Category: Covid-19

Springfield, Missouri CNN

Christy Henry had played it safe during the pandemic.

Wearing a mask in public and rarely coming into contact with others, the 56-year-old former nurse, who now works as a nursing instructor, resides in southern Missouri with her retired husband and children.

However, after Covid-19 vaccines became widely distributed in the spring, Henry and her family chose to not get inoculated. Henry said they felt because of their rural location and lifestyle, their risk of exposure was low.

But then she began to feel unwell about three weeks ago. Never in a million years do you think its going to happen to you, she said.

Her family did not have any Fourth of July gatherings and she is not sure how they got infected. But now, she and her husband, Lonnie, are in the hospital recovering from Covid-19.

While one of her six children also tested positive and avoided hospitalization, Lonnie is currently on a ventilator. Christy herself was intubated for at least two days.

Her doctor told her she is lucky to be alive, Christy told CNN from her hospital bed.

Covid-19 is extremely, extremely serious, she said, urging everyone she knows to get vaccinated.

Courtesy Christy Henry

Christy Henry and her husband, Lonnie, are in the hospital fighting Covid-19 infections.

Henry is one of many dealing with Covid-19 amid a summer surge that has again strained hospital resources.

The difference in prognoses between those vaccinated and those who are not is also growing apparent. More than 97% of people who are entering hospitals for Covid-19 treatment are unvaccinated, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing last week.

There is a clear message that is coming through. This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated, Walensky said.

Driven in large part by the Delta variant that is believed to be more transmissible and dangerous, 48 states are showing a seven-day average of new cases at least 10% higher than the week before, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Howard Jarvis, an emergency medical physician in Springfield, Missouri, noted that the Delta variants infection rates are being seen readily in area hospitals.

I think this variant is just more severe than what we were experiencing previously, he said.

Roughly 40% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated, according to the state Department of Health and Senior Services, a number that trails the national average of nearly 49%. Covid-19 cases within the state have risen about 18% in the last two weeks, and hospitalizations are up sharply since May.

As the number of cases tick higher, nurses and doctors once again find themselves on the frontline of the pandemic.

Kate Giacchi, a critical care nurse at the University of Missouri Hospital, said that staff are mentally and physically and emotionally worn out from dealing with Covid-19 for more than a year, with no relief in sight.

The disease is real and its killing people and it is preventable, she said.

As health care workers are at greater risk of contracting Covid-19 as more patients arrive, some facilities are requiring all employees receive Covid-19 vaccinations. The Mercy Health system in Missouri and neighboring states has set a deadline of the end of September for employee vaccinations.

Weve got a narrow window to basically sustain or get ahead of where we are right now, said Craig McCoy, president of Mercy Springfield Communities.

As of this morning, weve got 172 people hospitalized which is our all-time peak, he told CNN.

Susan Dean, a retired health care worker in Missouri, is like those in the industry who are vaccine-hesitant. She told CNN she is wary of the long-term effects the vaccine may have, and did not agree with mandates at hospitals like those administered by Mercy that all health care staff be vaccinated.

I dont think we know enough about the vaccine to say, This is what it does, she said.

Despite the efficacy of the vaccines that have been proven in clinical trials as well as real-world data, vaccination rates in Missouri and nationwide are lagging from spring highs, and officials are encouraging unvaccinated Missourians to receive their doses as quickly as possible.

While the Delta strain is more contagious, the vaccine has been proven to be safe and effective against it, Gov. Mike Parson said on Wednesday. We encourage all Missourians to consider getting vaccinated as almost all new Covid hospitalizations can be attributed to unvaccinated individuals.

We understand that some Missourians are on the fence as to whether to get vaccinated or not, and that is a big decision for many families, he said. That is why we encourage you to engage in conversation with your personal doctor, your local health care officials or other trusted community leaders so that you can get the facts and decide when getting vaccinated is right for you.

Christy Henry, who asks for continued prayers for the health of her husband, agrees.

Im going to tell everybody, everybody I know and I love, she said, that you need to get vaccinated.

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Unvaccinated nursing instructor in Missouri is hospitalized with Covid-19 and urging everyone to get the vaccine - CNN

COLORADO SPRINGS With so much information being announced daily about the COVID-19 pandemic, here is a review and preview of what is going on in Southern Colorado as it pertains to the virus:

The Review

Its being called the pandemic of the unvaccinated now by leaders at the local, state, and federal levels. 90 percent of new cases in Colorado are among those who have not been vaccinated, and that number is more than 80 percent nationwide.

The push continues to get more people vaccinated, Gov. Polis announced this week that the state will give out $100ar Walmart gift cards to those who receive the first or second dose. Another incentive will also be community college scholarships, which are now available across our state as well.

More than three million people in Colorado are fully vaccinated. The three available vaccines provide strong protection against the Delta variant, which is the primary diagnosis now in Colorado among the unvaccinated.

Pop-up and mobile vaccine clinics are still available, you need to check the state health department website for more information. You do not need an appointment or insurance.

The Delta variant numbers are driving the growth nationwide as well, with more than 27,000 new cases every day, and most of the cases in three states which are Texas, Missouri, and Florida. Fatalities nationwide are up nearly 50 percent the past week, averaging 239 a day, and the infection rate is up two hundred percent.

