DOYLESTOWN, PA Bucks County officials say they are working to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to members of the public, according to Pennsylvania's vaccination plan. This article is meant to share information about how and when you can get the vaccine in the Doylestown area.
Patch will be updating this post as new vaccination information becomes available. Bookmark it and return to get all the latest.
Who Is Eligible To Get The Vaccine Now?
Currently, Bucks County, like the rest of Pennsylvania, is in Phase 1A of the state's four-phase rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. Until last week, that meant the only people eligible for a vaccine were healthcare workers and residents and employees of nursing homes and other care facilities.
But state officials dramatically increased the number of Pennsylvanians eligible for the vaccine during the initial phase. Everyone 65 and older, along with residents 16 or older who have health conditions that put them at high risk from the virus immediately were made eligible, adding about 3.5 million Pennsylvania residents to the list of those eligible for the shots.
Where To Get The Vaccine In Doylestown
Multiple locations are expected to come online in the next few weeks to distribute the coronavirus vaccine to the general public in the Doylestown area.
A hospital in Bristol, as well as one in Langhorne, also is expected to be giving the vaccine to members of the public in the next few weeks.
St. Mary Medical Center, in Langhorne, now is accepting online applications to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
Currently, the hospital is vaccinating only healthcare workers and other essential workers, according to its website. But it has posted an online form that lets others eligible for the vaccine under Phase 1A of Pennsylvania's plan sign up.
See The St. Mary Medical Center COVID-19 Vaccine Form Here
The hospital is asking people 65 and older and those 16 and older with underlying health conditions to register.
Doylestown Health's priority is to vaccinate as many appropriate individuals in the current 1A Phase as supply and resources allow, hospital spokesperson Beth Long told Patch:
How To Sign Up
Bucks County has created an online hub for information on the coronavirus vaccine. The hub contains detailed information on who is eligible to be vaccinated under each of the state plan's four phases.
At the hub is a form letting residents register for the vaccine. Once registered, residents will be contacted to schedule a vaccination appointment once sufficient supplies arrive, officials said. Those whose status changed last week will be shifted from the 1B list to the 1A list and do not need to register a second time, officials said.
Click Here To Register For A COVID-19 Vaccination In Bucks County
Lower Bucks Hospital will be using the county list to alert residents when they can receive a vaccination. St. Mary Medical Center has created its own online registration form for coronavirus vaccinations.
See The St. Mary Medical Center COVID-19 Vaccine Form Here
Vaccine Supply In Bucks Co.
Last week, county commissioners said the county does not currently have anywhere near enough vaccine to vaccinate the number of people now eligible under the new version of the state plan. They said supply chain issues with the federal and state government has slowed the supply here and called on those governments to get more vaccine to the county as quickly as possible.
Monday, as new infection numbers in the county continued to drop after the fall surge, county officials said they are "working diligently" to get more vaccine in Bucks County.
