by: Dr. Mary Gillis, D.Ed.
Posted: Mar 19, 2021 / 05:35 PM EST / Updated: Mar 19, 2021 / 06:51 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Some are calling the coronavirus vaccine the freedom shot. But health experts are saying not so fast.
Were not in the clear just yet. In fact, its possible we never will be.
We know its very difficult to eradicate viral diseases, Dr. Amy Beth Kressel, infectious disease specialist at Eskenazi Health, told News 8. We were successful with smallpox. Were getting very close with polio and measles. But we havent eradicated them and COVID is so difficult because so many people can be sick and not know it. I definitely think [the coronavirus] is something we will have. We wont eradicate it.
Health experts have also raised the question if COVID-19 booster shots will be in the publics near future. Kressel says this could be the case, but we first have to understand how the vaccines work particularly against the new variants spreading like wildfire through the country.
Theres the South African and Brazilian variants where the vaccines seem to have lower antibody levels that are active, but may still be good enough, she said. There still needs to be more data about that. And then there are two new strains from California that we dont have a lot of information about. So, there is work going on now if we might need boosters.
News 8s medical reporter, Dr. Mary Elizabeth Gillis, D.Ed., is a classically trained medical physiologist and biobehavioral research scientist. She has been a health, medical and science reporter for over 6 years. Her work has been featured in national media outlets. You can follow her on Facebook @DrMaryGillis and Instagram @reportergillis.
CHICAGO Officials in at least 20 states have committed in recent days to opening coronavirus vaccine appointments to all adults in March or April, part of a fast-moving expansion as states race to meet President Bidens goal of universal eligibility by May 1.
In Ohio, all adults will be allowed to seek shots starting March 29. In Connecticut, April 5. In Alaska and Mississippi, all adults are already able to book appointments.
And on Thursday and Friday, officials in Illinois, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Maryland, Missouri, Maine and Vermont said that all adults would be allowed in April to sign up for a shot, while the governors of Utah and North Dakota set universal eligibility to begin this month.
But even as the pace of vaccinations has accelerated to about 2.5 million shots each day nationwide, the country finds itself at a precarious point in the pandemic. Cases, deaths and hospitalizations have all fallen sharply from January peaks, yet infection levels have plateaued this month, at about 55,000 new cases a day. While governors relax restrictions on businesses like bars, indoor gyms and casinos, highly infectious variants are spreading and some states, especially on the East Coast, have struggled for weeks to make any progress in reducing cases.
I think it is a race against time, said Dr. Stephen J. Thomas, SUNY Upstate Medical Universitys chief of infectious disease. Every single person that we can get vaccinated or every single person that we can get a mask on is one less opportunity that a variant has.
As parts of the country continue to see progress, many Americans are booking spring break trips, dining in newly reopened restaurants and replanning summer weddings that were abruptly canceled in 2020. On Friday, federal health officials relaxed a six-foot distancing rule for elementary school students, saying they need to only remain three feet apart in classrooms as long as everyone is wearing a mask. That move was intended to encourage more schools to open for in-person classes.
All the while, the path ahead and public guidance about how people should behave in this moment seems uncertain, even contradictory.
Though deaths have dropped considerably in New York, progress in reducing cases has stalled. The state has more recent cases per capita than everywhere except New Jersey, and the New York City metro area has the countrys second-highest rate of new infections, behind only Idaho Falls, Idaho.
People will be reckless, I dont know how else to say it, said Carol Greenberg, a pet care worker in Jersey City, N.J., who said she worried that people were starting to act in ways that did not accurately reflect the number of new virus cases in that state, where more than 26,000 new infections were reported in the seven-day period ending Thursday.
Ms. Greenberg, 61, has been fully vaccinated, but her adult children have not, and she said she wondered whether all the reopening announcements of late were wise. In recent days, Gov. Phil Murphy urged a return to in-person instruction at New Jersey schools and announced a loosening of restrictions at restaurants, bars, salons and other businesses.
No vaccine has yet been authorized for use in people under 16, though trials are underway to see if they are safe and effective in children.
Epidemiologists said they viewed the current moment in the pandemic as a sprint between vaccinations and newly confirmed cases of the virus, particularly infections that are spreading because of variants that can be more contagious. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert, warned Friday that its really quite risky to declare victory before you have the level of infection in the community to a much, much lower level than 53,000 cases per day.
So it is unfortunate, but not surprising, to me that you are seeing increases in number of cases per day in areas cities, states or regions even though vaccines are being distributed at a pretty good clip of 2 to 3 million per day, Dr. Fauci said.
In Chicago, where students in the nations third-largest public school system have returned to classrooms, and where parks, bars and movie theaters are reopened, city officials announced that restaurant employees, construction workers and people who have pre-existing health conditions would be newly eligible for vaccination by the end of March. Cook County, which includes Chicago, has averaged between 600 and 700 cases each day for nearly a month, down from about 4,500 cases a day at its November peak.
