Category: Covid-19

An employee of Toyota company works on an assembly line on April 21, 2020 in Onnaing, northern France. FRANCOIS LO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

An employee of Toyota company works on an assembly line on April 21, 2020 in Onnaing, northern France.

Toyota, one of the world's largest vehicle manufacturers, said it will increase production in December as it recovers from parts shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Japanese automaker announced it expects to build 800,000 vehicles globally next month, up from the roughly 760,000 it made last December.

The company also said it was maintaining its forecast of producing 9 million vehicles in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31. Toyota produced about 7.6 million units in the previous fiscal year.

"We would like to express our gratitude to all parties concerned for their immense support in helping us maintain production," Toyota said in a statement.

Automakers have recently struggled to make enough vehicles in the face of a parts shortage, particularly semiconductors. Meanwhile, soaring demand has driven prices up at the dealership.

All of Toyota's 14 plants and 28 production lines in Japan will be operating normally for the first time since May, the company announced, further helping it rev up production.

Still, the company said it was responding to a continuing shortage of some parts by attempting to shore up its supply chain.

See more here:

Toyota to ramp up production after cutbacks driven by the COVID-19 pandemic - NPR

Patients gasping for air in hospital hallways, trailers serving as makeshift morgues, emergency medical tents erected in New Yorks Central Park: In March 2020, what we watched happening in high-income settings in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world seemed to us in Uganda like scenes from a science fiction movie.

As physician-researchers who are acutely aware of our countrys deficits of Covid-19 diagnostics, personal protective equipment, and intensive care beds with medical oxygen, we grew increasingly worried about the devastation this new virus could bring to Uganda and our medical practices.

With no Covid-19 cases yet reported locally, there was still time to make potentially life-saving preparations, from providing infection-control training for hospital staff to educating the public about prevention and symptoms. Another positive was that, as a result of Ugandan universities longstanding global health partnerships, health experts from U.S. and European academic medical centers and humanitarian organizations were already stationed in health facilities around the country.

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With their extensive experience treating patients with infectious diseases and researching infectious pathogens in low-income countries, along with their stated goals of serving the global poor, these skilled workers were well-positioned to support Uganda as it faced the worlds biggest public health challenge in decades.

Like soldiers on a battlefield confronting a foe that threatened populations everywhere, we assumed that combatants and commanders alike would not retreat or surrender in the face of danger. But despite years of consensus around the need to stand with populations in materially impoverished settings, the known consequences of Ugandas health worker shortages, and the urgency of preparing for the pandemic, our international collaborators were suddenly acting like the idea that their staff would stay in Uganda was absurd.

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In the days following the initial chaotic reports from Italy, New York, and elsewhere, we watched our non-Ugandan colleagues receive a wave of evacuation orders from their respective home organizations and countries. By the end of that March 2020, we found ourselves fighting Covid-19 essentially alone.

Ugandan policymakers did everything they could to keep cases to a minimum implementing strong social distancing policies and contact tracing programs but within months the horror scenes we had previously watched on the news were playing out in Ugandas underfunded and understaffed hospitals. From a safe distance, many partners from the Global North sent messages asking how they could be of help, a sentiment that was appreciated yet did not address the void left by their abrupt disappearance.

From our experiences during Ebola epidemics, we fully understand the fear of working during a disease outbreak, including how challenging it can be to be separated from loved ones in such moments. At the same time, the isolation through which weve endured Covid-19 underscores a reality that Uganda and other countries in Africa have known for a long time: Equity in global health partnerships almost always feels like a moving target.

Although collaborations between scientists from high-income and low-income settings have yielded tremendous public health achievements, partnership priorities are too often dictated by the perspectives of those who control project funding, not necessarily by the individuals living in the communities where these programs take place.

Sometimes, as was the case for Covid-19 staff withdrawals, choices affecting both parties are made without the collaborating local scientists and clinicians being asked for their opinions at all.

Medical and public health workers in Uganda are well acquainted with the consequences of this power imbalance, from the many studies conducted here that fail to include local authors to the large pay differentials between collaborating investigators of different nationalities employed by the same programs. Local health specialists rarely openly highlight these inequitable practices, fearing that speaking up could cause them or their beneficiary communities to lose access to much-needed funds and resources. Even facing a threat as existential as Covid-19, many Ugandan experts have not felt empowered to protest the ways in which they have felt abandoned and instead have remained silent as international partners try to fix our public health systems over email.

