TAIPEI, Taiwan Until recently, China and Taiwan were among the last places on earth to pursue a zero Covid policy of eliminating infections. For two years, they mostly succeeded in keeping the coronavirus out with tough border controls and rigorous contact tracing.
Then came the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Faced with surging coronavirus cases, the two governments are now taking vastly different approaches. In China, the authorities are doubling down. They have imposed stringent lockdowns, mass testing and centralized quarantines for confirmed cases and close contacts. The glittering financial capital of Shanghai has been in a strict and punishing lockdown for more than a month to contain a large outbreak.
In Taiwan, by contrast, the government is shifting from a strategy of elimination to one of mitigation. Despite soaring case counts, Taiwan is now allowing people with mild and asymptomatic infections to isolate at home instead of in hospitals. The government slashed the number of days in quarantine required of incoming travelers and people deemed close contacts.
We are now moving from zero Covid to the path of coexisting with the virus, Chen Shih-chung, Taiwans health minister, said at a news briefing on Tuesday, adding that he expected Covid to become more flulike in nature.
The governments shift in approach reflects an acceptance of growing evidence that Omicron, while highly transmissible, is less deadly. It is also a recognition that pandemic measures such as quarantine requirements for travelers were stifling economic activity and eroding the islands international competitiveness.
Even though their response has been a bit slow, they have responded to these voices and to scientific evidence, said Chunhuei Chi, director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University and a former policy adviser to Taiwans National Health Insurance Administration.
Under the new model, Taiwanese health officials say, they are shifting their focus from looking at total infections to reducing disasters. That means redirecting resources to focus on protecting the most vulnerable populations, like older adults and those with underlying conditions. The authorities are also putting more emphasis on vaccinations instead of quarantines and contact tracing.
Though cases have surged, officials have emphasized that more than 99.7 percent of the new infections so far have been mild or asymptomatic. On Monday, Taiwans health authorities reported 40,263 locally transmitted cases and 12 deaths, bringing the death toll since the start of the outbreak in April to 78. The authorities have warned that daily infections could surpass 100,000 this week.
The governments shift is partly out of necessity. Its Covid strategy allowed Taiwan for much of the past more than two years to be a rare haven, where international concerts and conferences could be held without fear of the virus. Now, as the rest of the world has dropped border controls and restarted business, that distinction has largely evaporated, and Taiwan risks losing out on tourism and investment by continuing to stay closed.
Political considerations are also at play. Taiwan has used its success with Covid to burnish its image as a beacon of democracy, in contrast to the authoritarian Communist Party of China, which claims the island as its territory.
Unlike China, Taiwans leaders say, Taiwan can balance the needs of public health with the rights of the individual and the healthy functioning of society. At the other extreme is the crisis in Shanghai, where officials imposed a poorly planned lockdown that sometimes arbitrarily confined residents to mass isolation facilities, separated children from their parents and led to food shortages.
Even in Beijing, which has so far avoided a citywide lockdown, the authorities have sealed off many apartment complexes and neighborhoods, confining residents to their homes, when only a few cases have been found. On Monday, the city announced that schools, which had closed on April 29, one day earlier than a scheduled weeklong break for the May Day holiday, would remain closed until further notice and classes would be online.
Leo Du, 38, who works in venture capital in Beijing, said the inconvenience imposed by the measures was intolerable.
How could it be that two years into the pandemic, he wondered, China was still hoarding toilet paper and maintaining armies of workers in head-to-toe protective suits while the rest of the world was seemingly moving on?
It makes me very sad and pissed about where I am, Mr. Du said, seeing people elsewhere living a normal life.
The toll of the lockdowns across China has prompted an unusual outpouring of criticism at home of the partys zero-Covid policy. But Chinese censors have gone into overdrive to scrub dissent, arguing that opening up would only invite untold deaths and chaos.
Beijing has pushed a triumphant political narrative about its success with Covid, claiming that it proved the countrys model of centralized power saved more lives than that of liberal democracies. At a news conference last month, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for Chinas Taiwan Affairs Office, commented on Taiwans recent move away from a zero-Covid policy, saying you can calculate how many people will lose their lives.
