CDC relaxing its COVID-19 guidelines
The nation's top public health agency relaxed its COVID-19 guidelines Thursday, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person. (Aug. 12)
AP
New data show COVID-19 infections are declining in Ventura County after rising much of the summer.
California Department of Public Health metrics posted Friday show an average of about 26infections a day per 100,000 county residents, compared to a daily rate of nearly 32a week ago. The percentage of PCR tests coming up positive fell to 13.1%, down from 15% two weeks earlier.
The data doesn't prove the surge of infections has ended, cautionedRigoberto Vargas, director of the Ventura County Public Health Department.Transmission is still being driven by highly contagious subvariants but the trend may be finally headed downhill.
"I dont want tosay were out of the woods," Vargas said. "Its still high even though were trending in the right direction."
The county remains in the highest of three tiers for COVID-19 risks in a weekly ranking by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. But the region barely missed moving down a notch and could make that jump within a week depending on COVID-19 hospitalization levels, Vargas said.
Admissions continue to hover on a relatively low plateau, rising orfalling slightly each day. On Friday, 64 people with COVID were being cared for in hospitals countywide, compared to 70 patients a day earlier. The levels are far less than peaks hit in January in an omicron surge that subsided and then was reborn, this time driven by subvariants.
The local metrics mirror a statewide trend that suggeststhe current surge is diminishing, said George Rutherford, epidemiologist at UC San Francisco.
"The smart money says its going to stay down for about three months or so, and well get a kick with the winter," he said.
The virus will likely continue to ride a rollercoaster of surges and lullsthough it may also cause less severe illness and fewer deaths, Rutherford said.
Schools are reopening across Ventura County but the activities triggerno special COVID concerns regardless of whether students and staff wear face coverings, Vargas said. Masking indoors on campuses is no longer being urged by public health with decisions left up to individuals.
"I think schools are much safer than a year or two ago," he said.
Federal COVID-19 guidelines have also been loosened, including downplaying the emphasis on social distancing. New recommendations call it "just one" component ofprotection.
Quarantine guidance is also changing. TheCDC previously said if people who are not current on their COVID-19 vaccinations come into close contact with a person who tests positive, they should stay home for at least five days.
The agency now saysquarantining at home is not necessary, but it urges those people to wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested after five.
Vargas praised the new recommendations.
"We're entering a different chapterof COVID, more into the endemic stage," he said. "Were going to learn how to adaptand co-exist."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star.Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
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Paul Bibeau/WHRO
Steve Neskis is a self-described 67-year-old surf dog.
It just clears the mind, like meditation, he said. When you drop into a wave, you're no longer thinking about anything . [The] energy and the pulse that it gives you is something that is just so sacred.
As COVID-19 locked down the world many discovered the benefits Neskis touted as they headed for the ocean.
Surfing booms swept places like Australia, China and India.An Old Dominion University study found a possible reason for the trend: Surfing seemed to enable people to cope with the stress of the pandemic and meet up with each other in safe, socially distanced ways.
Surfing really allowed people to just let it all go and not have to think about the pandemic for a little while, said Lindsay Usher, an associate professor of park, recreation and tourism studies at ODU, who authored the study.
She added surfers in the water had experience staying socially distanced to avoid collisions, while sharing a sense of community.
In some places, though, COVID-19 restrictions stopped folks from surfing. People told Usher they felt restless, depressed and bored.
She said Virginia Beach benefitted from relatively relaxed restrictions on surfing.
We were pretty lucky that our region kind of handled it middle of the road, said WRV President L.G. Shaw. And they encouraged people to get outside and get fresh air [and] just to stay away from each other.
Shaw said when lockdown started in spring 2020, skateboards were the hot item at his store. Parents would buy multiple boards for their kids, because mom was going to lose it.
But as the waters warmed, he saw new customers try surfing. And he agreed with Ushers findings about why.
During COVID, it was one of the only times you could be you weren't getting inundated with the the crazy news, he said. You're outside getting fresh air, getting your endorphins going and enjoying yourself, and the whole world kind of fades away.
Shaw said 2020 saw a confluence of events that boosted the sport. People were already becoming more interested in surfing, because it was scheduled to debut at the Olympics in Tokyo that summer, though authorities delayed the games for a year and held them in 2021.
But then the pressures of the strange and challenging pandemic years drove whole families to buy boards and paddle out to sea.
It was a pretty significant impact that it made, for sure, Shaw said.
Read the original story at the WHRO website.
Waste water testing is the best and most cost-effective way to understand public health threats from infectious diseases in communities for a wide range of diseases, said David Larsen, an associate professor at Syracuse University who played a key role in establishing New York states waste water surveillance program.
