Category: Covid-19

A mandate issued by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) will now require visitors to go through some extra screening steps in order to enter hospitals or nursing facilities.

Hospitals like Lompoc Valley Medical Center (LVMC) and really every hospital and nursing facility across California will now require visitors to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours starting Wednesday. The mandate was created in an effort to protect patients and staff.

Staff at LVMC are already preparing, according to Chief Executive Officer Steve Popkins.

"At our screening areas at the entrances in our hospital we will have someone there requesting the proof of vaccination or negative tests," Popkins said.

Some people are not too happy about the news.

"I don't like it. For people to show proof is an act of tyranny, it's California you know, try this in Texas, it won't work," said Lompoc resident Julian Chavez.

The new mandate will tighten foot traffic inside health care facilities and will only apply for visitors, not patients.

For example, Popkins says those getting lab work done or simply going in for a check-up won't be turned away but if they bring someone with them, the person tagging along will need to comply, including children.

In a statement, CDPH Officer Tomas Aragon said in part:

As we continue to see an increase in cases and hospitalizations due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, its important that we protect the vulnerable patients in these settings."

Others agree and say they're OK with it.

"They said if I could bring photo proof, so I went on my phone and my wife had downloaded a picture of my vaccine card, so I'm down with it. I think it's wonderful," said Dan Emmett, who is visiting his dad at the hospital in Lompoc.

Health officials at LVMC say although it's not listed in the public health order to make rapid tests available for visitors, they plan on making that happen there.

"Rapid COVID testing for visitors and within 15 minutes get the results and if they are negative, they can go ahead and come in. We are in the works of that. Hopefully it'll be available tomorrow if not the next day," Popkins said.

According to health officials, this order does exclude those who may be visiting critically ill patients where death may be imminent. They add its best to check in with your medical center or nursing facility before visiting.

Hospitals like Tenet Health Central Coast, Dignity Health and Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital all have to comply with the mandate, which goes into effect at midnight.

Read the original here:

Health care facilities to require proof of vaccination or COVID-19 negative test for visitors - KSBY San Luis Obispo News

Normalcy appears to be out of the countrys grasp with the recent uptick in Covid-19 cases fueled by the delta variant, a highly contagious strain of Covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the delta variant was identified in 80 to 87 percent of all US Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks of July. This has impacted states with low vaccination numbers the most.

Louisiana, where just over 37 percent of residents are fully vaccinated, is the fifth-least vaccinated state, according to the Mayo Clinic, and is currently leading the country in an eruption of new cases after infection rates began to climb in early July.

Daily records continue to go up and the state reported over 6,000 new cases on Friday, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. According to a recent update from Baton Rouge General Hospital obtained by WAFBs Steve Caparotta, 47 percent of the patients infected with Covid-19 in the hospitals care are in the ICU and only 15 of these patients had been vaccinated. The hospital stated that workers this weekend are in the middle of their toughest fight against this virus.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards reinstated the indoor masking mandate Monday in response to the worsening crisis. It has become extremely clear that our current recommendations on their own are not strong enough to deal with Louisianas fourth surge of Covid, Edwards told reporters after announcing the mandate.

During a Friday press conference, Edwards made a grim assessment: Things are, if anything, worse today than they were on Monday. Unfortunately, the eyes of the nation are on Louisiana right now.

Though less than a week old, the mask mandate has already faced backlash, notably at a school board meeting in St. Tammany parish on Thursday. One parent falsely claimed their child would be hindered from learning due to masks cutting off oxygen to the brain. The conspiracy theory was debunked last year by Reuters and others.

With the school year rapidly approaching, the safety of children in Louisiana is a major concern. There is no approved vaccine for children under age 12, and only 13 percent of people ages 12 to 17 are vaccinated in Louisiana, which leaves young people vulnerable. According to Dr. Trey Dunbar, president of Our Lady of the Lake Childrens Hospital in Baton Rouge, more than 50 percent of the children in that hospital infected with Covid-19 are under intensive care.

Before the statewide mask mandate was put in place, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had chosen to leave masking decisions up to individual schools and only the school district of New Orleans required indoor mask wearing. The statewide mandate means that more children will be safe, but it is up to schools to enforce it.

Apart from the mask mandate, schools have the freedom to construct their own set of rules and safety precautions, which leads to disparities in how Covid-19 is managed in the education sector. According to the guidebook for the Jefferson parish school districts, schools are largely enforcing in-person K-12 learning except for high school students, who want to benefit from the flexibility and extra time that virtual school allows.

