Category: Covid-19

HCESD 48, which covers portions of Katy, announced that paramedic Gordon Baker lost his two-month battle with coronavirus on Monday.

KATY, Texas COVID-19 calls in Harris County outside of Houston are rising at a higher rate than during the summer.

Paramedics in multiple emergency services districts, or ESDs, report increased call volumes for known or suspected COVID-19 patients. The true numbers are likely higher, after a patient is brought to the hospital and tested.

It is busy. We are seeing some more COVID cases and were seeing some sicker COVID patients," said Eric Bank, assistant EMS Chief for Harris County ESD 48, which covers portions of Katy. Its a challenge. Were trying to keep as many trucks up and staffed as we can.

In ESD 48, the department has already responded to at least 12 COVID-19 calls (an average day of all medical calls is in the mid-20s). In November, they responded to at least 33, and at least 38 in October. Paramedics are on pace to exceed November's total, and possibly October's.

The stress level that goes with this can be pretty high," said Assistant Chief Bank.

On Monday, the department lost paramedic Gordon Baker, who battled COVID-19 for two months and spent more than 30 years as a first responder throughout Katy, Houston and Harris County.

This is a giant loss for us because he was just that kindred spirit that would bring people together," Bank said. His role was not just to provide that emergency care, but provide them some comfort in a kind and gentle manner.

Bank said Baker taught that same message to his fellow paramedics: they were not just responding to a call, or going to the hospital, but attending to a person.

His coworkers are grieving while working, and finding ways to carry on Baker's legacy.

We cant just turn off the lights. This isnt a store. We still have to respond to calls," Bank said. Our job now is to honor Gordon and take care of his family.

Read more:

COVID-19 calls rising in Harris County as one department grieves a paramedic lost to the virus - KHOU.com

CLEVELAND (WJW)Testing of wastewater at local treatment plants could provide a grim picture of what lies ahead in the coming days with respect to COVID-19.

The Ohio Department of Health tests water samples taken from plants across the state for the presence of genetic material that indicates the presence of the virus in the community,

This kind of testing allows us to test the entire community with one sample, one analysis versus testing everyone individually, said Scott Broski, the superintendent of environmental services at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

On Tuesday, the Ohio Department of Health sent a notice to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health warning that the million gene copy per day values taken from the Easterly and Westerly water treatment plants in the Cleveland area are the highest recorded to date for those two plants.

Though not an exact science, the results typically correspond with and may foreshadow the experience with COVID-19 in the surrounding community. That could indicate that health care providers can start to see an expected post-Thanksgiving spike in COVID-19 cases in the coming days.

Everyone that contracts COVID-19 starts shedding the virus. Some of us are asymptomatic, some of us have very mild symptoms and may not even recognize it as COVID-19, some become very ill and require hospitalization, but everyone that has the virus is then shedding the virus, Broski said.

So we get a picture of the whole community and we get it before they may actually become ill so we have the ability to use the data as an early warning system, or as a prediction as to what we may see develop case wise in the coming days, he added.

Graphs published by the Ohio Department of Health show an upward trajectory in the presence of the genetic material in wastewater samples, which can be impacted at different plants by different variables, including industrial use and runoff from rain or snow.

Though he does not interpret or publish the data, Broski does follow it very closely and said the historical values of the presence of COVID at each plant needs to be viewed in isolation with the trends at that particular plant.

The difficulty here with wastewater is that, you know, our plants they dont have community boundaries, they dont have county boundaries. We serve a wide area and people may travel to come to a hospital and get tested and whatnot so you know what is actually happening in our service area may not be an exact representation of that service area because of people travelling in and out coming to doctors offices and what not but it is an indicator, Broski said.

With the rising number of hospitalizations and positive tests making Cuyahoga County at risk of turning purple on the states COVID chart, the fact that the trend from the wastewater samples has been on the rise comes as no surprise to him.

It doesnt surprise me. I think that we have been seeing the surge in cases statewide and in the area for weeks now so to see the trends moving in the upward direction in both the viral gene copies per liter and million gene copies per day. It really is just kind of confirming what we have seen from the testing that has occurred from those presenting with the illness.

The latest headlines from FOX8.com:

Go here to read the rest:

COVID-19 in wastewater early predictor of surge in Cleveland area - WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland

As health systems prepare for the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines for frontline workers in Michigan possibly as early as Friday businesses across the state are weighing their options for making their employees get vaccinated.

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides full approval later this year for the vaccine, it's expected employers will legally be allowed to mandate vaccination. But following through on a mandate is murky, culturally and politically, in a divided nation during a pandemic that's left fissures in how employees view the virus.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine as early as Thursday. Under the EUA, employers are required to provide an option to refusevaccination. Only frontline workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other care facilities are expected to be offered the vaccine through their employer until the FDA fully approves the vaccine in the coming months.

Michigan hospital executives are not expected to mandate the vaccine for employees, at least initially, to sidestep any issues under the EUA.

The University of Michigan Health System, Henry Ford Health System, Beaumont Health, Trinity Health Michigan and Ascension Health said they have no plans to mandate.

Officials from Beaumont and UM told Crain's they haven't decided yet what to do if health care workers who should receive the vaccine refuse to take it. They said it is possible those health care workers could be transferred to non-COVID-19 units or other duties, although that may prove difficult with already growing staff shortages.

Betty Chu, Henry Ford's chief quality officer, said the six-hospital health system sees no need to reassign any staffer who declines to receive the vaccine.

"While we will highly encourage our front line workers to be vaccinated, we will not require that they do so," Chu said in a statement to Crain's. "Vaccinated or not, all of our front-line healthcare workers must adhere to our mask wearing, (personal protective equipment) guidelines and all of our safety protocols, which are highly effective in protecting them and those with whom they are in contact in the healthcare setting."

