BALTIMORE (WJZ) After months of declining COVID-19 cases, the virus is finding the most vulnerable population the unvaccinated.
It raises concerns for many parents with little ones.
The FDA said on Friday that they are working around the clock to support the process of making the COVID-19 vaccine available for children under the age of 12.
The vast majority of people that we see in the hospital are unvaccinated, said Dr. Esti Schabelman, Chief Medical Officer at Sinai Hospital.
Hospitals are staying busy and doctors say its not just COVID-19 patients.
Our biggest issue right now is just the tremendous volume of patients that we have due to people likely delaying care during the height of the covid pandemic, said Dr. Schabelman.
With the new school year underway, Dr. Schabelman said Marylanders should not let their guard down.
With kids especially who are currently unvaccinated, theres another virus that they get called RSV that can also present the same problems if they have it with covid, Dr. Shcabelman added.
We definitely carry hand sanitizer. I feel like the kids are really good and theyve gotten used to keeping a little distance between them, said Ryan Plunkett.
Flu season is also approaching and with it comes more concerns.
The more general viruses that we have going around, the more people were going to have in the hospital, Dr. Schabelman said.
Here in Maryland, more than 1,100 new covid cases were reported Sunday but the statewide positivity rate remains below 5 percent.
I think people dont want to go back down to any sort of lockdown, said Emily McDermott.
Efforts to get more shots in arms continue. President Bidens latest sweeping rule requires a vaccine mandate for all businesses with more than 100 employees or face weekly testing.
I definitely think this is the right message. Were not going to be able to end this pandemic until everyone is vaccinated, Dr. Schabelman added.
I wish it didnt have to happen. In a normal circumstance, I wouldnt agree with companies having a mandate for vaccinations. But unfortunately, because people arent doing it on their own, people arent doing their own part on their own, at this point in time, I do support the companies, said McDermott.
Prem Rokaya, a patient care technician, sanitizes a stretcher in a preoperative bay at Providence Alaska Medical Center on May 8, 2020. (Marc Lester / ADN)
As Alaskas hospitals grapple with short staffing, limited capacity and a health care system under serious strain, the state has reported ever-rising record numbers for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
But those tallies are complicated. They include people who may have been admitted for something else and test positive for the virus, but they also omit others who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 for so long that theyre not infectious anymore.
That all makes it harder to discern the true burden placed on health care facilities using a single number, Dr. Anne Zink, Alaskas chief medical officer, said in an interview Friday.
I dont think from a state perspective we can say its like really overcounting, we cant really say its undercounting, Zink said. We can say this is the only data that we can report out because its the only data that we have.
State hospitalization data also doesnt include emergency room visits, another way to quantify the burden on hospitals, since those are considered outpatient visits, Zink said.
The virus hospitalizations number recorded on the states online dashboard comes from hospitals that report into a federal database, and that information is then extracted by state public health officials.
While testifying before the House Health and Social Services Committee last week, Zink told legislators that the total number of hospitalizations reported on the states COVID-19 dashboard likely didnt represent everyone ill from the virus in Alaskas hospitals.
For someone, say, whos in their 30s who gets hospitalized, they might be infectious for the first 10, 15 days, Zink said. But they might require a monthlong or two-month-long hospital stay. And so that is a continued burden on the hospital that is not reflected in the overall dashboard numbers.
There may also be other patients who arent reflected in the dashboard, Zink said. Some patients might begin to recover and then experience a complication, like a heart attack or stroke, and are admitted and treated instead for that complication, according to Zink. That wouldnt always show up in state data.
When asymptomatic individuals who are COVID-positive are admitted to hospitals for other reasons, like labor, those patients still incur more work for hospital staff and require more resources. Staff have to gown up and patients need single rooms.
Asymptomatic patients also might get sicker while in the hospital, Zink said, and go from seeing no symptoms when they test positive to experiencing complications later.
Generally speaking, health officials say, once a patient is no longer positive for COVID-19, theyre no longer counted in the overall hospitalizations number. They might, however, still be in a hospital bed while symptoms persist, needing acute care and impacting capacity.
But there is some variety in how COVID-19 hospitalizations get reported.
