CNN
A nearly three-week protest in Ottawa over mandated Covid-19 precautions in Canada may be approaching its end as police tell demonstrators to either leave immediately or face legal consequences.
The action is imminent, said Steve Bell, Ottawa Police Service interim chief. In the past few days, we have been communicating directly with the unlawful protestors. We have told them they must leave, and we have warned them the consequences of disobeying these rules.
Officers began erecting barriers and fencing throughout the capital citys downtown core Thursday in an effort to clear the area of demonstrators, according to a series of tweets from Bell. The secured area encompasses most of Ottawas downtown and is far larger than the protest footprint to date.
Only those with lawful reason to enter the core, such as residents, businesses, and others with lawful reasons, will be allowed in the area, the chief said. The unlawful protesters must leave the area and will not be provided access.
Bells statement was an attempt to assure residents that the city was restoring order by removing vehicles and people that are blocking traffic.
We know you have been through a lot and we are committed to returning your streets back (to) normal, he told residents. We know that the increased police presence may be distressing to some. They are here to keep you safe and complete our mission.
Many demonstrators have vowed to hold out for as long as necessary, and the federal government has moved to enact emergency powers to freeze financial support of the protests despite opposition in Parliament.
During a news conference, Bell was asked about a timeline for removing protesters and concerns regarding demonstrations over the weekend.
What I can tell you is this weekend will look very different from the past three weekends, he said.
Bell maintained that authorities would like the protests to end peacefully and that theyve considered many different circumstances that could exist within the footprint of the demonstration and in and around it, and were actually planning for several different eventualities.
We want people to peacefully leave, the chief said. But I can tell you that if they do not peacefully leave, we have plans, strategies and tactics to be able to get them to leave.
Beginning with a group of truckers arriving in Ottawa in late January objecting to a vaccine mandate, the protest has morphed into a general airing of grievances against all Covid-19 safety protocols.
The incessant noise, shutting down of area businesses and reports of hate crimes and vandalism by protesters have exacerbated the nerves of many residents.
Following criticism for the prolonged situation and the recent stepping down of the chief, Ottawa police said in a statement Wednesday that anyone coming to the capital to join the protest could have their vehicles seized. A charge or conviction may lead to denial in crossing the USA border, the statement said.
The Childrens Aid Society of Ottawa, a nonprofit organization that gets funding from the Ontario government, is urging demonstrators to make care arrangements for their children as police move forward with ending the protest.
If parents and children are separated following police efforts in ending the demonstration in the downtown core, CASO will work to reunite families as soon as possible, the organization said in a statement.
The latest moves from police come as border crossing blockades along the Canadian-US border have winded down this week.
There were no delays at the Emerson checkpoint in Manitoba Thursday morning, according to the Canadian Border Services Agencys website, after the peaceful departure of protesters Wednesday ended the last remaining border disruption. No one was charged, no vehicles were towed and no injuries occurred, officials said.
As authorities work to clear demonstrations in Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus plan to invoke the Emergencies Act to end the protest and cut off the financial support is being criticized by opposition leadership in Parliament.
Candice Bergen, interim leader of the Conservative Party, said Wednesday the party wont be supporting a motion by the federal government to use those powers, according to CNN newsgathering partner CTV.
Bergen said Trudeau didnt do enough to bring an end to the demonstrations before invoking the act, CTV reported.
The first act that he does when he has a chance to do something he doesnt go through step one, two, three he goes straight to 100 and invokes the Emergencies Act, Bergen told CTV News. I dont think anything that we will see will change our mind, we will be opposing it.
The act, passed in 1988 and never utilized before, can temporarily suspend citizens rights to free movement or assembly. It can also provide for the use of the military, but Trudeau has said this would not be necessary.
Trudeau defended his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act during an address to Parliament on Thursday.
We did it to protect families and small businesses. To protect jobs and the economy. We did it because the situation could not be dealt with under any other law in Canada, Trudeau said. For the good of all Canadians, the illegal blockades and occupations have to stop, and the borders have to remain open.
The Prime Minister told Parliament that about half of the funding for the demonstrations is being supported by people in the United States.
These illegal blockades are being heavily supported by individuals in the United States and from elsewhere around the world, he said. We see that roughly half of the funding that is flowing to the barricaders here is coming from the United States. The goal of all measures, including financial measures in the Emergencies Act, is to deal with the current threat only and to get the situation fully under control.