We hope that as American and European organizations become more aware of these challenges, the response is not to draw back even further from places like Uganda but rather to take action so essential global health programs can be delivered in fairer ways. With no end to the pandemic yet in sight and the indisputable threat of future disease outbreaks, we especially hope that international collaborators will work to create more equitable contingency plans for continuing operations in the face of public health threats.

Although evacuations can be justifiable in situations of targeted risk, such as instances of rebel insurgency or abductions of foreign workers, pathogens like Covid-19 affect all susceptible hosts regardless of nationality visitor or local and can spread to populations everywhere if not quickly addressed. We call on global health practitioners to more clearly identify opportunities to respond to such situations in partnership and to be transparent about conditions that would render impossible in-person support from visiting staff.

Clinicians and public health experts from the Global North have remarkable expertise in responding to infectious diseases, but outbreak response teams in the Global South need to know whether they can rely on them in their moments of greatest need.

There has been talk for decades about how the most challenging global health problems must be tackled together as a global community. As health workers in Uganda mark almost two years of fighting Covid-19 largely on their own, we wonder whether solidarity will indeed be the new norm, or whether withdrawals will be once again be repeated when another pandemic hits.

Stephen Asiimwe is an epidemiologist and program director of the Global Health Collaborative at Mbarara University of Science and Technology as well as principal investigator at the Kabwohe Clinical Research Center. Edith Nakku-Joloba is a senior lecturer in epidemiology at Makerere University School of Public Health, a sexually transmitted infections specialist, and a consultant with the Uganda Ministry of Health. Aggrey Semeere is a senior physician at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University and principal investigator for the East African International Databases to Evaluate AIDS.

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Covid-19 highlights the unfairness of global health partnerships - STAT

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 251.4 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.07 million. More than 7.36 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Germany reported a record 50,196 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the fourth day in a row it has posted a fresh daily high, as a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps the country.

Russia on Thursday reported 1,237 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, close to a record one-day toll recorded the previous day, amid a nationwide surge in cases.

France is at the beginning of a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, Health Minister Olivier Veran has said. The health ministry registered 11,883 new cases on Wednesday, the second day in a row with a new case tally over 10,000. New cases have seen double-digit percentage increases week-on-week since around mid-October.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and senior aides holed up in a war bunker on Thursday during an exercise simulating an outbreak of a lethal new COVID-19 variant. He described the day-long "Omega Drill", named after a fictitious virus strain, as a precaution to ensure Israel was prepared for "any scenario".

Denmark will impose self-isolation requirements on travellers from Singapore, its embassy in the city-state said on Thursday, following a surge in COVID-19 infections. Singapore was removed this week from a European Union list of non-EU countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted.

Malaysia will reopen its borders to international visitors by Jan. 1 at the latest, a government advisory council said on Thursday, as the country seeks to revive its ailing tourism sector.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday the United States has brokered a deal between Johnson & Johnson and the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme for the delivery of the company's COVID-19 vaccine to people living in conflict zones.

One year on: we look back at how the Forums networks have navigated the global response to COVID-19.

Using a multistakeholder approach, the Forum and its partners through its COVID Action Platform have provided countless solutions to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, protecting lives and livelihoods.

Throughout 2020, along with launching its COVID Action Platform, the Forum and its Partners launched more than 40 initiatives in response to the pandemic.

The work continues. As one example, the COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs is supporting 90,000 social entrepreneurs, with an impact on 1.4 billion people, working to serve the needs of excluded, marginalized and vulnerable groups in more than 190 countries.

Read more about the COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, our support of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemics Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), and the COVAX initiative and innovative approaches to solve the pandemic, like our Common Trust Network aiming to help roll out a digital passport in our Impact Story.

Britain's economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic lagged behind that of other rich nations in the July-September period, according to official data on Thursday which underscored the interest rate dilemma facing the Bank of England.

Gross domestic product grew by 1.3%, the weakest three-month growth since Britain was under lockdown in early 2021.

The Bank of England and a Reuters poll of economists had forecast an expansion of 1.5%.

