Two Colorado health experts said severe reactions to COVID-19 vaccines are rare, but here's what people should do if they experience non-emergent symptoms.
COLORADO, USA The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that those who experience a severe or immediate allergic reaction to their first COVID-19 vaccine should not get their second dose.
The CDC considers an allergic reaction to be severe when someone needs to be treated with an EpiPen or if they must go to the hospital. This kind of reaction is also known as anaphylaxis. An immediate allergic reaction happens within four hours of getting vaccinated, according to the CDC.
"Immediate hypersensitivity reactions or anaphylactic reactions are actually quite unlikely with the COVID-19 vaccines," said Dr. Anjeli Kalra, an allergist with UCHealth. "The only contraindication to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is a history of anaphylaxis to polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the only contraindication to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a history of anaphylaxis to polysorbate 80."
Kalra said it's important to know the symptoms of anaphylaxis before opting out of receiving your second dose.
"Symptoms will include diffused redness of the skin, hives, swellings of the lips or tongue and 90% of people who have anaphylaxis to the vaccine will have skin findings, in addition to wheezing, trouble breathing, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and/or loss of consciousness," she said.
Professor of immunology with the CU College of Medicine, Dr. Ross Kedl, also said that severe reactions to COVID-19 vaccines are rare. For people who had a reaction to Pfizer or Moderna, Kedl said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine may be a better option, but only after discussing it with your doctor.
"If someone had an allergic reaction to Pfizer then switched to J&J, and then had an allergic reaction to J&J, well theyve had two doses, and so frankly, theyre done so good news, if they dont need to worry too much, that shouldnt negatively affect their immunity," said Kedl.
After having a reaction to either Pfizer or Moderna, patients who are given the green light to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after consulting their doctor should wait 28 days after their first COVID vaccine dose, Kalra recommended.
TheColorado Department of Public Health and Environmentsaid vaccine providers are required to report any adverse events following a COVID-19 vaccine to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
After receiving the vaccine, people should get a v-safe information sheet telling them how to enroll in v-safe, a smartphone-based, after-vaccination health checker.
Those enrolled receive regular text messages directing them to surveys where they can report any problems or adverse reactions they have after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. V-safe is available in English, Korean, simplified Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Kedl and Kalra recommend going over symptoms of the first dose reaction with a primary care doctor, allergist, or immunologist before getting a second dose.
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In the countrys race to vaccinate people and build herd immunity against COVID-19, local governments and public health leaders have had to come up with innovative ways to provide equitable and easy access to the vaccines.
In some areas, this has meant launching vaccination sites specifically geared toward seniors, a group thats seen the highest rates of hospitalization and death during the pandemic.
Mobile clinics have also popped up in underserved areas, eliminating the need for online pre-registration or travel in communities that have limited access to technology and transportation.
Local health officials have taken cultural approaches, opening 24/7 clinics and meeting vaccine-hesitant people at their homes.
Here are some of the most effective ways local health officials are improving access to the vaccines:
In San Marcos, California, it quickly became obvious that vaccine eligibility didnt mean vaccine access, says Tim Lash, president of the nonprofit Gary and Mary West PACE.
As older adults struggled to navigate online appointment systems or lacked caregiver support, we saw an opportunity to fill these gaps for seniors, Lash said.
The Gary and Mary West Foundation teamed up with the county of San Diego along with various municipal, academic, healthcare, and philanthropic organizations to launch a vaccination site specifically geared toward seniors.
The site helped seniors book appointments by providing them with a phone-based scheduling option. The public-private partnership also educated seniors about the vaccine, provided transportation to and from the site, and accommodated all levels of function and mobility.
The CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center launched walk-up mobile clinics in Los Angeles in partnership with the Southern California Eye Institute (SCEI) and city councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas. These mobile clinics aim to reach underserved communities that have limited access to healthcare, transportation, and technology needed to book an appointment.
Dr. Rohit Varma, chief medical officer of CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, said that after hosting a drive-through vaccination clinic, the medical center looked for new ways to reach and deliver vaccines to the underserved in the Los Angeles community, to those who may not have ready access to computers or transportation.
The site has walk-up onsite registration, eliminating the need for people to book an appointment online via a phone or computer. SCEI offered to convert their mobile eye clinic bus into a vaccination center on wheels, which brought the mobile clinic to life.
Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian relief organization, partnered with Indian Health Services (IHS) to distribute vaccines to Navajo Nation.
Vaccine sites were set up at hospitals and clinics along with community gathering spots like chapter houses.
