SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is part of a group of viruses known as coronaviruses. Hundreds of coronaviruses exist in animals, but only seven of these coronaviruses are known to cause illnesses in humans.
In fact, the illnesses that these coronaviruses cause play a huge role in how each of these viruses is named.
From a visual standpoint, coronaviruses have crown-like protrusions on their surface, and the Latin word for crown is coronam.
In this article, we will explore what coronaviruses are, how these viruses and their diseases are named, and other important facts you should know about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.
Coronaviruses are a type of virus that cause upper respiratory tract illnesses in human beings. Most coronaviruses are transmitted to humans from animals, such as bats, pigs, or camels. While hundreds of different types of coronaviruses exist, only seven coronaviruses are known to cause diseases in humans.
In 2019, a new coronavirus was discovered to cause severe respiratory symptoms in humans. Due to its similarities with the previous coronavirus that was responsible for causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, this new coronavirus became known as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
SARS-CoV-2 is the coronavirus responsible for causing 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
On March 11, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Since that time, COVID-19 has affected over 160 million people worldwide.
Viruses are officially named by an organization called the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Every newly discovered virus receives an appropriate name according to a hierarchical taxonomy, which groups all organisms into various species, genera, family, and more.
Initially, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 remained unnamed. However, the ICTV and WHO worked in tandem to give both the virus and the disease the official names we know today:
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of these two organizations, along with the many scientists and professionals around the world, to identify, classify, and name all new viruses and diseases.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are seven different coronaviruses that have been known to cause illness in humans. Although these coronaviruses are similar, they are separated into either the alpha coronavirus or beta coronavirus subgroups.
Common human alpha coronaviruses include:
Common human beta coronaviruses include:
Generally, the 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1 coronaviruses cause mild to moderate respiratory illnesses, with symptoms that resemble the common cold, such as sore throat, cough, and fever.
However, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 can all lead to more severe respiratory illnesses, many of which have a higher mortality rate. In fact, according to the WHO, MERS has a mortality rate of roughly 35 percent this is almost 10 times higher than the average mortality rate of COVID-19.
Although there have been some comparisons made between COVID-19 and the flu, they are two entirely separate illnesses.
Influenza, also known as the flu, is a viral respiratory illness caused by two influenza viruses: influenza A and influenza B. Influenza can cause mild to severe symptoms, which may include:
Most healthy people recover from the flu within 1 to 2 weeks without complications. However, young children, older adults, and those who are pregnant or have underlying health conditions may be more at risk of serious complications.
COVID-19 is a viral respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. COVID-19 symptoms are similar to the flu and may include:
COVID-19 can cause additional symptoms beyond those of the flu, such as shortness of breath and loss of taste and smell. It also appears to be more contagious than the flu and has been found to spread more quickly and easily.
In addition, COVID-19 is associated with a higher risk of complications and hospitalization, as well as an increased risk of mortality.
COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that spreads easily between people, so its important to practice good personal hygiene to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2.
Here are some of the ways that you can prevent the spread of COVID-19:
If you have a COVID-19 diagnosis or have come in close contact with someone who has the virus, the CDC recommends quarantining for a period of 14 days to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus.
Coronavirus is a catch-all term that is sometimes used to refer to either the newly discovered coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, or the disease it causes, COVID-19.
SARS-CoV-2 is one of seven coronaviruses that can cause respiratory illnesses in human beings. Although COVID-19 is similar in some ways to the flu, they are separate conditions, with different symptoms, caused by different viruses.
If you are concerned that you may have symptoms of COVID-19, remain in isolation and reach out to your doctor as soon as possible to get tested.
On Dec. 29, a National Guardsman in Colorado became the first known case in the United States of a contagious new variant of the coronavirus.
The news was unsettling. The variant, called B.1.1.7, had roiled Britain, was beginning to surge in Europe and threatened to do the same in the United States. And although scientists didnt know it yet, other mutants were also cropping up around the country. They included variants that had devastated South Africa and Brazil and that seemed to be able to sidestep the immune system, as well as others homegrown in California, Oregon and New York.
This mlange of variants could not have come at a worse time. The nation was at the start of a post-holiday surge of cases that would dwarf all previous waves. And the distribution of powerful vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech was botched by chaos and miscommunication. Scientists warned that the variants and B.1.1.7 in particular might lead to a fourth wave, and that the already strained health care system might buckle.
That didnt happen. B.1.1.7 did become the predominant version of the virus in the United States, now accounting for nearly three-quarters of all cases. But the surge experts had feared ended up a mere blip in most of the country. The nationwide total of daily new cases began falling in April and has now dropped more than 85 percent from the horrific highs of January.
Its pretty humbling, said Kristian Andersen, a virologist at Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif. We could actually do a lot better than I had expected.
Dr. Andersen and other virus watchers still see variants as a potential source of trouble in the months to come particularly one that has battered Brazil and is growing rapidly in 17 U.S. states. But they are also taking stock of the past few months to better understand how the nation dodged the variant threat.
Experts point to a combination of factors masks, social distancing and other restrictions, and perhaps a seasonal wane of infections that bought crucial time for tens of millions of Americans to get vaccinated. They also credit a good dose of serendipity, as B.1.1.7, unlike some of its competitors, is powerless against the vaccines.
I think we got lucky, to be honest, said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at Yale University. Were being rescued by the vaccine.
After B.1.1.7 emerged at the end of December, new variants with combinations of troubling mutations came to light. Scientists fretted about how the competition between the variants might play out.
In January, researchers in California discovered a variant with 10 mutations that was growing more common there and had drifted into other states. Laboratory experiments suggested that the variant could dodge an antibody treatment that had worked well against previous forms of the virus, and that it was perhaps also more contagious.
In the months that have followed, the United States has drastically improved its surveillance of how the variants mutate. Last week more than 28,800 virus genomes, almost 10 percent of all positive test cases, were uploaded to an international online database called GISAID. That clearer picture has enabled scientists to watch how the mutants compete.
