16th Aug 2021 https://nfind.uk/lockdown_exit/index.php/newsletter=450 lockdown_exit

‘Everybody I Know Is Pissed Off’

The Atlantic The vaccinated across party lines have kind of had it with the unvaccinated an array of new polls suggests. While most state and national GOP leaders are focused on defending the rights of unvaccinated Americans new polling shows that the large majority of vaccinated adultsincluding a substantial portion of Republicanssupport tougher measures against those who have refused COVID19 shots. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/08/vaccine-mandates-republicans-democrats/619735/ 12th Aug 2021

Staff at UK medicines regulator express alarm at plan for budget cuts

Financial Times Senior personnel at the UK regulator responsible for medicines have expressed deep concern over outline plans to make up to 25 per cent of staff redundant as it is forced to embark on budget cuts. The proposals by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to restructure because of financial pressures come despite it being lauded by the government for its phenomenal contribution to tackling Covid19. It also has a central role in Boris Johnsons plans to put life sciences at the core of his build back better agenda for economic growth and innovation. https://www.ft.com/content/8ef390b4-2d57-42fa-9ac6-88c08307eade 14th Aug 2021

First to vaccinate and first to party, Israel now mulls lockdowns

Financial Times Naftali Bennett was honest with Israelis when he announced the measure on Wednesday the government was trying to cushion the blow. On August 1 it had started offering people over 60 a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine embarking on its own public health experiment as it tumbled into an unpredictable fourth wave. We have to raise hospital capacity to buy time until the vaccination campaign goes into effect and starts to stem the outbreak Bennett said. https://www.ft.com/content/c21e2053-0373-4b8e-80b7-fad10f235604 13th Aug 2021

We Studied One Million Students. This Is What We Learned About Masking.

Yahoo! Voices For more than a year weve worked with North Carolina school districts and charter schools studying the rate of new Covid cases the efficacy of mitigation measures such as masking and the increased risks of participating in schoolsponsored sports. We have learned a few things for certain Although vaccination is the best way to prevent Covid19 universal masking is a close second and with masking in place inschool learning is safe and more effective than remote instruction regardless of community rates of infection. https://www.yahoo.com/news/studied-one-million-students-learned-115945811.html 11th Aug 2021

Iceland has been a vaccination success. Why is it seeing a coronavirus surge?

Washington Post What happened to Iceland The island nation that has been praised for its coronavirus response and its worldleading vaccination rate is now seeing its highest levels of infection since the start of the pandemic. Just one month after the government scrapped all covid19 restrictions masks social distancing and capacity limits have returned. And U.S. authorities last week warned Americans to stay away. Vaccine opponents have gleefully pointed to Iceland as proof that the shots are a failure. But contrary to online misinformation and conspiratorial social media posts infectiousdisease experts say Icelands outbreak actually illustrates how effective the vaccines are at preventing the viruss most severe impacts. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/iceland-covid-surge-vaccines/2021/08/14/bdd88d04-fabd-11eb-911c-524bc8b68f17_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&amputm_medium=email&amputm_source=newsletter&ampwpisrc=nl_most&ampcarta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3468c40%2F611936cc9d2fda2f47f56a32%2F5972f23fae7e8a1cf4b34816%2F13%2F72%2F611936cc9d2fda2f47f56a32 13th Aug 2021

Back of the line: Charity only goes so far in world vaccines

Associated Press An international system to share coronavirus vaccines was supposed to guarantee that low and middleincome countries could get doses without being last in line and at the mercy of unreliable donations. It hasnt worked out that way. In late June alone the initiative known as COVAX sent some 530000 doses to Britain more than double the amount sent that month to the entire continent of Africa. Under COVAX countries were supposed to give money so vaccines could be set aside both as donations to poor countries and as an insurance policy for richer ones to buy doses if theirs fell through. Some rich countries including those in the European Union calculated that they had more than enough doses available through bilateral deals and ceded their allocated COVAX doses to poorer count https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-middle-east-africa-europe-coronavirus-pandemic-5e57879c6cb22d96b942cbc973b9296c 14th Aug 2021

Pfizer chief Albert Bourla: 'We are the most efficient vaccine machine'

Financial Times Bourla to be fair has much to celebrate. The only reason we are able to have lunch at this bustling Greek restaurant in Hudson Yards is that both of us have been jabbed with two doses of his companys vaccine. The inoculation developed with Germanys BioNTech is the most successful in the world the first to be authorised by US regulators it is over 95 per cent effective against the original strain of the virus conferring the highest degree of protection of all the jabs. Pfizer has shipped more doses than any other western company 1.2bn and counting. https://www.ft.com/content/97c597dc-03b1-4ece-a302-f9793698ded6 13th Aug 2021

