Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is airborne. That simple declaration from the White House is what some experts around the world have known since 2020 and it could have major implications for U.S. businesses and organizations.
Dr. Alondra Nelson, head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and deputy assistant to President Joe Biden, announced the highly-awaited words in a recent statement.
"The most common way COVID-19 is transmitted from one person to another is through tiny airborne particles of the virus hanging in indoor air for minutes or hours after an infected person has been there," she said.
That single sentence confirms what was first uncovered in a March 2020 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) officials. However, that information was not relayed to Americans until several months later.
It took even longer for both the CDC and WHO to acknowledge COVID's spread via aerosols, despite growing evidence.
"SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosols throughout the duration of our experiment (3 hours)" and was more stable on non-porous surfaces, the study said.
The latter point was emphasized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a month later, without acknowledging the former. Eventually, the U.S. adopted the idea that transmission in the air was dominant, but through larger particles, or droplets, in the summer of 2020.
Why droplets were favored over aerosols has to do with the difference in the way aerosol experts and public health experts define the size of the particle. A tug-of-war between both sides made headlines in the first few months of the pandemic and have continued under the radar ever since.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden listens to Dr. Alondra Nelson, his pick for OSTP Deputy Director for Science and Society (Reuters)
Deeming the coronavirus airborne places a burden on businesses, schools, and other indoor venues to ensure proper masking when COVID-19 levels are high in an area. In addition, it also presents the problem of revamping air systems or adding filtration and ventilation.
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Marina Jabsky, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, explained how to think about it.
"If you've ever been in the same room as somebody who's smoking, regardless of how far apart form them you're standing, you're gonna smell the smoke, right? Because the air particles will expand to fill the space," Jabsky said.
And size matters. The larger the space with fewer people in it, the lower the concentration is going to be.
"If you do not have a solid, well-functioning ventilation system, you're going to have a buildup of concentration of particles, and that's where the risk really increases," Jabsky said.
That's the reason behind the push for better quality masks, which the U.S. government has provided to Americans via retail pharmacies and community health centers for free. It's also why the American Rescue Plan (ARP) included $122 billion for schools and $350 billion for state, local and Tribal governments to help provide better ventilation systems.
One industry in particular was forced to quickly figure out how to keep its employees safe. After facing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the pandemic, hospitals are now able to regularly supply PPE to their staff. However, the cost of that PPE has gone up significantly compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Hospitals also adapted by either putting in better filtration systems, adding ventilation, or increasing the number of isolation rooms as needed. The steps to ensure filtration and ventilation came after it was discovered the virus was airborne.
"If it were droplet, and only droplets, then some of the masking requirements and some of the ventilation requirements might not be necessary," said Nancy Foster, vice president of quality and patient safety policy at the American Hospital Association.
Foster told Yahoo Finance that for droplets, proper masking is still be necessary, but some of the bigger facility upgrades might not be.
A person wearing a mask walks out of a store past a "Wear a face mask" sign, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 9, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
There is lingering pressure from some experts to maintain droplets as part of the definition of how the virus is transmitted. And that can impact the difference in which protective gear is used by health professionals.
Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease doctor at Stanford, explained why.
He said droplets may not be the primary route, but they aren't excluded in the range of particle sizes.
Scientists have noted "both droplets and aerosols, and particles of sizes in between the two" hold the potential for spread, Karan said.
"People can still have larger droplets that land in their mucosa or land in other exposed areas. So it doesn't make sense to completely remove the idea of droplets," he said.
In a February interview with Yahoo Finance, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky didn't call it airborne, but noted Sars-Cov-2 was like any other respiratory virus and that masking and ventilation are essential to curb transmission.
Kim Prather, an aerosol expert at UC San Diego, is another expert who has consistently asked for widespread acknowledgement of airborne transmission, pointing to another coronavirus, SARS, noting it was airborne as well.