Only one other vaccine has ever been approved in the U.S. on the EUA basis anthrax. Beginning in 1998, the U.S. Department of Defense made the anthrax vaccine mandatory for high-risk personnel but the program was suspended in 2004 after a federal judge determined the FDA did not follow protocol on authorizing the inhalant version of the vaccine. The Defense Department was discharging military personnel who refused the vaccine. In 2005, the FDA approved the vaccine on a EUA basis and the Defense Department resumed vaccinations but on a voluntary basis with the option of transferring high-risk personnel away from positions with high-risk potential for anthrax poisoning.

And while local governments have legally mandated vaccines in the past New York City officials mandated the measles vaccine in 2019 to anyone more than 6 months old who lived, worked or attended school within four Brooklyn ZIP Codes it's unlikely Michigan health officials will pull that lever.

"We're not looking at implementing that in the state of Michigan," Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told Crain's. "I will say, though, I do think this vaccine is the path out of this pandemic. And I think that every employer has a role to play when it comes to at least encouraging their workers to get the vaccine."

Employers will have more authority to mandate the vaccine once the FDA provides full approval for the inoculations, which is expected later this year.

Under U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, COVID-19 qualified for the American with Disabilities Act standards of a "direct threat" that permits more extensive medical inquiries and controls in the workplace than under normal conditions. Because of this, it's expected the EEOC will back employers who choose to make the vaccine mandatory when it becomes widely available. Courts have previously upheld employer rights to mandate vaccines, as many hospitals did during the 2010 H1N1 flu outbreak.

The EEOC guidelines, set in March, allowed employers to put in place medical testing and other measures the ADA typically does not permit, such as taking employee temperatures and certain screening questions. But the guidance also prohibited mandates for vaccines, which weren't developed then. That prohibition is likely to change soon, said Elisa Lintemuth, partner and compliance attorney for Detroit-based Dykema Gossett PLLC.

"The EEOC knows this is going to be a big issue," Lintemuth said. "I'd expect guidance very quickly after the EUA approval."

However, just because an employer can mandate a vaccine, actually doing so may prove difficult. COVID-19 has become politicized since the outbreak began in March.

"I think mandates are going to vary dramatically form workplace to workplace," Lintemuth said. "Some of it might be based on political and ideological beliefs of upper management."

But some employers may be willing to step on ideology in favor of returning to a functioning workplace, said Sara Jodka, partner and compliance attorney for Detroit-based corporate law firm Dickinson Wright LLP.

"Manufacturers, for instance, are losing money," Jodka said. "They are paying people that are getting sick or taking care of family members. At the end of the day, this is for worker protection. Employers don't want to see employees sick. They are attempting to get back to some sort of normalcy. Masking or distancing doesn't appear to be working. This is what these employers are pinning hope on so their business can get back to normal."

But employers will have to contend with workers seeking exemptions for the vaccine. Under the ADA, workers are allowed to opt themselves out from receiving the vaccine for health or religious reasons, but it's a narrow spectrum.

Employers have the right to prod an employee about the specific religious belief or medical condition that prevents them from getting a vaccine, such as pregnancy or an autoimmune disease, Jodka said. Employers can fire an employee who refuses the mandate if they do not have sufficient evidence of an exempt status.

"We've been through this with flu vaccine mandates," Jodka said. "The EEOC is going to stand by employers. An anti-vaxxer, for instance, is going to have to show an underlying medical condition and being an anti-vaxxer is not one. They are going to have to come forward and show those diagnoses. All an employer has to do is prove there is there a justification and a business necessity to require a vaccination. With a pandemic killing almost 3,000 people a day, they could easily show a business need."

But it's more likely companies will at least try to work with employees who do not wish to receive the vaccine, Lintemuth said, such as forcing those employees to continue to work from home if they are able to do so or maintain the current requirements of social distancing and mask wearing.

"It's really going to depend on how much of the workforce ends up objecting," Lintemuth said. "Whether the employer is risk adverse or whether they are willing to respond to employee complaints is the ultimate decider. We have to remember, no one is sure what the threshold is for herd immunity. Once we know more, you'll see more decisions being made."

Senior Reporter Jay Greene and Senior Editor Chad Livengood contributed.

Read the original post:

Employers may be able to mandate COVID-19 vaccine, but will they? - Crain's Detroit Business

Its holiday season, a time when family and friends want to gather, but COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the United States. What do these latest spikes mean and what are certain states doing to help slow the spread?

PBS NewsHours Amna Nawaz will speak with Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, on the subject. Jones is a family physician, epidemiologist, and a former president of the American Public Health Association.

Watch the livestream in the player above at 12:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 10

Original post:

WATCH LIVE: Your questions about COVID-19 and the holidays - PBS NewsHour

Sixteen sites around the world are preparing to administer the militarys first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to health care workers and other essential personnel, as soon as the Food and Drug administration approves the two-dose Pfizer regimen for emergency use.

Using the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions plan for vaccination priorities, the Defense Department will vaccinate uniformed and civilian health care workers first, before working their way down through a plan that later includes critical national security units, troops preparing to deploy outside the country and so on.

We expect to have shots in arms of DoD personnel within 20 to 48 hours from the time the [FDA advisory panel] issues its final recommendation, Thomas McCaffery, the defense under secretary for health affairs, told reporters on Wednesday.

DoD expects to get 44,000 initial doses of the vaccine, which will initially go to 13 U.S.-based sites, and three overseas, where officials have determined there are both the conditions to store them properly as well as enough highest-priority personnel to make use of them.

Those could go out as soon as next week, McCaffery said, as the expectation is that FDA will meet and render its decision sometime this week.

Once the supply chain gets rolling, vaccines will be sent force-wide.

Nearly all of those initial doses will go to health care workers and other medical or counseling staff, including reservists and Guardsmen.

Get the military's most comprehensive news and information every morning

(please select a country) United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Subscribe

By giving us your email, you are opting in to the Early Bird Brief.