The California variant turned out to be a weak competitor, and its numbers dropped sharply in February and March. It is still prevalent in parts of Northern California, but it has virtually disappeared from southern parts of the state and never found a foothold elsewhere in the country. By April 24, it accounted for just 3.2 percent of all virus samples tested in the country, as B.1.1.7 soared to 66 percent.
B.1.1.7 went in for the knockout, and its like, Bye bye, California variant, Dr. Andersen said.
On the other side of the country, researchers reported in February that a variant called B.1.526 was spreading quickly in New York and appeared to be a formidable adversary for B.1.1.7. By February, each of those variants had grown to about 35 percent of the samples collected by Dr. Grubaughs lab in Connecticut. But B.1.1.7 came out on top.
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In fact, B.1.1.7 seems to have the edge over nearly every variant identified so far. At a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said B.1.1.7 made up 72 percent of cases in the country.
Were really seeing B.1.1.7 pushing out other variants decisively, said Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern.
The variants identified in California and New York turned out to be only moderately more contagious than older versions of the virus, and much of their initial success may have been luck. The overall boom in cases last fall amplified what might otherwise have gone undetected.
Its unclear what gives B.1.1.7 an edge over the others. Is it the greatest of all the variants? Its just really hard to say right now, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewans Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization. We need more research to figure out more about what all of these combinations of mutations are doing. Some answers may come from California, where researchers are staging a head-to-head competition in a lab, injecting mice with a cocktail of B.1.1.7 and six other variants.
The idea is to see which one will win out, said Dr. Charles Chiu, a virologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who was the first scientist to discover the California variant.
In Michigan, one of the few states that saw the predicted surge in cases this spring, B.1.1.7 found a hook in younger people who were returning to schools and playing contact sports.
Because its more transmissible, the virus finds cracks in behavior that normally wouldnt have been as much of a problem, said Emily Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan.
But in the rest of the country, people naturally became more cautious when confronted with the horrifying toll of the virus after the holidays. B.1.1.7 is thought to be about 60 percent more contagious than previous forms of the virus, but its mode of spread is no different. Most states had at least partial restrictions on indoor dining and instituted mask mandates.
B.1.1.7 is more transmissible, but it cant jump through a mask, Dr. Hodcroft said. So we can still stop its spread.
But other experts are still discomfited by how much the virus seems to have defied predictions.
I cant necessarily ascribe it just to behavior, said Sarah Cobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago. Respiratory viruses sometimes go through seasonal cycles, but its not clear why the coronaviruss cycle would have caused it to decline in the middle of winter. That makes me feel maybe even more ignorant, she said.
Also puzzling is why variants that pummeled other countries have not yet spread widely in the United States. B.1.351 rapidly dominated South Africa and some other African countries late last year. It was first reported in the United States on Jan. 28, but still accounts for only 1 percent of cases. That may be because it cant get ahead of the fast-spreading B.1.1.7.
I think that is because it doesnt really have much transmission advantage, said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
P.1, a variant that is ravaging Brazil, got off to a slow start in the United States but is now estimated to make up more than 10 percent of the countrys cases.
I believe it is a matter of time before the P.1 variant becomes one of the most prevalent in the U.S.A., warned Dr. Andr Ricardo Ribas Freitas, a medical epidemiologist at Faculdade So Leopoldo Mandic in Brazil.
Still, Nels Elde, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Utah, said the events of the past four months raised questions about whether it was worth fretting over different variants, rather than focusing on the behaviors that can rein in all of them.
Were splitting hairs between a handful of mutations here and there, weve lost some perspective, he said. Its catnip for a curious mind.
The United States also has an ample supply of powerful vaccines that make variants more an academic concern than a cause of worry for the average person. The vaccines may be slightly less effective against the variants identified in South Africa and Brazil, but they prevent severe disease from all known variants.
Its not impossible the situation could worsen. Only about 35 percent of people in the United States have been fully immunized, and the protection from the vaccines may wane by the winter. No one knows how variants emerging in other parts of the world, like one that has come to prominence in India and is circulating at low levels in the United States, will behave here. And yet more variants will inevitably arise in places where the virus is rampant, Dr. Cobey warned: Theres a lot of evolution to happen yet.
Gleyber Torres, the Yankees two-time All-Star shortstop, became the eighth person involved with the Yankees organization to test positive for the coronavirus this week, the team announced on Thursday. But what has caught the attention of many outside of the baseball world is that Torres, three coaches and four support staff members had all been fully vaccinated.
Torres played on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, but he was held out of Wednesdays game as his virus test results were pending. Before Thursdays game, the team announced that Torres had a confirmed positive test. As a result, Torres might be away from the Yankees for 10 days based on the health and safety protocols negotiated by Major League Baseball and the players union.
Heres what is going on:
The Yankees outbreak began on Sunday, when the team, after spending over a week in New York hosting home games, flew to Florida to play the Tampa Bay Rays and learned that Phil Nevin, their third base coach, had tested positive for the virus.
The Yankees began extensive virus testing on Monday, a scheduled day off, and put people deemed to have had close contact with Nevin into isolation. To be safe, and in consultation with a joint committee of M.L.B. and players union experts, the team also isolated a few employees who fell into a gray area.
Nevin initially had some symptoms but was considered symptom-free by Thursday, General Manager Brian Cashman said.
After Tuesdays game, the Yankees announced that the number of confirmed positive results had grown to three. The two new people: the first base coach, Reggie Willits, who was already in isolation, and an unidentified support staff member.
Before Wednesdays game, Manager Aaron Boone said those with confirmed positive tests had grown to seven: three coaches the pitching coach, Matt Blake; Willits; and Nevin plus four unidentified support staff members. A day later, Torres joined their ranks.
All eight people were in isolation in the Tampa area, either at the team hotel or in their own homes. The Yankees spring training complex is there, so some players and staff members have off-season homes in the area.
