Category: Covid-19

The level of COVID-19 spread in McHenry County rose to medium after sitting at low for two weeks under thresholds set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, county data shows.

The medium level of community transmission means the county saw fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days, while the number of people being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 was 10.7 per 100,000 residents, also over seven days. The threshold to be considered medium spread is between 10 and 19.9 people being admitted to the hospital over a seven-day period, according to the CDC.

The third metric, the percentage of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, still was less than 10%, coming in at 3.6%, as measured by a seven-day average, according to the CDC.

As of Thursday, McHenry County had seen 83,968 total COVID-19 cases, including 489 confirmed deaths and 47 deaths where COVID-19 likely was the cause but was not confirmed. The past week saw two additional deaths reported, one June 17 and the other June 23.

The McHenry County Department of Health did not update its dashboard Friday because of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

The county saw 182.31 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days as of June 25, up from 151.76 a week before, according to the incidence rate reported by the county health department.

It went below 200 one of the thresholds the CDC uses to determine low spread on June 9 for the first time since April 28, county data shows. The level of COVID-19 transmission in McHenry County had reached high under the thresholds set by the CDC on May 26.

Across Illinois, 28 counties have high spread, Illinois Department of Public Health data shows, including neighboring Lake and Cook counties. Thats up from 20 last week.

The rate of cases among newborns to 17-year-olds rose in McHenry County, IDPH data shows.

The rate of COVID-19 cases among children 5 to 11 years old as well as 12- to 17-year-olds in McHenry County increased to three new cases each day from 1.9 cases the week before, according to the seven-day rolling averages. The rate among newborns to 4-year-olds in McHenry County also rose slightly to 3.4 new cases each day compared with 3.3 the week before.

Countywide COVID-19 hospital admissions fell to two new patients a day as of Tuesday, down from three the week before, according to the seven-day rolling averages reported by the IDPH.

Hospital intensive care unit availability across McHenry and Lake counties declined, dropping to 23% as of Thursday, down from 31% a week earlier, according to the seven-day average reported by the IDPH.

Across Illinois, the number of new hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 was 108 daily as of Tuesday, according to the seven-day rolling daily average reported by the IDPH. Of the 1,154 people hospitalized for COVID-19, 122 were in the ICU and 44 were on ventilators as of Thursday.

An additional 1,413 vaccines were administered in McHenry County in the past week, bringing the total to 541,830 in the county, the IDPH reported. The state reported that 111,277 booster shots have been administered in the county.

A total of 202,858, or an estimated 65.74% of McHenry Countys population, now are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning theyve received all doses recommended for the vaccine they were given.

Across Illinois, 81% of those age 5 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, and 73.3% are fully vaccinated, the IDPH reported Friday. Those rates are 84.8% and 76.8% for those age 12 and older, 86.1% and 77.9% for people age 18 and older and 95% and 89.2% for those 65 and older, respectively.

Illinois daily case rate stood at 31.6 new cases per 100,000 people, according to the seven-day rolling average reported Friday, with 74 deaths reported in the past week. Illinois now has seen 3,435,405 COVID-19 cases, 34,150 confirmed deaths and 4,451 deaths where COVID-19 was the probable cause but not confirmed.

Neighboring Lake Countys health department reported a total of 144,225 cases and 1,407 deaths through Thursday. To the south, Kane County has seen 139,889 cases and 1,141 deaths as of Wednesday, according to its health department.

Among McHenry County ZIP codes, Crystal Lake (60014) has the highest total number of COVID-19 cases over the course of the pandemic with a total of 13,770 confirmed, according to county data. McHenry (60050) follows with 9,589.

The McHenry County health department reports ZIP code data only for parts within McHenry County, a department spokeswoman said. Any discrepancies between county and IDPH numbers likely are because of the datas provisional nature and because each health department finalizes its data at different times, she said.

The following is the rest of the local breakdown of cases by ZIP code: Woodstock (60098) 8,624 cases; Lake in the Hills (60156) 8,198; Huntley (60142) 6,825; Cary (60013) 6,399; Algonquin (60102) 6,004; Johnsburg and McHenry (60051) 5,075; Harvard (60033) 3,978; Crystal Lake, Bull Valley and Prairie Grove (60012) 3,035; Marengo (60152) 2,942; Wonder Lake (60097) 2,884; Spring Grove (60081) 1,684; Fox River Grove (60021) 1,291; Island Lake (60042) 1,077; Richmond (60071) 804; Hebron (60034) 466; Barrington (60010) 385; Union (60180) 320; and Ringwood and Wonder Lake (60072) 217.

