"COVID-19 Lockdown Exit Analysis" 1st Oct 2021
Vaccine Mandates Reach 25% of U.S. Companies After Biden Order - One in four companies has instituted a vaccine mandate for U.S. workers, a sharp increase from last month, following President Joe Biden’s directive ordering large employers to require shots or weekly testing. Another 13% of companies plan to put a mandate in place, Brian Kropp, chief of human-resources research at consultant Gartner, said in a panel discussion Thursday. The firm’s findings are based off a survey of roughly 400 organizations.
France orders anyone aged 12 and older to show Covid 'health pass' to enter public sites in bid to stave off winter coronavirus flare-up - Policy is an extension of 'health pass' already in place for adults for two months
The pass proves vaccination, a recent negative test or a recovery from the virus
French President Macron introduced the pass for adults in July, sparking rallies
But it also triggered millions of people to get the jab after holding out for months
Western Coronavirus Vaccines May Be Coming to Russia - Russian residents may soon be able to receive vaccines not recognized by the government, the Kommersant business daily reported, citing a Health Ministry proposal put up for public discussion. The move to relax import rules could potentially allow Russians to have Western coronavirus jabs like Pfizer and Moderna, as well as Chinese vaccines like Sinopharm and Sinovac. The Health Ministry proposed Tuesday to grant the Moscow International Medical Cluster (MIMC) project the right to import vaccines and drugs not registered in Russia. MIMC operates in Moscow City Hall’s Skolkovo Innovation Center, which works under a special legal regime that gives it preferential access to drugs registered in OECD member-states, even if they are not registered in Russia.
California Mandates Boost Vaccination Rates Among Health Care Workers - California’s requirement for all health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, which took effect Thursday, appears to have compelled tens of thousands of unvaccinated employees to get shots in recent weeks, bolstering the case for employer mandates. In a survey of more than a dozen of the state’s major hospital systems, most health care employers reported vaccination rates this week of 90 percent or higher, with hundreds — and in some cases, thousands — more workers in some systems opting to be vaccinated, rather than to apply for limited medical or religious exemptions, since Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration issued the health order Aug. 5.
Brazil hospital chain secretly gave Covid-19 patients unproven drugs, whistleblowers' lawyer claims - A Brazilian hospital chain gave unproven Covid-19 treatments to patients without their knowledge, a lawyer for a group of whistleblowing doctors alleged to the country's parliamentary inquiry on the pandemic on Tuesday. At least nine patients at hospitals operated by Prevent Senior died of Covid-19 while they were unwittingly receiving the experimental treatments, said Bruna Morato, representing 12 anonymous doctors who worked for the health care provider. The company, which also offers private health insurance, has denied all allegations.
Morato alleged that Prevent Senior hospitals were used as 'laboratories' for studies with so-called 'Covid kit,' containing drugs that have been proven ineffective for the treatment of Covid-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. These studies were allegedly conducted between March and April of 2020.
As deaths rise, vaccine opponents find a foothold in Bosnia - Hospitals across Bosnia are again filling with COVID-19 patients gasping for air, and the country’s pandemic death toll is rising. Yet vaccination sites are mostly empty and unused coronavirus vaccines are fast approaching their expiration dates. When the European Union launched its mass vaccination campaign, non-member Bosnia struggled along with most other Balkan nations to get supplies. By late spring, however, hundreds of thousands of doses started pouring into the country. But after an initial rush of people clamoring to get jabbed, demand for shots quickly slowed. It is now down to a trickle even though Bosnia has Europe’s highest coronavirus mortality rate at 4.5%, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
NBA players who refuse Covid-19 vaccine could lose millions in salary - NBA players who choose not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 could lose millions of dollars, the league confirmed on Wednesday. “Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses,” Mike Bass, the NBA’s executive vice president of communications, said in a statement on Wednesday morning. The NBA does not require its players to be vaccinated, although they are under stricter protocols than those who have had the Covid-19 shot. However, local laws in cities such as New York and San Francisco prohibit the unvaccinated from certain public places, including indoor sports areas. That means unvaccinated players for teams such as the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors would not be able to participate in home games.