A very, very, very limited number of them will go to senior department officials, Lt. Gen. Ronald Place, head of the Defense Health Agency, said.

Those may include acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Mark Milley and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. John Hyten, Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said, adding that they have been encouraged to get their vaccines administered publicly.

Senior leaders will be doing a good amount of public outreach for the vaccine, because unlike the many other mandatory injections for service members, this one is going to be voluntary for a while.

Our advice to everyone would be to take the vaccine, just based on risk, Place said, place said, adding that the initial feedback on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines is very good.

The possible side effects will sound familiar to anyone whos had a vaccine before, including a sore arm and potentially a fever.

DoD is also recommending that COVID-19 survivors also get the vaccine, McCaffery said, as research is inconclusive about how effective antibodies are and how long they last.

As of Wednesday, 86,007 troops, 22,553 DoD civilians, 13,202 dependents and 7,838 DoD contractors have tested positive for the virus and 13 service members have died from COVID complications.

Keeping the vaccine voluntary initially is consistent with the emergency use authorization. Once FDA has signed a full approval, Place said, the department will take a look at making it mandatory.

Once medical and clinical staff are vaccinated, high-level national security personnel like nuclear submarine sailors, Air Force bomber crews and special operations counter-terror units will follow, and deploying troops will follow them, much like the current COVID-19 testing protocol DoD implemented in April.

The next groups include other support personnel, like military police, firefighters and others who are not able to telework or minimize their contact with other people,

Once those groups are squared away, according to the plan, DoD will set about vaccinating high-risk dependents and other civilian personnel, based on risk factors like age and pre-existing conditions.

The final phase will include healthy personnel not considered on the front lines, but McCaffery couldnt say when he expects all volunteers will be vaccinated.

There are several factors that will affect that, including whether and when a second vaccine candidate, from Moderna, gets its emergency use authorization and how quickly those vaccines can roll out. Each vaccine also requires a booster, adding amount a month onto the timeline after everyone has received an initial dose.

Meanwhile, DoD will continue its testing and quarantine policies, with some updates forthcoming.

In light of the CDC reducing its quarantine recommendations from 14 days to 5 to 10, depending on whether an exposed person has taken a COVID-19 test, DoD is considering reducing its 14-day quarantines around travel or deployments, McCaffery said, though a policy hasnt been finalized.

See the article here:

Troops could begin getting COVID-19 vaccines as early as next week, and they won't be mandatory - Military Times

Worst-case scenario, Covid-19 cases could peak around Jan. 20 the same day as President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C.

On that day, the number of daily Covid-19 infections could reach over 1 million, according to the latest projection from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington. (IHME estimates are total infections, meaning whether or not they are confirmed by tests.)

But the Jan. 20 peak projection reflects "the worst-case scenario in our modeling, if states do not re-impose any social distancing mandates," according to a IHME spokesperson. The number does assume a vaccine rollout in this case a 90 day rollout with 3 million doses delivered per day, starting on Dec. 15 for Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Dec. 22 for the Moderna vaccine and Jan. 7 for the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. (None of the vaccines have yet received emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration but Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines are expected to soon.)

If states were to re-impose social distancing mandates (which under IHME's model are enforced when a state reaches the level of eight daily deaths per million of that state's population), the projected number of daily infections is reduced to about 448,000 on Jan. 20, according to the model. (Some states, like California, have begun re-instituting lockdown measures.)

Under a scenario with a more rapid vaccine rollout assuming 6 million vaccines distributed daily over 45 days the peak would be 847,000 daily infections by Dec. 26, according to the projection. If social distancing mandates were added, that peak could drop to 526,000 infections daily.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who last week accepted the offer to serve as President-Elect Biden's chief medical adviser, told Newsweek in a feature published Saturday that January is going to be a tough month.

"I think January is gonna be terrible, because you're gonna have the Thanksgiving surge super-imposed upon the Christmas surge. So it's entirely conceivable that January could be the worst," Fauci told Newsweek. Fauci added that he believes Americans will see Covid cases increase this week and next from Thanksgiving.

As for the inauguration perhaps coinciding with a Covid-19 peak, Paige Waltz, communications director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC), which is made up of House and Senate lawmakers who plan the inauguration ceremony, says the committee is working on "a layered approach in terms of health and safety measures" that includes masks, social distancing and testing, "specifically for anyone on the platform near the president-elect."

"The attendance and ticketing process is being assessed in order to provide an Inaugural that is as safe and inclusive as possible," Waltz says. And the JCCIC is "continuing to monitor the situation, and will make adjustments accordingly."

On Friday, President-Elect Biden said his staff is currently consulting with public health experts as they formulate their plans for Inauguration Day, but he said the ceremony will likely emulate the virtual Democratic National Convention held in August.

"There probably will not be a gigantic inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue," Biden said. "But my guess is you'll see a lot of virtual activity in states all across America, engaging even more people than before."

As of Tuesday, new confirmed daily Covid cases in the U.S., as a seven-day average, are at an all-time high of more than 200,000, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data. There have been 14.95 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the U.S. with at least 284,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

As spokesperson for President-Elect Joe Biden did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment regarding IHME's projection.

Check out:Dr. Fauci says to take vitamin D if youre deficient heres how to know

Continued here:

This is when Covid-19 cases are projected to peak in a worst-case scenario, according to researchers - CNBC

President Donald Trump after his release from the hospital for treatment of coronavirus told Americans to not "be afraid of it." But for those who are suffering the effects of the illness after getting sick, it's tough not to be dominated by it. (Oct. 9) AP Domestic

Gloria Vettese of Warren ishaunted bythe terror she felt in late March and early April, when she lay awake night after night, waiting and wondering whether COVID-19 would kill her and make her only child an orphan.

She managed to survive the virus, and is nowamong the nearly 200,000 Michiganders considered recovered so far in the coronavirus pandemic.

