The deaths occurred when an assault amphibious vehicle, or AAV, sank near San Clemente Island on July 30, 2020, during a 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) training exercise. A number of Marine officers, including the commander of the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. Robert Castellvi were removed from their positions after the incident.Poor communication and human errors also played a role in the accident that Marine leaders have called "preventable."
Lt. Gen. Carl Mundy, who conducted the Marine Corps investigation, wrote that the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit "did not receive forces that were optimally trained and equipped to the required standards." But rather than pointing to any one failure or decision that led to the accident, Mundy highlighted a "confluence of factors" that contributed to the fatal incident.
In an already challenging environment, the coronavirus pandemic made it even more difficult to train and prepare for amphibious exercises. Mundy said the "leadership and staff oversight required to receive, interpret, and apply the evolving COVID policy guidance was immense," adding "layers of complexity" to the normal operations of I Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF).
The coronavirus pandemic created a series of changing and often confusing COVID precautions and restrictions and forced the cancellation of exercises in the months before the accident.
It was one of a series of factors that combined to ultimately lead to the sinking of the AAV on July 30, 2020.
A group of AAVs were moving from the USS Somerset to San Clemente Island and on the return trip, four AAVs were delayed for five hours because of a mechanical failure on one of the vehicles, a previous investigation found. When the AAVs did enter the ocean, one began taking on water from multiple spots, as the transmission failed and bilge pumps were overwhelmed, causing the vehicle to sink.
The vehicle commander issued a distress signal, but it took 45 minutes for another AAV to pull alongside to assist. The two AAVs collided, which forced the accident vehicle to turn towards a swell. A wave swept over the vehicle, into the open hatch, and the vehicle sank rapidly.
In the 4-month period leading up to the accident, 11 of the 14 AAVs were not operational at some point, highlighting the need for additional maintenance and inspections. Meanwhile, Mundy said a formal evaluation of waterborne operations of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit "would likely have revealed training gaps and deficiencies." Not all of the Marines had completed underwater egress training before the accident.
The readiness of the platoon was "below the expectations of a platoon preparing to deploy with a MEU, largely due to a lack of time to receive and work on their vehicles prior to composite."
The Navy investigation led to clarifications on the requirements for safety boats, which took too long to reach the sinking AAV at the time, as well as improvements to communication between the Marines and the Navy.
"The Navy and Marine Corps learned from this tragedy and we are codifying the lessons we have learned as an organization so that the deaths of these Marines and Sailor are not in vain," said Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Force, US Pacific Fleet. "We are reworking procedures and doctrine, clarifying aspects of amphibious operations, and instituting new training requirements to prevent future tragedies."
CNN's Chandelis Duster contributed to this report.
Almost 2 years after COVID-19 emerged in Wuhan, China, a growing body of evidence suggests that the human immune system of some individuals with the help of vaccines has gained the upper hand against the virus.
Several studies have found that people who recover from the infection and later receive the first dose of an mRNA vaccine develop strong immunity against a wide range of variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Furthermore, these individuals appear to have good protection against related coronaviruses that could cause future outbreaks.
Scientists have used the term hybrid immunity to refer to the immune-strengthening effect of exposure to infection followed by vaccination. They have drawn this metaphor from genetics. In plants, for example, when the offspring of two breeds grow more strongly than either parent, this is known as hybrid vigor.
In people who have never had COVID-19, a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine may also provide hybrid immunity against variants of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses.
Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.
In one of the most recent studies, scientists created a virus that contained 20 naturally occurring mutations of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which is the protein that the virus uses to break into cells.
The spike proteins were resistant to antibodies belonging to unvaccinated people who had recovered from COVID-19 and to antibodies from people who had been vaccinated but never had COVID-19.
Remarkably, however, antibodies from individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 and were subsequently vaccinated neutralized these spike proteins.
These antibodies were also highly effective against six SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, including Delta and Beta. In addition, they neutralized several viruses in the same family of coronaviruses, known as sarbecoviruses, that usually infect bats and pangolins.
