Category: Covid-19

As the COVID-19 death toll in Texas reached 60,000 in early September, marking another grim milestone, Victoria County had just experienced its deadliest month of the pandemic in August.

Forty-eight Victoria County residents deaths were attributed to COVID-19 that month, according to data collected by the Texas Department of State Health Services. The next deadliest month was in September 2020, when 44 residents died because of the virus. In September, there were 39 COVID-19 deaths in the county, making it the third deadliest month.

Despite the existence of vaccines, said David Gonzales, the countys public health director, the death rate this summer was comparable to last summer.

However, the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been in unvaccinated people, he said. And the delta variant, which accounts for more than 90% of new cases in the county and country, is both more contagious and severe than the earlier variants that were spreading last summer.

Hopefully, now that we have a combination of built immunity within folks, as well as the vaccine, we wont see another spike this holiday season, said Gonzales. Thats really what were trying to look ahead to. Theres a lot of unknowns with that piece, and hopefully, we wont get into the situation we had last year.

The Victoria Mortuary and Cremation Services was serving upward of 150 customers a month at the end of this summer, said owner Adrian Fulton. Thats still lower than the numbers they were doing at the beginning of the year. At that time, they served nearly 200 customers one month and had roughly a monthslong backlog, he said.

A normal month sees 80-100 customers, he said.

His company also provides cremation services for many of the areas funeral homes and is averaging around three to four cremations a day right now, he said.

Isaias Vega, manager of Heavens Gate Funeral Home in downtown Victoria, said theyve also seen a higher number of customers in the past few months as compared to this time last year. Last year they averaged around 20 customers a month, while this year theyve served roughly 35 customers a month, he said.

Manager Isaias Vega stands for a portrait inside the casket selection room Thursday at Heavens Gate Funeral Home in Victoria.

Local funeral homes like Heavens Gate as well as Victoria Mortuary and Cremation Services often provide burial services for people who died outside of Victoria County.

Various local funeral homes have reported difficulties with ordering caskets or urns, including prolonged shipping times and higher costs.

Our urns have been an issue. The company we deal with, theyre backlogged right now. Theyve been back ordered for months, said Fulton. Previously, an urn would take roughly three days to arrive, now its closer to four weeks or longer.

Vega said that while they have never failed to secure a casket for any of their customers, their customers will often have to go with their third or fourth choice, as many are out of stock.

Have we been stuck-stuck? No. Thank God. But weve had obstacles like this, where youre real adamant about one, but were not able to get it for you, said Vega.

The cost of wood has also gone up nearly 300%, said Fulton. Bodies are required to be inside a casket or combustible container before being put into a cremator, and Fulton tries to keep around 100 containers in stock. Hell order a new shipment when his stock approaches 60, usually every three months or so.

A family room inside of Heaven's Gate Funeral Home in Victoria.

A shipment of 60 containers previously cost him around $700. That cost has now more than doubled to about $2,000, he said. Hes had to pass many of these costs on to his customers.

In April, the Federal Emergency Management Agency began offering reimbursement funding for funeral expenses of those whose death certificate lists COVID-19 as the cause of death. The financial assistance is available for COVID-19 related funeral expenses incurred after Jan. 20, 2020.

COVID-19 cases in the area have been dropping over the past month, according to state data. Gonzales said most projections right now really only go through the fall, but they do show cases will continue to decrease, which has been accurate so far.

Obviously, any time folks are getting together its a concern, he said. But Halloween is not as big a concern as the holidays Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years when the weather is different and more folks are inside together.

But right now its hard to tell what the winter holiday season will look like this year, he said.

Were trying to project ahead and look ahead at where we might be in January again, but we just dont know, said Gonzales. Theres so many unknowns right now. Were hopeful, but we wish we could project ahead.

Cat writes about Victoria's city and county government. Questions, tips, or ideas? Let me know cdelaura@vicad.com or (361) 580-6511

More:

More Victorians died of COVID-19 in August than any other point in the pandemic - Victoria Advocate

Personal choice crosses partisan lines and ideological boundaries.

Personal choice for parents is emerging as a splinter issue. It is complicated by the fact that children don't have the legal power to make their own choices and they may be required by local governments to physically attend schools.

"My message for you and all that are listening is that Covid is not over, no matter what people who have been standing up here have said," Sperry, who also teaches in the district, said, according to CNN's report. "On September 27, during the last meeting, there were parents or concerned citizens that voiced misinformation to you."

Parental choice is the new euphemism for personal freedom. Covid-19 protection measures at public schools are turning into a key political issue -- one pushed by both the Republican Party as well as frustrated parents who disagree with either public health officials or freedom-guarding politicians.

