Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now reached more than 23.9 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths now stands at more than 819,000.
Myanmar has reported its biggest daily rise in new cases - 70. It has reported six deaths and 574 infections since March.
Researchers in Australia hope to launch trials of an antibody therapy early next year. A large-scale trial of a vaccine could start before the end of 2020.
US colleges are grappling with an increase in coronavirus cases as classes resume.
Global confirmed cases
Image: Our World in Data
Around 6% of residents of a German town that was an early COVID-19 hotspot, had antibodies to the virus.
Researchers from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases tested people in Bad Feilnbach, in the south of the country, between 23 June and 4 July. They found 2.6 times more infections that previously reported.
Of those who had antibodies, 14.5% had shown no symptoms. The highest prevalence of the virus was among 18-34 year-olds, at 8%.
The study is part of ongoing research of towns in Germany, and the Institute said it would wait for more results before drawing broader conclusions.
The first global pandemic in more than 100 years, COVID-19 has spread throughout the world at an unprecedented speed. At the time of writing, 4.5 million cases have been confirmed and more than 300,000 people have died due to the virus.
As countries seek to recover, some of the more long-term economic, business, environmental, societal and technological challenges and opportunities are just beginning to become visible.
To help all stakeholders communities, governments, businesses and individuals understand the emerging risks and follow-on effects generated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Marsh and McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group, has launched its COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications - a companion for decision-makers, building on the Forums annual Global Risks Report.
The report reveals that the economic impact of COVID-19 is dominating companies risks perceptions.
Companies are invited to join the Forums work to help manage the identified emerging risks of COVID-19 across industries to shape a better future. Read the full COVID-19 Risks Outlook: A Preliminary Mapping and its Implications report here, and our impact story with further information.
3. Re-infections in Europe
Two patients - one in Belgium and one in the Netherlands - are confirmed to have been re-infected with coronavirus.
The cases follow a report of re-infection from Hong Kong. The Belgian case saw a woman first contract COVID-19 in March before contracting a different strain in June.
The Dutch case saw an elderly patient contract a different strain.
It is clear there has been a first and a second infection with a substantial quantity of virus. Enough to be able to determine the genetic code of the virus, that is what showed they were indeed different, said Marion Koopmans, a leading virologist in the Netherlands and a member of the World Health Organizations scientific advisory group.
But, she also cautioned that the patient had a weakened immune system, and that she didn't think re-infection was 'standard'.
The World Health Organization, in reference to the Hong Kong case, has also cautioned that more research is needed before conclusions can be drawn.
Just hours afterthe world's first confirmed coronavirus reinfection case was documented in Hong Kong on Monday, researchers reported a woman in Belgium had caught the virus a second time.
So, too, did Dutch virus experts, who announced an older person in the Netherlands as a third confirmed reinfection of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Experts used genetic testing, in which they compare versions of the virus present in the first and second infections, to confirm these reinfections were distinct second cases, and not just lingering effects of the people's first infections.
But just because a few COVID-19 reinfections have started to crop up among more than23.69 million documented coronavirus cases worldwidedoesn't mean that an initial coronavirus infection does nothing to protect people from future illnesses, or that a vaccine won't help stamp out this pandemic.
"I don't want people to be afraid," Maria van Kerkhove, the World Health Organisation's technical lead for COVID-19, said on Monday whenasked about the Hong Kong reinfection case.
"We need to ensure that people understand that when they are infected, even when they have a mild infection, that they do develop an immune response."
The reinfection case in the Netherlands, diagnosed in an elderly person with a weakened immune system, was confirmed to Business Insider on Tuesday by Erasmus MC, where virologist Marion Koopmans works. (Her data on the case has not been made public yet, and Erasmus cited Dutch privacy laws when asked for details.)
"Just because you've built up antibodies doesn't mean you're immune," Koopmans said, in an interview about the reinfection case with Dutch publicbroadcaster NOS.
But even if a person doesn't develop full immunity to a virus, and gets reinfected, the body seems to remember its previous illnesses. In addition to antibodies, T cells and other components of a person's immune system all work together to better fight back an active infection the second time around.
