Oct. 13 (UPI) — The national death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 215,000, according to updated figures Tuesday from research at Johns Hopkins University.
The data showed about 215,100 coronavirus deaths and an addition of about 41,700 cases nationwide on Monday. The figure is a decrease from about 44,600 cases a day earlier, which followed four straight days over 50,000.
There were an additional 300 deaths on Monday, according to the data, which also showed a total of 7.8 million cases nationwide since the start of the pandemic.
The data came on the same day researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University said U.S. deaths during the first five months of the health crisis may have been undercounted by as many as 75,000.
Over the past week, new cases nationwide have averaged almost 50,000 — a substantial increase over the previous week.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told CNBC Monday the United States is in a “bad place” with the colder months approaching.
“We have got to turn this around,” he said.
“We have got to convince Americans that public health measures do not mean shutting the country down,” he added. “It’s actually an avenue to keeping the country open.”
Later Monday, Johnson & Johnson announced it had paused a late-stage human trial for its potential vaccine due to an adverse reaction in one of the volunteers.
Johnson & Johnson executive Joseph Wolk said although it’s a setback, the pause in the trial should reassure Americans that the company is following strict scientific and safety standards.
“We’re letting safety protocol follow proper procedure here,” he said, noting that adverse events in large trials are not uncommon.
In Colorado, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock warned that a surge in cases has brought the city to a “fork in the road,” as its seven-day average reached a record high.
The city, he said, could impose new restrictions if the trends don’t change quickly.
“That means our capacity in restaurants, retail business, event spaces and personal services, among others, get cut in half,” Hancock said. “When so many business right now are struggling just to stay open, that would mean absolute devastation to those businesses.”
In Montana, the state’s most populous county imposed new restrictions as hospital officials warned healthcare facilities are becoming overwhelmed.
Yellowstone County health officer John Felton said places of worship will be capped at 50% of regular capacity and no more than 25 people will be allowed to gather in any one place, indoors or outdoors. The county has a positivity rate of 62 per 100,000 people, among the highest in the nation.
At 54 positive cases per 100,000, Montana’s rate is the third-highest in the United States and trails only North and South Dakota, according to the Brown School of Public Health.
Billings Clinic CEO Scott Ellner has told business leaders the surge is “putting a tremendous strain” on the healthcare system.
“While we remain open and we are making adjustments, our health
Tag: COVID19
A Canadian spin studio followed public health guidelines. But 61 people still caught the covid-19.
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
Now, despite appearing to have complied with public health regulations, at least 61 people linked to the studio have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
“They had done all sorts of things to remove the potential for spread,” Richardson told reporters. “Unfortunately, gyms are a higher-risk place because of the fact that generally people are taking off their masks, they’re breathing at a higher rate.”
Although Hamilton requires masks to be worn in most public settings, the law includes an exemption for anyone “actively engaged in an athletic or fitness activity.” In keeping with that policy, the studio, SPINCO, allowed riders to remove their masks once clipped into their bikes, and told them to cover up again before dismounting.
In a recent Instagram post, SPINCO’s owners said that they had been “hesitant” to reopen after getting the green light in July, and would not resume classes “until it is safe to do so.” Health officials have said that the studio is temporarily closed and cooperating fully with the investigation.
“We took all the measures public health offered, even added a few, and still the pandemic struck us again!’” the owners wrote. SPINCO has more than a dozen locations across Canada.
As of Tuesday, 44 cases linked to specific classes were detected, Richardson said. An additional 17 instances of “secondary cases” were found among other contacts.
The city will reexamine gym protocols, Richardson added Tuesday, but in the meantime, “what seems to be the case is that you need to wear that mask” even though government guidelines do not strictly require it.
“It’s still a good idea to do it, in terms of keeping others safe,” she said.
People should also avoid “classes where you’ve got that kind of yelling or coaching over music.”
She declined to use the term “superspreader” to describe the event but said it is a “very large outbreak.”
“It is concerning that it is extended beyond the initial cases who were related to the classes but gone into of course their household contacts and other contacts,” she said. “We continue to look at what does it mean, what do we need to understand about exercise classes?”
The outbreak offers further evidence of the dangers of people gathering indoors without masks, as health experts warn that cases could spike further in the coming months as winter weather sets in and outdoor gatherings and exercise classes will be harder to maintain.
In August, South Korea confirmed dozens of cases linked to a single Starbucks in the city of Paju where many customers did not wear masks. The store employees, who wore masks, were not infected. The outbreak prompted Starbucks to limit its indoor seating in the country and encourage masks among patrons.