With authorization for younger kids in the US to get the shot expected around Halloween, look for this debate to become even more heated.

Parental choice has emerged as a major element of the Virginia governor's race, where Republican Glenn Youngkin has seized on comments made during a debate by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

"I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision," McAuliffe said at the debate, later adding, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

Using the rights of parents as an umbrella, Youngkin has been able to tuck in a number of other issues conservative activists have weaponized to rile up mostly White parents in suburbs across the country, including mask and vaccine mandates in schools, the role of racial equity education and transgender rights. These fights, especially on masks, have been particularly potent in the Northern Virginia suburbs, where political operatives from Washington have helped foment the anger.

Nationwide, most kids are required to wear masks at school. And parents are OK with it. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey from September found 69% of parents whose children attend in-person schools reporting masks were required there. Most parents are on board with masks in the Kaiser poll:

Moms are far more likely than dads -- 70% vs. 42% -- to support mask requirements.

Two-thirds of parents in the poll said their school district was doing "about the right amount" and only 11% said their district was doing too much to limit the spread of Covid-19.

It's expected that a lot of the maybes will, over time, get the shot for their kids. That's what's happened both with adults getting their own vaccines and for kids 12 and older, although vaccination rates for older kids still lag behind those for older Americans.

CBS asked parents about their support for masks in a different way than Kaiser, and saw the following results:

Opposition vs. anger. You can imagine it's people from among the committed anti-mask 6% who are protesting masked kids as they walk into schools.

It's a more sizable minority who are open to other people wearing masks but opposed to mask requirements.

The CBS News poll also uncovered festering animosity among the vaccinated toward holdouts.

Mandates, not vaccines, are the sticking point. Even most Republicans in the CBS News poll -- 64% -- said they prefer candidates who encourage vaccines. But only a quarter of Republicans and 54% of independents said they would back a candidate who supports mandates for vaccines.

In Texas, Abbott has tapped into Republicans' bristling at mandates with his new ban on vaccine mandates by any entity in the state.

He has also picked a fight with the federal government, which is moving toward requiring companies that employ more than 100 people to mandate vaccines as a matter of public safety.

Whose vaccine order should Texas employers follow? Per Isidore: "Major business groups had welcomed the Biden plans for employer vaccine mandates. They wanted their workforces to be vaccinated, both to reduce absenteeism and health care costs, and so that they didn't have to worry about vaccine-hesitant employees leaving and going to competitors who don't require vaccines. But the last thing they wanted was to be caught in the middle of a legal and political battle between competing orders."

Continued here:

Kyrie Irving, angry parents and personal choice in the Covid-19 culture war - CNN

Since its emergence toward the end of 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has spread around the world. Cases of COVID-19, which is the disease that SARS-CoV-2 causes, have officially been reported in almost every country as have deaths to the disease. To date, there have been more than 4.8 million confirmed deaths globally.

A small number of countries have reported no cases or deaths. One of these countries is Turkmenistan. The WHOs official statistics reflect the statistics provided by the countrys government.

However, reports from the country suggest that Turkmenistan has not miraculously escaped the effects of the pandemic. Like the countries it shares a border with, such as Iran and Afghanistan, it has experienced waves of infection despite the government denying this.

Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.

Speaking with Medical News Today, Prof. Luca Anceschi a professor of Eurasian Studies at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom and an expert on Central Asia said that like in North Korea, the authoritarian government was attempting to uphold an image of ushering in a golden age for the country.

For the government, a global pandemic does not fit into this picture, so it denies it.

Turkmenistan and North Korea are similar in the sense of being very authoritarian regimes, run by people who have a very eccentric approach, said Prof. Anceschi. They are also extremely isolated states, using their borders as a control mechanism to stop the access of new ideas that could be destabilizing.

Like North Korea, in Turkmenistan, the government has control over the media, and on top of that, there is a particular narrative that the government has been putting out for the last 15 or 20 years about Turkmenistan living in this golden age, and the golden age is there because the government brought it with it.

That makes the eruption of a pandemic impossible [] because it would challenge this narrative. We have seen the same with [HIV] and [AIDS], which is another illness [that] was never publicly acknowledged in Turkmenistan. It is characteristic of this regime to hide these kinds of situations, said Prof. Anceschi.

This analysis was also backed up by Dr. Jason Klocek, an assistant professor in politics and international relations at the University of Nottingham in the U.K. and an expert on state repression. Dr. Klocek has also lived in Turkmenistan for 2 years.

Dr. Klocek told MNT that, [i]n many ways, the Turkmenistan governments denial of COVID-19 cases is in line with long standing policy.

