Category: Covid-19

COVID-19 cases going up in Oregon as number of people getting vaccinated drops - OPB

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COVID-19 cases are going up again in Oregon, as the number of people getting vaccinated in the state continues to drop.

Since last Friday, the Oregon Health Authority has reported 15 new deaths in the state and 1,372 new cases.

Of those new cases, 595 were reported on Tuesday alone. It was the highest daily case count reported since May 11.

Positivity rates continue going up in rural Oregon counties. In Wallowa, Sherman and Morrow counties, at least 1 in 5 people tested early this week tested positive for the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the 7-day average for new COVID cases in Oregon is up by about 27 percent this week compared to a month ago, from 237 cases to 326. And the running average for new vaccine doses is down by about 75 percent from a month ago, from nearly 11,000 to about 2,500.

Health officials put out a statement Tuesday reminding Oregonians that vaccination remains the safest and most effective way to prevent serious illness from COVID-19. That includes protection from the widespread delta variant.

Sign up to get important news and culture from around the Northwest, delivered to your inbox six days a week.

The highly contagious delta variant is causing a surge in new cases. Here's what you need to know about how to keep yourself and your family safe.

More contagious than other variants, and maybe more likely to cause severe disease, Delta is spreading so fast in the U.S. it could cause another surge this summer or fall, according to new research.

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COVID-19 cases going up in Oregon as number of people getting vaccinated drops - OPB News

The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but misinformation keeps many people from taking the shot. Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images hide caption

The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, but misinformation keeps many people from taking the shot.

Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines can appear almost anywhere: from an uncle's Facebook post to a well-trusted news commentator. But where does it come from, and why do some myths spread further than others?

With the help of the internet research firm Graphika, NPR analyzed the rise of one persistent set of lies about COVID-19 vaccines: that they can affect female fertility.

Despite a mountain of scientific evidence showing the vaccines are safe and effective, the false information persists.

Graphika's data analysis tools allow the firm to track key points at which a piece of information is shared or amplified. It can illustrate how many of these kinds of lies often go viral.

The events outlined here represent a major amplification event for this false information, but they're by no means the only source of lies about female fertility and the vaccine. Claims about fertility and the coronavirus vaccines go back to at least December, and fertility claims about other vaccines date back even further, in some cases decades.

But the events of earlier this year illustrate how misinformation can spread in a nonlinear manner with many different players adding threads to a web of false content.

Here then is the life cycle of a lie:

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine this spring, "a lot of women noted heavy menstrual periods," says Alice Lu-Culligan, an MD-Ph.D. candidate at Yale University who studies the immune system and reproductive health.

Lu-Culligan says that immune cells play an important role in menstruation, and so it is in fact possible that the vaccine could temporarily alter that process. "It's very plausible that you could have abnormalities to the typical menstrual cycle," she says.

Other scientists agree it's possible. One team of biological anthropologists is conducting a survey of experiences with menstruation and the vaccines, which has had over 120,000 responses so far, according to Kathryn Clancy, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The researchers learned many thousands of people who menstruate have unusually heavy flows after vaccination, and some older people also experienced breakthrough bleeding.

Unfortunately, definitively establishing a link has proved difficult, in large part because trials for the new vaccines never asked women about their periods. Because there is so much natural variation in women's periods month to month, a controlled clinical trial would be needed to try and establish whether it was happening. "When you don't collect these data during the clinical trial, you really lose an opportunity to study it in a controlled fashion," Lu-Culligan says.

The lost opportunity for scientists became an opening for anti-vaccine activists, says Melanie Smith, former director of analysis for Graphika. "In the more successful misinformation cases that we see, there is always that gap of knowledge," she says.

With no firm data, stories about the disruption to menstrual cycles began popping up in forums and groups. Many were just wondering if it had happened to others and whether they should be worried. But there was one Facebook group in particular that turned out to be important.

"It's called, literally 'COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects,' " Smith says. There were a lot of posts by ordinary people there, looking for answers, but anti-vaccine activists were also part of the group.

One of the people reading this page was an anti-vaccine campaigner named Naomi Wolf. Formerly best known for her writing about feminism, Wolf has, over the years, drifted into anti-vaccine advocacy. "She is a very highly followed influencer in what we call the pseudo-medical community," Smith says.

Wolf is not a medical doctor, and yet on April 19, she tweeted out a link to the Facebook group along with this message: "Hundreds of women on this page say that they are having bleeding/clotting after vaccination, or that they bleed oddly AROUND vaccinated women. Unconfirmed, needs more investigation, but lots of reports."

Smith points out that Wolf is using an old trick: by saying something "needs more investigation," she's raising doubts, without presenting facts that can be refuted.

An anti-vaccine protester dressed up as President Biden holds a sign outside Houston Methodist Hospital in June. Myths about vaccines and fertility are often incorporated into global conspiracy theories. Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

An anti-vaccine protester dressed up as President Biden holds a sign outside Houston Methodist Hospital in June. Myths about vaccines and fertility are often incorporated into global conspiracy theories.

