About the ApartTogether study
ApartTogether is a global study to assess the public health social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on refugees and migrants. It is a collaboration between World Health Organization, across its regional offices, the UN System, and a consortium of research centres led by Ghent University(Belgium) and University of Copenhagen (Denmark). The study aims to better understand how refugees and migrants experience the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 and how they deal with any challenges that have arisen. In collaboration with key UN partners, the insights from this survey will be used to inform policy and decision-makers on how they can better support refugees and migrants during and after this pandemic.
The survey runs until 31 August 2020.
TheWest Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR)reports as of 10:00 a.m., on July 15, 2020, there have been 215,450total confirmatorylaboratory results received for COVID-19, with 4,463 totalcases and 97 deaths.
In alignment with updated definitions fromthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dashboard includes probablecases which are individuals that have symptoms and either serologic (antibody)or epidemiologic (e.g., a link to a confirmed case) evidence of disease, but noconfirmatory test.
CASESPER COUNTY (Case confirmed by lab test/Probable case):Barbour(23/0), Berkeley (530/19), Boone (42/0), Braxton (5/0), Brooke (31/1), Cabell(196/7), Calhoun (4/0), Clay (13/0), Fayette (86/0), Gilmer (13/0), Grant(20/1), Greenbrier (74/0), Hampshire (45/0), Hancock (43/3), Hardy (47/1),Harrison (128/0), Jackson (148/0), Jefferson (254/5), Kanawha (430/12), Lewis(22/1), Lincoln (10/0), Logan (40/0), Marion (113/3), Marshall (69/1), Mason(26/0), McDowell (12/0), Mercer (63/0), Mineral (68/2), Mingo (29/2),Monongalia (604/14), Monroe (14/1), Morgan (19/1), Nicholas (19/1), Ohio(151/0), Pendleton (16/1), Pleasants (4/1), Pocahontas (37/1), Preston (84/21),Putnam (91/1), Raleigh (81/3), Randolph (191/2), Ritchie (2/0), Roane (12/0),Summers (2/0), Taylor (22/1), Tucker (7/0), Tyler (10/0), Upshur (31/2), Wayne(128/1), Webster (1/0), Wetzel (37/0), Wirt (6/0), Wood (185/9), Wyoming (7/0).
As case surveillance continues at thelocal health department level, it may reveal that those tested in a certaincounty may not be a resident of that county, or even the state as an individualin question may have crossed the state border to be tested.
Pleasenote that delays may be experienced with the reporting of information from thelocal health department to DHHR.
Please visit thedashboard at www.coronavirus.wv.gov for more detailed information.
Inspections focused on infection control for COVID-19 found no or few problems at the first few Lancaster County nursing homes checked, public reports show, including Conestoga View Nursing & Rehabilitation, which has had more coronavirus deaths than any other Pennsylvania facility.
Inspection results were posted for Conestoga View and Hamilton Arms, where no problems were flagged, and ManorCare Health Services Lancaster, where one minor problem was reported.
The inspections are to be completed at all nursing homes by July 31, according to the state Department of Health, but won't become public until at least 41 days after being completed.
Hamilton was inspected May 13, Conestoga View May 20, and ManorCare June 2.
The coroners office has reported that 309 of the 371 people who died of COVID-19 in Lancaster County were nursing home residents. Those three homes were among the hardest hit, with the bulk of their deaths occurring by mid-May.
As of Thursday, the coroners office showed 78 deaths at Conestoga View, which was 17% of its 446 beds; 23 at ManorCare, which was 13% of its 172 beds; and 21 at Hamilton Arms, which was 22% of its 94 beds.
These reports show how well the nursing home ensures that resident care meets federal and state regulatory standards in regard to infection control, department spokesman Nate Wardle said in an email.
He noted that in addition to those coronavirus-focused surveys, other complaint investigations and other inspections are still being performed at facilities across the state.
According to federal regulators, the COVID-19 inspections check for overall effectiveness of infection prevention and control; quality of resident care practices, including those with COVID-19; the surveillance plan; visitor entry and facility screening practices; education, monitoring, and screening practices of staff; policies and procedures to address staffing issues during emergencies, such as transmission of COVID-19; and how the facility informs residents, their representatives, and families of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases in the facility.