"One of the biggest lessons learned (then) was you've got to follow the precautionary principle. If you think it has any chance of being airborne, that has to be out there....whether it's the dominant (pathway) or not," she said.
OSTP's Nelson agreed, citing the CDC's latest definition of the spread of the disease that included "small droplets and aerosol particles that contain the virus."
It's why in her statement, Nelson included ways to cost-effectively upgrade air systems for businesses.
"Were saying it more loudly now and with a unified voice across the federal government that the most important mitigation measures for restaurants and businesses are masking, distancing, and dilution or removal of COVID-19 virus particles in the air. These actions are more effective at reducing the spread of COVID-19 than sanitizing surfaces, which the CDC has said is not a substantial contributor to new infections," Nelson said.
But, according to Dr. Georgia Lagoudas, sanitizing is still a useful strategy.
"Over the past two years, we've had to deal with an evolving virus and learning new science," said Lagoudas, OSTP's Senior Advisor for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy.
In April 2020, (the same day former President Donald Trump infamously suggested digesting disinfectant to get rid of COVID-19), DHS acting under secretary Bill Bryan said the virus could survive on surfaces for up to 18 hours in low humidity, low temperature environments.
The idea of aerosolized virus staying suspended for up to three hours wasn't discussed. Officials were mostly focused on symptomatic or asymptomatic spread, in addition to figuring out how to detect and curb transmission, as well as identify what substances break down the viral particles.
However, identifying aerosols became especially important after it became clear asymptomatic spread was occurring at a higher rate than expected. It's why masking was recommended soon after Bryan's presentation.
"Those two things have made the difference for this over every other disease process that we've seen in our lifetimes," said Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room doctor in Calgary, about asymptomatic and airborne spread.
"But neither of these changes, by the WHO or the CDC, were done in an open fashion," Vipond added.
Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert and professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, noted the reliance on droplets missed the mark of how easily and effectively COVID-19 transmits.
Nelson used "strong, powerful, clear words that we should have heard from the CDC two years ago," Marr said.
Saskia Popescu, an assistant professor in the biodefense program at George Mason University, recently told Yahoo Finance the topic remains important.
"We definitely need to talk about aerosol transmission," she said.
"We need to make it very clear to people you can get infected by breathing it," Popsecu added.
Dr. Leyla Asadi, an infectious disease doctor, expressed a similar sentiment.
I think that the word airborne is very straightforward. It gives you a really excellent mental model, you dont need a complicated chart," she said.
Jose-Luis Jimenez, an aerosol expert and chemistry professor at the University of Colorado, has been one of the leaders of the effort to ensure global understanding of the virus's route of transmission.
He and Marr penned a recent op-ed highlighting the problem now is too many people will remember what they were first told which was that the virus didn't spread far. This is why the combination of COVID-fatigue and politically-aligned resistance to mask use will remain an obstacle for ending the pandemic, they wrote.
However, the outlook isn't entirely grim. With the White House now behind the push, improving indoor air quality is a goal that can be worked toward beyond COVID.
It's "something we should be thinking about not just because of COVID, but because of general health," Popescu said.
There have long been studies showing those in urban or lower-income areas suffer from chronic health issues related to poor air quality. With upgraded air systems, that could improve overall health.
Its a chronic problem of not investing in infrastructure, not investing in ventilation, NYCOSH's Jabsky said.
Prather noted, "We clean our water, we will not drink unfiltered water, but we will breathe unfiltered air. I mean, how does that make sense? We need cleaner indoor air."
Jabsky hopes the pandemic acts as a catalyst for the cause.
At this point, if were having a global pandemic that is due to a disease that is airborne (and that is) not incentive enough to deal with our ventilation issues, I just dont know what is going to be the stimulant, she said.
Marr explained what's needed is an overhaul of regulations and standards.
"I think there's longer term changes, in terms of how we design and operate our buildings that we should be thinking about. And, ultimately, to put some teeth into this, there will need to be standards and regulations. And those will take years," she said.