Based on responses from various Alaska hospitals this week, some report all COVID-19-related hospitalizations while others only report active cases.
Alaskas largest hospital, Providence Alaska Medical Center, only reports active COVID-19 cases in their hospitalization numbers. That doesnt include others who are no longer infectious with the illness but still need hospital care, according to Providence Alaska spokesman Mikal Canfield.
On Wednesday, 50 people were considered active COVID-19 patients at Providence, while 22 others were not included in the case count since they werent infectious and were considered recovered, Canfield wrote in an email.
This does not necessarily indicate the patients are doing well, it just indicates these patients are no longer considered infectious, he wrote.
Similarly, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital only reports active COVID-19 cases, which as of this week was 24 cases, while there were no patients who were hospitalized past their infectious period.
The COVID-19 hospitalizations number of the states dashboard isnt necessarily an accurate portrayal of who may be hospitalized with the illness at Mat-Su Regional Hospital either, according to spokesman Alan Craft. Thats because, similar to other facilities, patients who are at the hospital for longer stays due to COVID-19 may not show up in those numbers after being reclassified.
At Alaska Native Medical Center, generally any patient that tests positive for COVID-19 is reported as hospitalization but may be pulled out of that tally based on symptoms and other Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines even though they may still be hospitalized, said Dr. Robert Onders, of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.
However, at Alaska Regional in Anchorage, spokeswoman Kjerstin Lastufka said that their COVID-positive numbers include all patients who need care related to the virus until discharge.
The number that is reported to the state includes both patients in the acute phase of COVID-19 care as well as patients still recovering from COVID-19 those who are past the infectious period but are still hospitalized, Lastufka said in an email.
Officials at Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau said that they report new COVID-19 admissions within their infectious window and in some cases, depending how severe a case might be when theyre admitted, that infectious window can be extended to 20 days.
In a Thursday press conference, Yale New Haven Health system officials explained that approximately six percent of patients who test positive for COVID-19 and are symptomatic are fully vaccinated.
Maria Fernanda Pacheco 10:37 pm, Sep 12, 2021
Staff Reporter
Yale Daily News
As vaccination rates continue to increase in Connecticut and hopes for achieving herd immunity get closer to materializing, Yale New Haven Health system officials hammered home a resounding message: the best way to protect yourself and those around you is to get vaccinated.
In a Thursday press conference, Yale New Haven Health system President Christopher OConnor, Chief Medical Officer Thomas Balcezak and Senior Vice President and Chief Policy and Communications Officer Vin Petrini discussed hospital admission rates due to COVID-19, breakthrough infections and health system-wide vaccine mandates in light of the Delta variant.
The Delta variants propensity for immune evasion has been raising questions over the protective longevity of vaccines, but YNHHS officials stressed that occasional hospitalizations due to breakthrough infections do not mean that vaccines are not doing their job.
Six percent of our COVID admissions are among individuals that are fully vaccinated, Balcezak said, referring to people who were admitted to YNHHS for COVID-19 symptoms. That 6 percent is usually in folks that are older, have compromised immune systems and have other comorbid, particularly respiratory, conditions.
OConnor added that COVID-19 numbers for YNHHS are extraordinarily different from when we first started the pandemic a year and a half ago, which is a testament to the efficacy of the vaccine. According to Balcezak, the system peaked at almost 900 patients on a given day in early 2020, whereas as of Thursday, YNHHS had 132 hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Balcezak explained that over 99 percent of COVID-19 cases currently coming into the health system are due to the Delta variant, which is notorious for its greater viral load and higher transmissibility compared to other coronavirus variants.
YNHHS is currently testing all incoming patients for COVID-19 upon entry into the hospitals regardless of whether or not they are experiencing the associated symptoms. But in the process of testing, COVID-19 is also being detected in asymptomatic patients who are coming into the hospital for other reasons such as traumatic accidents or emergency procedures.
Around 30 percent of all patients who are hospitalized and test positive for COVID-19 have been vaccinated, according to Balcezak. However, only six percent of all patients who test positive for COVID-19 upon hospitalization are exhibiting symptoms. The remaining 24 percent are asymptomatic and typically come into the hospital for other health concerns and find out of their COVID-positive status upon admission.
