Category: Covid-19

MADISON, Wis. (AP) A national meatpacking company with a facility in Green Bay has agreed to pay about $15,000 to settle allegations of unsafe practices during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic sickened and killed Wisconsin workers.

The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration announced the settlement last week, Wisconsin Public Radio reported Thursday. The settlement applies to seven JBS Foods USA plants, including the Green Bay facility.

The company closed that plant in late April 2020 after nearly 150 infections were linked to it. The plant reopened about a week later. OSHA said that by mid-August 357 infections had been confirmed at the plant. OSHA cited the plant in October 2020 on grounds that the company didnt implement timely and effective measures to control the diseases spread.

The agency hailed the settlement as a step toward protecting workers. Jarrett Brown, who worked at the Green Bay plant until early 2020, called the deal a slap on the wrist.

This is not punishment for them, Brown said.

JBS officials said in a statement that theyve established COVID-19 protocols and plan to implement them across their U.S. facilities.

Read more from the original source:

Meatpacking company in Green Bay settles COVID-19 workplace allegations - WIZM NEWS

In an interview with Argentinian broadcaster TYC Sports on Monday, Messi noted that when he initially became unwell with Covid-19, he experienced the typical symptoms of the virus -- sore throat, coughing and fever. However, when the initial effects cleared up, the seven-time Ballon D'Or winner continued to struggle with respiratory issues.

"It left me with after effects. It left me with after effects in my lungs. I came back and it was like a month and a half without even being able to run because my lungs were affected," Messi said Monday.

The Argentine forward missed three matches after his positive test in January: two in Ligue 1 and one in the French Cup.

Messi went on to say that he pushed himself to return to the pitch too quickly from the complications which worsened their effects.

"I came back before I should have, and it got worse because I went too fast and it ended up setting me back. But I couldn't take it anymore, I wanted to run, to train -- I wanted to get going. And in the end, it got worse," he said.

"When I was halfway there [towards being at my peak], the Real Madrid thing happened and that killed us," said Messi. "It killed me and the whole locker room in general and all of Paris because we had this big dream in that competition.

"And the way it happened, the game, the result ... it was a gut punch."

Messi is preparing to play with his national team against Italy in the first edition of the Finalissima, a new competition devised by football governing bodies UEFA and CONMEBOL, pitting the winners of Euro 2020 against the winners of the Copa merica. The match takes place on June 1.

CNN's Csar Lpez and Patrick Sung contributed to this report.

More here:

Lionel Messi reveals his behind-the-scenes Covid-19 struggle - CNN

The total number of new cases of COVID-19 in Evanston was 270 for the week ending June 1, 19% lower than the week ending May 26. The number of new cases in the State dropped by 10%. Hospitalizations, though, increased slightly.

This evening, June 2, Evanstons Health and Human Services Department ranked Evanston in the medium community risk level. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health ranked Cook County, including Chicago, in the high community risk level. Lake, McHenry, DuPage and Will Counties are also in the high community risk level.

Researchers estimate that the actual number of new COVID-19 cases is about six or seven times the number being reported because many people who test positive on tests taken at home are not reporting them. A recent New York City study suggests that the actual number of new cases may be under-reported by a factor of 30.

Wastewater Testing

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) announced today, June 2, that their comprehensive effort to monitor the coronavirus and its variants in wastewater will extend into mid-2023.

The federally funded effort will help public health officials track the prevalence of COVID-19 across Illinois and provide a potential sign of another surge in infections, said the Governors office in a prepared statement. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is detectable in human waste nearly from the onset of infection, while symptoms may not appear for three to five days.

We are very grateful to our federal funding partners for the support that allows us to continue building our capacity to conduct wastewater surveillance in communities throughout the state of Illinois, said IDPH Acting Director Amaal Tokars. This technology holds the promise of serving as a sentinel, early-warning system for the presence of disease as well as new variants of concern.

