Bob Dohr|Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A new senior living community in Greenfield, which wentthrough several design changesover the last several years, has broken ground and plans to open in early spring 2023.
TheWoods, a 120-unitranch-style senior living development at 11800 W. Edgerton Ave., will feature a "post COVID-19 design," according to a news release from GreatLife Communities, giving each resident their own ranch home with a private front door entry and patio.
The neighborhood of connected leased residences will offer studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom floor plans on an 11.38-acre parcel just west of Whitnall Middle School.
The south neighborhood will contain 58one-bedroom residences and 14two-bedroom residences, all with laundry, full kitchens and available underground parking, according to the GreatLife Communities website. Residents will have access to a community room, exercise gym, lounge, general store, beauty shopand a food service area.
The north neighborhood will feature 48 studio units, each with a small kitchenette and private full bathroom. The studios will have a private front entry and patio, along with a back door for interior access to community amenities. The common spaces will includea dining room, food service area, telehealth room, activity area and a beauty shop.
Other available amenities and services at the complex will includechef-prepared meals, housekeeping, transportation, personal care services, nature walking trails and a dog wash.
Ground was broken March 21.
DeveloperGreg Petrauski, who has along history of building senior living communities and healthcare facilities, said he's glad construction is finally underway.
"Despite the years of challenges to develop this property, including COVID-19, we are grateful to finally start moving dirt and create the next generation senior living neighborhood community," Petrauski said in an email. "Allowing seniors to live with the privacy of their own residence along with the benefits of community and service is well overdue."
Monthly rents will start in the low- to mid-$2,000s, depending on specific service options and the residence layout chosen, Petrauski said.
Rents for each unit type include one home-cooked meal per day,housekeeping, maintenanceand full use of all community amenities, he said.
Those wishing to reserve a unit candownload, print and fill out a deposit agreement on the "Leasing" tab of GreatLife's website.
The project was given final approval by the city's common council in January 2021, according toGreenfield Community Development Manager Kristi Porter.
Small adjustments were made to the number of units in April 2021 and November 2021, she said.
Permits for the project were issued by the city on March 15.
The plan isa pared-down version of what Petrauski originally proposed, and won't reach nearly as high into the sky.
Petrauski presented a plan in 2019 for a192-unit complex that would have been four stories high.
It was rejected by the common council because of concerns about the building height, size, density and traffic impact,according to city documents.
More: Senior assisted living facility Courtyard of Sussex plans to open in April
More: A senior-focused group hopes to make Oconomowoc resources more accessible
Contact Bob Dohr at 262-361-9140 or bob.dohr@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BobDohr1.
Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.
After two years of successfully evading getting COVID-19 including a few brushes with close contacts, a couple of are-they-just-colds? scares and lots of negative tests I recently tested positive.
It felt both inevitable and shocking. I somehow avoided testing positive during the omicron surge that infected most of my friends this winter, so I figured that either I was invincible or I was next. Staring at my at-home rapid antigen test, I had to acknowledge that the long game of high-stakes tag was finally over. I was now it.
COVID-19 snuck up on me when I least expected it. Cases are low where I live in Queens, N.Y. And riding the subway felt low risk thanks to the federal public transit mask mandate. (A federal judge struck down the mandate on April 18, although the Biden administration announced April 20 it would appeal the ruling and some places, including New York City, are keeping masking requirements in place for the time being.) I had dined indoors, but I still wore my mask inside public spaces (SN: 3/25/22). So when I woke up with a sore throat on a Wednesday, I chalked it up to needing more sleep. Before I tested Friday evening, I was still convinced it was just another cold.
Two thick lines on my rapid test said otherwise (SN: 12/17/21). OK, I thought, I definitely have COVID. Now what?
I had a pretty good idea of the first few steps, which had been drilled into my head ad nauseam: Isolate immediately. Text close contacts from the 48 hours before first symptoms. Stay away from other people and pets in the house.