Discussions are now underway here and across the country about going back to school. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommended students and teachers age two and up wear masks if they are vaccinated or not. It's a recommendation the CDC has not signed off on yet. Here in Colorado, the state health department is following CDC guidelines for now but is continuing to leave it up to local control.

Governor Polis said at this point, with our positivity rate still below three percent, he is not considering implementing any new restrictions or reverting to any prior restrictions or mandates for businesses, and will leave that to individuals counties.

The Preview

Looking ahead to this week it is the first full week of the summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Covid-19 restrictions are still front and center there as more positive cases emerge, and world health leaders are monitoring the situation closely.

As for the games themselves, we have you covered all week with live newscasts every day at four, five, and six from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum.

Also, join us for our nightly Olympic Zone with Jake Gadon. It will feature our premier local Olympic athletes, the highlights of the day from Tokyo, and an interview with former Olympians here at home. to give a broader perspective of what's happening every day in Tokyo.______

With The Rebound Colorado, News5's team will be here to answer your questions, bringing you expert advice to balance the books, pay the bills, and rebuild savings accounts. E-mail us any time at rebound@koaa.com with your suggestions, feedback, frustrations, ideas, suggestions, and anything else you need.

The Rebound Colorado

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The Review & Preview: What Coloradans need to know about COVID-19 - KOAA.com Colorado Springs and Pueblo News

The slackening of vaccinations is leading to a large resurgence of COVID-19 infections in Florida. New data provided by University of South Florida epidemiologist Edwin Michael and colleague Ken Newcomb shows that theres been a 70 percent drop in the rate of people getting vaccinated in Hillsborough County since April. There are currently 2,000 people receiving the vaccine each day. Unless that figure doubles, Michael says control of the resurgence of the pandemicduring the fall will not be achieved.

The upsurge in cases and hospitalizations are due to fewer vaccinations, relaxation of social distancing measures, greater population mobility, plus the spread of more contagious variants, which are also slightly better in evading immunity and likely cause more symptomatic disease compared to the original variant, Michael said. These predictions warn that until vaccination rates are ramped up to achieve herd immunity over this fall, people will still need to follow social distancing measures, such as wearing face coverings at the very least, to protect themselves and to reduce infection spread.

Michaels SEIRcast COVID-19 Forecast and Planning Portal shows that the slowing of vaccination since April combined with a steady reduction in the practice of social mitigation measures and the spread of the highly contagious alpha and delta variants will lead to a new spike in cases by mid-September, with 2,800 cases reported in Hillsborough County each day. The size of this spike will be three times greater than that observed during the second wave which occurred last winter.

He expects this to be the final wave of the pandemic in which will primarily occur within the unvaccinated population. However, this will prompt a new surge in hospitalizations, potentially exceeding hospital bed capacity.

While there have been some infections reported by vaccinated individuals, their cases have been relatively mild, with very few requiring hospitalization. Nearly 48 percent of the population in Florida has been fully vaccinated. Michael says we will not reach herd immunity until that figure increases to 85 percent. This is higher than previous projections due to the prevalence of dominant variants. He says the next two months are crucial in trying to put an end the pandemic.

There are many opportunities to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including on USFs campuses. For more information, please visit the USF Returning to Campus website.

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USF epidemiologist: vaccination rate must double to slow transmission of COVID-19 - University of South Florida

Introduction

India has been struck hard by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemicdaily cases and deaths peaked at more than 400,000 cases and 4,000 deaths, respectively, almost four to five times higher than the peak number of cases and deaths in the first wave.1 The second wave was largely attributed to complacency by the Indian government.2 As important as this may have been, it is crucial to examine the role of the media during the pandemic. In particular, what were the discussion topics on the eve of the second wave, and was COVID-19 a fading topic of discussion when the tragedy struck? In this paper, we answer this question and discuss how inadequate media coverage may have slowed Indias COVID-19 response.

News media is an important institution in a democracy. It is instrumental in conveying information to people and drawing the governments attention to issues of concern, and provides a platform for advocacy and criticism of policies of the government in power.3 In the context of a pandemic, the medias role becomes even more significant: It can be a vital source to identify early outbreaks, and it can inform the public about non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) like maintaining physical distance, hand hygiene, wearing a mask, etc. to contain the spread of the disease and limit its impact.4 Although NPIs and government-imposed travel restrictions can be burdensomerequiring significant alterations in human behavior, which is difficult to maintain over extended periods5the media can ensure compliance with these important measures by educating the public on their effectiveness at fighting diseases and preventing additional outbreaks.

Furthermore, research on epidemics has shown a cyclical behavioral response with respect to the disease; that is, more disease leads to more demand for self-protection, in turn leading to less disease; however, this results in less self-protection, which then leads to more disease.6 Unfortunately, this implies that until a sufficiently large number of people are vaccinated or protected from the disease, an epidemic is likely to come in waves. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the media and the government to repeatedly, perhaps in a novel manner, convey messages to the public regarding NPIs to the public to lessen the impact of the disease, primarily when the prevalence of the disease is in a downward trend.