What Science Knows Now About the Risk of Covid-19 Transmission on Planes - Fliers have yearned for reliable data on the risks of air travel since the pandemic began. Recent research on Covid-19 transmission on flights suggests that airlines could adopt new policies to better protect their passengers. Scientists have found a sharp increase in possible spread during in-flight meal service when everyone has masks off. They’ve also learned more about the importance of precautions during boarding and deplaning. The chances of viral spread aboard planes remain very low. But papers published in medical journals suggest they may not be as low as suggested earlier in the pandemic. “It’s still, at this point, safe to travel if you take proper precautions,” says Mark Gendreau, chief medical officer at Beverly Hospital near Boston and an expert in aviation medicine. “I do think it could be safer.”
Angola Resumes Restrictions as Covid Turns Deadlier Than Malaria - Angola will again close the country’s beaches and other leisure and public-gathering facilities from Oct. 1, a month after they were opened, following a spike in Covid-19 infections. From Oct. 15, access to public services will be subject to proof of vaccination or a negative test. Nearly all citizens 18 years or older will be required to get vaccinated, including pregnant women, state minister Adao de Almeida said in Luanda late Thursday. Angola recorded 14,549 infections and 558 deaths during September. That’s a higher number of deaths than those caused by malaria for first time, health minister Silvia Lutucuta said without providing details for malaria, which is widespread in the nation.
Number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England up 18% in a week - The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England hasjumped 18% in a week, in a sign that new cases of coronavirus are once again on the rise. A total of 191,771 people tested positive at least once in the week to September 22, up from 162,400 the previous week, according to the latest Test and Trace figures. It is the biggest week-on-week percentage increase since mid-July, which was the last time there was a major spike in Covid-19 cases in England.
In Well-Vaccinated Maine, Covid-19 Still Fills Hospitals With the Unvaccinated - The Delta variant is finding clusters of unvaccinated people even in some of the best-vaccinated parts of the country, such as Maine. A Covid-19 surge in the New England state has filled hospitals and put dozens of mostly unvaccinated people on ventilators, setting records for the state. The problem, public-health experts say, is the variant’s high transmissibility combined with the relaxation of precautions such as wearing masks. Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations have also flared among mostly unvaccinated people in Vermont and western Massachusetts, highlighting the risk Delta poses even in states with the best track records for getting shots in arms. “The Delta variant is so much more contagious that it doesn’t need much kindling to continue to burn,” said Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at nonprofit health system MaineHealth.
Australian state's 50% jump in COVID-19 blamed on sport fans - Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a jump of more than 50% in daily COVID-19 cases, which authorities largely blame on Australian Rules Football parties last weekend that breached pandemic regulations. State capital Melbourne traditionally hosts the annual grand final which the football-obsessed city celebrates with a long weekend. Because of Melbourne's lockdown, two Melbourne teams played for the national premiership on Saturday in the coronavirus-free west coast city of Perth. Contact tracers found a third of Victoria’s 1,438 new infections reported on Thursday had broken pandemic rules by attending social gatherings on the Friday public holiday and on game day, officials said.
My patients in Melbourne tell me how they caught Covid, and the reasons leave me sad and frustrated
When I do my ward round on my patients with Covid, I don’t ask them why they aren’t vaccinated. I don’t ask them how they caught Covid. My role is to provide caring, compassionate non-judgmental care. But sometimes people tell me unprompted and the reasons leave me feeling sad and frustrated for the inequality in our health system. Many of my patients don’t speak much English, and since I am monolingual, we rely on phone calls with family members to help us communicate. We always ask how everyone else in the household is. One patient told me they live with seven people and all have Covid. In our hospital, there are multiple families with more than one person who has been admitted.
AP-NORC poll: Virus fears linger for vaccinated older adults
Bronwyn Russell wears a mask anytime she leaves her Illinois home, though she wouldn’t dream of going out to eat or to hear a band play, much less setting foot on a plane. In Virginia, Oliver Midgette rarely dons a mask, never lets COVID-19 rouse any worry and happily finds himself in restaurants and among crowds. She is vaccinated. He is not. In a sign of the starkly different way Americans view the coronavirus pandemic, vaccinated older adults are far more worried about the virus than the unvaccinated and far likelier to take precautions despite the protection afforded by their shots, according to a new poll out Wednesday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Vaccine apartheid: The Global South fights back
Could the rich world’s obscene selfishness on vaccine equality ultimately help bring about a fairer economy? If we fight for it. When diplomats start speaking like campaigners, you know geopolitics is starting to shift. This week United Nations chief Antonio Guterres lectured world leaders on the disgraceful state of vaccine inequality, calling it “a moral indictment of the state of our world. It is an obscenity.” A fortnight earlier, World Health Organization head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the press: “I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers.”