Everyone in the Yankees traveling party of 50 to 60 people is being tested three times a day using polymerase chain reaction, saliva and rapid tests. Thursday was the first day of no new positive test results since the outbreak began, Cashman said. Maybe its slowing down, he said.
The Yankees have called all eight instances breakthrough positives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a breakthrough case occurs when a fully vaccinated person contracts the virus. It said a small number of such cases would be expected despite the effectiveness of vaccines, because none of the vaccines are capable of preventing illness in 100 percent of cases.
Even though a small percentage of fully vaccinated people will get sick, vaccination will protect most people from getting sick, the C.D.C.s website says. There also is some evidence that vaccination may make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. Despite this, some fully vaccinated people will still be hospitalized and die.
The C.D.C. said that as of April 26, of the more than 95 million people in the United States who had been fully vaccinated, it knew of 9,245 breakthrough infections. Of those, there were 835 hospitalizations and 132 deaths.
Beginning on Friday, though, the C.D.C. said it would change the way it reported breakthrough infections to only those who were hospitalized or died the two most severe outcomes from contracting Covid-19. In other words, the Yankees cases wouldnt fall under that category going forward.
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That was not immediately clear.
Even though several players across M.L.B. have been reluctant to be vaccinated, the Yankees had been enjoying relaxed health and safety protocols under rules negotiated by M.L.B. and the players union for reaching a threshold at which 85 percent of the teams players and key personnel were fully vaccinated. In fact, Boone said on Thursday that the Yankees had very few people who werent vaccinated.
The rewards included, among other things, allowing the team to go without masks in the dugout and the bullpen, along with indoor dining and having visitors at the team hotel. The Yankees were growing more comfortable with this semblance of normal life but had reverted to stricter mask wearing and more distancing since the outbreak began.
When asked about a possible common thread among the positive cases, Cashman pointed to a long rain delay before a game at Yankee Stadium on Saturday and said that players had a much larger clubhouse space indoors to spread out in compared to what the coaches and the support staff had. A day later, the team flew to Tampa.
I believe the variant that were dealing with has been pretty aggressive, Cashman said, without identifying the variant.
(M.L.B., through its lab in Salt Lake City, has been sequencing all cases during the pandemic and had previously noticed the more contagious variant of the virus first identified in Britain that is now prevalent in the United States.)
Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C.s director, said on Thursday that the agency wanted to learn more about the Yankees outbreak. She pointed to the fact that six of the Yankees seven cases as of Wednesday were asymptomatic, suggesting that proved that the vaccine was indeed effective.
Cashman said M.L.B. was in touch with the C.D.C. and that the Yankees were working directly with the New York State Department of Health concerning their outbreak.
In a statement, the Department of Health said it had been in contact with M.L.B. and the Yankees to better understand the situation.
While there have been anecdotal reports of New Yorkers who have had a positive Covid test 14 or more days after receiving their last vaccine dose, the statement said, D.O.H. is investigating those cases along with the ones linked to the Yankees further to determine if they meet the formal C.D.C. definition of vaccine breakthrough.
Yes. All eight people received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Cashman and a team spokesman said.
Nevin, along with Boone, received their single-dose vaccinations during spring training in March. Last month, the Yankees, via the Montefiore Medical Center, offered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine en masse to their players, coaches and staff members at Yankee Stadium. So those were different batches of the vaccine, in two different states, at different times.
The J.&J. was what was provided, and obviously no complaints from that, said Cashman, who said he had received the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because he was over 50.
In Torress case, not only was he fully vaccinated, according to the Yankees, but he had previously had Covid-19 in the off-season. Reinfection, the C.D.C. said, is rare.
Yes, Cashman said. Without virus testing, he said the team would perhaps never have known that seven of its asymptomatic employees had been infected.
We are maybe a case study, to some degree, or curiosity for people who dont know that despite being vaccinated you really are still potentially exposed, he said. We can educate people that your exposure is limited significantly, not to getting the virus but how the virus affects you.
Further proof, he said: The only person who had symptoms, Nevin, no longer had them by Thursday.
I take a lot of great comfort that thats the purpose of the vaccine, to protect, and it appears to be doing that, despite still having the ability to spread, he said, adding later, It will save you and protect from a lot more than what you think.
On the day Illinois moved to the next-to-last phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers COVID-19 reopening plan, officials reported the latest seven-day positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 2.5%, the lowest since March 23.
Officials on Friday reported 1,841 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 resulting from 83,624 tests. As of Thursday night, 1,708 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 425 patients in intensive care units and 237 patients on ventilators. The seven-day average of total hospitalizations is 1,861, the lowest since an average of 1,858 was reported April 12.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths from coronavirus is one metric that has not been coming down. Officials reported 49 additional fatalities Friday, the highest count since 54 adjusted deaths were reported March 11.
Heres whats happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area:
6:10 p.m.: States, business sort out what new CDC mask guidance means: It was dividing our community
More than a dozen states quickly embraced new federal guidelines that say fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most cases. But other states and cities and some major businesses hesitated amid doubts about whether the approach is safe or even workable.
As many business owners pointed out, there is no easy way to determine who has been vaccinated and who hasnt. And the new guidelines, issued Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, essentially work on the honor system, leaving it up to people to do the right thing.
Labor groups and others warned that employees at stores, restaurants, bars and other businesses could be left exposed to the coronavirus from customers and could be forced into the unwanted role of vaccination police.
But in Malvern, Pennsylvania, owner Sean Weinberg took down the mask signs Friday at Restaurant Alba, which he runs with his wife. He also emailed his employees to let them know they can forgo masks at work if they are fully vaccinated.
Its just a headache we dont want to have to fight any more, Weinberg said.
Several major chains, including CVS, Home Depot, Macys and supermarket giant Kroger Co., said they are still requiring masks in stores for the time being, though some said they are reviewing their policies.
But Walmart, the worlds largest retailer, said late Friday that it wont require vaccinated shoppers or workers to wear a mask in its U.S. stores, unless state or local laws say otherwise.
