Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK| State Journal-Register
Is COVID endemic? Here's what health experts are saying.
How soon could we see COVID-19 go from pandemic to endemic? Here's what we know now.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
New coronavirus cases leaped in Illinois in the week ending Sunday, rising 30.7% as 40,026 cases were reported. The previous week had 30,633 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Illinois ranked eighth among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States increased 21.4% from the week before, with 605,127 cases reported. With 3.81% of the country's population, Illinois had 6.61% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 47 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Sangamon County reported 616 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 426 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 56,637 cases and 391 deaths.
Also: Baby formula shortage leads to tough questions for Springfield pediatricians, stores
Logan County reported 155 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 109 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 9,922 cases and 87 deaths.
Menard County reported 16 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 13 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 3,560 cases and 20 deaths.
Macoupin County reported 69 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 48 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 12,975 cases and 142 deaths.
Christian County reported 34 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 22 cases and one death. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 10,330 cases and 113 deaths.
Montgomery County reported 21 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 23 cases and zero deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 9,872 cases and 105 deaths.
Within Illinois, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Logan County with 542 cases per 100,000 per week; DuPage County with 459; and Champaign County with 454. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Cook County, with 18,370 cases; DuPage County, with 4,238 cases; and Lake County, with 2,788. Weekly case counts rose in 81 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Cook, DuPage and Will counties.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Illinois ranked 21st among states in the share of people receiving at least one shot, with 76.7% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 77.7%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Wednesday, Illinois reported administering another 122,081 vaccine doses, including 11,405 first doses. The state administered 118,794 vaccine doses in the previous week, including 14,140 first doses. In all, Illinois reported it has administered 22,673,553 total doses.
Across Illinois, cases fell in 16 counties, with the best declines in Boone County, with 100 cases from 118 a week earlier and in Douglas County, with 36 cases from 53.
In Illinois, 45 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 46 people were reported dead.
A total of 3,209,341 people in Illinois have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 36,138 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 82,468,606 people have tested positive and 999,602 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 15.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Hospitals in 45 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 29 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 41 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
Individuals who have recovered from the initial disease are in generally poorer health later on compared with the general population, the analysis shows.
Half of individuals who were admitted to the hospital with a COVID-19 infection still have at least 1 symptom after 2 years, according to results of the longest follow-up study to date.
The study, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, included 1192 individuals in China who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first phase of the pandemic in 2020.
The analysis suggested that individuals who had COVID-19 still tend to have poorer health and quality-of-life outcomes than the general population, especially for those who have long COVID, which was classified as still having at least 1 symptoms 2 years after initial infection.
Our findings indicate that for a certain proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors, while they may have cleared the initial infection, more than 2 years is needed to recover fully from COVID-19, Bin Cao, MD, of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in China, said in a statement.
Ongoing follow-up of COVID-19 survivors, particularly those with symptoms of long COVID, is essential to understand the longer course of the illness, as is further exploration of the benefits of rehabilitation programs for recovery.
The investigators of the study sought to analyze the long-term health outcomes of individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19, as well as the implications of long COVID. They evaluated the health of 1192 individuals with acute COVID-19, who were treated at Jin Yin-tan Hospital in Wuhan, China, between January 7 and May 29, 2020. They evaluated the individuals at 6 months, 12 months, and 2 years.
The assessment involved laboratory tests, questionnaires, and a 6-minute walking test, looking at health care use after discharge, health-related quality of life, mental health, and whether they had returned to work.
The negative effects of long COVID, pertaining to exercise capacity, health care use, mental health, and quality of life, were determined by comparing individuals who did not have and had long COVID.
Health outcomes at 2 years were determined using age, comorbidities, and sex that were matched to a control group of individuals with no history of COVID-19 infection.
