Americans have spent the last two years fearing what might happen to them if they were to test positive for COVID-19, with stories ranging from severe cases to mild, asymptomatic ones. A group of scientists says they have created a revolutionary blood test to try determine which it could be.
George Washington University researchers have reportedly developed a blood test that can quickly detect if someone hasthe coronaviruswhile also predicting how severely that persons immune system will react to the infection. The innovation could help doctors determine the best course of treatment for people with COVID-19.
In a study published in the Public Library of Science, researchers sequenced whole blood RNA with COVID-19 patients admitted to the George Washington University Hospital Intensive Care Unit. Patients symptoms ranged from asymptomatic to severe, and after collecting blood samples researchers noticed visible changes in the cells of people with COVID-19.
That insight led them to realize that COVID-19 severity was associated with an increase in neutrophil activity and a decrease in T-cell activity.
Both Neutrophils and T-cells are a type of white blood cell, part of the bodys immune system, and they help fight off infections.
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The bodys immune system, as measured by neutrophil activity, signals that theres an infection, which could have been caused by a known, novel or variant pathogen.
This test could prove very valuable during the pandemic, especially as variants continue to spread and doctors need to be confident in identifying the problem and providing effective treatment, said Timothy McCaffrey,professor of medicine at George Washington and lead researcher on the project, in a statement.
When we sequence whole blood RNA, were given a fuller, more dynamic picture of whats happening inside the body, and our test helps identify those who need the more aggressive treatments.
McCaffrey and others previously identified RNA biomarkers for other types of infections, such as appendicitis and pneumonia, and thats when they noted an increase in neutrophil related RNAs when measuring RNA levels in patients blood.
As the pandemic hit, McCaffrey pivoted course and began applying the same concept to COVID-19 using the approach ofidentifying RNA biomarkers for COVID-19 infection detection and severity.
Beyond the current pandemic, our technique would be able to detect any infection with a high degree of accuracy, said McCaffrey. That has applications for all sorts of conditions wherein doctors diagnosing patients need to quickly rule in or rule out whether they are dealing with an infection or something else.
McCaffrey says the test is 95 percent accurate, regardless of which variant a person is infected with, because itmeasures a persons immune response, not the virus itself, according to NBC news.
Additional studies are needed to prove that McCaffreys test is effective and if that happens, researchers plan to seek an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration.
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) The South Dakota Department of Health reported 10 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday.
The COVID-19 death toll is now at 2,687, up from Thursday (2,677). The new deaths include five males and five females in the following age ranges: 2 in the 60-69, 4 in the 70-79, 4 in the 80+. Deaths were reported in these counties: 5 in Minnehaha; one each in Brown, Meade, Oglala Lakota, Pennington and Todd.
All 66 of South Dakotas 66 counties are listed as having high community spread. High community spread is 100 cases or greater per 100,000 or a 10% or greater PCR test positivity rate.
There are now 354 people hospitalized due to COVID-19, up from Thursday (344). Throughout the pandemic, there have been 10,208 total people who have been hospitalized.
On Friday, there were 569 total new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the states total case count to 230,240, up from Thursday (229,671). That total does not include at-home positive results as those are not required to be reported to the state.
As of Feb. 3, the DOH has combined antigen and PCR COVID-19 numbers to list a total number of confirmed (PCR) and probable (antigen) cases. KELOLAND had combined the PCR and antigen results prior to this for reporting the total number of new cases, but we did previously track the separated antigen and PCR cases.
The latest seven-day PCR test positivity rate for the state is 27.8% for Jan. 27 Feb. 2.
Active cases are now at 25,052, down from Thursday (27,003).
The number of recovered cases is at 202,501.
There have been 1,420 Delta variant cases (B.1.617.2 and AY lineages) detected in South Dakota through sentinel monitoring, an increase of 91. There have been 176 cases of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant), four cases of P.1. (Gamma variant) and two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta variant).
There are 302 Omicron cases.
On November 24, the South Dakota Department of Health updated how it reports the percent of the population getting vaccinated. To align with the vaccine-eligible population, the Department of Health is including children who are 5-11 years old.
For COVID-19 vaccines, 69.81% the population 5-years-old and above has received at least one dose while 57.06% have completed the vaccination series. For booster doses, 30.51% of those eligible have completed their booster dose.
There have been 651,010 doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered, 455,690 of the Moderna vaccine and 36,778 doses of the Janssen vaccine.
There have been 170,688 persons who have completed two doses of Moderna. There have been 250,253 persons who have received two doses of Pfizer.
