Category: Covid-19

by: NC Department of Health & Human Services

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

RALEIGH The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday announced a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19. Seventy percent of North Carolinians age 18 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be our best tool for preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, said NCDHHS Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D. Seventy percent of North Carolinians have sought out reliable information and decided to protect themselves and others with tested, safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. If youre not vaccinated, its not too late. Just dont wait.

COVID-19 vaccines offer significant protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death. People who are not fully vaccinated are more than 18 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who are fully vaccinated.

This protection will be strengthened and extended through booster shots for people who are 65 and over, have a high-risk medical condition, work in higher risk settings or live or work in a place where many people work together. Boosters are currently available for people who received their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at least six months ago.

Ongoing research on the safety of COVID-19 has made the vaccines available to more people, including teens ages 12-17. In addition, clinical trials are being completed and analyzed for children 5-11.

Research has also shown the vaccines are safe for those who are pregnant, wanting to get pregnant or are nursing. Last week, the CDC issued a health advisory urgently recommending people who are pregnant, recently pregnant or trying to become pregnant get vaccinated. The action came as August was the highest number of COVID-19 related deaths in pregnant women in a single month. There are significant risks for complications associated with COVID-19 in pregnant women.

We still have a way to go to get everyone fully vaccinated, but we should all celebrate this moment, Secretary Cohen said. Credit for reaching this important milestone goes to the thousands of tireless providers, community and faith-based groups, advocates and public servants who worked to provide education and, most importantly, access to COVID-19 vaccines throughout the state. You have saved millions of lives. Lets keep up the good work.

Visit MySpot.nc.gov for more COVID-19 information and updates and to find a vaccine location near you.

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NCDHHS: 70% of NC adults have received first dose of COVID-19 vaccine - WNCT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (StudyFinds.org) Since the beginning of the pandemic scientists, doctors, and everyone in between has wondered how long robust immunity persists following recovery from a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Now, researchers from Yale University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte have some deflating news. They report strong COVID-19 protection after recovery does not last very long.

Reinfection can reasonably happen in three months or less, explains lead study author Jeffrey Townsend, the Elihu Professor of Biostatistics at the Yale School of Public Health, in auniversity release. Therefore, those who have been naturally infectedshould get vaccinated. Previous infection alone can offer very little long-term protection against subsequent infections.

Study authors reached these less than ideal conclusions by analyzing reinfection and immunological data collected from close viral relatives of SARS-CoV-2 that cause common colds.

They also included immunological datasets from both SARS-CoV-1 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). By leveraging evolutionary principles, researchers believe they were able to accurately model COVID-19 reinfection risk over time.

While reinfections among those who have already recovered from COVID-19 are already somewhat common, the research team warns such events will likely become even more commonplaceas more variants emerge.

We tend to think about immunity as being immune or not immune. Our study cautions that we instead should be more focused onthe risk of reinfectionthrough time, explains study co-leader Alex Dornburg, assistant professor of bioinformatics and genomics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As new variants arise, previous immune responses become less effective at combating the virus. Those who were naturally infected early in the pandemic are increasingly likely to become reinfected in the near future.

According to the research, the reinfection risk associated with COVID-19 is very similar to that of endemic coronaviruses.

Just likecommon colds, from one year to the next you may get reinfected with the same virus. The difference is that, during its emergence in this pandemic, COVID-19 has proven to be much more deadly. Prof. Townsend adds.

Due to the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to evolve and reinfect, it, too, is likely to transition from pandemic to an endemic disease, Prof. Dornburg notes.

A hallmark of the modern world is going to bethe evolution of new threatsto human health, Prof. Townsend concludes. Evolutionary biology which provided the theoretical foundations for these analyses is traditionally considered a historical discipline. However, our findings underscore its important role in informing decision-making, and provide a crucial stepping stone toward robust knowledge of our prospects of resistance to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection.

Thefindingsappear inThe Lancet Microbe.

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COVID-19 reinfection likely for the unvaccinated - WANE

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Austin PD will start testing uniformed officers for COVID-19 every week - KXAN.com

CHARLESTON, W.Va. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice started Thursdays virtual COVID-19 briefing by reading 97 deaths, the most hes ever had to read, the governor said. Its awful. Its really, really sad. This is the impact of the surge, Justice said. Despite overall COVID case numbers going down in the state, were going to continue lose more and more, Justice said.

There are 60 outbreaks in schools, in 24 counties, with nearly 700 students testing positive for COVID, Gov. Justice reported.

