Updates
Covid-19 is Now the No. 3 Cause of Death in the US. And Testing to Find and Isolate Cases has Dropped Off-CNN
Just as more students head back to school, health experts are worried about a disturbing trend in much of the country: decreasing testing combined with high test positivity rates. In other words, Covid-19 is still spreading rampantly, but there's less testing to find and isolate cases. The number of tests performed each day in the US has dropped by an average of 68,000 compared to the daily rate in late July, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project. CNN, … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
As California Struggles With Covid-19, Farmworkers Are Among Most Affected-The Wall Street Journal
Residents of the agriculture-rich Central Valley are falling victim to Covid-19 at the highest rates in California, endangering a largely immigrant workforce during harvest season and helping drive the state’s persistently high infection rate. As America’s most populous state struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom has identified the Central Valley as a key area of concern, sending $52 million in additional aid. The Wall Street Journal, … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
FDA Clears Saliva Test For Covid-19, Opening Door To Wider Testing-STAT
The Food and Drug Administration on Saturday authorized emergency use of a new and inexpensive saliva test for Covid-19 that could greatly expand testing capacity. The new test, which is called SalivaDirect and was developed by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, allows saliva samples to be collected in any sterile container. It is a much less invasive process than the nasal swabs currently used to test for the virus that causes Covid-19, but one that has so far yielded highly … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
Back To The Paddy Fields. COVID Smashes Indian Middle-Class Dreams-Reuters
For years, people in rural India have been gaining prosperity and moving into what economists call a burgeoning middle class of consumers - those who earn more than $10 a day, by some definitions. This group has been a keystone of plans for economic development in the world’s second most populous country. In the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s economy is forecast to shrink by 4.5% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. At least 400 million Indian workers are at risk of falling … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
Politics Slows Flow Of US Virus Funds To Local Public Health-The Associated Press
Since the pandemic began, Congress has set aside trillions of dollars to ease the crisis. A joint Kaiser Health News and Associated Press investigation finds that many communities with big outbreaks have spent little of that federal money on local public health departments for work such as testing and contact tracing. The Associated Press, … Continue Reading
August 17, 2020
Pandemic Electric Bills Are Searing Hot, As Families Stay Home-NPR
With lights out in many offices and shuttered businesses, millions of people — both with and without jobs — are plugging in at home. Residential demand for power in the U.S. has soared, even as commercial and industrial use have declined. Ramirez says her electric bill for July alone was $385. With four teenagers who just resumed online schooling from home, she expects her August bill to be even higher. NPR, … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
Russia Approved A COVID Vaccine. Will It Be Available In America?-FiveThirtyEight
Russia is the first country to approve a vaccine for COVID-19 — reportedly by speeding through multiple steps in the testing process. Judy Twigg, a political scientist from Virginia Commonwealth University, talks about the state of medical research in Russia, and the political implications of this move. FiveThirtyEight, … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
13 States Make Contact Tracing Data Public. Here's What They're Learning-NPR
When everyone who tests positive for coronavirus in your community gets a call from a public health worker asking them about their contacts and those contacts are then asked to quarantine, the process creates a powerful way to keep the virus from spreading. NPR, … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
CDC Director Warns This Fall Could Be The Worst Ever For Public Health-NPR
The U.S. now has more than 5 million cases and 166,700 deaths from the coronavirus. And with flu season approaching, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Wednesday that things could get a lot more grim. Robert Redfield said in an interview with WebMD that if Americans don't follow public health guidance, the country could be facing "the worst fall, from a public health perspective, we've ever had." NPR, … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
New Zealand Extends Auckland Lockdown For 12 Days-BBC News
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a 12-day extension of the country’s Covid-19 restrictions, after a cluster of cases grew to 29. There are four “alert levels” in New Zealand, and Auckland has been on Level 3 since Wednesday. The rest of the country is on Level 2, and Ms Ardern said both would be extended. BBC News, … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