Australia secures 1 million more Pfizer vaccine doses from Poland

Reuters Australia has secured about 1 million additional doses of Pfizer Incs COVID19 vaccine that will start arriving on Sunday night Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. The doses provided by the Polish government will be targeted for Australians ages 20 to 39 years old particularly in Sydney where transmission numbers have spiked to record highs. Australia previously contracted for 14 million Pfizer doses Morrison said. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-secures-1-million-more-pfizer-vaccine-doses-poland-2021-08-15/ 14th Aug 2021

Olympics now ended, Japan races to vaccinate as virus surges

Associated Press Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is pinning his hopes on vaccinations which started slow but now are making good progress. How this race between shots and disease finishes may determine Sugas political future not to mention the health of tens of thousands. Suga seems optimistic vaccines will win but with only about 36 of the population fully vaccinated experts say the viruss highly infectious delta variant is pulling ahead. They are urging the government to put more teeth in its weak state of emergency. Japan has managed the COVID19 pandemic better than many countries without the kind of restrictive lockdown used in other nations but some believe that may now be needed. https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-sports-lifestyle-japan-coronavirus-pandemic-8b48db716e4c0cdd132822a19ef7b112 13th Aug 2021

North Texas runs out of pediatric ICU beds amid Covid surge

NBC News If youre not vaccinated youre playing Russian roulette DallasFort Worth Hospital Councils CEO said. Please get vaccinated. Just about all of the patients in our hospitals are unvaccinated. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/north-texas-runs-out-pediatric-icu-beds-amid-covid-surge-n1276783 13th Aug 2021

IBM to allow only fully vaccinated to return to U.S. offices from Sept. 7

Reuters International Business Machines Corp IBM.N said on Friday that it would allow only fully vaccinated U.S. employees to return to offices which are set to open from Sept. 7 given the rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID19. We will still open many of our U.S. sites where local clinical conditions allow the week of Sept. 7. However the reopenings will only be for fully vaccinated employees who choose to come into the office Chief Human Resources Officer Nickle LaMoreaux said in a memo sent to employees. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ibm-allow-only-fully-vaccinated-return-us-offices-sept-7-2021-08-13/ 13th Aug 2021

The UK is about to hit its Covid vaccine ceiling

Wired.co.uk In most older age groups vaccination numbers have started to flatline. On July 1 85.5 per cent of people aged 5054 in England had had a first dose but by August 1 that had crept up to just 86 per cent. Uptake remains high across all age groups and making the vaccine available to all 16 and 17year olds will further boost coverage but it remains likely that millions of people in the UK will not receive a Covid vaccine either because they are too young to be eligible for health reasons or because they havent come forward. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/covid-vaccine-ceiling-uk 12th Aug 2021

Canada Will Require All Air Travelers To Be Vaccinated In A Broad New Policy

NPR All passengers and workers on commercial air flights in Canada will soon have to prove theyve been vaccinated against the coronavirus. Canadas government will also require all federal workers to be vaccinated citing a dynamic public health situation due to the COVID19 pandemic. The new travel vaccination policy will apply to passengers and workers in the federally regulated air rail and cruise ship sectors. It will be enacted as soon as possible in the fall and no later than the end of October the Canadian Treasury Board said on Friday. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/08/13/1027498555/canada-vaccination-air-travelers-requirement 13th Aug 2021

Canberra paramedics lead the nation in COVID-19 vaccination rates

ABC.Net.au Canberras ambulance officers lead the nation in COVID19 vaccination with more than 90 per cent of staff fully vaccinated according to an optin survey. While vaccination rates were not available in all states and territories the most recent data provided showed Canberra Darwin and Melbourne had the highest rates of vaccination for ambulance staff. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-15/canberra-paramedics-lead-nation-in-vaccination-rates/100372550 14th Aug 2021

US mulls COVID vaccine boosters for elderly as early as fall

Associated Press Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID19 infections the director of the NIH said the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to Americans this fall. Among the first to receive them could be health care workers nursing home residents and other older Americans. Dr. Francis Collins also pleaded anew for unvaccinated people to get their shots calling them sitting ducks for a delta variant that is ravaging the country and showing little sign of letting up. This is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peaked out he said. https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-coronavirus-pandemic-341b90f35438f52ccd7ad57ec80cc3ea 15th Aug 2021

