it happens and then explain it away by saying something like, oh, we didnt expect this variant to arise, which is kind of what happened with the Delta and Omicron surges.

Secondly, political leaders arent even convincing enough people to get boosters of the existing Covid-19 vaccines. As the CDC Covid Data Tracker shows, only 47.8% of the population had received the first booster dose, and only 33.7% of those 65 years and older have received the second booster. Without enforcing vaccination requirements, it is unlikely that these vaccination rates will increase significantly until after another surge has occurred and many more people have either died or contracted long Covid with an emphasis on the word after. Plus, how many people will end up getting an Omicron-updated vaccine soon enough to prevent another Fall and Winter surge?

Face mask use can slow the transmission and spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome ... [+] coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and thus reduce the speed at which new variants emerge. (Photo by RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Finally, with politicians ditching other Covid-19 precautions like face mask requirements as if they were soiled underwear, the lack of other Covid-19 precautions will allow the virus to continue to spread widely and new variants and subvariants to emerge more rapidly. After all, the SARS-CoV-2 reproducing is like trying to photocopy your butt while drunk. Each time it tries to replicate its genetic material and itself, the virus can make mistakes in the form of mutations. Thus, the more replicating or reproducing the virus does, the mutations may result, and the more different variants can emerge. It would be better for face mask wearing, higher vaccination rates, and other multi-layered Covid-19 precautions to slow down the spread of the virus so that vaccine development and manufacturing can catch up and instead stay ahead of the curve.

Again, its highly unlikely that the SARS-CoV-2 will get weaker over time. That would be like expecting different animal and plant species to get weaker over time. This just isnt the case as evidenced by the fact that the hot dog eating records keep getting higher and higher. Instead, natural selection tends to work in the opposite direction, selecting for mutations that confer more fitness to the virus.

What might get stronger, though, is our immune protection against the virus, which can be best achieved through vaccination unless you happen to want all those dying and long Covid risks. There is a need for better and a greater variety of vaccines and vaccine approaches. Scientists just need the time, resources, and support of politicians to catch up and stay ahead of the curve. In other words, our national response to the Covid-19 pandemic should get stronger over time as well and not weaker.

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Is Omicron BA.5 'Worst Version' Of Covid-19 Coronavirus Seen? - Forbes

From: Inside Story

COVID-19 cases are surging again around the world amid Omicron variant mutations.

The Omicron variant dominates the recent surge in global COVID-19 infections.

Its two main mutations, known as BA.4 and BA.5, are harder to track and resistant to vaccines.

The next few months will see an increase in global travel, as millions take their summer holidays.

And that is likely to increase the spread of COVID-19.

Those in the pandemic-hit tourism industry were hoping to recover this season, as restrictions began to ease in many places.

But that could change.

The head of the World Health Organization says the coronavirus pandemic is not over.

What should we expect?

Presenter: Rob Matheson

Guests:

Azeddine Ibrahimi Director of med-biotech and professor of medical biotechnology at Mohammed V University

Jeffrey Lazarus Head of Health Systems Research Group at Barcelona Institute for Global Health

Ishwar Gilada Infectious disease specialist and secretary-general of the Organized Medicine Academic Guild

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Whats behind the rise in COVID-19 cases? - Al Jazeera English

FRANKLIN For Rick and Leah Veneski and their youngniece, Natasha, the Franklin 4th of July Carnival Celebration was a way to get out of the house and feel safe about celebratingAmericas birthday again.

Earlier: These men have run the Franklin Fourth of July celebration since 2007

Stepping off the Flying Bobs a thrill ride that takes passengers around in a circle in waves, at up to 12 revolutions per minuteLeah said none of them has contractedCOVID-19 but they were nevertheless glad tocelebrate comfortably and safely.

If it was indoors, we would have masks, she said.

Saturday was the third of five days of activities associated with the town celebration. The day was highlighted for the second straight year by a blues festival, which ran from midday until well into the evening, featuringfive acts. Fireworks that were scheduled for 10 p.m. were canceled, however, with officials pointing to a forecast that called for severe thunderstorms in the area.

The air was warm and humid due to another storm the night before, but the smell of hot friend dough still wafted through the fairgrounds.

Leah Veneski leaned down toward her niece.

Are you looking forward to any food?

Cotton candy and face painting and no more scary rides, Natasha answered.

The trio had hopedto see the fireworks, but soon learned that would not be possible.

We were looking forward to fireworks, but maybe we can still find a show in Walpole, Leah Veneski said.

The Veneskis were among thousands throughout the region who were eager to celebrate the Fourth of July with public outdoor activities after COVID-19 canceled such events in each of the past two years.

A young manwho ran one of the game booths and gave only his first name, Brandon, said employees must all be vaccinated and tested weekly for COVID-19. He said working carnivals is kind of a family business that allows him feel closer to his father, who died.