The reports confirm what Conestoga View executive director Howard Hay previously said: The department did not flag problems during the May 20 inspection or while investigating numerous complaints including fifteen offsite complaint surveys completed the same day as the COVID inspection, and four complaints investigated shortly afterward on May 26.
As LNP|LancasterOnline reported last month, Hay responded to questions about the many deaths at the home with a lengthy written statement saying, in part, that the virus spread was unavoidable under the circumstances and attributable to many factors over which the facility had little, if any control.
Hay said Friday that he had no further comment.
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The ManorCare report showed what the health department called a minimal harm deficiency, saying it had failed to give a residents doctor timely notification of a change in condition.
The report said the resident had been on hospice care since October, developed increased temperature and respiratory symptoms starting March 18 and died April 6, with the doctor determining that dementia was the condition resulting in death.
It also said the home reported its first COVID-19 case on March 26, and records dated April 3 indicated the home asked to have the resident tested for COVID-19 and the nurse practitioner declined.
In an email, ManorCare spokeswoman Julie Beckert summarized infection and safety precautions the home has implemented because of COVID-19.
We are in the process of responding to our most recent survey and will ensure that our employees are aware of our procedures and review our training material about proper use of PPE (personal protective equipment) including appropriate conservation, donning and doffing and infection control protocols as well as any system procedures, she wrote.
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COVID-19 introduced challenges that we as a society were not ready to address. We are converting to a digital-first world overnight. Becoming fully connected. Ensuring all of our personal data is protected. And taking steps to not leave anyone behind in this new digital economy.
Conversations with customers, team members, community partners and fellow leaders around the globe have given me first-hand insight into the complex and widespread effects of the pandemic. In spite of the challenges, I have been incredibly inspired by the innovative partnerships, technical advancements, and humanitarian responses I have seen across industries, organizations, and geographies.
Part of my visibility into these compelling examples of action is through my role leading the World Economic Forum's CEO Champions group on Accelerating Digital Transformation in a post-COVID-19 world. Together, this incredible cross-industry group of CEOs and experts are developing new frameworks and toolkits to enable large and small organizations alike to transform their businesses, empower new stakeholders, change their business models, and take active roles in driving social change as we emerge from this crisis. Today, we published a report, Digital Transformation: Powering the Great Reset, that I believe is a valuable resource as we look ahead. It provides guidance, best practices and examples of how to put people and the planet at the core of digital transformation strategies.
From a technology standpoint, the future that everyone talked about before the pandemic is now here, ahead of schedule. We expected significant advancements in digitizing our world, in adopting new business models, and in generating outcomes for students, patients, researchers, and community members like never before. Today, that is no longer a prediction; it is reality.
The COVID-19 crisis was the catalyst for rapid change, and it presents the opportunity for us to collectively shift priorities, refocus on what matters, and accelerate to a brighter future.
As we recover, it's important to focus on the future. We need to look beyond the goal of becoming digitally powered and instead contemplate how we will be best positioned to deliver outcomes for our stakeholders. The Great Reset challenges us to radically rethink how we make decisions and who benefits from the outcomes and how to develop and apply technology in new and meaningful ways for the benefit of all.
Today, we are entering the Age of Insight a new era that is defined by insights and discoveries that benefit all and that elevate the greater well-being of every human on this planet.
Venture capitalist Mary Meeker recently published a report titled Our New World 2020, which explores the impact of COVID-19. Meeker made a striking observation in describing the state of the world at the height of the pandemic. She said: We are awash in data, but lacking connectivity and insight.
Even in the early days of the pandemic, officials around the globe shared spreadsheets to track utilization and hospital capacity. We had enormous amounts of data we couldnt analyze. And what we did analyze often yielded conflicting answers. Despite decades of investment in technology, there remained hundreds of dark, unconnected pools of data. Researchers and healthcare providers were overwhelmed by the volume of the data, unable to create insight and action from oceans of information.
We cannot repeat this failure. I believe we are nearing the end of the Information Era, which focused on generating and collecting massive amounts of data that couldnt be brought together to deliver timely insights and inform actions to change our future.