The Illinois Wastewater Surveillance System is a collaboration among IDPH and scientists from DPI, the University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern University, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The team has established collection sites at 71 wastewater-treatment facilities in 46 counties in the State. Nearly 200 samples are collected each week, and they are then transported to a UIC microbiology lab for analysis. A subset of samples is also sequenced at Argonne to determine which COVID-19 variants are infecting people at any given time. The results are forwarded to IDPH and can be used to inform public health protocols.

Trends of New Cases in Illinois and Evanston

Illinois: On June 2, the number of new cases in the state was 6,300, down from 6,358 one week ago.

The seven-day average of new cases in Illinois on June 2 was 6,358, down from 5,125 on May 26, a 10% decrease. The chart below shows the trend.

Evanston: Evanston reported there were 44 new COVID-19 cases of Evanston residents on June 1. (Evanston is reporting COVID-19 data with a one-day delay.)

There was a total of 270 new COVID-19 cases of Evanston residents in the week ending June 1, compared to 334 new cases in the week ending May 26, a decrease of 19%.

The chart below shows the trend.

No Evanstonian died due to COVID-19 during the week ending June 1. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 remains at 149.

Cases at D65, ETHS, and NU: It appears that the new cases at the schools continue to account for a significant number of the new cases in Evanston.

School District 65s COVID-19 dashboard reports that for the seven-days ending May 31, a total of 86 students and 23 staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

ETHS reports on its dashboard that in the seven-days ending May 23 (the most recent report for ETHS), 50 students and 13 staff tested positive for COVID-19.

The data does not reflect whether the students and staff contracted the virus while at school.

The latest data reported on NUs website is that between May 20 and May 26 there were 393 new COVID-19 cases of faculty, staff or students. If the cases are of an Evanston resident, they are included in Evanstons data for the relevant period, Ike Ogbo, Director of Evanstons Department of Health and Human Services, told the RoundTable. NU will update its data tomorrow.

Cases Per 100,000

The weekly number of new cases per 100,000 people in Illinois is 255 in the seven days ending June 2.

As of June 1, the weekly number of new cases per 100,000 people in Evanston was 365. As of June 2, the number was 244 for Chicago, and 281 for Suburban Cook County. An accompanying chart shows the trend.

Hospitalizations

Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have more than doubled in the last seven weeks. They have increased from 517 on April 6 to 1,267 on June 1.

The chart below, prepared by the City of Evanston, shows the trends in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 at the closest three hospitals serving Evanston residents.

Cook County is in the High Risk Level

The CDC and IDPH look at the combination of three metrics to determine whether a community level of risk for COVID-19 is low, medium, or high. They are: 1) the total number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last 7 days; 2) the new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 in the last 7 days; and 3) the percent of staffed inpatient hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients. [1]

The City of Evanston reported this evening, June 2, that Evanston is in the medium risk category. While the number of new COVID-19 cases exceeded the number required to be put in the high risk level, the Citys Health and Human Services Department reported that the number of hospitalizations of Evanston residents was low and the percent of inpatient hospital beds being used for COVID-19 patients was also low.

CDC and IDPH reported, however, that Cook County, including Chicago, is the high risk category.

The CDC and IDPH recommend the following measures for people in areas that are rated at a high community Level for COVID-19 transmission:

At all levels, people can wear a mask based on personal preference, informed by personal level of risk. People with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask.

FOOTNOTES

1/ CDC recommends the use of three indicators to measure COVID-19 Community Levels: 1) new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the last 7 days; 2) new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 population in the last 7 days; and 3) the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by patients with confirmed COVID-19 (7-day average).

The chart below illustrates how these indicators are combined to determine whether COVID-19 Community Levels are low, medium, or high. The CDC provides many recommendations depending on whether the COVID-19 Community Level is low, medium, or high.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/indicators-monitoring-community-levels.html

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COVID-19 update as of June 2: Evanston in medium risk category, but Cook County in high risk - Evanston RoundTable

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of June 2, 2022, there are currently 2,117 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been nine deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 6,971 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 89-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 77-year old male from Greenbrier County, and a 67-year old male from Jefferson County.

