BALTIMORE (WJZ) The state health department reported 1,277 new cases of COVID-19 in Maryland Saturday and 12 new deaths from the virus.
But the positivity rate went down again, to 4.22 percent.
And its the sixth day that its decreased.
The vaccination effort continued Saturday across the state including in one of its zip codes hit hardest by COVID, 21215.
Saturday, the New Psalmist Baptist Church worked with the University of Maryland Childrens Hospital to offer more shots of the vaccine for kids who are going back to school so that more of this community is protected against the virus.
Dozens lined up for shots of the COVID-19 vaccine at this event.
It is critical that we do vaccinations. That we get the vaccine in persons bodies, said Bishop Walter Thomas, the churchs pastor.
More than 5,600 people in the 21215 zip code have been diagnosed with COVID-19.
The goal here was to get more people in the community vaccinated with the help of trusted church leaders.
It feels a lot more comfortable to receive the vaccination knowing that people you already know and trust are right at your side supporting you through it so we really have appreciated this collaboration, said Dr. Rebecca Carter, director of community outreach and engagement at the University of Maryland Childrens Hospital.
Thomas said he worked with the University of Maryland Childrens Hospital to host the event because he wants to get as many people vaccinated as quickly possible.
The only way were going to get back to some semblance of life and build upon it for the future is to stop this virus in its tracks, he said.
The state health department reports that almost 48 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated against covid-19 in 21215, meaning more than half the people in it dont have the extra layer of protection the vaccine offers.
Thomas says the only way to safely protect against the virus is with the vaccine.
It wont stop with rhetoric it wont stop with arguments. It will only stop with a vaccination, he said.
And as of Saturday, almost 58 percent of people eligible for the vaccine in Baltimore have been fully vaccinated.
At the Free Press, truth-telling is at the very heartof what we do.Although we live in a time when many are not willing to accept the truth, we have a duty as a news institution to keep delivering it. And that is our purpose today: to deliver the truth about COVID-19and vaccines.
The vaccines are safe andeffective, and supported by science. They are widely available, free of charge.
And they can help to end the pandemic and bring us closer to what was once normal.
Yet a large percentage of Americans and Michiganders are unvaccinated. To be sure, some have legitimate questions about the safety of vaccines. We answer those this week in a special reporting project. But many others have passed on vaccinations for reasons of ideology or buying into conspiracy theories. We ask you to consider the health of others, to read into what our reporting has found and to think deeply about it.
We lead today's newspaperwith a front-page editorial an expression of opinion which is a rare move for a news organization whose lifeblood is fact-based reporting. But this is an extraordinary time that calls for an extraordinary statement one that calls on all of us who are vaccinated to do more to get friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers and others vaccinated.
More:The truth about COVID-19 vaccines. Everything you need to know.
Editorial:An appeal to vaccinated Free Press readers
This package gives you all the facts about vaccinesand stories of how the virus has afflicted unvaccinated Michiganders as well as some who are vaccinated in what are calledbreakthrough infections. This project alsosheds light on whatdifferent communitiesacrossthe state are doing to fight COVID-19inschools and workplaces, and provides insight into the debates around vaccinesand masking.
The Free Press offers digital subscriptions to our readers, which gives access to our best and most insightful journalism. All of this package isavailable to anyone on freep.com because of the public service it provides.But digital subscriptions are essential to our ability to deliver news to you, especially work of depth like this COVID-19 project. To our subscribers, we thank you.You share our unrelenting passion for Detroit and Michigan and your support means everything. If you're not a subscriber, please consider it. It's a good deal. Go to freep.com/specialoffer.
And, remember, it is easy to get a vaccine. Text your ZIP code to 438829 for a quick response that tells you where you can get the shot nearby.
Peter Bhatia is editor and vice president of the Free Press and Michigan editor for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach him at pbhatia@gannett.com.
There are thousands and thousands of people I have helped with religions exemptions, Corrigan calmly assured the people who kept listening to her advice well past 11 p.m. We are the majority and we have been silent.
None of the major religions officially oppose vaccination, but that hasnt stopped a growing cottage industry from helping people devise religious arguments to get out of taking a COVID-19 shot. Some try to link vaccine research to aborted fetal tissue, while others, including Corrigan, reference passages from the Bible that, they say, suggest vaccinations make sacred blood impure.
Now, in the wake of President Bidens recent order mandating COVID shots for roughly 80 million Americans, the push to vaccinate has grown more fervent. So, too, has the pushback by people who insist the shots violate their religious beliefs.