At 6 months after initial COVID-19 infection, approximately 68% of individuals reported at least 1 long COVID symptom. By 2 years, the reports of symptoms had fallen to approximately 55%. Fatigue or muscle weakness were the most reported symptoms and fell from 52% at 6 months to approximately 30% at 2 years.
Regardless of severity of their initial infection, 89% of individuals had returned to their original work at 2 years.
At 2 years after initial infection, individuals with COVID-19 reported generally poorer health, with 31% reporting fatigue or muscle weakness and 31% reporting sleep difficulties. The percentage of individuals who did not have a COVID-19 infection reported these symptoms at 5% and 14%, respectively.
Additionally, those with COVID-19 were more likely to report other symptoms, including dizziness, headaches, joint pain, and palpitations. In the questionnaires, approximately 12% of individuals with COVID-19 reported anxiety and depression and 23% of reported discomfort or pain compared with 5% and 5%, respectively, for individuals who did not have a COVID-19 infection.
Furthermore, approximately half of study participants had symptoms of long COVID at 2 years and reported lower quality of life than those who did not have long COVID. In the questionnaires, approximately 19% of individuals reported anxiety or depression, and 35% reported discomfort or pain, while those who did not experience long COVID reported these symptoms at 4% and 10%, respectively.
Additionally, 5% of individuals who had long COVID also experienced problems with their activity level at 4% and mobility at 5% compared with 2% and 1%, respectively, for those who did not experience long COVID.
The mental health assessment found that individuals with long COVID displayed symptoms of anxiety at 13% and symptoms of depression at 11% compared with those without long COVID at 3% and 1%, respectively.
Furthermore, those with long COVID used health care services more often at discharge, with 26% reporting an outpatient clinic visit compared with 11% of those without long COVID. Hospitalization was reported at 17% for those with long COVID and 10% for those without long COVID.
Investigators said their study had limitations, including lacking a control group of individuals who were in the hospital unrelated to a COVID-19 infection, which made it hard to determine whether observed abnormalities were specific to COVID-19.
Reference
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine: Two years after infection, half of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have at least one symptom, follow-up study suggests. EurekAlert. News release. May 11, 2022. Accessed May 12, 2022. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/952229
As the virus accelerates its evolution, the humans capitulate. For two and a half years, the virus has been outrunning our response, getting progressively more and more transmissible, reaching a level of infectiousness that few pathogens have ever attained. Instead of taking a stance of getting ahead of the virus, and outsmarting it, people have succumbed.
In recent months, we experienced a striking jump in transmissibility when the Omicron (BA.1) variant became dominant with at least a three-fold increase in reproductive number beyond Delta. Despite the hope that this might be reaching the upper limit of the viruss spread ability, we quickly transitioned to a BA.2 wave with at least another jump of about 30% transmissibility, and now we are heading, in the United States, to a dominant subvariant known as BA.2.12.1, which is another 25% more transmissible than BA.2 and already accounting for close to 50% of new cases.
This surely constitutes a meaningful acceleration of the viruss evolution. There have been thousands of variants over the course of the pandemic, but only 5 major variants, affecting large populations of people, received Greek letter designations (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron). Each of these previous variants had numerous sub-lineages, or mutations that might be considered relatives of the main variant but had no functional consequence they did not increase transmissibility or pathogenicity. But with Omicron, we have already seen multiple subvariants with heightened infectiousness, not just BA.2, BA.2.12.1, but also BA.4 and BA.5 which are leading to a new wave in South Africa.
As we watch the virus strikingly improve its ability to find new or repeat hosts, you would think it would be considered an urgent call for action. But instead, there has been a public perception that the pandemic is over, while, at the same time, public health agencies are adopting the policy that we must live with Covid.
