Tag: COVID-19

J&J says its one-shot vaccine is 66% effective against moderate to severe COVID

Axios logo

Johnson & Johnson announced Friday that its single-shot coronavirus vaccine was 66% effective in protecting against moderate to severe COVID-19 disease in Phase 3 trials, which was comprised of nearly 44,000 participants across eight countries.

Between the lines: The vaccine was 72% effective in the U.S., but only 57% effective in South Africa, where a more contagious variant has been spreading. It prevented 85% of severe infections and 100% of hospitalizations and deaths, according to the company.

The big picture: The vaccine is not as effective as some of its two-dose competitors, but still provides strong protection against the most serious COVID-19 symptoms.  Continue reading.

U.S. handling of American evacuees from Wuhan increased coronavirus risks, watchdog finds

Washington Post logo

The special counsel also criticized the HHS general counsel’s office for its ‘attempts to shame the whistleblower.’

As the first American evacuees from Wuhan, China, touched down at a California military base a year ago, fleeing the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, they were met by U.S. health officials with no virus prevention plan or infection-control training — and who had not even been told to wear masks, according to a federal investigation.

Later, those officials were told to remove protective gear when meeting with the evacuees to avoid “bad optics,” and days after those initial encounters, departed California aboard commercial airline flights to other destinations.

Those are among the findings of two federal reports obtained by The Washington Post, supporting a whistleblower’s account of the chaos as U.S. officials scrambled to greet nearly 200 evacuees from Wuhan at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, Calif., in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2020. The handling and quarantining of those evacuees — the nation’s first up-close confrontation with a virus that has now sickened more than 25 million Americans — and the resulting whistleblower complaint prompted internal reviews by the Health and Human Services Department and an investigation overseen by the Office of Special Counsel. Continue reading.

Biden just took his first step to expand health coverage

Biden is opening up Obamacare enrollment and planning an ad blitz.

Eight days into his administration, President Joe Biden took a small step to expand health coverage during the Covid-19 pandemic — one that Donald Trump refused to take last year.

In an executive order Biden is signing Thursday, the president directs the US Department of Health and Human Services to open a special enrollment period on HealthCare.gov, allowing Americans to sign up for a new health insurance plan subsidized by the federal government. From February 15 to May 15, people who are uninsured can log on to the federal website and choose a health plan. (HealthCare.gov serves most states but not all; Biden officials said they expected the states that run their own insurance marketplaces to also open up enrollment.)

“These actions demonstrate a strong commitment by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect and build on the Affordable Care Act, meet the health care needs created by the pandemic, reduce health care costs, protect access to reproductive health care, and make our health care system easier to navigate and more equitable,” the White House said in a statement announcing the order. Continue reading.

Novavax vaccine protects against coronavirus in variant hot spots but proved less effective against strain in South Africa

Washington Post logo

A coronavirus vaccine made by Maryland biotech company Novavax proved effective at stopping symptomatic infections in global hot spots where concerning variants are dominant, the company announced Thursday. But warning signs lurked amid those findings: The protective effect of the vaccine was substantially muted in South Africa, where a worrisome virus variant is in wide circulation.

The data, presented by a company news release, is ominous news for other vaccine developers. They have been scrambling to determine whether current vaccines would remain effective against the variant found in South Africa and are designing new versions in case the virus can break through the protection provided by the shot. The data is the first, highly anticipated evidence of how well a vaccine performs against variants that have drawn global concern.

The company also noted that a third of the participants in its South African trial appeared to have already been infected with the original strain of coronavirus, based on antibodies in their blood when they were vaccinated. Some of those people became infected again, according to the company, suggesting natural immunity generated by an infection might not fully protect against the new variant. Continue reading.

COVID-19 cases drop, but variants point to dangers ahead

The Hill logo

The number of Americans testing positive for the coronavirus has dropped substantially from an early January zenith, easing the strain on hospitals across the nation that faced danger over the winter holidays.

But new and more transmissible strains of the coronavirus are circulating more widely across the world, and public health experts caution that, even with the beginnings of mass vaccination programs, the public must be more vigilant than ever in protecting themselves and reducing the spread.

“This is the calm before the real storm. I think the darkest days of the pandemic are just ahead of us,” said Michael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Prevention at the University of Minnesota.  Continue reading.

Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say

Washington Post logo

NOTE: This article is available for all to read at no charge by The Washington Post.

Better face coverings are needed to curb more-transmissible strains as vaccine rollout is underway, they say

Wear your mask is becoming wear your masks.

The discovery of highly transmissible coronavirus variants in the United States has public health experts urging Americans to upgrade the simple cloth masks that have become a staple shield during the pandemic.

The change can be as simple as slapping a second mask over the one you already wear, or better yet, donning a fabric mask on top of a surgical mask. Some experts say it is time to buy the highest-quality KN95 or N95 masks that officials hoping to reserve supplies for health-care workers have long discouraged Americans from purchasing. Continue reading.

Coronavirus variant first seen in South Africa identified in South Carolina

Washington Post logo

A highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa has infected two people in South Carolina with no travel history, state officials announced Thursday. These are the first cases in the United States involving the B. 1.351 variant, and the patients’ lack of travel or a connection to one another suggests that the variant is spreading in the community following an undetected introduction.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control did not release the names of the people infected, stating only that they are adults, “one from the Lowcountry and one from the Pee Dee region.”

The B. 1.351 variant, first identified in South Africa in December and containing mutations that appear to enhance transmission, is considered by scientists to be even more worrisome than the more widely publicized B.1.1.7 variant first seen in the United Kingdom. The latter has been detected in more than two dozen U.S. states. View the post here, provided free to view by The Washington Post..

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: January 29, 2021

Governor Walz Announces Minnesota’s COVID-19 Recovery Budget

COVID-19 recovery budget graphic


On Tuesday,  Governor Walz announced Minnesota’s COVID-19 Recovery Budget – his budget proposal for the next biennium. As Minnesota continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Walz’s budget supports working families, ensures students catch up on learning, and helps small businesses stay afloat while driving economic recovery.

Governor Walz Takes Action to Jump-Start Vaccine Rollout

On Monday, Governor Walz accelerated plans to make COVID-19 vaccines more broadly available across Minnesota. The actions included a new 72-hour goal for vaccine providers to administer 90 percent of their vaccine doses within three days of receiving them, and all doses within one week. 

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: January 29, 2021”

A top MAGA gathering finds life complicated after Trump

CPAC was at the top of its powers last year. Then Covid-19 hit, Trump lost, and the postelection chaos ensued. Now, the confab has some challenges ahead. 

One of the premier MAGA gatherings in the nation is struggling to recreate the magic this year. 

For decades, the Conservative Political Action Conference has been a staple of Republican politics. In recent years, the conservative confab has been the go-to stop for rising GOP stars, grassroots organizers and luminaries in the Trump movement.

But President Donald Trump’s election loss has created hurdles around programming and guest booking. Stringent coronavirus guidelines in Maryland have pushed the conference outside of the Washington area for the first time in nearly 50 years. Previous sponsors aren’t yet committed or have decided to forgo sponsorship entirely because of changes to the event’s format or disappointment in the return on their investment last year. And the president that attendees adored so much may not show up to the event at all. Continue reading.

State lawmakers, meatpacking workers announce new legislation to improve safety on the job

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota lawmakers and meatpacking workers from Worthington, St. Cloud, and Austin announced new legislation today to improve safety on the job for the men and women employed by meat packing and food processing plants. The proposal would provide paid leave to all meat and poultry processing workers to recuperate from an illness, injury or to care for an ill family member. The “Minnesota Safe Workplaces for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers Act” is authored by Rep. Dan Wolgamott of St. Cloud.

“When COVID-19 first hit Central Minnesota in the spring of 2020, I heard heartbreaking and horrifying stories from my constituents about the unhealthy working conditions at meat processing plants that were jeopardizing the health and financial well being of their families,” said Rep. Wolgamott. “That’s why I’m introducing the Minnesota Safe Workplaces for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers Act, which provides comprehensive workplace health and safety protections, and ensures workers have access to the benefits and training needed to work safely during this pandemic and beyond.”

In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights which requires employers to provide meatpacking workers with information about their rights as workers and adequate safety equipment. The Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights was a positive measure, however, it has not proven adequate to protect the safety and rights of meatpacking workers, before or during the time of COVID-19.

Continue reading “State lawmakers, meatpacking workers announce new legislation to improve safety on the job”