The Office for National Statistics said Britain's economy remained 2.1% smaller than it was at the end of 2019, a bigger shortfall than in fellow Group of Seven countries Germany, Italy and France.

The United States has already surpassed its pre-crisis size. Canada and Japan, the other G7 members, have yet to report third-quarter growth data but had already regained more ground by the second quarter than Britain had achieved by the third quarter.

How the global economy is projected to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image: OECD

The risk of severe illness from COVID-19 is higher in people with obstructive sleep apnea and other breathing problems that cause oxygen levels to drop during sleep, researchers say.

They tracked 5,402 adults with these problems and found that roughly a third of them eventually tested posted for the coronavirus.

While the chance of being infected did not increase with the severity of their problems, people with higher scores on the "apnea-hypopnia index" - a measure of the severity of their sleep-related breathing problems - had higher odds of needing to be hospitalized or dying from COVID-19, Drs. Cinthya Pena Orbea, Reena Mehra and their colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic reported on Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.

It is not clear if treatments that improve sleep apnea, such as CPAP machines that push air into patients' airways during sleep, would also reduce the risk of severe COVID-19, said Pene Orbea and Mehra.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 November - World Economic Forum

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Gov. Lee expected to sign bill that limits COVID-19 mandates - WSMV Nashville

Lorraine Charinda got her first shot of the vaccine on October 23 and her second on Wednesday. It was all thanks to a US church that raised money to get her from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Columbus, Ohio, the church said.

"Everyone else, we are still waiting," Charinda told CNN, referring to the millions of people around the world who haven't been offered the chance to get vaccinated. "So it's shocking to hear that vaccines can even expire and be thrown (away) just because people don't want to be vaccinated. If we had that opportunity, really, it would help us a lot."

For Charinda, who works in a poor, rural area called Kamina, she said they could not find the vaccine anywhere in her province. She did not believe she was set to get the vaccine until she was at the airport.

"We're trying always to look for the vaccine and we couldn't find it," the 32-year-old said. "And because there were no centers in the province, you had to go somewhere to continue to look for it."

The experience of the pandemic is even more real to Charinda because she saw her mother fight Covid-19. She met her in Zambia when her mother became ill and she watched her struggle to breathe and battle a fever in June 2021.

"I really didn't know how serious the pandemic was until I saw my mother lie next to me having those symptoms and difficulty breathing, coughing, fever," she said. "It's like it's real when you're looking at it -- it's like staring at you in the face."

Her mother was sick for 7 to 10 days and sent Charinde back to the DRC so she would not get sick.

By some miracle, Charinda said, she did not get sick after meeting her mom.

"Every time I get a negative result I am like, is this real?" she said. "I'm just looking up to the heavens and asking God if this is real."

Charinda's vaccine moment came to fruition because of the West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church. The conference has had a relationship with the DRC since 2002 and Charinda started working there as a missionary through General Board of Global Ministries in 2018, a spokeswoman for the West Ohio Conference told CNN.

"She is a key leader and her work provides food and financial sustainability for communities across the DRC," spokeswoman Kay Panovec wrote.

The organization raised $4,000 within 24 hours in order to bring Charinda to the US, she wrote. The money came from West Ohio congregations and individuals and OhioHealth administered her shots, she added.

In coming to the US, Charinda said the access Americans have to the vaccine is remarkable. She hopes that her story can help others, she said.

"I encourage people to take vaccines. It's really not a joke and it's not anything about politics or what, but it's something real," she said. "You will not realize it until your loved one gets sick, and the fear is that you have that you don't know that person is going to live."

CNN's Daniel Wolfe contributed to this report.

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After her mom battled Covid-19, this missionary traveled 7,500 miles to Ohio for a vaccine - CNN

State health officials reported 754 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, continuing a persistent trend of heavy virus transmission that shows no signs of subsiding as winter approaches.

While the pace of vaccinations has increased, new infections and hospitalizations continue to be concentrated in areas with lower vaccination rates.

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change in the near term, Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a media briefing Wednesday. Maine CDC expects that those case counts will remain high. For how long they remain high is fundamentally up to all of us.

Three additional deaths were reported Thursday as well.

