Category: Covid-19

The virus affects people differently

As well as age differences, it emerged that the virus affected men more seriously than women, and some racial groups were more vulnerable than others. Some people also have a kind of mysterious hidden immunity, which they may have acquired long before the pandemic began.

Learn more about how people respond differently to Covid-19:

The virus can damage organs

Though Covid-19 is a respiratory virus, it doesn't limit itself to damaging the lungs. Now scientists know that it can infect the cells that line blood vessels and affect a range of other important organs, such as the heart, brain, kidneys, liver, pancreas and spleen. The effect has been found even in young, low-risk people. No one knows how long the impairments will last, or whether they will ever fully resolve.

Find out more about Covid-19's affect on the body:

The virus spreads exponentially

...but most people don't understand that. A spate of studies have shown that people who are susceptible to this "exponential growth bias" are less concerned about Covid-19's spread, and less likely to endorse measures like social distancing, hand washing or mask wearing.

Read more the psychology underlying our response to the threat posed by the pandemic:

Coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective

Vaccine scientists moved extraordinarily fast, under extraordinary pressure. With the weight of global expectation, they have delivered safe, effective vaccines that had been rigorously tested in trials. BBC Future got first-hand experience when one of our journalists volunteered to participate in the Oxford-Astrazeneca trial (and he's still doing his weekly swabs, months later).

Learn more about the vaccine trials:

A single dose of vaccine provides moderate protection

But it comes with some important caveats. The extent of protection depends on the vaccine in some cases, there isn't enough data to be sure of any just yet. Until you receive a booster dose and many more people are vaccinated, it's vital to continue social distancing, wearing a mask and following other public health advice. In fact, it's helpful to imagine that it didn't happen.

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Herd immunity usually happens via vaccines

Herd immunity is a kind of disease resistance that occurs within a population, as a result of the build-up of immunity in individuals. But contrary to the impression you might have got during the pandemic, there are many reasons that it is not normally achieved by intentionally allowing a virus to spread. Many scientists now believe that any attempt to do so would have led to unacceptable levels of deaths. But herd immunity can also be acquired via vaccines, which lead to significantly less collateral damage and may provide superior protection to natural infections.

Read more about herd immunity:

Most vaccines probably won't prevent transmission

That said, the current Covid-19 vaccines weren't judged on their ability to prevent the spread of the virus instead, they were assessed by their ability to prevent people from developing symptoms and falling ill. Research on whether the vaccines will also prevent transmission of the virus is still ongoing, but there are some early indications that both the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine can reduce transmission. There are some early hints that other vaccines may be able to stop it entirely.

Find out more:

Death rates vary from country to country

and there are many reasons why, to do with the way deaths are counted. One outcome of this is that it can be difficult to compare death rates in different countries. Far from being unique to Covid-19, such differences in the way deaths are counted are common when an epidemic occurs.

Learn more:

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What we know and don't know about Covid-19 - BBC News

FORT MYERS

The fight to stop the novel coronavirus is critical in our state right now. On the Centers for Disease Controlvariant tracking map, Florida is the first state in the country to hit more than 600 cases. Michigan is next with 421.

Viruses always mutate, but medical professionals say one reason the number is so high is tourism. Were in high season and seeing lots of people from different parts of the country and from all over the world visit our state.

The b.1.1.7 coronavirus variant was first discovered in the U.K. On New Years Eve, the variant was detected in Florida in a Martin County man in his 20s. Dr. Corin DeChirico, chief medical officer for Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida, says the best thing we can do is study the virus, take the necessary precautions like social distancing, wash our hands and get the vaccine when its available.

We are seeing cases go down, we are seeing hospitalizations go down, the more we are able to get vaccines in arms, DeChirico said. So I think that the most important thing we can do right now is to study the variant, as I mentioned, for all the things that we need to look at, and we need to continue our mitigation efforts by wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding super spreader events, and hand hygiene and staying home if youre sick.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Johnson & Johnsons COVID-19 vaccine the green light for emergency use. This will help boost the number of shots available to Americans as health officials race to prevent another surge fueled by variants.

The more people we can get vaccinated, the better. The reason for that is that it will decrease the presence of variants in the community, so itll decrease replication of the virus.. Thats what we want to do! We dont want any of the virus to replicate, because the more it replicates the more theres a chance of a variant.

