Category: Covid-19

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KXAN reporters discuss surviving COVID-19, covering effects of pandemic a year after first case reported - KXAN.com

Though access to COVID-19 vaccines remains limited, polling suggests a slice of Americans want to wait and see how the shots work for other people before they get vaccinated themselves.

But experts say that getting the vaccine as soon as its available to you will be vital for protecting yourself and others, stopping virus variants in their tracks, and resuming some level of normalcy.

The share of people in this wait and see category has declined over time, according to polling by the health-policy think tank Kaiser Family Foundation, dropping from 39% in December to 31% in January. In February, the most recent survey, it stood at 22%. This happened alongside a gradual increase in the share of respondents (most recently 55%) reporting theyd either gotten at least one dose or would get the vaccine as soon as possible.

Black adults (34%), young adults aged 18 to 29 (33%), Hispanic adults (26%), adults without a college degree (25%), and non-health essential workers (25%) had the highest shares of respondents in the wait-and-see group.

The most common concerns in the wait-and-see cohort were the potential for serious side effects; the possibility of getting COVID-19 from the vaccine, which health authorities say cannot happen; the prospect of missing work due to side effects; and the potential need to pay out of pocket for the vaccine, though the vaccines are free. A quarter of wait-and-seers said a one-dose vaccine would make them more likely to get their shot.

Susan Lopez, a hospitalist affiliated with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, says community members have raised questions about waiting to get vaccinated against COVID-19 during every one of the 12 vaccine-outreach sessions she has done.

I get a lot of questions about long-term effects, like months and years later on, especially with regards to mRNA vaccines since they keep hearing its new technology, Lopez told MarketWatch. Many people also feel overwhelmed by the technological logistics of registering for a vaccine appointment, she added.

Lopez said she tells community members who say they want to wait that shes there to provide them with the information they need to make the decision best for them. But she reassures them that no safety steps were skipped in the vaccine-development process, that all of the vaccines have been studied, and that researchers will continue to gather safety information.

Lopez stressed the importance of asking people why they want to wait rather than assuming. Healthcare professionals should acknowledge that those feelings are valid, she said, while also answering questions and providing information.

About one-fifth of respondents to KFFs latest survey said they definitely wouldnt get vaccinated (15%) or would do so only if required (7%). But KFF chief executive Drew Altman likened the wait-and-see cohort to persuadable swing voters. He reasoned they should be a key focus in efforts to shore up vaccine confidence, especially in Black and Latino communities where the need for building vaccine confidence and addressing information needs and barriers to access is the most urgent.

He also predicted many may get their shots after seeing people they know get vaccinated without incident.

The ones whose minds can be more readily changed are in the wait-and-see group and hopefully all of their minds can be changed, said David Abramson, a clinical associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health who is doing research on vaccine hesitancy and was not involved in KFFs research.

If that was the case, wed get closer to an 80% [coverage] rate, and that would be terrific, Abramson added. Wed be at the herd-immunity rates that wed want to be at.

The Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency-use authorization to the two-dose Pfizer PFE, +0.39% -BioNTech BNTX, -0.30% and Moderna MRNA, -3.11% vaccines, as well as the one-shot Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.31% vaccine.

As of Thursday afternoon, 64 million people in the U.S. (19.3% of the total population) had received at least one vaccine dose, and 33.8 million (10.2% of the population) were fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Whats the rush to get vaccinated? For starters, the longer you wait, the longer you arent protected from COVID-19, said Alison Buttenheim, a behavioral epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

People tend to have concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy, she added, but many dont appropriately weigh the risks of the disease theyre trying to prevent. Its really easy to only focus on the benefits and potential harms and risks of the vaccine, and just ignore the disease, she said. We all misestimate our risk.

William Parker, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago with firsthand experience caring for patients with severe COVID-19, says he emphasizes to wait-and-see people that they dont want to wind up seeing him in the hospital.

I generally scare them about how bad COVID can be, Parker said. Whats so exciting about the vaccines is they are tremendously effective at preventing these really bad outcomes hospitalizations and deaths.

