'Cannot believe we are here': 700,000 US COVID-19 deaths is a milestone we never expected to reach USA TODAY
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(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A hopeful sign in the window of a house in Salt Lake City, Wednesday April 1, 2020.
| Oct. 1, 2021, 1:26 p.m.
| Updated: 1:40 p.m.
Eighteen months into the coronavirus pandemic, Utah has passed its 500,000th case and hospitals are full of COVID-19 patients amid a surge driven by the rise of the delta variant.
From the states first coronavirus death, in March 2020, Utah is now moving toward a death toll of 3,000.
But more than half of the states population is now vaccinated and in recent days, cases appear to have plateaued and perhaps begun to drop as has been seen in other states.
Heres an interactive timeline of Utahs experience of the pandemic, from the beginning.
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The Delta variant is finding clusters of unvaccinated people even in some of the best-vaccinated parts of the country, such as Maine. A Covid-19 surge in the New England state has filled hospitals and put dozens of mostly unvaccinated people on ventilators, setting records for the state.
The problem, public-health experts say, is the variants high transmissibility combined with the relaxation of precautions such as wearing masks. Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations have also flared among mostly unvaccinated people in Vermont and western Massachusetts, highlighting the risk Delta poses even in states with the best track records for getting shots in arms.
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On the heels of the deadliest month of the pandemic for pregnant people yet, Dr. Manisha Gandhi told CNBC that she's not optimistic about Covid-19 this winter.
"To be dealing with this surge and taking care of really sick women, has just really taken a toll," said Gandhi, who is chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Texas Children's hospital. "I'm still really afraid this is just another lull before another potential surge."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent message to pregnant women on Wednesday to get a Covid-19 vaccine. The agency reported that at least 22,000 pregnant women have been hospitalized with Covid, and more than 160 have died, including 22 in August.
Gandhi, who has treated pregnant women with Covid, told "The News with Shepard Smith" that not only are the mothers with Covid "sicker," but that it's also impacting the newborn children.
"We're also having to deliver them prematurely, so they themselves are dealing with complications, but then we have to deliver their baby to improve their health, and that results in the baby having to go to their own intensive care unit," explained Gandhi.
Fewer than one-third of all pregnant women in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, and nearly 97% of the pregnant women who have been hospitalized with Covid-19 in 2021, so far, have been unvaccinated.
Gandhi told host Shepard Smith that over nine months of data from the CDC should reassure pregnant women that the vaccine is safe.
"This should really help support women, that this is a safe vaccine and they really can be sure that there's nothing being, any kind of adverse events to be expected," said the obstetrician/gynecologist.
Gandhi added, "to people who worry about putting things in their body, once you get Covid and you're getting really sick, I have to give a lot more medications that have a lot less safety data than this vaccine."
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported Friday 18,735 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois, including 236 additional deaths since reporting last Friday.
More than 81% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 64% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of Illinois total population, almost 68% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 53% of Illinois total population is fully vaccinated.
IDPH reports a total of 1,630,864 cases, including 25,017 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois.
Since reporting on Friday, Sept. 24, laboratories have reported 842,141 specimens for a total of 32,034,910.
On Thursday, IDPH reported 180,411 COVID-19 tests; the highest one-day total of COVID-19 tests since the beginning of the pandemic.
As of Thursday night, 1,833 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 447 patients were in the ICU and 236 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 24-30, 2021 is 2.2%.The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from September 24-30, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of 14,571,537 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight.The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 22,754 doses.
Since reporting last Friday, 159,278 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
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Illinois reports 18735 new cases of COVID-19, 236 deaths over past week - WGN TV Chicago
"It is within our power, and within our grasp, to prevent that from occurring," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Monday.
The way to do it, he said, is by utilizing mitigation measures such as wearing masks indoors and in schools, as well as increasing vaccination rates.
The idea of vaccine mandates for schools and businesses has sparked debate through much of the country, but with the spread of the Delta variant, more leaders are adopting such methods.
And the evidence shows that vaccine mandates do get more people vaccinated, and the more vaccinated people there are in a community, the more protected the community is, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told ABC News on Monday.
Those mandates have been implemented by the federal government for its employees, and President Joe Biden stressed the importance of people getting vaccinated Monday while receiving his booster shot.
"This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That's why I'm moving forward with vaccination requirements wherever I can," he said.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, estimated that the Delta wave of the pandemic could run its course by Thanksgiving, and Covid-19 could eventually become more of a seasonal nuisance than a devastating pandemic. But Fauci said that is dependent on getting a lot more people vaccinated.