Weve weathered a lot of storms over the course of this year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago said after visiting a vaccination site this week. Weve got to stay diligent. Weve got to continue to work hard. But we are moving exactly in the right directions.
March 19, 2021, 8:12 p.m. ET
Still, the citys usual outsize enthusiasm for observing a springtime ritual going out on St. Patricks Day was muted, at best. On Wednesday, few pedestrians were wandering on downtown streets, typically packed with revelers on the holiday. The Chicago River had been dyed its traditional bright shade of green, but the popular Riverwalk alongside it was nearly empty.
Jacob Roberts, 29, was downtown on Wednesday, taking a vacation from his home in Washington State. The trip to Chicago was a bucket-list visit he had always wanted to take.
I was cooped up in Washington and getting sick of everybody looking kind of down in the dumps, he said. But its honestly the same thing everywhere you look right now.
Though tourism has yet to return in force in places like New York and Chicago, the countrys outlook in battling the virus appears far better than when winter began.
No state is reporting case numbers anywhere near record levels, and the sort of explosive case growth seen in hard-hit areas through 2020 has almost completely abated. Kansas is averaging about 215 new coronavirus cases a day, down from more than 2,000 in early January. In California, around 2,900 cases are reported most days, down from about 40,000 in mid-January. And North Dakota, which has the countrys most known cases per capita, is now regularly adding fewer than 100 cases a day, in a state with a population of 762,000.
A projection by the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suggests that coronavirus cases will continue to slowly decline in the United States in the coming months.
But with most Americans still unvaccinated and variants continuing to spread, there are warning signs in the data. Vermont, which escaped the worst of the pandemic in 2020, has struggled all of this year to curb an outbreak. Michigan, which had appeared to bring the virus under control in January, has seen case numbers increase by more than 80 percent over the last two weeks, though they remain well below their December peak. In South Florida, infection levels have remained persistently high, with about 1,000 cases reported each day in a single county, Miami-Dade.
Even in states where the virus appeared far from under control, officials have proceeded to lift restrictions on businesses, and companies have pushed for reopenings. On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced that indoor fitness classes may resume on March 22. In Southern California, where cases peaked early this winter, officials at Disneyland said that after more than a year of being closed, the theme park would open on April 30 with rules in place limiting capacity.
Around the country, some people said they were hesitant to dive back into old routines, even if their elected officials have indicated that it is permissible to do so.
I used to be regular at a gym twice a week or so, and I havent been since last February at all, said Paul Eustice, 64, who lives in downtown Chicago. I will not go in there where people are breathing heavily.
Last week, air travel in the United States rose to its highest level since the pandemic hit, and airline executives said that bookings in the coming months indicate an eagerness from Americans to begin traveling in large numbers again.
Some of them are among the newly vaccinated.
Since vaccinations began in December, the federal government has delivered more than 154 million vaccine doses, and about 77 percent have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Friday, 67 percent of the countrys older population had received at least one vaccine dose, according to C.D.C. data, with 40 percent fully vaccinated.
A majority of states have said they will expand vaccine eligibility to their general population on or before May 1, the deadline that Mr. Biden set last week, and officials have spoken more openly about what life might be like when the pandemic ends.
As more Montanans get the vaccine, Gov. Greg Gianforte said as he announced that all Montana adults would be eligible April 1, we will begin to approach the time when we are no longer in a state of emergency and we can remove our masks and throw them in the trash.
Contributing reporting were Brandon Dupr from Chicago, Will Wright from Jersey City, N.J., Danielle Ivory, Alex Lemonides and Isabella Grulln Paz from New York, Alyssa Burr from Muskegon, Mich., and Zach Montague and Sheryl Gay Stolberg from Washington.
Usually Steve Smyka wouldnt be the one pressing linen at the Cedar Rapids Marriott every day. Hed be a little busy running the hotel.
But during coronavirus pandemic, even the general manager has his hands on the laundry.
Now were doing 10 jobs as opposed to the normal five, Smyka said.
Its part of whats been a challenging past 12 months for the hotel industry, with coronavirus wreaking havoc on the travel industry.
Ravi Patel, president of Coralville-based Hawkeye Hotels, said hotels were at all-time highs in occupancy, average daily rate, revenue per room and other metrics before the coronavirus.
Then came a very, very disappointing start to the pandemic. Hawkeye Hotels, which has properties across the country, lost 90 percent of its top-line revenue in the first month of the pandemic, he said.
Patel said the hardships affected each region differently.
We have properties in the South that have been rebounding much quicker than properties in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, in areas like that, he said.
In places such as Iowa City or Des Moines, Patel said demand is pretty severely depressed. University-related hotel stays have been down in Iowa City, and business travel is slow in Des Moines.
