CONNECTICUT The state Department of Public Health has identified 22 additional cases of the B.1.1.7 coronavirus strain the so-called "U.K. Variant" identified in Connecticut, bringing the statewide total to 42.
Specimen collection dates from these newly identified cases were from between Jan. 12 and Feb. 3, and the ages of the people infected range from 5 to 90.
The DPH's battle against the new, virulent strain has been described as a race against time. It appeared on our shores around the same time as the coronavirus vaccine became widely available, but it is 50-70 times more contagious than the strain that locked the state down last spring.
The 22 newly identified cases are residents of the following towns:
On the positive side, the number of state residents hospitalized with the coronavirus continued to drop sizably on Friday as the daily positivity test rate eased another tenth of a point, to 2.22 percent.
Connecticut reported 838 new cases Friday, 165 fewer than Thursday's tally. An additional 27 deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported, bringing the state toll up to 7,381.
The state has vaccinated 10.7 percent of its population as of Thursday, and 58.3 percent of those aged 75 and over.
More coronavirus vaccine providers are coming online in Connecticut as the state continues to ramp up its vaccination efforts. Walgreens, CVS and Walmart are some of the most recent providers to begin offering the vaccine or who will offer it in the near future.
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To populate our Interactive Incidents Map, Watson AI looks for the latest and most up-to- date information. To understand and extract the information necessary to feed the maps, we use Watson Natural Language Understandingfor extracting insights from natural language text and Watson Discovery for extracting insights from PDFs, HTML, tables, images and more.COVID Impact Survey, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for the Data Foundation
News Release
Friday, February 12, 2021
NIH study compares how different face masks affect humidity inside the mask.
Masks help protect the people wearing them from getting or spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, but now researchers from the National Institutes of Health have added evidence for yet another potential benefit for wearers: The humidity created inside the mask may help combat respiratory diseases such as COVID-19.
The study, led by researchers in the NIHs National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), found that face masks substantially increase the humidity in the air that the mask-wearer breathes in. This higher level of humidity in inhaled air, the researchers suggest, could help explain why wearing masks has been linked to lower disease severity in people infected with SARS-CoV-2, because hydration of the respiratory tract is known to benefit the immune system. The study published in the Biophysical Journal.
We found that face masks strongly increase the humidity in inhaled air and propose that the resulting hydration of the respiratory tract could be responsible for the documented finding that links lower COVID-19 disease severity to wearing a mask, said the studys lead author, Adriaan Bax, Ph.D., NIH Distinguished Investigator. High levels of humidity have been shown to mitigate severity of the flu, and it may be applicable to severity of COVID-19 through a similar mechanism.
High levels of humidity can limit the spread of a virus to the lungs by promoting mucociliary clearance (MCC), a defense mechanism that removes mucus and potentially harmful particles within the mucus from the lungs. High levels of humidity can also bolster the immune system by producing special proteins, called interferons, that fight against viruses a process known as the interferon response. Low levels of humidity have been shown to impair both MCC and the interferon response, which may be one reason why people are likelier to get respiratory infections in cold weather.
The study tested four common types of masks: an N95 mask, a three-ply disposable surgical mask, a two-ply cotton-polyester mask, and a heavy cotton mask. The researchers measured the level of humidity by having a volunteer breathe into a sealed steel box. When the person wore no mask, the water vapor of the exhaled breath filled the box, leading to a rapid increase in humidity inside the box.
When the person wore a mask, the buildup of humidity inside the box greatly decreased, due to most of the water vapor remaining in the mask, becoming condensed, and being re-inhaled. To ensure no leakage, the masks were tightly fitted against the volunteers face using high-density foam rubber. Measurements were taken at three different air temperatures, ranging from about 46 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit.
The results showed that all four masks increased the level of humidity of inhaled air, but to varying degrees. At lower temperatures, the humidifying effects of all masks greatly increased. At all temperatures, the thick cotton mask led to the most increased level of humidity.
The increased level of humidity is something most mask-wearers probably felt without being able to recognize, and without realizing that this humidity might actually be good for them, Bax said.