The federal government last week declared the monkeypox outbreak a national health emergency. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that as of Thursday there were more than 10,000 cases recorded nationwide.
Boehm said that once waste water samples have been collected, testing doesnt have to be limited to the original target, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and can be expanded to include monkeypox and other diseases.
Its pretty straightforward to swap in different assays for different important targets. Its a great way to be prepared for the next pandemic, she said. WastewaterSCAN has also been testing samples for influenza and RSV, two respiratory viruses that spread across the country during the colder months every year.
Newsha Ghaeli, Biobot co-founder and president, said the hope is that the monkeypox testing currently under research and development by the company can really help us better understand this disease.
Biobot, founded in 2017 with an initial focus on testing sewage for opioids to help communities address the opioid epidemic, pivoted swiftly after the pandemic swept the nation to begin testing for the coronavirus. It is now the biggest player in the waste water surveillance testing business, said Ghaeli. It currently does testing for about 500 sites in all 50 US states.
Ghaeli said Massachusetts officials have inquired about Biobots plans for monkeypox testing. State officials say they currently have no plans to test for monkeypox.
Ghaeli said the company is also considering testing for polio in waste water as concern has been rising about the disease making a comeback after being nearly eradicated worldwide. Waste water surveillance for polio has been used in the past in Israel to control outbreaks. In recent days, it has made headlines in the United States after poliovirus was discovered in waste water in New York City and a suburb, prompting officials to urge people to get vaccinated.
Larsen said the same waste water sample can be used to test for tens, if not hundreds of diseases. One caveat, he said, is that the technique wont work very well for a disease that doesnt shed in the waste water, but he added, I havent found an example of that yet.
Waste water surveillance got a big boost from its performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it became a key metric to understand the spread of the virus, researchers said.
It definitely supercharged this field, said Boehm. Over the course of the pandemic, we realized waste water could be a really great resource.
The CDC, acknowledging the value of waste water testing for the coronavirus, established the National Wastewater Surveillance System to coordinate and build the nations capacity to track coronavirus levels in waste water around the country.
An editorial last week in the journal Nature Microbiology called for routine waste water monitoring to be deployed around the world to mitigate the spread of pathogens, both old and new.
Sam Scarpino, a vice president at the Pandemic Prevention Institute of the Rockefeller Foundation, said, Multi-pathogen waste water surveillance has the potential to transform global public health in terms of its ability to tell us whats making people sick in real time and in a less biased way than many traditional surveillance systems. ... We absolutely need multi-pathogen surveillance.
CDC officials, too, have said they recognize the value of testing for more diseases. Amy Kirby, team lead for the NWSS, said in a February press briefing that waste water surveillance for COVID-19 was giving us a glimpse into a new frontier of infectious disease surveillance in the US.
One of the strengths of waste water surveillance is that it is very flexible. So once we have built this infrastructure to collect the samples, get them to a laboratory, get the data to CDC, we can add tests for new pathogens fairly quickly. So ... should there be a new pathogen of interest, we could ramp up this system within a few weeks to start gathering community-level data on that new pathogen, she said.
The CDC said in a statement it was exploring the possibility of monitoring for monkeypox virus in waste water but has not released any recommendations on waste water surveillance of this virus.
Ghaeli and the researchers noted there is a major obstacle ahead for a field that they believe could be key to protecting peoples health.
With the testing dependent on government funding, The biggest barrier is money, said Larsen. Public health surveillance, in general, is not well funded.
Ghaeli said that once a sample is collected, it is only a nominal or fractional increase to do other tests on the water.
Weve always believed it should be an integral part of our public health intelligence system, she said. Our vision is that waste water monitoring becomes a permanent infrastructure layer on top of our sewer systems.
Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com.
Aim: Most dental procedures are aerosol-generating and hence highly risky for spreading SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection. This can lead to sufficient psychological distress, avoidance of risky procedures, and impact on dental practice. We intend to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on dental practice and psychological distress among dental practitioners.
Methods: An online survey was conducted by an email-based survey link; 1257 registered dental practitioners were contacted across the country.
Results: Most dental practitioners continue to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic (81.08%). Postgraduate specialists significantly outnumber undergraduates in performing dental procedures (p=.001). Career-related anxiety was considerably high among postgraduates (61.96%;p=.036) during the initial phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in India. In contrast, self-efficacy was significantly better among postgraduates than undergraduates (p=.027).
Conclusion: Dentalpractitionerssuffered considerable impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important toenhance coping and self-efficacy strategies among dental practitioners.
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Several preventive measures and restrictions were imposed to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus. In India, a nationwide lockdown was declared on March 24, 2020for 21 days [1-3]. The devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was seen across all strata of lives, and the threat was palpable to all categories of health professionals and medical specialties [4].
