Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
The news posted last week for the coronavirus 2019-nCoV (aka SARS-CoV-2), which produces COVID-19 disease, has been surveyed and some important articles are summarized here. The articles are more or less organized with general virus news and anecdotes first, then stories from around the US, followed by an increased number of items from other countries around the globe. US new cases continue to decline slowly overall but are now rising in the midwest. Elsewhere, new cases are rising again in Europe and India is the new global hotspot. Economic news related to COVID-19 is found here.
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Summary:
The number of new US cases was down again, but not by much, and it’s possible that less testing has a lot to do with that. The CDC was out with a new directive last week to not bother testing anyone without symptoms, even if they’ve been exposed to the virus, because we really don’t want to know who’s diseased and who’s not, especially with an election coming up. With various estimates ranging up to ~40% of those infected being asymptotic, these new policies will lead to a significant undercounting of numbers infected. Calculated Risk is tracking the daily testing rate and results. The 05 September graphic:
With regard to what we should be watching in Europe, here is an article just out: How Worried Should We Be About The Coronavirus Resurgence In Europe? Three Experts Weigh In.
Here are the rest of the articles reviewed and summarized:
Covid Raises Mothers’ Risk of Intensive Care Admission in Study — Mothers-to-be with Covid-19 may be at increased risk of intensive care admission, breathing problems that require the use of a ventilator and giving birth early, researchers said.Babies born to mothers with the pandemic virus were also at higher risk of needing intensive care, with a quarter admitted to the neonatal unit, according to an analysis that was published in the BMJ medical journal and partly funded by the World Health Organization. However, still birth and newborn death rates were low among these babies, the researchers found.The researchers analyzed 77 studies that included 11,432 hospitalized pregnant and recently pregnant women with suspected or confirmed coronavirus infections. The analysis adjusted for various designs and differing levels of quality in the studies from the U.S., China, Italy, Brazil and other countries, the journal said.About one in 10 pregnant or recently pregnant women who were admitted to a hospital for any reason were diagnosed or suspected to have Covid-19, the researchers found, although rates varied from study to study. These patients were less likely to report symptoms of fever and muscle pain than non-pregnant women with the disease, according to researchers led by Shakila Thangaratinam of the WHO Collaborating Center for Global Women’s Health and the U.K.’s University of Birmingham. Older mothers and those with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight were most likely to have severe cases of Covid-19, they said.
Obese Patients at High Risk of Severe Covid Illness, Study Finds -Obese and overweight people are at high risk of suffering severe cases of Covid-19, according to a French study that sheds light on the pandemic’s burden.The research, presented at a conference this week, shows how carrying extra pounds puts patients at risk of more serious disease and death. Only one in every 10 people who end up in intensive care with Covid-19 were in a range of healthy weight, the study found.Researchers led by Francois Pattou, the head of Lille University Hospital’s general and endocrine surgery department in France, found that about half of the 124 intensive-care patients with Covid-19 in a sample they studied were obese and most of the remaining ones were overweight. By contrast, only a quarter suffered from obesity and another quarter were overweight in a control group of several hundred patients admitted to intensive care for reasons unrelated to the pandemic.People with a body mass index of 30 or morewere considered obese, matching international thresholds from the World Health Organizationand the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“The increased risk posed by this virus to people living with obesity could not be clearer,” Pattou said. “Our data show that the chances of increasing to more severe disease increases with BMI, to the point where almost all intensive care Covid-19 patients with severe obesity will end up on a ventilator.” As many as 87% of patients who were severely obese required a ventilator to continue breathing, Pattou and colleagues found.
Steroids cut death rates among critically ill COVID-19 patients, major study finds – (Reuters) – Treating critically ill COVID-19 patients with corticosteroid drugs reduces the risk of death by 20%, an analysis of seven international trials found on Wednesday, prompting the World Health Organisation to update its advice on treatment. The analysis – which pooled data from separate trials of low dose hydrocortisone, dexamethasone and methylprednisolone – found that steroids improve survival rates of COVID-19 patients sick enough to be in intensive care in hospital. “This is equivalent to around 68% of (the sickest COVID-19) patients surviving after treatment with corticosteroids, compared to around 60% surviving in the absence of corticosteroids,” the researchers said in a statement. “Steroids are a cheap and readily available medication, and our analysis has confirmed that they are effective in reducing deaths amongst the people most severely affected by COVID-19,” Jonathan Sterne, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Britain’s Bristol University who worked on the analysis, told the briefing. He said the trials – conducted by researchers in Britain, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Spain, and the United States – gave a consistent message throughout, showing the drugs were beneficial in the sickest patients regardless of age or sex or how long patients had been ill. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reinforce results that were hailed as a major breakthrough and announced in June, when dexamethasone became the first drug shown to be able to reduce death rates among severely sick COVID-19 patients. Dexamethasone has been in widespread use in intensive care wards treating COVID-19 patients in some countries since then.
Vitamin D deficiency raises COVID-19 infection risk by 77%, study finds. (UPI) — Vitamin D deficiency increases a person’s risk for catching COVID-19 by 77% compared to those with sufficient levels of the nutrient, a study published Thursday by JAMA Network Open found. As many as one in four of the nearly 500 participants in the study were found to have less-than-optimal levels of vitamin D, the data showed. Among those found to be lacking the key nutrient, 22% contracted COVID-19, the data showed. Of the 60% of study subjects with adequate vitamin D levels, just 12% were infected, according to the researchers. “There is prior evidence from multiple sources that vitamin D can enhance both innate and adaptive immunity,” Dr. David O. Meltzer, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, told UPI. Innate immunity refers to the body’s natural immune system response. Adaptive immunity describes how the immune system adjusts to a new pathogen — like a virus — that is able to evade its natural response. “Vitamin D also … may prevent the excess inflammation that is part of the challenge in managing severe COVID-19,” Meltzer said. Based on existing research, many physicians recommend that patients take vitamin D supplements if their diet is lacking in the nutrient because it has been shown to play a role in immune health, according to Kathryn A. Boling, a family physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, who was not part of the JAMA Network Open study. “There are some dietary sources of vitamin D, including fatty fishes such as salmon, eggs, mushrooms and fortified foods, including most milk and dairy products, but it is not easy to get the levels one would get from supplements from these dietary sources alone,” Meltzer said.
