Category: Covid-19

Maricopa County is now in the medium community level of spread according toCDC, with a rolling average of over 1,200 new cases reported per day. At the same time,flu is widespread, well past the typical mid-winter peak and with significantly higher case counts than are usually seen at this time of year.

While COVID-19 and flu are often mild, both diseases can cause severe illness for some people, to the point of needing hospitalization, said Dr. Nick Staab, medical epidemiologist for Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH). Luckily, we have tools to decrease the spread and severity for people.

People can take several steps to reduce their chances of getting and spreading COVID-19 and flu:

Symptoms for COVID-19 and flu are very similar:

The only way to know for sure if you have COVID-19, flu, or neither is to get tested for both, said Dr. Staab. Medications to decrease severe illness are available for both COVID-19 and flu if they are started soon after developing symptoms. Anyone with symptoms should stay away from others until they get test results to avoid spreading infection.

While vaccines do not prevent 100% of infections, they do a good job at reducing the chances that youll get infected, added Dr. Staab. Its still worth getting vaccinated because if you do end up sick after being vaccinated, your symptoms will typically be milder with a quicker recovery. This helps prevent severe cases and hospitalizations, especially for those who are at higher risk of severe illness, like older adults and those who are immunocompromised.

For more information, including symptoms, vaccine locations, and case counts, please visit:

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COVID-19 and Flu Spread Widely in Maricopa County | Arizona Emergency information Network - az.gov

COVID-19 levels are on the decline in Twin Cities wastewater, according to the latest surveillance reports.

The Metropolitan Council and University of Minnesotas Genomic Center continue to combine forces in monitoring Twin Cities wastewater for changes in prevalence of COVID-19.

Fridays welcome news from the Council: The viral RNA load in Metro Plant influent decreased by 16% last week compared to the previous week.

COVID-19 levels measured in Twin Cities wastewater have dropped 16% over the most recent week.

The project consistently analyzes samples from the regions largest wastewater plant, serving 66 communities and nearly two million people. COVID-19 levels measured in metro wastewater have been a leading indicator of the pandemic and strongly correlated with case counts as well as hospitalizations statewide.

The University of Minnesotas other wastewater tracking project, based at the medical school and tracking data from 40 plants statewide, also shows declines in the Twin Cities, as well as central and southeast Minnesota, for the week ending May 25th.

In the most recent week's wastewater data COVID-19 levels are falling in three areas of the state.

On the other hand, COVID levels have been rising recently in two wastewater plants in the southwestern counties of Lyon and Nobles as well as three plants serving Beltrami, Clay and Pennington counties in northwestern Minnesota.

The Minnesota Department of Healths official COVID-19 case count data shows a steady decline recently with a 7-day average of 1,481 cases reported as of June 3, compared to 1,685 the previous Friday.

Hotspots do remain in some counties according to the data, however. Most notably Pope County in west central Minnesota.

Other findings from the Metropolitan Councils update on Friday, include that the omicron variant BA.2 now makes of 68% of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA while BA.4 and BA.5 now comprise 12% and 20%, respectively. These newer sub-lineages are thought to be more transmissible, but somewhat less harmful, than previous versions of COVID-19.

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Wastewater measurements show decreasing COVID-19 levels in the Twin Cities - MPR News

Three more residents in the St. Cloud tri-county area have died from COVID-19 and there are 518 more cases of COVID-19, the Minnesota Department of Health reported this week.

The Minnesota Department of Health reported 11,432 additional cases and 49 more deaths this week. The health departmentreports thenumbers Monday through Friday.

There were 309 additional cases of COVID-19 reported in Stearns County, 125 in Sherburne County and 84 in Benton County.

The deaths of aStearns County resident in their late 80s and two Benton County residents, one in their late 70s and one in their early 90s, were also reported this week.

Here are the area numbers since the COVID-19 pandemic began:

Statewide, there have been 1,527,145 cases and 12,713 deaths reported by the health department. According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the global count includes almost 535 million cases and more than 6.3 million deaths. In the U.S., there have been almost 85.5 million cases and more than 1 million deaths.

