The waste water levels are now back where they were in early February.
The increases come as Massachusetts cases and hospitalizations have also been gradually rising and the CDC has designated seven Massachusetts counties, including Suffolk County, home of the states largest city, Boston, and Middlesex County, the most populous county, as having high levels of the virus.
The CDC recommends that, in areas with high virus levels, people wear masks in indoor public spaces. The Boston Public Health Commission has also recommended masking in indoor public spaces. Several large school districts in Greater Boston, including Belmont, Cambridge, Lexington, and Somerville, also dashed out notices to families over the weekend and Monday, urging parents to, once again, consider masks for their children in classrooms. Some said they would be testing children more frequently, and others indicated they were weighing whether to bring back temporary mask requirements.
Experts have been concerned about the arrival of Omicron subvariants, including BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, reigniting the pandemic.
The Eastern Massachusetts waste water levels dropped precipitously from their Omicron peak, bottomed out in early March, then began rising again. The rise was interrupted by a dip last month, but the levels have now more than bounced back.
The waste water and other COVID-19 metrics, however, remain at much lower levels than the Omicron wave that crashed over the region during the winter.
Waste water from 43 communities, including Boston, converges at the MWRAs Deer Island plant on Boston Harbor for treatment before being piped miles into the ocean. The water is tested for traces of the deadly virus. The MWRA reports numbers for both the southern and northern regions of its system. The testing determines the number of SARS-CoV-2 RNA copies per milliliter of waste water.
In the northern MWRA region, the seven-day average was 797 RNA copies/mL as of Monday. Thats up from a low of 101 on March 9. The levels peaked at 8,644 on Jan. 5.
In the southern region, the seven-day average was 810 RNA copies/mL on Monday, up from a low of 92 copies/mL on March 1. But its a far cry from the high of 11,446 RNA copies/mL reached on Jan. 3.
With indications that the virus is on the rise again, some people are sticking to precautions such as masking and avoiding indoor dining, others are abandoning them, and others are taking a middle-ground approach.
Kay Lazar of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Martin Finucane can be reached at martin.finucane@globe.com. Christina Prignano can be reached at christina.prignano@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @cprignano.
The first time I autopsied someone who may have died from COVID-19 was nerve-wracking. This was back at the start of the pandemic, in February 2020, when I was working as a forensic pathologist in the Oakland, California coroners office.
The man, a middle-aged executive, had spent a week on a business trip in China and returned with a fever and cough. Hed gone to an urgent care center and was prescribed antibiotics, but he collapsed at home a few days later and died in the emergency department of the local hospital.
Id been paying close and worried attention to the reports coming out of Wuhan of a novel coronavirus. I hadnt been told where in China this executive had been, but I did know that a cough and fever were the exact symptoms epidemiologists had identified for the new condition.
If this man was going to undergo an autopsy, his body could expose my team and potentially many others to a disease that was, as our overseas medical-worker colleagues were reporting, untreatable, highly contagious, and deadly.
I called the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta for support. Two epidemiologists flew in to assist me with the autopsy.
I made my discovery as soon as I opened the chest cavity and put my scalpel into an artery of the lungs: a granular, red, spiral glob of coagulated blood that popped right out when I cut across it. It was a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that had formed in the large vessels of his legs, traveled to his heart, and then lodged in the lungs.
The clot blocked blood flow through the lungs, preventing oxygen from reaching the rest of the body. Minutes later, the man was dead.
If the executive had died from COVID-19, Id have expected to see the effects of pneumonia, a viral infection. The lungs wouldve been firm and rough to the touch but they werent. So based on what we all knew at the time, we ruled out COVID-19 as a cause of death and speculated that the man had developed the blood clot after sitting immobile for hours on a transpacific flight.
The next week, PCR tests from the CDC confirmed this was not a death from COVID-19.
Or was it? After learning more about this virus over the last two years and conducting several autopsies on people who died of blood clots soon after recovering from COVID-19 now Im not so sure.
We know today that COVID-19 can cause sudden death because the virus has a predilection to attack endothelial cells, which pave the blood vessel highways to all our organs. In the same way that rough roads can result in traffic backups and crashes, damaged endothelial cells can lead to blood clots, which can cause strokes and heart attacks.