With Thursdays cases and the 882 new cases from Wednesday, the seven-day daily average rose to 553 cases, which is up from 462 cases two weeks ago and 368 cases on average this time last month. Since the pandemic reached Maine nearly 19 months ago, there have been 110,346 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 and 1,220 deaths, according to CDC data. Over the last month, 145 new deaths from COVID-19 have been added, or nearly five per day.

Cases had been trending downward across the country for weeks some of it attributable to lower testing volume but things have leveled off more recently. The seven-day average stood at 74,584 on Wednesday, which is slightly higher than two weeks earlier, according to the U.S. CDC. Deaths are still averaging more than 1,000 per day across the country and more than 750,000 Americans have died during the pandemic so far.

Since the pandemic began, Maine has had fewer cases and deaths per capita than nearly every other state. In recent weeks, however, Maines infection rate has been well above the national average.

Maines seven-day case rate of 332 per 100,000 people is the 10th highest in the county, just behind New Hampshire, and more than double the national case rate of 157 per 100,000 people.

As of Wednesday, the states seven-day positive test rate was 6.9 percent, up from 5.5 percent two weeks, or one incubation period, ago. Testing volume has gone up, too. The average testing volume is about 555 tests per 100,000 people, an increase of 11 percent in two weeks.

Thats on top of a 20 percent increase two weeks prior to that, Shah said.

Shah warned that the colder weather could be playing an increased role for two reasons.

The first is that more folks gather indoors when its chillier, he said. The other is that the cooler, drier air makes it easier for the virus to spread and enter the body.

Last year, Maine and many other states saw massive case spikes around Thanksgiving and continuing through the holiday season and the new year. The major difference, though, is that things started from a much lower place this time last year. The average number of cases in Maine this time last year was 161, compared to 553 on Thursday.

Another factor is the delta variant. The highly transmissible form of the coronavirus wasnt circulating in Maine during the holidays last year.

HOSPITALIZATIONS REMAIN HIGH

Hospitalizations also remain at a sustained high level and are even approaching a new pandemic high.

As of Thursday, 233 individuals were in the hospital with COVID-19 in Maine, including 73 in critical care and 31 on ventilators. After falling as low as 152 on Oct. 7, hospitalizations have been over 200 for 21 consecutive days. Thursdays total is just two shy of the high set on Sept. 25. The majority of the people who are hospitalized are unvaccinated, and many of the remaining patients have other serious health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus.

MaineGeneral in Augusta has experienced the most demanding week of the pandemic, with a daily average of 19.4 confirmed COVID-19 inpatients for the week ending Thursday, up from 13.7 a day last week. The previous record of 18.3 was set the last week of September. Wednesdays COVID-19 inpatient count of 22 was the highest the hospital has recorded.

Dr. Steve Diaz, chief medical officer of MaineGeneral Health, said the increase in patients coincides with a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Kennebec County. The state reported 171 new cases in Kennebec County on Wednesday, the highest single-day increase since the pandemic began.

Wed encourage people in Kennebec County to continue masking when in public spaces, staying home when sick and getting vaccinated, he said.

On Wednesday, officials at Lewistons Central Maine Medical Center which also is caring for record numbers of COVID-19 inpatients said their spike was driven by low vaccination rates in the counties they primarily serve: Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin.

The average number of people hospitalized in the U.S. has been about 40,000 over the last week, which is down from more than 55,000 on average this time last month.

VACCINATION RATE RISING

The rate of vaccination in Maine, meanwhile, has increased to 7,264 doses per day, which is up 40 percent over two weeks and this week has included newly eligible 5- to 11-year-olds. It comes at a good time, too, since children under 12 have accounted for 21 percent of all new cases in the last two weeks, Shah said.

Overall, Maine has administered 948,020 final doses, which accounts for 70.5 percent of all Mainers. As of Thursday, 5,213 elementary school-age children had gotten their first dose, with 42 percent coming in Cumberland County, the states most vaccinated county.

Geographic disparities in vaccination rates have persisted for months, with rural and more conservative counties getting shots at a far lower rate. Additionally, younger adults have been less likely as a whole to get their vaccines than those over 50, especially in rural areas.

Shah explained that those geographic disparities are playing a big role in current case trends.

For epidemiological purposes what matters is simply not the overall percentage of the state thats vaccinated, its where those folks are, he said. Thats because vaccinated individuals in epidemiological terms present a barrier for the virus, a blockage that limits the virus room and ability to run.