To invoke powers under the Emergencies Act, the government must propose a motion in the House and Senate explaining why federal officials need the powers and specifying what actions will be taken, then both the House and Senate must confirm the motions, according to CTV.
Debate on the House motion was to begin Thursday and a vote will be held soon, said Government House Leader Mark Holland, a member of Trudeaus Liberal Party.
Trudeau said invoking the act is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting peoples jobs and restoring faith in our institutions.
While the Ottawa shutdown is ongoing and the Manitoba blockade dissolved without confrontation, authorities who ended other border demonstrations earlier this week were met with some resistance.
Police in Ontario announced the arrest of up to 30 protesters while clearing out a blockade Sunday in Windsor, near the Ambassador Bridge, a critical link for US and Canadian commerce that connects to Detroit.
Police seized five protester vehicles Sunday and seven vehicles were towed Saturday, according to Windsor Police Chief Pamela Mizuno.
In Coutts, Alberta, police obtained a warrant and searched three trailers Monday associated with a small, organized group within a larger protest at the Alberta-Montana border. More than a dozen firearms, multiple sets of body armor and a large quantity of ammunition and high-capacity magazines were seized, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Four people have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection to the Coutts border blockade, the RCMP said Tuesday. Other charges include possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and mischief over $5,000, police said.
Mondays weapons seizure and subsequent arrests speak to the serious criminal activities taking place during this protest and illegal blockade, Alberta RCMP Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said in a video statement issued Tuesday. The dangerous, criminal activity occurring away from the TV cameras and social media posts was real and organized, and it could have been deadly for citizens, protesters and officers.
Nine other people were arrested and charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and mischief over $5,000.
The crossing, which connects Coutts with Sweet Grass, Montana, is now open, Zablocki said.
I am happy to share with Albertans that the border is fully open, traffic is moving through smoothly and all protestors have moved out of the area, he said. We are maintaining a presence at this time to ensure the border remains a safe passageway for Albertans.
KN95, N95, surgical, cloth mask: Which protects best against COVID-19
Not all Face masks are created equal. Heres a breakdown of how each mask works against COVID-19.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths are all declining and federal health officials could ease guidance on masks soon, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, speaking at a White House briefing on COVID-19,said her agency was assessing data and "will soon put guidance in place" thatencourages prevention measures while protecting public health and hospitals.
The CDC recommends indoor masking in areas with substantial or high transmission. Thatincludes 97% of U.S. counties, Walensky said.
"We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when these metrics are better," Walensky said. "And then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen."
Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, provided an update on the Biden administration program to ship free coronavirus tests to American households.Fifty million orders 200M tests have been shipped, he said.
Also in the news:
Vaccination before contracting the coronavirus appears to diminish the chances of developing symptoms of long COVID among those who get infected, according to six of eight studies examined by the UK's National Security Agency.
A judge blocked Boston Mayor Michelle Wu from imposing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate on certain classes of firefighters and police officers.
The Biden administration is telling Congress that it needs an additional $30 billion to press ahead with the fight against COVID-19, officials told the Associated Press onTuesday.
Today's numbers:The U.S. has recorded more than 78 millionconfirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 928,000 deaths,according toJohns Hopkins University data.Global totals: More than 417million cases and over 5.8million deaths. More than 214million Americans 64.5% are fully vaccinated,according totheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
What we're reading:Research during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown Americans are enjoying the health benefits of being outdoors more than ever butoutdoor recreation is still largely dominated by white Americans, and nearly all other races continued to lag, or even stopped getting outdoors during the pandemic in disproportionate numbers.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest news. Want more?Sign up forUSA TODAY's freeCoronavirus Watch newsletterto receive updates directly to your inbox andjoin ourFacebook group.
The U.S. is reporting fewer than 1 million new coronavirus infections per week for the first time in two months, with the seven-day average dropping from about 453,000 two weeks ago to about 136,000 Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The declining numbers in cases, hospitalizations and deaths are prompting more governments, businesses and sports and entertainment venues to start lifting restrictions, allowing for more of asense of normalcy than the country has enjoyed in months.
In Philadelphia, a vaccination requirement for indoor dining was removed Wednesday, and in Seattle proof of vaccination atrestaurants, bars, theaters and gyms will no longer be necessary starting March 1.In Salt Lake City, the arena that's home to the Utah Jazz will stop requiring fans to show proof of vaccination or a negativeCOVID-19 test to attend games, effective Feb. 25.