The virus had killed more than 530,000 people in the U.S. as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The urgency stems from a need to starve the virus of hosts, Abramson said. Public-health professionals want to cut down the number of people in a community who are potential carriers and transmitters of the virus, he said, so to the extent that more and more people get vaccinated, that will soon begin to suppress the virus population itself.

Health professionals also want to rapidly suppress the number of people sick with COVID-19, Abramson added and for every day that people wait and do not get vaccinated, thats one more day that they have at least the possibility of getting sick, and in the worst-case scenario, being hospitalized and maybe even dying.

To me, speed is really the answer here, he said.

The threat of COVID-19 variants also makes vaccination a time-sensitive goal, experts say. The variant first identified in South Africa, for example, is more infectious and appears to make coronavirus vaccines less effective. A senior U.K. scientist warned last month that the far-more-infectious variant first identified in the U.K. may sweep the world.

As the virus has more time and more hosts to interact with, there is a greater possibility that additional variants will emerge, or the variants that are currently circulating will get more of a foothold in the population and become more of a serious issue, Abramson said. Its really just a mathematical game of reducing the number of potential hosts.

Lopez added, Every opportunity that we have to protect people earlier rather than later is going to be a chance to save a life or to save someone from having long-term COVID effects.

The CDC said this week that fully vaccinated people can gather indoors and unmasked with other fully vaccinated people. They can also do so with unvaccinated people from one other household, assuming no one in that household is at heightened COVID-19 risk.

(Fully vaccinated people, meaning those who had their second or only vaccine dose at least two weeks earlier, still need to wear masks and practice physical distancing in public settings, the guidance added.)

The CDC guidance, along with any additional state-level guidance, will provide a pathway back to normalcy for many people, Abramson said. The faster people get vaccinated, the faster they will be able to take advantage of changes in distancing protocols, protective measures, etc., he said.

My wife and I are fully vaccinated, [and] one of my colleagues and his wife are fully vaccinated, so we all had dinner together, Parker added. Thats totally acceptable once youre fully vaccinated.

And from a herd-immunity standpoint, Buttenheim said, the quicker we can get to 70% or 80% coverage in the country, the quicker we can pick up our lives again and, if this is important to you, keep vulnerable people safe.

One altruistic reason to get vaccinated as soon as the shot is available to you is to set a visible example for others, particularly if youre from a group thats experiencing high levels of vaccine hesitancy or potential delay, Buttenheim added.

Were really social creatures, and we definitely look around our social environments to get cues on what to do, she said.

Experts have also raised concerns about Americans passing up the vaccine theyre first offered and waiting for a more effective option the result of disparate topline vaccine-efficacy numbers that scientists say shouldnt be directly compared.

The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines boast a roughly 95% efficacy rate, but their trials were conducted prior to rising concerns about coronavirus variants, against which J&Js 66%-efficacious viral vector-based vaccine was tested. The global J&J efficacy figure also obscures the vaccines 72% efficacy in the U.S. and 85% efficacy against severe disease.

While the two mRNA-based vaccines are different from the J&J vaccine in several key ways, all three are effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death the measures that matter most, according to public-health experts.

The information I give [people] is essentially, no matter which vaccine you get, its preventing hospitalization and death so the best one is going to be the one they can get to first, Lopez said.

Buttenheim agreed. We just want people to get the vaccine that theyre offered, she said. Theyre all great.

Also read: Americans debate what COVID-19 vaccine they want, but Fauci says to take whats available to you

Read more from the original source:

Fewer people take a 'wait and see' approach to COVID-19 vaccine here's what changed their minds - MarketWatch

The Duke Blue Devils are out of the 2021 ACC tournament after a positive COVID-19 test within their men's basketball program, the conference announced Thursday. The Blue Devils, who were scheduled to play Florida State in the ACC quarterfinals on Thursday, have been eliminated from the event, which is scheduled to run through Saturday. This marks the highest-profile COVID-19-related cancellation or postponement during a 2020-21 college basketball season marked by altered schedules, team pauses and general logistical issues throughout the sport.