Taiwan wants to show that it does not suffer from the ideological rigidity that has come to define the Communist Party under Xi Jinping. We will not lock down the country and cities as cruelly as China, said Su Tseng-chang, Taiwans premier, during a visit to Taiwans Centers for Disease Control this month.
Its a message that resonates with many citizens. Bill Chu, 45, an engineer at an information technology company in Taipei who was waiting at a hospital for a P.C.R. test on Wednesday, said that seeing reports of the harsh quarantine conditions and food shortages in Shanghai had reinforced his belief that Taiwan was moving in the right direction.
Every country is different, and their approaches to Covid are different, said Mr. Chu. I prefer the more people-centered and flexible one.
Mr. Su has said that Taiwans opening would be gradual. Even so, the government may be moving too quickly for some.
It appears to have been caught off guard by the surge in cases, with long lines forming at pharmacies and hospitals for P.C.R. and rapid antigen tests. The shift could also be risky for Taiwans older adults, with vaccination rates in that age group lower than that in Singapore and South Korea, countries that have eased restrictions without a significant surge in the death rate from infections.
Officials in Taiwan say 69 percent of people age 65 and older had received three shots, up slightly from the month before, but still low relative to the broader population. More than half of the 78 deaths reported in the recent outbreak have been among older adults who were not fully vaccinated. The vaccination of children between the ages of 6 and 11, meanwhile, is being rolled out only this month. More than 2,000 schools have suspended in-person teaching.
Another challenge for Taiwan is convincing the public that this change is the right move. In Taipei, even though the city has avoided shutting down businesses, people are staying away. Restaurants, bars and gyms that were once packed are now noticeably quieter. In a community that has largely avoided the coronavirus, fear of outbreaks is not uncommon, and it may take time for residents to accept new norms.
Chen Yan-sheng, 37, a human resources manager who lives in New Taipei City, near Taipei, said that when he got Covid last month, he immediately felt afraid and ashamed, because he didnt know anyone else who had it. Since then, though, six other friends tested positive too, he said, and they all seemed to be doing OK.
He used to be wary of the islands push to ease restrictions, but has since changed his mind.
I think living with the virus is inevitable, Mr. Chen said. Its only a matter of time before we all get it.
Beginning the afternoon of Sunday, May 8, COVID-19 PCR drive-thru testing will be available to the community on the Bartlett campus across from the Emergency Department entrance. General hours of operation will be seven days a week from 8:15 a.m. 5:45 p.m.
Individuals who need a COVID-19 PCR test must register for an appointment. The registration process remains the same individuals are encouraged to self-register online or call the testing hotline if they need assistance. Calls to the testing hotline will be returned the same day when received between 8:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
Drive-thru testing will be conducted on the Bartlett campus (3260 Hospital Drive) across from the Emergency Department (ED) entrance. Individuals arriving for an appointment should stay to the right side of the roadway, pass the patient registration entrance, and proceed towards the ED entrance on the backside of campus (map and testing site photos). Test collection will occur from the vehicle; individuals do not need to enter the hospital. Please be advised that road construction is currently happening on campus and individuals are asked to drive slowly and follow road signage.
As a reminder:
For more information, please contact the City Managers Office at (907) 586-5240.
Mike Stucka USA TODAY NETWORK| Newport Daily News
New coronavirus cases leaped in Rhode Island in the week ending Sunday, rising 26.2% as 4,268 cases were reported. The previous week had 3,383 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Rhode Island ranked second 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 33.2% from the week before, with 501,037 cases reported. With 0.32% of the country's population, Rhode Island had 0.85% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 43 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Newport County reported 296 cases and one death in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 192 cases and two deaths. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 20,876 cases and 93 deaths.
Within Rhode Island, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Newport County with 361 cases per 100,000 per week; Washington County with 340; and Bristol County with 326. 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 Providence County, with 1,922 cases; Kent County, with 513 cases; and Washington County, with 427. Weekly case counts rose in five counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week's pace were in Providence, Kent and Newport counties.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Rhode Island ranked 1st among states in share of people receiving at least one shot, with 98.6% 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, Rhode Island reported administering another 11,586 vaccine doses, including 2,626 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 12,829 vaccine doses, including 2,226 first doses. In all, Rhode Island reported it has administered 2,222,957 total doses.