No, we dont have to live with Covid, because the Covid we are seeing now is deeply concerning. While there has not been a surge in hospitalizations, they are clearly on the increase, with more than a 20 per cent rise in the United States over the past 2 weeks. The proportion of people getting hospitalized and dying among the vaccinated, as compared with unvaccinated, has substantially increased. As has the deaths: during the Delta wave in the United States, vaccinated individuals accounted for 23 per cent of the deaths, whereas this nearly doubled to 42% during the Omicron wave. Much of these hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated people can be attributed to lack of a booster shot or the substantially waned effectiveness that sets in by 4 months after a booster.
Moreover, a major misconception is that the vaccines are holding steady to protect against severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths. They are not. When a booster was given during the Delta wave, that fully restored protection against these outcomes, to the level of 95% effectiveness. But for Omicron, with a booster (or second booster) the protection was approximately 80 per cent, while still high, it represents a major, 4-fold (lack of effectiveness of 55 vs 20%) dropdown. Accordingly, the confidence that our vaccines, directed to the original strain from 2019, are highly protective from severe illness is exaggerated. No less are the clear signs that their durability of such protection reduced. All of this is tied to the marked evolution of the virus, and we yet lack any data on vaccine effectiveness versus the BA.2.12.1 variant, soon to be dominant here.
With the prospect for more noxious variants that lie ahead, it is unfathomable that we now surrender. No more funding from the government. The only new vaccine in the hopper is an Omicron booster, but since that is based on the BA.1 variant, it may not provide much protection against what we are seeing now (BA.2.12.1 has reduced cross-immunity) or where the virus will be come this summer when that vaccine may become available. We even face a shortage of vaccines in the months ahead.
Rather than giving up, it is time to double down on innovations that have high likelihood of anticipating the further evolution of the virus and facilitating the end of the pandemic. First on the list is the development of nasal vaccines that are variant-proof. A nasal spray that induces mucosal immunity would help to block transmission, for which we have minimal defense now from the hyper-transmissible Omicron family of variants. Three such nasal vaccines are in late-stage clinical trials, but unlike the shots, there has not been any Operation Warp Speed or governmental support to expedite their execution or success. Next, with so many candidate drugs that have promise, is to speed these clinical trials. Recall that Paxlovid as the most rapid small molecule (pill) program in history, less than two years from design of the molecule to the completion of definitive randomized trials showing high efficacy and its commercialization. Why hasnt such aggressive pursuit been applied to so many other antivirals, which include pills, inhaled nanobodies and ACE-2 decoys?
The concept of a pan--coronavirus or pan-sarbecovirus vaccine is alluring and has been pursued by academic labs throughout the world over the past two years, Tens of broad neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) have been discovered, which have high likelihood of protecting against any future variant. But there is nearly a void of developing and testing a vaccine based on these bnAbs. Such vaccines are clearly in our reach, but the lack of investment in a high priority and velocity initiative is holding us back. A combination of nasal or oral vaccines, more and better drugs, and a variant-proof coronavirus vaccine would likely catalyze a definitive pandemic exit.
The public perception that our vaccines are leaky is true, but its off-base to assign the fault to the vaccines, which have saved millions of lives around the world. It the viruss accelerated evolution that its sneaky and became more formidable over time that is at the root of our problem now. We can outsmart and finally get ahead of the virus if we dont submit to fatigue instead of rugged perseverance and to foolishness rather than intelligence.
Changes to the World Trade Organizations compulsory licensing regulations are coming for COVID-19 vaccines. Those changes are unlikely to help people in developing countries but could reduce innovation among biopharma companies and ultimately do more harm than good.
A draft of the changes proposed to Article 31 of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)agreements states that WTO member nations:
The proposed TRIPS waiver is for COVID-19 vaccines not just mRNA vaccines. As of March 16, 2022, nine vaccines have emergency use listings, according to the World Health Organization.
The developing world needs more COVID-19 vaccination and more doses, but the WTO is applying the wrong Band-Aid. This is not an intellectual property issue, Jrgen Schneider, co-chair of the intellectual property group of BIO Deutschland and VP, head of global IP and licensing at Qiagen, told BioSpace.