Today, we are entering the Age of Insight a new era that is defined by insights and discoveries that benefit all and that elevate the greater well-being of every human on this planet.
Our challenge as leaders is to harness the benefits of the Age of Insight to support the Great Reset, which will be propelled by more than digital technologies; it is a Great Reset fueled by insight and designed to encourage resiliency, safety, inclusiveness, and sustainability.
How do we ensure digital transformations are sustainable, inclusive, and trustworthy? Part of the responsibility lies with the technology industry; we must build security and sustainability into solutions from the design phase. But beyond the technology tools, the broader digital transformation strategies adopted by governments, businesses, and other organizations play a critical role. Those strategies should systematically embed purpose into their design to minimize the potentially harmful impacts of technology and to lessen the threat of digital equity gaps.
The Age of Insight requires new principles and priorities for digital transformation. And to make the next wave of progress a reality, we must work together. Many of the most effective approaches to addressing the pandemic have emerged from novel collaborationsbetween individual companies and between companies and governments. Ventilator production, diagnostic testing, and vaccine research have all emerged from the private sector responding to public demand, executed in coordination with government agencies. We must collaborate boldly to drive innovation and to ensure that digital progress doesnt cause greater inequality.
We all have a responsibility to play a larger role in society and leverage technology to improve peoples wellbeing. Technology is catapulting society into a digital-first world, and we must ensure the protection of environmental sustainability, human rights, and personal freedoms such a data privacy. Everyone deserves to live freely and with equal access to digital services. We have to do better as a society and as leaders. Together, we can make a difference and be a force for good.
It has been 14 days since Aaron Weeks was tested for COVID-19, and he still doesn't have his test results.
"What's the point?" asked Weeks, 31, of Brooklyn, New York.
He got tested after a close contact was diagnosed with COVID-19. Even though Weeks never felt sick, people without symptoms can spread the coronavirus to others.
If people have to wait at least two weeks for results, it increases the risk that they'll unknowingly infect others before they know for sure whether they're infectious.
"It's very difficult for people to be responsible especially younger people when it takes 14 days-plus to get their test results," Weeks said.
He isn't alone in his frustration over the lag in COVID-19 test results, which has been a problem in the U.S. since the beginning of the pandemic.
Elliot Truslow, 30, of Tucson, Arizona, waited nearly a month for test results, which ultimately were negative.
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"No one wants to wait 26 days for a test result for a highly infectious deadly disease. No one wants to experience that," Truslow said.
Dr. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health and human services for health, who is overseeing COVID-19 testing, said during a call with reporters Thursday: "We want results back as fast as possible."
He acknowledged that some people have waited at least 12 days for results. "We can't deny that that happens," he said. He called such cases "outliers," however.
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Giroir said a "reasonable turnaround time" for test results from the time tests are ordered to the time the results are in would be three days.
A study published Thursday in The Lancet Public Health, however, suggested that a delay of just three days makes it nearly impossible to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The study was based on computer models of how the virus spreads.
"In our model, minimizing testing delays had the largest impact on reducing transmission of the virus," said a co-author of the study, Dr. Marc Bonten, a professor at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.
That's in the best-case scenario, when public health officials are able to conduct appropriate contact tracing of suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Contact tracing involves tracking down every single person a patient has been in contact with to make sure they get tested and self-isolate until they get test results. Ramping up contact tracing efforts in the U.S., however, has been difficult.
But without quick testing, contact tracing becomes ineffective. In the six months since the first known case of COVID-19 was reported in the U.S., experts still blame a lack of diagnostic tests for the failure to stop the pandemic, which is increasing in this country.
"We don't have nearly enough tests," said Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. "The delays in the current testing system render much of the testing we're doing right now relatively ineffective for actually controlling the pandemic."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 45 million tests have been completed since the U.S. outbreak began. But Thursday, the Rockefeller Foundation reported that the country will need to ramp up testing dramatically, to 30 million tests a week.
The foundation, a bipartisan group of experts, said the U.S. faces an "impending disaster" and should allocate at least $75 billion more for COVID-19 testing to ensure that tests are "free and accessible to all who need them." That includes low-income and minority communities hit hard by COVID-19.