In other instances, mask usage has been credited with preventing potential outbreaks. In May, after the reopening of a hair salon in Missouri that required masks, two stylists — who had worked with more than 100 clients — tested positive for the virus. But masks were
Category: health Tags: Canadian, caught, COVID19, guidelines, health, People, public, spin, studio
Public health warns of COVID-19 exposure at Trenton dentist’s office
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health is warning residents of the possibility of exposure to COVID-19 at a Trenton dentist’s office after a second person linked to the business has tested positive for COVID-19.
According to the health unit, two cases of the disease were linked to You Make Me Smile Dental Centre on Division Street last week. Despite these cases, the public health unit says there is low risk of exposure at the dentist’s office.
Read more:
Kingston, Belleville public health offer support to local back to school plans
As the second case has been identified, public health is asking anyone who visited the dental centre between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6 to self-monitor and to get tested if symptoms develop. If you do have symptoms and get tested, you must self-isolate for 14 days from the last visit to the dental centre, regardless of the results, the health unit said. You do not have to self-isolate unless you are showing symptoms.
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Public health said it will follow up with those considered to be at a higher risk of exposure.
“While HPEPH does not typically disclose the location of COVID-19 cases in order to protect individuals’ privacy, this information is disclosed when needed in order to meet public health objectives such as reducing the risk of further transmission,” the public health unit said in a press release Wednesday.
Read more:
No COVID-19 outbreak at Queen’s University, KFL&A medical officer of health says
The office closed voluntarily on Oct. 7 and will remain closed until Oct. 21.
There are currently six active cases of COVID-19 in the Hastings and Prince Edward regions, with 61 total cases since the pandemic began, of which 50 people have recovered and five have died.
© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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Category: dentist Tags: COVID19, dentists, exposure, health, office, public, Trenton, warns
Supercomputer shows humidity effect on COVID-19 [Video]
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
Researchers have used the Fugaku supercomputer to model the emission and flow of virus-like particles from infected people in a variety of indoor environments.
Air humidity of lower than 30% resulted in more than double the amount of aerosolised particles compared to levels of 60% or higher,
as seen in simulations released on Tuesday (October 13) by research giant Riken and Kobe University.
Their findings suggest that the use of humidifiers may help limit infections during times when window ventilation is not possible.
The study also indicated that clear face shields are not as effective as tighter-fitting face masks in preventing the spread of aerosols.
Other findings showed the number of singers in choirs for example should be limited and spaced out.
There has been a growing consensus among health experts that the COVID-19 virus can be spread through the air.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidance this month to say the pathogen can linger in the air for hours.
Video Transcript
– Researchers have used the Fugaku supercomputer to model the emission and flow of virus-like particles from infected people in a variety of indoor environments. Air humidity of lower than 30% resulted in more than double the amount of aerosolized particles compared to levels of 60% or higher. As seen in simulations released on Tuesday by research giant [INAUDIBLE] and Colby University.
Their findings suggest that the use of humidifiers may help limit infections during times when window ventilation is not possible. The study also indicated that clear face shields are not as effective as tighter fitting face masks in preventing the spread of aerosols.
Other findings showed the number of singers in choirs, for example, should be limited and spaced out. There has been a growing consensus among health experts that the COVID-19 virus can be spread through the air. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance this month to say the pathogen can linger in the air for hours.
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Category: health Tags: COVID19, effect, humidity, shows, Supercomputer, video
South Africa’s Biovac in talks to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
By Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – A South African company part-owned by the government is in talks with the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution scheme and pharmaceutical companies to produce some of the vaccines the country needs to protect itself against the disease.
The Biovac Institute, a Cape Town-based joint venture between the government and private sector, could produce up to 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per year, depending on the technology involved, Chief Executive Morena Makhoana told Reuters.
Depending on whether the vaccines require a one- or two-dose regimen, that could be enough for a quarter or half of South Africa’s population.
“We need to look at who is likely to get to the finishing line and who has the technological fit,” Makhoana said, when asked which vaccine candidate Biovac might partner with. “Discussions are happening and we are fairly confident that … we will be able to clinch a deal.”
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the foundation that co-leads the COVAX scheme alongside the World Health Organization and vaccines alliance GAVI, has identified Biovac as a potential drug product manufacturer but has not signed an agreement yet, a CEPI spokesman said.
Drug product manufacturing typically includes steps like vaccine formulation, filling and finishing of vials, labelling and packaging, he said.
