Category: Covid-19

CHICAGO (CBS) Some employees say there is no transparency, no protocol, and no direct information about COVID-19 cases about Chicago Park District facilities.

As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Tuesday evening, employees said at least three parks shut down this month because of positive coronavirus cases, but employees are not being told about it.

One of those parks is Haas Park, at 2402 N. Washtenaw Ave. in Logan Square. It was the latest to shut down.

Employees said the shutdown is because of COVID-19. But youd never know it by walking by or even calling. There is no explanation.

But a longtime Chicago Park District employee, who asked to have their identity hidden for job protection purposes, said Haas Park is not the first one to close because of the virus.

We, as employees, are not being notified. Theres no protocol in place. Its word of mouth that were finding out from each other, said the employee.

A memo now circulating among park district employees mentions the COVID case at Haas by name, then asks staffers to help come clean the park. The employee wondered why there was not a company on standby to do that.

If this happened at a school, you would never just not do anything or ask the school next door come on over and help clean up, the employee said.

Other employees told CBS 2 Columbus Park, at 500 S. Central Ave. in Austin, is now temporarily closed for the same reason. A staffer at Blackhawk Park, at 2318 N. Lavergne Ave. in Belmont Cragin, confirmed that park had been closed for COVID too.

And it does not just impact employees. It could also affect families who use the parks or kids who attend day camps.

You cant go on our website and see a listing of parks closed for cleaning purposes, said the employee. So, you could be a neighbor of that park, and you stopped in yesterday to use the restroom and pick up one of the free lunches that are being offered to the community. And now the park is closed because of the positive COVID test, and you have no way of finding that out.

Staffers have to find out amongst themselves, the employee reiterated.

Because supervisors at locations re helping to inform other supervisors, so that we, at least internally, we can figure stuff out. But its all just hush-hush, the employee said. It just doesnt make sense. I mean, its nobodys fault if COVID happens at a park. however, it is your fault if youre not telling your employees whats going on.

The apparent lack of transparency flies in the face of what Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and public health officials say is key to stopping the COVID-19 spread. The staffer said park district higher-ups need a plan.

Currently, there is no protocol in place for what happens when there is a positive COVID test. Were just kinda flying by the seat of our pants, said the staffer.

Late Tuesday, Chicago Park District Michelle Lemons issued a statement on this issue.

The statement read, In each instance, the district took immediate action and followed proper procedures as outlined by the Chicago Department of Public Health, including notifying staff and parents of any minors involved in programming to ensure the safety of anyone involved.

Lemons statement also said each park was disinfected and cleaned in accordance with health and safety guidelines.

But that is exactly the opposite of what the Park District employee said.

Lemons also confirmed there was a fourth case at a fourth park, which Lemons confirmed. But that park, Kozlov was told, never shut down but had been cleaned.

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Some Chicago Parks Closed Because Of COVID-19, But Not Everyone Knows Which Ones - CBS Chicago

Perhaps the most confounding aspect of COVID-19 is the diseases unpredictability.

The coronavirus affects every system of the body, including the respiratory and neurological systems and even the blood. Some patients need ventilators to breathe or have flu-like symptoms for a week or two, while others show no symptoms but shed the virus and unknowingly infect others.

And then there are the long-haulers. They gather by the thousands in online support groups as month after month goes by with little to no signs of getting better.

These patients are a mix of younger and older people whose coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and fatigue can last well after they test positive for the coronavirus, according to Dr. Christopher Babiuch of the Cleveland Clinic.

Among them is Dr. Scott Krakower, a 40-year-old psychiatrist from New York who had chills and fever for nearly two weeks in April before testing positive. He closed himself off in a room at home to protect his wife and two young children, but was eventually hospitalized.

His life was essentially saved by Dr. Robert Glatter at New Yorks Lenox Hill Hospital who gave Krakower life-saving steroids that opened his throat. But four months later, he says hes still feeling winded on short walks and has trouble swallowing and talking.

I try to think, 'OK, I'm ready to go back to work and things like that,' Krakower says. And then my friends and my colleagues who are in the medical field, I think just listening to me try to talk to explain why I should even do something, I think that they were like, 'Scott, come on. You can't even basically hold a conversation still at times.'