Included in the total deaths reported on the dashboard as a result of the Bureau for Public Healths continuing data reconciliation with the official death certificate are a 67-year old female from Putnam County, an 81-year old male from Ohio County, a 27-year old female from Wayne County, a 72-year old male from Monongalia County, a 100-year old female from Mineral County, and a 15-year old female from Raleigh County. These deaths range from January through May 2022, with three deaths occurring in September and December 2021.

We offer our deepest condolences as our state grieves more losses due to COVID-19, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Scheduling a COVID-19 vaccine and booster shot are the most powerful ways to prevent further loss of life due to this devastating disease.

CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (10), Berkeley (156), Boone (20), Braxton (8), Brooke (17), Cabell (106), Calhoun (10), Clay (2), Doddridge (3), Fayette (58), Gilmer (2), Grant (9), Greenbrier (30), Hampshire (20), Hancock (37), Hardy (13), Harrison (91), Jackson (12), Jefferson (106), Kanawha (210), Lewis (35), Lincoln (24), Logan (47), Marion (88), Marshall (29), Mason (41), McDowell (13), Mercer (83), Mineral (32), Mingo (23), Monongalia (125), Monroe (17), Morgan (7), Nicholas (56), Ohio (62), Pendleton (1), Pleasants (4), Pocahontas (3), Preston (22), Putnam (66), Raleigh (97), Randolph (41), Ritchie (8), Roane (25), Summers (7), Taylor (30), Tucker (4), Tyler (4), Upshur (43), Wayne (34), Webster (5), Wetzel (24), Wirt (4), Wood (56), Wyoming (37). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.

West Virginians ages 5 and older are recommended to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot when due. Second booster shots for those age 50 and over who are 4 months or greater from their first booster are recommended, as well as for younger individuals over 12 years old with serious and chronic health conditions that lead to being considered moderately to severely immunocompromised.

Visit the WV COVID-19 Vaccination Due Date Calculator, a free, online tool that helps individuals figure out when they may be due for a COVID-19 shot, making it easier to stay up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.

To locate free COVID-19 testing near you, please visit https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx.

Excerpt from:

COVID-19 Daily Update 6-2-2022 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

ALABAMA (WHNT) While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life over the past two years, other viruses and infectious diseases were in retreat.Now those viruses have returned particularly in children.

After two years into the pandemic, and thanks to vaccines and medicines, people and life are starting to return to normal. However, other viruses are starting to make their way back. Folks are asking why these viruses are picking up cases so rapidly and unexpectedly.

In recent months, Adenovirus 41 has attacked children under 10 in the form of a rare, but deadly hepatitis strain. The two viruses have never been linked before. health experts are baffled.

Could it be some post-COVID thing or could it be some dysregulated immune response? Is it something that is always there that we are just picking up? We are studying, Dr. Wes Stubblefield of the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) told News 19.

The virus has invaded cities across the globe.

The same could be said for the outbreak of monkeypox,normally found in Africa but is now an unprecedented outbreak with still no valid explanation as to why.

Monkeypox is endemic in certain parts of the world, Stubblefield added. Although its rarely seen outside of there and this has been something that has seem to have been seen in several countries including now the U.S.

Experts believe that the delayed immune response in children is related to viruses being restricted from wearing a mask.

That is one of the possibilities although that has not been confirmed, Stubblefield stated. There is a thought out there that some of these effects that we are seeing, hepatitis being one of them, could potentially be some sort of an abnormal immune response because there is not this sort of reservoir of infections that the children are going through.

To date, there have been 169 cases of the mysterious hepatitis reported thus far. The first case of monkeypox has been recorded in the South in the state of Georgia. Experts say the viruss evolution will be determined in the coming weeks.

Read more:

Viruses that were on hiatus during COVID-19 have mysteriously made a return - WHNT News 19

As COVID-19 cases began to accelerate again this spring, federal data suggests the rate of breakthrough COVID infections in April was worse in boosted Americans compared to unboosted Americans though rates of deaths and hospitalizations remained the lowest among the boosted.