US Retail Sales Regain Pre-Virus Level But Slowdown Likely-The Associated Press
Americans increased their retail purchases by 1.2% in July, with solid gains in appliances and clothing helping restore sales to their level before the viral pandemic erupted in March. Sales at retail stores and restaurants have now risen for three straight months, after plunges in March and April, when the pandemic shuttered businesses and paralyzed the economy. Still, much of the spending was fueled by government aid that had put more money in people’s pockets but has since expired. The … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
On The Frontline Of Nigeria's Coronavirus Fight, Health Workers Brace For Inevitable-Devex
In late July, the World Health Organization announced that over 10,000 healthcare workers in Africa had tested positive for COVID-19. This raised concerns about the ability of countries like Nigeria — which only has 0.4 doctors per 1,000 people to begin with — to successfully control a pandemic that has overwhelmed even better-resourced health systems. As the pressure increased on a handful of key health facilities across the country, so too did the risk of infection for the health … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
Covid-19 Clinical Trials Are Failing To Enroll Diverse Populations, Despite Awareness Efforts-STAT
It’s been well-established that Covid-19, at least in the United States, has disproportionately affected people of color. And yet clinical trials of treatments and vaccines for Covid-19 have so far failed to enroll diverse populations that actually reflect society. STAT, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
COVID-19 Death Rate For Black Americans Twice That For Whites, New Report Says-NPR
Black Americans are becoming infected with the coronavirus at a rate three times that of whites and they are twice as likely to die from COVID-19, according to a new report from the National Urban League, based partly on data from Johns Hopkins University. A key focus of Thursday's report is the impact of the pandemic and how the disease has followed the contours of the larger society in falling especially hard on Blacks, Latinos and Indigenous people. NPR, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
The CDC Issues a Dire Warning for the Fall if Coronavirus Measures are not Followed-CNN
A top federal health official is issuing a dire warning: Follow recommended coronavirus measures or risk having the worst fall in US public health history. "For your country right now and for the war that we're in against Covid, I'm asking you to do four simple things: wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and be smart about crowds," said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CNN, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Coronavirus In Europe: Infections Surge In France, Germany And Spain-BBC News
Germany has recorded its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases in more than three months as European countries struggle to curb a surge in infections. More than 1,200 cases were reported in Germany in the past 24 hours. Officials said the rise was due, in part, to people returning from holidays. BBC News, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
‘We’re Losing An Entire Generation Of Scientists.’ COVID-19’s Economic Toll Hits Latin America Hard-Science Magazine
Across Latin America, researchers have raced to contribute their expertise to the worst public health crisis in a century and demonstrate that several decades of investment in research—including the capacity to run large clinical trials—has paid off. “We basically showed that we have knowledge in the country that can be put to work for the benefit of the society as a whole,” says Aisén Etcheverry, who heads Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development. At the same time, the pandemic … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Standoff Over Covid Relief Could Drag Into September-Politico
White House officials and top Democratic leaders signaled on Wednesday that they can’t agree on what they said to each other, much less forge a compromise, on a Covid-19 relief bill to help the battered U.S. economy or tens of millions of Americans facing financial hardship. The high-stakes stalemate now appears likely to drag on for weeks, or even into September, according to lawmakers and aides in both parties. Politico, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
New Jobless Claims Dip Below 1 Million For 1st Time Since March-NPR
First-time claims for state unemployment benefits dropped below 1 million last week for the first time since the pandemic hit the economy in March. Claims under a special pandemic program for gig workers and others who are typically not eligible for unemployment also fell. NPR, … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Flu Season Prep, Complicated By COVID-19, Starts Early This Year-Reuters
Healthcare providers, including CVS Health Corp, are kicking off flu vaccinations early, ordering extra shots and aiming to add tests that check for both the annual flu and COVID-19, pharmacy executives and experts told Reuters. Reuters, … Continue Reading