Stearns County leads the way in vaccination rates in the St. Cloud area, with 61.2% of the population 5and older having received at least one vaccine dose, according to the state. In Sherburne County, 58.7% of the same population has received at least one vaccine dose, and inBenton County, 57.7% has.

The St. Cloud area lags behind the statewide vaccination rate.In Minnesota as a whole, 75.2% of the population 5and older hasreceived at least one vaccine dose.

Sarah Kocher is thebusiness reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8799or skocher@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahAKocher.

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3 St. Cloud-area residents reported to have died from COVID-19, 518 more cases this week - SC Times

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. New figures from the Arkansas Department of Heath show that the state saw an increase in active cases.

Health officials reported that there were 377 new active cases, pushing the total to 6,565. Total cases jumped to 849,754, an increase of 610.

Data shows that nine state residents were hospitalized, bringing the total to 154. The number of patients on ventilators fell by one, lowering the total to five. There are currently 23 patients in ICU care, a decrease of four.

An additional five Arkansans died, raising the total to 11,517 since the beginning of the pandemic.

The latest figures show that the total vaccine does given rose by 1,596, bringing the total to 4,087,985 within the last 24 hours. Data shows that there are 1,617,977 state residents fully immunized, an increase of 310. There are 285,989 Arkansans partially immunized.

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COVID-19 in Arkansas: Active cases increase by more than 300 - KARK

SHANGHAI, June 11 (Reuters) - China's capital Beijing is experiencing an "explosive" COVID-19 outbreak connected to a bar, a government spokesman said on Saturday, as the commercial hub, Shanghai,conducted mass testing to contain a jump in cases tied to a hair salon.

The warning followed a new tightening of COVID curbs in Beijing since Thursday, with at least two districts closing some entertainment venues after a flare-up in a neighbourhood full of nightlife, shopping and embassies.

While China's infection rate is low by global standards, it maintains a zero-COVID policy, citing the need to protect the elderly and the medical system, even as other countries try to live with the virus.

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So far, the country of 1.4 billion has seen just 5,226 deaths from COVID-19.

Beijing authorities said on Saturday that all 61 new cases uncovered in the city on Friday had either visited the Heaven Supermarket Bar or had links to it.

"The recent outbreak ... is strongly explosive in nature and widespread in scope," Xu Hejian, spokesperson of the Beijing municipal government, told a news briefing.

The capital had registered 46 new local cases on Saturday as of 3 p.m. (0700 GMT), all people already in isolation or under observation, health official Liu Xiaofeng said.

The city did not announce new curbs at the briefing, but later the Beijing sports administration said all off-campus and "offline" sports activities for teens would be cancelled from Sunday.

So far, 115 cases and 6,158 close contacts linked to the bar have been reported, throwing the city of 22 million back into a state of anxiety.

Beijing only relaxed curbs less than two weeks ago that had been imposed to fight a major outbreak that began in April.

The sprawling Universal Beijing Resort - a theme park on the city's outskirts - on Friday rescinded a plan to reopen. City authorities said three of its workers had visited the Heaven Supermarket bar.

Many neighbourhoods in the capital have been put under lockdown, with residents told to stay home.

In Shanghai, officials announced three new confirmed local cases and one asymptomatic case detected outside quarantined areas on Saturday, as nearly all the city's 25 million residents began a new round of COVID tests.

Authorities ordered PCR testing for all residents in 15 of Shanghai's 16 districts this weekend, and five districts barred residents from leaving home during the testing period. A city official said residents should complete at least one PCR test a week until July 31.

China's most populous city only lifted a gruelling two-month COVID-19 lockdown on June 1. read more

"I am a little bit worried because if there are positive cases in the compound, it will be put into a sealed situation," said Shanghai resident Shi Weiqi. "I will also stock up on some supplies properly in case the previous situation happens again."

Shanghai authorities said they had also reprimanded and dismissed several district-level officials for lapses at a hotel that was used to quarantine arrivals from overseas, pinpointed as one of the sources of Shanghai's wave of the Omicron variant of coronavirus.

