Category: Covid-19

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 202.7 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.29 million. More than 4.43 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

South Korea has opened COVID-19 vaccine reservations for all adults over 18 years old.

Most people who have a third 'booster' shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine experience similar or fewer side effects than after their second dose, according to initial results of an Israeli study.

Tunisia vaccinated more than half a million people yesterday after the country received more than 6 million vaccine doses.

Malaysia is set to ease some COVID-19 restrictions for fully vaccinated people in eight states, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday.

The Philippines has recorded its biggest daily increase in COVID-19 deaths 287 since 9 April.

Viet Nam has reported a record daily rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 9,690 new infections.

A study from Sweden suggests that COVID-19 increases patients' risk of heart attack and stroke.

Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.

Image: Our World in Data

Scientists at Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday that there are early signs that people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 are able to transmit the Delta variant as easily as those who haven't.

"Some initial findings ... indicate that levels of virus in those who become infected with Delta having already been vaccinated may be similar to levels found in unvaccinated people," PHE said in a statement.

"This may have implications for people's infectiousness, whether they have been vaccinated or not. However, this is early exploratory analysis and further targeted studies are needed to confirm whether this is the case."

The findings echo those from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which warned last week about the infectiousness of vaccinated people with the Delta variant.

Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on http://www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.

Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:

3. New South Wales, Australia, expands lockdown

The Australian state of New South Wales has expanded its COVID-19 lockdown to include the rural town of Tamworth. The move comes after people known to have COVID-19 travelled there from Sydney without authorization.

"As a precaution, the health experts have recommended we lock down Tamworth for one week," New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney. The town lies some 400km northwest of Sydney.

Officials also urged people in the Byron Bay area to get tested after a man travelled from Sydney, the epicentre of the state's outbreak, to the tourist spot about 767km to the north.

The state of Victoria has announced plans to ease restrictions except in the capital Melbourne, which will remain in lockdown until at least 12 August. Brisbane, Queensland, came out of a stay-at-home order today.

Written by

Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content

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

Excerpt from:

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 9 August - World Economic Forum

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) Maryland reported 853 new COVID-19 cases and 8 new deaths, according to state health department data released Sunday morning.

Doctors say the new cases are fueled by dangerous strains targeting the unvaccinated. During an August press conference, Governor 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.

More than 3.5 million Maryland adults are fully vaccinated. State officials also reported that the state positivity went up to 4.01%.

Hospitalizations increased by nine to 374. Of those hospitalized, 280 remain in acute care and 94 remain in the ICU.

Since the pandemic began, there were 473,969 total confirmed cases and 9,637 deaths.

There are 3,599,139 Marylanders fully vaccinated. The state has administered 7,273,682 doses. Of those, 3,674,543 are first doses with 6,800 administered in the past 24 hours. They have given out 3,322,860 second doses, 3,795 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 276,279 Marylanders have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, 239 in the last day.

The state reported 78.4% of all adults in Maryland have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES:

Here are the latest numbers in Maryland:

By County

By Age Range and Gender

By Race and Ethnicity

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COVID-19 In Maryland: Positivity Rate Increases To Over 4% As Hospitalizations Continue To Rise - CBS Baltimore

AUSTIN (KXAN) The Austin Independent Board of Trustees is hosting a special called board meeting Monday with COVID-19 health and safety measures on the agenda.

The agenda lists an executive session, a COVID-19 Health and Data update and COVID-19 Safety Protocols as items, but details are limited.

Robocalls and emails went out to parents Sunday noting that families will get weekly updates on back-to-school plans, with Austin-Travis County moving into Stage 5 risk guidelines due to COVID-19 hospitalizations on the rise in the area.

In a recent survey the district conducted, 80% of families said they would have their child wear a mask to school, though they are not required.

Houston ISDs superintendent made headlines last week for proposing a mask mandate. The districts board is expected to vote on that this week.

Gov. Greg Abbott banned local government entities, including school districts, from mandating masks in an order issued July 29.

The AISD Board meeting will begin at 5 p.m.