Krakower says he was quarantined at home for five weeks before going to the hospital. His symptoms started with what he describes as the worst chills of his life, followed by losing his sense of taste and smell about a week later.

Losing those senses was a very unusual and bizarre feeling that Krakower says he will never forget.

All of a sudden, you're eating and you're trying to figure out what the food tastes like, and then you can't decide, he says. And then you realize it doesn't have a taste, so then you eat more ... to see if you could somehow find a flavor to it. But you could still taste like the sweet or the salty, and then after a while of whatever was remaining, just sort of dropped off.

From there, Krakower says his condition rapidly deteriorated. He developed a violent cough that wouldnt stop. Eventually, he started coughing up blood.

It was just horrific, he says. Every night at like six o'clock, I would just dread it, dread it because I would be coughing throughout the day and then the night would come, and then it was almost like a very loud barking cough, finally coughing up blood.

Krakower says the strangest thing about his illness was that he would seemingly start to recover, and then his symptoms would come roaring back worse than before.

I would feel better for a period of like three or four days, almost to the point like I felt like the illness was gone, and then I rapidly deteriorated again, he says. And then out of nowhere, the whole thing spiraled down even more violent than the first time around. It was literally like my throat would start to swell and then I couldn't talk.

His doctors said he was having a cytokine storm to his throat. It got so bad that he couldnt swallow and started to choke on his food. When he lost 15 pounds, thats when his family decided it was time to take him to the hospital.

I think [with] any other illness, you would think that you could walk out the door and go to the E.R. and get treatment, maybe get hospitalized, Krakower says. And this illness, you have to think, 'OK well, what if you do this? What if you infect? What if I walk through and I sneeze the wrong way and then my kids got it?

Dr. Glatter put him on IV steroids, which helped decrease the swelling in his throat, he says. When he was finally discharged from the hospital, he says he felt better for a week before feeling sick again.

I wound up on high dose oral steroids, coughing around the clock again, and there was a fear I was going to go back into the hospital, he says. My oxygen was starting to drop again, and then I just stayed like that. I was so sick for like a good three or four weeks, even after hospital.

Krakower says just talking about his experience is difficult now. He suspects that the virus impacted his nervous system, but he says he tries not to think about that.

When I lost my sense of taste and smell, I didn't realize that my other senses were also dulled until after it came back, he says. So I find it hard to believe that it didn't impact the nervous system to some extent. It was almost like an awakening feeling when it came back.

Karyn Miller-Medzon produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Tinku Ray. Samantha Raphelson adaptedit for the web.

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For This COVID-19 Long-Hauler, Talking, Breathing And Swallowing Are Still A Challenge - Here And Now

Readout from the Vice President's Governors Briefing on COVID-19 Response & Best Practices  Whitehouse.gov

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Readout from the Vice President's Governors Briefing on COVID-19 Response & Best Practices - Whitehouse.gov

Former intelligence contractor and whistleblower Reality Winner has reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. Winners sister, Brittany Winner, tweeted her diagnosis earlier today. Winner is currently incarcerated in a federal medical prison in Fort Worth, Texas, where an outbreak has sickened hundreds of inmates and killed at least two.

Winner is seeking compassionate release during the coronavirus pandemic, citing underlying medical conditions. An early petition for release from her imprisonment at FMC Carswell was denied in April. Shortly afterward, Carswell reported its first coronavirus death: Andrea Circle Bear, who died after giving birth on a ventilator. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported last week that 130 people had contracted COVID-19 at the prison; the most recent Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics show over 500 cases. An appeal is currently pending.

Winners attorney, Joe Whitley, told Law.coms Daily Report that he hopes the court will take the outbreak into consideration. I hope the BOP is equipped to handle the geometric surge in cases, effectively at all their facilities, but I am concerned that may not be the case. According to Daily Report, Winners sister says she is currently asymptomatic, and one of her cellmates also tested positive.

Prisons have emerged as one of the most dangerous hotspots for Americas coronavirus outbreak. Attorney General William Barr has ordered prisons to prioritize releasing inmates to home confinement, but numerous reports have demonstrated confusion and delays in the process although some high-profile Trump associates, like Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, have been released.