As for booster doses, 110,564 people have received a 3rd Pfizer shot, 84,823 people have received a 3rd Moderna dose and 2,521 have received a Janssen booster.
Omicron study: Longest living variant on skin and plastic
According to researchers' report on bioRxiv.org, the omicron variant's high "environmental stability" might have helped it spread so rapidly.
STAFF VIDEO, USA TODAY
FALL RIVER The devastating fourth wave of COVID spread seems to have peaked, as weekly case numbers fell by half, dropping for the third week in a row.
According to the state Department of Public Health, another 668 positive cases of the highly contagious coronavirus were reported in Fall River last week, an average of about 94 new cases per day.
Last week,1,285 new cases were reported,an average of 183 cases per day.
This still leaves average daily cases at shockingly high levels, above where cases were last year at this time but is a relief from the astronomical levels seen in January. This past weeks case total is about half of last weeks total, and less than a third of the weekly total of three weeks ago, when 2,179 people in Fall River caught the virus in a single week.
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Since the start of the pandemic, Fall River has logged almost 29,000 cases of the virus.
The citys COVID test positivity rate also continued to fall, with 19.12% of COVID tests turning out positive in the past two weeks. The statewide average is just over 10%.
Communities in Greater Fall River also saw their COVID weekly case totals cut in half, with improvements in their test positivity rates also dropping slightly:
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The statistics regarding positive cases and tests only reflect positive cases officially reported to health care centers and officials; they do not count positive results of at-home rapid tests. It also doesnt take into account people who may be positive but are asymptomatic and dont get tested at all.
COVID affects people differently. Most people who are diagnosed with COVID will recover from symptoms that include cough, sore throat, loss of taste or smell, nausea, high fever and body aches; how long the symptoms last varies from person to person. Some cases are mild. In others, the symptoms can be severe, sometimes requiring hospitalization, and those symptoms can linger for months. COVID can be fatal, and is most threatening to people such as the elderly and those who are medically vulnerable, but not exclusively.
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An already daunting fourth wave of cases that began in November2021 crested twice as high first in December as the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus began to appear locally, and then twice as high as that in January when omicron began surging, spreading to thousands of people.
Its estimated that over 7,000 people in Fall River were sickened by COVID-19 in January alone accounting for one in four cases of the illness over the entire pandemic.
Fact check: Unvaccinated are more likely to get omicron than fully vaccinated and boosted people
Omicron is considered the likely cause, a variant of COVID that scientists have described as more easily spread, quicker to cause symptoms, and can more easily break through to infect those who are vaccinated although medical experts note that vaccination still provides substantial protection against becoming severely ill if infected.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that 99.9% of all current COVID cases are the omicron variant. But top medical officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, say omicron's spread could peak by mid-February.
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
Europe will soon reach a long period of tranquillity in the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organizations European director said Wednesday.
Whats happening: Dr. Hans Kluge, the director for the European content for WHO, said high vaccination rates and a less severe omicron variant will help Europe reach a peaceful time with COVID-19, according to BBC News.
Why it matters: COVID-19 cases are still high in Europe. But there have been fewer hospitalizations, which has made COVID-19 a less critical threat for the continent.
The bigger picture: Europes shift into a ceasefire could be a sign of whats to come in the United States, which has often lagged one or two weeks behind European countries when it comes to the coronavirus.
Cases of COVID-19 caused by BA.2, however, are on the rise in a handful of countries, including Denmark and the U.K. The subvariant has also been detected in the U.S. and so far accounts for about 1.5 percent of new cases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said on Feb. 2. Some scientists estimate the number is higher.
There is growing evidence that BA.2 is more transmissible, or contagious, than the original omicron variant, Mark McClellan, M.D., director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, said during a media briefing, pointing to places in Europe where BA.2 has now taken over much of the continuing caseload.
For example, the BA.2 variant went from making up about 20 percent of all new coronavirus infections in Denmark tonearly halfin a matter of weeks, according to the Statens Serum Institut, a public health and research agency under the Danish Ministry of Health.
However, the CDCs Walensky said even if BA.2 is more transmissible than omicron, its not nearly the transmission advantage that weve seen between omicron and delta. Astudyout of Denmark that has yet to be peer reviewed found omicron to be between 2.7 and 3.7 times more infectious than delta, which was already declared by the CDC to be twice as contagious as previous variants.
Theres no indication that BA.2 causes more severe illness than the original omicron strain, the World Health Organizations Maria Van Kerkhove said on Feb. 1, although she added that the data on the subvariant so far is really quite limited.