Antibodies from these individuals also neutralized SARS-CoV-1, which is the coronavirus that caused the SARS outbreak 20 years ago.
The paper was originally available as a preprint, but it now appears in Nature.
One of the authors, the virologist Prof. Paul Bieniasz, has conducted several studies of hybrid immunity with his colleagues at Rockefeller University in New York.
He notes that hybrid immunity develops in people who had COVID-19 early in the pandemic and are then vaccinated 612 months later.
While SARS-CoV-2 infection itself is thought to be quite short-lived, it is likely that some viral proteins and possibly even some infected cells persist, perhaps even for months, he says.
He explains that this gives the immune system the chance to optimize and diversify its antibodies to recognize a wide range of variants. Vaccination then boosts the levels of these antibodies. He adds:
One could reasonably predict that these individuals would be quite well-protected against most, and perhaps all, of the SARS-CoV-2 variants that we are likely to see in the foreseeable future.
Another study, which appears in Science, found that in people who had recovered from COVID-19, a single dose of an mRNA vaccine boosted their levels of neutralizing antibodies against all variants of concern by up to 1,000-fold.
The authors conclude that their study highlights the importance of vaccinating people who have had COVID-19 in order to give them immunity to new variants.
In an accompanying comment article, the virologist Prof. Shane Crotty, Ph.D., from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, CA, writes that a type of immune cell called a memory B cell is responsible for hybrid immunity.
These cells remember past encounters with a particular viral infection and generate the same antibodies when they encounter the same infection again.
However, they also create a range of mutated versions of this antibody, which Prof. Crotty calls a stockpile of immunological variants. These anticipate future infections with different versions of the same virus.
These diverse memory B cells, created in response to the original infection, appear to be preemptive guesses by the immune system as to what viral variants may emerge in the future, he writes.
People who have never had COVID-19 also benefit from this effect following vaccination, though to a lesser extent.
Another study that monitored the immunity of such individuals for 6 months after their second dose of an mRNA vaccine found that their antibody levels waned. However, their memory B cells recognized the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants, and these cells increased in number 36 months after vaccination.
The same antibody can actually detect, and presumably neutralize, the Alpha variant, the Beta variant, and, very likely, the Delta variant as well, says senior author Prof. E. John Wherry, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia.
All the same, people who recover from COVID-19 and later have a first dose of a vaccine have stronger immunity than they would otherwise. This is because their immune system recognizes all 25 proteins that make up a SARS-CoV-2 virus.
In contrast, an mRNA vaccine only encodes a single protein namely, the spike. Therefore, following vaccination, immune systems that have never encountered the virus itself only learn to recognize this protein and variants of it.
Prof. Wherry believes that in such cases, a booster dose of a vaccine will promote further evolution of these antibodies to provide stronger protection against variants.
The unpublished study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, is available on the preprint server BioRxiv.
Based on all these findings, it looks like the immune system is eventually going to have the edge over this virus, says Prof. Bieniasz.
And if were lucky, SARS-CoV-2 will eventually fall into that category of viruses that gives us only a mild cold.
What about related viruses that may jump from animals to humans to cause future pandemics, though? Can scientists develop a vaccine that protects against these as well as SARS-CoV-2?
The best approach may be to develop a vaccine that targets SARS and use it in conjunction with a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
Researchers led by the National University of Singapore reached this conclusion after finding that people in Singapore who recovered from SARS many years ago and recently received the Pfizer mRNA vaccine develop the strongest immunity against a broad range of sarbecoviruses.
Their antibodies neutralize not only SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern but also sarbecoviruses in bats and pangolins that have the potential to infect humans.
The study features in the New England Journal of Medicine.
These findings show the feasibility of a pan-sarbecovirus vaccine strategy, they write.
Their research suggests that a SARS vaccine may be a better candidate to protect against future sarbecovirus pandemics than a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
They found that people who had recovered from SARS and later received the Pfizer vaccine had better protection against sarbecoviruses than people who had recovered from COVID-19.
This group of recovered COVID-19 patients vaccinated with mRNA certainly have high levels of antibodies against COVID based on published work and our own data, co-author Prof. David Lye of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in Singapore told Medical News Today.