This paper uses data from Twitter for 20 English-language media outlets across print, digital, and broadcasting and uses structural topic modeling (STM)7 to identify discussion topics and the evolution of these topics during the pandemic from March 2020 to April 2021. Our primary objective was to understand whether, on the eve of the second wave in India, topics related to COVID-19in contrast to other topics of discussion, such as politics, protests, and entertainmentwere a fading topic of discussion.

In the Indian context, this is the first paper to our knowledge that relies on Twitter data to look at the role of media during the pandemic using STM methods,8 a machine-assisted text reading tool. Our article complements the literature that has explored how mass media in post-independence India forced the Indian government to respond to threats of famine; as a result of this public pressure, Indiadespite its high level of povertyhas not had a large-scale famine post-independence.9 Moreover, research has also shown that state governments with a higher circulation of newspapers were more responsive to a decline in food production or damage caused to the crops by flooding.10 These papers highlight how media can draw government attention to issues of grave concern, especially for lower-income and historically disadvantaged groups and areas.

Our data consists of tweets posted by 20 English-language media outlets11 from March 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021. Twint, an advanced Twitter scraping tool written in Python, was used to scrape all the tweets posted by the media outlets for the given dates. A total of 1,253,531 tweets were downloaded, of which the media outlet TIMES NOW, with more than 10 million followers, accounted for 156,523 (12.5%) of the tweets (see table 1). The data include the date and time of the tweet, the name of the media outlet, the actual content of the tweet, and the number of the retweets, likes, and replies for each tweet.

To identify tweets for this study, the data were analyzed to identify if COVID or coronavirus was mentioned in the tweet. If it was mentioned, then the tweet was labeled as a COVID-19 tweet. We then ran a logistic regression of the following form:

To get the proportion of tweets labeled as a COVID-19 tweet each month, we compute the average predicted probabilities for each month, using the margins command in STATA MP 16.1.

The second part of our analysis involves text mining of the tweets to discover topics associated with the tweet and how these topics evolve for different media outlets. We used STM to analyze the texts of tweets for each media outlet are analyzed using machine-assisted reading of text corpora.12

The STM model builds on the probabilistic topic models such as the Latent Dirichlet Allocation,13 Correlated Topic Models,14 and extensions of these models.15 However, the critical innovation in STM is to relate the topic models with information associated with the document or the tweet. In our paper, this information relates to the media outlet and the month they posted the tweet. In other words, STM, while discovering the latent topics in the tweet, also uses the information associated with the tweet, such as the media outlet that posted the tweet and the date when the tweet was posted.

Moreover, our structural model also allows the evolution of the topic to vary with each of the media outlets. Our purpose for this is to differentiate the topics of discussion across different media outlets. In particular, in our STM models, topic prevalence takes the following structural form:

In this, i is the topic of discussion, and the effect of the month on topic prevalence is estimated with a spline. The media outlet is interacted with the spline of the month to allow for topic prevalence to vary for the media outlet. Since STM can be computationally challenging, we select 10% of the population of tweets. The tweets were selected based on stratified random sampling without replacement. In particular, for each month, we randomly selected 10% of every media outlets tweets. A total of 125,606 tweets were part of the STM analysis (see table 1). Before the STM analysis, we prepared the data by removing infrequent words; in our analysis, if a word appears only in one tweet, it is dropped from the vocabulary. Based on this, a total of 107 (<0.1%) tweets were dropped. Our final data for the STM analysis was 125,499 tweets with a vocabulary of 29,999 words. The default initialization that we used was spectral, primarily because of its stability.

Next, we took the sample of 125,499 tweets and labeled each tweet with the dominant topic of discussion based on the STM analysis. We then made five categories based on the topic of discussion related to (1) coronavirus, case, vaccine, (2) China, border, import, (3) farmer, protest, law, Delhi, (4) elections, poll, assembly, and (5) others. We created a count of engagement for each tweet, which is the sum of retweets, likes, and replies. We then regress this count over the months while controlling for the media outlet, using negative binomial regression. In particular, we run the following regression:

Here, nbreg is negative binomial regression and subscript i is the index for the tweet.

Our model selection for the number of topics was based on a data-driven approach. We performed several automated diagnostic tests, such as computation of held-out likelihood and residual analysis and compared the models with the varying topic along each of these criteria. In addition, we also report results associated with semantic-coherence for each of the models.16 There is always a possibility in STMs to produce topics that would be judged nonsensical by human domain experts. To minimize this, we selected the model that had fewer outlier topics based on semantic-coherence and also had higher exclusivity of the topics. Exclusivity of topic refers to words that have high overall frequency but at the same time are exclusive to the topic. Based on our diagnostic tests, we selected a model with 40 topics.

We should note that possible limitations of our analysis are that these data are limited to English media outlets and their messages on Twitter. The stories covered on Twitter could be very different from stories covered in print or discussed on news broadcasts, so they are not representative of the overall media discussion. In addition, the audience of the English-language media outlets on social media platforms could be different, for example, from the audience on other vernacular media outlets. It could be possible that other vernacular media outlets have a higher coverage of COVID-19 compared to the English-language media outlets.

Based on the logistic regression, we found that the average proportion of daily tweets that mention covid or coronavirus was lowest in February 2021. It fell from a high of 52.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 52.6% to 53.3%) in April 2020 to 9.2% (95% CI; 9.0% to 9.4%) in February 2021. This pattern was observed across all the media outlets (see figure 1).

