The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of April 8, 2022, there are currently 358 active COVID-19 cases statewide. There have been 4 deaths reported since the last report, with a total of 6,753 deaths attributed to COVID-19.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of a 62-year old male from Morgan County, a 79-year old female from Harrison County, a 79-year old female from Greenbrier County, and a 26-year old male from Kanawha County.
We mourn the loss of these West Virginians and send our deepest sympathies to their loved ones, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. Vaccines are safe and effective, and if you are eligible, please do your part by scheduling a COVID vaccine and booster.
CURRENT ACTIVE CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (0), Berkeley (25), Boone (1), Braxton (0), Brooke (1), Cabell (32), Calhoun (2), Clay (0), Doddridge (0), Fayette (3), Gilmer (2), Grant (2), Greenbrier (4), Hampshire (4), Hancock (6), Hardy (0), Harrison (18), Jackson (2), Jefferson (25), Kanawha (21), Lewis (1), Lincoln (5), Logan (5), Marion (13), Marshall (6), Mason (2), McDowell (12), Mercer (15), Mineral (6), Mingo (3), Monongalia (28), Monroe (5), Morgan (5), Nicholas (2), Ohio (3), Pendleton (7), Pleasants (1), Pocahontas (2), Preston (9), Putnam (24), Raleigh (11), Randolph (7), Ritchie (4), Roane (3), Summers (0), Taylor (5), Tucker (1), Tyler (1), Upshur (2), Wayne (3), Webster (0), Wetzel (3), Wirt (3), Wood (11), Wyoming (2). To find the cumulative cases per county, please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov and look on the Cumulative Summary tab which is sortable by county.
Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Please visit www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.
West Virginians ages 5 years and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination; after the primary series, first booster shots are recommended for those 12 and older. Second booster shots for those age 50 and over that are 4 months or greater from their first booster have now been authorized by FDA and recommended by CDC, as well as for younger individuals over 12 years old with serious and chronic health conditions that lead to being considered moderately to severely immunocompromised. To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, or to find a vaccine site near you, visit vaccinate.wv.gov or call 1-833-734-0965.
Free pop-up COVID-19 testing is available today in Barbour, Berkeley, Braxton, Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hampshire, Hancock, Jefferson, Lewis, Logan, Marion, Marshall, Mason, Morgan, Nicholas, Ohio, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Taylor, Upshur, Wayne, and Wood counties.
Barbour County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Community Market, 107 South Main Street (across the street from Walgreens), Philippi, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVBBC)
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Junior Volunteer Fire Department, 331 Row Avenue, Junior, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Berkeley County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Airborne Church, 172 Creative Place, Martinsburg, WV
8:30 AM - 4:00 PM, Shenandoah Community Health, 99 Tavern Road, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM, 891 Auto Parts Place, Martinsburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Braxton County
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Braxton County Memorial Hospital (parking lot), 100 Hoylman Drive, Gassaway, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=Braxton)
Cabell County
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Marshall University Campus (parking lot), 1801 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Cabell-Huntington Health Department (parking lot), 703 Seventh Avenue, Huntington, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Clay County
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Lizemores Volunteer Fire Department, 13175 Clay Highway, Lizemores, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVClayCounty)
Fayette County
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Fayette County Health Department, 5495 Maple Lane, Fayetteville, WV
Gilmer County
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Minnie Hamilton Health System (parking lot), 921 Mineral Road, Glenville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMHCT11)
Grant County
11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Petersburg City Parking Lot, South Main Street (across from Walgreens), Petersburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Greenbrier County
9:30 AM - 3:00 PM, State Fair of WV, 891 Maplewood Avenue, Lewisburg, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVGBC)
Hampshire County
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hampshire Memorial Hospital, 363 Sunrise Boulevard, Romney, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Hancock County
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Hancock County Health Department, 100 North Court Street, New Cumberland, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)
Jefferson County
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Hollywood Casino, 750 Hollywood Drive, Charles Town, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Lewis County
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, City Parking Lot, 95 West Second Street, Weston, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavLewis1)
Logan County
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Town of Man Fire Department, Administration Building, 110 North Bridge Street, Man, WV
12:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Old 84 Lumber Building, 100 Recovery Road, Peach Creek, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Marion County
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Dunbar School Foundation, 101 High Street, Fairmont, WV
Marshall County
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Cameron City Building, 46 Main Street, Cameron, WV
Mason County
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM, Krodel Park, 1186 Charleston Road, Point Pleasant, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavCOUNTY12)
Morgan County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, The Blue (of First United Methodist Church), 440 Fearnow Road, Berkeley Springs, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavMorgan1)
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM, War Memorial Hospital, 1 Health Way, Berkeley Springs, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Nicholas County
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Summersville Regional Medical Center, 400 Fairview Heights Road, Summersville, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVNL)
Ohio County
9:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Ohio Valley Medical Center (back parking lot at the top of 22nd Street), 2000 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV (optional pre-registration: https://roxbylabs.dendisoftware.com/patient_registration/)
Putnam County
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Putnam County Health Department (behind Liberty Square), 316 Putnam Village Drive, Hurricane, WV
Raleigh County
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Beckley-Raleigh County Health Department, 1602 Harper Road, Beckley, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=MavBeckleyRaleigh)
Randolph County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Davis Health Center, 812 Gorman Avenue, Elkins, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVRDC)
Taylor County
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Grafton-Taylor Health Department, 718 West Main Street (parking lot at Operations Trailer), Grafton, WV (optional pre-registration: https://wv.getmycovidresult.com/)
Upshur County
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, Buckhannon Fire Department (parking lot), 22 South Florida Street, Buckhannon, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVUSC)
Wayne County
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, Wayne County Health Department, 217 Kenova Avenue, Wayne, WV (optional pre-registration: https://unityphr.com/campaigns/wvlabs/covid)
Wood County
8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Vienna Baptist Church, 3401 Grand Central Avenue, Vienna, WV (optional pre-registration: https://labpass.com/en/registration?access_code=WVMavWood1)
Please check with the testing site, DHHRs social media pages and the COVID-19 website https://dhhr.wv.gov/COVID-19/pages/testing.aspx for any last minute cancellations, and to find other free testing opportunities across West Virginia.