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McHenry County reports one additional death from COVID-19 in past week, raised to medium level of spread - Northwest Herald

Associations of BMI with COVID-19 vaccine uptake, vaccine effectiveness, and risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes after vaccination in England: a population-based cohort study  The Lancet

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Associations of BMI with COVID-19 vaccine uptake, vaccine effectiveness, and risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes after vaccination in England: a...

As the potential threat of COVID-19 became clear by early 2020, teams across Pfizer sprang into action. Together, they worked to better understand the novel virus. Hospitals were filling, and no one was sure how best to treat the people who were sick. While some infected people seemed to recover quickly, others were dying.

We had started to think about how best we might be able to help address the pandemic, recalls Annaliesa Anderson, who is Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer Bacterial Vaccines and Hospital at Pfizer. And the first, obviously was the vaccine. But the second was to be able to stop people from getting so sick that they had to go to a hospital.

At that time, Pfizer had a relatively small team dedicated to supporting the development of antibacterial therapeutics within the companys Hospital portfolio.1 But several long-time colleagues had worked on prior in-house discovery and development programs focused on viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis C, Rhinovirus, and SARS-CoV-1a virus that, in 2003, was spreading rapidly in Asia.2

One of those scientists is Jennifer Hammond, Vice President, Global Product Development at Pfizer. Hammond recalled pre-clinical work conducted within the Antiviral Discovery Group in 2003 on a SARS-CoV-1 main protease inhibitor, a small molecule which works by inhibiting viruses from making copies of themselves.2

While the SARS outbreak of 2003 resolved before the SARS-CoV-1 main protease inhibitor could be tested in humans,2 the similarity between the viruses causing both diseases suggested it could be a good place to start new research and development efforts. And data generated within Pfizer, as well as the broader scientific community, quickly emerged that confirmed the attractiveness of the main protease as a potential antiviral target.2

In parallel, other members from the team, together with colleagues from across Pfizer, were following the emerging data on the virus and exploring ideas to design a novel therapeutic agent. Within a week, this work came together, and a team was formed to explore the legacy compound, while another was tasked to design a novel, oral therapeutic agent.2

Over the next 24 months, more than 2,000 people came together from across the entire Pfizer organization to share their strengths and expertise to work toward the development of a therapeutic. The collective included experts in virology, oral small molecule design, synthesis, pharmacology, formulation, scale-up, clinical development, and more.3 All of this work began at a frightening time, when people around the world who were able to transition their work, schooling, and personal lives to be largely at home.

In order to be respectful of colleagues' new obligations at home, we actually asked for volunteers who could come on site and help work on this program synthesizing novel molecules, says Charlotte Allerton, Pfizers Head of Medicine Design. We had more volunteers than we actually needed for the program. And they were exceptional. Around the clock, they worked different shifts, juggling some of these challenges at home as well as really moving the program forward.

By March, Pfizer scientists had confirmed that the protease inhibitors from the original SARS program also blocked the SARS-CoV-2 main protease, meaning they had the potential to be used for treating COVID-19.3 However, because these inhibitors were only suited to be given intravenously, they were likely only going to be useful for treating patients who were ill enough to be in the hospital. To potentially benefit the most people and prevent them from going to the hospital, the team wanted to develop a novel oral treatment.3 We decided that we needed to design and develop a novel medicine that could be taken as a pill soon after infection to hopefully help prevent progression to severe disease, says Anderson.

Introducing a new drug (from discovery to approval) in the U.S. takes an average of 12 years.4 As COVID-19 surged around the world, the clock was ticking. The discovery team moved urgently, using structure-based design and state-of-the-art computational and synthetic technologies to identify a highly promising molecule to move into the clinic. With encouraging preclinical data in hand, they started to scale up activities and toxicology studies to enable the start of a Phase 1 study, just 12 months after the program had launched.1

In order to work quickly while still making safety the top priority, the team conducted some of the processes in parallel instead of taking a traditional stepwise approach, where one set of experiments is completed before the next one begins.1 What that meant to Pfizer was making an enormous financial investment in this treatmentincluding designing clinical trials in parallel, as well as making the medicine and packaging so it was ready to be sent immediately if the clinical trials were successfulwhile still not knowing whether it would be authorized or approved.1

