And the president has pledged to donate up to 60 million doses of AstraZenecas vaccine. But those doses, also made at the Emergent plant, are not authorized for domestic use and cannot be released to other countries until regulators deem them safe. If they are not cleared for release, Mr. Biden would have to agree to donate more of the three vaccines used here to fulfill his 80 million promise.
The president has described the vaccine donations as part of an entirely new effort to increase vaccine supplies and vastly expand manufacturing capacity, most of it in the United States. To further broaden supply, Mr. Biden recently announced he would support waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. He also put Mr. Zients in charge of developing a global vaccine strategy.
But activists say simply donating excess doses and supporting the waiver are not enough. They argue that Mr. Biden must create the conditions for pharmaceutical companies to transfer their intellectual property to vaccine makers overseas, so that other countries can establish their own vaccine manufacturing operations.
Peter Maybarduk, the director of Public Citizens Access to Medicines program, called Thursday for the administration to invest $25 billion in urgent public vaccine manufacturing at sites worldwide to make eight billion doses of vaccine using mRNA technology within a year, and to share those vaccine recipes with the world.
Asked recently whether the United States was prepared to do that, Andrew Slavitt, a senior health adviser to the president, sidestepped the question, saying only that the United States would play a leadership role but still needed global partners across the world.
On Thursday, Mr. Zients said the United States was lifting the Defense Production Acts priority rating for three vaccine makers AstraZeneca, Novavax and Sanofi that do not make coronavirus vaccines authorized for U.S. use. The shift means that companies in the United States that supply the vaccine makers will be able to make their own decisions on which orders to fulfill first, Mr. Zients said.
That could free up supplies for foreign vaccine makers, allowing other countries to ramp up their own programs.
Abdi Latif Dahir contributed reporting.
An acquaintance you havent seen in ages approaches and reaches out to shake hands. What should you do in this age of lingering COVID-19 safety concerns?
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Lets start with a reality: The handshake situation is going to feel awkward when it first happens to you. Protocols over the past year called for avoiding contact and maintaining six feet of distance guidelines that dont encourage pressing the flesh.
But with much of society re-emerging from its pandemic cocoon, youre bound to face an outreached hand in the near future. That simple act will force a split-second and to some a terrifying decision.
You can shake off your social rust with confidence if youve been vaccinated for COVID-19, according to pulmonologist Akhil Bindra, MD. He says vaccinated people have little to no risk of getting the virus through the casual contact of a handshake.
Ongoing changes regarding social dos and donts reflect the impact of COVID-19 vaccines, says Dr. Bindra. Vaccinations offer protection against the virus while slowing the spread of the disease.
New recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or practicing social distancing, except under certain circumstances.
You are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving a single-dose coronavirus vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) or the second dose of a two-dose vaccine series (Pfizer and Moderna).
Dr. Bindra says emerging data shows that vaccinated individuals have less of a chance of contracting COVID-19 than they would of picking up a flu bug in a normal year.
The key here is being vaccinated, explains Dr. Bindra. That is where the path begins on the return to normal. Its how you can get back to living life the way you remember and feeling safe while doing it.
Bring back traditions and interactions such as shaking hands represents an important part of the pandemic recovery process, notes Dr. Bindra. Its a return to feeling human after a year of living in fear, he says.
The ritual of shaking hands dates to ancient times. It originated, some say, as a way for those crossing paths to indicate peaceful intentions primarily by showing that they werent holding any weapons.
Over time, the gesture evolved into a symbol of good faith (seal the deal), a greeting (meet Bob from accounting) and the topic of countless etiquette books (how to give the perfect handshake).
Shaking hands again is a milestone, Dr. Bindra says. Its a very real-world thing.
But dont feel pressure to return a handshake if youre not ready. People will understand given the past year. Plus, theres nothing wrong with a fist bump, which has been proven to transmit fewer germs than the traditional handshake.
Be smart, too: If the person looking to shake hands is coughing or showing signs of being ill, take a pass. (That rule applies in any circumstance, pandemic or not.)