I think its important to underscore these statistics because there is no question that [the] vaccine works, Balcezak said. Those facts need to be out there so that folks dont think that the Delta variant emergence is a reason not to get vaccinated.
According to Balcezak, while the asymptomatic 24 percent will not need any treatment for COVID-19, they should still be isolated and properly cohorted according to their infection status while they address the health concerns that brought them to the hospital in the first place. This is meant to avoid unnecessary exposure for staff and other non-COVID-19 patients, he said.
To ensure the safety of those within YNHHS hospitals, the system has also implemented a vaccine mandate or progressive discipline process, as described by OConnor for employees. Under the mandate, employees who have not been vaccinated by October without having acquired an exemption will have their employment terminated.
As healthcare providers, it is our responsibility to provide a safe environment for patients and their families, and this is just one way were doing that, Balcezak said. If you work in healthcare, I think its incumbent upon you to do so in a way that protects people, and thats certainly the motivation behind doing what were doing.
YNHHS is holding COVID-19 vaccine fairs to give employees an opportunity to get vaccinated, Balcezak said. Since the institution of the mandate, vaccination rates among their staff have been moving pretty aggressively in a positive direction, according to OConnor.
The mandate parallels an Executive Order issued by Gov. Ned Lamont, whereby Connecticut state employees working in childcare facilities and preK-12 schools, in addition to state hospital and long-term facilities staff, will need to be vaccinated by Sept. 27.
Im pleased that Connecticut, because were 84 percent vaccinated, is relatively flat, Lamont said after a press conference in late August, as reported by CT Insider. Doesnt mean were out of the woods but we are what they used to say remember in the early days of COVID flattening the curve.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75.3 percent of Connecticuts eligible population has been fully vaccinated.
Maria Fernanda Pacheco is a staff reporter for the Science & Technology desk of the Yale Daily News. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she is a sophomore in Grace Hopper College majoring in Neuroscience and participating in the Global Health Studies program.
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) tweeted about increased guidance resources for parents with children exposed to COVID-19.
MDHHS has issued updated quarantine guidance for K12 students exposed to COVID-19 but dont have symptoms. This guidance will help ensure students and educators are as safe as possible in the classroom and keep students in school for in-person learning. https://t.co/idEbUYqrRk pic.twitter.com/0U2gjl4z1E
MDHHS recently released updated precautions that discuss things like quarantine versus isolation, when a student exposed to COVID-19 can stay in school and school testing opportunities.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) recommends local health departments and schools work together to quicky isolate COVID-19 cases among students and staff, identify close contacts of those cases, and adopt quarantine policies that reduce the risk of transmission in schools while allowing in-person learning. When evidence-based prevention measures, including universal masking, are in place, modifications may be made to the 10- to 14-day at-home quarantine.
Now, what is isolation, what is quarantine- and how are they different?
According to MDHHS, isolation is necessary when one has already been infected with the COVID-19 virus, has tested positive- even if they arent showing symptoms. Quarantine is needed when one has been exposed to COVI(D-19.
Both quarantine and isolation are determined by local health departments, so quarantine factors may be modified.
What are the updated school quarantine guidelines?
There are three situations in which a student can have been exposed to COVID-19, and go to school without quarantining:
Additionally, there are situations where students have been exposed to COVID-19 should not return to school:
MDHHS goes on to state that anyone who shows COVID-19 symptoms should get tested for COVID-19 and isolate.
To see testing resources information, click here.
For the latest information on Michigans response to COVID-19, please visitMichigan.gov/Coronavirus. You can also call the COVID-19 Hotline at (888) 535-6136 oremail COVID19@michigan.gov.
Over the last few weeks, hospital systems across Virginia have been sounding alarms over the latest coronavirus surge, largely driven by the highly infectious delta variant.
In Southwest Virginia, Ballad Health is facing its worst-case scenario with more than 700 COVID-19 patients. In Northern Virginia, hospitals already nearing capacity with COVID-19 cases have been overwhelmed by recently arrived Afghan refugees. And on Thursday, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association issued a statement on behalf of more than three dozen medical groups, pleading for unvaccinated Virginians to get their shots.