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VACCINE. >> FROM THE TIME WE GOT TO THE PARKING LOT, UNTIL WE GOT BACK IN OUR CAR, IT WAS LITERALLY 30 MINUTES. LOWELL: BALTIMORE COUNTY SENIOR SAM MILLER AND HER HUSBAND RECEIVE THEIR FIRST DOSE OF THE COVID 19 VACCINE AT THE TIMONIUM FAIRGROUNDS LAST WEEK. SHE SAYS WHILE THEY HAD A LITTLE ANXIETY ABOUT IT, ONCE THEY GOT TO THE FACILITY THEY WERE PUT AT EASE. >> WE CAME WITH OUR CONFIRMATION IN HAND IN OUR IDS WITH SOME TREPIDATION, NOT KNOWING WHAT WE WOULD EXPERIENCE. IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. LOWELL: AT AN AFTERNOON NEWS CONFERENCE COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIALS SAID MILLER AND HER HUSBAND WERE AMONG THE ALMOST 60,000 PEOPLE TO BE VACCINATED BUT HEALTH OFFICER DR. GREGORY , BRANCH SAYS THERE IS STILL A LOT OF WORK TO BE DONE. >> WE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO BE ABLE TO VACCINATE AS MANY OF OUR RESIDENTS AS WE CAN. WE NEED MORE VACCINE. LOWELL: VACCINE SUPPLY SEEMS TO VACCI.N SUPPLY SEEMS TO BE THE ISSUE NOT JUST IN BALTIMORE COUNTY BUT AROUND THE COUNTRY. RIGHT NOW BATIMORE COUNTY GETS ANYWHERE FROM 5000-8000 DOSES A WE, AND THERE ARE MORE THAN 150,000 PEOPLE SIGNED UP FOR A SHOT. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS PLEDGED TO GET MORE VACCINE TO STATES IN THE COMING WEEKS ALL THE MORE REASON MILLER SAYS TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE REGISTERED FOR A SHOT. >> THE SOONER WE ALL GET VACCINATED, THE SOONER WE CAN HUG OUR GRANDCHILDREN AGAIN. WE CAN CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS. YOU CAN GO TO FOOTBALL GAMES. YOU CAN LIVE LIFE AGAIN. LOWELL: MOVING FORWARD, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS AIMING TO GIVE DIFFERENT STATES AROUND THE COUNTRY A SEVERAL WEEK HEADS UP JUST TO HOW MUCH VACCINE THEY WILL BE GETTING WEEK TO WEEK, AND THAT INFORMATION WILL BE PASSED ON TO THE INDIVIDUAL COUNTIES IN THE CITY. HEARING BALTIMORE COUNTY, THEY HAVE ALSO STARTED A NEW WEBSITE FOR VACCINE INFORMATION, YOU CAN FIND ON OUR WEBSITE, WBAL-TV.COM AND ON OUR MOBILE AP
'We need more vaccine': Short supply of COVID-19 vaccine hampers vaccination efforts
Baltimore County has vaccinated almost 60,000 people
Updated: 6:09 PM EST Jan 27, 2021
Health officials across Maryland said a short supply of the COVID-19 vaccine is hampering their efforts to get more people vaccinated.|| Coronavirus updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||Baltimore County has vaccinated more people than any other Maryland jurisdiction to date, closing in on 60,000 people vaccinated.While proud by this number, health officials said they could be doing even more, but the issue is the lack of vaccine and not knowing when more will be coming.Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Branch on Wednesday said much work remains unfinished."We can and we will ultimately win the war against our COVID enemy," Branch said. "I would really like to be able to vaccinate as many of our residents as possible. We need more vaccine."Vaccine supply seems to be the issue, not just in Baltimore County, but around the country. Baltimore County currently receives anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 doses a week, and there are more than 150,000 people signed up to get a shot.Maryland online vaccination site locatorVaccine Data DashboardMaryland vaccination plan FAQsMeanwhile, frustrations are mounting in Annapolis from Gov. Larry Hogan, who said Tuesday: "(You) can't schedule appointments for too many people when you don't have the doses, and you don't know when you're going to get more doses, or if we're going to get more doses, or when they're opening up new factories. That's just the way the system is."President Joe Biden pledged to get more vaccine to states at all costs."We will increase overall weekly vaccination distribution to states tribes and territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses," Biden said.Baltimore County is still seeing people in the Phase 1A and 1B priority groups, and the key to getting further down the list will be getting more supply."As soon as were able to get more vaccine, we'll be able to move down the list and people will feel as if theyre getting their vaccines," Branch said.Baltimore County senior Sam Miller and her husband received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium last week."From the time we got to the parking lot until we got back in our car, it was literally 30 minutes," Miller said.Miller said that while they had a little anxiety about getting the vaccine, once they got to the facility, they were put at ease."We came with our confirmation in hand and our IDs with some trepidation, not knowing what we would experience, but it was an amazing experience," Miller said.Miller recommends everyone to make sure they register to get a shot."The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we can hug her grandchildren again. We can celebrate birthdays and we can go to football games. We can live life again," Miller said.The federal government hopes to give states three weeks' notice as to how much vaccine they will get, which would then get passed on to the counties.Baltimore County published a new vaccine website with data and links to register for an appointment.