Wolf's tweet also seamlessly inserted a myth: that somehow vaccinated women could pass side effects on to the unvaccinated.

Lu-Culligan says that's absolutely not the case. She adds that this myth seems to echo another popular falsehood: that somehow women who live together can influence each other's cycles.

Wolf kept tweeting and piling on more misinformation in question form: Can vaccines cause infertility? Miscarriages?

This slam went well beyond disruption to menstrual cycles, raising the stakes dramatically. Lu-Culligan says the evidence overwhelmingly shows that the vaccines do not cause these problems. "At this point there have been many, many millions of women who have gotten the vaccine, and there have been no scientific reports of any infertility," she says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also says that the available data shows that vaccines are safe for those who are pregnant or nursing.

Days after Wolf started tweeting about vaccines and fertility, other influencers began picking it up, and a few clickbait websites wrote fake news stories.

But it was the real news that gave the lies their biggest boost. About a week after the initial tweets, a Miami private school, the Centner Academy, announced it would no longer allow vaccinated teachers into the classroom. It said there were too many questions about whether the vaccine could spread to unvaccinated mothers and children.

The school's CEO, Leila Centner, is an established anti-vaccine advocate, so her decision wasn't surprising. But the ban made national news anyway.

"To some people it's crazy and to others they question it because they want to know more, so for everyone there's a reason why you click on it," says Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She says this perfectly illustrates how a lie that's grown big enough can use the mainstream media to get a further boost.

"By covering it, which is important for people to know what kind of stuff is going on out there, the other side of that is that the lie spreads faster, and more people see it and more people pick up on it," Sell says.

And that's what happened. The Miami school story led to global coverage. "This is the point at which we start to see Spanish and Portuguese content, specifically," says Smith, formerly of Graphika.

The lies piggybacked along with news of the school. Outlets in other languages began reporting that the vaccine can spread person to person, or cause fertility problems.

Finally, because misinformation about vaccines is not grounded in data, it can mutate to fit any political message or worldview.

Vaccine myths about fertility and reproduction are particularly potent because they affect a large swath of the population, particularly when they incorporate myths about vaccinated women spreading the side effects. "It's kind of a one-size-fits-all theory in some ways, and the potential impact is everyone, rather than one specific community," Smith says.

In the weeks following the initial wave of coverage, others were using these ideas to grab audiences. Conservative commentator Candace Owens brought the link between vaccines and menstruation up on Instagram. In a six-minute video questioning vaccine safety, Owens never directly repeated the lies about fertility but didn't refute them either.

Far-right commentator Alex Jones folded the vaccine lies into his conspiracy theories about Google and Facebook, which he claims are trying to depopulate the Earth. "It's not just that you're going to be sterile, you're not going to be able to have children," Jones said during a recent broadcast. "You're not going to be able to eat beef anymore."

By late June, the lies about fertility had spread everywhere from France to Brazil. But then, Smith says, they started fading away.

"It seems to have kind of fallen by the wayside in terms of the COVID-19 news cycle that happens in these spaces on the internet," she says.

And that's the last lesson about the lies: They don't stick around. They grab the attention, raise questions and doubt, but there's no substance there. So once they've shocked those they're meant to engage, they disappear.

Or more properly, they're replaced by a new, incredible story.

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COVID Vaccines And Infertility? How Misinformation Spreads In 6 Steps : Shots - Health News - NPR

Story

Gov. Jay Inslee today terminated two proclamations and gave advance notice of the termination of one additional proclamation related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proclamation 20-45

This proclamation suspended/waived deadlines and service of process requirements relating to protection orders. With the passage ofHB 1320, which goes into effect on July 25, this proclamation is no longer needed to provide relief to the judicial branch.

This order will be rescinded as of 11:59 pm, July 24, 2021.

Read the full proclamationhere.

Proclamation 20-67

This proclamation prohibited agricultural employers from operating unless they implemented a Food Production Paid Leave program for their workers, and it was intended to cover only the August 2020 through November 2020 time period. This order is no longer necessary, and its termination is effective immediately.

Read the full proclamationhere.

Proclamation 20-79

This proclamationwaived/suspended the requirement of deductions from unemployment benefits for lump sum payments. With the passage ofSB 5061, which went into effect February 8, 2021, this order is no longer necessary, and its termination is effective immediately.

Read the full proclamationhere.

Public and constituent inquiries | 360.902.4111Press inquiries | 360.902.4136

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Inslee rescinds three proclamations related to the COVID-19 pandemic | Governor Jay Inslee - Governor Jay Inslee

A popular Cape Cod, Massachusetts, summertime destination is reporting a worrisome spread of COVID-19 infections following the Fourth of July.

Officials in Provincetown, Massachusetts, issued a number of renewed mitigation measures on Monday after at least 132 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 in the weeks after the holiday weekend.

Town Manager Alex Morse told ABC News on Monday that the "vast majority" of the COVID-19 cases associated with the town's outbreak are among vaccinated individuals.

Eighty-nine of the reported cases are amongst Bay State residents, 39 of whom reside in Barnstable County, and the remainder of the individuals, who tested positive, reside in other states and jurisdictions, local officials said.