The news also raises a number of questions that will reverberate throughout college basketball in the coming hours and days. Is Duke's season over and its NCAA tournament hopes dashed? Will other ACC teams be impacted by the news? How will the conference and other leagues handle the remainder of their tournaments? What will such a situation mean if it occurs in the 2021 NCAA tournament, scheduled to run through April 5? ESPN.com's college basketball team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello and John Gasaway examined all of the basketball, non-basketball and historical implications of Thursday's news:

At this point, we don't know exactly who tested positive or when. The school announced it was a member of the program's Tier 1 personnel but offered no details.

-- Jeff Borzello

Yes, it is very likely. For deeper analysis of Duke's place on the bubble and how the end of its season could affect others, visit Bubble Watch.

-- John Gasaway

It's not impossible for Duke to be cleared to play in the NCAA tournament. If the rest of the roster continued to test negative (assuming only one person tested positive on Thursday), they could still test negative for seven consecutive days and therefore be able to travel to Indianapolis on Sunday or Monday. Contact tracing would have knocked players out of Thursday's game, but that doesn't necessarily mean they would've tested positive.

2 Related

If Duke was one of the last four teams out, it could technically serve as a replacement team. Per NCAA guidelines, those teams are asked to stay on campus and continue to test. The guidelines requiring seven consecutive negative tests do not change for them. But it's unclear how a positive test for a replacement candidate about a week out from the event would affect its candidacy, assuming Duke would even want to be included. If the Blue Devils are picked on Selection Sunday, the same protocols remain. At least one coach who spoke with ESPN said he doesn't believe Duke is done yet based on both scenarios.

That said, it appears that Duke's season is over. Duke AD Kevin White said in a statement the cancellation "will end our 2020-21 season." Mike Kryzewski's statement says, "I loved the 2020-21 Duke Basketball team and was honored to be their coach," which doesn't sound like something you'd say if you expected to keep playing this season. But it could be interesting to see what happens on Sunday.

-- Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf

Years from now, when this is safely put in the past, we may reflect on a remarkable fact. In each of two consecutive years, Duke pulled out of the ACC tournament before any other competitor. The first time it was a free and ultimately wise decision. The second time it was by necessity.

This puts a stop, of course, to a streak of NCAA tournament appearances for the Blue Devils dating to 1996. As for other blue-chip programs, it would appear that this will also be the first NCAA bracket since 1976 that will not include either Duke or Kentucky. The Wildcats lost to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament on Thursday.

-- John Gasaway

The situation might be different in the NCAA tournament. First, any team that enters the "controlled environment" in Indianapolis has to have seven consecutive negative daily tests. NCAA officials have announced that no teams will be replaced once the event starts. On Wednesday, however, as the selection committee commenced deliberations, Dan Gavitt, senior vice president of men's basketball, clarified that any team with five "healthy" players can proceed. Now, contact tracing guidelines could eliminate individuals in a circumstance similar to what Duke faced too. But a positive test that does not completely neutralize an entire roster will not necessarily end a program's season once the NCAA tournament begins.

-- Myron Medcalf

The biggest difference between the ACC and NCAA tournament protocols is that the NCAA requires seven consecutive negative tests before traveling to Indianapolis. As a result, the expectation is that this type of situation won't happen during the NCAA tournament. Moreover, Duke was traveling back and forth from Durham because the school thought it was safer than staying in Greensboro; that also won't happen during the NCAA tournament.

-- Jeff Borzello

I'm sure every league in the country -- especially the one-bid leagues -- is nervous right now. Duke had avoided positive tests all season with the assistance of private facilities and significant resources, two things most schools lack. Commissioners around the country have said they'll push forward. But they also run the risk of eliminating one or more teams from the field since the seven-day window for negative tests begins Friday.

This is the nightmare. If it can happen to Duke, it can happen to anyone. And in the one-bid leagues, a team will be replaced by an alternate if there are positive tests. In the Power 5 leagues, positive tests could ruin a team's shot at acing the NCAA's seven-day testing window prior to Indianapolis.

The protocols seem to be set in these leagues. But the level of caution and concern will rise if there are positive tests in the coming days. And every person who for that reason wanted the conference tournaments to be canceled is shaking their head. The gamble could prove costly.