Illustrating that point:
Waiving certain compulsory licensing requirements under TRIPS wont affect willingness to be vaccinated and wont address the logistical hurdles of delivering vaccines or the technical challenges of manufacturing them.
Four entities are negotiating the waiver: the U.S., the European Union, South Africa and India. It seems theyre most or less settled on a suggestion, so next they would bring it to the WTO assembly for formal implementation, Schneider said.
The waiver, if approved, would provide march-in rights, but not the knowledge needed to develop and manufacture the molecules. India and South Africa the two most vocal countries have a pharmaceutical industry that specializes in generics, but mRNA vaccines are not simple generic molecules. The licensees would need to know how to express and manipulate RNA, Schneider said.
The production facilities to make mRNA vaccines also are high tech, too, he continued. Without the right infrastructure, you can waive all the patents you like, but still not produce safe and effective vaccines.
The logistics hurdles are significant, too. mRNA vaccines have hefty cooling requirements, Schneider pointed out, that limit distribution in developing regions. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine must be stored at -70C and is stable at 2-8C for five days, while the Moderna vaccine can be stored at 2-8C for 30 days. In some regions, those requirements pose problems.
Theres also a strong case to be made that the amendment isnt needed. The existing compulsory licensing provisions require that a government first try to obtain a voluntary license from the patent-holder on reasonable commercial terms. If that fails, then compulsory licensing can occur. For national emergencies or other dire situations, however, nations need not try to gain a voluntary license.
A patent is, basically, a contract between an inventor and societythat enables society to build upon the published invention to make even better things. There are certain checks and balances, but the TRIPS waiver simply nullifies the patents, Schneider said. There is no compensation to the patent holder, and thats the harshest thing that could be implemented.
Usually, compulsory licenses are granted so countries can meet their internal needs. The proposed amendment, however, allows exporting the vaccines, which could enable a compulsory license holder to undercut the innovator in much of the world, assuming it could make a safe and effective product.
The mRNA vaccines werent invented by big pharma, but by small companies, Schneider noted. Those companies rely on venture capital. If they were forced to give away their intellectual property and know-how, there is nothing left to attract funding or even shareholders. A patent waiver (as its currently proposed) would rip the heart out of those companies. The lesson for investors would be to avoid small companies.
Schneider is concerned that a waiver to the TRIPS agreement could set a precedent that would allow waivers for other indications. Its a slippery slopeand would certainly change the startup culture in developed countries.
As this is being decided, Pharma is doing what it always does with these types of things, Schneider said. Companies say they dont expect to make money in developed countries, but want to recoup their costs as far as possible. Therefore, theyll provide the vaccines at discounted costs. Whether theyll follow through, I dont know.
A lack of trust in the pharmaceutical industry is at the heart of the movement to amend TRIPS for COVID-19 vaccines, he said. People see that a lot of pharmaceutical companies are still making good money, and theres a feeling that drugs are being priced wrongly, especially in countries like the U.S., where certain people cannot afford certain medications.
I have a photo from Washington, D.C. that says Patents kill. It should say Patents save lives, Schneider said, because the ability to patent things spurs innovation. So, to reiterate, amending the TRIPS compulsory licensing amendment wont solve the issue. It will just harm our domestic industry and harm innovation.
A second line of defense the immune systems T cells may offer protection from COVID-19 even when vaccine-induced antibodies no longer can, according to new research out of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine.
The researchers discovered that a new, protein-based vaccine against the original version of the COVID-19 virus was able to teach mouse T cells how to recognize and kill cells infected with new, mutated versions of the virus. This T cell protection worked even when antibodies lost their ability to recognize and neutralize mutated SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Antibodies prevent COVID-19 infection, but if new variants escape these antibodies, T cells are there to provide a second line of protection, explains lead scientist Marulasiddappa Suresh, a professor of immunology and associate dean for research at the School of Veterinary Medicine.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on May 13, investigates the role of T cells, a specialized type of white blood cell, in defending against COVID-19 when antibodies fail.