For more than a decade, the government has also claimed there are no people living with [HIV or AIDS] in the country. And a series of outbreaks, including the bubonic plague, were reported by civil society organizations in the early 2000s but denied by government officials.

Add to this the fact that the current president, Gurbanguly Berdimuahamedow, has used the image of a healthy nation coupled with his previous dentistry career to bolster his legitimacy. Admitting there is a COVID-19 outbreak could undermine that authority, said Dr. Klocek.

According to Prof. Anceschi, the Turkmenistan governments denial of COVID-19 in the country has created difficult conditions for people living there.

It has been very difficult [for people living in the country] because Turkmenistan has had waves of infection, even last year.

Turkmenistan shares a border with Iran, which at one point was very significantly hit [by COVID-19], and with Afghanistan, which also has some problems. And, in general terms, all of Central Asia has infection rates as high as everywhere.

What is very difficult is the fact that there has been no considered effort to recognize this pandemic, which means no international cooperation. If public health is a human right, which it is, then thats a lot of human rights violation that the government has perpetrated.

So, what can you do? The government at the beginning was saying that [COVID-19] doesnt exist, and then it said it does exist but we have things like natural cures, and then, of course, people were dying.

What is incredible is [that the governments messaging] is very dissonant: On the one hand, you have the fact that the government does not accept the fact that there is a pandemic, and then on the other, you start to see guidance for use of masks, hand-washing, and compulsory vaccination. So, the idea is that they dont acknowledge the virus, but it is there.

Prof. Luca Anceschi

For Dr. Klocek, a key issue is the limited access to the country that makes getting detailed information on the COVID-19 situation difficult.

The number of infections and the scale of their consequences are difficult to assess from outside the country, said Dr. Klocek.

Reports from civil society groups both within and outside the country suggest that the number of infections remains high and [that] hospitals are currently overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Individual reports of [citizens with the infection] are starting to surface via various media outlets.

The Turkmenistan government has also recently imposed additional travel restrictions in areas of the country where a high number of people are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.

Sadly, and similar to past outbreaks in the country, the extent of those suffering on the ground may not be known until it is too late to act, added Dr. Klocek.

For Dr. Klocek, there has been too little focus on the situation in Turkmenistan from the international community.

The international community has been largely silent [regarding the governments claims]. There was a brief uptick in interest during the summer of 2020, when the WHO sent an observation team. But the visit was highly scripted, and the team could not confirm the presence of COVID-19 in the country.

[The team] did, however, express concern about increased cases of acute respiratory disease or pneumonia of unknown cause and advised the country to carry out measures as if there is coronavirus in the country.

A Turkish diplomat also died of an illness with coronavirus-like symptoms in July 2020, but Turkish authorities remained silent on the matter, including the Turkmenistan governments refusal to let the diplomat return to Turkey for treatment.

Since the summer of 2020, relatively little attention [had been] paid to the situation in Turkmenistan until the WHOs regional director for Europe, [Dr.] Hans Kluge, traveled to Ashgabat this month.

A number of civil society organizations have tried to use the recent visit to put pressure on the WHO to make a formal statement about the situation in Turkmenistan. They are still waiting for a reply, noted Dr. Klocek.

Prof. Anceschi said that the WHO had a responsibility to not simply repeat the governments claims that there have been no cases of COVID-19 or related deaths.

The WHO is as guilty as the regime. I understand that we live in the real world and you need to maintain access to a regime as intractable as Turkmenistan. However, as the WHO, you cant just pretend that nothing is happening. Being cooperative with the regime means no one is safe.

The thing that is surprising is the totally pro-government line we got from the WHO. I tried to contact the WHO. They never replied. Other colleagues have had the same experience.

As I understand, in prior epidemic contexts the avian flu or SARS-CoV-1 [the WHO] would get back to you within 1 hour. They have been totally uncooperative with disseminating the truth.

The problem is that when you create a context in which this information [is] false, you have a further disservice: On top of not providing access to human rights in terms of public health, you also disseminate fake news. And [the WHO is] guilty of this. No one believes that Turkmenistan does not have COVID-19.

Now [] the government is making vaccination compulsory [and] running a campaign about washing your hands what more do the WHO need to say there is a problem in Turkmenistan?

This consistent policy of sticking to the government line when the government is corrupt and has a tradition for disseminating fake data I dont understand why the WHO keeps being like this. Its a very big credibility hit, argued Prof. Anceschi.

On October 8, 2021, the government of Turkmenistan hosted an international forum on infectious disease control and health diplomacy. In it, the WHOs Dr. Kluge said:

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown unequivocally the fundamental importance of health for worldwide prosperity and security. There is a demonstrable need to rethink global governance structures, the relationship between the private and public sectors, and the values upon which our nations and societies operate.

