Category: Covid-19

The Colorado Board of Health late Monday approved an emergency requirement that all staff of licensed health care facilities in the state be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The move came at the request from Governor Jared Polis who asked that rules be implemented requiring health care facilities, such as hospitals, community medical clinics, hospice care providers and nursing homes, to mandate employees who interact with patients to be vaccinated.

The rule affects about 3,800 facilities across the state, including Valley View, Aspen Valley and Grand River hospitals locally.

About 30% of the states health care workforce remains unvaccinated, according to a news release issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Monday evening.

With the rise in the delta variant and increased stress on the health-care system, ensuring that all workers in licensed health-care facilities are vaccinated is one of the most effective means the state can take to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the most at-risk Coloradans and end this ongoing pandemic, the release stated.

But the decision hasnt come without some pushback, including in Glenwood Springs where about 100 people, including several Valley View Hospital nurses and supporters, gathered outside the hospital and along Grand Avenue to protest the vaccine mandate.

Valley View nurses Ashley Mason and Sydney Borem, who were at the protest, and many of their coworkers whove also chosen for different reasons not to get vaccinated now face the prospect of being fired if they dont.

Were already taking the proper precautions, and we will continue to do so to protect our patients, Mason said of the required use of personal protective equipment in the hospital.

This is about having the choice about what we put in our bodies, she said. It shouldnt be mandated.

Added Borem, As health care professionals, we advise our patients of the risk of vaccines, medications, surgeries, anything, and its their choice whether to proceed. As soon as we sit in that chair, we are no longer an employee, were patients.

The state Health Board ruled that nurses and other health-care workers who interact with patients will be required to obtain a first dose of the vaccine by Sept. 30, though it indicated that date is flexible.

The board is to convene again in October to consider the rule in a regular session, according to the release.

Previously, the state implemented a policy requiring all state employees to verify their vaccination status by Sept. 20 or submit to twice-weekly testing. Now, any Public Health, Department of Corrections or Department of Human Services staff members who interact with vulnerable populations and those living in congregate living settings will be required to get vaccinated.

The board implemented the temporary emergency rule on a 6-1 vote, the Denver Post reported.

During a roughly two-hour public meeting Monday attended virtually by at least 1,000 people, about twice as many people spoke against the mandate as spoke in favor of it, with some health care professionals arguing that vaccination was a personal choice that should not be forced on employees under the threat of losing their jobs, according to the Denver Post article.

This is a developing story and will be updated with more from the protest and reaction from area health care facilities.

Senior Reporter/Post Independent Managing Editor John Stroud can be reached at 970-384-9160 or jstroud@postindependent.com.

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State to require COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers; valley residents, hospital workers protest in support of area nurses - Aspen Times

SINGAPOREA surge of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, a little-known but critical link in the semiconductor supply chain, has opened a new front in the battle to fix manufacturing woes that have rippled across industries during a global shortage of computing chips.

The Southeast Asia nation is one of the worlds top destinations for assembly and testing of the devices that control smartphones, car engines and medical equipment. Disruptions in Malaysia threaten to prolong uncertainty over chip supply well into next year, dashing hopes of relief in the second half of 2021.

The supply crunch in Malaysia, caused primarily by staff shortages linked to virus-control measures combined with a sharp surge in global demand, poses a new problem for the auto industry. For the first half of this year, shortages largely stemmed from companies miscalculating the pace of economic recoveries and not ordering enough parts. Now they cant always get the parts they need because Covid-19 outbreaks are denting factory output.

Its a bit like a game of whack-a-mole, said Ravi Vijayaraghavan, a Singapore-based partner at the consulting firm Bain & Co. specializing in semiconductors. We think we have supply sorted out, and then a problem suddenly pops up somewhere else.

Some of the worlds leading car makers including Toyota Motor Corp. , Ford Motor Co. , General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have disclosed major production cuts due largely to chip shortages from factories in Malaysia. Ford suspended work for about a week at an F-150 plant in the Kansas City, Mo., area and a Fiesta factory in Cologne, Germany because of missing parts, while Toyota said it would cut global production by around 40% in September. General Motors said it expects to make 100,000 fewer vehicles in North America in the second half of the year.