[B]ut they wont be broadly neutralizing as demonstrated in our study against SARS and [viruses originating in] the rat and pangolin, he added.
He told MNT that he and his colleagues are urging biotech companies to accelerate their development of SARS vaccines.
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
Schools with COVID-19 cases have steadily grown since the academic year began. A month ago, just six buildings had reported five or more cases in students or staff.
Both Dakota and Washington counties have 19 buildings with outbreaks and Ramsey has 14 schools reporting outbreaks.
School-age children have the highest rate of new cases with the 10- to 14-year-old age group seeing a 10.7% positivity rate over the last week. School kids accounted for about 26% of the nearly 21,000 new infections recorded in the last week.
Most children are not eligible to be vaccinated. Those who are, age 12 and older, have some of the lowest rates of vaccination in the state with less than 60% receiving at least one dose.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends masks be worn indoors in all of Minnesotas 87 counties because community transmission of the coronavirus is so high. However, while there are virus mitigation recommendations from the state, there is no statewide mask mandate.
There were also 32 COVID-19 fatalities reported Thursday, Oct. 7. The latest deaths to be reported ranged in age from their early 30s to their early 90s with 21 residing in private homes and 11 in long-term care.
Eighteen of the deaths occurred in October, 13 in September and one in March. The death toll is 8,275 since the pandemic began with 4,668 fatalities in long-term care.
Cases in long-term care continue to grow even though almost 94% of seniors have gotten at least one dose of vaccine. There are 338 facilities where at least one resident or staff has tested positive, up from 309 a week ago.
Minnesota added new 2,674 coronavirus cases Thursday, the result of about 42,000 tests. There have been 732,001 infections diagnosed since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The rate of test positivity, new cases and hospitalizations continues to grow. There are 881 patients hospitalized including 234 in critical condition.
Parts of the state continue to experience hospital bed shortages, typically because of insufficient staff.
Health officials say the best way to avoid a severe illness and to slow the spread of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated. Breakthrough cases are on the rise, but about 99% of the 3.1 million fully vaccinated Minnesotans have not reported a breakthrough infection.
Minnesota has administered 6.4 million doses of vaccine and 3.4 million have gotten at least one shot. About 73% of eligible residents, age 12 and older, have gotten at least one shot.
RICHMOND, Va. -- In an effort to provide accurate, easy-to-read information on the on-going COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on our community, WTVR.com will update this post with the day's local coronavirus headlines and statistics.
COVID-19 IN VIRGINIA (Scroll to bottom for U.S. stats)
Positive COVID-19 Cases Since Start of Pandemic: 885,323 (+2,886 from Wednesday)People Hospitalized Since Start of Pandemic: 37,162 (+78 from Wednesday)COVID-19-Linked Deaths Since Start of Pandemic: 13,031 (+32 from Wednesday)
Total Tests: 13,082,494 12,854,826 (+44,837 from Thursday)All Health Districts Current 7-Day Positivity Rate Total: 8.4% (Down from 8.6% Wednesday)
People Vaccinated with at least One Dose: 5,814,301 (not yet updated for Thursday) % of Population with at least One Dose: 68.1% (not yet updated for Thursday)People Fully Vaccinated: 5,179,513 (not yet updated for Thursday)% of Population Fully Vaccinated: 60.7% (not yet updated for Thursday)
Click here for complete city/county-by-county breakdown of COVID-19 cases in Virginia
NOTE: This data is provided from the Virginia Department of Health daily at 10 a.m. Officials said their cutoff for data is 5 p.m. the previous day. So your local health department may have issued an alert about a case before it is added to the statewide tally released the following day. Get the latest charts and updated numbers from VDH here.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for the most complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
VACCINATE VIRGINIA: Virginians age 12+ eligible for COVID-19 vaccine. Register for the COVID-19 vaccine on the Vaccinate Virginia website or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-275-8343). You can also search for specific vaccines as well as which ones are available near you via the Vaccine Finder website.
COMPLETE COVERAGE: COVID-19 HEADLINES (App users, click here for a complete list.)
