At Least Eight US States Have Now Confirmed a Case of the UK Covid-19 Varianthttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-07-21/index.htmlOfficials in Texas and Connecticut have announced that the UK variant of Covid-19 has been identified in their states.
The variant appears to spread more easily, although there's no evidence that it's any more deadly or causes more severe disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Harris County Public Health in Texas said in a statement Thursday the first patient was a male between 30 and 40 with no travel history, which implies the variant has been transmitted locally.
... Later, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said health officials in his state had identified two cases of the variant, which would bring the count for the US to at least 56 cases. [
... 5 miles down the road ...]
“The two individuals are between the ages of 15 and 25 and both reside in New Haven County. Both individuals recently traveled outside Connecticut – one to Ireland and the other to New York State – and both developed symptoms within 3 to 4 days of their return,” Lamont’s office said in a statement.
“Genetic sequencing of the virus has confirmed that the two cases are unrelated. The individuals’ specimens were collected earlier this month and subsequently tested positive.”
... At least eight states have now confirmed a case of the variant. The others are California, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania.---------------------------------------------
Pennsylvania Reports First Confirmed Case of COVID-19 Varianthttps://www.wfmz.com/news/area/pennsylvania/pa-sees-first-confirmed-case-of-covid-19-variant/article_6a9facbc-50f4-11eb-b603-27b6fe277e38.htmlHARRISBURG, Pa. - The new COVID-19 variant first discovered in the UK has made its way to Pennsylvania.
Someone in Dauphin County, which is near Harrisburg, tested positive for the variant, the first confirmed case in Pennsylvania, said the state Department of Health in a news release Thursday.
The person had known international exposure, and suffered mild symptoms, but has since recovered, officials said. Contact tracers have reached out to anyone who was in close contact with the person.
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Los Angeles Is Reporting One Covid Death Every Eight Minuteshttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-07-21/index.html... Cases have increased 941% since November 1 and so far, the rate of new cases in January is double what it was in December, according to Ferrer. In the past two months, the positivity rate in LA County has jumped from 3.8% to 21.8%.
Hospitalizations are 10 times higher than they were on November 1, and Health Services Director Christina Ghaly warns that yet another surge is expected within the next two weeks. More than 8,000 people are currently hospitalized, with 20% in intensive care units and 19% on ventilators.
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Patients In Intensive Care In the UK to Receive Arthritis Drugs as Trial Shows Reduction In Mortalityhttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-07-21/index.htmlResults from the government-funded clinical trial — published online on Thursday, but not yet peer-reviewed — showed the drugs, Tocilizumab and Sarilumab, reduced the relative risk of death by 24%, when either were administered to patients within 24 hours of entering intensive care, the Department of Health said in a press release. They also reduced time in hospital by an average of seven to 10 days.
The government will update its guidance on Friday to encourage the use of these drugs for Covid-19 patients in intensive care. The drugs are typically available in UK hospitals.
During the trial, the drugs were administered in addition to a corticosteroid, such as dexamethasone, which is already provided in the standard of care, the press release said.
Patients receiving the current standard of care alone experienced a mortality rate of 35.8%. This was reduced to 27.3% using tocilizumab or sarilumab, a 24% relative reduction in risk of mortality.
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London "May Run Out of [Hospital] Beds" In Next Few Days, Mayor Sayshttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-07-21/index.htmlLondon “may run out of [hospital] beds” in the “next few days” due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the capital, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said on Thursday.
... Khan, when asked by LBC Radio if Covid-19 was “out of control” in London, said: “Yes. This virus is out of control."
He added: "The NHS is on the cusp of being overwhelmed. There has been no time during this pandemic where I’ve been more concerned than I am today.”
Khan implored Londoners to “stay home” and said National Health Service (NHS) workers “are stretched, they are overworked, many of them are suffering trauma that may take years to recover from.”--------------------------------------------------
English City Set to Run Out of Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Doses By Fridayhttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-01-07-21/index.htmlThe English city of Birmingham will run out of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine doses on Friday with "no clarity on when further supplies will arrive," local officials warned on Thursday in a letter sent to UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
... Birmingham "has not yet been supplied with any AstraZeneca [vaccine] stock." ... "In addition, it remains unclear who is responsible for overseeing the vaccination programme in Birmingham and whom we should hold to account for progress and delivery," the letter reads.
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Infection Rates Were Sharply Higher In Counties Where Universities Held Classes In Person.https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7001a4.htm?s_cid=mm7001a4_wIncidence rates in those counties rose more than 50 percent in the first three weeks after classes started, compared with the previous three-week period, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By contrast, infection rates declined in counties without large universities or where large universities held classes remotely last fall, the study said.
... Infection rates went on falling — by an average of 18 percent — where large universities chose to teach remotely, the researchers found, but the rates shot up where in-person instruction was underway.
The findings come as many students who were home for the holidays prepare to return to campus. They will converge on college towns at a time when the virus is surging in many parts of the country, overwhelming hospitals and straining health care services.
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As Americans were transfixed by the spectacle of the Capitol under siege, the coronavirus continued to sweep across the United States.
Officials reported at least 3,964 new coronavirus deaths in the United States on Wednesday, a new single-day record.... “Most Americans don’t want to know, don’t want to acknowledge, don’t really want to recognize, and certainly — even as it’s descending upon us — do not appear to understand the dire circumstances that we are facing,” said Dr. Marjorie Bessel, the chief clinical officer at Banner Health, a major hospital network in Arizona.
With an average of 118.3 new cases per 100,000 people, Arizona has become what health officials call the latest “hotspot of the world” because of soaring case loads.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has declined to institute a statewide mask mandate even as the state reports the highest rate of new cases in the US
... And with no good system in place to identify genetic variations of the virus, experts warn, the government will be hard pressed to track the UK & SA variants, leaving health officials in the dark.
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https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1346518962478190594JERUSALEM — Israel faces a tightened lockdown this week as officials fear that the more transmissible British variant of the virus is spreading rapidly and its vaccine supplies are running low.
“We are at the height of a global pandemic that is spreading at record speed with the British mutation,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement late Tuesday, justifying the government’s decision to impose a full national lockdown that will shutter most schools and all nonessential workplaces for at least two weeks.
“Every hour we delay, the quicker the virus is spreading, and it will exact a very heavy price,” he added.
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Australian State Enters Lockdown After UK Strain Detectedhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/jan/07/coronavirus-live-news-england-sees-record-hospitalisations-arizona-is-covid-hot-spot-of-the-worldAustralia’s Queensland state enforced a three-day lockdown in Brisbane, the state capital, from Friday evening after a hotel quarantine worker tested positive for the more contagious variant of Covid-19 that emerged in Britain last month.