That seems to be what happened in Belgium, where a woman in her 50s who already had the coronavirus in March was reportedly diagnosed a second time in June.
Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst has not yet made public the data behind his claim either, but said the woman developed very few antibodies after her first infection, and surmised that that may be why she was susceptible to reinfection (though her second case wasmild).
"We would have preferred the time between two infections to have been longer," Van Ranst told Belgian public broadcasterVRT news. "The antibodies from the first time do not help enough to prevent the second infection."
He said more of these seemingly rare reinfection cases will likely continue to pop up in the coming months, as people's immunity to the coronavirus (from their previous infections) wanes.
"Maybe there will be more who will have it a second time after 6 months, or 9 months," he said.
The two European reinfection cases bring the official tally of coronavirus reinfection cases to three, among tens of millions.
Previous reports of 260 reinfections from South Korea in Aprilturned out to be lingering cases of the same infection.One other potential reinfection case was reported in the US in June, and another 3 were flagged in July in France.
But those cases have not been considered confirmed reinfections because less time elapsed between the positive tests, and scientists did not do a genetic sequence of the viruses.
Researchers fromHong Kong University announced Monday that"the world's first documentation of a patient who recovered from COVID-19 but got another episode of COVID-19, afterwards," is forthcoming in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.
A 33-year-old, seemingly healthy man who had been sick in March wasdiagnosed with the novel coronavirus a second timeafter travelling back to Hong Kong from Spain earlier this month.
While he had a fever, cough, and headaches during his first COVID-19 illness, the man had no symptoms during his second infection.
Many epidemiologists have anticipated coronavirus reinfections like these could be possible.
"You can get repeatedly infected once your immunity goes down," Florian Krammer, avaccine scientist and virus expertat the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, previously told Business Insider, whenasked about coronavirus immunity.
These three cases, then, aren't a reason to panic. Instead, they show how previous infections can provide people with some decent protection from another coronavirus illness.
"That someone would pop up with a reinfection, it doesn't make me nervous," Koopmanstold Reuters. "We have to see whether it happens often."
Indeed, Krammer predicted (just as these reinfection cases suggest) that a patient's second tangle with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, will generally be less severe than their first: "It's very likely that if you did get reinfected after some time, it would be an attenuated disease," he said.
The same could be true of coronavirus vaccines, once they're developed: even if they don't protect people from infection at 100 percent, vaccines could help our immune systems battle this illness better.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
More from Business Insider:
Focusing on how to block the coronaviruss transmission is a much more efficient approach.
This is why randomized controlled trials of the vaccines currently under consideration should include regular monitoring for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in study subjects. The goal should be to evaluate whether the subjects acquire the infection at all, and for how long, as well as how abundantly they shed and spread the virus, when and how.
Studying these issues could also help cast a light on the role of so-called superspreading events in this pandemic.
More and more research suggests that a very small number of instances gatherings at restaurants or bars, choir rehearsal, funerals, church services might account for a vast majority of the cases of infection overall.
But the discussion about those instances has tended to focus on their settings and circumstances, such as the presence of crowds in confined spaces for extended periods of time.
Yet the question of whether some infected individuals, perhaps especially at certain stages of infection, are particularly infectious whether they, themselves, are superspreaders also needs to be studied head-on: When does contagiousness peak in whom and why? And can vaccines modify any of that?
The best vaccines dont just protect the inoculated from getting sick from a disease. They also protect everyone else from even contracting the pathogen that causes that disease.
Preventing the very transmission of SARS-CoV-2, no less than stopping it from turning into Covid-19, should be a main priority of current efforts to develop the vaccines to end this pandemic.
Adam Finn (@adamhfinn) is a senior clinician in the pediatric immunology and infectious diseases clinical service at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Bristol. Richard Malley (@rickmalley) is a physician specializing in infectious diseases at Boston Childrens Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
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On Saturday, President Donald Trump fired off one of his most deranged, conspiratorial, and flat-out terrifying tweets since he took office which at this point is really saying something.
The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics, he wrote. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!
In other words, Trump is claiming there are anti-Trump forces in the Food and Drug Administration who are deliberately hamstringing efforts to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in order to hurt his re-election chances. Trump wrote that this is obviously the case, tagging FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, whom Rolling Stone dubbed one of the four men responsible for Americas failed response to the pandemic, along with Trump.