Dr. Kluge also stressed the importance of transparent communication, met with Turkmenistan government officials, and introduced the new WHO representative to Turkmenistan, Dr. Egor Zaitsev, to national officials. According to the WHOs official page, the meeting explored further opportunities to strengthen the collaboration between the WHO and Turkmenistan.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.

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Is there truly no COVID-19 in Turkmenistan? Experts weigh in - Medical News Today

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As deadlines loom for many health care workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, health systems in Wisconsin are poring over exemption requests and trying to convince employees to get the shot before missed deadlines lead to dismissal.

At Bellin Health in Green Bay, there were protests this August shortly after vaccine mandates were announced around the state. Currently, about 83 percent of workers are vaccinated against COVID-19, administrators say, and the health system is trying to increase the number of vaccinated staff in the next month, before the Nov. 15 deadline.

Chris Woleske, president and CEO of Bellin Health, said they dont expect to have 100 percent of staff get the vaccine because of exemptions. Others will quit or be let go because the mandate.

"And thats unfortunate," Woleske said during an WisPolitics roundtable Wednesday. "I hope that people can find a way to come to terms with the requirement and stay with us."

Marshfield Clinic, which serves the northern two-thirds of the state, also expects some workers to leave over the COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Wisconsin law alreadyrequires hospital workers be vaccinated against other infectious diseases, including measles, and employer mandates of the COVID-19 vaccinehave been upheld in court.

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A "high percentage" of staff are already vaccinated said Marshfield Clinic Health System CEO Susan Turney. She said final staff vaccination rates wont be known until the Nov. 15 deadline, a time when flu season could stress hospitals already caring for COVID-19 patients.

"The prediction is that this is going to be severe flu season," Turney said during the roundtable discussion, noting they, like other health systems, honor exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

In Milwaukee, at the Medical College of Wisconsin about 100 medical and religious exemptions have been granted to its vaccine mandate, said president and CEO, Dr. John Raymond. A dozen staff have submitted resignations, but 94 percent are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, he said.

COVID-19 vaccination for health care workers is supported by the Wisconsin Nurses Association, theWisconsin Medical Societyand a host of other organizations on the grounds that the vaccines protect both patients and health care workers from serious complications and death from the disease.

The Biden administration is currently developing a federal rule that all businesses with 100 or more employees have to ensure that every worker is either vaccinated for COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing for the coronavirus.

Original post:

Wisconsin hospitals urge COVID-19 vaccination for staff now required to have shot - Wisconsin Public Radio News

Texas lawmakers face a tight schedule as they consider a bill that would enshrine Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on vaccine mandates into state law. The legislature is currently in its third special session, which expires next week. Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images hide caption

Texas lawmakers face a tight schedule as they consider a bill that would enshrine Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on vaccine mandates into state law. The legislature is currently in its third special session, which expires next week.

Texas lawmakers are considering legislation that would give workers legal grounds to refuse COVID-19 vaccine mandates for "reasons of conscience" and to sue their employers if they don't agree. The measure would codify Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on vaccine mandates into state law.

"The bill would let employees opt out of vaccine requirements by their employers for medical reasons or on grounds of personal conscience," Andrew Schneider of Houston Public Media reports for the NPR Newscast.

"Opponents of the bill, including some business groups, fear it would unleash a torrent of lawsuits against private employers."

The measure would also apply to workers who have "acquired immunity against COVID-19" because they've previously been infected and recovered from the disease. It doesn't detail how those workers might prove their immune status.

As it currently reads, the bill would allow workers who are fired or otherwise sidelined to file suit against their employers "as if the establishment engaged in a discriminatory or unlawful employment practice."

Those workers could ask a court to prevent their firing, or to award compensatory or punitive damages.

The bill, HB 155, has 24 sponsors, all Republicans. It's currently in the House State Affairs Committee, which held more than four hours of testimony on it Wednesday.

State Rep. Tom Oliverson, the bill's main author, is a practicing anesthesiologist who has been vaccinated against COVID-19.

"I was one of the first to line up when it became available at my health care facility," he told the House committee.

But Oliverson also said he doesn't believe public health mandates are very effective. He also said HB 155 conforms to the concept of patient autonomy which he said is at the foundation of medical ethics in the U.S.

"That is the idea that a patient of sound mind and body has the right to accept or refuse medical advice and treatment" regardless of what medical expertise has to say on the matter, Oliverson said.

Oliverson discussed the bill just 48 hours after Abbott called on lawmakers to pass a version of his recent order that bans any entity, including private businesses, from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in Texas.