In Rhode Island, four people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, eight people were reported dead.
A total of 375,897 people in Rhode Island have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 3,544 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 81,863,725 people have tested positive and 997,526 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, May 8.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
Hospitals in 36 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 32 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 35 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.
Video: Boston doctor explains why conditions could be ripe for COVID-19 surge later this year
Updated: 6:08 PM EDT May 9, 2022
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ANNOUNCER: YOU'RE WATCHING WCVB NEWSCENTER 5T A 5:30. ERIA: A NEW REPORT TODAY WARNS, THE U.S. COULD FACE 100 MILLION NEW COVID INFECTIONS THIS FALL AND WINTER. HERE TO SWANER YOUR QUESTIONS IS DR. SANDRA NELSON, AN ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR WITHIN THE DIVISION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL. BEN: WE'VE HEARD MANY TIMES, THE ONLY THING PREDICTABLE AUTBO THIS VIRUS IS THAT IT'S UNPREDICTABLE. SO HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU HAVE IN THIS NEW FEDALER FORECAST? >> THERARE E SEVERAL MODELS THAT ARE PREDICTING THAT WE MAY SEE A SURGE INHE T FALL OR WINTER. THE MAGNITUDE OR THE SEVERITY OF THAT SURGE IS REALLY WHAT WE DOTN' UNDERSTAND. WHAT I THINK THE MODELS ARE TELLING US THE CONDITISON ARE REALLY RIPE FOR A LATE FALL EARLY WINTER SURGE. WE'LL BE SEEING LOSS OF PROTECTION. YOU STILL HAVE HIGHLY TRANSMISSIBLE VARIANTS THAT ARE CIRCULATING. WE RELAXED OUR MITIGATION SOMEWHAT. ALL OF THOSE THINGS FAVOR A FALL WINTER SURGE. ERIKA: THE ONLY STRAINS CIRCULATING RIGHT NOW ARE OFF-SHOOTS OF THE OMICRON VARIANT. DOES THIS FORECAST SUGGEST THAT WE'LL SEE A BRAND NEW VARIANT THIS FL?AL >> I THINK AS YOU ALRDYEA MENTIONED ANYTHING IS REAYLL POSSIBLE. MOST OF THE MODELS ARE PREDICTING THAT WE ARE STILL GOING TO BE SEEGIN VARIANTS OR SOME VARIANTS WITHIN THE OMIONCR FAMILY. NEW VARIANTS DO OCCUR AT ANY TIME AND THEY BECOME PREDOMINANT IF THEY BECOME MORE TRANSMISSIBLE. ALL OF THESE ARE POSSIBLE. IT'S NOT WITHOUT THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY THAT WE'LL SEE A DIFFERENT VARIANT IN THE FUTURE. BEN: LET'S TALK ABOUT IMMUNITY. RIGHT NOW, MANY OF US HAVE BEEN VACCINATED OR INFECTED, OR BO.TH SO DO YOU THKIN WE MAY HAVE GENERATED ENOUGH ANTIBODIES TO AT LEAST HAVE SOME PROTECONTI THROUGH THE FALL, AND MAYBE EVEN THE WINTER T?OO >> WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE A HIGH LEVEL OF ANTIBODY PROTECTION. WHAT WE'VE SEEN IS TWO FACTORS THATRE A AT PLAY THAT I THINK WE STILL EDNE TO BE CAME. ANTIBODY LEVELS DO WANE. THAT DO LEAD TO LOSS OF PROTECTION AGAINST INFECTION WHILE STILL PROTECTION AGASTIN THE SEVERE MANIFESTATION OF THE DISEASE. OTHER THING WE'RE WATCHING IS THE EXPERIENCE OUTF O SOUTH AFRICA. WHICH HAD AN EARLY OMICRON WAY BACK IN THE LATE FALL EARLY WINTER WITH ONE OFHE T SUBVARIANTS OF OMICRON, BA1, THEY ARE NOW SEEING A SECOND OMICRON WAVE WITH A DIFFERENT VARIANT. WHAT WE DON'T KNOW WELL IS HOW WELL INFECTION IN OUR EXISTING ANTIBODIES MAY PROTECTS U AGAINST FUTURE VARIANTS OF OMIC
Video: Boston doctor explains why conditions could be ripe for COVID-19 surge later this year
Updated: 6:08 PM EDT May 9, 2022
The Biden administration warns that the U.S. could face 100 million new COVID-19 infections this fall and winter.