Arthur Bergman, who is Group Head of Clinical Pharmacology in Pfizers Anti-Infectives Early Clinical Development, says that, in order to expedite the process, they designed a clinical study protocol that could be flexible and amended as needed along the way. That was valuable when it came to figuring out dosage, for example. He says that going into the Phase 1 part of the trialwhen theyre testing for safety, dosage, and potential side effects in healthy volunteersthe team wanted to safely maximize the concentration of the medicine in the body to be confident of achieving efficacy and minimizing resistance mutations. So they evaluated the molecule alone and co-administered with a pharmacokinetic booster, which helps the compound stay in the body longer, allowing for higher concentrations.5

Bergman says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies were critical in the effort to keep up this fast pace. Tasks that might traditionally take regulators a monthlike protocol reviewwere prioritized by the agencies and completed in a matter of days. And in many cases, the FDA would supply early feedback to help move things along quickly.2

In order to save time, another Pfizer team used technology to model and simulate clinical trial outcomes, in place of a traditional Phase 2 trial.2They did that using something called a viral kinetics model, which simulates virus replication in humans and also simulates the way the drug would inhibit that replication in people with COVID-19.2 That modeling data, along with the data from the trial that used healthy volunteers, informed the dose that would be focused on in the subsequent Phase 2/3 studies.2

With safety always a paramount priority, Pfizer enrolled an initial cohort of just 60 COVID-19-positive patients, who were at increased risk of progressing to severe disease, in the first of these studies (called a pivotal trial). All had experienced symptoms for no more than five days.2 Shortly thereafter, an external safety committee consisting of experts in critical care, infectious disease, cardiology, and other therapeutic areas, reviewed the data from that cohort for any potential health concerns.2 When that panel reported back no concerns, a flurry of activities began to launch the trial on a broader scale.

All told, 2,246 people participated in the Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR (Evaluation of Protease Inhibition for COVID-19 in High-Risk Patients) trial; 41% came from the US and 59% came from around the world, with representation in South Africa, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, and beyond.6The results were striking: in non-hospitalized adults with COVID-19 and at least one risk factor for progression to severe disease, the oral therapy was found to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% compared to a placebo when treated within three days of symptom onset.6

Bergman gets emotional when he reflects on the moment he learned the results. It still brings a tear to my eye today, thinking about how all the hard work from this team came together to create something with such potential to impact patients' lives, he says. You know, thats something that I'll never forget.

In December of 2021, the FDA granted emergency use authorization for the treatment of COVID-19 patients at high risk of progressing to severe diseasethe first oral treatment to be authorized to fight COVID-19. It was an exhilarating experience to be part of something that has such important potential for mankind, says Anderson.

But everyone who contributed to the endeavor knows the work isnt done yet. COVID-19 is still here, after all. Rhonda Cardin, Ph.D., who is Executive Director, Anti-Infectives at Pfizer, says scientists are continuing to watch the virus as it evolves. At our Pearl River, NY site, for example, we are monitoring the development of emerging variants in the GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) database, which tracks virus sequences from around the world, she says. And were not only tracking the variants; were actively testing them against nirmatrelvir to understand whether our oral treatment will be able to treat the emerging variants.

For now, theyre cautiously optimistic. Hammond says that even as the virus mutates, research is finding that the protease inhibitor still seems to interfere with the ability of the virus to replicate, in part due to its ability to bind tightly to its target.2 But, as always, theyll be keeping a careful eye out for any changes and responding to them accordingly. We are definitely remaining vigilant because viruses surprise us all the time, she says.

Pfizer's oral treatment has not been approved, but has been authorized for emergency use by the FDA to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in patients 12 and older, weighing at least 40 kg, with positive results of SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Authorized only for the duration of the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization unless the declaration is terminated or authorization revoked sooner. See EUA Fact Sheet: http://www.COVID19oralRx.com

References:

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Making the COVID-19 Oral Treatment - Pfizer

In December 2021, the WHO Global Learning Laboratory issued a call for submissions for action briefs from countries which described initiatives, large or small, that aimed to improve or simply maintain the delivery of quality care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four action briefs and one knowledge brief describe in detail the learnings from low- and middle-income countries including Kenya, Ethiopia, and India, that developed initiatives to maintain and improve the quality of care provided to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The actions and learnings described in the briefs cover the period from September 2019 to September 2020. These knowledge products are published on the WHO Global Learning Laboratory platform.