It started with a trickle earlier this year, maybe helping three or four people navigating mandates, but some days now we are getting 1,500 e-mails and our phone bank wont stop ringing, said Harry Mihet, chief litigation counsel at Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based evangelical organization that has filed lawsuits on behalf of people opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and COVID vaccines.
As more and more people are having to deal with these mandates, the number of those opposed to them will increase, not because people are all of a sudden getting religious, Mihet said, but because they have to all of a sudden make decisions.
Federal civil rights law requires companies to accommodate religious beliefs that are sincerely held, putting employers at risk of a lawsuit if they dont make allowances for employees faith-based claims.
But determining sincerity in a country deeply divided over COVID mandates has become a tense exercise, a journey into uncharted territory. Employers and human resource officers are keenly aware of the growing number of lawsuits challenging mandatory shots.
A federal judge last month dismissed a lawsuit against the University of Massachusetts over its requirement that students be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus. One of the students had claimed a religious exemption, saying she is a Roman Catholic, yet acknowledged she received other vaccines in her late teenage years including flu shots.
But on Tuesday, another federal judge, this one in New York, temporarily blocked that state from forcing health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID after a group of workers sued because New Yorks mandate did not allow religious exemptions.
Corporate squeamishness on the subject is apparently widespread; several companies and universities contacted by the Globe for this story declined to comment about their process for granting religious exemptions.
Others, such as State Street Corp., a Boston-based global financial services company with about 9,000 Massachusetts employees, provided only general statements. State Street requires employees to be vaccinated, but doesnt ask questions if someone claims a religious exemption.
We are not asking employees for any documentation [for exemptions] but reserve the right to do so, read the State Street statement.
John Dooney, an adviser for the Society for Human Resource Management, said that before COVID, most companies rarely encountered requests for religious exemptions. Now, he said, the trade association for human resource leaders is receiving more calls seeking guidance on matters of faith, and is advising companies to be consistent, such as using a core group of reviewers, to ensure consistency in their decisions.
But Dooney also advises that each employees request be judged on its own merits.
It cant be everyone who is this religion gets this type of accommodation, he said.
During Corrigans recent late-night Zoom session, attendees from New York, Ohio, and other states sought tips on how to best word their responses on religious exemption request forms from their employer.
Corrigan suggested attendees not answer questions about their religion on the forms. Instead, she recommended people write on the document please see attached.
The forms, I strongly believe, are meant to trip you up, they ask you difficult questions, Corrigan told the group. Your employer, your school is trying to deny you, in many cases they are just trying to deny you.
Nearly two hours into the session, several attendees still had questions. Corrigan, meanwhile, promised two more online teach-ins the next week. They typically run three hours and cost $25 per person.
Corrigan, who was home-schooled from the age of 8 until college, told the Globe that she has never been vaccinated. She describes her own faith as Christian, but strongly values Buddhist principles. She traces her passion for religion to a long line of ancestors who, she said, fought for religious freedoms. Her goal is to be ordained as a minister and go to law school.
I am called to do this, to support people, she said And protect their right to bodily autonomy.
Corrigans teachings dont exactly mesh with the tenets of many religions that espouse an obligation to society, said Dr. Michael Grodin, an emeritus professor of health law, ethics and human rights at the Boston University School of Public Health. Grodin long taught a course on religious bioethics that examined the controversy inherent in major public health issues, including exemptions to mandatory vaccination.
The notion of protection of life is critical to this discussion, and the risk to others and not just to ourselves, Grodin said.
Most religions have no prohibition against vaccinations. A very few, such as Dutch Reformed Congregations and Faith Tabernacle, do have concerns, according to Vanderbilt University Medical Center research. Christian Science, which teaches that disease can be cured or prevented by prayer, does not prohibit the shots.
The church has made a point to let its members know there is no pressure or judgment for whether one chooses to vaccinate or not, said Kevin Ness, a church spokesman. Christian Scientists share a concern for public health and safety and remain mindful of the responsibility all citizens have to follow government requirements and respect the rights of others.
Among those who object to the COVID vaccine, some cite misconstrued information linking the shots to abortion. During testing or development of the three COVID vaccines available in the United States, researchers essentially reproduced cells that were originally obtained in the 1970s and 1980s from elective abortions. Many Catholic leaders, including Pope Francis, have said the COVID shots are morally acceptable. Historical fetal cell lines have been used to create vaccines for other diseases such as hepatitis A, rubella, and rabies.
The Rev. Laura Everett, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, argues that vaccines can be seen as a manifestation of Gods care and concern.
Its possible to understand Gods care for us at this moment as coming through the vaccines, as coming through God-given wisdom and hard work by those who have studied and developed the vaccines, she said. This is a gift from God, and I am not in the business of turning down gifts from God.