Several states that had indoor mask mandates, including California and New York, have rescinded them, although local officials and businesses can impose their own requirements.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. -- where nearly 75% of adults are fully vaccinated -- is "moving in the right direction,'' while still urging caution.
We all share the same goal to get to a point where COVID-19 is no longer disrupting our daily lives, a time when it wont be a constant crisis rather something we can prevent, protect againstand treat, Walensky said.
California removed its mask mandate for indoor public places Wednesday, but two of its three largest cities will still require face coverings.
The state allows local health officials to impose stricter measures, and Los Angeles County -- home to its namesake city -- and Santa Clara County -- where San Jose is located -- have opted to keep masking in place.The city of Palm Springs and Mendocino County are doing likewise.
Statewide, masks are still required in certain settings, such as indoors at K-12 schools, at transportation hubs and inpublic transit.
L.A. County did make an accommodation Wednesday by lifting anoutdoor mask mandate as its rate of coronavirus infections dropped sharply and hospitalizations dwindled by 29% compared to the previous week.
We remain very encouraged by the steady declines that are seen across so many of our metrics, county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrersaid, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Vaccine maker BioNTech unveiled a plan Wednesday for modular manufacturing facilities that could dramaticallyboost production of vaccines and medicines in Africa. The German firm's "BioNTainers" are shipping containers equippedwith state-of-the-art production technology. Eachfacility would require about a dozen containers and could provideup to 50 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine each year, the companysaid. Other medicines and vaccines also could be produced at the sites.
The company said the containers could be available later this year,although it could take another year for mass production to be fully underway.BioNTech has drawn criticismfor refusing to suspendpatentsso other manufacturers could make the vaccine more widely available in developing nations.
Today represents a momentous day for Mother Africa," said Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo. "Another step in the process towards self-reliance has been taken."
Ottawa Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said new emergency measures could result in protest "no-go" zones around monuments and legislatures to help quell three weeks of chaos in Canada's capital city.Police Chief Peter Sloly was ousted amid criticism overhis handling of trucker-inspired protests against COVID-19 measures.
The protests have spread across much of Canada. The Ambassador Bridge recently reopened after a blockade halted traffic between Detroit and Ontario for a week. But this week several protestersarrested in connection with a blockade at the bordercrossing between Coutts, Alberta, and Montana face charges of conspiracy to commit murder against Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.
Even as the latest COVID surge recedes, doctors and patientadvocates warn that the virus could leave a new epidemic in its wake: millions more cases of the rare, mysterious condition known aschronic fatigue syndrome.
Researchers increasingly see parallels between chronic fatigue syndrome, which affects 1.5 million Americans, andlong COVID, the barrage of symptoms including exhaustion, persistent pain and cognitive impairment that can lingerfor months in some patients.
The connection between the two disorders is still being studied, but some research suggests the pandemic could more than triple the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME.
Whileresearchinto COVID's long-term impact is still in its infancy, there's evidence thatone in 10 infections may develop symptoms of chronic fatigue. That would equate to about 7.7 million cases in the U.S.
Gene Myers, NewJersey.com
Starting Thursday,vaccinated guests willno longer need to mask upindoorsacross most ofWalt Disney WorldandDisneyland. Face coveringswill still be required for all guests ages 2 and olderon enclosed Disney transportation at both resorts, such asshuttles and monorails.
We expect guests who are not fully vaccinated to continue wearing face coverings in all indoor locations, including indoor attractions and theaters, Disney World's website said. However, guests arenot required to provide proof of vaccination.
There will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements at theCoachellaValley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Country Music Festival when theyreturnin April to theEmpire Polo Clubin Indio, California, organizers announced.
Britt Kennerly and Eve Chen
The New Jersey state Supreme Court rejected a last-minute appeal by the state's largest police union to block Gov. Phil Murphy's vaccine mandate for workers in high-risk settings, meaningmore than 11,000 county and state corrections officers have until Wednesday to show proof of vaccination or risk losing their jobs.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner wrote that the New Jersey Policemen's Benevolent Associationdid not deserve a stay pending appeal because it had not shown that its claimrested on settled law orhad a reasonable probability of success, or that relief was consistent with the public interest, among other things.