Amid shortages, Africans scramble to be fully immunized

Associated Press In the aftermath of a brutal wave of infections driven by the delta variant many Ugandans seeking a first dose of vaccine are competing with hundreds of thousands who have waited months for a second dose. But the country now has only 285000 shots donated by Norway. The delta surge has touched off a vaccination rush across Africa that the slow trickle of donated doses cant keep up with compounding the continents vaccine disadvantage compared with the rest of the world. The urgency to obtain a second dose across much of the worlds least vaccinated continent contrasts sharply with rich countries now beginning to authorize third doses. https://apnews.com/article/africa-health-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-4223767b41b3c7b6cd81ead14d6c04e7 15th Aug 2021

In Yemen's north, Houthis face virus with outright denial

Associated Press Its not just a struggling health care system thats to blame for the unaccounted for deaths. In interviews with The Associated Press more than a dozen doctors aid workers Sanaa residents and relatives of those believed to have died from the virus said the Houthi authorities are approaching the pandemic with such outright denial that it threatens to further endanger the already vulnerable population. https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-health-coronavirus-pandemic-united-nations-yemen-1d134157c61c85c844667613183ac1b3 14th Aug 2021

'I feel defeated': Mask and vaccine mandates cause new divides as officials try to head off virus surge

The Washington Post The summer of 2021 is a season of mandates with rules requiring masks and vaccines reemerging as the pandemics latest cultural and political flash point. In many parts of the country including states hit hardest by a resurgence of the virus the mandates are pitting blue cities against red governors sparking protests and placing new burdens on already harried workers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/08/14/mask-vaccination-mandates/ 15th Aug 2021

Facebook and YouTube execs say removing Covid-19 misinformation isn’t enough

STAT News New falsehoods have emerged to match every stage of pandemic response. Unquestionably that misinformation has been amplified on social media platforms as the world locked down in waves and citizens looked online for answers. On Thursday leaders from Facebook and YouTube joined a panel at the global conference of the Health Information Management Systems Society HIMSS to discuss the threat misleading information poses to the pandemic response. But even as vaccine misinformation continues to hamper vaccination efforts in the United States the conversation failed to address the impact of falsehoods on these platforms headon instead focusing on platforms efforts to proactively share accurate trusted Covid19 information. https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/13/vaccine-misinformation-covid19-facebook-youtube/ 13th Aug 2021

Misinformation at public forums vexes local boards, big tech

Associated Press There are plenty of places to turn for accurate information about COVID19. Your physician. Local health departments. The U.S. CDC. But not perhaps your local governments public comment session. During a meeting of the St. Louis County Council earlier this month opponents of a possible mask mandate made so many misleading comments about masks vaccines and COVID19 that YouTube removed the video for violating its policies against false claims about the virus. I hope no one is making any medical decisions based on what they hear at our public forums said County Councilwoman Lisa Clancy who supports mask wearing and said she believes most of her constituents do too. The video was restored but Clancys worries about the impact of that misinformation remain. https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-misinformation-fc03b8bc31c00190345f44fcc4371cd1 15th Aug 2021

Covid US: Vaccine card black market emerges as New York and other cities bring in mandates

Daily Mail Most are being sold on Telegram an encrypted site that is favored among people who dont trust typical Silicon Valley giants like Facebook and Twitter The blank cardboard cards are being sold for anything between 24 and 400 The Attorney Generals of multiple states wrote to Twitter Shopify and eBay asking them to crackdown A California father and son were arrested trying to vacation in Hawaii with fake cards A California bar owner who was selling them was also arrested earlier this year NYC will start requiring vaccine status in restaurants and gyms will start requiring them from August 16 New Orleans Los Angeles and San Francisco are also bringing them in Businesses will have a grace period before having to enforce them on September 13 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9891227/Rise-vaccine-card-black-market-New-York-cities-bring-mandates.html 14th Aug 2021

WHO questions Chinese denials over Covid-19's Patient Zero

Daily Mail Covid19s Patient Zero may have been working in a laboratory in Wuhan China China is coming under pressure to share data and open up its research centres The World Health Organisation fears the virus may have leaked by human error https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9894503/WHO-questions-Chinese-denials-Covid-19s-Patient-Zero.html 14th Aug 2021

