The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced the findings of an investigation into an outbreak of COVID-19 cases that occurred following an overnight church camp and a two-day mens conference, both of which were held by the same organization earlier this summer.
According to the findings, a total of 180 cases of coronavirus were ultimately linked to the events, including 122 that occurred among attendees.
On June 30, IDPH says it contacted the CDC concerning the outbreaks, which occurred at two separate events. One of those events was a five-day overnight church camp for individuals between the ages of 14 and 18, and the other was a two-day mens conference.
Neither event required COVID-19 vaccination or negative test results before attendees arrived, and neither event encouraged attendees to wear masks while in indoor spaces, according to the report.
As of Aug. 13, a total of 180 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 were linked to the events, reported either among the attendees or among those who were in close contact with them after they left the events.
A total of 122 attendees were ultimately diagnosed with COVID-19. Of those, 18 cases were reported in individuals who were fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to officials.
Among all of the cases, five individuals were hospitalized, and no deaths occurred. None of those five individuals were fully vaccinated against the virus, according to officials.
Officials say that 294 campers attended the five-day youth event, and were met by 41 staff members. They were housed in large, congregant boarding facilities, with approximately 100 campers in each unit. Those participants dined in a cafeteria together and participated in indoor and outdoor small group activities.
On the second-to-last day of the camp, one camper departed after coming down with symptoms of COVID-19, and a laboratory test later confirmed the diagnosis. Six camp staff members later tested positive, and had onset of symptoms in the days after the camp ended.
The CDC and IDPH say that the outbreaks are another example of why COVID vaccination is so critical in the fight against the virus. The CDC cites an outbreak in Los Angeles County, where unvaccinated residents were five times more likely to be infected with COVID, and 29 times more likely to be hospitalized from an infection than vaccinated residents were.
The departments also advise that multiple prevention strategies should be implemented, including vaccination and mitigations like masking, social distancing and screening testing.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week that 12,000 more New Yorkers suffered coronavirus-related deaths than previously reported by Andrew Cuomos administration.
In her first day in office, Hochul continued Cuomos trend of frequent updates tracking the spread of the coronavirus. The statistics she provided last Tuesday indicated that almost 55,400 people have suffered virus-related deaths in the state, an increase of more than 12,000 from Cuomos updated figures from just a day before.
Hochul, who also enforced a mask mandate for public school districts throughout the state last week, said in an NPR interview that her experience as lieutenant governor during the early stages of the pandemic allows her to make decisions that are best for New Yorkers.
I was literally embedded with the local health officials and county executives in upstate New York, so I know how scary this is and what people went through and I have a different approach, Hochul said in the interview. We were successful last year, but also as we see this resurgence Im going to be doing more to empower local government officials who spend all their days training for this, the local health departments, the emergency management individuals who know how to get vaccines out.
Cuomo, along with top aides in his administration, reportedly withheld last year the total number of nursing home patients who died as a result of the coronavirus, according to multiple reports.
Investigative reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times cited documents and interviews with six people who had direct knowledge of discussions with Cuomo and state health officials surrounding the numbers.
More than 9,000 nursing home residents in New York had died from coronavirus, according to a draft report last July from the states Department of Health, according to the articles.
But Cuomo and some of his top aides, including Melissa DeRosa, then secretary to the governor, allegedly urged Health Department officials to omit the total figures so that the report would only show residents who physically died in a nursing home, rather than nursing home residents who were transported to a local hospital and died there. According to The Times, the 9,000 figure was dropped.
In January, state Attorney General Letitia James announced that an investigation into the Health Department revealed coronavirus deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted.
James said in a statement on Jan. 28 that her office had been investigating nursing homes throughout the state based on allegations of patient neglect and other concerning conduct that may have jeopardized the health and safety of residents and employees, received as early as March 2020 and numbering more than 900 since November. More than 20 nursing homes were under investigation as a result, according to James.
Efforts to reach a representative from James office for an update on the nursing home investigations were unavailing.
The initial investigations conducted by James office indicated that a larger number of nursing home residents died from the coronavirus than reported by the states Department of Health. Based on a survey of 62 nursing homes that found the state undercounted the fatalities there by an average of 56 percent, the data could push the departments original count of 8,711 coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes to more than 13,000, according to the report.