Abbott's state order positions the governor as a highly visible challenger to President Biden's federal mandate that requires any business with 100 or more employees to impose either a mandate vaccine or weekly coronavirus testing. The competing positions have also forced companies to choose which order they will follow and several large employers in Texas have sided with the federal order.

Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and IBM and other companies have said they will abide by Biden's order, saying Biden's federal authority outweighs Abbott's powers.

Abbott's order also faces other hurdles. As Houston Public Media reports, Texas could be heading for a court battle with the federal government over the ban. And with a third special session of the legislature set to expire next week, lawmakers may not have enough time to enshrine a ban on vaccine mandates into state law.

By staking out a hard line against Biden, Abbott seems to be responding to political pressures within his own party, analysts tell HPM. The governor is contending with weak support in early polls ahead of next spring's Republican primary.

Read this article:

Texas considers law that would ban COVID-19 mandates in the state - NPR

MADISON - Wisconsinites who attend or testify in public hearings in the state Capitol on legislation are unlikely to be notified if someone infected with COVID-19 was present.

During three recent hearings on Aug. 11 and Oct. 7 the Wisconsin State Legislature used a practice of alertingthe people who sit or stand closely to lawmakers or staff who tested positive for COVID-19 and notifiedthe Legislature's human resources office.

And it's unclear how often these notifications extend to members of the public who attend the hearings legislative officialshave not answered questions about how many members ofthe public have beenalerted when they have been potentially exposed to the virus in a legislative proceeding.

Five people told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they weren't notified after testifying inhearings on Aug. 11 and Oct. 7 where COVID-19 was potentially exposed to them, including a woman who sat behind a lawmaker who testified without a face mask and soon aftertested positive.

"I found out through social media," said Angela Harris of Milwaukee, who testified at an Aug. 11 hearing on education-related bills, and sat behind Republican Sen. Andre Jacque during his testimony.

Jacque said he felt ill earlier that week, testified without a mask that day, and days later was hospitalized with COVID-19.

During the Oct. 7 hearing, a number of people who testified had Down syndrome, a condition that increases a person's chance of becoming hospitalized ordying of COVID-19 exponentially. One advocatesaid she was not notified.

Kristin Lyerly, an obstetrician from Green Bay and former Democratic candidate for the state Assembly,testified without a face mask during the same hearing and received apositive COVID-19 test result on Thursday. It's impossible to know when Lyerly became infected.

"Hard to know whether I picked it up there, but I don't have any other known exposures, only a 15 year old son with a cough and a negative COVID test," she said. Lyerly said legislative officials did not contact her about the possible exposure.

Assembly officials say they notify "close contacts" of those who report positive COVID-19 tests, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as someone who was within six feet of a person who had COVID-19 for 15 minutes or longer.

"The Centers for Disease Control define a COVID exposure as close contact 6 feet or less for 15 minutes over a 24 hour period. The Legislative Human Resources follows these guidelines when conducting contact tracing suggested by CDC. In short, we follow the science," said Angela Joyce, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

That means if a lawmakerwho attendsa committee hearing that lasts hours and later tests positive for COVID-19, only those who were determined to be in very close proximity to the lawmaker will be told about the possible exposure.

For example, Democratic Rep. Sara Rodriguez of Brookfieldwas notified she had been potentially been exposed during the Oct. 7 Assembly health committee hearing but Rep. Lisa Subeck, who was sitting threeseats away from her, was not.

Committee chairman Rep. Joe Sanfelippo also wasn't notified and said he didn't learn of the potential exposure until Subeck told him about it.

In an interview, Sanfelippo said he believes the Legislature's policy of contacting only close contacts is appropriate.

"I think it's appropriate to follow whatever the CDC guidelines are," he said. "I leave that up to HR theyre taking their direction from the CDC and we put our trust in the CDC. They are the ones making the guidelines."

Rodriguez, who is a registered nurse and once worked as an epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC, said the Legislature's notifications to close contacts is a good first step but wants more transparency for the public.

"It'sconcerning to me that we are not being more transparent in committees where we are requiring people to testify in person," she said. Rodriguez said because those who testify must submit their names to committee leaders, the Legislature could at least notify those people when there is an exposure.

"I think that is the absolute minimum we should be doing," she said.

Patrick Remington, former epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's preventive medicine residency program, said contacting close contacts as defined by the CDC is the minimum action that couldbe taken but notifying broadly would ensure everyone who could have been exposed are aware of the possible risk and can change their plans or get tested if they wish.

"In the spirit of transparency isthat anytime theres been an exposure to public space everybody should be informed of that including people who have a low risk exposure to me thats good public health practice," Remington said.