Trumps tweet came five days after his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, reportedly accused FDA officials to their faces of being part of the Deep State, telling them they need to get on Trump Time in facilitating a cure for the novel, once-in-a-generation virus that has now killed over 175,000 Americans. The blame has to fall somewhere, and of course it cant be on the Trump administration, which has an election to win.
Trump and Navarros frustration stems from both the lack of a vaccine which typically take years, not months, to develop and the lack of approved therapeutics to treat the virus. After the FDA last week put a hold on granting emergency-use authorization for using blood plasma from people who have recovered from Covid-19 to treat the virus, Trump told reporters it could be a political decision. After alleging on Saturday that the agency is run by the Deep State, Trump criticized its decision in June to revoke the emergency-use authorization for hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump and Navarro championed and which the FDA ultimately deemed an ineffective Covid-19 therapeutic.
As fate would have it, a day after Trumps critical tweets the FDA issued an emergency-use authorization for using blood plasma to treat Covid-19. The decision was made despite objections from government scientists at the National Institute of Health, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who argued that the data on plasmas effectiveness was insufficient. The pressure from the Trump administration apparently carried a little more weight. We broke the logjam over the last week, Trump said during a press briefing on Sunday. I think there are people in the FDA and actually in your larger department that can see things being held up.
The potential for the FDA to cow to pressure from Trump has been a concern since the race to develop a vaccine began. The concern is swelling now that the president is trailing in the 2020 election polls and desperate for a win such as, say, headlines about a vaccine breakthrough. Unfortunately, Trump Time, as Navarro puts it, has no real concern for the opinion of scientists, or for the fact that it typically takes years if not decades to develop a safe and effective vaccine. Rushing the approval of a Covid-19 inoculation, or therapeutics, that could be administered to tens of millions could lead to a public-health catastrophe on top of the existing public-health catastrophe.
Although we see regulation as burdensome, you want the FDA to regulate these products, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the FDAs vaccine advisory committee, told Rolling Stone in May. You want someone to take a long hard look at what the data are before they license it for use in this country.
There was a moment when Donald Trump said the FDA was working with them, Offit said. That worries me.
Others took comfort in the integrity of the scientists staffed at the Food and Drug Administration. FDA employees tend to insulate themselves pretty well from all the hype, and they tend to look at things without bias, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of Baylors College of Tropical Medicine, told Rolling Stone. Theyre really good scientists trying to think through this, so I dont think theyre going to be swayed. But who knows whats going to happen.
What could happen, though, is that the good scientists will just resign. On Friday, Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told Reuters he would step down if the Trump administration forces the approval of a vaccine that has yet to be proven safe and effective. I could not stand by and see something that was unsafe or ineffective that was being put through, he said. You have to decide where your red line is, and thats my red line. I would feel obligated [to resign] because in doing so, I would indicate to the American public that theres something wrong.
Marks initially threatened to resign during a recent call between government officials, pharmaceutical executives, and members of the NIHs working group on vaccines. Concern was reportedly expressed about an October surprise in which the Trump administration would rush to announce a vaccine candidate right before the election, prompting Marks to say hed step down if this happened.
Although Trump has said on multiple occasions that a vaccine could be ready by the election, this is unlikely, if not impossible. Hotez told Rolling Stone that late 2021 or early 2022 is the best-case scenario. Its not going to be easy, he said. Its going to have to be a very carefully orchestrated dance between the epidemiological models, the scientists, the business community, and government leaders to work this out. Its doable, but its not going to be easy.
The president might not see that timeline working for him.
NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has said a vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be available before the Nov. 3 presidential election, sooner than most experts anticipate.
FILE PHOTO: A small bottle labeled with a "Vaccine" sticker is held near a medical syringe in front of displayed "Coronavirus COVID-19" words in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
A COVID-19 vaccine as early as October could become a reality if drugmakers deliver on optimistic timelines for completing large, late-stage clinical trials and regulators allow for its use prior to a full review and approval.