But the only criteria to beincluded in the state's recovery statisticsis to be alive 30 days after symptoms began. It doesn't mean life is back to the way it was before the virus struck.

For 56-year-old Vettese and a growing number of other survivors,nothing about life post-COVID is normal.

They're what's come to be known as long-haulers in a pandemicthat's killing about2,500 Americans a day as case numbers soar from coast to coast.

Those whosurvive COVID-19are often left with puzzling and sometimes debilitating conditions months after they are considered recovered from the infectious part of the disease.

Research now suggests that although SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus, it can cause inflammation and changes to the vascular system that can injureblood vessels and leadto blood clots and organ damage.

Gloria Vettese was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Spring but is still experiencing health issues. She is losing hair and has had cognitive changes along with a constant ringing in her ears. Vettese's son managed to avoid the virus despite being around his mom when she was diagnosed. She likes to take walks during the day to get fresh air.(Photo: Antranik Tavitian, Detroit Free Press)

To long-haulers like Vettese,the story of this pandemicisn't onlyabout who lives andwho dies. It's also about thepeoplewhose recoveriesareslow and uncertain, who wonder if what they're feeling in this moment will be as good as it gets for as long as they live.

"I have friends and close family members who are anti-maskers and who go to five bars anight, and are pretty much, you know, just, 'I need to live my life' " Vettese said. "I feel disrespected by that and I feel hurt by that.When the people who know you ... don't take it seriously, it makes itlike, OK, do you think I'm making it up?"

When coronavirus knockeddown Vettese, she wasn't sure she'd get through it."It was just 10 days of living hell," she said.

"I couldn't take a whole breath in, and so I would force myself to breathe." She knew she probably should have gone to the hospital, but Vettese said if she did, there would have beenno one to care for Aaron, her 13-year-old son.

She had a debilitating headache, fever, and body pain. Her appetite disappeared. Her vision had gone fuzzy, too.

"I would just sit here and I would be thinking,'My brain is gonna blow. I'm going to have an aneurysm. I'm going to have stroke. I'm going to have an embolism," she said. "I was worried about blood clotsbecause I couldn't move. ... At that point, I almost didn't even care if I died because it just hurt, and ... you just feel so bad that it just didn't matter.' "

But when Easter Sunday dawned, Vettese said the headache vanished. An incessant ringing in Vettese's ears replaced the headache, and that still hasn't gone away.

Now, she leaves the television on low most of the time "to try to muffle the sounds in my head," she said. "IfI'm sitting incomplete quiet, itdominates."

She's working toward a bachelor's degree, but said the brain fog and cognitive changes are so pronounced, it's been hard to get the straight-As she used to have.

"Timed online tests and quizzes aren't new to me and I'm not a slow learner and I'm not a slow test taker," Vettese said. But post-COVID,"I couldn't finish my work.I couldn't finish my quizzes.

"I've described it as like almost feeling kind of like a bubble around your head, likesomething that needs to pop so you can get connected with reality."

She has PTSD, too, reliving what it felt like when the virus had her in its grips.

"I would lay down at night and I would feel like ... it's going to get me because I'm going to let my guard down and close my eyes and go to sleep, and it's going to come and kill me in my sleep," Vettesesaid.

New researchpublishedin November in theAnnals of Internal Medicineprovides evidence that COVID-19does have a long-term impact for some people.

"It was sobering"to see the outcome of the study of 1,648patients treated at 38 Michigan hospitals from March to early July, said Dr. Vineet Chopra, who led the research.

Of them, 25% died while hospitalized. Another 7% died within two months of being discharged and 15% had to be readmitted to ahospital for ongoing health problems.

Among the488survivors who participated in thefollow-up surveysin theMI-COVID19 Initiativeregistry two monthsafter they were discharged, the number who saidthey were back to normal and free of lingering health effects was "vanishingly small," said Chopra, who ischief of hospital medicine at Michigan Medicine at theUniversity of Michigan.

Thirty-nine percent reported persistent health problems that kept them from doingnormal activities and 12% said they couldn't even do basic things to care for themselves.

"I think the part that really affected me the most was just the whole devastationpost COVID, which was around notbeing able to get back to work, for example, because of physical ailments, not being able to really do the things they needed to do for their daily living, like breathing and going to the bathroom and cleaning up the house and goinggrocery shopping because of persistentweakness, irritabilityor fatigue overall," Chopra said.

More than half reported that they were emotionally affected by their health conditions two months into recovery, and33% reportedseeking mental health care because of it.

About40% reported they couldn't return to work within two months of being discharged from the hospitalbecause they weren't well enough or had lost their jobs. About 26% reported only being able to work a reduced schedule.

University of Michigan Dr. Veneet Chopra, left, talks with hospital staff as he oversees Michigan Medicine's emergency response team to the COVID-19 outbreak.(Photo: Michigan Medicine)

"The financial toll of this," Chopra said, "was so closely intertwined to the emotional and mental health concerns, where a lot of patients said, 'We havewiped out our savings as a result of COVID' or 'We were rationing food or rationing medications as a way to kind of makeends meet.' "

The research shows there is much work to be done to ensurepeople who are consideredrecoveredfrom COVID-19 are getting the care they need tomanage their lives in the months that follow the initial illness, he said.

"In our medical dogma, ... we oftenthink about a treatment and a cure, but I think that the cure here isn't just resolution of the actual illness," Chopra said. "There's a lot more beyond it. And so it is time to start thinking about survivorship, which is not dissimilar to how we think about cancer survivorship, right?

"You're never done with it. You kind of put the beast in its cage for a while, perhaps, and you're in remission, and you hope you will stay in remission. But you really need help dealing with all of the challenges of being the patient in that situation. And I think a similar model is really needed for COVID patients."