The new data do not mean booster shots are somehow increasing the risk. Ongoing studies continue to provide strong evidence of additional protection offered by booster shots against infection, severe disease, and death.

Instead, the shift underscores the growing complexity of measuring vaccine effectiveness at this stage of the pandemic. It comes as officials are weighing key decisions on booster shots and pandemic surveillance, including whether to continue using the "crude case rates" at all.

It also serves to illustrate a tricky reality facing health authorities amid the latest COVID-19 wave: even many boosted Americans are vulnerable to catching and spreading the virus, at a time when officials are wary of reimposing pandemic measures like mask requirements.

"During this Omicron wave, we're seeing an increased number of mild infections at-home type of infections, the inconvenient, having a cold, being off work, not great but not the end of the world. And that's because these Omicron variants are able to break through antibody protection and cause these mild infections," John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, told CBS News.

"So, one of the dynamics here is that people feel, after vaccination and boosting, that they're more protected than they actually are, so they increase their risks," he said. "That, I think, is the major driver of these statistics."

On the CDC's dashboard, which is updated monthly, the agency acknowledges several "factors likely affect crude case rates by vaccination and booster dose status, making interpretation of recent trends difficult."

The CDC had rolled out the page several months ago, amid demands for better federal tracking of breakthrough cases. It has now grown to encompass data from immunization records and positive COVID-19 tests from 30 health departments across the country

For the week of April 23, it said the rate of COVID-19 infections among boosted Americans was 119 cases per 100,000 people. That was more than double the rate of infections in those who were vaccinated but unboosted, but a fraction of the levels among unvaccinated Americans.

That could be because there is a "higher prevalence of previous infection" right now among those who are unvaccinated and unboosted, the CDC said. More boosted Americans may now have abandoned "prevention behaviors" like wearing masks, leading to an uptick.

Some boosted Americans might be more likely to seek out a lab test for COVID-19, as opposed to relying on over-the-counter rapid tests that go largely unreported to health authorities.

"Home testing has become, I think, the single biggest concern in developed countries that can interfere with our measurements," CDC's Ruth Link-Gelles told a conference hosted by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases last month.

Some federal officials have floated the possibility of adopting a survey similar to those relied on by authorities in the United Kingdom as an alternative way to track a "ground truth" in COVID-19 cases, though plans to stand up such a system do not appear imminent.

"Moving beyond this crisis, I do think the future is in random sampling. And that's an area that we're looking at closely," Caitlin Rivers, a top official on the agency's disease forecasting team, told an event hosted by the National Academies last week.

Meanwhile, federal officials are also preparing for key decisions on future COVID-19 vaccine shots, which might up the odds that additional shots might be able to fend off infections from the latest variants.

In the short term, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently told reporters that her agency was in talks with the Food and Drug Administration about extending the option for second boosters to more adults.

Right now, only adults 50 and over and some immunocompromised Americans are eligible to receive a fourth dose.

Further down the road, a panel of the Food and Drug Administration's outside vaccine advisers is scheduled to meet later this month to weigh data from new booster candidates produced by Pfizer and BioNTech as well as Moderna.

BioNTech executives told investors last month that regulators had asked to see data for both shots specifically adapted for the Omicron variant in addition to "bivalent vaccines," which target a blend of mutations.

Those new vaccines would take about three months to manufacture, the White House's top COVID-19 official Dr. Ashish Jha told reporters.

"It's a little bit of a challenge here because we don't know how much further the virus will evolve over the next few months, but we have no choice because if we want to produce the hundreds of millions of doses that need to be available for a booster campaign, we have to start at risk in the early July timeframe or even somewhat sooner," Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's top vaccines official, said at a recent webinar hosted by the American Medical Association.

Marks said that bivalent shots seemed likely to be favored, given the "wiggle room" it could offer for unforeseen variants beyond Omicron.

Vaccines that might offer even better "mucosal immunity" actually fighting off the virus where it first infects the respiratory system are still a ways off, Marks cautioned.