While omicron has infected and sickened a record number of people,studies showthat it appears to cause less severe illness, overall, compared to its predecessor, delta. Health officials continue to stress, however, that just because omicron may be milderdoes not mean its mild, and that the variant still presents a danger to many, especially unvaccinated individuals and people at higher risk for complications from COVID-19.
Another plus: Research is ongoing, but it looks as though BA.2 doesnt have any vaccine-evading advantages, meaning it likely cant slip past the vaccines defenses any better than omicron, whose mutations already give the vaccines more of a challenge. (Thats why a booster shot has been strongly recommended during the omicron wave. The extra dose helps to strengthen immunity and further enhance protection,studies show.)
BA.2 seems to be about on the same level as the original omicron, Ozer said. Because of this, Walensky has said that when it comes to the subvariant, our vaccines will work just like it has with omicron.
Studies out of the U.K.show that protection against experiencing symptoms from a coronavirus infection caused by BA.1 was about 9 percent after two doses of the mRNA vaccines; for BA.2 it was about 13 percent. After a booster, those numbers jumped to 63 percent protection against symptomatic illness caused by BA.1 and 70 percent for BA.2. Protection against death caused by an omicron infection was 95 percent in boosted people age 50 and older, the same research shows.
One of the biggest concerns among health experts when it comes to BA.2 is the wrench it could throw into a swift exit from the omicron wave. The U.K., for example, saw a steep decline in COVID-19 cases in mid-January. That progress, however, plateaued right as cases of BA.2increased in circulation.
In some countries, like Denmark, cases have gone up associated with BA.2, but thats also in the context of relaxing mitigation measures, Walensky said.
In the U.S., Dukes McClellan said he doesnt see the subvariant really fundamentally changing the picture. What it might do is push the clock back a little more, Ozer added.
I know everybody is waiting for that day that we can take off our masks again and we can go and do all the things we were doing in 2019. And I just dont think were quite there yet, he said.
Ozers advice: Dont get complacent. And remember, we have the power to prevent some of these transmissions from happening. Vaccination is one way. The data does suggest, and fairly strongly, that vaccination and boosting has prevented more infections, Ozer said.
Maskingin public indoor settings and avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces can also help thwart transmission of the virus, including the new subvariant.
One of the best ways for us to be able to stop this pandemic is just to keep the transmissions down, and that will also help prevent the emergence of new variants, Ozer said. If the virus cant transmit between people, then theres that many fewer chances for it to adapt and change and become better at what it does.
Rachel Nania writes about health care and health policy for AARP. Previously she was a reporter and editor for WTOP Radio in Washington, D.C. A recipient of a Gracie Award and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award, she also participated in a dementia fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
Rare look at ACT data
The ACT government's coronavirus advice suggests the outbreak is shrinking afterOmicron spread rapidly when it hit Canberra in December.
The latest epidemiological report suggests a positive outlook ahead, with the rate of known infections slowingthroughout January, especially the last week.
That's despite more lab testsand the introduction of home-testing kits three weeks ago.
The positive test rate, which can indicate how much undetected disease is in the community, also fell.
Throughout this outbreak, the number of patients in Canberra hospitals has been about 60, at the higher end of the government's forecasts.
Health officials also provided a rare insight into the vaccination status of Canberra's COVID patients.
In general, the ACT government doesn't reveal much information about who gets infected with coronavirus, including whether they're vaccinated.
But its latest epidemiological report describes hospital admissions in the last week of January.
Based on this small sample, unvaccinated people were three-and-a half times more likely than fully vaccinated people to end up in hospital.And seven times more likely to be in the ICU.
Data from New South Wales authorities, who publish far more information about the pandemic,suggestthe probability of ending up in intensive care is actually 15 times higher for unvaccinated people.
Reporting by Markus Mannheim
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 384.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.7 million. More than 10.12 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.
France's vaccine pass will remain in place until hospitals are able to function normally without cancelling non-emergency procedures to make room for COVID-19 patients in intensive care, Health Minister Olivier Veran said yesterday.
Switzerland began easing COVID-19 restrictions yesterday, after fears that a spike in infections caused by the Omicron variant would overwhelm the health care system.
Finland and Italy have also both announced plans to ease restrictions.
Germany will allow up to 10,000 spectators at major outdoor events, such as Bundesliga soccer games, the 16 federal states agreed yesterday.
Germany's expert panel of vaccine use is preparing to recommend a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine, the committee's head told media group Funke.
Total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mexico have topped 5 million.
The UK has reported 534 deaths within 28-days of a positive COVID-19 test - the highest figure since late February 2021.
New daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Tokyo have exceeded 20,000 for the first time. Nationwide cases hit a record 91,760.