The high court's ruling extinguishesthe union's hope that a judge would step in toblock Murphy's mandate, which requires that workers in high-risk environments, including hospitals and jails, get the COVID-19 vaccine or face discipline.
Steve Janoski, NorthJersey.com
Instructional aidesmay continue to substitute teachin multiple classrooms once Iowa's emergency pandemic proclamation expires this week after lawmakers met Tuesday to approve an emergency rules change.Iowa public schools were worried that the expiration ofGov. Kim Reynolds' public health disaster proclamationthis week would worsen their staffing shortages since the proclamation relaxed the rules for some school staffing, like allowing the aidesknown as paraeducators to substitute teach in multiple classrooms.
The rule allows paraeducators with substitute teaching authorizations to work as a substitute in multiple classrooms with emergency permission if the school shows a documented need for them to fill that role. Normally, paraeducators' work involves assisting teachers in the classroom, and theyare only authorized to substitute teach if they are assigned to a specific special education classroom.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
Contributing: The Associated Press
Connecticuts COVID-19 positivity rate Thursday is 4.71%, down slightly from 4.87% on Wednesday, and there have been an additional 105 deaths in the last week, according to the governors office.
An additional 544 cases were reported out of an additional 11,542 tests.
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is 325, which is 15 less than on Wednesday, and the governors office said 154 of these patients, or 47.4%, are not fully vaccinated.
The state Department of Public Health is reporting that as of Feb. 16, a total of 167,783 cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated persons in Connecticut have been identified.
Of the more than 2.6 million people in Connecticut who are fully vaccinated, 6.35% have contracted the virus, according to the governors office.
There have been a total of 10,324COVID-19 associated deaths in the state overall, according to the governors office.
According to the Connecticut Department of Public Healths weekly COVID-19 Alert Map, 153 of Connecticuts 169 cities and towns are currently in the red zone alert level, the highest of the states four alert levels.
Full coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak and how it impacts you
The only municipalities not in the red zone this week are Bethlehem, Essex, New Fairfield, Sharon, Washington, and Woodbury which are all in the orange level and Bridgewater, Canaan, Colebrook, Hartland, Morris, Roxbury, Scotland, Sherman, Union, and Warren which are all in the gray level.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Thursday that the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Arkansas had fallen below 1,000 for the first time since early last month.
The new data shared by Hutchinson from the Arkansas Department of Health showed the current number of hospitalizations as 931, down 73 from the previous day. There was also a drop in patients on ventilators, falling 13 to 142.
There were 1,149 new cases of the virus reported Thursday, pushing the states pandemic total to 811,669. The state currently has 12,484 active cases of COVID-19, a drop of 482 from the previous day.
Hutchinson added that while it was good to see the decline in the number of COVID-19 patients in Arkansas hospitals, he was still saddened to report 45 additional deaths to the state count, which now rests at 10,235.
Health officials did offer a breakdown of the most recently reported deaths, which showed that out of 619 deaths in the last month, 467 of them, 75.4%, were people 65 years of age or older.
The governor pointed out the uptick in vaccinations seen in the state, noting that over the last 24 hours there had been 4,019 doses administered. The number of fully vaccinated Arkansas residents climbed to 1,560,933, with another 370,506 having partial immunity.
Hutchinson noted that there will no longer be a daily report of COVID-19 case numbers released by his office, noting the benchmark passed with hospitalizations dropping below 1,000. He did note that the numbers will still be updated daily on the ADH COVID-19 dashboard.
The governor also weighed in on the issue in the Canadian capital of Ottawa where a convoy of tractor-trailer drivers have been protesting for days and shutting down the city. Hutchinson restated his opposition to the mandates required by drivers crossing the U.S.-Canadian border and said he sent letters to both Pres. Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraging them to let the private sector set its own mandate rules.
OTHER NEWS
Hutchinson kicked off the briefing with the announcement of a new commission on the status of women in Arkansas. The commission will be led by Alison Williams, the governors chief of staff, who will be joined by 14 other commissioners, including Arkansas first lady Susan Hutchinson.
It will focus on studying labor force participation by women in the state, especially in STEM careers, as well as examine barriers to getting women into the workforce. It will compile the findings into recommendations and a final report that will be presented to the governor in December.
The governor also announced a 2% cost of living adjustment for state employees. Hutchinson said state economic indicators gave him the confidence to make this move, which will go into effect in paychecks starting February 25.