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LATEST COVID-19 U.S. AND WORLDWIDE STATS
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bryce Combe administers a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-thru event organized by the Utah County Health Department in Spanish Fork on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021.
| Oct. 6, 2021, 7:54 p.m.
| Updated: Oct. 7, 2021, 4:44 p.m.
Editors note: The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to critical stories about the coronavirus. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.
Just over 1.7 million Utahns are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Utah Department of Health.
An additional 2,939 Utahns were fully vaccinated in the past day, bringing the total to 1,700,914 52% of Utahs total population.
In the past day, a dozen more Utahns died of COVID-19, the Health Department announced Wednesday. Two of those who died were between the ages of 25 and 44, and two were between 45 and 64.
The Health Department also reported 1,975 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, which brought the total number of cases recorded statewide to 516,748 since the pandemic began. The rolling seven-day average for positive tests stands at 1,422 per day.
Intensive care units in Utah hospitals are at 97.1% capacity, with 45% of patients in ICU beds are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Kids in grades K-12 accounted for 434 of the new cases announced Wednesday, according to the state Health Department. There were 187 cases reported in children aged 5-10; 106 cases in children 11-13; and 141 cases in children 14-18.
Buffalo Point Elementary in the Davis School District recently became the sixth school in the Utah to reach the state-designated threshold for a COVID-19 outbreak this fall. The Syracuse school reached that threshold in late September, as reflected in the state dashboard this week. More than 30 of its roughly 800 students have tested positive.
The school has begun testing all students with parent permission. Those who test negative can return to class in person; those who test positive or refuse to test must stay home for two weeks.
In the past four weeks, unvaccinated Utahns were 6.4 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated people, according to a Health Department analysis. The unvaccinated also were seven times more likely to be hospitalized and 6.3 times more likely to test positive for the coronavirus.
Vaccine doses administered in past day/total doses administered 10,124 / 3,525,706.
Utahns fully vaccinated 1,700,914.
Cases reported in past day 1,975
Deaths reported in past day 12.
Utah County reported two deaths a man between the ages of 65-84, and a man 85-plus. There were also two deaths in Washington County a woman 65-84, and a man 85-plus.
Eight counties each reported a single death a Salt Lake County man 25-44; a Davis County woman 65-84; a Duchesne County woman 25-44; an Iron County man 45-64; a Sanpete County man 65-84; a Tooele County man 45-64; a Uintah County woman 65-84; and a Weber County man 85-plus.
Tests reported in past day 11,613 people were tested for the first time. A total of 22,541 people were tested.
Hospitalizations reported in the past day 575. Thats 29 more than reported on Tuesday. Of those currently hospitalized, 229 are in intensive care six more than Tuesday.
Percentage of positive tests Under the states original method, the rate is 17% over the past day. Thats higher than the seven-day average of 15.4%.
The states new method counts all test results, including repeated tests of the same individual. Tuesdays rate was 8.8%, lower than the seven-day average of 10.1%.
[Read more: Utah is changing how it measures the rate of positive COVID-19 tests. Heres what that means.]
Totals to date 516,748 cases; 2,974 deaths; 22,514 hospitalizations; 3,505,673 people tested.
Tribune reporter Courtney Tanner contributed to this story.
The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness climbed above 236.5 million on Thursday, while the death toll rose above 4.82 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continues to lead the world with a total of 44 million cases and 707,788 deaths, after passing 700,000 last Friday. The U.S. is now averaging more than 1,800 deaths a day, according to a New York Times tracker, , a slight improvement over recent trends and new cases and hospitalizations are declining. The White House announced that it will buy $1 billion worth of rapid, at-home tests to address a shortage. The move is expected to quadruple the number of tests available to people living in the U.S. by December, Jeff Zients, White house COVID-19 response coordinator said, according to the Washington Post. The White House is expecting to increase the number of at-home tests to 200 million a month by December.India is second by cases after the U.S. at 33.9 million and has suffered 449,856 deaths. Brazil has second highest death toll at 599,359 and 21.5 million cases. In Europe, Russia has most fatalities at 209,752 followed by the U.K. at 137,694.