France orders anyone aged 12 and older to show Covid 'health pass' to enter public sites in bid to stave off winter coronavirus flare-up
Policy is an extension of 'health pass' already in place for adults for two months
The pass proves vaccination, a recent negative test or a recovery from the virus
French President Macron introduced the pass for adults in July, sparking rallies
But it also triggered millions of people to get the jab after holding out for months
Beijing 2022 presents COVID-19 protocol to IOC
International spectators will be barred from the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, while all the Games' participants are encouraged to be fully vaccinated, according to Beijing 2022's COVID-19-prevention policies. The Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee on Wednesday presented its key COVID-19 countermeasures for the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during an IOC executive board meeting chaired by President Thomas Bach, in the presence of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons, outlining its principles regarding key policies, including vaccination, Games-time closed-loop management, spectators and ticketing. All athletes and Games participants who are fully vaccinated will enter the closed-loop management system, or known as "bio-secure bubbles", upon arrival, according to a press release from Beijing 2022. Games participants who are not fully vaccinated will have to enter a 21-day quarantine upon arrival in Beijing.
How Denmark beat Covid and lifted all restrictions, and the lessons the UK can learn
Denmark appears to have defeated Covid-19, with low infection rates, 75 per cent of the population fully vaccinated and normality returning after all restrictions were lifted this month. The country is recording 367 new infections on average each day compared with 34,241 in the UK. Crucially, the Danes had the “highest level of optimism” and “lowest levels of concern” of eight countries including the UK surveyed in the Hope Project, a global initiative led by Danish universities.
End of Covid-19 Jobs Program to Test U.K. Recovery
European capitals spent big on wage subsidies to prevent job losses at the start of the pandemic. A U.K. experiment in preventing mass layoffs is coming to an end, in a test of how quickly economies can reabsorb workers idled by the pandemic and wean companies off government support. The closure Thursday of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme marks the first big move by a European government to step back from the emergency economic policies in place since the virus swept the continent last year.
EU wants to extend looser state aid rules for virus-hit companies to mid-2022
The European Commission on Thursday proposed extending looser state aid rules for virus-hit companies for six months to June 2022 in a bid to slowly wean them off the billions of euros provided by governments across the European Union. The EU executive, tasked with ensuring a level playing field in the 27-country bloc, also proposed two new measures to encourage investment support and solvency support for a limited time to help Europe rebound from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The so-called Temporary Framework, adopted in March last year and due to expire at the end of this year, has allowed EU countries to pump in more than 3 trillion euros to thousands of companies across the bloc.
European Countries Are at Risk of Autumn Covid Surge, ECDC Says
European countries with lower vaccination rates could see a surge in Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths over the next two months, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The EU agency, in its latest Rapid Risk Assessment, said the virus’s high level of circulation within the population puts poorly inoculated countries in the EU and European Economic Area at risk between now and the end of November. The group also cited the concern that even vaccinated people can experience severe outcomes from infection.
Vaccine Mandates Reach 25% of U.S. Companies After Biden Order
One in four companies has instituted a vaccine mandate for U.S. workers, a sharp increase from last month, following President Joe Biden’s directive ordering large employers to require shots or weekly testing. Another 13% of companies plan to put a mandate in place, Brian Kropp, chief of human-resources research at consultant Gartner, said in a panel discussion Thursday. The firm’s findings are based off a survey of roughly 400 organizations.