But while high school students are eligible to get vaccinated and would therefore be safer than younger children in an in-person classroom setting, children in grade school are still vulnerable. The guidebook also states: Schools should plan for and expect that some students/staff will contract COVID-19 during the school year given the levels of COVID-19 in our communities. This kind of mixed guidance can be confusing from a public health perspective, since more access to virtual learning could reduce the risk of exposure.

Making masks mandatory again is a productive step, but because the delta variant is highly transmittable, it is not enough. Increasing the number of vaccinated people in the state is the best way forward, but in a state where conspiracy theory holds more value than public health policy for some, this is easier said than done. Misinformation about what is in the vaccine has caused some people to refuse the jab. In Shreveport, a recent city council meeting grew heated when a woman began protesting against the vaccine, claiming that unvaccinated Americans would be unfairly monitored and that vaccinated people could be used in experiments.

These are both false claims, but the damage of this type of rhetoric may contribute to low vaccination rates. According to a study by Donelson Forsyth, a professor at the University of Richmond, resistance to vaccination and mask mandates is concentrated in certain geographical areas because of something called groupthink. Decisions made by a group and followed en masse prevent individuals from logically analyzing information and considering other alternatives, which may explain why certain states have remained Covid-19 hotspots.

Its important to look at the bigger picture of Louisianas wave of Covid-19 cases as well. Researchers at Georgetown University identified the largest clusters of unvaccinated people in the United States and found that most of these areas were experiencing rising cases and examples of the virus mutating, which poses a risk to the greater population. Near the top of this list: Shreveport, Louisiana. Those vulnerable clusters put all of the United States and to some extent, the world at risk for going back to 2020, since high-transmission areas can become breeding grounds for Covid-19 variants that could go on to evade Covid-19 vaccines, wrote CNNs Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield.

While parts of Louisiana pose a risk to the rest of the country, people in the state are also at risk from tourists arriving for vacations. There are currently no travel restrictions in Louisiana, and Americans from all over the country are able to enter the state at will. This is especially concerning because of Louisianas proximity to states like Texas and Mississippi. Amarillo, Texas has one of the largest unvaccinated clusters in the country while Mississippis partial vaccination rate is 38.6 percent, the lowest in the country.

Another new concern, while not currently as widespread, is the lambda variant that has recently infected people in Louisiana. The first cases of the lambda variant were detected in Houston, so health care officials believe that the virus variant spread across the Texas-Louisiana border.

Despite CDC warnings against nonessential travel for people who are not fully vaccinated, and despite the ever-multiplying virus variants, tourism in Louisiana is in full swing. The tourism industry typically provides more than 240,000 jobs for Louisianians and produces about $1.9 billion in tax revenue in the state, according to the Louisiana Travel Association. Before the surge in cases due to the delta variant, the tourism industry had been approaching pre-pandemic proportions, something that Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser does not want to let go of. Well be back to those regular [tourism] rates sooner than we thought if we can get through this last surge without a major hit to the tourism industry, Nungesser told the Louisiana Radio Network at the end of July.

Nungesser is just one among a group of Louisiana politicians who have contracted Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, including Rep. Clay Higgins, who last month contracted Covid-19 for a second time.

Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, who held numerous maskless campaign events ahead of his election, ultimately died from complications with Covid-19 weeks before taking office in December of last year. He was the first congressman to die from the virus. His widow, Julia Letlow, was elected to her husbands seat in a special election in March; she gave an interview with CBS News this week urging her constituents to get vaccinated.

My prayer is that not one more person has to lose their life to this virus. It is a horrific way to leave this world. Letlow said. We have the answer, lets use it.

Public health officials would agree with her. The most effective way to get through this surge is to increase vaccination rates. There has been an effort to encourage people to do this. In fact, the federal government has allocated $2.3 million in lottery money as an incentive. Louisianians have already started winning payouts, while the grand prize of $1 million is yet to be awarded.

This effort has paid off, as Louisiana has seen an uptick of 3 percent in vaccination rates since June. But as major cities in the state prepare for the slate of upcoming fall festivals including Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette amid rising Covid-19 cases, there is a looming sense of deja vu. Organizers for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival announced on Sunday they were canceling the planned two-weekend festival for fall, with plans to hold the event next spring, citing rising Covid-19 cases in New Orleans. Other New Orleans festivals, like Buku and French Quarter Fest, currently appear poised to go on as planned in October.

As the pandemic first began to spread in the US in March 2020, Mardi Gras in New Orleans was in full swing, and the high concentration of people without enforced safety precautions led to a Covid-19 death rate in the city that was at one point the highest in the world. Like the rest of the country, Louisiana is trying to balance public health guidance with a desire for normal life, so the outcome of its current surge in cases is still unclear.