Patel and Smyka both noted a boost in business in Cedar Rapids, though, after the Aug. 10 derecho.
That wouldve been a pretty tough market for us, Patel said. But then there was some increased demand through recovery efforts after the derecho.
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At first, that came from people whose houses were uninhabitable. Then construction crews, recovery workers, contractors and others moved in.
It was fruitful for a while there, Smyka recalled. It was the silver lining of yet another crisis in 2020.
Across the country, extended-stay hotels have been quite a bit better than single-night hotels, Patel said. The derecho added to that in Iowa.
Youth sports tournaments also have provided a bright spot for hotels near youth sports venues.
When a youth baseball tournament is at Prospect Meadows in Marion, Smyka said it often results in another 50 to 100 rooms filled in the 220-room Cedar Rapids Marriott. Other days, its not so crowded.
Its very hit or miss, Smyka said.
Matt Traetow, the area general manager for Hotel Equities, has seen a similar trend with youth tournaments at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. Traetow manages the Homewood Suites across the street from Xtream Arena as well as managing the Home2 Suites also in Coralville.
We had three days of sellouts because of the events going on last week, Traetow said.
But when youth sports tournaments arent happening, the outlook is bleaker.
Business travel is slowly, slowly starting to gain a little, but thats going to take a while, Traetow said.
Business travel usually would be north of 80 percent of the hotels business, Traetow said. Now, it is about 50 percent.
Even with youth sporting events, Smyka said occupancy is far from pre-pandemic levels.
At the end of the day, were still talking less than half of what it would normally be, Smyka said.
Its funny because I hear myself getting excited about half of the occupancy I was doing at this time last year.
Patel expects the first quarter of 2021, from January to March, to look much like the last quarter of 2020.
Everyone was thinking as soon as 2021 rolled around, wed see a big bump, Patel said. That hasnt happened yet. ... We still have not seen the consumer confidence and the receptivity to travel yet.
But looking farther ahead, hoteliers are optimistic about the industry as vaccine rollout continues.
President Joe Biden told states that all adults should be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine by May 1. Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday said all of-age Iowans should be eligible to receive the vaccine starting April 5.
Jay Anderkin, general manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton in downtown Cedar Rapids, said bookings in the area have grown stronger with each passing month.
Anderkin pointed to high school graduations, the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships and NJCAA Volleyball Championships as some of the upcoming events that should help his property and others in Cedar Rapids.
Smyka said the Cedar Rapids Marriott has been getting many calls about future events.
Theyre inquiring and theyre calling on fire, Smyka said. We cant field the calls fast enough.
Hes still short-staffed, though, as the hotel works to bring back employees.
You cant snap your fingers and bring people back, Smyka said.
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Before the pandemic, Smyka usually would have 140 employees at the Cedar Rapids Marriott. Now he has 53, causing him to take on untypical roles such as pressing linen.
At the same time, those event calls hes taking might not pan out right away.
Theyre still booking farther out on events, Smyka said. As they draw nearer, theyre still skittish.
While some industries such as financial services are nearing pre-pandemic levels of employment, the leisure and hospitality still is down 26,800 jobs between January 2020 and January 2021, according to data from Iowa Workforce Development.
Patel said his hotels have been bringing laid-off employees back pretty quickly in anticipation of the demand thats going to be here this summer and fall.
The company also is continuing to proceed with future hotel projects, which in some cases may not be ready to open until 2023.
We continue to plan to be very active and very bullish as we always have been, Patel said.
Hawkeye Hotels has needed to borrow money from local lenders while also taking advantage of federal programs such as the Payroll Protection Program.
Without that, we would be in a very, very different situation, Patel said.
Even with the anticipated uptick in hotel demand, hoteliers expect a longer wait until travel returns to 2019 levels.
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For us to get back to 85 percent to 90 percent of where we were pre-pandemic, its going to be well into 2022, Patel said. And probably not a full recovery until 2023, 2024.
In the meantime, Smyka has found one task that gives him a break kind of.
When I drive airline crews to the airport, its the only time I get to sit down and relax, Smyka said.
I actually look forward to get to drive to the airport uninterrupted for a little bit.
Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com
One year ago, Caron Eaton was so sick she couldnt walk to her bathroom without losing her breath.
It was a foreign feeling for a 57-year-old woman who raised twin daughters as a single mom, works two jobs and rarely takes a sick day.
COVID-19 was still a foreign concept to most people when Eaton got sick. She thought there was no way she could have contracted the disease that, at the time, was largely associated with foreign travel.
A trip to the doctor confirmed the threat was real, and it was on Rock Countys doorstep. Eaton had the countys first confirmed case of COVID-19.
Words such as quarantine, isolation, social distancing and contact tracing became part of the nations vernacular over the past year, but for Eaton, the words were part of her everyday life sooner than for almost everyone else she knew.