Remington said notification of everyone in a hearing room would be optimal because of the possibility of COVID-19 being spread through the air.

"We know there have been outbreaks of people who have not been in close contact thats evidence of airborne transmission," Remington said. "We know its possible … its not the primary mode of transmission but it is possible."

Good government experts and advocates for government transparency say the Legislature's practices are lacking.

"If a case comes to light after a legislative hearing, session or other legislative function, the legislature has a moral obligation to expend all reasonable efforts to seek out and notify anyone who might have been exposed to COVID as a result of attending the legislative activity," said David Griesing, president and chief executive of the nonpartisanIllinois-based Better Government Association.

"We expect employers to do this; we expect our friends and family to do this. The legislature is no different, and in fact its obligation is higher because its sole function is to serve the public."

Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, said government officials should "demonstrate maximum transparency" when it comes to public business and notify everyone in a committee hearing where COVID-19 was possiblypresent.

"Itreally makes me mad that the leg would embrace secrecy over the protection of the public's health," he said. "Who the f***do these people think they work for?"

Contact Molly Beckat molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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Legislature doesn't notify everyone in hearing with COVID-19 exposures - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Body counts appear to support the common perception that Covid-19 does its worst damage among the old and vulnerable. But body counts mask another reality, and focusing on them is skewing policy decisions and individual choices.

Theres no question that deaths were most common among old and vulnerable individuals early in the pandemic. Some politicians and academics have used death rates to conclude that the pandemics toll has been largely confined to the elderly and sick, and that widespread mitigation measures such as mask and vaccine mandates are unjustified.

We looked at Covid-related deaths through a different lens years of life lost which revealed a very different picture about the burden of illness than deaths alone.

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In a recent study, we and our colleagues Hanke Heun-Johnson and Bryan Tysinger showed that the Covid-19 pandemic has stolen an enormous amount of life from young and old alike. Because of the pandemic, Americans will celebrate at least 9 million fewer birthdays in the years to come, and more than half of them were lost to people under age 65.

While every premature death brings tragedy to a family, deaths among younger and middle-aged adults steal more years of life. For example, 80-year-olds who died from the pandemic lost about 7.7 years of life on average, but 40-year-olds who died lost about 36 years on average. When we accounted for the number of years lived in good health, rather than simply the number of years lived, the gap between young and old widened even further: 40-year-olds who died lost more than five times the number of healthy years as did 80-year-olds.

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The focus on deaths affecting mainly the elderly is unfortunate because it likely created a false sense of security among the young. That has led to lower vaccination rates, resistance to preventive measures, and now, tragically, growing death rates. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of people in their 30s who died of the virus in August was about 50% higher than the number who died in January, the month with the highest number of deaths recorded in the U.S.

The notion that those killed by Covid-19 would have died soon anyway is also false. According to our study, the average Covid-19 death among those aged 45 to 54 years resulted in the loss of 29 years of life, slightly below life expectancy for that age group but still an enormous loss of life. In fact, we estimated that 40% of the 740,000 people who died prematurely in the first year of the pandemic would have had average or above-average life expectancies had the pandemic not occurred.

Part of the reason that the pandemic has stolen so much life is that Covid weaponizes chronic health conditions that would not otherwise shorten life expectancy by much. The case of obesity, a major risk factor for Covid-19 death, helps illustrate. Even living with obesity, a 40-year-old can expect to live for more than 30 years. Those years evaporate with a Covid-19 death.

Adding up years of lost life may seem like a soulless exercise. But these years reflect a very real human toll, of loved ones missing from millions of Thanksgiving dinner tables and family milestones. Years of life lost also have important policy implications, because those forgone years represent enormous losses to families, businesses, and society at large. While the economic value of one year spent in good health remains a source of debate, $150,000 is frequently used as a rule of thumb by policymakers. After adjusting for time spent in good health and doing the math, the total cost of life-years lost from the first year of the pandemic alone approaches $1 trillion, even before accounting for all the other non-fatal consequences of Covid-19, such as long-term symptoms, missed work, caregiver burden, and the like.

Policymakers ignore years of life lost by younger Americans at their peril. Focusing quarantine and mitigation efforts exclusively on those near the end of their lives as, for example, Florida did overlooked a substantial portion of those who suffered with and died from Covid-19.

As other studies have shown, our analysis found that Covid-19 hit minority communities especially hard, producing large racial and ethnic disparities in the loss of life. Across all ages, men and women from Black and Hispanic communities lost years of life at over twice the rate of white men and women. The disparity was largest among Black men ages 25 to 64, who lost life-years at three times the rate of their white peers.