The foundation said it's critical to speed testing in advance of a looming flu season.
"There will be 100 million cases of the sniffles," Shah said. "If everybody believes that that's COVID-19, it's going to strangle our economy, shut down our critical institutions and introduce so much fear and crisis into the American system of government, education, health services and food services that it will be a disaster that looks much worse than what we experienced in the spring."
The foundation also said it's committing $100 million to the cause.
Hospitalized patients suspected of having the coronavirus generally have faster turnaround times for test results. One of the largest testing labs in the country, Quest Diagnostics, said it takes about a day to return results for people sick enough to be in the hospital.
"However, our average turnaround time for all other populations is seven or more days," Kim Gorode, a spokesperson for Quest Diagnostics, wrote in an email. The company blames the lag time on recent dramatic increases in demand for testing across the country.
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The Rockefeller Foundation's report said the U.S. may need to expand investments in a type of diagnostic test called antigen testing. It's slightly less accurate but also less expensive, and it could be useful for those, like Weeks, who aren't experiencing symptoms.
"These new antigen tests can give the results within 15 or 20 minutes," Shah said. They're "fast, low-cost, somewhat less sensitive but much more practical to use very broadly."
"America needs to have nearly 30 million tests a week by the fall in order to avert a catastrophe," he added.
As the U.S. continues to try to ramp up testing, Giroir pleaded with Americans to do their part.
"Please wear a mask in public. Avoid public gatherings of greater than 10 or 25," he said. "The way to fix the testing problem is by fixing the virus problem."
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After four months of quarantines, social distancing, and disrupted routines, it's the one question that almost everyone has on their minds: When will a new coronavirus vaccine be ready? The answer, just like every other aspect of this new virus thus far, isn't clear. But creating an effective vaccine is only half the battle, say leading health experts who work with international data and set policies here in the United States, and usually the process takes up to 15 years. Distributors will also have to rush out any new vaccine to all 50 states when the time comes. Plus, there's another big follow-up question to consider: Will everyone actually sign up for a vaccine when it's ready?
A team of journalists at the New York Times are keeping tabs on every single COVID-19 vaccine trial occurring across the globe; per their data, more than 150 vaccines are in development, with nearly 25 of them already in human trials (with new trials popping up every day). COVID-19 patients in Brazil were among the first to be admitted into human trials, and a first human trial has already concluded in Russia, Forbes reports; here in the United States, one high-profile trial being conducted by Moderna is now testing thousands of volunteers this month, according to National Geographic. Eventually, we'll hear about the trials here in the U.S. that are the most promising in the eyes of the government, as Operation Warp Speed a government-backed initiative to invest billions of dollars towards producing a new vaccine was unveiled in May.
So when will we see the first potential vaccine, then? Based on early reports and chatter from the international health community, a team behind a high-profile vaccine trial in the United Kingdom seems to "think they're going to be the first around the track," explains William Schaffner, M.D., the medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, where he has been consulting for multiple organizations (including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). "It could well be that in late fall, some data may become available but for the most part, [the medical community] anticipates that it won't be rolled out until the early part of next year."
If you're interested in keeping tabs on each individual trial as it progresses, officials at the World Health Organization are updating a landscape document about ongoing vaccine candidates on a current basis. View their progress tracker.
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It's another important question, since it appears that attempts to reopen businesses and resume routines are still leading to upswings in new COVID-19 cases and deaths (Florida, Texas, and California may have accounted for 20% of the world's cases in mid-July alone). The key to understanding why a vaccine is so important requires an understanding of the term herd immunity. "The herd immunity is achieved in populations through both natural methods and built resistance as in someone recovers from the infection as well as artificially induced immunity, as in resistance with the help of a vaccine," explains Bojana Beri-Stoji, MD, PhD, CHES, an ambassador for the United Nations' Society for Public Health Education and director of the master of public health program at Fairleigh Dickinson University. "There has to be 95% of the population that's resistant (either naturally or artificially) to a virus for herd immunity to occur."