But Corrigan, the Boston University theology student, suggests otherwise
On her website, Students Against Mandates, she includes links to scriptural passages to include in applications for religious exemptions as well as detailed steps for writing one. Corrigan also advises that contamination of blood is usually the first problem for vaccines for all faiths.
While there are many passages about blood in the Bible, the one denomination that typically asserts concerns about purity, often regarding blood infusions, are Jehovahs Witnesses, said Grodin, the retired BU professor. But even they promote vaccination.
Corrigan founded Students Against Mandates in June, as colleges and universities were among the first to widely adopt COVID vaccine mandates.
Colleges have taken different approaches to exemptions, with some requiring a signed letter from a religious official that describes the religious tenet that precludes vaccination, while others accept personally written statements from a student or employee describing the religious basis for the objection.
A University of Massachusetts spokesman said theyre compiling numbers from their five campuses, but expect just over 1,000 student religious exemption requests out of 75,000 UMass students.
We expect that well over 80 percent of those student exemption requests to be granted, the spokesman said. Any student granted an exemption is required to undergo at least weekly testing.
For Corrigan, who calls COVID testing nasal rape, such rules are unfair.
People need to say no and take a stand, she said in closing her recent online class, with more than 140 people still on the session. As a stream of Amens and other comments wound down in the written chat section of the session, Corrigan concluded.
I will be praying for you all, she said.
Kay Lazar can be reached at kay.lazar@globe.com Follow her on Twitter @GlobeKayLazar.
Explosive disputes over COVID-19 vaccine mandates are prompting concerns in the public health community that previously low-level opposition to other required vaccines could quickly gain traction.
Health experts say that rejecting routine vaccines might spark preventable public health crises, including the reemergence of outbreaksof diseases such asmeasles and mumps.
In addition, rising criticism of President BidenJoe BidenSunday shows preview: Coronavirus dominates as country struggles with delta variant Did President Biden institute a vaccine mandate for only half the nation's teachers? Democrats lean into vaccine mandates ahead of midterms MOREs vaccine mandate from GOP governors is seen by some as giving more legitimacy and momentum to the anti-vaccine movement and its resistance to requiring shots of any kind, even for children and members of the military.
If more parents decide to refrain from getting routine vaccinations for their kids, experts warn, it could cause the childhood immunity rate for certain diseasessuch as measles to fall below the herd immunity threshold, allowing them to spread more easily.
Now we could potentially reenter an era where we have endemic transmission of these diseases that we're no longer transmitting in the population, said Jonathan Berman, an assistant professor in the department of basic sciences at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT).
The anti-vaccine movement started long before COVID-19 took hold, but the pandemic presented activists with the opportunity to bolster their ranks by taking advantage of peoples anxieties and uncertainties amid the evolving nature of the coronavirus and the governments response.
The Center for Countering Digital Hates Anti-Vaxx Playbook, published last year, said vaccine opponents have promoted three key messages to circulate COVID-19 vaccine skepticism:that the virus is not dangerous, that vaccines are unsafe and that people shouldnt trust vaccine advocates.
The debate over vaccines has intensified over the past 10 days after Biden announced that all private employers with 100 or more employees would be required to mandate vaccines or weekly testing, a move that will impact millions of workers. The announcement faced immediate backlash from many Republicans who have slammed the policy as government overreach.
Rep. Tom McClintockThomas (Tom) Milller McClintockVaccine mandate backlash sparks concerns of other health crises The right fire to fight fire why limiting prescribed burning is short-sighted Hillicon Valley: House advances six bills targeting Big Tech after overnight slugfest | Google to delay cookie phase out until 2023 | Appeals court rules against Baltimore Police Department aerial surveillance program MORE (R-Calif.) commented directly on mandating other vaccines during a House Judiciary Committee markup last week.
So, in this brave new world of Big Brother Biden, what is to stop the government from forcing every American from getting a flu shot or a tetanus shot or a hepatitis shot or a shingles shot? he asked. The president warns his patience is wearing thin. Mr. Biden, our patience as Americans is wearing thin.
Such arguments are seen by some experts as casting vaccine mandates of any kind as government overreach.
That position also plays into the conservative narrative of left-wing authoritarianism, which Berman of NYIT said he expects will be exploited by anti-vaccine proponents to great effect.
The Supreme Court held up vaccine mandates more than a century ago, in 1905, for a Massachusetts smallpox immunization requirement, meaning any legislation outlawing the practice would clash with the long-held precedent.