-- Myron Medcalf

The ACC is proceeding as scheduled aside from canceling the Duke-Florida State quarterfinal game. Florida State will advance to the semifinals to face the winner of North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech, while Duke is going home.

One ACC coach scheduled to play Thursday told ESPN he doesn't believe Duke's situation will affect the rest of the field because every team has been strictly isolated leading up to each game. Those teams also tested negative in advance of Thursday's matchups. So, like the rest of the season, one canceled game will probably not disrupt everything else.

-- Jeff Borzello

Louisville released a statement saying it tested all of its Tier 1 individuals following Wednesday night's game and all results came back negative. "We are confident through the ACC's use of Kinexon digital proximity technology that we will not experience any contact tracing that would affect our team," the school said. Boston College hasn't released an official statement yet, although I'm told it's in the process of gathering more information.

-- Jeff Borzello

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What we know and don't know about Duke's positive COVID-19 test - ESPN

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of March 12, 2021, there have been 2,280,054 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 134,842 total cases and 2,511 total deaths.

In the past 24 hours, DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 76-year old male from Kanawha County, a 98-year old female from Randolph County, a 70-year old male from Monongalia County, a 56-year old female from Brooke County, a 74-year old female from McDowell County, a 78-year old female from Morgan County, a 70-year old male from Berkeley County and a 54-year old female from Kanawha County.

As previously noted, there were 168 COVID-19 related deaths that were not properly reported to DHHR. That number now stands at 165 deaths. Wayne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center had been listed with two deaths, but through the quality assurance process two individuals were determined to have recovered from COVID-19 at the time of death. Wayne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center now has zero deaths not properly reported.

Another death was determined to be a duplicate as it was listed with the first name as the last name on the death report. This death was listed as occurring at Berkeley Medical Center. This facility now has zero deaths not properly reported. DHHRs Bureau for Public Health will be investigating each instance of non-reported deaths to determine what occurred.