A checkpoint in Ningbo, China. A growing number of Chinese cities are requiring truck drivers to take daily Covid P.C.R. tests.Credit...Agence France-Presse Getty Images
BEIJING Chinas mounting Covid-19 restrictions are creating further disruptions to global supply chains for consumer electronics, car parts and other goods.
A growing number of Chinese cities are requiring truck drivers to take daily Covid P.C.R. tests before allowing them to cross municipal borders or are quarantining drivers deemed to be at risk of infection. The measures have limited how quickly drivers can move components among factories and goods from plants to ports.
Shanghai and other major Chinese cities have imposed lengthy, stringent lockdowns to try to control Covid outbreaks. Previous interruptions in the supply of goods from Chinese factories to buyers around the world mainly involved the temporary closure of shipping ports, including in Shenzhen in southeastern China in May and June last year and then near Shanghai last summer.
The problem is not ships its that theres no cargo coming because there are no trucks, said Jarrod Ward, the chief East Asia business development officer in the Shanghai office of Yusen Logistics, a large Japanese supply chain management company.
The testing of truck drivers has been held up because some cities are doing mass testing of residents. Shanghai tested essentially all 25 million people within its borders in a single day on Monday and detected another 21,000 cases on Thursday.
Now, there is an acute shortage of truck drivers in Shanghai and in nearby cities like Kunshan, a center of electronics production. Many electronics components manufacturers are shutting down in Kunshan.
The key electronics suppliers to Apple, to Tesla, theyre all based there, said Julie Gerdeman, the chief executive of Everstream, a supply chain risk management affiliate of DHL that is based in San Marcos, Calif.
Apple declined to comment, and Tesla had no immediate reply to questions.
Many factories have tried to stay open by having workers stay on site instead of going home. Employees have been sleeping on mats on the floor for as long as four weeks in some cities in northeastern China. Companies have been storing goods in nearby warehouses while waiting for normal truck traffic to resume.
But as lockdowns stretch on in cities like Shanghai, Changchun and Shenyang, factories are starting to run out of materials to assemble. Some are sending their workers home until further notice.
Making car seats, for example, requires different springs, bolts and other materials. Mr. Ward said car seat producers had run out of components. Volkswagen said it had closed a factory outside Shanghai.
While Shanghais cases increase, its main rival in electronics manufacturing, Shenzhen, has emerged from lockdown. That is freeing workers and factories there to resume full-speed production.
Retailers and manufacturers in the West tried to adapt to previous supply chain difficulties in China by switching from ships to airfreight, but airfreight rates have more than doubled from last year.
The near-total suspension of passenger flights in and out of Shanghai has roughly halved the airfreight capacity there, said Zvi Schreiber, the chief executive of Freightos, a freight booking platform. The war in Ukraine has forced many airlines to schedule longer flights around Russia and Ukraine, which means each plane can make fewer trips in a week and often can carry less weight on each flight.
The war in Ukraine is also starting to hurt the availability of Soviet-era Antonov freighters, Mr. Schreiber said. These workhorses of the airfreight industry have been kept going in recent years almost entirely by Ukrainian maintenance bases that are now closed.
For companies, any additional disruptions to the global supply chain would come at a particularly fraught moment, on top of rising prices for raw materials and shipping, along with extended delivery times and worker shortages.
Rosy, 6, gives COVID tests and vaccines to her stuffed animals. She herself has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, multiple times and never tested positive. What's her secret? Michaeleen Doucleff/NPR hide caption
Rosy, 6, gives COVID tests and vaccines to her stuffed animals. She herself has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, multiple times and never tested positive. What's her secret?
The first time my daughter, Rosy, was exposed to SARS-CoV-2, I panicked.
It was November 2020, before vaccines were available. Someone in Rosy's class had tested positive and been contagious in the classroom for two days. So we all quarantined at home and braced ourselves for a horrible few weeks of sickness.
But after 10 days, nothing had happened. Rosy never showed signs of an infection and never tested positive. She had dodged the coronavirus.
Then about 10 months later, the same thing happened. And again two weeks later. And four months later. After each exposure, we did the same routine: Quarantine. Wait. And test repeatedly.