Dan Salmon, director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said its difficult to predict whats going to happen in response to Bidens mandate because the U.S. doesnt have precedent in mandating a vaccine that a quarter of the population doesnt want.
Having worked in this area for decades, I do have concerns that it could create backlash, and it could spill over beyond COVID vaccines to other vaccines and other laws such as those for routinely childhood required vaccines, he said.
A majority of Americans have voiced approval for vaccine mandates in workplaces, schools and sporting events; 52 percent of respondents in a recent Economist-YouGov poll said they supported Bidens requirement.
Months after the vaccine became widely available, almost three-quarters of the eligible population has received at least one dose, and 63.6 percentis fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But more than 70 million of those aged 12 and older have not yet gotten a shot, and those younger than 12 are still ineligible, leaving much of the population at risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the CDC said routine child and adolescent vaccinations fell significantly in the early months of the pandemic as people stayed at home. The rate picked up in the summer and fall of 2020 but not to high enough levels to offset the earlier drop-off, according to a study released in June.
Timothy Callaghan, an assistant professor of health policy at the Texas A&M School of Public Health, said its unclear at this point whether the decrease is attributable to vaccine hesitancy or to more people avoiding doctors offices during the pandemic.
But its certainly possible those who view Bidens mandate as overreach could question the governments ability to require vaccines in general, he said.
I think it's too soon to tell whether or not that specific pattern will take hold, but it is certainly a concern, Callaghan said. That said, the benefits of these mandates likely largely outweigh the risks, given the need to get as much of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible to get us past the pandemic.
Some people are trying to get Covid-19 booster shots. Others arent sure if they need them. Mixed public health messages arent making personal-health decisions any clearer.
So far, the U.S. has authorized booster shotsan extra dose of the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer Inc. and its partner BioNTech SE, and by Moderna Inc. only for people who are immunocompromised, although others have managed to get them.
Lions and tigers and Covid? Oh my. Some of the lions and tigers of the Smithsonians National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C., have tested positive for the virus that causes Covid-19.
According to a release on Friday from the Smithsonian, the felines are closely being observed and treated with anti-inflammatories, anti-nausea medication and antibiotics for secondary infections.
Animal keepers noticed that some of the great cats had decreased appetite, seemed lethargic and were coughing and sneezing. Fecal samples from those six African lions, a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers tested presumptive positive for the coronavirus. Additional results are expected in the next day or so.
The zoo said it wasnt clear how the animals were infected. All staff members have been wearing masks indoors and in public areas as standard practice.
Gorillas at the Zoo Atlanta as well as the San Diego Zoo have previously tested positive for the coronavirus. In Atlanta, as many as 18 of the 20 gorillas at the zoo had tested positive during a recent outbreak while the San Diego infections in January were believed to be the first detected in gorillas in the United States.
In a random sample of adults from Long Beach, California, one third of those who previously had a ... [+] SARS-CoV-2 positive test result, continued to suffer long Covid two months afterward. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The long in Long Beach, California, doesnt stand for long Covid. But a study just published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) showed that long Covid may be affecting quite a few people in Long Beach. A survey of Long Beach residents who had tested positive for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) revealed that about a third still had health problems two months later.
Heres a tweet from the CDC MMWR on this study:
Long Covid is when you experience health problems four or more weeks after you were first infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus, as described by the CDC. You may have heard of other names for long Covid, such as long-haul Covid, post-acute Covid-19, long-term effects of Covid, chronic Covid, or hey Covid is not just the sniffles or a cold. Such health problems can be continuing, returning, or even new ones that werent present the first time around. As can be seen in other contexts, the word long can be very subjective and apply to a wide variety of actual lengths. Similarly, long Covid can encompass a wide variety of symptoms that may differ greatly in how long they may last.
Its also not yet completely clear who may be more likely to get long Covid. There just has not been enough research on long Covid or time for that matter. After all Covid-19 has only been around for about 20 months, which may seem like a long time haircut-wise but not long enough to understand how long Covid may evolve.
Here is a scene from Long Beach, California, back in March 2020, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom ... [+] directed all Californians to stay at home and maintain safe distances from each other to prevent further spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)
Therefore, the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (LBDHHS) sought to shed more light on the long Covid situation in their region. So for the MMWR study, they randomly selected about three percent of the 29,594 Long Beach residents (18 years and older) who had positive PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 from April 1 to December 10, 2020. This amounted to 791 who were then contacted for follow-up interviews with 366 ending up being interviewed.
