Category: Covid-19

INDIANAPOLIS Indiana United States Sen. Mike Braun is pushing President Joe Biden to release information regarding the origin of the COVID-19 virus.

He co-authored a bill on this topic over a month ago, but his efforts are now gaining traction after recent reports show three researchers from Chinas Wuhan lab were hospitalized in November of 2019.

Braun said he hopes his bill isnt needed. He wants the President to declassify U.S. documents related to the origin of COVID-19 without legislation demanding it. Hes confident there will at least be a conversation about this after Wednesdays discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health.

This shouldnt be political, said Sen. Braun

He said everyone should want certainty about the source of the COVID-19 virus.

I still believe that the most likely scenario is that this was a natural occurrence, but no one knows that 100 percent for sure, said Dr. Fauci.

Thats why Braun believes there should be an in-depth investigation. He wants it to start with the United States sharing what we know.

Not only did he propose legislation to declassify info related to the origin of the pandemic, he also asked Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins to urge the president to release this information to the public.

Im not sure its my place to tell the president of the united states said Fauci as Sen. Braun interrupted.

Youve been very engaging on a wide range of topics and I think he would respect your opinion as much as anyone, added Braun.

Im just not in a position to know what might be in the classified documents, what else might be there that would not be relevant to this, might actually be harmful to national security, explained Dr. Collins.

Braun said he supports redacting whats necessary and then releasing what we can.

And then we can say, hey this is meaningful or there was nothing there but until we look at it, you wont know, said Braun.

I take your point, but I know the president is very interested also in seeing truth come out here, said Collins.

Why wasnt this something that was focused on from the beginning? asked reporter Kayla Sullivan.

Because it arose in a country thats not known for transparency, said Braun. He said he wants the United States to be a leader in transparency.

Something has changed in the dynamic over the last week or two, said Braun. And to me, it would be the ultimate cover up if you didnt pry further, especially with the information you house within your own intelligence agencies.

Braun said those agencies would include the Department of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security.

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Sen. Braun urges the release of U.S. COVID-19 origin info - WANE

ERs Rise to the Covid-19 Challenge: Teamwork between Engineers and Healthcare Providers Cuts ER Waiting Time  The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

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ERs Rise to the Covid-19 Challenge: Teamwork between Engineers and Healthcare Providers Cuts ER Waiting Time - The National Academies of Sciences,...

For children, the risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 is the same magnitude as the risk they face from the flu. But for parents, experts say, it's a matter of perspective. d3sign/Getty Images hide caption

For children, the risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 is the same magnitude as the risk they face from the flu. But for parents, experts say, it's a matter of perspective.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made a strong statement about the effectiveness of vaccines when it decided that fully vaccinated people don't need to wear masks in most circumstances. But it left some parents concerned about how the change might affect children too young to be vaccinated.

Dr. Paul Offit, who heads the vaccine education center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, says that the new mask guidance is mostly good news.

"But I think that has made this world a little less safe for young children," he says.

Even a vaccinated parent can occasionally get infected with the coronavirus. There's also a small risk that the virus can pass to an unvaccinated child.

But the risk that a child gets seriously ill is extremely small comparable to the risk that children face of having serious illness as a result of the flu.

To date, out of more than 74 million children in the United States, there have been about 300 COVID-19 deaths and a few thousand serious illnesses. By comparison, the CDC registered 188 flu-related deaths in children during the 2019-2020 flu season. (This past year, there was essentially no flu season at all.)

Hospitalization numbers look worse for COVID-19. But those numbers are inflated as a result of the CDC's reporting rules. The CDC requires every child admitted to a hospital to be tested for the coronavirus.

Dr. Roshni Mathew, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, says experience at her hospital found that 45% of the time, a child who tested positive for the coronavirus was not actually sick with COVID-19. The findings have been published online in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

In those cases, hospitalization was due to "a completely unrelated diagnosis, like appendicitis or femur fracture or something else," she says.

For children in particular, the risk of serious consequences from COVID-19 is the same magnitude as the risk they face from the flu, she says. But many parents seem more worried about the new and less familiar disease. That anxiety is heightened by the new guidelines on mask-wearing. But experts urge parents to try not to worry too much.

"If you stop going into stores because you're terrified you'll run into an unmasked person, that's probably overreacting," says Gretchen Chapman, a psychology professor who studies health conundrums like this at Carnegie Mellon University.

It's understandable why parents would feel that way, she says. Though these risks are very low, they're not zero. And people struggle to conceptualize the difference between small risks for example, something that's 1 in 1,000 versus 1 in 1 million.

"It doesn't seem that different to the person," Chapman says.

But it's also a matter of perspective. A tiny risk has a small impact on the population as a whole, but parents understandably aren't thinking in terms of the population as a whole.