Our next set of results relates to the STM analysis. The objective was to exploit the machine-assisted reading of the tweets across all the media outlets to discover the topics of discussion and how each of these topics evolved. Based on model diagnostics (see appendix 1 for a discussion on this), a 40-topic model was estimated with spectral initialization using STM. For our paper, we focus on general topics that relate to (a) COVID-19, coronavirus, vaccine, (b) elections and politics, (c) farmers protests and agitations, and (d) foreign affairs that include border issues with China.

Next, we plotted topic prevalence as a smooth function of time, which in our setting is the month (the topic prevalence model was related to the spline of the month), holding the media outlet at the sample median (see figure 2). Our results indicate that topics related to COVID-19 were the dominant topics of discussion from March 2020 until mid-May 2020; from then until the middle of June 2020, the conversation shifted to foreign affairs and border-related issues with China. Beginning in mid-September 2020, the topic of discussion turned to elections and farmers protests. State assembly elections in Bihar17 dominated the debate from mid-September until December 2020, when farmers protests began to dominate the discussion, even though there was an influx of debate related to COVID-19 vaccination.

From early February 2021, state elections (in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry)18 dominated the conversation (see figure 2). Next, we conducted a similar analysis that allowed for topic prevalence to differ across media outlets (see figure 3). Topic prevalence varied across media outlets; for example, for public news agencies such as DD News and PIB India, the dominant topic of discussion in the initial months was related to COVID-19 and coronavirus. However, over time, this declined and shifted to the issues related to finance and projects. For private media outlets in broadcasting, such as IndiaToday, NDTV, TIMES NOW, the dominant topic in the early months of the pandemic was related to COVID-19 and coronavirus; however, in subsequent months, border-related issues with China, elections, and farmers protests gained prominence. A similar pattern was observed for print media outlets such as The Hindu, The Indian Express, and The Times of India. However, a common feature across all media outlets was that, on the eve of the second wave (the period between mid-February 2021 and mid-March 2021), topics related to COVID-19 and coronavirus had insignificant coverage relative to other topics; the news instead was focused on topics like farmers protests, India-China border issues, state assembly elections, and cricket.

For the next part of the analysis, we study the response that a particular topic elicits from the audience in the form of count of retweets, likes, and replies. In particular, in our sample of 125,499 tweets used for the STM analysis, we label each tweet with the dominant topic of discussion. We then made five categories based on the topic of discussion related to (1) COVID-19, coronavirus, case, and vaccine, (2) China, border, import, (3) farmer, protest, law, Delhi, (4) elections, poll, assembly, and (5) others. Our results indicate that COVID-19 related topics had the least engagement in terms of the number of retweets, likes, and replies compared to other issuesand this trend is consistent across the entire timeline of the study. Issues related to China, elections, and farmers protests had significantly higher counts of retweets, likes, and replies (see figure 4). This is an important finding, as it shows that, compared to other topics, there is a relative lack of engagement on (or interest in) topics related to COVID-19 among Twitter users.

Government complacency was identified as a critical factor for the surge of COVID-19 cases in India during the second wave.19 However, little attention has been paid to the activities of the media on the eve of the second COVID-19 surge, where peak daily cases and deaths were four to five times larger than the peak in the first wave.20 In this paper, using structural topic models based on machine-assisted text reading of tweets, we identify topics of discussion that were making waves in the time of the pandemic in Indian media, and particularly the period immediately before the second surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Our results show that discussions related to COVID-19 were at the lowest ebb on the eve of the second wave of the pandemic. Media attention was diverted from COVID-19 to topics related to farmers protests, elections, and entertainment (such as cricket matches in the Indian Premier League). This was true across all media outletsprint, broadcasting, and digital, both private and publicwith varying agendas.

Media is an important institution in a democracy. It conveys information to the public and draws the governments attention to issues that concern the public. It acts as a bridge between the people and the government. During a global pandemic that has devasted lives and livelihoods, the medias role becomes crucial. News institutions are essential to bringing the governments attention to early outbreaks while also nudging, using novel messaging, the tired public to adopt and sustain potentially burdensome NPIs, such as maintaining physical distance and hand hygiene, wearing a mask, etc. to contain the spread of the disease and limit its impact.21 Unfortunately, on the eve of the second COVID-19 surge, discussion related to COVID-19 was at its lowest point across all the media outlets. Moreover, COVID-19 related discussions attracted the least attention on Twitter compared to other topics, such as farmers protests, elections, court cases, and police activity.

Our paper has important implications for the future role of media in the Indian context. As we move forward, it is evident that new variants of the virus with varying transmissibility will emerge. There is also limited evidence on the efficacy of existing vaccines on newer variants.22 Therefore, NPIs will continue to play an important role in containing the deadly impact of the virus.23 Given its vast networks of reporters, the media could play a more proactive role in identifying early outbreaks. Secondly, along with the government, the media would need to innovate its messaging regarding the NPIs to the broader public because NPIs are costly to sustain. Thirdly, research on epidemics has shown a cyclical behavioral response with respect to the disease; that is, more disease leads to more demand for self-protection, in turn leading to less disease; however, this results in less self-protection, and this behavior change then leads to more disease.24

In light of this, it becomes imperative for both media institutions and governments to reinforce the messaging regarding the pandemic when the prevalence of the disease is at its lowestwhich is just the opposite of what we observed in this analysis. Even though media is free to cover any topic in a democracy, we argue that it has to play an essential role during a pandemic to limit the diseases impact on people. This did not happen on the eve of the second wave, and the lack of relevant information likely intensified the disastrous impact of the wave.