Health officials across Maryland said a short supply of the COVID-19 vaccine is hampering their efforts to get more people vaccinated.
|| Coronavirus updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||
Baltimore County has vaccinated more people than any other Maryland jurisdiction to date, closing in on 60,000 people vaccinated.
While proud by this number, health officials said they could be doing even more, but the issue is the lack of vaccine and not knowing when more will be coming.
Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Branch on Wednesday said much work remains unfinished.
"We can and we will ultimately win the war against our COVID enemy," Branch said. "I would really like to be able to vaccinate as many of our residents as possible. We need more vaccine."
Vaccine supply seems to be the issue, not just in Baltimore County, but around the country. Baltimore County currently receives anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 doses a week, and there are more than 150,000 people signed up to get a shot.
Meanwhile, frustrations are mounting in Annapolis from Gov. Larry Hogan, who said Tuesday: "(You) can't schedule appointments for too many people when you don't have the doses, and you don't know when you're going to get more doses, or if we're going to get more doses, or when they're opening up new factories. That's just the way the system is."
President Joe Biden pledged to get more vaccine to states at all costs.
"We will increase overall weekly vaccination distribution to states tribes and territories from 8.6 million doses to a minimum of 10 million doses," Biden said.
Baltimore County is still seeing people in the Phase 1A and 1B priority groups, and the key to getting further down the list will be getting more supply.
"As soon as were able to get more vaccine, we'll be able to move down the list and people will feel as if theyre getting their vaccines," Branch said.
Baltimore County senior Sam Miller and her husband received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium last week.
"From the time we got to the parking lot until we got back in our car, it was literally 30 minutes," Miller said.
Miller said that while they had a little anxiety about getting the vaccine, once they got to the facility, they were put at ease.
"We came with our confirmation in hand and our IDs with some trepidation, not knowing what we would experience, but it was an amazing experience," Miller said.
Miller recommends everyone to make sure they register to get a shot.
"The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner we can hug her grandchildren again. We can celebrate birthdays and we can go to football games. We can live life again," Miller said.
The federal government hopes to give states three weeks' notice as to how much vaccine they will get, which would then get passed on to the counties.
Baltimore County published a new vaccine website with data and links to register for an appointment.
Cities and counties are building strike teams to go out and vaccinate people who cannot get to clinics and drive-through sites on their own.
SEATTLE Cities and counties in western Washington are staffing up strike teams to go out and vaccinate people for COVID-19 who cannot get to clinics and drive-through sites on their own.
The Columbia Place senior home in Seattle's Rainier Valley neighborhood houses some of the city's most vulnerable residents.
On Tuesday, Seattle Fire Department teams vaccinated more than 80 people at Columbia Place and another location.
SFD vaccination crews work seven days a week at adult homes and affordable housing complexes throughout the city.
Were giving out every shot that we possibly can, said SFD Capt. Brian Wallace.
They've vaccinated more than 1,500 people over the last two weeks and are ready to expand their efforts as vaccine supply increases.
We'll stand up as many teams as we need to, Wallace said, noting that the city has diverted some resources from COVID testing to vaccination teams.
Puget Sound Fire launcheda similar program that will serve Kent, SeaTac, Covington, Maple Valley and South King County.
They said they plan to staff up four to six teams to visit adult family homes and long-term care facilities.
A Snohomish County Health District spokesperson said vaccination teams have already visited some group homes. They plan to do more once the vaccine supply increases.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department said it's still developing plans to use mobile vaccine teams.
