Some people are actually able to bottle their success, and Mark Kurz SM 95 is one of the lucky few. Kurz is at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 as a manufacturing supply chain leader at Corning, the New York-based pioneer in glass science and manufacturing technology.
Corning produces Valor Glass vials, a primary mode of delivery for vaccines as part of the U.S. governments Operation Warp Speed. In his role as director of Cornings Pharmaceutical Technologies manufacturing and operations, Kurz oversaw a four-fold acceleration of production capacity for vials. Production is slated to increase 10-fold by the end of this year.
Kurz never expected to be at the forefront of a pandemic who does? but his participation in the MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program positioned him well. He joined LGO (known at the time as Leaders for Manufacturing) as an operations professional at Kodak in 1993, receiving his SM from the Department of Mechanical Engineering as well as an SM from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
I was really drawn to the MIT LGO program because it covered three main areas: engineering and technology there's no better school in the world for that but also business management and leadership. Understanding people and how you lead them is so important, and that really drew me to this MIT program. Its been the cornerstone of my career, Kurz says.
Today, MIT LGO students earn an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a masters degree from one of eight participating departments in the School of Engineering while participating in an immersive, six-month research fellowship at partner organizations, ranging from Amazon to Corning.
Kurz says that Corning was the perfect place to bring his operations skills, with its 170-year history in glass production. (In the early days, it helped to develop encasements for Edisons light bulb.) Kurz became part of a team exploring ways to make stronger pharmaceutical glass packaging, a process that hadnt changed in a century making glass that was more efficient to fill, crack-resistant, and more durable for vials.
Valor Glass offers multiple improvements over conventional borosilicate vials by chemically strengthening the glass with molten salt. Not only does Valor Glass provide safety benefits with reduced surface delamination and fewer particles, but it is also more efficient for pharmaceutical filling operations by enabling higher production speeds. Corning also found that it was less prone to breaking during standard lyophilization, a freeze-drying process used with some pharmaceutical products. Cold temperature performance is a critical attribute for some vaccines. Valor Glass addresses expensive pain points for partners like Pfizer and Merck.
When the Covid demand materialized, we had already laid the groundwork. Its this lasting investment [with our partners] that positioned us to be able to go fast. Wed been positioning ourselves for expansion, Kurz says. We had some capacity that was ready to come up if we had the demand. We knew what needed to be done. It turned from planning to execution.
Corning joined Operation Warp Speed to supply the vials, shifting to 24/7 production, delivering in weeks instead of months, streamlining the product line to a standard-sized vial, and focusing on quality and volume. In June 2020, Corning received $204 million in funding from the U.S. government to ramp up manufacturing capacity.
It came back to the fundamentals I learned in the MIT LGO program really challenging technical problems, understanding the business environment you're operating in, and leading people. I've used my MIT background in every job I've ever been in. And this challenge required all three, he says.
One particularly important task? Rapidly spotting defects with a relatively new product. Kurz implemented a machine-vision system to examine every vial for flaws. The stakes were high.
In early manufacturing, there are bugs. We didnt want to throw out good vials. We also didnt want to pass bad products along. So we put a lot of effort into that and actually were able to improve our output by more than 10 percent. If you look at it as doses of the vaccine getting to people, it's inspiring, he says.
Kurz has subsequently shifted roles to focus on global health services, implementing protective measures in Corning factories worldwide. Meanwhile, hes confident that Valor glass will have pharmaceutical uses long after the pandemic fades, such as for cancer treatments. On that note, hes eager to tell the MIT community what a valuable partner Corning is and what a forward-thinking company it continues to be.
Its easy to think, Well, it's just glass, right? Yet we keep innovating, 170 years after the company was formed. We keep investing nearly a billion dollars a year in R&D and finding new ways to take glass into places that its never been before, he says, from Edisons original light bulbs to ultra-durable, anti-microbial Gorilla Glass for wearable devices.
For Kurz, his pride in glass manufacturing is clear.
People want a noble cause to work for. From a leadership standpoint, there cant be a more noble goal than to try to help people overcome Covid, he says.
(WSIL) -- Health departments across southern Illinois are reporting 27 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, March 27, 2021.
Franklin County:
Franklin County has had 4,363 total cases and 61 deaths.
Gallatin County:
Gallatin County has a total of 495 lab-confirmed positives of COVID-19, including three deaths.