Nicole Vaughn, 50, of Detroit remembers eatingcorned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day dinner. It was her last big mealbefore COVID-19 stole her appetite and brought her to her knees.

"I had to give the duties of cooking to my eldest sonbecause I'm burning food. ...I couldn't smell things andI'm cooking with onions and garlic," said Vaughn,the single mother of five adopted children, who works asa counselor in theDetroit Public Schools.

She was sick to her stomach. Fatigue and exhaustion took hold, and by March 27, everything, including breathing, became a struggle.

"I'm weak," she said."I could ... barely get out of bed.I go to the bathroom to take my shower, and ... feeling as though I'm going to collapse, faint. So I get back to my room, and I text my sister on my cell phone. And I say, 'Please come and get me. Take me to the hospital.'My eyes areburning as ifhot sauce or something had been poured in my eyes."

Her 14-year-old daughter, Leah, helped her put on her shoes, and Vaughn's sister took her to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where tests confirmed that she had double pneumonia and COVID-19.

She was given supplemental oxygen, but the day after she was admitted, it became clear she needed more help. Vaughnneeded ventilator support.

Nicole Vaughn, a 50-year-old single mom of five adopted kids, had COVID-19 in March. She was hospitalized at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and put on a ventilator. Vaughn is a counselor for the Detroit Public Schools and says she's having ongoing problems months after she contracted the virus. She has insomnia now, and night sweats. She also has brain fog, difficulty controlling her blood sugar, and worries about what her COVID-19 infection means for her long-term health and survival.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

"I took a nap is what I call it," Vaughn said. "My sister said I was in a coma. ... When I came out of sedation, it was April 1."

Waking up was an unsettling experience. She couldn't speak because the tube from the ventilator was still in place, making her feel like she was choking. Her nurse gave her a dry-erase board so she could ask questions and write messages.

Grammy-Award winning soul artistBill Withers had died while Vaughn was unconscious, so when she learned the news, she listened to some of his biggest hits, like"Ain't No Sunshine" and "Lean on Me," and wrote out her final will and testamenton that dry-erase board.

"I wasn't sure what the outcome was going to be," Vaughn said. "I hadwritten out everything I wanted each one of my children to have."

Nicole Vaughn, 50, is a single mom of five adopted kids. When she came down with COVID-19 in March and was hospitalized and put on a ventilator, she remembers writing out her final will and testament on a dry-erase board in the ICU so she could be sure her final wishes were known. Happily, she never needed it.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

But she never needed that will scrawled in dry-erase marker. Vaughn went home on April 6, still feeling tired and weak, but grateful.

As the months passed, she improved, but some symptoms lingered, and continue to nag at her even now.

"I do have the fatigue," she said. "I also have what I'm referring to asnight sweats, so it's almost like wheremy body can't regulate the temperature like it should.

"And from time to time, I'll have what is called brain fog."

Vaughn is highly educated she has four master's degreesbut said every now and then, "I'll forget a particular word and I know what I want to say, and it takes me a minute for it to come back to me." At times, simple math can stump her.

Vaughn didn't have high blood pressure before she contracted the virus, but her cardiologist is now considering putting her on medicine to help control it. Managingher blood sugar is also harder than it ever was before she contracted coronavirus.

"That's the one thing I recognized with COVID, it impacts everyone differently," Vaughn said. "So even if there are underlying health conditions or underlying hereditary conditions, it seems like it exacerbates those things.

"That's why I don't understand people not wanting to wear their mask. You know, COVID is not the flu.I've had the flu before. This issomething that you do not want. You definitely don't want it."

For people who survive COVID-19 hospitalization, Chopra said "the physical toll this takes on you is profound."

He's seen it in the patients he's treated at Michigan Medicine, and he's seen it through the lens of the broader study of how patients around the state have fared 60 days after being discharged from hospitals.

"It's not an acute sort of illness where you feel weakand then you come right back to normal. There's a persistent weakness and debility," Chopra explained. "And I've seen it in healthy 25-year-olds who run marathons, who got COVID, came in and within a day or two, could barelyget out of bed and use the bathroom without support. All the way to older patients who are obviously more at risk of adverse disease, and also more at risk of physical instability and deconditioning."

The disease affectsmore than the lungs.

"This COVID fog that patientsdescribe where they have trouble with memory, trouble recollecting events and it's not justaround the time they were in the hospital with COVID it's remote memories, almost likea vascular dementia-like syndrome," Chopra said.

"There's the laying in bed, there's the circulatory changes, but there's probably something also with muscles and deconditioningthat's important to keep in mind.The other thing thatI think is important to link this to and to think about is just the toll of a condition called sepsis, which is, in many ways, very similar to COVID.

"COVID is a viral illness that basically causes a sepsis-like syndrome, where the body's immune system kind of goes haywire, which is our current understanding of sepsis."

More:576 Henry Ford workers off the job due to COVID-19 illness

More:Michigan's top doctor: COVID-19 vaccination effort will be massive

Sepsis is defined as the body's over-reaction to an infection. It triggers a massive inflammatory response that can cause tissue damage, organ failure and death, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It's one of the reasons why we give steroids now to these patients," Chopra said."We think they get better because we help the immune system kind of not get so dysregulated.

"But I think the clue there for us moving forward is that the therapeutics that we're likely to see the most benefit from are likely going to have some degree of overlap with managing patients who have severe sepsis. And that's where a lot of the work on the anticoagulants, the anti-inflammatories, and some of the immune-modulating sort of drugs I hope it will lead us to. We've seen glimmers of hope there withthe monoclonal antibodies now, too."

Nina Lewellen admits she got a little lax in the summer about following the recommendations to avoid large gatherings.In late June, she and her mom went to a baptism and first birthday party for an extended family member.

"We all wore masks and the tables were 6 feetapart, and we stayed at tables with members of our immediate family," she said. But soon after,both she and her mom developed coronavirus symptoms headache, fatigue, and congestion.