The Seattle Fire Department said it'll return to Columbia Place in about a month to give patients their second doses.
That's all kind of built into our process, Wallace said.
He said his teams are getting 11 doses out of each vial of Moderna vaccine, which is manufactured for 10 doses per vial.
Rod Brandon, director of operations for the Seattle Housing Authority, which runs Columbia Place, said his organization has had few problems trying to convince residents to get vaccinated.
I actually was anticipating probably more reluctance, he said. In the first few days it's been going well. Weve just been getting a huge uptake in taking the vaccines.
The coronavirus can warp the bodys defenses in many ways disarming the bodys early warning systems, for example, or causing immune cells to misfire. But a spate of new studies suggests another insidious consequence: The infection can trigger the production of antibodies that mistakenly attack the patients own tissues instead of the virus.
The latest report, published online this week, suggests that so-called autoantibodies can persist months after the infection has resolved, perhaps causing irreparable harm. If other studies confirm the finding, it may explain some of the lingering symptoms in people who have recovered from Covid-19. The syndrome, sometimes referred to as long Covid, can include dementia, brain fog and joint pain.
Autoantibodies are not new to science: They are the misguided soldiers of the immune system, tied to debilitating diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, which arise when the body attacks its own tissues.
The newest study is small, with just nine patients, five of whom had autoantibodies for at least seven months. It has not yet undergone peer review for publication, and the authors urged caution in interpreting the results.
Its a signal; it is not definitive, said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, medical director of the special pathogens unit at Boston Medical Center, who led the study. We dont know how prevalent it is, and whether or not it can be linked to long Covid.
The question of autoimmunity following coronavirus infection is urgent and important, Dr. Bhadelia added. As many as one in three survivors of Covid-19 say they still experience symptoms.
This is a real phenomenon, she said. Were looking at a second pandemic of people with ongoing potential disability who may not be able to return to work, and thats a huge impact on the health systems.
A growing body of evidence suggests that autoimmunity contributes to the severity of Covid-19 in some people. A study published online in October found that among 52 patients with severe Covid-19, more than 70 percent carried antibodies against their own DNA and against proteins that help with blood clotting.
In another study, also published online in October, researchers discovered autoantibodies to carbohydrates made by the body in Covid-19 patients, which could explain neurological symptoms. And a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine in November found that half of patients hospitalized for Covid-19 had at least transient autoantibodies that cause clots and blockages in blood vessels.
The gathering research raises the worrying possibility that lingering autoantibodies might lead to autoimmune disease in some people infected with the coronavirus.
Once these autoantibodies are induced, there is no going back, said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. They will be a permanent part of the persons immune system.
She added: What does it do to vaccine response? What does it do to newly acquired infections? These are all questions that will have to be addressed.
Dr. Iwasakis team showed in December that severely ill patients had dramatic increases in a wide array of autoantibodies that target parts of the immune system, brain cells, connective tissue and clotting factors.
Jan. 28, 2021, 6:20 p.m. ET
We really see broadly reactive autoantibody responses in these patients, Dr. Iwasaki said. She had suspected that autoimmunity might play some role, but even I didnt expect to see this much auto-reactivity.
Dr. Iwasaki and her colleagues collected blood from 172 patients with a range of symptoms, 22 health care workers who had been infected, and 30 uninfected health care workers.
One in five infected patients had autoantibodies to five proteins in their own bodies, and up to 80 percent to at least one protein, the researchers found. Patients with severe Covid-19 had many more of these antibodies, which hindered their immune responses and exacerbated illness. Of 15 patients who died during the study, 14 had autoantibodies to at least one constituent of the immune system.
The study convincingly shows that autoantibodies alter the course of disease, said Marion Pepper, an immunologist at the University of Washington in Seattle who was not involved in the research.