See more here:

Covid-19 Surge in Malaysia Threatens to Prolong Global Chip Shortage - The Wall Street Journal

Several hospitals in Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Louisiana are struggling with oxygen scarcity. Some are at risk of having to use their reserve supply or running out of oxygen imminently, according to state health officials and hospital consultants.

With the continued uptick in Covid-19 cases, there has been more demand on the oxygen supply, and hospitals cannot keep up the pace to meet those needs, Donna Cross, who is the senior director of facilities and construction at Premier -- a health care performance improvement company -- told CNN.

"Normally, an oxygen tank would be about 90% full, and the suppliers would let them get down to a refill level of 30-40% left in their tank, giving them a three to five day cushion of supply," Cross explained. "What's happening now is that hospitals are running down to about 10-20%, which is a one to two day supply on hand, before they're getting backfilled."

Even when they're getting backfill, it's only a partial supply of about 50%, Cross said. "It is very critical situation."

Dr. Ahmed Elhaddad, an intensive care unit doctor in Florida, told CNN's Pamela Brown Saturday that he's frustrated and "tired of seeing people die and suffer because they did not take a vaccine."

He noted the Delta variant is "eating" people's lungs, which eventually leads to their collapse as well as heart issues.

"We're seeing the patients die faster with this (Delta) variant," said Elhaddad, who is the ICU medical director at Jupiter Medical Center in Florida.

"This round, we're seeing the younger patients -- 30, 40, 50-year-olds -- and they're suffering. They're hungry for oxygen, and they're dying. Unfortunately, this round they're dying faster," he said.

Elhaddad noted that his ICU does not have a single Covid-19 patient who is vaccinated, nor did he see any vaccinated people die from Covid-19.

"There's no magic medicine. ... The only thing that we're finding is that the vaccine is preventing death. It's preventing patients from coming to the ICU," Elhaddad said.

Meanwhile, less than 50% of people in South Carolina, Louisiana and Texas -- where oxygen supplies are also low -- are fully vaccinated. Studies have shown that full vaccination is necessary for optimal protection against the Delta variant.

Nationally, 52.1% of the population is fully vaccinated as of Saturday, CDC data shows.

Hurricane Ida targeting Louisiana when Covid-19 hospitalizations remain high

As Louisiana's overall vaccination rate remains among the lowest in the nation at 41.2%, the state's hospitals are dealing with hundreds of Covid-19 patients while a hurricane threatens the region.

There are 2,450 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday, which is a drop of 20% in the past 10 days. But it's still the most the state has had since before the current surge in cases, Edwards told CNN's Jim Acosta.

"Evacuating hospitals is not going to be possible because there's nowhere to bring those patients to, there's no excess capacity anywhere else in the state or outside the state," Edwards said.

"Then you have people who may be injured as a result of the hurricane itself, and so we need to make sure we have some capacity for them," he said. "We still have a very, very challenging situation here across the state of Louisiana."

Edwards pointed out that he's worried about lengthy power outages. The state has about 10,000 lineworkers ready to go and another 20,000 on standby to assist as soon as necessary.

"Restoring power is going to be critically important in order to keep these hospitals up and functioning," he said.

'We're headed into a really tough time for young people,' doctor says

A return to in-person learning has led to thousands of students having to quarantine across the US, with Covid-19 cases among children surging to levels not seen since winter.

And hospitalizations of children due to Covid-19 could continue to increase as more of them return to classrooms this fall.

"There is no question that we're headed into a really tough time for young people," Dr. Esther Choo told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Saturday.

Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, added that while people had some reassurance last year that the virus wouldn't affect children as severely, this year is different.

"We're going back to school in-person, unmasked across the United States. There's a lot of resistance to things like mask mandates and vaccinations that would keep our kids safer in schools," she said.

Notably, children under 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Not all schools in the US have opened yet, but the remaining ones are expected to open after Labor Day, which is when Choo said children's Covid-19 hospitalizations could increase.

"We're no doubt going to see more of what we're seeing now, which is hospitals just bursting with pediatric admissions," she said, noting Covid-19 deaths of children will also become more common.