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Daily coronavirus case counts in Massachusetts are hovering just above 1,000, representing a slight uptick in recent weeks. On Greater Boston, local doctors said the pandemic still isn't over, so it's important to keep your COVID-19 supplies stocked up to protect yourself and your loved ones.
"As much as we wish to put this behind us, it is still very much with us. We need to understand that increasingly, we see more severe COVID among people who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated," said Dr. Cassandra Pierre, medical director of Boston Medical Center Public Health Programs.
Coronavirus hospitalization rates in Massachusetts have stayed low. Dr. Lakshman Swamy, critical care physician with Cambridge Health Alliance, said he currently doesn't have any COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
But, he added that COVID-19 is always on the horizon and it's important to have masks and testing kits at home. Swamy said indoor public spaces are still a good time to wear a mask and he also recommends testing at home before attending gatherings.
Another key step in this stage of COVID-19 is talking to your doctor as soon as you test positive to get access to prescription coronavirus treatments.
More broadly, Pierre said protecting yourself from COVID-19 starts with maintaining good overall health by getting screenings and taking care of chronic illness.
"That's going to put you in good stead for so many things including COVID, and this is the right time to do it. The weather is great and you want to make sure that you have a good summer," Pierre said.
Watch: How you can prep for COVID
Total vaccine doses distributed: 708,450,345
Patients whove received the first dose: 255,975,678
Patients whove received the second dose: 218,135,613
% of population fully vaccinated: 65.7%
% of infections tied to the Omicron Variant: 100%
LONDON (AP) In the latest Senate package targeted at stopping the coronavirus, U.S. lawmakers dropped nearly all funding for curbing the virus beyond American borders, a move many health experts slammed as dangerously short-sighted.
They warn the suspension of COVID-19 aid for poorer countries could ultimately allow the kind of unchecked transmission needed for the next worrisome variant to emerge and unravel much of the progress achieved so far.
The U.S. has been the biggest contributor to the global pandemic response, delivering more than 500 million vaccines, and the lack of funding will be a major setback. The money has paid for numerous interventions, including a mass vaccination campaign in the Cameroonian capital that saw hundreds of thousands of people get their first dose, as well as the construction of a COVID-19 care facility in South Africa and the donation of 1,000 ventilators to that country.
Other U.S.-funded vaccination campaigns in dozens of countries, including Uganda, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Mali, could also come to a grinding halt.
READ MORE: Biden orders research push on long COVID, a still mysterious condition
Any stoppage of funds will affect us, said Misaki Wayengera, a Ugandan official who heads a technical committee advising the government on the pandemic response. He said Uganda has leaned heavily on donor help it received more than 11 million vaccines from the U.S. and that any cuts would make it very difficult for us to make ends meet.
This is a bit of a kick in the teeth to poor countries that were promised billions of vaccines and resources last year in grand pledges made by the G7 and the G20, said Michael Head, a global health research fellow at Britains Southampton University.
Given how badly weve failed on vaccine equity, its clear all of those promises have now been broken, he said, adding that without concerted effort and money to fight COVID-19 in the coming months, the pandemic could persist for years.
While about 66 percent of the American population has been fully immunized against the coronavirus, fewer than 15 percent of people in poorer countries have received a single dose. Health officials working on COVID-19 vaccination in developing countries supported by the U.S. say they expect to see a reversal of progress once the funds disappear.
Vaccination will stop or not even get started in some countries, said Rachel Hall, executive director of U.S. government advocacy at the charity CARE. She cited estimates from USAID that the suspended funding would mean scrapping testing, treatment and health services for about 100 million people.
Although vaccines are more plentiful this year, many poorer countries have struggled to get shots into arms and hundreds of millions of donated vaccines have either expired, been returned or sat unused. To address those logistical hurdles, U.S. aid has financed critical services in countries across Africa, including the safe delivery of vaccines, training health workers and fighting vaccine misinformation.