Our study, which was performed at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, adds to the body of research about the burden of Covid-19 on American lives. It drew on data from the CDC and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to examine Covid deaths during the first full year of the pandemic in the U.S., from March 2020 to March 2021. The Schaeffer Centers Future Elderly Model and Future Adult Model were employed to account for a broad array of risk factors, including chronic illness, body weight, health behavior, age, sex, race, and ethnicity, to estimate the years lost by those who died.

The study ended before the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 struck. There is every reason to believe the new wave it helped generate has shifted the burden of the disease even more to younger Americans, who remain less enthusiastic about vaccination than older adults. The early campaigns to urge younger people to get vaccinated stressed how doing so would protect others, but our evidence makes clear that even for younger, healthier groups the life-years you save by getting vaccinated could be your own.

Darius Lakdawalla is director of research at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. He reports having received research support and consulting income from several biopharma companies and owns equity in Precision Medicine Group, which provides consulting and support services to life sciences firms. Julian Reif is associate professor of finance and economics at Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Excerpt from:

The hidden cost of Covid-19: years of life lost among the young - STAT - STAT

State leaders called upon WVUs School of Public Health to assist with vaccination communications targeting minority communities and other key demographics. (WVU Photo)

TheWest VirginiaUniversitySchool of Public Healthisprovidingcritical insightstohelp targetminority communitiesand other key demographicsas the state works to boost its vaccination rate amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online surveys and focus groups conducted byLinda Alexander, senior associate dean for academic, student and faculty affairs for the School of Public Health,highlightedthe need for targeted messaging geared toward specific demographic groups, including a minority audience.

Her findings revealedthat minority communities often relied on personal faith to make their decisions, and they were eager for information from sources they could trust to help guide theirchoices. Her work alsoreiteratedlingering health disparities including poor health information and lack of access to health care that have reduced trust in medical providers within communities of color.

What I want people to know and take away from my work with minoritized communities is that these are resilient communities that are finding their way through this pandemic and through other things, like the opioid crisis and other issues, that often happen simultaneously,Alexander said. Understanding both the resilience of communities and that solutions are incommunities,I think that will go a long way.

Alexandernoted thatthe pandemic has informed students in a way that a textbook cannot,imparting lessons about gaps in healthcare infrastructure, policy inequities and cultural humility a process of reflection and discovery that involves self-awareness of personal and cultural biases.

Cultural humility is very difficult to teach, but I think, in our current crisis, our students and communities at large have learned that the pandemic knew no particular political affiliation, no particular race or ethnic group; it was an equal opportunity disease, Alexander said. And a huge takeaway, I think, in public health is that not everything can be summarized into a moral weakness. Some things are beyond an individuals control, and its important to have specific infrastructure and systems in place to ensure people can be adequately served in a crisis.

Alexander is among several School of Public Health faculty members who joined thestatesCOVID-19 Vaccine Medical Advisory Group others to share their uniqueexpertisein tackling public health challenges in West Virginia and the Appalachian region.

We needed to have a coordinated place where good information could be shared, information could be put in the right context for West Virginians, educational materials could be developed, and we could serve in a way that would benefit all West Virginians, School of Public Health DeanJeffrey Cobensaid. That work continues today as we work to really try to improve our vaccination efforts across the state.

Jill Upson, executive director ofthe statesHerbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, saidwork by Alexander and others at the School of Public Health has made a difference in West Virginias COVID-19 response.

Minority populations have borne a heavy burden throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Upson said. Working with the WVU School of Public Health to deliver accurate and culturallycompetent messages to minority citizens has led to increased access to testing, treatment and information for those who need it most.

The School of Public Health is building uponthelessons learned fromAlexanders work and other pandemic-related research asit works to train a growing number of future professionals and improve the states public health infrastructure.

Transcripts from Alexanders focus groups are now being used to create medical simulationsto helpstudents in all health sciences disciplineslearn how tobetterhandle patient encounters.TheSchoolis also incorporatingkey takeawaysfrom the vaccination effortinto new and existing programs not only for undergraduate and graduate students, but also for professionals working in the field.

Coben said the School of Public Health has seen a surge in applicationsover the past year and a half.As the School continues to grow and build upon the lessons of COVID-19,he noted thatprivate supportenhances educationalopportunities for students. Existing resources have enabled students to engage with local communities more than ever before during the pandemic,assisting with testing sites, vaccination clinics, mask studies, public education efforts and more.