Update, August 8, 3:35 pm ET: Updated to include that the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has been canceled for the fall due to rising Covid-19 numbers.

Visit link:

Covid-19 is crushing Louisiana, which leads the nation in new cases - Vox.com

"I was extremely scared," Greear said.

Describing those moments recently, Stephanie Greear broke into tears. In the emergency room, she'd feared the worst, she recalled.

"I kept thinking, 'Oh, my God. What if this is the last time they (her sons) saw their dad?'" Stephanie said.

All the while, Terry fought for his life.

"She's a superhero," Terry said. "She was my superhero."

'God ... please save him'

But one night, Terry, who's gone by Coach Beard since one of his kindergarteners had trouble pronouncing Greear, was heading out the door to coach a high school soccer game when he felt sick.

"I didn't feel right," he recalled. "My body felt hot."

"You're going to be OK," Stephanie remembers telling Terry. "You're going to be sick for seven to 10 days. You're going to be fine."

Every time Stephanie's phone rang, she felt panic, not knowing the type of news awaiting her on the other end of the line, she said.

"I held my breath the entire time," Stephanie said. "I never knew what they were going to tell me."

"It was the worst phone call I've ever received in my life. I couldn't believe it happened," Stephanie said. "I asked the doctors and nurses if he could hear me. She (the doctor) said, 'Go talk to him. He may be able to hear you. We don't know.'"

Stephanie remembers the sounds of the machines all around him. She broke into tears describing how she prayed over his body and then played his favorite music -- reggae rock -- hoping it would drown out the sounds of the machines.

"I asked God to please save him," Stephanie said.

'I don't remember because I was out'

Students and staff decorated Terry's school office with posters that said, "We coach Beard," "We miss you," and "Best coach ever!"

Physical education teachers designed "#CoachBeard" T-shirts for everyone to wear.

And Stephanie filled his hospital room with pictures of family and friends. She wanted doctors and nurses to know he was a teacher, a father and a husband and he was loved, she said.

"Whenever I was coming to, or awake, I would see pictures, and the first picture I would see was this heart that says 'We love you,'" Terry said. "That sort of gave me a little relief. Knowing that they are not physically there but I can see them."

"I don't remember because I was out," he said.

But Stephanie remembers every twist and downturn of his condition, especially when she felt she had to explain the severity of Terry's condition to their children.

"The worst part was telling my children that their father may not come home. And thinking that they didn't even really get to say goodbye to him," Stephanie said, tears welling in her eyes. "It was, it was hard. And he's my partner in life. It was, it was unimaginable for me to think about going through life without him."

'I had to start fighting'

Terry had to get his head right to battle Covid-19. He credits Stephanie for helping him tap into his competitive instincts and for getting him back into the fight.

"My wife told me, 'You've got to do this,'" Terry said. "Something kicked in where I had to start fighting. And I fought hard."

After about two months, he turned the corner. Terry was beating Covid-19, but now his body was so weak he couldn't do basic tasks.

"Trying to put a sock on with two hands was impossible. There was no way in the world I could do that," Terry said. "My brain is saying: This is what you're supposed to do. But my body is saying: No, you can't."

Terry entered an intensive rehabilitation program where he relearned how to do basic tasks, like dressing, washing dishes, walking and getting in and out of a car, he said.

"I want(ed) to do normal things," Terry said.

'Get vaccinated'

Today, Terry's beard is back and the oxygen machine is gone. He passed along the walker to his grandmother. And while he can walk around the block without getting short of breath and even play a little basketball, he doesn't feel 100%.

"I want to go run, but I'm afraid to go run," Greear said. "I'm still waiting to find out where my lungs are at this point."

His goal is to run a 5K in November.

But one thing doesn't have to wait, he said. It's a message he has for everyone who will listen:

"Get vaccinated," Terry said. "I don't want anybody else's family to have to go through what my family went through. No one's wife or husband needs to tell their kids that mom or dad may not come home."

Read more here:

Meet the Florida coach who fought hard to beat Covid and now has a message for anyone who hasn't gotten the vaccine - CNN

A widely shared Facebook post claims that ivermectin, which has emerged as a controversial drug during the coronavirus pandemic, is effective in treating COVID-19.

"How long after the last day of fever with the Rona should I wait to return to work? I feel fine now just dont want to get the guys sick," the Facebook user says, with "Rona" being a reference to the coronavirus. "Btw less than a hour after taking Ivermectin paste per my body weight I was mostly symptom free.... Was in bad shape until then! This s*** works I dont care what anyone else says."

With the post is a photo showing a box and a syringe of ivermectin paste both labeled "for oral use in horses only."