Many places are still impacted by the spread.
North Carolina has received 25 Advanced Life Support ambulances as the state experiences "greatly increased" calls for service during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ambulances each have a two-person crew of EMS providers, according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. The ambulances were provided in response to a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"These ambulances and crews will provide necessary relief to our extremely busy EMS systems," North Carolina Emergency Management Director Will Ray said. "While it's not the full complement we requested, we know medical resources are extremely limited across the nation right now, and we are grateful for this assistance from our federal partners."
Pfizer/BioNTech submit initial data on vaccine for kids ages 5 to 11
A formal submission to request EUA for the vaccine is expected to follow in the coming weeks, the companies said in a statement.
This is the first submission of data to the FDA for a Covid-19 vaccine for younger children. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is approved for people age 16 and older and has an EUA for people ages 12 to 15.
Last week, Pfizer released details of a Phase 2/3 trial that showed its Covid-19 vaccine was safe and generated a "robust" antibody response in children ages 5 to 11.
FDA officials have said that once vaccine data was submitted, the agency could authorize a vaccine for younger children in a matter of weeks -- not months -- but it would depend on the timing and quality of the data provided.
Fauci hopes the vaccines can be given to children ages 5 to 11 by the end of October, he told MSNBC on Tuesday.
Vaccine mandates argued in court
Mask and vaccine mandates have drawn intense debates.
But, a Maricopa County judge ruled the ban unconstitutional Monday in a move Gov. Doug Ducey called "an example of judicial overreach."
The ruling was made because the Covid-19 measures were inserted into the state budget bill, and legislators are precluded from "combining unrelated provisions into one bill to garner votes," according to the court filing.
One of Tennessee's largest school districts plans to implement a mandatory mask mandate Tuesday ordered by a federal judge, and the school district is preparing for potential protests.
"Students who refuse to wear a mask will be allowed in the school building, but please know they will not be in their regular classroom," Superintendent for Knox County Schools, Bob Thomas, said. Parents will be allowed to take their child home for refusing to wear a mask, but the student's absence will be counted as unexcused, a message to families said.
The injunction was then dissolved by a federal appeals court Monday, allowing the city's schools to enforce vaccine mandates among educators once again. The cohort of teachers and paraprofessionals who requested the injunction lost their appeal, their attorneys said.
The deadline for school employees to receive at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose has been extended to the end of Friday, meaning only those who complied will be able to work the following Monday (October 4), the city's Department of Education said after the ruling.
Those getting a first dose of a two-dose vaccine must later prove they got the second dose within 45 days of the first, according to the order.
"Vaccinations are our strongest tool in the fight against Covid-19 -- this ruling is on the right side of the law and will protect our students and staff," city education department spokeswoman Danielle Filson told CNN in a statement.
"With thousands of teachers not vaccinated, the city may regret what it wished for," attorney for the teachers and paraprofessionals who asked for the injunction, Mark Fonte, said in a statement to CNN. "Our children will be left with no teachers and no security in the schools."
The union had also filed a motion requesting the requirement be put on hold while it negotiated terms of its members' employment, but Judge Jackie Corwin said the importance of protecting the citizens and officers outweighs the union's right to bargain for employment terms and conditions.
Access to boosters will likely expand, but for most people there is no rush, experts say
Health experts have been discussing vaccine boosters as another way to increase protection against the virus, but they are not currently accessible to everyone.
Booster doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine are now available to people 65 and older and some adults with underlying medical conditions or those at increased risk for a breakthrough infection.
"The frequency and type of side effects were similar to those seen after the second vaccine doses and were mostly mild or moderate and short-lived," the CDC director said during a White House Covid-19 briefing.
While boosters will likely become available to more people in the United States, not everyone will need one right away, Fauci said Monday.
Many people are still well protected from their initial Covid-19 vaccination, while certain categories of people, such as the elderly and those in long-term care facilities, may be ready for a boost six months after their initial vaccination, Fauci told CNN.
"If you're a person who ultimately might get a booster that will make you optimally protected, you don't necessarily need to get it tomorrow," Fauci said.
And boosters for people who got a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be addressed with urgency, Walensky told ABC.
"I want to reiterate that this is a very slow wane. There is no urgency here to go and get your booster immediately. You know, walk don't run to your booster appointment," she said. "We will come and look at the data for Moderna and J&J in very short order."
CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas, Naomi Thomas, Jason Hoffman, Deidre McPhillips, Rebekah Riess, Jason Hanna, Jamie Gumbrecht, Devon Sayers, Amy Simonson and Jennifer Henderson contributed to this report.