At the height of its tourist season in the summer months, Provincetowns population swells from 3,000 year-round residents, to over 60,000 people, according to state data.

People walk on Commercial Street in Provincetown, Mass., on June 27, 2021.

"We have a lot of visitors in Town, and given the volume, it's inevitable that cases will continue to pop up over the summer," Morse said last week, after the first cases were reported.

Morse reported most individuals are experiencing "mild symptoms." According to medical experts, fully vaccinated individuals are far less likely to become severely ill, and hospitalized, if infected with COVID-19.

Nina Hargus, and her husband, Stan, of Sudbury, Massachusetts, were among the influx of tourists who enjoyed the busy Fourth of July weekend in Provincetown.

It really felt like a pre-COVID Fourth of July in Provincetown, Hargus said. Restaurants and bars were packed. The streets were filled with pedestrians, we saw very few masks, and no social distancing.

Last week, Johnny Chagnon, of Vermont, and several of his friends, were thrilled to return to Provincetown after a difficult year. Although Chagnon had heard about breakthrough Fourth of July infections, he had not been too concerned, he told ABC News, because he was fully vaccinated.

I have a lot of faith in vaccines, said Chagnon, who has also conducted COVID-19 testing throughout the pandemic for the Vermont Department of Health.

Nevertheless, preferring to be cautious, we were avoiding indoor events, because they were very packed, opting instead for outdoor events, but without wearing a mask, he said.

However, on Monday, right after leaving Provincetown, he began to feel sick, coming down with a fever, and experiencing shortness of breath, a sore throat and cold-like symptoms.

Today, my fever is even worse, Chagnon said on Tuesday. Although his symptoms have been manageable, it's definitely not what I expected being fully vaccinated.

People gather on MacMillan Pier in Provincetown, Mass., on June 27, 2021.

With hundreds of people posting images of their Provincetown parties on social media, Chagnon added that the stealthy spread of the virus among visitors almost felt like a train wreck.

I know there's responsibility on my end, because Im kind of there, partying like it's 2019, so I'm a little mad at myself, Chagnon said. However, he added, everyone who has tested positive around me was fully vaccinated, so we thought we were doing the right thing, we were doing everything that the town management said, and then this still happens.

In light of the outbreak, officials in Provincetown have issued a new mask advisory, in which masks are now advised indoors where social distancing cannot be achieved. All unvaccinated individuals, including children under the age of 12, are required to wear masks both outdoors in crowded areas where social distancing cannot be achieved and in public indoor spaces.

Local officials are also now "strongly advising" venues with high density, where social distancing is not achievable, to enforce vaccine verification prior to admittance.

The Boston Public Health Commission also announced that it too would issue guidance for recent Provincetown visitors, after officials identified at least 35 positive COVID-19 cases tied to the Cape cluster among Boston residents.

The citys residents, who have traveled to Provincetown since the first of the month, are now being urged to get tested, regardless of vaccination status or symptoms, self-isolate, and avoid groups or gatherings for at least five days and until residents have received a negative COVID-19 test. All residents are now being asked to take additional precautions to help identify COVID-19 infections, and to prevent additional spread.

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Cape Cod COVID-19 cluster grows to more than 130 infected, prompting renewed mitigation efforts - ABC News

When Kishana Taylor welcomes her twins into the world this December, shell be pretty confident that they wont be carrying the virus that causes rubella, an infection that can be disastrous in infants. Thanks to a vaccine she received as a child, Taylor, a virologist at Carnegie Mellon University, is still immune to the pathogen decades later.

She was able to confirm that in June through a simple test that searched her blood for antibodies that recognize the rubella virus, and then added them up. If her antibody counts were above a certain level, called a correlate of protection, she and her babies would be considered well shielded from disease. You are considered immune with a titer of 9.9 to rubella, she tweeted last month, referring to her antibody levels. My titer? 116. I love my immune system sometimes.

The term correlate of protection doesnt exactly roll off the tongue, but its one of the sexiest concepts in the field of vaccinology. Correlates are biological benchmarksmeasurements of a single immune molecule or cellthat can show that a vaccine is achieving its desired effect. With a correlate in hand, researchers can confirm how well a shot is working and identify the rare individuals in whom it doesnt take; they can suss out the need for boosters and fast-track the development of new vaccines. At their most powerful, correlates of protection boil down the complexities of an immune response to a single valueone that can confidently affirm that a person wont get infected or seriously sick. Its kind of a magic number, Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told me. Its the big holy grail, Emory Universitys Sri Edupuganti says. Its what we dream about, Cornells Sallie Permar told me last month.

In recent weeks, the correlate community has been buzzing louder than ever. Scientists are on the cusp of confidently defining some correlates of protection against symptomatic disease for the COVID-19 vaccines. If confirmed, these correlates could revolutionize the way we tackle SARS-CoV-2 immunization: Vaccine makers testing a new inoculation may no longer need to follow tens of thousands of people for many months to test their products protection. Instead, they could inject just a few hundred people, snag some drops of blood, and see if the elusive correlate is met. Thats how we tee up new flu vaccines every year without the rigmarole of gargantuan clinical trials.