CNN's Kristen Holmes, Amanda Watts, Rebekah Riess and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

Continued here:

First, surges in Covid-19 infections led to shortages of hospital beds and staff. Now it's oxygen - CNN

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) Maryland reported 1,067 new COVID-19 cases and twelve new deaths, according to state health department data released Sunday morning.

This marks the fifth consecutive day of more than a thousand new cases.

Doctors say the new cases are fueled by dangerous strains targeting the unvaccinated. During an August press conference, Gov. Larry Hogan said the Delta variant, a strain that is reportedly two to four times more contagious than the original virus strain, accounts for nearly every new confirmed case in Maryland.

Hogan also saidless than 0.01% of vaccinated Marylanders have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and less than 0.001% of vaccinated Marylanders have died from the virus.

The vaccines are without a doubt our single most effective tool to mitigate the threat of COVID-19 and the surging Delta variant, and Marylands vaccination rate continues to outpace the nation, Hogan said.

Equally as important as getting a vaccine yourself is helping someone you know to get a vaccine. The vaccines are very safe, they are very effective, they are completely free, and they are widely available nearly everywhere.

More than 3.8 million Maryland adults are fully vaccinated. State officials also reported that the state positivity increased by 0.05 to 4.9%.

Hospitalizations decreased by 11 to 679. Of those hospitalized, 505 remain in acute care and 174 remain in the ICU.

Since the pandemic began, there were 494,982 total confirmed cases and 9,772 deaths.

There are 3,714,076 Marylanders fully vaccinated. The state has administered 7,518,231 doses. Of those, 3,804,155 are first doses with 7,737 administered in the past 24 hours. They have given out 3,430,557 second doses, 7,534 in the last day.

The state began to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine again in April after the CDC and FDA lifted their pause on the vaccine due to a rare blood clot found in some women.

A total of 283,519 Marylanders have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 308 in the last day.

The state reported 80.7% of all adults in Maryland have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In August, the state launched a post-vaccination infections dashboard that is updated every Wednesday. There have been 9,079 total cases among fully vaccinated Marylanders as of last Wednesday, August 25.

Of those cases, 733 vaccinated Marylanders were hospitalized, representing 5.6% of all Covid cases hospitalized in the state. 76 fully vaccinated Marylanders have died, representing 5% of lab-confirmed Covid deaths in the state.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES:

Heres a breakdown of the numbers:

By County

By Age Range and Gender

By Race and Ethnicity

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COVID-19 In Maryland: More Than 1K New Cases & 12 Deaths Reported Sunday - CBS Baltimore

Texas Pastor Danny Reeves plans to share his own dire experience with COVID-19 with his congregation and encourage everyone who's eligible to get vaccinated. Courtesy of Danny Reeves hide caption

Texas Pastor Danny Reeves plans to share his own dire experience with COVID-19 with his congregation and encourage everyone who's eligible to get vaccinated.

Last month, Pastor Danny Reeves was fighting for his life in the ICU at Dallas' Baylor Medical Center. He had COVID-19 and he wasn't vaccinated.

Now, the senior pastor at First Baptist Corsicana in North Central Texas regrets not getting the shot earlier, and he plans to tell his congregants his story on Sunday when he returns to the pulpit.

"I was falsely and erroneously overconfident," Reeves told NPR's Morning Edition.

Reeves says he isn't against vaccines, and he encouraged certain people in his community mostly seniors to get vaccinated before he contracted coronavirus. But he thought since he's in his 40s and generally healthy, getting the virus wouldn't be a big deal.

"Unfortunately, that was the attitude that I had: That if I did get it, I thought it would just be a nothing issue. And in that I was deeply, deeply wrong."

Pastor Danny Reeves, on why he didn't get a COVID-19 vaccine

Reeves describes his experience at the hospital as "harrowing." At one point during his two night stay at the ICU, a doctor told Reeves he might die.

Weeks later, Reeves is still recovering.

"It ravaged my healthy body," he said. "There's no doubt."

COVID-19 cases are surging across North Texas and projections indicate they may soon reach last winter's peak.