Teen and children hospitalizations, deaths from coronavirus increasing: report- Coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths of children and teens are on the rise, according to data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics.Although data indicate younger children are less likely to catch or transmit the virus, the May 21-Aug. 20 dataset shows a similar rise across states. Complicating matters is the fact that states use different grouping strategies, with many putting infants and teens in the same category, The New York Times notes.Sean O’Leary, vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’s committee on infectious diseases, said that infections among children appear to increase with general community spread. He added that, as with adults, Black and Latino children appear to be at disproportionate risk of hospitalization.“Anyone who has been on the front lines of this pandemic in a children’s hospital can tell you we’ve taken care of lots of kids that are very sick,” O’Leary told the Times. “Yes, it’s less severe in children than adults, but it’s not completely benign.” The share of positive coronavirus cases among children has increased in every state since spring, and nearly doubled from 5 percent in May to over 9 percent Aug. 20, according to the data.President Trump, in pushing for schools to fully reopen, has repeatedly cited a low threat to children from the virus. In early August, he falsely claimed in a “Fox & Friends” interview that children are “almost immune.” Twitter flagged the clip as containing misinformation about the virus when the president’s campaign account shared it. “One of the challenges is that you just can’t separate schools from the community,” William Raszka Jr., a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Vermont in Burlington, told the Times. “When there’s a really high prevalence rate in the community and you open schools, there’s going to be a lot of transmission in schools.”
COVID-19 Can Wreck Your Heart, Even if You Haven’t Had Any Symptoms – Beyond its scientific backing, the notion that a COVID-19 patient might wind up with long-term lung scarring or breathing issues has the ring of truth. After all, we hear the stories, right? The virus can leave survivors explaining how they struggled to breathe, or how it can feel, in the words of actress Alyssa Milano, “like an elephant is sitting on my chest.”We’ve also known for a while that some COVID-19 patients’ hearts are taking a beating, too – but over the past few weeks, the evidence has strengthened that cardiac damage can happen even among people who have never displayed symptoms of coronavirus infection. And these frightening findings help explain why college and professional sports leagues are proceeding with special caution as they make decisions about whether or not to play. From an offensive lineman at Indiana University dealing with possible heart issues to a University of Houston player opting out of the season because of “complications with my heart,” the news has been coming fast and furiously. More than a dozen athletes at Power Five conference schools have been identified as having myocardial injury following coronavirus infection, according to ESPN; two of the conferences – the Big Ten and the Pac-12 – already have announced they are postponing all competitive sports until 2021. And in Major League Baseball, Boston Red Sox ace pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez told reporters that he felt “100 years old” as a result of his bout with COVID, and of MLB’s shortened season because of myocarditis – an inflammation of the heart muscle, often triggered by a virus. Why are these athletes (and their leagues and conferences) taking such extreme precautions? It’s because of the stakes. Though it often resolves without incident, myocarditis can lead to severe complications such as abnormal heart rhythms, chronic heart failure and even sudden death. Just a few weeks ago, a former Florida State basketball player, Michael Ojo, died of suspected heart complications just after recovering from a bout of COVID-19 in Serbia, where he was playing pro ball. Here’s the background: Myocarditis appears to result from the direct infection of the virus attacking the heart, or possibly as a consequence of the inflammation triggered by the body’s overly aggressive immune response. And it is not age-specific: In The Lancet, doctors recently reported on an 11-year-old child with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) – a rare illness – who died of myocarditis and heart failure. At autopsy, pathologists were able to identify coronavirus particles present in the child’s cardiac tissue, helping to explain the virus’ direct involvement in her death. In fact, researchers are reportingthe presence of viral protein in the actual heart muscle, of six deceased patients. Of note is the fact that these patients were documented to have died of lung failure, having had neither clinical signs of heart involvement, nor a prior history of cardiac disease.
Severe Covid-19 despite or even due to the strong immunity — The team from Marien Hospital and the department of Virology of Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) as well as the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, the Clinic of Anesthesiology and the Institute for Virology of University Medicine Essen studied specific antibodies and T cells occurring in recovered, seriously ill and deceased Covid-19 patients. The researchers identified comparable immune reactions in clinical follow up. They report their findings in the journal Cell Reports Medicine from 29 August 2020.During the last weeks, some studies have been published on the analysis of these cell-killing Sars-Cov-2 specific T cells in patients with Covid-19. The studies demonstrated detection of such cells in patients recovered from Covid-19 suggesting their protective antiviral effect. On the other hand, some studies indicate that an excessive immune response might be the cause of severe Covid-19. The role of Sars-Cov-2 specific T-cells in this exaggerated immune response is unclear. Critically ill patients have the same or stronger immunity as recovered patients. In the current study, the research team analysed immune responses in Covid-19 patients during the disease progress. “This is how we wanted to investigate the role of T cells and antibodies in controlling the infection and the disease,” explains Nina Babel, who headed the study. “The novel aspect of our study is that we analysed Sars-Cov-2 specific T-cells and antibodies in relation to disease progression and viral clearance. We found that a strong T-cell and antibody response could be detected not only in patients with mild Covid-19 patients who had recovered from the virus infection.” Similar or even stronger immunity to Sars-Cov-2 was found in patients who had been critically ill and who suffered Covid-19-related lung failure.
Covid-19 research shows downsides of face shields and valve masks -Face shields and masks with exhalation valves have become a popular alternative for people looking for protection against Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, but American research has cast doubt on their effectiveness.Researchers from Florida Atlantic University examined the performance of face shields and exhalation valves in impeding the spread of aerosol-sized droplets – one of the main forms of Covid-19 transmission – with disturbing results.Whileclear plastic face shieldsblocked the initial forward motion of the jet of droplets, once expelled they were able to move around the visor relatively easily and spread out over a large area, according to the study published on September 1 in peer-reviewed scientific journal Physics of Fluids. Visualisations for a mask equipped with an exhalation port indicated a large number of droplets passed through the valve unfiltered. Scientists said they did the research to help the public understand the effectiveness of face shields and masks equipped with exhalation valves, increasingly popularsubstitutes for regular cloth or surgical masksbecause people find them more comfortable.Face shields reduce humidity and fogging when worn with glasses and are easier to breathe in. They also protect the eyes from splashes and sprays of infected droplets, are easily cleaned and disinfected, and allow visual communication for the hearing-impaired.Unfortunately, smaller aerosolised droplets can penetrate under the bottom of the shield and from the sides of the visor. The researchers found that, over an exposure lasting between one minute and half an hour, the shield was only 23 per cent effective in reducing the inhalation of droplets.