The rest is here:

AISD to host special called board meeting Monday with COVID-19 safety on agenda - KXAN.com

The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness headed above 202.7 million on Monday, while the death toll climbed above 4.29 million according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world with a total of 35.8 million cases and in deaths with 616,829 as the highly infectious delta variant continues to spread fast, especially in states with low vaccination rates. The seven-day average of cases stood at 110,360 on Sunday and is averaging more than 100,000 a day, according to a New York Times tracker, marking the highest level since February. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical officer, said Sunday that he was hopeful the Food and Drug Administration will give full approval to the coronavirus vaccine by month's end and predicted the potential move will spur a wave of vaccine mandates in the private sector as well as schools and universities, as the Associated Press reported.India is second by cases at 31.9 million and third by deaths at 428,309 according to its official numbers, which are expected to be undercounted.Brazil is second in deaths at 563,151, but is third in cases at 20.2 million. Mexico has fourth-highest death toll at 244,420 but has recorded just 2.9 million cases, according to its official numbers. In Europe, Russia continues to pull ahead of the U.K. by deaths at 162,860, while the U.K. has 130,630, making Russia the country with the fifth-highest death toll in the world and highest in Europe.

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Coronavirus tally: Global cases of COVID-19 top 202.7 million and U.S. daily average highest since February - MarketWatch

With COVID-19 infections surging in the United States because of the more contagious delta variant, some have downplayed the number of deaths from the virus and the effectiveness of vaccines.

To minimize the importance of vaccination, an Instagram post claimed that the COVID-19 survival rate is over 99% for most age groups, while the COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness was 94%.

The posts alleged survival rate for COVID-19:

0 - 19 years, 99.997%

20 - 49 years, 99.98%

50 - 69 years, 99.5%

70+ years, 94.6%

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.)

A problem with the post is that it improperly used the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions statistics for modeling pandemic scenarios, not for calculating COVID-19s survival rate.

The CDC recommends the COVID-19 vaccines because they are safe and effective, even against the delta variant. Although the delta variant has slightly decreased the effectiveness of vaccines, experts still encourage vaccination as it provides a high level of protection against hospitalization and death.

An incorrect use of data

The Instagram post misrepresents data from the CDCs COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios document published in September 2020. It was created so public health officials who use mathematical models could help hospitals and policymakers react to different levels of severity of the pandemic. The data does not show the likelihood of surviving COVID-19.

These numbers are meant to be used for estimates of death over time, said Dr. Ruth Etzioni, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

PolitiFact in December fact-checked another claim that also misused the CDC data. We found that survival rates are usually calculated over a longer period of time, because death data can sometimes lag for months behind new cases.

How many people are surviving COVID-19?

Most people who get COVID-19 will survive. Of roughly 35.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States, around 614,300 people, or 1.7%, have died, according to Johns Hopkins Universitys mortality data as of Aug 6.

The CDC issues provisional death counts for COVID-19, but that data should not be used to infer a survival rate. Experts say that during a pandemic, its difficult to determine survival rates such rates are usually calculated for a longer period of time, rather than as a snapshot.

The CDC data shows that most people who have died from COVID-19, about 79%, have been people ages 65 and older. People between 45 and 64 years old account for about 18% of COVID-19 deaths, and people under 45 years account for 2.8% of such deaths, according to the CDCs data as of Aug. 6. (The CDC data isnt broken down in the same age groups offered in the Instagram post.)

Experts believe theres likely an undercount of COVID-19 deaths.

Etzioni said that its not useful to just look at the rate that people die, even if it's low, because it doesnt tell the whole story. "If more and more younger people are getting COVID, then the total number of young people who die is going to skyrocket," Etzioni said.

Also, people should not use data on how many people have survived COVID-19 to predict their own chances of surviving infection, experts say. Someone's chances of surviving COVID-19 can vary depending on their age, health, and vaccination status national statistics dont account for these factors.

At an Aug. 2 press briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, discussed three different studies on the Pfizer vaccine's effectiveness against the delta variant. Fauci said the studies showed the vaccine was highly effective in protecting people against symptomatic infection and hospitalization, although the vaccines overall effectiveness had decreased since the delta variant emerged.

"The vaccines are doing exactly what were asking them to do when it comes to keeping you out of the hospital, out of serious disease, and certainly preventing your death," Fauci said.

Our ruling

An Instagram post claimed that the COVID-19 survival rate is over 99% for most age groups.

The data it cited does not show the likelihood of surviving COVID-19. The posts claim is based on data used to model pandemic scenarios. Experts say a person cannot determine their own chances at surviving COVID-19 by looking at national statistics, because the data doesnt take into account the persons own risks and COVID-19 deaths are believed to be undercounted. Survival rate data is not yet available from the CDC.

We rate this claim False.

