Category: Covid-19

China isreinstatingmeasures to limit the spread of the coronavirus in several cities amid a spike in infections.

Thus far, China has shut down an industrial city, urged residents not to leave Beijing and closed down schools in Shanghai due to an increase in cases.

Chinese officials reported 588 new confirmed cases in the 24 hours ending on Friday, but no deaths. That included 134 confirmed cases in the northeastern Jilin province, a number which prompted a shutdown of Changchun, a city with 9 million residents, The Associated Press reported.

On Saturday, the mayor of Jilin was replaced, as was the mayor of Changchun, according to the AP.

China operates under a "zero tolerance" strategy, finding and isolating every case and sometimes conducting mass testing in cities and towns.

Hong Kong has also battled a wave of the novel coronavirus since February, and hospitals, morgues and isolation centers are overflowing. On Friday, 29,381 new infections and 196 deaths were reported in the city,according to Reuters.

The city's leader, Carrie Lam, warned they were not at the peak of the wave yet, and urged more residents to get vaccinated.Ninety percent of residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, but only 53 percent of those over 80 years old have been vaccinated, Reuters reported.

"Over 90 percent of the deaths were those who had not been fully vaccinated. We need to catch up and vaccinate every Hong Kong citizen," Lam said at a news briefing, per Reuters.

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China reinstates COVID-19 restrictions amid a rise in infections | TheHill - The Hill

Heres the latest news from the pandemic.

Epidemiologists have long feared a twin Covid-flu pandemic. This week, we learned that while omicron was surging across the U.S., the flu vaccine Americans received this year didnt work well enough to keepmild to moderate illness at bay.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that the efficacy of this years flu-shot formulation was estimated at just 16%, which the federal health agency said is little different from simply going without the vaccine. To be sure, U.S. health officials still advocate vaccination for everyone except the youngest infants as long as the flu is circulating. And more, the data gave no indication of how good the shot was at preventing flu infections that could land someone in the hospital, or even kill.

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Coronavirus Daily: What You Missed This Week on Covid-19 - Bloomberg

Residents in Elmhurst, Queens, one of the citys neighborhoods hit hardest by Covid-19 during the early months of the pandemic, were particularly wary. Neha Shah, 25, worried about her diabetic father, and said she had been trying to avoid tightly packed restaurants and cafes.

I just feel like its for public safety, Ms. Shah said. Im not OK with them being dropped.

For Emily Suardy, a barista at Furmans Coffee in Brooklyn, masks could not come off soon enough. They made work in her small coffee shop hot and uncomfortable, and she felt safe going about her daily life given that she and her co-workers, friends and family were vaccinated.

Even if there is a spike in positive Covid-19 cases or another variant pops up, she said, she would be reluctant to go back to masking up inside unless the city reinstates its mandate.

Im really tired of it, Ms. Suardy said. If its not mandatory, I wont use it.

That was not the case with one of New Yorks most well-known recovering Covid-19 patients, the Broadway icon Patti LuPone.

For two years, Ms. LuPone said she had taken every precaution. But as Omicron ebbed, she said, she had started going out and grown a bit lax about mask-wearing. Then, late last month, she tested positive before a performance of Stephen Sondheims Company, and had to leave the theater.

For 10 days, Ms. LuPone had to isolate, a lady who lunched alone in her apartment as she coped with flulike symptoms and fatigue.

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The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Lasted 2 Years. The Next Steps Are Divisive. - The New York Times

As of Friday, it's officially been two years since the World Health Organization first declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Numerous U.S. states are relaxing Covid mandates, amid a nationwide drop in daily new cases.

But a major new report warns: Don't let your guard down, because there's a lot more work to do before the pandemic officially ends.

The report, written by an independent group of 53 doctors and public health policy experts including former government health officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations is a 136-page roadmap for getting to the "next normal," and safely living with Covid for the foreseeable future. It provides recommendations to local, state and federal governments on how to deal with the virus, which it describes as "here to stay."

While the report says that "omicron won't be the last variant," it says that with the right public health policies, people can go back to something close to their "pre-pandemic routines and lives." To achieve this, the report offers recommendations to help firmly shift Covid into its endemic phase, and bring the U.S. into post-pandemic life.

Here are its biggest takeaways:

To successfully transition into a new normal, the report says that Covid-19 death rates will need to decline to a similar level as influenza, a comparable endemic disease that kills more than 50,000 Americans in a year. That means fewer than 165 new deaths per day, on average.

As of Thursday, the seven-day average of daily new U.S. deaths is 1,259, according to Johns Hopkins University data. That's roughly seven times higher than the report's recommended target, meaning there's still significant work ahead before the country is in the clear.

The report suggests that getting more people vaccinated would substantially help. Ideally, it says, at least 85% of the U.S. population should get at least two doses of a Covid vaccine. Currently, the U.S. is approximately 65% fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To live with Covid long-term, the report says, the country needs more therapeutic drugs likely "a cocktail of two or three drugs" that can prevent serious illness and hospitalization after you become infected.