Also, the rules of good hygiene still apply. That means washing your hands regularly and spending 20 seconds on the lather and rinse. (Dr. Bindra says people should make it a practice to wash their hands whenever they return home from an outing.)
Hand sanitizer continues to be in vogue, too. You may want to consider keeping a small bottle handy as an extra precaution during the day.
When it comes to handshakes, non-vaccinated individuals should keep their hands to themselves. Nothing has really changed for you, says Dr. Bindra.
For those who have not been vaccinated for COVID-19, the CDC continues to recommend wearing a mask that covers your mouth and nose while in public and staying six feet away from other people.
Too early to know if lockdown can be lifted on 21 June, Hancock says
The UKs recent surge in Covid-19 infections has continued today with 5,341 new cases confirmed, as of 9am on Sunday, meaning cases have risen by 11,022 (or 49 per cent) over the last seven days.
Government data also showed that a further four people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, suggesting that the recent rise in cases has not yet led to a surge in hospitalisations and deaths.
It came as health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that people aged under 30 would be invited to book their coronavirus vaccine jabs starting this week.
Speaking on Sky News Trevor Phillips On Sunday programme, the health secretary said vaccines had severed, but not broken the link between a rise in cases and and the number of people being admitted into hospital.
The majority of people going into hospital right now are unvaccinated, Mr Hancock said.
The health secretary added that the governments plans for a final lifting of the remaining Covid-19 restrictions would likely move forward as planned later this month if there is no increase in hospital admissions over the coming days.
However, he said it was too early to say whether restrictions would be fully lifted for sure.
Good morning and welcome to The Independents live blog tracking the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic as Boris Johnson prepares to call on G7 leaders to push for world vaccination by the end of 2022.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:02
Boris Johnson is expected to call on G7 leaders to defeat Covid by seeing the world vaccinated by the end of next year when he meets with counterparts in Cornwall on Friday.
The prime minister is expected to call on G7 leaders to rise to the greatest challenge of the post-war era by vaccinating the world by the end of next year, according to PA.
If the global community succeeds in that goal, it will be the single greatest feat in medical history, he is expected to tell G7 counterparts.
The meeting in Cornwall will be the first face-to-face G7 summit since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:06
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has urged pupils and their families to get tested for Covid before students return to schools next week after the half-term break.
Asymptomatic testing helps break chains of transmission by taking people who are infectious but dont know it out of circulation, Williamson said, amid concerns over the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.
As the half term comes to an end, take a Covid test before going back to the classroom, he has said.
Pupils have been urged to adopt twice-a-week testing routines.
The Government has said the effort has been critical to reaching the milestone of seeing more than 50 million rapid tests taken in schools and colleges across England since January.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:16
A doctor has warned that attempting to vaccinate teenagers during the summer months could prove difficult.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Sunday morning, Dr Ellie Cannonsaid summer can be a difficult time to get ahold of teenagers.
Rather than vaccinating them in the summer months, she said it would make more sense to administer jabs through schools.
Schools are certainly a better way to get teenagers vaccinated, Dr Cannon said.
Her comments came amid reports that that children and teenagers ages 12 to 15-years-old could start getting Covid jabs in the summer holidays.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned that a huge proportion of the latest cases [of Covid-19] are in children, as education minister Gavin Williamson urged pupils to get tested for Covid before returning to schools after the half-term break.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:25
An employment law and HR specialist has said that workers whose summer travel plans will be affected by the Governments latest change to quarantine rules will need to have meaningful discussions with their employers about their plans.
Starting after 4am on Tuesday, holidaymakers arriving back in Britain from Portugal will need to self-isolate at home for 10 days as the Government moves the country from its green travel list to amber.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, employment law expert Kate Palmer said employees have a fundamental right...to be treated fairly and reasonably.
Those who have already made the trip to Portugal and will be returning after Tuesdays deadline, as well as those who have already booked trips to the southern European country, she said, will need to have a meaningful discussion with their employers to see what the possibilities are.