The post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

In the United States, ivermectin is approved for some uses in humans, but not to prevent or treat COVID-19. While some studies have asserted that the anti-parasite drug might work against COVID-19, researchers who have reviewed numerous ivermectin studies say there is not conclusive evidence that it is effective against the disease.

Since March 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned not to use ivermectin which is often used in the United States to treat or prevent parasites in animals to prevent or treat COVID-19:

"The FDA has received multiple reports of patients who have required medical support and been hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses.

"FDA has not approved ivermectin for use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans. Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are on-the-skin formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. Ivermectin is not an antiviral a drug for treating viruses.

"Animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we doa ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans."

The World Health Organization, in its COVID-19 treatment guidelines, says: "We recommend not to use ivermectin in patients with COVID-19 except in the context of a clinical trial," citing "very low certainty evidence" about the drug.

We rated False a claim that "mountains of data" show ivermectin "basically obliterates" COVID-19 transmission.

Some limited studies suggested that ivermectin can help treat COVID-19; others show no significant impact. Overall, many of the studies had small sample sizes and other limitations. Some researchers have called for more study of the drug.

In June, one meta-analysis an analysis of results from other studies arrived at a different conclusion than another one did:

One meta-analysis concluded that "moderate-certainty evidence finds that large reductions in COVID-19 deaths are possible using ivermectin." That study was done by researchers affiliated with a group that is campaigning for ivermectin to be approved for COVID-19 use.

The other meta-analysis found that ivermectin "did not reduce all-cause mortality" when compared to standard of care or placebo. The study concluded that the drug "is not a viable option to treat COVID-19 patients."

After a preliminary December 2020 study claimed that ivermectin could reduce COVID-19 death rates by more than 90%, the publisher in July 2021withdrew the non-peer reviewed study "due to an expression of concern communicated directly to our staff. These concerns are now under formal investigation."

Also in July, researchers from Germany and the UK who examined studies on ivermectin and COVID-19 concluded:

"Based on the current very low- to low-certainty evidence, we are uncertain about the efficacy and safety of ivermectin used to treat or prevent COVID-19. The completed studies are small and few are considered high quality. Several studies are underway that may produce clearer answers in review updates. Overall, the reliable evidence available does not support the use of ivermectin for treatment or prevention of COVID-19 outside of well-designed randomized trials."

Meanwhile, a health economist and a consultant to pharmaceutical companies argued in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal about ivermectin that "the statistically significant evidence suggests that it is safe and works for both treating and preventing" COVID-19, and so the FDA should give it emergency use authorization for use against COVID-19.

Our ruling

A Facebook post declares that ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID-19.

Some studies have raised the possibility that the drug might work against COVID-19.

But reviews of numerous studies of ivermectin have found there is no conclusive evidence that it is effective against COVID-19, and public health authorities including the FDA have recommended against using it to treat the virus.

That doesnt exclude the possibility that ivermectin could work in isolated cases, but the post ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. The post contains only an element of truth. We rate it Mostly False.

More here:

No evidence yet concluding that ivermectin is an effective COVID-19 treatment - PolitiFact

AUSTIN (KXAN) Video of a large indoor gathering of Georgetown Independent School District teachers and staff has left some parents worried about the upcoming school year.

The video, taken at their annual Teacher Convocation, was posted with the caption: THIS is how you kick off the school year! It pictured hundreds of employees some wearing masks and some not gathered in a gymnasium and listening to a live band.

Comments on the post revealed dozens of parents upset about the gathering and wondering if their childs classroom will be safe, amid the rise of the delta variant of the coronavirus.

The mother of a GISD third-grader and kindergartner told KXAN her family is now reconsidering their back-to-school plans in large part because of the video, which she describes as hard to watch.

We went back and forth about whether he should go to school or not, and he said, I dont want to go; Im scared,' she said. Its like this pandemic doesnt even exist to Georgetown.

Other parents and commenters on the post praised the district for starting the year off positively. Some pointed out that under Gov. Greg Abbotts executive order, mask wearing is optional.

A spokesperson for Georgetown ISD told KXAN, As you know, we are under governors orders to not require masks,though we support each individuals choice to wear one.

She said masks and hand sanitizer were provided, along with frequent cleaning for high touch surfaces throughout the brief event. She went on to say employees could also choose to join the event remotely, by a livestream the district offered.

The district had previously posted its COVID-19 safety protocols to its websites homepage, but after conducting a survey of families, they are now reviewing the feedback and making updates.

I anticipate we will have an updated plan to release next week, the spokesperson said.

On Tuesday night, the GISD superintendent penned a brief letter to families reiterating that masks are still optional, ahead of an upcoming school board meeting.