The report's authors recommend a new Operation Warp Speed originally a partnership between the U.S. federal government and private companies to fast-track Covid vaccine production in 2020 and 2021 to accelerate the progress of some antiviral Covid drugs already in development.

Two such drugs, developed by Pfizer and Merck, have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The report says two isn't enough, calling for a wider array of available therapeutic treatment options.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced a new, upcoming "Test to Treat" program in his State of the Union address. Once live, the program intends to offer free antiviral pills immediately to people who test positive for Covid at major pharmacies, federally qualified health centers and long-term care facilities.

For now, the program is operational in only a few hundred locations. It's expected to ramp up to tens of thousands of locations in the next few weeks. A federal "Test to Treat" website where you can find participating facilities is expected to launch in mid-March. More information on the program can be found here.

Citing poor communication from health officials during the pandemic, the report calls for a centralized "information and communication center" that would oversee the sharing of data about infectious diseases. The new entity would also communicate when and where you should wear masks, if Covid-19 cases surge.

Under recently revised CDC guidelines, masks are no longer actively recommended if you live in an area where Covid cases are less than 200 per 100,000 residents, there are fewer than 10 Covid-related hospital admissions per 100,000 people over the previous week and Covid patients are taking up less than 10% of available hospital beds, based on a seven-day average.

You can learn whether masks are currently recommended in your county at theCDC's website.

The report says that more research and funding from Congress and state legislators should be provided to mitigate Covid-related health disparities disproportionately impacting people of color, rural communities, tribal lands, and other underserved groups and locations. These groups tend to have less access to medical care and higher mortality rates, compared to the rest of the U.S. population.

The report's authors recommend a few ways to reach those underserved areas, like funding the local health efforts of community leaders and faith-based organizations. Those communities are more inclined to distrust government agencies and the healthcare system in general, the report notes.

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The Covid pandemic is officially 2 years old heres how it could finally end, experts say - CNBC

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McClinton renews fight to free COVID-19 relief dollars on one year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan - Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus

Mar 11, 2022 10:00 AM

In March, we observe the two-year anniversary of providing care to COVID-19 patients at University of Utah Health. Similar to the year prior, 2021 was unprecedented and marked with uncertainty over new emerging virus variants. Utah saw the number of daily positive infections and hospitalizations reach levels it has never seen before.

Delta surge

1,690 positive COVID-19 cases (highest 7-day average)

580 hospitalizations (highest 7-day average)

Omicron surge

10,600 positive COVID-19 cases (highest 7-day average)

830 hospitalizations (highest 7-day average)

COVID-19 Variants

Much of the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic focused around new virus variants. In the last year, at least fourprominent COVID-19 variants were identified. While the Brazil and South Africa variants did not have a direct impact on Utah, the Delta variant caused more severe disease and steadily drove up daily positive cases and ICU admissions at U of U Health.

During the peak of Delta (mid-September 2021), U of U Health saw:

In December 2021, Omicron became the next predominant variant in the U.S. and quickly made its way to Utah for another surge. Omicron, identified as more transmissible and contagious than Delta, once again put a strain on health care systems across the country and caused a heightened demand for COVID-19 testing. Because of this, U of U Health saw more hospitalizations than with any other previous variant. However, ICU admissions were less than half during the Delta surge due to Omicron causing much less severe disease.

During the peak of Omicron (mid-January 2022), U of U Health saw:

During both surges, COVID-19 vaccines helped prevent infection, hospitalization, and death. Though less effective at preventing infection (and breakthrough infection), the vaccines have been extremely effective in preventing hospitalization and death.

COVID-19 Vaccines

Several major milestones were achieved over the last year with COVID-19 vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines became available for children ages 5 years and older, and full licensure was granted to both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Additionally, COVID-19 booster vaccines were authorized for anyone ages 12 and older to further protect them from severe disease and hospitalization.

At U of U Health, COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots were administered at all community health centers. In the last year, U of U Health administered at least 150,370 COVID-19 vaccinations, including:

Since receiving COVD-19 vaccines at U of U Health, nearly 190,300 total vaccinations have been administered.

Treatments

More potential relief for SARS-CoV-2 infection became available to patients at U of U Health over the last year. While not as effective as COVID-19 vaccines, these COVID-19 treatments help reduce a persons risk of becoming sicker and help those who may be more vulnerable to severe disease from the virus. Current COVID-19 treatments include:

Testing

U of U Health saw a demand for COVID-19 testing during the Delta and Omicron surges. At the peak of Delta, the health system tested about 250 patients a day in early September. However, during the Omicron surge, COVID-19 testing at U of U Health exceeded its testing capacity because of how contagious and transmissible Omicron became. At the peak of Omicron, test volumes reached more than 350 a day in mid-January.

At U of U Health:

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 is now more convenient than ever for patients at U of U Health with self-serve COVID-19 testing. In early 2022, U of U Health transformed COVID-19 testing by providing self-serve kiosks at seven community health centers just in time for the Omicron surge. These outdoor, temperature-controlled kiosks offer kits for saliva PCR or nasal swab PCR.