Turkey has recorded 110,682 new confirmed COVID-19 infections in the space of 24 hours, its highest daily figure of the pandemic, health ministry data showed on Wednesday.
Each of our Top 50 social enterprise last mile responders and multi-stakeholder initiatives is working across four priority areas of need: Prevention and protection; COVID-19 treatment and relief; inclusive vaccine access; and securing livelihoods. The list was curated jointly with regional hosts Catalyst 2030s NASE and Aavishkaar Group. Their profiles can be found on www.wef.ch/lastmiletop50india.
Top Last Mile Partnership Initiatives to collaborate with:
COVID-19 infections and deaths in the Americas are still increasing, but the rise in infections seems to be slowing down in places hit earliest by the Omicron variant, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on yesterday.
Most of the new cases reported in the past week were in North America, while Chile and Brazil posted record numbers of daily cases. Deaths have more than doubled in Cuba, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda.
PAHO said 63% of people across Latin America and the Caribbean have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and the region has some of the highest COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the world.
But it remains the most unequal region in the world, with uneven coverage between countries: while 14 countries have fully immunized 70% of their populations, the same number of countries have yet to protect 40% of their people, the agency said.
New Zealand has announced a phased reopening of its border, which has been largely closed for two years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccinated New Zealanders in Australia can travel home from 27 February without a requirement to stay at state-managed quarantine facilities, while New Zealand citizens in the rest of the world will be able to do so two weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Foreign vaccinated backpackers and some skilled workers can come to the country beginning 13 March, while up to 5,000 international students will be allowed to enter from 12 March.
Tourists from Australia and other visa-free countries will only be allowed in by July and travellers from the rest of the world will be kept out until October under the plan.
All travellers would still have to self-isolate for 10 days, Ardern said.
Written by
Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Cameron County on Thursday reported five coronavirus-related deaths and 747 positive cases of COVID-19.
The reported deaths raise the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the county to 2,088, according to a report released by the Cameron County Public Health Department. The youngest victim was a Harlingen man in his 30s.
Of the deceased, three were not vaccinated against the virus.
The 747 people who tested positive in the county are in the following age groups:
Age: 0-19
Of the 747 positive cases reported in the county, 264 were confirmed reports based on PCR testing, 480 were probable reports based on antigen testing, and 3 were self-reported based on at-home testing.
Vaccination efforts continue across Cameron County; currently, 82.42% of the population five years and older is fully vaccinated.
Cameron County Public Health continues to emphasize the importance of following COVID-19 prevention methods:
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Active cases and hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Arkansas are continuing to see a steady decline Friday, as testing numbers were also down due to winter weather.
The new figures from the Arkansas Department of Health show that active cases dropped by 5,287 to 44,477. Overall, the state saw 1,507 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the pandemic total to 791,730 cases.
The ADH data shows that Arkansas hospitals continue to see a declining level of patients with the virus, with 50 fewer patients over the last day to bring the current count to 1,555. There were slight dips in patients needing enhanced care, with the number of COVID-19 patients in ICUs dipping by 16 to 448 and the number of ventilators falling by five to 225.
There were an additional 29 deaths added to the states tally, moving the total number to 9,762 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Vaccination efforts saw 3,364 doses reported as being given in the past day, with the number of Arkansans with full immunity from the virus climbed to 1,549,401, with another 371,640 having partial immunity. Arkansans seeking a third dose rose to 524,827
SPINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) Two small businesses in Springfield have been awarded money to help them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pena Lopez Auto Repair and Chabelas Beauty Salon were presented funds from Springfields portion of the American Rescue Plan Act Friday morning. Pena Lopez Auto Repair was given $75,000. The owners told 22News, they opened up their shop right before COVID-19 began.
They were forced to close down for a while, had to lay off one employee, and sales dropped extremely.Now, this money will help them buy the building next door so they can train the next generation of workers.
Its a lifeline for the growth, the new project they will grow, to expand and provide a better service. Yahaira Lopez,
So far, Springfield has given out $900,000 in ARPA funds, all of the small businesses to receive money have been minority or women owned.
Mayor Sarno states, I am happy to join with State Representative Carlos Gonzalez in highlighting our City of Springfields ARPA RFP awards. My administration and the dedicated ARPA team are proud to awardPenaLopez Auto Repairs ARPA RFP application of $75,000 to help provide much-needed relief and assistance through this COVID-19 pandemic. To date, my administration has awarded over $900,000 in ARPA RFP funds to local small businesses and nonprofits, of which all of the small businesses have been minority and women owned businesses.