Compared to the total Long Beach population, this sample had greater percentages of people in the 25 to 39 year age range (39% vs. 25%), women (57% vs. 50%), and those identifying as Hispanic/Latino (66% vs. 40%). Prior to their initial Covid-19 diagnosis, close to one half (46%) of the participants had at least one chronic preexisting condition. Covid-19 had led to the hospitalization of 19 or 5% of the participants. The SARS-CoV-2 infection had initially led to an average of 5.26 different symptoms with 92.3% suffering at least one symptom during their initial bout of Covid-19.
Two months after their initial positive SARS-CoV-2 test result, 35.0% reported still having persistent symptoms. They had on average 1.30 symptoms with the most common being fatigue (16.9%), loss of taste (12.8%), smelling issues (12.6%), shortness of breath (12.8%), and muscle or joint aches (10.9%). In this case, loss of taste didnt mean that they were wearing socks with sandals and smelling issues didnt refer to body odor. They meant loss of the ability to taste things and loss of the sense of smell respectively. Of the folks who still had symptoms two months later, 55.5% had initially had severe or critical Covid-19 symptoms, 52.6% moderate symptoms, 29% mild symptoms, and 3.7% no symptoms during their initial bout with the Covid-19 coronavirus. In fact, by the time they were interviewed, which in many cases was much later than two months after their initial positive SARS-CoV-2 test, 31.4% reported still suffering symptoms, with fatigue (13.7%), shortness of breath (10.4%), and smelling problems (9.6%) being the most common.
Who were more likely to report symptoms after two months? Well, women were 2.83 times more likely than men, those with at least one preexisting condition were 2.17 more likely than those without, and those from 40 to 54 years of age were 1.86 more likely than those 25 to 39 years of age. Also, on average, women reported 2.13 times as many symptoms as men did, those with preexisting conditions 1.96 times as those without, those 40 years and older 1.73 as those between 25 and 39 years of age, and Black persons 1.95 times as White persons.
Of course, this study was far from perfect. After all, surveys and polls have plenty o limitations. First of all, the LBDHHS surveyed only a sample of people and not everyone who had tested positive for the virus. Secondly, people dont always answer questions accurately. To see this, all you have to do is ask someone how many sexual partners have you had, without clarifying that firm handshakes do not count, that there are no group discounts, and that you will be requiring proof. The LBDHHS study did not involve examinations by medical doctors, reviews of medical records, or anything else to verify the accuracy of the study participants. Finally, just because a symptom is occurring well after a Covid-19 coronavirus infection doesnt mean that it necessarily represents long Covid.
Nonetheless, this certainly is not the first study to show a fairly high prevalence of long Covid. In this case, prevalence of long Covid is the percentage of those suffering long Covid out of everyone who had previously tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus. A systematic review published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice identified 25 observational studies that encompassed a total of 5440 participants. In these studies, the prevalence of long Covid to range from 4.7% to 80%, with chest pain (up to 89%), fatigue (up to 65%), dyspnea (up to 61%), and cough and sputum production (up to 59%) being the most common symptoms.
All of this is further evidence that Covid-19 is not simply a die or survive situation. Some opposing Covid-19 precautions such as vaccination and face masks have been trying to make the rather ridiculous argument that only 672,970 plus people have died in the U.S. from Covid-19. This has been sort of like arguing that only part of your house is on fire or that you didnt accidentally reveal all of your genitals during a job interview. Even so, deaths are only part of the toll of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Overlooking long Covid and those suffering from it can ignore a big part of the impact of the pandemic. The long and short of it is that this country has failed badly to control the spread of the virus. And many people will continue to live with the consequences of this failure.
Watch "The Origins of Covid-19: Searching for the Source" with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta tonight at 8 p.m. ET.
No smoking gun.
As the world approaches the two-year mark since this novel coronavirus was first detected, there have been many twists and turns in the investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the pandemic. Some clues have lead to dead ends, while others have spurred even more questions.
The zoonotic hypothesis hinges on the idea that the virus spilled over from animals to humans, either directly through a bat, or through some other intermediary animal. Most scientists say that this is the likely origin, given that 75% of all emerging diseases have jumped from animals into humans. Previous coronavirus outbreaks include the first SARS in 2003, which started in bats, then spread to civet cats and into humans; and the 2012 MERS outbreak, which spilled over from bats to camels, and ultimately to people.
The controversial World Health Organization report
Swiftly, criticism of the report came from far and wide. More than a dozen countries issued a joint statement about the independence and credibility of the findings. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was also critical of the findings and soon called the report's dismissal of the lab leak theory "premature."