Read: The only way well know when we need booster shots

But for all their apparent simplicity, correlates of protection are devilishly hard to come by. Try as researchers might, capturing the oomph of vaccine-induced immunity in one numberor severalisnt always possible. Even as scientists chase them, correlates are a reminder of just how inscrutable our own bodies can be.

Even our best vaccines start out as educated guesses. Researchers study people who have recovered from a particular infection, and then try to cook up an inoculation that will prompt protection thats similar to or better than natural immunity. What ends up entering people is simplea harmless pantomime of the pathogen. But it leads to a tortuously complex response that marshals the immune systems many defensive players, including antibodies, B cells, T cells, and more.

Finding a correlate means cleaving a single variable out of this mess to act as an envoy for the rest of the immune system. Thats a heavy lift for a single cell or molecule, especially when people react in such different ways to the same pathogen. And not all immune responses can be easily measured. Some of the vaccines weve been using for decades still dont have a concrete correlate, including the shots for mumps, rotavirus, and tuberculosis.

That probably wont be the case for the COVID-19 vaccines. Since the pandemics early days, experts have had their eye on neutralizing antibodies, sometimes nicknamed neuts, which can glom on to the outside of viruses and block them from entering cells. Neuts that recognize the coronavirus teem in the bodies of people and laboratory animals that have successfully fought off coronavirus infections. The molecules disease-fighting powers have made them the workhorses of antibody-based treatments, such as convalescent plasma and monoclonals. Levels of these neuts also soar after vaccination, and seem especially high in people who dont come down with COVID-19 after getting all their shots. By now its clear that neut numbers do correspond pretty well with protectionthe more neuts someone has, the more likely it is that theyre safe from disease. As far as Im concerned, the data are clear, Stanley Plotkin, a vaccine expert at the University of Pennsylvania, told me. Neutralizing antibodies are it.

Establishing that this trend exists, though, isnt the same as zeroing in on a cutoff for protection, above which most vaccinated people would likely be guarded from illness. We know lower neutralizing titers predict more infection, Taia Wang, an immunologist at Stanford, told me. What were looking for now is a little more precision. To suss out a more specific set of numbers, researchers need to repeatedly sample the blood of shot recipients, some of whom have to get sick so researchers can get a sense of what falls below the threshold theyre looking for. The more breakthroughs you have, the easier it is to determine, Katy Stephenson, a physician and vaccine expert at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, told me. A great irony of vaccinology is that its easier to define the success of a vaccine thats prone to regularly failone of the only downsides of our extraordinary shots.

Another hurdle that correlate chasers need to clear is a lack of consistency across vaccine trials, which were conducted at different times in different populations using different inoculation recipes, different criteria for defining COVID-19 severity, and different brands of antibody tests. Aggregating and analyzing all the evidence to produce one unifying correlate requires some serious statistical gymnastics.

Read: COVID-19 vaccine makers are looking beyond the spike protein

By now, though, enough people have been vaccinated, and enough blood samples drawn, that preliminary numbers are starting to emerge. One group of researchers in the United Kingdom has proposed a correlate of protection against COVID-19 for AstraZenecas vaccine; two others, one in Australia and another in the United States, have taken a stab at pinpointing measurements that will hold true across several different shots, including the three available to Americans. (Representatives from Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson told me that they didnt yet have their own correlates to report, but were continuing to investigate.)

But the case isnt closed. We have some strong leads, but I would not say we have a correlate yet, Holly Janes, a biostatistician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, told me.

While neuts have certainly hogged the spotlight so far, they could still be unseated by another molecule or cell. And even if neuts are the real deal, having one correlate doesnt preclude defining another that captures an additional element of the immune system. Flu vaccines, for instance, seem to come with a bunch of measurable metrics of success, some of which are still being confirmed in research labs. Other, non-neutralizing antibodies exist, and their levels also seem to ratchet up in lockstep with COVID-19 vaccine efficacy.

Many researchers are hoping for more data on T cells, immune cells that support the production of antibodies or annihilate virus-infected cells on their own. Compared with antibodies, T cells are fragile, reclusive, and a pain to measure, Smita Iyer, an immunologist at UC Davis, told me. But they seem fundamental to the success of well-established vaccines, including those for chicken pox and tuberculosis. Against the coronavirus, T cells are known to pick up the protective slack when neuts and other antibodies fail. Theres not only one immune response that protects you, which is good, Florian Krammer, a vaccine expert and virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told me. If one fails, another can take over. That redundancy is great for us, but frustrating for researchers looking for a simple portrait of protection.

Things could get even thornier. As is the case with any vaccine, the success of a COVID-19 shot hinges on a multitude of factorsincluding the strength of the immune system its bolstering, the mutability of the virus its counteracting, and the exact ingredients in the shot itself. Kids, whose immune systems are still finding their footing, might need correlates of their own; so might older adults and immunocompromised people, whose immune systems are less easily marshaled by vaccines. The numbers we settle on could also vary among vaccine brands because different shots rile up different subsets of immune cells.