Can we test our way out of COVID-19? – Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came under attack again for its new guidelines suggesting that brief exposure to a person with COVID-19 didn’t automatically mean that an asymptomatic person needed to be tested. But Dr. Robert Redfield, CDC director, explained to me in an interview on SiriusXM’s “Doctor Radio” that he was all for testing asymptomatic contacts provided that “testing should be actionable from a public health point of view.” In other words, the medical personnel necessary to perform the contact tracing are essential to the process. Last week a patient came to my office and told me that his building superintendent had been working in his apartment for several hours and later tested positive for COVID-19. My patient was asymptomatic, but I sent him for a test as a precaution. It was negative. Dr. Redfield told me that he agreed with having this patient tested, isolated, and all his contacts traced, if positive. But even with close to 80 million COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed in the U.S. since the start of the pandemic, there still is frequently a several-day delay between testing and results, which makes contact tracing very difficult. The gold standard is still the polymerase chain reaction test developed in the 1990s, which looks for the specific genetic material (nucleotide) unique for this coronavirus. Yet, now, several faster, cheaper antigen (protein specific to the virus) tests are in the works; an accurate saliva test was recently released and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a breathalyzer-type test also is in the works. Binax Now, made by Abbott Labs, received an emergency use authorization by the FDA. “I think it’s a game-changer,” Dr. Redfield told me on “Doctor Radio.” I think he’s right. For one thing, the FDA is reporting a 96 percent to 97 percent accuracy rate based on clinical trials. For another, its cost is only $5 per test and results are available in as little as 15 minutes – a true point-of-care test. Thirdly, the test utilizes a so-called lateral flow technique, which doesn’t rely on elaborate, large lab equipment to analyze the results. So it may be portable and usable in doctor’s offices, ambulances, schools, universities, sports events and, yes, even at protests or riots. Abbott or a similar product – perhaps combined with a breathalyzer or saliva test – may bring us all to the point of self-testing soon, by which you can determine your results and beam it out to those you want or need to see it via your smartphone. But, in the meantime, it already is a significant breakthrough in screening for coronavirus. Our nurses or technicians will be able to test large populations who are at some risk of having COVID-19, determining not just who has the virus but also an accurate view of the virus’s prevalence throughout a community.
Fauci Says COVID Vaccine Trials Could End Early If Results Are Overwhelming –A COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if ongoing clinical trials produce overwhelmingly positive results, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, in an interview Tuesday with KHN.Although two ongoing clinical trials of 30,000 volunteers are expected to conclude by the end of the year, Fauci said an independent board has the authority to end the trials weeks early if interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative.The Data and Safety Monitoring Board could say, “‘The data is so good right now that you can say it’s safe and effective,’” Fauci said. In that case, researchers would have “a moral obligation” to end the trial early and make the active vaccine available to everyone in the study, including those who had been given placebos – and accelerate the process to give the vaccine to millions.Fauci’s comments come at a time of growing concern about whether political pressure from the Trump administration could influence federal regulators and scientists overseeing the nation’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, and erode shaky public confidence in vaccines. Prominent vaccine experts have said they fear Trump is pushing for an early vaccine approval to help win reelection.Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he trusts the independent members of the DSMB – who are not government employees – to hold vaccines to high standards without being politically influenced. Members of the board are typically experts in vaccine science and biostatistics who teach at major medical schools. “If you are making a decision about the vaccine, you’d better be sure you have very good evidence that it is both safe and effective,” Fauci said. “I’m not concerned about political pressure.”
CDC tells states: Be ready to distribute vaccines on Nov. 1 (AP) – The federal government has told states to prepare for a coronavirus vaccine to be ready to distribute by Nov. 1. The timeline raised concern among public health experts about an “October surprise” – a vaccine approval driven by political considerations ahead of a presidential election, rather than science. In a letter to governors dated Aug. 27, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said states “in the near future” will receive permit applications from McKesson Corp., which has contracted with CDC to distribute vaccines to places including state and local health departments and hospitals. “CDC urgently requests your assistance in expediting applications for these distribution facilities and, if necessary, asks that you consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities from becoming fully operational by November 1, 2020,” Redfield wrote. He wrote that any waivers will not compromise the safety or effectiveness of the vaccine. The Associated Press obtained the letter, which was first reported by McClatchy. The CDC also sent three planning documents to some health departments that included possible timelines for when vaccines would be available. The documents are to be used to develop plans for early vaccination when the supply might be constrained, according to one of the documents, which outlined a scenario in which a vaccine could be available as soon as the end of October. “The COVID-19 vaccine landscape is evolving and uncertain, and these scenarios may evolve as more information is available,” the document reads. Another of the documents says that limited COVID-19 vaccine doses may be available by early November and that supply will increase substantially in 2021. It also states that initially available vaccines will either be approved by the Food and Drug Administration or authorized by the agency under its emergency powers.
US refuses to join international effort to develop Covid-19 vaccine -The US government has said that it will not participate in a global initiative to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a vaccine for Covid-19 because the effort is co-led by the World Health Organization.The Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax) is a plan developed by the WHO, along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and is meant to accelerate the development and testing of a vaccine and work toward distributing it equally. The WHO announced last month that more than 170 countries were in talks to participate in Covax.In a move decried by health experts, the Trump administration announced in May it was withdrawing from the WHO and cutting its funding to the organization. The US was the biggest funder of the organization, contributing $450m in membership dues and contributions to specific programs. Donald Trump alleged that the global health organization was controlled by Chinese influences. Health experts say the US refusal to participate in Covax means that it is betting on the efficacy of its own vaccine development and encouraging other countries to do the same, which could potentially lead to hoarding of the vaccine and higher prices for doses.Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, told the Washington Post that the US not participating in the initiative was a “real blow” to the global effort to secure a vaccine. “The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health,” she added. “It’s about, are you a reliable partner or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself?” “No one is safe until everyone is safe. No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing and all the supply chain for all essential medicines and materials,” said the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in August. “We need to prevent vaccine nationalism.”