HOW CAN U.S. REGULATORS SPEED UP AVAILABILITY OF A VACCINE?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration can greenlight medical products during public health emergencies by issuing an emergency use authorization (EUA) before all the data are in to complete a formal review.
The FDA has issued EUAs for many COVID-19 tests and for a few treatments. On Sunday, the FDA authorized on an emergency basis the use blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients as a treatment. The FDA commissioner later corrected data he cited at a news conference that significantly overstated the treatments known ability to save lives.
EUAs are not typically used for vaccines intended for healthy people to prevent infection. That presents a higher bar for approval than treatments for people with life-threatening disease.
Nevertheless, the FDA in June released EUA guidance for COVID-19 vaccines. Once it grants an EUA, the agency eventually must issue a formal marketing approval or revoke emergency authorization.
Typical FDA approval reviews take eight months or longer, with a priority review shaving off a couple of months. But the agency has moved quickly during past public health crises. During the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, it only took two months to get an approved vaccine, but those were based on existing seasonal flu vaccines.
An EUA for a vaccine using a new approach might only save a few weeks, some experts say. The FDA would still need substantial data, said Dr. Kathryn Edwards, former chairwoman of the FDAs vaccine advisory committee and scientific director at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program.
What they do seem to be telling us is that once you show that your vaccine works ... that might be a time when an EUA may be used before the paperwork is completed, said Filip Dubovsky, chief medical officer of vaccine maker Novavax Inc (NVAX.O).
The U.S. government decided against an EUA for the H1N1 vaccine after a survey found 64% of Americans would not take it if it had not gone through the formal approval process.
Consumer rights watchdog Public Citizen urged regulators not to use an EUA for COVID-19 vaccines, which it says could create the appearance of a rushed review.
The FDA and other U.S. health experts say there must be sufficient safety and efficacy data before a vaccine is authorized for public use.
I certainly would not recommend nor would I ever allow myself to be injected with a vaccine that has not been thoroughly vetted and approved by the FDA, said former FDA associate commissioner Dr. Peter Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
COULD TRUMP PRESSURE THE FDA TO ISSUE AN EUA WITHOUT SUFFICIENT DATA?
Trump, without citing evidence, on Saturday accused deep state elements in the FDA of holding up vaccines and treatments in order to undermine his reelection prospects.
FDA Commissioner Stephan Hahn has denied that assertion. Peter Marks, one of the FDAs top drug reviewers, told Reuters he would resign if he felt the agency was pressured to approve a vaccine before it was ready.
Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former FDA chief scientist, said a vaccine EUA could undermine public confidence in the agency. He cited pressure around hydroxychloroquine, a treatment pushed by Trump and others in his administration, which received an EUA that was later revoked when data showed a lack of efficacy and safety issues.
Were certainly seeing a situation where norms are not being respected government-wide, Goodman said.
WHICH DRUGMAKERS HAVE A SHOT AT A VIABLE VACCINE BEFORE THE ELECTION?
AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) in conjunction with Oxford University researchers and Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) with partner BioNTech SE (22UAy.F) have said they could have pivotal data by October. Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) is not far behind with late-stage data expected as soon as November or December.
Reporting by Carl O'Donnell and Julie Steenhuysen, editing by Peter Henderson and Bill Berkrot
Long parallel aisles flanked by columns of nearly two-meter tall freezers, each set to -80 degrees Celsius (-112 Fahrenheit), is where some of the COVID-19 vaccines will be making a pit stop before arriving at your doorstep.
The huge facility the size of a soccer field is one of the two freezer farms that US logistics firm UPS is building to safely store millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines and promptly ship them across the world.
The farms are part of a global effort that has seen governments, international organizations, pharmaceutical companiesand logistics firms pump billions of dollars to kickstart mass production of yet-to-be approved vaccines and to boost supply chain capabilities, ensuring they are not caught off guard once the vaccines are given the green light.
"We are currently leveraging[our experience and expertise] and investing and gearing up to be able to support the pharmaceutical industry, support the battle against the COVID virus," Anouk Hesen, the head of UPS Healthcare in the Netherlands, told DW.