The action briefs cover the areas of:

If you wish to read more, please click here to view the content of these action briefs on the Global Learning Laboratory website.

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Quality of care in the COVID-19 context: a multi-country perspective - World Health Organization

A study suggests people who catch covid-19 at least twice have double the risk of dying from any cause and are three times as likely to be hospitalised in the next six months, compared with people who test positive just once

By Michael Le Page

A person waits at a drive-in covid-19 PCR test site in Miami, Florida, in May

Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

You have been vaccinated and recently had covid-19, so you dont have to worry about catching it again, right? Wrong. A large study suggests that every time a person is reinfected, they have additional health risks, both during their immediate illness and in the months afterwards.

Every reinfection is like rolling the dice again, says Ziyad Al-Aly at VA St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri. A second infection is still bad for you.

These findings

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Covid-19: What are the risks of catching the virus multiple times? - New Scientist

AUSTIN, Texas Austin Public Health (APH) is monitoring widespread transmission and declining immunity, including reinfections. Health officials recommendpreventive measuresto help minimize the spread of COVID-19 during Independence Day celebrations. Last week Travis CountysCOVID-19 Community Levelwas upgraded to medium.

With so many gathering and traveling to celebrate the holiday,indoor maskingis recommended, especially if youreat riskfor serious illness from COVID-19. Stay home if youre experiencingsymptoms, even if its just a scratchy throat or you think its just allergies. Before gathering, getup to datewith your COVID-19 vaccines, including anyrecommended booster doses, to protect yourself and your community.

"Were seeing concerning trends with our disease indicators which is especially worrisome as we head into a holiday weekend. The new omicron sublineages BA.4 and BA.5 are overtaking BA2.12 and are causing reinfections that are more likely to cause lung problems in at-risk people and may lead to hospitalization and the need for ICU care. People of all ages and risk levels will be gathering and should be mindful of each other, said Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority. Test now, get up to date with your vaccines, and try to celebrate this weekend outdoors. Taking these steps will help protect loved ones and our hospital systems.

A key surveillance metric, new cases per 100K population in the last 7 days,climbed above 200a threshold signaling increased risk. Additionally, new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100K population for the last week rose to 5.8, and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients the last week rose to 2.5%.

We have highly-trained staff at our testing and vaccine sites that are here to help make sure you have a safe weekend with family and friends, said APH Director Adrienne Sturrup. We encourage families, especially those with young children, to come to our Old Sims clinic to start getting up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone 6 months and older. APH offers vaccine to all eligible age groups. While most children in Travis County get their vaccines from physicians offices, APH is prepared to fill in the gaps until supply is more widely available. Appointments arent required at the Old Sims Elementary Gymnasium clinic (1203 Springdale Rd., Austin, TX 78721).

TheShots for Tots programis also available for underserved communities.

Free N95 respirators

Wearing awell-fitting maskoffers protection for yourself and those around you. Free N95 respirators are available at some local pharmacies. Use afeature on the CDCs websiteto find a location near you.

Free COVID-19 tests

APH encourages testing before and after gatherings, especially if you plan to be in close contact with individuals who areat risk. Athird round of free mail-order COVID-19 test kitsis available through the federal government. You can also pick up free rapid antigen tests at APH's Metz Elementary testing site (84 Robert T. Martinez Jr. St., Austin, TX 78702).

Testing and Vaccination Information

Find vaccine providers usingVaccines.gov(Vacunas.govin Spanish) or by texting your zip code to 438829 (822862 in Spanish) to find a nearby clinic.

APH clinics offer COVID-19testingandvaccinationswithout an appointment, although creating an account online in advance saves time. COVID-19 vaccinations are free and require neither identification nor insurance. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call3-1-1or512-974-2000or visitwww.AustinTexas.gov/COVID19.

A list of Travis County vaccine distribution events can befound online.

The APH Mobile Vaccination Program brings vaccine clinics to businesses, churches and more. APH is asking all organizations to fill outan online formto request a pop-up clinic.

About Austin Public Health

Austin Public Healthis the health department for the City of Austin and Travis County. Austin Public Health works to prevent disease, promote health and protect the well-being of all by monitoring and preventing infectious diseases and environmental threats and educating about the benefits of preventative behaviors to avoid chronic diseases and improve health outcomes.