The COVAX scheme aims to deliver 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021. CEPI is reserving capacity with vaccine manufacturers worldwide so that goal can be met.
South Africa has submitted a non-binding confirmation of intent to participate in COVAX.
Makhoana said Biovac could not make “live virus” vaccines at this stage, precluding some vaccines being trailed in South Africa in partnership with Oxford University and Johnson & Johnson. He declined to name the companies Biovac was speaking to.
The Department of Science and Innovation, the ministry that manages the government’s stake in Biovac, supports its ambitions because it wants to stimulate local manufacturing and limit the impact of vaccine procurement on the country’s balance of payments, Director-General Phil Mjwara said.
Currently South Africa’s government buys about 95% of the vaccines supplied annually by Biovac, covering diseases such as tuberculosis, cervical cancer and influenza, with the rest sold to countries in the rest of Africa.
In the past Biovac has partnered with companies like Pfizer and Sanofi.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf and Alexander Winning; Editing by Tim Cocks and Elaine Hardcastle)
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Category: health Tags: Africas, Biovac, COVID19, manufacture, South, talks, Vaccines
Med students on how COVID-19 pushed them to take action, highlighted health care inequities
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
It was on a Saturday in mid-March when Abby Schiff, then a third-year medical student at Harvard working through surgery clinical rotations, found out she wouldn’t be going back to the hospital.
She had worked the day before, but with the coronavirus threat growing quickly, Schiff, like thousands of other medical students across the country, was sidelined when the Association of American Medical Colleges issued a temporary suspension of clinical rotations in hopes of protecting students and patients, and conserving personal protective equipment (PPE).
She didn’t sit around waiting, though. As nurses came out of retirement and medical school professors pressed pause on teaching to answer the call to action on the front lines, Schiff also got to work. Within hours, she and a group of other students started building a crash course on COVID-19 for medical professionals.
“At the time, a lot of Harvard medical students were talking about what was going on, and [it] felt like we suddenly had a lot of time on our hands,” Schiff told ABC News. “There was this crisis going on. How can we best contribute?”
In less than a week, 70 of Schiff’s colleagues, including students and faculty, had put together a comprehensive, open-source COVID-19 curriculum.
“So we had about 80 pages of content — all referenced, all freely available — including things like thought questions, quiz questions… helpful information about how to put on masks and PPE, run ventilators,” she said. “And then also an explainer about basic epidemiological terms, about sort of the basics of virology and immunology and the clinical manifestations that were known at the time.”
Seven months later, the curriculum is still being updated with the latest science on a regular basis. Today, it includes modules on mental health, global health and communication, all meant to “dispel misinformation and myths,” said Schiff.
As co-chair for outreach, she said her role is to reach out to students and groups that are using the curriculum to get an idea of their needs and how they can best be met, as well as recruiting students to contribute. The curriculum has already been implemented in 32 medical schools across the country as either an elective or mandatory course, and it has been translated into 27 languages and used in at least 110 countries, Schiff said.
“It’s had a really wide reach, including in areas where there are fewer resources available,” she said. “In the age of the internet, and especially when there’s something like this pandemic that’s affecting people in every single country and really just upending the structures of knowledge, it’s really important to keep information
Category: health Tags: action, Care, COVID19, health, highlighted, inequities, Med, pushed, students
Cue Health awarded $481 million to scale up production of COVID-19 test: HHS
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
(Reuters) – The U.S. government has awarded diagnostic testing company Cue Health Inc $481 million to scale up the production of rapid COVID-19 molecular test, the Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday.
The company will raise the domestic production of COVID-19 test kits to 100,000 per day by March 2021 under the deal and deliver 6 million tests and 30,000 instruments to the government to support its response to the pandemic, the health agency said.
The point-of-care test can detect the novel coronavirus in about 20 minutes with nasal swab samples collected using a Sample Wand from the lower part of the nose, the HHS said.
The system also allows results to be sent to a mobile phone via an app.
The company’s test kit was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June for emergency use in patient care settings under the supervision of qualified medical personnel.
The development of the company’s health platform was supported by funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for a molecular influenza test, starting in 2018, the department said.
BARDA later expanded the collaboration with the company to include the development of Cue’s COVID-19 test, it added.
(Reporting By Mrinalika Roy and Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
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Category: health Tags: awarded, COVID19, Cue, health, HHS, million, production, scale, test
Is it safe to go trick-or-treating this year amid COVID-19?
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
If your family is skipping on trick-or-treating, here are 5 alternative ideas for Halloween.