She said employees should discuss the issue with their bosses sooner than later to establish what that period of self-isolation is going to look like and the options available on the table.
Palmer said that employers should take an empathetic approach given that holidaymakers could not have known Portugal would be pulled from the green list.
The HR expert said she had seen an influx of calls from worried employers and employees alike following the Governments announcement on Portugals status.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:40
Tony Blair has said it is time to distinguish between the vaccinated and unvaccinated to allow greater freedoms for those who have received a Covid jab.
The former prime minister said that marking the difference between the two would allow for a greater lifting of restrictions for those who have been vaccinated both in the UK and around the world.
Mr Blair recommended the use of health passes to differentiate between the two.
Read more on his comments:
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:48
Health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested he is open to the idea of health passes for vaccinated people.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Hancock said the good news is we now have the technology available to do this.
If you download the NHS app right now and you get yourself registered on it, then you will be able to see your vaccination status, he said.
Weve got the technology in place, he said.
The health secretarys comments came after former Prime Minister Tony Blair called for health passes to differentiate between the vaccinated and vaccinated to allow greater freedoms both at home and around the world for those who have a jab.
Asked whether he supported that idea, Mr Hancock said: We know that this is going to be needed internationally because some countries have said it will.
He said he understand that part of his role is to help Britons be able to travel when its safe to do so, which he acknowledged could mean overseeing the development of such health passes.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:49
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has once again defended the timing of the Governments decision to add India to its red travel list amid the rise of the Delta variant.
What I can tell you is as we saw the case rise in India and as we saw this new variant, the now Delta variant, arriving, we took the caution to put India on the red list, Mr Hancock said.
His comments came amid ongoing criticisms of the Governments timing in adding India to the red list, with some accusing leadership of delaying the designation to allow a trade trip to move forward.
While Mr Hancock admitted that hindsight...is very helpful, he said the Government could not take decisions with information it did not have at the time.
You cant ask anybody to take decisions with information that isnt in your hands, he said.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 08:54
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said it is too early to make a final decision on whether the Governments planned full lifting of coronavirus restrictions will move forward on 21 June, as planned.
The health secretary said he, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and others would be looking at all of the data this week.
He said the Government would give people enough time to know whether the lifting of restrictions would move forward.
The critical thing is to see whether the four tests that weve set have been met, he said, referring to the Governments four tests allowing restrictions to ease.
We are not saying no to the 21st of June at this point, he said. However, he said the Government would need to consider that cases are rising slightly as well as the impact of new variants.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 09:04
A final lifting of Covid restrictions will move forward as planned later this month if there is no increase in hospital admissions in the coming days, Matt Hancock has suggested.
The health secretary said the number of serious illnesses will be the crucial test in determining whether the 21 June lifting of restrictions can move ahead.
Mr Hancock pointed out that the number of people in hospital is currently flat, despite the surge of the Delta, or Indian, variant, but he said it was still too early to say whether the full lifting will happen.
Chantal Da Silva6 June 2021 09:07
With slow vaccination rates threatening the likelihood of herd immunity, companies and federal and state governments are pouring billions of dollars into a future in which Covid-19 testing remains a key component for resuming normal life in the U.S.
Public-health officials increasingly expect pockets of America will remain largely unvaccinated. That has businesses and health officials counting on testing as a means for controlling the virus.
Test developers including Abbott Laboratories , the University of Illinois and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York have been testing their own employees and students to prove thatshort of herd immunityfrequent testing can allow for the safe return to work and school. So far, they have sold tests to companies and organizations like Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. , Toyota Motor Corp.s manufacturing plant in Lexington, Ky., Amys Kitchen Inc., Bloom Energy Corp. and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as universities and public schools.
Testing nationwide has declined as the U.S. vaccination campaign has picked up speed, and the pace of testing isnt expected to return to pandemic peaks. But many predict Covid-19 tests will continue to be a sustainable business, because they remain critical for people who have symptoms, who are unvaccinated or who are in outbreak situations, public-health experts say.