Research

The University of Utah campus helped shape and unfold a better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 over the last year. The research response to COVID-19 has been life-changing and continues to be recognized on a global scale. To date, the research response to COVID-19 involves:

Some U of U Health research projects includes:

Campus, Community, and State Partnerships

coronavirus covid-19

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Two Years Into the COVID-19 Pandemic at University of Utah Health - University of Utah Health Care

South Korea beat back that potentially catastrophic outbreak, and continued to greatly limit its cases. They had fewer than 1,000 deaths in all of 2020. In the United States, that would translate to fewer than 7,000 deaths from Covid in 2020. Instead, estimates place the number of deaths at more than 375,000.

What happened: When vaccines were developed, rich countries hoarded them.

The greatest scientific achievement of the pandemic may have been the speedy development of safe, effective vaccines.

In January 2020, the C.E.O. of BioNTech, Ugur Sahin, started designing vaccines as soon as he read The Lancet study noting the case without symptoms, which convinced him that a pandemic was likely. He then persuaded Pfizer, his initially skeptical investor, to back him.

On May 15, 2020, the United States began Operation Warp Speed, which financed the development of six vaccine candidates. Five of them quickly proved to be highly effective not at all a given. The first to deliver spectacular results was that produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. Modernas quickly followed.

Supply was an immediate problem. Pfizer initially estimated it could make as many as 1.35 billion doses in 2021 enough for about only 8.5 percent of the worlds people to get two doses. Moderna, a much smaller company, wasnt expected to exceed that. AstraZenecas vaccine, too, would not cover the gap quickly enough.

There also was too little commitment to how vaccines could be distributed fairly around the world.

Instead, wealthy countries that had preordered or financed research got most of the initial doses.

Vaccine production grew, but too slowly. There was no consortium or sharing of resources to ramp up supply. Technology wasnt transferred to lower- and middle-income countries. Patents were left in place. The W.H.O. initiative to get vaccines to poorer countries, known as Covax, was not able to buy enough doses, and what donations were made were insufficient and haphazard.

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Opinion | The Covid-19 Pandemic Didnt Have to Be This Way - The New York Times

WASHINGTONThe Biden administration is warning that it might have to scrap critical Covid-19 programs, a potential blow to its efforts to combat the pandemic, unless Congress moves quickly to approve funding left out of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package.

The administration initially floated a $30 billion request, which it then formally cut to $22.5 billion, only to be reduced further to $15.6 billion by congressional negotiators. With Republicans insisting that no new money be allocated until previous funding rounds were exhausted, rank-and-file Democrats then balked at a proposal to reuse unspent funds intended for state governments, prompting party leaders to pull the provision altogether.

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White House Warns of Blow to Covid-19 Fight as Funding Stalls - The Wall Street Journal

Jill Duggar and husband Derick Dillard are not happy campers right now.

On Thursday, the pregnant reality star announced that she and Derick had both tested positive for COVID-19.

Give me all the hot liquids and cough drops please!! Derick & I tested + for covid for the first time and its not fun! , the 19 Kids and Counting alum, wrote on Instagram. With a little help from family, we were still able to celebrate Dericks birthday at home yesterday, even though it was different than wed originally hoped.

Prayers appreciated for quick recoveries and for baby to stay healthy too! she added before asking for any helpful tips.

Alongside them, she posted a photo of herself holding a thermos of tea with a decidedly grumpy face while Derick clasped a tissue box. She also shared a pic of their positive COVID tests and another cheerier image of Derick holding a birthday cake.

Last month Duggar revealed on their Dillard Family Blog that she was pregnant after suffering a miscarriage.

Ever since we were devastated last fall by the miscarriage of our sweet baby, River Bliss, we have prayed that, if it was Gods will, he would bless us with another baby, Duggar, 30, and Dillard, 33, wrote.

We are excited to announce that God has answered our prayers and we are expecting our rainbow baby due July 2022!

The couple is already parents to sons, Israel David, 6, and Samuel Scott, 4.

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Pregnant Jill Duggar and husband test positive for COVID-19 - Page Six

Forget temperature checks and deep-cleaning surfaces. The best way to protect people from Covid-19 as they return to offices and other indoor spaces is to bolster air quality and vaccination coverage, experts on the transmission of the virus say.

Their consensus reflects an evolving understanding of the spread of a virus that the World Health Organization declared the cause of a pandemic two years ago this Friday. Deep-cleaning surfaces and temperature checksstill a mainstay at many businesseshave been understood for many months to be of relatively little help stopping the virus from spreading. Rather, as businesses and communities across the U.S. begin what is shaping up to be the broadest return yet to pre-pandemic behaviors, transmission and infectious-disease experts said broad vaccine coverage and good air hygiene stand out as the most important mitigation efforts.

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Ventilation, Vaccination Key to Suppressing Covid-19 as People Head Back Indoors - The Wall Street Journal