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected dental practice; dental practitioners suffered a great amount of COVID-19-related anxiety and fear since the COVID-19 virus primarily spreads through aerosol, and most dental procedures are aerosol generating [5,6]. It was observed that most dental procedures were either postponed or limited to oral surgeries only during the COVID-19 pandemic [7-9]. Several safety guidelines were released to ensure that dental practitionerscontinued dental care services safely [7].
There are around 117,825 registered dental surgeons in the country; it is pertinent to assess the pattern of dental practices and psychological distress related to dental procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic [10]. We hypothesized that dental practice sustained a significant impact, and dental practitioners were subjected to substantial psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. To validate our hypothesis, we conducted an online survey from August-September 2020, i.e. at the peak of India's first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The institutional ethics committee of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur approved the study (AIIMSRPR/IEC/2020/597). The study was conducted using - the SurveyMonkey platform. Participants who were undergraduates or above in dentistry, registered with the Dental Council of India, and currently practicing in India were invited by email.A WhatsApp invitation was sent to those whose email addresses could not be found. Participants whodid not practice dentistry (due to any reason other thanthe COVID-19 pandemic), did not provide consent or did not complete the survey were excluded. The invitation link and IP address were anchored to thecollector link to avoid duplicate responses. A weekend reminder was sent to only those who did not respond to the first invitation. The invitation link remained open from August 27, 2020, 5:00 PM IST to September 15, 2020, 10 AM IST (18 days and 17 hours). After clicking on the invitation link, the participants were directed to the invitation page; the invitation page provided detailed information about the study, followed by the participant's consent.
A questionnaire composed of 32 items was used to collect the sociodemographic details (10 items), factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and fear and anxiety associated with COVID-19 (12 items). The questionnaire was distributed to 10 doctors of the same institution, their opinion and suggestions were collected separately, and finally, the questionnaire was used. The self-efficacy scale, a 10 items scale with 1 to 4 scores for eachitem, is used to assess the coping skills of the dental practitioners. A higher score on the self-efficacy scaleindicates lower psychological distress and better general coping skills [11,12].The average time taken by the participants to complete the survey was six minutes.
Continuous variables were reported as means with standard deviation (SD), and categorical variables were reported as a number with the percentage of the total. Chisquare test was used to assess the statistical significance of the distribution pattern of various variables. The analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 20.0 (SPSS, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).
A total of 1257 registered dental practitioners were invited to participate by disseminating invitation links through email and weblink in WhatsApp messages; a total of 742 responses, 228 by email, and 514 weblinks, with a response rate of 71% was received. Finally, 518 participants completed the survey and their responses were included in the final analysis.
The mean age of the participants was 33.69 8.95 years; 50.19% were males (50.19%) and 56.76% were married. The graduates of MasterofDental Surgery(MDS) outnumbered (81.08%) the graduates of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) (32.04%). Most participants were involved in private practice (44.21%) and did not have risk factors like age of more than 60 years, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, or current treatment with immunosuppressant drugs (83.88%)(Table 1).
Most practitioners continued their practice (81.08%) with a significantly higher proportion of males and with postgraduate qualifications (=37.21, p=<.001and =10.68, p=.001)during the COVID-19 pandemic, performing all sorts of dental procedures while limiting themselves to the non-aerosol generating procedure(Table 2).
As much as 61.97% expressed concern about getting COVID-19 infection while 50% were concerned about losing their job or shut-down of a privately owned clinic as well as anxiety related to their career. We found a significant difference in career-related anxiety levels between postgraduates and undergraduates ( =8.49, P=.036) (Table 3).
To manage cases of COVID-19, sufficient personnel protective equipment was present in their clinical set-up. Female dental practitioners expressed highercareer-related anxiety compared to their male counterparts, as shown by their response to the question -"Are you anxious about your career as a dentist because of the COVID-19 outbreak?" ( =9.26, p=.026) (Table 4).
The overall general coping skills and self-efficacy of the dentists were adequateduring the COVID-19 pandemic (Table 5).