Does convalescent plasma help treat Covid-19? The NIH says we don’t yet know. -The National Institutes of Health on Tuesday put out a blunt statement on the use of convalescent plasma to treat Covid-19, calling the evidence for its effectiveness “insufficient.”“There are currently no data from well-controlled, adequately powered randomized clinical trials that demonstrate the efficacy and safety of convalescent plasma for the treatment of Covid-19,” according an NIH treatment guidelines panel that reviewed the evidence. “There are insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19.”The statement was clearly aimed at the Food and Drug Administration, which granted a controversial Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, for convalescent plasma on August 23.Some researchers saw the approval as a politically motivated decision, given the weak evidence for its effectiveness coupled with President Trump’s public attacks on the FDA. (Trump had alleged without evidence that the agency was slow-walking approvals of Covid-19 treatments to hurt his election prospects.)The EUA announcement drew criticism almost immediately. Scientists noted that administration officials overstated the evidence showing that convalescent plasma was a viable treatment for Covid-19 during a White House press conference.“The evidence [the FDA is] drawing on is not ready for primetime,” Jeremy Faust, an attending physician in the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, told Vox.The EUA for convalescent plasma came after many experts, including Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had warned the agency there wasn’t enough evidence to fast-track authorization for the novel treatment.However, FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn said in an August 23 statement that he was “encouraged by the early promising data that we’ve seen about convalescent plasma,” adding that “plasma from patients who’ve recovered from Covid-19 has the potential to help treat those who are suffering from the effects of getting this terrible virus.” President Trump, meanwhile, described the treatment as a “breakthrough.”
COVID: Where Science Goes To Die – Yves here. I wish this video on how scientists have been flogging their own crap Covid-19 research via preprints and how that’s done considerable damage had a transcript, but it is short enough that hopefully you won’t find it burdensome to listen to it. It’s an addendum of sorts to Lambert’s post earlier in the week, Don’t “Trust the Science,” Trust Science While You Hone Your Critical Thinking Skills. If you go to the YouTube page for this video, you find it has a “Reference/Reading” list that ties into the key claims of the Medlife Crisis video. The video makes some important points, such as shredding preprints (“80% of studies published are complete garbage”), spending some time on the sad decline of Stanford’s Dr. John Ioannidis (“Covid-19 is no more dangerous than the flu”) as well as describing how a study that claimed that a substantial majority of Covid victims showed heart damage on MRIs was highly suspect. But readers will no doubt take issue with the forceful attack on hydroxychloroquinine, when virtually all studies focused on using it as a treatment, when the recommended use case was as a prophylactic. Again, the plural of anecdote is not data, but there is much more receptivity to hydroxycholorquinine in the Global South. From a June InterPress news story discussing why Covid-19 infection and death rates had been so low in Africa. One factor is a relatively young population. Another is generally good official responses. A third is widespread BCG vaccinations. But a fourth seems to be anti-malarial use: In Senegal and Madagascar for example, COVID-19 patients on hydroxychloroquine and the herbal remedy Artemisia annua have been observed to recover faster from the disease with lower deaths. In both countries, even with rising cases, recovery rates from Covid19 are much higher – consistent with the observations in most malaria prone countries. Interestingly, malaria is not prevalent in Africa’s Covid-19 hotspots of South Africa and North Africa. Regardless, please watch this short video and have fun with it. Even if you disagree with all of its examples, it does illustrate the ongoing corruption of what passes for science.
6 states set single-day coronavirus case records last week – Six states set new highs last week for coronavirus infections recorded in a single day, according to the COVID Tracking Project and state health departments. Iowa surpassed its record set the previous week. Dramatic single-day increases have become less frequent after five weeks of continuously declining infections nationwide.Records broken:
- Aug. 23: Kentucky (1,264)
- Aug. 24: Indiana (1,660) and Kansas (1,545)
- Aug. 27: Iowa (1,551) and Minnesota (1,154)
- Aug. 28: Virginia (2,134)
Minnesota reported more than 1,000 cases in a single day for the first time last week. Hospitalizations and deaths in the state weredown, however. In Iowa, hospitalizations and deaths are still rising. The board of supervisors in Polk County, which has reported the most COVID-19 cases in the state, reportedly accused the governor of preventing them from enacting a local mask mandate.:New coronavirus cases fell by nearly 15% last week, continuing a steady downward trend. Decreased testing likely accounts for some of the drop in recorded coronavirus cases, per the COVID-19 Tracking Project. Many Americans still don’t have coronavirus testing access.
Dozens of inmates at West Virginia prison test positive for coronavirus – Nearly 150 inmates at a correctional facility in West Virginia have tested positive for COVID-19 as prison officials across the country continue to struggle with outbreaks. Data released by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday revealed that 138 positive cases have been confirmed at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex, where just over 2,100 inmates are housed. Close to 200 inmates were still waiting for test results as of Sunday. Correctional facilities around the country have reported outbreaks of the coronavirus, which can spread quickly in cramped conditions such as prisons. In Texas, the Federal Correctional Institute in Seagoville reported more than 1,300 confirmed cases of the virus over the past several months, but it has since seen those numbers drop dramatically. Thousands of inmates and prison staff members have tested positive for the virus nationwide, which has infected about 6 million Americans since the pandemic began. Just over 180,000 Americans have died from the disease. Many activists have called for some inmates to be temporarily released amid the COVID-19 pandemic due to health concerns in prison facilities. Some states, including California, have responded by releasing thousands of inmates serving time for nonviolent offenses. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in March that officials should “increase the use of compassionate release” to limit overcrowding in prisons and work to ensure that those who remain incarcerated are protected by adequate safety measures. “The same social distancing principles guiding public and private sector responses should guide the BOP’s response and ensure that its facilities do not unnecessarily bring people into confined spaces that may lead to greater exposure to coronavirus,” read a letter from the ACLU to Attorney General William Barr. “Deliberate action must be taken to meet the responsibility to ensure the health of those incarcerated in the federal system.”
August 31 COVID-19 Test Results – The US is now mostly reporting over 700,000 tests per day (fewer recently). Based on the experience of other countries, the percent positive needs to be well under 5% to really push down new infections, so the US still needs to increase the number of tests per day significantly (or take actions to push down the number of new infections).There were 680,405 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 31,406 positive tests.See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 4.6% (red line).For the status of contact tracing by state, check out testandtrace.com. And check out COVID Exit Strategy to see how each state is doing. The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported.The dashed line is the June low.Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed (the percent positive was very high – see first graph).By June, the percent positive had dropped below 5% (lower than today). If people stay vigilant, the number of cases might drop to the June low by the end of September (that would still be a large number of new cases, but progress).
U.S. Cases Rise 0.7%; Plasma Treatment in Dispute: Virus Update – Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continued to ease in U.S. hot spots such as California and Texas, while warnings grew of new outbreaks across America’s Midwest. A U.S. panel of experts undercut an emergency authorization on plasma treatment issued just days ago by the Food and Drug Administration, saying there’s not enough evidence to recommend the therapy for hospitalized coronavirus patients.Russia became the fourth nation to pass 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases, on the day schools across the country reopened for the new academic year. Brazil, home of the world’s second-largest outbreak, reported its worst economic contraction on record. Key Developments:
- Global Tracker: Cases surpass 25.5 million; deaths exceed 852,000
- Vaccine front-runner held back by China’s spat with Canada
- U.S. supply shortages plague non-Covid testing too
- China in uneven recovery as shoppers splurge, restaurants suffer
- NYC school reopening delayed to Sept. 21 in union deal
- Vaccine Tracker: Where we are in the race for protection?