It got blurrier from there. Since I tested myself at home, my COVID-19 test wasnt official. Surely I should report my positive test; after all, public health regulations are often based on case numbers. But it turns out that playing my part was a lot harder than I would have thought.
When it comes to reporting at-home tests, there is no formal recommendation, says Autumn Gertz, an epidemiologist at Boston Childrens Hospital who works on COVID-19 surveillance. Without a federal program for reporting at-home tests, states are left to their own devices, and its confusing to make sense of where to report, which means that many people wont.
Thats problematic: Now that at-home tests are free and easy to access, at-home testing is becoming increasingly common. Gertz and colleagues are tracking at-home testing trends and say they have noticed a gradual increase in their use to detect COVID-19. In the coming weeks, Gertz says they expect 50 percent of people who get COVID-19 to find out from an at-home test.
Cases being underreported is nothing new. Even early on, asymptomatic and mild cases where the person never got tested wouldnt make the case count. But at-home testing will make underreporting even more prevalent. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations data show that only an estimated 7 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 cases are being reported, Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist at the University of Texas in Dallas who writes the Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter, reports April 13 in a post titled Can we trust case numbers?
To make my case count, I donned two KN95 masks and walked to the COVID-19 testing booth on my street to get a PCR test that would be officially reported. (An official PCR test result may also be necessary for insurance coverage in cases that require medical care.) The downside is that I was contagious so there was a risk of exposing others to the virus, though I was masked for all but the swab. An alternative, Gertz suggests, is reporting your positive at-home test to a primary care provider. Some at-home test manufacturers also provide information about how to report results from that test.
But until public health reporting catches up with the quick transition to at-home testing, were flying blind. There are ways to find clues about whats going on in your community, though.
For starters, become familiar with your local public health department website, says epidemiologist Michael Mina, the chief science officer at eMed, a company developing a system for at-home test reporting. Check to see if your community monitors wastewater, which is a better way to track the amount of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in communities than case numbers or hospitalizations. Outbreaks Near Me, a project Gertz works on, also collects results from volunteers to help track COVID-19 trends down to the local level.
Headlines and summaries of the latest Science News articles, delivered to your inbox
Thank you for signing up!
There was a problem signing you up.
In general, be aware, and try to keep your eyes open for signals, Mina says. That includes not discounting anecdotes: If you start to hear, like, Hey, you know, Ive had a bunch of friends who are positive lately, thats probably a really good indicator that theres a lot of COVID happening in our community right now. And that its a good time to start taking extra precautions again.
Speaking of precautions, according to the isolation guidelines put out by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I could have returned to the world without a mask on the 10th day after my symptoms started. But I learned from Mina that you can still be contagious after 10 days. So how do I know if I can still infect others?
Turns out its a complicated question. Theres no magic number of days in which all people will no longer be contagious. And you can still have symptoms and not be contagious, and vice versa. But rapid at-home tests are a great indicator albeit imperfect of current contagiousness. (Thats unlike PCR tests, which are extremely sensitive to any remaining virus in your system long after you stop shedding it.)
How contagious a person is roughly relates to their viral load, or how many virus particles they have in their body. Early research suggested that the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 is at its highest just before or when symptoms emerge and then rapidly declines after onset of symptoms. That data informed the CDCs decision to cut its isolation recommendation from 10 days to five days.
But several recent studies suggest that people infected during the recent COVID-19 surge continue to be contagious after five days. A preprint that studied omicron infections in NBA players found that, after five days of symptoms, about half of the players still showed significant viral load. In another preprint, Mina and researchers at the University of Chicago found that 43 percent of rapid tests from 260 vaccinated health care workers were still positive between five and 10 days after their symptoms appeared. Both studies have yet to be peer-reviewed.