For example, in November the U.S. Embassy in the Cameroonian capital set up a tent for mass vaccination: Within the first five days, more than 300,000 people received a dose. Those kinds of events will now be harder to conduct without American funds.
Hall also noted there would be consequences far beyond COVID-19, saying countries struggling with multiple disease outbreaks, like Congo and Mali, would face difficult choices.
They will have to choose between fighting Ebola, malaria, polio, COVID and more, she said.
Jeff Zients, the outgoing leader of the White House COVID-19 task force, expressed regret the legislation doesnt include resources for the international pandemic fight, noting that would also compromise efforts to track the virus genetic evolution.
It is a real disappointment that theres no global funding in this bill, he said. This virus knows no borders, and its in our national interest to vaccinate the world and protect against possible new variants.
Still, Zients announced the U.S. would be the first to donate tens of millions of doses for children to poorer countries and said more than 20 nations had already requested the shots.
J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, lamented that lawmakers were erring on the side of optimism about the pandemic precisely when another surge might be arriving.
Weve made that mistake several times in this pandemic. And we may be making that mistake again, he said. In recent weeks, COVID-19 cases caused by the hugely infectious omicron subvariant BA.2 have surged across Europe, and American officials say they expect a U.S. spike soon.
Other experts worried the suspension of U.S. global support for COVID-19 might prompt officials to drop current vaccination goals. The World Health Organization had set a target of immunizing at least 70 percent of people in all countries by the middle of this year, but with nearly 50 countries vaccinating fewer than 20 percent of their populations, hitting that target is highly unlikely.
Instead, some organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation have pushed for officials to refocus vaccination goals away from vaccinating 70 percent of all adults by summer to vaccinating 90 percent of those most at-risk in each country, in what some critics say is an implicit acknowledgment of the worlds repeated failures to share vaccines fairly. Others point out there shouldnt be competing vaccine targets and that health authorities simply need to do more, rather than adjusting global goals.
In Nigeria, which has so far received at least $143 million in COVID-19 aid from the U.S, authorities dismissed suggestions their coronavirus programs would suffer as a result of lost funding. The Nigerian presidents office said help from the U.S. was mostly in kind via capacity building, research support and donations of laboratory equipment and vaccines. We are confident that this will not cause any disruption of our current programs, it said.
READ MORE: GOP blocks $10 billion Senate COVID bill, demands votes on immigration
However, others warned the U.S. decision set an unfortunate precedent for global cooperation to end the pandemic at a time when fresh concerns like the Ukraine war are drawing more attention.
U.S. President Joe Biden originally planned to convene a virtual summit in the first quarter of this year to keep international efforts on track, but no event has been scheduled.
In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, we dont yet have a final date for the summit, but we are working closely with countries and international partners to advance commitments, said a senior Biden administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly.
As of this month, WHO said it had gotten only $1.8 billion of the $16.8 billion needed from donors to speed access to coronavirus vaccines, medicines and diagnostics.
Nobody else is stepping up to fill the void at the moment and the U.S. decision to suspend funding may lead other donor countries to act similarly, said Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, director of Duke Universitys Global Health Innovation Center.
Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, described the U.S. suspension of funding as devastating.
How could this possibly be what were debating right now? she asked. Its a moral obligation to the rest of the world to continue to contribute to this global pandemic response, not only to protect ourselves but to protect people from around the world.
AP writers Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda; Mogomotsi Magome and Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg, and Chinedu Asadu in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
Americans dont need to worry yet about a new coronavirus wave from the BA.2 variant, according to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
The news: Gottlieb told CNBC Tuesday that he believes the United States will avoid a spring coronavirus wave from the BA.2 variant, which is a subvariant of the omicron variant.
Yes, but: Gottlieb said theres a chance COVID-19 cases are higher right now than believed, since people can get COVID-19 testing at home, which limits data collection of the national numbers.
The bigger picture: Experts have been debating whether the new BA.2 subvariant will cause a wave in the United States since it started to break out in Europe and Asia, as I reported for the Deseret News.