The researchers did not look at which masks are most effective against inhalation or transmission of the virus and defer to the CDC for guidance on choosing a mask. Earlier studies from Bax and his colleagues showed that any cloth mask can help block the thousands of saliva droplets that people release through simple speech droplets that, if released, can remain in the air for many minutes. While the current study did not examine respiratory droplets, it does offer more evidence as to why masks are essential to battling COVID-19.
Even as more people nationwide begin to get vaccinated, we must remain vigilant about doing our part to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. This research supports the importance of mask-wearing as a simple, yet effective, way to protect the people around us and to protect ourselves from respiratory infection, especially during these winter months when susceptibility to these viruses increases.
The research was supported by the NIDDK Intramural Research Program and the NIH Intramural Antiviral Target Program.
About the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK): The NIDDK, a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), conducts and supports research on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. Spanning the full spectrum of medicine and afflicting people of all ages and ethnic groups, these diseases encompass some of the most common, severe, and disabling conditions affecting Americans. For more information about the NIDDK and its programs, see http://www.niddk.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIHTurning Discovery Into Health
Courtney, JM and Bax, A. Hydrating the respiratory tract: An alternative explanation why masks lower severity of COVID-19 disease.Biophysical Journal. February 11, 2021.
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In a statement provided to The Inquirer on Saturday night, Beam clarified the intention behind the shift. The goal is to accelerate distribution to inoculate the most Pennsylvanians in the short term. We must concentrate the vaccine among the providers who can move first doses as quickly as possible to protect Pennsylvanians. Once that goal is reached, Beam said, more providers, including primary care physicians, will receive the vaccine for their patients.
CBS NEWS
In a key step toward ending thecoronaviruspandemic, kids as young as 6 years old will be tested with theCOVID-19 vaccine. The University of Oxford has launched a new study to assess the safety of itsvaccine with AstraZeneca in children for the first time.
In a newstatement, the university says the trial will assess immune response in kids ages 6 to 17, an age group hithardby school closures due to the pandemic. Around 300 volunteers are enrolled, expected to get their first inoculations this month.
In the single-blind, randomized study, up to 240 participants will receive the COVID vaccine, while the control group will receive a meningitis vaccine, which is safe for children and produces a similar reaction.
While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination, said Andrew Pollard, the trials chief investigator. These new trials will extend our understanding of control of SARS-CoV2 to younger age groups.
A number of vaccines, including Oxford/AstraZenecas and thePfizerandModernaformulas being widely used globally, have shown strong efficacy at preventing symptomatic infection. New data from Oxford earlier this month also offered the first evidence that its vaccine can not only prevent people from getting sick with COVID-19, but could help substantially reduce its spread in the community.
The U.K. approved theemergency use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in late December. Approval of the vaccine was widely celebrated, as it is cheaper to produce and easier to transport and store than other approved vaccines.
Researchers hope that extending the vaccine to children will help alleviate some of the negative impacts of the pandemic on youth around the world.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound negative impact on the education, social development and emotional well-being of children and adolescents, beyond illness and rare severe disease presentations, said Rinn Song of the Oxford Vaccine Group. It is therefore important to collect data on the safety and the immune response to our coronavirus vaccine in these age groups, so that they could potentially benefit from inclusion in vaccination programs in the near future.
Clinical trials arealso underwayin the U.S. from vaccine developersPfizerandModernato test the safety and efficacy of the doses in kids. Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month he hopes American children will be able to get vaccinated by the time we get to the late spring and early summer.
Tom Sweitzer hosts a weekly music therapy group via Zoom for other COVID-19 survivors dealing with lingering symptoms. "We get to know each other through the music," says one participant. "I think that was a really intuitive and wonderful way to connect us." Michele Abercrombie/NPR hide caption
Tom Sweitzer hosts a weekly music therapy group via Zoom for other COVID-19 survivors dealing with lingering symptoms. "We get to know each other through the music," says one participant. "I think that was a really intuitive and wonderful way to connect us."