The present cross-sectional study assessed the level of psychological distress, anxiety, and fear of getting infected amongst dental practitioners, while working during the COVID 19 pandemic outbreak in India, and assessed the possible factors associated with it. For this purpose, a questionnaire composed of closed-ended questions was used to gather information about psychological distress, anxiety, and fear of getting infected among dental practitioners while working during the COVID 19 pandemic. The findings confirmed our hypothesis, suggesting that dental practitioners exhibited an elevated risk of developing psychological distress. Similar studies involving dental staff in countries like Israel [13], India [6], Italy [14], Poland [15], and Saudi Arabia [16] also report confirming higher psychological distress rates due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since it has been established that the primary route for transmission of coronavirus is through the airborne spread via aerosols formed during dental procedures [17], other possible routes are contact spread, and contaminated surfaces spread [18]. This enhances the likelihood of dental practitioners getting infected and further spreading the virus. The present study found that many dental practitioners feared getting infected by their patients or co-workers. The rapid spread of the coronavirus terrified the rest of the population as they were at risk of getting infected by other individuals in the community [4]. The majority of dental practitioners were fearful of providing treatment to any symptomatic patient. Since the coronavirus rapidly infected such a large number of individuals in a short time in almost every country, the fear of getting infected by a patient has supporting empirical evidence.
In the present study, 61.97% of the dental practitioners expressed much concern about getting COVID-19 infection during practice. In comparison with other countries, it was around 85% of 356 dental practitioners and 71.9% of 1237 participants in Italy [14,19] and Norway [20], respectively. Also, in the present study, around 50% of the participants expressed concern about losing their job or closure of practice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, it was comparatively higher, i.e. 67.02%, 89.6%, and 80% in studies from India, Italian, and America [5,14,19,20], where dentists reported more concerns about professional future, practice closure, and economic issues. The possible reasons were earning from other sources or support from other family members both psychologically and economically in our study group. The current study found that females had higher career-related anxiety compared to their male counterparts.
Many dental practitioners in India wanted to shut down their privately owned clinics which may have had significant economic implications and may have reflected in the level of anxiety. During the COVID 19 pandemic, patients suffering from dental pain experienced delays in dental care due to a multi-visit treatment plan and teleconsultations.
The current guidelines on the COVID-19 outbreak have recommended deferring all non-essential and elective dental treatment until the situation is regressing or under control. Only emergency dental treatments have to be done, such as for patients suffering from severe pain, swelling, bleeding, and trauma [7]. Another genuine fear that dentists have was of carrying infections from their dental practices to their families. The prolonged incubation period during the asymptomatic phase and the longevity of coronavirus on various surfaces from a few hours to a few days make it particularly difficult to limit its transmission [18]. The anxiety and fear of getting quarantined due to coronavirus infection also legitimise nervousness. The burden on the healthcare system and the cost incurred during treatment also put one's mind under stress.
In our study, it was found that self-efficacy was adequate and comparable in both postgraduate and undergraduate dental practitioners (Table 5).
Limitations, being an online survey, posed several limits to sample coverage. The study was subject to selection bias and sampling error, as participants were approached using social media, dedicated mailing lists, and forums. Capturing a relatively younger population, perhaps due to the accessibility of smartphones and the internet, affected the sample. Missing out older practitioners, who may be more vulnerable to COVID-19-related stress, could have caused under-reporting psychological distress. The questionnaire used to assess attitude and knowledge was not adequately validated and just validated by a pilot survey among 10 doctors of the same institute.
Strengths of this study include a large sample size; responses were conducted during the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 immediately after a lockdown in India to minimise recall biases and enable the assessment of the actual situation.
It can be concluded that dentalpractitionerssuffered considerable impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there was a variation in the stressors and psychosocial factors, dental practitioners suffered significant career-related anxiety. Surprisingly,postgraduatedental practitioners continuedtheir dental practicewith their clinical work by performing non-aerosol generating procedures despite significant COVID-19-related anxiety, perhaps due to better self-efficacy skills. Hence, apart from COVID-19 safety guidelines and policies, there is a need to enhance coping and self-efficacy strategy among dental practitioners.
Date Issued: August 11, 2022
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising people to perform repeat, or serial, testing following a negative result on any at-home COVID-19 antigen test, to reduce the risk an infection may be missed (false negative result) and to help prevent people from unknowingly spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others. The FDA recommends repeat testing following a negative result whether or not you have COVID-19 symptoms.
At-home COVID-19 antigen tests detect proteins, called antigens, from the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. At-home COVID-19 antigen tests are less likely to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus than molecular tests, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. This is especially true early in an infection or in people who do not have COVID-19 symptoms. Currently, all at-home COVID-19 antigen tests are FDA-authorized for repeat, or serial use. This means people should use multiple tests over a certain time period, such as 2-3 days, especially when the people using the tests don't have COVID-19 symptoms. Today, the FDA is highlighting the continued need for repeat, or serial testing when people get a negative result with an at-home COVID-19 antigen test, including recommending additional testing over a longer period of time..
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health scientists have continued to learn about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the impact of variants on diagnostic tests that detect SARS-CoV-2. Today's recommendations are based on the latest study results from people with likely omicron infection showing that repeat testing after a negative at-home COVID-19 antigen test result increases the chance of an accurate result. COVID-19 diagnostic testing remains a cornerstone of our nation's fight against COVID-19. At-home COVID-19 antigen tests, while not perfect, provide a fast and convenient COVID-19 testing option.