In just two months, hospitalizations have increased by 1,008 percent and new cases have jumped by 1,217 percent, it read. With hospital inpatient and ICU beds already filling ahead of a looming fall surge, it is imperative for unvaccinated Virginians to do their part to help save lives and slow the spread of this deadly virus by getting vaccinated.
Nowhere has the latest spike in cases been more obvious than in Virginias beleaguered emergency rooms, where unvaccinated and often seriously ill COVID-19 patients are adding stress to an already maxed-out system. Dr. Todd Parker, president-elect of the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians, said almost every hospital across the state is struggling with overcrowding, widespread staffing shortages and difficulty transferring patients who frequently require higher levels of care to facilities experiencing the exact same challenges.
The ongoing surge is sending ripple effects across Virginias medical system. On Sunday, Carilion said it set up a tent outside the emergency department at the New River Valley Medical Center in Christiansburg, expanding its waiting area as visits continue to swell. And the crush of patients isnt unique to Southwest Virginia. Across the state, emergency medicine physicians are reporting an ER safety net on the brink of crisis.
When the Mercury reached out with questions about the state of emergency rooms, the emergency physicians group polled its Board of Directors, a group of doctors representing multiple geographic regions. The association didnt disclose the names of individual health systems or physicians, who werent authorized to speak on their hospitals behalf, said spokesman Jeff Kelley.
But many of the responses painted a grim picture of how the ongoing pandemic continues to affect providers. One physician from a hospital in Eastern Virginia described the emergency department as a second ICU at this point.
We had to bring in more ventilators because we are running out, the physician said. Another doctor from a hospital in Southwest Virginia said the facility has experienced several deaths in the waiting area of its Level 1 trauma center among patients we wanted to room immediately but we just do not have the space nor the staff for it.
In our little community EDs, we are seeing people languish waiting for a bed to become available at a tertiary care center larger hospitals that can provide specialty services or higher levels of treatment the physician said. In some of those cases, patients are admitted on a progressive care level, which requires regular monitoring but isnt considered critical. By the time a space becomes available, though, the physician said many patients have been upgraded to ICU-level care.
I have also had to palliate patients rather than admit them because the only available inpatient bed is states away and family would rather be with them than send them away, the doctor said. So I just send them home on hospice.
There are multiple reasons why the current surge is disrupting emergency department operations at a far greater level than earlier in the pandemic. For one thing, theres more demand. Julian Walker, vice president of communications for VHHA, said early stay-at-home orders coupled with widespread fear of contracting the virus at the hospital led many non-COVID-19 patients to avoid the emergency room, even during genuine crises. In 2020, Virginia hospitals saw a 30 percent decline in ED visits, even after the state began to reopen.
For most hospitals, that period is over. Parker said many emergency departments are fielding larger numbers of patients than they did before the start of the pandemic. Doctors from the northern, central, eastern, southwestern and Shenandoah regions of the states all reported slightly to significantly higher patient volumes in recent weeks.
Not every case is an emergency, including one patient in Northern Virginia who came to the hospital with a stomach ache after drinking too much soda (this really happened, the attending physician said.) But overall, patients and not just COVID-19 patients are presenting with more complex medical problems.
To use the medical term, were seeing sicker people, Parker said. Many adults delayed medical care during the pandemic, and Walker said hospitals are now experiencing what he described as pent-up demand. Major shifts in medical care have also contributed to the complications.
In the first month of the pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam ordered a temporary halt to elective procedures to preserve hospital capacity. Telehealth visits have also become commonplace, but one doctor from Northern Virginia said they havent reduced emergency room use. In some instances, primary care doctors direct patients to the hospital if they cant perform a physical exam or cant get a clear read on the severity of a patients symptoms.
Weve also been seeing more complications from the over-prescription of medications such as antibiotics, the physician said. According to Parker, that also occurs when patients arent being examined in-person.
When people cant provide the nuanced level of care they usually do, they tend to overprescribe, he said. Not everyone does this. But say someone has an earache. If Im doing telemedicine, I cant look in their ears, so a lot of urgent cares are just prescribing them antibiotics.