"When you're a parent and you're thinking of your one or two kids, it's really all or nothing," Chapman says. "Of course, the probability is really, really low of that very bad event, but it's not zero."

The risk is continuing to decrease, as COVID-19 rates fall and the chance of encountering an unmasked person with an infection diminishes.

Soon, the whole question will be turned on its head. The challenge will be not to reassure parents about very low risks but to convince them to get their children vaccinated, to drive that low risk down even more. Right now, children 12 and older are eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, but the vaccines are being tested in younger children.

Once children are eligible, COVID-19 "becomes a vaccine-preventable infection," Mathew says, "so you'd take every opportunity to prevent every single pediatric death."

Only about two-thirds of children end up being vaccinated for the flu. And vaccination is important not just for their own sake, but because children are a major reason that the flu spreads rapidly through communities.

Health officials are likely to confront a similar challenge to convince parents to vaccinate their children against COVID-19.

You can contact NPR science correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

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Is My Child More Likely To Get COVID-19 Or The Flu? : Shots - Health News - NPR

(CNN)

As the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues in the United States, with people ages 12 and older receiving their shots, vaccine makers are now preparing for a next possible phase: booster doses.

Currently three coronavirus vaccines are authorized for emergency use in the United States the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for ages 12 and older, the two-dose Moderna vaccine for ages 18 and older and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines for ages 18 and older.

Researchers and health officials suspect that the immunity against Covid-19 these vaccines elicit in the body might wane over long periods of time say, possibly, after a year or more and might not protect as well against coronavirus variants that could emerge and evolve.

Therefore, a vaccinated person might need a booster dose of vaccine to stay protected against the original coronavirus strain and newly emerging variants somewhat similar to how a tetanus booster is recommended every 10 years or different flu vaccines are recommended each year.

Many people may be familiar with tetanus-toxoid vaccines that are recommended every 10 years thats a booster dose. Its reminding our immune system so that if we ever got exposed to that toxin, our immune system would remember it and respond very quickly, Dr. William Moss, professor and executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CNN on Friday.

In the case of Covid-19 vaccines it remains unknown for how long immune protection lasts, but vaccine developers and health officials know it may not be forever and that emerging variants could escape immunity.

There is a little nuance with Covid-19 vaccines, Moss said.

While typical booster doses use same vaccine someone previously received to remind the immune system about immunity to a pathogen, any future boosters for the Covid-19 shot could use different vaccines altogether.

Currently, the need for and timing for COVID-19 booster doses have not been established. No additional doses are recommended at this time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes on its website.

But Americans should prepare to have a Covid-19 vaccine booster shot within a year, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNNs Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

We have to see how long the protection lasts. We know it lasts at least six months, but well have to see, Murthy said. Its very possible, though, and people should be prepared for the fact that we may need a booster within a year.

Despite such predictions, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN the bottom line is we dont know.

Were preparing for the eventuality that we might need boosters, but I think weve got to be careful not to let the people know that inevitably, x number of months from now, everyones going to need a booster. Thats just not the case, Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said at a Washington Post Live event. We may not need it for quite a while.

Scientists at a number of companies that make Covid-19 vaccines have also predicted the need for boosters within a year but the scientific community is not in widespread agreement on this.

Were making extrapolations from incomplete data, Fauci told The Washington Post on Thursday.

So far, studies have shown that mRNA vaccines those made by Pfizer and Moderna maintain more than 90% efficacy six months after getting vaccinated. And scientists say its likely much longer.

Other studies have looked at antibodies in the lab. While a decline is expected over time, Fauci told the Post the steepness of that slope is unclear right now.

Experts say it is also unclear how these antibody levels correlate with real-world immunity, and to what extent other parts of the immune system such as T cells could factor into protection.

Whether booster coronavirus vaccine doses are modified or not, missing a booster dose if one is recommended in the future could leave someone less protected against Covid-19.

A person who skipped a booster is placing themselves at higher risk of getting infected, and getting disease from the SARS-Coronavirus-2, but I would also expect that theyre going to have some partial immunity and so they may be protected against more severe disease, Moss said. SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes Covid-19.

Its just a function of how much their immunity has waned or how different a variant is, he said. Theyre just at higher risk of infection and disease than someone who got the booster, but they have more immunity than someone who was never vaccinated.

Scientists are also currently investigating whether it makes a difference if someone gets the same type of vaccine as a booster as the original dose administered.

This question of mixing and matching certainly is relevant to booster doses, Moss said. Its also relevant to any two-dose vaccine schedule, and its also an area of active research.

Researchers in the United Kingdom reported last week that people who got mixed doses of coronavirus vaccines receiving a different vaccine type as a second dose than the first dose appear to be more likely to experience mild side effects such as fever, chills, fatigue or headache.

But the side effects following mix-and-match vaccinations were short-lived and there were no other safety concerns, the researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal.