'Pretty devastating': Sydney councillor delivers food in lockdown districts

Reuters China is coming under pressure to share data and open up its virus research centres in Wuhan to proper outside investigation amid growing credibility for the theory that a laboratory incident might have sparked the Covid pandemic. It follows an admission by the head of the World Health Organisation WHO origins study that Patient Zero may have been linked to research or sample collection by Wuhan scientists as suggested by the US State Department in January. Peter Ben Embarek a Danish food scientist led the WHO team that earlier this year collaborated with China to dismiss the possibility of a laboratory leak as extremely unlikely but now says there might have been human error. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pretty-devastating-sydney-councillor-delivers-food-lockdown-districts-2021-08-13/ 14th Aug 2021

Health minister wants S.Africa to stay at current lockdown level

Reuters South Africas health minister said on Friday he would not recommend a relaxation of COVID19 lockdown measures despite a downward trend in infections. He said the country of 60 million had fully vaccinated only around 4 million people as a wave of infections driven by the more infectious Delta variant strains overburdened hospitals and health workers. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/health-minister-wants-safrica-stay-current-lockdown-level-2021-08-13/ 14th Aug 2021

England's Covid R rate between 0.8 and 1 but infections remain high across UK

Mirror.co.uk An expert has warned of a fourth wave of Covid infections after the summer as people return indoors as the latest ONS figures show infections across the country rising https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/englands-covid-r-rate-between-24758429 14th Aug 2021

Americans With Weak Immune Systems Will Get 3 Covid Shots

Bloomberg Americans with weakened immune systems will be allowed to get three shots of Covid19 vaccine after U.S. regulators authorized giving an extra dose to the most vulnerable people. The U.S. Food and Drug Administrations action expands the use of vaccines from Moderna Inc. and the partnership of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE for organ transplant recipients and patients with other conditions like cancer that hobble the bodys natural infectionfighting response. The decision doesnt apply to other fully vaccinated individuals the agency said in a statement. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-13/u-s-clears-third-covid-shot-for-immunocompromised-patients 13th Aug 2021

India's Chronic Disease Burden Helped Fuel Covid's Brutal Waves

Bloomberg High levels of chronic disease in India such as diabetes and hypertension helped stoke the brutal coronavirus waves that hit worlds secondmost populous nation during the pandemic researchers said. The findings from one of the few largescale studies of Covid19 in India showed patients from the southern district of Madurai had a higher risk of dying than those in China Europe South Korea and the U.S. even though 63 of those tested were asymptomatic. Chronic health conditions in the community may have played a role according to the report published in The Lancet. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-13/india-s-chronic-disease-burden-helped-fuel-covid-s-brutal-waves 13th Aug 2021

New Covid variants ‘will set us back a year’, experts warn UK government

The Guardian Ministers are being pressed to reveal what contingency plans are in place to deal with a future Covid variant that evades current vaccines amid warnings from scientific advisers that such an outcome could set the battle against the pandemic back a year or more. Recent papers produced by the governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Sage have suggested that the arrival of a variant that evades vaccines is a realistic possibility. Sage backed continued work on new vaccines that reduce infection and transmission more than current jabs the creation of more vaccineproduction facilities in the UK and labbased studies to predict evolution of variants. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/new-covid-variants-will-set-us-back-a-year-experts-warn-uk-government 15th Aug 2021

CDC, FDA recommend 3rd COVID vaccine dose for immune-compromised

CIDRAP Moderately and severely immunocompromised adults should receive a third dose of a COVID19 mRNA vaccine the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ACIP advised today following the Food and Drug Administrations FDAs authorization of third shots. A third dose should be given at least 28 days after the initial vaccinations series is complete and the same vaccine should be used when possible according to the FDA. In addition the ACIP said that the additional dose would be given ideally 2 weeks before the start of immunosuppressive therapies. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/08/cdc-fda-recommend-3rd-covid-vaccine-dose-immune-compromised 13th Aug 2021

11% of early COVID-19 was acquired in-hospital, study says

CIDRAP More than 1 in 10 COVID19 patients from 314 UK hospitals acquired their infection from the hospital early in the pandemic according to a research letter in The Lancet. There are likely to be a number of reasons why many patients were infected in these care settings said study author Chris A. Green MBBS DPhil in a Lancaster University press release. These include the large numbers of patients admitted to hospitals with limited facilities for case isolation limited access to rapid and reliable diagnostic testing in the early stages of the outbreak the challenges around access to and best use of personal protective equipment our understanding of when patients are most infectious in their illness some misclassification of cases due to presentation with atypical symptoms and an underappreciation of the role of airborne transmission. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/08/11-early-covid-19-was-acquired-hospital-study-says 13th Aug 2021