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Combatting the COVID-19 variant in Florida - Wink News - Wink News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has invested $10.7 million in the Task Force for Global Health to help set up COVID-19 immunization programs in up to 50 low- and middle-income countries and to start a U.S. COVID-19 vaccine information program.

Both the CDC and the Task Force for Global Health are based in Atlanta.

Most of the countries that will be part of the $6.2 million global immunization program initiative are in Africa, said Dr.Joseph Bresee, the lead for the program, director of the Task Forces Partnership for Influenza Vaccine Introduction (PIVI), and associate director, global health affairs, Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The funds are part of the total $16.25 billion inCOVID-19 supplemental funding allocated to the CDCthrough three congressional acts.

The countries to be targeted expect to get their first vaccine doses in the next few weeks to a month or two, Bresee said. The first phase of the project is developing work plans for the countries to implement immunization programs based on the countries individual financial and support needs, he said. The first country wont have its work plan mapped for another week or so, he said on Feb. 19.

To read the full story, go to Atlanta Business Chronicle >>

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Atlanta-Based Task Force For Global Health To Help With COVID-19 Vaccines Around The Globe | 90.1 FM WABE - WABE 90.1 FM

It definitely takes a [mental] toll on you: A look back at the Flyers COVID-19 shutdown  The Philadelphia Inquirer

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It definitely takes a [mental] toll on you: A look back at the Flyers COVID-19 shutdown - The Philadelphia Inquirer

ITHACA, N.Y.The number of active COVID-19 cases in Tompkins County continued its precipitous decline over the weekend, dipping below 100 for the first time since November 2020.

Active cases are now the lowest they have been since Nov. 11, when there were 73 active cases in the county. The next day, they jumped to 101, and haven't been below the 100 threshold since then. Just weeks ago cases were at their peak in the county; at this point, the hopeful peak locally came on Jan. 8, with 330 active cases.

The average number of new daily positive COVID-19 tests in Tompkins County throughout February was 16.3. That was a steep reduction from January, when the average number of new daily positive COVID-19 tests was 30.2. Hospitalizations have also continued to drop, now sitting at just three people with active COVID-19 cases who are hospitalized. There have been no new deaths reported by the health department from the coronavirus since Feb. 10.

Vaccination distribution has also stabilized, though the supply chain from the state and federal government still hampers too much progress. There have now been 10,829 people who have received at least their first shot, and 7,116 people who have received both doses, meaning they are fully vaccinated.

Read more:

Active COVID-19 cases continue to decline, lowest in Tompkins County since November - The Ithaca Voice

As our public health officials closely monitor the emergence of these SARS-CoV-2 variants in our Commonwealth, it is critical that all Virginians comply now with mitigation measures, VDH stated in a release. We are in a race to stop the spread of these new variants. The more people that become infected, the greater that chance the virus will mutate and a variant will arise that could undermine the current vaccination efforts.

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First cases of B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant identified in Southwest Va. - WWBT NBC12 News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health launched a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live. Michele Abercrombie/NPR hide caption

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health launched a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live.

The scramble to secure a COVID-19 vaccine appointment is chaotic and fierce. There are not yet enough doses for everyone who's eligible and wants to get vaccinated. As frustration rises, the federal government hasn't offered much besides assurances that things will get better and appeals for calm.

Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health, is launching a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live.

The tool, which builds on the existing VaccineFinder.org platform, will capture inventory data from vaccine providers around the country.

In most states, the initial launch is limited to certain providers those getting the vaccine directly from the federal government. In Alaska, Indiana, Iowa and Tennessee, the tool shows all the vaccine providers, including hospitals, clinics and public health vaccination sites.

Residents of those four states can look up their cities or ZIP codes and find an interactive map of all the places administering COVID-19 vaccines and see which ones have vaccine doses in stock.

"The idea is to show where COVID-19 vaccine providers [are] that are open to the public how to contact them, how to book an appointment, and try to show the daily inventory status so people are clear where there's vaccine and where there isn't," says John Brownstein, the founder of VaccineFinder and chief information officer at Boston Children's Hospital.

After the initial, limited launch, Brownstein says, more providers in more places "are expected to join in the coming days and weeks."

As the pool of eligible people has expanded beyond health care workers and nursing home residents, many states and counties have developed lists or maps of their own to show people which providers are administering shots. Volunteer-run efforts like FindAShot, VaccinateCA and COVIDWA have also sprung up to meet this need.