Over the course of the pandemic, my daughter has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, at least four times. Mostly at school. Once at a party. Every time, somehow, she seems to have escaped an infection.
So my question is, why?
Of course, the simplest answer is that she has been infected and we just didn't know it. Despite all our testing, we missed it. An analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that at least 58% of children under age 18 that's about 42 million children had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 as of Jan. 22, according to antibody testing. Yet the U.S. has recorded only about 13 million pediatric cases. So many coronavirus cases among kids have gone unnoticed, unreported or undetected. And Rosy could fall into that category.
But she's also just as likely to fall into another category kids who have been exposed to the coronavirus but who haven't caught it.
So how has Rosy done it? How has she seemingly pulled this rabbit from the hat or, in this case, pulled the coronavirus from her nose?
Over the past year, several studies have offered a tantalizing hint: Some people, even before being vaccinated, are really good at clearing the coronavirus from their respiratory tract and do it so quickly that the virus never reaches detectable levels. And the immune system accomplishes this coup with two key tools: immune cells originally made to fight another coronavirus four key ones are out there and an arm of the immune system that gets little attention in the media but is doing a huge amount of work to protect us all from SARS-CoV-2.
Back in November, immunologists at University College London published a study in the journal Nature that left many other scientists a bit surprised. The study presented striking evidence that prior exposure to another coronavirus can prepare the immune system to fight off SARS-CoV-2. "Before we published the full data, there were some people who said, 'Oh, how is it possible?' " says Mala Maini, who led the research.
In the study, Maini and her colleagues analyzed the blood of about 60 health care workers at a hospital over and over again. It was during the first wave of the pandemic, when vaccines weren't available. The workers repeatedly tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 despite being heavily exposed.
Maini started to wonder whether these health workers had, inside their blood, some type of protective element against SARS-CoV-2. Perhaps their previous encounters with other coronaviruses before the COVID-19 pandemic began had generated immune cells that could fight off a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
"That's what it looked like in this small subset of people," Maini says.
Inside the blood of 20 health care workers, she and her team found a special group of T cells that could do just that: recognize and stop SARS-CoV-2.
These special cells are called cross-reactive T cells. In general, T cells are thought to be second-line defenders in the immune system's hierarchy, Maini says. "First, antibodies come in and protect you against infection, and then T cells mop up the infected cells."
But in her study, the T cells appear at a very early stage of the infection, before the body can make antibodies. "There's increasing amount of data in SARS-CoV-2 that the T cells are having an unexpectedly early effect." And they seem to stop the infection in its tracks because the virus never reached detectable levels in the health care workers' respiratory tracts. (The cells are called cross-reactive because they recognize several types of coronaviruses. So just like cross-training involves several sports, cross-reactive cells work on several different viruses.)
As the pandemic surged, 19 of these 60 health workers eventually showed signs of a nascent infection. At the same time, these cross-reactive T cells rapidly replicated inside the health care workers' blood, and right away the infection stopped. The appearance of the T cells coincided with the cessation of the infection. They appeared to stymy the infection, Maini and her colleagues theorize. "It looks as if the T cells were able to protect them from a full-blown overt infection," she says.
In contrast, in blood samples taken from health care workers who did test positive for SARS-CoV-2, these cross-reactive T cells were missing or present at much lower levels. "People who had higher levels of these cross-reactive T cells at the baseline didn't get infected, versus the group who didn't," she adds.
And here's the kicker: These special T cells likely arose in the health care workers before the pandemic began. Their immune systems likely generated them when the workers were infected with another of the several coronaviruses that can strike humans.
"We don't know that for sure, but the most likely candidate would be the common cold coronaviruses that we're all exposed to," Maini says.
About 30% of colds are caused by four other coronaviruses known as seasonal coronaviruses (because they typically come around in winter and cause winter colds). These viruses circulate around the world and have been making people sick for decades, perhaps even centuries. Basically, every kid catches all four of them before age 5 or 6.
Even though these seasonal coronaviruses typically don't cause more than a runny nose and cough, your body still has to clear out the virus to prevent it from turning into a more serious problem. To do that, the immune system makes antibodies and T cells that recognize these coronaviruses. Some of these T cells stick around and watch out for the virus or a similar one to return again. The others die; the body can't afford to keep a whole T cell arsenal at the ready.
If you're lucky and have the right genes some of these T cells will also be able to recognize and help stop SARS-CoV-2. Maini estimates these cross-reactive T cells occur in only 10% to 15% of people.
Those previous coronaviruses that "have infected you can influence whether you have a response from cross-reactive T cells," says Brianne Barker, who's an immunologist at Drew University in New Jersey. In other words, all the colds Rosy (and I) endured before the pandemic could be helping her fight off SARS-CoV-2 via cross-reactive T cells.
Now, there are many caveats to this study. For starters, Maini says, the experiment occurred during the first wave of the pandemic, when the coronavirus was quite different from what it is now. She doesn't know if these cross-reactive T cells would be able to stop the omicron variant of the coronavirus. "So in the first wave, the virus wasn't as infectious as, for example, omicron," Maini says.
Also, the study finds only a correlation between the cross-reactive T cells and protection against infection. "It's an association," says immunologist Donna Farber of Columbia University. "I think it's difficult to say what actually prevented the infection. There are a variety of mechanisms that can just stop the virus in its tracks." (We'll get to a few of those in the next section of this story.)