Winner, who previously worked for the National Security Agency, accepted a plea deal for espionage in 2018 after leaking a report on Russian election interference to The Intercept. She is currently scheduled for release in November 2021.

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Whistleblower Reality Winner has tested positive for COVID-19 in prison - The Verge

More than 70,000 cases and over 2,000 deaths were reported among this population as of 6 July, according to the UN agency.

There have been at least six cases among the Nahua people, who live in the Peruvian Amazon, latest information has revealed.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that because indigenous people are among the worlds poorest and most vulnerable groups, they are especially at risk of contracting the disease.

Like other vulnerable groups, indigenous peoples face many challenges. This includes a lack of political representation, economic marginalization and lack of access to health, education and social services, he said, speaking from Geneva during the regular crisis update.

Indigenous peoples often have a high burden of poverty, unemployment, malnutrition and both communicable and non-communicable diseases, making them more vulnerable to COVID-19 and its severe outcomes.

WHOs Regional Office for the Americas recently published recommendations for preventing and responding to COVID-19 among indigenous peoples.

The agency also is working with the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon River Basin, to step up the fight against the disease.

WHO also used the briefing to underline the importance of contact tracing to suppress COVID-19 transmission among indigenous communities and the population at large.

The process is essential as more countries begin to re-open after lifting lockdown measures.

One of the lessons from the recent Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was declared over the last month, is that contact tracing can be done even in the most difficult circumstances, with security problems, Tedros told journalists.

Dr Ibrahima Soc Fall, WHO Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response, said contact tracing helps break further transmission of COVID-19, thus reducing its caseload and impact.

What we need to understand is that contact tracing is not an isolated practice. It is part of the best practices for epidemiology, he said, speaking in French.

WHO has welcomed promising news about a potential vaccine against COVID-19, as research into treatments in multiple countries, continues.

An experimental vaccine developed by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, appears safe and triggers an immune response, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet.

It is good news, said Dr. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of WHOs Health Emergencies Programme, though he cautioned that the data is very new.

Dr. Ryan said the vaccine was given to 1,000 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years. None appeared to suffer any serious adverse effects, other than chills, muscle aches and headaches, which were expected.

But again, there is a long way to go, he said. These are phase one studies. We now need to move into large-scale, real-world trials, but it is good to see more data and more products moving into this very important phase of vaccine discovery.

Dr. Ryan reported that 23 COVID-19 candidate vaccines are currently in clinical development.

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WHO concerned about COVID-19 impact on indigenous people in the Americas - UN News

TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of 10:00 a.m., on July 18,2020, there have been 225,385 total confirmatory laboratory results receivedfor COVID-19, with 4,894 total cases and 100 deaths.

In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.

CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour (25/0), Berkeley (545/19), Boone(57/0), Braxton (7/0), Brooke (37/1), Cabell (226/7), Calhoun (4/0), Clay(15/0), Fayette (101/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant (21/1), Greenbrier (76/0),Hampshire (46/0), Hancock (51/3), Hardy (48/1), Harrison (135/1), Jackson(149/0), Jefferson (263/5), Kanawha (486/12), Lewis (24/1), Lincoln (20/0),Logan (43/0), Marion (130/3), Marshall (80/1), Mason (27/0), McDowell (12/0),Mercer (68/0), Mineral (70/2), Mingo (49/2), Monongalia (686/15), Monroe(14/1), Morgan (20/1), Nicholas (19/1), Ohio (173/0), Pendleton (19/1), Pleasants(4/1), Pocahontas (37/1), Preston (89/25), Putnam (105/1), Raleigh (92/3),Randolph (196/2), Ritchie (3/0), Roane (12/0), Summers (2/0), Taylor (28/1),Tucker (7/0), Tyler (10/0), Upshur (31/2), Wayne (145/2), Webster (2/0), Wetzel(40/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (193/10), Wyoming (7/0).

As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.

Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.

Please visit thedashboard at http://www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.

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COVID-19 Daily Update 7-18-2020 - 10 AM - West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources

Facebook has removed one of the largest anti-mask groups on its platform for violating its policies against spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

The About section of the public group Unmasking America! which had more than 9,600 members described it as here to spread the TRUTH about masks! It made several claims which have been widely debunked about masks obstructing oxygen flow and having a negative psychological impact. It is a psychological anchor for suppression, enslavement and cognitive obedience. When you wear a mask you are complicit in declaring all humans as dangerous, infectious and threats, the post stated.