Vaccinated shoppers can go maskless immediately, the company said. Vaccinated workers can stop wearing them on May 18. As an incentive, Walmart said it is offering workers $75 if they prove theyve been vaccinated.
4:50 p.m.: A niece made funeral arrangements for her uncle dying of COVID-19. Then she learned about a life-saving surgery. Now hes ready to karaoke again.
Over the past year, doctors repeatedly told Renato Aquinos family to say their final goodbyes. His niece, Tasha Sundstrom even began making funeral arrangements.
But each time, Aquino, 65, of Glendale Heights, held on. And Sundstrom eventually saw a news story that appeared to offer one last chance for her uncle. A double lung transplant had saved then-28-year-old Mayra Ramirez, who was near death from COVID-19.
I did all the arrangements and the next day he proved us wrong. He wanted to live, Sundstrom said.
Sundstrom asked Aquinos medical team about the transplant surgery, and he was soon transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where, in February, he became the first known COVID to COVID double lung transplant recipient.
Improbably, Sundstrom sat next to her uncle during a news conference Friday at Northwestern, smiling while he bantered about once again singing karaoke.
After performing the United States first COVID-related double lung transplant last year, Northwestern surgeons have now done 20 such surgeries. In Aquinos case, the surgeons used lungs from a person who had contracted a mild case of COVID-19 and died of unrelated causes an important milestone because the surgerys success greatly expands the number of lungs available for these procedures, the doctors said.
If we said no to those patients from being donors, that means we are not going to have enough organs to save lives, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program, who performed the procedure. He noted that there have been more than 32 million cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the U.S.
4:35 p.m.: How the CDCs new mask guidelines made you feel and how you told us youd adapt your mask wearing
When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its recommendations Thursday on where fully vaccinated people need to wear masks, it unleashed a range of reactions from Tribune readers.
According to an unscientific online poll, most respondents said they were feeling optimism following the change describing their feelings with words like excited, relieved, thrilled and Its about time! On the flip side, about a third of respondents expressed concern or confusion following the eased restrictions with responses like Too soon, nervous, very disappointed and It feels too early.
And a healthy number were stuck in the middle saying they felt happy and confused, relieved but nervous and both happy and scared.
Those sentiments played out in what respondents said about what types of activities they plan to stay masked and others where they plan to not wear them.
4:30 p.m.: Lake County moved to higher COVID-19 warning status despite vaccine availability: There is still community spread
More and more Lake County residents are receiving vaccinations against COVID-19, but not enough to keep the Illinois Department of Public Health from moving the county to an orange warning status because of signs of increased risk of the disease.
Despite injecting 533,597 doses of vaccine in residents arms and 33.38% of its residents being fully vaccinated, the state moved Lake County into warning status Friday because new cases remain too high and the number of deaths increased.
Mark Pfister, the executive director of the Lake County Health Department, has a solution.
There is still community spread, Pfister said. The way to prevent COVID-19 is to go get vaccinated. We have all the vaccine we need, and we have slots available for appointments.
3 p.m.: Now that younger teens can get the COVID-19 vaccine, is it a good time for them to get other shots too?
Dr. Tanya Altmann, a Calabasas, California-based pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said due to the multitude of COVID-19 concerns and hardships families have been facing for more than a year, many tweens and teens did not have their annual physicals, and some might also be behind on their childhood immunizations.
Everyone was staying home, and afraid of getting COVID, so even though pediatric offices were very clean and safe, some parents have kept their kids away, Altmann said. Now, as everything is getting back to normal, and families are registering their kids for the next school year, its time for parents to schedule their childrens appointments to visit the pediatrician for a checkup, and to get any missing vaccines.
Currently, the CDC recommendation is to not get any other routine vaccines within two weeks of the COVID-19 vaccines, Altmann said.
Still, outside of that short pause, parents of children aged 11 to 13 should check that theyre up to date on a slate of other academy-recommended vaccines, including the Tdap booster, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, also known as whooping cough. Kids at that age should also get meningitis and HPV vaccines.
In addition, parents should ensure their tweens and teens see their pediatrician for an annual physical, even if its not being required for school registration or to play on an athletic team, Altmann said.
With COVID, many kids have not had a well-child checkup for more than a year, which means things like scoliosis, vision issues or a heart murmur might not have been caught and dealt with earlier, Altmann said.
While some Chicago-area public health officials and school districts were already making plans to deliver Pfizers COVID-19 vaccines to kids 12 to 15 in mid-May, parents can also check with their pediatrician to see if the shots might be available by appointment.
The logistical challenge for private practices is once you open a vial, there are six vaccines you need to use within six hours, Altmann said, adding: Its going to take some coordination, but pediatricians will be able to figure it out, without wasting any doses.
2:30 p.m.: After a year of profound grief and isolation, nursing homes across suburban Chicago seek healing
Over the past 14 months, the pandemic has brought to nursing homes and assisted living facilities illness, death, isolation and untold suffering.
The numbers tell only part of the story, but they are staggering. In the states long-term care facilities, 25,445 COVID-19 cases and 3,498 deaths were recorded in Cook County. DuPage County had 5,355 cases and 743 deaths, and Lake County had 4,160 cases and 558 deaths, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Then there was the isolation. Almost all facilities were closed to visitors and the public. Gone were the visits from adult children, grandkids and friends. Group activities were postponed. Residents were confined to their rooms, and, in many cases, prevented even from interacting with each other.
Mental health professionals recognize the danger in the disruption of those connections.
Social isolation is linked to increased risk for anxiety and depression, as well as other physical health conditions, said Jen McGowan-Tomke, chief operating officer of the Chicago chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Connection, community and access to care are all important factors in ensuring quality of life while aging for older adults.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that studies show social isolation significantly increased a persons risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity and physical inactivity.
Now, as vaccination numbers rise, particularly among the elderly, the cloud is beginning to lift. As of May 11, more than 10 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state, while more than 3 million of those doses have been given to residents 65 years of age and older.