Investigations also showed that the lack of compliance in nursing homes with infection control protocols put residents at increased risk of harm, and facilities that had lower pre-pandemic staffing rating had higher coronavirus-related fatality rates.
After the investigations preliminary findings were publicized, the state came out with new data that showed an additional 3,800 coronavirus-related deaths of nursing home residents had occurred in hospitals.
Over the past few months, experts and officials have tried to prepare the world for a future in which Covid-19 is here to stay. They predict the vaccines will by and large defang the virus. There will still be a few cases of serious illness and death, but the coronavirus will be reduced to the level of a seasonal flu a disease wed be much better off without, but mild enough we wont shut down society to fight it.
But this optimistic vision has always left open a big question: What about long Covid?
Covid-19 is most known for causing acute illness, from a cough and fever to hospitalization and death. But in some cases it seems to cause longer-term complications, including breathing difficulties, fatigue, and brain fog, though the effects vary from person to person. While Covid-19 typically resolves in the span of weeks, long Covid can last at least months after an infection.
Without treatment, weve seen individuals who got sick in February or March of 2020 and are still sick and still extremely debilitated, David Putrino, whos treated long Covid patients at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York, told me.
These long-term complications arent unique to the coronavirus; other viruses, including seasonal flu, cause long-term symptoms too, sometimes similar ones. But as more people have been infected by the coronavirus, and more have subsequently developed long Covid, the long-term problems have received more attention.
So even in the context of a post-vaccine world, does long Covid makes the coronavirus too dangerous to live with? Can the world really treat Covid-19 like a flu-level illness if its causing debilitating long-term problems for many?
The truth is theres still a lot about long Covid we simply dont know. We dont know what causes it, or why some people seem to develop long Covid symptoms while others dont. We dont know with much precision how often long Covid occurs. We dont know how variants of the virus, including delta, have altered the risk. We dont even know if all the cases believed to be long Covid are actually caused by the coronavirus.
Nor do we know much about breakthrough cases among vaccinated people leading to long Covid, though we know there have been some cases. But the vaccines very likely help to prevent long Covid by reducing both the likelihood of infection and severity of illness, both of which are associated with long-term complications. If youre not getting infected with Covid, youre not going to get long Covid, Putrino said.
The uncertainty makes it difficult to make any kind of sweeping declarations about long Covid. Based on my conversations with experts, the best we can say goes something like this: Long Covid is relatively rare, especially among vaccinated people. And it will likely become rarer over time, especially as more people get vaccinated and the population in general develops stronger immune defenses against the coronavirus.
The hope is that over time as more variants emerge, as we keep getting more booster vaccinations, [and] as our body becomes more accustomed to producing antibodies to this virus type, were going to see cases of long Covid reducing to the point where its not really a thing anymore, Putrino said. But he cautioned, This is conjecture. We dont know for sure.
Its helpful, then, to view long Covid through two lenses: what the outlook is right now, in August 2021, and what it might look like in a few months or years. How worried you should be today if youre vaccinated depends, like many things in the pandemic, on your own risk tolerance. But in the long term, there are some hopeful signs.
There are some things about long Covid we do know. Its a real medical problem, although its symptoms, severity, and duration vary from person to person. These symptoms arent permanent in all cases potentially not any of them but they can last for a year or more. And some treatments, part of a nascent and growing field of medicine, can potentially cut down the symptoms severity and duration.
Most cases of Covid-19 dont lead to long Covid. The limited data so far suggests 10 to 25 percent of adults infected with Covid-19 might develop long Covid (although experts advise a lot of caution in interpreting those numbers since the data here isnt of great quality).
While we dont know what causes long Covid, there are some theories all speculative for now. One possibility is that lingering reservoirs of the virus or fragments of it continue to wreak havoc in the body. Another is that long Covid is part of the bodys healing process after fighting off the coronavirus. Yet another is that, because the SARS-CoV-2 virus is novel to humans, it can lead to a long-lasting overreaction by the immune system.
A major unknown is if all the detected long Covid cases are even caused by the coronavirus, given that some of the people who present long-term symptoms test negative for Covid-19 and related antibodies. Experts dont deny that the symptoms are real and should be treated, but its also possible psychosocial circumstances or other pathogens could be behind some cases.