Follow the test's step by step instructions exactly to perform the test and to read the test's results.
COVID-19 diagnostic tests detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests are FDA-authorized for self-testing at home, or anywhere. The FDA has authorized both molecular and antigen COVID-19 diagnostic tests for home use.
Most at-home COVID-19 tests are antigen tests and do not detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus as well as molecular tests, most of which are laboratory-based such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. Molecular COVID-19 tests are generally expected to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least 95% of the time when someone is infected. However, at-home COVID-19 antigen tests are generally expected to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least 80% of the time when someone is infected.
When you perform an at-home COVID-19 antigen test, and you get a positive result, the results are typically accurate. However, if you perform an at-home COVID-19 antigen test, you could get a false negative result. This means that the test may not detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is in your nasal swab sample. This could happen if you test soon after you get an infection, especially if you don't have COVID-19 symptoms. If you receive a false negative test result, you may unknowingly spread the SARS-CoV-2 virus to others.
When at-home COVID-19 antigen tests were initially FDA-authorized, the FDA knew that for people to get accurate results, test instructions would need to include directions for repeat, or serial, testing. The FDA believed the best way to better understand COVID-19 infections and evaluate test accuracy was to require test developers to perform follow up studies with their tests. The studies would need to assess how well COVID-19 antigen tests could detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus, especially in people without COVID-19 symptoms. Therefore, the FDA required each at-home COVID-19 antigen test manufacturer to assess how well their test works when used by people with and without COVID-19 symptoms following repeat testing instructions.
In parallel, the FDA collaborated with the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School and together they designed a comprehensive study to assess at-home COVID-19 antigen test performance. The study was funded by the NIH's Rapid Acceleration Diagnostics (RADx) Program and included more than 7,000 participants. The results of the study would be available as a resource to all at-home COVID-19 antigen test manufacturers.
The study participants collected their nasal sample and performed an at-home COVID-19 antigen test. Participants who got a negative test result performed repeat testing every 48 hours, over 14 days. All participants also collected their nasal sample using a home collection kit and then sent the sample to clinical laboratory for testing with an FDA-authorized molecular test. The study compared the performance of at-home COVID-19 antigen tests to performance of a laboratory-based molecular test. Results from this study show that repeat testing over a longer timeframe improves test performance and increases the likelihood that an at-home COVID-19 antigen test will detect an infection. These results have further guided the FDA's thinking thatrepeat testing after a negative result with an at-home COVID-19 antigen test reduces the risk of a false negative result.
The FDA is committed to appropriately accurate and reliable at-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests for all Americans and will keep the public informed if significant new information about COVID-19 antigen test performance becomes available.
The FDA is working collaboratively with government and academic partners to perform studies and make the results of these studies available.
The FDA encourages at-home COVID-19 antigen test developers with a current Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to engage with us about how they may be able to use these study results.
If you think you had a problem with your COVID-19 test, the FDA encourages you to report the problem through the MedWatch Voluntary Reporting Form.
Health care personnel employed by facilities that are subject to the FDA's user facility reporting requirements should follow the reporting procedures established by their facilities.
If you have questions, email the Division of Industry and Consumer Education (DICE) at DICE@FDA.HHS.GOV or call 800-638-2041 or 301-796-7100.
Cancer care requires close physical and emotional interactions, but with threats of COVID-19 infection looming, many physicians lost the personal touch to patient care, oncologist Jalal Baig, MD, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.
The personal elements that made patient interactions meaningful only began to return after the COVID-19 vaccines and other public health measures, Dr. Baig wrote. Even though there were many close encounters with COVID-19, Dr. Baig said the ability to stand close together, have face-to-face talks, and other types of close contact previously considered mundane have had a great impact on his practice.
"In the tumult and uncertainty of the pandemic, the one constant I can provide patients is my understanding, attention and a chair next to them," Dr. Baig wrote. "Accepting some risk of infection is how we bravely move forward in this coronavirus-altered world. Especially when trying to preserve something as sacred as the bonds that hold oncology together."
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Throughout this pandemic, I have led the effort to uncover the origins of this virus that has killed over 6 million people worldwide.
Shockingly, with over 1 million Americans killed and trillions of dollars spent, last Wednesday was the first congressional hearing on the dangerous, virus-enhancing research known as gain-of-function and its relation to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The purpose of this hearing by the Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight was to discuss, as our name implies, the emerging threat posed by gain-of-function research.