May he rest in peace, he said. Working at a carnival has its ups and downs. Its like a roller coaster.

In Milford, everyone in the community was excited for the return of the annual fireworks show, which took place June 25, according to Ray Auger of the Milford 4th of July Parade Committee. And thousands more could show for Monday's parade, he added.

"We've only heard great things from the community," Auger said. "There was a small kids bike parade last year, and that was nice, but were just looking forward to gettingback out together to celebrate the birthday of America."

For the first time in three years, the Sudbury Companies Militia & Minute on Monday will put on a full performance, complete with parade, reading of the Declaration of Independence andflag change ceremony, event coordinator JohnNeuhausersaid.

About25 people have volunteered to reenact times of the American Revolution to preserve American heritage, he said. However, audiencesat events are sometimes small, he said.

"We'll be there at the Wayside Inn, whether there's one person in the audience or 100," Neuhauser said.

Franklins Blues Fest on Saturday drew both locals and out-of-towners.

Paul George, ofBrockton, drove up with his wife and a friend to see Neal & the Vipers despite steep gas prices, he said.

Theyre a great band, so when I saw them playing here, I figured its worth a trip to come out, George said.

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Two years of COVID-19, west of Boston 4th of July festivities are on again - Milford Daily News

Its really shocking that it was only until 2021 for the FDA to actually issue an alert, said Uch Blackstock, an emergency medicine physician and CEO of Advancing Health Equity. And even in that alert last year, they didnt even mention racial bias or race or racism in it.

The problem raises broader concerns about bias as technology becomes more embedded in health care, and about the governments ability to counteract it through regulation and oversight. Experts warn that disparate outcomes among racial groups could get worse if technology doesnt work for all patients.

Researchers identified problems with pulse oximeters years ago, with small studies pointing to misreadings in people of color in 1990, 2005 and 2007.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to the devices, which commonly come in the form of a sensor on a patients fingertip.

Michael Sjoding, a pulmonary and critical care physician at the University of Michigan, conducted a study published in December 2020 in the New England Journal of Medicine that found Black patients between January and July 2020 as well as 2014 and 2015 were about three times more likely than white ones to have low blood oxygen levels go undetected. More than one in 10 Black patients with an oxygen saturation reading of 92 to 96 percent on a pulse oximeter actually had levels below 88 percent when measured by blood tests.

Normal levels range from 95 to 100 percent, while levels below 88 percent are considered dangerous.

Experts also say the problem points to the need to update guidance to compensate for the problem, as well as to diversify clinical trials.

The effect on care is real, Sjoding said. That level of difference, had it been recognized and detected, would have changed how we would care for a patient, he explained. You would give a patient more oxygen or potentially give a patient different treatments.

Experts say the flawed readings are the result of how light is absorbed on different skin shades. Pulse oximeters work by shooting light onto a persons skin and observing how much bounces back, said Achuta Kadambi, an engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Darker skin reflects back a smaller signal than lighter skin, which can corrupt the pulse oximeters reading, he said. Kadambi, who has darker skin, has encountered similar problems with automated soap dispensers, which also rely on light to activate.

The laws of physics are against darker objects, which include skin, Kadambi said, adding that algorithms are one way to correct the issue.

But the research findings so far have limitations because they havent all differentiated by the type of oximeter, said Amira Mohamed, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She also noted that generalizing by race can also be tricky.

There are different types of Black people, Mohamed said. Im Black myself and it doesnt mean that its going to work the same way on me like it would for, for example, my husband, whos a darker-skinned Black person.

Mohamed also says that the existing research was conducted mostly on people with white skin and that future studies should focus on people more likely to be affected.

Current FDA guidance recommends manufacturers studies include a minimum of 10 people and at least 2 darkly pigmented subjects or 15 percent of the overall group.

Some experts argue the FDA needs to make that pool larger.

Fundamentally, youre not going to have enough information about the accuracy of the device if youre only testing it on two people, said Sjoding.

More specific FDA guidance on oximeters is warranted, said Ashraf Fawzy, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of a May study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that found providers were more likely to underestimate the level of disease severity and delay treatment for Black and Hispanic Covid-19 patients.

Quicker action from the agency would have been helpful, Fawzy added. The FDA should consider adding a warning label on the devices, said Kimani Toussaint, a professor of engineering at Brown University who is working on potential fixes.

Some experts, like Blackstock, argue the oximeters should be pulled off the market. Others, such as Mohamed, say there needs to be significantly more research before any conclusions are drawn.

If we are concerned about someones breathing or someones oxygen level, its not safe to completely rely on a pulse oximeter and we always need to confirm it, Mohamed said.

And fixing the issue in the devices themselves could be a heavy lift.