As for booster doses in the future, I can very much envision a situation in which people might get a very different type of vaccine for that booster dose than they had originally, Moss said. The big question I have, I guess, is how much underlying scientific evidence are we going to have to support that to actually make it a recommendation? That I dont know yet, but its certainly likely to happen by default, just because perhaps the original vaccine is not available.

Currently, the CDC says, Covid-19 vaccines are not interchangeable and there has been no decision either in the US or globally on the need for booster doses yet, let alone which vaccine might be appropriate for any booster.

All three companies that currently have authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are investigating the potential use of boosters.

We are right now in the middle of these trials and the data are coming as we speak, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told Axios during a virtual event on Wednesday.

The data that I see coming, they are supporting the notion that likely there will be a need for a booster somewhere between eight and 12 months, Bourla said. But that remains to be seen and I believe in one, two months we will have enough data to speak about it with much higher scientific certainty.

The first dose of Pfizers coronavirus vaccine in the United States was administered on December 14, 2020 five months ago. As time goes on, if people received their second dose of vaccine eight months ago, they may need a third one, Bourla said. This could be coming sooner than later, I believe from September, October. But this is something, again, that the data need to confirm.

Moderna is currently conducting booster shot trials too.

The fight against the coronavirus pandemic is expected to continue through next year due to the emergence of variants, Dr. Stephen Hoge, president of Moderna, said during an earnings call earlier this month.

We think this is just the beginning, Hoge said. Therefore, were committed as a company to make as many updates to the vaccine, to add as many variants as we think are necessary, to ensure that when people receive a booster, it provides the broadest immune protection against the widest range of variants.

Johnson & Johnson is also looking into the potential for boosters.

We have ongoing and planned trials that will aid our assessment of the need for, and timing of, booster doses of our vaccine, according to an emailed statement Johnson & Johnson sent to CNN on Thursday.

Johnson & Johnsons coronavirus vaccine, along with Pfizers, Modernas, and four others, are being tested as seasonal boosters in a study called Cov-Boost being conducted by the UKs National Institute for Health Research and the University of Southhampton.

The biotechnology company Novavax has developed a coronavirus vaccine that its chief executive officer Stanley Erck believes could be used as a booster shot for people who have already been vaccinated. The company plans to apply for emergency use authorization of its vaccine in the United States in the third quarter of 2021.

In the US, I think it will be the booster for everyone, particularly if we get it out late in the third quarter, Erck told CNN last week. Its going to be time to start boosting whether its six months or at a year point.

The decision to use Covid-19 boosters is expected to involve two agencies the US Food and Drug Administration and the CDC and the regulatory process to get the shots into arms could vary depending on whether the booster is the same vaccine that was originally used or is a modified version.

So, if its the same vaccine, my understanding is that what would have to happen is that the CDC would have to recommend an additional dose with details around when that should occur, Moss said.

If its a modified vaccine, this is where things get interesting and I dont think we quite know, he said, but added that the regulatory process could be similar to what happens with flu vaccines each year.

Technically, whenever a vaccine like that is modified, its often considered a new vaccine and has to go through the whole process again. But there is a precedent, obviously, with influenza virus vaccines, not to do that, Moss said. So, the influenza vaccine each year doesnt have to go through a large Phase 3 trial.

Thats because the vaccine technology stays the same, and the only change is the flu virus itself that the vaccine targets to elicit immunity to a specific flu virus strain thats circulating.

Moss said thats what he expects could happen with modified coronavirus vaccines.

At this time, available information suggests that the FDA-authorized vaccines remain effective in protecting the American public against currently circulating strains of SARS-CoV-2. However, if there is an emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variant(s) in the U.S. that are moderately or fully resistant to the antibody response elicited by the current generation of COVID-19 vaccines, it may be necessary to tailor the vaccines to the variant(s), an FDA spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.

The FDA updated its guidance for vaccine developers in February, noting that manufacturers should generate the data to support authorization of a modified vaccine.

Further discussions will be necessary to decide whether in the future, modified COVID-19 vaccines may be authorized without the need for clinical studies, according to the guidance. But overall, vaccine developers are encouraged to perform exploratory studies on modified vaccines to boost immune responses.

CNNs Virginia Langmaid, Michael Nedelman and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.

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Covid-19 vaccine boosters could be near. Here's what you ...

A syringe containing either CureVacs COVID-19 vaccine or a placebo is ready to be used at a trial site in Brussels on 2 March.

By Martin EnserinkMay. 24, 2021 , 6:00 PM

Sciences COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation.

Ive been wrestling with a dilemma the past few weeks: Do I stay in the COVID-19 vaccine trial Ive been enrolled in for 4 monthsand which I very much hope will be successfulor do I drop out, take an already proven vaccine, and protect myself sooner? Its a question thousands of trial participants have faced over the past 6 months but that you dont hear much about.