Then theres the biggest wild card of all: the coronavirus itself. Its continuing to splinter into new variants, some of which have already revealed themselves to be quite capable of dodging certain antibody-based defenses. A neut level that keeps us safe from Alpha wont necessarily thwart Beta or Delta to the same extent. (Theres at least good news on T cells, which are much harder to stump with mutationsanother reason these cells are looking so attractive to some scientists.) Were starting to get numbers now, but there are going to be asterisks because of the variants, Lisa Gralinski, a virologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told me. Because correlates take so long to determine, whatever number we come up with today is really talking about the past, Stephenson, of Beth Israel, said. SARS-CoV-2 will always mutate far faster than humans can conjure new correlates. We may well end up with an entire menagerie of correlates against COVID-19, each tailored to its own combination of population, variant, and vaccine. (And thats all just in the realm of blocking COVID-19 disease; stopping asymptomatic infection would require its own set of correlates as well.)

Read: Delta is driving a wedge through Missouri

But the mere possibility of hitting protection pay dirt is reason enough to keep plugging away. Having a strong correlate of protection against COVID-19 would allow researchers around the world to more quickly bring new vaccines to market in countries where they are sorely needed. A correlate would also give scientists the chance to monitor the natural wane of immune responses and deploy boosters that could rapidly buoy those defenses, if need be. It could act as a guidepost for new shots that fight specific variants before they outsmart the jabs we already have.

The need for correlates is so urgent, the FDA has already gambled that antibodies are the answer: In recent guidance, the agency noted that it would consider green-lighting updated, variant-specific versions of vaccines if theyre able to prompt the production of adequate levels of neuts. Its a hastier move than some researchers would like. But with variants such as Delta surging amid a largely unvaccinated global population, the shortcut offered by these correlates has never been more appealing. The big hope, researchers told me, is that COVID-19 vaccines will be able to follow in the footsteps of flu shots, which are reformulated seasonally to keep pace with the strains du jour. Vaccine makers can debut new vaccines by simply checking inoculated peoples blood for the telltale markers of protection, rather than waiting to see how these individuals fare against the virus itself.

Spinning the idea of correlates into a personal guarantee of immunity is tempting, especially with antibody tests so readily available. But correlates are just thatcorrelates, patterns gleaned from large groups of people. Levels of certain immune fighters could track with protection against disease without being directly responsible for our vaccines success on a person-by-person basis. Were talking about measurements that apply better to populations than to individual people, Plotkin said.

Some correlates can be tested in individuals, such as in the case of the rubella-antibody test that Taylor took in June, after discovering she was pregnant. But these tests dont offer absolute certainty. Every trend will have exceptionssome people whose SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels are bonkers-high may still end up getting sick; others with low titers will stay safe. Antibody stocks, after all, naturally dwindle over time, but the body retains the ability to replenish them. Thresholds arent hard lines between unprotected and protected; everyone always carries some relative risk, especially amid a pandemic this devastating. There are no sharp edges in biology, Iyer told me. Correlates, while useful, cant actually encompass everything our immune systems are capable of. Without the right amount of nuance, they risk making black-and-white out of a situation that operates entirely in shades of gray.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Success Could Be Measured With One Number - The Atlantic

The highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 doesnt pose an immediate risk to the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, with analysts expecting a robust expansion to continue in the second half of the year.

Many economists are maintaining forecasts for solid economic growth due to expectations of steady hiring and continued spending, driven by accumulated savings and Americans desire to travel and socialize more than a year into the pandemic.

They see limited disruptions to the economy as local health officials try to avoid restrictions and boost vaccinations in response to the recent case surge. Economists are more concerned about firming inflation than the Delta variant as they assess the economic outlook.

The variant is a significant downside risk for the economy, but that risk is more than offset by what are still very strong fundamentals, said Oren Klachkin, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. Consumers have a lot of cash and seem eager to spend on activities they couldnt do for 18 months. And, for now, it seems like the vaccines should be able to keep the spike in cases fairly low.

Oxford, a forecasting firm, hasnt changed its projection for U.S. gross domestic producta broad measure of the economys output of goods and services. It expects GDP to rise at nearly a 9% annualized pace in the third quarter. Such historically strong growth would be in line with the stimulus-fueled expansion in the first half of the year.

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Delta Variant of Covid-19 Isnt Expected to Dent Robust U.S. Recovery - The Wall Street Journal

A new normalcy is on the rise for universities as they prepare for the start of a new school year.

The University of Illinois System recently announced that all faculty and staff are required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by the beginning of the fall semester of 2021.

Weve been intensively preparing for this all along, all the way back to the beginning, said Timothy Killeen, president of the UI System. We do feel now that vaccination is key to getting out of the pandemic as a whole community and to make our campus as safe as possible. Were going beyond encouraging ... getting that extra percent is going to be very important, particularly with the variants emerging.

According to Killeen, student enrollment for the UI System is robust. But not all colleges are seeing these trends.