The Biden administration warns that the U.S. could face 100 million new COVID-19 infections this fall and winter.
In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers analyzed the relationship between suspected symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and test positivity in children.
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected public health and economics. In the United States (US) alone, more than 80 million cases and over 980,435 deaths have been recorded to date. In the early COVID-19 pandemic, adults were at an increased infection rate with more severe outcomes than children. As such, epidemiological data on children are limited, given the initial research efforts to study disease manifestations among adults.
According to a few recent reports, COVID-19 may present differently in the younger population than adults, as noted by the differential timing of symptom onset and severity of the disease. Whereas most pediatric cases are asymptomatic, symptomatic children might exhibit varying severity of symptoms across different organ systems. Moreover, mounting evidence suggests that the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is associated with COVID-19. MIS-C results in adverse systemic inflammation affecting the lungs, heart, kidneys, and gastrointestinal organs. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the epidemiology of symptoms among pediatric cases to guide COVID-19 testing decisions.
The present study analyzed the prevalence of symptoms among children with COVID-19 concerns presenting to the emergency department (EDs) who subsequently took a COVID-19 test. The authors carried out a retrospective analysis of secondary data of children aged 17 years or lower who presented to ED facilities from March 15, 2020, to May 11, 2020. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was performed to test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Testing was performed on any patient who was ordered for testing based on the guidelines set at the time.
Data collected based on electronic medical records (EMRs) were utilized, and the included variables were patient demographics like age, race, sex, insurance and ethnicity, date of visit, vital signs, and associated pediatric ED. A chart review was performed to document the presence/absence of symptoms using notes in the ED for every instance where COVID-19 testing was obtained. Pertinent symptoms reviewed were fever, sore throat, headache, cough, myalgias, shortness of breath, loss of smell/taste, and diarrhea.
A senior investigator reviewed all charts flagged for questions to resolve ambiguities. The prevalence of each symptom was computed by dividing the pediatric ED presentations with that symptom over the total number of ED visits. The rate of prevalence of each symptom was compared between those testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 and negative for COVID-19. Chi-squared tests were performed for categorical variables and Student t-tests for continuous variables.
The team identified about 516 patient encounters with suspected COVID-19 and they were subsequently tested. Of them, 46 cases were SARS-CoV-2-positive, and the remaining (91.1%) tested negative. A significant proportion (47.8%) of the positive cases were observed in those aged 12 to 17 years. The mean age of those testing positive was 8.76 years in contrast to 6.64 years for those negative for SARS-CoV-2. Intriguingly, although non-Hispanic individualsrepresented 78.5% of the study population, most positive cases (58.7%) were observed among ethnically Hispanic children. More than half of the positive patients had public health insurance.
Fever and cough were the most common symptoms for cases suspected of COVID-19. Children positive for SARS-CoV-2- had a significantly higher prevalence of myalgias and loss of smell/taste than pediatric cases negative for SARS-CoV-2. The prevalence of other symptoms like cough, sore throat, diarrhea, and shortness of breath was not significantly different between the two sub-cohorts.
In the current retrospective analysis, researchers observed that cough and fever as the most common symptoms among pediatric cases presenting with suspected COVID-19. Among those who test positive for SARS-CoV-2, loss of smell/taste and myalgia were associated with COVID-19 test positivity. Although various studies reported fever and cough as the two predominant COVID-19 symptoms, the authors found no significant association with test positivity, despite many suspected cases presenting with fever/cough in the study cohort.