Harley Jones, senior manager of domestic emergency response with Project HOPE, said IHS took a cultural approach when messaging the benefits of vaccination, positioning the fight against the pandemic and getting the vaccine as something that everyone should do to support their friends and neighbors.
The use of personal protective equipment, social distancing, and vaccinations were positioned in a way that gave everyone within the tribe a way to support the group, especially the elders, who faced higher risk for complications from COVID-19.
In Navajo culture, elders are revered as the history, health, and strength of the tribe, said Jones. The tribe mobilized to protect the group as a whole.
Despite being disproportionately impacted, including winter months marked by severe infection rates and community losses, Navajo Nation community has had recent landmark successes resulting from a strong increase in vaccinations, Jones said.
Its difficult for many people to secure vaccine appointments during traditional working hours. Across the country, vaccine clinics with overnight hours have been set up to serve people who work and live during nontraditional hours.
In Philadelphia, a pop-up 24/7 marathon clinic hosted by the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium was a huge success, vaccinating about 4,000 people in its first 24 hours. The site aimed to improve vaccine equity and reach communities disproportionally impacted by COVID-19.
Near Detroit, ACCESS, a nonprofit bringing social, health, and educational services to Arab American individuals, set up an overnight vaccine clinic for Muslims fasting during Ramadan. The clinic operated between 8:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. during Ramadan, when people fast from sunrise to sunset, and appointments were fully booked.
To further promote ease of access, some health leaders are bringing the vaccine directly to people in their homes.
There are services that bring the vaccine to homebound seniors who are unable to reach a vaccination clinic. There are also programs in which volunteers are going out into underserved communities and areas with low vaccination rates and talking with residents about the vaccines.
Health officials in Detroit announced that crews will be visiting peoples homes, educating them about the benefits of the shots and helping them sign up for appointments.
In Louisiana, religious organizations and civic groups are going door to door as well, simplifying the process of getting vaccinated.
Bringing vaccines to peoples homes can help remove the barriers and gives people easy opportunities to get vaccinated.
In the countrys race to vaccinate people and build herd immunity, local governments and public health leaders have had to come up with innovative ways to provide equitable and easy access to the vaccines.
In some areas, this has meant launching vaccination sites specifically geared toward seniors, a group thats seen the highest rates of hospitalization and death during the pandemic.
Mobile clinics have also popped up in underserved areas, eliminating the need for online pre-registration or travel in communities that have limited access to technology and transportation.
Local health officials have taken cultural approaches, theyve opened 24/7 clinics, and have recently started meeting vaccine-hesitant people at their homes.
India and poorer countries may wait years for Covid-19 vaccines as rich countries hoard them Vox.com
A deadly second wave of coronavirus infections is devastating India, leaving millions of people infected and putting stress on the countrys already overtaxed health care system.
Officially, by the end of April, more than 17.9 million infections had been confirmed and more than 200,000 people were dead, but experts said the actual figures were likely much higher. In the same period, India was responsible for more than half of the worlds daily Covid-19 cases, setting a record-breaking pace of more than 300,000 a day.
For the most up-to-date figures, The New York Times is tracking the latest case counts here.
Months ago, India appeared to be weathering the pandemic. After a harsh initial lockdown, the country did not see an explosion in new cases and deaths comparable to those in other countries.
But after the early restrictions were lifted, many Indians stopped taking precautions. Large gatherings, including political rallies and religious festivals, resumed and drew millions of people.
Beginning this spring, the country recorded an exponential jump in cases and deaths.
By April, some vaccinated individuals, including 37 doctors at one New Delhi hospital, were found to have contracted the virus, leaving many to wonder if a more contagious variant was behind the second wave.
Many in India already assume that the variant, B.1.617, is responsible for the severity of the second wave. The variant is sometimes called the double mutant, though the name is a misnomer because it has many more mutations than two. It garnered the name because one version contains two genetic mutations found in other difficult-to-control variants.
Researchers outside of India say the limited data so far suggests instead that the variant called B.1.1.7, which has affected Britain and the United States, is more likely to blame.
So far, the evidence is inconclusive, and researchers caution that other factors could explain the viciousness of the outbreak.
Overwhelmed by new cases, Indian hospitals cannot cope with the demand, and patients in many cities have been abandoned to die.
Clinics across the country have reported an acute shortage of hospital beds, medicines, protective equipment and oxygen.