Developers are competing to bring test costs down and to convince businesses that testing can keep children in school and employees in offices. Abbott Chief Executive Officer Robert Ford said the company is making a bet that testing will be crucial even beyond the phase of widespread vaccination.
A year of hybrid learning, bedroom Zoom meetings and quarantines has upended the education landscape, but its setting some students back more than others, according to studies.
While we have all been impacted by the pandemic, it has hit some homes and students harder than others, said Katie Joseph, assistant superintendent at Regional School Unit 1. The students who did not have consistent family support and nutrition, a quiet space to work, and a reliable internet to connect to their teachers likely struggled the most during the last one year.
The pandemic hit some demographics harder than others when it came to education. While the white students entered this school year with one to three months of learning loss in math, students of color lost three to five months, according to a report published in December by education consultant McKinsey & Company. The report predicted that if this trend continued through the end of the school year students on average could be five to nine months behind in math.
Ingrid A. Nelson, Associate Professor and Chair of Department of Sociology at Bowdoin College, argued that it is too early to gauge precise effects of the pandemic on learning.
We cant really knowthe full impact yet of pandemic-related school closures for student learning, but we do know that students from families with more resources are less likely to experience the same kinds of hardships that students from families with fewer resources are experiencing, said Nelson.
While high-quality summer learning programs have been shown to guard against the summer learning loss in pre-pandemic times, it is important to engage students in activities that attend to social and emotional competencies as well, added Nelson.
She also emphasized on the fact that it is important to honor and reinvigorate the teaching force to enable meaningful student-teacher connections that bring learning to life.
With weeks left before the summer break begins, local school district officials are beefing up their summer programs to provide more learning opportunities to the students.
In Brunswick, officials are in the initial stages of planning the summer program, which will be offered both in-person and online starting July 13.
Our goal is to help close the learning gaps that students have experienced in these two years. Hopefully, the students will be allowed to attend school five days a week when classrooms reopen, said Shawn Lambert, assistant superintendent of the Brunswick School Department.
With the main focus on social-emotional learning, the school department is offering various skill development programs to elementary and junior high school students, while credit recovery program is being offered to high school students.
Meanwhile, the Regional School Unit 1 which includes eight schools serving Arrowsic, Bath, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich is planning an extended school year program to continue the learning for K-12 students. The program will run from June 21 to July 30.
The program will provide an opportunity to students to be with friends, stay engaged, while also ensuring that their learning and food needs are met, said Joseph.
Moreover, about 56 students from grades 6 to 8 will be attending the summer program at Midcoast Youth Center.
Our goal for the summer program is to get kids together for a lot of fun, outdoor games and physical, team building activities, said Jamie Dorr, executive director of center.
The program will help students explore hands-on STEM activities through orienteering/hiking, bike repair and bike riding, digital music production, film editing and math minutes. The six-week program, will also concentrate on culinary skills, cooking, art and literacy activities, Dorr added.
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The state Department of Health (DOH) reported 402 new COVID-19 infections on Sunday, the second consecutive day with fewer than 500 new cases.
Of that total, there were only five new cases in the Valley, all in Northumberland County.
There were five new COVID-19-related deaths statewide and no new deaths in the Valley as the state continued its vaccination effort.
DOH officials did not update vaccination data on Saturday, but did update its dashboard on Sunday. The state said late last week that it would begin providing a weekend update at midday on Mondays beginning this week. The Sunday vaccine updated included 1,609 new vaccinations in Valley counties -- 1,126 of which were second doses providing full inoculation against the novel coronavirus.
Statewide, 60,933 second doses and 37,368 first doses were administered between Friday and Saturday, according to the Sunday data report.
To date, more than 10.8 million vaccines have been administered in the state and 154,220 shots have been given in the four Valley counties.
Hospitalizations
Pennsylvania reported a sharp decrease in hospitalizations on Sunday after a slight uptick on Saturday.