Many viruses, like seasonal flu, can cause long-hauler symptoms. One study in Pathogens suggested some long Covid cases may be due to reactivations of the Epstein-Barr virus that causes mononucleosis. (When I was in high school, I lost months to fatigue due to recurring mono.) So some people showing up at the doctors office with long Covid could have long flu, mono, or another disease entirely. Its hard to say, Putrino acknowledged.
Long Covid remains a unique threat right now for two reasons: Theres still a lot of coronavirus out there, as the country deals with a recent surge driven by the delta variant. And compared to pathogens like the flu, fewer people have immune defenses built up against the virus, likely boosting the chances of developing Covid-19 and then long Covid compared to the risk of suffering long-term complications from the flu.
The good news: These risks can be mitigated with vaccines.
The vaccines cut the chances of getting infected by the coronavirus in the first place. To the extent long Covid cases are caused by the virus, that means fewer cases of long Covid. The delta variant and waning efficacy have complicated this, increasing the risk someone is infected with the virus even after vaccination potentially necessitating booster shots. But the vaccines still offer some protection against the risk of any infection.
The vaccines also offer protection against severe disease. This protection has so far held up against the delta variant and despite concerns about waning efficacy: Multiple studies have found the vaccines are still around 90 percent effective against hospitalization or worse, both during deltas spread and months after the shots are administered. A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found unvaccinated people are 29 times as likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19 than fully vaccinated people.
Thats important because long Covid also seems much more likely to develop in people who had severe cases of Covid-19. A study analyzing private health care claims, by the nonprofit FAIR Health, found that hospitalized Covid-19 patients were almost twice as likely as patients who werent hospitalized but were symptomatic to develop post-Covid conditions. Patients without symptoms were even less likely to develop longer-term conditions than those with symptoms, although it did happen in some cases.
So to the extent that the vaccines make you less likely to get sick in the first place, and much less likely to get severely ill if you do get sick, they reduce your chance of getting long Covid. If you do get sick, though, theres a lot we dont know.
Some breakthrough infections can lead to long Covid, as one New England Journal of Medicine study tracking Israeli health care workers found. But that study also found the overall prevalence was low: Among nearly 1,500 fully vaccinated health care workers who were exposed to the coronavirus or had related symptoms, just seven, of 39 breakthrough infections, reported persistent symptoms after more than six weeks.
Still, thats one estimate from a small study looking at a somewhat narrow time period. The problem is that we know very little about how frequently breakthrough infections lead to long Covid, Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine, told me.
Perhaps the best that can be said is the vaccines likely help, probably significantly, but its unclear just how much. Given that, and the spread of the delta variant, some experts say it makes sense for those worried about long Covid to remain cautious and mitigate exposure even after getting the vaccine (through, say, masking), at least for now.
Moving forward, there are some reasons to be hopeful about long Covid.
For one, the Covid-19 pandemic will end. Through vaccination, natural infection, or both, the population will continue to build immunity against the coronavirus. Over time, this buildup will turn into a bulwark against SARS-CoV-2 one that may not stop the virus from spreading entirely (experts expect the virus will instead become endemic, meaning it will still circulate as illnesses like colds and the flu do), but will at least reduce the number of infections and especially cut down on the most severe outcomes, like hospitalization and death.
Those population-level defenses will mean fewer infections and less severe illness, both of which will translate to fewer cases of long Covid over time.
Putrino offered an optimistic, albeit speculative, possibility: If long Covid is caused by an overreaction from an undeveloped immune system to a novel coronavirus, then the steady buildup of immunity and continued exposure to the virus over time could help reduce the risk of long Covid. In that case, the remaining incidents of Covid-19 as the virus turns endemic may be less likely to lead to long Covid.
We need to focus on being a little more patient, Putrino argued. A year and a half feels like a long time. But in terms of how long it takes for our bodies to change and adapt to things, its a very short amount of time.
Well also hopefully learn much more about long Covid going forward. That may help with prevention, such as techniques or treatments to stop Covid-19 from leading to long Covid. It could also help with the treatment of long Covid, potentially reducing its severity or duration. (Developing such treatments, though, will require taking long Covid seriously something medical and research communities havent done in the past with long haulers dealing with other diseases.)
Over time, a waning pandemic and the reduced risk of getting Covid-19 could help us live with the virus, including with the possibility of long Covid. Just like people have learned to live with the flu and the severe outcomes it can cause (including long-term health complications and tens of thousands of deaths a year in the US), so too will people learn to live with a Covid-19 thats weakened by the vaccines and natural immunity.