CLEVELAND, Ohio The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarifies who should get second COVID-19 vaccine booster dose, and the federal government takes additional steps to research and treat long covid.
Cleveland.com is rounding up some of the most notable coronavirus news making headlines online. Heres what you need to know for Friday, April 8.
CDC clarifies who should get second COVID-19 vaccine booster
People who have had the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccine series plus one booster dont need a second booster if they recently were infected with the omicron COVID-19 variant, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said recently.
People in this category could wait two to four months before their second booster, she said.
The CDC expanded eligibility for an additional booster dose for certain individuals who may be at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. People over the age of 50 can now get an additional booster 4 months after their prior dose to increase their protection further. This is especially important for those 65 and older and those 50 and older with underlying medical conditions that increase their risk for severe disease from COVID-19, the agency said.
There are no known safety issues for those eligible for a second booster to get one now, even if they may need another shot this fall, Walensky said.
Federal push outlined to research, treat long covid
President Joe Biden directed the federal government to take additional steps to research and treat long covid, in which symptoms of COVID-19 linger long after the initial infection clears.
Long covid is estimated to affect between 7.7 million and 23 million Americans, according to a recent federal report. The condition is linked to fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms that last for months or even years.
The Department of Health and Human Services will coordinate a government-wide plan that includes detailing available services and support for long covid patients, speed up efforts to enroll participants in a clinical research study and pursue federal protections for people with the condition, according to news reports.
The government also will expand a nationwide network of long covid clinics being run through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and collect feedback from people living with long covid.
Medicare Part B to provide free home COVID-19 tests
Medicare Part B recipients, including those enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, will now be able to get free over-the-counter COVID-19 tests, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Medicare recipients are eligible to receive up to eight free tests per month from participating pharmacies and healthcare providers. A list of participating stores and providers is here.
This will be the first time Medicare has covered over-the-counter and self-administered COVID-19 tests. The new policy applies to tests approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a news release.
Oneida County is distributing 4,000 more COVID-19 home test kits in Rome and Utica on Friday.
This is part of an effort at the state and local levels to increase accessibility to testing to curb the spread of COVID-19.
At this stage in the pandemic, testing is essential to keep us on the road to normalcy, Picente said. Home test kits make it extremely easy to ensure you are not spreading the virus to your family, friends, co-workers or among school populations. Oneida County will continue to make sure these tools are available to everyone who needs them.
The tests will be distributed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Griffiss International Airport, 706 Hangar Road in Rome, and on Water Street in Utica. Those going to the Water Street giveaway should enter from Whitesboro Street by PJ Green and exit on Railroad Street by Union Station.
Each car will receive four test kits while supplies last.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Addressing the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. My Administration has made combating the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and guiding the Nation through the worst public health crisis in more than a century, our top priority. When I came into office, COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on our country closing our businesses, keeping our kids out of school, and forcing us into isolation. Today, America has the tools to protect against COVID-19 and to dramatically decrease its risks. We move towards a future in which COVID-19 does not disrupt our daily lives and is something we prevent, protect against, and treat.
As we chart the path forward, we remember the more than 950,000 people in the UnitedStates lost to COVID-19. They were beloved parents, grandparents, children, siblings, spouses, neighbors, and friends. More than 200,000 children in the United States have lost a parent or caregiver to the disease. Each soul is irreplaceable, and the families and communities left behind are still reeling from profound loss. Many families and communities have already received support from Federal programs that help with the loss they have experienced. As we move forward, we commit to ensuring that families and communities can access these support programs and connect to resources they may need to help with their healing, health, and well-being.