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Why the COVID-19 survival rate is not over 99% - PolitiFact

The New York Department of Taxation and Finance has finally provided guidance regarding telecommuting tax liability for nonresident employees working outside of New York because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In short: employees telecommuting because of COVID-19 will generally still be required to pay New York taxes on income they earn.

By way of background, for telecommuters, New York applies the convenience of the employee/necessity of the employer test to determine if an out-of-state telecommuting employee working for an employer with its principal place of business in New York would also be subject to New York income taxes. In applying this test, the Department of Taxation and Finance uses factors from a 2006 bulletin to determine if the employees telecommuting location is an established office of the employer (a bona fide office of the employer) that is whether the employees assigned or primary work location is at an established office or other bona fide place of business of the employer inside or outside of new York State. Although an employees home office could meet the eligibility factors laid out in the bulletin, generally it would not qualify as a bona fide employer office outside of New York. Thus, for tax purposes, an employee working from his or her home office would be considered to be working in New York. The October 19, 2020 guidance restates the same bona fide employer office rule and offers no special rules or exceptions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove numerous New York-based employees to work outside the state (with many still continuing to do so). But because the rule remains the same, employers in this situation should expect to continue withholding New York income taxes for their telecommuting employees working outside of the state because of the pandemic. And, although the prospect of double taxation remains, in some cases employees may receive tax credit from their state of residence (for example, in New Jersey).

We also note that others states have adjusted their tax liability rules to account for the changing telecommuting landscape due to the pandemic (which we discuss more here).

We will continue to monitor tax liability guidance in New York and other states and provide updates as applicable, including whether other states challenge New Yorks recent rule. Employers are encouraged to consult with employment and tax counsel before making tax decisions relating to telecommuting and COVID-19.

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New York Issues Tax Guidance for COVID-19 Telecommuters ...

Description of Metrics:

These metrics have been established based on guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of State, andother public health experts. The metrics will be considered both individually and in their totality to assess whether regions can safely move through the four phases of reopening, or whether additional policy measures to contain the virus are required. The investigation of new cases, clusters, and contacts will provide substantial information on the drivers of transmission, which will in turn guide these policy decisions.

Percent of Hospital Beds Available (7-day Rolling Avg):Average share of hospital beds available for the most recent 7 days, which is defined as available acute care beds within 7-days under surge plan divided by total acute care capacity within 7-days under surge plan.

Percent of ICU Beds Available (7-day Rolling Avg):Average share of ICU beds available for the most recent 7 days, which is defined as total ICU beds available divided by total ICU beds in a region

See more here:

COVID-19 Regional Metrics Dashboard | New York Forward

The seven-day average for new daily COVID-19 infections has surpassed 100,000 in the U.S., returning to levels not seen since the winter surge

ByThe Associated Press

August 7, 2021, 6:28 AM

3 min read

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 dont embrace the vaccine.

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, 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 whats 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.

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US now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day - ABC News

Florida shattered its own COVID-19 records this week reporting the highest rate of infections since the pandemic began more than a year ago.

In the week from July 30 to Aug. 5, the Sunshine State recorded 134,506 new cases of coronavirus, averaging over 19,000 per day with a positivity rate of 18.9 percent, according to the latest data released by the Florida Department of Health on Friday evening.

That was the states highest infection rate in a single week since March of 2020, driven by the newer, more contagious delta variant, the Tampa Bay Times reported. It was also about 22 percent higher than the states numbers reported the previous week.

Floridas new cases account for well over one-fifth of the countrys seven-day moving average of 96,511, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

The states hospitalizations also reached their highest point in the pandemic this week, with more than 12,864 confirmed COVID-19 patients as of Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services reported. Thats a daily average of 1,837 hospitalizations per day.

A roundtable of Floridas Agency for Health Care Administration and healthcare leaders met with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday to discuss the increase in hospitalizations which are nearly exclusively from those who are unvaccinated.

Despite the information thats coming out about people that are fully vaccinated still getting COVID, those numbers are low, saidDr. George Ralls, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Orlando Health in a statement shared by the Governors office. And they are absolutely still in a better situation than they would have been had they gotten COVID without the vaccine. So really, really important to drive that message to everybody.

DeSantis has pledged not to shut down businesses or impose a mask mandate amid the surge in cases, predicting that it seasonal outbreak and adding that lockdowns have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic.

We are going to have schools open, he said Tuesday. We are protecting every Floridians job in this state. We are protecting peoples small businesses. These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic, not just in the United States.