As is true with the flu or anything else in life, different individuals have different risk tolerances. Some people may choose to go out less during periods in which cases rise, continue to wear masks, or seek out booster shots. Others may decide the low chances of complications after they get a vaccine, if they even decide to get the shot, are tolerable enough to continue living as normal, even when cases rise within their community. Many will fall in between.
Some people will do everything possible to prevent their risk, and other people will not worry as much, Cline Gounder, an epidemiologist at New York University, told me. Its going to depend on the person.
So the solution to long Covid may look a lot like the other scary, uncertain things about the pandemic, from variants to breakthrough cases: Theres no perfect option, but the best we can do is get as many people vaccinated as possible to defang the coronavirus and greatly reduce the risk of long Covid even if its never truly eliminated.
Fewer American adults than ever say they will not get vaccinated against the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and more than ever plan to get children below the age of 12 their shots as soon as the U.S. drug regulator allows it, according to the latest Axios/Ipsos poll.
The poll found the number of people saying theyre not very likely (6%) or not at all likely (14%) to get their shots, shrank to 20%, down from 23% two weeks ago and from 34% in March. Thats the smallest number to oppose vaccines since the start of the pandemic.
The number of parents who said they have already gotten their children vaccinated, or will as soon as its allowed, rose to 68% from 56% two weeks ago and the highest level yet. The number who oppose getting children vaccinated declined to 31%, less than a third, of those polled. There are about 45 million children below the age of 12 in the U.S. who are currently not eligible for vaccination. The FDA is awaiting data from Pfizer PFE on a major trial involving children that will be used to decide on the issue.
See: Fauci: COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren is a good idea
Axios said there are many factors playing a role in the change in attitudes, including worry about the highly transmissible delta variant, which accounts for the majority of new cases across the U.S.
But the bigger factor is the growing number of organizations, from schools and universities to local governments and private companies, that are mandating vaccination. One in three unvaccinated Americans polled said FDA approval would push them to get the vaccine, while 43% said an employer requiring it would play a role, up from 33% a month ago, as Axios reported.
Schools, organizations, companies, governments implementing mandates are forcing people to deal with them, said Cliff Young, president of U.S. Public Affairs for Ipsos, according to Axioss report. Thats what going on.
Opinion:Will vaccine skeptics accept the safety of the COVID shot now that the FDA has granted full approval?
See also:With more than 150,000 Americans contracting COVID-19 per day, the price for going unvaccinated is growing
TheCDCs vaccine trackeris showing that 173.8 million Americans are fully vaccinated, equal to 52.4% of the overall population. Some 61.7% of Americans have had at least one dose. Among adults 18 and older, 63.4% are fully inoculated, while 74.1% have had at least one dose.
Read:Gen Z students overwhelmingly support strict COVID-19 policies as they return to school
Public health experts have clamored for more people to get vaccinated as most of the new cases, hospitalizations and fatalities in the past several weeks have been among unvaccinated people.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Joe Bidens chief medical adviser, told CNN at the weekend that up to 100,000 more Americans could die of COVID by December in what he called both entirely predictable [and] entirely preventable deaths.
Read on: WHO warns of possible 236,000 new COVID-19 deaths in Europe by December, and Fauci says U.S. could see another 100,000
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) More than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were announced in Tuesdays update from theSouth Dakota Department of Health.
There were 1,020 new total cases reported on Tuesday. The states total case count is now at 132,259 up from Monday (131,239). A note on the DOH dashboard says Tuesdays update includes data from Saturday and Sunday.
Active cases are now at 5,035, up from Monday (4,326).
The death toll from COVID-19 is now at 2,069, up from Monday (2,067). The deaths were a man and a woman. Due to changes in the DOH age of deaths data, the ages of the most recent deaths can't be determined. The deaths happened in Minnehaha and Haakon Counties.
Current hospitalizations are at 216, up from Monday (168). Total hospitalizations are now at 6,819, up from Monday (6,774).
Total recovered cases are now at 125,155, up from Monday (124,846). The latest seven-day PCR test positivity rate for the state is 15.9% for Aug. 23 through Aug. 29.