FAUCI BLASTED FOR JOKE THAT HE CREATED COVID-19 IN HIS KITCHEN: 'TONE DEAF'
We heard from a panel of three witnesses Dr. Richard H. Ebright, Ph.D., laboratory director of Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Dr. Steven Quay, M.D., Ph.D., CEO at Atossa Therapeutics, Inc., and Dr. Kevin M. Esvelt, Ph.D., assistant professor of Media Arts & Sciences of MIT Media Lab all of whom are extraordinarily accomplished experts in the scientific community. We are grateful for their work, and we are grateful to them for taking the time to appear before the committee.
A security person moves journalists away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
As we discussed in the hearing, gain-of-function research is a controversial scientific research method involving the manipulation of pathogens to give them a new aspect or ability, such as making viruses more transmissible or dangerous to humans.
As Dr. Richard Ebright said in the hearing, "Gain-of-function research of concern involves the creation of new health threats health threats that did not exist previously and that might not come to exist by natural means for tens, hundreds, or thousands of years."
Why in the world would we willingly create a more-transmissible or more-dangerous virus that has the potential to unleash a global pandemic that threatens the lives of millions?
Dr. Stephen Quay explained, theGlobal Virome Projectsgoal aims to "collect the estimated 500,000 unknown viruses that are capable of infecting humans and bring them back to a laboratory near you. What could go wrong?"
Dr. Kevin Esvelt highlighted during the hearing exactly what could go wrong. He said, scientists "never considered that these advances in technology would allow a single skilled terrorist to unleash more pandemics at once than would naturally occur in a century."
We also learned during the hearing that Chief Medical Advisor to the President Dr. Anthony Fauci has been lying to us shocking, I know.
The three elite scientists all agreed that this was dangerous research. Two of the three absolutely said it wasgain-of-function. The third said it wasdangerous researchand should have gone before a committee.
This is all despite Fauci saying that the NIH has never funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, and it has been reviewed and doesnt meet the definition set by the Department of Health and Human Services P3CO review committee, which is responsible for evaluating the risks & benefits of such research.
The P3CO committee was formed in 2017. This was after gain-of-function research funding was suspended by the Obama administration in 2014 and was only allowed to restart in 2017 because of this new committee review process.
We learned that theP3CO committee that is supposed toreview these viruses is secret.We don't know the names of the committee members.We don't have any records of theirmeetings.It's top-secret.Congress is not allowed to know.The public isnt allowed to know.
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We do know that they've metthree times and have reviewed three of thousands of gain-of-function research project proposals, none of which have been related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The issue with all of this is that Fauci unequivocally claims that the NIH does not fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan, but how would he know that since the P3CO committee has never reviewed research in the Wuhan lab?
People wearing face masks walk near blossoming trees at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
We learned a lot of things from this hearing, but its only the start.
We reconfirmed thatFauci is not being honestwith us.Yes, theNIH funded gain-of-functionresearch.Yes, it was dangerous.And yes, nobody looked over or reviewed the research.
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While there still seems to be a significant lack of curiosity on the part of Democrats, I am sure each member of Congress can agree that we need stronger government oversight of how our tax dollars are being used to create viruses capable of causing pandemics.
We may never know whether the pandemic arose from a lab in Wuhan or occurred naturally, but the emergence of COVID-19 serves as a reminder that dangerous research conducted in a secretive and totalitarian country is simply too risky to fund, and greater oversight must take place.
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Republican Rand Paul represents Kentucky in the United States Senate. He is the author of "TheCase Against Socialism" (Broadside Books, October 15, 2019).
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shifts its guidelines around COVID, the Federal Drug Association also revised its guidance around the amount of at-home tests one should take if potentially exposed to the virus.
Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic across Illinois today:
Under revised guidance from the Food and Drug Administration, individuals who have been exposed to COVID-19 may need to take as many as three at-home tests to ensure that they are not experiencing asymptomatic infections.
The new guidance was issued last week after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its own recommendations for those exposed to COVID, saying that quarantine is no longer recommended for those exposed to the virus and who are not showing symptoms.
According tothe new guidance from the FDA, individuals who are exposed to COVID are recommended to take a series of at-home tests to ensure that they are not experiencing an asymptomatic infection.
In total, the FDA recommends that patients who are not experiencing symptoms after an exposure to take three tests within a 96-hour span.
Read more here.
Fueled by the fast-spreading BA.5 subvariant, COVID-19 infections continue to occur across Illinois, with some communities in the southern portion of the state especially hard hit.
As of Friday, dozens of Illinois counties were listed at "high" community level status, according to the latest metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which did improve from a week earlier.
Read more here.
When many school districts across Illinois welcome back students next week, classrooms will look significantly different than last year - at least in terms of COVID precautions.