Our model selection for the number of topics was based on a data-driven approach. We performed several automated diagnostic tests, such as computation of held-out likelihood and residual analysis and compared the models with the varying topics along each of these criteria. In addition, we also report results associated with semantic-coherence for each of the models.25 There is always a possibility of statistical topic models to produce topics that would be judged nonsensical by human domain experts. To minimize this probability, we selected the model with fewer topics that were outliers based on the semantic-coherence and at the same time had higher exclusivity of the topics. Exclusivity of topic refers to words that have high overall frequency but at the same time are exclusive to the topic. Based on our diagnostic tests, we selected a model with 40 topics.

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions posted in this piece are not influenced by any donation. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its absolute commitment to quality, independence, and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect this commitment.

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Making waves in India: Media and the COVID-19 pandemic - Brookings Institution

After weeks at some of the lowest levels of COVID-19 since last year, the number of COVID-19 cases and the size of outbreaks in King County have begun to rise again. An uptick is not unexpected as restrictions on activities are relaxed, but the rising numbers should prompt all of us vaccinated as well as unvaccinated to take extra precautions.

COVID-19 has been on the rise in King County since June 29, when King Countys indoor mask Directive ended. At that time, Public Health was reporting an average of 61 new cases daily. Since then, our average daily case counts have swelled to 141 a 130% increase in just over three weeks.

Hospitalizations and deaths have remained relatively low compared to past peaks, which is what we would expect in a county with relatively high rates of vaccine coverage. But recently, hospitalizations are also on the rise. Over the last seven days, 45 people were admitted to the hospital in King County for COVID-19, a 32% increase over the previous week, and the hospitalization rate has doubled from 1 per 100,000 per week on July 7 to 2 per 100,000 per week on July 17.

A number of recent outbreaks have occurred in indoor settings where people have prolonged contact with one another, such as gyms and social gatherings.These outbreaks, like others reported nationally, include indoor public settings where unvaccinated and fully vaccinated people are in contact with each other and are not masking. There are some instances of infection even among vaccinated people engaging in indoor activity in a poorly ventilated space without masks.

The best way to stem this increase is for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. The large majority of recent cases, hospitalizations and deaths are among unvaccinated residents. Over the past 30 days in King County, 94% of hospitalizations and 94% of deaths due to COVID-19 occurred among people who arent fully vaccinated.

While the share of COVID-19 cases among fully vaccinated people has increased over the last month, illness rates among vaccinated people are low compared with unvaccinated people. About 14% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 between June 9 July 6 were fully vaccinated, compared with 86% who were not. The hospitalization rate is 34 times higher among unvaccinated residents compared to vaccinated residents, and the death rate due to COVID-19 is 43 times higher among unvaccinated residents compared to vaccinated residents.

COVID-19 vaccines provide very high-level protection against whats most important: serious infections with hospitalization and deaths. Since no vaccine is 100% effective, its not surprising that some vaccinated people may develop COVID-19 and be able to pass the infection to others, although that is much less likely than for unvaccinated people.When vaccinated people do become infected, their illness is typically mild and not serious.Unfortunately, the Delta variant may increase the risk of vaccinated people developing mild breakthrough infections compared to earlier strains, but our vaccines still offer excellent protection.

When youre exposed to COVID-19 today in King County, its most likely that youre being exposed to a highly contagious variant of the virus. Of the recent COVID-19 test samples genetically sequenced in King County, about 90% represent a variant of concern and not the original strain of the virus, and about 60% of these are the Delta variant. This is concerning because the Delta variant is so contagious.

Nailing down exactly where people are being exposed is complicated. Contact tracers ask people who test positive for COVID-19 about where theyve spent time during their contagious period. Comparing the most recent 30 days with the month prior, an increasing share of people with COVID-19 report having attended a social event (36% vs 28%), visited a bar or restaurant (15% vs 10%), or and to have travelled out-of-state (17% vs 9%).

This virus will is getting better and better at finding people who are unvaccinated, and that is what we are seeing in the recent data from King County, said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Health Officer, Public Health Seattle & King County. While we would all like to have COVID-19 completely in the rearview mirror, and although our vaccines are greatly diminishing the threat, we remain vulnerable to continuing COVID-19 spread impacting our community, especially for those who remain unvaccinated and those who arent able to be protected, including children under 12 and people who are immunocompromised.

The most important way to protect yourself and your community is to get vaccinated. Vaccines provide strong protection against the original strain of COVID-19 and variants of concern.

The increasing numbers mean that all of us, even people who are fully vaccinated, should consider taking extra precautions, especially in indoor settings with other people. Unvaccinated people are currently required to continue wearing masks in public, indoor spaces and should continue to do so.

Public Health Seattle & King County now recommends that all residents five years of age and older, regardless of vaccination status, wear face coverings in indoor public settings. This extra layer of protection will help us all stay safer, including those who are unvaccinated, such as the 300,000 children in King County who arent able to get vaccinated yet, and the many thousands of people who have immune systems that are weakened or suppressed.