After the Austin Independent School District moved to require masks on campus, school districts around Central Texas began to grapple with difficult decisions about how to handle COVID-19 safety protocols, amid mounting pressure.

Round Rock ISD put out survey on Tuesday for parents on masks that closes this Friday. Meanwhile, the agenda for the Del Valle ISD Board of Trustees meeting notes a discussion on its policies on Thursday, along with a meeting planned between families and superintendent.

Tuesday night, a group of doctors, many who have children at Eanes ISD schools, gathered at an Eanes ISD Board of Trustees meeting.

To say Im very nervous is probably an understatement, Dr. Chesney Castleberry, a pediatric cardiologist with Dell Childrens, told reporters before the meeting. Ive seen children who were previously healthy, who now have long-term consequences of COVID.

The board was not scheduled to discuss COVID-19 safety protocols, but the superintendent addressed many of these parents concerns.

Dr. Tom Leonard said they follow the guidance of the various government entities, and for a long time they were all mostly aligned. However, he went on to say the governors orders supersede other recommendations or guidelines.

He also told the meeting attendees how difficult it is to ask their staff to enforce something such as a mask mandate without the states backing.

He went on to guarantee they would provide in-person learning with their cleaning, sanitation and positive case procedures staying the same. They will be limiting visitors, while still working to get parents back in the building. He said they will have assigned seats on buses and assigned lunch seating for elementary school children. Students can request Plexiglass around their desk, and positive cases on a classroom or bus will trigger a email to parents of students in those rooms. He said they would not be canceling all assemblies, but award ceremonies could be broken down into smaller groups.

At this time, neither Georgetown nor Eanes will be offering a virtual option for families.

Meanwhile, Leander ISD announced an expansion of its virtual offering Tuesday. The district added space for about 2,025 additional students currently on the waitlist. The virtual learning program will be offered to these kids in kindergarten through sixth grade through Oct. 8.

We are continuing to explore options for 508 students in grades 7-12 who expressed interest in remote learning on our waitlist, a news release from the district read.

Some school districts will have COVID-19 testing on campuses for students.

Leander ISD announced it will have a Curative COVID testing facility at Gupton Stadium starting this week. A spokesperson said they plan to give more details Wednesday.

Austin ISD will have testing on all of its campuses.

Round Rock ISD said it will offer testing Monday through Friday at a centralized location in the district, but it has not finalized a location.

Last week, Manor ISD said it was providing testing through Oct. 3. The district is waiting to hear back from the TEA to see if it can continue past that, officials said.

Hutto and Pflugerville ISDs will also have on-site COVID testing available, spokespeople for the districts told KXAN on Tuesday.

Eanes will have a free testing COVID clinic this Friday for students and staff only.

The rest is here:

Georgetown ISD teacher gathering has some parents concerned about COVID-19 risks - KXAN.com

Karina Piser:

Right. So, you know, we have seen the way that the disease itself of COVID has played out. It has affected the low income communities of color more than any others. And we also know what the state of health care looks like in this country. And the pandemic brought a lot of that to life. Safety net hospitals were ill equipped to deal with the influx of patients early in the pandemic, and they do not necessarily have the means to create these long COVID clinics.

Similarly, in rural communities, the number of hospitals in rural America have decreased dramatically over the past decade. Same with community health centers that are kind of, you know, often the first recourse for low income communities that has already been depleted. And so the communities that were hit the hardest by the pandemic are not only going to have the most difficulty accessing care, going to these major medical centers where these long COVID clinics are emerging that are often in major cities where people in rural communities, they might not even know they exist.

But also it's difficult to get there if you don't have transportation. It's difficult to miss work. There are so many reasons why people are being excluded from the treatment that is available.

See the article here:

COVID-19 exposed inequities. Long COVID may exacerbate them - PBS NewsHour

CNN

Tens of thousands of vaccinated people may catch Covid-19, but the majority will not fall severely ill a testament to the efficacy of inoculations even against the Delta variant that has been fueling case surges across the United States, a top health official said.

The severity of the illness not the number of people who contract the virus is a crucial concept for people to understand at this point in the pandemic, said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who heads the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I think we all have to recognize that with 164 million people who are vaccinated, we should expect tens of thousands, perhaps, of breakthrough infections, Walensky told CNNs Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

Those breakthrough infections have mild illness. They are staying out of the hospital. They are not dying, and I think that thats the most important thing to understand, Walensky added.

Breakthrough cases occur when the virus infects fully vaccinated people.

As the Delta variant of the coronavirus rips through the US, it is especially devastating regions with low vaccination rates as experts and government officials nationwide urge people to get their shots before a dire situation gets even worse.