Payments have begun going out to around 40 hospitals around the state as part of the Save our Care program aimed at helping medical facilities pay overtime and retention bonuses to staff, state officials said.

The governor also reminded state residents that the West Virginia Rental Assistance program is still available for renters and landlords. Nearly 10,000 applications have been received so far, totaling $46 million. The state has $200 million earmarked for the program.

The final winners in the Do it for Babydog vaccine sweepstakes will be announced Friday, culminating with a Corvette being given away on Friday night in Charleston, Justice said.

The governor reminded residents to get their flu shots, saying he got his this week.

Justice also announced that he will be calling for a special session of the state legislature to focus on congressional redistricting. The session will start on October 11.

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WV Gov. Justice reads through 97 COVID-19 deaths Thursday, the most yet - WBOY.com

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has raised many questions about where and how we work, but one question has become more pressing for job seekers in recent months: do they need to include their Covid-19 vaccination status on their resume?

In September, President Biden said that he is asking the U.S. Department of Labor to issue a rule requiring employers with 100 or more workers to require vaccines or weekly testing, a mandate that will impact over 80 million workers when it is issued, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It's unclear whether the federal vaccine directive will include fully remote workers. The announcement followed a summer that saw several large companies including Microsoft and McDonald's issue their own vaccine mandates for employees.

Even before Biden's announcement, many companies created their own vaccine mandates in an effort to make in-person work as safe as possible for employees. Hiring managers have consequently grappled with how to comply with vaccine mandates without making job candidates feel uncomfortable.

ResumeBuilder.com interviewed 1,250 hiring managers in August and found that 33% would automatically eliminate resumes that don't include a Covid-19 vaccination status. On top of that, 69% of hiring managers said they are more likely to hire someone who has already been vaccinated against Covid-19, and 63% said they prefer to see a job candidate's vaccination status on their resume.

Taking their cue from the Biden administration, some companies have begun requesting vaccine information from their employees and introducing their vaccine requirements during the hiring process. One executive steering such efforts is Maria Selvaggio, the vice president of people at M1 Finance who has previously led recruiting efforts at Grubhub, Google and Groupon.

In the spring, when Covid vaccines became more widely available, Selvaggio tells CNBC Make It her team "didn't see vaccination statuses on resumes at all," but recently, it's become a "more and more frequent" occurrence. "Ultimately it's up to the individual whether or not they're going to include their vaccination status on their resume, but they should know that they're going to be required to share that information at some point in the hiring process," she says. "As more offices adopt vaccine mandates, disclosing your vaccination status on your resume can only help you in the interview process."

Job seekers can include their vaccination status as a short line, for example, writing "fully vaccinated" underneath their contact information or as a footnote at the bottom of their resume where it's "prominent and easy to find," Selvaggio says.

Offering vaccination information either in a resume or initial interview upfront also minimizes headaches for hiring managers, who have to be extremely careful about the legal consequences of when and how they ask applicants about their vaccination status. "What we as conservative employment lawyers advise is not to ask candidates 'Are you vaccinated?' because you run the risk of somebody saying that is a discriminatory question," Walter Foster, an employment lawyer with more than 30 years of experience, says. "But if a job applicant brings it up or has their vaccination status on their resume, that's a voluntary disclosure by the person and doesn't have legal ramifications."

Companies can, however, mention their vaccine policy in a job description or interview with a potential hire and ask if they have any concerns with the rule. "It is totally fine for a company to tell a candidate, 'Hey, we have a mandatory vaccine policy, will that be a problem?'" Foster says. "If a candidate isn't vaccinated or can't comply with the policy, the employer could then ask if the candidate would need reasonable accommodation."

Foster encourages job seekers to consider noting their vaccination status on their resume as it signals to employers that they are sensitive to a challenging issue companies have faced the past few months. "I think volunteering that information could elevate someone's chances for securing an offer," he says. "Most employers will see that and think, 'Hey, this person is responsible, they're aware of vaccine mandates and will be compliant.'"

Still,Magalie Ren, the CEO of Workplace Catalyst, a professional coaching and workplace training firm, warns that promoting vaccination statuses on resumes could create a "dangerous, discriminatory" job market against people with religious beliefs or medical conditions that prevent them from getting the Covid vaccine.

"There's been a renewed interest in inclusivity when it comes to recruiting and hiring, but if we begin to tell job seekers, 'Put your vaccination status on your resume,' that potentially excludes people that haven't taken the vaccine yet, but might consider doing so if it's a job requirement," she says. "It just creates another barrier to job entry, and what we need to be focusing on right now is how to foster inclusion, not driving polarization."