They also said they had warned or dismissed some executives at a state-owned firm that owned the Red Rose beauty salon, where three cases were found among workers this week.

The salon's employees had not followed guidelines to undertake PCR testing daily, they said.

On Saturday, Shanghai reported seven new local symptomatic cases for the previous day, a rise of one, of which six were detected outside of quarantined areas.

The city also recorded nine new local asymptomatic cases, up from six the previous day.

In total, mainland China reported 210 new coronavirus cases for June 10, of which 79 were symptomatic and 131 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said.

That was up from 151 new cases a day earlier, 45 of them symptomatic and 106 asymptomatic.

As of Friday, mainland China had confirmed 224,659 cases with symptoms.

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Reporting by Andrew Galbraith, Ryan Woo, Brenda Goh and the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill, David Holmes and Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Beijing warns of 'explosive' COVID outbreak, Shanghai conducts mass testing - Reuters

Lisa and Bruce Curry were on the hunt for the "perfect piece." And in the decade or so they'vebeen coming to the Columbus Arts Festival, they've never found it.

But this year, they're hopeful.

"Every time we come, we're like, 'This is goingto be the day, we feel it,'" said Lisa Curry, 56, of Dublin.

She said they're hopeful because of the "huge variety" of artists they'd seen so far during their visit to the festival Saturday morning.

That's because after two years of canceling the arts festival due to COVID-19, vendors from around Ohio and across the country swarmed the Scioto Mile this weekend, showcasing their ceramics, paintings and other kinds of visual arts.

The arts festival saw artists from numerous states, from Texas and Alabama, to California and Arizona.

Chris Goodenbury came to Columbus from Rochester, New York, and set up a booth selling and showcasing his wide-angle photos of abandoned buildings, mostly churches.

Goodenbury, a first-timer at the arts festival, said he heard about it through a friend who was previously a vendor. He applied and got waitlistedbut ended up getting a spot.

"(My friend) says it's one of the best shows in the country to do, so I thought why not give it a shot?" Goodenbury said.

During the pandemic, Goodenbury said he had to go onto unemployment due to art shows and festivals being shut down. However with some around the country coming back last year and now the Columbus festival this year, he's enjoyed seeing everyone again.

"Last year, when shows started coming back, people were just out in droves," he said. "It seemed like everyone was psyched to be back out."

Chris Charles, Goodenbury's friend from Rochester, New York, who had her own booth for prints, said it was her fourth time coming to the Columbusfestival. She first came in 2016 her first major art festival as a full-time artistand then came back in 2018 and 2019. And now, after two years of COVID, she returned to Columbus.

"I'm excited to be back;not just selling and having my business up and running but (also) getting to interact with people is huge," Charles said. "It's so nice to get immediate reactions to my work and just see old customers."

But while many artists came to Columbus from around the country, others only had to drive down the street to the arts festival.

One such artistwas Elijah Kleman, who set up his drawings and paintings as a part of the festival's Emerging Artists program. It is for artists who have little to no art festival experience andalso offers training for selling art and a lower booth fee.

Kleman, 32, of Columbus, had been coming to the arts festival for about a decade since he arrived at Ohio State University for collegebut only as a visitor.

"It's pretty surreal to be here as an actual artist," Kleman said.

After over two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, having the arts festival back feltlike a "return to normalcy," he said.

"I think it's really important to the artist community and in general; you see people from all different backgrounds here," Kleman said. "So I think it's important to the city itself, not just the artists."

Emily Cline, who set up her ceramics tent, Daphnia Ceramics, was in a similar boat.

Cline, who makes her pottery in North Linden, had been coming to the arts festival a few times over the years as an Ohio resident. But now vending there has been a dream come true, especially since opportunities to showcase art have been scarce during the pandemic.

"It's just great to see the vibrancy that we have here in Columbus with the arts community, coming back to life to what it normally is," Cline said.

But for Columbus residents like JoAnna Rogers, 60, the arts festival had a fresh feeling this year, even though she'd been going since the early '90s.