Washington State already requires unvaccinated people to wear masks in indoor public settings, although in stores and other public spaces, there is no practical way to know who is vaccinated and who isnt. For this reason, universal masking in indoor public spaces provides a more reliable way to ensure everyone is safer as we monitor the current increasing disease trends.

Masking in public spaces is also beneficial for those who are in close contact with someone at increased risk, to model mask-wearing for children, and to protect from other respiratory illnesses or allergens.

Originally published July 23, 2021

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COVID-19 cases increasing in King County: Vaccination continues to be our best protection - Public Health Insider

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of July 23, 2021, there have been 3,090,636 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 165,702 total cases and 2,936 deaths.

DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 84-year old male from Grant County and an 80-year old male from Cabell County. These two deaths reported on todays dashboard are a result of the Bureau for Public Healths continuing data reconciliation with the official death certificate.

As we send sympathies to these families, I urge everyone in West Virginia to do their part to reduce the spread of this virus and prevent further loss of life, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Please schedule your COVID-19 vaccine today.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,522), Berkeley (12,980), Boone (2,190), Braxton (1,035), Brooke (2,257), Cabell (9,011), Calhoun (400), Clay (544), Doddridge (649), Fayette (3,600), Gilmer (891), Grant (1,322), Greenbrier (2,919), Hampshire (1,935), Hancock (2,860), Hardy (1,588), Harrison (6,281), Jackson (2,283), Jefferson (4,829), Kanawha (15,594), Lewis (1,325), Lincoln (1,613), Logan (3,318), Marion (4,707), Marshall (3,565), Mason (2,094), McDowell (1,656), Mercer (5,248), Mineral (3,006), Mingo (2,797), Monongalia (9,464), Monroe (1,229), Morgan (1,256), Nicholas (1,936), Ohio (4,340), Pendleton (726), Pleasants (961), Pocahontas (683), Preston (2,971), Putnam (5,415), Raleigh (7,141), Randolph (2,879), Ritchie (768), Roane (670), Summers (869), Taylor (1,304), Tucker (549), Tyler (754), Upshur (2,011), Wayne (3,206), Webster (588), Wetzel (1,405), Wirt (468), Wood (8,005), Wyoming (2,085).

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mineral, and Monongalia counties.

July 23

Barbour County

9:00 AM 11:00 AM, Barbour County Health Department, 109 Wabash Avenue, Philippi, WV

Berkeley County

10:00 AM 5:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV

Grant County

Jefferson County

12:00 PM 5:00 PM, Shepherd University Wellness Center Parking Lot, 164 University Drive, Shepherdstown, WV

Lincoln County

Logan County

Marshall County

Mineral County

Monongalia County

9:00 AM 12:00 PM, WVU Recreation Center, Lower Level, 2001 Rec Center Drive, Morgantown, WV

Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is also available on Sunday in Preston County.

July 25

Preston County

9:00 AM 5:00 PM, Valley District Fair, 291 Kingwood Street, Reedsville, WV

Originally posted here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 7-23-2021 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

WELLINGTON, New Zealand New Zealand on Friday suspended its quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia for at least eight weeks due to a growing COVID-19 cluster in Sydney.

New Zealand recently imposed quarantine restrictions on travelers from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia states, where lockdowns have been introduced to contain delta variant clusters.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said quarantine-free travel would be suspended from anywhere in Australia from 11:59 p.m. New Zealand time.

Ardern said she hoped to have all New Zealanders who wanted to return flown home from Australia with managed flights within a week.

The travel bubble has existed since April and has provided both countries with their only quarantine-free international flights.

Both Australia and New Zealand have been among the most successful in the world in containing coronavirus outbreaks. But Sydney is failing to contain a cluster of the highly contagious delta variant, which has spread across the country.

On Friday, New South Wales state declared an emergency over the Sydney outbreak. Authorities reported one fatality and 136 new infections in the latest 24-hour period, the biggest daily jump since the outbreak began in mid-June.

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New Zealand Suspends Travel Bubble With Australia As Sydney COVID-19 Cluster Grows - NPR

Opponents of government restrictions on personal freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic argue that lockdowns have taken a greater toll on the publics health than the disease itself.

They cite factors, such as missed opportunities to screen for illnesses and provide vaccinations, lengthening waiting times for consultations and surgical procedures, and the mental health toll of loneliness and isolation.

People sometimes sum these up as the cure is worse than the disease.

Writing in BMJ Global Health, public health experts emphasize that it is challenging to disentangle the health effects of lockdowns from the health effects of the pandemic.

However, their own analysis suggests that it is unlikely that government interventions have been worse for public health at least in the short term than the pandemic itself.

They considered not only overall mortality rates but also disruptions to health services, mental health effects, and the number of suicides.

The research was an international collaboration between scientists in Australia, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

To tease apart the health effects of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions, the researchers turned to the World Mortality Dataset.

The dataset includes figures for excess mortality in 94 countries between the start of the pandemic in 2020 and the middle of 2021.

It defines excess mortality as the difference between the actual number of deaths and the predicted number, given trends before the pandemic.