The Indian government says that it has enough liquid oxygen to meet medical needs and that it is rapidly expanding its supply. But production facilities are concentrated in eastern India, far from the worst outbreaks in Delhi and in the western state of Maharashtra, and it can take several days for supplies to reach there by road.
Families of the sick are filling social media with pleas for oxygen as supplies run low at hospitals or because they are trying to administer care at home.
Some in Delhi say they have paid at least 10 times the usual price for oxygen, and the news media have carried reports of cylinders being looted from hospitals.
India is one of the worlds leading vaccine manufacturers, but it has struggled to inoculate its citizens.
Less than 10 percent of Indians have gotten even one dose. Now, the countrys pain may be felt around the world, especially in poorer countries.
India had planned to ship out millions of doses. But given its stark vaccination shortfall, exports have essentially been shut down, leaving other nations with far fewer doses than they had expected.
Charities, volunteers and businesses in India and beyond are trying to help the countrys Covid victims and frontline workers.
(Before giving money to an organization, make sure you feel comfortable with it. In the United States, sites like Guidestar and Charity Navigator grade nonprofits on their effectiveness and financial health.)
Here are a few ways to help.
The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness rose above 150.5 million on Friday, as the death toll climbed above 3.16 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continues to lead the world in cases and deaths by wide margins, with 32.3 million cases, or more than a fifth of the global total, and 575,197 deaths, or almost a fifth of the worldwide toll. India is second to the U.S. by cases at 18.8 million after recording 386,452 new cases in a single day, to break a record it set a day ago, according to the Indian Health Ministry, and 3,498 deaths. The U.S. has sent supplies, including oxygen, PPE and tests, and is planning to send more. The Indian army has opened its hospitals to patients who are struggling to find beds, oxygen and treatments, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes under growing criticism for mismanaging the crisis.Brazil is third with 14.6 million cases and second by fatalities at 401.186. Mexico has the third-highest death toll at 216,447 and 2.3 million cases, or 15th highest tally. The U.K. has 4.4 million cases and 127,759 deaths, the fifth-highest in the world and highest in Europe.
Weve learned time and again that animals can give diseases to humans. Weve seen this happen with coronaviruses, the flu, Ebola basically most major disease outbreaks in recent memory. But, of course, the reverse is true too: Humans can give viruses, including the novel coronavirus, to animals. FiveThirtyEights senior science writer Maggie Koerth wrote about this on the site earlier this week, and she joined PODCAST-19, FiveThirtyEights coronavirus podcast, to discuss her work further. The episode and a lightly edited transcript follow.
Anna Rothschild: So, to start off, which animals do we know can contract COVID-19?
Maggie Koerth: So, over the course of the last year, theres been a lot of research on this. And some of it has been just naturalistic this is a transference of SARS-CoV-2 that happened some of it is stuff thats coming from laboratory experiments on cell lines, and some of that is coming from direct animal experiments. But what we are sort of figuring out is that there are quite a few animals that actually are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, to contracting COVID-19, from us. That includes your minks, and ferrets, kind of similar to those minks from Denmark that got COVID last year. Youve got rabbits. You also have the cat family, so everything from lions and tigers to your domestic kitty cat living in your living room, are all susceptible to COVID. In fact, cats seem to get it pretty easily from us. You also have nonhuman primates. So this has been an issue for gorillas as well.
Anna Rothschild: So, just how sick do these animals get?
Maggie Koerth: Some of them get very sick. I mean, minks were dying from this, and some of them have very few symptoms at all. What weve seen sort of with the domestic cats, for instance, has been, you know, maybe a runny nose, but not necessarily even showing any symptoms, just carrying it around and transmitting it from cat to cat.
Anna Rothschild: So, this may seem like kind of a silly question. But if certain animals arent getting so sick, why should we worry so much about them actually contracting this disease?
Maggie Koerth: Well, to illustrate that, I will point back to the fact that Asian bats dont necessarily get very sick with COVID-19. But they were carrying around all of these coronaviruses, including the precursor viruses to SARS-CoV-2. A population that doesnt get very sick but gets this virus pretty readily is a population where a virus can begin to mutate and change and either jump back to humans or begin to make its hosts more sick and other hosts more sick.
Anna Rothschild: Right, its actually pretty similar to what we are saying about people who dont get vaccinated. Just because the risk to you is fairly low say, youre young and dont have any preexisting conditions doesnt mean that the virus cant mutate inside of you if you get it and, you know, start off a cascade of new infections that are actually more dangerous.