More than anything, though, its the massive spike in COVID-19 cases thats driving the disruption. Not every hospital is experiencing the same spike another physician from Northern Virginia reported admitting just one coronavirus patient over the last three months. But Parker said the situation is especially critical in regions with low vaccination rates.
Ballad, for instance, is treating more COVID-19 patients than it did during the systems previous peak in early January. Some are being monitored at home through telehealth visits, but more than half are hospitalized. Of those hospitalized patients, more than one quarter are in the ICU and nearly 20 percent are on a ventilator. Only 40.2 percent of people in the systems service area are fully vaccinated.
Its the highest census I can remember us having in the three and a half years Ive been working for Ballad Health, chief operating officer Eric Deaton said in a Thursday news briefing. Other hospitals in the near Southwest, an area that extends roughly from Blacksburg to Roanoke, have also experienced a rising number of hospitalizations.
Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, Sovah Health and the Salem VA Medical Center reported a total of 326 COVID-19 patients this week, 98 of whom were admitted into the ICU. In early June, all five systems had a total of 61 coronavirus patients, with 16 ICU admissions.
Across the state, though, physicians say virtually all COVID-19 hospitalizations have been among unvaccinated patients particularly cases requiring ICU or ventilator care. The surge has created a perfect storm for ERs, Parker said.
Doctors are now treating severe infections in addition to high-need and medically complex patients without coronavirus. As a result, more patients in general are being admitted from the emergency room, driving congestion throughout the hospital.
Its not the volume thats killing us, one emergency medicine doctor from Southwest Virginia said. Instead, its a growing influx of patients from the ICU and other hospital departments boarding in the emergency room. Another doctor from the same region said 61 of the 68 beds in a local emergency room were recently taken up by other inpatients.
Overcrowding, now endemic in Virginia emergency rooms and in hospitals across state lines, is creating delays across the system. LewisGale, Sovah and Carilion have all had to divert patients or decline transfers over the past two weeks.
When we issue this diversion status, we will not refuse care for any patient presented at our hospital, especially those in critical condition, LewisGale spokesperson Chris Finley wrote in an email last week. But it is a sign that emergency rooms are overwhelmed. At this point, though, its also increasingly difficult to find alternative sites for patients. One doctor in Central Virginia said there are currently 10 emergency departments in the area on ambulance diversion.
There have been times this past week at the start of the day shift that every monitored bed had an admitted patient, the doctor continued. In most cases, though, the issue isnt available bed space, but understaffing. Another emergency room physician in the Shenandoah region said theres currently a severe shortage of clinical nurses, with all available staff redeployed to assist in response to the COVID crisis.
This problem started months and months and months ago, Parker added. The problem is that nurses are leaving and going elsewhere. I think there is a huge burnout factor from doing this for so long.
Its not just nurses who are feeling the strain. Burnout among medical providers has been a serious concern for months, but many doctors said the downstream effects from the ongoing surge are only making things worse. Long emergency room delays are becoming more common, with waits between six to eight hours on some days, one physician from Central Virginia said. Pediatric COVID-19 patients are becoming more common in some areas. And transferring patients to get the care they need is a frequent challenge.
One hospital transferred a patient to us after calling more than 20 hospitals in four different states, the same physician said. And similar delays have spread across the continuum of care, from processing orders for medication to imaging and lab work. Another doctor from Northern Virginia said overcrowding in other hospital departments has led to pushback admitting patients from the ED. The stress of caring for those patients and the fight for appropriate care just adds to the strain.
Everyone has been pushing hard for so many months and this latest surge is grinding everyone down, added a physician from Eastern Virginia. We arent health care heroes. No one is sending food or thanks. We are just drowning with no one even noticing.
SILVERDALE As patients suffering from COVID-19 fill Kitsap County's main hospital to thebrim, a plan to alleviate some of that pressure is taking shape in the backlot of a nearby surgeon's office.
There,an increasing number of cars fill parking spaces.Those in the vehicles wait for a vanguard treatment for COVID-19, one proven to reduce hospitalizationsfrom the pandemic disease.