He noted that these pay increases were being issued in response to the record levels of inflation being seen in the U.S. and that the adjustments were not in lieu of merit raises for employees. The governor did not have a total for the number of state employees affected by this increase, and there was not a total cost announced for the adjustment.
Hutchinson also announced a new boost in funding for the Arkansas School of the Deaf and Arkansas School of the Blind. The $6 million will come from discretionary funds and will be used to improve the water and power service to the schools, as well as pay for a new health services building to be shared by the schools.
Southern Research has 400 full-time employees, brings in $80 million in revenue and has an annual economic impact of $150 million.
Southern Research has 400 full-time employees, brings in $80 million in revenue and has an annual economic impact of $150 million.Before coronavirus vaccines and treatments proved their value in clinics worldwide, they had to prove their mettle in Birminghams Southside. Scientists at Southern Research, working under contracts with major pharmaceutical companies and federal agencies, received nearly $40 million in COVID-related testing and other research contracts after the pandemic began.
In their Biosafety Level 3, or BSL-3, lab, where highly pathogenic viruses such as those that cause COVID-19, tuberculosis and yellow fever can be safely studied, Southern Research scientists continue to study the effects of treatments against COVID-19 variants. The robotic arms in the High-Throughput Screening Center have sifted through tens of thousands of drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration and helped identify dozens with the potential to slow down SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus. A COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Southern Research and Tonix Pharmaceuticals is now in human clinical trials. Researchers at Southern Research are also collaborating with Tonix on a treatment that has proved to be 65 times more potent in early testing than remdesivir another antiviral drug refined at Southern Research, now used around the world to treat coronavirus.
How research creates major economic impact
But this is only the beginning, says Josh Carpenter, Ph.D., who was named CEO and president of Southern Research in May 2021. Carpenters vision is to expand the institutes facilities and leverage its successful partnerships with the University of Alabama at Birmingham to create a national center of excellence in pandemic preparedness in Birmingham. The same facilities will expand work on cancer drug development, Carpenter says.
The project is expected to yield not only scientific advances but also economic gains for Birmingham and Alabama.
Southern Research was founded as an economic development institute to create jobs through research and produce new discoveries and innovations, Carpenter said. That original impetus from 80 years ago is what we want to return to now.
Southern Research has 400 full-time employees, brings in $80 million in revenue and has an annual economic impact of $150 million. One of Carpenters first moves as CEO was to sell the Southern Research facility in Frederick, Maryland, to its strategic research partner Tonix Pharmaceuticals and shift these operations to Birmingham. The sale brought $17.5 million in capital investments in Birmingham, nearly 50 new jobs in Alabama with an average salary of $100,000 per year, and $45 million in recurring direct and indirect economic impact.
Before joining Southern Research, Carpenter served as director of Innovation and Economic Opportunity for the city of Birmingham.
During the pandemic, about 85,000 workers in Jefferson County filed for unemployment, Carpenter said. I knew that, in my next role, I wanted to focus on quality jobs that provide sustainable family wages and benefits. What the economic development research tells us is that the development and maintenance of high-quality institutions is directly correlated with, and maybe even a driver of, economic growth.
Carpenter is in talks with state and local leaders to support an $84 million new facility on the Southern Research campus in Southside that will double its BSL-3 lab space. The new facility could create nearly 200 new permanent scientific jobs, $26.2 million in new annual payroll, and $84.7 million in new spending and other economic output, Carpenter says. It also will expand the institutes drug discovery and drug development partnerships with UAB in key areas of infectious diseases and cancer immunotherapy.
We have a state-of-the-art facility where we can handle COVID-19 and any other highly pathogenic virus, said Subash Das, DVM, Ph.D., who joined Southern Research as director of Infectious Disease Research in July 2021. Many of our studies need BSL-3 containment labs. We have so much work contracted and could do more with more space.
Das is among several important hires at Southern Research made possible through the sale of the institutes Frederick facility and whose expertise will allow Southern Research to aggressively expand research related to coronavirus and influenza.
Carpenter says strategic hires such as these create incredible potential for Southern Research, especially in concert with partners such as UAB.
UAB leads more than $600 million in external research each year, and Southern Research does $40 million on the Southside campus, he said. That is a total of nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in biological research within a 25-block radius. Extend that to 40 blocks and you have UAB Medicine, Childrens of Alabama, the VA Medical Center and St. Vincents, which see nearly 3.5 million patients per year. That concentrated patient care and research and development expertise means more effective clinical trials and opportunities to create many quality jobs.