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Long COVID patient Gary Miller receives treatment from physiotherapist Joan Del Arco at the Long COVID Clinic at King George Hospital in Ilford, London, in May. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP hide caption
Long COVID patient Gary Miller receives treatment from physiotherapist Joan Del Arco at the Long COVID Clinic at King George Hospital in Ilford, London, in May.
Symptoms of COVID-19 persist or recur months after diagnosis for more than a third of all people who get the illness, a new study finds, potentially pushing the number of so-called long COVID cases higher than previously thought.
In the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers found that about 36% of those studied still reported COVID-like symptoms three and six months after diagnosis. Most previous studies have estimated lingering post-COVID symptoms in 10% to 30% of patients.
The study, led by University of Oxford scientists in the United Kingdom, searched anonymized data from millions of electronic health records, primarily in the United States, to identify a study group of 273,618 patients with COVID-19 and 114,449 patients with influenza as a control.
Although long COVID is poorly defined, the researchers looked at such symptoms as chest/throat pain, abnormal breathing, abdominal symptoms, fatigue, depression, headaches, cognitive dysfunction and muscle pain.
"The research found that over 1 in 3 patients had one or more features of long-COVID recorded between 3 and 6 months after a diagnosis of COVID-19," the authors concluded.
The researchers also found that of those who had long COVID three to six months after diagnosis, roughly 40% had no record of such symptoms in the prior three months.
Months after the pandemic began, scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, warned about a post-viral syndrome that was showing up in people who had recovered from COVID. That led some to compare the symptoms experienced by many following COVID-19 to the same experience that some people have after other viral infections, such as the flu.
But the new study concludes that the chances of getting COVID-19 symptoms months after the acute stage of the illness was more than twice as high as for influenza.
The Oxford-led team also found that people who had more severe COVID-19 illness were more likely to get long COVID. Likewise, female and young adult patients also had an elevated risk for the long-term symptoms, but the authors of the study found no difference between white and nonwhite patients.
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New Study Finds More Than A Third Of COVID-19 Patients Have Symptoms Months Later - NPR
Pregnancy can be a difficult, anxiety-riddled adventure even outside a pandemic.
Women, once peppering doctors with questions about allowed or prohibited foods, exercise duration or hair dye, are now faced with the reality of beginning or growing a family during a long-lasting pandemic.
Cases are rising in Michigan and across the nation. The population is divided on the necessity of masks. Efforts to vaccinate the residents against COVID-19 are continuing, with less success.
Though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend immunization against COVID-19, some patients remain leery of the vaccines.
RELATED: Vaccinating pregnant women more urgent than ever, CDC says in recommending shots
Doctors and studies here address the risks to pregnant women.
Pregnant women already are vulnerable.
Generally, women of child-bearing age are young and healthy. However, pregnant women are undergoing physiologic adaptations.
Pregnancy is considered an immunocompromised state, said Dr. Alissa OHagan, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Grand Traverse Womens Clinic and Munson Medical Center in Traverse City.
Younger pregnant patients with COVID will likely do better than, say, a 70-year-old with the coronavirus. But theres so much individual variation that thats not an observation thats worth carrying too far, said Dr. Gregory Goyert, division head of maternal, fetal medicine at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
You give them COVID and make them critically ill with multi-organ failure. Well, all competitive advantage has now been lost, Goyert said.
Though it is rare, pregnant women sick with COVID-19 are more likely to die than those who are not infected.
A study, published in August by the peer reviewed medical journal JAMA Network, looked at about 870,000 pregnant women at 499 U.S. medical centers from March 2020 to February 2021. It found 24 of 18,715, or 0.1%, infected with the coronavirus died. In comparison, 71 of 850,364 or less than 0.001% of women without COVID-19 died.
Of 1,378 people identified in 2020 as pregnant with COVID-19 in Michigan, two died. Their babies survived, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. (Not all of the women had yet given birth.)
An earlier study, also published by JAMA, found pregnant women infected with COVID-19 were 22 times more likely to die than women who had not contracted the illness. Eleven of 706 women with a COVID-19 diagnosis died. Four had severe preeclampsia. Five experienced respiratory failure and two developed fever, cough and breathlessness within seven days of an uneventful delivery. Of 1,424 women without COVID-19, one died because of a preexisting liver concern.
RELATED: Pregnant during a pandemic: Babies in Michigan fare better than in other states
Patients with COVID are at significantly increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to those who are not infected.
There is an increased rate of preterm delivery, either spontaneous or induced by medication or cesarean section due to severe maternal disease. There are greater chances of hypertensive complications, such as preeclampsia, a potentially fatal blood pressure condition if untreated, and risk of a caesarean section, doctors said.