Nina Lewellen, 30, of Lincoln Park had COVID-19 in July. She says she's mostly recovered, but is still losing her hair.(Photo: Lewellen Family)

Lewellen, 30,a single mother who works for DTE Energy,went to an urgent care center near her home in Lincoln Park and got a coronavirus test.The result was negative, so Lewellen tried not to worry about it.She thought it might be a summertime cold or sinus infection.

But the more time passed, the sicker Lewellen grew. She becameuncharacteristically tired, and achy. And by Independence Day, she had a fever.She began to cough and had difficulty breathing.

A few days after that, she said, "I couldn't functionat all. I mean, the burning in my lungs had gotten so bad that I couldn't even stand up. ... I just remember gasping, just gasping and gasping for air and taking short shallow breaths because really any movement just caused it to trigger aspasm.

"The point when I realized I needed to go to the hospital is when I would stand up and my hearing started to fade and my vision started to fade," Lewellen said.

She was admitted to Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital July 9.Lewellenhad none of the major risk factors that experts warnwould put someone at high risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

"I am that young and healthy" person, she said, who's supposed to only have minor illness when infected by this novel coronavirus.

"But I'll never forget ... how itfelt physically. I will never forget how it felt emotionally. I will never forget sobbing whilemy 3-year-oldtried to climb on my lap and asked me to read him a story, and I couldn'teven do that."

She was on steroids and blood thinners in the hospital and slowly began to improve. Lewellenwas well enough to go home July 13. Her mother had a more severe case of the virus, was hospitalized longer and alsonow suffers some of the long-hauler after-effects of COVID-19.

"My mom was in really bad shape," Lewellen said."She was on oxygen. She came home with oxygen. She just wasn't good."

They were both hospitalized in mid-summer, when Michigan's coronavirus case counts hadbottomed out, and fewer people were being treated in hospitals for it. Lewellen sometimeswonders whether her momwould have survived if they'd have contracted the virus during theMarch surge, when metro Detroit's health care systems were in crisis.

"I don't know if my mom's outcome would have been differentjust because of the overload in the hospitals and all of that," Lewellen said. "There's a lot of guilt associated with that and I think about that every time people claim, 'I'm not living in fear.I'm gonna go live my life.' Likeyeah, you might be fine, but somebody that you love might not be fine. And that's guiltthat no one ... could live with."

The virus took atoll on Lewellen, too.

For weeks after she came home from the hospital, her muscles felt weak. Straightforward things were somehow confusing, and insomnia taunted her, keeping her awake even though her body desperately needed rest.

"I couldn't sleep for days. I would sleep maybe for 20 minutes, and then wake up," Lewellen said. "And I got to the pointthat I was delirious from the lack of sleep.

"I could not take care of kids. ...I could barely take care of myself. Just the fatigue. ... I couldn't make it one block down the street with my son before I had to turn around and come home and that's something that really gives you pause and really gives you a lot of frustration and anger.

"I'm healthy and I'm young and people count on me and I can't. I just can't. And that's really hard to come to terms with emotionally."

While many of those problems have improved, Lewellen said she is stilllosing her hair and has brain fog from time to time. She'sconcerned not only about the unknowns and about what having COVID-19 might mean for her health long-term in 5 years, 10 years or even 50 years from now.

"I don't want anybody else to go through what I went through. ...We know now about all of these long-term issues that people are having, and there's still so much that we don't know," Lewellen said.

And if the political winds shift in the future, she thinks about what her history with coronavirus might mean for her insurability.

"I'm concerned aboutthe Affordable Care Act getting reversed," Lewellen said. "I had COVID. Is my health care not going to be covered? Are there certain things in the future that won't be covered? I know that's just speculation, ... but COVID's becomemy pre-existing condition."

Although the last year has led to much new understanding about this novel coronavirus, so muchremains unknown, said Dr. Dawn Misra, department chair and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

"This idea that only the elderly and only those with chronic conditions or obesityare really at riskleads people to not fully appreciate their own risk," Misra said. "We have tracked numerous cases of people who don't fit any of those criteria and still die. We also don't know long-term what's going to happen."

Research from the 1918 flu pandemic, she said, showed that children born to women who had the Spanish flu during pregnancywent on to have more chronic conditions and a shorter life expectancy than those whose mothers didn't contract the flu while pregnant.

It could be decades before we have a more complete picture about just what this virus can do.

"We are just scratching the surface of understanding what it is," Misra said. "So for those who are getting it and do not seemto be that sick, I don't think that makes it OK. ... Nobody should be having this virus, if possible. And so survivingand just notdyingreally is not good enough."

Dr. Dawn Misra, department chair and professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.(Photo: Michigan State University)

What's been evident even this early on in the pandemic, Chopra said, is that there are gaps in the social safety net for helping people recover long-term from severe COVID-19 illness physically, mentally and financially.

"You can't help but get emotional, especially when there's people that you care for, and you call them after a while and you hear their stories," he said."It'sgut-wrenchingin many ways.

"But I'm hopeful that the silver lining here is that by shining a spotlight on this, and then pointing to all the challenges beyond just the acute state that we'll come up with a way to kind of help these people, because I do think we need a better way to do it."

Ideally, Chopra said he'd like to seespecialized post-COVID care clinics where physicians would do fullassessments, and target patient care to what they people most need.Thosewho'vehad blood clots from COVID-19, for example, wouldbe assessed to be sure they're on theright anti-coagulants. Patients who havememory deficits wouldgetfollow-up to be sure they aren't living alone and have help to keep them safe.

Continued here:

Months after COVID-19, many with long-term symptoms wonder if they'll ever feel the same - Detroit Free Press

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Southampton, New York-based writer attended a few sessions with different therapists in person. Once the pandemic hit, however, she decided she didn't want to be inside a confined space with someone who could possibly be a vector for the virus.