It's more beneficial, she adds, for companies to outline their vaccine policies in a job description or email communication. Echoing Foster's advice, Ren also says applicants should feel empowered to initiate conversations about vaccine mandates during a job interview. "You can ask, 'For my own clarity, What are your company's requirements around the Covid-19 vaccine?'" she suggests. "It shows you're willing to have a potentially uncomfortable conversation and that you're open to being transparent and whether you're pro-vaccine or against it, transparency is really important."

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Should your vaccination status be on your resume? Heres what experts say - CNBC

Local epidemiologists and researchers say the Hawaii Department of Health has continually rebuffed their requests for data throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and that the departments latest decision to scale back the information it has been releasing to the public daily on COVID-19 deaths is just the latest example of the departments lack of openness.

All I can tell you is how absolutely frustrated we are, said DeWolfe Miller, an infectious disease epidemiologist and professor at the University of Hawaii.

State officials have made a wealth of data available online, allowing the public to track things like the daily increases in vaccination rates among the counties and age groups, how many COVID-19 patients are occupying the beds in intensive care units and what racial and ethnic groups have been most impacted by the latest surge in cases.

That data has taken on increasing importance in peoples daily lives as top government officials base major public policy decisions on wonky metrics such as case positivity rates, ICU capacity and vaccination coverage.

But researchers say that the more granular data they need to better analyze and answer pandemic-related questions is being withheld.

For instance, researchers were hoping to get data on the number of people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 broken down by vaccination status and age, which could help to better calculate the efficacy of the vaccines on different age groups, said Sumner La Croix, a research fellow at the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and economics professor at UH Manoa. But he said state health officials have declined to provide it.

What is really clear to me is that DOH doesnt really want any independent investigators actually looking at the data, said La Croix. They really dont want anyone second guessing their decisions.

Department of Health officials didnt respond to a request for comment about the criticism, which reached a new height this weekend when the department announced that it would no longer be sending out the detailed information it had been providing for months about COVID-related deaths. A department spokesman, in an email to the media on Sunday, cited the volume of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 related deaths as the reason for no longer sending out the information, even though case counts have declined markedly over the past four weeks.

The daily emails included the age range of the person who died, the county where they died, hospitalization status, gender and whether they had underlying conditions.

The rationale baffled experts like La Croix and Miller who questioned why the department didnt just reach out to them or other departments if they were having trouble reviewing and releasing data.

We would be more than delighted, we would be ecstatic to be able to collaborate in a more productive way with data, said Miller.

Brooks Baehr, a spokesman for the Department of Health, released a subsequent statement saying that the department was just scaling back the frequency of reporting in order to focus on data quality.

Monique Chyba, a UH mathematics professor who has been generating forecast models of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, said she has had a similar experience with the Department of Health. Shes been working with the Hawaii Pandemic Applied Modeling Work Group, a voluntary partnership of Hawaii-based epidemiologists, scientists and health professionals. She said that most of the the data theyve had to rely upon is whats been made publicly available on the states websites and because a lot of it is aggregated, its often not useful.

Chyba said the problems that researchers and data analysts have faced in Hawaii are not unique when it comes to pandemic modeling and that there just werent many data protocols in place to better facilitate the work when the pandemic hit.

We came into the pandemic with no protocol in our collection, data storage and data release, she said.

But she said there was also a lack of collaboration. There was no communication between (the Department of Health) and us and I dont know why, she said. I cannot say why they didnt come to us and say, What do you need? We had a few discussions, but for sure, not enough.

For instance, Chyba said that her group could have helped model infections and hospitalizations in children if they were able to get the data.

The Department of Health does appear to be creating more protocols relating to the release of data. Before the pandemic, the department had created an internal Data Governance Committee. According to a policy document approved by Department of Health Director Libby Char in March 2021, the committee is a decision-making body with authority and responsibility to make binding decisions for how information is managed, accessed, and released across the DOH enterprise.

But the committee meets in private and none of the outside experts interviewed for this story were aware of the committee, which has been setting policies about the release of data.

For instance, the Department of Health cited the committees small numbers policy for denying a recent request by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for COVID-related deaths broken down by ZIP codes. The newspaper was hoping to look for correlations between COVID deaths and vaccination rates. This information is released by jurisdictions throughout the country, but state health officials said releasing it for Hawaii could lead to privacy violations by making it possible to determine someones identity.

Miller said that didnt make any sense.