Today, Eaton is eager to get back out into the world, to travel and to spend time with those she loves.
But COVID-19 continues to live with her, and some symptoms refuse to go away.
I just dont feel like I did before COVID, Eaton said.
Since Eaton tested positive, more than 14,500 other Rock County residents have also tested positiveand the number keeps growing.
Of those, 163 have died and many more were hospitalized.
Health officials say Rock County is moving in the right direction, but relaxing safety guidelines too quickly could mean more people will get sick like Eaton did.
A March to remember
On March 8, 2020, Eaton traveled to Elgin, Illinois, to attend a trade show for her second job selling Paparazzi jewelry.
She remembers feeling sick and having a horrible cough two days later. She stayed home from work, something she said she hardly ever does.
Days later, she saw a doctor, who recommended she be tested for COVID-19.
It took days of being sick before Eaton started to consider she might have the disease. She said she felt sick in a way she never had before, and something inside her just felt different.
Tests for influenza and COVID-19 both came back positive, Eaton said.
It wasnt long before the entire county knew about Eatonnot by name, but by the disease that left her hardly able to care for herself.
The Rock County Public Health Department announced news of the first case March 19, 2020. Mercyhealth confirmed the next day that the case involved an employee.
Eaton has worked at Mercyhealth for 10 years as a financial counselor for cancer patientsa job she said she absolutely loves.
While Eaton contracted the first confirmed local case of COVID-19, it is impossible to know whether she was the first to bring the coronavirus to the county because testing for the virus was limited at the time. For weeks before that, health officials advised the community to act as if the virus was presentbecause it likely already was.
Backlash
Eaton now belongs to a group of thousands of people who can relate to her experience. But she felt alone when she was sick and isolating at home with her 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, helping to care for her.
News of the first positive case of COVID-19 started spreading online even before Eaton got off her first phone call with a health department nurse, she said.
Eaton didnt tell many people about her positive test because it was hard to find anyone who could relate to her. The reaction she saw from strangers online was so negative that she said she stopped using Facebook for about a week.
One man spouted off about how angry he was at Eaton for traveling to Illinois. Eaton recalled another woman writing that she had the right to know Eatons home address so the woman could sit outside Eatons house to make sure Eaton didnt leave.
It was surprising to see such negativity from strangers, she said.
March 2020 was a scary time for people, Eaton said, and hardly anyone understood what the country would be up against. She encourages people to be patient with those who have or have had COVID-19 because the disease affects everyone differently. And for some, it sticks around.
Symptoms that stay
Eaton was so sick at times during her isolation that she worried she would need to be hospitalized. She tried as hard as she could to avoid it because the thought if being hooked to a ventilator horrified her.
Of all confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rock County, 5%about 728 peoplehave been hospitalized, according to county health data.
After two weeks, Eaton felt better and experienced what she called a honeymoon phase. She felt like she had recovered.
Eventually, COVID-19 symptoms began creeping back. She had difficulty breathing, muscle pain, joint pain and brain fog.
Eaton remembers being so tired that she had to close her office door and nap during her lunch break.
The brain fog caused her to forget things quickly and sometimes feel disconnected from a conversation, she said.
Some of Eatons Paparazzi clients reached out to her after virtual events because Eaton would hold up one piece of jewelry while describing a different piece.
Eaton said her symptoms persisted through most of September before finally letting up.
Even after a year, she still feels occasional muscle and joint pain and fatigue.
Eaton said she worries when she reads stories about possible long-term effects for people who have had COVID-19.
Health officials worldwide are still trying to understand what COVID-19 might do to peoples bodies long term, if anything. Eaton doesnt want her fear or symptoms to keep holding her back.
As a single mom, I learned over the years ... you just have to keep going no matter what, Eaton said. That is where my mentality comes from.
Living again
Eaton said she jumped at the opportunity get vaccinated for COVID-19. She thought it was important because of her health care job and that it would allow her to get back to fully living again.
As of Thursday afternoon, 21.9% of Rock County residents have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state health department.
Health officials agree the vaccine is the best way to fight the virus and get life back to normal.
State health officials expect to offer the vaccine to all people older than 16 on May 1.
Eaton has big plans on the horizon. She had planned to visit Amsterdam with a friend in 2020, but that was canceled because of the pandemic. Now she plans to tour five European countries in 2022 and hopes to take trips to visit her daughter Sammi, who will soon be based on Coronado Island off the coast of Southern California with the U.S. Navy.
She said she continues to live with waves of COVID-19 symptoms, but she is learning each day how to cope with them.
I am tired of staying at home, she said. It is time I start living again.
BATAVIA Active COVID-19 cases again increased above 200 on Friday in the GLOW region.
A total of 57 new cases were reported Friday, along with 42 recoveries.
The number of active cases increased to 206. That compared to 194 active cases on Thursday and 176 active cases on Wednesday.