So Talty improvised, and for a group session with another family member she asked to meet with a new therapist in the therapist's backyard.

The three wore masks until they sat, then took them off. They all sat a minimum of 6 feet apart. Save for the therapist's dog, which periodically yipped and yapped at Talty's feet, the experience was typical Talty and her family member shared feelings, answered questions and did a whole lot of reflecting. Everything just unfolded outside.

"Outdoor therapy is a great alternative for people who wouldn't feel comfortable going into an office right now," Talty, 32, said. "It's definitely something I would do again."

Talty isn't the only person seeking out this kind of therapy these days. As the pandemic rages on and public health officials advise against sessions indoors, psychologists and licensed marriage and family therapists are embracing alternatives to traditional forms of therapy.

Bringing the inside out

The most common form of outdoor therapy looks like what Talty experienced: traditional talk therapy sessions held in a yard or on a patio, balcony or roof.

These experiences are similar to pre-Covid therapy; seated far enough apart from each other, patients and therapists can remove their face coverings and focus on psychological healing instead of worrying about potential risks in transmitting virus.

Tatyana Kholodkov, a psychologist in Durham, North Carolina, said the setup also enables therapists to observe facial expressions the same way they would in a regular indoor session an important tool for therapists to get at how a patient might be feeling.

"It is difficult to do therapy with face masks," said Kholodkov, whose private wellness practice is dubbed Project YES. "There is a lot of information that gets lost when you can't see someone's entire face."

Still, there are potential pitfalls to this approach.

First, of course, is privacy if sessions are unfolding outside, there's always a possibility that passersby might hear what's being said, which could make patients more reticent to open up. With unpredictable variables such as construction and animals, Kholodkov said, outdoor sessions also can threaten the controlled environment that therapists work so hard to cultivate in their offices.

Another challenge: the elements. Rain or snow would force a therapist to reschedule, and Talty noted that she had to rebook her appointment because the original session was slated to take place on a blazing hot day.

Walking and talking

Other forms of outdoor therapy revolve around nature completely. Dubbed eco-therapy, this practice involves sessions that unfold in parks, forests, beaches and other open spaces.

"Just being in the sun and moving your body a little bit will decrease the emotional intensity of a situation, and then you can put your thinking cap on," said Page, a nurse practitioner who launched Trailtalk in the fall of 2010. "That helps get you some clarity. With that, you can figure things out."

Page said her sessions can last anywhere from an hour to a half a day. She also offers intensive sessions "theracations" that amount to 10 hours of tune-ups over the course of four or five days.

If a patient is feeling particularly vulnerable or would rather not be outside, Page can conduct the session in a Sprinter van she's tricked out like an office. In these instances, the patient sits inside the van and Page sits outside so her patients aren't sharing the same space.

Connecting with nature

Near San Francisco, licensed marriage and family therapist Dave Talamo has been known to take a similar walk-and-talk approach. Talamo also prides himself on a different type of eco-therapy something that could be called a "walk-and-sit" or "walk-and-pause" approach.

With this, Talamo will meet a patient at a trailhead and walk until they find a calm and secluded spot for the rest of the session to unfold.

Sometimes the spot might be a deserted meadow; other times it might be atop a bluff overlooking the ocean. Talamo noted it may or may not be a spot that others find remarkable.

During a recent session, he chose to meet a patient who was suffering from anxiety and depression at a redwood grove near the patient's home. The two stopped near the base of a tree, and the patient began ranting about how adrift he felt during the pandemic. Talamo stopped him and had the young man lean back to feel the support of a tree that has endured for many human lifetimes.

In another session, Talamo said a patient was having trouble expressing himself at precisely the same moment that a crow flew over and started vocalizing loudly.

The crow's ability to "speak" helped the patient unlock thoughts and put them into words.

"Sometimes we need these connections to nature, that reminder that as uncertain as things are right now, it will be OK," said Talamo, who is based in San Rafael, California. "Those simple experiences can mean more than any back-and-forth we might have sitting on a couch."

Dangers of eco-therapy

While it does offer benefits, this type of therapy isn't all rainbows and unicorns. Lezlie Scaliatine, a clinical psychologist and certified eco-therapist in Santa Rosa, California, said there are several considerations that therapists must address before they begin seeing patients outside.

For starters, Scaliatine said therapists must carry a different level of liability for outdoor sessions than they do for sessions that unfold indoors, because there are potential risks. Specifically, she noted, therapists should check to make sure their malpractice insurance covers outdoor sessions.

Scaliatine added that while taking patients outside into nature is a good treatment approach, therapists should have basic skills around safety.

"You really should know first aid and CPR, in the event that something were to happen," Scaliatine said. "What do you do if your client gets stung by a bee or steps in poison oak? You definitely want to be prepared."

Page agreed, adding that outdoor therapy is not a panacea but instead another tool.

Specifically, she noted that people with certain personality types may prefer a therapeutic experience delivered through a computer screen, and that therapists must determine what works best for whom.

"Just as there are going to be therapists who maybe wouldn't or couldn't embrace (outdoor therapy), there also are going to be patients who aren't going to like it either," she said.

"The model works for extroverts, kinesthetic learners (who need to move) and people who need people at a time like this. For introverts and individuals who don't need as much of a connection, teletherapy might work just fine."

Matt Villano is a writer and editor in Northern California. He expects to FaceTime with family during holidays this year.

See the original post here:

Therapists, patients embrace outdoor therapy in Covid-19 pandemic - CNN

News Release

Monday, December 7, 2020

Online calculator computes costs of testing and offers strategies for preventing infections in schools and businesses.

It can be an enormous challenge for schools and businesses to determine how to establish an effective COVID-19 testing program, particularly with the multiple testing options now on the market. An innovative online tool funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, helps organizations choose a COVID-19 testing strategy that will work best for their specific needs. The COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator is a free resource that shows how different approaches to testing and other mitigation measures, such as mask use, can curb the spread of the virus in any organization. It is the first online tool in the nation to provide schools and businesses with clear guidance on risk-reducing behaviors and testing to help them stay open safely.

