As a young woman, pregnant and HIV-positive, Maurine Murenga did not have easy access to drugs that could save her life. Today she is an activist for equitable health-care. The global distribution of coronavirus vaccines is an issue of concern. Victor Chavez/Getty Images hide caption
As a young woman, pregnant and HIV-positive, Maurine Murenga did not have easy access to drugs that could save her life. Today she is an activist for equitable health-care. The global distribution of coronavirus vaccines is an issue of concern.
In 2001, Maurine Murenga was pregnant and HIV-positive. She was living in Kenya, and a counselor encouraged her to fill out a memory book. She wrote directions to her village, details about her family so that when she died, someone would know where to bury her and where to send her child.
"It was nothing like preparing," says Murenga. "It was actually preparing us for death."
What seemed so unfair to Murenga is that she knew that in the United States and in Europe, there were drugs that could save her life. Antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, had been widely available in the West since 1997, but they were too expensive for most Africans on the continent. Murenga became a vocal advocate, publicly disclosing her status, lobbying the Kenyan government and the world to make the life-saving drugs more accessible.
"It took a lot of pushing and pulling and wishing we could inject them with compassion to save lives," she says.
Over the next few years, countries like South Africa took principled stands, fighting against patents that kept countries from making more affordable, generic versions of the drugs. AIDS activists across the world banded together to lobby rich countries to end what many scientists called a crime against humanity.
"At least the world listened," Murenga says.
In the early 2000s, the U.S. launched PEPFAR, and an international coalition launched The Global Fund. The programs pumped billions of dollars into buying ARVs to distribute in low-resource countries, saving millions of lives.
As the coronavirus spread, Murenga thought the West would have learned from the HIV experience. But that hasn't happened, she says. "As usual, we are waiting for them to finish vaccinating their people so that they can now bring aid to the people of Africa."
"I think we are repeating some of the mistakes, and that is truly unacceptable," says Allan Maleche, who advocates for the legal rights of Kenyans with HIV. He says right now, rich countries are hoarding vaccines, poor countries are paying higher pricesfor them and the central lesson of the HIV epidemic - that if one person is vulnerable, everyone is vulnerable - seems lost.
"If you don't address both the rich and the poor countries, you will not be able to win the fight, beat for HIV, beat for TB or beat for COVID," he says.
Steven Thrasher, whose upcoming book deals with how marginalized people are disproportionately affected by viruses, calls the development of antiretroviral drugs "one of the great miracles of modern science." It made HIV easier to treat than diabetes. (The Viral Underclass: How Racism, Ableism and Capitalism Plague Humans on the Margins will be published next year.)
But he views the global response the creation of organizations like PEPFAR and The Global Fund more critically. Millions of lives were saved, but "it's been 25 years, and almost a million people a year still die of HIV."
Thrasher says the same thing is happening with the COVID vaccine. Cheaper generic vaccines are not currently available, and Africa is being left behind. And unlike the days of the HIV epidemic, there doesn't seem to be popular pressure to end this disparity. He recalls Zackie Achmat in South Africa. He was a film director who refused to take ARVs until poorer people could access them. Thrasher says that kind of empathy is in short supply these days.
"We're certainly not saying as a country," says Thrasher, who is American. "We're not going to take it until we make sure the poorer countries get it. We've been set into a scramble of trying to everyone trying to get it as quickly as they can.
As for Maurine Murenga, she eventually got the ARVs. Today she directs the Lean On Me Foundation in Nairobi, which is dedicated to the health, education and human rights of adolescent girls and young women.
And now the coronavirus crisis is part of her fight.
"We don't rest until ... lives have been saved," says Murenga.
It's what she did during the AIDS epidemic. It is what she'll do now.
As our public health officials closely monitor the emergence of these SARS-CoV-2 variants in our Commonwealth, it is critical that all Virginians comply now with mitigation measures, VDH stated in a release. We are in a race to stop the spread of these new variants. The more people that become infected, the greater that chance the virus will mutate and a variant will arise that could undermine the current vaccination efforts.