As many companies impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates, employees who refuse to get jabbed are getting the ax. Employers in the health care and aviation industries have already dismissed thousands of workers who declined to get inoculated.
Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S. with more than 200,000 employees, said that as of this week, 2,200 staffers, or 1% of its workforce, have not complied with the company's vaccine mandate and were placed on unpaid leave.
More than 92% of Kaiser Permanente's staff is vaccinated, and the number of holdouts is declining daily, a spokesperson noted. Employees who have not demonstrated proof of vaccination have until December 1 to do so in order to return to work.
"We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won't know with certainty until then. We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about the vaccines, their benefits, and risks," a spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
This week, Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York, said it fired 1,400 employees, who make up less than 2% of its staff, for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Both the company and the state of New York have vaccine mandates in place. New York requires its more than 650,000 hospital and nursing home workers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or else lose their jobs.
After unvaccinated employees were dismissed, Northwell announced a 100% vaccination rate among its roughly 76,000 employees.
Joe Kemp, a spokesperson for Northwell, said that while it regrets losing some employees, it is prioritizing the health and safety of its patients and colleagues.
"We owe it to our staff, our patients and the communities we serve to be 100 percent vaccinated against COVID-19," Kemp said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Novant Health, a North Carolina hospital system with more than 35,000 employees, last week fired 175 unvaccinated workers who failed to comply with its vaccination requirements. Compliance for the company means being fully vaccinated or qualifying for a medical or religious exemption that allows employees to test weekly and wear an N95 mask as well as eye protection while on the job, according to Novant.
By the end of last month, Novant had suspended without pay roughly 375 employees who it determined violated its policy and given them five days to comply or else be terminated. An additional 200 Novant employees subsequently rolled up their sleeves, according to the company.
"We are thrilled [that the] vast majority of team members gave @NovantHealth patients and visitors, as well as our team members, better protection regardless of where they are in our health system," Megan Rivers, the company's director of media relations, said on Twitter.
Novant Health CEO Carl Amato said the company is not concerned about staffing shortages.
"Staffing is no more a concern today than before this event, and we have been steadily adding travelers to meet the needs of our organization throughout the pandemic. Without a vaccine mandate for team members, we faced the strong possibility of having a third of our staff unable to work due to contracting, or exposure to, COVID-19," Amato said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
Other health care organizations are also cracking down on unvaccinated workers who they say put their colleagues and communities at risk of getting COVID-19.
ChristianaCare, which is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, and has 1,200 beds across three hospitals, last monthannounced that some 150 of its employees had failed to meet a September 21 deadline to be fully vaccinated. As a result, they were fired. Of these, roughly 50 provided direct patient care, including a dozen nurses.
"As we anticipated, a small number of caregivers chose not to be vaccinated and have left the organization. Separations for non-compliance with our vaccination policy resulted in the loss of approximately 150 employees, the equivalent of fewer than 90 full-time employees," CEO Janice Nevin said in a statement.
ChristianaCare noted that about 200 of its caregivers were exempted from vaccination on religious or medical grounds, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Although health care organizations account for most of the firings of unvaccinated workers, other kinds of employers are expected to follow suit when workers start reporting to offices again in earnest.
"I've heard from general counsel and human resources folks that they are gearing up to do it," said Randi May, a labor and employment attorney at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney in New York. "The reason we're seeing it in the health care industry first is they are all back to work in person, and companies that can still allow people to work from home are gearing up. They have the luxury of being more protracted about their approach and are starting to engage in the interactive process with employees whose positions are deemed essential to return to the office."
"You'll see terminations in other sectors soon," she added.
One company already lowering the boom: United Airlines. The carrier in August told its 67,000 U.S.-based employees that they would have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the fall. United said it initially identified nearly 600 employees who were in violation of its policy and who were set to be terminated. But almost half that number have since opted to get vaccinated, according to United.
"Our vaccine policy continues to prove requirements work in less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of being separated from the company has been cut almost in half, dropping from 592 to 320," the company said in a statement to CBS News.