"We learned from the report that ... if you look at the trends in influenza-like illness, in excess mortality, it's clear that there was circulation of this virus earlier, that there was likely widespread circulation in December. That's really, really important," says Maria Van Kerkhove, and infectious disease epidemiologist and WHO's Covid-19 Technical Lead. "The area of work in the report that wasn't covered in detail was the lab, and the lab audit, and the lab hypothesis," she told Gupta.
"It was clear to me, and I think to many, that they had looked reasonably hard at one plausible hypothesis (zoonotic spillover), but really had ignored or brushed aside the other: the laboratory-associated hypothesis. ... I just think that they were not fair and objective," said Dr. David Relman, an infectious disease expert and microbiologist at Stanford University.
Relman tallied up the WHO report's number of pages dedicated to the lab leak theory. "The total: annexand main report, for the laboratory (hypothesis) was about four pages out of 313 ... and in those four pagesthe title of the section was, 'Conspiracy Theories.' "
Critics say that the WHO study was flawed even before the WHO team landed in Wuhan in January 2021. From the outset, the Chinese government had to agree to the terms of the WHO's study, including which scientists were selected to go to China, which locations would be visited, and what primary data could be accessed. Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard points out, "All of the original analyses had been done by Chinese scientists before the WHO came in."
"It's official title is a 'joint study,' which is very important ... because if it's a joint study, it's a collaborative study between the WHO and the member state China. The public looked at this as an investigation from the start, and I think that was a mistake," said Daszak, the only American to serve on the WHO team on the ground in Wuhan. Daszak, a renowned virus hunter and president of EcoHealth Alliance, would become the most controversial member of the WHO team. Critics say that he had a clear conflict of interest because of his ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including funding bat coronavirus research at the institute through subgrants from the US National Institutes of Health.
"It's caused by bat coronavirus, something that we've been working on for over 20 years in China. So, I do have some level of expertise that is going to be valuable to that team," Daszak told Gupta. Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance's work was key to unlocking the origins of the first SARS outbreak in 2003.
"Wedidn't have people on the mission team who were experts inbiosafety,biosecurity.So,it wasn't really their mandate to do," Van Kerkhove acknowledged.
"I think WHO should have spoken out more forcefully and said we are not going to do a forensic investigation of a lab in China as part of this work," Daszak told Gupta.
WHO's Van Kerkhove explained to Gupta why Tedros was so critical of the WHO report. "If you look at the way that they reported on that (lab leak theory), they classified it as 'extremely unlikely.' For us to be able to take that off the table, it needs to be studied properly. It needs to be studied thoroughly."
Evolutionary biology
Scientists around the world continue to delve deeper into the unique features of the virus.
But when Andersen first learned of a novel coronavirus sweeping across China and beyond in early 2020, he was focused on this question: Why is SARS-CoV-2 spreading so easily? In those earliest weeks, he wondered about any possible connection between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its work on bat coronaviruses and its location situated in the very city where human cases were first detected. "Initially in January, knowing the type of work that was going on at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, we started thinking like, 'Look, we need to consider the possibility that this is maybe not a natural virus.' "
In late January 2020, Andersen raised that red flag to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In an email which that was later released, Andersen writes that he and other scientists "find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory."
Shortly after that email, some of the world's top scientists gathered on a call to discuss what they saw in the genome. That group included Andersen, Fauci and NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins among others. "There were concerns ... because this was not a familiar sequence. Is there something here that looks like it might be the signature of human manipulation?" Collins said.
But this idea was quickly dismissed. Even though researchers thought this novel virus initially showed traits of bioengineering, they subsequently found evidence of similar traits in other known viruses.
"The engineering aspect of this ... very quickly we realized that we just don't have the evidence to support that. ... If we can find any evidence of this virus previously having been sequenced, or worked on, maybe there's fragments of the virus, which have used previously in experiments, would be, quote-unquote, 'a smoking gun.' And we didn't find anything at all, and that's why the whole idea about engineering was sort of like, 'Look, this is completely unsupported by any evidence,' " Andersen told Gupta.
"We debated ... up one side and down the other and ultimately decided: no. Actually, if you were a human trying to design a really dangerous coronavirus, you would not design this one. Its spike protein had some unusual features but not ones that anybody would have guessed would make it so effective in binding to the ACE2 receptor and getting into human cells," Collins told Gupta. It's a view held by many genetic epidemiologists, virologists and coronavirus researchers.
But the questions remain: If the virus did not come out of a lab, where did it come from? When did it start circulating? And is there any chance of finding the animal or animals that might have been the carriers?
Was it a wild animal bred for sale in one of China's wet markets, where exotic meat, pelts and live animals are on display?