It is one of dozens of such groups easily found in a search for unmasking on Facebook. Some of the groups are private, meaning a group admin has to approve new members before they can join. But the theme is the same: the groups oppose the public health intervention championed by medical experts. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people wear masks in all public areas, which should limit the spread of the virus. These Facebook groups are for people who dont want to wear masks, and there are a lot of them.

Facebooks action came after an inquiry about the group from The Verge. We have clear policies against promoting harmful misinformation about COVID 19 and have removed this group while we review the others, Facebook spokesperson Dami Oyefeso said in an email.

According to Facebooks rules, if a group shares false news repeatedly, the platform will show the groups content lower in users News Feeds and stop suggesting people join the group to reduce its growth.

The Unmasking America group page included posts of photos from members wearing masks emblazoned with the Make America Great Again slogan or other references to President Trump, usually as a way of protesting mask requirements. Other posts described experiences dealing with stores that require masks, and many posters asked how to claim an exemption from mask rules.

An image of a Face Mask Exempt Card issued by the Freedom to Breathe Agency was linked to prominently; one poster advised others to print it, laminate it and use it. The number is legit. No such government agency exists and law enforcement officials have warned that such cards which use a version of the justice departments eagle logo do not carry the force of law, The New York Times reported.

Among the private groups are the Million Unmasked March group, which has more than 7,800 members. Parents are powerful! We are a group of moms, dads, grandparents, uncles, aunts, teachers, friends, nurses and anyone who is concerned with our children wearing masks to school in fall, the groups about section reads. We believe that our children wearing masks to school is physically and psychologically damaging. Join us in saying NO MORE MASKS! And the Unmasking Fear group, which has about 400 members, is promoting an August 1st event rallying against mandatory masks.

Medical experts, however, say there are very few medical reasons to preclude most people from wearing cloth face coverings when they go out in public. About two dozen states now have some kind of public mask requirement in place. Even President Trump, who has been largely resistant to wearing a mask in public, tweeted Monday that it was patriotic to wear a face mask when you cant socially distance.

Facebook has taken several steps to attempt to stem the flood of coronavirus misinformation on its platforms, with mixed results. A scathing report in April from human rights group Avaaz found 100 pieces of misinformation regarding the virus on Facebook were shared more than 1.7 million times and viewed about 117 million times. Facebook announced April 16th that it was adding a warning label when a person liked, commented, or reacted to a post with fake coronavirus information. Also in April, the company said it was removing pseudoscience from the list of categories advertisers could use to target potential customers to prevent potential abuse in ads.

In May, the company released a report describing its use of artificial intelligence along with human fact-checkers and moderators to enforce its community standards. According to the report, in April, Facebook put warning labels on 50 million pieces of content related to COVID-19, and since March 1st, has removed more than 2.5 million pieces of content related to mask sales, hand sanitizers, and COVID-19 test kits.

See the article here:

Facebook suspends anti-mask group for spreading COVID-19 misinformation - The Verge

Ive lost two family members to COVID, my cousin and my great uncle, so Im frustrated by those who are taking this situation very lightly, because they just dont understand the risks, Marquez said. I have asthma, and one of my sons, whos also a teacher, has diabetes. If were back in the classroom, Ill be exposed to 1,800 students, and could bring COVID home to my own family. This is not time to be getting students back together, as having their lives at risk is just not an option.

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COVID-19 in Illinois updates: Heres whats happening this weekend - Chicago Tribune

Sweden's controversial "herd immunity" strategy depends heavily on the hope that infection with the ... [+] Covid-19 coronavirus will confer long lasting immunity. Here people stand in line and interact without social distancing outside a restaurant on July 17, 2020 in Gotland, Sweden. Sweden largely avoided imposing strict lockdown rules on its citizens as the coronavirus (COVID-19) arrived earlier this year. Consequently, it has recorded thousands more deaths than other Scandinavian countries, putting its per capita death rate higher than that of the United States. (Photo by Martin von Krogh/Getty Images)

Can you or cant you? That is the big, big question.