Autoimmunity after an illness is not unique to the coronavirus. Other intensely inflammatory infections, including malaria, leprosy and respiratory viruses, are also known to trigger autoantibodies. But autoimmunity and Covid-19 may be a particularly hazardous mix, experts said.
One analysis of nearly 170,000 people with rare autoimmune rheumatic diseases like lupus and scleroderma indicated that they face increased odds of death from Covid-19. And a study of more than 130,000 people found that autoimmune conditions like Type 1 diabetes, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis increase the risk of respiratory complications and death from Covid-19.
Some of the antibodies seemed to be the result of inborn defects in the immune system. For example, a study in the journal Science in October found that about 10 percent of severely ill Covid-19 patients had existing autoantibodies that attacked key components of the immune system that were supposed to kick in after exposure to the virus. Without that rapid response, the bodys defense is hopelessly delayed, fighting a losing battle against the multiplying virus.
Yet the mere presence of autoantibodies does not indicate harm. They are in the general population and dont always lead to illness, some experts noted.
Anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the population has some level of this auto-reactivity, said Dr. Iaki Sanz, an immunologist at Emory University. The issue is that you need many other events downstream of the autoantibodies to induce disease.
At least in some patients, autoantibodies clearly emerged as a result of the illness, Dr. Iwasakis study showed. Extreme inflammation caused by viral infections can cause cells to burst open, spewing their contents and befuddling the immune systems ability to distinguish self from other.
But autoantibodies induced in this manner may level off after a few months, said Dr. Shiv Pillai, an immunologist at Harvard University: Probably in the vast majority of Covid-19 patients, autoantibodies emerge in the acute phase, then decline.
That being said yes, it would be interesting if long Covid might be explained by specific autoantibodies, he added.
Several researchers, including Dr. Bhadelia and Dr. Iwasaki, are following patients over time to see how long autoantibodies persist and whether they wreak permanent damage. Although scientists have known that acute infections can trigger their presence, the phenomenon has never been studied in such detail.
Thats maybe the one silver lining here, Dr. Pepper said. Were going to learn some fundamental principles about acute viral infections in people which havent been easy to study in this way before.
How many variants are there of the COVID-19 virus? AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin
(Nexstar/AP) How many variants of the coronavirus are there?
There are many circulating around the world, but health experts are primarily concerned with the emergence ofthree.
As a virus infects people, it can mutate as it makes copies of itself. Some mutations can be harmful to a virus, causing it to die out. Others can offer an advantage and help it spread.
Not every mutation is created equal, said Dr. Mary Petrone, who studies infectious diseases at Yale University. The virus is going to get lucky now and again.
Monitoring variants is important because of the possibility that they could make vaccines and treatments less effective, or change the way they infect people.
A mutation early in the pandemic fueled the spread of the virus around the world, but there had been no notable changes since until recently, said Ohio State University biologist Daniel Jones.
One of the three main variants experts are watching was discovered in the United Kingdom late last year and has been detected in dozens of countries since. Health officials initially said it didnt seem to cause worse disease, but some newer information suggests it might that remains unknown at the moment. It does appear to spread more easily, which could lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.
The variant might become dominant in the U.S. by March,accordingto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other variants first detected in South Africa and in Brazil also appear more contagious, experts say.
Data so farsuggests current vaccines should still protect against these variants, though theres some concern their effectiveness may be slightly diminished. There is some evidence that some antibody treatments may be less effective against certain variants.
There are ways to adjust vaccines and treatments to maintain their effectiveness, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert.
The emergence of variants is linked toongoing surgessince infections give viruses the chance to mutate and spread. Its another reason experts stress the importance of mask wearing and social distancing.
The fewer humans carrying the virus, the fewer opportunities it has to mutate, Jones said.
Early in its existence, Covid-19 gained an ability that would prove decisive in its relationship with human beings. The virus picked up a seemingly small change in its genetic code. It was likely an unfortunate accident a fragment of genetic information from another virus got muddled up with that of the coronavirus while they were both infecting a bat.