Maryland, Texas Move To Reopen Businesses As Midwestern COVID-19 Hotspots Flare: Live Updates – Just hours after Texas Gov Abbott made a similar announcement, Maryland’s moderate Trump-wary Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has just announced that businesses in the state will be able to reopen beginning Friday at 5 pm as it moves into Stage III of its reopening plan. Here’s more from local TV station ABC 2: Based on improving health metrics, Maryland is taking its initial steps into Stage Three of COVID-19 recovery.Beginning Friday at 5pm, indoor theaters where live performances occur or motion pictures are shown may open to the general public at 50% capacity, or 100 people per auditorium, whichever is less.Outdoor venues where live performances occur or motion pictures are shown outdoors may open to the general public at 50% capacity, or 250 people.Capacity for retail establishments and religious facilities may increase from 50 to 75%.As Labor Day weekend nears, Gov. Hogan reminded Marylanders that based on contact tracing data, family gatherings are the most common thread among recent positive COVID-19 cases.Gov. Hogan also announced that, in collaboration with Apple and Google, Maryland will be one of the first states to deploy a new exposure notification tool to help slow the spread of COVID-19.Exposure Notifications Express is designed to help public health officials more quickly and easily provide notifications for their residents about potential COVID-19 exposure and guide them on recommended actions.Meanwhile, cases continued to climb in the four new problem states identified by Bank of America analysts earlier. In South Dakota, current hospitalizations from COVID-19 in South Dakota increased by two, and active cases increased for the 14th-straight day.The state reported 240 new cases, bringing its total positive case count to 13,749, up from Monday (13,509). Total recoveries are now at 10,832, up from Monday (10,612).US cases increased by 0.7% on Tuesday according to an early count from JHU & Bloomberg. That’s on par with the 7-day average.After progressives whined endless about a coming ‘eviction crisis’, the Trump administration said it would use its quarantine authority to keep renters in their homes during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to prevent a full-on eviction crisis that could jeopardize Trump’s reelection chances just as Marko Kolanovic is seeing evidence of Trump’s odds of victory soaring.
Weeks after Sturgis motorcycle rally, first COVID-19 death reported as cases accelerate in Midwest – A Minnesota man who rumbled into South Dakota last month with thousands of other bikers for the annual Sturgis motorcycle rally was reported dead Wednesday of COVID-19. The man, in his 60s with underlying conditions, was hospitalized and in the intensive care unit after returning from Sturgis, the Minnesota Department of Health confirmed in an email to NBC News. The death, initially reported by The Washington Post, is the first traced to the 10-day event that attracted more than 400,000 people and has revved up the coronavirus crisis across the region. Some 260 cases across 11 states had already been recorded before the first death linked to the Sturgis bash, a sometimes raucous event that ran from Aug. 7 through 16 during which the bars were packed and where there was barely any attempt made at social distancing, let alone wearing masks. Since then, the number of coronavirus cases have doubled in South Dakota and there has been an uptick in new cases being reported in neighboring North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska as well, the latest NBC News Digital figures show.
September 3 COVID-19 Test Results -The US is now mostly reporting over 700,000 tests per day (fewer recently). Based on the experience of other countries, the percent positive needs to be well under 5% to really push down new infections, so the US still needs to increase the number of tests per day significantly (or take actions to push down the number of new infections).There were 723,524 test results reported over the last 24 hours.There were 44,294 positive tests.See the graph on US Daily Deaths here. This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 6.1% (red line).For the status of contact tracing by state, check out testandtrace.com.And check out COVID Exit Strategy to see how each state is doing.The second graph shows the 7 day average of positive tests reported.The dashed line is the June low. Note that there were very few tests available in March and April, and many cases were missed (the percent positive was very high – see first graph). By June, the percent positive had dropped below 5% (lower than today). If people stay vigilant, the number of cases might drop to the June low by the end of September (that would still be a large number of new cases, but progress).
Illinois reports 5,368 new COVID-19 cases after processing backlog tests – – The State of Illinois reported 5,368 new cases of COVID-19 after processing backlog tests.Earlier this week, a slowdown in data processing within Illinois Department of Public Health systems affected the reporting of tests due to the large volume of testing occurring in Illinois, the state said.According to the health department, all available resources were deployed to improve the data systems, which are now fixed, and the backlog created by the slowdown has been cleared. The state also reported 29 additional confirmed deaths in the following counties:
- Bond County: 1 male 70s
- Cook County: 1 male 40s, 2 males 50s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 80s
- Cumberland County: 1 female 90s
- Edgar County: 1 female 90s
- Henry County: 1 male 90s
- Kankakee County: 1 male 90s
- Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
- LaSalle County: 1 female 80s
- Macoupin County: 1 male 70s
- Madison County: 2 male 70s
- McHenry County: 1 male 80s
- McLean County: 1 male 90s
- Moultrie County: 1 female 90s
- Perry County: 1 male 60s
- Richland County: 1 female 90s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 90s
- Stark County: 1 male 80s
- Tazewell County: 1 female 80s
- Will County: 1 female 70s
- Williamson County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 245,371 cases, including 8,143 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from Aug. 28 – Sept. 3 is 4.1%. As of Thursday, 1,621 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 360 patients were in the ICU and 155 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Rise as Labor Day Weekend Kicks Off – WSJ – Americans marked the beginning of the Labor Day weekend on Saturday while contending with a pandemic whose case numbers continue to climb and whose spread has prompted the cancellation of many traditional holiday events. The U.S. reported more than 50,000 new coronavirus cases as the three-day weekend got under way, the biggest rise since mid-August, with some governors warning about the potential for the virus to spread during large holiday gatherings. New cases in the U.S. rose by 50,502 on Friday and the reported death toll topped 188,000 as of Saturday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The total number of confirmed cases surpassed 6.2 million. The seven-day average of new daily cases across the U.S. was 40,940 for Sept. 4, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Johns Hopkins data. While the number is the country’s lowest one-week average since June 29, that is much higher than in parts of May and June when it was in the low 20,000s. The potential for a sustained large number of daily cases has raised concerns among some health officials. “We should be dealing with this with a much greater sense of urgency than we are,” said Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Governors in some states warned people to take precautions over the long weekend. “As Labor Day weekend approaches, remember COVID won’t take a holiday,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote in a tweet. “Wear a mask. Be smart. Plan well.”