As residents of long-term care facilities slowly return to what might be called normal life, theyre picking up the pieces, navigating emotions ranging from gratitude to grief and everything in between.
To try to document what the past year-plus has been like for some of the elderly in suburban nursing homes and care facilities, Pioneer Press and the Chicago Tribune spoke with the residents of those facilities, as well as their loved ones and those who have cared for them during the pandemic.
They talked about the gravity of what they had lived through, and shared just some of the ways COVID-19 affected them and their lives.
2:25 p.m.: Illinois COVID-19 test positivity rate inches down some more
On the day Illinois moved to the next-to-last phase of Gov. J.B. Pritzkers COVID-19 reopening plan, officials reported the latest seven-day positivity rate for cases as a share of total tests was 2.5%, the lowest since March 23.
The declining positivity rate is one of many factors that prompted the state to expand capacity limits as part of the move to the bridge phase of Pritzkers plan.
Officials on Friday reported 1,841 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 resulting from 83,624 tests. As of Thursday night, 1,708 people in Illinois were hospitalized with COVID-19, with 425 patients in intensive care units and 237 patients on ventilators.
The seven-day average of total hospitalizations is 1,861, the lowest since an average of 1,858 was reported April 12. The average has been steadily falling since peaking at 2,165 April 22 during the recent spring surge.
The number of deaths from coronavirus is one metric that has not been coming down. Officials reported 49 additional fatalities Friday, the highest count since 54 adjusted deaths were reported March 11.
The statewide death toll since the pandemic began reached 22,369, and the total number of known infections in Illinois since the start of the pandemic reached 1,363,507.
An additional 50,326 coronavirus vaccine doses were administered Thursday, bringing the total to 10,229,330. Over the last seven days, an average of 72,767 vaccines were administered daily.
The number of residents who have been fully vaccinated receiving both of the required shots, or Johnson & Johnsons single shot reached 4,690,335, or 36.81% of the total population.
2:10 p.m.: Chicago companies are plotting returns to the office. It wont be as simple as turning off Zoom.
After more than a year of cameo appearances by kids, spouses and pets, work meetings may be headed toward pre-pandemic formality.
The reemergence of downtown Chicago offices in the upcoming months could mean the window is closing on an unprecedented look into colleagues home lives via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
Some experts say the use of virtual platforms, forced into action by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, unexpectedly humanized co-workers in a way that working side-by-side never did.
Now, as many large companies begin nudging employees back to the workplace, executives and human resources departments are weighing how soon, and how strictly, they should return to rigid conventions of the office.
12:06 p.m.: 50,326 vaccine doses administered, 1,841 new cases and 49 deaths reported Friday
Illinois public health officials on Friday reported 1,841 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 49 deaths. That brings the states totals to 1,363,507 cases and 22,369 deaths.
There were 83,624 tests reported in the previous 24 hours, and the seven-day statewide positivity rate as a percent of total test is 2.5%.
There were 50,326 doses of the vaccine administered Thursday, and the seven-day rolling average of daily doses is 72,767.
7 a.m.: In testimony over deadly LaSalle outbreak, top Pritzker health officials say state VA misled them about COVID-19 protocols
Illinois public health director and Gov. J.B. Pritzkers deputy in charge of health care said Thursday they were misled by top state veterans affairs officials when told COVID-19 procedures were being followed that could have slowed or prevented a deadly outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home in November.
We believed the home was following all the recommended protocols and that the appropriate steps were being taken to address the cases, Illinois public health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said during an Illinois House hearing over a scathing inspector generals report on the outbreak.
These tragic deaths, they are extremely frustrating to accept because there were some basic steps that, if taken, could have made a difference, Ezike said.
Deputy Gov. Sol Flores said VA officials showed no urgency in selecting a senior administrator to oversee health care practices at the states veterans homes a post that has been vacant since the fall of 2019, a year before the outbreak.
The highly critical April 30 report from the Illinois Department of Human Services Office of the Inspector General cited management lapses from the top of the state Department of Veterans Affairs down to staff at the LaSalle home.
In all, 36 residents died of COVID-19, and hundreds of residents and staff were sickened. Relatives of the dead veterans have filed lawsuits against the state as a result of the reports findings.
I was not aware that polices and protocols were not being followed. We were told that they were being followed, Flores said at Thursdays hearing.
7 a.m.: Report: Lollapalooza expected to return this summer for 4-day festival July 29-August 1
As the U.S. moves closer to reopening seemingly every day, it looks like a big step forward will come in mid-summer, when the Lollapalooza Festival will return to Chicago with a four-day event at its usual place and date range Grant Park, July 29-August 1 sources tell Variety. The city of Chicago gave the event the greenlight at near-to or -full-capacity, insiders report, and an official announcement, likely with headliners, is expected to come next week.
Reps for festival organizers C3 Presents declined Varietys request for comment, although one told the Chicago Tribune late last month, We are excited about the progress in Chicago as the city continues to reopen. We are in close contact with city and public health officials as we continue to plan for the festival and remain optimistic about Lollapalooza 2021 in Grant Park. The festivals website still has the 2020 dates and lineup posted.
Stay up to date with the latest information on coronavirus with our breaking news alerts.
Here are some recent stories related to COVID-19:
Two more Mainers have died as health officials on Saturday reported 175 more coronavirus cases across the state.
The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 3,907. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. Thats down from 4,135 on Friday.
Two more Mainers have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 801.
Saturdays report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 65,523, according to the Maine CDC. Thats up from 65,348 on Friday.
Of those, 48,274 have been confirmed positive, while 17,249 were classified as probable cases, the Maine CDC reported.
The new case rate statewide Friday was 1.31 cases per 10,000 residents, and the total case rate statewide was 489.56.
The most cases have been detected in Mainers in their 20s, while Mainers over 80 years old make up the majority of deaths. More cases and deaths have been recorded in women than men. For a complete breakdown of the age and sex demographics of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, use the interactive graphic below.