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COVID-19 Precautions Warranted Ahead of July Fourth Holiday Weekend - AustinTexas.gov

WIMBLEDON, England -- Matteo Berrettini, last year's runner-up at Wimbledon, dropped out of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament hours before he was scheduled to play his first-round match Tuesday, saying that he tested positive for COVID-19.

The All England Club announced Berrettini's withdrawal, and he posted about it on Instagram, saying that he was "heartbroken" and has been isolating "the last few days" after experiencing flu-like symptoms.

He's the second high-profile player to pull out of the draw within the first two days because of the illness caused by the coronavirus, joining 2014 U.S. Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic, who was seeded 14th. The bracket is now without five of the top 11 in the ATP rankings: No. 1 Daniil Medvedev (ban on Russians ), No. 2 Alexander Zverev (ankle surgery), No. 8 Andrey Rublev (ban on Russians), No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz (lost Monday) and No. 11 Berrettini.

An All England Club spokesperson did not respond to a question about what the level of concern is about COVID-19 at the event but did say in an email that organizers have been working with the British public health agency and local authorities.

"We have maintained enhanced cleaning and hand sanitizing operations, and offer full medical support for anyone feeling unwell. We are following U.K. guidance around assessment and isolation of any potential infectious disease," the statement said. "Our player medical team also continue to wear face masks for any consultation.''

After being canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic, then setting up a bubble-type environment and restricting attendance in 2021 to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Wimbledon has returned to normal in every way, with no mask-wearing requirement, full crowds and its famous queue back in action.

"Despite symptoms not being severe, I decided it was important to take another test this morning to protect the health and safety of my fellow competitors and everyone else involved in the tournament," Berrettini wrote in his post, which included a black-and-white photo of him hitting a serve at Wimbledon.

"I have no words to describe the extreme disappointment I feel," he said. "The dream is over for this year, but I will be back stronger."

The eighth-seeded Italian player spent time practicing with Rafael Nadal on Centre Court last week and also crossed paths with Novak Djokovic there.

Berrettini was supposed to play 44th-ranked Cristian Garin in the first round on Tuesday. Berrettini was replaced in the field by Elias Ymer, who lost in qualifying but now will take on Garin.

2 Related

Berrettini was considered a title contender for Wimbledon -- because of last year's run to his first Grand Slam final at the All England Club before losing to Djokovic and because of his recent form on grass.

"I mean, he is definitely [one of the] top two, three players in the world on grass in the last three years. I mean, his results are testament to that," Djokovic said on Monday about Berrettini. "Probably, this is his favorite surface. For his game, it's the most suitable surface. So there is a lot of expectations on his side that he should go far in this tournament."

Berrettini, a 26-year-old who relies on big serves and big forehands, won two tuneup tournaments on the surface this month, going 9-0 at Stuttgart, Germany, and at Queen's Club in London.

That was how he returned to action after being sidelined since March because of an operation on his right hand.

In all, since the start of 2019, he is 32-3 on grass. Two of those three losses came against six-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic and eight-time champion Roger Federer.

Two other singles players left the tournament Tuesday because of injuries: Danka Kovinic (lower back) and Wang Xiyu (left thigh). Kovinic was replaced in the field by Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, who faces Sonay Kartal.

Three-time Grand Slam semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov also retired from his first-round match at Wimbledon, against American opponent Steve Johnson, after having a medical evaluation of his leg.

Eighteenth-seeded Dimitrov won the first set 6-4 and was trailing 5-2 in the second when he stopped playing on No. 2 Court.

Dimitrov, who is from Bulgaria, reached the last four at the All England Club in 2014, when he was 23.

Excerpt from:

Matteo Berrettini, 2021 runner-up, withdraws from Wimbledon after positive COVID-19 test - ESPN

All the medical educational innovation that has taken place amid the COVID-19 pandemic has come with a price in the form of the tremendous strains exerted upon the physicians, faculty educators and other health professionals who have so expertly shepherded medical students and resident physicians through this trying period.

These strains may be less visible to the public because medical education is often unseen and imperfectly understood, but they are no less severe. Addressing this less visible crisis will require a systemic response, which is why the AMA created a new resource with organizational steps to support medical educators (PDF).

A session at the spring meeting of the AMA Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium explored the recommendations in this new resource, and medical school faculty and administrators shared what they and their physician colleagues have noted are obstacles to implementing the recommendations.