Of his first service back, Reeves says, "We're going to praise God together for his rescue. I'm going to lay out lessons that I've learned ... And certainly I'm going to talk straight to our people about who we can and should be as God's people and what it really means to love our neighbor."

Reeves says he plans to get vaccinated once his doctor tells him it's safe to do so.

This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.

Excerpt from:

Texas Pastor Who Almost Died Of COVID To Preach Vaccination - NPR

Posted: Aug 29, 2021 / 09:57 AM EDT / Updated: Aug 29, 2021 / 10:01 AM EDT

Caleb Wallace, the co-founder of the San Angelo Freedom Defenders and West Texas Minutemen State Coordinator has died from causes related to COVID-19, according to an update on gofundme by his wife, Jessica Wallace.

Caleb has peacefully passed on. He will forever live in our hearts and minds, reads the most recent update on the campaign that was set up to help Wallaces three children and his wife, a stay-at-home mother who is expecting a fourth child in late September.

This money is also going towards Calebs medical bills as they start coming in, reads an update to the campaigns description, Hes now been in the hospital since July 30th and I know I must prepare for them as well. Gotta pray for the best and prepare for the worst.

While Wallace had become a semi-regular feature in local news through his conservative activism, it was his battle with COVID-19 that garnered the national spotlight after his familys struggle was featured in an article published in the San Angelo Standard Times on Sunday, August 22, 2021.

His organization of the Freedom Rally, a protest against state and local mask requirements during the summer of 2020 made him a figure of some prominence among those in the community who were opposed to mask mandates.

This opposition to coronavirus mitigation measures like mask mandates lead Wallace to found the San Angelo Freedom Defenders with like-minded local, Coco Simpson. The Freedom Defenders held local rallies like the San Angelo Freedom Parade in July of 2020 and the October 2020 Rally to End COVID-19 Tyrrany.

Its pacifying the 1-2% speaking the loudest and leaving the rest of us behind, said Simpson in an interview about Governor Greg Abbotts July 2020 mask mandate, If you want to wear a mask feel free to do so. I dont choose to and I shouldnt wear one because it makes you feel better.

Wallace reportedly believed that vaccine mandates were also an infringement on peoples constitutional rights. In an article published in the New York Times on Friday, August 27, 2020, Wallaces father attested to his sons stance against vaccine and mask requirements, saying, After watching all of the governments efforts here, he decided he wanted to do something about it

I cant tell the difference if I have freedom to breathe free air or breathe it behind sucking air behind this thing, Wallace said while speaking to local officials at a COVID-19 Update held by the City of San Angelo on November 13, 2020.

My health has nothing to do with you. As harsh as that sounds, but our constitutional, fundamental rights protect that. Nothing else. said Wallace.

Im sorry if that comes off as blunt and that I dont care. I do care. I care more about freedom than I do for your personal health.

Wallaces most recent public action was in the form of an open letter, published locally on April 10, 2021, to the San Angelo Independent School District calling on the school board to rescind ALL COVID-related policies immediately!

Read more from the original source:

Texas anti-mask organizer dies of COVID-19 - WFLA

However, as Fauci told host Martha Raddatz, there's still a lot that can be done in the meantime to tackle the surge in Covid cases across the country.

"We still are in a situation where there's a lot we can do about it," Fauci said. "We have now about 80 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who have not yet gotten vaccinated. We need to get those people vaccinated. We have the highly effective and safe tool to really get those numbers down."

Recent data shows that the daily new case average is up 153 percent over the last month, with hospitalizations surpassing 100,000 for the first time since January and Covid-related deaths on the rise.

"Those are numbers that are really quite startling," Fauci said. "We are still in an upsurge. The numbers that you [Raddatz] gave are very, very alarming. But we can do something about it. If it was a situation in which we had no recourse or no tools, you could see how frustrating it would be."

"But it's even more frustrating when you have this situation where we do have a vaccine that's highly effective, highly safe, accessible, free and it works," he continued. "We've really got to get those people are are not vaccinated in that group, vaccinated."

The Delta variant, Fauci explained, is highly transmissible more so than prior variants and is affecting both adults and children, especially those who cannot be vaccinated, such as children under 12. Fauci also mentioned that FDA hopes to have enough data by mid-September or early October to assess the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations for younger children.