Since 2013 to 2019, there was a 34% drop in Black student enrollment at our Illinois colleges which we view as a crisis, said Zaldwaynaka Scott, president of Chicago State University. The crisis is now on top of a pandemic which created another significant crisis in the Black community as we continue to see the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our Black and brown communities.

To combat these dips in enrollment and economic barriers posed by the pandemic, colleges and universities across the state are increasing financial aid opportunities and emergency grants for students.

We have emergency funds for students who may struggle with living expenses and additional scholarship opportunities to encourage students to come back, said Aarti Dhupelia, vice president of undergraduate education at National Louis University. And to ensure that financial or other personal barriers that really are the root of equity gaps in higher education that we knock those down so students can continue on in their studies uninterrupted.

According to Dhupelia, about 70% of National Louis University students are low-income and first in their family to go to college.

The UI system is also increasing financial aid support for students as the pandemic continues.

We know from our own surveys that the financial considerations are very paramount in family decision making, Killeen said. Our total amount of financial aid per year given to students based on their needs is above $240 million, and thats more than federal and state financial aid as well.

Mariama Mwilambwe, a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and elected Student Trustee, believes that in addition to financial and academic support, universities should be stepping up to help emotionally as well.

Students need to feel like theyre supported by the university, Mwilambwe said. They need to feel like there are culturally appropriate counselors available. They need to feel like there is an abundance of appointments for them. They need to feel like not just academically and financially theyre supported, but also mentally and emotionally and that they feel their concerns are being heard.

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How Universities Are Preparing for Another School Year Amid COVID-19 - WTTW News

The conversation on air quality in India is often seasonal, resurfacing around the winter months of polluted air. But Covid-19 will likely make this focusespecially on indoor air qualityan everyday phenomenon.

If India hopes to reopen offices, cinema halls, malls, and schools fully and safely in the future, ventilation will be a key aspect of a social life that coexists with Covid-19. This is because closed, crowded spaces with close contactthe three Cshave been consistently shown to be associated with spread; a combination of the three being often associated with superspreader events, says Dr Lancelot Pinto, consultant pulmonologist at Mumbais Hinduja Hospital.

Most of these solutions are basic and involve cracking open a window and ensuring there is greater air exchange per hour. (Air exchange per hour is the number of times the entire volume of air in a room is completely replaced.)

But this may be a double-edged sword in India. In some cities with clean air and moderate climates, creating a draft for fresh air to circulate is possible and ideal. Fans can be added to help lower temperatures, improve ambient comfort, and help air circulate, Pinto says. But these need to be placed in ways that do not cause air to be blasted from one person to another (exhaust fans might help redirect air).

Pinto says. There would be challenges to manage this in the monsoons, and one would have to think of novel and tailored solutions to prevent discomfort due to humidity.

But cities in northern and central India, with high levels of particulate matter pollution, would have to consider the risk of Covid-19 versus the risk of oxidative stress from poor air quality, says Jai Dhar Gupta, founder of Nirvana Being, a protective solutions company. For eight months a year, our air quality is so bad that its not ideal to create ventilation with polluted air from outside, he says.

For this, an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) consultant can work with companies and institutions to install filtration devicessuch as HEPA filters that weed out small particles and even some pathogens, and ultraviolet machines to kill disease-causing virusesin existing air conditioning set-ups. But these tend to be expensive solutions. In the case of cinema halls and multiplexes, these devices would be the only way to ensure moviegoers can return without the fear of contracting the disease. Several cinema halls in large Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai have already installed UV filters for indoor air.

Technology aside, ventilation, according to Pinto, continues to remain the most important and least expensive aspect of ideal indoor air quality.

The only way to ventilate, Gupta says, is to bring in outside air indoors. In rural or semi-urban healthcare centres, for instance, where resources and access to technology are limited, simply ensuring that a draft is created for air to pass through will mitigate the risk of Covid-19.

But in citiesespecially in schools that are now air-conditionedit is dangerous to have split air conditioners when there are over 30 people in one closed room. Schools are a hotbed for germs and contaminants and that is how our kids develop immunity, Gupta says. But this priority should be different in a post-Covid environment.

Gupta suggests that public places must follow the simple rule of dont share the air.

Split air conditioners are the worst innovation of our generation because unlike window ACs, these only cool and circulate indoor air, Gupta says.

And opening a window or turning on an exhaust fan may not be the most energy-efficient solution, but one that may be necessary. The other alternative is to add nano-filter sheets to existing air conditioners that filter out viruses and bacteria from indoor air to a great degree. Urban Indian homes, offices, and public places are now also familiar with the concept of an air purifier, which can be used around the year instead of only during peak pollution months.

Gupta suggests a four-point baseline protocol that should help improve indoor air quality:

1. While viruses cannot be monitored through a device, a simple CO2 filter will be able to detect if there is ample ventilation or the air indoors is stale.

2. With CO2, a PM2.5 monitor can detect how polluted the air is. This is doubly important in the context of Covid because viruses are likely to attach themselves to particulate matters and remain airborne.

3. Viruses thrive in cool conditions. Gupta says indoor spaces should maintain a temperature of 25C or above, even if it means sacrificing a little ambient comfort. This will also, in turn, make buildings more energy-efficient.