Was an animal carrying the virus imported from elsewhere in Southeast Asia?
Was a researcher studying bats accidentally infected and perhaps started spreading the virus unknowingly?
Does China have banked blood samples that could pinpoint when the virus first started infecting people -- and show what it looked like at the moment it jumped from animal to human? And if so, how could the always secretive and now defensive Chinese government be persuaded to share what's there?
While many questions linger about the Wuhan lab, Danielle Anderson, the last and only foreign scientist to work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology Biosafety Level 4 lab, spoke to Gupta about her experience working there. While Anderson attests to the high standards of the institute's BSL-4 lab to handle deadly pathogens, other scientists have raised concerns about bat coronavirus research conducted at Wuhan's lower level BSL-2 labs.
Ralph Baric, a top coronavirus researcher at UNC Chapel Hill who has collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, points to specific evidence needed to further the understanding of the virus' origins. "Early cases, serology in China done on the right populations; not many of the populations that were in the WHO report. Systematic surveys of that information, analysis of idiopathic respiratory cases that appeared at hospitals, not only in Wuhan, but in the surrounding communities ... those answers are all in China," Baric said.
"I'm still hopeful that, if not the Chinese government, the Chinese scientists, friends of Chinese scientists and others with whom they have worked will all come forward and get organized in these various ways, shapes and forms," Relman said.
"Pandemics are rare, and this is a really devastating one. ... It's frustrating and we want answers," Andersen told Gupta. "We want to know what led to this, so we can hopefully try and prevent something similar from happening in the future."
Pennsylvania reported 4,500 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday.
It was the fifth consecutive day with 4,500 or more. There haven't been that many days with 4,500 new cases consecutively since Jan. 30. Last year, the state did not report 4,500 or more cases for five consecutive days until Nov. 24.
The new cases included 83 in the Susquehanna Valley counties: 51 in Northumberland County, 18 in Snyder and seven each in Montour and Union counties. There have been 646 new infections in the Valley in the last seven days.
A Northumberland County resident's death was linked to COVID-19 marking the sixth consecutive day with at least one Valley death being attributed to the virus. Statewide, there were 17 new deaths.
All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have high levels of community transmission of COVID according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. High transmission means a county has reported at least 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week.
As of noon Saturday, there were 2,337 patients in Pennsylvania hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms, level with Friday's and Saturdays reports.
Of those hospitalized, 589 were being treated in intensive care units (ICUs), and 283 were being treated on ventilators. Those numbers also remained unchanged on Sunday.
Among 74 patients in Valley medical facilities, there were 14 patients in intensive care units at Geisinger in Danville, four at Evangelical and none at Geisinger-Shamokin. All were the same numbers as reported Friday and Saturday.
Geisingers Danville location was also treating 8 patients on ventilators, as many as were reported Friday and Saturday. Evangelical had three patients on ventilators for at least the third consecutive day.
At Geisingers main campus in Danville, there were 43 COVID-19 positive patients. There were 19 patients at Evangelical and 12 at Geisinger-Shamokin. According to Evangelical hospital, 18 of the 19 patients hospitalized are unvaccinated.
There were five cases at the prisons in Union County, the same number as reported Saturday. At the medium-security unit in Allenwood, there were two staff cases, and there was one active inmate and two staff cases at the U.S. Penitentiary (USP) in Allenwood. There are no active cases at USP-Lewisburg.
USP Lewisburg and USP Allenwood both remained in the BOPs Level 3 of COVID modifications on Saturday. The modifications are based on the facilities COVID-19 medical isolation rate, combined percentage of staff and inmate completed vaccinations series, and their respective county transmission rates.
At each level, an infection prevention procedure or modification to operations such as inmate programming and services may be made to mitigate the risk and spread of COVID-19 in accordance with BOP pandemic guidance. BOP pandemic guidance follows and integrates guidance and direction from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Justice, and established medical best practices.
The BOP reports 95 of 98 federal prisons are in Level 3 modifications.
The state Department of Corrections reported five active staff cases at the State Correctional Institution (SCI) in Coal Township on Saturday, level with Fridays and Saturday's reports. There were 120 inmate cases statewide, the same number as reported Saturday, including 85 at SCI Chester, but none at SCI Coal Township. There are 98 staff cases statewide the same number as reported Friday.
There were still active COVID-19 cases among persons receiving services and staff members at the Selinsgrove Center on Sunday. The cases were both listed as less than five. The state does not release precise numbers unless there are more than five to avoid identifying a patient.
At the North Central Secure Treatment Unit juvenile facility in Danville, there were no cases among residents at the boys or girls units. Both units had less than five staff cases.