Researchers have been trying to figure out whether you can get infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus more than once. After all, who wants a sequel to a bad experience, like watching Grown Ups 2 after the movie Grown Ups? Plus, the answer to this question can help address so many other things such as whether its safe to return to regular activities, how effective a vaccine may be, and how long this stinking pandemic may last.

So whats the answer now? Well, as with Kanye Wests run for the Presidency, things are not yet completely clear. In fact, they can seem downright confusing. However, some recently published scientific studies have offered some more pieces of evidence.

For example, there are the Rhesus pieces from a study published in the journalScience. This study involved deliberately infecting a set of Rhesus macaques with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) and then seeing if they could get deliberately infected again. Macaque rhymes with hacky sack, Monterrey Jack, and Nordic Track and is a species of monkey. This species has a lot of similarities with humans, except for perhaps the whole eating-termites-and-beetles thing and the expose-your-genitals-when-threatened thing. Well, the latter two at least arent similarities with most humans.

Rhesus macaque monkeys have many similarities to humans physiologically. (Photo by Frank ... [+] Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images)

For the study, a research team from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, led by Chuan Qin, intratracheally challengedsix macaques with the SARS-CoV-2. Now if anyone tells you that they want to intratracheally challengeyou with a virus (or anything else like doughnuts for that matter), keep in mind what this would mean. This basically entails sticking a tube down your throat into your trachea and then placing the virus there. Its a way of making sure that you get infected.

The research team then confirmed that the macaques got sick from the virus. This included testing them up the wazoo, literally. They regularly checked the macaques rectal temperatures and their rectums, throats, and nasal cavities for the virus. Additionally, the research team followed the macaques symptoms and took chest X-rays that revealed signs of pneumonia.

Testing of the macaques blood showed that during the course of the infection the macaques developed antibodies against the protein spikes on the surface of the SARS-CoV2. If you recall, the Covid-19 coronavirus looks like a little spiky massage ball and uses the spikes to attach to and enter your cells. This was evidence that the macaques immune systems were responding against the virus.

Eventually, the six macaques survived the infections and recovered from their symptoms. However, the challenges didnt end there for four of the macaques. Twenty-eight days after their first intratracheal challenge, they got, guess what, another such challenge. The other two macaques were spared this second infection and remained as controls to be used for comparison.

After being re-challenged, the four macaques did develop fevers for short periods of time but otherwise showed no other signs of re-infection in the ensuing two weeks, based on chest X-rays and testing, again up the wazoo. In fact, the four re-exposed macaques mustered even higher levels of antibodies against the spike proteins than they had during the first infection.

So it looked like 28 days after the initial infection, the macaques still had some type of immunity against the virus. Good news if you happen to be a macaque and reading this. But what if you arent a macaque? What if you are human? Are you similar enough to macaques whether or not you raise your tail when intimidated? Do these results apply to you?

View of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China (Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP via ... [+] Getty Images)

Alas, there havent been similar challenge studies in humans yet. A World Health Organization (WHO) document from May 6 laid out a bunch of the risks and ethical challenges about doing human challenge studies in which volunteers would be deliberately exposed to the SARS-CoV2. As you can imagine, being exposed to a potentially deadly virus is not the same as being exposed to something like doughnuts. There are real immediate risks involved. Plus, if you havent figured it out yet, humans have a long history of doing very bad things to each other. This includes discriminating against different races and taking advantage of those perceived to be of lower status. For example, who exactly will be the volunteers for such challenge studies? Will it be wealthy people who can jump on to private yachts when it is time to social distance? Or will it be people more in disadvantaged situations?

A group of scientists did start a petition to Frances Collins, MD, the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH), to undertake immediate preparations for human challenge trials, arguing that this will help develop and test a Covid-19 vaccine. From a scientific standpoint, human challenge studies would certainly help answer many questions about immunity a lot more directly and quickly. But as alluded to earlier, conducting such human challenge studies in a safe and ethical manner is not that easy. Like the title of a 2009 film, its complicated.