A team led by the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (CIMIT) at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, developed the tool to model the costs and benefits of COVID-19 testing strategies for individual organizations. The team developed their mathematical model and calculator as part of NIHs Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Tech program. The calculator is simple--a user enters a few specifics about their site and the tool produces customized scenarios for surveillance testing. The tool models four different COVID-19 testing methods, including onsite and lab-based, and calculates the number of people to test each day. It shows the estimated cost of each testing option and outlines the tradeoffs in the speed and accuracy of each kind of test.

The NIH RADx initiative has enabled innovation and growth in the creation of new, rapid COVID-19 testing technologies, said Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., director of NIBIB and lead for the RADx Tech program.Using this tool, school administrators and business owners can quickly evaluate the cost and performance of different tests to help find the best match for their unique organization.

The COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator also shows how other Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-recommended countermeasures, such as masks, contact tracing and social distancing, can work in concert with testing to keep people safe. Users enter which of these measures are in place in their organization and the tool integrates this information to produce testing recommendations. By adjusting these entries, users get a startling demonstration of how implementing simple countermeasures can drastically reduce their testing costs. For example, for a site that allows mask-less activities such as meetings or dining, reducing the group size on the calculator from 12 to six cuts the cost of the recommended testing strategy by more than half. Thus, the tool can inform leaders about how implementing these practices in addition to testing can keep their school or business open safely and with less expense.

Co-developer of the tool, Anette (Peko) Hosoi, Ph.D., is associate dean of engineering and the Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. She also is an affiliate of the universitys Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), where students and researchers combine cutting-edge data analysis with social science methodology to tackle pressing societal challenges like the coronavirus pandemic.

A false dichotomy is often perpetuated that we must either stop COVID or reopen the economy, said Hosoi. But we know a lot now about how this disease spreads and the answer is not an either/or proposition. We know what kinds of measures are necessary to keep things running and mitigate the spread while operating maybe not under normal conditions, but certainly under functional conditions.

Co-developer Paul Tessier, Ph.D., is product development director at CIMIT, the RADx Tech coordinating center. The calculator is a major enabler for test-technologies being developed, commercialized and deployed with help from the RADx Tech program, Tessier said. He explained that implementing a testing program carries weighty considerations, including cost and number of testing instruments, arranging for test takers, and determining the optimal frequency for testing. We are excited to join forces with MITs IDSS to advance a decision-making tool for operating safely.

The COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator is at http://www.whentotest.org.

This project was fundedbythe National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, throughthe NIH RADxInitiative via grant #U54EB015408 and contracts #75N92020P00132 and #75N92020P00171.

About the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADxSM) initiative:The RADx initiative was launched on April 29, 2020, to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing. The initiative has four programs: RADx Tech, RADx Advanced Technology Platforms, RADx Underserved Populations and RADx Radical. It leverages the existing NIH Point-of-Care Technology Research Network. The RADx initiative partners with federal agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, Department of Defense, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Learn more about the RADx initiative and its programs:https://www.nih.gov/radx.

About the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB):NIBIBs mission is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care. NIBIB supports emerging technology research and development within its internal laboratories and through grants, collaborations, and training. More information is available at the NIBIB website:https://www.nibib.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

NIHTurning Discovery Into Health

###

Continued here:

funded tool helps organizations plan COVID-19 testing - National Institutes of Health

NEW YORK,8 December2020The number of schoolchildren affected by COVID-19-related school closures soared by 38 per cent in November, placing significant strain on the learning progress and well-being of an additional 90 million students globally.

According to data collected by UNESCO, classrooms for nearly 1 in 5 schoolchildren globally or 320 million are closed as of 1 December, an increase of nearly 90 million from 232 million on 1 November. In contrast, the month of October saw the number of schoolchildren affected by school closures decrease nearly three-fold.

In spite of everything we have learned about COVID-19, the role of schools in community transmission, and the steps we can take to keep children safe at school, we are moving in the wrong directionand doing so very quickly, said Robert Jenkins, UNICEF Global Chief of Education. Evidence shows that schools are not the main drivers of this pandemic. Yet, we are seeing an alarming trend whereby governments are once again closing down schools as a first recourse rather than a last resort. In some cases, this is being done nationwide, rather than community by community, and children are continuing to suffer the devastating impacts on their learning, mental and physical well-being and safety.

When schools close, children risk losing their learning, support system, food and safety, with the most marginalized children who are the most likely to drop out altogether paying the heaviest price. And, as millions of children remain out of their classrooms for more than nine months, and many more are re-living the upheaval, UNICEF fears that too many schools are closing unnecessarily, and not enough emphasis has been placed on taking the necessary steps to make schools safe from COVID-19.

A recent global study using data from 191 countries showed no association between school status and COVID-19 infection rates in the community. With little evidence that schools contribute to higher rates of transmission, UNICEF urges governments to prioritize reopening schools and take all actions possible to make them as safe as possible.

School re-opening plans must include expanding access to education, including remote learning, especially formarginalizedgroups. Education systems must also be adapted and built to withstand future crises.

UNICEFs Framework for Reopening Schools, issued jointly with UNESCO, UNHCR, WFP and the World Bank, offers practical advice for national and local authorities. The guidelines focus on policy reform; financing requirements; safe operations; compensatory learning; wellness and protection and reaching the most marginalized children.

What we have learned about schooling during the time of COVID is clear: the benefits of keeping schools open far outweigh the costs of closing them, and nationwide closures of schools should be avoided at all costs, said Jenkins.

###

Continued here:

COVID-19: UNICEF warns of continued damage to learning and well-being as number of children affected by school closures soars again - UNICEF