At the same time, many of our family members, neighbors, and friends continue to experience negative long-term effects of COVID-19. Many individuals report debilitating, long-lasting effects of having been infected with COVID-19, often called long COVID. These symptoms can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19 including individuals across ages, races, genders, and ethnicities; individuals with or without disabilities; individuals with or without underlying health conditions; and individuals whether or not they had initial symptoms. Individuals experiencing long COVID report experiencing new or recurrent symptoms, which can include anxiety and depression, fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, heart palpitations, disordered sleep, chest and joint pain, headaches, and other symptoms. These symptoms can persist long after the acute COVID-19 infection has resolved. Even young people and otherwise healthy people have reported long COVID symptoms that last for many months. These symptoms may be affecting individuals ability to work, conduct daily activities, engage in educational activities, and participate in their communities. Our world-class research and public health organizations have begun the difficult work of understanding these new conditions, their causes, and potential prevention and treatment options. Our health care and support programs are working to help meet the needs of individuals experiencing the lasting effects of COVID-19. To organize the Federal Governments response, executive departments and agencies (agencies) must work together to use the expertise, resources, and benefit programs of the Federal Government to ensure that we are accelerating scientific progress and providing individuals with the support and services they need.
In addition, the American public is grappling with a mental health crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. Too many have felt the effects of social isolation, sickness, economic insecurity, increased caregiver burdens, and grief. My Administration has made significant investments in mental health as well as substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery support for the American public, including by expanding access to community-based behavioral health services. We are committed to advancing these behavioral health efforts in order to better identify the effects of the pandemic on mental health, substance use, and well-being, and to take steps to address these effects for the people we serve.
Our Nation can continue to protect the public and spare countless families from the deepest pain imaginable if everybody does their part. Today, we have numerous tools to protect ourselves and our loved ones from COVID-19 from vaccines to tests, treatments, masks, and more. My Administration recognizes the toll of this pandemic on the American public and commits to redoubling our efforts to support the American people in addressing the long-term effects of COVID-19 on their lives and on society.
Sec. 2. Organizing the Government-Wide Response to the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19. (a) The Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) shall coordinate the Government-wide response to the long-term effects of COVID-19. My Administration will harness the full potential of the Federal Government, in coordination with public- and private-sector partners, to mount a full and effective response. The Secretary shall report on the coordination efforts to the Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response and Counselor to the President and to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy.
(b) The heads of agencies shall assist and provide information to the Secretary, consistent with applicable law, as may be necessary to carry out the Secretarys duties described in subsection (a) of this section.
(c) In performing the duties described in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary shall seek information from relevant nongovernmental experts, organizations, and stakeholders, including individuals affected directly by the long-term effects of COVID-19. The Secretary shall consider using all available legal authorities, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to assist in gathering relevant information, including a waiver under 42 U.S.C. 247d(f).
Sec. 3. Report on the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19. The Secretary, supported within the Department of Health and Human Services by the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, shall publish a public report within 120 days of the date of this memorandum outlining services and mechanisms of support across agencies to assist the American public in the face of the far-reaching and long-term effects of COVID-19. The report shall outline Federal Government services to support individuals experiencing long COVID, individuals and families experiencing a loss due to COVID-19, and all those grappling with mental health and substance use issues in the wake of this pandemic. The report shall also specifically address the long-term effects of COVID-19 on underserved communities and efforts to address disparities in availability and adoption of services and support for such communities.
Sec. 4. National Research Action Plan on Long COVID. (a)Coordinated efforts across the public and private sectors are needed to advance progress in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and provision of services for individuals experiencing long COVID. The Secretary, supported by the Assistant Secretary for Health and in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Energy, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall coordinate a Government-wide effort to develop the first-ever interagency national research agenda on long COVID, to be reflected in a National Research Action Plan. The National Research Action Plan will build on ongoing efforts across the Federal Government, including the landmark RECOVER Initiative implemented by the National Institutes of Health. The Secretary shall release the jointly developed National Research Action Plan within 120 days of the date of this memorandum.