Jackson County:
Jackson County has had 4,774 cases to date, with 72 related deaths. Of those positive cases, 4,641 individuals released from isolation, including 3 Saturday.
Saline County:
To date, Saline County has had a total of 2,567 lab confirmed positives, including 50 deaths.
Williamson County:
Health officials say the county has had 7,257 positive cases and 119 fatalities.
Illinois Department of Public Health:
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 2,678 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease Saturday, including 25 additional deaths.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,235,578 cases, including 21,228 deaths across the state.
A total of 5,418,211 vaccines have been administered.
More information can be found here.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Five new deaths were reported by theSouth Dakota Department of Health, as hospitalizations increased on Saturday.
According to the latest update, 255 new total coronavirus cases were announced bringing the states total case count to 117,081 up from Friday (116,833).
While the difference in the total case count reported Saturday and Friday equals 248, when you add the PCR, or newly confirmed, cases (191) and antigen, or new probable, cases (64), there were 255 new cases.
The death toll increased by five to 1,933. The new deaths were 2 men and 3 women in the following age ranges: 60-69 (1), 70-79 (2), 80+ (1).
There are 77 current hospitalizations as of Saturday, up from 74 on Friday. Total hospitalizations are at 6,951, an increase of 24 over Friday.
Active cases are now at 2,443, down from Friday (2,480).
Total recovered cases are now at 112,705, up from Friday (112,425).
Total persons negative is now at 325,100, up from Friday (324,344).
There were 1,011 new persons tested in the data reported on Saturday for a new persons-tested positivity rate of 25.22%.
The latest seven-day all test positivity rate reported by the DOH is 10.1%. The latest one-day PCR test positivity rate is 7.0%.
According to the DOH, 197,885 doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been administered with 7,244 doses of the Janssen vaccine and 187,057 of the Moderna vaccine given out to a total number of 242,294 persons.
There have been 70,760 persons who have completed two doses of Moderna and 79,120 who have received two doses of Pfizer, according to the DOH.
When combining state and federal vaccine distribution, the state estimates 41.12% of the population has received at least one dose and 26.88% have received both doses.
WATERBURY, Conn. This week Community Karen went for her first Covid-19 vaccine and created a video diary of her experience from start to finish to share her thoughts on the occasion and showcase what others can expect to experience when they head to their vaccination locations. Karen's vaccine was administered at Post University in Waterbury, which is a drive-thru vaccination center. She was able to get her appointment through VAMS within 1 week of becoming eligible.
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Beginning today in Geneva County, the Alabama Department of Public Health is holding drive-thru COVID-19 clinics in each of its public health districts across Alabama.
The counties where the clinics will be held in alphabetical order are Colbert, Escambia, Franklin, Geneva, Jefferson, Montgomery and Walker. The next clinic is Monday in Colbert County. Follow this link to see complete schedules and dates.
Drive-thru clinics will also be open in Jefferson County Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Friday 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (Near the airport terminal off Aviation Avenue at the end of 50th Street North & 18th Alley across from Kaiser Aircraft Industries)
To register for an appointment in Jefferson County, visit www.jeffcoema.org and click the green registration button. Or call the Jefferson County Vaccine Call Center Monday Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at (205) 858-2221 to schedule.
Meanwhile, Alabamas National Guard is also conducting free mobile vaccination clinics across 24 rural counties. Visit this Vaccination Clinics page for more information.
Vaccination is free to anyone eligible now: people 55 years old and older, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and all other people in Phases 1a, 1b and 1c in Alabamas COVID-19 Vaccination Allocation Plan.
Use this link to download and complete the sign-up form for any clinic and bring it with you. Follow this link for more details on each clinics schedule for first and second doses.
USDA announced today its plans to distribute more than $12 billion under a program called Pandemic Assistance for Producers, which includes aid that had been put on hold as well as funds newly allocated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act. The program assists farmers and ranchers who previously did not qualify for COVID-19 aid and expands assistance to farmers helped by existing programs. Farmers will need to sign-up only if they are applying for new programs or if they are eligible for CFAP assistance and did not previously apply.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack shared details of the new plan during a virtual meeting today with state Farm Bureau presidents and American Farm Bureau leadership.
We appreciate Secretary Vilsacks action to release funds and expand eligibility for farmers hit hard by the devastating effects of COVID-19, said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. USDAs decision to distribute aid based upon previous applications will help deliver assistance quickly. It was good to hear directly from the Secretary today about this program and his priorities going forward.