The facilities, being built close to UPS air cargo hubs in the United States and Germany, will together house 600 freezers, each capable of storing 48,000 vials of vaccine. The deep-freezers are being set up to store the more fragile vaccines, including those that are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) to produce viral proteins in the body.
Hesen did not disclose if the company had already scored any clients for the freezer farms, only saying it was in talks with "leading pharmaceutical companies" without disclosing any names. US company Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech, a German biotech firm, and Curevac, another German firm, are some of the leading names working on vaccines based on mRNA.
The deep freezers at the facilities will be set to -80 degrees Celsius.
Once ready, vaccines will leave the laboratory in specialized, well-insulated boxes, filled with dry ice or frozen carbon dioxide. The boxes will be brought to one of the freezer farms, where they would be carefully opened on a soft stretcherlike table and stored in freezers.
"You would not be able to operate in the freezer farms without personal protective equipment [PPE]. So, our people are supplied with the right gear, like specific gloves and goggles to be able to handle the products inside," Hesen told DW. "It's not a temperature that you'll be able to walk into."
Based on instructions or orders from customers, the vaccines would be put back in insulated boxes filled with dry ice, capable of maintaining an ideal temperature for up to 96 hours. Depending on how stringent specifications willbe, the repackaging will take place in a room with temperature as low as -20 degrees Celsius or one with temperatures ranging from 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius the ideal storage temperature range for most vaccines to ensure the shots are not compromised.
The vaccines will then be shipped by air while ensuring they remain stable. UPS says it would be able to provide overnight delivery to almost any part of the world thanks to the proximity of its freezer farmsin Louisville, in the US state of Kentucky, and the Venlo-Roermond area in the Netherlands, to its air hubs. The firm is also setting up deep-freeze units in some places, including in Frankfurt and the UK.
With COVID-19 vaccines being developed at an unprecedented pace, there is hardly any data available on their fragility or stability. UPS is in talks with vaccine makers and US authorities, including the Operation Warp Speed team a public-private partnership initiated by the Trump administration to accelerate vaccine development about how the supply chain would look like. Some experts say the first shipments of the shots would need to be transported at "vaccine-untypical"conditions of -20 degrees Celsius, if not at -80 degrees a major challenge for freight companies.
UPS is also boosting capacity to store vaccines that can remain stable in 2-8 degrees Celsius
UPS is gaining critical hands-on experience; one of its units is involved in delivering COVID-19 vaccines for clinical trials under strict guidelines. Thefirm, based in the US city of Atlanta, Georgia, was also part of global efforts to distribute huge volumes of PPE kits for health care workers, coronavirus test kits and equipment for intensive care units at the height of the pandemic.
There are close to 170 vaccines in development, with 30 of them in clinical trials, according to the World Health Organization. Not all vaccines under development wouldneed to be stored at -80 degrees Celsius; the less fragile ones would be able to maintain potency at higher temperatures.
UPS is adding storage space even for these vaccines as can be noticed from rows of empty yellow shelves in a hall with the temperature ranging from 2-8 degrees at its Roermond facility.
Hesen did not reveal how much UPS is investing in its COVID-19 efforts but said the freezer farms are part of the company's plans to expand its health care offerings and that it expects them to remain in demand even after the pandemic ends.
What does it mean if a COVID19 vaccine were to offer 80 percent efficacy? From Vaccine Efficacy Needed for a COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine to Prevent or Stop an Epidemic as the Sole Intervention, by Sarah M. Bartsch et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.011 Credit: PHICOR
This question as well as coronavirus-related discrimination, population vulnerability, anxiety, and depression are explored in recent articles in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, is committed to publishing the most robust, evidence-based research and commentary on COVID-19 as they unfold to keep readers up to date and aware of issues relevant to community and individual health during this continually evolving global outbreak. All articles featured here are freely available.
New computational model finds that a COVID-19 vaccine will have to be at least 80 percent effective to achieve a complete return to normal.
Researchers around the world are racing to find a COVID-19 vaccine to eliminate the need for social distancing, mask wearing, and limits on interpersonal gatherings. In a new study, a computer simulation model found that if 75 percent of the population gets vaccinated, the vaccine has to have an efficacy (ability to protect against infection) of at least 70 percent to prevent an epidemic and at least 80 percent to extinguish an ongoing epidemic.
If only 60 percent of the population gets vaccinated, the thresholds are even higher, around 80 percent to prevent an epidemic and 100 percent to extinguish an ongoing epidemic. Some are pushing for a vaccine to come out as quickly as possible so that life can return to normal.
However, we have to set appropriate expectations. Just because a vaccine comes out doesnt mean you can go back to life as it was before the pandemic, notes lead investigator Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, Public Health Informatics, Computational and Operations Research, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, New York, NY, USA. It is important to remember that a vaccine is like many other products what matters is not just that a product is available, but also how effective it is. The investigators say the results of their study can provide targets for vaccine developers as well as shape expectations for policy makers, business leaders, and the general public.
A coefficient map of social vulnerability to COVID-19 in the United States based on data collected through May 12, 2020. From The Impact of Social Vulnerability on COVID-19 in the U.S.: An Analysis of Spatially Varying Relationships, by Ibraheem M. Karaye, MD, DrPH, and Jennifer A. Horney, PhD, MPH. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.006Credit: American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Vaccine Efficacy Needed for a COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine to Prevent or Stop an Epidemic as the Sole Intervention by Sarah M. Bartsch, MPH, Kelly J. OShea, BSFS, Marie C. Ferguson, MSPH, Maria Elena Bottazzi, Ph.D., Patrick T. Wedlock, MSPH, Ulrich Strych, PhD, James A. McKinnell, MD, Sheryl S. Siegmund, MS, Sarah N. Cox, MSPH, Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, and Bruce Y. Lee, MD, MBA, 15 July 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.011
Like indoor smoking bans, mask wearing should be considered a fundamental occupational health protection.
Mask requirements to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are often presented as an infringement on individual rights. In this article, the authors note that bans against indoor smoking were enacted to protect workers health on the basis that individual rights do not extend to the imposition of risk on others. Similarly, masks should be required to protect workers by limiting the diffusion of particulates that carry COVID-19. Clear and consistent government policies on indoor mask wearing would remove some of the burden from business owners, but in the absence of policy, business owners can also require masks, knowing that healthy workplaces have higher productivity. Much like stepping outside to smoke, wearing a mask until the pandemic is resolved may feel like a nuisance; however both pose a relatively small inconvenience when compared to workers rights to a healthy, safe work environment, observes lead author Mike Vuolo, PhD, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
COVID-19 Mask Requirements as a Workers Rights Issue: Parallels to Smoking Bans by Mike Vuolo, PhD, Brian C. Kelly, PhD, and Vincent Roscigno, PhD, 16 July 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.07.001
Associations between social vulnerabilities and increased COVID-19 infection vary among US counties, suggesting need for different strategies to address the pandemic.
A new study confirms that social vulnerability is associated with increased prevalence of COVID-19 infection in the United States. However, the specific vulnerability factors most important in predicting infection minority status and language, household composition and disability, and transportation and housing vary among regions and counties. For example, in the Pacific Northwest, minority status and language and household composition and disability were more predictive of COVID-19 case counts. In the Gulf Coast states, housing and transportation were more predictive. Lead investigator Ibraheem M. Karaye, MD, DrPH, Epidemiology Program, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA, explains, In the US, social vulnerability to COVID-19 is highly local, so while a coordinated Federal response is needed to control COVID-19 nationally, local jurisdictions should, where possible given limited funding and staff, address specific vulnerable groups with interventions designed to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.
The Impact of Social Vulnerability on COVID-19 in the U.S.: An Analysis of Spatially Varying Relationships by Ibraheem M. Karaye, MD, DrPH, and Jennifer A. Horney, PhD, MPH, 26 June 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.006
Study identifies racial and socioeconomic disparities in testing and positive results for COVID-19 in New York City.
A new study has found that in New York City COVID-19 testing has not been proportional to need. Researchers conducted a statistical analysis on the relationship between race and socioeconomic factors such as household income, gross rent, poverty, education, working class status, and the rate of testing for the virus, and the proportion of positive results. They found that, adjusted for population, the total number of tests performed significantly increased in neighborhoods with more white residents, while the highest proportion of positive tests were recorded in nonwhite neighborhoods and in areas defined by lower socioeconomic status. COVID-19 testing is a key component of public health efforts to contain the pandemic, says lead investigator Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD, Director, Institute for Translational Epidemiology;, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Center for Disaster Health, Trauma, and Resilience, New York, NY, USA. Our findings show that in New York City, there is an urgent need for widespread testing and public health outreach for the most vulnerable communities.
Disparities in COVID-19 Testing and Positivity in New York City by Wil Lieberman-Cribbin, MPH, Stephanie Tuminello, MPH, Raja M. Flores, MD, and Emanuela Taioli, MD, PhD, 25 June 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.005
Increase in mental distress during the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic associated with greater use of traditional and social media to learn about the disease.
In a nationally representative sample of US adults surveyed between March 10 and March 31, 2020, researchers found that individuals who reported spending more time on social media and consulting a greater number of traditional media sources to learn about the disease were more likely to report higher levels of mental distress than those with less media exposure. People who responded later in the survey, as a national emergency was declared and schools and businesses closed, reported greater media exposure and mental distress. A pandemic of this scale in the era of social media is unprecedented. We need to consider how exposure to social media, and other sources of media like television or newspapers, might affect mental health during this time, says first author Kira E. Riehm, MSc, Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. The researchers suggest that engaging with supportive friends and family online and seeking information only from evidence-based sources like the CDC or WHO could support mental health.
Associations Between Media Exposure and Mental Distress Among U.S. Adults at the Beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic by Kira E. Riehm, MSc, Calliope Holingue, PhD, Luther G. Kalb, PhD, Daniel Bennett, PhD, Arie Kapteyn, PhD, Qin Jiang, MA, Cindy Veldhuis, PhD, Renee M. Johnson, PhD, M. Daniele Fallin, PhD, Frauke Kreuter, PhD, Elizabeth A. Stuart, PhD, and Johannes Thrul, PhD, 10 July 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.008
People thought to have COVID-19 can face discrimination, regardless of actual disease status, leading to increased anxiety and depression.
A national survey asked individuals if they were treated with less courtesy and respect than others; received poorer service at restaurants or stores; found people acted as if they were afraid of them; or felt threatened or harassed because they were suspected of having COVID-19. The rate of perceived discrimination, regardless of actual disease status, increased from March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, to April 2020. Asians and non-Hispanic blacks perceived more discrimination, as did individuals of any race or ethnicity who wore face masks. Perceiving discrimination was associated with increased anxiety and depression. Lead investigator Ying Liu, PhD, Center for Economic and Social Research, University of Southern California; Los Angeles, CA, USA, comments, COVID-related discrimination is real and serious. It reflects social bias against racial and ethnic minorities and those who wear facemasks, and it disproportionately worsens mental despair in vulnerable populations. It is critical and timely for policy makers and the general public to become aware of this problem.
Perceived Discrimination and Mental Distress amid the 2019 Coronavirus Disease Pandemic: Evidence from the Understanding America Study by Ying Liu, PhD, Brian Karl Finch, PhD, Savannah G. Brenneke, MPH, Kyla Thomas, PhD, and PhuongThao D. Le, PhD, MPH, 6 July 2020, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.06.007
In summary
Its critical that we encourage the early adoption of any successfully developed COVID-19 vaccine and promote the widespread use of the flu vaccine.
Kelly Danielpour is a high school senior at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, VaxTeen@gmail.com. Shes the founder of VaxTeen and works as an intern for Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, researching Californias vaccine policy.
Dr. Jeffrey Klausner is a professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a former medical officer for the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, and a former deputy health officer at the San Francisco Department of Public Health, JDKlausner@mednet.ucla.edu.
As we attempt to mitigate the widespread effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, our legislators must address several urgent issues.
Its critical that we encourage the early adoption of any successfully developed COVID-19 vaccine. We must promote the widespread use of the vaccines we already have in particular, the flu vaccine, before this years flu season begins. And we need to curb growing vaccine hesitancy while putting systems in place to facilitate and manage the use of vaccines.
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The convergence of this falls flu season with a second wave of COVID-19 infections could be disastrous. Since influenza and COVID-19 have similar symptoms, people will likely misattribute them and clog health care systems. Patients will need to be tested for both viruses, placing a strain on personnel and supplies.
If the flu season is severe with a high rate of hospitalization, combined with COVID-19, this could quickly overburden hospitals. Although the flu vaccine does not provide 100% protection, it reduces symptoms and the likelihood of hospitalization. We need to vaccinate all eligible Californians against the flu now.
During the coronavirus pandemic, childhood vaccination rates have fallen dramatically in California, nationally and globally, fueling concerns of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
This April, vaccine doses given to California children fell by more than 40% compared to the previous year. Parents have avoided doctors offices, fearing COVID-19 exposure, but the risk is low with the numerous precautions in place. We could soon be facing outbreaks of measles and chickenpox alongside COVID-19.
This backlog of missed vaccinations only heightens the urgency of improving Californias immunization registries. These databases keep track of vaccinations and will play a key part in children catching up on vaccinations, as well as the uptake of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine.
In California, many providers are required to input all vaccination information, but there are large gaps in reporting, and registries arent sufficiently accessible to parents and those who have been vaccinated. Exacerbating the concern, vaccines against COVID-19 will likely require two doses given about a month apart and come in several types.
Without a thorough centralized system keeping track of who got what vaccine and when, vaccine distribution will become chaotic. Improved registries would also allow us to identify and target areas where vaccination compliance is lacking. To navigate COVID-19s impacts, Californias immunization registries require legislators immediate attention.
Further compounding the unnecessary toll of preventable illnesses in California are the low rates of human papillomavirus vaccination, which continue to result in increased cancer cases and significant costs to the state. A recent UCLA study suggested that if 99.5% of Californias population were fully vaccinated against HPV, approximately 74% of HPV-related cancer cases and the huge associated economic burdens on the health care system would be averted. Its time for the state Legislature to require HPV vaccination for all young Californians as a condition of school entry.
All of these concerns are tied to the overarching problem of growing vaccine hesitancy, something that threatens all Californians health. This has been furthered by the widespread distribution of vaccine misinformation, which has been allowed to grow and fester unchecked.
In addition to witnessing outbreaks of once-eliminated diseases due to under-vaccinated communities, were facing the alarming prospect that a significant portion of the population would refuse a COVID-19 vaccination. Theres a high likelihood that this would prevent us from attaining the level of herd immunity necessary to stem transmission and allow the diseases devastating toll to continue to mount.
We urgently need new legislation that would support science-based community education to counteract the pernicious effects of the anti-vaccine movement and research to identify sources of vaccine hesitancy.
Our state leaders need to act decisively to protect the health of all Californians. As the current pandemic has shown us, vaccinations are crucial both in saving lives and averting economic catastrophe. With the flu season fast approaching, along with a possible second wave of COVID-19 infections, and hopefully a COVID-19 vaccine, theres no time to waste. Legislators need to convene an emergency hearing on vaccines and methods of assuring their equitable use now.
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Dr. Jeffrey Klausner has also written about ending the state of emergency over COVID-19, Californias shelter-at-home-policy and the sexually transmitted disease crisis.
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We just want to make sure that Hispanics and other minorities were being taken into consideration as we did these trials, says Laredo Congressman Henry Cuellar.
By Mara Mndez August 26, 20209:42 amBorder & Immigration, Coronavirus, Health & Science, Partner Organizations, Race & Identity, Texas Newsroom, Texas Public Radio
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says "this is not necessarily the time to take everything slowly" when it comes to the Trump administration's approach to getting vaccines and treatments to the public.
Why it matters: Carson's comments, made Wednesday during an Axios virtual event, came days after the Food and Drug Administration announced an emergency use authorization (EUA) for treating the coronavirus with convalescent plasma. President Trump accused the agency of slow-walking the development and approval of vaccines and therapeutics to hurt him politically.
What Carson's saying: "That is the time to maximize your resourcesnot to skips stepsbut to move expeditiously. And if you have something that you know is safe or relatively safe and you have evidence that it's very effective, it would behoove you to move forward with testing."
Go deeper: What it's like to give convalescent plasma
Watch the event.