The bodys first responders, white blood cells, attack the infected endothelial cells, causing more problems: inflamed organs and internal scarring.
Were now learning that the coronavirus targets endothelial cells in every part of the body, causing long-term damage that pathologists like me can see as scars and blood clots in the organs of patients who have died after having recovered from COVID-19. Were learning, then, that COVID-19 is a multisystem illness in both the acute and long-term phases.
In long COVID, which can affect up to 30 percent of those infected, scientists can see the damaging effects of the virus on organs that rely on healthy blood flow.
Brain fog? Pathologists put brain tissue under the microscope and see dead nerve cells and inflammatory cells where they shouldnt be, surrounding blood vessels.
Heart palpitations and fainting spells? There could be pale white scars in the red heart muscle, which interrupt signal delivery in its electrical system.
Shortness of breath and fatigue? Pink and white patches clog up parts of the lung tissue that should be empty spaces ready to fill with air.
Persistent loss of smell?Recent studies have shown that in some people the nerve damage associated with this long COVID symptom is severe and irreversible.
COVID-19 can cause permanent damage that affected individuals might carry with them for the rest of their lives. We may find, in the near future, that its also shortening their life spans.
I work in New Zealand now. Up until a few weeks ago, there were few deaths from the novel coronavirus, thanks to a successful public health strategy that involved closed borders and coordinated measures like lockdowns, managed isolation, testing, and contact tracing.
When the delta variant of COVID-19 finally infiltrated the community in late 2021, New Zealand was already highly vaccinated, and public masking and vaccine passport mandates were in place. The per capita death rate has remained extremely low compared to other countries, despite spikes in infections and hospitalizations with the ongoing omicron wave.
So what am I seeing now when I look inside the body of someone who has died with or from COVID-19? The same things we saw at the start of the pandemic in the United States: heart attacks with cardiac rupture and blood clots in the lungs (pulmonary emboli).
Some of my patients are even testing negative for COVID-19 at the time of autopsy, yet can be confirmed as having had the disease because family members report they were exposed, and they had shown positive rapid tests a week before death.
Thats why I wonder if I had actually missed a COVID-related death in that very first case I investigated, my Bay Area executive from February 2020. What if he had been exposed to COVID-19 while in China but had recovered, thus testing negative weeks later, when his body came to my morgue for autopsy? What if he had recovered from COVID-19, but the endothelial cell damage caused by the virus eventually caused a blood clot to lodge in his lungs?
Excess death data is already showing us that overall mortality has been increasing in countries with rampant spread of COVID-19. There is also data emerging that COVID-19 causescognitive decline, and that the harm the disease does to the cardiovascular system increases risk ofsudden death from strokes and heart attacks within a year of a patients infection.
What does this mean to us as individuals at a time when politicians are declaring the pandemic over and transglobal corporations are cheering the lifting of mask and vaccine mandates?
I can tell you what Im doing: everything I can to limit repeated exposure to this virus. I am vaccinated and double boosted, and I have vaccinated my children. Im masking up. I only use N95 masks, and I havent eaten indoors with strangers in months. I try to avoid travel as much as possible, and limit my interactions to a small bubble of family and friends. I vote for politicians who have shown they will fund healthcare and support the disabled. I can only control what I do.
And heres what I know as a doctor who does autopsies: A virus that causes permanent organ damage is not worth messing with.
The state of Connecticut released new data showing weekly COVID-19 cases at each school in the state.
According to the data, some schools are even seeing more than a dozen new COVID-19 cases per week. Others are seeing close to none.
The following data shows new cases reported between Thursday and Wednesday.
You can search for schools in your town by utilizing the chart below.
The state's rolling positivity rate continues to go up and is now approaching 14%. In the past week, there have been 84 more COVID-19 hospitalizations, bringing the total to 323.
The CDC has now listed six of Connecticuts eight counties as being in the high level for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Hartford, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, Tolland and Windham counties are in the high category. Only Fairfield and New London counties are listed in the medium category.Get more information here.
A lot of individuals are doing home tests and you know that data isn't reported, said Dr. David Banach, UConn Health hospital epidemiologist.
Banach said its hard to know exactly whats behind the rise, though factors might include really easy-to-spread Omicron subvariants, folks moving away from masking and immunity from vaccination and prior infection waning over time.