Included within this tiny piece of genome, however, were the instructions that altered a key part of the virus its spike protein. This important protein studs the outside of the coronavirus and is the part that attaches to the outside of cells, helping the rest of the virus to sneak inside where it can replicate.
This change to Covid-19's spike protein meant it could hijack an enzyme found in the human body called furin. This enzyme acts like a pair of molecular scissors, normally cutting open hormones and growth factors to activate them. But when furin snips part of the Covid-19 spike protein, which is normally folded in a series of loops on the outside of the virus, it opens like a hinge.
"This exposes a new sequence in the spike protein," says Yohei Yamauchi, a reader in viral cell biology at the University of Bristol, UK, who has been studying how this change may have led Covid-19 to become more infective in humans. "It is one of the changes that make this virus really different from previous coronaviruses that caused Sars and Mers."
This new mutation meant Covid-19 could suddenly latch onto an important molecule found scattered around the outside of human respiratory cells called Neuropilin 1. This molecule helps to transport material inside cells and deeper into tissues the mutation was like handing Covid-19 the keys to a new door into our cells and meant the virus could replicate in greater numbers in the human airways.
Although this mutation was just one in Covid-19's short existence, it proved to be important. Some researchers believe it may be one of the key mutations that allowed the coronavirus to jump species and begin causing a rapidly spreading disease in humans. But almost as soon as it did this, it began picking up other mutations.
Like the rest of Louisiana, the Baton Rouge region is coming down from a post-holiday peak for coronavirus, and a third surge that began in early November appears to be subsiding somewhat.
During that surge, 408 people in the region -- 156 of them in East Baton Rouge -- have died from the COVID-19 illness tied to the virus. Among the dead were Baton Rouge mayoral candidate and former state Rep. Steve Carter and Tangipahoa Parish fire service fixture, Amite Fire Chief Bruce Cutrer.
New cases, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and test positivity rates have all been trending downward in the 12-parish region as the Christmas and New Year's holidays fall farther in the rearview mirror, state data show.
But health officials warned that the recent improvements over the past three weeks are relative to the worst surge in cases since the pandemic hit the state nearly a year ago. The virus is still much more prevalent that it was at earlier points in the year, they said.
The Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,874 more confirmed coronavirus cases and 50 more confirmed deaths in its noon update Thursday.
And plenty of uncertainty remains about how the state will weather the next few months as people try to become vaccinated while more contagious variants of the virus begin to appear in Louisiana.
On Thursday, the state Department of Health warned two more cases of the U.K. variant had been found in the Lake Charles and New Orleans areas. While the cases only bring the confirmed total in Louisiana to three, state health officials warned many more undetected cases were likely.
"You ever overcorrect on the road and have that super uneasy feeling when you get back on the road? You know, just because you're back on the road doesn't make you feel any better?" asked Dr. Catherine O'Neal, chief medical officer for Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center and an infectious disease physician. "That's how people should feel."
"Where we are today should make people incredibly uncomfortable," O'Neal added. "I'm hopeful, but I'm very cautious, and I would hope that everybody would remain with the same caution that they have been. This is a very uneasy place to be now."
Still, there are some encouraging signs.
Demand is outpacing world supplies. Here's what manufacturers are doing.
New cases peaked around Jan. 8 to 12 and have been mostly headed downward for the rest of the month, state case trend data show. There was a one-day uptick through Wednesday after a big batch of tests were reported.
The seven-day average for new daily cases has fallen off more by than one-third in the Baton Rouge area between the highest point in January and Thursday. Some parishes, like Ascension, have seen even sharper drops, according to an analysis of raw case data.
Weekly positivity rates, which are a way to measure viral spread in the community, are also largely headed downward or stable.
East Baton Rouge Parish is below double-digits and hit 9% in the week ended Jan. 20, the lowest level since mid-December. Ten percent positivity or greater is considered a sign of uncontrolled spread.