That said, another study, published in Nature Communications in January, supports a role for cross-reactive T cells in fighting a SARS-CoV-2 infection. That study analyzed immune responses in people living with an infected household member. Again, the presence of cross-reactive T cells correlated with protection against infection.
On top of all that, T cells aren't the only immune component that can do this cross-reacting. Antibodies made to fight off seasonal coronavirus can also recognize SARS-CoV-2, says Raiees Andrabi, who's a vaccine immunologist at Scripps Research Institute. He and his team have evidence that the immune system brings these seasonal coronavirus antibodies back into action when you're exposed to SARS-CoV-2. "You can see a spike in the antibody levels when you're infected or immunized," Andrabi says.
But, he says, researchers don't know yet how much protection these cross-reactive antibodies offer in terms of fighting the infection. "There's not any concrete evidence from the literature that these antibodies can protect against severe disease."
Even if Rosy's immune system doesn't have cross-reactive antibodies or cross-reactive T cells to protect her from SARS-CoV-2, there's a 100% guarantee she has another protective device. And it's a powerful one.
SARS-CoV-2 is crafty. It has figured out how to sneak inside the cells of the respiratory tract quite easily. But once inside, the cells have their own trick up their sleeve.
It's called the RIG-I pathway. In a nutshell, it's an early-warning system for viruses that not only destroys the virus inside the cell but also prevents the virus from spreading to surrounding cells.
Inside your respiratory cells, tiny molecules, called RIG-I receptors, recognize and bind to a virus's genome (specifically its RNA). Once a RIG-I receptor sticks to a piece of viral RNA, it launches a massive immune response. "It tries to limit the viral infection as well as warn its neighbors so other cells can also go into an antiviral response" and not get infected too, says Drew University's Barker. Eventually, this response kills the infected cell, protects surrounding cells from infection and possibly brings in immune cells (like T cells) to help control the infection.
There's evidence the RIG-I pathway can clear out a SARS-CoV-2 infection before viral loads reach detectable levels or the immune system even has a chance to make antibodies, Barker says. "That's the idea."
Just as with cross-reactive T cells, some people are better able to detect SARS-CoV-2 inside their cells and stomp out the infection more quickly.
"Yes, there's evidence that some people are making a stronger RIG-I response and that's helping them clear the virus," Barker says. "A lot of people hypothesize that's what's going on with children."
For example, one study, published in Nature Biotechnology, found that compared with adults, children have more RIG-I receptors inside their nasal cells. And this higher concentration helps them respond more quickly to an infection.
"Yes, there's emerging data that this immune response in children is a little bit more sensitive and may react a bit stronger to different viral infections," Barker adds.
But at the end of the day, she says, Rosy's response to a SARS-CoV-2 exposure, in many ways, boils down to luck. It depends on her previous encounters with other coronaviruses as well as her genes. The latter determine how many RIG-I receptors she has inside her cells and how strongly they react to SARS-CoV-2, Barker says.
Finally, children are really, really good at stopping infections of any new virus, says Farber of Columbia University, because to them, essentially all viruses are "new" (except the ones they encountered through vaccines).
"For adults, a new pathogen is a really rare event. We hardly ever see new ones, right? But children are adapted to respond to new pathogens," she says. "They're ready to respond, and they do it more efficiently than we do."
Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut, a Democrat, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced on Thursday.
His office said on Thursday afternoon that a rapid test Mr. Lamont took showed a positive diagnosis, which was later confirmed with a second rapid self-test. Mr. Lamont was waiting for the results of a P.C.R. test.
The governor, 68, received a second booster shot on March 31, after federal health officials cleared the extra boosters earlier in the week for those 50 or older, among other groups. It takes about a week for the immune system to ramp up, and it is difficult to know exactly how someone was exposed to and infected with the virus.
I see some noise going over there in Britain, why not err on the side of caution and do this again? Mr. Lamont said then, referring to the surge of new cases in Britain, while getting the additional booster. I feel really good. Ill be safe at least for the next six months.
On Thursday, he said on Twitter that he felt good and was not experiencing any symptoms.
Weve done contact tracing to let people know, he said. Thankfully Im double boosted and I encourage everyone to get your vaccine and boosters if eligible.
Mr. Lamont said that he will isolate at home for the next five days and not attend any in-person events or meetings.
The highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as BA.2 has become the dominant version among new U.S. cases, four months after it was first detected in the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated on Tuesday that BA.2 accounted for about 72 percent of new U.S. cases in the week that ended April 2.
As of Wednesday, an average of 489 new virus cases per day were reported in Connecticut in the previous week. New cases have increased by 56 percent over the last two weeks, according to a New York Times database.
Last month, Mr. Lamont urged Connecticut residents to order rapid tests at covidtests.gov. With the BA.2 Covid variant spreading across the nation, Connecticut is ready, Lamont wrote in a tweet. Families have layers of protection available vaccines + boosters, quality masks, and at-home rapid testing.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Two years after the coronavirus became the focus of all of my coverage as a science reporter for The Times (and all of my thoughts every waking hour), it happened: I tested positive for the virus.