I knew I might face this dilemma since 21 January, the day I drove to a behemoth academic center in the southeastern part of Amsterdam, my hometown, to enroll in the HERALD study, a large efficacy trial of a candidate COVID-19 vaccine produced by the company CureVac. I sat down in a small basement room with an infectious diseases physician who provided some basic information about the study, gave me a consent form to sign, and carried out a physical examination.

Then came an important moment: I was going to be randomly assigned to receive either the experimental vaccine or a placebo. The researcher clicked a few buttons on her computer, then read a message that had popped up on her screen: Thank you. The subject has been successfully randomized.

Half an hour later, a nurse gave me an injection. Neither of us knew what was in it: 12 micrograms of RNA, packaged in tiny fatty bubbles, that might save me from getting sick or dyingor a few milliliters of saltwater. "It's like a wheel of fortune," she said.

It was a worthwhile gamble for me: I had a 50% chance of receiving a candidate vaccine at a time when case numbers in the Netherlands were high, the more transmissible variant that first emerged in the United Kingdom was taking over, and it might be many months before I was eligible for a proven vaccine, as doses were scarce in Europe. The chance at protection aside, I was happy to play a tiny part in one of the great scientific endeavors of my lifetimeand, with luck, help another vaccine cross the finish line.

CureVac looked promising enough. In 2020, scientists had shown it worked in hamsters and monkeys. A phase 1 study had found mostly moderate side effects, and the 12-microgram dose appeared to trigger a good immune response in human volunteers. Although a latecomer in the immunization race, the vaccine, named CVnCoV, has a potential advantage over the two other messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, developed by the Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration and Moderna, which require extremely low temperatures to remain stable. CVnCoV, in contrast, can be kept at 5C, the temperature of an ordinary refrigerator, for at least 3 months, and 1 day at room temperature. Thats a huge advantage, especially in developing countries. (Pfizer and Moderna are working on less fragile formulations as well.)

CureVac, headquartered in Tbingen, Germany, seemed set to play a big role in Europe as well, if it managed to win authorization from the European Medicines Agency quickly. The European Commission ordered 225 million doses in November 2020, with an option for another 180 million. To help meet expected demand, the company teamed up with Bayer in January.

But first, the trial would have to show it worked. Launched in December 2020 in Germany, HERALD ultimately enrolled more than 35,000 people in four European and six Latin American countries.

Being a research subject was uneventful. I had no side effects at all from that first shot or from the second one, 4 weeks later. My participation in the trial did not lead me to take more risks, a well-known phenomenon in vaccine studies. At times I even wondered how useful I was for a test of the vaccines ability to prevent infection, given my low exposure risk: I work at home and was cautious about social contacts. I did go back to the hospital for a COVID-19 test once, in February, when I had what seemed very mild symptoms. The test came back negative.

The written information I received about the study did not discuss the options should a participant become eligible for a proven vaccine. And initially, it looked like I might not have that choice. Vaccination in Europe has moved slowly, and the study would likely report the first data within a few months, the study team told me, before I became eligible for an authorized vaccine. CureVac planned to do the final analysis of its study after 185 confirmed COVID-19 infections had occurred, according to the clinical trial protocol, but the first interim analysis was scheduled after just 56 cases, which should not take long. (Efficacy is calculated by comparing the number of cases of symptomatic disease in the vaccine and placebo groups.)

If the trial reached a clear conclusion and was halted, I would be unblinded. If CVnCoV had been shown to work, as the researchers expected, I would have essentially two options: If I had received placebo shots, I would be offered the vaccine, and Id be safe. If I had received CVnCoV, I had been safe all along and wouldnt need anything else.

A CureVac FAQ, still posted, says the company expects the first data from an interim analysis in the first quarter of this year. But that deadline came and went, and in April, the pace of vaccination in my country began to pick up. Having started with people ages 90 and older, municipal health services were working their way down the birth cohorts, and as the weeks went by, it seemed increasingly likely that my year, 1964, would come up before any announcement from Tbingen.

If that happened, I could also be unblinded, the researchers had said, but it would open a different set of questions. If it turned out that I received CVnCoV shots, I could be altruistic and stay in the trial until its completion, knocking on wood that the vaccine worked as well as the other mRNA vaccines; or I could err on the side of safety, drop out, and get whatever the government had planned for me. If it turned out I had the placebo, I had the same two options but staying in would be dicier still, because I would be completely unprotected. (The trial would not give me the vaccine in that case, because its value had not yet been shown.)