They include: Kay Ivey (R-AL), Mike Dunleavy (R-AK), Doug Ducey (R-AZ), Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Brian Kemp (R-GA), Brad Little (R-ID), Eric Holcomb (R-IN), Kim Reynolds (R-IA), Laura Kelly (D-KS), Tate Reeves (R-MS), Mike Parson (R-MO), Greg Gianforte (R-MT), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Chris Sununu (R-NH), Doug Burgum (R-ND), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Kevin Stitt (R-OK), Henry McMaster (R-SC), Kristi Noem (R-SD), Bill Lee (R-TN), Spencer Cox (R-UT) and Mark Gordon (R-WY).
Heres a look at major COVID-19 developments over the past week.
Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency Director James Stallings speaks to members of the press to give an update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
After weeks of pressure from frustrated parents and teacher groups, Kemp announced that the states roughly 450,000 educators and school staffers will join the pool of those eligible for vaccines on March 8, along with adults with intellectual disabilities and parents of children with complex medical conditions.
Kemp tied the expansion, which officials said will add an estimated 1 million more people to the vaccine pool, to resuming in-person classes in school districts that havent reopened.
Our children cannot afford to wait until the fall. The costs are simply too high, Kemp said. Georgians deserve to return to normal as soon as possible, and that will not happen without schoolhouse doors open for face-to-face instruction each and every day.
The governor and state health officials have been reluctant to move teachers up in the line, saying the scarce supply of vaccines already has made it difficult to inoculate Georgians who are 65 and older, plus other high-risk residents.
But hes now prepared to do so after seeing a partial state survey suggesting tepid demand for vaccines from educators, as well as a slight increase in the states supply of vaccines.
Before the announcement, the governor had faced tremendous outcry from teachers and parents angry that most educators have yet to receive vaccines in Georgia. They were upset about Kemps decision to move people age 65 and older from the third inoculation phase to the first, leapfrogging teachers in Phase 1b, who were set to be next in line.
While most school districts have resumed in-person learning, the governor has expressed increasing frustration at public school systems that havent. He urged administrators in those school systems not to wait until teachers are inoculated or until next school year.
Im not ordering schools to open, Kemp said. But, I believe now with this other tool, there should be no reason for us not to get kids back into the classroom.
Right now, the vaccine is limited to those who are 65 and older and their caregivers; first responders; health care workers; and staffers and residents of long-term care facilities. About 57% of older Georgians have received at least one dose of the vaccine, Kemp said.
Not eligible yet are other medically fragile Georgians, though the governor indicated they would be included in the next expansion.
In this file photo, DeKalb County Board of Health medical worker Sandra Armstead, right, explains a few possible symptoms of the COVID-19 vaccination to Army Veteran and Rockdale County resident Larry Mitchell. She administered the vaccine to him during a DeKalb County Board of Health and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority event at the Lou Walker Senior Center in Stonecrest. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
The governor said his decision to expand the pool was eased by a state Department of Education survey last week that found only 45% of educators would choose to take the vaccine, saying there wasnt as much demand as he expected.
The success of the vaccination plan also hinges on hopes that the states allotment of vaccines will continue to rise. Georgia now receives about 215,000 first doses of vaccine a week, up from about 150,000 earlier this month.
Overall, Georgia has administered nearly 1.9 million vaccinations. The state has the fifth-lowest vaccination rate among all states per 100,000 residents, according to CDC data.
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter recently got vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Credit: @CarterCenter/Twitter
Credit: @CarterCenter/Twitter
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife have been cleared to return to their church in Plains after being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Maranatha Baptist Church announced on its Facebook page that Carter, 96, and Rosalynn Carter, 93, were again attending worship in person. The couple has been in the sanctuary the last two Sundays, Pastor Tony Lowden said in a video.
The former president hasnt resumed teaching his Sunday school class. But video from last Sundays service showed both of the Carters sitting in their customary spots on the front pew and wearing face masks. The former president waved as members applauded their return.
Staff writers Eric Stirgus, Ty Tagami and Tim Darnell contributed to this article.
RICHMOND, Va. (WAVY) Delegate Jay Jones bill, which would allow first responders to receive a presumption for COVID-19 sickness under the states workers compensation system, is headed to Governor Ralph Northams desk.
HB 2077 passed both the House and the Senate this week. The bill establishes a presumption that in the event COVID-19 causes the death or disability of firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, and correctional officers, it is considered an occupational disease compensable under the Workers Compensation Act.
Our first responders have been on the front-lines of the pandemic for a year and they deserve the ability to make a workers compensation claim for COVID-19 if they were exposed on the job. Firefighters, law enforcement, and EMS providers have come into contact with COVID-19 far too often and we have an obligation to protect them, said Jones.