When you receive a COVID-19 vaccine, your body learns to produce antibodies, proteins in the immune system that bind to and neutralize SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies circulate in the blood stream and protect you from illness by patrolling the nostrils, airways and lungs and wiping out the virus before it can cause infection or disease.
However, as SARS-CoV-2 mutates, these highly specific antibodies are less able to recognize new viral variants especially if the changes occur on the viruss spike protein, where the antibody binds. This was especially apparent during the recent wave of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant, which has a staggering 37 mutations on its spike protein, making it more able to evade antibodies.
The biggest problem right now is that none of our current COVID-19 vaccines give complete protection against infection from emerging variants, especially the omicron sublineages BA.1 and BA.2, Suresh says.
Thats where T cells can help. Killer T cells aid the immune system by hunting and eliminating virus factories infected cells. So, when antibodies cannot neutralize the virus prior to infection, T cells can clear it quickly, causing mild or no noticeable symptoms.
With this information in hand, the UWMadison research team, co-led by Suresh and professor of pathobiological sciences Jorge Osorio and assisted by scientist Brock Kingstad-Bakke and doctoral student Woojong Lee, explored how T cells and antibodies can work to prevent COVID-19 infection altogether.
The researchers developed an experimental protein-based vaccine containing the unmutated version of the spike protein from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. This vaccine was also designed to elicit a strong T cell response to the viral spike protein, allowing the lab to test the extent to which T cells can protect against COVID-19 infection in the presence and absence of virus neutralizing antibodies.
After injecting mice models with their vaccine, researchers then exposed them to two SARS-CoV-2 variants and tested their susceptibility to infection under different conditions.
While vaccine-stimulated antibodies were unable to neutralize the mutated SARS-CoV-2 variant, mice were still immune to COVID-19 caused by the mutated virus, due to action by T cells that were induced by the vaccine.
Antibodies prevent COVID-19 infection, but if new variants escape these antibodies, T cells are there to provide a second line of protection.
Unlike antibodies, T cells are able to detect unfamiliar strains of virus because the viral fragment that they recognize does not change considerably from one variant to the next.
This work has important implications for future T-cell-based vaccines that could provide broad protection against emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants. The experimental vaccine is protein-based and designed to evoke a strong T cell response, differentiating it from currently available mRNA vaccines.
Now, the Suresh lab is studying how exactly T cells defend against SARS-CoV-2 and whether commercially available COVID-19 vaccines may induce these same mechanisms of T cell immunity to protect against emerging variants when the virus dodges established antibodies.
I see the next generation of vaccines being able to provide immunity to current and future COVID-19 variants by stimulating both broadly-neutralizing antibodies and T cell immunity, Suresh says.
Maddie Arthur
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A Chinese Cabinet official said Monday that the country's stagnant economy is recovering as the country eases its coronavirus restrictions and as businesses in Shanghai, China's richest and most populous city, are allowed to resume operations.
Of the 9,000 biggest industrial enterprises in Shanghai that were forced to close starting in late March, about half have resumed work, according to Fu Linghui, director of statistics for the National Bureau of Statistics.
CHINA'S HARDLINE COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS TAKING BITE OUT OF ECONOMY, HURTING DEMAND
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a villager carrying baggage returns home after being quarantined due to local COVID-19 cases found in Lianqin Village of Beicai Town in Pudong New Area, Shanghai on Tuesday, April 26, 2022. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP / AP Newsroom)
The government is looking to reverse an economic slowdown without turning its back on the "zero-COVID" strategy that has shut down parts of several major cities and requires every person who becomes infected with the coronavirus to quarantine.
"We believe the operation of the economy is gradually improving in May as logistics is unblocked to ensure smooth access and support is increased for the real economy," Fu said at a news conference.