In the meantime, the Finger Lakes Vaccine Hub just launched a Finger Lakes Vaccine Finder to help those seeking vaccination. Find it at flvaccinehub.org/getting-your-vaccine/-vaccine-finder.
Heres a county-by-county look at the data.
Genesee County on Friday reported 36 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 4,516 cases since the pandemic arrived in the region in March.
The new cases include people under the age of 20 and in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 80s. They include people in the countys western, central and eastern regions.
Two of the new positive individuals are inmates at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center.
The county also reported nine new recoveries, bringing its total to 3,949.
In Genesee County, 13,222 residents, or 23.0 percent of the population, have received at least one vaccine dose; 7,202 residents have completed the vaccine series.
Of the 83 active cases, one is hospitalized.
New York state is reporting a total of 120 COVID-19-related deaths in Genesee County.
There have been 107,744 total tests for the virus conducted in Genesee County. The results include 103,228 negative tests for an infection rate among those tested of 4.19 percent.
Orleans County reported six new positive cases for a total of 2,504 since the pandemic began.
The individuals are under the age of 20 and in their 40s and 50s. They include people in the countys eastern, central and western regions. One of the new positive individuals was under mandatory quarantine prior to testing positive.
The county reported seven new recoveries for a total of 2,107.
In Orleans County, 7,587 residents, or 18.7 percent of county residents, have received at least one vaccine dose; 3,623 residents have completed the vaccine series.
Among the 41 active cases in Orleans County, three are hospitalized, according to county health officials.
The state is reporting Orleans County has had 82 COVID-related deaths.
To date, there have been 57,855 total tests conducted for county residents, with 55,351 of them negative, for an infection rate of 4.33 percent among those tested.
Wyoming County reported six new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing its overall total to 2,248 community cases since the pandemic began, according to the Wyoming County Health Department.
Three are from the northwest quadrant, which includes Attica, Bennington, Orangeville and Sheldon; one is from the southwest quadrant, which includes Arcade, Eagle, Java and Wethersfield; one is from the southeast quadrant, which includes Castile, Gainesville, Genesee Falls and Pike; and one is from the northeast quadrant, which includes Covington, Middlebury, Perry and Warsaw.
Two of the new cases are under the age of 20, one in his or her 20s, one in his or her 30s, one in his or her 40s, and one in his or her 60s.
There were no new cases at state correctional facilities in Wyoming County. Those facilities have had a total of 509 cases. The cases at state correctional facilities are managed by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and are not included in the Wyoming County total.
As of Friday, the county had 26 active cases under mandatory isolation, 111 people in mandatory quarantine, and 14 in precautionary quarantine after traveling out-of-state. In Wyoming County, 8,596 residents or 21.4 percent of county residents, have received at least one vaccine dose; 4,423 residents have completed the vaccine series.
The number of recoveries increased by 12, bringing the countys total to 2,173.
Wyoming Countys death total is being reported at 49 by county health officials. That is same number the state Department of Health is reporting.
To date, there have been 63,854 total tests conducted for county residents, with 61,606 of them negative, for an infection rate of 3.52 percent among those tested.
The Livingston County Department of Public Health reported nine new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, increasing its overall total to 3,850.
There are 56 active cases among Livingston County residents, according to the countys COVID-19 tracking map, marking an decrease of five since Thursday.
There have been no hospitalizations since Feb. 24, according to county health data.
Livingston County also recorded 14 new recoveries, bringing its total to 3,750.
Active cases include 21 in Geneseo; nine in Mount Morris (up one); seven in Caledonia; four in Livonia; three in Hemlock (down four); two each in Conesus and Groveland (up one); and single cases in Avon (down one), Dalton, Dansville (down one), Lakeville, Leicester, Lima (down one), Nunda (down one), and Piffard (new).
The county has reported 44 COVID-19-related deaths, according to the county tracking map. New York state has logged 57 deaths in Livingston County.
Livingston County has administered 106,764 tests for COVID-19 among county residents. The results include 102,914 negative results, according to the countys COVID-19 tracking map. The infection rate among those tested is 3.61 percent.
SUNY Geneseo reported 22 active cases among its college community on Friday, according to the SUNY Geneseo COVID-19 tracker. That represents no change compared to Thursday.
A total of 63 people were in mandatory quarantine with 22 in precautionary quarantine. Fourteen people were isolating off-campus, while eight were isolating on-campus, according to SUNYs COVID-19 tracker.
For Immediate Release: March 19, 2021
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first machine learning-based Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) non-diagnostic screening device that identifies certain biomarkers that are indicative of some types of conditions, such as hypercoagulation (a condition causing blood to clot more easily than normal).