On CNNs State of the Union, host Jake Tapper noted that the campaign committee of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been offering Dont Fauci My Florida merchandise even as the state has been hit hard by the Delta variant surge. Fauci said such attacks on him were misguided and unfortunate.

Its just a reflection of the politicization of what should be a purely public health issue, Fauci said.

Read more from the original source:

Fauci sticking with Covid-19 booster shot recommendations - Politico

More than three-quarters of the largest U.S. companies reported higher revenue than before Covid-19, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, indicating that many have adapted to changing business conditions caused by the pandemic.

Among the companies in the S&P 500, 213have reported revenue for the calendar years second quarter above 2019 levels after a drop in 2020. Another153have hadsecond-quarter revenue in each of the past two years that exceeded 2019.

Meanwhile,101companies remain below their 2019 figures, and10saw a drop this year after a rise last year.

The numbers are based on a Journal analysis of FactSet data for the 477 S&P 500 companies that have reported results for the second quarter through Friday.

The consumer-services sector had the largest decline in second-quarter 2021 revenues from the same period of 2019. The charts below show percentage change in median second-quarter revenue since 2019, by sector.

See more here:

How the Biggest Companies Have Fared During the Covid-19 Pandemic - The Wall Street Journal

COLUMBUS, Ohio There were more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases reported in the state today, according to the Ohio Department of Health, continuing the trend of rising COVID-19 cases across the state.

A total of 5,204 cases were reported today.

Cases have been on the rise since July with numbers spiking over 5,000 on Thursday as well.

The number of new cases today is higher than the rolling 21-day average of daily cases, which is 3,191. These numbers include both cases confirmed by a viral test and cases that meet the CDC's definition of probable.

While cases are on the rise, hospitalizations have remained low relative to the current surge of COVID-19.

The ODH reported 115 new hospitalizations today, lower than the rolling 21-day average of 134, while reporting 12 new ICU admissions.

There are currently 2,157 COVID-19 patients in Ohio's hospitals, and 638 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.

Non-COVID patients are currently occupying 66.8% of the state's hospital beds, according to ODH. COVID-positive patients account for 8.1%, leaving 25.1% of beds currently available. COVID patients make up 13.39% of the state's ICU beds, non-COVID patients are occupying 61.70% of ICU beds, and 24.91% of ICU beds are currently open.

There have now been 20,799 coronavirus-related deaths across the state; no new deaths were reported today as the state changes the frequency in which mortality is reported.

As other states do not send the death certificates for Ohioans who die out of state to ODH's Bureau of Vital Statistics on a regular schedule, the mortality data provided by Ohio will continue to fluctuate and those deaths will be assigned to their appropriate dates.

Vaccinations

Here's how Ohio's vaccination rate compares to other states:

To date, the COVID-19 vaccine has been started in 6,047,494 people in Ohio, which is 51.74% of the state's population. The vaccine has been started in 12,448 people in the last 24 hours.

Oho Department of Health

The COVID-19 vaccination has been completed in a total of 5,585,621 people, which is 47.78% of the state's population. In the last 24 hours, the vaccine has been completed in 11,285 people.

Ohio Department of Health

This chart shows the vaccination rates of each Ohio county:

Testing

There were 40,849 tests done on Aug. 26, the latest day this data from the ODH was available. Of those tests, 11.3% were positive, compared to the rolling 7-day average positivity rate, which is 10.4%. Click here for details on where to get a COVID-19 test in your area.

Note: The charts above are updated from a variety of sources, and may or may not reflect the latest COVID-19 data released by the state. These charts are regularly updated with new data and may not reflect the statistics in the text of this story at the time it was published.

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Vaccinating Ohio - Find the latest news on the COVID-19 vaccines, Ohio's phased vaccination process, a map of vaccination clinics around the state, and links to sign up for a vaccination appointment through Ohio's online portal.

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COVID-19 cases in Ohio continue to trend up while hospitalization numbers stay down - News 5 Cleveland

COVID-19 biomarker research may help doctors better understand condition that hits kids  LA Daily News

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COVID-19 biomarker research may help doctors better understand condition that hits kids - LA Daily News