In the meantime, everyone will have to rely on more indirect human studies, such as the study published on June 18 inNature Medicine. For this study,a research team from Chongqing Medical University in Chongqing, China, led by Ai-Long Huang, followed what happened to 74 people who were infected with the SARS-CoV2, half of whom never developed any symptoms. Thus, 37 were considered asymptomatic infections and 37 were symptomatic infections.

When you first get infected with a virus, it takes time for your immune system to develop an antibody response, thats assuming that your immune system can even generate such a response. Not all viruses may elicit an immune response. The first type of antibody that your immune system may produce in your blood is immunoglobulin M, or IgM if you dont have time to say immunoglobulin. This antibody doesnt hang around for long, with production increasing momentarily and then decreasing. To remember this, use the mnemonic M for momentary.

Before IgM disappears, production of a second type of antibody, immunoglobulin G or IgG, ramps up and stays up for an extended period of time. IgG is the antibody that can help with persistent immunity. Just think, gee, is IgG still around?

Heres a Beckman Coulter Diagnostics video on IgM and IgG with very dramatic piano music in the background:

For the Nature Medicine study, the research team measured the levels of these types of antibodies three to four weeks after the patients had been first exposed to the virus. For IgM, 81.1% of those who had asymptomatic infections and 83.8% of those who had symptomatic infection ended up testing positive. Similarly, for IgG, a greater percentage of the symptomatic patients (78.4% versus 62.2%) tested positive. In fact, those who had had symptoms tended to have significantly higher levels of IgG (medians of 20.5 versus 3.4) than those who didnt.

About eight weeks after they had recovered from their infections, most patients already had declines in IgG levels, 93.3% of the asymptomatic patients and 96.8% of the symptomatic patients. These werent just itty-bitty declines but fairly large ones, medians of a 71.1% decline among the asymptomatic patients and a 76.2% decline among the symptomatic patients. Of note, 81.1% of the asymptomatic group and 62.2% of the symptomatic group had declines in the levels of neutralizing serum antibodies. In fact, 40.0% of asymptomatic patients and 12.9% of the symptomatic patients no longer had any measurable IgG.

Certainly, antibodies are only one component of your immune response to a virus, albeit an important one. They are like pants. Just because you no longer have them doesnt necessarily mean that you are left completely exposed, especially if your happen to have been wearing Spanx underneath. Some kind of immunity against a virus may remain even if you dont have detectable antibodies in your blood. But checking for antibodies in your blood serum is currently the easiest way to measure the level of protection that you may have.

So how does all of this fit in with the case reports of people getting re-infected with the virus? For example, the following NBC 9 news segment covered the case of a woman who apparently got infected again:

Is this case and similar cases actually cases of re-infection? Or do they represent situations in which false negative test results occurred between positive test results? In such cases, what seems like two separate infections could have instead simply been one really long infection. Also, there is the chance that a person could have a positive test and no longer be infected. The test for viral genetic material (i.e., RNA) could be detecting fragments of the virus rather than whole live version.

Either way, case reports are case reports and not scientific studies. There are exceptions to every rule, except for the rule that macaroni and cheese is always yummy and always appropriate. If such case reports do in fact represent real re-infections, then a major question is how common are such occurrences? Are they rare or common enough to be very worried about them?

It could be that your immune response and your subsequent immunity depend heavily on the type and severity of infection that you had in the first place. Not having symptoms may be great for the present time but could potentially elicit a weaker immune response. As youve seen, rather than being a single type of illness, Covid-19 can come in many different flavors.

Then theres the question of how long immunity may last. As I covered previously for Forbes, a study of those who got the original SARS during the 2002-2003 outbreak suggested that immunity may last about two years. But as a recently released book about a family whose last name rhymes with speed bump or suction pump suggested, just because you are from the same family doesnt mean that you will behave in exactly the same way. Its still not clear all the ways that the SARS-CoV2 may differ from the SARS virus.

So there is some evidence that your immune response to the SARS-CoV2 may differ depending on factors such as how severe your infection was and how strong your immune system may be. Random chance may play a role too because nothing in life is 100%. If your immune response was not very strong in the first place, then perhaps the door is left wide open for re-infection. Would a subsequent infection then be more or less severe? The other issue is duration of immunity and protection. Is it only a few weeks? A couple months? A year? Longer?

So many questions.