I asked two scientists who had also volunteered in COVID-19 vaccine trials for advice. Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a subject in Pfizers efficacy trial, says he was asked in an email in December 2020 whether he wanted to be unblinded, after an analysis of trial data showed the Pfizer vaccine was highly effective. I was contemplating just staying blinded, because of course, Im a data point, Krammer said. But there were a lot of COVID-19 cases back then. Besides, if it turned out he had the placebo, Pfizer would offer Krammer the shot, and he would remain a data point, but as part of the trials other arm. Krammer chose to be unblinded, learned he had a placebo, and received the vaccine in January. He is still in the study.

My situation was different because CureVac did not have efficacy data yet. Krammer said staying in would be noble but that I should also think about myself. Signing up for a trial is already a very, very helpful thing, he said. Nobody can expect you to stay in if there are [vaccines] available that will protect you from getting severe disease or from dying. He pointed out that dropping out now would not void my participation altogether: The past 4 months were already part of the data. And this wasnt just about me, he added: What if you stay in the placebo group and you get infected and you infect somebody else and that person dies?

Virologist John Moore of Weill Cornell Medical College faced a slightly different dilemma. He had volunteered for an efficacy study in the United States and Mexico of the vaccine produced by Novavax, which began in late December 2020. Moore says he decided to stay in the study even after he became eligible for a proven vaccine at his hospital at some point in February or March.

Interim data from a study in the United Kingdom in late January showed Novavaxs shot had 89% efficacy, and on 5 April, the company announced that both the U.K and U.S.-Mexican studies would switch to a crossover design, meaning all participants would be offered two more shots. Those who first received a placebo would now receive the vaccine, and vice versa, but everybody would remain blinded. For participants, the advantage is that they know theyre all protected; for the company, its a way to keep more people in the trial, allowing it, for example, to do better studies of duration of immunity and of the responses that correlate with protection.

Moore accepted the offer to cross over and received two more shots, the last one on 11 May; he feels confident that hes protected now, but he remained unvaccinated for 4 to 6 weeks longer than he would have been if he had dropped out. I didnt think that delay would cost me very much, he says. But if it had been 4 to 6 months, then of course my dynamic would have been very different.

CureVac has not said whether it will move to a crossover design. In fact, it has not said much at all about the dilemmas volunteers face. Moore, too, said I should make a decision based on my own circumstances: You can leave a trial. Its not a prison.

On 16 May, my age group became eligible for an mRNA vaccine. I went online right away to lock in appointments for the first and second doses. I had yet to make my decision but I figured I could always cancel them.

As it happened, I had a scheduled appointment with the trial team 4 days later, for a physical exam on day 120 after my enrollment. During the visit, my fourth, I told the researcher that my turn had come up, and we briefly ran through the possible scenarios. Then I asked her to unblind me. She swiveled her computer screen in my direction so I could see the steps it required. And there, suddenly, it was: placebo.

I didnt have to think much longer. Im looking forward to being safe from COVID-19. I want my 2019 life backor something that resembles it. Summer is coming, and even with my two scheduled appointments, it will take until early July to be fully protected. Id like to drop out of the trial, I said. The physician said she understood; it was what she would recommend.

Today, I biked to one of Amsterdams makeshift vaccination centers, inside a massive, empty conference center, and received my first Pfizer-BioNtech shot. The wheel of fortune had not given me what I had hoped for, but I still felt very lucky.

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I'm subject NL002-0060 and I'm dropping out of my COVID-19 vaccine trial - Science Magazine

The Big 12 Conference is distributing about $345 million of revenue to its 10 schools, the second year in a row that figure has been lower because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each school will get about $34.5 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year, down from $37.7 million announced at this time last year when COVID-19 numbers were still on the rise and the NCAA had canceled showcase events including the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said Tuesday, at the end of two days of league board meetings held virtually, that overall revenue was about $50 million short of what had been expected before COVID-19. But considering the uncertainty of things when the current school year began last fall, before widespread vaccinations and lower infection rates, things could have been much worse.

"Looking at it at this time last year or even a couple, three months later than this, if we could have signed up for $35 million, we would have done it in a heartbeat," Bowlsby said.

While acknowledging there are still variables and unknowns, Bowlsby anticipates Big 12 revenue distribution pushing above $40 million per school next year.

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The revenue shortfall of about $50 million this school year was primarily because of reduced money from TV contracts, lower ticket sales and not having a team in the College Football Playoff. There were restrictions on the number of the fans, if any, who could attend games. There were also fewer games to televise during football season.

Each Big 12 football team had a 10-game regular season schedule, with only one nonconference game around its round-robin league schedule. Four league teams played only eight of nine scheduled conference games.

The Big 12 didn't provide supplemental revenue distribution like the Southeastern Conference did last week by giving each of its 14 member schools $23 million to help offset the financial impact of COVID-19 on their athletic programs.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 board, made up of the schools' presidents and chancellors, decided last summer to help on an institution-by-institution basis, as needed, rather than an outright supplement to all of them.

"They didn't want to have to mortgage any of our future in order to take a loan or borrow against TV money or any of those things," Bowlsby said.