Those include: a 90-year old female from Ohio County, a 75-year old male from Ohio County, an 86-year old male from Harrison County, an 82-year old male from Wetzel County, a 75-year old male from Kanawha County, a 71-year old male from Mingo County, an 88-year old male from Berkeley County, an 85-year old male from Putnam County, a 55-year old male from Putnam County, an 86-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 78-year old female from Jackson County, a 72-year old female from Raleigh County, a 79-year old male from Mercer County, an 81-year old male from Marion County, a 78-year old male from Tyler County, a 61-year old male from Putnam County, a 91-year old female from Putnam County, a 94-year old female from Mercer County, a 92-year old female from Wetzel County, an 85-year old female from Wood County, a 67-year old male from Jefferson County, an 81-year old male from Wood County, an 85-year old female from Cabell County, a 70-year old male from Wood County, a 92-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 72-year old male from Hancock County, a 67-year old female from Tyler County, an 82-year old male from Barbour County, a 61-year old female from Kanawha County, an 85-year old female from Ritchie County, a 78-year old female from Monongalia County, a 75-year old male from Marion County, a 54-year old male from Kanawha County, a 93-year old female from Kanawha County, an 83-year old male from Jackson County, a 92-year old male from Jefferson County, an 89-year old male from Cabell County, a 73-year old male from Wayne County, an 85-year old female from Wood County, a 93-year old male from Ritchie County, a 66-year old male from Logan County, a 74-year old male from Tyler County, an 87-year old male from Cabell County, an 82-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 92-year old female from Pendleton County, an 87-year old male from Preston County, an 85-year old male from Jefferson County, a 59-year old male from Marion County, a 50-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 98-year old male from Hancock County, a 71-year old female from Wood County, a 90-year old male from Wood County, a 76-year old male from Raleigh County, a 93-year old male from Harrison County, a 93-year old female from Hancock County, an 88-year old male from Jefferson County, a 75-year old male from Brooke County, a 92-year old female from Hancock County, a 78-year old male from Berkeley County, a 90-year old female from Ohio County, an 83-year old male from Lincoln County, a 97-year old male from Putnam County, an 83-year old female from Preston County, a 70-year old male from Fayette County, a 66-year old male from Brooke County, an 80-year old female from Mineral County, a 93-year old male from Kanawha County, an 85-year old female from Monongalia County, a 69-year old male from Marion County, an 86-year old female from Marshall County, a 92-year old female from Monongalia County, a 75-year old female from Kanawha County, a 72-year old female from Wood County, a 75-year old female from Raleigh County, a 69-year old male from Pleasants County, an 81-year old female from Mercer County, an 82-year old male from Tyler County, a 70-year old male from Harrison County, a 50-year old female from Kanawha County, an 81-year old male from Wood County, an 88-year old male from Clay County, a 92-year old male from Greenbrier County, a 76-year old female from Hardy County, a 79-year old male from Wood County, a 73-year old male from McDowell County, a 102-year old male from Wood County, a 96-year old female from Mercer County, a 79-year old male from Harrison County, an 82-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 92-year old female from Cabell County, a 64-year old female from Lincoln County, an 85-year old male from Jackson County, a 71-year old female from Wood County, an 87-year old male from Hardy County, a 74-year old female from Cabell County, an 82-year old male from Monongalia County, a 72-year old male from Lincoln County, a 92-year old female from Wood County, a 74-year old male from Monongalia County, a 91-year old female from Wood County, an 89-year old male from Wood County, a 73-year old female from Harrison County, a 79-year old male from Barbour County, an 81-year old male from Boone County, a 61-year old male from Roane County, a 74-year old female from Marion County, a 92-year old female from Kanawha County, a 53-year old male from Pendleton County, a 42-year old male from Berkeley County, a 92-year old female from Monongalia County, a 79-year old female from Mercer County, a 76-year old male from Putnam County, an 80-year old male from Raleigh County, a 78-year old male from Randolph County, an 86-year old female from Cabell County, an 88-year old male from Marion County, an 82-year old female from Ohio County, a 78-year old female from Wood County, a 70-year old male from Ohio County, an 83-year old male from Kanawha County, a 72-year old male from Kanawha County, a 78-year old female from Kanawha County, a 90-year old female from Kanawha County, a 75-year old male from Marshall County, an 84-year old male from Mineral County, a 75-year old female from Mingo County, an 82-year old male from Kanawha County, a 90-year old female from Kanawha County, a 68-year old male from Fayette County, a 73-year old male from Raleigh County, a 71-year old male from Fayette County, a 99-year old female from Jackson County, a 66-year old female from Kanawha County, a 74-year old male from Kanawha County, an 89-year old male from Wood County, a 26-year old female from Putnam County, a 92-year old female from Marshall County, a 76-year old female from Ohio County, an 84-year old male from Marshall County, a 91-year old male from Wood County, an 88-year old female from Greenbrier County, an 85-year old male from Harrison County, a 61-year old male from Brooke County, a 74-year old female from Kanawha County, an 89-year old male from Monongalia County, a 90-year old male from Mason County, a 91-year old female from Brooke County, an 81-year old female from Monongalia County, an 87-year old male from Tyler County, a 66-year old male from Kanawha County, an 87-year old female from Putnam County, an 87-year old female from Kanawha County, a 77-year old male from Wood County, a 70-year old female from Wyoming County, an 89-year old female from Wood County, an 81-year old female from Webster County, a 47-year old female from Hardy County, an 88-year old female from Wood County, an 81-year old female from Grant County, an 85-year old male from Wyoming County, an 82-year old female from Greenbrier County, a 74-year old female from Hancock County, an 80-year old female from Marshall County, a 73-year old female from Wood County, and a 58-year old male from Kanawha County.

We are devastated to report these additional COVID-19 related deaths. Every life lost to this pandemic is a tragedy, said Bill J. Crouch, Cabinet Secretary of DHHR. Our thoughts go out to the families.

CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,283), Berkeley (9,969), Boone (1,633), Braxton (788), Brooke (2,037), Cabell (8,055), Calhoun (234), Clay (380), Doddridge (479), Fayette (2,760), Gilmer (721), Grant (1,124), Greenbrier (2,445), Hampshire (1,558), Hancock (2,595), Hardy (1,308), Harrison (4,943), Jackson (1,697), Jefferson (3,692), Kanawha (12,322), Lewis (1,063), Lincoln (1,269), Logan (2,771), Marion (3,764), Marshall (3,089), Mason (1,805), McDowell (1,385), Mercer (4,276), Mineral (2,601), Mingo (2,185), Monongalia (8,260), Monroe (976), Morgan (943), Nicholas (1,237), Ohio (3,691), Pendleton (623), Pleasants (811), Pocahontas (599), Preston (2,612), Putnam (4,330), Raleigh (4,888), Randolph (2,426), Ritchie (630), Roane (508), Summers (705), Taylor (1,094), Tucker (509), Tyler (638), Upshur (1,717), Wayne (2,616), Webster (338), Wetzel (1,106), Wirt (360), Wood (7,226), Wyoming (1,768).

Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested.

View original post here:

COVID-19 Daily Update 3-12-21 - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

In a prime-time address, President Joe Biden has outlined his plan to make all adult Americans eligible for vaccination by May 1 and he raised the prospect of beginning to gain what he called independence from this virus by the Fourth of July.

By ZEKE MILLER and JONATHAN LEMIRE

Read more:

LIVE: ADPH to give update on states COVID-19 vaccination efforts - WSFA

The state of Ohio has begun taking appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations at the FEMA-operated site at the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, which opens next week, and the initial response is strong.

Gov. Mike DeWine at his coronavirus briefing on Thursday, March 11, said more than 17,000 people have registered to get their vaccine at the Wolstein Center site overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"They're off to a good start already," DeWine said. The site opens on Wednesday, March 17. It will operate 12 hours a day, seven days a week for at least eight weeks. The Wolstein Center site is designed to handle 6,000 vaccinations per day.

Vaccination activity statewide is picking up considerably, DeWine noted, as effective Thursday, people age 50 and older can get the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as people with Type 2 diabetes or end-stage renal disease. That expansion increases the eligibility population in Ohio by about 1.4 million people.

The state's site for vaccination information is here.

DeWine said the state's two-week average COVID-19 case count per 100,000 people now stands at 155. The number "continues to come down," he said, though it still has a way to go before the state reaches 50 cases per 100,000 people the threshold DeWine has set to lift all current state health orders. The rate is down from 179 per 100,000 a week ago. The case number per 100,000 people was as high as 845.5 in mid-December 2020. Ohio was last below 50 in June 2020.

Two counties are below the 50-case-per-100,000 rate: Vinton at 38.2 and Meigs at 43.7. Cuyahoga County is at 190.6 cases per 100,000, down from 204.8 a week ago and from 673.4 in mid-January.

The governor noted that the federal government this week announced new national guidelines for nursing home visitation, advising that facilities "should allow responsible indoor visitation for all residents, regardless of the vaccination status of the resident or visitor," though there are exceptions if outbreaks occur. (Go here for a summary on the federal guidelines.)

DeWine said Ohio is changing a health order to allow visitation at assisted-living facilities inside a resident's room. Under previous rules, visits had to take place at a different location, such as a lobby or designated visiting area.

There was more encouraging news on the return to normal lives.

For instance, DeWine said the state expects that all county fairs will be able to take place this summer, albeit with limitations on grandstand attendance (30%), and with requirements for social distancing and mask-wearing.

"It's possible that by the time we get to fair season, we may be off the health orders if things continue to go well," the governor said.

Proms will be a go this year, too, as will spring sports at all schools. He said students no longer are required to quarantine because they've had incidental exposure to COVID in the classroom, as long as they don't have symptoms and follow the appropriate sports guidance.

"We have the vaccine. We're on offense," he said, emphasizing that people "still need to play defense" by adhering to safe practices.

Also important for students and parents: DeWine said the state is making rapid testing available in K-12 schools "to increase confidence and safety in our schools. Soon we'll be shipping more than 200,000 of the at-home tests to our Educational Service Centers, and I encourage our school districts to take advantage of the resource."

DeWine during the Q&A portion of the briefing was asked about Senate Bill 22, which cleared the state House and Senate this week and curbs a governor's ability to issue health orders. He said the bill is "unconstitutional" and "clearly violates" separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.