St. James Parish government and the parish hospital have set up a call center and transportation services to streamline vaccinations for the c
In the Baton Rouge-area health region, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have fallen off 19% since a peak of 243 people on Jan. 14. The number sat at 197 through Wednesday, according to Thursday's data.
The state health region doesn't include several Baton Rouge area parishes: Livingston, St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Assumption and St. James. But neighboring health regions that do include those parishes also have generally seen declines.
Susan Hassig, a Tulane University epidemiologist, said the January peak and subsequent fall off seem to correlate with the natural course of the virus after the surge of cases prompted by holiday gatherings primarily during Christmas.
"In terms of case count, we have finally made it through the holiday period of our discontent," she said.
The drop suggests that some of the unemployed are finding new jobs and that others have exhausted state benefits.
She and others don't think the decline in cases can be attributed to the state's vaccination effort, because not enough people have gotten both doses.
Out of 4.65 million people in Louisiana, 57,926 of them, or about 1.2%, have completed the two-dose regimen as of Thursday, state statistics show.
Hassig said she believes the effects of the vaccine will start to show up first when case numbers for those ages 70 and older start to drop and deviate from weekly case trends for other age groups that haven't been able to receive the vaccine.
Young adults and those in their 30s remain the age groups with the greatest number of new cases week to week. But almost all age groups have tracked one another through the pandemic's surges and troughs.
The exception has been the youngest children, who remain at low levels, state data show.
While cases are down from the peak, they are still well above the low points of the pandemic. Hassig described how the baseline in cases seems to be stair-stepping upward after each surge in cases comes to an end. She said she worried about the risk of another surge in cases and whether people would continue to avoid large gatherings, especially those related to the coming Mardi Gras holiday.
Also, a few parishes in the Baton Rouge area, like Assumption Parish, are still seeing rising positivity rates and daily new cases.
The small, rural parish south of East Baton Rouge saw the positivity rate rise by more than a quarter week-to-week to 15.3%. An Advocate analysis shows per-capita daily case trends are nearly double the regional average and well above the state average.
"It's widespread here," said John Boudreaux, the parish homeland security director. The parish is currently trying to boost vaccinations.
Hassig said it is her hope that greater vaccinations and other efforts to keep spread low will accumulate enough through the springtime to squelch another surge.
"But that's going to take people behaving right and taking the vaccine," she said.
More effective antiviral treatments could be on the way after research from The University of Texas at Austin sheds new light on the COVID-19 antiviral drug remdesivir, the only treatment of its kind currently approved in the U.S. for the coronavirus.
The study is published today in the journal Molecular Cell.
Remdesivir targets a part of the coronavirus that allows it to make copies of itself and spread through the body. For the first time, scientists identified a critical mechanism that the drug uses and unearthed information that drug companies can use to develop new and improved antivirals to take advantage of the same trick.
According to co-author Kenneth Johnson, the finding could also lead to more potent drugs, meaning a patient could take less of a dose, see fewer side effects and experience faster relief.
Right now, its a five-day regimen of taking quite a bit of remdesivir, said Johnson, professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin. Thats inconvenient and comes with side effects. What if you could take just one pill and that was all you needed to do? That would make a huge difference in terms of the here and now.
Study co-author David Taylor likens the trick the team identified to a paper jam in the viruss photocopier. Remdesivir shuts down this photocopier called an RNA polymerase by preventing copying of the viruss genetic code and its ability to churn out duplicates and spread through the body. The team detected where the drug manages to gum up the gears, grinding the machine to a halt.
We were able to identify the point where that paper jam happens, said Taylor, an assistant professor of molecular biosciences. We know now exactly whats creating this block. So, if we want to make the blockage even worse, we could do so.
The search for more potent antivirals could soon become more urgent as new strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, regularly emerge.