Theoretically, herd immunity could naturally become quite high (upwards of 60% of the population) before the vaccine arrives thus reducing the likelihood of transmission in public but experts are trying desperately to avoid this scenario. "We certainly don't want to come to that, because that would require a colossal number of deaths and hospitalizations that would have occurred by the time we achieve that Until we have a viable vaccine, we have to continue social distancing, wearing masks, and all of the other methods we know now," Dr. Schaffner explains.
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After a vaccine is made available to the American public, we may finally start to see our routines return to pre-COVID schedules, and for social distancing guidance to be lifted, Dr. Beri-Stoji adds. "If there was a safe and effective vaccine available, theoretically, that would be the best solution to lift social and business restrictions," she says. "[But] only if at least 80% of the population would be immunized, with another 15% having recovered from COVID-19 or already being naturally resistant."
But therein lies another question: Will most or all Americans sign up for the vaccine? An early poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only 50% of adults who were polled indicated they would get a shot when the time came. "It's not a foregone conclusion that we'll be able to reach out and vaccinate everyone," Dr. Schaffner says. "As much as the vaccine is anticipated by many, others will have to be persuaded to participate Some people are going to wait for a whole lot of others to get vaccinated to make sure it's safe."
When a vaccine is developed, supply will be limited at first and the government will have to decide who gets it first. According to Dr. Schaffner, CDC officials are working on a roll-out plan for the COVID-19 vaccine at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; this group established who was first in line for a swine-flu vaccine back in 2009, for example. "That committee is in the middle of a very elaborate discussion, and they're reaching out to all kinds of professional organizations to get some sort of idea about a prioritization scheme."
Normally, a vaccine isn't actually rolled out geographically; it'll be done by the characteristics of a community, Dr. Schaffner says. "Some [characteristics] are illness rates, but some might be race, because we know that people of color and lower socio-economic standing are more apt to have serious disease," he explains, adding that age and occupations may also come into play. "Healthcare workers ought to be first in line, those who are caring for the very sick, because we need them to be healthy."
While the prioritization scheme isn't established just yet, Dr. Schaffner says there will be a protocol scheme in place, but it may change as the pandemic unfolds. "Sometimes, despite planning, you have vaccine left in the refrigerator because you couldn't get people who were eligible to come in You have to have some flexibility, because obviously it can't be implemented in the same way everywhere around the country simultaneously."
At first, there were many comparisons made between the flu and COVID-19 so naturally, some people are wondering if a COVID vaccine might function like a flu shot. "There's no way to answer this definitely at this time, because there's no indication what type of vaccine is both safe and effective in humans," Dr. Beri-Stoji says. "I think, even if the virus remains unchanged, there will be multiple vaccines available, but not before the fall of 2021."
Clinical trials will determine whether or not we'll need only one vaccine, or if we'll need to have a new shot each year during what will be a doubly tough flu season. Plus, it could be that a vaccine isn't totally preventative just like a flu shot meaning you could still come down with COVID-19 despite a shot. "Whatever the level of protection, how long will it last? Will it last five years, or will everyone have to roll up both sleeves, get a flu shot on one side, and COVID on the other?" Dr. Schaffner muses. "I'm afraid the answer to those questions is, well, we won't know until we know."
As more information about the coronavirus pandemic develops, some of the information in this story may have changed since it was last updated. For the most up-to-date information on COVID-19, please visit the online resources provided by the CDC, WHO, and your local public health department. You can work to better protect yourself from COVID-19 by washing your hands, avoiding contact with sick individuals, and sanitizing your home, among other actions.
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EU, Sanofi Talks on Covid-19 Vaccine Aim for Supply Next Year Bloomberg
One of the first Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine studies will soon be happening in Austin KEYE TV CBS Austin
Q. Will we have a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 and, if so, when?
A. I'm optimistic because never in human history has so much scientific time and effort been spent trying to make a vaccine. But it won't it be easy. As fast as possible, the vaccine scientists need to prove, first, that a vaccine is safe (minimal side effects) and, second, that it works to reduce a person's risk of getting the disease. Then they need to produce enough of it to immunize most of the 7.6 billion people on earth. Doing all of this within two to three years of a new virus being discovered would be an unprecedented achievement.
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Russia Is Trying to Beat the West to a Covid-19 Vaccine Bloomberg