West Virginia as a state is in desperate need of building up the infrastructure in public health; as the only accredited School of Public Health in the state of West Virginia, our mission is to helpmeetthat need, Coben said. We are training the next generation of public health leaders for our state. These individuals will move into the health departments, theyll move into the state Department of Health[and Human Resources]. And we desperately want to support those students in their journey by providing them with financial support that our donors can really help us with.

To explore opportunities to support the School of Public Health, contact Tiffany Walker-Samuels attsamuels@wvuf.orgor 304-293-8604. All gifts aremade throughtheWVU Foundation, the nonprofit organization that receives and administers private donations on behalf of the University.

-WVU-

cr/10/14/21

CONTACT:NikkyLunaDirector of Marketing and CommunicationsSchool of Public Health304-293-1699;Nikky.Luna@hsc.wvu.edu

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Cassie RiceCommunications SpecialistWVU Foundation304.554.0217;crice@wvuf.org

Call 1-855-WVU-NEWS for the latest West Virginia University news and information fromWVUToday.

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WVU Today | WVU School of Public Health aids state efforts to boost COVID-19 vaccination among minority communities - WVU Today

Hospitalman Christopher Ramirez, right, from Kimberly, Idaho, assigned to PCU John F. Kennedys (CVN 79) medical department, administers a COVID-19 vaccine to Lt. Cmdr. George Stegeman, Kennedys psychological officer, during USS Gerald R. Fords (CVN 78) joint vaccination evolution with Kennedy in Fords aft weapons handing area, Sept. 30, 2021. US Navy Photo

This story has been updated with additional information about the Navy vaccine mandate.

All active-duty Navy personnel must be vaccinated by Nov. 28 or face separation, according to a Navy administrative message released Wednesday.

Any active-duty Navy service members who do not get fully vaccinated or do not have an approved or pending exemption will be processed for an honorable separation without involuntary separation, according to NAVADMIN 225/21, released by Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Lescher and Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell.

Service members in the Ready Reserve Navy will need to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 28.

In order to meet the deadline, active duty members must receive their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, if receiving the two-shot Pfizer or Moderna version, by Nov. 14, according to a Thursday Navy news release. A person is not fully vaccinated until 14 days after receiving the second shot.

For members in the reserve, the deadline to receive the second shot is Dec. 14.

Those who are separated for refusing the vaccine will be discharged with no lower than a general discharge under honorable conditions, according to the Navy release.

Those refusing the vaccine cannot be promoted, advance, reenlist or execute orders outside of ones involving separation. Any officer who refuses to be vaccinated will have any promotions delayed.

Since the vaccination is mandatory, service members who refuse the vaccine can be temporarily reassigned depending on operational readiness or requirements of the mission, according to NAVADMIN 225/21.

Navy personnel can request an exemption for medical or religious reasons. Having COVID-19 in the past or having a positive serology test for the disease will not exempt a service member, the Navy said in an August administrative message.

Sailors must be prepared to execute their mission at all times, in places throughout the world, including where vaccination rates are low and disease transmission is high, according to the Navy news release issued today. Immunizations are of paramount importance to protecting the health of the force and the warfighting readiness of the Fleet.

As of Wednesday, 94 percent of active-duty sailors have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 99 percent having received the first dose, according to the Navy.

Of the total force, 89 percent is completely vaccinated, while 94 percent have received the first shot.

There have been a total of 83,648 COVID-19 cases within the Navy, including active-duty and civilians, according to the service. Of those cases, 164 resulted in deaths.

There have been 14 active-duty deaths out of 48,231 cases.

There have been more deaths due to COVID-19 than other health or mishap-related injuries and deaths over the same time period, according to NAVADMIN 225/21.

In 144 of the deaths, those who died were not vaccinated. Vaccination status is not known for the other 20.

In order to maximize readiness, it is the policy goal of the U.S. Navy to achieve a fully vaccinated force against the persistent and lethal threat of COVID-19, according to NAVADMIN 225/21.

The new guidance is not unexpected. A Navy administrative message from Aug. 31 mandated all active duty service members be fully vaccinated within 90 days of the message, which put the deadline at Nov. 28, USNI News previously reported.

Service members can receive a vaccine from a non-Department of Defense administrator as long as they provide documentation of the vaccine within the next duty day.

Although there are three versions of the COVID-19 vaccine the two-shot Moderna and Pfizer versions and the one-shot Johnson and Johnson only Pfizer has received full approval from the FDA.

Moderna has requested FDA licensure, according to an August release from the company.

At this time, the Navy can only mandate that service members and reservists receive the Pfizer vaccine, since it is the only one with FDA approval. The other vaccines are currently administered under an emergency use authorization.

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New Navy Guidance Will Discharge Sailors Refusing COVID-19 Vaccination Without Exemption - USNI News - USNI News