Shah said if the states vaccination rate was uniform across the state, our daily COVID case rates might very well be much lower.

Instead, pockets of unvaccinated people are keeping the virus alive. In many cases, Shah said, these areas have lower vaccine immunity and lower natural immunity because until now they have been insulated from COVID.

But not anymore, he said. The delta variant has blown through that insulation.

Shah said that although the picture is bleak and could get worse, Mainers still have tools to keep themselves safe.

None of this is to undermine or undercut the fact that the vaccines and vaccinations continue to work, Shah said. If youre vaccinated, your risk of getting severely ill from COVID or ending up in a hospital or dying remain low.

Staff Writer Colin Woodard contributed to this report.

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COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations keep rising as winter approaches - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel

A GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) logo is seen at the GSK research centre in Stevenage, Britain November 26, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Britain's GSK (GSK.L) and partner Vir (VIR.O) said on Friday their antibody-based COVID-19 drug was shown in a trial to work as well when given as a shot in the arm awhen administered via the standard infusion, potentially offering more convenience.

GSK said it would now speak to global regulators, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, about potential approval for the new method of administration, known as intramuscular injection, which can be carried out by family doctors and spare patients a trip to hospital.

Sotrovimab is authorised for emergency use in the United States to prevent mild or moderate cases of COVID-19 from worsening. The European Medicines Agency has given its go-ahead for use by member states though EU-wide approval is still outstanding.

Similar products are offered or being developed by Eli Lilly (LLY.N), Regeneron (REGN.O) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L). read more

Eli Lilly's therapy is so far given by infusion, or drip, only. AstraZeneca's antibody drug, under review to possibly prevent infections, is delivered by intramuscular shot only. Regeneron (REGN.O) and Roche's (ROG.S) product can be given as an infusion or injection under the skin, typically in the abdomen.

Reporting by Ludwig BurgerReporting by Ludwig Burger ind Frankfurt, Muhammed Husain and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Mark Potter

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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GSK-Vir COVID-19 antibody works as shot in the arm as well as infusion - Reuters

As COVID-19 continues to spread the flu is also sending people to the doctor.

Flu season is here. Once again, it's happening during the COVID-19 pandemic and local doctors are already seeing an influx of patients.

"Flu season can be unpredictable in terms of the severity and nobody's ever been through the pandemic before so it's going to be interesting to see what happens this year," said Pediatrician, Rene Bravo.

But flu season won't reach its peak for another few weeks.

"We're starting to see a little bit of activity, and I know the county is tracking that, but usually flu season will start to kick up between Thanksgiving and Christmas," said Bravo.

Dr. Rene Bravo says getting a flu shot is a great way to protect yourself and stay healthy this flu season.

"Any time now. I think it's really time to get your flu shot, for sure," said Bravo.

If you are feeling ill it is important to determine if it is actually the flu and not something more serious like COVID-19.

"We're always worried about coronavirus masking as the flu and so that's one thing that if you're not sure make sure you call your doctor or healthcare provider and talk with them," said Bravo.

San Luis Obispo visitor Jerry Louwen says he is not concerned about the upcoming flu season.

"It'll be fine long as you take care of yourself. That's what it's all about," said visitor Jerry Louwen.

Resident Bill Neufeld says he is also not overly concerned about the upcoming flu season.

"I think enough people get the flu shot that it's not going to be a big thing, I hope," said Neufeld.

Neufeld says exercising helps him stay healthy during the winter months.

"I don't feel like I'm doing a lot of exercises but I do get a 2-mile walk in, a little over an hour, I think people should do more of that kind of stuff. I enjoy it," said Neufeld.

The CDC says you can get a COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines, including a flu vaccine, at the same visit.

To make an appointment to get your flu or COVID-19 vaccine visit myturn.Ca.Gov.

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As COVID-19 continues to spread, the flu is now also sending people to the doctor - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

SEATTLE Washington state health officials say theres growing concern more patients are becoming sick with respiratory viruses other than COVID-19 now that colder weather is nearing.

The Seattle Times reports the state recorded a seven-day coronavirus case rate of 174.2 infections per 100,000 Washingtonians as of the last week of October, the most recent complete data. The rate was down from about 200 cases per 100,000 in mid-October.