If you are entering into a cesarean section with severe consequences from COVID pneumonia and other organ systems, thats a significantly greater risk for mom than the patient without COVID, Goyert said.
Underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity or cardiovascular disease, can increase those risks among people who get COVID and get sick, as can being part of racial or ethnic minority groups because of health inequities.
You kind of put all those numbers and start multiplying, Goyert said.
Chance of going to ICU or requiring mechanical ventilation increase.
Most pregnant patients will not get COVID, but if they do, their chances of having to go to the ICU or requiring mechanical ventilation increase.
In the study published in August 2021, 5.2% of COVID-positive pregnant women versus 0.9% of women who did not have the virus were admitted to ICUs. About 1.5% of the coronavirus group and 0.1% of the larger group required respiratory intubation and mechanical ventilation.
Usually, babies survive when mothers contract COVID-19.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports of 27,268 women with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 2020, there were 27,449 live born infants and 266 pregnancy losses, according to most recent data, updated monthly.
This means for every 1,000 live birth plus fetal deaths, there were about 9.6 deaths, according to information collected through 26 state and local health departments across the country, including Michigan.
In Michigan, of pregnant women who tested positive in 2020, there were 2.4 deaths per 1,000 live births plus fetal deaths.
The state, as of Sept. 1, recorded three deaths and 1,273 live births attributed 1,247 pregnant women identified as infected by the coronavirus in 2020, according to a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The closer a baby is carried to term, 40 weeks, the greater its chance of success, doctors said.
About 12% of babies born to women who contracted the coronavirus in 2020 were born before 37 weeks, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the study published in August, about 16% of women with COVID had a preterm birth vs about 12% in the larger group.
According to the national CDC data, about 3,600 babies have been tested at birth and about 6% were positive for SARS-CoV-2.
What to do to minimize the risks?
Vaccination is probably the biggest tool presently available, said OHagan, who encourages her patients to get immunized.
As far as other precautions, OHagan points to what has been recommended to all throughout the pandemic: Frequently wash hands, maintain distance from others and wear masks in certain situations, particularly while indoors and in public.
Read more on MLive:
Coronavirus data for Friday, Sept. 24: Teens account for largest COVID case increase in Michigan
Michigan hospitals weigh vaccine mandates against staffing shortages as COVID cases rise
Should I immunize my child against COVID-19? Doctors answer parent questions
CDC endorses booster shots for older Americans, people with underlying conditions, at-risk workers
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Five things to know about COVID-19 and risks to pregnant women - MLive.com
NEW DELHIIndia is preparing to produce its ownmRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year, in what would be a scientific breakthrough for the countrys growing pharmaceutical industry and help expand the range of global production hubs for the shots.
A host of companies across the world are pushing to bring their own vaccines using themRNAtechnology to market following the success of the Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. shots. Indian firms, urged on in part by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aim to be significant players in the new sector, with Gennova Pharmaceuticals Ltd. hoping to be the first.
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India Aims to Produce mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine This Year - The Wall Street Journal
Now nearly 19 months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota, the majority of the states residents are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.
Yet with cases rising mostly among the unvaccinated and the more infectious delta variant prompting breakthrough cases even among those who have the shots, demand for COVID-19 tests has risen rapidly in recent months. Minnesotans are getting tested as part of routine screening, when they have symptoms of illness, to keep friends and family members safe at gatherings or because they need a negative test to board an airplane or go to school or work.
Amid the high demand, Minnesotans are having more trouble securing rapid tests and are sometimes seeing longer waits for test results than they were over the summer.
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Longer waits
The number of COVID-19 tests performed in Minnesota has increased rapidly in recent weeks: the most recent data show a weekly average of 486 tests per 10,000 residents, compared to just over 100 tests per 10,000 residents in early July. In November 2020, just before Thanksgiving, Minnesota reported nearly 790 tests per 10,000 residents.
As demand for tests has increased, some Minnesotans have noticed appointments for tests filling up more quickly at doctors offices and pharmacies, and many report waiting longer for test results.
Stephanie Zawistowskis family has been visiting the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport regularly since February so their two elementary-aged kids, who have been in school and summer programs, can get tested as a precaution. The MSP airport testing site is one of 13 no-cost community testing sites run by Vault Health under contract with the state.
At first, it took Zawistowskis then-kindergartner an hour to fill the sample tube with spit.
Now shes in and out in 10 minutes, she said.