The FDA spokesperson said it is seeking to broaden the available data on the problem by

funding a prospective clinical trial to inform any recommendation changes. It hopes that research can sort out sometimes conflicting data that includes non-public information that manufacturers have provided.

Meanwhile, researchers at Brown University are working on using a single wavelength of light to bypass the skin. That research on healthy patients is in the early stages and saw similar results to commercial devices. The inaccuracies tend to be more prevalent in sicker patients, said researcher Rutendo Jakachira, who works with Toussaint.

Scientists are also looking at using sound as a potential replacement for light as a new method of reading blood oxygen levels.

Meanwhile, with technology playing an ever-increasing role in health care, experts say that clinical trials, in which people of color have long been underrepresented, need an overhaul.

Lawmakers are aware of the issue. The House last month passed FDA medical product user fee legislation that included language aimed at bolstering clinical trial diversity.

Adrian Aguilera, the head of the Digital Health Equity and Access Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, said that absent diverse participants, the trial outcomes wont necessarily reflect what will play out in the real world.

Trials are traditionally conducted in person, necessitating that participants come on-site, which can create barriers for low-income people or those with inflexible jobs. Advocates want to use telehealth to draw in a wider range of participants.

Companies should avoid helicopter research and instead take time to build relationships with community organizations and people on the ground, Aguilera said.

What this pulse oximeter situation exemplifies is that if youre not thinking about bias and racism from the beginning, and youre not intentional about it, its going to be embedded in the technology, Blackstock said.

Original post:

Flawed oxygen readings may be behind Covid-19's toll on people of color - POLITICO

In yet another reflection of Oregons tentative transition out of the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials as of Friday will release coronavirus hospitalization totals only once a week, down from one update for every workday.

Considered a key metric throughout the pandemic, the Oregon Health Authoritys decision to provide fresh numbers only on Wednesdays reflects the states confidence that current trends dont augur a severe wave, as well as the agencys apparent desire to wind down work it believes is no longer necessary.

Oregons understanding of the pandemic has long been hitched to hospitalization counts. Predictions of surge peaks numbering in multiple thousands of occupied beds triggered anxious press events where officials begged Oregonians to save the health care system by masking up. Updates showing steady declines were served up as evidence that citizens efforts to protect each other had paid off.

But even as Oregons seventh COVID-19 wave continues with, as of Thursday, sharply rising hospitalizations, state officials and experts tracking pandemic trends dont believe hospitalizations are the vital data point they once were. Nor do they believe trends indicate the current surge will morph into a wave that could threaten the states health care system.

The Oregon Health Authority will continue to receive and track hospitalization statistics internally, a spokesperson for the agency said, and will resume more frequent publishing of the data if it deems it necessary.

As the pandemic changes, we are constantly balancing the response, information, and resource needs, spokesman Rudy Owens said in an emailed statement. The daily data release was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic when information was quickly evolving and changing, and when the number of COVID-19 and other patients stretched the capacity of Oregons hospitals.

University of Washington Professor Ali Mokdad, who has been tracking and modeling cases and hospitalizations throughout the pandemic, said the health authoritys decision to reduce reporting is in line with what he has seen elsewhere.

Nationally and in Oregon, cases are leveling off or declining. Hospitalizations are still climbing because they always lag behind cases, but should soon start falling, too, Mokdad said.

Thats a lot of work on a daily basis, Mokdad said of the effort necessary to prepare and publish data.

The number of Oregonians hospitalized with positive coronavirus tests has climbed 26% in the past week but remains far below the nearly 1,200-person record during last years delta wave. Patients requiring intensive care remain comparatively low.

Coronavirus hospitalizations stood at nearly 420 as of Thursday, more than 90 occupied beds higher than what Oregons chief pandemic forecaster believed would be the current waves peak. Even now, that forecaster, Oregon Health & Science Universitys Peter Graven, has delayed release of new projections by a week in part because of difficulty incorporating new omicron subvariants into the model.

Like Mokdad, Graven was mostly unconcerned that OHA will now publish the data weekly as opposed to daily. In theory, he said, delayed data release could result in delayed behavior change, if people dont know about changes in hospitalization trends. But those potential issues could be dealt with if people know where else to find analogous data, including on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems webpages, which dont precisely match previous state tallies but do indicate general trajectories.

That would require communication, Graven said of alternative sources needing to be more widely known.

And hospitalizations simply arent the statistic they once were. Graven said well over half of the COVID-19 patients at OHSU are incidental cases where the person is seeking care for something other than COVID-19 but tests positive upon admission, a pattern likely seen across hospital systems. He believes emergency department visits for COVID-like symptoms are becoming a more reliable indicator.