"Seeing people out walking and moving, walking with friends, staying together, getting separated and coming back together, all the experience has been good," Rogers said.

However, at the end of the day, the arts festival being back just means finding "that" piece of art again whether it's Rogers, who hoped to find a nice piece of jewelryor the Currys, looking for a statement piece to hang up on their wall or put in their garden.

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Columbus Arts Festival returns after 2 years of COVID-19 cancellations - The Columbus Dispatch

Scholars reflect on regulatory gaps in special education for students with disabilities during the pandemic.

Faced with the suspension of in-person behavioral and cognitive therapies, the inaccessibility of virtual learning platforms such as Zoom, and parent burnout, schoolchildren with disabilities and their families have dealt with many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. As public schools nationwide transitioned to remote learning at the start of the pandemic, less than half of all states published remote learning plans with information about the remote provision of services to students with disabilities. As a result, many states looked to federal special education law for answers.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), students with disabilities must receive a free and appropriate public education. In addition, all public-school students receiving special education services under the IDEA must have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). In a previous Saturday Seminar, The Regulatory Review highlighted the successes and shortcomings of the IDEA. This weeks Seminar explores COVID-19s impact on students affected by the IDEA.

All students have struggled to adjust to online and hybrid learning during the pandemic. Students with disabilities, however, face unique barriers not felt by other student populations. These barriers make the IDEAs shortcomings especially prevalent in light of the pandemic.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in March 2020, gave the U.S. Secretary of Education the right to appeal Congress for waivers that would relax some of the IDEAs core requirements as schools transitioned to remote learning. In April, however, former Secretary Betsey DeVos issued recommendations declining to seek such flexibility for certain IDEA provisions.

Although DeVoss choice not to waive certain IDEA mandates encouraged parents and advocates of students with disabilities, local education agencies worried about the legal challenges they would face without any leniency to deliver remote special education services as best they could. By the end of the 2019-2020 school year, parents of students with disabilities brought several lawsuits against school districts and state education agencies. The parents argued that their childrens IEPs had been breached by schools not providing adequate accommodations.

Prior to the lawsuits, the Education Department issued nonbinding guidance implying that if a school did not provide education to its general student population due to COVID-19, it could avoid providing services to students with disabilities. According to the guidance, the IDEA does not specifically address a situation in which elementary and secondary schools are closed for an extended period of time. The guidance seemed to promote the idea that all students are served equally if no students are served at all. Educators responded that such directives contradicted the IDEAs promise that all students with disabilities should have access to an adequate education. The Education Department later clarified that schools should not avoid offering virtual education altogether to evade the legal consequences of failing to serve adequately students with disabilities.

Amid the Education Departments contradictory advice and its refusal to grant the IDEA waivers, some disability rights advocates felt that translating IEP supports and other accommodations to an online learning environment would be impossible. Nonetheless, states adopted various measures for educating children with disabilities in remote and hybrid settings.

This weeks Saturday Seminar highlights how COVID-19s effects on in-person classroom instruction have disproportionately impacted students with disabilities.

The Saturday Seminar is a weekly feature that aims to put into written form the kind of content that would be conveyed in a live seminar involving regulatory experts. Each week,The Regulatory Reviewpublishes a brief overview of a selected regulatory topic and then distills recent research and scholarly writing on that topic.

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Educating Students with Disabilities During COVID-19 - The Regulatory Review

A new UH report discusses the economics of profits and premiums stemming from the federal laws governing COVID-19 PCR testing. Photo Credit: County of Maui.

A new report describes how the federal governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic created a perfect storm in which private laboratories could earn huge profits fromPCRtesting while insurance companies could pass those lab fees on to customers through higher health care premiums.

The report, by a team of researchers that included three economists from the University ofHawaiiat Mnoa, was published June 9in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

The two major components of the federal governments pandemic response the Families First Coronavirus Response and the CARES acts required commercial insurance plans to cover COVID-19 testing costs without any cost-sharing for patients, and did not limit what labs could charge.