My case was mostly mild, as the virus generally is for any healthy 40-something individual. But the experience nevertheless gave me perspective I would not have gained from reading scientific papers or interviewing experts.
Over the past two years, I have written hundreds of articles about the coronavirus about asymptomatic infections, tests, our bodys immune defenses, breakthrough infections and boosters. I was interviewed myself dozens of times to answer questions about the disease, the pandemic and the U.S. response to the virus.
But all along, my relationship with the virus stayed academic, impersonal. Even when the Delta variant swept through India and I lay sleepless, worrying about my parents, it was still not quite at my door.
To be honest, Im surprised it took as long as it did for me to catch Covid. As someone who covers infectious diseases, Im not squeamish about pathogens, and my family and I have taken some risks during the pandemic. My husband teaches squash indoors, often without a mask, my children have been attending school in person albeit masked since the fall of 2020 and Ive traveled on airplanes, including on a 20-hour journey to India in the thick of the Omicron surge.
But we are all vaccinated and boosted (except for my 10-year-old daughter, who doesnt yet qualify for a booster) and relatively healthy, so we knew that while we might develop some symptoms if we were to get Covid, we would most likely recover quickly. We were careful, especially around vulnerable people, such as my mother-in-law and friends who have young children.
Over an (indoor) dinner in early March, a friend and I marveled at how our families had escaped Covid. The virus seemed to be in retreat and cases in New York City were lower than they had been for months. We thought we were in the clear.
April 8, 2022, 3:25 p.m. ET
I should have known I was tempting fate.
Three days later, I found an email in my spam folder from the citys school testing program alerting me that my son had tested positive for the virus. I immediately informed the school. That evening, a friendly man working for the city called to give me some information. He began with Covid is a disease caused by a virus called the coronavirus. It was nearly dinnertime, and I was still finishing up my story on the science of the coronavirus, of course so I asked if we could skip ahead. But he was required to go through every bit of detail about the disease, the symptoms and the quarantine protocol.
After 16 minutes of this one-sided discourse, he asked me if I had any questions. I didnt, and I am fortunate enough not to need the citys quarantine accommodation or free supplies.
That was Thursday, March 10. Looking back, my husband felt under the weather earlier that week, but a rapid test said he was virus free. My son, too, had had a scratchy throat, but had chalked it up to seasonal allergies. Just like the experts I have interviewed have said, the symptoms were indistinguishable.
Though my rapid test turned up negative, I decided to act as if I had Covid. I alerted my co-workers. I bailed on an outing with friends. My children canceled all their activities. I eventually did test positive.
On Friday night, my daughter developed a low-grade fever but was full of bounce again by the next morning. As expected, we adults were the most affected. I was taken over by a heavy cold and an unrelenting malaise. By the following Wednesday, I was too sick to work. I learned that even those with a mild case can experience serious symptoms.
I am privileged to have the luxury to work from home when I feel able and to take time off when I dont. And I am lucky, too, that my children are old enough not to need constant care and that they attend a school that accommodates remote learning. I knew even before I had Covid that the disease has a hugely disproportionate impact on underserved communities, but as I said on the Times podcast The Daily, becoming sick with the virus put that knowledge into sharp perspective.
Ive written about many diseases H.I.V., tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, polio that Ive never had. I could have done without this experience of getting Covid. Im not worried about these symptoms persisting for too long vaccination significantly cuts the risk of so-called long Covid but Im still inordinately fond of naps.
Im thankful to have gained a richer, broader immune defense to the virus. But mostly, I am glad to have a deeper understanding of what our readers have been experiencing.
Protesters challenged House Speaker Sherman Packard at a September rally in front of the State House, saying he was doing too little to stop federal vaccine mandates. Packard later sponsored House Bill 1455, which would prohibit the state from enforcing those federal mandates. (Annmarie Timmins-New Hampshire Bulletin)
In its nationwide survey of Covid-19 legislation seeking to limit the authority of public health officials, the Network for Public Health Law put New Hampshire in the top 10 with 16 bills. The real number is closer to 60 unprecedented or close to it according to state and local organizations.
In all my years of following the New Hampshire General Court, I cannot recall ever seeing so many bills clustered around a single topic, said Anna Brown, director of research and analysis for Citizens Count, a nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks to inform New Hampshire voters about issues and candidates. To put the number of coronavirus-related bills in perspective, consider the other hot topics in the Legislature this year: I counted about 30 bills related to election security this year, about two dozen bills related to education freedom accounts, and about 20 aimed at housing development.
Describing the bills as a wide-ranging attack on public health, more than 50 business leaders, healthcare institutions, and advocacy groups announced in January they had formed the 603 Coalition to defeat what they saw as a dangerous threat to public health.
The group has responded to every bill, often with in-person and written testimony. Part of the job has been debunking misinformation.
I am certainly concerned that people continue to make arguments that are against evidence-based science, said Steve Ahnen, president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association, a coalition member. I think we just need to continue to make the case why certain provisions or certain measures are counter to public health, and well continue to do that.
Their efforts have been matched by RebuildNH, a Covid-19-inspired advocacy group that lists among its goals protecting personal liberty and safeguarding the republic form of government enshrined in the state constitution.