"I will have to veto the bill," DeWine said. "There's no governor I can think of in Ohio who would have not vetoed this bill." He added, "I would have to veto it not so much for me certainly cause we're coming out of this pandemic. But I'm very concerned about the future and health departments around the state not having the tools they need to keep the people in this state safe."

Republican leaders in the Legislature have promised to schedule a veto override vote, assuming DeWine goes ahead with the veto.

DeWine noted that Thursday's briefing was his 150th news conference since the pandemic began. The first took place on Feb. 27, 2020, when DeWine visited MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

The state has "moved through many stages of the pandemic" since then, DeWine said, and it's in "a much better place today," though there's still a long way to go to get all Ohioans vaccinated.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted during the briefing was at his junior high school in Montpelier, which is now a pop-up COVID vaccination site, to get his vaccine on camera. Husted, 53, became eligible for the shot on Thursday. After getting the shot, he said, "The needle of the arm is a lot more pleasant than a swab in the nose, that's for sure."

The town's mayor was vaccinated, too. Husted's former babysitter also received the vaccine. Asked by DeWine what Husted was like as a kid, she said the now-lieutenant governor was well behaved. She then quipped, "But I have to admit they preferred my sister, because she let them stay up late and I didn't."

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Signup activity is brisk for COVID-19 mass vaccinations at Wolstein Center - Crain's Cleveland Business

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic antibiotics were frequently prescribed to seriously ill patients, even though the disease is caused by a virus. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic antibiotics were frequently prescribed to seriously ill patients, even though the disease is caused by a virus.

Doctors treating COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic often reached for antibiotics. But those drugs were not helpful in most cases, and overuse of antibiotics is a serious concern.

Several research groups, at Johns Hopkins, the University of Michigan and Bristol, England, have observed this trend. Now researchers at the Pew Charitable Trusts have weighed in with more data and put those findings in the context of long-term worries about the fate of antibiotics.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 3 million Americans a year get an infection that's caused by a drug-resistant microbe. An estimated 35,000 Americans die from these hard-to-treat infections annually.

As a result, hospitals are supposed to follow rules to limit unnecessary use of antibiotics. Overuse of these medications hastens the development of new drug-resistant strains of bacteria.

But those rules haven't been closely followed during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in its early days.

Here's the scene doctors confronted. "You have a patient in front of you with this potentially lethal illness," says Dr. Susan Swindells, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. "They have a fever and a cough, and they have difficulty breathing. So, the overwhelming desire is to do whatever you can."

In the absence of any effective drug therapy, that often meant reaching for antibiotics. Some patients got treated just in case that they actually had bacterial pneumonia, not COVID-19. Other times, doctors figured patients might have both COVID-19 and a bacterial infection. That double infection is fairly common among people hospitalized with influenza.

Back then, she says, "there was very little proven treatment for COVID so people were trying all kinds of things."

"I think we are all aware of some overuse in COVID," she said. And it's hardly unique. "Lots of people with flu or even common colds get prescribed antibiotics when they don't need them. It's definitely an issue."

Rachel Zetts at the Pew Charitable Trusts documents the use of antibiotics for COVID-19. The study in a group of about 5,000 hospitalized patients, chiefly in the Midwest, found that more than half were given antibiotics, even though most of them did not have bacterial infections.

Patients usually got the antibiotics right away, before doctors had time to run tests to rule out bacterial infections.

Doing that is "not inherently a bad practice," says Zetts' co-author, Dr. David Hyun at Pew. "It's a necessary tool for providers to treat patients with suspected bacterial infections when they hit the doors of the hospital."

Immediate treatment can save the life of someone with a sepsis, for example. That's triggered by a bacterial infection.

But as the pandemic evolved, it became increasingly clear that antibiotics weren't helping most COVID-19 patients.

Doctors usually discontinued therapy within a few days once they realized their patients wouldn't benefit, their study found. Even so, this practice contributes to overuse of antibiotics and can gradually erode their potency. Hyun says hospitals had in recent years been compelled to adopt guidelines to rein in inappropriate antibiotic use.

"What we're concerned is that the progresses we've seen in the last few years could reverse."

The studies to date apply mostly to medial practices used in the first six months of the pandemic. Since then, doctors have had effective drugs to reach for, and have learned that their patients rarely get secondary bacterial infections.