According to state officials, 767 patients were hospitalized on Sunday, 88 patients fewer than Saturday, a decrease of more than 20 percent. Of those patients, 180 were in intensive care units (ICUs) -- a decrease of 63 patients or more than 25 percent -- and 101 were on ventilators, a decrease of 14.
In Valley health care facilities, 34 patients were being treated in hospitals, 12 in ICUs and three on ventilators.
Geisinger in Danville had 27 patients, eight in ICUs and all of the Valleys ventilator cases. Four patients were admitted at Shamokin, one in the ICU. At Evangelical Community Hospital, all three patients being treated were in the ICU.
All of those figures were identical to Fridays and Saturdays midday reports from the state.
Prisons and state centers
At four federal prisons in Union County -- sites of several outbreaks throughout the pandemic -- there was one total active cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the same number as reported on Saturday.
One staff member at the United States Penitentiary (USP) in Lewisburg is infected with the virus, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. Since the pandemic started in March 2020, there has been one death at the prisons, a USP-Allenwood inmate.
There are no active cases at the State Correctional Institution in Coal Township, mimicking Saturdays report. Three inmates have died of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
There are no active cases at the Selinsgrove State Center. There have been fewer than five deaths since the pandemic started. The state Department of Human Services (DHS) does not report specific numbers if they are fewer than five.
There are fewer than five active cases among workers at Danville State Hospital and no active cases among clients. There have been fewer than five client deaths at the facility.
DHS figures from both the Selinsgrove Center and Danville State were the same as reported Saturday.
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Introduction
What touched off the COVID-19 pandemic remains a mystery. Several dominant hypotheses exist, but each lacks sufficient evidence to explain the cause of the crisis. A growing number of experts are calling for further investigation in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak is widely believed to have started. However, the scientific inquiry is being marred by political tensions between Washington and Beijing.
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Many scientists believe that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, spread from animals to humansknown as zoonotic transmissionin late 2019. Some researchers have said the virus originated in bats, like other similar coronaviruses. But there are several possibilities: a naturally emerging virus that infected people outside of a laboratory; a naturally emerging virus that was studied inside a lab and leaked; or a virus that was produced as a result of experimentation in a lab.
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There is no definitive evidence yet for any one of these hypotheses. If there is any consensus, its that this is a very complicated issue, says CFRs Yanzhong Huang. There needs to be further work done to find a conclusive answer.
Until recently, the idea that COVID-19 was transmitted to humans in a lab was largely viewed as implausible. In the first weeks of the pandemic, much focus was placed on a so-called wet market in Wuhan as a possible place of origin, but researchers in China soon quashed the idea after discovering earlier cases of the virus with no connection to the market. Several widely shared letters by small groups of scientists from different countriespushed strongly in the direction of a natural origin, calling suggestions that COVID-19 emerged in a lab a conspiracy theory. Following an early 2021 mission to China, a World Health Organization (WHO) delegation called a lab leak extremely unlikely.
But a U.S. intelligence report that several researchers at a prominent Wuhan lab studying bat coronaviruses became ill in November 2019 has made accidental lab transmission a more credible hypothesis for some. The lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), was the first in China to achieve the highest level of biocontainment, known as Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). (There are several dozen facilities around the world that have reached this level.) However, U.S. diplomats who visited the lab in 2018 raised deep concerns about vulnerabilities, including shortages of sufficiently trained technicians and investigators. The Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention has likewise been cast into the spotlight over its work on bat coronaviruses. There have been a few documented cases of pathogens leaking from laboratories in the past. For example, a leak from a Beijing lab is thought to be the cause of a small outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2004.
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A summary of global news developments with CFR analysis delivered to your inbox each morning.Most weekdays.
A delegation of WHO scientists traveled to Wuhan in January 2021 for a four-week joint study with Chinese counterparts. The team followed many lines of investigation, including evidence that COVID-19 was circulating in China in the fall of 2019, and published their findings in a several-hundred-page report. In the report, the group stated that natural zoonotic transmission was the most likely among several possibilities, though scientists have yet to find samples of SARS-CoV-2 in any animals thought to be a possible host.