Fauci warns that Illinois and six other states are at higher risk for a COVID-19 surge over Labor Day weekend, report says – The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned that Illinois and a half-dozen other states with increasing COVID-19 numbers are at risk for a surge in cases over Labor Day weekend, according to Bloomberg. “There are several states that are at risk for surging, namely North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview this week, Bloomberg reported. “Those states are starting to see an increase in the percent positive of their testing; that is generally predictive that there’s going to be a problem.” Illinois on Friday reported more than 5,368 new cases – an atypically high number, which state officials said was due to a slowdown in data processing attributed to a large number of tests conducted recently. The state also reported 29 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday.The Illinois Department of Public Health on Friday said 29 counties were at warning level for coronavirus, including Will and Lake counties. A county enters warning level for the virus when two or more risk indicators are present; those metrics include death numbers, weekly test positivity rates, weekly hospital admissions, intensive care unit availability, weekly emergency department visits and the number of new cases per 100,000 people.
WHO’s Tedros Warns “No Country Can Just Pretend The Pandemic Is Over” As Trump Embraces ‘Herd Immunity’ – WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said during the organization’s latest Tuesday virtual news conference from its Geneva headquarters that “no country can just pretend the pandemic is over” as governments around the world ease social distancing restrictions and start to send children back to the classroom. It’s just the latest example of Dr. Tedros implicitly criticizing President Trump and his handling of the US outbreak, after Trump recently insisted that the virus is “under control” despite flare-ups in Sun Belt states. “The more control countries have over the virus, the more they can open up. Opening up without having control is a recipe for disaster. It’s not one size fits all, it’s not all or nothing,” Tedros said. Dr. Tedros described “four essential things that all countries, communities, and individuals must focus on to take control” of the virus before they start to unwind their emergency measures.
- First, prevent amplifying events. COVID-19 spreads very efficiently among clusters of people.
- Second, reduce deaths by protecting vulnerable groups, including older people, those with underlying conditions, and essential workers.
- Third, individuals must play their part by taking the measures we know work to protect themselves and others – stay at least one meter away from others, clean your hands regularly, practice respiratory etiquette, and wear a mask.
- And fourth, governments must take tailored actions to find, isolate, test, and care for cases, and trace and quarantine contacts. Widespread stay-at-home orders can be avoided if countries take temporary and geographically-targeted interventions.
China Mulls Joining WHO Vaccine Program Abandoned By US; Midwestern Outbreaks Intensify- Live Updates – At least twice over the past week, we have warned about the startling acceleration in new cases from four (GOP-controlled) states: Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alabama. As the number of new cases continues to decline across the Sun Belt (although, as Bloomberg reminded us Wednesday, a new outbreak is emerging in California’s central valley now that SoCal’s outbreak has quieted down), Wall Street and some of America’s top public health officials – including CDC chief Dr. Robert Redfield – have been heralding this declining trend in cases and hospitalizations as a sign that the US might finally be moving past the outbreak.Decisions by governors in Texas and Maryland to move into the next phase of reopening, allowing more businesses to re-open, suggest a high degree of official confidence in the declining trend, even as experts like Dr. Fauci seize every opportunity to warn about the risks of another wave emerging in the fall, as falling temperatures force more Americans inside.This chart, shared by a team of Bank of America analysts, sums up the situation in the Midwest. Outside of the US, the most important trend internationally is what’s happening with India. As officials move to test practically the entire population of India’s biggest cities, which have also emerged as the country’s most virulent hotspots, the country has persistently reported just under 80k new cases per day. India has broken the record for most cases reported in a single day for any country on earth at least twice over the past week.As the world’s second-most-populous country moves ahead with reopening its schools and economy, experts warn that India will soon likely surpass both the US and Brazil as the world’s worst-hit hotspot.India registered 78,357 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, pushing its total north of 3.7 million as the government eases pandemic restrictions nationwide to help revive its battered economy.In other major news on Wednesday, China has reportedly hinted that it might move to pick up some of the slack left by the US in a WHO-led global vaccine program that the White House recently withdrew from. As the US leaves behind the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility – or COVAX, a global effort to develop and distribute a vaccine being led by the WHO – China looks to be using the program as the vessel for it to keep its promise to supply the developing world with badly needed vaccines.Per Bloomberg, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that “China’s purpose is highly consistent with Covax’s aim” and that Beijing is in close contact with the people in charge of COVAX. Showering Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and other poorer countries with billions of doses of various vaccines would be a major coup in China’s struggle to outflank the US in terms of geopolitical influence.The latest numbers from Johns Hopkins University show more than 25.7 million people have been diagnosed worldwide, while 857,015 have died. More than 17 million people have recovered.
Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine showed antibody response in initial trials – (Reuters) – Russia’s “Sputnik-V” COVID-19 vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published on Friday by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics. The results of the two trials, conducted in June-July this year and involving 76 participants, showed 100% of participants developing antibodies to the new coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said. Russia licensed the two-shot jab for domestic use in August, the first country to do so and before any data had been published or a large-scale trial begun. “The two 42-day trials – including 38 healthy adults each – did not find any serious adverse effects among participants, and confirmed that the vaccine candidates elicit an antibody response,” The Lancet said. “Large, long-term trials including a placebo comparison, and further monitoring are needed to establish the long-term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine for preventing COVID-19 infection,” it said. The vaccine is named Sputnik-V in homage to the world’s first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. Some Western experts have warned against its use until all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken. But with the results now published for the first time in an international peer-reviewed journal, and with a 40,000-strong later-stage trial launched last week, a senior Russian official said Moscow had faced down its critics abroad.