The funding includes $6 billion to develop new programs or modify existing proposals using remaining discretionary funding from the Consolidated Appropriations Act. USDA expects this to include funding for personal protective equipment (PPE), compensation to offset the pandemics impact on biofuels, specialty crops and farmers forced to euthanize animals due to supply chain issues, among other uses.
Another $5.6 billion will be directed to formula payments to cattle producers and eligible flat-rate or price trigger crops. In addition, $500 million in new funding is included for existing programs such as the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, Farmers Opportunities Training and Outreach Program, Local Agricultural Marketing Program, Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Adjustment Assistance for Textile Mills Program.
AFBF urges USDA to quickly accomplish the needed regulatory changes to deliver assistance to contract livestock and poultry growers who have yet to receive aid, despite specific authorization from Congress.
Sign-ups for the new program begin April 5, 2021. USDAs announcement can be found here. AFBF Market Intel can be found here.
Contact: Mike TomkoDirector, Communications(202) 406-3642miket@fb.orgBailey CorwineMedia Relations Specialist(202) 406-3643baileyc@fb.org
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Over half of the resident cases were confirmed in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which has one of the highest infection rates in the state over the last two weeks.
Case counts and hospitalizations in Alaska remain far below what they were during the peak in November and December. However, Alaska is now experiencing a slight increase in its average daily case rate compared to recent weeks. Many regions in the state are still in the highest alert category based on their current per capita rate of infection.
Alaska this month became the first state in the country to open vaccine eligibility to anyone 16 and older who lives or works in the state. You can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to sign up for a vaccine appointment; new appointments are added regularly. The phone line is staffed 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.
By Friday, 226,884 people including over 39% of Alaskans eligible for a shot had received at least their first dose, according to the states vaccine monitoring dashboard. At least 155,264 people about 27% of Alaskans 16 and older were considered fully vaccinated.
By Friday, there were 27 people with COVID-19 in hospitals throughout the state, far below a peak in late 2020. Another three patients had test results pending.
Of the 179 cases identified among Alaska residents on Friday, there were were 49 in Anchorage plus six in Eagle River; 61 in Wasilla; 27 in Palmer; five in Delta Junction; four in Big Lake; four in Healy; two in Valdez; two in Kenai; two in Fairbanks; two in North Pole; two in Sitka; one in Houston; one in Sutton-Alpine; one in Juneau; one in Unalaska; and one in Bethel.
Among communities smaller than 1,000 residents which arent named to protect privacy, there were three in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, one in the Copper River Census Area and two in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
There were also four nonresident cases: two in Kodiak and two in undetermined parts of the state.
While people might get tested more than once, each case reported by the state health department represents only one person.
The states data doesnt specify whether people testing positive for COVID-19 have symptoms. More than half of the nations infections are transmitted from asymptomatic people, according to CDC estimates.
The average percentage of daily positive tests over the last week was 2.68%.
Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told CNN he believes the coronavirus originally escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. But it's too early to know for sure and investigations are ongoing.
Redfield stressed he was not implying "intentionality," and no credible scientist, including Redfield, believes the virus was man-made.
Still, Redfield's comments sparked debate. "I am of the point of view that I still think the most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory, you know, escaped," Redfield told CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta during an interview taped in January, to be aired in full Sunday. "Now, other people don't believe that, that's fine. Science will eventually figure it out. It's not unusual for respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in the laboratory to infect the laboratory worker."
He added: "I do not believe this somehow came from a bat to a human. And at that moment in time, the virus came to the human, became one of the most infectious viruses that we know in humanity for human to human transmission. Normally, when a pathogen goes from a zoonotic to human, it takes a while for it to figure out how to become more and more efficient."
Redfield, a virologist who headed the CDC under President Trump, stressed several times that this is just his opinion, not a proven fact. "I'm allowed to have opinions now," he said. "Most of us in a lab, when trying to grow a virus, we try to help make it grow better, and better, and better, and better, and better, and better so we can do experiments and figure out about it. That's the way I put it together," he said of his theory.
Redfield also said he believes the virus began spreading months earlier than once thought perhaps since September or October of 2019, a timeframe roughly supported by recent research. That extra time the virus may have spent circulating undetected could help explain how it became "efficient" at transmission without having been "leaked" from a lab.
Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed Redfield's comments at Friday's COVID-19 response briefing and suggested that most public health officials disagree. He noted that if the virus had escaped from a lab, that would mean that "it essentially entered the outside human population already well-adapted to humans."