(b) The National Research Action Plan shall build upon existing research efforts and include strategies to:
(i) help measure and characterize long COVID in both children and adults, including with respect to its frequency, severity, duration, risk factors, and trends over time;
(ii) support the development of estimates on prevalence and incidence of long COVID disaggregated by demographic groups and symptoms;
(iii) better understand the epidemiology, course of illness, risk factors, and vaccine effectiveness in prevention of long COVID;
(iv) advance our understanding of the health and socioeconomic burdens on individuals affected by long COVID, including among different race and ethnicity groups, pregnant people, and those with underlying disabilities;
(v) foster development of new treatments and care models for long COVID based on a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus;
(vi) inform decisions related to high-quality support, services, and interventions for long COVID;
(vii) improve data-sharing between agencies and academic and industry researchers about long COVID, to the extent permitted by law; and
(viii) specifically account for the pandemics effect on underserved communities and rural populations.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the UnitedStates, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The Secretary is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
Covid is hitting Broadway again.
Several highly anticipated shows have been affected by breakthrough cases of Covid-19, as Broadway looks to make up for pandemic losses with big names and longtime favorites lighting up the Great White Way.
Local doctors remain optimistic that the U.S. will not see a BA.2 subvariant surge as other countries are now experiencing.
CLEVELAND While the UK is dealing with record levels of COVID-19 infections, the Omicron BA.2 subvariant isnt scaring local health experts.
BA.2 is here in the states. It's here in Northeast Ohio. We sequence positive samples every week, said Cleveland Clinic head of Microbiology Dr. Dan Rhoads.
Despite seeing an increased proportion of cases of the BA.2 subvariant, locally we arent seeing an increase in total cases.
Weve often looked across the pond as a bellwether, but there are other variables now playing in our favor.
In the United Kingdom, one in every 13 people is sick. Scientists there are also watching a new, mutant Omicron variant known as XE, which the World Health Organization says is 10 percent more contagious than BA.2.
There's a lot of variables, but it's hard to put your finger on one, that makes us different, said Dr. Rhoads, mentioning widespread immunity, how long that immunity may last, even the weather.
I think it would be overly optimistic to say what's happening in the UK now with the surge in cases is not going to happen here, he said. But at the same time, I don't think it would be surprising if we had a different experience because there's a lot of changes and variability throughout this course of the pandemic.
What we think is protecting us is because of the two waves are so close together, that enough people were infected by Omicron, that that were, we're kind of protected, said University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Childrens Dr. Amy Edwards. Now how long that protection will last, we don't know. And if people start to become non-immune, and the BA.2 variant is still around, we do expect to start to see a steady, slow increase.
Dr. Edwards noted a slight uptick in the positivity rate in recent days, but with Northeast Ohio cases already at 72 percent BA.2, she doesnt expect to see a huge difference over the next few weeks.
I think that we're okay for now, she said, adding warmer weather could also offer some protection if SARS COV-2 proves to be as seasonal as other coronaviruses and influenza.
It's possible maybe that the summer will protect us. And that it won't really become an issue until the fall, Dr. Edwards added. We don't really know. It's just kind of something we're watching.
An FDA panel of outside experts met today to look at the COVID vaccine strategy for the rest of the year. The point was discussion, not decisions. But the panel said to meet demand this fall, clinical trials on updated vaccines need to be underway by next month.
Edwards says a multivalent vaccine like Moderna is looking at, could provide broad protection against many variants.
[It is] basically a booster shot that has so many different versions of the spike protein in it that presumably it would create immunity that would be very broad against any variant. Something like that may really turn the tide, she said. And make these future waves basically non-existent.
Until thats available, staying ready for anything means getting boosted when youre eligible, and hanging onto masks and tests for when we could need them again.
There's a point at which it's all about risk calculation, you know. And for us right now, the risk is relatively low, especially if you're in outdoor settings, she said.
What I would encourage people to do is consider that maybe there's some gray area, maybe everything's not black and white, said Dr. Rhoads. Maybe we need to turn up and turn down our behavior over time, depending on what's happening in the community.
The same tools that we've used previously, we can use moving forward to try to keep ourselves and our communities as safe as possible, he said.