Tom Sweitzer knows firsthand how social isolation and loneliness are real side effects of living through a pandemic just as mental health professionals have warned. After he tested positive for the coronavirus last July and recovered from the worst of his initial symptoms, Sweitzer joined a COVID-19 support group on Facebook to help him deal with the condition's lingering effects.
As he watched people join "by the hundreds every day," he decided to start another support group where he could incorporate his skills as a music therapist.
Music therapy treatments, tailored to each patient's needs, can involve creating, singing, moving to and/or listening to music in ways that have been shown to promote physical and psychological healing. Research has shown the reduction in pain and stress from such treatments can be profound.
Through his Virginia-based company A Place To Be, Sweitzer mostly works with children and adults who have disabilities and traumatic brain injury. "I'm really using music for uplifting the emotions," he explains, "for redirecting and reflecting and working through the pain that they're having emotionally."
When the pandemic hit, Sweitzer moved his practice online. He also made short, guided videos for his patients and their families to view and use on their own.
At 48 years old, Sweitzer considers himself pretty fit.
"I teach a Zumba class," he says. "I walk my dog 5 miles a day. And I've been singing since I've been 5 so my lungs are in really good shape" but not, he discovered, good enough to easily fend off this virus. "Even with these lungs that I felt were very strong, I was down for the count."
By his third day in the hospital, Sweitzer says, "I still couldn't get out of bed." So, he practiced what he preaches and gave himself music therapy treatments that included, he says, "long breathing exercises you know, very deep breath in, expanding the lungs, and then breathing out."
The weekly support group Sweitzer has since started for other COVID-19 survivors coping with lingering effects of their illness is free and takes place via Zoom. In addition to breathing exercises and movement, they listen to music and sing together in each hour-long session.
Susanne Berman, one of the group regulars, learned about Sweitzer from her doctor in New York.
"Music therapy is a clinical and therapeutic tool. But one thing music does for a lot of individuals is it brings joy."
Tom Sweitzer, certified music therapist based in Loudoun County, Va.
"I was excited about it, because I had been so isolated that I had an opportunity to connect with other people that were like me," says Berman. One of the things Sweitzer said that rang true to her: "We can all understand each other better when we've heard each other's music."
Even though Berman and the others on the Zoom sessions are complete strangers, "they have a better sense of where I'm coming from and what resonates with me in that moment," says Berman. "And we get to know each other through the music I think that was a really intuitive and wonderful way to connect us."
Zoom isn't the best venue for making music together Berman admits, so group members often mute themselves as they sing along.
"You know, when somebody else is talking over someone else, or in the background, people making noise all of that filters in when you're not muted," Sweitzer says. "And here we're trying to sing a song. And so you're hearing like a little bit of this person, maybe a little bit of that person. And it's just very choppy." The group emphasizes participation, not performance.
"Not everybody actually was a very good singer, myself, probably included at this point. So it was entertaining from that perspective," Berman says.
Laughter is key to the weekly sessions, too.
"I'm a big believer in joy," says Sweitzer. "Music therapy is a clinical and therapeutic tool, but one thing music does for a lot of individuals is it brings joy."
Patients with COVID-19 aren't the only ones in need of joy amid the pandemic. Filippo Giordano, a music therapist with the University of Bari School of Medicine in Italy, says the doctors and nurses in a hospital's coronavirus unit in northern Italy were also "suffering from loneliness, anxiety, fear, fatigue, sleep disorder," when the pandemic took hold there last year.
So Giordano and a team of researchers conducted a small, five-week study on the effects of music therapy as a support intervention "to reduce stress and improve [the] wellbeing" of 34 of these front-line health workers. They measured the healers' levels of "tiredness, sadness, fear and worry" before and after weekly music therapy interventions, and found significant improvements after music therapy.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the research was conducted remotely. The health workers were sent customized music playlists lasting 15-20 minutes each identified as "Breathing," "Energy" and "Serenity" along with detailed listening guides and questionnaires. Giordano and his team of music therapists followed up with weekly check-ins by phone.
Giordano believes music therapy can be an important "complementary" intervention to other forms of psychological therapy because it is "more direct and more immediate."