Swindells says in her hospital, that's reduced the impulse to reach for antibiotics.

"It's still going on to a certain extent, but improved," she says.

Those lessons have likely been learned in most places where COVID-19 is treated. The researchers at Pew are eager to see results from follow-up studies, to see if that is indeed the case.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

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Antibiotics Common For COVID-19 Early On In Pandemic : Shots - Health News - NPR

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Active cases of COVID-19 are up by 32 in South Dakota as of Friday.

Active cases are now at 2,163, up from Thursday (2,131).

South Dakota has 184 new total cases of coronavirus, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.

The states total case count is at 114,347, up from Thursday (114,163).

Two new deaths was reported in Fridays update from theSouth Dakota Department of Health. The deaths reported include one man and one woman, both in the 60 69 year age group.

The death toll increased to 1,907.

Total recovered cases increased to 110,277, up from Thursday (110,127).

There are 62 current hospitalizations as of Friday compared to 67 on Thursday.

Total hospitalizations are at 6,766, up from Thursday (6,756).

South Dakota has now had 316,995 persons test negative, up from Thursday (316,486).

The new persons tested on Friday is 693; that is a 26.5% positive rate.

The latest seven-day all test positivity rate reported by the DOH is 7.8%. The DOH calculates that based on the results of the PCR test results but doesnt release total numbers for how many PCR tests are done daily. The latest one-day PCR test positivity rate is 7.1%.

According to the DOH, 142,635 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered, 1,419 of the Janssen vaccine and 139,162 of the Moderna vaccine have been administered to a total number of 283,216 people.

There have been 48,788 people who have completed two doses of Moderna and 52,888 who have received two doses of Pfizer, according to the DOH. 1,419 people have completed the Janssen vaccine series.

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COVID-19 in South Dakota: 184 total new cases; Death toll rises to 1,907; Active cases at 2,163 - KELOLAND.com

Effective treatments for COVID-19 are tough to develop, but this pill is raising hopes  The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Effective treatments for COVID-19 are tough to develop, but this pill is raising hopes - The Philadelphia Inquirer

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A Sioux Falls man has a message one year after COVID-19 arrived in South Dakota. He says its real, it can kill you and he feels lucky he survived.

Matt Tobin and his wife Tara can enjoy a leisurely walk in their Sioux Falls neighborhood. Hes back to work as the Managing Director of the South Dakota Trust Company. But almost 4 months ago their lives were very different, Matt was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was getting home health care through Sanford.

Around noon that day we did a video visit through the Sanford network, and he through a series of questions and observing me, knowing that my oxygen levels were low he said you need to get to the emergency room, said Tobin.

He believes if he hadnt gone to the hospital he might not have made it though the night.

I had this episode, I dont really even know how to describe it, but I really had trouble breathing, I had trouble breathing even with supplemental oxygen, it just felt like somebody was pressing down or sitting on top of your chest and youre gasping for air, Tobin said.

Doctors started Matt on infusion therapies and his breathing improved enough to avoid being put on a ventilator. Matt spent 8 days in the hospital.

His recovery at home has been steady but slow. Fighting both mental and physical fatigue. He remembers the first time he tried to drive a car to a nearby drug store.

I got out here on 69th street and could not make sense of the car light, brake lights, stop lights and that was probably the first time I really became aware of what they call brain fog, said Tobin.

Matt says he and his family were always cautious, but looking back he now realizes he didnt really know how serious COVID-19 could be.

When I found out I had COVID, I first thought, okay, Ill just take my turn, lets get it over with and move on. And you know I look back and think what a ridiculous attitude I had but its a crazy virus, he said.

Things are mostly back to normal, he gives a lot of credit to the doctors and nurses who cared for him throughout his illness.

Without them, I dont know if I would be sitting here having this conversation with you, so grateful to be here.

Tara got COVID-19, soon after Matt, but had very mild symptoms. Matt says hes close to being back to normal but has an appointment coming up to have his lungs checked for damage the virus may have caused.

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Sioux Falls man shares story of long battle with COVID-19 - KELOLAND.com