How Asia, Once a Vaccination Laggard, Is Revving Up Inoculations
The turnabout is as much a testament to the region’s success in securing supplies and working out the kinks in their programs as it is to vaccine hesitancy and political opposition in the United States. South Korea, Japan and Malaysia have even pulled ahead of the United States in the number of vaccine doses administered per 100 people — a pace that seemed unthinkable in the spring. Several have surpassed the United States in fully vaccinating their populations or are on track to do so, limiting the perniciousness of the Delta variant of the coronavirus
California Mandates Boost Vaccination Rates Among Health Care Workers
California’s requirement for all health care workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, which took effect Thursday, appears to have compelled tens of thousands of unvaccinated employees to get shots in recent weeks, bolstering the case for employer mandates. In a survey of more than a dozen of the state’s major hospital systems, most health care employers reported vaccination rates this week of 90 percent or higher, with hundreds — and in some cases, thousands — more workers in some systems opting to be vaccinated, rather than to apply for limited medical or religious exemptions, since Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration issued the health order Aug. 5.
Atlanta Falcons Fire Scout Over Refusal to Get Covid-19 Vaccine
The Atlanta Falcons fired a scout over his refusal to get a Covid-19 vaccine, in a high-profile confrontation between a team and an employee in the closely watched setting of professional sports. A combination of educational blitzes, incentives and mandates have produced vaccination rates in professional sports that far exceed the rates in the general U.S. population. Around 90% of NBA players are vaccinated, as are 94% of NFL players and 99% of WNBA players. (Major League Baseball has declined to release a number specific to players.)
Woman who survived 1918 flu, world war succumbs to COVID
Dorene Giacopini holds up a photo of her mother Primetta Giacopini while posing for a photo at her home in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Sept 27, 2021. Primetta Giacopini's life ended the way it began — in a pandemic. She was two years old when she lost her mother to the Spanish flu in Connecticut in 1918. Giacopini contracted COVID-19 earlier this month. The 105-year-old struggled with the disease for a week before she died Sept. 16. Dorene Giacopini holds up a photo of her mother Primetta Giacopini while posing for a photo at her home in Richmond, Calif. on Monday, Sept 27, 2021. Primetta Giacopini's life ended the way it began — in a pandemic. She was two years old when she lost her mother to the Spanish flu in Connecticut in 1918. Giacopini contracted COVID-19 earlier this month. The 105-year-old struggled with the disease for a week before she died Sept. 16. “I think my mother would have been around quite a bit longer” if she hadn’t contracted COVID,” her 61-year-old daughter, Dorene Giacopini, said. “She was a fighter. She had a hard life and her attitude always was ... basically, all Americans who were not around for World War II were basically spoiled brats.”
Data show coronavirus vaccine mandates work well
A union representing Massachusetts state troopers sought to make a splash this week in its fight against the state’s coronavirus vaccine mandate. Dozens of troopers had submitted resignation paperwork over the mandate, the State Police Association of Massachusetts announced Monday after an adverse court ruling. It suggested that the mandate-linked resignations would deplete an agency that is “already critically short staffed.” What if such mandates mean our crime-fighters can’t fight crime? That’s a scary prospect. The reality, though, is far from as dire as it might have seemed. And the totality of the anecdotal data we have so far on coronavirus vaccine mandates points to one conclusion: They work — quite well, in fact.
Western Coronavirus Vaccines May Be Coming to Russia
Russian residents may soon be able to receive vaccines not recognized by the government, the Kommersant business daily reported, citing a Health Ministry proposal put up for public discussion. The move to relax import rules could potentially allow Russians to have Western coronavirus jabs like Pfizer and Moderna, as well as Chinese vaccines like Sinopharm and Sinovac. The Health Ministry proposed Tuesday to grant the Moscow International Medical Cluster (MIMC) project the right to import vaccines and drugs not registered in Russia. MIMC operates in Moscow City Hall’s Skolkovo Innovation Center, which works under a special legal regime that gives it preferential access to drugs registered in OECD member-states, even if they are not registered in Russia.
Slovenia suspends use of J&J coronavirus vaccine
Slovenia suspended the use of the single-shot coronavirus vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson after a twenty-year-old woman died two weeks after receiving the shot. This development risks undermining Slovenia’s already slow vaccine uptake fuelled by a potent anti-vaccination movement. The suspension will be in place until all the circumstances of the woman’s death have been ascertained, according to Health Minister Janez Poklukar. There is not currently any confirmation that the woman died as a direct result of the vaccine. Unlike in several other countries where the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (also known as the Janssen vaccine) is administered only to older patients, it was available in Slovenia to anyone over 18, except pregnant women.