RebuildNHs social media and email outreach, in addition to its multiple training sessions, has led 200 to 300 followers to contact lawmakers on dozens of bills.
Both sides have had mixed success.
About 20 of the nearly 60 bills introduced in January survived crossover day, meaning they still have a chance at becoming law. (One, House Bill 440, prohibiting the suspension of civil liberties during a state of emergency, was signed by Gov. Chris Sununu Monday.)
Here, there, everywhere
The 50-state survey made clear New Hampshire is not unique.
Nationwide, the Network for Public Health Law counted 234 bills restricting vaccine requirements in schools and workplaces; 204 prohibiting the closure of business and limits on visiting loved ones in hospitals or long-term care facilities; 114 taking away the authority of public health officials; 109 tied to emergency orders; and 50 on masking mandates.
Each issue has been the subject of at least one bill in New Hampshire, ranging from efforts to ease access to ivermectin and broaden exemptions to vaccine mandates to outlawing masks at schools and limiting the governors authority in future public emergencies.
Following 9/11, many states passed legislation with respect to public health emergency preparation and authority, said Donna Levin, national director of the Network for Public Health Law, in an email. However, at least according to my recollection, the recent legislation related to the limitation of measures taken to protect the publics health during the Covid-19 pandemic may be unprecedented.
Rep. Melissa Blasek, a Merrimack Republican and RebuildNHs executive director, said theres a reason the fight against pandemic safety measures has continued long after those measures have ended: a perceived ongoing threat to personal freedom.
We realized how much peoples privacy, how much their choice in medicine, can be stripped away by the government, she said. There will be other diseases. There will be other emergencies. These medical freedom bills were filed (because people) realized that government majorly overstepped and intervened in peoples right to choose what happens to their own body.
Defeated or diminished
Many bills have not only failed but did so quickly, never making it from one chamber to the other.
Those include severance pay and a generous six months of unemployment for workers fired after refusing a vaccine mandate; limits on workplace masking and testing requirements; allowing students to transfer to another school if their school required masks; and requiring a Covid-19 vaccine to attend school.
Also killed were bills allowing minors over 16 to get a vaccine without parental consent and making a positive case of Covid-19 an allowed exemption from a mandate.
Others remain in play but have been diminished by amendments.
Couple holding signs in front of the NH State House supporting vaccines
A bill that would have allowed families to opt out of all school vaccines with a vague conscientious objection now would simply make it easier for parents to file a religious exemption.
Another bill would have removed the Covid-19 immunization records of as many as 790,000 people immunized during an emergency order that prohibited them from opting out of the registry. The bill now would require the state to widely advertise an option to withdraw.
Another bill sought to require state-run hospitals and county nursing homes to honor a moral objection to vaccine mandates. Public health leaders warned lawmakers that allowing such a broad and vague exemption would render mandates meaningless, and put vulnerable patients and nursing home residents at risk.
That is not the argument that persuaded House members to amend the bill and drop the moral objection exemption, however. They cited the potential loss of $160 million in state funding if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concluded the exemption violated its rules.
Ones to watch
Surviving crossover day is a step toward victory but no guarantee. Because a vast majority of the Covid-19 inspired bills came from House members, it will be the Senate, a very different body, that will largely determine their fate.
Some of these bills may face an uphill battle in the Senate, Brown said. Very generally speaking, the Senate is more moderate and cautious than the House when it comes to changing state law.
There are a few big ones to watch.
House Bill 1210 would require colleges, universities and public and private employers that receive money from the federal or state government to honor not just religious and medical objections to a vaccine mandate but also moral objections.
Ahnen worries passage of that bill could cost private hospitals the same loss of funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and risk the health of patients and staff.
And it just really puts the state in position to be telling private employers what they should and shouldnt be doing with respect to trying to ensure the health and safety of their staff, their employees, their customers, and in our case, the patients that we serve, he said.
Its not the bill Blasek wanted either. She wanted it to apply to all employers regardless of whether they received public funding.
Its not as strong as I would personally prefer, but its what we are going to get this year, she said. This is where we are. Its definitely a big step.
House Bill 1606 sought to make it harder for the state to record a persons immunization in the states new vaccine registry by requiring a person to agree to have their information included rather than ask to be exempted. Only Texas and Montana operate their registries this way.
Public health officials, who say the registry is one of the most important public health tools for tracking a states protection against communicable disease, warned changing the registry from opt-out to opt-in would discourage people from participating.
The House amended the bill to require providers to ask a person each time they get a vaccine whether they want their immunization record included in the registry or excluded. Healthcare providers are glad to see opt-out dropped but are worried about the administrative burden the amended version creates.
Blasek calls this compromise a win: This effort failed last year and she believes the amended version still makes the registry opt-out.
Essentially a person will never be automatically put into the system, she said. That is clear in the bill.
House Bill 1131 would prohibit mandates in schools. A Senate committee heard from nearly 40 people during a three-hour hearing last week, all but eight of whom supported the bill.
House Bill 1379 would limit the Department of Health and Human Services power to require childhood vaccinations for diseases not already identified in state law. To add a new vaccination requirement, the department would need a three-fifths vote from the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services.
Lawmakers must wrap up their work in about two months. Thats a long way off in Ahnens eyes.