Along with the daily hospitalization count, the health authority will also stop daily releases of how many COVID-19 patients are in intensive care units and how many are on ventilators. The same applies to its hospitalization and hospital capacity statistics broken down by Oregon region and each facilitys seven-day hospitalization average.

OHA will continue to monitor these data, Owens said. If circumstances warrant it, OHA would resume more frequent public reporting of hospitalization data.

Fedor Zarkhin

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Oregon COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising; why did the state decide to stop disclosing daily patient number - OregonLive

New SARS-CoV-2 variants are expected since the virus is continually evolving. The Alpha variant first appeared in early 2021, and the Delta variant emerged later that summer. The Omicron variant, which spread quickly throughout the nation in late 2021 and early 2022, is now the most common variation circulating in the US today.

New research shows that people with weakened immune systems are more likely to get chronic infections and produce virus variants that bear multiple antibody-resistant mutations. However, there is good news. While many distinct variations develop in immunocompromised individuals, their likelihood of spreading is small.

Co-author Adi Stern, a professor at Tel Aviv University. Credit: Tel Aviv University

According to recent research from Tel Aviv University, immunosuppressed chronic COVID-19 patients are thought to be the source of several SARS-CoV-2 variants. The researchers hypothesize that a compromised immune reaction, particularly in the lower airways of these chronic patients, may delay complete recovery from the virus and cause the virus to evolve often during the course of prolonged infection. In other words, the researchers explain that the viruss unrestricted survival and reproduction in the body of the immunosuppressed patient result in the emergence of numerous variants.

Furthermore, the variations reported in chronically sick COVID-19 patients had many of the same mutations in their development as those found in variants of concern for severe illness, notably those linked with evading disease-killing antibodies. The new findings show that, although rapidly-spreading variations are rare among the numerous strains harbored by immunocompromised people, the likelihood increases and they do arise when global infection rates boom.

The study was led by Prof. Adi Stern and Ph.D. student Sheri Harari of the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Dr. Yael Paran and Dr. Suzy Meijer of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov). It was published in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine on June 20th, 2022.

Prof. Stern explains that since the outbreak of COVID-19, the rate at which the virus evolves has been somewhat puzzling. During the first year of the pandemic, a relatively slow but constant rate of mutations was observed. However, since the end of 2020, the world has witnessed the emergence of variants that are characterized by a large number of mutations, far exceeding the rate observed during the first year.

Various scientific hypotheses about the link between chronic COVID-19 patients and the rate of the accumulation of mutations have surfaced, but nothing definitive has been proven yet. In this new study, Prof. Stern and the team shed light on some pieces of this complex puzzle and try to answer the question of how variants are formed.

Prof. Stern explains: The coronavirus is characterized by the fact that in every population, there are people who become chronically infected. In the case of these patients, the virus remains in their body for a lengthy period of time, and they are at high risk for recurrent infection. In all of the cases observed so far, these were immunocompromised patients part of their immune system is damaged and unable to function. In biological evolutionary terms, these patients constitute an incubator for viruses and mutations the virus persists in their body for a long time and succeeds in adapting to the immune system, by accumulating various mutations.

The study involved an examination of chronic COVID-19 patients at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital). According to Prof. Stern, the results reveal a complex picture; on the one hand, no direct connection was found between anti-COVID-19 drug treatment and the development of variants. On the other hand, the researchers discovered that it is likely the weakened immune system of immunocompromised patients that creates pressure for the virus to mutate.

In fact, the researchers found that there were chronic patients who showed a pattern of apparent recovery, followed by recurring viral infection. In all of these patients, a mutated form of the virus emerged, suggesting that recovery had not been achieved; this is partially reminiscent of the modus operandi of HIV following inadequate drug treatment.

Upon closer examination of some patients, the researchers found that when such a pattern of apparent recovery is observed (based on negative nasopharyngeal swabs), the virus continues to thrive in the lungs of the patients. The researchers, therefore, suggest that the virus accumulates mutations in the lungs, and then traverses back to the upper respiratory tract.

Prof. Stern concludes: The complexity of coronavirus evolution is still being revealed, and this poses many challenges to the scientific community. I believe that our research has succeeded in peeling back a missing layer of the big picture, and has opened the door for further research efforts to discover the origins of the various variants. This study highlights the importance of protecting immunocompromised individuals, who are at high risk for the virus, yet may also be an incubator for the formation of the next variant, posing a risk to all of us.

Reference: Drivers of adaptive evolution during chronic SARS-CoV-2 infections by Sheri Harari, Maayan Tahor, Natalie Rutsinsky, Suzy Meijer, Danielle Miller, Oryan Henig, Ora Halutz, Katia Levytskyi, Ronen Ben-Ami, Amos Adler, Yael Paran, and Adi Stern, 20 June 2022, Nature Medicine.DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-01882-4

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