Jones office says that the Code of Virginia outlines workers compensation protections for first responders for ordinary diseases, but first responders have been unable to receive protections for COVID-19.
A statement released says that the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, the largest in the state, has seen more than 126 positive COVID-19 cases. Of those cases, only 14 have had Virginia-funded workers compensation benefits.
The current workers protections outlined in the Code of Virginia are inadequate and this is a simple but incredibly necessary fix that protects those who have sacrificed so much to keep the rest of us safe. Id like to offer my sincerest thanks to former Governor Terry McAuliffe for his efforts to secure the retroactive provision in this legislation, Jones continued.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health launched a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live. Michele Abercrombie/NPR hide caption
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health launched a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live.
The scramble to secure a COVID-19 vaccine appointment is chaotic and fierce. There are not yet enough doses for everyone who's eligible and wants to get vaccinated. As frustration rises, the federal government hasn't offered much besides assurances that things will get better and appeals for calm.
Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with Boston Children's Hospital and Castlight Health, is launching a new tool that allows Americans to search for COVID-19 vaccine providers with stock of vaccine where they live.
The tool, which builds on the existing VaccineFinder.org platform, will capture inventory data from vaccine providers around the country.
In most states, the initial launch is limited to certain providers those getting the vaccine directly from the federal government. In Alaska, Indiana, Iowa and Tennessee, the tool shows all the vaccine providers, including hospitals, clinics and public health vaccination sites.
Residents of those four states can look up their cities or ZIP codes and find an interactive map of all the places administering COVID-19 vaccines and see which ones have vaccine doses in stock.
"The idea is to show where COVID-19 vaccine providers [are] that are open to the public how to contact them, how to book an appointment, and try to show the daily inventory status so people are clear where there's vaccine and where there isn't," says John Brownstein, the founder of VaccineFinder and chief information officer at Boston Children's Hospital.
After the initial, limited launch, Brownstein says, more providers in more places "are expected to join in the coming days and weeks."
As the pool of eligible people has expanded beyond health care workers and nursing home residents, many states and counties have developed lists or maps of their own to show people which providers are administering shots. Volunteer-run efforts like FindAShot, VaccinateCA and COVIDWA have also sprung up to meet this need.
By contrast, VaccineFinder doesn't require manual input from volunteers it gathers stock information directly from health care providers, who are supposed to report their inventory every 24 hours.
This does not solve all the problems people currently have when trying to get a COVID-19 vaccine. States and counties still have a patchwork of approaches, with varied eligibility requirements, registration processes and waitlist systems. And even though you can see on VaccineFinder which providers near you have doses in stock and click through links to appointment sites, you still need to try your luck at a variety of places to actually secure an appointment.
"This is one baby step in the complex numbers of steps people have to take in order to get [a] vaccine, but we hope at least it will help reduce some of the noise and confusion that is out there," says Brownstein.
One concern is that even though providers are supposed to update their inventory to VaccineFinder every 24 hours they may not all do so consistently. If that happens, places that appear on the map to have doses in stock might actually not have any, says Claire Hannan, who leads the Association of Immunization Managers.
It's important that the site be reliable, she says, because otherwise people might show up at sites they think have available shots only to be disappointed. It's certainly helpful to see where vaccine supply is in your community, Hannan says, but how useful and reliable the site ends up being remains to be seen.
Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, agrees. "This idea has a lot of potential, but I think there's still some questions about what will it be like in practice?"
Another issue is that the site doesn't help people who are clamoring for the vaccine but are not yet eligible the problem of demand, Hannan explains. "It's not connected to a centralized system that would manage the demand and put you in a place in line," she says. "I think that's what's missing."
VaccineFinder is not brand new. It actually began after the H1N1 pandemic nine years ago, Brownstein says, and has been used in the years since to help people find seasonal flu shots, travel shots and whatever other vaccines they might need. "We think that with better convenience and access to vaccines, the more that people will be willing to to get them," he says
Brownstein says a team of about 15 people at Boston Children's Hospital along with 25 staff at subcontractor Castlight, a digital health company have been working feverishly to launch the site for COVID-19 vaccines, while navigating the fact that, at the moment, vaccine supply is relatively low and eligibility is limited. These facts both constrain how useful the tool can be at this point.
The supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses is increasing. The Biden administration says it's now sending out 14.5 million doses a week to states, an increase of 70% since inauguration. If that trend continues, more slots will be available and more providers like clinics, pharmacies and doctors' offices will be able to begin distributing vaccine doses as well.
When the site is fully launched, Brownstein says, there are plans in the works to share VaccineFinder data about where vaccine providers are located and which have shots available with other online partners.
People will be able to find VaccineFinder's information on sites like Google Maps, Waze or GoodRx, "and those numbers of partners are going to grow," Brownstein says. "So it's not just about coming to the website, but meeting consumers where they are and making sure that anybody who's looking for a vaccine knows where to find them."
If all goes well, Americans can look forward to a time when vaccine doses are abundant and everyone is eligible, and it's easy to find local clinics or pharmacies with vaccine doses nearby, and head over to get a shot.
LANSING, MI - COVID-19 relief. Health care reform. Financial disclosures from state lawmakers.
The pace picked up in the Michigan State Capitol this week, with the Senate approving $1.9 billion in COVID-19 relief along partisan lines and the House introducing new legislative pushes to intervene in the prescription drug market.
In committees, lawmakers discussed investigating COVID-19 nursing home policy and questioned Gov. Gretchen Whitmers choice to lead the state health department.
Heres a look at Lansing happenings from the week of Feb. 22-26.
Sen. Jim Stamas listens as votes are taken at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on Thursday, April 25, 2019. Neil Blake | MLive.comNeil Blake | MLive.com
Michigan Senate approves $1.9 billion COVID-19 relief plan amid fierce debate
The Michigan Senate approved more than $1.9 billion in COVID-19 supplemental appropriations Thursday, opting to provide piecemeal funding to various sectors affected by the pandemic.
Senate bills 29 and 114 were passed partisan lines 20-15 during the Feb. 25 session. The two bills would appropriate mostly federal dollars to fund vaccine distribution, COVID-19 testing, emergency rental assistance, school aid, plus an extension and increase on direct care worker payments.
The $1.9 billion package is about a third of Gov. Gretchen Whitmers initial $5.6 billion supplemental proposal.
Read more: Michigan Senate approves $1.9 billion for vaccine distribution, direct care worker payments, school aid
The vote took multiple hours to complete, in part due to debate over a provision that removes the state from sending vaccines to regions based on race, socioeconomic level, age and 12 other factors.
The removal of the states Social Vulnerability Index was introduced by Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who argued that the index creates inefficiencies in getting seniors the vaccine and his proposal is about fairness.
Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, argued Wednesday during the Senate Appropriations Committee that the current index distributes vaccines to communities more if you have minority status and you dont speak English that well than for someone who is over 65 years old.
The vaccine is not currently available for general public use.
I dont care what race they are. I dont care what ethnicity they are. I dont care what language they speak. These are the people who are vulnerable to die, Runestad said, referencing senior residents.
Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, called the amendment from Republicans racist bulls---.
Some of the same people pushing to deny using the SVI are among those who pushed against the most basic practice of wearing masks when around others, Geiss wrote in multiple posts on Twitter, who framed COVID early on as Black people were getting sick and dying as a Detroit problem, who said things like build a wall around Southeast Michigan, who fought the governor tooth & nail every step of the way claiming they had no legislative power but never introduced any meaningful legislation around addressing the pandemic. But now, suddenly, are demanding that the state ignore the most vulnerable communities. Its a bunch of racist bulls---.
Several amendments from Democrats put forward on the floor were voted down.
Senate begins vetting DHHS director
The Senate Advice and Consent Committee began its vetting process for new Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel this week, who on Thursday told lawmakers the state is headed in the right direction on COVID-19 while asserting her departments authority to respond to it.
In the instance of a public health crisis or a public health emergency, its absolutely the responsibility of the state health department to take action and have that authority, she said.
Hertel, a former deputy director in the department, was Gov. Gretchen Whitmers pick to lead the MDHHS after former director Robert Gordon abruptly announced his resignation on Twitter last month. Its currently the highest-profile role subject to the Senates advice and consent process, which gives the chamber 60 days to reject certain gubernatorial appointees by majority vote.
Whether Hertels appointment wins approval from a majority of senators remains unclear. Senate Republicans have used the advice and consent process to reject 18 Whitmer appointees this year as a show of disapproval against the Whitmer administrations COVID-19 response.