So far, 1,930 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Information about those currently hospitalized was not immediately available.
The total statewide hospitalization rate on Friday was 14.42 patients per 10,000 residents.
Cases have been reported in Androscoggin (7,929), Aroostook (1,785), Cumberland (16,808), Franklin (1,300), Hancock (1,292), Kennebec (6,174), Knox (1,097), Lincoln (997), Oxford (3,471), Penobscot (5,789), Piscataquis (508), Sagadahoc (1,390), Somerset (2,080), Waldo (956), Washington (855) and York (13,092) counties.
For a complete breakdown of the county by county data, use the interactive graphic below.
As of Friday, 664,678 Mainers had received a first dose of the vaccine, while 621,100 have received a final dose.
As of Saturday morning, the coronavirus had sickened 32,895,636 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 585,233 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
More articles from the BDN
Portugal will allow tourist flights from European Union countries with low infection rates and from the UK, but passengers must show a negative coronavirus test on arrival, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
The announcement came a day after the Portuguese tourism authority gave the green light to UK tourists to enter the country from Monday. read more
In a statement, it said the ban will be lifted on European countries with less than 500 cases of infections per 100,000 people.
Tourists from Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are also allowed to start flying to Portugal.
Visitors will have to show proof of a negative test taken up to 72 hours before a flight and airlines will be fined between 500 euros ($607) and 2,000 euros for each passenger who boards without presenting proof of a negative test.
Portugal currently only allows essential flights for professional, study, family reunion, health or humanitarian reasons.
Travellers from countries where 500 or more cases per 100,000 people have been reported over a 14-day period can only enter Portugal if they have a valid reason, such as for work or healthcare. Arrivals must then quarantine for 14 days.
($1 = 0.8237 euros)
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Before the pandemic, he would have said he was a kid who was on track for a scholarship down the road, maybe even at a college like Northwestern, where his father studied briefly before transferring out. When he became obsessed with the musical Hamilton in seventh grade, he went ahead and read the Federalist Papers just to see what they had to say. He starred as Macbeth in a production at school and liked it so much that he read other Shakespeare plays for fun. He never wanted to sound conceited, but in the past, he would have said that school came easily. At the same time, he sometimes found all of it overwhelming. As a Black teenager now approaching six feet, he was acutely conscious of how the expectations of his mother a school administrator with a Ph.D. ran up against the expectations of the rest of the world. To keep proving these stereotypes wrong, he said, it takes a lot out of me.
And then last spring, when the school closed its doors, he found himself alone with thoughts that had been waiting, it turned out, for just that kind of opportunity for vast amounts of time and space. These new thoughts flooded in, leaving little room for concerns about Othellos motivation or the subjunctive in French. More and more, when he was alone in his room, there was only one voice, and that voice was telling Charles that he was doomed to fail no matter how promising his start, that he would surely follow what he perceived as his fathers downward slide. His destiny was failure.
In the very first days of the school year, Charless laptop kept crashing during Zooms, which started to feel like a metaphor for what the whole year would bring: a big mess, a disconnect, a technological headache that he was left on his own to solve. In the weeks that followed, the days loomed empty and long; the more time that voice had, the louder it grew and the harder it was to get out from under it. Because he did all his work in his bedroom, it was easy to go back to sleep after his first class, if he made it to his first class. Then when I woke up, I could either a) get up and do what I had to do, he said, trying to capture his typical schedule, or b) look at the time, be disappointed in myself and go back to bed. During remote learning, attendance did not factor into a students final grade. Charles wasnt just skipping class, though he was barely turning in any assignments. And suddenly, there he was, no longer a kid who got As but already a kid who had blown it this early in the semester.
The voice in his head exhausted him, so Charles started sleeping more, even during the day. Sometimes the voice scared him. His heart would start pounding, and he would feel overwhelmed with a sense of impending crisis: It was all over, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was too late.
How was E.K. possibly going to get him out of the hole he was in? She had no sense of how vast it already was. Even still, in early October, he decided to linger after class, on Zoom, when she offered to help any students who were falling behind. At a minimum, he could tell his mother that hed made an effort. He stayed, and so did Sarah, a classmate everyone liked. She did Cheer and he played J.V. football, but they didnt move in the same circles. She was really smiley he thought of her as one of those happy-all-the-time people.
When Sarah stayed after class to attend that extra-help session with Ms. E.K. in early October, she was surprised to see that Charles was there too. Charles, she had already gleaned, was smart. He often had an answer for whatever Ms. E.K. asked; in fact, the students had quickly come to rely on him to save them all from the silences that often hung in the air in their online classes. As they talked with each other and Ms. E.K. that day, Charles and Sarah quickly found common ground and diagnosed their shared problems: lack of motivation, loneliness, a feeling of hopelessness. Charles suggested that maybe Sarah needed some help, to which Sarah said: What about you?
During that conversation, Sarah told the first of many lies that she would tell her teachers, her mother and herself over the coming months. OK, she would say, I am ready to turn over a new leaf. Now Im really going to apply myself. But she still rarely made it to class. If her laptop died in the middle of a Zoom, she decided that was Gods way of telling her she had done enough for the day. About six weeks into school, her mother, her health still shaky, her mind still foggy, looked at an interim academic assessment that landed in her email inbox and said, What do all these N.H.I.s mean? Sarah said, Huh, I dont know, as if trying to decode one of the great bureaucratic mysteries of her time, when in fact she knew exactly what they stood for: not handed in. She grew accustomed to emails from teachers piling up. Just making sure you saw. ... A reminder that your essay. ... Everybody wanted something from her. Whoa, whoa, whoa. She was going to get back to them eventually.
(THE CONVERSATION) With the first COVID-19 vaccine nowauthorized for adolescents, ages 12 and up, a big question looms: Will students be required to get the vaccine before returning to their classrooms in the fall? As aprofessor of education policy and lawand a former attorney for school districts, I regularly think about this sort of question.