The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is intended for use by trained personnel to help prevent exposure to and spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The device identifies certain biomarkers that may be indicative of SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as other hypercoagulable conditions (such as sepsis or cancer) or hyper-inflammatory states (such as severe allergic reactions), in asymptomatic individuals over the age of 5. The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is designed for use following a temperature reading that does not meet criteria for fever in settings where temperature check is being conducted in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local institutional infection prevention and control guidelines. This device is not a substitute for a COVID-19 diagnostic test and is not intended for use in individuals with symptoms of COVID-19.
The FDA is committed to continuing to support innovative methods to fight the COVID-19 pandemic through new screening tools, said Jeff Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health. Combining use of this new screening device, that can indicate the presence of certain biomarkers, with temperature checks could help identify individuals who may be infected with the virus, thus helping to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in a wide variety of public settings, including healthcare facilities, schools, workplaces, theme parks, stadiums and airports. The device is an armband with embedded light sensors and a small computer processor. The armband is wrapped around a persons bare left arm above the elbow during use. The sensors first obtain pulsatile signals from blood flow over a period of three to five minutes. Once the measurement is completed, the processor extracts some key features of the pulsatile signals, such as pulse rate, and feeds them into a probabilistic machine learning model that has been trained to make predictions on whether the individual is showing certain signals, such as hypercoagulation in blood. Hypercoagulation is known to be a common abnormality in COVID-19 patients. The result is provided in the form of different colored lights used to indicate if an individual is demonstrating certain biomarkers, or if the result is inconclusive.
The clinical performance of the Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor was studied in hospital and school settings. The hospital study, which was considered a validation study, enrolled 467 asymptomatic individuals, including 69 confirmed positive cases, and demonstrated that the Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor had a positive percent agreement (proportion of the COVID-19 positive individuals identified correctly by the device to possess certain biomarkers) of 98.6% and a negative percent agreement (proportion of the COVID-19 negative individuals identified correctly by the device to not possess certain biomarkers) of 94.5%. The school study, which was considered a confirmatory study, showed similar performance.
The Tiger Tech COVID Plus Monitor is not a diagnostic device and must not be used to diagnose or exclude SARS-CoV-2 infection. The device is intended for use on individuals without a fever. An individuals underlying condition may interfere with the COVID-19 related performance of the device and could lead to an incorrect screening result.
The FDA issued the EUA to Tiger Tech Solutions, Inc.
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.
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03/19/2021
STOCKHOLM (AP) The coronavirus brought a year of fear and anxiety, loneliness and lockdown, and illness and death, but an annual report on happiness around the world released Friday suggests the pandemic has not crushed peoples spirits.
The editors of the 2021 World Happiness Report found that while emotions changed as the pandemic set in, longer-term satisfaction with life was less affected.
What we have found is that when people take the long view, theyve shown a lot of resilience in this past year, Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs, one of the reports co-author, said from New York.
The annual report, produced by the U.N Sustainable Development Solutions Network, ranks 149 countries based on gross domestic product per person, healthy life expectancy and the opinions of residents. Surveys ask respondents to indicate on a 1-10 scale how much social support they feel they have if something goes wrong, their freedom to make their own life choices, their sense of how corrupt their society is and how generous they are.
Due to the pandemic, the surveys were done in slightly fewer than 100 countries for this years World Happiness Report, the ninth one compiled since the project started. Index rankings for the other nations were based on estimates from past data.
The results from both methods had European countries occupying nine of the top 10 spots on the list of the words happiest places, with New Zealand rounding out the group. The top 10 countries are Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Austria.
It was the fourth consecutive year that Finland came out on top. The United States, which was at No. 13 five years ago, slipped from 18th to 19th place. On a shortened list ranking only those countries surveyed, the U.S. placed 14th.
We find year after year that life satisfaction is reported to be happiest in the social democracies of northern Europe, Sachs said. People feel secure in those countries, so trust is high. The government is seen to be credible and honest, and trust in each other is high.
Finlands comparative success in curbing COVID-19 may have contributed to the enduring trust the countrys people have in their government. The country took rapid and extensive measures to stop the spread of the virus and has one of Europes lowest COVID-19 mortality rates.
In Finland as well, of course, people have been suffering, Anu Partanen, author of The Nordic Theory of Everything said on Friday in Helsinki. But again in Finland and the Nordic countries, people are really lucky because society still supports a system buffering these sorts of shocks.
Overall, the index showed little change in happiness levels compared to last years report, which was based on information from before the pandemic.
We asked two kinds of questions. One is about the life in general, life evaluation, we call it. How is your life going? The other is about mood, emotions, stress, anxiety, Sachs said. Of course, were still in the middle of a deep crisis. But the responses about long-term life evaluation did not change decisively, though the disruption in our lives was so profound.
Issues that affect the well-being of people living in the United States include racial tensions and growing income inequality between the richest and poorest residents, happiness experts say.
As for why the U.S. ranks much lower than other similarly or even less wealthy countries, the answer is straightforward, said Carol Graham, an expert at The Brookings Institution who was not involved in the report. The U.S. has larger gaps in happiness rankings between the rich and the poor than do most other wealthy countries.