"People don't realize that we're in the middle of a disaster," saidDr. Kristan Guenterberg, asurgeon by trade, whose Kitsap General Surgery has volunteered to treat patients with COVID-19. "This is a way to decompress the system."
Guenterberg and the staff are likely the first in Kitsap to administerREGN-COV, a monoclonal antibody made by the drug company Regeneron of Tarrytown, New York. Patients in the parkinglot are receiving four total shots directly in the muscle in the legs, abdomenor arm, that are full ofcloning immune cellsshown to be effective against COVID-19.
It is the same treatment used by former President Donald Trump, Texas Gov. GregAbbott and others, and has been found to reduce symptoms of COVID-19 by days. But Guenterberg and the staff there aim not only to help individual patients, butto take pressure off St. Michael Medical Center, wheremore than 50 people have been hospitalized for COVID-19.
Kitsap General Surgery isn't the only providerin Kitsap that has recently begunthe drug for treatment. Just this week,Virginia Mason Franciscan Health's Family Medicine Clinic, on Kitsap Way, began to administer it as well, according toDr. Casey Kernan, one of the physicians there.
Kernan echoed the goals of Guenterberg, pointingout that the most important step residents can take against COVID-19 is to get vaccinated.
"We need to make it clear this is not a substitute for vaccination," he said. "The vaccines are safe andeffective, and our goal is to get people vaccinated."
Given the treatment's limited supply, it is only able to be used for the most high risk of cases including those pregnant, those over 65, those with a compromised immune system or those with chronic diseaseand is most effective when administered soon after the onset of COVID-19, when it best positioned tofight the rapidly multiplying virus.
The drug has also been authorized for people exposed to COVID-19 who haven't confirmed they are positive. But right now, the supply just isn't there yet to provide treatment in those cases.
"We just don't have enough Regeneron for everybody," Kernan said.
Guenterberg said emerging data is showing that for every 26 patients treated with Regeneron, one hospital stay will be prevented. On Friday, he and his team provided treatment for around 25 people.That should ultimately help at St. Michael Medical Center, whose intensive care unit is more than 90% full. But he cautions that supplies are still limited and they're doing the best they can to "ramp up" and help as many people as possible.
The treatment comes as the delta variant surges through Kitsap. The Kitsap Public Health District reported six more COVID-19deaths on Friday alone, bringing the total to 149 for the pandemic. More than 1,000 people are isolating themselves with COVID-19 cases in the biggest wave to date in the pandemic.
As the delta variant fuels an unprecedented surge ofcases in the pandemic, presidential adviser Dr. Anthony Faucisaid in late August thatmonoclonal antibodies are "a much-underutilized intervention" in the treatment of COVID-19. The government is currently subsidizing the cost of the treatment.
President Joe Biden referenced monoclonal antibodytreatments in a speech Thursday, saying that for the unvaccinated, they reduced the risk of hospitalization by up to 70%. He made sure to cast distinction on thetherapy versus the current tideof misinformation driving some to trydrugs likeIvermectin, which is used to treat parasites in horses and is toxic for humans.
"Additionally, were increasing the availability of new medicines recommended by real doctors, not conspiracy theorists," Biden said, adding that the government will boost the "pace of shipment" of an already-distributed 1.4 million courses of monoclonal antibodytreatmentsby 50% "to save lives and reduce the strain on hospitals."
Josh Farley is a reporter coveringthe military and health care for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-9227,josh.farley@kitsapsun.comor on Twitter at@joshfarley.
The Carolina Panthers were just one of the teams to kick off their season on Sunday, Sept. 12.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. The NFL season is underway and this year, all teams are allowing fans in the stands.
But a question remains, do NFL fans need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend games?
The NFL's game ticket policy makes no mention of a vaccine requirement. Instead, there is a "health promise" that asks unvaccinated fans not to attend if they have symptoms or were told to quarantine.
According to the NFL's guidance, people who are fully vaccinated but experience COVID-19 symptoms in the 48 hours leading up to the game should consult a health care provider and get tested for the virus before attending.
While the NFL's guidelines stop short of banning fans who are unvaccinated, teams, stadiums and local health officials can make their own rules.