As Children's COVID Cases Surge, There's Another Virus On The Rise

NPR Early versions of COVID19 largely spared children but the delta variant proved to be much less discriminating and has led to more child hospitalizations. Now health care workers on the front lines say there is another frightening prospect looming a surge in children diagnosed with a combination of COVID19 and respiratory syncytial virus. Pediatric hospitals in Texas and around the country are reporting unseasonably early outbreaks of RSV a respiratory virus that mostly manifests as a mild illness with coldlike symptoms in adults but that can cause pneumonia and bronchiolitis in very young children. The CDC reports it can be lifethreatening in infants and young adults. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/14/1027663917/rsv-covid-children 14th Aug 2021

Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine protects against Delta variant, study finds

CNN Modernas Covid19 vaccine protects people for at least six months and likely longer even against new variants researchers reported Thursday. Protection against the Delta variant now dominant across the US barely waned the National Institutes of Healthled team found. The team will continue to look for evidence of protection beyond six months. High levels of binding antibodies recognizing all tested variants including B.1.351 Beta and B.1.617.2 Delta were maintained in all subjects over this time period immunologist Nicole DoriaRose and colleagues at the NIHs National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases wrote in their report published in the journal Science. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/08/12/health/moderna-vaccine-protection/index.html 14th Aug 2021

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine found to be still effective after six months

Medical Xpress A team of researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health working with colleagues from Emory University School of Medicine Emmes Company Moderna Inc. and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute has found via testing that the Moderna vaccine is still effective against COVID19 six months after people are fully vaccinated. Their paper has been published in the journal Science. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-moderna-covid-vaccine-effective-months.html 13th Aug 2021

Thailand projects doubling of daily coronavirus infections next month

Reuters Thailand could see coronavirus cases double to 45000 per day by early next month even with current lockdown measures in place its COVID19 taskforce said on Friday as authorities urged people to stay home to reduce infection risks. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-reports-second-day-record-coronavirus-cases-2021-08-13/ 14th Aug 2021

Philippine medical workers under strain as COVID-19 cases jump

Reuters The Philippines reported on Friday its secondlargest daily increase in COVID19 infectionsproviding more evidence of how the virulent Delta variant may be spreading and ramping up pressure on the countrys already stretched healthcare system. Hundreds of hospitals in the country are nearing full capacity with some facilities reporting they have run out of intensive care unit beds for COVID19 patients leaving health care workers who are forced to work longer hours exhausted. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-extends-travel-ban-10-countries-over-delta-concerns-2021-08-13/ 14th Aug 2021

US coronavirus: 8 states account for half of US Covid-19 hospitalizations. And the surge is overwhelming health care workers

CNN on MSN.com As experts race to mitigate the spread of Covid19 by encouraging vaccinations and mask wearing hospital systems in a handful of states are now straining to keep up with the surge. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-coronavirus-8-states-account-for-half-of-us-covid-19-hospitalizations-and-the-surge-is-overwhelming-health-care-workers/ar-AANh4RD 14th Aug 2021

Covid-19 third wave projections revised down by Sage following last month’s fall in cases

iNews Scientists dramatically revised down their projections for the third wave of Covid19 hospital admissions for August after cases began to fall last month new papers have revealed. Modelling for the Governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies Sage shows a stark difference in how the third wave might pan out for this month in projections made just one week apart. While this shift is to be expected as the UK epidemic changes it underlines how scientists believe the outlook for the rest of the summer is brighter than they thought a month ago. https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid-19-third-wave-projections-revised-down-by-sage-following-last-months-fall-in-cases-1150521 14th Aug 2021

This is starting to look really ominous in the South,' expert says, as US is among nations with highest rate of new Covid-19 cases

CNN The US remains among nations with the highest rate of new Covid19 cases driven mostly by a surge in the South where many states are lagging in getting people vaccinated against the coronavirus. This is starting to look really ominous in the South. ... If you look at rates of transmission in Florida and Louisiana theyre actually probably the highest in the world Dr. Peter Hotez the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine told CNNs Anderson Cooper on Friday. Infection rates began to plummet in the US in the spring as vaccines became widely available while the sevenday moving average of daily confirmed cases climbed in other nations including India and Brazil according to data from Johns Hopkins University. https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/14/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html 14th Aug 2021

Moscow reports surge in deaths last month due to coronavirus

The Independent Deaths in Moscow increased 60 in July compared to the same month a year earlier health officials in Russias capital said as the country reported a new daily record for COVID19 fatalities. Moscows Health Department said Friday that 17 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/moscow-reports-surge-in-deaths-last-month-due-to-coronavirus-covid-russia-moscow-b1902338.html 14th Aug 2021