This isnt like a small fraction of people who are still positive and infectious at five days, Mina says. One possible explanation for these observations is that people who are vaccinated or have been previously infected have a quicker immune system response to the virus. So initial symptoms are caused by your immune response, not a high viral load, which comes later. I would highly, highly, highly recommend people not listen to the five-day-to-exit-isolation recommendation, Mina says. That was based on old data.
Instead, experts say, the best way to figure out whether youre contagious after day five is by taking a rapid at-home test, which measures the amount of viral proteins in your system in real time. You can even get a sense of how infectious you are by the intensity of the positive line on your test, and the speed at which it develops. If your positive line appears quickly, chances are you have an extremely high viral load. If it takes most of the allotted test time and the line is faint, theres likely less virus in your body.
But because it takes a lot of virus for the tests to turn positive, you should assume that youre infectious if any line shows up, Mina says. Even after youve tested negative (twice, if possible), still avoid high-risk activities, like visiting an elderly relative.
By my 12th day in, my symptoms were mostly gone but for a lingering cough and a new proclivity for napping. But I was still testing positive on my rapid test, even though the line was much fainter than it used to be.
I wish there was an on-off switch. But, like with most things in this pandemic, its a squishy gray area. For all the public health recommendations, personal navigation of this virus comes down to individual everyday decisions. We hold a lot of power, and often, it feels like, not enough knowledge to make such decisions (SN: 6/16/21).
Its OK to be confused about all this, Mina says. I think a lot of people feel isolated right now and feel confused by this pandemic. Even doctors have a hard time keeping up with the nuances and changes, he adds.
As for me, I finally tested negative 14 days after my symptoms started. Given Minas advice on testing negative twice, Im still going to be careful, but I feel a little safer now.
Fraud stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a criminal enforcement priority for the US Department of Justice (DOJ). On April 20, DOJ announced a new round of criminal charges against 21 defendants that stem from over $149 million in allegedly fraudulent billing to federal healthcare programs and pandemic assistance programs. The new cases raise DOJs total COVID-19-related enforcement stats to 35 defendants and over $290 million in fraudulent billing across 16 federal districts.
The allegations detailed in DOJs recent press release involve schemes related to COVID-19 testing, telehealth, and misappropriation of Provider Relief Fund (PRF) payments. These schemes are nearly identical to DOJs first COVID-19 enforcement action announced last May. Unsurprisingly, DOJs criminal enforcement activities have focused on individuals taking advantage of the rapidly constructed infrastructure surrounding the countrys response to the pandemic. While an important enforcement priority, the conduct involved has been relatively unsophisticated. In one matter involving a manufacturer of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, the defendant even told an undercover federal agent, until I get caught and go to jail Im taking the money, ha! I dont care.
The real story, however, may be in what lies ahead. DOJs recent announcement shows that it is continuing to pursue schemes designed to be quickly and easily profitable. But given the massive size of federal programs designed to combat COVID-19 (the PRF is $178 billion, of which nearly $120 billion has been distributed to healthcare providers), DOJs focus may eventually turn toward more complex and sophisticated schemes. Many of these may be the result of qui tam complaints or based on Office of Inspector General of the US Department of Health and Human Services investigations and audits.
Stakeholders in the healthcare and life science industries should attempt to get ahead of this anticipated wave of enforcement and audit activity. This includes carefully evaluating your organizations involvement with COVID-19-related programs (e.g., did your organization receive PRF funds or Paycheck Protection Program funds?), as well as compliance with the myriad terms and conditions of each of these programs. Particularly for enterprise organizations that may have received PRF funds across multiple providers, evaluating and documenting the use of those funds remains an important risk mitigation activity.
Notably, reflecting the rapid evolution of these programs, the federal government is continuing to update its policies on PRF reporting and other COVID-19 programs. For instance, the Health Resources & Services Administration recently announced that providers experiencing extenuating circumstances may be able to submit PRF reports late. As has occurred in other major emergency situations, it can be particularly challenging for providers to identify changes made by government entities to regulatory requirements and obligations, which can lead to significant risk exposure after the dust has settled.