The state health department has removed the total persons negative column from its COVID-19 Dashboard Tables tab. DOH spokesman Daniel Bucheli told KELOLAND News the department will providea Total Persons Tested and Total Tests Reported table each month.South Dakota Department of Health to report persons tested, total tests for COVID-19 in monthly report
The DOH currently reports total tests each day. Theres been 1,366,671 total tests reported as of Tuesday, up 8,825 from Monday (1,357,846).
Fifty-seven of South Dakotas 66 counties are listed as having high community spread. High community spread is 100 cases or greater per 100,000 or a 10% or greater PCR test positivity rate.
There were 31 new cases of Delta variant found in South Dakota. The total number of cases of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2, AY.1-AY.3) detected in South Dakota is at 111.
There have been 172 cases of the B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant), 16 cases of B.1.429 and B.1427 variants (Epsilon variant), three cases of P.1. (Gamma variant) and two cases of the B.1.351 (Beta variant).
As of Tuesday, 61.97% of the population 12-year-olds and above has received at least one dose while 56.29% have completed the vaccination series.
There have been 414,720 doses of the Pfizer vaccine administered, 310,353 of the Moderna vaccine and 26,525 doses of the Janssen vaccine.
There have been 149,417 persons who have completed two doses of Moderna and 196,858 who have received two doses of Pfizer.
There were 548 new persons who completed the Pfizer series as of Monday, while 150 persons completed the Moderna series.
BOSTON (AP) The number of new cases of COVID-19 increased by more than 1,500 Tuesday while the number of newly confirmed coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts rose by 17.
The new number pushed the states confirmed COVID-19 death toll to 17,874 since the start of the pandemic, while its confirmed caseload rose to more than 709,500.
Nearly 600 people were reported hospitalized Tuesday because of confirmed cases of COVID-19, with more than 160 in intensive care units.
The average age of those who have died from COVID-19 was 75.
The true number of cases is likely higher because studies suggest some people can be infected and not feel sick.
More than 4.5 million people in Massachusetts have been fully immunized against COVID-19.
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BOSTON SYMPHONY VACCINATION PROTOCOL
The Boston Symphony Orchestra will require all audience members attending performances at Symphony Hall this fall to provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test result, the orchestra announced Tuesday.
Patrons will also be required to wear a mask during concerts, unless eating or drinking, the organization said in an emailed statement. Physical distancing will not be required.
By requiring vaccinations and masks, we hope that people will feel comfortable at concerts and know that we are doing all we can to create a safe environment to gather for the collective experience of live music, President and CEO Gail Samuel said.
The orchestra went on a live performance hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. When it announced its new season in June, it said proof of vaccination and masks would not be required. That was before a surge in cases caused by the highly contagious delta variant.
Proof of vaccination includes showing a vaccination card, a photo of the card, or a digital vaccine record upon entering Symphony Hall, the BSO said. For children under 12 who are not yet eligible for a coronavirus vaccine, proof of a negative test will be accepted for entry.
Patrons who cannot show proof of vaccination can either show proof of a negative PCR test taken within the previous 72 hours, or an antigen test taken within the previous 24 hours.
The BSO has also been updating its air filtration system and cleaning protocols to ensure patron safety.
The new season starts Sept. 30.
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AMHERST COLLEGE-STUDENT PUSHBACK
Hundreds of students at Amherst College in Massachusetts are pushing back against what they call the schools overly restrictive COVID-19 protocols that include double masking indoors, restrictions on off-campus activities, and no in-person campus dining.
In a letter sent to President Carolyn Biddy Martin a week ago, the students said the guidelines are not based on any given data, have been developed without student input, are significantly stricter than our peer institutions, and are in conflict with (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines.
The restrictions originally announced Aug. 24 and designed in response to the spread of the delta variant apply to the first two weeks of the fall semester, which began Monday.
The prestigious private liberal arts college celebrating its 200th anniversary this year had already mandated vaccinations for students, faculty and staff.
In response to the student pushback, Martin explained the necessity of the rules in another campuswide email on Aug. 27.
We are in the midst of a surge, and you are arriving on campus from all over the country and the world, including from delta hotspots, she said, adding later: Now is not yet the time to relax key restrictions.
She did, however, amend a near-universal outdoor mask mandate, calling it unworkable, and said masks are now only required outdoors at high-density gatherings over a sustained time period.
Students are allowed to leave campus to take care of personal business and to pick up takeout meals, but should not go to indoor restaurants, cafes, or bars, she said.