Communist Party leaders said following a meeting earlier this month that COVID-19 mitigation measures will take precedence over the economy.
Efforts to control the virus have shut down businesses or suspended access to industrial centers in several cities across the country.
VEGAS STRIP PAYS EMPLOYEES $5000 BONUS EACH FOR WORK DURING PANDEMIC
Police and security members in protective suits stand outside cordoned off food stores following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China March 29, 2022. (REUTERS/Aly Song / Reuters Photos)
Chinese leaders have committed to providing entrepreneurswith tax refunds, low-cost loans and free rent. Repeated shutdowns, however, have disrupted manufacturing, retail and exports.
Retail sales dipped more than 11% in April compared to that time last year after COVID-19 restrictions closed stores, restaurants and other consumer businesses in Chinese cities, according to official data shown Monday.
Manufacturing also saw a nearly 3% decline following factory closures. Factories that kept business open with employees living at their place of work had to cut output because of the disruption in supplies of components, the data revealed.
CHINA REMAINS AN OUTLIER IN A WORLD OF SURGING INFLATION
A worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant in a neighborhood in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong Province. (Chinatopix via AP)
Fu said the Chinese government has not yet gathered data for May, but that the economy appears to be improving based on "physical quantity indicators."
"I believe the second quarter will maintain good growth momentum," he said.
The government announced that Shanghai will gradually reopen shopping malls, vegetable markets, hair salons and other businesses beginning Monday.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A little over two years ago I received a text from my partner, a programmer at Rockstar North. A relative of someone in the office cafeteria had tested positive, and at a moment's notice, the hundreds-strong studio immediately sent its entire workforce home for the foreseeable future. Two years later, and GTA6 is still being developed (in part) in our spare room.
But this was far from an isolated incident. Covid hit everywhere, regardless of industry or geographyand across the games industry, from tiny indies to multi-studio powerhouses, from the US to Japan and everywhere in between, developers have had to very suddenly trade office floors for bedrooms.
"Before the pandemic we were working in the more traditional model with on-site being the standard approach for the majority of the team," said Tymon Smektaa, lead game designer at Dying Light 2 developer Techland. "Of course, it was possible to work remotely, to have an office space at homewe were always known for our very flexible, pro-employee approach to work organisationbut it just wasnt common, I believe mostly due to cultural, habitual reasons. Covid changed all of this for us and for the rest of the world."
Techland, like many studios, was forced to pretty quickly shift from on-site to remote work, and managed to make the transition in a surprisingly brisk 2-3 days. Working on games remotely isn't as simple as pulling up a laptop and signing into your work emailfor an in-house development studio with its own internal networks, hardware, and production processes, getting staff set up at home is no small feat.
"It just wasnt common, I believe mostly due to cultural, habitual reasons. Covid changed all of this for us and for the rest of the world."
As we saw throughout 2020 and 2021, it was an awkward transition. In April last year, 44% of developers said Covid had directly led to game delays, as studios scrambled to figure out how to make games remotely. But some fared better than others, and back in early 2020 Bungie even put together a pretty comprehensive guide on how studios should prepare for the oncoming pandemic.
Smektaa doesn't say whether Techland took pointers from the Destiny maker, but does reckon the ease of transition was a "great achievement" on behalf of the studio's IT and admin departments, going so far as to say that Dying Light 2 wouldn't have been released without their hard work.
"We moved all our people to [home offices], supported them with software, hardware, furniture and amenities. A very limited number of people stayed in the office to make sure everything ran smoothly (servers, etc.)".
Of course, this was all two years ago. We've been living under a global pandemic for a long time, long enough for people to start new careers and join new teams without ever having stepped foot in their officesincluding Apex Legends senior game designer Samantha Kalman.
"I joined the team after full remote work had begun, so I've basically worked remotely the entire time on working on Apex," Kalman told me in an interview ahead of the game's latest season. "For me, it's something that I've gotten used to, because it's sort of all I've known at this team. But I think we might have a significant majority, or a significant number of folks at the studio that are in the same position that I'm in."