I think when we look at the data that's presented in terms of number of positive tests, a number of hospitalized individuals who test positive, coupled with the wastewater testing, I think the trend is showing that there is a relatively high level of virus circulating in the community, seems to be increasing over the recent weeks, Banach previously said.
For more information about COVID-19 in Connecticut public and private schools, click here.
House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, left, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, talk prior to a panel discussion on the 2022 legislative session in Salt Lake City on March 8. Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 late Thursday, his office confirmed. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson tested positive for COVID-19 late Thursday, his office confirmed.
Wilson "began experiencing mild cold-like symptoms last night and tested positive. He's resting at home and doing well," a spokeswoman for Wilson's office told KSL.com Friday.
When asked whether he had been exposed to it by Gov. Spencer Cox who announced he tested positive for the coronavirus Thursday morning the spokeswoman said it's unknown when or where Wilson got exposed.
Cox on Thursday said he was notifying people he was in close contact with, as he had various public appearances on Tuesday and Wednesday. But his office said "very few people" at those events would be considered exposed to the virus, as they would have needed to be within 6 feet of him for 15 minutes or longer, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
Wilson's office said it's his first time testing positive for the disease during the pandemic.
The two cases in Utah leaders come as the state continues to experience a rise in COVID-19. The Utah Department of Health on Thursday announced 3,385 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the past seven days an average of 484 cases each day. One additional death was also reported. The count does not include Utahns using home tests.
Hospitalizations, however, remain low as just 77 patients in Utah hospitals had COVID-19 as of Thursday.
After Cox announced he tested positive, Utah Department of Health officials said it's "a good reminder that the disease is still circulating in our communities."
"Most people who are infected with COVID-19 have mild symptoms, especially if they are up-to-date with their COVID-19 vaccinations. The vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective, and provide protection against serious disease," state health officials said.
A lifelong Utahn, Ashley Imlay covers state politics and breaking news for KSL.com.
31,693 The number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Georgia since the onset of the pandemic, according to the state Department of Public Health.
2 million Georgia has confirmed 1,962,028 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. This is only known COVID-19 infections, so it does not include undiagnosed cases or those confirmed with at-home tests.
Beijings Covid wave unlikely to become mass outbreak South China Morning Post
KANSAS CITY, Mo. One registered nurse who worked through the entire pandemic is looking back on the past two years as National Nurses Week comes to a close.
Heather Vasquez says the fight against COVID-19 continues, with cases still popping up in Kansas City and beyond.
According to the Mid America Regional Council Database, since the start of May, the daily number of new Covid-related hospitalizations has been less than 60 a day and the average number of daily cases sits at 163 as of Friday.
I think you just, you grieve as a nurse. Nurses grieve and then you put your mask back on and head into the next room because you have to be there, Vasquez said.
She works in the emergency department at Saint Luke's Health System and says while current numbers are optimistic, the pandemic has taught her and the team to prepare for the unexpected.
Right now, Saint Lukes doctors are seeing an increase in patients who have developed complications from the virus.
Doctors are seeing people coming in who had COVID-19 and are still experiencing shortness of breath and people who experienced strokes and other heart-related complications after a virus diagnosis. In addition, the majority of those patients are between 30 to 40 years old.
We know that it's not, it's not done, but it's it is definitely down. We also see a lot of patients with like long haul symptoms, ongoing heart complications, breathing complications, things like that, Vasquez explained.
Its also no secret that COVID-19 has changed the health care industry and many front line workers are burnt out.
Vasquez says she understands why many of her colleagues left.
You had a new pandemic that maybe most of us would only worry about, like seeing in movies, and all of a sudden it's coming through your front doors and we weren't sure exactly what to do at first. The rules were changing constantly, recalled Vasquez.
She says that constant change continues to motivate her to show up to work, but that doesnt come without sacrifices.
At one point she was balancing work, school and being a mom.
The stress of coming home from work of having a stressful shift and seeing the things you saw during your shift at that time, coming home, educating my son, and then trying to stressfully you know, get through school and all that was too much stress, Vasquez said. So I had to take a step back from school for now.
Its unclear when she will be able to go back to school, so Vasquez says her focus is caring for her patients and her Saint Lukes family.
We have to be prepared to help people that need it in the ER we're the ones that save the day, so we're coming in to save the day, Vasquez said.