Joint ventures create powerhouse ROI
Southern Research partners with UAB in three main ways, Carpenter says: joint ventures, sponsored research collaborations and organic research collaborations.
The prototype joint venture is the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance, which was launched in 2009 with the goal of translating innovative research in the UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine labs into new treatments by leveraging the expertise in drug discovery and development at Southern Research. In the past 12 years, 38 projects have been initiated through the ADDA, and there are currently six drugs in the alliance pipeline, including potential treatments for cancer, Parkinsons disease and diabetes.
I believe we are the only major academic medical center with a partner specializing in drug discovery located just up the block, said Richard Whitley, M.D., Distinguished Professor at UAB. Southern Research has high-throughput screening, medical chemists and structural biologists with extensive experience in working with the FDA to get drugs approved. They have a terrific history, and with Carpenter as CEO, the close partnership between UAB and Southern Research is poised to get stronger.
The ADDA builds teams of specialists from UAB and Southern Research around each new potential drug project, with funding of $50,000 per year for two years. Just as in the pharmaceutical industry, the projects are held to strict timelines and regular go/no-go decisions at each significant testing milestone. Working with Southern Research allows UAB investigators to carry innovative ideas from their labs across the so-called valley of death, in which projects are too commercially focused to receive federal research funding but not yet promising enough to attract significant pharmaceutical or biotech investment. UAB specializes in basic research and clinical trials, and Southern Research specializes in drug discovery and drug development, said Stephanie Moore, Ph.D., associate director of the ADDA. These partnerships make sense. The translational research opportunities of the ADDA are a significant recruitment tool when UAB is recruiting promising investigators to Birmingham, Whitley adds.
Whitley has built on the ADDA model to successfully compete for major funding from the National Institutes of Health. In 2019, his Antiviral Drug Discovery and Development Center, was awarded a five-year, $37.5 million grant from NIAID to study and develop treatments for high-priority infections, including influenza, dengue, Zika and the coronaviruses SARS and MERS. Initial testing that led to the approval of the antiviral drug remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19 was carried out by the AD3C at Southern Research, Whitley says. Another UAB-Southern Research-sponsored research partnership is the UAB Research Center of Excellence in Arsenicals. It was awarded $18.9 million in 2018 to develop countermeasures against chemical warfare threats.
Through the efforts of UAB and its partners, philanthropic support, internal funding from Southern Research, and state funding, the ADDA has received about $15 million in investment. Thanks to that investment, UAB has received more than $100 million in grants and Southern Research has received more than $60 million, Carpenter says. Thats a 20-to-1 return on investment to UAB and a 12-to-1 return on investment to Southern Research, he said. We can jointly combine efforts on these hugely competitive grants.
The Rangers put Patrik Nemeth on injured reserve Wednesday, after the veteran defenseman was sidelined for the five games leading up to their two-week recess and again in their first contest back against the Bruins on Tuesday.
Team policy prevents the Rangers from disclosing the reason, but it is believed that Nemeth is dealing with lingering effects from his bout with COVID-19 in late December.
Nemeth entered COVID protocol on Dec. 18, but the 30-year-old didnt miss a game due to a brief lull in the schedule for Christmas. Once he cleared COVID protocols, Nemeth admitted he had some cold-like symptoms the first two or three days before they dissipated.
After skating in the two games on the Rangers trip to Florida on Dec. 29 and 31, Nemeth sat out of the first two matchups of 2022 against the Lightning and Oilers before he was added to non-roster status on Jan. 5.
The non-roster status stretched over the next two games against the Golden Knights and Ducks. Nemeth then returned to the lineup in the Jan. 10 loss to the Kings and skated in the next five games. Prior to the 3-2 shootout win over Los Angeles, head coach Gerard Gallant said there was a banged up defenseman, which he later confirmed was Nemeth after the Swede was scratched.
Upon return from the All-Star break, Nemeth was a full participant in the practices leading up to the Boston game.
Nemeth, who signed a three-year, $7.5 million deal with the Rangers as a free agent this past offseason, has appeared in 38 games so far as part of the third pair. He has posted two assists while averaging over 17 minutes per game.