Solving this challenge is not just an ethical or moral responsibility. It may be necessary to ensure that the new and productive ways of education learned during the pandemic arent lost, and to prevent a mass exodus from undergraduate medical education that could lead to an even greater workforce shortage.

It is imperative to preserve the capacity for creativity among educators and avoid reversion to historical practices out of sheer exhaustion and change fatigue, the resource says. This is not an issue of individual resilience. Health care organizations and educational institutions must take action to avoid mass abandonment of educational duties and loss of educational leaders.

The AMA resource features seven key recommendations to help institutions support educators as they recover from the pandemic:

Read more about the recommendations in detail.

What it will take

For these recommendations to gain traction, medical schools and residency programs will need to embrace a systemic, democratic process, the presenters at the session noted.

Often when institutions undertake major change efforts, the people with boots on the ground aren't part of that discussion, said Allison Knight, PhD, assistant vice dean of student affairs and director of student wellness at Eastern Virginia Medical School. So the solution sometimes creates more problems than it solves.

Indeed, many administrators have heard from educators that they feel they havent been at the table over the last year, said Maggie Rea, PhD, director of student and resident wellness and clinical professor of emergency medicine at the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine.

If you're telling me as a faculty member that I get a half a day a week for my protected time, to teach or to write or to put in a grant, often there isn't the broader conversation of: Has my clinical load been switched or shifted? Rea noted.

One of the core issues underlying the ongoing threat to making system-level change is that everybody is already working at maximum capacity, said Richard Van Eck, PhD, associate dean for teaching and learning in the Office of Education and Faculty Affairs at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Faculty and staff need to be empowered to identify which things don't need to be done anymore, even if its the deans pet project), which things dont have a high enough return on investment, and which things can be deferred in order to make space for high-quality education and well being, Van Eck said.

Which points to the need for involvement at the highest levels.

I can't say enough about administrative buy-in, said Eboni Anderson, DHEd, director of community oriented primary care and assistant professor of public health at A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. Not just talking about it, but actually coming with some ideas to make those changes.

And dont forget that learners have valuable insights too, Anderson added.

They can also speak to these changes we need to make when it comes to well-beingnot just from their perspective on what they're doing and what they're learning, but from what they see amongst the faculty and the staff, she said.

Read more from the original source:

How to help medical educators further stretched by COVID-19 - American Medical Association

06/28/2022

SUNY Cortlands COVID-19 Safety Information page has been updated to reflect new policies and procedures for the 2022-23 academic year.

The page is available online.

Information is divided into three main sections: Quick answers, information for students and information for employees.

Important changes that are now reflected on the page include:

The COVID-19 Safety Information page will be regularly updated. Any new policies will also be communicated to students, faculty and staff by email. The university will continue to work with guidance from the state Department of Health, the State University of New York and the Cortland County Health Department.

More here:

Updates made to COVID-19 Safety Information page - SUNY Cortland News

Utah will see the greatest increase in COVID-19 case rates by July 4, while Delaware will see the greatest decrease in cases, according to forecasts from Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic.

COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been rising in the U.S. since mid-April, driven by the highly transmissible omicron subvariants, though emerging data suggests this trend may be slowing. The nation's seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases was 108,215 as of June 27, marking just a 1 percent increase in the last 14 days, according to data tracked by The New York Times. Mayo Clinic's COVID-19 map forecasting tool projects the nation's case rate will rise slightly from 33.6 cases per 100,000 on June 26 to 34.8 per 100,000 on July 4.

COVID-19 case trends are just one measure of virus activity and likely represent an undercount given the increasing use of rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests. Hospitalizations were up 6 percent nationwide in the last 14 days, with a daily average of 31,720 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of June 27 according to the Times.

Becker's calculated the rate at which COVID-19 case rates are expected to increase or decrease between June 26 and July 4 using current and predicted figures from Mayo Clinic's tool.

Five states projected to see the largest jump in daily cases by July 4:

Five states projected to see the largest fall in daily cases by July 4:

Note: Mayo Clinic uses a Bayesian statistical model to forecast cases that automatically updates as new data becomes available. Forecasts were unavailable for Alaska and Hawaii. There is an uncertainty interval for forecast values, with lower and upper bounds that are not included in the calculations in this table. To learn more about the data Mayo Clinic uses to forecast hot spots, click here. Becker's pulled the forecast values at 9:30 a.m. CDT June 28.

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Where COVID-19 cases are projected to rise, fall the most by July 4 - Becker's Hospital Review