Coronavirus cases top 25 million worldwide -Eight months have passed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and more than 25.5 million people worldwide have been infected with the novel virus SARS-CoV-2. There are now nearly 6.9 million people with confirmed active cases globally. Each of them will join either the 18.6 million who have recovered or the 854,000 who have died from the virus. The United States remains the worst hit by the pandemic, with 6.2 million known cases and 187,000 deaths. The latest estimate from the Institute of Health Metrics at the University of Washington – the model largely used by the White House – predicts that 317,000 will die by December 1, assuming the rate of the pandemic’s spread remains about what it is now. If restrictions ease – if, for example, schools and workplaces continue to reopen and provide more opportunities for the deadly contagion to spread – the death toll is projected to jump to 363,000 as the winter holidays begin.Such data support the statement issued at yesterday’s World Health Organization (WHO) press briefing by Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus Adhanom, who warned, “The reality is that this coronavirus spreads easily, it can be fatal to people of all ages, and most people remain susceptible.” He added, “Opening up without having control is a recipe for disaster.”Such a disaster, however, is exactly what is being carried out by the Trump administration, according to a new report from the Washington Post. Instead of pushing for more testing and contact tracing to contain the virus, Trump’s new medical adviser, Scott Atlas, is pushing for a “herd immunity” policy, allowing the virus to spread through most of the population to build up resistance to the disease. According to the Post, “the threshold for herd immunity may require 2.13 million deaths.” Atlas was selected by Trump after months of open conflict with Anthony Fauci, who recently warned that to achieve herd immunity “the death toll would be enormous.” Atlas comes from the right-wing Stanford Hoover Institution and has been on Fox News regularly, openly supporting Trump’s policies on masks and on reopening the economy and schools. Right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh was most explicit, declaring, “Scott Atlas is now part of the coronavirus task force meeting with the President. And he is countering Fauci.” The White House was forced to respond after the Post’s story broke, issuing a statement in Atlas’s name that stated, “There is no policy of the President or this administration of achieving herd immunity. There never has been any such policy recommended to the President or to anyone else from me.”Such statements are belied by the actual actions of the Trump administration, which since late July has been reducing testing nationally.
World’s largest single-day jump in coronavirus cases recorded in India -India recorded its highest single-day total of new coronavirus cases Sunday with 78,761 new cases. The new total gives the country more than 3.5 million new cases. The nation, which has reported more than 75,000 new infectious four days in a row, has the fastest-growing daily caseload of any country, according to The Associated Press. The country has dramatically increased testing, conducting nearly 1 million per day. A few months ago, it was conducting only 200,000 per day, according to the AP. The country also reports a recovery rate of nearly 77 percent.India has credited a policy of “testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently” in hospitals and monitored quarantines. However, the nation has reported approximately 1,000 deaths from the virus per day with more than 63,000 deaths thus far. The country is nearing the third-highest death toll worldwide, after the U.S. and Brazil. In the meantime, however, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed for normal life to resume in the nation. India’s federal government announced the New Delhi subway will begin the reopening process Sept. 7, although schools, universities and movie theaters will remain closed until the end of the month, according to the AP. Eight of India’s states have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, comprising nearly 73 percent of all infections. The newest surge has been predominantly driven by the state of Maharashtra, the western state where Mumbai is located. More than 24,000 deaths and about one in five of all cases originated in the state, according to the AP.
Coronavirus Cases Top 25 Million Globally As India Emerges As A New Epicenter – The number of cases of the coronavirus has now passed 25 million worldwide.The milestone happened Sunday, fueled by a surge of more than 78,000 cases in India on Saturday. The spread of the virus in India has grown in recent weeks, with daily cases there now outpacing both the United States and Brazil, according to tracking data from Johns Hopkins University.In all, India has now registered more than 3.5 million cases and more than 63,000 deaths. Global deaths now total more than 843,000 Despite the growing caseload in India, the United States continues to lead the world in both cases (more than 5.9 million) and deaths (nearly 183,000).On Saturday, the U.S. reported 47,153 new cases – making it the sixth day in a row the country has seen an increase in cases, according to The Wall Street Journal.India went into a total lockdown in March when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered all 1.3 billion of the country’s people to remain inside their homes for three weeks. At the time, the country had barely recorded 500 cases of the virus and 10 deaths.That lockdown was then extended. When it was over, the outbreak was considered relatively under control. But the damage to the economy was devastating for many and ultimately led to an easing of restrictions. Since then, the virus has surged, and despite the increase, the government continues to take steps to return to normal – including the reopening of underground trains and plans for limited sporting and religious events next month, according to Reuters.India is not the only country seeing an increase in cases since lifting lockdown restrictions. France is also experiencing a sharp increase in cases since it began coming out of lockdown in mid-May. Since July, cases have been on the rise, and some restrictions are being implemented again. In Paris, face coverings are once again mandated in all public places. Masks are also required throughout the country on public transportation and in stores, and starting Sept. 1, all employees in workplaces will have to wear them. South Korea is also trying to tackle a rise in cases after winning early plaudits for controlling the virus. NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports that the uptick in cases there is partially the result of an exhausted populace, distrust of the government and a faltering economy. Officials are working once again to flatten the curve, but progress is expected to be slow.
Thailand Covid-19 vaccine proved successful in trials on monkeys — Dr. Thiravat Hemachudha, Head of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Disease Health Science Centre, announced last Saturday, August 29, that Thailand’s developed Covid-19 vaccine has initially proved successful in trials on monkeys.According to the doctor, the latest vaccine, produced by a Thailand based startup company called Baiya Phytopharm, was developed from proteins of a special type of tobacco leaves. It had been previously tested on mice and monkeys, resulting in high antibodies enough to prevent the virus without any side effects. Dr. Thiravat stated online: “Mice and monkeys were given the vaccine twice in three weeks apart. The results showed that the monkeys remain healthy with no side effects. Their blood results showed normal liver enzyme levels and normal red and white blood cells. The monkeys were also proved to have high protection against the virus and a neutralizing antibody that can inhibit the virus.”