The WHO study also looked at the possibility that the virus was transmitted to humans through frozen food imported to China in the cold chain, a theory put forth by Chinese state media. But the team determined that there was no conclusive evidence for foodborne transmission.
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Similarly, it deemed the possibility that the virus escaped from a laboratory highly unlikely: the researchers dismissed the hypothesis that the virus was purposely engineered, and they separately noted that the risk that the virus was accidentally cultured in a lab was extremely low.
However, critics have said the inquiry lacked transparency and independence. The WHO scientists were reportedly severely constrained in their mission: Chinese officials secured veto rights over who was involved; refused to share raw data on early COVID-19 cases; and restricted the teams access to investigate different hypotheses, though the group did visit WIV for several hours. This is part of the problem for the WHO, a member-state organization, that you certainly dont have unfettered access, says CFRs Huang. Thats the reality.
Upon the reports release, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that further investigation was needed to reach a firm conclusion about the viruss emergence, and more than a dozen countries expressed concerns over the study in a joint statement. Scientists from around the globe called for a new and unrestricted investigation. Some experts organized their own collective to investigate the viruss origin, Vanity Fair reported.
Chinese officials have consistently rejected not only the hypothesis that the virus originated at the Wuhan laboratory, but that it originated in China at all. Additionally, Shi Zhengli, the top bat coronavirus expert at WIV, has said the virus didnt leak from her laboratory. (In April 2020, the U.S. National Institutes of Health pulled funding for a research project on coronaviruses in which the Wuhan institute was a chief partner.) Meanwhile, Beijing has called on the WHO to investigate the possibility that the pandemic started in other countries, including at a U.S. military lab in Maryland.
The accusations come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. Throughout 2020, the Donald Trump administration repeatedly blamed China for the pandemic, adding further friction to a relationship already strained by a trade war and U.S. responses to Chinas rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, among other issues. Many critics say Trumps use of inflammatory rhetoric such as China virus and kung flu contributed to a rise in anti-Asian bias in the United States amid the pandemic. President Joe Biden has tread more carefully, choosing not to support any one theory about the viruss origin; but he and top officials in his administration have persistently called for further investigation in China, which has angered Beijing.
Public health experts say uncovering how this pandemic started can help prevent the next one. A clear understanding of how a virus makes its way to humans sheds light on the risks associated with different behaviors: this includes various forms of human-animal interaction, such as farming, herding, and selling animals, as well as scientific research in the field or in laboratories.
Moreover, pinpointing the viruss origin in humans improves the scientific understanding of how such viruses work, particularly how they move and change across species. Experts are already urging governments to make major investments to detect future epidemic threats: a CFR Independent Task Force recommends an integrated network of national epidemic surveillance systems.
This pandemic has demonstrated the heavy economic toll that comes with major health crises. In late 2020, Harvard University economists estimated that the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States alone would amount to at least $16 trillion. This includes lost economic output; premature deaths from COVID-19 and other illnesses; and long-term health-care costs, including for mental health. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank estimated that the pandemic pushed upward of 119 million people into extreme poverty in 2020.
Scientists warn that the more time that passes, the more challenging it will be to track down the origin of COVID-19. For instance, antibodies for the virus eventually disappearexperts are still working to understand how long COVID-19 antibodies lastso researchers hoping to trace clusters of infections around the start of the pandemicare working within a limited timeframe.
At the WHOs annual meeting in May 2021, countries including the United States, Australia, Japan, and Portugal called for a new probe into the viruss origin. At the same time, Biden asked U.S. intelligence agencies to up their investigative efforts on the issue and report their findings to the White House within ninety days.
However, Chinas foreign ministry denounced the continued U.S.-led push, claiming that Washington does not care about facts or truth, nor is it interested in serious scientific origin tracing. Experts say that given Chinas rebuffs, theres little chance it will allow the kind of access foreign investigators are asking for, and the WHO does not have authority to require China to comply with orders for an investigation. Some health experts caution that the discord could undermine global efforts to end the pandemic. If theres some turning down of the geopolitical heat between these two great powers, we could create some space to perhaps do some of the things that we need to do, CFRs David P. Fidler told Nature.