USA TODAY
Ventura County public health officials to follow state guidelines, urge public to consider safer alternatives at home
As families begin to prepare for Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos celebrations, the state is strongly suggesting they not trick-or-treat or attend parties, but celebrate with their own households at home or virtually.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s Health and Human Services secretary, said he wants to see households get creative this holiday season and challenged families to find alternative ways to celebrate that don’t include hosting parties, gatherings or trick-or-treating, all of which could contribute to the spread of coronavirus.
“Some traditional Halloween celebrations such as parties and door-to-door trick-or-treating pose a high risk of spreading COVID-19 and are strongly discouraged,” Ghaly said during Tuesday’s press conference. “If a positive case is discovered, it could be very challenging to conduct appropriate contact tracing.”
Read More: Ventura County updates its trick-or-treating rules for Halloween amid COVID-19 pandemic
Ventura County Public Health Department officials initially announced in September trick-or-treating would not be allowed in the county, a day later amending that stance by issuing not mandates but recommendations against trick-or-treating.
On Tuesday, Public Health Director Rigoberto Vargas said the county will follow the state guidelines of strongly discouraging the traditional activities and urging people to consider safer alternatives at home.
“Given the times and the fact that COVID is transmitted in groupings and gatherings, it’s really the safest way to go,” Vargas said.
Ghaly offered suggestions for alternative ways to celebrate Halloween:
Ghaly also offered suggestions for how to safely celebrate Dia De Los Muertos:
California already eased its coronavirus restrictions this week to allow up to three households to socialize outdoors, an expansion of rules aimed at people tempted to have even larger gatherings around Halloween, Thanksgiving and end-of-year holidays, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
Ghaly said Tuesday this doesn’t mean the state is endorsing or encouraging small gatherings — he’d rather see no
Category: health Tags: COVID19, safe, trickortreating, year
America’s history of racism was a preexisting condition for COVID-19
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
A Louisiana pastor prays as his parishioners die, first from cancer and now from COVID-19. An Indigenous community in New Mexico lacks adequate health care as the death toll mounts. A sick hospital worker in New Jersey frets about infecting others in her heavily populated neighborhood.
© Jasper Colt, USA TODAY
Parishioners stand in Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Reserve, LA, during a sermon by Rev. Fr. Christopher Chike Amadi.
As the country cries out for a vaccine and a return to normal, lost in the policy debates is the reality that COVID-19 kills far more people of color than white Americans. This isn’t a matter of coincidence, poor choices or bad luck — it’s by design.
A team of USA TODAY reporters explored how the policies of the past and present have made Black, Asian, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans prime targets for COVID-19. They found:
Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.
Put simply, America’s history of racism was itself a preexisting condition.
Of the 10 U.S. counties with the highest death rates from COVID-19, seven have populations where people of color make up the majority, according to data compiled by USA TODAY. Of the top 50 counties with the highest death rates, 31 are populated mostly by people of color.
“COVID-19 has brought out into the open, with painful clarity, these divisions in our society that have been there for a long time but, for one reason or another, people were able to overlook them,” said Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program at Boston College.
With nearly 1,000 people a day dying from the virus and scientists scrambling to grasp exactly how the virus spreads and kills, federal and state data has not provided enough demographic detail to show the full impact on communities of color. The race and ethnicity of people who contract the virus is known in 52% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But study after study has shown clear patterns in whom the virus kills.
How systemic racism led to COVID-19’s rapid spread among people of color
UP NEXT
Black people are more than twice as likely to die from the virus than white people, and Hispanics and Native Americans are 1.5 times more likely to die, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
“You can’t change the fact that America is so segregated and that people of color tend to live in communities where the environmental conditions are worse, and that can increase your risk of heart disease or lung disease and diabetes,” said Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC and president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy
Category: health Tags: Americas, condition, COVID19, history, preexisting, racism
U.S. tops 215K COVID-19 deaths; Dr. Anthony Fauci says ‘we’re in a bad place’
Posted on October 14, 2020 by [email protected]_84
Oct. 13 (UPI) — The national death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 215,000, according to updated figures Tuesday from research at Johns Hopkins University.
The data showed about 215,100 coronavirus deaths and an addition of about 41,700 cases nationwide on Monday. The figure is a decrease from about 44,600 cases a day earlier, which followed four straight days over 50,000.
There were an additional 300 deaths on Monday, according to the data, which also showed a total of 7.8 million cases nationwide since the start of the pandemic.
The data came on the same day researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University said U.S. deaths during the first five months of the health crisis may have been undercounted by as many as 75,000.