The SEC said it planned to use future conference revenues from increased media rights fees to pay for the one-time supplement to the 2020-21 fiscal year payouts. The SEC will begin allocating a portion of those media rights fees starting in 2025 to pay for the supplemental distribution.

Big 12 revenues had increased 13 years in a row before falling to about $37.7 million for each school for the 2019-2020 school year, about $1.1 million lower than the previous year.

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Amid COVID-19 pandemic, Big 12's distribution of revenue to schools will be lower yet again - ESPN

Following months of improvement in COVID-19 hospitalizations and with nearly three million vaccine doses administered, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday signed an updated public health emergency order that removes all remaining business capacity restrictions and the vast majority of masking requirements. This week, Louisiana hit its lowest level of COVID-19 hospitalizations since the very early days of the pandemic.

Since March 2020, the Governor has issued public health emergency orders that allowed the state to effectively respond to the COVID-19 threat, support local governments and slow the spread of COVID-19 to protect Louisianas ability to deliver healthcare. At the peak of hospitalizations, during the third COVID-19 spike in January 2021, as many as 2,069 people were hospitalized statewide at one time.

For nearly 15 months, Louisiana has operated under necessary public health restrictions designed to save lives by slowing the spread of COVID-19, Gov. Edwards said. Thanks to the wide availability of vaccines and the 1.4 million Louisianans who already have gone sleeves up and after hitting a new low in hospitalizations, the order I have signed today contains the fewest state-mandated restrictions ever, though local governments and businesses may still and should feel empowered to take precautions that they see as necessary and prudent, including mandating masks. To be clear: COVID-19 is not over for our state or for our country. Anyone who has gotten the vaccine is now fully protected and can enter summer with confidence. Unfortunately, people who have not yet taken their COVID-19 vaccine remain at risk as more contagious COVID variants continue to spread and as we enter into hurricane season. Because you never know when you may have to leave home and utilize a shelter as the result of bad weather, I encourage all people to take the COVID-19 vaccine as the first step to getting prepared and keeping you and your loved ones safe.

Masks will be required in educational settings until the end of the current academic semester at which time state and local oversight boards will set their own masking policies.The Louisiana Department of Health will continue to revise guidance and masking recommendations for summer camps, following CDC guidance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that it was safe for vaccinated people to not wear masks in most settings.

Under order of the State Health Officer, masks continue to be required in healthcare settings, which is a federal mandate. In addition, masks are required on public transportation and in jails and prisons, as per federal guidance.

Local governments and businesses may choose to have stronger restrictions than the state does and the Governor encourages Louisianans to respect all local or business mandates, especially when it comes to masking.

The Governor, the Louisiana Department of Health, the CDC and numerous public health officials recommend that unvaccinated individuals continue to wear a face mask in public and when they are with people outside of their households to reduce their likelihood of contracting COVID-19.

Right now, there are three safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines widely available in nearly 1,500 locations across Louisiana. All Louisianans 18 and older are eligible for any of the approved vaccines. Louisianans between the ages of 12 and 17 are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine only.

According to the CDC, more than 1.4 million Louisianans are fully vaccinated, around 30.5 percent of the population. The most vaccinated population, by age, is people 65 and older. Nearly 72 percent of people 65 and older in Louisiana are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

To get your questions answered, find a provider or event near you, get your appointment scheduled or speak directly with a medical professional, just call the COVID Vaccine Hotline at 855-453-0774. The hotline is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

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With COVID-19 Hospitalizations Dropping to their Lowest Point, Gov. Edwards Signs Updated Public Health Emergency Order Ending Most Restrictions |...

Official counts

26.9 million

Reported cases

Data as of May 24

404.2 million

Estimated infections

15 infections per reported case with an infection fatality rate of 0.15%

539.0 million

Estimated infections

1.6 million

Estimated deaths

20 infections per reported case with an infection fatality rate of 0.30%

700.7 million

Estimated infections

4.2 million

Estimated deaths

26 infections per reported case with an infection fatality rate of 0.60%

The official Covid-19 figures in India grossly understate the true scale of the pandemic in the country. Last week, India recorded the largest daily death toll for any country during the pandemic a figure that is most likely still an undercount.

Even getting a clear picture of the total number of infections in India is hard because of poor record-keeping and a lack of widespread testing. Estimating the true number of deaths requires a second layer of extrapolation, depending on the share of those infected who end up dying.

In consultation with more than a dozen experts, The New York Times has analyzed case and death counts over time in India, along with the results of large-scale antibody tests, to arrive at several possible estimates for the true scale of devastation in the country.

Even in the least dire of these, estimated infections and deaths far exceed official figures. More pessimistic ones show a toll on the order of millions of deaths the most catastrophic loss anywhere in the world.