He's now giving music therapy treatments in-person to COVID-19 patients in intensive care and studying the impact. He hopes to have the first results in May, and says he's already encouraged by what he's seen so far. By focusing on positive sounds and imagery, Giordano says, the sessions allow patients to "go away from the intensive care unit" emotionally "to be in another place."
Meanwhile, Sweitzer is finding music therapy a particularly helpful approach for COVID long-haulers like himself.
"I still have some neurological damage. I can tell you my memory is not at all what it used be before COVID," he says.
"This theory that we have as music therapists, you know, [is that] the brain is so plastic and it's so moldable and flexible. And we know that music is this portal this instrument that the brain connects with," he says.
As both a music therapist and a COVID-19 long-hauler, Sweitzer says he's using that instrument for himself as much as he is for others.
FRIDAY, Feb. 12, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- A new variant of COVID-19 found in Southern California is coursing across the United States and around the world, a new study finds.
The variant -- called CAL.20C -- was first found in July in Los Angeles County. It reappeared in Southern California in October, then spread in November and December, with a regional surge in coronavirus cases.
The variant now makes up nearly half of COVID-19 cases in Southern California.
It's not clear whether CAL.20C might be more lethal than current coronavirus variants, or whether it might resist current vaccines. New research is underway Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles to help answer those questions.
"New variants do not always affect the behavior of a virus in the body," said study co-author Dr. Eric Vail, an assistant professor of pathology at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics.
The new variant has spread to 19 states and the District of Columbia, as well six other countries, according to the report, published Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
As of Jan. 22, the variant had been found in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. It was also found in Australia, Denmark, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom, according to the new study.
Study co-author Jasmine Plummer said people traveling from Southern California are carrying CAL.20C to other places. Plummer is a research scientist at the Cedars-Sinai Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics in Los Angeles.
"CAL.20C is moving, and we think it is Californians who are moving it," Plummer said in center news release.
Vail said researchers are keenly interested in CAL.20C, because it involves the so-called spike protein, which enables the SARS-CoV-2 virus to invade and infect normal cells.
More information
For more on COVID-19, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
SOURCE: Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, news release, Feb. 11, 2021
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced 132,057 first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the last 24 hours. New Yorkers on the state's vaccination program. As of 11AM today, New York's health care distribution sites have received 2,065,595 first doses and already administered 90 percent or 1,860,196 first dose vaccinations and 82 percent of first and second doses. The week 9 allocation from the federal government continues being delivered to providers for administration.
"Defeating COVID once and for all ultimately comesdown to winning the footrace between vaccinating New Yorkers as quickly and fairly as possible, and continuing to do all we can to drive down infection and hospitalization rates even further,"Governor Cuomo said."Those rates are continuing to fall and that is a direct result of New Yorkers continuing to act smartly and responsibly. We must keep up that momentum and as we do, we will continue doing everything we can to get shots in arms as quickly, efficiently and fairly as possible - we just simply needmore supply and now that we have competent leadership in Washington, we're actually now beginning to see that happen."
Approximately 7 million New Yorkers are currently eligible to receive the vaccine. The federal government has increased the weekly supply by more than 20 percent over the next three weeks, but New York's vast distribution network and large population of eligible individuals still far exceed the supply coming from the federal government. Due to limited supply, New Yorkers are encouraged toremain patient and are advised not to show up at vaccination sites without an appointment.
Vaccination program numbers below are for doses distributed and delivered to New York for the state's vaccination program, and do not include those reserved for the federal government's Long Term Care Facility program. A breakdown of the data based on numbers reported to New York State as of 11AM today is as follows. The allocation totals below include 60 percent of the week 9 allocation which will finish being distributed to New York provider sites on Sunday. The total week 9 allocation is also inclusive of some excess vaccine doses that have been reallocated from the federal Long Term Care Facility program.