Over the past week, new cases nationwide have averaged almost 50,000 — a substantial increase over the previous week.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, told CNBC Monday the United States is in a “bad place” with the colder months approaching.
“We have got to turn this around,” he said.
“We have got to convince Americans that public health measures do not mean shutting the country down,” he added. “It’s actually an avenue to keeping the country open.”
Later Monday, Johnson & Johnson announced it had paused a late-stage human trial for its potential vaccine due to an adverse reaction in one of the volunteers.
Johnson & Johnson executive Joseph Wolk said although it’s a setback, the pause in the trial should reassure Americans that the company is following strict scientific and safety standards.
“We’re letting safety protocol follow proper procedure here,” he said, noting that adverse events in large trials are not uncommon.
In Colorado, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock warned that a surge in cases has brought the city to a “fork in the road,” as its seven-day average reached a record high.
The city, he said, could impose new restrictions if the trends don’t change quickly.
“That means our capacity in restaurants, retail business, event spaces and personal services, among others, get cut in half,” Hancock said. “When so many business right now are struggling just to stay open, that would mean absolute devastation to those businesses.”
In Montana, the state’s most populous county imposed new restrictions as hospital officials warned healthcare facilities are becoming overwhelmed.
Yellowstone County health officer John Felton said places of worship will be capped at 50% of regular capacity and no more than 25 people will be allowed to gather in any one place, indoors or outdoors. The county has a positivity rate of 62 per 100,000 people, among the highest in the nation.
At 54 positive cases per 100,000, Montana’s rate is the third-highest in the United States and trails only North and South Dakota, according to the Brown School of Public Health.
Billings Clinic CEO Scott Ellner has told business leaders the surge is “putting a tremendous strain” on the healthcare system.
“While we remain open and we are making adjustments, our health
Category: health Tags: 215K, Anthony, bad, COVID19, deaths, Fauci, place, tops
Even dentist visits go remote during the COVID-19 pandemic
Posted on October 13, 2020 by [email protected]_84
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed many in-person activities into remote services delivered over the internet. The latest example is the dreaded visit to the dentist.
Dvora Brandstatter used to drive her son Elchanan half an hour to the orthodontist and back every month to make sure his braces were working properly. Now, from the comfort of her home in Bergenfield, New Jersey, she attaches a special scope to her smartphone camera, opens an app and inserts the contraption into the 11-year-old’s mouth. A video of the boy’s choppers is sent to his dentist, who checks progress, diagnoses any issues and sometimes ends the appointment right there.
“As a parent, having fewer appointments is a good thing,” Brandstatter said. “I haven’t seen a downside so far. It’s probably the way everything is moving anyway.”
The app and the scope were created last year by New Jersey-based startup Grin. After the pandemic hit, Chief Executive Officer and dentist Adam Schulhof said the company sped up development of the technology and partnered with manufacturer 3M to quickly distribute it to as many orthodontists as possible. About 5,000 units have shipped out and roughly 1,000 patients have used the system so far, according to Grin.
Schulhof, who uses the system for his own practice, said the coronavirus has spurred huge demand for new procedures that help people reduce the close contact that typically happens when they visit the dentist. The CDC has warned that dental instruments create spray that can contain droplets of water, saliva, blood and other debris, and has advised the use of “teledentistry” as an alternative to in-office care.
When the Grin videos arrive at the dentist’s office, other software from the startup helps practitioners analyze the condition of the teeth and integrates the footage with existing patient management systems. The app also lets patients see what the dentist sees inside their mouth. Not for the faint of heart.
There are already new, internet-focused dental services that Grin is going up against. Companies such as SmileDirectClub mail invisible aligners and braces to consumers. SmileDirectClub shares have more than doubled since the middle of March. Schulfhof said Grin’s offering is aimed at fighting the challenge to conventional dentistry from such direct-to-consumer offerings. “We’re trying to disrupt the disrupters,” he added.
In the short term, the technology will help orthodontists keep their businesses running while many patients avoid the dentist’s office completely, the CEO said. As smartphone capabilities improve and the software develops, Schulhof expects Grin’s scope to use artificial intelligence image analysis to become a more powerful diagnostic tool for dentists.
The CEO also sees the technology gaining traction in general dentistry where insurance companies may back its use. People’s teeth decay at different rates and more regular, remote checks, could be used to identify problems before they require more complicated and expensive treatment at in-person visits every six months, he said.
More on the coronavirus outbreak
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Category: dentist Tags: COVID19, dentist, pandemic, remote, visits
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