The controversy has additionally renewed calls to bolster biosafety measures. It is now becoming important for us to develop certain protocols for scientists to follow while conducting biological research on the one hand, says CFRs Huang. And on the other hand, we need to review existing international laws and norms, like the Biological Weapons Convention and the International Health Regulations, to strengthen their regulatory teeth to enforce those norms.
GregHausske,49, died on Jan. 22, 2021.
June 5, 2021, 2:01 PM
6 min read
COVID-19 has taken the lives of more than 594,000 Americans and counting.
Each week ABC News is spotlighting several Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19.This week, we're highlighting a new mom, a beloved father of five, and a dedicated math teacher.
Veronica Bernal died onJan. 25,2021, less than one month after giving birth to twins,ABC affiliateKNXV-TV reported.
The babies, Manuel Jr. and Mariyah Mia,were born on Jan. 6, healthy and free of COVID-19, KNXV reported.
When Bernal tested positive for COVID-19 in December, doctors recommended that the twins be born eight weeks early, her boyfriend,Manuel Medina,told KNXV.
Bernal also leaves behind her son, Christopher, who was born last year, KNXV reported.
"They will know who she is," Medina said. "They will remember her."
GregHausske,49, died on Jan. 22, 2021, exactly two months after he was hospitalized with COVID-19,his wife, Rosie Hausske, told ABC News.
An educator for nearly 20 years, Greg Hausske taught health and physical education at Wilson Middle School in Yakima, Washington.
Greg and Rosie Hausske had been together for 15 years and raised their blended family of five children, ages 27 to 17.
"He was an advocate for everybody -- always had a joke, always had a smile," she said.
Until contracting COVID-19, Hausskewalked and ran six miles a day and "was in perfect shape," Rosie Hausske said.
Greg Hausske and one of his daughters were planning a seven day, 100-mile hike, she said.
"He was an incredible husband, father, teacher," she said."He was truly one of a kind."
Greg Hausske of Yakima, Wash., pictured in an undated photo with his wife Rosie Hausske, died from COVID-19 on Jan. 22, 2021.
Greg Hausske of Yakima, Wash., pictured in an undated photo with his wife Rosie Hausske, died from COVID-19 on Jan. 22, 2021.
Mary Laurenzano, a beloved math teacher atBennett Middle School in Maryland, died on March 22, 2021, the school said.
She started teaching at the school in 2004, The Salisbury Daily Times reported.
The school said in a statement, "As we begin to process this loss, we want to take the time to remember Ms. Laurenzano for the exceptional person she was and the influence she had on so many."
The school released a 2018 video showingLaurenzano's interview as a teacher of the year semifinalist. In the interview, Laurenzano said, "I love that everyday is different. What they bring to the table asfar as their knowledge and understanding, and helping them work through what they don't understand, and helping them build their toolbox so they're successful."
KANSAS CITY, Mo. An officer from the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department died on Sunday after a battle with COVID-19.
According to a KCPD public information officer Donna Drake, the officer served with the department for 22 years.
"It is with a heavy heart we report the tragic loss of one of our own today," Drake said in an email. "This afternoon one of our officers passed away at the hospital after his battle with COVID-19. The officer was a dedicated officer who served our department for approximately 22 years and was assigned to the Patrol Bureau."
The identity of the officer was not released.
KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas paid tribute to the officer after the announcement.
"I am heartbroken to hear of the death of a longtime Kansas City police officer who passed away today from COVID-19," Lucas said. "Our officers are on the front lines each day and in the past year, we have seen a new threat from COVID-19."
Its normal to be cautious when something new comes along. Getting informed about COVID-19 vaccines is an important step to help us stop this pandemic.
COVID-19 vaccines are free and have become widely available in the U.S. Everyone 12 years of age and older is eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.