STATEWIDE BREAKDOWN
First Doses Received - 2,065,595
First Doses Administered - 1,860,196; 90%
Second Doses Received - 1,080,550
Second Doses Administered - 719,133
Region
Total Doses Received
(1st and 2nd)
Total Doses Administered
(1st and 2nd)
% of Total Doses Administered/Received
(1st and 2nd)
Capital Region
199,740
160,075
80%
Central New York
163,200
135,365
83%
Finger Lakes
190,735
163,025
85%
Long Island
389,005
335,347
86%
Mid-Hudson
295,575
235,763
80%
Mohawk Valley
87,805
66,113
75%
New York City
1,423,195
1,122,617
79%
North Country
95,040
89,067
94%
Southern Tier
96,010
88,162
92%
Western New York
205,840
183,795
89%
Statewide
3,146,145
2,579,329
82%
1st doses fully delivered to New York for Healthcare Distribution Sites
2nd doses fully delivered to New York for Healthcare Distribution Sites
TOTAL
CUMULATIVE
Week 1
Doses arriving 12/14 - 12/20
90,675
0
90,675
N/A
Week 2
Doses arriving 12/21 - 12/27
392,025
0
392,025
482,700
Week 3
Doses arriving 12/28 - 01/03
201,500
0
201,500
684,200
Week 4
Doses arriving 01/04 - 01/10
160,050
90,675
250,725
934,925
To reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic and maximize the amount of in-person instruction, schools need sufficient resources as well as adhered-to, strongstate and local public health measures.Extraordinaryeffortsby states, districts, and schoolshavebeen underway tosupport studentsthroughout the pandemic.TheCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) areproviding recommendations and considerations based on the most recent scientific evidenceto support school and district leaders and educators in meeting theseever evolving, significantchallenges.
Consistent implementationofmitigation strategiesduring all school-related activities is critical for reopening schools and keeping them open. To that end,ED is releasing theCOVID-19 Handbook, which provides strategies to do this andalso identifies ways to promote equity for communities of color and people with disabilities/chronic conditions who have borne a disproportionate burden of illness and serious outcomes from COVID-19.TheEDCOVID-19 Handbookwill support the education community with implementation guidance, strategies,and considerationsto help reopen schoolssafely.The handbook is being released in two volumes.
First Volume of the ED COVID-19 Handbook
The first volume supplementsCDC's Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Mitigation. ED's handbook provides practical examples and roadmaps to provide educators and staff with the tools they need to implement CDC's recommended safe practices for in-person learning. Highlights include:
Masking Practices
The handbook provides applicable strategies to promote universal and correct use of masks in schools by utilizing signage and school announcements to remind students and staff how to use masks. The handbook guides educators through working with students with disabilities who cannot wear a mask or safely wear a mask, consistent with CDC guidelines.
Physical Distancing Practices
The ED handbook details a variety of practical ways that educators and schools can practice physical distancing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including:
Roadmap for Stakeholder Engagement
A successful school reopening strategy requires engaging the entire school community to promote actions that will lead to a safe learning environment for all educators, staff, and students. ED's handbook lays out a roadmap for who should be at the table and suggests ways that school leaders and educators can conduct individual outreach activities and use surveys and virtual town halls to engage the community in an effort to reopen schools.
Second Volume of the ED COVID-19 Handbook
The second volume of the ED COVID-19 Handbook, which will be released in the coming weeks, will provide specific strategies to address the extraordinary disruption created by COVID-19 for students, educators, and parents especially for historically underserved students and communities that preliminary data suggest have been hit hardest by the pandemic. These strategies will be tailored around the following topics:
Maine's men's basketball team has opted out of the rest of the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19 issues, the school announced Saturday.
The team made its decision Friday, with the school's president and athletic director supporting the decision.
"Our players' safety and well-being will always come first," Maine coach Richard Barron said. "We simply could not safely put a team on the floor over the next few weeks or safely return players to playing after over six weeks off. Despite the challenges we've faced this year, we remain grateful for the opportunities we have here at UMaine and eagerly look forward to representing Black Bear Nation again soon."
The Black Bears played nine games this season, but haven't played or practiced since Jan. 17 and were 2-7 overall before announcing its season was over.
Maine is the second team this week to opt out of the remainder of its season, following Howard's announcement earlier this week. Bethune-Cookman, Chicago State and Maryland-Eastern Shore are the other schools to opt out of this season, as well as the entire Ivy League.