Japan Plans To Provide COVID-19 Vaccine To All Citizens For Free – Outgoing Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has made many of the same mistakes during the battle against COVID-19 as President Trump: After botching the handling of the “Diamond Princess” by allowing quarantines to be violated and the infection to spread, the Japanese government never followed up with stringent restrictions. Japan’s constitution forbids the type of lockdowns seen in Europe, China and the US. The state of emergency adopted by the government wasn’t nearly as robust a measure as what other countries tried. And yet, Japan has a relatively low rate of infection. None of this really makes sense, considering that Japan’s aged population consumes more adult diapers per year than infant diapers. Still, in an effort to quell fears, the Japanese government is reportedly planning to offer a COVID-19 vaccine free of charge to any citizen who wants one, according to a report from Nikkei. People at high risk of developing severe symptoms, particularly the elderly and health care workers, will receive first priority. The full cost will be covered in the national budget, meaning the central government will pay, saving local authorities from shouldering any expense. Exactly how the program will work will be decided by a panel of ‘experts’ convened by the Japanese government. Currently, the Japanese government is negotiating with multiple pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and others, as it seeks to build a massive stockpile of vaccines. The country’s goal is to eradicate the virus in Japan long before the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
A Coronavirus Second Wave Grips Spain – The coronavirus is spreading much faster in Spain than anywhere else in Europe. After a relative lull during the summer, experts fear it signals a new surge across the continent.If Italy was the harbinger of the first wave of Europe’s coronavirus pandemic in February, Spain is the portent of its second. France is also surging, as are parts of Eastern Europe, and cases are ticking up in Germany, Greece, Italy and Belgium, too, but in the past week, Spain has recorded the most new cases on the continent by far – more than 53,000. With 114 new infections per 100,000 people in that time, the virus is spreading faster in Spain than in the United States, more than twice as fast as in France, about eight times the rate in Italy and Britain, and 10 times the pace in Germany. Spain was already one of the hardest-hit countries in Europe, and now has about 440,000 cases and more than 29,000 deaths. But after one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns, which did check the virus’s spread, it then enjoyed one of the most rapid reopenings. The return of nightlife and group activities – far faster than most of its European neighbors – has contributed to the epidemic’s resurgence. Now, as other Europeans mull how to restart their economies while still protecting human life, the Spanish have become an early bellwether for how a second wave might happen, how hard it might hit, and how it could be contained. “Perhaps Spain is the canary in the coal mine,” said Prof. Antoni Trilla, an epidemiologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, a research group. “Many countries may follow us – but hopefully not at the same speed or with the same number of cases that we are facing. “To be sure, doctors and politicians are not as terrified by Spain’s second wave as they were by its first. The mortality rate is roughly half the rate at the height of crisis – falling to 6.6 percent from the 12 percent peak in May. The median age of sufferers has dropped to around 37 from 60. Asymptomatic cases account for more than 50 percent of positive results, which is partly due to a fourfold rise in testing. And the health institutions feel much better prepared. “We have experience now,”
Hungary shuts borders; Greece delays school reopening – as it happened — Here’s a quick recap of the latest coronavirus developments across the globe over the last few hours:
- Greece added to Scotland’s quarantine list. Travellers from Greece will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days on arrival in Scotland from Thursday.
- Hungary closes borders again. The country has resealed its borders, implementing measures even stricter than those at the height of the pandemic in spring. For at least the month of September, the country is closed to almost everyone except Hungarian citizens and residents, and even they must quarantine on arrival.
- Residential evictions halted in the US on public health grounds.The order, from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lasts through 31 December and applies to individual renters earning no more than $99,000 in annual income.
- Greece delays school reopening. Greek authorities have delayed the reopening of schools by a week to 14 September because of a surge in Covid-19 infections, the government has said.
- United Arab Emirates records over 500 new Covid-19 infections for second successive day. The government’s communications office said there had been 574 new infections but no deaths in the previous 24 hours, following 541 new infections and two deaths reported on Monday.
- Holidaymakers returning to Wales from Zante asked to quarantine. Health and social services minister Vaughan Gething said public officials had identified “multiple separate clusters” linked to the popular holiday island.
- Household gatherings banned in parts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. First minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a ban on household gatherings in three local authorities in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area for the next two weeks after a surge in coronavirus cases.
COVID-19 cases spike in South Korea – Since August 14, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased sharply in South Korea with hundreds of new infections per day. Most of these have been located in the densely-populated Seoul metropolitan area, which is home to half of the country’s 51 million people. As of September 2, there had been 5,679 new cases over almost three weeks. This has brought the total since mid-last month to 20,449, or nearly 30 percent of all cases during the course of the pandemic. By Wednesday, the number of critically-ill patients had also grown from 12 on August 19 to 124. Hospital beds are lacking, however, despite the ongoing pandemic. In Seoul, there were 55 beds available by the middle of this week for COVID-19 patients in a serious or critical condition and only 16 in the neighbouring Gyeonggi Province. Gangwon Province and North and South Jeolla Provinces, as well as the cities of Gwangju and Daejeon, had no available beds. In response to the surge in cases, the central government raised its three-tier social distancing scale from Level 1 to “2.5,” enforcing stricter measures in the capital region, but not implementing a full lockdown. Public schools and private academies have been shut for students, while restaurants, indoor gyms, churches, and other places where large numbers gather have been closed or had their hours reduced. The government is attempting to justify not going to Level 3 social distancing, which would ban gatherings of ten people or more. President Moon Jae-in stated last week that in the event of a lockdown, “Daily lives will come to a halt, jobs will be lost, and we will have to indeed deal with a huge economic blow.”
India logs record 83,883 Covid-19 cases in day — India reported a record daily rise of 83,883 coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking its total to 3.85 million cases, just as the country pushed ahead with attempting a return to normality and kickstarting its economy. India now has the fastest growing Covid-19 infection rate in the world, and is only 100,000 cases behind Brazil, the second worst-affected country in the world. Experts are predicting that the south Asian nation will soon overtake Brazil (4 million) and then the US (6.1 million) to hold the dubious title of having the highest number of cases globally. Shahid Jameel, a virologist and CEO of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, said that the situation in India did “not look pretty”, adding: “Of the three top countries only India is showing a rising curve. This is a matter of grave concern and there is an urgent need to reverse the trend.” Jameel placed much of the blame for the rampant spread of the virus on public apathy, which he said arose from “the constant narrative from central and state governments of rising recovery rates and low mortality”. He said this was a false depiction of the situation on the ground. “People are not using the only scientifically proven methods to limit transmission: wearing masks properly in public and maintaining safe distancing,” he said. The steep upwards trend, whereby the number of cases in the capital, Delhi, has increased by 50% in the past month, comes as India enters its “unlock 4:0″ phase. Services such as metros will resume this week and later this month gatherings of up to 100 people will be permitted at sports, entertainment, cultural, religious and political events. India went into a strict lockdown mid-March while rates of infection remained low. But over the past three months, rates of infection – even in states such as Kerala, celebrated for successfully containing the virus – have increased with an increasing momentum as the country has reopened. The focus of infection is shifting from the big cities to rural areas, where two-thirds of new cases are now being reported. While the virus tends to spread less quickly in rural areas, this is still a cause for concern as 86% of people outside cities have no health insurance, only 20% of doctors serve in rural communities, and only 37% of government hospital beds are in rural areas. The Indian government has continued to downplay the spread of the virus and emphasised instead the need to get the economy moving again. This week India reported a 23.9% drop in its GDP over the past quarter – the greatest recession it has suffered since records began in 1996. It is the worst-hit major economy. And with so many Indians working in the informal sector, the figure was likely to underestimate the country’s hardship, economists said.
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