Malaysia makes COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for government employees
Malaysia said on Thursday it would now be mandatory for all federal government employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, with exceptions only to be allowed on health grounds. The announcement comes as the country looks to boost vaccination rates with the aim of inoculating 80% of the population by the end of the year. Malaysia has one of the fastest vaccine rollouts in Southeast Asia, with 61% of its 32 million population already fully vaccinated. In a statement, the Public Service Department said vaccinations would be made compulsory for federal staff in order to boost public confidence and ensure government services can be delivered smoothly.
Russia may allow access to unregistered COVID-19 vaccines, report says
Russians may soon be able to receive COVID-19 vaccines not registered in the country from clinics set up in a special economic zone, under a healthcare ministry proposal, Russian Kommersant daily reported on Thursday. Many Western nations have not registered Russian vaccines such as Sputnik V and require visitors to have other shots that are not available to Russians, a situation that has prompted vaccine tourism
Vietnam's biggest city to start lifting COVID-19 curbs to spur business
Vietnam's commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City will start relaxing its coronavirus curbs from later on Thursday, officials said, allowing more business and social activities after four months of measures aimed at arresting a spiralling death rate. Policies will seek to spur the economy and restore some normalcy while coexisting with the virus, which hit the country hard in recent months, with overall deaths jumping from 36 in mid May to more than 19,098 as of Wednesday. "All checkpoints on the streets will be lifted and no travel permits will be needed after today," Le Hoa Binh, deputy chairman of the city's people's committee, told a news conference.
Biden vaccine mandate splits US on party lines: AP-NORC poll
A survey of Americans on President Joe Biden’s plan to require most workers to get either vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 finds a deep and familiar divide: Democrats are overwhelmingly for it, while most Republicans are against it. With the highly contagious delta variant driving deaths up to around 2,000 per day, the poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that overall, 51% say they approve of the Biden requirement, 34% disapprove and 14% hold neither opinion. About three quarters of Democrats, but only about a quarter of Republicans, approve. Roughly 6 in 10 Republicans say they disapprove. Over the course of the outbreak, Democrats and Republicans in many places have also found themselves divided over masks and other precautions. “I don’t believe the federal government should have a say in me having to get the vaccine or lose my job or get tested,” said 28-year-old firefighter Emilio Rodriguez in Corpus Christi, Texas. The Republican is not vaccinated.
PAHO says it is buying more COVID vaccines for Americas
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has said it is pushing to secure additional COVID-19 vaccines for residents of the Americas amid huge discrepancies in vaccination rates between countries in the region. PAHO, the Americas branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced on Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac to buy 8.5 million vaccine doses for 2021 and another 80 million doses next year.
Health workers once saluted as heroes now get threats
More than a year after U.S. health care workers on the front lines against COVID-19 were saluted as heroes with nightly clapping from windows and balconies, some are being issued panic buttons in case of assault and ditching their scrubs before going out in public for fear of harassment. Across the country, doctors and nurses are dealing with hostility, threats and violence from patients angry over safety rules designed to keep the scourge from spreading. “A year ago, we’re health care heroes and everybody’s clapping for us,” said Dr. Stu Coffman, a Dallas-based emergency room physician. “And now we’re being in some areas harassed and disbelieved and ridiculed for what we’re trying to do, which is just depressing and frustrating.”
U.S. Frackers Fear Vaccine Mandate Will Worsen Worker Crunch
American frackers, already struggling to hire enough workers, are concerned that the coming U.S. vaccine mandate will worsen the situation at a time of rising oil and gas prices. Many of the truckers, rig hands and roustabouts who used to work in Texas and other oil patch regions found other jobs after crude prices crashed last year during the onset of the pandemic. Oil-field service companies, which employ most of the ground-level workers who drill and finish wells, say many remaining employees are skeptical about Covid-19 vaccination, and some have warned they would quit before getting shots. The proposed mandate doesn’t require companies to terminate employees who don’t comply, but those workers would be subject to frequent testing. Some companies are concerned that such testing would frustrate unvaccinated employees and motivate them to leave their jobs.