"I think that we are in a transition time and I, again, will speak openly to the fact that 2022 to 2023 is a year where we have to plan for trying to minimize the effect of COVID-19 with the tools that we have in hand," Marks said at a recent event with the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

"I do believe that, potentially by the 2023-2024 season, we'll start to see second generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines," he added later.

CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic.

Read more:

Why boosted Americans seem to be getting more COVID-19 infections - CBS News

News Release

Thursday, June 2, 2022

A large randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial led by the National Institutes of Health shows that treating adults hospitalized with COVID-19 with infliximab or abatacept drugs widely used to treat certain autoimmune diseases did not significantly shorten time to recovery but did substantially improve clinical status and reduce deaths.

Some COVID-19 patients experience an immune response in which the immune system unleashes excessive amounts of proteins that trigger inflammation that can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiple organ failure and other life-threatening complications. As part of theAccelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV)public-private initiative, NIH launched the ACTIV-1 Immune Modulators clinical trial to determine if certain drugs that help minimize the effects of an overactive immune response could speed recovery and reduce deaths in adults hospitalized with moderate to severe COVID-19. The ACTIV-1 master protocol included three sub-studies; each one tested an immune modulator drug as compared to a placebo. This approach allowed for coordinated and efficient evaluation of multiple investigational agents simultaneously.

NIHs National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) coordinated and oversaw the trial with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response.

These promising ACTIV-1 results demonstrate the collaborative power of public-private partnerships to accelerate therapeutic answers during this unprecedented global health crisis, said Acting NIH Director Lawrence A. Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Working together, NIH and our ACTIV partners have brought to bear the best tools and clinical trial designs in our research arsenals. The innovative ACTIV model is bringing greater clarity to the search for effective, evidence-based COVID-19 treatments.

ACTIV-1 participants were randomly assigned to one of the immune modulator drugs or placebo in addition to the standard of care, which may include remdesivir (Veklury) supplied by Gilead Sciences, Inc. About 90% received remdesivir, and about 85% received dexamethasone.

Investigators monitored participants and recorded their clinical status daily while hospitalized according to an eight-point scale ranging from not hospitalized with no limitations on activities to death. The full report on these data in a peer-reviewed scientific journal is expected in fall of 2022, and a preprint will be available sooner.

The topline results showed:

The results will be made available to treatment guideline groups and regulatory bodies.

When given in addition to standard of care treatments, like remdesivir and dexamethasone, infliximab and abatacept each offered a substantial reduction in mortality, said the trials protocol chair, William G. Powderly, M.D., director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. These drugs could potentially add to the therapeutic options available for the treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

From October 2020 through December 2021, the ACTIV-1 Immune Modulators clinical trial enrolled 1,971 participants at 46 medical facilities in the United States and 23 medical facilities in Latin America. The study was reviewed periodically by an independent DSMB, and no safety concerns were noted during the conduct of the trial.

NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program and the Trial Innovation Network played a key role in enrolling participants in the United States.

More than half of the CTSA Program sites contributed their infrastructure and expertise to speed completion of this trial, said Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., acting director of NCATS. This collaborative and efficient multinational platform trial design streamlined our ability to urgently and robustly test promising therapies for treating people hospitalized with COVID-19.

For more information about the trial, please visit clinicaltrials.gov and search identifier NCT04593940.

About HHS, ASPR, and BARDA:HHS works to enhance and protect the health and well-being of all Americans, providing for effective health and human services and fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The mission of ASPR is to save lives and protect Americans from 21st century health security threats. Within ASPR, BARDA invests in the innovation, advanced research and development, acquisition, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, diagnostic tools, and non-pharmaceutical products needed to combat health security threats. To date, BARDA-supported products have achieved 62 FDA approvals, licensures or clearances. For more on BARDAs development portfolios and on partnering with BARDA, visitmedicalcountermeasures.gov.