More than 99% of United's eligible U.S. employees have now chosen to get vaccinated, according to the company.
A dilemma for some companies considering vaccine mandates is an acute worker shortage among retailers, restaurants, hotels and other service-sector employers.
"I believe that in certain industries they are afraid that if they fire people they won't have any one to do the work," May said.
In Connecticut, an executive order requires workers to either have been vaccinated by October 4 or take weekly COVID-19 tests. As of Monday, 2,200, or 7% of executive branch state employees were noncompliant, the governor's office said Monday.
The administration said it expects most vaccine holdouts to provide proof of vaccination before they face termination. Gov. Ned Lamont saidhe would consider deploying the National Guard to replace workers who fail to comply in order to avoid worker shortages.
"I continue to remain optimistic that our employees will submit their testing and vaccination information quickly," Lamont said. "But as we have done throughout the pandemic, we will prepare for the worst to prevent impacts to the critical services the state provides."
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Medical workers treat patients suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Batajnica COVID-19 hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, October 4, 2021. REUTERS/Marko Djurica/File Photo
NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) this week issued a definition for "long COVID," a term used to describe the persistent health problems that affect some survivors of COVID-19. Scientists are still working to understand the syndrome. Here is what they know so far.
HOW DOES THE WHO DEFINE LONG COVID?
The WHO defines long COVID as a condition with at least one symptom that usually begins within three months from the onset of confirmed or probable infection with the coronavirus, persists for at least two months, and cannot be explained by another diagnosis. Symptoms may start during the infection or appear for the first time after the patient has recovered from acute illness.
Among the most common persistent symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, and cognitive problems. Others include chest pain, problems with smell or taste, muscle weakness and heart palpitations. Long COVID generally has an impact on everyday functioning.
The WHO's definition may change as new evidence emerges and as understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 continues to evolve. A separate definition may be applicable for children, the agency said.
HOW COMMON IS LONG COVID?
The exact number of affected people is not known. A study from Oxford University of more than 270,000 COVID-19 survivors found at least one long-term symptom in 37%, with symptoms more frequent among people who had required hospitalization.
A separate study from Harvard University involving more than 52,000 COVID-19 survivors whose infections had been only mild or asymptomatic suggests that long COVID conditions may more often affect patients under age 65.
More than 236 million infections caused by the coronavirus have been reported so far, according to a Reuters tally.
WHAT ELSE DO STUDIES SHOW ON LONG COVID SYMPTOMS?
In a study published in the Lancet, Chinese researchers reported that 12 months after leaving the hospital, 20% to 30% of patients who had been moderately ill and up to 54% of those who were critically ill were still having lung problems.
The Harvard study also found that new diagnoses of diabetes and neurological disorders are more common among those with a history of COVID-19 than in those without the infection.
DO PEOPLE RECOVER FROM LONG COVID?
Many symptoms of long COVID resolve over time, regardless of the severity of initial COVID-19 disease. The proportion of patients still experiencing at least one symptom fell from 68% at six months to 49% at 12 months, according to the study published in the Lancet.
The WHO said long COVID symptoms can change with time and return after showing initial improvement.
DO COVID-19 VACCINES HELP WITH LONG COVID?
Small studies have suggested that some people with long COVID experienced improvement in their symptoms after being vaccinated. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said more research is needed to determine the effects of vaccination on post-COVID conditions.
Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla; Editing by Nancy Lapid, Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
With the authorizations for several effective vaccines against Covid-19 and a strong vaccination program in place, concerns about burnout among health care workers who have been at the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic for more than 18 months began to recede. Then Delta became a household discussion as vaccination rates have fallen far short of expectation, keeping health care workers in the trenches.
Burnout was a near-daily topic before Covid-19, but after multiple crushing rounds of the pandemic and with infections rising again, this systemic exhaustion has shifted from a concern to a crisis.
For many health care workers, this round feels personal and tragically preventable. Why? Because, as of July, more than 99% of recent Covid-19 deaths are among unvaccinated people.