We might need other drugs that are like remdesivir, but different enough that they can then go after the mutated forms, Johnson said. Its like having a backup system, like having an emergency parachute in case the main chute doesnt work.
The studys co-first authors are postdoctoral researcher Jack Bravo and graduate student Tyler Dangerfield.
The team re-created in a lab dish the process that plays out in a patient who is infected with SARS-CoV-2 and then receives remdesivir. In a scientific first, the scientists developed a method for producing fully functional RNA polymerases to copy the viral genetic material. Next, they added a form of remdesivir. As the drug did its work, the researchers paused the process just after the reaction with remdesivir was completed (15-20 seconds) and took a 3D snapshot of the molecules in exquisite detail using a cryo-electron microscope in UT Austins Sauer Structural Biology Laboratory. The image allowed them to reconstruct exactly how remdesivir gums up the copying process.
Johnson said that SARS-CoV-2 is the third coronavirus to make the leap from animals to humans in less than 20 years. So even if this pandemic is brought under control soon, it still makes sense to continue developing weapons against coronaviruses.
This is not the last unique coronavirus thats going to come after us, Johnson said. Having better antivirals could buy us time to develop vaccines against potential future outbreaks.
The version of the paper published today is a pre-proof, meaning that it has been accepted for publication and peer reviewed, but has yet to be fully formatted for final publication. It is currently slated to appear in a print edition of the journal in April.
This work was supported in part by the Welch Foundation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH, Army Research Office, and the Robert J. Kleberg, Jr. and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation. David Taylor is a CPRIT scholar supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and an Army Young Investigator supported by the Army Research Office.
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CHAMPAIGN Did the smell and taste of your morning cup of coffee seem, perhaps, less robust than usual?
Its important to notice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, because sudden changes in smell and taste can be an early indicator of infection, said M. Yanina Pepino, a University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor.
Pepino is a leader of the Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research, which has created a 30-day online smell and taste challenge using whatever beverage participants drink at the start of the day.
The challenge was designed to be quick and easy, Pepino said, and shes inviting the UI campus community and others to participate.
It takes just a couple of minutes a day, she said.
Its fun and its free, Pepino said.
And it may help catch more COVID-19 cases that otherwise would go undetected, she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added the loss of smell and taste to the list of likely COVID-19 symptoms in April, and Pepino said its more likely to be a symptom in mild cases than severe ones.
In fact, she said, sometimes the only symptom of COVID-19 is a loss of the sense of smell.
Of course, your senses of taste and smell can be impaired for other reasons among them smoking and having a cold.
Having a weaker sense of smell is also normal for older adults after age 70, Pepino said.
But tracking your senses of smell and taste every day for a month can raise awareness of any changes and potentially signal the need for a COVID-19 test, she said.
Pepino said those taking part in the challenge are asked to choose whatever beverage they have when they wake up for the day because what people drink for breakfast tends to be the most consistent among their daily eating and drinking habits.
It doesnt have to be coffee. It can be tea, soda, orange juice or whatever other beverage you have every day for breakfast, she said.
After the initial sign-up, participants will be asked to update whether anything has changed for them in their COVID-19 status or symptoms and then rate how intense the smell and taste of their morning beverage is.
Theres also an option to take part in a longer survey, for those who are interested, Pepino said.
Those participating in even the shorter daily survey will also be contributing to ongoing research into the link between loss of smell and taste and COVID-19, she said.
Answers will be recorded for research anonymously in the database, so participants cant be personally identified from the data.
The smell-and-taste challenge survey has been translated into 10 languages and is being offered worldwide, Pepino said.
The Global Consortium for Chemosensory Research has already found in a crowd-sourced survey that an impaired sense of smell may be the best indicator of COVID-19 infection, even more so than a fever or cough among people who didnt have impaired smell or taste before, according to the UI.
You can find the new survey online at riech-check.de.
Ask the expert
Have a COVID question you'd like to ask C-U Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde? Email it to news@news-gazette.com.
