Virus

BREAKING: U.S. reports more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases, biggest one-day increase since February

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) July 31, 2021

NEW: Number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 tops 48,000, highest since February

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) August 1, 2021

Rolling 7-day average of daily coronavirus cases in the U.S.:

4 weeks ago: 14,175
3 weeks ago: 17,901
2 weeks ago: 30,566
1 week ago: 48,767
Today: 76,002

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) July 31, 2021

Florida reported a record number of COVID cases & 30% of all cases nationally.

So DeSantis decided to pick today to overrule local school boards & outlaw mask mandates in schools.

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) August 1, 2021

Del Cap wrote:The one thousand COVID-19 test kits donated by Serbia to Kosovo in April last year will soon be destroyed, Kosovo Health Minister, Arben Vitia, said at today’s session of the Kosovo Assembly on 100th day of the Albin Kurti-led government.

“The test kits will be treated like all expired drugs. They will be destroyed as soon as possible,“ the Health Minister said in response to a question from PDK MP Bekim Haxhiu on what happened to the thousand test kits that were donated by Serbia.

This MP said that, by doing so, Serbia presented itself as a humane state, adding that at the same time Kosovo would „pay for their destruction“.

Vitia underlined that, like other laboratory materials, these test kits were stored away, according to the data of the Kosovo Institute of Public Health.
...

https://kossev.info/vitia-1000-pcr-tests-from-serbia-to-be-destroyed-as-soon-as-possible/

Delta breakthrough infections likely contagious 

  Among people infected by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, fully vaccinated people with "breakthrough" infections may be just as likely as unvaccinated people to spread the virus to others, new research suggests. The higher the amount of coronavirus in the nose and throat, the more likely the patient will infect others. In one Wisconsin county, after Delta became predominant, researchers analyzed viral loads on nose-and-throat swab samples obtained when patients were first diagnosed. They found similar viral loads in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, with levels often high enough to allow shedding of infectious virus. "A key assumption" underlying current regulations aimed at slowing COVID-19 transmission "is that those who are vaccinated are at very low risk of spreading the virus to others," said study coauthor Katarina Grande of Public Health Madison & Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin. The findings, however, indicate "that vaccinated people should take steps to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus to others," she added. In a separate study from Singapore, researchers found that while Delta viral loads were similar in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients, the viral loads decreased faster in the vaccinated group. The Wisconsin https://bit.ly/2TRHvnu and Singapore https://bit.ly/3yk70MZ studies were both posted on Saturday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. 

JUST IN: China suspends flights and trains, and announces citywide testing of Wuhan's 11,000,000 residents as widening outbreaks of the delta variant reached the city where Covid-19 was first detected in late 2019. https://t.co/zLPOVml2tI

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 3, 2021

Heather #Vaccinated Haq, MD, MHS, FAAP
31 Jul, 22 tweets, 7 min read

We are officially back to getting crushed by #COVID, and for #pediatricians this wave feels *worse* in many ways. And as a pediatric hospitalist who has been a front-line COVID doctor for the entire pandemic, I’m going to share what I’ve seen the last 8 days on service. 1/ 
After many months of zero or few pediatric COVID cases, we are seeing infants, children, and teens with COVID pouring back into the hospital, more and more each day. These patients ranged in age from 2 weeks old to 17 years. 
COVID admissions in our medical center are up 500% and currently 80% of cases in our hospital are due to the highly contagious Delta variant. I worry that the Delta variant, in addition to being more contagious, *may* also be more virulent in children. 
This time around I’m seeing more COVID pneumonia in younger children (previously was seeing COVID pneumonia mainly in tweens and up), now seeing in neonates to preschoolers. 
So we are on the front end of a huge COVID surge. But the difference this time compared to previous surges is we are simultaneously dealing with an unheard of summertime #RSV surge—creating a “surge upon surge” situation. 
This year the virus made a resurgence in the summertime, when children’s hospitals have lighter staffing. We are now having winter-level patient volumes of acutely ill infants/toddlers with RSV and I worry that we will run out of beds and staff to handle the surge upon surge. 
To help handle the predicted sustained increased patient volume and high acuity of cases, my pediatric colleagues and I are all being called to work mandatory overtime shifts in the coming months. 
Some children admitted this time have co-infection with COVID plus other viruses such as RSV which could definitely make them sicker, we didn’t see much COVID/RSV co-infection during prior waves and we worry what this combination of viruses could look like. 
We know from prior waves that MIS-C typically lags behind the acute COVID cases by a few weeks. Children who have mild/asymptomatic COVID absolutely can and do go on to later develop MIS-C. When the #MISC cases start coming they will add to the high volume/high acuity situation. 
We continue to see sustained high volume of pediatric mental health crisis admissions, further contributing to the high patient volumes as psychiatric hospitals that accept children remain full. 
All pediatric COVID patients I cared for this week were unvaccinated, some because they are not yet eligible due to age and some were eligible to receive it but had not been vaccinated yet. All family members >12 should vaccinate to protect younger family members. 
I worry as kids go back to school with the Delta circulating, we will see huge school outbreaks that we didn’t see in prior waves, disproportionately affecting kids <12 since they’re not vaccine-eligible yet. We’ve already seen big camp and daycare outbreaks all summer with delta 
I’ve cared for hospitalized pediatric patients with COVID throughout the pandemic, but this time with unvaccinated, susceptible children plus Delta variant, we will see more pediatric COVID admissions, and possibly sicker/younger COVID cases (as adult colleagues are reporting.) 
Our children’s hospitals will be busier than prior waves with less beds and staff to care for more patients and sicker patients. What are my other #tweetiatrician and #PedsHM colleagues seeing across the country? /end 
Reading more accounts from pediatricians, many sharing they are seeing respiratory complications in younger and younger children, including neonates.