The school has about 1,850 students.
The reason that the college put these protocols in place for two weeks is that, between testing and possibly isolating/quarantining individuals, we can establish a healthy baseline for our campus, a college spokesperson said Tuesday.
Georgia state health officials reported on Tuesday there have been 86 additional deaths due to the coronavirus since Friday. The current total is 19,680.
There are 6,836 new cases as that total reaches 1,091,007 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Hospitalizations are at 73,267, which is an increase of 445 from Monday.
Here are the numbers by county:
Catoosa County: 7,004 cases, up 42; 71 deaths, up 1; 282 hospitalizations, up 1
Chattooga County: 2,829 cases, up 38; 68 deaths; 201 hospitalizations
Dade County: 1,554 cases, up 7; 14 deaths; 65 hospitalizations
Walker County: 8,012 cases, up 57; 84 deaths; 315 hospitalizations
Whitfield County: 17,106 cases, up 164; 246 deaths, up 1; 841 hospitalizations, up 2
CLEVELAND, Ohio Despite widely available vaccines, Ohios coronavirus numbers have surged to levels not seen since January.
Newly reported cases are running about 21 times higher than they were at the start of the second week of July. Hospitalizations have also increased significantly, and there are signs that deaths are starting to edge up. All this while the return of students to schools and dorms has triggered fears that the spread could become worse.
With this, the thirst for data has also increased. Cleveland.com has renewed efforts to share more of this information with a team of reporters following various aspects of the coronavirus pandemic, from hospitalizations and cases to vaccines and schools. (A few links to recent reports can be found at the bottom of this story.)
But with almost every piece of information released by the Ohio Department of Health, its important to keep in mind what is known and is not known.
What we know: Cases unquestionably are up sharply. The daily average of newly reported cases over the last week stood at 4,461 a day on Monday. On July 8, this average was a low for the year of just 211 a day, making worries at the time appear to be in the rearview mirror. Newly reported cases are now running higher than at any time since January, just after the start of vaccinations.
What we dont know: While the state health department updates case counts daily, the updates do not include breakdowns of how many of those newly infected were fully vaccinated, nor do they include information for how many of those tested positive are showing symptoms. But we do know more people are being tested either because they have symptoms, may have been exposed or as a routine precaution. The state reported 250,603 tests in the seven days through Monday, up from just 149,555 the first seven days of August. More tests undoubtedly uncover more symptom-free cases.
What we know: Coronavirus hospitalizations have been the most reliable metric in tracking the spread of the virus in the state since the onset of the outbreak early last year, cutting through some of the problems in tracking total case numbers, especially when testing is uneven. The sickest people go to the hospital. The Ohio Hospital Association relays coronavirus patient counts daily to the state health department. There were 2,412 coronavirus patients in the preliminary county for Monday, up 12-fold from a summer low of just 202 on July 6. Jumping just as sharply has been the number of these patients in intensive care units 696 on Monday versus 50 on July 11. The recent counts are back to where they were in January.
What we dont know: How many of the recent patients went home because their health conditions improved and how many died. More on the death statistics next.
What we know: Coronavirus-attributed deaths, as reported by the state, have ticked up slightly in recent weeks, with 110 reported last week versus 75 and 58 the previous two weeks. A total of 20,799 Ohio deaths have been attributed to the pandemic, peaking in late December.
What we dont know: Exactly how many people have died recently as delta has taken hold. The state health department in early March abandoned efforts to track coronavirus-related deaths in a timely manner. Until then, the state used reports from hospitals, urgent care centers and local health districts in reporting deaths, making corrections later if necessary if causes changed once cases were reviewed by the federal Centers for Disease Control. Now the state ignores the early reports, waiting instead for CDC rulings based on death certificates that routinely take several weeks and often months. So when a person dies in a hospital, it will be weeks or months before that person is included in the death totals.
What we know: Vaccinated people are much less likely to get severely sick, and this is holding true with the delta variant. Overall for the year, the state reports that just 2.3% of the coronavirus hospitalizations (469 of 20,767) have involved fully vaccinated people. That includes pre-delta cases. This share has increased recently as delta has taken over, but is still small. Fully vaccinated people accounted for 6.1% and 6.2% of the hospitalizations in the cases added to the states report each of the last two weeks. Overall, 56% of the Ohioans old enough to be vaccinated (age 12 and up) have completed all required doses. This includes close to 80% of those age 65 and up. For the year, 76 of the 7,035 deaths (1.1%) have involved fully vaccinated people.