In the United States,school vaccination requirements are established by statesrather than the federal government. The10th Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution allows states to make regulations protectingpublic health.
Every state currently requires K-12 students to be vaccinated against some diseases, although the requirements includingwhich shotsare deemed necessary and thereasons students can opt-out vary from one state to another.
Who can opt out of school shots?
No state yet requires students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but how states manage other vaccines and exemptions, and how the rules can change during outbreaks, can help us think about how a COVID-19 vaccine requirement might work. For example, students in all states can be exempt from vaccination requirements if they have a validmedical reason, such as a weakened immune system or allergic reaction to a vaccine.
In44 states, students also can opt-out of vaccination requirements forreligious reasons, thoughmost major religions do not prohibit vaccines. Some statesare considering rescinding religious exemptionsbecause of concern about declining levels of vaccinations and local outbreaks of diseases such as measles.Connecticutrescinded its religious exemption in April 2021.
Fifteen statespermit philosophical exemptions based on moral or ethical concerns. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,only about 2.5%of U.S. kindergartners used an exemption last year, the same as the previous year, and most were for religious or philosophical reasons.
Of particular importance right now is thatstates also take different approaches to exemptions during an outbreak. Thirty-two states ban unvaccinated students from attending school during an outbreak. A handful of states do not allow vaccine exemptions during an outbreak.
What the courts say about mandatory vaccines
The U.S. Supreme Court has supported states authority to make these decisions for over a century.
In May 1901,a smallpox epidemic began in Boston. Now-familiar disease prevention measures were put into place: Sick patients were quarantined for treatment, and the city began a free, voluntary vaccination program. By December of that same year, the city had not contained the epidemic, so a local health commission required all adult residents to be vaccinated under the authority granted by the state.
The local government fined those who refused to be vaccinated, and one man disputed this fine by suing the state of Massachusetts. In 1905, the Supreme Court heard his case and held that a state can require vaccination in theinterest of public health. Today, somehealth law expertsthink vaccination requirements are important enough that they can stilltrump claims including individual religious liberty, while others aremore skeptical.
The COVID-19 vaccines have one key difference theyhave only emergency use authorizationat this point, not full FDA approval. TheFDAs emergency use statutesays people receiving the drug must be informed of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product but also of the consequences, if any, of refusing. How a lack of full approval would affect state decisions about school vaccine mandates and how the courts might view those decisions remains to be seen.
In another context, military service members can be required to receive vaccines but areallowed under federal law to opt-out of vaccines that have only emergency use authorization, unless thepresident waivesthat provision.
Pfizer the drugmaker whose vaccine received emergency use authorization for adolescents on May 10, 2021, and wasrecommended for that age range by the CDCon May 12 hasstarted the review process for full FDA approvalfor use in ages 16 and older. The same review for adolescentswill start later. Vaccine testing is still underway for younger children.
Can individual schools issue their own requirements?
Because states enact vaccine requirements to protect public health, school vaccine requirements generally apply topublic and private K-12 schools, and also to daycare facilities. Only a handful ofstates require college and university students to be vaccinated, so in practice, determining and enforcing vaccine requirements is usually up to individual higher education institutions.
Agrowing number of colleges and universitieshave announced that they will require all students who plan to be on campus to receive the COVID vaccine. Other institutions are requiring the vaccine only for studentswho want to live in dorms. However,at least one state legislatureMichigans is considering barring state universities from requiring vaccines as a condition of taking in-person classes, contending a vaccine requirement would infringe on matters of individual choice.
This raises the interesting question of whether an individual school district, like an individual college or university, could require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
When school vaccine requirements began in the late 19th century, the goal was to prevent the spread of smallpox.By 1915, 15 states and Washington, D.C., required students to receive the smallpox vaccine, and21 other statesallowed local governments such as school districts and county health departments to impose such a requirement.
School vaccinationrequirements have proliferatedover the past century, in response to both specific outbreaks and the growing acceptance of vaccine mandates as public health policy. Although most vaccination requirements have been issued at the state level in recent decades, whether school districts can add to the list of required vaccines remains an open question, and may vary by state.
It is also a question that courts will likely soon engage. In January 2021, theLos Angeles Unified School Districtannounced that it plans to require its students to receive the COVID vaccine once a vaccine is approved and available. Los Angeles Unified is the nations largest school district. As fall nears and assuming clinical trials continue to demonstrate both efficacy and safety we may see more districts pursue this option.
This article was updated with the CDCs endorsement.
For Immediate Release: May 10, 2021
Espaol
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age. The FDA amended the EUA originally issued on Dec. 11, 2020 for administration in individuals 16 years of age and older.
The FDAs expansion of the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to include adolescents 12 through 15 years of age is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. Todays action allows for a younger population to be protected from COVID-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic. Parents and guardians can rest assured that the agency undertook a rigorous and thorough review of all available data, as we have with all of our COVID-19 vaccine emergency use authorizations.
From March 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021, approximately 1.5 million COVID-19 cases in individuals 11 to 17 years of age have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Children and adolescents generally have a milder COVID-19 disease course as compared to adults. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart, the same dosage and dosing regimen for 16 years of age and older.
The FDA has determined that Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has met the statutory criteria to amend the EUA, and that the known and potential benefits of this vaccine in individuals 12 years of age and older outweigh the known and potential risks, supporting the vaccines use in this population.
Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. With science guiding our evaluation and decision-making process, the FDA can assure the public and medical community that the available data meet our rigorous standards to support the emergency use of this vaccine in the adolescent population 12 years of age and older.
The FDA has updated the Fact Sheets for Healthcare Providers Administering the Vaccine (Vaccination Providers) and for Recipients and Caregivers with information to reflect the use of the vaccine in the adolescent population, including the benefits and risks of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
The EUA amendment for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine was issued to Pfizer Inc. The issuance of an EUA is not an FDA approval (licensure) of a vaccine. The EUA will be effective until the declaration that circumstances exist justifying the authorization of the emergency use of drugs and biologics for prevention and treatment of COVID-19 is terminated, and may be revised or revoked if it is determined the EUA no longer meets the statutory criteria for issuance or to protect public health or safety.