Its not a believable explanation for why they are (withholding) this, he said. And why they have this committee without telling anybody that it existed I just find that puzzling.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health on Wednesday reported seven new coronavirus-related deaths, though didnt provide any additional information on the deceased. There were 168 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the states totals since the start of the pandemic to 818 fatalities and 80,582 cases.

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Researchers say Hawaii Health Department officials have refused to share COVID-19 data - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

A UW epidemiologist said we need at least 85% of the total population to be immune or vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach herd immunity.

SEATTLE With the COVID-19 delta variant continuing to spread across Washington state and the country, some health experts said, in theory, more people becoming infected with the disease means reaching herd immunity faster.

But infection is only one part of the equation.

Immunity can occur from two main sources, vaccine or infection. And of course, we would like immunity to be achieved through vaccines, we don't want people to be infected and overrun our hospitals, and some of them will die," said Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington.

Because we still don't know how long antibodies last after infection, Mokdad said it is hard to count the number of people who have been infected with the delta variant towards herd immunity levels.

There is also the fact that children under 12 are still unable to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which leaves an entire part of the population that can not get the vaccine and that we don't want to become infected.

Mokdad said based on what we know about COVID-19, we need at least 85% of the total population to be immune or vaccinated to reach herd immunity.

As of Thursday morning, the Washington State Department of Health reported 58.4% of the total population was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While 56.2% of the total U.S. population was fully vaccinated as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, there are still many people who are unwilling to get the vaccine.

Thirty percent of those who are eligible are not willing to take the vaccine. So yes, we have a long way to get to the immunity, but it's possible," said Mokdad, who added children getting the vaccine will be a big game-changer.

But he warned people must do their part to get vaccinated before we see a new variant.

Right now, in the United States, we have a lot of infections from [the delta varriant], said Mokdad. Previously, if you are infected from alpha or any other variant, there is not much cross-immunity from the previous version. So, the idea is to get herd immunity through vaccines.

He stressed that despite the cooler months and people being inside more, his projections do not show a surge in cases this winter, thanks in part to boosters, but also if 95% of Americans continue to wear a mask when they can't social distance.

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Health expert weighs in on where Washington stands in reaching COVID-19 herd immunity - KING5.com

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Patchogue, NY Coronavirus Updates & News For September 29

WASHINGTON The U.S. is turning the corner on the most recent surge in COVID-19 cases and more people need to get vaccinated to keep infections on a declining trend, infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci said.

Fauci, who is President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, said that while the full vaccination rate has reached 55%, the key risk is the 70 million eligible people in the U.S. who havent gotten a shot.

We certainly are turning the corner on this particular surge, Fauci said on ABCs This Week on Sunday. The way to keep it down, to make that turnaround continue to go down, is to do what we mentioned: get vaccinated.

Study results showing that a Merck & Co. experimental pill slashed the risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19 are very impressive, Fauci said on CNNs State of the Union.

So we really look forward to the implementation of this and to its effect on people who are infected, he said. The pill is a big deal, he said on ABC.

Merck agreed in June to a $1.2 billion deal with the U.S. government to supply 1.7 million courses of the treatment, which raises the possibility that many virus patients could be treated before reaching the hospital. Fauci said the government has the option for millions more.

And now that we have this success, the company certainly is going to rev up and make tens and tens of millions more for the rest of the world and for us, he said on CBSs Face the Nation.

U.S. deaths since the start of the pandemic surpassed 700,000 last week in what Biden called an astonishing death toll thats yet another reminder of just how important it is to get vaccinated.

Fauci dismissed attempts to blame immigrants and tourists as a major source of the spread of COVID in the U.S., a belief held by 37% of Americans overall and 55% of Republicans, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

If you just look at the data and look at the people who have gotten infected, look at the people who are in the hospital, look at the people who died this is not driven by immigrants, Fauci said on CNNs State of the Union. This is a problem within our country, the same way its a problem with other countries throughout the world.

He declined to weigh in on whether he saw a medical reason for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to continue imposing a rule that makes it easier to expel migrants due to the pandemic.

My feeling has always been that focusing on immigrants, expelling them or what have you, is not the solution to an outbreak, he said.

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Anthony Fauci says U.S. is turning the corner on COVID-19 surge - The Spokesman-Review

Will a Pfizer vaccine for elementary students shift the conversation on COVID-19 safety?  AZCentral.com

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Will a Pfizer vaccine for elementary students shift the conversation on COVID-19 safety? - AZCentral.com