Tag: pandemic

White House announces allocation plan for 55M more global vaccine doses

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The White House on Monday announced where the U.S. would send 55 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated for other countries.

The Biden administration had already committed these doses as part of a pledge to allocate 80 million by the end of June, and an initial 25 million doses, announced earlier this month, have “begun shipping,” the White House said. 

Officials gave more details Monday on where the remaining 55 million doses would be headed and the timeline for their shipment.  Continue reading.

Medicaid enrollment swells during the pandemic, reaching a new high

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The number of Americans relying on Medicaid swelled to an apparent all-time high during the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 74 million Americans covered through the safety-net health insurance, new federal figures show.

From February 2020 through January, Medicaid enrollment climbed nationwide by 9.7 million, according to a report, based on the most recent available data, released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some people signed up last year as the pandemic’s economic fallout took away their jobs, income and health benefits. But according to federal health officials and other Medicaid experts, much of the increase is because of a rule change that was part of the first coronavirus relief law adopted by Congress last year. Continue reading.

The quest for a pill to fight viruses gets a $3.2 billion boost

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Antiviral drugs could help bring this pandemic to a close — and prepare for the next one

Before this pandemic is over, scientists are preparing to fight the next one.

Borrowing from the model used to create drugs that transformed HIV from a death sentence into a manageable disease, the Biden administration announced Thursday a $3.2 billion plan to stock the medicine cabinet with drugs that would be ready to treat future viral threats — whether a hemorrhagic fever, influenza or another coronavirus.

Anthony S. Fauci, chief medical adviser to the administration, and David Kessler, chief science officer for the covid-19 response, began brainstorming the idea late last year. With remarkably effective vaccines rolling out, their initial focus was on drugs that could make the next pandemic less devastating. But as virus variants emerged and it became clear that even a historic vaccination campaign wasn’t likely to eradicate the coronavirus, they accelerated the deadline. Continue reading.

Phillips Helps Lead Bipartisan Letter to SBA Urging Immediate Relief for Shuttered Venues

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Small Business Oversight Subcommittee Chair Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Roger Williams (R-TX) led more than 200 of their House colleagues in a letter to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman urging immediate action to stabilize and improve the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which provides emergency assistance grants to venues that were unable to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program – which was created in the bipartisan COVID-19 relief package spearheaded by Rep. Phillips and the Problem Solvers Caucus – includes more than $16 billion in grants for stages, museums, theaters, and other venues that were forced to closed due to the pandemic. However, the SBA has approved fewer than 500 grants, including just 3 in Minnesota, despite receiving more than 14,000 applications nationwide. Phillips’s letter requests a detailed explanation of ongoing issues with the program and demands that SBA accelerate the release of relief funding to struggling venues across the country.

“The slow pace is becoming increasingly untenable for the small businesses in our districts,” wrote Rep. Phillips and his colleagues. “Their banks have threatened to call in the full amount of small business loans, they do not have the funds to pay their landlords full rent, and they cannot retain staff. We are hearing from venue operators who are days away from closing their doors if these funds are not sent soon. These small businesses not only provide good jobs and contribute economically to our local communities, they contribute to the spirit and local culture as well. We must act now.”

Continue reading “Phillips Helps Lead Bipartisan Letter to SBA Urging Immediate Relief for Shuttered Venues”

Many Post-Covid Patients Are Experiencing New Medical Problems, Study Finds

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An analysis of health insurance records of almost two million coronavirus patients found new issues in nearly a quarter — including those whose Covid infection was mild or asymptomatic.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sought medical care for post-Covid health problems that they had not been diagnosed with before becoming infected with the coronavirus, according to the largest study to date of long-term symptoms in Covid-19 patients.

The study, tracking the health insurance records of nearly two million people in the United States who contracted the coronavirus last year, found that one month or more after their infection, almost one-quarter — 23 percent — of them sought medical treatment for new conditions.

Those affected were all ages, including children. Their most common new health problems were pain, including in nerves and muscles; breathing difficulties; high cholesterol; malaise and fatigue; and high blood pressure. Other issues included intestinal symptoms; migraines; skin problems; heart abnormalities; sleep disorders; and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Continue reading.

NIH study suggests coronavirus may have been in U.S. as early as December 2019

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A research study run by the National Institutes of Health has turned up evidence of possible coronavirus infections in the United States as early as December 2019, weeks before the first documented infection in this country.

The new report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, bolsters earlier studies indicating that the virus entered the country under the radar and may have been spreading in the first two months of 2020, well in advance of warnings to that effect from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A volunteer in Illinois who gave blood on Jan. 7, 2020 — in a study unrelated to the emergent virus — tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, according to the NIH report. It noted that the antibodies typically take 14 days, on average, to develop, and this “suggests the virus may have been present in Illinois as early as December 24, 2019.” Continue reading.

Coronavirus infections dropping where people are vaccinated, rising where they are not, Post analysis finds

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States with higher vaccination rates now have markedly fewer coronavirus cases, as infections are dropping in places where most residents have been immunized and are rising in many places people have not, a Washington Post analysis has found.

States with lower vaccination also have significantly higher hospitalization rates, The Post found. Poorly vaccinated communities have not been reporting catastrophic conditions. Instead, they are usually seeing new infections holding steady or increasing without overwhelming local hospitals.

As recently as 10 days ago, vaccination rates did not predict a difference in coronavirus cases, but immunization rates have diverged, and case counts in the highly vaccinated states are dropping quickly. Continue reading.

600,000 dead: With normal life in reach, covid’s late-stage victims lament what could have been

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They came so close. Philip Sardelis already had his vaccine appointment in hand. Cinnamon Jamila Key had just received her first shot. Charles Pryor tried but couldn’t get the coronavirus vaccine in time. Alexey Aguilar had been reluctant to commit to such a new medicine but was coming around to the idea.

And then covid-19 took them. On top of the grief and sorrow, their families now also must deal with the unfairness, the eternal mystery of what might have been.

The Americans who have died of covid-19 in recent days and weeks — the people whose deaths have pushed the total U.S. loss from the pandemic to nearly 600,000 — passed away even as their families, friends and neighbors emerged from 15 months of isolation and fear. The juxtaposition is cruel: Here, masks off; workplaces, shops and schools reopening. There, people struggling to breathe, separated from loved ones, silenced by ventilators. Continue reading.

Top CDC official warns US not ready for next pandemic

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The No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning that without consistent, long-term funding for public health, the U.S. won’t be any better prepared for the next pandemic.

In an interview with The Hill on Wednesday, Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said the U.S. was not prepared for COVID-19 due to years of inadequate investment in public health infrastructure.

Emergency funding has helped public health agencies fight back against the coronavirus, Schuchat said, but unless that level of spending can be sustained, the country is in danger of repeating the same mistakes. Continue reading.

Only in our anti-truth hellscape could Anthony Fauci become a supervillain

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Right-wing commentators are pretending that thousands of newly released emails from Anthony S. Fauci represent some kind of smoking gun against the government’s top infectious-disease expert, whom they have recently decided to try to destroy.

I haven’t been nearly as excited by the emails, which are mostly full of mundane correspondence. But there’s at least one line in them that stands out.

“I genuflect to no one but science and always, always speak my mind when it comes to public health,” the normally even-tempered scientist wrote in March of last year, to an epidemiologist who had accused a number of public health officials of appeasing the science-challenged President Donald Trump. Continue reading.