[View source.]
RALEIGH, N.C.On a Monday morning, employees arrive at Raleigh software firm Pendo and grab coffee at a company-provided bar staffed with baristas. Later, at lunch, Pendo sends them down the street with $15 vouchers to spend at a local food hall, where they can throw axes for fun while ordering lobster, tacos or fish and chips.
In 2020, the pandemic emptied out Raleighs central business district. Some downtown businesses kept plywood boards covering their windows for months, after protests following the death of George Floyd sparked vandalism downtown. More than 10,000 tourism jobs were lost in the surrounding county, dealing a major blow to one of the countrys strongest economic regions.
Around seven in 10 people in England are likely to have had coronavirus since the early months of the pandemic, new figures suggest.
An estimated 38.5 million people in private households - or 70.7% of the population - have had at least one infection since the end of April 2020.
Today, WHO made a strong recommendation for nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, sold under the name Paxlovid, for mild and moderate COVID-19 patients at highest risk of hospital admission, calling it the best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date. However, availability, lack of price transparency in bilateral deals made by the producer, and the need for prompt and accurate testing before administering it, are turning this life-saving medicine into a major challenge for low- and middle-income countries.
Pfizers oral antiviral drug (a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets) is strongly recommended for patients with non-severe COVID-19 who are at highest risk of developing severe disease and hospitalization, such as unvaccinated, older, or immunosuppressed patients.
This recommendation is based on new data from two randomized controlled trials involving 3078 patients. The data show that the risk of hospitalization is reduced by 85% following this treatment. In a high-risk group (over 10% risk of hospitalization), that means 84 fewer hospitalizations per 1000 patients.
WHO suggests against its use in patients at lower risk, as the benefits were found to be negligible.
One obstacle for low- and middle-income countries is that the medicine can only be administered while the disease is at its early stages; prompt and accurate testing is therefore essential for a successful outcome with this therapy. Data collected by FINDshow that the average daily testing rate in low-income countries is as low as one-eightieth the rate in high-income countries. Improving access to early testing and diagnosis in primary health care settings will be key for the global rollout of this treatment.
WHO is extremely concerned that -- as occurred with COVID-19 vaccines -- low- and middle-income countries will again be pushed to the end of the queue when it comes to accessing this treatment.
Lack of transparency on the part of the originator company is making it difficult for public health organizations to obtain an accurate picture of the availability of the medicine, which countries are involved in bilateral deals and what they are paying. In addition, a licensing agreement made by Pfizer with the Medicines Patent Pool limits the number of countries that can benefit from generic production of the medicine.
The originator product, sold under the name Paxlovid, will be included in the WHO prequalification list today, but generic products are not yet available from quality-assured sources. Several generic companies (many of which are covered by the licensing agreement between the Medicines Pool and Pfizer) are in discussion with WHO Prequalification but may take some time to comply with international standards so that they can supply the medicine internationally.
WHO therefore strongly recommends that Pfizer make its pricing and deals more transparent and that it enlarge the geographical scope of its licence with the Medicines Patent Pool so that more generic manufacturers may start to produce the medicine and make it available faster at affordable prices.
Along with the strong recommendation for the use of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, WHO has also updated its recommendation on remdesivir, another antiviral medicine.
Previously, WHO had suggested against its use in all COVID-19 patients regardless of disease severity, due to the totality of the evidence at that time showing little or no effect on mortality. Following publication of new data from a clinical trial looking at the outcome of admission to hospital, WHO has updated its recommendation. WHO now suggests the use of remdesivir in mild or moderate COVID-19 patients who are at high risk of hospitalization.
The recommendation for use of remdesivir in patients with severe or critical COVID-19 is currently under review.
As China tries to restart manufacturing in areas hit by Covid-19 lockdowns, companies are discovering that reopening their factories is not so simple.