The study was conducted early in the pandemic when resources for COVID-19 testing were limited, and consequently, prudent allocation and utilization of resources were essential. Given that COVID-19 incidence is increasing among the pediatric population, these findings, which identified symptoms specific for test positivity among children, could help to strengthen SARS-CoV-2 test specificity and aid in the efficient use of resources.
medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
Ten days ago, I sent to Congress an urgent proposal to provide needed military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The plan was substantial in size, because the need is substantial: we must stand by Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression.The need is also urgent: I have nearly exhausted the resources given to me by a bipartisan majority in Congress to support Ukraines fighters. This aid has been critical to Ukraines success on the battlefield. We cannot allow our shipments of assistance to stop while we await further Congressional action. We are approximately ten days from hitting this critical deadline.I am pleased that, in my conversations with Congressional leaders, there appears to be strong support for the proposal I submitted, and Congress is likely to pass it in substantially the form I proposed. I urge them to do so, and again, I urge them to do so quickly.Previously, I had recommended that Congress take overdue action on much needed funding for COVID treatments, vaccines and tests, as part of the Ukraine Supplemental bill. However, I have been informed by Congressional leaders in both parties that such an addition would slow down action on the urgently needed Ukrainian aid a view expressed strongly by several Congressional Republicans. We cannot afford delay in this vital war effort. Hence, I am prepared to accept that these two measures move separately, so that the Ukrainian aid bill can get to my desk right away.However let me be clear: as vital as it is to help Ukraine combat Russian aggression, it is equally vital to help Americans combat COVID. Without timely COVID funding, more Americans will die needlessly. We will lose our place in line for America to order new COVID treatments and vaccines for the fall, including next-generation vaccines under development, and be unable to maintain our supply of COVID tests. In the fall, if we are hit by new variants, it will be too late to get the tools needed for protection critical treatments that will be available in Europe, but not the United States. In addition, our effort to help lower-income countries get COVID vaccines into arms will stall.So I call on Congress to pass the Ukrainian Supplemental funding bill immediately, and get it to my desk in the next few days. And then, I urge Congress to move promptly on the COVID funding bill. This virus knows no borders; we must continue to save lives here at home and around the world.
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White House officials are reportedly preparing for 100 million new COVID-19 infections in Americans this fall and winter, according to reports. If the predictions are correct, about 30% of the population would be newly infected with the virus.
An official told The New York Times that the 100 million number is the median of what is expected. Meaning, its not a worst- or best-case scenarioits somewhere in between.
According to CNN, the Biden administration requested $22.5 billion in supplemental COVID-19 relief fundingfor testing, treatments, and to help prevent future outbreaksin March in a government funding package, but it was removed from the bill. If the funding isnt approved, the White House will take funding from testing, new treatments, and vaccine outreach and try to stockpile it to have an enough updated vaccines available only for elderly people, a senior administration official told a group of reporters, per The Hill.
The news comes just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that found 60% of Americansand 75% of childrenhad been infected with COVID-19 by February.
The news raises a lot of questions, including what you can do now to prepare for the upcoming surge. Heres what you need to know.
It looks that way. The administration official predicted the next wave of COVID-19 infections would start this summer in Southern states, where people will head inside to try to get out of the heat, per The Times. That will be followed by surges in the rest of the countryincluding the Northin the fall.
Doctors say the prediction makes sense. This virus is unfortunately a keeper, says Thomas Russo, M.D., professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York. Its going to be minimally like flu where we see intermittent surges and winter respiratory virus season is an unquestionable time when were going to see a surge.
Cases are always going to increase and decrease, says Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The virus is never to be eradicated, he suggests, noting that it joins four other types of coronaviruses that are responsible for 30% of common colds.
The next surge of COVID is already underway, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Were seeing increasing numbers of mild casesthat will certainly continue, he says. It is possible that, as we get to the fall where peoples immunity from vaccination and natural infection begins to wane and we start to go indoors more, there will be more spread.
Existing vaccines also arent great at preventing infection, so theres likely to be a jump in cases in the fall and winter as people head indoors more, Dr. Russo says. However, he adds, if people are fully vaccinated or have recently been infected with the virus, theyre likely to have more mild cases.
But ultimately, Dr. Russo says, we dont know what next winter will hold.