Newborn babies are getting #COVID19.

Let me say that again: Newborn. Babies.

If that won’t make people get #vaccinated I don’t know what will.

Please #WearAMask and #GetVaccinated. I am begging from the deepest parts of my soul. #medtwitter #Covid_19 #PedsICU #neotwitter

— John Daniel, MD, MS (@JohnDanielMD) July 28, 2021

What can you do to protect your children?
⁃Vaccinate. Everyone in household over 12 should be vaccinated to help protect those family members not yet old enough to be vaccinated. 
⁃Mask up. Yes, even those of us who are fully vaccinated. We know (unfortunately) that vaccinated people can get and pass on COVID even if they are personally protected against severe disease. 
⁃Follow public health guidance including updated @CDCgov guidance and @AmerAcadPeds guidance for schools. Even if it feels like we are going backwards—it is necessary to adapt to this new stronger, more contagious variant. 
⁃Don’t visit newborns at this time unless necessary. I saw many infants <2 months old in hospital this week, requiring high flow oxygen/respiratory support for both RSV and/or COVID. Both viruses are circulating way too high right now, so please postpone visits to tiny babies. 
⁃If you are symptomatic, get tested. Even if you’re vaccinated, please test so you can help prevent onward transmission. /end 

We lost an 8 month old at the hospital where I work today

— Allison A Herring (@A1lison) July 28, 2021

Allison A Herring
Baltimore, MD

Allison Herring
Cardiothoracic Radiology Fellow at University of Maryland Medical Center
Baltimore, Maryland, United States

rumbeando wrote:

JUST IN: China suspends flights and trains, and announces citywide testing of Wuhan's 11,000,000 residents as widening outbreaks of the delta variant reached the city where Covid-19 was first detected in late 2019. https://t.co/zLPOVml2tI

— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 3, 2021

Tekući sidnejski talas je (od nule) počeo polovinom juna kada je jedan vozač koji prevozi strane avionske posade sa aerodroma do hotela zakačio virus, i od tada se u dva navrata desilo da se na jednom okupljanju zaraze skoro svi prisutni koji nisu bili vakcinisani (jedan rođendan i jedan skup ožalošćene porodice, oba puta se zarazilo oko pedeset ljudi), što govori koliko je prenosivost velika.

In a dramatic shift from last month, more Americans now say the coronavirus situation in the U.S. is getting worse (45%) rather than better (40%). In June, a record 89% said the situation was getting better, while only 3% said it was getting worse.

The current survey marks the first time since January that more U.S. adults have been pessimistic than optimistic about the COVID-19 situation.

The first two confirmed cases of the Delta Plus variant in the country [South Korea] were identified as breakthrough infections with both patients having received the AstraZeneca vaccine before contracting COVID-19.
...
The first case is a man in his 40s who has no overseas travel history. His son, who lives with him, has also tested positive for COVID-19 though it’s not yet known if he too has the subvariant. The second case came from overseas, however the person was fully vaccinated before traveling to the U.S.