At last check, Saint Lukes Health System had 17 COVID-19 patients across their hospitals. For reference that is up from their lowest point at five patients system-wide in late April.
We want to hear from you on what resources Kansas City families might benefit from to help us all through the pandemic. If you have five minutes, feel free to fill out this survey to help guide our coverage: KSHB COVID Survey.
CNN
With waning immunity and a coronavirus that seems to become more infectious with each new variant, the Biden administration predicts that up to 100 million more people could get Covid-19 in the fall and winter. That estimate makes it crucial that as many people as possible get booster shots of Covid-19 vaccine, experts say. And if youre eligible, its a good time to get a second booster.
Less than half of eligible Americans only about a third of the total US population have gotten a first booster dose, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only about 10 million people have received a second booster, which is authorized for people 50 and older, along with those who are 12 and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.
The CDC encourages people to be up-to-date on Covid-19 vaccinations which includes getting boosters at the appropriate time but still defines a person to be fully vaccinated if theyve received at least their initial vaccination series.
But this week, a senior Biden administration official was more direct: All adults need a third shot.
Vaccination is the best way for individuals to protect themselves against Covid-19, and protection is most effective with at least three shots, the official said.
Getting more Americans boosted against Covid-19 could make a big difference as far as case numbers go, according to Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration. He told the American Medical Association on Monday that he is a little concerned about where the Covid-19 pandemic is heading.
Its really important that we try to get the half or a little bit more than a half of Americans who have only received two doses to get that third dose, Marks said. That may make a difference moving forward here, and it may particularly make a difference now that were coming into yet another wave of Covid-19.
The current rising Covid cases are nothing like what the US saw with the initial Omicron surge, but as of Monday, the US is averaging 71,577 new cases a day, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Case rates are currently highest in the Northeast region of the US, where booster uptake is best. Nearly half of Vermonts population is fully vaccinated and boosted, along with more than 40% of the population in Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, according to CDC data.
But cases are also starting to tick up in the South, where less than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated and boosted. In North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi, less than 1 in 5 people have received their booster shot.
Everyone in the US who is 12 and older is eligible for a booster dose. Only the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is available as a booster for adolescents 12 to 17.
Adults who were initially vaccinated with the mRNA vaccine are eligible for a booster dose five months after the initial series. Those vaccinated with Johnson & Johnson are eligible for a booster dose two months after their first shot.
CDC data shows that booster uptake is higher in older age groups in the US, consistent with broader vaccination trends. But nearly 2 out of 5 seniors age 65 and older and more than 3 out of 5 adults overall do not have either of their booster shots.
People who get three doses of an mRNA vaccine have a relatively low rate of Covid-related urgent care visits and hospitalizations compared with those who got only two doses, studies have shown. Even with the more infectious Omicron variant, a booster seems to protect against more severe disease.
Scientists are still trying to determine whether younger age groups would benefit from an additional vaccine dose. Pfizer and BioNTech have requested emergency use authorization for the 5-to-11 age range.
That will hopefully be acted on in the not-too-distant future, Marks said.
A fourth dose of Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTechs mRNA Covid-19 vaccine which is already authorized for people 50 and older in the United States seems safe and provides a substantial boost to immunity at similar or even better levels than a third dose, according to a study published Monday.
The researchers gave study participants whose median age was 70.1 years a half dose of the Moderna vaccine or a full dose of the Pfizer vaccine in a random selection in January, about seven months after they received their first booster. The second booster didnt seem to have any major side effects. The biggest complaints were arm pain and fatigue.
The booster also generated an immune response at day 14 that was higher than that at day 28 after the third dose of the Pfizer or Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
When the researchers compared the mRNA vaccines, Modernas fourth dose seemed to do slightly better than Pfizers, but its unclear why. Both generated what scientists considered a significant fold change in protective antibodies. T-cell responses were also boosted after the fourth dose.
Antibodies are a first line of immune protection that can stop a virus from infecting cells. T-cells come in later and destroy infected cells. T-cells cant protect against mild infections, but they can keep infections from progressing to severe disease.
Fourth-dose Covid-19 mRNA booster vaccines are well tolerated and boost cellular and humoral immunity, the study says. Peak responses after the fourth dose were similar to, and possibly better than, peak responses after the third dose.