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If burnout isnt addressed, it can lead to lasting mental health complications. Multiple studies show instances of post-traumatic stress disorder in health care workers following the SARS outbreak in 2002. Equally worrisome, there will also likely be a continued exodus of health care workers from the industry if health care leaders do not take drastic and immediate measures to stem the rapid turnover rate.
Health care workers have shown up day after day, in the most difficult of circumstances, and it is time past time, actually to show up for them. Health care leaders have a responsibility to reinforce resilience and protect mental wellness as health care workers continue to grapple with the complexities of treating Covid-19.
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Although its tempting to push off focused improvement under the guise of Lets just get through this moment before making any changes, delaying the important work of addressing burnout does a disservice to health care workers who need support and relief now. Even as hospitals continue to see influxes of Covid-19 patients, there are steps health care leaders can take right now to advance welcome and much-needed changes.
Know and articulate organizational goals and values and connect these to current initiatives. Health care should not be willing to accept staff injury and caregiver exhaustion as inevitable. Leaders can and must prioritize creating a culture of safety throughout health care, where employees know they will be both safe and supported within the workplace. Many other complex, high-risk industries, such as nuclear power and aviation, have implemented high reliability practices with rigorous processes to protect employees and, by extension, create safer operations. Covid-19 can be the catalyst to finally move toward addressing persistent safety issues in health care in an intentional, systemic way.
Speak out in support of vaccines. Although health care leaders may not be able to scrub in alongside their clinical team members, they can use their influence to speak out in support of Covid-19 vaccines. Misinformation about these vaccines is rampant, and hospital, health system, and medical center leaders and employees can all play roles in increasing confidence about the vaccines within their respective communities. Increasing vaccination rates is an essential element to finding relief for workers caring for Covid-19 patients and to standing alongside staff in a tangible, visible way.
Engage frontline workers early and often. Burnout is driven by workplace conditions, and no one has a better perspective on what works and what doesnt in health care organizations than those working directly with patients. Theyve seen policies and internal practices (that dont always match policies) pushed to the limit over the last 18 months and have invaluable insights. Successful change initiatives are informed by the experiences of employees at every level and in a variety of roles. Its important to engage those on the frontlines to understand their experiences and empower them as agents of change to help drive lasting improvements. It is more critical than ever to listen to learn what employees need now and to address their barriers and challenges.
Health care has countless lessons to learn from Covid-19 and even more opportunities to build back stronger and better on the other side of the pandemic. Health care leaders must take these lessons to heart and drive positive and lasting change. The health care workforce and the people they serve deserve nothing less.
Anne Marie Benedicto is vice president of the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare.
Portrait of a restaurant team and their female owner wearing double face protection and badges to ... [+] show their vaccination against COVID-19.
President Joe Biden, speaking at an event today in Illinois, said that despite his recently announced vaccination mandate, he implored more businesses to require employee vaccinations on their own. I know these decisions arent easy but theyre an example, a powerful example. Get vaccinated.
US President Joe Biden gives remarks after touring the Clayco construction site in Elk Grove ... [+] Village, Illinois, October 7, 2021. - Biden traveled to Chicago to promote the importance of Covid-19 vaccine requirements for all workers. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
The Chicago Tribune reported that,More than 3,500 organizations [and 25 % of businesses] have already stepped up to require vaccinations, and thousands more will require vaccinations in the weeks ahead under Bidens mandate.
Othercompanies are researching and deciding how to document the vaccination status of their employeesor have already figured out that part of the pandemic equation.
A Microsoft spokesperson said they ...are requiring proof of vaccination for all employees and vendors entering Microsoft buildings in the U.S. Last month the company activated a feature on their HealthCheck website so that all employees and vendors who enter the companys buildings in the U.S. can upload proof theyare vaccinated.
A Microsoft logo adorns a building in Chevy Chase, Maryland on May 19, 2021. - Microsoft said it is ... [+] retiring Internet Explorer, the browser it created more than 25 years and which is now largely abandoned as people instead use competitors like Google's Chrome or Apple's Safari. "We are announcing that the future of Internet Explorer on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge," the company said in a blog post Wednesday, referring to its other browser. (Photo by Eva HAMBACH / AFP) (Photo by EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images)
We have an accommodation process in place for employees who have a medical condition or other protected reason, such as religion, which prevent them from getting vaccinated, the Microsoft spokesperson said.