Already, states are breaking grim records: Louisiana reported an all-time high of 2,421 people hospitalized with Covid-19 statewide, breaking a record that was set just a day earlier. Florida on Friday reported 134,506 new Covid-19 cases over the last week, more than any other 7-day period during the pandemic.

Roughly 58.4% of the US population has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, according to CDC data. About 50% of the population is fully vaccinated.

Full vaccination is necessary for optimal protection against Covid-19 especially the highly contagious Delta variant, which accounted for an estimated 93.4% of all cases in the US in the two weeks ending July 31.

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, echoed Walenskys take on how vaccination lowers the intensity of Covid-19 symptoms when breakthrough cases happen.

This is largely a problem when it comes to severe disease, the disease that requires hospitalization, its among the unvaccinated. It really is pretty unusual to have a vaccinated person be hospitalized. Most of those people tend to be older and very, very frail. They never were able to respond to the vaccine, and we have the occasional immunocompromised person whose immune system also couldnt respond optimally to the vaccine, Schaffner told CNN on Thursday.

So the unvaccinated continue to be the big highway of transmission. The vaccinated, theyre little side streets. Lets not get preoccupied with that. We need to get more people vaccinated.

The good news is that vaccinations have picked up recently.

An average of 694,138 doses have been administered each day over the past seven days, up from a spring/summer low average of 506,770 daily reached on July 11, according to CDC data published Friday.

And an average of 465,039 people initiated vaccination each day over the past seven days, the highest average daily pace in nearly seven weeks, since June 19, per the CDC. This is also an 11% increase over last weeks pace about 47,000 additional doses each day.

If more people do get their shots, case surges can be controlled in a matter of weeks, Walensky said Thursday.

However, our models show that if we dont (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January, she said.

But even as vaccinations rise, some children who have gone back to school have tested positive for Covid-19.

Georgias largest school district, Gwinnett County Public Schools, confirmed 253 cases on Friday, three days into the new school year. However, a spokesperson said many of the cases are from communal spread, because the people reporting cases havent been in our buildings yet to have contracted the virus.

Now that were back in school, we know were going to get cases, said Bernard Watson, director of community and media relations for the school system.

Arizonas second-largest school district is dealing with 103 active cases of the virus, according to the districts online Covid-19 dashboard. Since the school year began on July 21 in Chandler Unified School District, there has been a total of more than 140 cases.

We will continue to monitor confirmed cases and make adjustments to our mitigation plan as necessary, Chandler Unified School District spokesperson Terry Locke told CNN Thursday.

Only students who exhibit symptoms are required to quarantine in Chandler, and it is optional for all students with known exposure to Covid-19, regardless of their vaccination status.

Meanwhile, Indianapolis Public Schools officials on Tuesday notified the parents of 61 fourth-grade students that their child must quarantine for 14 days after coming in close contact with a school staff member who tested positive for Covid-19, district spokesperson Alpha Garrett said in a statement.

The students will continue learning remotely during their quarantine, Garrett added, and said the district requires students to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

Masking students in schools is exactly what Walensky is urging districts to do as children under 12 years old remain ineligible for a vaccine.

Speaking Friday at a town hall event in Boston, the CDC director said schools and summer camps where Covid-19 has spread are the ones that havent followed mitigation measures like mask-wearing.

We follow every jurisdiction, and we look for outbreaks that are happening in camps and schools, Walensky said. The places that are having a problem, the places that are having disease that is transmitted in the schools, are the places that are not taking prevention strategies.

If youre masked and youre doing all of the prevention mitigation strategies, it wont be transmitted in the school. It will be contained, Walensky said.

Some jurisdictions have mandated masks in schools, including New Jersey. Gov. Phil Murphy announced the mandate for the 2021-2022 school year on Friday, citing the spread of the Delta variant and the fact that many children are too young to be eligible for vaccination.

The University of Virginia also updated its Covid-19 policy Friday to include a temporary mask mandate for students, faculty, staff and visitors. The universitys policy statement says officials will monitor case counts and hospitalizations over the next few weeks with a goal of modifying or lifting this masking policy for fully vaccinated people by September 6th.

For adults previously infected with Covid-19, vaccines do a better job at protecting them from reinfection than natural immunity on its own, a new study shows.

The study, published Friday by the CDC, suggests that people who got Covid-19 in 2020 and didnt get a Covid-19 vaccine were more than twice as likely to be reinfected in May or June 2021, compared with people who also had Covid-19 but were later fully vaccinated.

If you have had Covid-19 before, please still get vaccinated, Walensky said Friday. Getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others around you, especially as the more contagious Delta variant spreads around the country.