I think we just need to continue to make the case why certain provisions or measures are counter to public health, he said. And we just have to continue to share information to make sure lawmakers hear from their local hospitals, doctors, nurses, teachers, advocates, education folks, so that theyre hearing the facts of why its important to support public health in their communities. I dont think weve turned that corner on misinformation.
New York City officials are working to bolster the citys testing infrastructure as coronavirus cases rise largely fueled by a highly contagious subvariant of the virus but an election-year dispute in Washington, D.C., means some New Yorkers may have to pay to get tested.
Because federal emergency aid for testing, vaccines and therapeutics is stalled, certain providers are no longer able to provide testing to everyone free of charge, regardless of their insurance status. But New York City officials have said that tests at city-run sites will remain free for all.
Coronavirus cases in New York City have risen 77 percent in the past two weeks, according to a New York Times tracker. The increase is driven largely by BA.2, a highly contagious subvariant of the Omicron strain, and a loosening of pandemic restrictions.
City officials have said that testing is a crucial tool not only for tracking the spread of the virus, but also for stopping transmission. Heres what you need to know about getting tested in New York City.
Senators struck a $10 billion deal this week on emergency aid for testing, vaccines and therapeutics, but it has stalled amid an election-year dispute over immigration policy. With Congress set to leave for a scheduled two-week recess, final passage might not occur until later this month, meaning some uninsured people may have to pay out of pocket for tests.
April 8, 2022, 3:25 p.m. ET
Mayor Eric Adams and health officials announced on April 1 that the city wouldnt let the delay in Washington prevent the city from providing free testing and vaccination services through New York City Health and Hospitals.
We believe that health care is a human right, and we serve every New Yorker regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status, said Dr. Mitchell Katz, the hospitals president and chief executive.
A number of other providers offer testing across the city. The citys website includes a list of them, including ones that arent part of the citys health system. The state health department also lists testing sites on its website.
But if you are getting tested at a site that is not run by the city or state, it is best to ask ahead of time whether you will be charged. It is also a good idea to check with your insurer about whether there will be any fees involved for testing.
New York State officials have run a number of mass testing sites, including in New York City, throughout the pandemic. They scaled down many of them as the winter Omicron surge waned. The state has the capacity to reopen the sites through June if needed.
City officials have suggested that all New Yorkers get tested, including those who do not have Covid-19 symptoms or are at increased risk of developing serious illness from the virus.
Some testing sites do, however, have age requirements. For example, many of the mobile testing sites run by N.Y.C. Health and Hospitals only test people over age 4. And the at-home kits are for people over age 2.
And sites that arent run by the city or state may have other restrictions for testing, such as requiring recent exposure to the virus, so it is best to ask ahead of time.
Policies at the various private testing tents on sidewalks throughout the city vary widely, so check before you swab.
Outside Columbia Universitys gates in Manhattan, workers at two of three testing tents said they were continuing to offer free tests to people without insurance.
Workers at C19Testing, which had a blue and orange tent, and LabQ Diagnostics, which had a blue and red tent, both said there had been no policy change. But across the street, a worker at a RapidNYC tent, which was black and red, said he could not run the tests without insurance information.
The organizations website explained further: We will only be able to accept patients who are fully insured and have been exposed to COVID-19 for testing.
Also look out for possible hidden charges. In Times Square, a worker at a green and white EZTestNY tent on 41st Street and Broadway said he could run a PCR test for free with no insurance, but a rapid test would cost an uninsured person $30.
The companys website, however, said that uninsured patients could no longer be tested at all without payment or a billing agreement as of March 18. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause our valued customers, the company wrote.
Sharon Otterman and Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Just because your at-home coronavirus (COVID-19) test is past its expiration date, doesnt necessarily mean its actually expired, according to a new report.
Earlier this week, a New York Times article explained that the regulatory process associated with at-home coronavirus tests has resulted in various tests being listed with earlier expiration dates, despite the fact that they may still be effective past that date.
Its true that home Covid-19 tests are marked with expiration dates, but the actual expiration for a box of tests can be a moving target. Before throwing away a home test because you think it may have expired, do a little homework first, according to the article.
The Times spoke with Dr. Michael Mina, the chief science officer for eMed and an expert in at-home tests, who explained that the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) process in determining the shelf life of coronavirus tests has resulted in many tests effectiveness being extended past the expiration date labeled on the box.
For some products, the FDA allows manufacturers to conduct whats known as accelerated dating, where researchers quickly simulate aging conditions to determine a products shelf life. This process may only take a few weeks, but can determine whether a product will be good for months, or even years, in the future.
However, in the case of at-home coronavirus tests, the FDA is requiring real-time data, meaning manufacturers must actually wait for the months to pass to determine a products shelf life.
As a result, many at-home coronavirus tests were initially made available with expiration dates six months in the future, as manufacturers only had six months of real-time data to prove their long-term viability.
But as more months pass and manufacturers continue their studies, they may find that the tests remain effective and seek an extension of the original expiration date that is posted on the test.
When the test is new, it has a six-month expiration, Mina told The New York Times. But once you get to six months, the FDA. may extend it. Thats been happening a lot, which is exceedingly confusing.
So how can you check to see if the expiration date for your at-home test has been extended?