What we dont know: Overall case rates in Ohio for the vaccinated population, and details for those partially vaccinated such as people who received just one of two required doses.
What we know: In addition to what individual school districts are reporting, the state health department each Thursday releases a report of total cases for students and staff since Aug. 9, and cases reported the previous week. Details are listed on the health departments website for each public school district and private school.
What we dont know: Real-time information statewide. The report issued each Thursday is based on data the state receives from local health departments the previous Monday through Sunday. The local health departments collect the data from the schools, before it is sent on to the state.
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All around the world, there seem to be signs that immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19, doesn't last very long after you're vaccinated.
Israel is now having one of the world's worst COVID-19 surges about five months after vaccinating a majority of its population. And in the U.S., health officials are recommending a booster shot eight months after the original vaccine course.
So, how long does immunity last after two doses of the vaccine? Six months or so? And at that point, how much protection is left over?
It all depends on which type of immunity you're talking about, says immunologist Ali Ellebedy at Washington University in St. Louis. Six months after your vaccine, your body may be more ready to fight off the coronavirus than you might think.
"If you were vaccinated six months ago, your immune system has been training for six months you are better ready to fight a COVID-19 infection," says Ellebedy.
A series of new studies, including two led by Ellebedy, suggests that mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna trigger the immune system to establish long-term protection against severe COVID-19 protection that likely will last several years or even longer, Ellebedy says.
To understand what he's talking about, let's say you received the second Moderna or Pfizer vaccine six months ago. Right away, your immune system got to work and began making antibodies.
These antibodies are a bit like archers outside the moat of a castle. They set up in the lining of your nose and throat, ready to shoot down (aka neutralize) any SARS-CoV-2 particles that try to enter the moat (aka your nasal tissue).
These antibodies can prevent an infection, says bioimmunologist Deepta Bhattacharya at the University of Arizona. They stop the virus from entering cells and setting up shop. They are the body's front-line defense.
But right after vaccination, this initial round of antibodies has a few problems. The antibodies are a bit wimpy. They're not that well trained at killing SARS-CoV-2, and they're not very durable, Bhattacharya says.
About a month after the second mRNA shot, the number of antibodies in the blood reaches its peak level and then starts to decline. The antibodies themselves degrade and the cells that make them die, a study published in the journal Nature reported in June.
This happens with every vaccine, whether it's for COVID-19, the flu or measles, Bhattacharya says. "In every single immune response, there is a sharp rise in antibodies, a period of sharp decline, and then it starts to settle into a more stable nadir."
The media has largely focused on this decline of antibodies as the cause of "waning immunity." And it's true, Bhattacharya says, that this decline in antibodies, combined with the high potency of the delta variant, which began dominating many countries this year, is likely increasing the rate of infection in fully vaccinated people.
"If you get a big dose of delta, as the variant often gives, the virus can slip past the initial wall of antibodies," he says. "So I think we may be seeing some signs of that. But the [level of breakthrough infections] is probably not as dramatic as I think it's being made out to be."
Why? Because the media has largely overlooked several key facts about the antibodies present eight months after the vaccine. For starters, they're more powerful than the original ones triggered by the vaccine, Bhattacharya says.
While the first round of archers (antibodies) was out guarding the moat of your castle (respiratory tract), the immune system wasn't just sitting around idly, hoping those soldiers would be enough. Instead, it was busy training better archers and a whole bunch of foot soldiers too.
After your second shot, the immune system sets up a training center in the lymph nodes to teach special cells how to make more powerful antibodies, the Nature paper from June reported.
"The quality of the antibody improves over time. It takes far fewer of those new antibodies to protect you," Bhattacharya says. "So I think that worrying about antibody decline is not something that's productive," he adds.
At the same time, the cells that make these souped-up antibodies become souped up themselves, he adds. In the training center, they learn how to make a huge amount of the highly powerful antibodies.
"These cells are remarkable," Bhattacharya says. "They're estimated to spit out something like 10,000 antibody molecules per second." So you don't need many of these cells to protect you against a future infection.
"We've done some back-of-the-envelope calculations to figure out how many of these cells are needed to protect a mouse from a lethal infection. It's three," Bhattacharya says. "Of course, we're bigger than mice. But you get the sense that it doesn't take many to offer good protection."