COVID hospitalizations also continue to decrease slowly. As of late October, there was a seven-day rate of 9.1 hospitalizations per 100,000 people, down from 10.6 per 100,000 the week before. At this time last year, hospitalization rates were about the same, ranging from 9.3 to 10.9 per 100,000 people.

When it comes to cases, particularly to hospitalizations, we are still seeing numbers higher than any of us want to see, state Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah said during Wednesday news briefing.

Hospital occupancy also remains high, which is common this time of year, state epidemiologist Dr. Scott Lindquist said.

A lot of this is due to the start of our respiratory virus season, he said.

This year, in addition to COVID, Lindquist said hes concerned about the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which causes cold-like symptoms. King County, which tracks respiratory virus season every year, has reported that the percent of positive RSV tests in late October was much higher than past levels this time of year 13% of tests are positive compared to the average of less than 2%.

Im seeing patient after patient with respiratory viruses that are not COVID, Lindquist said. This is really complicating the picture.

Kids are tending to have very high coronavirus case rates, particularly in northeast Washington, Lindquist added. In late October, the seven-day infection rate for children between ages 4 and 10 was 224.37 cases per 100,000 people, about 22% higher than the general population.

Fortunately, Lindquist said, the state is seeing some increase in community immunity, from both vaccination and natural immunity. He referenced Washingtons current R-effective estimate the average number of new people that one person with COVID-19 infects which is at about 1.07.

The state last week surpassed a milestone of 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses at least 600 of which were given to children between ages 5 and 11 after the kid-sized shots were approved federally last week, DOH acting assistant secretary Michele Roberts said Wednesday.

Roberts acknowledged a significant data delay for those shots, since it takes a few days to process vaccination numbers, and said she expects the number to rapidly increase in the next few weeks.

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Other respiratory viruses cloud COVID-19 picture in Washington state - OregonLive

The amount of data accumulated since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 continues to grow along with COVID-19 deaths and vaccination rates. Data in regards to COVID-19 can be about numerous consequences of the virus including infection rates, death rates and hospitalization numbers, all of which can vary by state, county or even race. While it is important to use this information to understand how different communities and regions are impacted by the pandemic, experts emphasize taking into account the systemic factors that affect various populations.

An article from The Guardian talks about a gene scientists have identified which may be a factor in increased risk of COVID-19 death among certain populations. The gene, called LZTFL1, was found to drastically increase chances of respiratory failure and ultimately death when an individual is exposed to the coronavirus.

The gene was primarily linked to people of south Asian descent up to a staggering 60% of the population a reason why this population has seen higher death rates from the virus, according to The Guardian.

UPDATED: FDA authorizes booster shots for Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and mixing vaccinesAllowing the opportunity to strengthen the immunization of those vaccinated for COVID-19 over six months, the Food and Drug Administration Read

Though, there are numerous factors that play into why an individual dies from COVID-19, and not everyone agrees that it is necessarily fair to assign genetics as the sole cause of COVID-19 complications and related deaths.

Ajay Sethi is a population health sciences professor and researcher in the broad field of infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin. He said the learning about all factors that contribute to different COVID-19 responses in people is crucial.

Understanding the genetics of infectious diseases can lead to new therapeutics and tools to screen people, something the authors mention in their original research, Sethi said. It would be important to have a better understanding of who is at higher risk for infection or severe illness and who may be protected from these things.

An article from the CDC talks about potential reasons other than genetics that increase risk for COVID-19 deaths specifically in racial minority groups. Lack of access to proper healthcare, living below the poverty line and working in professions deemed essential in the height of the pandemic are all factors that contribute to higher COVID-19 cases and death rates, according to the CDC.

UWs Science Writer in Residence cautions journalists about obligations during pandemicThe spread of misinformation is nothing new in the world of science. But as the pandemic persists along with the Read

We can work on alleviating the systemic factors that lead to greater risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 illness, and death and we should also gain a better understanding of the complex biology of this disease to help society better manage the pandemic in the future Sethi said.

While genetic factors are important to learn about to gain a deeper understanding of potential treatments and preventions, addressing systemic pitfalls is equally important in the fight against the pandemic.

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Greater risk to COVID-19 associated with genetics, systemic factors - UW Badger Herald