At-home test users can visit the FDA website and view all documents related to extending a tests shelf life, including antigen tests and molecular tests.
From there, search for the brand of at-home test you have, see if there has been any extension and then do some simple math.
Hypothetically, if a tests shelf life has been extended from six months to 12 months, simply add six months to the listed expiration date to determine the updated date.
Experts said they believe that the actual shelf life of these at-home tests are much longer than the six months that they were originally listed with, meaning users should make sure they check for expiration date extensions before tossing out what may be a perfectly good test.
The reality is that these tests are very, very stable, Mina told The Times. My expectation is that most of them, if not all of them, eventually will have a two-year expiration date at least. If the control line is showing up and its within 18 to 24 months of the manufacture date, you should assume the test is working.
Experts say XE may be more contagious than omicron subvariant BA.2, though more evidence is needed.
Though COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to fall worldwide, medical experts and public health agencies continue to identify new variants of the virus.
BA.2, a subvariant of omicron that experts believe is more contagious than the original BA.1, became dominant in the U.S. in late March.
More recently, some people have expressed concerns online about a potential new coronavirus variant called XE, with one Twitter user claiming that it was found in the United Kingdom and could be the most transmissible variant yet. Another person said XE combines BA.1, the original version of omicron, and omicron subvariant BA.2.
THE QUESTION
Is there a new coronavirus subvariant called XE?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, there is a new coronavirus subvariant called XE. It combines the BA.1 and BA.2 versions of omicron.
WHAT WE FOUND
Viruses like the one that causes COVID-19 mutate as they replicate. People can be infected with different strains of a virus at the same time and sometimes they combine during replication, Saralyn Mark, M.D., former senior medical advisor to the White House and American Medical Women's Association COVID-19 Lead, explained.
In its weekly epidemiological update released on March 29, the World Health Organization (WHO) said XE is a recombinant variant, or combination, of the BA.1 and BA.2 versions of omicron. It was first detected in the United Kingdom on Jan. 19.
The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in an update on March 25 that 637 cases of XE had been confirmed in the country so far. In the last week alone, more than 333,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK, the agency reported on April 8.
A small number of XE cases have been detected in the US, where the new subvariant is considered another lineage of omicron and not a new variant of interest or concern, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told VERIFY.
Is XE more contagious than other COVID-19 strains?
Early data show the XE subvariant may be about 10% more transmissible than BA.2, but its too early to know exactly how contagious it is, the WHO and other experts say. According to UKHSA, the data cannot yet be interpreted as an estimate of growth advantage for the XE subvariant.
If XE is 10% more transmissible than BA.2, that would make it one of the most transmissible viruses in the world, Mark said.
Medical experts dont have enough evidence yet to draw conclusions about severity or vaccine effectiveness either. But the CDC expects the XE subvariant to behave similarly to BA.2 because they share the same spike protein.
Some medical experts believe BA.2 is about 50% more contagious than BA.1. But vaccines provide the same level of protection against severe illness and hospitalization of BA.2 compared to other variants.
How common are recombinant variants?
Recombinant variants are not an unusual occurrence, particularly when there are several variants in circulation, and several have been identified over the course of the pandemic to date, Professor Susan Hopkins, chief medical advisor with UKHSA, said.
Another recombinant variant identified during the pandemic is a combination of the delta and omicron variants that some have called deltacron. Delta-omicron recombinant cases are exceedingly rare in the United States, the CDC previously told VERIFY.
Most recombinant variants die off relatively quickly, Hopkins said. Its unclear right now if this will happen with the XE subvariant.
Though immunity to BA.1 and BA.2 currently remains high due to COVID-19 vaccines and natural infection, it could wane over time and allow a new subvariant like XE to take hold in the US, Mark said.
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A look at some of the top headlines trending online today including the latest updates on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, Donald Trump and coronavirus news and much more.
Russian attack on railway station in eastern Ukraine leaves dozens dead, officials say (Fox News)
Ukraine Calls for More Arms, Girds for Heavier Fighting Against Russia in East (WSJ)
Russian troops discussed killing Ukrainian civilians in radio transmissions intercepted by Germany, source says (CNN)
Zelenskyy says situation in Borodyanka is much worse than in Bucha (CBS)
Food prices soar to record levels on Ukraine war disruptions (AP)
Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court (NPR)
New York Attorney General asks judge to hold Donald Trump in contempt for stonewalling on documents (CNBC)
Criminal investigation into Trump and his company continues as prosecutors review new evidence, NY DA says (CNN)
Trump says Secret Service blocked him from joining Jan. 6 march to the Capitol (Politico)
US likely to see a surge of Covid-19 in the fall, Fauci says (CNN)
New wave of Covid cases hits U.S. officials, rattles Washington (NBC)
Pelosi tests positive for COVID-19 a day after event at White House with Biden (PBS)
Federal appeals court upholds Biden vaccine rule for all federal employees (CBS)
Tiger Woods pleased with 1-under 71 in return at Masters, but knows long way to go at Augusta (ESPN)
Opening Day in MLB: New No. 21 patches, NL DHs and Guardians (AP)
Pink Floyd reunite for Ukraine protest song (BBC)
Ferrero recalls some Kinder chocolates from U.S. over salmonella fears (Reuters)