Delta and Omicron variants made headlines when they were the dominant variants, and now BA.2.12.1 is wrecking havoc. The Omicron sub-variant now makes up 36.5% of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S., per CDC dataup from just 3.5% of cases in late March.
New variants will appear and may be able to get around some of the immunity from vaccination and prior infection but will be unlikely to erase all the protection that exists, especially against what matters: hospitalization, Dr. Adalja says.
Each variant tends to stick around for six months or so, Dr. Russo points out. While there is talk of creating an Omicron-specific booster, Dr. Russo says its effectiveness at preventing future infections all depends on whether Omicron is actually the dominant variant in the fall and winter. If a new variant pops up thats immunologically poorly related to Omicron, we may have more disease, he says.
Dr. Schaffner also notes that BA.2.12.1 is a very contagious virus and will cause lots of cases as it continues to circulate.
Dr. Adalja point out that COVID-19 isnt going anywhere. Each person has to decide what level of protection they want from COVID based on their own individual risk tolerance, he says.
Doctors stress the importance of getting vaccinated. Make sure youre up to date with your vaccination regimen, Dr. Russo says. But all of the things we know work in terms of protecting yourself from COVID will still hold for the upcoming winter surge. That includes masking up when COVID cases are at moderate or high levels in your area, washing your hands well, and doing your best to avoid crowded indoor spaces.
As for what you can do this second, Dr. Schaffner says its not a bad idea to stock up on high quality KN95 and N95 masks while theyre in stock and on sale at a reasonable price.
Overall, though, Dr. Adalja urges people to be aware that COVID-19 is something well continue to need to think about. It is ultimately an unavoidable virus, he says.
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Hours and locations for Covid-19 surveillance testing are being reduced as Georgia Tech transitions into summer operations.
Hours and locations for Covid-19 surveillance testing are being reduced as Georgia Tech transitions into summer operations.
Effective Monday, May 9, testing will become limited to the Price Gilbert Library test site. The Price Gilbert location will continue to operate from Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week, limiting hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.
The decrease in hours and locations comes following a recent decline in surveillance testing numbers as well as past levels of participation on campus during summer semesters.
Travel testing will also be done entirely with campus tests, which are collected at 4 p.m. each day and processed the next day. Vault kits will no longer be included.
We will continue to provide updates and additional information regarding Covid-19 testing at health.gatech.edu/coronavirus/testing.
Individuals who are not vaccinated with pre-existing diabetes, heart artery disease, or high blood pressure had a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of death, investigators say.
Unvaccinated individuals who contract COVID-19 when they have pre-existing diabetes, high blood pressure, or major heart damage, are up to 9 times more likely to suffer serious outcomes, including admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), death, kidney problems and lung failure, according to combined evidence from 110 previous COVID-19 studies.
These findings can help us identify unvaccinated individuals who are at a higher risk of worse outcomes, even without special tests. This is particularly relevant where health care resources are limited but the proportion of unvaccinated individuals remains high, Sher May Ng of the Barts Health NHS Trust, said in a statement.
The study, which is published in Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, looked at almost 49,000 unvaccinated individuals in total and identified multiple predictors of more severe COVID-19 and worse outcomes for these individuals compared with vaccinated individuals.
Investigators found evidence showing that myocardial injury, known as heart muscle damage, at the time of admission to the hospital was associated with a 9-fold increase in the likelihood of death. Additionally, individuals who had pre-existing heart complications also had a higher chance of developing other complications from COVID-19, including acute kidney injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome, and they also had higher rates of ICU admission and invasive mechanical ventilation.
Furthermore, investigators found that unvaccinated individuals with pre-existing diabetes, heart artery disease, or high blood pressure had a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of death, and they also had up to a 2.5-fold increased risk of other COVID-19-related complications.
When comparing the 3 medical conditions, investigators found that individuals with diabetes were at the highest risk for developing severe lung failure. Prior to the emergence of COVID-19, these conditions were already known predictors of heart attacks and strokes.