The CDC has long recommended that people who have been previously infected also get vaccinated. The agency noted that reinfection risk is low in the months after initial infection but may increase with time due to waning immunity. There is no minimum time to wait between recovering from Covid-19 and getting vaccinated.

Scientists are still unraveling how long and how robust natural immunity to Covid-19 is, the authors noted. A number of earlier studies have shown evidence of lasting immunity in some people with previous Covid-19 but scientific consensus has maintained that vaccines do an even better job.

With the Delta variant driving a surge in cases, the study also noted that the emergence of new variants might affect the duration of infection-acquired immunity, and laboratory studies have shown that those antibodies from natural infection might be weaker against certain variants of concern.

Meanwhile, studies of vaccinated people have continued to show high levels of protection, particularly when it comes to severe outcomes including hospitalization and death.

The new study of hundreds of people in Kentucky did not assess severity of reinfections, and it noted that vaccinated people may be less likely to get tested, thus potentially skewing the numbers.

CNNs Dakin Andone, Lauren Mascarenhas, Michael Nedelman, Melissa Alonso, Elizabeth Stuart, Deidre McPhillips, Rebekah Riess, Cheri Mossburg, Raja Razek and Andy Rose contributed to this report.

See more here:

Covid-19 infections of vaccinated people are expected. But the unvaccinated are 'the big highway of transmission,' expert says - CNN

Passengers wait in a long line to get a COVID-19 test to travel overseas at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Recent flight cancelations caused many passengers to redo their tests while others were unable to get the test locally due to long lines caused by the surge of the delta variant. Marta Lavandier/AP hide caption

Passengers wait in a long line to get a COVID-19 test to travel overseas at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Recent flight cancelations caused many passengers to redo their tests while others were unable to get the test locally due to long lines caused by the surge of the delta variant.

The U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge in yet another bleak reminder of how quickly the delta variant has spread through the country.

The U.S. was averaging about 11,000 cases a day in late June. Now the number is 107,143.

It took the U.S. about nine months to cross the 100,000 average case number in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January. Cases bottomed out in June but took about six weeks to go back above 100,000, despite a vaccine that has been given to more than 70% of the adult population.

The seven-day average for daily new deaths also increased, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. It rose over the past two weeks from about 270 deaths per day to nearly 500 a day as of Friday.

The virus is spreading quickly through unvaccinated populations, especially in the South where hospitals have been overrun with patients.

Health officials are fearful that cases will continue to soar if more Americans don't embrace the vaccine.

"Our models show that if we don't (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said on CNN this week.

The number of Americans hospitalized with the virus has also skyrocketed and it has gotten so bad that many hospitals are scrambling to find beds for patients in far-off locations.

Houston officials say the latest wave of COVID-19 cases is pushing the local health care system to nearly "a breaking point," resulting in some patients having to be transferred out of the city to get medical care, including one who had to be taken to North Dakota.

Dr. David Persse, who is health authority for the Houston Health Department and EMS medical director, said some ambulances were waiting hours to offload patients at Houston area hospitals because no beds were available. Persse said he feared this would lead to prolonged respond times to 911 medical calls.

"The health care system right now is nearly at a breaking point. ... For the next three weeks or so, I see no relief on what's happening in emergency departments," Persse said Thursday.

Last weekend, a patient in Houston had to be transferred to North Dakota to get medical care. An 11-month-old girl with COVID-19 and who was having seizures had to be transported on Thursday from Houston to a hospital 170 miles (274 kilometers) away in Temple.

In Missouri, 30 ambulances and more than 60 medical personnel will be stationed across the state to help transport COVID-19 patients to other regions if nearby hospitals are too full to admit them, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Friday.

See the original post here:

The U.S. Is Now Averaging 100000 New COVID-19 Infections A Day - NPR

The pandemic is not coming to an end soon given that only a small proportion of the world population has been vaccinated against Covid-19, a well-known epidemiologist told CNBC.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist who was part of the World Health Organization's team that helped eradicate smallpox, said the delta variant is "maybe the most contagious virus" ever.

In recent months, the U.S., India and China, as well as other countries in Europe, Africa and Asia have been grappling with a highly transmissible delta variant of the virus.

WHO declared Covid-19 a global pandemic last March after the disease, which first emerged in China in late 2019, spread throughout the world.

The good news is that vaccines particularly those using messenger RNA technology and the one by Johnson & Johnson are holding up against the delta variant, Brilliant told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Friday.

Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants.

Larry Brilliant

Epidemiologist

Still, only 15% of the world population has been vaccinated and more than 100 countries have inoculated less than 5% of their people, noted Brilliant.