In many concentrated insurance markets such asHawaii, insurers have few incentives to negotiate lower prices, said report co-authorTim Halliday, a UH Mnoas economic professor andUHEconomic Research Organizationresearch fellow. They can easily pass these costs onto premiums without losing market share.

The financial consequences of high profit for testing providers are borne by plan sponsors and will likely result in higher insurance premiums other things equal, passing the burden to patients.

Using uniqueHawaiitaxation data on monthly sales, the group analyzed how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the revenue and profitability of independent laboratories. The results showed that private laboratories revenue followed the volume ofPCRtests performed in the state in lockstep. Between May and December 2020, the monthly growth rate of revenue was 8% on average. The researchers estimate that profits perPCRtest were at least $10, but the actual number is likely far greater.

The COVID-19 testing pricing policies are as if designed to channel money from taxpayers, employers and workers to testing facilities and insurance companies, said co-author Ge Bai, health policy and management professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This study revealed key problems affecting the efficiency of the U.S health care system, namely, rigid government rate-setting, price insensitivity of consumers, and misaligned incentives of insurance companies.

It highlights an opportunity for policymakers to improve the affordability of healthcare services by focusing on addressing these problems.

According to the researchers, examples of issues that contribute to this situation include:

Other team members who contributed to the report:

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Who are the economic winners and losers of all the COVID-19 PCR testing? - Maui Now

The hardships imposed by COVID-19 are not over yet. Many Vermonters are still struggling to pay existing and past bills, and the state's utilities have gotten together to remind us there are two federal grant programs one for homeowners and one for renters available to help.

But peopleshould apply now, before the money runs out.

The Vermont Emergency Rental Assistance Program (VERAPP) provides federal grant money for qualified renters to help pay their past due and ongoing utility bills and rent. Learn more and apply at https://vtutilityhelp.com, or by calling 833-3727.

The Vermont Homeowner Assistance Program (VT HAP) provides federal grant money for qualified homeowners to help pay up to $30,000 of their past due utility bills, mortgage, and association fees. Learn more and apply at https://vermonthap.vhfa.org/ or by calling 833-221-4208.

More: Vermont is stopping free COVID testing on June 25. Here's what you need to know.

Both programs are tied to income to qualify. In the case of the assistance program for renters, household income must be at or below 80% of the county median.

The program for homeowners includes a pre-screening calculator that will show income limitsbased on the county of residenceand the size of thehousehold. A household of four living in Chittenden County, for example, can qualify with a gross household income of $160,950 annually or less.

In addition to these federal grant programs, peoplecan always take the step of contacting theutility directly to set up a payment plan for past due bills.

Contact Dan DAmbrosio at 802-660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

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Overdue bills because of COVID-19? Federal money is there to help. - Burlington Free Press

Oncology patients are often vulnerable to the world around them. This world has become even more risky for our patients due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus is in the grocery stores, in the streets and even in our hospitals. It is difficult to go anywhere and not have a close call with it.

Its as if a dark cloud is looming over our planet, and we, as health care workers, feel it as well; we are worn down and tired. There are a few nurses who rise to the occasion, continue to bring light in these dark times and maintain a positive attitude while going above and beyond to care for their patients.

Alison Boudreau is one of these nurses who lets her drive for caring for others push her to continue on strong and unwavering. I often hear patients report uneasiness because of the pandemic when deciding to come to the hospital, but this feeling is put to rest when Alison exhibits how much she cares and will help them.

Alison puts families at ease as well by reaching out and updating family members on the status of her patients this means a lot to them. She has traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to obtain bone marrow transplant education to be able to provide care to a variety of oncology patients. When I think of a nurse who is worthy of this award, I think of Alison. She puts in the time to hone her craft, is always unconditionally caring toward her patients and families and continues to be a beacon of light during these dark times.

She changes the life of each and every one of her patients in a positive way, and this is what it means to be a nurse.

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When COVID-19 Cast a Dark Cloud on the World, One Oncology Nurse Offered Light in Dark Times - Curetoday.com