Maggie Koerth: Right, every place that a virus has an opportunity to divide, to reproduce, is an opportunity for its genetic information to be copied. And every time your genetic information gets copied, well, that is where mutations happen. And most of the time those mutations honestly do not matter. But the way that evolution works is that sometimes they do.
Anna Rothschild: Do we have real-world examples maybe not from COVID-19 but from past viral infections that have jumped from humans to animals of the viruses kind of changing as they get passed back and forth between humans and animals?
Maggie Koerth: We do. Flu is actually really fascinating for this. And we know a lot of this stuff about flu because this is something researchers have been focused on studying for a very, very long time, because flu, unlike COVID-19, seems to infect agricultural animals, things like chickens and domestic ducks and pigs. So, if you look at this pig situation, and this is one of the most fascinating stories I picked up while reporting, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, is something that some of you may remember, originated on these giant pig farms in Mexico, where people were in close contact with pigs and it was getting sort of passed over from the pigs to people. At that time, when it first emerged, this particular variant of flu was not present in pigs anywhere else in the world. Today, after that pandemic has happened and people have spread it all over the planet, there is not a place on earth that farms pigs that does not have descendants of that 2009 swine flu strain in the pigs. And it is not because the pigs have been traveling all over the place.
Anna Rothschild: You mean theyre not globe-trotters?
Maggie Koerth: Oh, man.
Anna Rothschild: Sorry.
Maggie Koerth: No, no, please, I respect that and shoot your shot. Yes, they were not globe-trotters. This is people, this is people spreading this virus to pigs. So, now you have these variants that are descended from that 2009 pandemic in these pigs, and theyre starting to change again and come back into us. And theres been at least 400 cases of kids who raise pigs for state fairs in the U.S. picking up new mutated strains of the 2009 pandemic, back from pigs to them again.
Anna Rothschild: Geez, thats so crazy. Again, this might seem like sort of a callous question, and I sort of suspect I know the answer, but for certain animals, like bats, which humans dont always have the best relationship with, why dont we just eliminate that reservoir of disease? Why not just kill those animals so that the diseases cant just jump back into humans?
Maggie Koerth: So, we can really easily, if necessary, kill an entire herd of pigs on a farm. Nobody wants to do that. But its a thing that you can do if youre trying to shut down the spread of disease. Thats really, really hard to do with animals that we dont have that kind of control over. So, I think a good example of this is that there was a species of bat that used to be extremely common in the American Northeast, one of the most common bats in that region, and people never figured out where most of these bats were spending the winter. People were studying these bats, people ran into these bats all of the time, and these bats still had these secrets that we just never knew. So you cant kill off something if you dont know its life. And even if you could do that, it doesnt necessarily work.
So, I talked to this guy who his research is studying vampire bats. And hes very defensive about the vampire bats, because like, he kind of had this kind of sad space of like, Well, nobody loves them, and no one cares about them. And theres all these conservation projects to, like, save bats all over the world. And I study the bats that people are actively trying to kill. And this is because these vampire bats these species of bats that actually do drink blood they spread rabies. And so there are a lot of Central and South American countries where these bats live, where there have been projects to cull them off to stop the spread of rabies among farm animals that they feed on. And one of the really interesting things that they found from that is that it does not necessarily reduce the spread of rabies to kill off all the bats in an area. In fact, it can make rabies cases go up. And they think that that is because when you wipe out an entire population of bats indiscriminately, youre knocking out the ones that were also resistant to that virus. And then youre leaving an ecological niche where new bats from someplace else who might not have been resistant to that virus can now sort of flow in and start doing their thing and it doesnt necessarily actually stop the spread of disease.
Anna Rothschild: I just want to say, for what its worth, I actually really love bats. And vampire bats are really cool. They share blood with each other. Theyre actually really good sharers. And theyll even share it with, like, genetically dissimilar members of their group. So theyre kind of nice.
Maggie Koerth: I mean, lets be clear, bats are adorable.
Anna Rothschild: I think so too.
Maggie Koerth: If youve ever wanted a snuggly-looking little mouse-fox thing that can fly oh, my God, who hasnt?
Anna Rothschild: I can think of some people probably who havent
Maggie Koerth: Theyre wrong.
Anna Rothschild: We now know that these animals can get COVID. What can we do to keep these animals safe?
Maggie Koerth: So, what we can do to keep these animals safe is honestly limiting our contact with them, and making sure that we are treating them as fellow creatures that we can spread disease to. The virus got into us, probably from bats. Those bats dont have the brain space to sit around and have conversations about how they should be treating us. But we do. And now that responsibility is with us to make sure it doesnt get spread to other animals.