Indias official Covid statistics report 26,948,800 cases and 307,231 deaths as of May 24.

Even in countries with robust surveillance during this pandemic, the number of infections is probably much higher than the number of confirmed cases because many people have contracted the virus but have not been tested for it. On Friday, a report by the World Health Organization estimated that the global death toll of Covid-19 may be two or three times higher than reported.

The undercount of cases and deaths in India is most likely even more pronounced, for technical, cultural and logistical reasons. Because hospitals are overwhelmed, many Covid deaths occur at home, especially in rural areas, and are omitted from the official count, said Kayoko Shioda, an epidemiologist at Emory University. Laboratories that could confirm the cause of death are equally swamped, she said.

Additionally, other researchers have found, there are few Covid tests available; often families are unwilling to say that their loved ones have died of Covid; and the system for keeping vital records in India is shaky at best. Even before Covid-19, about four out of five deaths in India were not medically investigated.

404.2 million

Estimated infections

Reported number of cases: 26.9 million as of May 24.

2.0x the current reported total of 300,000 as of May 24.

To arrive at more plausible estimates of Covid infections and deaths in India, we used data from three nationwide antibody tests, called serosurveys.

In each serosurvey, a subset of the population (about 30,000 of Indias 1.4 billion people) is examined for Covid-19 antibodies. Once researchers have figured out the share of those people whose blood is found to contain antibodies, they extrapolate that data point, called the seroprevalence, to arrive at an estimate for the whole population.

The antibody tests offer one way to correct official records and arrive at better estimates of total infections and deaths. The reason is simple: Nearly everyone who contracts Covid-19 develops antibodies to fight it, leaving traces of the infection that the surveys can pick up.

Even a wide-scale serosurvey has its limitations, said Dan Weinberger, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health. Indias population is so large and diverse that its unlikely any serosurvey could capture the full range.

Still, Dr. Weinberger said, the surveys provide a fresh way to calculate more realistic death figures. It gives us a starting point, he said. I think that an exercise like this can put some bounds on the estimates.

Even in the most conservative estimates of the pandemics true toll, the number of infections is several times higher than official reports suggest. Our first, best-case scenario assumes a true infection count 15 times higher than the official number of recorded cases. It also assumes an infection fatality rate, or I.F.R. the share of all those infected who have died of 0.15 percent. Both of these numbers are on the low end of the estimates we collected from experts.

The result is a death toll roughly double whats been reported to date.

539.0 million

Estimated infections

Reported number of cases: 26.9 million as of May 24.

1.6 million

Estimated deaths

5.3x the current reported total of 300,000 as of May 24.

The latest national seroprevalence study in India ended in January, before the current wave, and estimated roughly 26 infections per reported case. This scenario uses a slightly lower figure, in addition to a higher infection fatality rate of 0.3 percent in line with what has been estimated in the United States at the end of 2020. In this scenario, the estimated number of deaths in India is more than five times the official reported count.

As with most countries, total infections and deaths are undercounted in India, said Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy. The best way to arrive at the most likely scenario would be based on triangulation of data from different sources, which would indicate roughly 500 to 600 million infections.

700.7 million

Estimated infections

Reported number of cases: 26.9 million as of May 24.

4.2 million

Estimated deaths

13.7x the current reported total of 300,000 as of May 24.

This scenario uses a slightly higher estimate of true infections per known case, to account for the current wave. The infection fatality rate is also higher double the rate of the previous scenario, at 0.6 percent to take into account the tremendous stress that Indias health system has been under during the current wave. Because hospital beds, oxygen and other medical necessities have been scarce in recent weeks, a greater share of those who contract the virus may be dying, driving the infection fatality rate higher.

269.5 million

Estimated infections

Reported number of cases: 26.9 million as of May 24.

0.9x the current reported total of 300,000 as of May 24.

Because there are two different unknowns, there is a wide range of plausible values for the true infection and death counts in India, Dr. Shioda said. Public health research usually provides a wide uncertainty range, she said. And providing that kind of uncertainty to readers is one of the most important things researchers do.

Explore possible scenarios for yourself in the interactive above.

So far, India has conducted three national serosurveys during the Covid-19 pandemic. All three have found that the true number of infections drastically exceeded the number of confirmed cases at the time in question.

5,490,000

74,300,000

13.5x

10,400,000

271,000,000

26.1x

Note: The estimated over actual figure is calculated by comparing the number of estimated infections with the cumulative case total at the end of the serosurvey period.

At the time the results of each survey were released, they indicated infection prevalence between 13.5 and 28.5 times higher than Indias reported case counts at those points in the pandemic. The severity of underreporting may have increased or decreased since the last serosurvey was completed, but if it has held steady, that would suggest that almost half of Indias population may have had the virus.