The Carolina Panthers and Bank of America Stadium are not requiring fans to be vaccinated at this time.
However, fans must wear masks in the indoor portions of the stadium, regardless of vaccination status.
Some teams' fans will have to be vaccinated this season.
If you're heading to see the Panthers take on the Saints in January, you'll be required to provide proof that you've received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine or have a negative test within 72 hours of attending the game.
The Seattle Seahawks are requiring fans 12 and older to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test within72 hours of attending a game at Lumen Field.
The Las Vegas Raiders are requiring all fans to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to attend home games. If you hit this requirement, you don't have to wear a mask. If fans are not vaccinated, the team is offering vaccines on site. Newly vaccinated fans will still have to wear a mask.
You can learn more about the Raiders' policy by clicking here.
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COVID-19 cases among children in Oregon, Lane County higher than ever during pandemic The Register-Guard
Near Herculean efforts by the tribal government to contain the spread of COVID-19 werent enough to save Michael Gavin, a 39-year-old member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who died Aug. 7, some 17 months after the Tribes initially declared a state of emergency. Gavin was the second CTUIR member to die of COVID-19. His uncle was the first.
Michael was a son, a brother, and an uncle to the Gavin family, which included his mother, Shawna, a member of the CTUIR Health Commission, and his sister, Jill-Marie Gavin-Harvey, one of nine members of the Tribes board of trustees, the policy-making panel for the confederacy of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla peoples.
Gavin was an evangelical Christian and youth pastor at a Pentecostal church, and he followed the Washat seven-drum Longhouse religion. He also was a former gang member who, even after he left that lifestyle, counseled other gang members from around the world.
Michael Gavin with sister Jill-Marie Gavin-Harvey, who tried to convince him to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Courtesy of Gavin family/Underscore News
He was not vaccinated, despite the urging of his family and his Tribe. He died at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla two weeks after his admittance to the ICU.
Now, Shawna wants people to know her son would likely be alive today if he had taken advantage of the readily available vaccine. We encouraged him. I wish he had been vaccinated. Thats my message.
On March 2, 2020, the Oregon Health Authority announced Umatilla Countys first case of the novel coronavirus. The CTUIR leadership was surprised, but took quick action, establishing an Incident Command Team that put together a plan of action.
The infected individual worked at Wildhorse Resort & Casino, which prompted closure to sanitize the gaming and hotel property. At that point in the pandemic, health officials had concerns about the virus being spread on surfaces. Soon after, tribal government, Nixyaawii Community School, Head Start, and daycare, and the senior center closed for cleaning as well.
The following day, the CTUIRs Incident Command Team enacted an emergency operations center, and by mid-March, the Tribes board of trustees had passed a public health quarantine law. The Umatilla Tribes were well ahead of most other local governments in responding to an unprecedented public health challenge.
Michael Gavin, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, died of COVID-19 on Aug. 7.
Courtesy of Gavin family/Underscore News
Nearly 900 employees at Nixyaawii Governance Center, the government headquarters on the Umatilla Reservation, were encouraged to work from home, with staggered work schedules and social-distancing requirements implemented for those who remained onsite. The Treaty Bison Hunt, the CTUIRs treaty-reserved right to harvest buffalo in Montana, was canceled. Wildhorse Resort & Casino closed the gambling floor and limited all food service to takeout. Kayak Public Transit, the CTUIR bus service provided throughout Eastern Oregon, shut down its daily service.
Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center began providing only essential services, and the ICT issued a temporary ban on housing evictions. By April 2020, Wildhorse had closed its hotel, cineplex, and two main cafes. CTUIR even issued a temporary ban on all forms of traditional sweat, a saunalike health and cultural practice.
As the number of positive cases dropped, restrictions were lessened. Wildhorse was given clearance to reopen its facilities, while Yellowhawk resumed routine medical, behavioral health, and dental appointments. The Yellowhawk alcohol and drug prevention program conducted a community smudge the practice of spiritually cleansing areas with the smoke of smoldering sage and hand-drum songs throughout the Nixyaawii community. Kayak Public Transit resumed limited operations.