By contrast, VaccineFinder doesn't require manual input from volunteers it gathers stock information directly from health care providers, who are supposed to report their inventory every 24 hours.

This does not solve all the problems people currently have when trying to get a COVID-19 vaccine. States and counties still have a patchwork of approaches, with varied eligibility requirements, registration processes and waitlist systems. And even though you can see on VaccineFinder which providers near you have doses in stock and click through links to appointment sites, you still need to try your luck at a variety of places to actually secure an appointment.

"This is one baby step in the complex numbers of steps people have to take in order to get [a] vaccine, but we hope at least it will help reduce some of the noise and confusion that is out there," says Brownstein.

One concern is that even though providers are supposed to update their inventory to VaccineFinder every 24 hours they may not all do so consistently. If that happens, places that appear on the map to have doses in stock might actually not have any, says Claire Hannan, who leads the Association of Immunization Managers.

It's important that the site be reliable, she says, because otherwise people might show up at sites they think have available shots only to be disappointed. It's certainly helpful to see where vaccine supply is in your community, Hannan says, but how useful and reliable the site ends up being remains to be seen.

Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, agrees. "This idea has a lot of potential, but I think there's still some questions about what will it be like in practice?"

Another issue is that the site doesn't help people who are clamoring for the vaccine but are not yet eligible the problem of demand, Hannan explains. "It's not connected to a centralized system that would manage the demand and put you in a place in line," she says. "I think that's what's missing."

VaccineFinder is not brand new. It actually began after the H1N1 pandemic nine years ago, Brownstein says, and has been used in the years since to help people find seasonal flu shots, travel shots and whatever other vaccines they might need. "We think that with better convenience and access to vaccines, the more that people will be willing to to get them," he says

Brownstein says a team of about 15 people at Boston Children's Hospital along with 25 staff at subcontractor Castlight, a digital health company have been working feverishly to launch the site for COVID-19 vaccines, while navigating the fact that, at the moment, vaccine supply is relatively low and eligibility is limited. These facts both constrain how useful the tool can be at this point.

The supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses is increasing. The Biden administration says it's now sending out 14.5 million doses a week to states, an increase of 70% since inauguration. If that trend continues, more slots will be available and more providers like clinics, pharmacies and doctors' offices will be able to begin distributing vaccine doses as well.

When the site is fully launched, Brownstein says, there are plans in the works to share VaccineFinder data about where vaccine providers are located and which have shots available with other online partners.

People will be able to find VaccineFinder's information on sites like Google Maps, Waze or GoodRx, "and those numbers of partners are going to grow," Brownstein says. "So it's not just about coming to the website, but meeting consumers where they are and making sure that anybody who's looking for a vaccine knows where to find them."

If all goes well, Americans can look forward to a time when vaccine doses are abundant and everyone is eligible, and it's easy to find local clinics or pharmacies with vaccine doses nearby, and head over to get a shot.

See more here:

VaccineFinder Maps Out Where Vaccines Are Available Near You : Shots - Health News - NPR

RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) Delegate Jay Jones bill, which would allow first responders to receive a presumption for COVID-19 sickness under the states workers compensation system, is headed to Governor Ralph Northams desk.

HB 2077 passed both the House and the Senate this week. The bill establishes a presumption that in the event COVID-19 causes the death or disability of firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, and correctional officers, it is considered an occupational disease compensable under the Workers Compensation Act.

Our first responders have been on the front-lines of the pandemic for a year and they deserve the ability to make a workers compensation claim for COVID-19 if they were exposed on the job. Firefighters, law enforcement, and EMS providers have come into contact with COVID-19 far too often and we have an obligation to protect them, said Jones.

Jones office says that the Code of Virginia outlines workers compensation protections for first responders for ordinary diseases, but first responders have been unable to receive protections for COVID-19.

A statement released says that the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, the largest in the state, has seen more than 126 positive COVID-19 cases. Of those cases, only 14 have had Virginia-funded workers compensation benefits.

The current workers protections outlined in the Code of Virginia are inadequate and this is a simple but incredibly necessary fix that protects those who have sacrificed so much to keep the rest of us safe. Id like to offer my sincerest thanks to former Governor Terry McAuliffe for his efforts to secure the retroactive provision in this legislation, Jones continued.