These findings present a strong case for these at-risk groups to be prioritized for vaccinations and other preventative measures. This is especially true in low- and middle-income countries, where the impact of cardiovascular disease is particularly high, Ajay Gupta, MD, PhD, senior clinical lecturer at Queen Mary and an honorary consultant in clinical pharmacology and cardiovascular medicine, said in the statement.
Successful vaccination programs have reduced the economic and social burdens of COVID-19, as well as effectively prevented severe disease, according to the statement.
Accurate prediction of risk for severe disease and adverse outcomes of COVID-19 can help prioritize vaccinations for the highest-risk groups and help allow effective planning of economic and health policies, investigators said.
More than 70% of the United Kingdom population is fully vaccinated, but less than 15% of the population in low-income countries have received any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the statement.
In more developed countries, groups with cardiovascular risk factors in addition to other vulnerable groups could be selected for booster and annual vaccination programs, similar to the influenza vaccination program, Gupta said.
Reference
Unvaccinated individuals with heart problems up to 9 times more likely to die or suffer serious complications from COVID-19. EurekAlert. News release. May 4, 2022. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/951664
When the pandemic began in early 2020 and sweeping lockdowns went into effect, insurance firms were facing a catastrophe. Billions of dollars worth of claims many from Hollywood companies, including those involved with the live-event business were pouring in across the country.
But instead of paying out, insurance companies looked to the fine print and started to deny claims en masse. Most insurers found that policies for lost revenue because of business interruptions excluded coverage for closures forced by the pandemic and required physical loss or damage to property. A legal war erupted over COVID-related insurance claims, and more than 2,300 lawsuits challenging coverage decisions have been filed, according to a COVID-19 insurance litigation tracker created by Penn Law professor Tom Baker.
With respect to business interruption claims, the insurance industry as a whole took a very aggressive position fighting those, saysTy Childress, chair of Jones Days insurance recovery group and the lead lawyer for World Trade Center Properties in the 9/11 insurance cases. You had smaller entities that shut down. This was their only survival.
Janet Ruiz of the Insurance Information Institute, a trade association whose members include some of the biggest insurers in the world, contends insurance companies didnt have the capacity to handle a crisis the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic. After SARS, insurers realized that pandemics are international, Ruiz says. Even with our loss reserves and any type of investing were able to do with them, it just wouldnt have been feasible to have that type of money-on-hand to pay for global losses like weve seen.
After two years and 1 million COVID-19 deaths in the U.S., insurers have been overwhelmingly successful in court, with nearly every case dismissed or ruled in favor of insurance companies. Judges have tossed more than 80percent of cases that get considered for dismissal. Many of the lawsuits didnt even make it past the beginning stages of the legal process.
In entertainment, such major players as UTA, Paramount and LiveNation sued their insurers after having their claims partially or completely denied. The suits garnered various results, from complete losses to surviving dismissal attempts to allow for discovery.
The Jeremy Zimmer-led UTA is among the hundreds of losers in the COVID-19 insurance coverage battles. The agency was a part of the first wave of lawsuits brought mostly by small businesses that couldnt survive without an insurance payout. UTA sued Vigilant Insurance Co. and Federal Insurance Co., two Chubbs subsidiaries, in November 2020 for $150 million, seeking coverage for losses tied to canceled live events and movie and TV productions. UTA argued that its broad all-risk policies for direct physical loss or damage should cover pandemic-related losses. It emphasized that Vigilant and Federal didnt include a virus or pandemic exclusion, which can make cases more open-and-shut.
The insurers, as in hundreds of other cases, maintained that the phrase direct physical loss requires an actual change or physical alteration to the insured property. They claimed that the temporary limitations placed on the use of UTAs properties by the closure orders and the alleged presence of the virus in its buildings failed to satisfy those criteria. On top of that, they argued that UTA didnt sufficiently allege that the virus was actually present at its properties, and even if it could make such an allegation, they said that thevirus harms human beings, not property.
A Los Angeles judge and state appellate panel sided with the insurers. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many insureds have asserted arguments similar to UTAs, and the majority of courts have rejected them, reads an order from Californias Second Appellate District issued in April. It is now widely established that temporary loss of use of a property due to pandemic-related closure orders, without more, does not constitute direct physical loss or damage.