The Advice and Consent Committee is expected to meet with Hertel again next week for further questioning.
Related: Michigan headed in right direction on COVID-19, MDHHS director says during Senate vetting
Joint resolution passes House, Senate buries in committee
On Wednesday, the Michigan House cleared a resolution to overhaul how lame duck works, voting 102-7 to require a two-thirds vote on any bill taken up after November general elections in even years.
The resolution is sponsored by Michigan House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, and is part of his overall push to improve government transparency and ethics laws. He and other supporters of the lame-duck change such as Rep Terry Sabo, D-Muskegon, have said it would help prevent term-limited lawmakers from making major partisan policy changes at the last minute.
We have a problem when it comes to transparency and trust, and this is a great step out of many to help fix that, he said. Ive seen over the years, some pretty terrible lame duck activity...its just not the way the state government should be operating.
House Joint Resolution A was sent to the Senates Government Operations Committee.
Rep. David LaGrand speaks from the House Chamber floor at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing on Thursday, April 25, 2019.Neil Blake | MLive.com
Elected officials in Michigan would disclose financial records in new House bill
Michigan lawmakers are reengaging on an effort to mandate elected officials to fill out financial disclosure forms.
A previous effort fizzled in 2019, when a similar legislative package spearheaded by Rep. David LaGrand, D-Grand Rapids, failed to reach the House floor for a vote despite approval from House Elections and Ethics Committee.
LaGrand and a bipartisan group of House representatives are trying again to address the states lagging transparency rankings.
Michigan is one of two states and the only one with a full-time legislature with no requirement for state public officials to disclose basic financial information, including income sources, business investments, gifts and travel compensation. Michigan ranked last in the Center for Public Integritys 2015 State Integrity Investigation, a wide-ranging 2015 report that documented several facets of each states transparency laws.
Michigan House battling health care insurance industry to control drug prices
A bipartisan group of state House representatives on Wednesday introduced health care reforms that aim to cap costs on medications and improve transparency in the price-setting process.
The 15-bill package, sponsored by 10 Republicans and five Democrats, would attempt to control prescription drug pricing through various methods, including capping co-pays on medications such as insulin, regulating the middlemen between health insurers and drug manufacturers and requiring more reporting on how hospitals, pharmacies and insurers set prices.
A full list of the proposed reforms can be viewed here.
Read more: Michigan House package aims to curb skyrocketing prescription drug, health care costs
MDHHS director declines to committee invite to discuss nursing home policies
Despite an invitation from the House Oversight Committee, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director Elizabeth Hertel declined to attend a Thursday hearing.
She instead sent a letter stating that the state has done an exemplary job of collecting, tracking and validating data on nursing homes.
Oversight Chair Rep. Steven Johnson, R-Wayland, wants several more questions answered, including how many long-term care facility residents died in nursing facilities versus hospitals and why the states numbers differ from the CDCs reporting on the state.
Johnson also alluded to New Yorks nursing home situation, where the state led by Governor Andrew Cuomo has underreported nursing home deaths according to the Associated Press.
These questions must be answered by our governor and DHHS, Johnson wrote in a statement. They continue to claim our state has the most accurate data yet have not supplied us with what we have been asking for weeks. The Oversight Committee also heard compelling testimony from residents that showed just how disastrous these nursing home policies are. Its time the Governor and DHHS listen to the people of Michigan.
Election reforms recommended by Auditor General make it out of committee
The Auditor General recommended in a 2019 a series of election reforms that included cleaning up the qualified voter files list of names, ensuring better training of local clerks and improving campaign finance reporting.
Three Republicans and two Democrats in the House sponsored five bills to address these problems. The same bills died in the last legislative session, but have made it out of the Election and Ethics committee for a future vote on the House floor.
House bills 4127-4131 would:
Related: Michigan Republicans want election reform. That usually means opposing absentee ballot expansion
Democrats push for expanded unemployment benefits
A group of House and Senate Democrats rolled out legislation aimed at increasing the duration of unemployment benefits and the amount of money those who qualify are eligible to receive.
Led by House Democratic Leader Donna Lasinski, D-Scio Twp., and Rep. Terry Sabo, D-Muskegon, in the House and Sens. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, and Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, in the Senate, the legislation would restore the number of benefit weeks from 20 to 26 weeks, a policy proposal long supported by Democrats.