Kalman spoke to a sentiment shared across everyone I spoke to, which is that remote work can be a bit of a shock to anyone who isn't used to it. It's not just about solving the technical issues that come with pivoting sharply to remote workmaintaining developers' mental wellbeing is a constant concern.
"When your work is just in the next room, it's a little harder to unplug."
Granted, this is only new if your studio wasn't already working remotelyhell, near enough the entire indie scene has been comfortable working from bedrooms and coffee shops for as long as the medium has existed. But at a certain scale an office becomes an expectation. So, two years after Fraser chatted to him about the studio's fully-remote model, I caught up with Nightdive business development director Larry Kuperman for a refresher on how fully remote studios manage to keep themselves sane.
"The challenge is to bring in an alternative social mechanism, a way of socialising, particularly with your co-workers," Kuperman explained, noting that he'll frequently just ask staff how they're doing, what they're up to, things outside of work to maintain a more social dynamic.
"The companionship and camaraderie among the Nightdive staff and the dev team really helped me get through [the pandemic]. So I think we were better prepared than most companies."
Being remote since its conception, Nightdive suddenly found itself in a position of expertise. Studios (Kuperman doesn't name any in particular) that had previously held reservations around working with Nightdive around its lack of a central office were now asking for tips and best practices on remote work.
Kuperman does note that, on occasion, the team will hire someone who doesn't ever gel with a remote working environment. But that's a small price to pay for the ability to hire developers from across the world, from the US to Europe to New Zealand and plenty in betweenand the decision to ditch offices entirely has more benefits than just geographical.
"The other thing that people don't think about is what the social changes can be. You know, we were a great place for people that are trans, people that are maybe mobility challenged. People that have PTSD, that for one reason or another are homebound, immunocompromised, I mean, I could go down the whole list."
While companies (even outside gamedev) love to boast about the benefits of in-person work, it's often understated how many people aren't comfortable with being ferried into an office every day. For disabled, neurodivergent, queer or otherwise marginalised people, the assumed productivity benefits of office work simply aren't true, and some of their best work gets done when in an environment they feel safe and comfortable in.
"What restroom do you choose to use? Use the one in your own house, please. But just do me one favour and be sure to wash your hands afterwards."
Kuperman, of course, is nothing but glowing about the potential remote working could have on the games industry going forwards. But as we approach what could controversially be described as the end of covid, we're already seeing some studios gunning to return to in-office conditions. Riot, for instance, stirred up dissent among its own staff by announcing it would drop vaccine and masking requirements on returning to offices this year.
When asked for comment, Riot comms Joe Hixson explained only that the studio will continue to monitor case rates and follow the recommendations of relevant health and workplace officials (it's worth noting that the vaccine and mask drop was perfectly compliant with LA government regulations), though Riot still expects staff to be in the office at least three days a week.
"We never want to go back. In a lot of ways it's changed things for the better."
If we've learned anything from the last two years, however, it's that games don't need giant studios full of office workers to be successful. There have been high profile delays, sure, but Elden Ring still launched in solid form (performance issues aside), and live service games like Fortnite and Apex Legends still updated on a seasonal schedule.
Steve Ferreira, game director on Apex, echoed much of the sentiment I've heard across the industrythat valuable lessons about where and how we work have been learned, and there's no going back to the way things were.
"We now work remotely because a lot of our team is separated across the world, right," Fereirra told me. "There's just no way that we're ever going to have everybody together again. And now, as a result of doing this for so long and continuing to grow, continuing to operate in this way, we've also found ways that are better. We never want to go back regardless even if we were all in one location. In a lot of ways it's changed things for the better."