Following the lead of federal health officials, the state of Illinois announced it is adopting relaxed COVID guidance for K-12 public schools, which includes dropping the quarantine requirement and easing physical distancing.
Read more here.
Anyone who contracts COVID-19 is advised to isolate for at least five days, but could you be contagious even after that?
It's a possibility, according to Chicago's top doctor.
Read more here.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new set of COVID guidelines Thursday, clarifying whether recovering individuals need to test out of isolation.
In its updated guidelines, the CDC recommended different approaches for patients based on their symptoms.
Read more here.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled a series of new COVID guidelines on Thursday afternoon, marking the organizations continued efforts to loosen restrictions as new treatments and vaccine formulations continue to be released.
The new guidelines, which focused primarily on changing quarantine and isolation recommendations, had been discussed for several weeks, but now the agency says it has streamlined its tips on what to do if individuals are infected with, or exposed to, the virus.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its new COVID guidelines Thursday, shifting several recommendations just days after Chicago Public Schools issued its own set of policies for the 2022-2023 school year.
Both guidelines are reflective of continued efforts to loosen restrictions as new treatments and vaccine formulations continue to be released.
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Two of Illinois most populous counties have seen reductions in several key COVID metrics in recent weeks, with Cook and McHenry counties both dropping to a medium community level of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the Chicago area, Grundy County also dropped to the medium level according to the updated metrics. Kankakee County has continued its recent declines in COVID metrics, falling to a low community level of the virus.
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After more than a week of waiting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally unveiled its new guidelines for isolation, quarantine and social distancing, but one of the biggest changes involves those who experience more severe symptoms of the virus.
The new guidelines propose different approaches for patients who experience traditional mild symptoms, including fever, cough and other cold-like issues, and those who experience more severe illness, including those who suffer from difficulty breathing or shortness of breath.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued changes to its guidelines for COVID isolation and quarantine, changing the recommendations for unvaccinated individuals who were exposed to the virus and offering new advice on how to end isolation and what to do if symptoms return.
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With new COVID variants and subvariants behindrising cases in Illinoisand other parts of the country, many are wondering if symptoms are changing as more begin to experience them.
Currently, the BA.5 omicron subvariant accounts for nearly 90% of COVID cases in the United States, according to estimates provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weighs potential changes to a host of COVID protocols, Chicago Public Schools has announced the tweaks it will make to the districts handling of the virus this fall.
According to Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, CPS will not require students and faculty to be vaccinated against the virus when they return to buildings this fall.
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According to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the BA.5 subvariant of COVID is still continuing to make up a greater share of coronavirus cases, but another variant is slowly gaining steam as well.
Those estimates,released every Tuesday, show that the BA.5 subvariant currently makes up 87.1% of cases in the United States, up from 84.5% a week ago.
See more metrics here.
Health experts have noted that the BA.5 omicron subvariant has led to more symptomatic infections, but could some people still have the virus and not know it?
Chicago's top doctor said the answer to that question is still yes, though she notes that even those with symptoms may mistake them for other illnesses.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a new recommendation on Thursday that asymptomatic people who are using coronavirus antigen tests take at least three tests, each spaced 48 hours apart, to reduce the odds of missing an infection.
People who have Covid-19 symptoms should take at least two tests, 48 hours apart, according to the agency.
The new guidelines come as the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant of Omicron continues to spread, and after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its recommendation for routine surveillance testing in most circumstances.
Many people have reported that at-home tests failed to detect their infections, but studies have generally shown that rapid antigen tests are as good at detecting Omicron as they were at detecting Delta, the previous variant of concern.
The new recommendations are very grounded in science, said Dr. Michael Mina, a former Harvard epidemiologist who is now the chief science officer for eMed, which sells at-home tests. Sometimes it takes the virus two days to grow to a detectable level and sometimes it takes six days to grow.
Experts have long noted that rapid antigen tests, which are less sensitive than P.C.R. tests, are designed to be used serially, and that they are most likely to detect the coronavirus when people take them repeatedly over the course of several days.
The new recommendations emphasize the need for additional testing over a longer period of time, the agency said.
The F.D.A.s new recommendations for at-home Covid-19 antigen tests underscore the importance of repeat testing after a negative test result in order to increase the chances of detecting an infection, Dr. Jeff Shuren, the director of the agencys Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement.
The new guidance is based on the results of a new national study, which has not yet been published in a scientific journal. The study, led by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, focused on 154 people who tested positive for the virus using P.C.R. tests between October 2021 and February of this year.
It found that among symptomatic people, two tests taken 48 hours apart detected 93 percent of infections. But the same testing pattern detected just 63 percent of infections in asymptomatic people.
When people without symptoms took three tests, each two days apart, the tests caught 79 percent of infections.