Tapping into their protective instincts on Tuesday against the Bruins, the Rangers have set the tone for how they will answer opponents who dare come near goalie Igor Shesterkin.
In the second period of the Rangers eventual 2-1 shootout win, Bruins star David Pastrnak embellished a shove fromdefenseman Adam Foxand knocked into Shesterkin, who was playing the puck. Pastrnak hadnt even gotten to the Bruins bench to change before Ryan Reaves upended the top-line forward.
Craig Smith was the next Bruin who came too close to Shesterkin, after the winger barreled into the Vezina Trophy favorite on a drive to the net. Without hesitation, Alexis Lafreniere swooped in and went after Smith.
Were obviously very confident in both goalies we have, defenseman Ryan Lindgren said. Theyve both played very well this year. Igor, hes had some games where hes definitely stole it for us. Especially early on in the year. Hes just been so good throughout the year. Were so confident in him and [Alexandar Georgiev].
The way that Igor plays the puck, especially as a defenseman, youre very confident. It helps you out a lot. When pucks get dumped in and hes out there and hes making plays, some of the saves he makes are incredible obviously.
FILE Finished solid bronze Actor statuettes are displayed during the 25th Annual Casting of the Screen Actors Guild Awards at American Fine Arts Foundry, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, in Burbank, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
(The Hill) Yellowstone actor Forrie J. Smith will not attend the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony later this month because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 and the event requires that all attendees are fully inoculated.
Smith, in a video posted to Instagram this week, announced that he would not be in attendance at the awards ceremony, which is scheduled for Feb. 27.
All individuals at theScreen Actors Guild Awards must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and must have received a booster shot if eligible. Attendees will also be required to submit a negative coronavirus PCR test that was taken within 48 hours of arriving at the ceremony.
A rapid test will then be administered to all attendees on the day of the event.
Additionally, the organization is requiring that KN95 or FF94 masks be worn at all times during the event. Exceptions to the mandate include when people are participating in red carpet or media opportunities,are on camera in the showroom, or are eatingordrinking.
Smith, who is part of the Yellowstone cast nominated for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series, apologized for not being able to attend the event.
He said he has not received an initial COVID-19 vaccination series or a booster shot and appeared to mock the events mask mandate.
I mean no offense to anyone. Im not vaccinated, and its a requirement to be vaccinated to be at the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, he said.
The actor said he has not been vaccinated since he was a little kid, adding that he does not vaccinate his dogs or horses. He also said has never received and will never receive a flu shot.
Smith said he was looking forward to walking down the red carpet in my big black American hat and my Justin boots and representing my culture and heritage, but Im not gonna be able to do that, and I apologize to yall out there that are part of my culture and heritage.
I wont be representing us at the Screen Actors Guild Awards walking down the red carpet. But its no offense to anybody, anything. Its just my beliefs, he added.
I just dont believe in that stuff, he added, before saying that maybe next year he will walk the red carpet.
Indiana woman almost dies from COVID-19, now urges others to vaccinate
Debbie Burk didn't get COVID vaccination so she got COVID-19 and was hospitalized. Now she is getting vaccinated and hopes others will too.
Kelly Wilkinson, Indianapolis Star
One of the best defenses for people at high risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 aside from vaccination has been treatment with a class of therapies known as monoclonal antibodies. But omicron proved resistant to most of these.
Now Eli Lilly & Co. has won emergency use approval for a new monoclonal antibody treatment that promises to be effective not just against omicron but a broad spectrum of coronavirus variants, company officials said.
Mark Williams, senior medical director for Lillys global COVID-19 team, said it's a powerful antibody that the company calls broadly neutralizing.
It seems to work against every known variant of interest or concern that we have tested it with, said Williams. We think its just whats needed at this time in terms of the omicron, another tool in the tool box.
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Last month the Food and Drug Administration at least temporarilyrevoked emergency use authorization for two treatments, one from Eli Lilly and one from Regeneron, saying that they were not effective against omicron. The agency left the door open for bringing these treatments back should a new variant arise against which they are successful.
Lillys new second generation monoclonal antibody, bebtelovimab performed far better than its predecessors when tested against both the initial omicron variant and the Ba.2 subvariant, which is 1.5 times more transmissible than the already highly transmissible omicron variant.
Because this new monoclonal antibody is so potent, just a small dose can be administered through a temporary IV, taking as little as 30 seconds to infuse. Previous treatments could take more than an hour.