Anna Rothschild: What are the next steps with this research?
Maggie Koerth: So, scientists are still sort of trying to figure out which bats in North America might be susceptible to this. So far, the one that theyve actually done a live animal study on turned out not to be. And theyre still doing research on what animals are susceptible to it more broadly as well. But I think a big part of what the next steps are is just being cognizant that this is something that can happen. So, you know, limiting contact between animals that have had contact with humans that have had COVID, limiting our contact with animals when we know we are sick. Those are things that are definitely the next steps in this process.
Anna Rothschild: Well, this is clearly an evolving story. So please keep me posted as you learn more. But for now, Maggie, thank you so much for speaking with me. This was great.
Maggie Koerth: Thank you so much for having me on.
Anna Rothschild: Thats it for this episode of PODCAST-19. If you have a question youd like us to answer on the show, email us a voice memo at askpodcast19@gmail.com. Thats askpodcast19@gmail.com Im Anna Rothschild. Our producer is Sinduja Srinivasan. Chadwick Matlin is our executive producer. We actually filmed this episode of the podcast, so if youd like to watch, head over to FiveThirtyEight on YouTube. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
It's 4 a.m. in southern Minnesota and infectious disease physician Priya Sampathkumar has yet to go to bed.
While others sleep, the Mayo doctor works into the wee hours from her Rochester home, making phone calls in a frantic search for hospital beds half a world away and for much-needed oxygen for patients she's never met.
As the deadly coronavirus overwhelms her native India, Sampathkumar and her colleagues are fielding desperate calls from family, friends and friends of friends back home who have nowhere else to turn for help as COVID-19 cases surge there.
"The sheer numbers are overwhelming," Sampathkumar said Thursday. "There are more than 350,000 cases a day and it's likely 10 times that because the information coming out of the country is unreliable. Testing is hard to come by because so many are sick."
The devastating toll is documented daily in news reports hospitals are swamped, oxygen supplies are dwindling and sick people are dying as they wait to be seen by doctors.
"I can't imagine what the images are like on TV because I'm hearing the pain in people's voices," Sampathkumar said.
Personally, she and her husband, Dr. Vincent Rajkumar, who also works at Mayo, feel fortunate because their families live in the southern part of India and have been isolated from the worst of the virus spread.
"We imposed a lockdown on them from here," Sampathkumar said.
That meant watching a grandchild's wedding via Zoom and giving permission to go out of the house only for a vaccine, she added.
But others have been less fortunate.
A colleague's mother desperately needed a hospital bed in India, so Sampathkumar and her Minnesota colleagues called until they found one. Soon after, the hospital where the woman was being treated tweeted that the facility had one more hour of oxygen left.
"She's one of 50 patients in a small hospital and they all need oxygen," Sampathkumar said.
The Minnesota doctors rallied again, reaching a friend who runs a hospital in India that could provide a cylinder of oxygen.
The situation is so grim that oftentimes doctors and families in Minnesota, more than 7,000 miles away, are the last hope for help.
"The patient is gasping for breath so who is going to make these calls?" Sampathkumar said.
Loved ones in India often are too sick with COVID-19 to lend support. Doctors and nurses are working 24/7 and many are falling ill as well, Sampathkumar added.
"It's unimaginable," she said.
For now, Sampathkumar has been so preoccupied by trying to help that she hasn't had time to feel the deep sorrow. Over the past five days, she's immersed herself in a global volunteer group India Covid SOS. People from all walks of life, such as health care workers, scientists, policymakers and logistics experts, have joined forces to raise money, collect supplies, create protocols and answer the needs of those on the ground in India, Sampathkumar said.
"I feel like we're helping but the need is so enormous that so much more has to be done, including help from the U.S. government," she said.
While the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the United States decreases as more people get vaccinated, the virus surge in India and neighboring countries can't be ignored, Sampathkumar said.
"Unless the U.S. wants to close its borders for a year, this is everybody's problem," she said. "If we don't help all these countries that are seeing surges, we're going to have our own fourth and fifth waves and it's never going to end."
Organizations in Minnesota and around the globe, such as the Hindu Society of Minnesota, which recently started raising money for COVID-19 relief efforts in India, are rallying.
The number of Minnesota residents with Asian Indian ancestry has increased from 30,500 in 2010 to 40,500 in 2019, making them the second largest Asian group after Hmong, according to the state demographer's office.
For many, what's playing out in India is taking a personal toll.
"In the last three weeks, I had four close relatives die," said Gokul Upadhyay, manager for the Hindu Society of Minnesota.