4. Viruses thrive in dry environments. Ideally, humidity levels of 50-60% should be maintained indoors.

But to truly make indoor spaces safe from Covid-19, many buildings need a complete overhaul.

It is sad that I havent seen too many buildings in India designed for human wellbeing, Gupta says. All this ventilation is basic stuff. Why wasnt this already followed over the last 30-40 years?-What is the role of an HVAC consultant if all of these mechanisms are not already in place?

He recommends that strict protocols will need to be put in place and the government would need to incentivise institutions to include ventilation in their blueprints. It is mind-boggling to see that we think we can get back to work safelyafter decades of cutting corners, Gupta says. Till these spaces can be made safer, masking up indoors is here to stay, coupled with keeping indoors sparsely occupied.

As a policy focus, countries have experimented with encouraging outdoor Covid-safe behaviour, such as restaurants on sidewalks. A significant proportion of indoor overcrowding occurs in religious places, gatherings in halls for events such as weddings and family functions, and in crowded workspaces, says Hinduja Hospitals Pinto. We need to try and actively encourage these interactions to move outdoors, or online, whenever feasible, with measures to shield individuals from the vagaries of the weather.

One year on: we look back at how the Forums networks have navigated the global response to COVID-19.

Using a multistakeholder approach, the Forum and its partners through its COVID Action Platform have provided countless solutions to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, protecting lives and livelihoods.

Throughout 2020, along with launching its COVID Action Platform, the Forum and its Partners launched more than 40 initiatives in response to the pandemic.

The work continues. As one example, the COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs is supporting 90,000 social entrepreneurs, with an impact on 1.4 billion people, working to serve the needs of excluded, marginalized and vulnerable groups in more than 190 countries.

Read more about the COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, our support of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemics Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), and the COVAX initiative and innovative approaches to solve the pandemic, like our Common Trust Network aiming to help roll out a digital passport in our Impact Story.

From a public health perspective, Pinto says this will also bode well for India, which has close to a third of the worlds burden of tuberculosis, also a disease that spreads through ill-ventilated spaces. Even pre-Covid, we should have been cognizant of the need for better ventilation indoors, and an active move to open, well-ventilated spaces, he adds.

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COVID-19: How can the air quality in India be improved? | World Economic Forum - World Economic Forum

The US has been limiting non-essential travel along both borders since the start of the pandemic and extending those restrictions on a monthly basis. The restrictions don't apply to cross-border trade, US citizens and lawful permanent residents, as well as people traveling for medical purposes or to attend school, among others.

But over recent weeks, the administration has come under fire for continuing to keep restrictions in place, more than a year into the pandemic, and after Canada announced it was reopening to vaccinated Americans.

In notices to be posted in the Federal Register, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas notes that there have been "positive developments in recent weeks," citing the millions of vaccines doses administered in the United States and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moving Canada and Mexico to Covid-19 Level 4 (Very High) to Level 3 (High) "in recognition of conditions that, while still requiring significant safeguards, are improving."

Still, DHS found that the outbreak and continued transmission and spread of Covid-19 both in the US and globally posed a risk.

A DHS spokesperson cited concerns over the dangerous Delta variant and said the agency is in "constant contact with Canadian and Mexican counterparts to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be eased safely and sustainably."

The restrictions go into effect Thursday and remain in effect until August 21, "unless amended or rescinded prior to that time."

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US extends Covid-19 travel restrictions with Canada and Mexico through August 21 - CNN

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With Covid-19 cases rising in all 50 states, health officials say its clear that unvaccinated people are both driving the increase in cases and are most at risk.

This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during Fridays White House Covid-19 briefing.

We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk, Walensky said. Meantime, communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well.

According to White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients, just four states made up 40% of Covid-19 cases in the past week, with one in five cases occurring in Florida alone.

CNN

Florida authorities are mobilizing vaccination efforts in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases.

But cases are rising in all 50 states and Washington, DC, with the average of new cases at least 10% higher than a week ago and 38 states are seeing at least a 50% increase, according to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

The US recorded an average of 26,448 new cases per day over the last week up 67% from the week before and case rates are highest in states with lower vaccination rates: Among those states that have fully vaccinated less than half its residents, the average Covid-19 case rate was 11 new cases per 100,000 people last week, compared to 4 per 100,000 among states that have fully vaccinated more than half its residents.

Many experts have attributed the rise to slowing vaccination rates with just 48.4% of the US population fully vaccinated, per CDC data.

Our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated, Walensky said.

The danger is fueled by the growing prevalence of the Delta variant, first identified in India. Pointing to an extraordinary surge of the variant worldwide, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the Delta variant now has more than 50% dominance in the US. In some areas, its greater than 70%, he said, calling this sobering news.

The bottom line is we are dealing with a formidable opponent in the Delta variant, Fauci said, adding people who are not vaccinated face extreme vulnerability.