"However, the alternative explanation which most public health individuals go by, is that this virus was actually circulating in China, likely in Wuhan, for a month or more before they were clinically recognized at the end of December of 2019," Fauci said.
"If that were the case, the virus clearly could have adapted itself to a greater efficiency of transmissibility over that period of time, up to and at the time it was recognized. So, Dr. Redfield was mentioning that he was giving an opinion as to a possibility, but again there are other alternatives others that most people hold by."
The current CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said at Friday's briefing that she didn't "have any indication for or against" the hypotheses and that the White House team is "looking forward" to a report from the World Health Organization that "examines the origin of this pandemic and of SARS-CoV-2 in humans."
Understanding when the coronavirus first emerged is an important piece of the epidemiological puzzle, one that scientists around the world, including a team from the WHO, have been working to nail down.
Onestudy, recently published in the journal Science, found "the period between mid-October and mid-November 2019" to be "the plausible interval when the first case of SARS-CoV-2 emerged in Hubei province."
"It is highly probable that SARS-CoV-2 was circulating in Hubei province at low levels in early-November 2019 and possibly as early as October 2019, but not earlier," reads the study. But for weeks or months, its prevalence was low enough to escape notice. "By the time COVID-19 was first identified, the virus had firmly established itself in Wuhan."
Kristian G. Andersen, director of the infectious disease genomics, translational research institute at Scripps Research, told CBS News that "none of (Redfield's) comments" on the lab theory are "backed by available evidence."
Andersen was the lead author of a study published in Nature Medicine last year that found the virus was a product of natural evolution. Furthermore, through analysis of public genome sequence data, the scientists "found no evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered," according to a press release from Scripps.
"By comparing the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains, we can firmly determine that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes," Andersen said at the time.
W. Ian Lipkin, a study co-author with Andersen and the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, said that while there's still a lot we don't know about the virus, including exactly how long it's been circulating, there is "no evidence" to suggest that it was created in a lab.
"The fact that we haven't seen it before, doesn't mean it was created in a laboratory," he said. Lipkin pointed to the coronavirus' ability to replicate in other animals, such asoutbreaks among mink, and the emergence of highly transmissible variants around the world "without any modification from a laboratory" as evidence to the contrary.
"The modifications that have been exploited by the virus are not ones that we would have predicted," he said, adding, "even if we wanted to design such a virus, we wouldn't have known how to do it."
Lipkin called Redfield's comments "counterproductive," especially given the rise indiscrimination and violenceagainst Asian Americans during the pandemic. "We should be moving away from finger-pointing," he said.
Andersen and his colleagues concluded that the virus most likely originated from one of two scenarios. The first is that "the virus evolved to its current pathogenic state through natural selection in a non-human host and then jumped to humans," according to the press release. The second is that "a non-pathogenic version of the virus jumped from an animal host into humans and then evolved to its current pathogenic state within the human population."
"We know bats carry viruses highly similar to SARS-CoV-2, so it's plausible it came straight from bats. Like SARS, it's possible that it may have come from an intermediate host which we have not identified," Andersen explained. "There is absolutely nothing unusual about the fact we haven't found such an intermediate host (if one even exists in the first place) and anybody saying otherwise simply has not read up on the literature."
Andersen noted that "we don't know the origins (reservoirs) ofmostviruses that infect humans," including other recent ones like Ebola, "and for the ones we have some idea, it can take decades."
"We know that the first epidemiologically linked cluster of cases came from the Huanan market and we know the virus was found in environmental samples including animal cages at the market," he said. "Any 'lab leak' theory would have to account for that scenario which it simply can't, without invoking a major conspiracy and cover up by Chinese scientists and authorities."
Editor's note: This story has been updated to more clearly show that no credible scientist believes the novel coronavirus was man-made and that investigations are ongoing into how it was first transmitted to humans. The headline has been updated.
Facts, not fear: We're tracking the latest numbers from the coronavirus pandemic in San Antonio and across Texas.
SAN ANTONIO We're tracking the latest numbers from the coronaviruspandemic in San Antonio and across Texas. Here are the latest numbers reported by Bexar and surrounding counties:
More county case information is available through theTexas Department of Health Services COVID-19 dashboard.