The appeals court kept in line with precedential decisions in California state and federal courts to go against policyholders in California. In Inns of the Sea v. California Mutual Insurance Co., the first state appellate court to weigh in on a COVID coverage dispute, it was found that the virus could cause direct and physical damage but that Inns didnt prove that to be true in its case.
An indicator of how COVID-19 coverage lawsuits have fared has been whether they were filed in federal or state court, according to attorneys entrenched in insurance law who have been following the litigation. Its a tale of two courts, says Childress. In the federal court system, insurers have been largely successful to date. In state courts, its a much more mixed story (although not for UTA).
Veteran insurance attorney Shaun Crosner notes that state courts have been more receptive to arguments that insured policyholders are advancing. He laments their federal counterparts dismissing cases before they get to discovery, explaining that they should have passed on key questions to state high courts before ruling on certain issues.
Michael Levine, also a seasoned insurance attorney, agrees that federal courts have been prematurely tossing lawsuits. Some of these cases were brought early and poorly pled, Levine says. The problem is that they laid the foundation. Courts proceeded to uniformly follow the herd.
According to the COVID-19 insurance litigation tracker, 85percent of cases considered for dismissal in federal court get tossed, compared with 66percent in state court. The federal courts have largely gone for the insurance industry, Baker says. In state court, its been much more variable. Thats where the action is, because at the end of the day, these are state law questions.
Insurance contracts are governed by state law. This means that federal courts will ultimately have to follow the lead of the high courts of each state on key questions like whether COVID-19 causes physical damage to property, which would trigger coverage for most all-risk policies.
This means that insurance coverage disputes will ultimately be decided by the supreme courts of each state.
In April, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Iowa Supreme Court became the first high courts to decide if businesses should prevail in lawsuits challenging coverage denials. They both sided with insurers.
The cases swung on whether there was physical damage to the properties that triggered coverage. Although policyholder Wakonda Club lost in its lawsuit before the Iowa Supreme Court, the justices held that contamination can constitute physical loss or damage. Like in Inns of the Seas case in California, the court didnt shut the door on recovery of claims for all-risk policies. It just said that the case didnt present the necessary circumstances for it to find in favor of policyholders.
Baker says the ruling lays out a roadmap for some of these larger cases to prove that the virus contaminated the air, physically altering and damaging property like HVAC systems and assembly lines, which in turn forced businesses to cease operations.
Childress predicts that some decisions from federal courts that were prematurely decided could start to unravel depending on what higher state courts do.
For insurers, even one ruling siding with policyholders on the direct physical loss or damage issue could spell major trouble. Claire Howard, senior vp and general counsel of American Property Casualty Insurance Association, cautions that a court ruling mandating retroactive business interruption coverage would undermine the stability of the insurance industry and its ability to pay claims on all existing insurance policies.
But entertainment players like the Michael Rapino-led LiveNation, MLB and the Los Angeles Lakers all of which are pursuing cases in California may have some reason to believe that theyll be able to recover on their claims. While insurers maintain an unbeaten record in insurance coverage cases so far, that may soon change.
In February, a federal judge found that insurer Factory Mutual may be on the hook for Live Nations losses because of closures forced by the pandemic. U.S. District Judge John Kronstadt in a key ruling concluded that its possible that the presence of COVID-19 caused physical loss or damage to property, holding that virus droplets could have physically damaged property.
MLBs suit claiming more than $1billion in losses as a result of the pandemic is similarly promising, especially because it was filed in state court, where claims have been allowed to proceed moreliberally.
According to John Tomlinson, chief executive of Gravitas Insurance, policies for entertainment spaces offering varying levels of coverage for local government-mandated shutdowns have emerged over the past year. He says they havent been widely adopted, however, because theyre too expensive.
Bryan Sullivan, an attorney in the entertainment industry who has represented policyholders, estimates that those who opt for COVID-19 coverage pay an additional 10 to 15percent. If its a big enough production, insurance alone could be half a million to $1million, he says. If youre doing a Marvel movie, Im sure its far greater than that around $10million. At those numbers, it has an impact.
A version of this story first appeared in the May 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.Click here to subscribe.