"I think we're closer to the beginning than we are to the end [of the pandemic], and that's not because the variant that we're looking at right now is going to last that long," said Brilliant, who is now the founder and CEO of a pandemic response consultancy, Pandefense Advisory.

"Unless we vaccinate everyone in 200 plus countries, there will still be new variants," he said, predicting that the coronavirus will eventually become a "forever virus" like influenza.

Brilliant said his models on the Covid outbreak in San Francisco and New York predict an "inverted V-shape epidemic curve." That implies that infections increase very quickly, but would also decline rapidly, he explained.

If the prediction turns out be true, it means that the delta variant spreads so quickly that "it basically runs out of candidates" to infect, explained Brilliant.

There appears to be a similar pattern in the U.K. and India, where the spread of the delta variant has receded from recent highs.

But I do caution people that this is the delta variant and we have not run out of Greek letters so there may be more to come.

Larry Brilliant

Epidemiologist

Daily reported cases in the U.K. on a seven-day moving average basis fell from a peak of around 47,700 cases on July 21 to around 26,000 cases on Thursday, according to statistics compiled by online database Our World in Data.

In India, the seven-day moving average of daily reported cases has stayed below 50,000 since late June far below the peak of more than 390,000 a day in May, the data showed.

"That may mean that this is a six-month phenomenon in a country, rather than a two-year phenomenon. But I do caution people that this is the delta variant and we have not run out of Greek letters so there may be more to come," he said.

The epidemiologist said there is a low probability that a "super variant" may emerge and vaccines don't work against it. While it's hard to predict these things, he added, it's a non-zero probability, which means it cannot be ruled out.

"It's such a catastrophic event should it occur, we have to do everything possible to prevent it," said Brilliant. "And that means get everyone vaccinated not just in your neighborhood, not just in your family, not just in your country but all over the world."

Some countries with relatively high vaccination rates such as the U.S. and Israel are planning booster shots for their population. Others, such as Haiti, only recently secured their first batch of vaccine doses.

WHO has called on wealthy countries to hold off on Covid vaccine boosters to give low-income countries a chance to vaccinate their people.

But in addition to boosting vaccination in countries with a low inoculation rate, Brilliant said one group of people needs a booster shot "right away" those who are 65 years and above, and were fully vaccinated more than six months ago but have a weakened immune system.

"It is this category of people that we've seen create multiple mutations when the virus goes through their body," said the epidemiologist.

"So those people, I would say, should be given a third dose, a booster right away as quickly as moving the vaccines to those countries that haven't had a very high chance to buy them or have access to them. I consider those two things about equal," he added.

CNBC's Rich Mendez contributed to this report.

Visit link:

The world is nowhere near the end of the pandemic, says famed epidemiologist Larry Brilliant - CNBC

ATLANTA A metro Atlanta woman is mourning the death of her 28-year-old husband to COVID-19.

Braderick Wright died Saturday night. His widow, 25-year-old Brittany Wright, said his dying wish was for more people to get the vaccine.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

That is his message: Get the vaccine. Because I would hate for people to be like me, Brittany Wright said.

Wright said her husband was hesitant to get the vaccine because of conspiracy theories he read online.

He was deep into Tik Tok conspiracy theories and, for him, he just didnt want to get (the shot), Wright said. He didnt trust the government.

She did get vaccinated last month and is still waiting to get her second shot.

TRENDING STORIES:

They both got sick, but only Braderick Wright ended up in the hospital on July 30. Brittany Wright said her husband changed his mind about the vaccine after that, but it was too late.

On Saturday, doctors called to tell Brittany that they needed to intubate her husband. She was able to go in to to talk to him one last time.

He told him he didnt want to lose me. I told him I didnt want to lose him, Brittany Wright said. I told him I loved him.

Just a few hours later, she got the call that his heart had stopped.

Wright said her husband did have preexisting conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, but she didnt think shed lose him so young.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Im 25. And I mean, I never expected to be a widow at the age of 25, Wright said. I expected us to grow old together have kids, have grandchildren and just live the life, you know. But sadly, here I am today, planning his funeral.

The Wrights just got married in December, but have been a couple for five years. The both drive big rig trucks.

My husband was really, really goofy. He had an understanding life is always an adventure, Brittany Wright said. We had trips planned, and now I dont know what to do. He was literally the light of my world and that light is gone.

Doctors told Wright she likely survived because she already had one vaccine dose.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses. Braderick Wrights funeral is on Saturday.

2021 Cox Media Group

See the original post:

28-year-old Atlanta man who died of COVID-19 has heartbreaking last message - WSB Atlanta