How Bexar County is trending
We've tracked how many coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Bexar County from the time officials began reporting cases in March 2020. The graphic below shows the number of cases since June and charts those daily case numbers along a 7-day moving average to provide a more accurate picture of the overall coronavirus case curve in our area and the direction we're trending amid the pandemic.
On Friday, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported an additional 179 coronavirus cases in Bexar County. At least 203,370 county residents have been diagnosed with the virus, and the seven-day rolling case average rose to 185.
One new virus-related fatality was reported; the local death toll rose to 3,077.
37 patients were admitted into area hospitals in the last 24 hours; 184 concurrent patients are receiving treatment for COVID-19. Of those 184 patients, 40 are on ventilators and 75 are in intensive care.
Bexar County has administered the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine to 445,651 residents. 249,552 residents are fully vaccinated. Nearly 60% of people aged 65 and up have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Monday's weekly update of the Warning Signs and Progress Indicators for Bexar County saw Bexar County holding steady at the low-risk level. The positivity rate dropped to 2.3 percent, which is the lowest rate since April 2020, when Metro Health began tracking data.
Meanwhile, a few hours after a Travis County judge upheldthe county and Austin's mask-wearing mandate, Nirenberg's response was one of gratitude for those in the Alamo City who have continued mask-wearing in places where they have the option.
"We're glad there continues to be a majority in our community that continues to do their part," the mayor said. "Regardless of the chaos that's been happening over the (last) year, thank you to the folks who are mask-wearing."
Coronavirus in Texas
The total number of novel coronavirus cases in the state since the pandemic began grew by 5,580 on Friday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That total includes 2,239 new confirmed cases, 738 new probable cases, and a backlog of 2,603 cases. More details can be found on this page.
Friday's figures bring the total number of Texans diagnosed with COVID-19 to more than 2.765 million.
Meanwhile, state health authorities reported an additional 118 deaths from coronavirus complications in Texas. In all, 46,986 Texans have died from COVID-19 complications.
The number of concurrent hospitalizations across the state, increased by five over the last 24 hours to 3,415 COVID-19 patients receiving treatment for their symptoms across the state, as of Friday.
The state, meanwhile, estimates that about 2.614 million Friday have recovered, while 97,349 Texans remain ill with COVID-19.
The latest update from the Texas Education Agency showed that there have been at least 196,560 cumulative cases among staff and students on Texas public school campuses through March 21. That number comprises 128,352 positive student cases and 68,208 staff cases. More information can be found here.
The TEA typically releases new data on school cases on Fridays.
Latest Coronavirus Headlines
Coronavirus symptoms
The symptoms of coronavirus can be similar to the flu or a bad cold. Symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Most healthy people will have mild symptoms. A study of more than 72,000 patients by the Centers for Disease Control in China showed 80 percent of the cases there were mild.
But infections can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death, according to the World Health Organization. Older people with underlying health conditions are most at risk.
Experts determined there was consistent evidence these conditions increase a person's risk, regardless of age:
Human coronaviruses are usually spread...
Help stop the spread of coronavirus
Find a Testing Location
City officials recommend getting a COVID-19 test if you experience fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea.
Here's a Testing Sites Locatorto help you find the testing location closest to you in San Antonio.
For a second straight week, the number of new coronavirus cases in counties across New Jersey took a jump.
Of the states 21 counties, 17 added more new cases of COVID-19 during the week of March 18-24 than the week prior. New Jersey saw 25.9 new cases per 10,000 residents, a 6% increase over last week.
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Businesses that are open | Homepage
The highest number of new cases per capita came in Monmouth County. At 33.9 new cases per 10,000 residents, Monmouth was one of five counties to eclipse 30. The others were Sussex County (33.7 new cases per 10,000 people), Warren County (32.8), Hudson County (31.4), and Ocean County (30.9).
Cape May County, for a second straight week, had the states lowest rate of new cases at 10.8 per 10,000 people.
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Of the 17 counties that had a higher new case rate this week than last, nowhere was the spread greater than in Gloucester County, which went from 15.2 new cases per 10,000 residents to 21.3 this week, a 40% increase.
Salem County and Sussex County both increased by more than 30%. Two other counties were over 20%, and three were over 10%.
Among those where new case numbers dropped, Morris County experienced the biggest decline, going from 31.4 new cases per 10,000 people to 26.9 this week, a 14% decrease.
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Nick Devlin is a reporter on the data & investigations team. He can be reached at ndevlin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nickdevlin.