About the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS):NCATS conducts and supports research on the science and operation of translation the process by which interventions to improve health are developed and implemented to allow more treatments to get to more patients more quickly. For more information about how NCATS helps shorten the journey from scientific observation to clinical intervention, visit https://ncats.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

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Immune modulator drugs improved survival for people hospitalized with COVID-19 - National Institutes of Health (.gov)

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) In their biweekly data report released Thursday, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reported an increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

From May 16 to May 29, OHA reported 22,845 new COVID cases, a 24% increase from their previous biweekly total of 18,447. During that same time frame, there were 549 COVID-related hospitalizations, more than double the 208 that were reported during the previous two-week period. COVID deaths also rose from 50 to 58 during the period.

The increases we are seeing with COVID-19 cases statewide confirm that the virus is still widespread through Oregon, even though many of us are ready to move on, said Dr. Paul Cieslak, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at OHA. With our healthcare partners, we continue to monitor hospitalization numbers that are rising gradually. We anticipate, based on the latest modeling, that hospitalizations will peak around the second week of June and then start to come down.

Out of the 196,549 tests that were reported to OHA, 12.1% were positive, up from the 10.5% positivity rate from the previous biweekly report.

OHA also reported that there were 153 active outbreaks at care facilities, senior living communities and congregate care living facilities, meaning there were three or more COVID cases or one or more COVID-related deaths.

Cieslak said that staying up to date on vaccinations is the best way to prevent serious diseases.

Persons who are at higher risk should make a plan for getting tested and treated quickly should they develop COVID-19 symptoms despite vaccination. Paxlovid and other treatments are now widely available in Oregon with a doctors prescription or through test-to-treat sites, Cieslak said.

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OHA reports spikes in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths - KOIN.com

Protection against symptomatic COVID-19 begins to decrease about one month from initial vaccination, while immunity against severe COVID-19 remains high for about six months, according to a recent study by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine.In the largest study to date, researchers analyzed data from 7 million unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals aged 12 and older.The researchers determined the vaccines provided significant protection against COVID-19, but their effectiveness decreased over time.The findings showed that after full vaccination, immunity against COVID-19 infection decreased from 84% after the first month to 22% after five or more months.Those who received the Moderna vaccine had the highest levels of protection, according to the findings.Researchers said vaccines remained 90% effective against severe COVID-19 for up to six months. But protection against severe COVID-19 was lower for individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.The study also found immunity against COVID-19 decreased more rapidly for people 65 or older, no matter which vaccine they received.The researchers didnt have data beyond six months, and the study didnt include data on boosters.Read the full study here.

Protection against symptomatic COVID-19 begins to decrease about one month from initial vaccination, while immunity against severe COVID-19 remains high for about six months, according to a recent study by scientists at Penn State College of Medicine.

In the largest study to date, researchers analyzed data from 7 million unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals aged 12 and older.

The researchers determined the vaccines provided significant protection against COVID-19, but their effectiveness decreased over time.

The findings showed that after full vaccination, immunity against COVID-19 infection decreased from 84% after the first month to 22% after five or more months.

Those who received the Moderna vaccine had the highest levels of protection, according to the findings.

Researchers said vaccines remained 90% effective against severe COVID-19 for up to six months. But protection against severe COVID-19 was lower for individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The study also found immunity against COVID-19 decreased more rapidly for people 65 or older, no matter which vaccine they received.

The researchers didnt have data beyond six months, and the study didnt include data on boosters.

Read the full study here.

Read more from the original source:

Study finds vaccines are 90% effective against severe COVID-19 for up to six months - WGAL Susquehanna Valley Pa.

JINGZHOU, CHINA - FEBRUARY 01: Workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) spray ... [+] disinfectant at Jingzhou Railway Station during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush on Febraury 1, 2021 in Jingzhou, Hubei Province of China. (Photo by Yang Qiu/VCG via Getty Images)

I am a travel business writer. In early May 2022 I attended a conference at a Las Vegas Strip hotel. It was the first conference Id flown to since January 2020. Every attendee had to be fully vaccinated, proving it via the Clear app on their phone. Masks were recommended, though few wore them.