Report co-author Sonja Lyubormirsky, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, noted that American culture prizes signs of wealth such as big houses and multiple cars more so than other countries, and material things dont make us as happy.
Conversely, peoples perception that their country was handling the pandemic well contributed to an overall rise in well-being, Columbias Sachs said. Several Asian countries fared better than they had in last years rankings; China moved to 84th place from 94th last year.
This has been a difficult period. People are looking past it when they look for the long term. But there are also many people that are suffering in the short run, he said.
Finnish philosopher Esa Saarinen, who was not involved in the report, thinks the Finnish character itself might help explain why the country keeps leading the index.
I think Finns are pretty kind of content on some level at being just what we are, he said. We dont really have to be more.
Seth Borenstein in Washington D.C. contributed to this report.
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While a COVID-19 vaccine is available for adults, the kid version is still in clinical trials. But do children really need one? In short, yes.
Doctors cant always tell which children are more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19. A vaccine will lower their chances of serious complications. Itll also help protect older adults around them who are high risk.
In addition, children under 21 make up about 25% of the U.S. population. If many of them get a vaccine, the chance of herd immunity goes up. Thats when a lot of people are immune to a specific disease. If enough people are resistant to the cause of a disease, such as a virus or bacteria, it has no one to infect.
The FDA approved the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for those age 16 and older. The Moderna and Janssen vaccines are for those 18 and older. These vaccines still mainly target adults, but some states also prioritize older children with intellectual/developmental disabilities or other medical conditions.
Pfizer finished a clinical trial for children 12-15 years old and will soon start trials for younger ages. Moderna recently began vaccine studies for children 6 months to 11 years old and another for ages 12 to 17. Johnson & Johnson plans to start similar trials soon.
Once vaccines reach approval for all children, the rollout will probably be like the distribution seen in adults, with higher-risk groups going first.
Children werent a part of the original clinical trials because theyre generally not as vulnerable as adults. The majority of the deaths during the pandemic -- 92% -- have been people age 55 and older.
This doesnt mean that children are immune to COVID-19. They simply have a lower chance of serious complications from the virus.
Another reason trials focused on adults first was speed. There are more levels of protection when children are involved in clinical trials. So it made sense to study an adult vaccine first to move quickly.
Scientists also need more time to research childrens vaccines because their immune systems change fast. This means that a childs body might respond differently to a vaccine depending on their age. Itll take longer to study these differences to make sure the vaccines are safe.
We dont yet know if children can take a COVID-19 vaccine with another type of immunization. But the CDC recommends adults wait at least 2 weeks after COVID-19 vaccination before getting something else, if possible.
Heres what you can do in the meantime to keep your child safe, especially if theyre in a high-risk group:
SOURCES:
Cincinnati Childrens Hospital: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information | Vaccines: What You Need to Know.
American Academy of Pediatrics: Moderna testing COVID-19 vaccine in children under 12.
Cleveland Clinic: Why a COVID-19 Vaccine for Children May Take Longer.
Rabia Agha, MD, director, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Maimonides Medical Center, New York City.
FDA: COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions.
CDC: Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines Currently Authorized in the United States.
Pagination
New research from WHO and partners shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting the quality of care given to small and sick newborns, resulting in unnecessary suffering and deaths.
A study published in the Lancet EclinicalMedicine highlights the critical importance of ensuring newborn babies have close contact with parents after birth, especially for those born too small (at low birthweight) or too soon (preterm). However, in many countries, if COVID-19 infections are confirmed or suspected, newborn babies are being routinely separated from their mothers, putting them at higher risk of death and lifelong health complications.
This is especially the case in the poorest countries where the greatest number of preterm births and infant deaths occur. According to the report, disruptions to kangaroo mother care which involves close contact between a parent, usually a mother, and a newborn baby - will worsen these risks.
Up to 125 000 babies lives could be saved with full coverage of kangaroo mother care. For babies born preterm or at low birthweight, kangaroo mother care (early, prolonged skin-to-skin contact with a parent and exclusive breastfeeding) is particularly critical. Among infants born preterm or at low birthweight, kangaroo mother care has been shown to reduce infant deaths by as much as 40%, hypothermia by more than 70%, and severe infections by 65%.
Disruptions to essential health services during COVID-19 have severely affected the quality of care provided to some of the most vulnerable babies, and this includes their right to the lifesaving contact they need with their parents, said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at WHO. Decades of progress in reducing child deaths will be jeopardized unless we act now to protect and improve quality care services for mothers and newborns, and expand coverage of lifesaving interventions like kangaroo mother care.
WHO advises that mothers should continue to share a room with their babies from birth and be able to breastfeed and practice skin-to-skin contact even when COVID-19 infections are suspected or confirmed - and should be supported to ensure appropriate infection prevention practices.