In Australia and New Zealand, which imposed several lockdowns but experienced relatively few COVID-19 cases, the researchers found no excess mortality during 2020.

If it were true that the cure is worse than the disease, lockdowns would have increased death rates in these countries compared with previous years, even in the absence of severe outbreaks.

The researchers found a similar story in South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, which imposed lockdowns despite having few or no COVID-19 cases.

These countries either recorded no excess mortality or relatively small increases.

On the flip side, countries that imposed few restrictions, including Brazil, Sweden, and Russia, have recorded large numbers of excess deaths throughout the pandemic.

[I]f areas that locked down but had low COVID-19 cases did not see deaths from other causes rise, lockdowns themselves cannot be the cause of deaths per se, said lead author Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, an epidemiologist at the School of Health and Society at the University of Wollongong in Australia.

It is possible that they have had mixed benefits, but the evidence is not consistent with a situation where lockdowns cause large numbers of deaths in the short term, he told Medical News Today.

The authors emphasize that the possibility remains that lockdowns have detrimental effects on health, both in the short and long term.

For example, a U.K. study found an increase in heart attacks within the community during the first wave of COVID-19. However, the research was unable to determine whether government restrictions or COVID-19 caused this growth.

Another study suggested that missed cancer screenings could lead to a large increase in cancer deaths in the U.K. But reduced screening could also result from the reallocation of healthcare staff to pandemic-related work.

Commenting on the new analysis for the Science Media Centre in London, Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh in the U.K., said:

The authors reach the unsurprising conclusion that the short-term impact of lockdown on mortality rates is considerably less than the impact of COVID-19, while correctly acknowledging that it is extremely difficult to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of either. This is a useful exercise but falls far short of demonstrating that the cure will not prove to be worse than the disease in the long term.

Other researchers are concerned that the long-term consequences of the disease could be far ranging, particularly with potentially lasting effects on the brain.

The authors report that there is consistent and robust evidence that government measures to control COVID-19 have not led to increased deaths from suicide.

They acknowledge that there is also abundant evidence that mental health has declined since the onset of the pandemic.

But they emphasize that it is challenging to disentangle the effects of lockdown and the pandemic itself, which has led to anxiety about infection and a high burden of bereavement.

Dean Burnett, Ph.D., honorary research associate at Cardiff Psychology School in the U.K., told MNT that the focus on case numbers, death rates, and hospital occupancy risked sidelining the pandemics toll on mental health.

Dr. Burnett, who was not involved in the new research, lost his own father to COVID-19 in 2020.

The raw numbers are useful for tracking the progress and pattern of the pandemic, but every one of those numbers is actually a complex individual human, with all the emotional connections and relationships that entails, he said.

As a result, their sickness or death will have a wide range of negative consequences for the well-being of those around them.

It is important to note that the study was unable to include information about the impact of long COVID due to the lack of comparable data across countries.

Long COVID, or post-COVID syndrome the persistence of symptoms for 3 months or more affects around 1 in 10 people with COVID-19.

The fewer people who develop COVID-19, the fewer people will be affected by long COVID, therefore pushing the balance further towards the disease being worse than lockdowns.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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COVID-19: Are lockdowns worse than the disease? - Medical News Today

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COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations kept ticking upward this week as Alaska health officials anticipated that the states latest virus surge will continue based on current trends.

On Friday, Alaska reported 447 infections, two virus-related deaths and a continued rise in hospitalizations over the last two days, with much of the state remaining at a high alert level.

Other states with similar mitigation strategies and vaccination rates including Missouri, Arkansas and Florida are reaching their fall and winter case loads, Dr. Anne Zink, Alaskas chief medical officer, told reporters on a Thursday call.

In Alaska, I dont see any reason to think this is the top as of right now, Zink said. I think we have a chance to learn from other states, and really encourage people to get vaccinated, like today. ... We have a chance, but that window is narrowing quickly.

By Friday, roughly 57% of Alaskas population age 12 and older had received at least their first dose of the vaccine while 52% of all residents 12 and older were considered fully vaccinated. Among all states, Alaska ranked No. 29 in the country for most vaccinated residents per capita.

Health officials have said that higher vaccination rates in the range of 70-80% of the total population are needed to prevent widespread outbreaks, but vaccinations in Alaska have plateaued since spring.

In Sitka, the worst outbreak the community has suffered since the pandemic began continued with another 64 cases reported Thursday and Friday. The average case rates in the community of just over 8,500 remained among the highest in the country at the county level.

By Friday, there were 80 people with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 hospitalized around the state up from 70 on Wednesday. In the second half of June, that number hovered between 10 and 19.

According to a New York Times tracker updated Friday, Alaskas 163% increase in hospitalizations over the last two weeks was the highest among U.S. states over that time period. Local hospitals say theyre feeling the strain.

Weve been running pretty close to full capacity for the last 10 days, said Dr. Michael Bernstein, chief medical officer at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

The hospitalization surge, however, remains significantly below what it was during the states worst spike last fall and winter. At the peak, coronavirus hospitalizations statewide hovered around 160 more than double the current count.

The vast majority of hospitalizations in the state right now involve people who arent vaccinated and trending younger than the patients seen earlier in the pandemic, Bernstein said.