I flew into Las Vegas on May 2 and returned to LA Friday, May 6. On May 7 I completed and posted a Forbes.com story Party Like Its 2019 In Las Vegas, Where Crowds Are Back. On Sunday, May 8, after avoiding it for more than two years, I tested positive for COVID.

COVID is not over. I caught it somewhere on my trip, in an Uber, at the airport, on the plane, at the hotel, at the conference, on the streets, in a restaurant or bar.

I started coughing and feeling sick around 1AM Sunday. When I got up, I took a home COVID test. Both blue and pink lines were visible; I had tested positive. I spent the day in bed, taking Anacin. I used a thermometer to check my fever and a finger pulse oximeter to test oxygen level. On Monday I took another COVID test at a local drugstore (with results reported to LA County), then went to an urgent care center. I tested positive at both.

I tweeted, So late as ever, I finally got #COVID19, after two and half years. Yes, vaccinated three times. Did I let my guard down or was my number up? So far unpleasant, occasionally painful and isolating but seems survivable. Lying in bed watching #MichaelCaine movies. Later I wrote, Im fatigued and its difficult to work. Im falling asleep as I write this. Ive closed my eyes.

I was sick for a week. My symptoms included persistent coughing, choking, a fever that inched up to about 102.7, diarrhea and general exhaustion. I isolated from my wife and took the steroids, antibiotic Z-pack and inhaler I was prescribed.

01 March 2022, Berlin: The drug Paxlovid against Covid-19 from the manufacturer Pfizer is lying on a ... [+] table. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa (Photo by Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images)

My friend, an epidemiologist, recommended I get the new Pfizer anti-viral drug, Paxlovid. Although I am in a high-risk age group and have chronic bronchitis, I had to talk the doctor into giving it to me. He was trying to spare me possible side effects but relented when I said I needed to fly to my sons college graduation.

I found one of the few pharmacies with Paxlovid and took it for a full five days. My symptoms dropped off in about three. I recovered at home with no need to go to the hospital. In 8 days, I stopped testing positive and was well enough to fly to the East Coast.

I was fortunate that my COVID case was mostly annoying, not life-threatening. More than one million Americans have died of COVID, including some I knew.

Instead, I am one of 85 million whove tested positive. Yet the CDC says that 60% of Americans have had COVIDabout two hundred million people. A CDC spokesperson said, We know that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg.

Millions do not develop symptoms. Others simply dont get tested or stay on the down-low, as their at-home test results go unreported to health officials.

So, whether they know it or not, it is quite possible that the person in the seat next to you, or dancing an arms length away, has COVID-19. Yes, even if they are tripled-vaxed, as I was.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MAY 15: Attendees react to singer/songwriter Ashanti and rapper Ja Rule ... [+] performance during the 2022 Lovers & Friends music festival at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on May 15, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

I know people who traveled within days of a positive test. For other travelers, the easiest way not to test positive for COVID is not to take the test at all. How many are at this ignorance is bliss stage? Or have told themselves they have a bad cold, or seasonal allergies acting up?

Is indifference plus the latest COVID outbreak cause for paranoia? Time to stop traveling again? My answer is No. I will not be confined to my house and the surrounding six blocks for another two years.

Our health security system, such as it is, is fragile. Compliance is not mandatory. The U.S. is not China. US flights do not require COVID tests or proof of vaccination. Neither do most hotels. Or restaurants. Or stores. So, when you leave your home, theres a decent chance that the person next to you has COVID-19.

I chose to travel to a well-attended conference. I flew after the mask mandate was revoked. Like 90% of those on board (including Southwest crew) I didnt wear a mask. At the conference I didnt wear one either. I wandered maskless at the casino, when I sat at a gambling table or went to eat. Most people around me were unmasked as well.

You could call it rolling the dice. You could say I was foolish or tired of lockdowns and shutdowns. I wanted to live my professional life as a writer on the road, not locked in the house staring at screens.

Like most things in life, travel has its risks. I risked catching COVID, and I did.

I would do it again. I will do it again.

Business couple walking together to the airport entrance carrying suitcases and bags

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I Caught COVID-19 On A Business Trip - Forbes