Tesla Inc. restarted production in Shanghai Tuesday after a three-week halt, part of a government trial to keep core pockets of its economy humming as coronavirus cases appear to have plateaued in the city.
As mask mandates end, figuring out what to do if you have a case of COVID-19 but no symptoms has been confusing for many in the U.S.
In California, officials recently lifted the five-day quarantine requirement for asymptomatic people who tested positive for COVID-19. But certain localities in the state have already announced theyll continue following the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. The CDC recommends staying at home in quarantine for at least five days whether or not you have symptoms.
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should isolate at home for at least five full days and then test to see if they are still infectious.
William Holubek, MD, Chief Medical Officer at University Hospital in New Jersey, insisted that states, agencies, and industries with different masking and quarantine rules only cause confusion.
He explained that the mission of the CDC is to protect America from health threats by fighting disease and supporting communities and citizens to do the same.
The CDC still recommends isolation for any individual who tests positive for COVID-19, whether they have symptoms or not, he said. For the health, protection, and well-being of our friends, family, and community, we should continue to follow these recommendations.
When we dont have a unified approach to a global pandemic, it is difficult to understand why things go wrong when they do, noted Holubek.
Robert Lahita, MD, director of the Institute for Autoimmune and Rheumatic Disease at St. Josephs Health, said, ideally, you should stay home until symptoms are gone.
Then, I would recommend they [isolate] for an additional five days, he advised.
That was what we did in 2020 and 2021, you were positive, and if you didnt wind up in the hospital, and your fever abated, you stayed home for an additional five days, and you wore a mask wherever you went, he continued.
If you interact with someone who has COVID-19, whether or not you need to quarantine depends on your vaccination status.
Current CDC guidelines specify that people who are not vaccinated and are exposed to the virus should stay home, quarantine for at least five full days, and test on day five.
But if you are vaccinated, you can avoid quarantine and just monitor yourself for symptoms.
As a nurse scientist, I ascribe to the CDCs guidelines of quarantine for five days after exposure to someone with COVID if you are unvaccinated, said Catherine Curley, PhD, RN, Interim Director, Center for Global and Public Health, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University.
However, she said if someone is vaccinated, they should be cautious and look out for COVID symptoms. Masking in that time period is also suggested, she added.
Despite lower cases we are still in a pandemic, and the more safety measures such as masking and isolating with exposure, the better the chances that we can stop the spread, said Curley.
According to Lahita, were relying on the honor system that people adhere to isolation and quarantine rules and take steps to avoid exposing others to the illness if they have to go out.
Its this way; you get an upper respiratory infection, sore throat its horrible, youre running a slight temperature of about a hundred, youre achy all over, but you need to go out for milk, he said. So you put the mask on, and you go.
However, that isnt the best way to prevent disease transmission.
But the honor system is if that happens, your milk will have to wait. You shouldnt go out at all, said Lahita. If they have the home test and they test positive, then for sure, they should not go out.
In March, the Biden Administration launched a nationwide Test to Treat initiative to give people rapid, free access to potentially life-saving treatment for COVID-19. People can go to certain pharmacies for a COVID-19 test, and then if they qualify, they can get access to antiviral medications.
Due to limited supply, only people at high risk for severe COVID-19 are being given the anti-virals.
If you test positive and youre very symptomatic, its test to treat, said Lahita.
These antiviral medications have been very successful in studies in reducing the risk of hospitalization. Paxlovid was found to be 90 percent effective at reducing the risk of severe COVID-19 in studies.
You use it for five days and it keeps you out of the hospital and from using monoclonal antibodies, said Lahita. It keeps you from going to the emergency room.
Figuring out who is truly asymptomatic can be difficult.
The symptoms of COVID-19, especially the dominant and highly infectious Omicron variant, can mirror those of more mild conditions, like colds or allergies.