Infusion centers could start offering the antibody, which the government is distributing, as soon as this week for those who are eligible. The treatment is geared people with mild or moderate COVID-19 who have not been hospitalized but who are at high risk of developing severe disease.
Contact IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at shari.rudavsky@indystar.com. Follow her on Facebook and on Twitter: @srudavsky.
Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, reflects on lessons learned and best practices moving forward
Flexibility and adaptability are terms that come to mind for me when I think about the ideal candidate in a job interview someone who can jump into any situation, make sense of it and deliver a quality outcome.
For many in the health care field, weve been doing things the same way for so long that we were a bit stuck in the past. We had a vision in our back pocket for more flexible and adaptable health care, but it was something that seemed to belong to a distant future. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to embrace rapid change and declare that the time is now to achieve those future goals. We were at the mercy of a devastating disease and had to act fast to save lives.
At Baptist Health, we fully embraced telehealth and virtual care, launched expanded home health care and reinvested in our team members. We also have embraced the power of using predictive analytics daily to plan our next move and have changed the way we handle crises as we tackle a disease that is ongoing and ever-changing.
We have been using telehealth at Baptist Health since 2015 to enable our acute care providers particularly those caring for stroke and pediatric patients to bring their expertise into community-based emergency departments in northeast Florida and southeast Georgia. The pandemic helped convert the use of telehealth from nice to have to need to have to maintain physical and mental health for many patients.
In March and April 2020, Baptist Health and our medical groups quickly coordinated telehealth visits at nearly 100 physician practices to safely continue caring for patients via virtual doctor visits. We continue to offer virtual visits at most physician offices, including Baptist Behavioral Health, where providers are still seeing a high percentage of patients via telehealth visits currently above 80%. We also introduced HealthPlace On Demand powered by Telescope Health last year. The HealthPlace On Demand app connects patients 24/7 via video chat to trusted, board-certified emergency and family physicians.
During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we needed a new model of enhanced home support to prevent unnecessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations at our five hospitals. The solution was to replicate a certain level of care that COVID-19 patients would receive in the hospital but safely administer it in the home setting.
In a matter of a few weeks, Mary Leen, vice president of clinical operations, spearheaded the development of an enhanced home support model featuring in-home assessments by home health nurses and virtual visits by Baptist Health primary care physicians. Taking care of COVID-19 patients who needed oxygen therapy in their homes was something we had never done before, so we stood up a clinical transformation workgroup made up of team members from across the health system and developed clinical guidelines for treating these patients in the home setting.
The results speak for themselves. Only 10% of the more than 1,800 COVID-19-positive patients treated through Baptist Healths enhanced home support model since March 2020 have been admitted to a hospital.
Like health systems across the country, we have relied on the support of travel nurses throughout the course of the pandemic to supplement our staffing needs. But as the pandemic continues, we want to focus more on supporting our own nurses and team members. We have invested millions of dollars into increasing wages as just one way of emphasizing the value we place on the health care heroes within Baptist Health.
With all that has happened in the last two years, embracing flexibility and adaptability will remain key skills for us all.
We are leveraging predictive analytics to look at local, regional, national and international health care trends on a daily basis and analyze how COVID-19 numbers are rising and falling globally. Doing so helps us prepare for the trends to come. We did leverage predictive analytics prior to COVID-19, but mainly to look at regional health care trends in our market.
Due to COVID-19, we also are rethinking how we respond to crises. In the first and second surges, we responded with an incident command system designed for crises that have a start and end, similar to what we set up in the past with hurricanes and Ebola. But after witnessing the chronic, ever-changing nature of COVID-19, we have adapted our approach, shifting our focus to managing the surges. This allows us to be better prepared to handle disruptions as they come.
We know that our field will continue to be challenged by COVID-19, but this pandemic has taught us a valuable lesson: The future is not going to wait for us, and instead we have to be ready to embrace it.
Matt Zuino is executive vice president and chief operating officer at Baptist Health, based in Jacksonville, Florida. Baptist Health was featured in the AHA Living Learning Networks The Pandemic: A Time of Challenges and Champions. Dedicated to helping participants recover from the pandemic, the LLN rebuilds and reimagines the public health and health care sectors, using a variety of platforms, such as messages boards, podcasts and virtual learning sessions. Learn more and apply to join the LLN.