Ultimately, immunity to the SARS-CoV2 may be much more complex than yes you are immune because you had the infection situation. Immunity is not like a toupee. Its not either on or off. Different types of infection could lead to different degrees of immunity that could last for different lengths of time. Different can be really good when it comes to leadership, creativity, clothing, and a salad bar but not necessarily with immune responses to a virus. Such complexity could further complicate the heck out of the pandemic and its response. It would make simplistic approaches such as oh, lets get everyone exposed to the virus and sacrifice a bunch of lives so that the pandemic can end, less likely to work.

Thus, the answer to the question of whether you can get infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus more than once may be it depends. Stay tuned for more.

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Can You Get Covid-19 Coronavirus Twice? Here Is An Update On Reinfection - Forbes

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. Every day when I walk into work as a public-school teacher, I am prepared to take a bullet to save a child. In the age of school shootings, thats what the job requires. But asking me to return to the classroom amid a pandemic and expose myself and my family to Covid-19 is like asking me to take that bullet home to my own family.

I wont do it, and you shouldnt want me to.

I became an educator after a career as a nurse. I teach medical science and introduction to nursing to 11th and 12th graders at a regional skills center that serves students from 22 different high schools in 13 different school districts.

My school district and school havent ruled out asking us return to in-person teaching in the fall. As careful and proactive as the administration has been when it comes to exploring plans to return to the classroom, nothing I have heard reassures me that I can safely teach in person.

More than 75 New York Department of Education employees have died of Covid-19. CDC guidelines say a return to traditional schooling with in-person classes would involve the highest risk for Covid-19 spread. But even in-person classes with students spaced apart and prevented from sharing materials are categorized as leading to more risk. The lowest risk for spread, according to the CDC, is virtual learning. I cant understand why we would choose more risk than is necessary.

Its impossible to hear about the way parties, day camps and church services have led to outbreaks this summer without worrying about what will happen if kids and adults gather in the fall. It scares me to think of how many more lives will be lost. It terrifies me that I could be among those who lose their lives.

I completely understand why parents and administrators want kids to return to school. When we first started online learning in March, it was miserable pointless, even. Eventually, we established parameters, and I figured out how to teach kids across the northwest corner of Washington State virtually. During summer school, Ive live-streamed my lectures into campgrounds, living rooms and bedrooms decorated with twinkly lights or festooned with posters. My virtual classroom includes pets and younger siblings.

Yes, it has been hard. Yesterday, as several really adorable teenage faces laughed through the computer screen at my use of a Tyrannosaurus Rex to explain the sympathetic nervous system and the feeling of impending doom it can cause, I thought, I miss them. I wished I was standing in my favorite place in the world, my classroom because, frankly, that T-Rex analogy is much better when accompanied by my dino walk.

But it amazes me how fast students adapted to remote learning. I teach a particularly hands-on class. This summer, Ive managed to teach them to type blood, to suture wounds and how the sensory system works. Ive taught them all about infection control and epidemiology they can not only tell you that you should wear a mask, but they can show you how to do it correctly. I used to put my hand over students hands to guide them through certain lessons. Now I use a GoPro camera. Its hard, but they are learning.

Most important, we students and teacher are safe.

If Im asked to return to the classroom as the pandemic rages, I will have to walk away. As deeply as I love teaching, I will not risk spreading this virus in a way that could hurt a child or a family member of a child. While children make up a small proportion of U.S. coronavirus cases and they are less likely to become seriously ill than adults, the virus might be linked to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Plus, many of my students struggle with poverty or are from multigenerational households. I will not risk passing a virus to them that they might pass to their vulnerable loved ones. I wont do it.

It isnt fair to ask teachers to buy school supplies; we arent the government. But we do it anyway. It isnt fair to ask us to stop a bullet; we arent soldiers. But we go to work every day knowing that if theres a school shooting, well die protecting our students.

But this is where I draw the line: It isnt fair to ask me to be part of a massive, unnecessary science experiment. I am not a human research subject. I will not do it.

Rebecca Martinson is a teacher at Northwest Career & Technical Academy in Mount Vernon, Wash.

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I Wont Return to the Classroom, and You Shouldnt Ask Me To - The New York Times