And yet, remote work isn't for everyone. There will always be developers who need the routine and stability of an office. Smektaa told me that Techland, like many studios I'm aware of, aims to adopt a hybrid model, allowing staff to choose whether they want to work from home or in the office. Bungie, meanwhile, recently announced a sweeping move to add fully-remote options for all current and future roles.
But Covid-19, as devastating as it's been over the past two years, has taught us that the games industry can do better. That games don't require some secret magic obtained through having 500 people in the same building, that developers shouldn't need to relocate to expensive hub cities to make the games we love.
CDC says US death toll from COVID-19 hits 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak ABC News
The Jersey Shore has recovered economically from the shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and is expecting a busy 2022 summer that was the message from the 14th annual Jersey Shorecast last week sponsored by the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism of the Stockton University School of Business.
The seminar, which was also streamed online, was held at the Stockton University AtlanticCity John F. Scarpa Academic Center.
LIGHT Faculty Director Jane Bokunewicz moderated a panel that included:
I think the summer of 2022 is going to be another robust and strong Shore season, Cooke said. It may not be as robust as last summer. I hope Im wrong, but there was so much pent-up savings and pent-up demand (last year). I wouldnt be surprised if we were close to what we were last summer.
At the start of the seminar, Bokunewicz presented some new data from visitnj.org thatshowed 2021 was a very good year economically for the Jersey Shore as visitors, spendingand the number of jobs in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Monmouth and Ocean countiesrose dramatically from 2020.
Visitors to those counties reached 45.2 million, spending hit $20.8 billionand 122.9 million workers were directly employed (a 22.9% increase).
But, while those numbers are positive trends, they are all below 2019 numbers, before thepandemic.
Nevertheless, each member of the panel was very optimistic for the positive trends tocontinue in 2022.
We are really bullish on this summer season, Ziereis said.
ROCKY HILL - Three Connecticut residents have been charged with stealing more than $80,000 in COVID-related unemployment assistance, according to the Chief States Attorneys Office.
Otis D. Paramore, 43, and Christina DeBiase, 39, of Branford were arrested May 10, as was Gloria DeBiase, 75, of Stratford. They were charged with first-degree larceny and unemployment fraud. Paramore and Christina DeBiase also were charged with identity theft, a news release from the office says.
The offices Statewide Prosecution Bureau began investigating the three after the state Department of Labor complained about what appeared to be a theft, the release says.
According to arrest warrant affidavits, Paramore and Christina DeBiase fraudulently collected approximately $68,541 in unemployment benefits by filing false claims under their own names and the names of Paramores dead father and grandparents. Paramore and Christina DeBiase also are accused of helping Gloria DeBiase fill out false unemployment claims totaling $11,268, the warrants say.
In addition, Christina DeBiase defrauded the Connecticut Department of Labor out of a weekly dependent allowance totaling $600, according to the warrants.
These arrests are the result of significant collaborative efforts by our two agencies, said Kevin D. Lawlor, deputy chief states attorney of operations. By working together, both agencies are beginning to hold accountable those who allegedly took advantage of an unemployment benefit system that was overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Labor Commissioner Dant Bartolomeo said, The federal pandemic unemployment programs were critical for unemployed workers, but in labor agencies across the country, these programs also triggered a significant increase in criminal activity like identity theft and false claims. This partnership with law enforcement is key to ensuring those who tried to defraud the system are held accountable for their actions and funding is returned to the public coffers.
Paramore and Christina DeBiase were each charged with 11 counts of unemployment fraud; four counts of first-degree identity theft; five counts of third-degree identity theft and first-degree larceny, the news release said.
Gloria DeBiase was charged with unemployment fraud and first-degree larceny, the agency said.
Paramore was released on a promise to appear in Superior Court in New Britain May 24. Both Christina and Gloria DeBiase were released on promises to appear in the same court May 19.
In March 2020, in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The CARES Act created multiple temporary federal unemployment insurance programs that were administered by the Connecticut Department of Labor. Since March 2020, the labor agency has received more than 1.5 million applications.