No active cases were reported at the Danville State Hospital.
Oregon on Friday reported 2,099 new known cases of COVID-19 and 22 deaths.
The number of cases had been declining for roughly the first week of September. But for more than a week now, they have plateaued. The number of people hospitalized, however, continued a declining trend Friday to 1,002 -- down 25 patients from the previous day and nearly 18% since Sept. 1.
Two new forecasts predict a decrease in both cases and hospitalization in the next few weeks.
The state released its latest forecast Friday, which predicts new daily cases could plummet to between 830 and 1,060 in the last week of September and the first of October. But that could be largely dependent on the impact of the return of more than 600,000 K-12 school children to the classroom and large, late summer events that could boost transmission, the forecast notes.
An Oregon Health & Science University forecast released Thursday doesnt predict numbers of new daily cases, but estimates that about 800 Oregonians will be hospitalized in early October because of COVID-19. Thats still a few hundred higher than the states second biggest pandemic surge in December.
The OHSU forecast also predicts that hospitals in the state will still be under intense strain for weeks to come.
Where the new cases are by county: Baker (28), Benton (25), Clackamas (252), Clatsop (12), Columbia (22), Coos (40), Crook (17), Curry (2), Deschutes (128), Douglas (59), Gilliam (3), Harney (11), Hood River (12), Jackson (115), Jefferson (14), Josephine (48), Klamath (59), Lake (12), Lane (176), Lincoln (25), Linn (128), Malheur (36), Marion (157), Morrow (3), Multnomah (218), Polk (57), Sherman (2), Tillamook (16), Umatilla (63), Union (8), Wallowa (7), Wasco (29), Washington (188) and Yamhill (127).
Deaths: A 68-year-old Benton County woman tested positive Aug. 28 and died Sept. 5 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
A 70-year-old Benton County man tested positive Aug. 22 and died Aug. 31 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
A 72-year-old Baker County woman died Sept. 7 at her home. Test results Sept. 8 confirmed she had COVID-19.
A 73-year-old Clackamas County man tested positive Sept. 6 and died Thursday at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
A 53-year-old Clackamas County man tested positive Aug. 14 and died Wednesday at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center.
A 69-year-old Jackson County man tested positive Aug. 12 and died Aug. 19 at his home.
A 55-year-old Jackson County man tested positive Aug. 4 and died Aug. 24 at his home.
A 72-year-old Harney County man tested positive Sept. 7 and died Thursday at his home. He had no underlying conditions.
A 77-year-old Harney County woman tested positive Aug. 18 and died Aug. 28 at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.
A 78-year-old Douglas County man tested positive Monday and died Wednesday at Mercy Medical Center.
A 70-year-old Deschutes County man tested positive Sept. 6 and died Wednesday at his home.
A 78-year-old Jackson County woman tested positive Sept. 2 and died Monday at her home.
A 95-year-old Jackson County woman tested positive Aug. 19 and died Sept. 6 at her home.
A 43-year-old Lane County man tested positive Aug. 29 and died Thursday at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
A 57-year-old Lane County woman tested positive Aug. 18 and died Wednesday at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
A 53-year-old Polk County woman tested positive Aug. 26 and died Tuesday at Salem Hospital.
A 65-year-old Yamhill County woman tested positive Sept. 2 and died Tuesday at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
A 70-year-old Yamhill County woman tested positive Sept. 2 and did Monday at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
A 73-year-old Yamhill County man tested positive Sept. 4 and died Thursday at Willamette Valley Medical Center.
A 72-year-old Umatilla County woman tested positive Aug. 18 and died Thursday at her home.
A 63-year-old Umatilla County man tested positive Aug. 29 and died Sept. 10 at CHI St. Anthony Hospital.
A 93-year-old Multnomah County woman tested positive Sept. 11 and died Tuesday at Adventist Health Portland.
The state also corrected the age, date of positive test and date of death of a Benton County man who was the states 3,497 death. He was 36, tested positive Aug. 14 and died Sunday at Salem Hospital.
Unless noted above, each person had underlying health conditions or it was unknown if they did.
Hospitalizations: 1,002 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, down 25 from Thursday. That includes 287 people in intensive care, up one from Thursday.
Vaccinations: The state reported 8,696 new COVID-19 vaccinations -- 3,979 that were administered Thursday and the rest on previous days. The seven-day rolling average is 8,535 vaccinations per day.
Since it began: Oregon has recorded 309,841 confirmed or presumed cases and 3,569 deaths since the pandemic began, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 4,999,764 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 2,458,176 people and partially vaccinating 240,748 people.
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