Were seeing more patients under the age of 50 at Providence, he said. And we believe thats because we have higher vaccination rates in the older parts of our population, because theyre more susceptible. But these younger patients are still getting very sick at times.

The two deaths reported Friday occurred recently and involved an Anchorage man in his 60s and a Petersburg man in his 70s. In total, 377 Alaskans and seven nonresidents with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic reached the state last spring.

Alaskas death rate per capita remains among the lowest in the country, though the states size, health care system and other factors complicate national comparisons.

Health officials continue to encourage Alaskans to get vaccinated against the virus, noting that the vaccines have been shown to be highly effective at preventing severe illness from the virus, including the more contagious variants.

The recent rise in cases can likely be attributed in part to the highly contagious delta variant first identified in India in December and in Alaska in May, health officials have said. The newer strain has been linked to higher hospitalization rates, and is considered the most transmissible variant yet.

Of the 427 new resident cases reported Thursday and Friday, there were 137 in Anchorage, 64 in Sitka, 30 in Wasilla, 23 in Juneau, 19 in Fairbanks, 15 in Soldotna, 10 in Eagle River, 10 in Kenai, 10 in Nome, 10 in Seward, seven in Cordova, seven in Kodiak, five in North Pole, five in Palmer, five in Tok, five in Valdez, four in Chugiak, four in Unalaska, two in Bethel, two in Delta Junction, two in Hooper Bay, and one each in Chevak, Douglas, Healy, Sterling and Wrangell.

Among smaller communities, there were 17 in the Bethel Census Area, 10 in the Copper River Census Area, four in the southern Kenai Peninsula Borough, three in the Dillingham Census Area, three in the Kusilvak Census Area, two in the Aleutians East Borough and one each in the Fairbanks North Star Borough, northern Kenai Peninsula Borough, Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Northwest Arctic Borough and Prince Of Wales-Hyder Census Area.

There were 20 nonresident cases also identified: five in Anchorage, two in Fairbanks, two in Ketchikan, two in Kodiak, two in the Northwest Arctic Borough, two in Unalaska, one in Sitka, one in Juneau and three in unidentified regions of the state.

Of all the coronavirus tests completed in the state over the last week, 5.42% came back positive.

Note: The health department now updates its coronavirus dashboard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays excluding holidays.

Originally posted here:

Alaska's COVID-19 surge continues with 447 cases, 2 deaths and rising hospitalizations reported Thursday and Friday - Anchorage Daily News

The Bootleg Fire glows in the distance, near Beatty, Oregon, U.S., July 13, 2021. Picture taken July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/File Photo

July 23 (Reuters) - Strike teams making headway against a mammoth wildfire in southern Oregon faced a resurgence of combustibly dry, windy weather on Friday, even as an outbreak of COVID-19 among the firefighters posed a new complication in battling the 3-week-old blaze.

Hundreds of miles to the northeast, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management reported that five firefighters in Montana were injured on Thursday when a sudden shift in the wind blew flames over their position on the edge of a much smaller wildfire there.

Both developments came as the National Weather Service posted red-flag warnings for south-central Oregon, most of Montana and a portion of eastern Idaho. More than 80 major wildfires are raging across those three states and 10 others in the West, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The advisory in Oregon abruptly ended the relatively favorable weather conditions that have helped firefighters gain ground in recent days against the Bootleg fire that has been burning since early July in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest.

The region faces a weekend of newly elevated fire risk from lower humidity and strong, gusty winds that "can fan the flames and spread embers," Sarah Rogowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, told Reuters.

As of Friday, the Bootleg had blackened more than 400,000 acres (162,000 hectares) of drought-parched brush and timber and destroyed at least 67 homes near the California border. At its peak, an estimated 2,000 people were displaced by evacuations.

U.S. Forest Service investigators determined the blaze was ignited by a lightning strike but smoldered for about five days before it was detected and reported on July 6. read more

At last report, ground crews backed by water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers had managed to carve containment lines around 40% of the fire's perimeter, up from just 7% a week ago.

While the fire's spread has been slowed in recent days, the blaze still ranks as Oregon's third-largest on record since 1900 and remains, by far, the most massive among scores of wildfires that have flared across the western United States this summer.

Incident commanders have had to confront yet another challenge - a coronavirus outbreak that has forced them to quarantine at least nine firefighters who tested positive after exhibiting mild symptoms of COVID-19, officials reported.

All were expected to make a full recovery.

"They have to perform on a daily basis, and that does lead to the possibility for exposure," incident spokesman Stefan Myers said, adding that COVID safety measures, including social distancing at all four fire camps, appeared to be working for the most part.

The number sidelined was a small share of the 2,300-plus personnel assigned to the Bootleg fire. But the outbreak has prompted an Oregon Health Authority investigation and will lead to heightened precautionary measures.

In east-central Montana, another lightning-sparked blaze that has scorched fewer than 400 acres - a tiny fraction of the Bootleg's footprint - injured five firefighters while they worked to establish a defensive line on its perimeter.

The Bureau of Land Management gave no information about their condition but said the five were "undergoing further medical evaluation to determine the extent of their injuries" after they were evacuated from the fire zone.

Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Keith Coffman in DenverEditing by Mark Potter and Sonya Hepinstall

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Oregon firefighters face return of hazardous conditions, COVID-19 outbreak - Reuters