Much more attention is needed to ensure health practitioners and policymakers globally are aware of the need to keep mothers and babies together in these critical early days, especially for babies born too small or too soon, said Queen Dube, Director of Health at the Ministry of Health in Malawi, one of the report authors. Kangaroo Mother Care is one of our most cost-effective ways to protect small and sick newborns. According to our analysis, these risks by far outweigh the small chance of a newborn baby getting severe disease from COVID-19.
Kangaroo mother care is among the best interventions to improve a premature or low birthweight babys chances of survival, especially in low-income countries, she added.
Evidence suggests that disruptions to kangaroo mother care may already be worryingly widespread. A systematic review of 20 clinical guidelines from 17 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic found that one-third recommended separation of mothers and newborns if the mother has or may have COVID-19. In a global survey of thousands of neonatal healthcare providers, published today in a related paper in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Global Health, two-thirds of health workers in 62 countries reported they do not allow mothers with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 to practice routine skin to skin contact, while nearly one-quarter did not allow breastfeeding, even by uninfected caregivers.
Studies have reported mainly no symptoms or mild disease from COVID-19 in infected newborns, with low risk of neonatal death. This new study estimates that the risk of newborns catching COVID-19 would result in fewer than 2000 deaths.
However, infection during pregnancy may result in increased risk of preterm birth, which means it is even more important to ensure the right care is given to support preterm babies and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the most recent estimates, 15 million babies are born preterm (before 37 weeks) each year and 21 million are born at low birthweight (under 2.5kg). These babies face significant health risks including disabilities, developmental delays and infections, while prematurity-related complications are the leading causes of death of newborns and children under 5.
About the study
WHO authors have contributed to the following paper: Preterm care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative risk analysis of neonatal deaths averted by kangaroo mother care versus mortality due to SARS-CoV-2 infection in The Lancet Eclinical Medicine. A related study by the COVID-19 Small and Sick Newborn Care Collaborative Group was published today in the British Medical Journal, Small and sick newborn care during the COVID-19 pandemic: global survey and thematic analysis of healthcare providers voices and experiences. BMJ GH. DOI:10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004347
The vast majority of healthcare professionals in emergency departments in the U.S. accepted COVID vaccination, according to a new study, yet still support masking and social distancing.
An overwhelming majority of health care personnel in hospital emergency departments have received a vaccine against COVID-19, according to findings published in Academic Emergency Medicine, the official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. The study showed that 95 percent of health care personnel were offered vaccination against COVID-19 within the first month of prioritized distribution to this high-risk group and 86 percent accepted vaccination.
The emergency department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham participated in the study, part of the COVID-19 Evaluation of Risks in Emergency Departments Project, or COVERED Project. Nearly 1,400 health care personnel in emergency medicine in 20 geographically diverse, highvolume urban U.S. academic medical centers were surveyed in January 2021.
Of 674 physicians or advanced practice providers, 95 percent accepted vaccination, while nursing staff had lower vaccine acceptance with 78 percent of 345 nurses receiving vaccination. Some vaccine hesitancy was also found among 302 nonclinical workers surveyed, with 76 percent accepting vaccination. The primary reason for declining a COVID19 vaccine was concern about vaccine safety, expressed by 45 percent of those who declined.
Other reasons for declining a vaccination included the individuals health condition, previous diagnosis of COVID-19 and pregnancy.
Following vaccination, 87 percent of the recipients reported feeling safer on the job and that their family members also felt safer.
Interestingly, approximately 90 percent of vaccinated recipients planned to continue using the same personal protective equipment on the job and in public, including wearing masks and observing other safety precautions, said Walt Schrading, M.D., a professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UAB and lead author of the study. This highlights the importance that these basic safety measures continue to play in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are only one piece of the armor which allows us to protect the public and decrease transmission.
Walt Schrading, M.D., UAB emergency physician and first author of the study.The study found that vaccine hesitancy was higher among health care providers of color, mirroring that which has been reported in the public. Schrading says non-Hispanic Black health care personnel had the lowest vaccine acceptance rate at 65 percent, and it was even lower in the Black non-clinical cohort. Vaccine acceptance rates were slightly lower among female employees than among male employees. Schrading notes that continuing efforts to overcome vaccine hesitancy in high-risk populations remain important.
Acceptance across age groups remained consistent, with a slight increase in acceptance among those employees age 65 and older.
SARSCoV2, the virus responsible for COVID19, has infected more than 29 million Americans, leading to over 535,000 deaths.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports over 378,000 cases of COVID19 in U.S. health care personnel with 1,286 deaths.By summer 2020, an estimated 4.6 percent of academic emergency department health care personnel had contracted COVID19.
Project COVERED was funded by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U01CK000480) and was supported by the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Iowa through a grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (UL1TR002537).