According to a recent meta-analysis, of nearly 30 million people, a significant amount of people with COVID-19. They found among people with confirmed COVID-19, over 40 percent of cases were asymptomatic. The researchers said that the high percentage of asymptomatic infections highlights the potential transmission risk these cases can bring to communities.
Lahita said if you have a very bad cold or flu-like illness, which looks like COVID, its best to stay home and not mingle with other people you might infect even if you havent been tested yet.
But when youre dealing with the public, your belief system is that people will do the right thing, and that is not necessarily the case, Lahita cautioned.
Lahita warned that were going to find out, although the Omicron variant presents some challenges to the reporting system.
The unfortunate thing with Omicron is that you can test positive and stay home, and nobody will know that youve been positive, he said. Because you dont go to the hospital, you dont get admitted, you dont go to your doctors office, so youre just positive, and youre staying home.
Lahita said those numbers arent included in the official tally of positive cases.
He emphasized that wastewater testing will be the best indicator.
The only way we know the numbers are really going through the roof is by measuring wastewater, Lahita said.
California has lifted the five-day quarantine requirement for asymptomatic individuals, causing confusion.
Experts say asymptomatic people can potentially still spread the disease and ideally should still isolate according to CDC guidelines.
They also say while this may be unnecessary for vaccinated people who test positive without symptoms, they should still mask around others and watch out for signs of COVID.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 22, 2022
COLUMBIA, S.C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported new data Thursday that show COVID-19s impact on vaccination and school attendance rates for kindergartners across the United States and is calling for parents to get their children vaccinated against common diseases that impact education. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) continues to support safe and effective vaccines for kids that prevent illnesses and help keep them in school.
According to Thursdays CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), vaccine coverage among kindergarteners dropped from 95 percent to below 94 percent during the 2020-2021 school year, which amounts to more than 35,000 children who entered kindergarten without documentation of complete vaccination against common diseases like measles, whooping cough, and chicken pox. In addition, enrollment in kindergarten dropped by 10 percent which means around 400,000 fewer children entered kindergarten than expected.
While these rates are on a nationwide scale, they also reflect what South Carolina is experiencing in terms of increased sickness, recent outbreaks of preventable diseases like chickenpox, and lower school attendance, said Dr. Edward Simmer, DHEC Director. We encourage parents to talk to a trusted medical professional to get their questions answered so they can make informed health decisions for their child.
Longstanding vaccinations, such as ones for chicken pox and measles, as well as the newer and rigorously tested COVID-19 vaccination, are incredibly important now that most schools have returned to in-person learning. DHEC continues to emphasize that the classroom is the best place for children to interact and learn, especially younger students who thrive by having in-person interaction with teachers, staff, and friends. Staying up-to-date with your childs vaccinations will help ensure they are able to stay healthy and in school.
DHEC offers several low-cost vaccination programs for children and adults, so please do not let vaccine costs keep you or your child from getting vaccinated. To see if youre eligible and to apply, visit our eligibility page or call 1-888-277-4687.
You can make an appointment to receive certain vaccines, including flu, pneumonia, varicella (chicken pox) and tetanus, at one of DHECs county health departments or by calling 1-855-472-3432.
For more information on vaccine requirements, frequently asked questions, and which vaccines are due at certain ages, please visit the DHEC website onchildcare and school-required vaccines.
###
Summit County Public Health will hold a drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic, Tuesday, April 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be held at 1867 W. Market St. in Akron, according to a health department media release.
Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available and shots can be had without an appointment, the release said.
The health department will provide second dose boosters of both Pfizer and Moderna for those 50 and older. Those with compromised immune systems can get either a second Pfizer booster (ages 12 and older) or a second Moderna booster (ages 18 or older).
Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine for their first dose and their booster can also get a second booster shot at the clinic.
The second-round boosters are available four or more months after the date of the first booster, the health department said.
Those with questions can call the Summit County Public Health COVID-19 call line at 330-926-5795 on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