The governor has also passed legislation banning local k-12 school districts from mandating masks.

On Friday, the University of Florida in Gainesville announced that masks would be mandatory for all its students while indoors at all times when it reopens this fall, even those who are fully vaccinated.

The school has asked all students returning to receive at least their first dose of the vaccination by July 22.

As previously communicated, UF cannot be responsible for that risk, given the ready availability of vaccine, and cannot modify the operation of the entire university for a minority of people who may choose not to be vaccinated, the statement added.

According to the Florida DOH, roughly 63 percent of the state has been vaccinated so far.

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Florida sets new record with over 134,500 COVID-19 cases reported this week - New York Post

Just before his untimely death on Thursday at age 72, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka took an important and principled stand in favor of workplace requirements for COVID-19 vaccines, noting that rules requiring shots would make work safer for everyone. The issue of whether to embrace mandates, though, has divided the labor movement, with some unions bucking Trumkas advice and resisting mandates. As the labor movement mourns Trumkas passing, hopefully his example will help steer unions toward quickly embracing policies that will, as Trumka said, mean a safer return to work and will put labor on the side of bringing this crisis to a faster end.

In Massachusetts, and elsewhere, some unions have objected to mandates while insisting that prospective vaccine requirements go through collective bargaining, which has had the effect of slowing down their implementation. Take higher education. Many private colleges and universities have now mandated vaccines for students and staff. Theres no reason the public education environment should be any less safe than private campuses. But UMass has yet to institute a vaccine requirement for faculty and staff.

When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, theres no system-wide policy, said John T. Hoey, director of communications for UMass president Marty Meehan. However, all five UMass campuses are requiring undergraduate and graduate students to be vaccinated for the fall, with the usual medical and religious exceptions. Meanwhile, there is ongoing dialogue on each campus with unions and nonunion employees about the issue.

Meehan firmly believes all 24,000 UMass employees (faculty and staff) should be required to be vaccinated, except for those with medical and religious exemptions, said Hoey.

Meanwhile, Meehan issued a requirement that all 306, nonunion UMass Office of the President employees, except those with religious and medical exemptions, be fully vaccinated by September 13, the hybrid, return-to-work date. The university also intends to require vaccinations and other health and safety measures for visitors and vendors who will be in contact with the UMass community.

Each campus is negotiating with multiple unions, which represent everyone from faculty and other professional staff and clerical staff to groundskeepers and police. Some are reportedly closer than others to reaching agreement.

Whats happening with vaccine mandates in higher education is a microcosm of the bigger challenge from unions across the state. For example, Governor Charlie Baker recently issued an order requiring all nursing home and soldiers home workers to get fully vaccinated by October 10. Mandates in health care settings are especially crucial, but unions that represent nursing home workers are resisting the mandate. At a time when nursing home workers are short-staffed and healing from the trauma they experienced, they shouldnt suffer economic hardship due to delaying vaccination, Marlishia Aho, a spokesperson for 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, told Commonwealth magazine.

Baker, so far, has resisted vaccine mandates for state workers. The idea that I would kick somebody out of a job especially in a kind of economy we have now because, quote unquote, they wouldnt get vaccinated right away on an [Emergency Use Authorization]-approved vaccine No, Im not gonna play that game, Baker said in May. Meanwhile, Attorney General Maura Healey, state Auditor Suzanne Bump, and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg recently implemented mandates for their own employees.

Last month, WBUR reported that at least 65 Massachusetts colleges and universities would require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to WBUR, at least 23 would also require on-campus faculty and staff to be vaccinated. Vaccine mandates at public universities have been an issue across the country, sometimes because of the politics of an individual governor, but also because such a requirement is considered a change in working condition.

Yet some union leaders understand the larger issue at stake: International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers and the teachers union in New York City, for instance, have both supported mandate policies. During a July 28 interview on C-SPANs The Washington Journal, Trumka said, Yes we do, when asked if the AFL-CIO supports vaccine mandates. If you are coming back into the workplace, you have to know whats around you. He went on to say that everybody in the workplace would be jeopardized if a worker is not vaccinated.

Thats Public Health and Safety 101. Recognizing the critical importance of one of Trumkas last decisions would be a fitting tribute to him.

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us on Twitter at @GlobeOpinion.

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When it comes to COVID-19, public higher ed should be as safe as private higher ed - The Boston Globe