Dr. Shioda said that even the large multipliers found in the serosurveys may rely on undercounts of the true number of infections. The reason, she said, is that the concentration of antibodies drops in the months after an infection, making them harder to detect. The number would probably be higher if the surveys were able to detect everyone who has, in fact, been infected, she said.

Those people who were infected a while ago may have not been captured by this number, Dr. Shioda said. So this is probably an underestimate of the true proportion of the population that has been infected.

Like nearly all researchers contacted for this article, however, Dr. Shioda said the estimator provided a good way to get a sense of the wide range of possible death tolls in India.

Jeffrey Shaman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, said that the slider, or sliding calculator, is useful for exploring the consequences of different values for the infection fatality ratio and the ratio of the real number of infections to confirmed cases. Those are the two measures that need to be estimated, Dr. Shaman said.

Many of the infection fatality rate estimates that have been published were calculated before the most recent wave in India, so it could be that the overall I.F.R. is actually higher after accounting for the most recent wave. The rate also varies greatly by age: Typically, the measure rises for older populations. Indias population skews young its median age is around 29 which could mean I.F.R. is lower there than in countries with larger older populations.

There is also extreme variability within the country in terms of both infection fatality rate and seroprevalence. In addition to the three national serosurveys, there have been more than 60 serosurveys done at the local and regional level, according to SeroTracker, a website that compiles serosurvey data from around the world.

Delhi

Mumbai

Chennai

Kolkata

In a paper examining infection rates using serosurvey data from three locations in India, Dr. Paul Novosad, an associate professor of economics at Dartmouth College, found huge variability depending on the population being sampled. We found that age-specific I.F.R. among returning lockdown migrants was much higher than in richer countries, he said. In contrast, we found a much lower first-wave I.F.R. than richer countries in the Southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

In a country as large as India, even a small fluctuation in infection fatality rates could mean a difference of hundreds of thousands of deaths, as seen in the estimates above.

While estimates can vary over time and from region to region, one thing is clear beyond all doubt: The pandemic in India is much larger than the official figures suggest.

Read this article:

Just How Big Could India's True Covid Toll Be? - The New York Times

National Life to host COVID-19 vaccination clinic

Vermont Business Magazine National Life will host a COVID-19 vaccination clinic this week, which will be free and open to the public, in support of GovernorPhil Scotts commitment to getting more than 80 percent of the eligible population vaccinated for at least the first time.

The clinic will take place inside the companys cafeteria at 1 National Life Drive on Friday from 9 amto 3 pm. The state Agency of Human Services and the Vermont National Guard are organizing all of the details. Other large firms in the state are also being asked to host sites.

National Life offered its Montpelier headquarters to match the governors desire to reopen the state fully as soon as a minimum number of shots had been administered.

We share Governor Scotts goal of getting Vermont back to work, said Mehran Assadi, National Lifes Chairman, President and CEO. The state has done a great job of organizing this vaccination campaign. National Life wants to do its part to get us over the top. Were glad to welcome anyone who can make it on Friday.

There is plenty of parking at National Life, which can be reached by taking a right at the first light off Exit 8 of Interstate 89. Signs will be posted to guide visitors to the appropriate entrance from the parking lots.

National Life is here to bring you peace of mind. Weve been keeping our promises since 1848. Believe in tomorrow. Do good today. Learn more atNationalLife.com

Source: Montpelier, Vermont National Life. May 25, 2021

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National Life to host COVID-19 vaccination clinic - Vermont Biz

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) Effective Saturday, May 29th, the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency in Northampton will end, which coincides with the lifting of restrictions statewide ordered by Governor Baker.

On Saturday all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Massachusetts will end, including the face mask order with some exceptions where face coverings will continue to be mandated. Exceptions include: healthcare facilities, congregate care settings, shared transportation and public transportation, Pre-K, elementary, and secondary education settings with the exception of outdoor activities such as recess, physical education, and extracurricular sports.

The most recent CDC guidelines advise individuals who have been fully vaccinated meaning its been two weeks since your second dose of the vaccine do not need to wear a mask in most settings, with some exceptions. Detailed information about the revised face-covering mandate in Massachusetts can be found on the states website.

These guidelines do not apply to people who are not vaccinated. People who have not received any COVID-19 vaccination should continue to wear masks in most public set COVID-19. This guidance is also in place to protect others around them, especially those who are also not vaccinated and therefore at risk.

While there are now many situations where it is safe to not wear a mask, it is a personal choice each person must make according to what is best for their own comfort and health situation. Some vaccinated people should still take precautions and keep their masks on, particularly those with severe immunosuppression and other severe health issues.

COVID-19 continues to be a reportable disease. All workplaces, businesses, food service establishments, healthcare settings, schools, and institutes of higher education are required to report all cases of COVID-19 to their local board of health and are required to comply with contact tracing efforts.

Link:

Northampton to lift all COVID-19 emergency restrictions - WWLP.com