The bills would also increase the weekly maximum for unemployment benefits from $362 to $593 and would subsequently index that amount to 58% of the state average weekly wage annually. Unemployed workers who dont qualify for the weekly maximum unemployment benefit would receive 6.1% of their highest quarter earnings instead of the current 4.1%.
The package would reverse changes to the states unemployment system approved in 2012.
The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) reports as of February 27, 2021, there have been 2,167,906 total confirmatory laboratory results received for COVID-19, with 131,580 total cases and 2,297 total deaths.
DHHR has confirmed the deaths of an 83-year old female from Raleigh County, a 76-year old female from Wood County, a 55-year old female from Raleigh County, a 71-year old male from Kanawha County, a 79-year old male from Lewis County and a 47-year old male from Kanawha County.
The continued loss of West Virginia lives weighs heavily on all of us, with the greatest sadness borne by family and friends, said Bill J. Crouch, DHHR Cabinet Secretary. We extend our deepest sympathy.
CASES PER COUNTY: Barbour (1,204), Berkeley (9,675), Boone (1,575), Braxton (772), Brooke (2,010), Cabell (7,788), Calhoun (229), Clay (376), Doddridge (467), Fayette (2,655), Gilmer (710), Grant (1,067), Greenbrier (2,422), Hampshire (1,528), Hancock (2,591), Hardy (1,265), Harrison (4,827), Jackson (1,666), Jefferson (3,616), Kanawha (12,058), Lewis (1,033), Lincoln (1,220), Logan (2,695), Marion (3,663), Marshall (3,003), Mason (1,767), McDowell (1,350), Mercer (4,211), Mineral (2,580), Mingo (2,122), Monongalia (7,994), Monroe (945), Morgan (931), Nicholas (1,174), Ohio (3,626), Pendleton (619), Pleasants (800), Pocahontas (593), Preston (2,531), Putnam (4,203), Raleigh (4,686), Randolph (2,390), Ritchie (621), Roane (602), Summers (700), Taylor (1,083), Tucker (499), Tyler (615), Upshur (1,679), Wayne (2,610), Webster (319), Wetzel (1,083), Wirt (359), Wood (7,034), Wyoming (1,739).
Delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from the local health department to DHHR. As case surveillance continues at the local health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certain county may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individual in question may have crossed the state border to be tested. Such is the case of Summers County in this report.
Some of it is, Oh, I can go next week, this week doesnt work for me, what do you have in the future? And I think a little bit on the hesitancy of feeling sick after that second dose because we know the second dose is where you might have that stronger immune response, Harris said.
Anyone living with school-aged children in England will be entitled to two rapid coronavirus tests a week when pupils return to the classroom, the government has said.
All secondary school and college students will be tested twice a week when they go back on 8 March, according to the prime minister's roadmap out of lockdown.
But now ministers are promising all members of their households twice-weekly swabs as well.
The new measures apply to anyone in a household or support bubble with a child or young person who goes to college, primary or secondary school in England, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Coronavirus tests for family members will be available at 500 pickup locations nationwide, existing local testing sites or schemes at their workplaces.
The government says that as lockdown restrictions ease with the return of schools and more social mixing in March, asymptomatic, rapid testing will help keep COVID-19 rates down while vaccines are being rolled out.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "Testing family members will provide yet another layer of reassurance to parents and education staff that schools are as safe as possible, building on the massive increase in testing for secondary school and college students, and strengthened requirements around face coverings in areas where social distancing cannot be maintained."
Public Health England's medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle also urged people to take up the offer, saying: "I would encourage all eligible households to take up the offer of twice weekly rapid testing - it's quick and painless and could help save lives."
Primary school children will not be tested once they return en masse in England, as scientists say there is no evidence of high transmission of the virus among such young age groups.
But although the government is promoting the use of rapid lateral flow tests (LFTs), some experts claim they are insensitive and can be ineffective.
Previously, public health expert Professor Robert Dingwall claimed LFTs were "pretty useless".
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"These mass tests miss people with early infections, so they are not really any kind of solution," Prof Dingwall told Sky News.
"The government has bought a huge stockpile of these tests and something has to be done with them."
Some studies have suggested rapid tests fail to pick up cases, while others claim their sensitivity - when compared with traditional lab testing - can offer insights on whether infections are rising or falling in a particular area.