Neal Mills, chief medicalofficerand senior vice president at insurance company Aon,said,Employers are acutely aware of theanticipatedvaccination mandates from OSHAThis would directly impact the thousands of employers who have already activated vaccinate mandates for their workforce.
UKRAINE - 2021/05/25: In this photo illustration, Aon logo of an insurance company is seen on a ... [+] smartphone and a pc screen. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Mills saidthat, employers will need to ensure their vaccine verification systemsare dynamic enough to contend not only with the science of the pandemic, but also evolve...with changing definitions of fully vaccinated, OSHA administration requirements, plus an exceptions process for employees with unique circumstances.
Digital tools will[play] an important rolein establishing compliance with these vast requirements. Suffice it [to] say that these largely undefined administrative burdens are still [to] be mapped out by employers, he said.
Kate Bally is the director of labor and employment service atThomson Reuters Practical Law. She said although companies are taking a variety of approaches to certification of vaccination among their employees, common examples include:
Matthew Collins is co-chair of the labor and employment practice at Brach Eichlerlaw firm. He noted that, Mobile phoneapplications confirming vaccination status also are being developed and may be deemed acceptable documentation of vaccination status.Employers that are not subject to a legal mandate to document vaccination status may have more flexibility in what type of documentation to accept. However, it is recommended that they also obtain [other] documentation.
Bally observed that, Determining the best approach requires an understanding of context. Some U.S. states and local governments have passed laws requiring proof of vaccination for specific purposes. Employers are waiting to hear more about the Biden Administrations requirements with hope that this patchwork of mandates and prohibitions becomes simpler. Although that should clarify matters, no one will be surprised to see legal challenges [arise].
DarleneClabaulti is a senior editor for the human resources team at J. J. Keller & Associates. She noted that, Some employers may not be documenting it at all, others may be using a simple checkmark next to the employees name after reviewing vaccine documentation, some may be asking employees to complete a survey (self-attestation), while others may be requiringemployeesto provide vaccine documentation and making copies of it.
For the latter, the vaccine information is to be kept confidential and separate from the general personnel files per the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission representative, if employers mandate that employees display their vaccination status (e.g., pin, bracelet sticker on badge), employees may file a claimregardingsuch confidentiality, she said.
Clabaulti warned that, Not collecting vaccine documentation will reduce the requirement to keep vaccine documentation confidential and might increase trust. Not collecting it might, however, make it more challenging to ensure that employees whodontprovidedocumentation are truly vaccinated and, therefore, know who might need a booster to remain fully vaccinated in the future.
Be AwareOfLaws
Collins of Brach Eichlersaid,As employers collect documentation regarding employee vaccination status, they need to be aware that applicable law may not only require that they maintain records of employee vaccination status, but in somecasesthey may be required to report vaccination data to public health departments or other government agencies, Collins said.
Honor Confidentiality
Under the ADA an employees vaccination status is considered medical information and, like all other types of employee medical information, employers are required to keep the employees vaccination status confidential and must store that information separately from the employees personnel files, Collins noted.
Collins recommended that, Employers should implement policies to [ensure] that documentation and information regarding vaccination status is being collected, stored and, if applicable, reported in a manner that complies with their various obligations under federal, state and local law.
Look OutForForged Documents
Unfortunately, with some employees facing termination if theyare not vaccinated, employers also need to be mindful of the possibility that employees might submit fraudulent or forged vaccination documentation.In fact, criminal charges recentlywere filedagainst a woman in New Jersey whoallegedly soldhundreds of fake Covid-19 vaccination cards, Collins observed.
In this photo illustration,Patient holding Covid 19 vaccinated record card. (Photo by: Joan ... [+] Slatkin/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Control Access
Paul Lopez is a laborand employment attorney with Tripp Scott. He counseled that:
