On Tuesday and Wednesday, the state reported consecutive days of triple-digit coronavirus deaths.
Since the pandemic began, officials have confirmed more than 235,000 coronavirus cases in Georgia, though many of those people have since recovered. Gwinnett County has had the second most infections in the state with 21,411 confirmed cases. Only Fulton County has reported more.
In addition, Gwinnett reported four more COVID-related deaths on Saturday, bringing the countys death toll to 287.
The 15-year-olds death comes as many Georgia school districts have reopened for in-person learning. In Cherokee County, the number of public school students and teachers placed under quarantine for COVID-19 doubled from last week, with the number of new infections nearly tripling.
As the second week of school came to a close Friday, the district reported 80 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and said 1,106 students and employees are quarantined as a result.
The first week of school ended with 28 cases and 563 under quarantine in the district of about 40,000 students, AJC.com previously reported. All six Cherokee County high schools are reporting new cases, and two of them Etowah and Woodstock have closed as a result of the outbreaks.
So far, the youngest confirmed COVID-19 death in Georgia was a 7-year-old boy from Savannah.
Chatham County officials said the child died about three weeks ago after having a fever-fueled seizure in the bathtub and drowning. He was not believed to have had any pre-existing conditions either.
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Sarah Milne at Silverdale Waterfront Park on Wednesday with a portrait of her great aunt, who died from COVID-19 last month. Though Milne has not tested positive for COVID-19, she says her family has paid the "ultimate price" in the pandemic with the death of a beloved family member.(Photo: MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN)
Shannon George didnt even know she had it at first. Kim Silke couldnt get out of bed for days; her husband, meanwhile, didnt show any symptoms. Joseph Saromines spent more than three weeks in the hospital.
They all had COVID-19. They just didnt have it the same way.
For people whove gotten infected, the novel coronavirus has manifested in a wide range of experiences. Some say it's feltlike little more than a head cold while others havecomplications that turn fatal.
Stories from Kitsap County underscore how the highly contagious coronavirus can be utterly unpredictable for those who get it.
Since the pandemic started in March, Kitsap County has seen more than 800 confirmed cases, with adisproportionate impact felt bypeople of color. Each caserepresents far more than a data point for those whove contracted the virus and the people who know them.
In interviews with the Kitsap Sun, community members shared their personal experience with COVID-19and how it feels to have it or to know someone whodoes:The anxiety over deciding whether to go to the emergency room if you have trouble breathing; the unease about not knowing where yougot infected and the fear about unwittingly spreading it to others; the deep pain of losing a loved one.
Silke, 53, of Port Orchard, came down with the virus after she and her husband visited their daughter and son-in-laws place in Arizona in mid-April. While three of the four of them tested positive for the virus Silke, her husband and their son-in-law her daughters test came back negative.
For Silke, the virus came on slowly. She says it felt like coming down with a cold to start. But then a few days in, she began having difficulty breathing and had to go to the emergency room.
Read More: Why dont we know more about that COVID-19 case? The balance of health privacy laws and public interest
So I had a little bit of a meltdown and thought for sure I was dying, said Silke, who was concerned after seeing the reports about people hooked up on ventilators. That was the nerve-wracking part of realizing that I had the same virus and it could turn on me very quickly.
Doctors ended up giving her an inhaler, which helped herbreathing. Even still, she felt extremely fatigued. For a day or two, she lost her sense of taste and smell. I just slept. There were a couple days I never got out of bed, she said.
At the same time, Silkes husband, who also tested positive for the virus, didnt show any symptoms. This whole time my husband has it and is completely normal, she said. Not even a clue that he would have it.
Danny Fultonwoke up in mid-July with a scratchy throat and a small cough. At first, he thought it was just allergies.
After Fulton'swork sent him home, the 32-year-old Bremerton resident got tested and the next day the results came back positive.
Initially it was fine and nothing was going on and then bam, a wave of fever came on, said Fulton, explaining how each day around noonanother wave of fever would hit and cease to relent. I think the lowest it ever got down to was maybe 100 degrees.
When his fever hit 103 degrees, Fulton went into the emergency room, where he was hooked up to an IV for fluids and given antibiotics for pneumonia.
Fulton was back to full strength two weeks later. Hes just thankful that hes in pretty good physical health.
Shannon George doesnt know how she picked up the coronavirus. Before she was tested in late July, George said her symptoms were so minor she didnt even think she had COVID-19.
I kind of felt like I had really bad allergies almost to the point where it felt like I could have sinus infection coming on, said George, 40, of Suquamish. I would have never known that that's what this is.
Dezerae Hamblin, CNA, takes a specimen from Mike Grennan, PA-C, after testing a walk-up patient at the Peninsula Community Health COVID-19 testing site at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.(Photo: Meegan M. Reid / Kitsap Sun)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about half of transmission occurs before people experience symptoms. About 40% of people who are infected may not even show symptoms, according to the CDCs best estimates. Others are sick for weeks on endand still feel the impactmonths later.
George says she started feeling more symptoms before her test even came back positive. Some days, she felt crummy, with a fever that had spiked and rescinded. Other days, she felt slightly better with a slight headache and sinus congestion. Eventually, she lost her sense of taste and smell. But, she said, it was nothing severe enough to make me worry about it.
George'scase is why health officials have emphasized the need for people to contact their doctor and get tested for COVID-19, even if they only have minor symptoms, and to stay home when sick.
Health officials urge people who feel sick to get test for COVID-19, even if they only have minor symptoms.(Photo: Courtesy of the Kitsap Public Health District)
Kitsap health officials have also urged people to follow the states safety guidelines, like practicing social distancing, avoiding gatherings of more than five people, and wearing a face mask in public to protect others. Those aremeasures that health experts say are the countrys main defense against the virus until there is a vaccine.
Though George says she wasnt too concerned about her own health, she has worried about who she may have spread the virus to. It terrifies me to know that I could have put my loved ones at risk, she said. Luckily, her family and friends havent tested positive.
While she no longer has the virus, George says shes continuing to be cautious about following the states health guidelines: She tries to stay mostly at home. She always wears a mask. And she stays away from larger gatherings.
Im being more mindful. Im being more careful, she said. Theres no way Im going to put anybody else at risk. That was my biggest fear.
While many have felt only minor symptoms of COVID-19, some people have experienced more severe cases.
In Kitsap County, 59 people have been hospitalized from COVID-19 to date, including four people last week. For many, a hospital stay has been anything but easy.
Laurel Saromines said that was the case for her 81-year-old husband, Joseph, who spent 24 days at an Oregon hospital. (Because the couple recently moved to Bremerton from West Seattle, Josephs case is not included in Kitsaps count.)
Laurel, 75, said the couple tested positive in mid-March after going down to Oregon for ski vacation. Joseph had been fighting what doctors thought was a bad cold for weeks, which had resulted in pneumonia. It turns out, Laurel and Joseph both had COVID-19.
In the hospital, Joseph had been transferred to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator for five days, Laurel said. Even afterward, he relied on oxygen and needed a feeding tube. I was very concerned. But I didnt spend my time worrying about it.I spent a lot of time praying, Laurel said.
Related: From anti-maskers to large gatherings: Kitsap community navigates divides over state's COVID-19 rules
Five months later, Joseph is getting better but he still isnt back to full health, Laurel said. He has trouble swallowing and can only eat small amounts of soft foods. He still gets worn out easily and has some breathing issues. Hes been back to the hospital twice for extreme dehydration and a blood transfusion.
While Joseph was more vulnerable to the illness because of his old age, along with having diabetes, Laurel says her husband was in very good shape from serving as a ski instructor, playing tennis and golfing. That was really probably what allowed him to fight this, she said.
Other families have not been so fortunate. To date, COVID-19 has killed at least seven people in Kitsap County, making up a sliver of the more than 1,755 Washingtonians lost during the pandemic.
A sign reading "Rest in peace, from your brothers and children," at the grave of Mariano Matias Mendoza, who died from COVID-19 at the end of July.(Photo: Austen Macalus / Kitsap Sun)
That included 80-year-old Joanne Granni Jo Hunter, a longtime Bremerton resident known for her caring soul, and 55-year-old Mariano Matias Mendoza, remembered as a leader in Bremertons Guatemalan community.
Sarah Milne, 29, of Bremerton, also knows what its like to lose someone to COVID-19. Her great aunt Rosita Fothergill died from the virus last month at a Seattle hospital. She was 82.
Milne, who has not tested positive for COVID-19, says her great auntspent several weeks on a ventilator after she couldnt breathe, walk or even stand because of the virus. The ordeal was even more difficult because loved ones couldnt be alongside the familys matriarch in the hospital. The tight-knit family is still unable to gather together to mourn Rositas death.
A look into area deaths: Kitsap County sees rising COVID-19 deaths
No one could say bye to her, Milne said. It pains my heart because we couldnt do anything for her for four weeks. We would go see her. We couldn't embrace her...We just wanted her to know that we loved her.
Remembering her great aunts infectiouslaugh, rigorous work ethic and kind personality, Milne saidher family has paid the ultimate price" during a pandemic wheresome people refuse to wear a mask. Wouldn't you do anything you could to protect the people you love? To protect your own? And to protect everyone? she asked.
Milne says she hopes people will take the efforts necessary to help curb the virus spread, especially aspeople continue to die.
You might not know anybody that is ill, she said. You might not know anybody that has passed. But this is taking lives and this is painful.
Austen Macalus is the Kitsap Sun's social services reporter covering health care, homelessness and how programs are serving those in need. He can be reached at austen.macalus@kitsapsun.com or 360-536-6423.
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At some hospitals, officials have been able to use existing facilities. In Tyler, Texas, the UT Health North Campus medical center is an old tuberculosis hospital, with rooms that use negative air pressure to prevent viruses from spreading.
But in other locations, like Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., finding the right spot has been a struggle. Dr. Joshua Purow, who is overseeing the Eli Lilly outpatient trial at the hospital, rushed to get his site ready once he saw that infections were rising in the area.
Updated August 12, 2020
But Holy Cross turned down his first choice, a corner of the emergency department, out of fears that the space would be needed for more severe Covid-19 patients. The idea of installing an outdoor tent was deemed too complicated, and refurbishing a room in a nearby office building would take precious weeks.
Weeks passed before Dr. Purow finally secured a place to run the trial. It was in the emergency department, the first place he had requested.
We finally have it all set up to go, Dr. Purow said. But now, our numbers are declining a little bit. Were not seeing as much as we thought we would.
So far, he said, he has enrolled just one participant, out of a hoped-for 25. Over all, the Eli Lilly outpatient trial is aiming for including 400 patients. The similar Regeneron study has a goal of enrolling about 1,500 patients.
Not every trial site is seeing such hurdles. Dr. Jason Morris, who is overseeing the Eli Lilly study at his physician practice, Imperial Health, in Lake Charles, La., has already exceeded his goals and has enrolled about 45 patients. Dr. Morris said he or another doctor calls each person who tests positive for the virus at the groups urgent care clinic and tells them about the study.
With several coronavirus vaccine studies underway and the news that Russia has approved the first immunization against COVID-19 despite limited testing, we asked Chicagoans: Once a vaccine is available, will you get it? Some answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Once it is well-tested as safe and effective, people who dont get vaccinated will be regarded as negligent like homeowners without working smoke detectors. Kenneth Mayka
Absolutely not! I dont get the flu or pneumonia shot, and I definitely wont be getting this one either. They have rushed this shot, and I do not trust that its safe. Melissa Haney
Of course, I will get it! I will do anything preventative. Always get flu shots, pneumonia shots, shingles shot. Beverly Hendrix Crocker
Nope. Something that they whipped up in a lab that hasnt been around long enough to observe side-effects or long-term effects. I cant do it! BeBe Jones
It depends on the circumstances related to the vaccine. If its rushed, without any reliable data, without widespread acceptance from medical groups with high respectability, then likely not. Otherwise, after a few months, once the most at-risk groups have been inoculated, then Ill talk to my doctor about it. Ronald Raadsen
I am not an anti-vaxxer in any way, but I will pass on this for the time being. I am also a high risk person, and years of real testing needs to be done. Kevin Fitz
Yes, I will. I have no problem getting vaccinated. Erika Hoffman
Absolutely! As an RN of 45 years, I believe in the importance of vaccinations and the establishment of herd immunity. Pat Doran Adamski
Yes, I will take the vaccine. Vaccines have prevented many people from sickness and/or dying from common diseases. In some cases, the diseases has been wiped out due to vaccines. Gail Chapman
Yes. Vaccines, clean water and sanitation are the greatest contributors to civilization. As a child, I had many so-called childhood diseases that my children did not have because of the benefit of vaccines. Kathy Martinez
Yes, absolutely. I have four high-risk people in my home. Tricia Fitzgerald
Nope, I know what a sketchy scam the FDA approval process is. Ken Jackson
Sign me up. The one year I missed my flu shot, I had the worst flu ever. Not to mention the benefits of vaccines for smallpox, measles, mumps and rubella. Gloria Warshaw
Here are the symptoms of COVID-19
Some of the most common symptoms are fever, a dry cough, shortness of breath and fatigue. But as the virus continues its rapid spread, additional symptoms are being identified.
LOS ANGELES - More than 750,000 people have died from the novel coronavirus across the world, a stark reminder of the viruss ongoing spread and severity.
Data compiled Aug. 13 by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center shows there are more than 20 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, and over 5.2 million cases in the United States alone.
In addition to having more confirmed cases than any other country in the world, the U.S. also holds the unfortunate title of country with the most confirmed COVID-19 deaths with over 166,000, according to Johns Hopkins data.
The COVID-19 situation in the United States is so severe that American travelers are barred from visiting many countries in the European Union, despite the U.S. State Department lifting its Global Level 4 Health Advisory on Aug. 6.
RELATED:CoronavirusNOW.com, FOX launches national hub for COVID-19 news and updates
Following the U.S. in COVID-19 death counts is Brazil (104,000+), Mexico (54,000+), India (47,000+) and the United Kingdom (46,000+). Brazil surpassed the 100,000 death threshold on Aug. 8.
The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 1,000 daily deaths from the pandemic since late May and reported 905 for the latest 24-hour period, according to an Aug. 8 report from the Associated Press.
President Jair Bolsonaro who himself reported being infected has been a consistent skeptic about the impact of the disease and an advocate of lifting restrictions on the economy that had been imposed by state governors trying to combat it. He has frequently mingled in crowds, sometimes without a mask.
In Europe, multiple nations are experiencing surges in COVID-19 infections. Not two months after battling back the coronavirus, Spains hospitals have started seeing patients who are struggling to breathe returning to their wards.
The deployment of a military emergency brigade to set up a field hospital in the northeastern city of Zaragoza this week is a grim reminder that Spain is far from claiming victory over the virus that overwhelmed the European country in March and April.
The Spanish governments top virus expert, Fernando Simn, said Thursday that the 3,500 hospital beds occupied nationally by coronavirus patients represented just 3% of the total capacity.
There are steps public transit riders can take to help reduce their coronavirus risk.
On Aug. 8, the Associated Press reported that Italy added another 347 coronavirus infections to its official tally, a day after it surpassed the 500-case barrier for the first time since late May.
Italy had 552 confirmed cases on Friday. With Saturdays update from the health ministry, Italys daily caseload returns to the 200-300 range of new infections it has maintained for the past several weeks.
Government officials have urged Italians to keep their guard up, given Spain, France and Germany have seen daily infections top the 1,000-mark recently after the easing of virus lockdown measures.
Italian officials have blamed the new clusters largely on newly arrived migrants and Italians returning home from vacation outside their home regions. Another 13 people died in the last day, making Italys confirmed COVID-19 death toll 35,203 sixth highest in the world.
RELATED:Infectious disease experts say it may take 1 year for COVID-19 vaccine to be widely available after approval
New Zealands first known community outbreak in more than three months grew to 17 cases on Thursday and is expected to increase. Health officials are still working to trace where the virus came from, and a lockdown imposed in Auckland could be extended well beyond an initial three days.
Before the cluster was detected this week, no case of local transmission had been reported in New Zealand in 102 days. All of its other cases were travelers quarantined after arriving from abroad.
As the coronavirus pandemic has progressed, there have been heightened questions and discussion over if and when a COVID-19 vaccine will be available to the public.
According to a survey from InCrowd, a medical research company, a majority of infectious disease experts believed it would likely take as long as a year before a coronavirus vaccine is widely available to the public after the vaccines approval.
Fauci previously said that he hoped a vaccine would be available by early 2021, although he did not provide a specific time frame.
The world could see its first increase in extreme poverty in over two decades.
During an Aug. 7 webinar hosted by Brown University, Fauci said that while he hopes a vaccine could be be 75% effective, one that is 50% to 60% effective would also be acceptable.
We dont know yet what the efficacy might be. We dont know if it will be 50% or 60%. Id like it to be 75% or more, Fauci said. What Im shooting for is somewhere between really good control and elimination.
Even if a vaccine was widely available, its efficacy could be hampered by Americans refusing to take it.
An Aug. 7 poll from Gallupshowed as many as one in three Americans said they would notget a vaccine for COVID-19, even if the vaccine was FDA-approved and there was no cost out-of-pocket.
Theres still no guarantee that an experimental vaccine, with one being developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will really protect.
It normally takes years to create a new vaccine from scratch, but scientists are setting speed records this time around, spurred by knowledge that vaccination is the worlds best hope against the pandemic. The coronavirus wasnt even known to exist before late December, and vaccine makers sprang into action Jan. 10 when China shared the virus genetic sequence.
The United States has more confirmed COVID-19 cases than any country in the world.
Governments around the world are trying to stockpile millions of doses of those leading candidates so if and when regulators approve one or more vaccines, immunizations can begin immediately. But the first available doses will be rationed, presumably reserved for people at highest risk from the virus.
Russia on Tuesday became the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a move that was met with international skepticism and unease because the shots have only been studied in dozens of people.
RELATED:Major airlines call for COVID-19 testing to restore US-Europe travel
President Vladimir Putin announced the Health Ministrys approval and said one of his two adult daughters already was inoculated. He said the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and was shown to provide lasting immunity to the coronavirus, although Russian authorities have offered no proof to back up claims of safety or effectiveness.
However, scientists in Russia and other countries sounded an alarm, saying that rushing to offer the vaccine before final-stage testing could backfire. Whats called a Phase 3 trial which involves tens of thousands of people and can take months is the only way to prove if an experimental vaccine is safe and really works.
The World Health Organization has urged that all vaccine candidates go through full stages of testing before being rolled out, and said Tuesday it is in touch with the Russian scientists and looks forward to reviewing Russias study data. Experts have warned that vaccines that are not properly tested can cause harm in many ways from harming health to creating a false sense of security or undermining trust in vaccinations.
Austin Williams and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Government is in need of financial resources on an emergency basis with a view to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, Albert Kawana, the minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, said in a statement. We do not produce medicines in Namibia nor do we manufacture medical equipment. In order to obtain these items, we have to buy them with foreign currency.
After mining and agriculture, fishing is the biggest foreign currency earner for Namibia, bringing in some $10 billion Namibian dollars ($565 million U.S.) annually.
Last month, the government ordered the closure of schools for 28 days as part of a new set of restrictions aimed at curbing rising virus cases.
Reporting was contributed by Sarah Almukhtar, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Luke Broadwater, Nick Bruce, Damien Cave, Troy Closson, Emily Cochrane, Lindsey Rogers Cook, Shaila Dewan, Caitlin Dickerson, John Eligon, Sheri Fink, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, Robert Gebeloff, Matthew Haag, Mike Ives, Danielle Ivory, Sarah Kliff, Andrew E. Kramer, Isabella Kwai, Mark Landler, Apoorva Mandavilli, Patrick McGeehan, Sarah Mervosh, David Montgomery, Alan Rappeport, Emily Rhyne, Frances Robles, Amy Qin, Erin Schaff, Ed Shanahan, Julie Shaver, Michael D. Shear, Karan Deep Singh, Mitch Smith, Kaly Soto, Eileen Sullivan, Lucy Tompkins, Julie Turkewitz, Noah Weiland, Will Wright, Katherine J. Wu, Jin Wu, Elaine Yu, Mihir Zaveri, Carl Zimmer and Karen Zraick.
An earlier version of this briefing mistakenly attributed the falling rate of hospitalizations in Texas; the figure came from the Texas Department of State Health Services. It also included an incorrect figure for current hospitalizations in the state, which is 7,200.
Covering COVID-19 is a daily Poynter briefing of story ideas about the coronavirus and other timely topics for journalists, written by senior faculty Al Tompkins. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
The race is on to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Thats good. But it wont be worth much if we have no plan to distribute it.
My colleagues at PolitiFact explored the question of whether there is a national distribution plan. The answer, sadly, is no. But the people who plan such things said they are working on it. Lets take a look at how this might unfold nationally and the key role your state will have in distributing a vaccine.
PolitiFact found:
There is no national COVID-19 vaccination distribution plan, yet. So that is true, said Michael Fraser, CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Most of the experts we spoke with said the governments efforts have been too slow, and states face too many unknowns to do their part in planning to vaccinate millions of people.
This is going to be the most challenging, complex mass vaccination program ever attempted, said Dr. Kelly Moore, who works at the Immunization Action Coalition and ran Tennessees H1N1 vaccination program.
PolitiFact laid out the next steps:
Results of the third phase will be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. After the FDA licenses the vaccine, recommendations will be given about who should get the vaccine, and distribution will follow, said Dr. Carol Baker, a pediatrician who is an alternate liaison to a COVID-19 vaccines working group.
Federal health officials have generally predicted that the vaccine will be available in early 2021.
There are two committees working on recommendations for the CDC about vaccine distribution.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a long-standing committee at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, formed a COVID-19 vaccines working group in April. The groups next meeting on Aug. 26 will be publicly livestreamed. Recommendations about who should get the vaccine first are expected by the fall.
PolitiFact explained that your state will have a key role in vaccine distribution. In fact, by the end of next month, your state should have a plan to present to the feds. Whats in that plan?
PolitiFact reported:
The CDC launched a pilot program with North Dakota, Florida, California and Minnesota as well as the city of Philadelphia to work on a vaccination response, according to a letter written by Nancy Messonnier, a CDC official, Aug. 4.
While the letter says that the pilot program will be a model for other states, it doesnt give states much time to receive and implement the best practices from that pilot program.
The states have until the end of September to develop vaccination plans that will then be reviewed by the CDC and Operation Warp Speed, the federal governments effort to fast-track the availability of vaccines. Those plans should include mass vaccination clinics, signing agreements with providers and identifying high-risk communities that will require additional outreach.
PolitiFact said states may draw on their experience with H1N1 vaccination programs and even the seasonal flu vaccines. But this is a way different mountain to climb. 90 million Americans got the H1N1 vaccine. The COVID-19 vaccine goal is 300 million. And remember, COVID-19 will probably require two shots and occasional boosters.
There are other challenges your states will face:
Vaccines may have cold storage rules of around minus 80 degrees Celsius, far colder than other vaccines. Weve never distributed a vaccine that required that before, Moore said. We dont have a cold chain that exists currently that can take that.
Journalists, this would be a good time for you to think through how you will cover the distribution story when it starts to take shape. Public information will be crucial who should get it, where to go, side effects and also protests, disinformation and debates over who should get the vaccine first.
Imagine what will happen when and if employers require employees to be vaccinated.
And it will probably be important to educate people about the importance of getting a second shot, assuming that will be needed. It is likely that a vaccine will cause at least a small reaction, similar to a mild case of the flu. You can imagine that it might be difficult to persuade people to go through that twice.
The people drafting the plan to distribute vaccines will also have to come up with campaigns to persuade people to get them. It would be wise to hook in celebrities from a range of demographics and political influences from the arts, sports, social media and TV.
Celebrities have a long history of speaking for and against vaccines.
Celebrities who oppose mandatory childhood vaccines gave energy to the modern movement. But in 1956, one of the hottest celebrities at the time, Elvis Presley, stood before cameras and allowed a doctor to stick a needle in his arm and deliver a polio vaccine to prove that he believed the vaccine was safe.
Cambridge University historian Stephen Mawdsley wrote that Presleys backing of the polio vaccine led to a jump in young people getting vaccinated. Until then, they accounted for a big hole in the national vaccination effort. The Guardian quoted Mawdsley:
The [Dr] Salk vaccine against polio had just been produced and young children were being vaccinated in their millions. However, teenagers, who were also vulnerable to polio, were not taking up the vaccine, Mawdsley said. Elvis was approached to provide publicity aimed at teenagers and agreed to help to put things right.
Mawdsley documented that moment in a film in which Presley starts by saying, Hey kids, could I talk to you for about 30 seconds? This is Elvis Presley. He goes on to urge kids to give to the March of Dimes, which funded research and treatment for polio victims. In the 1950s, the March of Dimes started Teens Against Polio expressly to raise awareness among young people. In fact, one tactic was to promote the No Shot, No Date movement, in which young women were urged to deny dating anyone who had not gotten their polio shot.
(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)
Teens Against Polio sponsored dances and concerts where the price for entry was a vaccination record. The effort to get young people vaccinated included weekend teens only events and the government rolled out mobile clinics to reach young people living in rural areas.
(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)
And the effort included public appearances from young people who had been affected by polio, including in front of school assemblies, where they talked about the difficulties of living with polio and how they wished they had had the opportunity to be vaccinated. The result was a dramatic increase in teen vaccinations and a steep decline in new polio cases.
(From Stephen Mawdsleys film Teens Against Polio)
The list of celebs who would be the most influential for an inoculation campaign might begin with some of the A-listers who have tested positive for the virus. It is a pretty long list. Wouldnt you say that when Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive that it focused early attention on COVID-19? Who is the Elvis of today who would influence younger people to take a vaccination?
Speaking of celebrity influence, CNNs Dr. Sanjay Gupta published an essay Wednesday about his familys decision not to send his three teen and preteen daughters back to the classroom next week.
Gupta said he visited the school and talked to the principal about what precautions were in place and how the school would test kids. He was satisfied the school was doing everything right. But he writes, when his family examined the evidence about whether all the precautions would be enough to keep his daughters safe, they made a decision not to return to in-person classes:
It is a lot to consider, but in the minds of our family, the evidence is clear. After considering all the objective criteria and assessing the situation in our own community, we have made the decision to keep our girls out of school for the time being. This was not an easy decision, but one that we believe best respects the science, decreases the risk of further spread and follows the task force criteria.
As a compromise, we will allow our children to have a physically distanced orientation meeting with their new teachers so they can meet them in person before starting to interact with them on a screen. And, after two weeks, we will reassess. It will also be important for us to understand what the triggers will be in our school, in terms of newly diagnosed infections or illnesses, that will require a return to virtual learning. Full and honest transparency from everyone will be more necessary than ever.
None of this is easy, and some families may arrive at a different conclusion after looking at the same data. In the age of COVID-19, it seems we are all forced to become amateur epidemiologists, while also being the best parents we can be.
As if we needed further evidence that the pandemic touches us all in different ways, bass fishing tournaments are scrambling to navigate travel restrictions that make it difficult for anglers to safely participate. I guess I figured that since such things happen outdoors, it would be no problem, but states want travelers from highly infected states to quarantine for a couple of weeks, which puts a crimp in plans.
States have built elaborate plans to prevent boat ramps from being congested and require registration for tournaments of a certain size.
This is the kind of story topic that sends your readers/listeners/viewers the signal that you understand they have a wide range of interests.
Major League Baseball is seeing some wisdom in the bubble idea when it comes to playoffs. ESPN reported that a single-city bubble plan like the NBA is using would not work for baseball, but a two-city plan is gaining traction. The network reported:
Because of MLBs expansion to 16 playoff teams, the league would need at least three hubs to complete its wild-card round before shrinking to a two-hub format for the division series. The league championship series and World Series could be held at one or two stadiums. Remaining in one metropolitan area would allow teams to avoid air travel and perhaps remain at a single hotel for the entire postseason, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 27. MLB also could hold wild-card-round games at home sites to mitigate concerns over scheduling up to three games at a single site and move to a bubble format starting in the division series, sources said.
Southern California, the greater Chicago area and the New York metropolitan area would make the most sense because of the available stadiums, sources said. Concerns about weather in late September and deep into October make the Los Angeles area the most logical choice to host an entire postseason, though the sources cautioned that because of the nascent nature of discussions, no favorite has emerged.
Major League Baseball is taking this notion seriously because just one positive test on one team could make a huge difference in a playoff. That player would have to sit out for two weeks, which would essentially be an entire series.
Air travel is at its highest level since March. It has risen and fallen before during the pandemic.
MarketWatch quoted an expert as saying that people may be trying to slip in a quick vacation before schools reopen.
A tweet and a response:
Welcome to the club. We feel your pain.
Charmin (@Charmin) August 10, 2020
Well be back tomorrow with a new edition of Covering COVID-19. Sign up hereto get it delivered right to your inbox.
Al Tompkins is senior faculty at Poynter. He can be reached at atompkins@poynter.org or on Twitter, @atompkins.
The city of Taylor will host free state COVID-19 testing Aug. 15-16. (Courtesy Adobe Stock)
Testing will be conducted at Main Street Intermediate School located at 3101 N. Main St., Ste. 102, Taylor. It will begin at 9 a.m. and will remain operational until supplies last, the release said.
This is a walk-up site and will not require an appointment prior to being tested. People interested in getting tested will be asked to park and line up for their turn, it said.
It is important to note that this is a cheek swab test, so people cannot eat, drink or use tobacco products 20 minutes prior to the test, the release said.
Those who wish to be tested should bring a cell phone for on-site registration, it said.
Because there are no appointments, high demand may lead to a wait time. It is recommended a hat or umbrella is also brought to provide shade.
The site is available for all Texans even if they do not live in Williamson County; however, only Williamson County residents will be counted on the county's COVID-19 dashboard.
Williamson County commissioners approved funding for seven days worth of testing sites during an Aug. 4 meeting. The costs associated with conducting the tests is funded by the state agencies; however, the county is contributing to additional costs, such as water, snacks and additional sanitation supplies.
Future additional testing locations will be released at a later date.
Hospitalized COVID-19 patients with connective tissue diseases may be at risk for increased illness severity, according to a recent study, but inflammatory arthritis may not have the same effect.
Since severe COVID-19 is associated with a hyperinflammatory process, it is of particular interest to investigate how pre-existing inflammatory diseases or the previous use of immunosuppressive agents influence COVID-19 expression, the study authors explained.
The researchers identified PCR+COVID-19 rheumatic patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis (including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and spondyloarthritis) or connective tissue diseases (including systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjgrens syndrome, systemic sclerosis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and vasculitides) and compared them 1:1 to non-rheumatic controls matched based on age, sex, and PCR date. The primary outcome was severe COVID-19 (death, invasive ventilation, intensive care unit admission, or serious complications). The correlation between severe COVID-19 and potential prognostic variables was evaluated, adjusting for COVID-19 treatment.
Final analysis included 456 patients each in the rheumatic and non-rheumatic groups. Both cohorts had a mean ae of 63 years and were 41% male. In the rheumatic disease cohort, 60% of patients had inflammatory arthritis, and 40% had connective tissue disease. About three-quarters of patients (74%) were hospitalized. The risk of severe COVID-19 was 31.6% in the rheumatic cohort and 28.1% in the non-rheumatic cohort. In bivariate analysis, factors associated with increased COVID-19 severity risk in the rheumatic group were aging; male sex; and previous comorbidity including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular or lung disease. Upon logistic regression analysis, the factors independently associated with severe COVID-19 disease were increased age (odds ratio [OR]=4.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.78 to 8.36), male sex (OR=1.93; 95% CI, 1.21 to 3.07), and connective tissue disease (OR=1.82; 95% CI, 1.00 to 3.30).
The researchers stated in their conclusion that among hospitalised patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases, having a [connective tissue disease] pose[s] a significantly greater risk for poor outcomes, whereas immunosuppressive therapies do not. Previously known risk factors as ageing and male sex also apply to patients with rheumatic diseases. This observation should help to tailor recommendations to specific diagnostic and therapeutic groups of patients with rheumatic diseases during this or future coronavirus pandemics.
The study was published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