The available safety data to support the EUA in adolescents down to 12 years of age, include 2,260 participants ages 12 through 15 years old enrolled in an ongoing randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial in the United States. Of these, 1,131 adolescent participants received the vaccine and 1,129 received a saline placebo. More than half of the participants were followed for safety for at least two months following the second dose.
The most commonly reported side effects in the adolescent clinical trial participants, which typically lasted 1-3 days, were pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, chills, muscle pain, fever and joint pain. With the exception of pain at the injection site, more adolescents reported these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose, so it is important for vaccination providers and recipients to expect that there may be some side effects after either dose, but even more so after the second dose. The side effects in adolescents were consistent with those reported in clinical trial participants 16 years of age and older. It is important to note that as a general matter, while some individuals experience side effects following any vaccination, not every individuals experience will be the same and some people may not experience side effects.
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine should not be given to anyone with a known history of a severe allergic reaction, including anaphylaxisto any component of the vaccine. Since its authorization for emergency use, rare severe allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, have been reported following administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in some recipients.
The effectiveness data to support the EUA in adolescents down to 12 years of age is based on immunogenicity and an analysis of COVID-19 cases. The immune response to the vaccine in 190 participants, 12 through 15 years of age, was compared to the immune response of 170 participants, 16 through 25 years of age. In this analysis, the immune response of adolescents was non-inferior to (at least as good as) the immune response of the older participants. An analysis of cases of COVID-19 occurring among participants, 12 through 15 years of age, seven days after the second dose was also conducted. In this analysis, among participants without evidence of prior infection with SARS-CoV-2, no cases of COVID-19 occurred among 1,005 vaccine recipients and 16 cases of COVID-19 occurred among 978 placebo recipients; the vaccine was 100% effective in preventing COVID-19. At this time, there are limited data to address whether the vaccine can prevent transmission of the virus from person to person. In addition, at this time, data are not available to determine how long the vaccine will provide protection.
As part of the original EUA request, Pfizer Inc. submitted a plan to continue monitoring the safety of the vaccine as it is used under EUA. This plan has been updated to include the newly authorized adolescent population, and includes longer-term safety follow-up for participants enrolled in ongoing clinical trials, as well as other activities aimed at monitoring the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and ensuring that any safety concerns are identified and evaluated in a timely manner.
It is mandatory for Pfizer Inc. and vaccination providers to report the following to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: all vaccine administration errors, serious adverse events, cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome and cases of COVID-19 that result in hospitalization or death.
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Boilerplate
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
California has achieved a milestone in its five-month-long vaccination campaign: More than 50% of residents have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis.
Today, roughly 19.6 million Californians have received at least one injection. Overall, about 38% of California residents are fully vaccinated, meaning they have received either both shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
After an initially slow rollout, California has gained steady ground when it comes to administering vaccinations. California ranks 12th among all states in the nation for having the greatest percentage of its residents vaccinated with at least one dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as New Jersey, have been able to vaccinate their residents the fastest nationwide. States that are still struggling include Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Californias pace of vaccination has improved since the first vaccine dose in the state was administered exactly five months ago in the arm of Helen Cordova, an ICU nurse at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard.
Seven weeks into the vaccination push, at the beginning of February, about 150,000 vaccine doses were being administered every day. By early April, California hit its fastest pace of vaccine administration an average of 400,000 doses a day.
Since then, there has been a drop in the pace of vaccinations to roughly 250,000 doses per day.
To get more people vaccinated, officials in some parts of California are starting to shutter mass vaccination sites and devoting more resources to mobile and pop-up clinics that can offer easier access to the vaccine in some of the states hardest-hit neighborhoods.
Health officers are hoping that vaccination rates wont continue to fall too quickly, and they announced this week that adolescents age 12 to 15 are now eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. They hope that could also spark renewed interest among older family members who remain unvaccinated. The shots are administered free to residents, without regard to insurance or immigration status.
Although mass vaccination sites at sports arenas and fairgrounds were set up in the early months of the response, those efforts may have missed some of the people who needed it most those living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, those in crowded housing and those who needed to work outside the home.
These large county vaccine sites were less effective in reaching residents in the hardest-hit communities, said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the L.A. County Department of Public Health.
Transportation and other access barriers at these sites may have contributed to some of the early inequities and vaccination rates in the county, necessitating additional efforts to target the hardest hit communities through neighborhood specific clinics and other focused approaches, Simon said at a recent legislative hearing.
By contrast, wealthier people who worked from home had more success booking vaccine appointments online, and they had the free time and access to a car to travel long distances to get to vaccine sites.
This disparity can be seen throughout California.
In L.A. County alone, about 80% of residents in whiter and wealthier Westside Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Century City, Cheviot Hills and Playa Vista have been administered at least one dose. But in predominantly Black and Latino Los Angeles communities such as Watts, Westlake and Florence-Firestone as well as in the cities of Compton and Lancaster fewer than 40% of residents have been at least partially vaccinated.
Where you live can matter, too. Just 43% of people living in the most disadvantaged areas of California are at least partially vaccinated, while 63% of people living in the most prosperous areas have received at least one shot.
Statewide, only 34% of Latino and 35% of Black residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, compared to 50% of white, 47% of Native American and 61% of Asian American or Pacific Islander residents.
Officials have voiced optimism that rolling out robust mobile vaccination teams and pop-up clinic sites in hard-hit neighborhoods will help increase vaccination rates.
Yet, there can also be disparities within a racial group.
In the home of Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County, officials found that just 45% of Filipino Americans age 16 and older had received at least one dose of vaccine, while 59% of Chinese Americans, 64% of Indian Americans and 74% of Vietnamese Americans have been at least partially vaccinated.
Officials are also making efforts to encourage vaccinations among the youngest adults, who officials say have been especially prone to spreading the virus.