Vietnam's daily new COVID-19 cases hit another new high

Xinhua Vietnam reported a new high of 9716 new COVID19 cases on Saturday surpassing the previous record of 9690 cases on Aug. 8 according to the countrys Ministry of Health. The new infections including 9710 locally transmitted and six imported brought the total tally to 265464 with 5437 deaths the ministry said. Most of the community cases were detected in southern Vietnam including 4231 in the epicenter Ho Chi Minh City 2029 in the nearby Binh Duong province and 1023 in Dong Nai province. As many as 96985 COVID19 patients have so far recovered up 4247 from Friday while 13.7 million doses of COVID19 vaccines have been administered nationwide according to the ministry. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-08/14/c_1310127283.htm 14th Aug 2021

Florida Hospitals Are “Stacking Patients In Hallways” As The Delta Variant Surges

BuzzFeed News The calls came fast first with a cardiac arrest case next with multiple patients who were having trouble breathing and all were suspected to have COVID. Usually Stew Eubanks a paramedic in Sumter County Florida deals with lots of minor emergencies but now its mainly lifethreatening cases. After a nonstop 24 hours his Wednesday shift ended with another cardiac arrest. Its bad right now Eubanks 39 told BuzzFeed News. Were stacking patients in the hallways stacking patients in the waiting room. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/amberjamieson/florida-covid-delta-variant-surge 14th Aug 2021

Iran will impose 6-day 'general lockdown' over coronavirus

Associated Press Iran says it will impose a sixdaylong general lockdown in cities across the country after being hit by what it describes as its fifth wave of the COVID19 pandemic state media reported Saturday. The lockdown includes all bazaars markets and public offices as well as movie theaters gyms and restaurants in all Iranian cities. The lockdown will begin on Monday and will last through Saturday. The national coronavirus taskforce which issued the decision also ordered a travel ban between all Iranian cities from Sunday to Friday. https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-health-iran-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-fa3e6cfe671e5ee5cdbed9110fba4423 14th Aug 2021

‘Literally a war’: Australia state goes into COVID lockdown

Al Jazeera English Australias most populous state New South Wales NSW went into a snap lockdown on Saturday as COVID19 cases continue to surge. The order comes as locally transmitted infections jumped by 466 over the previous 24 hours in the countrys most populous state. To minimise movement and protect our communities from the evolving COVID situation in Sydney stayathome orders will be introduced for all of Regional NSW from 5pm tonight the states Deputy Premier John Barilaro wrote on social media. The lockdown began at 5pm 0700 GMT and will last for at least seven days according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/14/lockdown-fines-raised-as-australia-faces-worst-covid-situation 14th Aug 2021

To protect from lab leaks, we need ‘banal’ safety rules, not anti-terrorism measures

STAT News The escape of SARSCoV2 from a research laboratory in Wuhan China continues to circulate as a viable and popular explanation for the pandemics origin. But by accepting the lableak hypothesis leaders may mistakenly seek new policy solutions or focus on tenuous yet alluring proposals about biosecurity including hightech means of enforcing restricted access. We believe that such actions would be ineffective and costly diversions from the core issue of institutionalizing existing and effective biohazard protocols. What should be done Research institutions funders and principal investigators must prioritize and reward integrating standard biosafety measures into daily bench practices. Biosafety must become a core feature of good biological science incorporated into funding training publishing and promotion procedures. In short biosafety habits need to be taken seriously. https://www.statnews.com/2021/08/13/banal-lab-safety-rules-keep-us-safe/ 13th Aug 2021

U.S. chimp sanctuary is poised to give its primates a COVID-19 vaccine—will others follow its lead?

Science Magazine As the COVID19 vaccine rollout has continued in the United States a parallel vaccination effort has taken place in some U.S. zoos to protect their animals particularly great apes. Now a chimpanzee sanctuary in Georgia is ready to do the same saying it intends to soon give an experimental COVID19 vaccine to its primates who are likely also vulnerable to the pandemic coronavirus. Having consulted with our vet and several other zoo individuals were confident that its the right decision for us says Ali Crumpacker executive director of the Project Chimps sanctuary. Additional U.S. chimp sanctuaries tell Science they are discussing whether to vaccinate their animals and will watch others efforts closely. But some say they dont see a pressing need to do so given other precautions they have taken. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/08/us-chimp-sanctuary-poised-give-its-primates-covid-19-vaccine-will-others-follow-its 13th Aug 2021