We provide data-based evidence on how to test when using rapid antigen tests, said Dr. Apurv Soni, an assistant professor at UMass Chan Medical School, who led the research. The schedule of testing is important.
Some people enrolled in the study had Delta infections, while others were infected with Omicron, the researchers said.
The fact that the tests can detect Omicron is an important point that cannot be emphasized enough, said Nathaniel Hafer, a molecular biologist at UMass Chan Medical School and an author of the study.
People who are worried that they may be infected even after receiving two or three negative results on at-home antigen tests can continue to test themselves, seek out a more sensitive P.C.R. test or consult with a doctor, the F.D.A. said.
Those who test positive using at-home tests, the agency said, should assume that they are infected and follow the guidelines set forth by the C.D.C.
The C.D.C. updated its Covid-19 guidance on Thursday but did not change its recommendation that people who test positive for the coronavirus isolate at home for at least five days.
People do not need to use the same brand of test each time, the F.D.A. said.
If you plan to use at-home Covid-19 antigen tests, have several tests on hand so you can test more than once, the agency said.
Britain on Monday became the first country to authorize a coronavirus vaccine that targets two variants, the original virus and Omicron, the variant that became dominant over the winter.
Half of each dose of the Moderna-made vaccine will target the original variant, and the other half will target Omicron. In clinical trials, the vaccine, an updated version of Modernas original Covid vaccine, generated a good immune response to these two variants, as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in adults, researchers found.
Dr. June Raine, the chief executive of Britains Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, said she was pleased that the new booster vaccine met the regulators standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The decision was endorsed by Britains independent expert scientific advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines.
The first generation of Covid-19 vaccines being used in the U.K. continue to provide important protection against the disease and save lives, Dr. Raine said. What this bivalent vaccine gives us is a sharpened tool in our armory to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve.
In the United States, Moderna said in late July that the government had secured 66 million doses of a vaccine it was developing that targets the virus that circulated in 2020 and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. The Biden administration expects to begin a Covid-19 booster campaign next month with updated vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna targeting new variants, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Officials decided to delay expanded eligibility for second boosters of existing vaccines this summer because the new formulations were close to being ready. Currently, only Americans over 50 and those over 12 with certain immune deficiencies are eligible for second booster doses.
Moderna said in a statement that it was working with British health officials to distribute the new vaccine, but it was unclear when the shots would be available to the public. A British government official said the health service would provide more details in due course about how and when eligible people could access the booster vaccine. Moderna said it had completed regulatory submissions for the vaccine in Australia, Canada, and the European Union and expected further authorization decisions in the coming weeks.
Stphane Bancel, Modernas chief executive, said in a statement on Monday that Britains authorization highlighted the dedication and leadership of the U.K. public health authorities in helping to end the Covid-19 pandemic. He added that the vaccine had an important role to play in protecting people in the U.K. from Covid-19 as we enter the winter months.
The emergence of highly contagious Omicron subvariants this spring appeared to reduce the protection offered by the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against Covid hospitalizations, with more vaccinated people admitted to the hospital with Covid than they had been during the winter Omicron wave. But booster shots have raised peoples levels of protection, scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month. The C.D.C. recommends that people receive booster shots as soon as they are eligible.
Britain has high vaccination rates overall, with 76 percent of the population fully vaccinated and 60 percent having received an additional dose. By comparison, in the United States, 67 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, but the booster program has stalled, with just 32 percent having received an additional dose. Globally, 64 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, according to The New York Timess Covid vaccine tracker.
Britain accelerated its booster program in December to counter the highly contagious Omicron variant. Currently, anyone 16 years and older is eligible for a booster shot, in addition to some children aged 12 to 15.
Anyone aged 50 and over will be eligible for a further dose in the fall, as well as those 5 years and over who are in a clinical risk group, including pregnant women, the British government said last month. Household contacts of those who are immunocompromised, frontline workers and caregivers will also be eligible. Side effects of the new vaccine were the same as those seen for the original Moderna booster dose and were typically mild, with no serious safety concerns, British regulators said.
Modernas updated vaccine is licensed only as a booster shot, so people who missed the first two vaccines need to receive those first, a British government spokesman said.
Rupali Limaye, the deputy director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that Britains approval of the updated vaccine targeting Omicron was great news, especially for people in high-risk groups, now that mask requirements and other safety measures had been dropped.
The more we can be specific about really protecting people against this specific variant, the better off were going to be, she said. A challenge for health authorities, especially in the United States, will be increasing trust around the vaccines, amid high levels of misinformation and mistrust. This isnt something that were going to say, Go get it, and we have tons of people waiting in line. Its going to require some persuasion.