As deaths rise, vaccine opponents find a foothold in Bosnia
Hospitals across Bosnia are again filling with COVID-19 patients gasping for air, and the country’s pandemic death toll is rising. Yet vaccination sites are mostly empty and unused coronavirus vaccines are fast approaching their expiration dates. When the European Union launched its mass vaccination campaign, non-member Bosnia struggled along with most other Balkan nations to get supplies. By late spring, however, hundreds of thousands of doses started pouring into the country. But after an initial rush of people clamoring to get jabbed, demand for shots quickly slowed. It is now down to a trickle even though Bosnia has Europe’s highest coronavirus mortality rate at 4.5%, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Brazil hospital chain secretly gave Covid-19 patients unproven drugs, whistleblowers' lawyer claims
A Brazilian hospital chain gave unproven Covid-19 treatments to patients without their knowledge, a lawyer for a group of whistleblowing doctors alleged to the country's parliamentary inquiry on the pandemic on Tuesday. At least nine patients at hospitals operated by Prevent Senior died of Covid-19 while they were unwittingly receiving the experimental treatments, said Bruna Morato, representing 12 anonymous doctors who worked for the health care provider. The company, which also offers private health insurance, has denied all allegations.
Morato alleged that Prevent Senior hospitals were used as "laboratories" for studies with so-called "Covid kit," containing drugs that have been proven ineffective for the treatment of Covid-19, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. These studies were allegedly conducted between March and April of 2020.
College student who promised his mom he would get vaccinated at school dies from Covid-19
A 20-year-old North Carolina student, who was hesitant about getting the coronavirus shot, died of complications after catching Covid-19 three days after returning to college. Tyler Gilreath, a student at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, died on Tuesday after testing positive for the coronavirus, which he contracted just days after returning to college. The student, according to his mother Tamra Demello, thought his age would protect him from the virus. "I cajoled, encouraged, threatened, and nagged for him to get vaccinated. He was too busy and/or concerned about the possible long term heart issues," Ms Demello shared on social media.
NBA players who refuse Covid-19 vaccine could lose millions in salary
NBA players who choose not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 could lose millions of dollars, the league confirmed on Wednesday. “Any player who elects not to comply with local vaccination mandates will not be paid for games that he misses,” Mike Bass, the NBA’s executive vice president of communications, said in a statement on Wednesday morning. The NBA does not require its players to be vaccinated, although they are under stricter protocols than those who have had the Covid-19 shot. However, local laws in cities such as New York and San Francisco prohibit the unvaccinated from certain public places, including indoor sports areas. That means unvaccinated players for teams such as the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors would not be able to participate in home games.
Coronavirus: Giving children two vaccine doses could prevent thousands of long COVID cases, study suggests
Thousands of long COVID cases in children could be prevented if they are given two vaccine doses, a study suggests. Children between 12 and 15 in the UK are now being offered a single dose of the Pfizer jab to cut their chance of catching the disease and passing it on. But a new study looked at 12-17-year-olds getting both shots and concluded the benefits outweighed the risks "unless case rates are sustainably low". The research, in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, examined rates of hospital admissions, intensive care support, and death among children in England with the virus.
NRx reports positive safety data of Zyesami from Phase III Covid-19 trial
NRx Pharmaceuticals has reported the latest positive safety data from the Phase III ACTIV-3b Critical Care trial of its experimental product, Zyesami (aviptadil) for Covid-19. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the randomised, placebo-controlled ACTIV-3b trial is analysing Zyesami and remdesivir (Veklury) as monotherapy and in combination in hospitalised Covid-19 patients with acute respiratory failure.
It enrolled subjects who need high-flow supplemental oxygen delivered by nasal cannula, mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shows 74% efficacy in large U.S. trial
AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated 74% efficacy at preventing symptomatic disease, a figure that increased to 83.5% in people aged 65 and older, according to long-awaited results of the company's U.S. clinical trial published on Wednesday. Overall efficacy of 74% was lower than the interim 79% figure reported by the British drugmaker in March, a result AstraZeneca revised days later to 76% after a rare public rebuke from health officials that the figure was based on "outdated information.