The study also showed that some people who had higher levels of antibodies before the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine had only limited boosting. Those with a history of Covid-19 infection had a similar limited response. The authors say this suggests that there may be a ceiling or maximum response that can come with a fourth vaccine dose.
The study didnt look specifically at neutralization of the Omicron variant.
Two earlier studies out of Israel showed that hospitalization and death rates from Covid-19 could be reduced with a fourth vaccine dose given at least four months after the third dose. The reduction in hospitalizations and death persisted over time with this fourth shot.
Marks hopes that the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines which he predicts will come in the next year or two will be even better at protecting people against the whole variety of Covid variants and provide a more robust immune response.
The FDAs vaccine advisory committee will meet in late June to review the data on vaccines, including monovalent (which would target a single variant) and bivalent vaccines (which could target the original strain of the virus plus another).
Its a little bit of a challenge here because we dont know how much further the virus will evolve over the next few months, Marks said. But we have no choice, because if we want to produce the hundreds of millions of doses that need to be available for a booster campaign, we have to start in the early July timeframe or even sooner to get those kinds of numbers.
The FDA committee may also discuss whether an additional booster should be recommended in the fall for the general population or for target groups, Marks said.
Some doctors have said theyve heard from patients who want to wait to get a booster to get better coverage for winter. Marks said that waiting to get a booster is a bad idea, especially if those people havent had Covid-19 recently.
Why? Because its going to be four or five, six months before we get to when you get your next booster, he said. Youre talking about having several months there at risk.
Even with a fall and winter surge predicted, cases are on the increase now, and those who have had only two mRNA shots are vulnerable.
Rather than just being casual about it, Marks said. I would urge them to try to get that third dose to ramp up the immunity just because we do have plenty of circulating Covid-19.
In advance of the second Global COVID-19 Summit, co-hosted by the United States, Belize, Germany, Indonesia, and Senegal, the following statement is attributable to Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, medical director at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and professor of public health and internal medicine at University of Michigan:
"As the world surpasses 15 million deaths associated with COVID-19, the gathering of governments, companies, and philanthropies at the second Global COVID-19 Summit is urgently needed.
"However, it is both shameful and imprudent that the United States is coming to this summit with no additional funds committed to support the global COVID-19 vaccine roll out.
"New and emerging variants imperil progress against the pandemic. Thousands of people still die each day. COVID-19 continues to roil health systems and societies. It is thus shortsighted and a failure of leadership for the United States, with all its economic and technological might, to not bring new commitments to the global fight against COVID-19.
*"To protect people in the United States and around the world, Congress must immediately pass a robust global pandemic response package that prioritizes global vaccine distribution and equity. It is essential that U.S. global COVID-19 aid not be tied to unrelated issues, particularly not to draconian Title 42 border expulsions, which is an immigration control order masquerading as pandemic policy."*
"In the United States, nearly 1 million confirmed COVID-19 deaths are both an unfathomable tragedy and a stark reminder of the consequences of underinvestment in global health and pandemic responses. World leaders should ensure that everyone everywhere has access to high-quality COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and necessary supports such as oxygen.
"In light of the massive public spending on COVID-19 vaccine research and development, we also call on the United States government to push pharmaceutical corporations to waive intellectual property restrictions, share technological know-how, and help boost global vaccine production and distribution capacity.
"Largely due to the hoarding of vaccine supplies by high-income countries and the pharmaceutical companies' refusal to advance a 'people's vaccine,' the world will likely fall far short of the 70 percent global vaccination coverage goal embraced by the World Health Organization and the U.S. government. Physicians for Human Rights calls on governments and organizations attending the Global COVID-19 Summit to double down on their efforts to achieve this critical target, while also prioritizing vaccine distribution to health workers, marginalized groups, and others most at risk of severe health consequences from COVID-19.
"More than two years into the pandemic and more than a year after COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, world leaders have no excuse for the continued staggering inequities and stalled progress in global vaccination efforts."
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here.
Media Contact
Kevin Short
Media Strategy, Senior Manager media@phr.org1.917.679.0110
During a Zoom call with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, Todd Callender, a lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate, claimed the COVID-19 vaccine causes vaccine-induced AIDS.
Author: kcentv.com
Published: 7:53 AM CDT May 11, 2022
Updated: 7:53 AM CDT May 11, 2022