Read more here:

Delegate Jones bill protecting first responders COVID-19 workers compensation heads to Northams desk - WAVY.com

Heres a look at major COVID-19 developments over the past week.

Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director James Stallings speaks to members of the press to give an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

After weeks of pressure from frustrated parents and teacher groups, Kemp announced that the states roughly 450,000 educators and school staffers will join the pool of those eligible for vaccines on March 8, along with adults with intellectual disabilities and parents of children with complex medical conditions.

Kemp tied the expansion, which officials said will add an estimated 1 million more people to the vaccine pool, to resuming in-person classes in school districts that havent reopened.

Our children cannot afford to wait until the fall. The costs are simply too high, Kemp said. Georgians deserve to return to normal as soon as possible, and that will not happen without schoolhouse doors open for face-to-face instruction each and every day.

The governor and state health officials have been reluctant to move teachers up in the line, saying the scarce supply of vaccines already has made it difficult to inoculate Georgians who are 65 and older, plus other high-risk residents.

But hes now prepared to do so after seeing a partial state survey suggesting tepid demand for vaccines from educators, as well as a slight increase in the states supply of vaccines.

Before the announcement, the governor had faced tremendous outcry from teachers and parents angry that most educators have yet to receive vaccines in Georgia. They were upset about Kemps decision to move people age 65 and older from the third inoculation phase to the first, leapfrogging teachers in Phase 1b, who were set to be next in line.

While most school districts have resumed in-person learning, the governor has expressed increasing frustration at public school systems that havent. He urged administrators in those school systems not to wait until teachers are inoculated or until next school year.

Im not ordering schools to open, Kemp said. But, I believe now with this other tool, there should be no reason for us not to get kids back into the classroom.

Right now, the vaccine is limited to those who are 65 and older and their caregivers; first responders; health care workers; and staffers and residents of long-term care facilities. About 57% of older Georgians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, Kemp said.

Not eligible yet are other medically fragile Georgians, though the governor indicated they would be included in the next expansion.

In this file photo, DeKalb County Board of Health medical worker Sandra Armstead, right, explains a few possible symptoms of the COVID-19 vaccination to Army Veteran and Rockdale County resident Larry Mitchell. She administered the vaccine to him during a DeKalb County Board of Health and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority event at the Lou Walker Senior Center in Stonecrest. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)

Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com

Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com

The governor said his decision to expand the pool was eased by a state Department of Education survey last week that found only 45% of educators would choose to take the vaccine, saying there wasnt as much demand as he expected.

The success of the vaccination plan also hinges on hopes that the states allotment of vaccines will continue to rise. Georgia now receives about 215,000 first doses of vaccine a week, up from about 150,000 earlier this month.

Overall, Georgia has administered nearly 1.9 million vaccinations. The state has the fifth-lowest vaccination rate among all states per 100,000 residents, according to CDC data.

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter recently got vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Credit: @CarterCenter/Twitter

Credit: @CarterCenter/Twitter

Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife have been cleared to return to their church in Plains after being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Maranatha Baptist Church announced on its Facebook page that Carter, 96, and Rosalynn Carter, 93, were again attending worship in person. The couple has been in the sanctuary the last two Sundays, Pastor Tony Lowden said in a video.

The former president hasnt resumed teaching his Sunday school class. But video from last Sundays service showed both of the Carters sitting in their customary spots on the front pew and wearing face masks. The former president waved as members applauded their return.

Staff writers Eric Stirgus, Ty Tagami and Tim Darnell contributed to this article.

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A look at major COVID-19 developments over the past week - Atlanta Journal Constitution

They include: Kay Ivey (R-AL), Mike Dunleavy (R-AK), Doug Ducey (R-AZ), Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Brian Kemp (R-GA), Brad Little (R-ID), Eric Holcomb (R-IN), Kim Reynolds (R-IA), Laura Kelly (D-KS), Tate Reeves (R-MS), Mike Parson (R-MO), Greg Gianforte (R-MT), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Chris Sununu (R-NH), Doug Burgum (R-ND), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Kevin Stitt (R-OK), Henry McMaster (R-SC), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Bill Lee (R-TN), Spencer Cox (R-UT) and Mark Gordon (R-WY).

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McMaster leads group of governors against COVID-19 relief bill WIS-TV - WIS10