New Study Finds More Than A Third Of COVID-19 Patients Have Symptoms Months Later
Symptoms of COVID-19 persist or recur months after diagnosis for more than a third of all people who get the illness, a new study finds, potentially pushing the number of so-called long COVID cases higher than previously thought. In the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers found that about 36% of those studied still reported COVID-like symptoms three and six months after diagnosis. Most previous studies have estimated lingering post-COVID symptoms in 10% to 30% of patients. The study, led by University of Oxford scientists in the United Kingdom, searched anonymized data from millions of electronic health records, primarily in the United States, to identify a study group of 273,618 patients with COVID-19 and 114,449 patients with influenza as a control.
What Science Knows Now About the Risk of Covid-19 Transmission on Planes
Fliers have yearned for reliable data on the risks of air travel since the pandemic began. Recent research on Covid-19 transmission on flights suggests that airlines could adopt new policies to better protect their passengers. Scientists have found a sharp increase in possible spread during in-flight meal service when everyone has masks off. They’ve also learned more about the importance of precautions during boarding and deplaning. The chances of viral spread aboard planes remain very low. But papers published in medical journals suggest they may not be as low as suggested earlier in the pandemic. “It’s still, at this point, safe to travel if you take proper precautions,” says Mark Gendreau, chief medical officer at Beverly Hospital near Boston and an expert in aviation medicine. “I do think it could be safer.”
Am I fully vaccinated without a COVID-19 vaccine booster?
Am I fully vaccinated without a COVID-19 vaccine booster? Yes, people who got a two-dose vaccine or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot are considered fully vaccinated — even without a booster. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says you're fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or one dose of the J&J. The vaccines offer strong protection against serious illness. But U.S. health officials now recommend boosters for some people at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 based on evidence that protection against milder disease can wane, especially among older adults.
Regeneron's COVID-19 antibody cocktail pads case for saving lives in hospitalized patients as FDA decision nears
REGEN-COV, a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab, reduced the risk of death by 36% over placebo at Day 29 in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who didn’t require high-flow oxygen or mechanical ventilation when entering the trial, Regeneron unveiled at IDWeek 2021. All patients also received standard-of-care treatments. Regeneron already has a request under FDA review to expand REGEN-COV’s emergency use authorization to cover hospital settings. The two-drug combo is currently authorized for treating certain outpatients and as a post-exposure prophylaxis method to prevent the development of symptomatic COVID-19 in high-risk individuals. The 36% improvement didn’t meet the statistical significance bar. An early stop of the phase 2/3 trial thanks to slow enrollment was partly to blame. The efficacy data came from nearly 1,200 patients, just over a third of the trial size originally planned.
Angola Resumes Restrictions as Covid Turns Deadlier Than Malaria
Angola will again close the country’s beaches and other leisure and public-gathering facilities from Oct. 1, a month after they were opened, following a spike in Covid-19 infections. From Oct. 15, access to public services will be subject to proof of vaccination or a negative test. Nearly all citizens 18 years or older will be required to get vaccinated, including pregnant women, state minister Adao de Almeida said in Luanda late Thursday. Angola recorded 14,549 infections and 558 deaths during September. That’s a higher number of deaths than those caused by malaria for first time, health minister Silvia Lutucuta said without providing details for malaria, which is widespread in the nation.
Two studies tie long COVID-19 to severe initial illness
Today, in JAMA Network Open, Chinese researchers describe "long COVID" symptoms of fatigue, sweating, chest tightness, anxiety, and muscle pain among 2,433 COVID-19 survivors released from one of two hospitals in Wuhan, China, from Feb 12 to Apr 10, 2020. The team conducted phone interviews and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment tests (CATs) with the patients from Mar 1 to Mar 20, 2021. Among 2,433 patients, median age was 60 years, 49.5% were men, 27.9% had survived severe COVID-19, 29.3% had high blood pressure, 45.0% reported having at least one persistent symptom, and 15.8% reported at least three symptoms. The most common symptoms were fatigue (27.7%), sweating (16.9%), chest tightness (13.0%), anxiety (10.4%), and muscle pain (7.9%). While cough, anorexia, and shortness of breath decreased over the year since hospital release, several new symptoms appeared, including heart palpitations (4.2%), swelling of the lower limbs (1.4%), and changes in taste (1.4%) and smell (1.3%).