On top of that, these cells learn something remarkable in the training center: how to persist. "They're essentially given the gift of eternity," says immunologist Ellebedy.
He and his colleagues have found that by about six months after vaccination, these antibody-producing cells go into the bone marrow, where they can live for decades, perhaps even a lifetime, studies have found, and continue to produce antibodies the entire time. In one 2008 study, researchers identified antibodies that could neutralize the 1918 flu in the blood of people who were exposed to the virus 90 years earlier.
"We looked in the bone marrow and have seen these cells in people previously infected with SARS-CoV-2," Ellebedy says. "Now we are finishing research that shows these cells appear in the bone marrow after vaccination as well."
Called long-lived plasma cells, these cells will likely pump out antibodies into the blood for decades, Ellebedy says, giving people some sustained, long-term protection against SARS-CoV-2. (There is a caveat: If the virus changes too much, these antibodies won't be as effective.)
"The antibodies are maintained at very low levels, but they're the first line of defense against an infection," Ellebedy says. "If you're taken by surprise by SARS-CoV-2, these antibodies will slow down the replication of the virus" until reinforcements come along.
And reinforcements will likely come!
On top of training up better archers (antibodies) and factories to create them (plasma cells), the immune system has also been training up the equivalent of foot soldiers, several studies have found. These foot soldiers are called memory B cells and memory T cells, and they largely serve as a surveillance system, looking for other cells infected with SARS-CoV-2.
"They're patrolling all over," Ellebedy says, checking to see if a cell has SARS-CoV-2 hiding in it. "It's almost like going through the neighborhood, house by house, and just making sure it's clean."
These foot soldiers can't prevent an infection from initially occurring, but they can quickly stop one once it occurs, says immunologist Jennifer Gommerman at the University of Toronto. "Because of the vaccine-generated 'memory' of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you get a very brisk cellular immune response."
OK. So now we've got all the information to understand what's going on with the COVID-19 vaccine and immune durability.
About six months after the shots, the antibodies in the blood have fallen as expected. They're also a bit less effective against the delta variant. "Together, that means there are more symptomatic infections as we go further out from the vaccination rollout," Gommerman says.
But in vaccinated people, these infections will most likely be mild or moderate because the immune system isn't starting from scratch. In fact, it's the opposite. It has been training cells and antibodies for months.
"You still have all this immunity inside of your body that will then say, 'OK, we've had a breach, and it's time to bring in the cellular immunity and respond to this threat,' " Gommerman says. "And because of vaccination, you have cells that can do that really quickly."
And so, overall, you'll be less sick than if you weren't vaccinated and be much less likely to end up in the hospital, she says.
"That's really what the vaccines were designed to do to teach the immune system to deal with this invader if an infection does occur," Gommerman says. "And the vaccines do that remarkably well."
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) Nine soldiers with the South Dakota National Guard are helping Monument Health with COVID-19 testing in the western part of the state.
The soldiers were activated to Belle Fourche, Custer, Rapid City, Spearfish and Sturgis.
The soldiers are activated under FEMA Title 32, so their efforts will be federally funded.
In a statement, Governor Kristi Noem says she spoke with all three South Dakota hospital systems to ask what they needed as cases start to rise again.
Monument shared a need for help with testing efforts.
Testing efforts help us to identify and isolate cases to slow the spread of the virus, Noem said in the email.
The members began their work Tuesday morning.
Testing volume in August was 115 percent higher than it was in July, according to Emily Leech, Director of the Monument Health Laboratory Services.
The health care system says that in the last seven days, 2,856 COVID-19 PCR tests were completed and 844 were positive for a positivity rate of 29.6 percent.
Leech says assistance from the National Guard will allow Monument Health to test more patients and fully utilize testing equipment.
The latest update from the state health department said the Rapid City hospital was at 100 percent capacity.
A month ago, the Monument Health system had fewer than 10 hospitalized COVID-19 patients. As of Monday, Aug. 30, the number had increased to 110.
Dan Daly with Monument Health says as of Tuesday, the health care system has 108 COVID-19 patients. He says that is more than the 104 patients treated when COVID-19 peaked in November 2020 in South Dakota.
A Monument spokesman tells us they are not turning anyone away. He says if someone needs a bed, they will find one.