Emails from Vault say test results should be available within 24 to 48 hours of the sample arriving at the lab, but often, theyre available more quickly. From February until late summer, Zawistowskis family would usually get tested on Saturday mornings, receive an email that their samples had arrived that evening, and have results by the time they woke up on Sunday. But lately, its felt less predictable, and usually takes longer than it did before, though still within the 24 to 48 hour timeframe from the time the tests arrive at the lab to when results are available.
In recent weeks when family members have been tested on Saturday, results often havent been available until Monday evening, Zawistowski said. When one child who was home under quarantine developed potential COVID-19 symptoms, the family kept the other child home from school recently on a Monday awaiting test results.
Rena Carlson Rasmussen has noted an increase in test turnaround time, too. Shes been getting tested weekly as a precautionary measure. Though vaccinated, Rasmussen said that as the manager of a coworking space, weekly testing offers peace of mind: Its just a part of my regular routine with being around a lot of people, she said.
In the spring, when Rasmussen got tested at the states testing site at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in downtown St. Paul, also run by Vault Health, she would typically get results back the same night. Now, its often taking more than a day, she said, between the time she spits in the tube and when she receives an email with her results.
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Vault has seen some increase in median test processing time in recent weeks, spokesperson Kate Brickman said.
The company measures turnaround time as the time between when the sample arrives at the lab and when results are available. Thats because the company processes both mailed-in tests and tests taken at community testing sites across the state and some in schools.
The median time between test arrival and results for the most recent week was nine hours, Brickman said Monday. Thats down from 12 hours the week prior and up from five to six hours in June and July when test volume was lower. Still, 95 percent of test results take less than 24 hours to come back after they arrive at the lab, Brickman said.
Its definitely increased a little bit in terms of turnaround time as demand has doubled and tripled, Brickman said. But the test results are still generally taking under 12 hours once they arrive at the lab.
Brickman said turnaround time is similar to high volume testing times in the spring.
At Sanford Healths Bemidji location, test results are often taking a bit longer to come back than they used to, too, as test volume rises. Sanford Bemidji has gone from administering around 900 tests in a week to 2,100 recently, and appointments to get tested are filling up quickly, said Amy Magnuson, the director for primary care at the Bemidji site.
The site has switched to exclusively using PCR tests for symptomatic patients, That means the samples need to be sent to a lab, increasing turnaround time, which is now typically between 24 and 48 hours.
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I think were still doing pretty good, but it is a little bit longer than what people may have experienced over the last couple months, Magnuson said.
Its not just Minnesota where COVID-19 test turnaround time is increasing. As demand for COVID-19 tests has risen, other states are seeing similar increases in time it takes to get results back, per news stories in Montana, Maryland and Maine.
Minnesota Department of Health spokesperson Scott Smith said in an email that Minnesotas labs both private and contracted through the state have the capacity to meet higher testing demand than the state is now seeing.
Currently, labs are processing between 17,000 and 40,000 tests per day far fewer than the roughly 90,000 processed on the peak processing day. Smith said he hadnt heard of issues with turnaround time.
As Minnesotans seek to get tested more often, many are turning to rapid antigen tests. These tests, available at pharmacies for about $12 to $40 each, come back in around 15 minutes. They are typically less accurate than the gold-standard PCR tests done at Vault and other labs, but offer the advantage of a quick result.
Rapid tests are widely available and sometimes free in some other countries, but here, supply is falling short of demand, with pharmacies often unable to keep them in stock. As of publication, most local CVS stores and some Walgreens showed them out of stock.
In recent weeks, Minnesotans have been sharing tips on social media when and where the scarce tests become available, and parents especially report frustration finding tests as back-to-school sniffles season starts.
With elementary school kids, I had to drive all over town last week to find a rapid test for littles, one Twin Cities parent tweeted.
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Testing capacity
Unvaccinated people with COVID-19 exposures are supposed to quarantine for 14 days regardless of test outcome, but getting a result sooner can offer some measure of comfort. For screening testing to be effective in schools, tests should be available within 24 hours, the CDC says.
Zawistowski said shes glad to have the testing sites available, but said a longer wait time makes it harder for parents to make decisions that ultimately affect their children, and potentially, their communities.
You cant test your way out of a pandemic, but it certainly provides you with a lot more information to make better choices, particularly when you are a parent trying to make choices for your kids who are not eligible yet to be vaccinated, Zawistowski said.Were into our third school year in which were dealing with the pandemic, and it seems like its just gotten harder and not easier and its weird to backtrack like that.
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Is Minnesota's COVID-19 testing capacity where it needs to be right now? - MinnPost