CDC urges COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an official health advisory, encouraging COVID-19 vaccination for pregnant and lactating Americans, as well as those considering pregnancy. According to CDC data, only 3% of pregnant women have been vaccinated against COVID-19, and vaccination rates vary markedly by race and ethnicity. Pregnant Asian Americans have the highest coverage (45.7%), while only 15.6% of Black pregnant women are vaccinated. "Pregnancy can be both a special time and also a stressful time—and pregnancy during a pandemic is an added concern for families," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH. "I strongly encourage those who are pregnant or considering pregnancy to talk with their healthcare provider about the protective benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine to keep their babies and themselves safe."
US coronavirus: For the first time since June, the number of projected Covid-19 deaths in the US is decreasing
For the first time since June, the rate of new Covid-19 deaths in the US is expected to decrease over the next four weeks, according to an ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for the third week in a row, Wednesday's CDC forecast predicted that hospitalizations will decrease as well -- a bit of hope as the more transmissible Delta variant continues to spread. Currently, an average of nearly 2,000 people die and about 114,000 people are infected with Covid-19 every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner, estimated earlier this week that the Delta-driven wave of the pandemic could run its course by Thanksgiving, and Covid-19 could eventually become more of a seasonal nuisance than a devastating pandemic. But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Monday that is dependent on getting a lot more people vaccinated
In Well-Vaccinated Maine, Covid-19 Still Fills Hospitals With the Unvaccinated
The Delta variant is finding clusters of unvaccinated people even in some of the best-vaccinated parts of the country, such as Maine. A Covid-19 surge in the New England state has filled hospitals and put dozens of mostly unvaccinated people on ventilators, setting records for the state. The problem, public-health experts say, is the variant’s high transmissibility combined with the relaxation of precautions such as wearing masks. Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations have also flared among mostly unvaccinated people in Vermont and western Massachusetts, highlighting the risk Delta poses even in states with the best track records for getting shots in arms. “The Delta variant is so much more contagious that it doesn’t need much kindling to continue to burn,” said Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at nonprofit health system MaineHealth.
Number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England up 18% in a week
The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in England hasjumped 18% in a week, in a sign that new cases of coronavirus are once again on the rise. A total of 191,771 people tested positive at least once in the week to September 22, up from 162,400 the previous week, according to the latest Test and Trace figures. It is the biggest week-on-week percentage increase since mid-July, which was the last time there was a major spike in Covid-19 cases in England.
Australian state's 50% jump in COVID-19 blamed on sport fans
Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a jump of more than 50% in daily COVID-19 cases, which authorities largely blame on Australian Rules Football parties last weekend that breached pandemic regulations. State capital Melbourne traditionally hosts the annual grand final which the football-obsessed city celebrates with a long weekend. Because of Melbourne's lockdown, two Melbourne teams played for the national premiership on Saturday in the coronavirus-free west coast city of Perth. Contact tracers found a third of Victoria’s 1,438 new infections reported on Thursday had broken pandemic rules by attending social gatherings on the Friday public holiday and on game day, officials said.
Ukraine faces new jump in COVID-19 infections
The number of daily new coronavirus infections in Ukraine rose to almost 12,000 over the past 24 hours for the first time since April, health ministry data showed on Thursday. Ukraine also reported 194 coronavirus-related deaths. The number of new COVID-19 cases has been growing over the past several weeks and the government has already tightened lockdown restrictions. Ukraine lifted lockdown restrictions as cases dropped over the summer but last week imposed a nationwide "yellow" code, which curbs mass events and limits the occupancy rates of gyms, cinemas and other venues.
Melbourne cases hit record despite two months of lockdown
Melbourne's COVID-19 cases surged to record levels on Thursday with officials blaming illegal home gatherings to watch a key sporting event for the spike as a hard lockdown to combat the spread of the Delta variant neared two months. Authorities in Victoria, home to Melbourne, estimated nearly a third of Thursday's 1,438 new infections could be traced back to home parties last weekend to watch the Australian Rules Football Grand Final on television.