"The number of virus cases in India seemed to be falling earlier this year," he said. "Everyone in India was thinking everything would be OK by May or June. And then it escalated."
Minnesota neurologist Dr. Rajiv Aggarwal can hear the fear in his parents' voices when he calls them.
"They're vaccinated but they're shaken by what they're seeing," he said.
Like others in Minnesota, Aggarwal, president of the Chance Foundation, is springing into action. His organization has raised $51,000 since last week and hopes to raise even more to help open hospitals in India.
Meanwhile, the India Association of Minnesota also is urging members of Minnesota's congressional delegation to advocate for more U.S. aid to India and coordinating fundraising for some of its partner organizations.
If not for these relief efforts, Kiran Bandi, the association's president, would feel a sense of helplessness being so far from his homeland.
"I'm scared," he said. "I wish and hope that India will come through this soon."
Mary Lynn Smith 612-673-4788
This weeks Path Forward event focused on the American business communitys response to the devastating surge of coronavirus in India and school reopening successes in the U.S.
The Path Forward, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation event series, helps business and community leaders find the answers they need to execute a responsible reopening strategy for a post-pandemic world.
What Happened?A discussion between U.S. Chamber President and CEO Suzanne Clark and the Ambassador of India to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu highlighted the vital help the American business community and federal government are sending to India as it deals with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Ambassador Sandhu noted that the first flights carrying U.S. medical supplies had already departed for the country and specifically thanked the U.S. Chamber for helping to mobilize the business community and wider action.
The conversation then shifted to the reopening of U.S. schools as the percent of those getting vaccinated increases and cases decline. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said that as of today, 99% of Ohio students are back in school. In comparison, on Jan. 1, 2021 only half of students were back in school in the state, he said. Health experts also joined the discussion, saying that if mitigation measures are in place (like mask wearing and social distancing) then classroom activities are not a major source of transmission of the coronavirus.
What the Experts Are Saying:
Now, with vaccines being increasingly rolled out across the country and more information about how to safely gather in-person, we want to see kids safely return to school and childcare so we can fully reopen our economy. Suzanne Clark, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
I understand that even as we speak, additional supplies of medical equipment are being dispatched to India. The manner in which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, particularly, had mobilized support, brought together partners from other industry bodies, coordinated with the U.S. government, and delivered the most critical itemshas been tremendously heartening. Ambassador of India to the U.S. Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
Kids who are already behind, who may not be able to have an Internet connection, for example. May not have the parental support, maybe their parents are working two jobsIt was clear that we needed to get kids back in school. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
We made the decision early on last summer that any kid that went back into school, they needed to be masked the entire time. We really attribute that to keeping the spread down. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
The threat of COVID to children is far more minimal that we thought this time last year. John Bailey, Advisor, the Walton Family Foundation.
What weve learnedis that kids tend to be the least at risk from this virus. Its not zero, but its much, much lower than older populations. And also, the transmission of the virus tends to be a lot less with kids under the age of 10. John Bailey.
[In schools] where mitigation processes are followed, transmission rates have been low. Primarily, rates of transmission among students have been related to athletic groups. Laurie Combe, President, National Association of School Nurses.
What You Can Do:To learn how your organization can help in the fight against the coronavirus in India, visit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation website.
Also, please consider joining the Rally for Recovery Commitment, a U.S. Chamber-led program encouraging every company and organization to take three basic, but important, steps to get the country back to health and American workers back to work by:
Up Next:Please join future Path Forward events to learn how to better protect you workers, customers, coworkers, and friends from the spread of coronavirus.
Additional Resources:
The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness rose above 149.6 million on Thursday, as the death toll climbed above 3.15 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continues to lead the world in cases and deaths by wide margins, with 32.2 million cases, or more than a fifth of the global total, and 574,329 deaths, or almost a fifth of the worldwide toll. India is second to the U.S. by cases at 18.4 million after recording 379,257 new cases in a single day, to break a record it set a day ago, according to the Indian Health Ministry, and 3,645 deaths. The U.S. is advising its citizens to leave India as soon as it is safe, as hospitals continue to clamor for vital supplies, including oxygen, PPE and tests. The U.S. is sending more than $100 million in supplies. Brazil is third with 14.5 million cases and second by fatalities at 398,185. Mexico has the third-highest death toll at 215,918 and 2.3 million cases, or 15th highest tally. The U.K. has 4.4 million cases and 127,734 deaths, the fifth-highest in the world and highest in Europe.