In December, the Tribes department of natural resources loaned to Yellowhawk an ultra-low temperature freezer designed to hold lamprey that the health center could instead use to refrigerate COVID-19 vaccines. Starting Dec. 3, Yellowhawk began mass vaccinations, first offering vaccines to tribal members and all tribal employees, and eventually extending eligibility to everyone over 16 living within the Tribes ceded territory, which encompasses 6.4 million acres and includes parts of nine Oregon counties and five in Washington.
Vaccinations continued throughout the spring. In early April, tribal government employees were allowed back in their offices, and Wildhorse Resort & Casino, which had furloughed 70 employees, called employees back to work.
Then, on May 12, 2021, a press release announced an alarming surge in COVID-19 on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. After six weeks of reporting zero cases among tribal members and Yellowhawk-eligible patients, the CTUIR recorded five cases in a week, followed by nine cases in a single day. The board of trustees approved a vaccination incentive first prize of $50,000 for tribal members and employees.
As of Aug. 21, Yellowhawk had conducted 3,716 tests with 361 positive cases for a 9.7% rate of infection.
Despite the growing concern about the new delta variant and the striking increase in cases, Michael Gavin chose not to be vaccinated.
According to Michaels family, his decision not to receive the vaccine was a personal choice, not a political one.
Family members said it was Michaels trust in God, combined with skepticism as to whether the vaccine was safe, that prompted the fateful decision to decline the shot.
On July 19, Michael Gavin started feeling sick.
The next day, Jill-Marie Gavin-Harvey suggested that the adults in the house get tested at Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center, even though everyone but Michael had been vaccinated.
Michael tested positive, as did his mother and uncle, Michael Ray Johnson, on July 20. The vaccine lessened the symptoms for Johnson, who was asymptomatic, and even though Shawna had a fever and body aches, her symptoms went away after a day or two.
Not so for Michael. His cough intensified, and doctors told the family his health was worsening.
Shawna drove Michael to the hospital in Walla Walla, about 25 minutes away from their house. That drive was the last time she would see her son alive.
We found out the next day he hadnt been forthright with us about how sick he was, Jill-Marie said. We didnt know hed been admitted directly to ICU and we couldnt go in.
As his hospital stay stretched into the second week, Michael became more honest, Jill-Marie said.
He said, I cant breathe. He told me, Dont call me because its hard to talk, Shawna said.
The doctors report was grim and preparations were made to fly Michael to Providence Hospital in Portland.
Michaels heart stopped as he was being transferred from a hospital gurney to a helicopter gurney. Medics worked for 45 minutes trying to bring him back.
When the doctor called, he said we needed to know there was no hope, Shawna said. I told him Michael didnt want to be intubated. We were going to have to let him go.
On Aug. 10, hand drummers and singers, with dramatic heart-pounding songs, led an interdenominational service in the afternoon, followed that evening by Washat songs three sevens. A final seven songs were sung the next morning before Michael was buried at Homly Cemetery near Cayuse on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, his grave on the south-facing hill overlooking the Umatilla River. It was where he would want to be, according to Michaels family.
Shawna believes Michael would still be with them if hed received the COVID-19 vaccine.
He never thought (the virus) wasnt real, but he was leery of the vaccine. If things werent black and white Michael usually wasnt interested, she said.
Jill-Marie said, Part of me wishes Id pushed him harder but realistically there was no pushing Mikey. If he didnt want to do it, he was not going to do it. I dont believe he ever regretted not getting the vaccine.
Jill-Marie said its been a terrible year for leaders on the Umatilla Reservation.
Especially as an elected official. Decisions were hard. No one saw this coming. We didnt know exactly the right path to take. It was difficult. I wanted to protect my people and couldnt protect my own brother.
There was a lot of turmoil, but people need to know this is not over. We cant be letting our guards down. There is no sure-fire way to protect us from COVID-19, but we do have some tools. I hope people will think seriously about protecting their loved ones. This is the worst pain Ive ever felt.
Underscore.newsis a nonprofit collaborative reporting team in Portland focused on in-depth reporting and coverage of Indigenous communities. They are supported by foundations, corporate sponsors and donor contributions. FollowUnderscore.newsonFacebookandTwitter.
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