In Arkansas, where only 35.1% of the population is fully vaccinated, the Delta variant has had a big impact, Chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Cam Patterson said, adding hospitals are full right now and cases are doubling every 10 days. And emergency response services in the state say there are receiving a record number of calls due to the rise in the virus, according to CNN affiliate KATV.

The good news is that if you are fully vaccinated, you are protected against severe Covid, hospitalization and death, Walensky said Friday, and are even protected against the known variants, including the Delta variant.

If you are not vaccinated, she added, you remain at risk.

Liz Sanders/Bloomberg/Getty Images

A patient arrives at the Jordan Valley Community Health Center in Springfield, Missouri, on July 12, 2021

In response to climbing case numbers, some jurisdictions are opting to reinstate mask guidelines.

In California, Los Angeles County the nations largest county with a population of 10 million people has responded to a surge in cases and hospitalizations by reinstating a mask mandate beginning Saturday. Health officials in the San Francisco Bay Area are similarly recommending people wear face coverings in indoor public places, regardless of vaccination status.

The Southern Nevada Health District, which serves Las Vegas, is also recommending masks for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people, saying masks have been proven effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. But vaccinations remain the most important and effective step people can take to protect themselves and others from Coivd-19, the health district said.

Echoing Walenskys comments, Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said this was also a pandemic of the partially vaccinated.

If these trends continue anyone who is unvaccinated or possibly even just gotten a single dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine theres a good likelihood theyre going to get infected, Hotez said.

Health officials recommend that people who get their first dose of a vaccine get their second dose three or four weeks later, depending on whether they received the vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna. Johnson & Johnsons vaccine requires just a single dose.

But falling behind schedule shouldnt stop people from getting their second dose, Walensky said Friday.

If you are beyond that window, I want to reiterate: There is no bad time to get your second shot, Walensky said Friday.

Both vaccines exceed 90% effectiveness against severe disease, hospitalization and deaths in real-world studies, she said. But those who are only partially vaccinated still face a risk of illness.

Do it for yourself, your family and for your community, Walensky said. And please, do it for your young children who right now cant get vaccinated themselves.

Meanwhile, key reasons for the hesitancy around Covid-19 vaccines are mistrust and misinformation, according to a CNN analysis of data from the US Census Bureaus Household Pulse Survey.

Nearly half of people who said they will definitely or probably not get a Covid-19 vaccine cited mistrust in the vaccines as a reason for not getting vaccinated, according to the latest data, published Wednesday and based on survey responses from June 23 to July 5. Thats an increase from about a month ago, when 46% of people who said they did not plan to be vaccinated gave the same reason.

Millions of people dont have access to accurate information right now, because on social media platforms and other tech platforms were seeing the rampant spread of misinformation, and its costing people their lives, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNNs Jake Tapper.

Much of that information frequently comes out of people with good intent, he added, saying that they think they are spreading helpful information, but that often misinformation spreads more quickly than accurate information.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra agreed, telling CNNs Poppy Harlow, People are being told things that arent true, and theyre becoming more hesitant.

But fortunately, there are people who are seeing the facts, he said. Theyre seeing a loved one, unfortunately, get hospitalized, maybe die. And theyre changing their minds.

One of the best ways to combat the misinformation, Murthy said, is to have conversations with your friends and family.

Its about peers talking to peers, Murthy said during a Stanford University panel event on Thursday. Remember, all of these conversations first start with listening so try to understand where somebody is coming from, why they may be worried. It may not always be what you think.

Some businesses and hospitals have already required their employees to be vaccinated, and now some universities are implementing requirements as well.

Rhode Island has become the first state where all public and private colleges and universities require their students to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus this fall, Governor Dan McKee announced this week.

Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, Rhode Islands director of health, said in a news release vaccinations are key to having a successful academic year, and the Delta variant was circulating in parts of the country where many of our students live.

The University of California, the nations largest public university system, plans to mandate all students, faculty and staff be fully vaccinated before returning to campuses in the fall. Those who are not exempt from receiving the vaccine will be barred from in-person classes, activities and housing, UC officials announced Thursday.

The Association of American Medical Colleges Friday also urged its member institutions to require vaccinations for employees to protect patients and health care personnel. President Dr. David Sorkin acknowledged the sensitive nature of the recommendation, saying AAMC understood such requirements would be subject to state laws.

Such mandates for employees could become easier for private companies as the vaccine approval process move further along. Each vaccine available in the US has been authorized for emergency use. But the companies are still working toward full US Food and Drug Administration approval.

Pfizer and BioNTech said Friday their application for full approval of their vaccine was granted priority review by the FDA, and an FDA official told CNN a decision on full approval is likely to come within two months.

Full approval will clear up any legal questions that private employers may have, former US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday. Employers, schools and universities, she said, should get more serious about telling people that choosing to not get vaccinated could mean losing access to places that could put others at risk.

I think that its time to say to those folks, Its fine if you dont choose to get vaccinated, (but) you may not come to work.

CNNs Gregory Lemos, Carma Hassan, Naomi Thomas, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jacqueline Howard, Deidre McPhillips, Virginia Langmaid and Sarah Braner contributed to this report.

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Covid-19 'is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,' CDC director says - CNN