COVID-19 News and Discussions

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CDC Director Weighs In On Wearing Masks Amid Delta Variant Spread
Source: abc10/AP

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the CDC is leaving it up to local officials to set guidelines for mask-wearing as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus surges in areas with low vaccination rates.

Walensky said Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show that "we've always said that local policymakers need to make policies for their local environment," but added CDC guidelines broadly indicate those who are vaccinated don't need to wear masks. Health officials in Los Angeles County are recommending people wear masks indoors in public places regardless of their vaccination status.

Separately, the World Health Organization has reiterated its longstanding recommendation that everyone wear masks to lessen the spread of the coronavirus. Walensky told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday the "context in which the WHO is making recommendations is very different than us here in the United States" since less than 15% of the world is vaccinated.

As for the recommendation by officials in Los Angeles County, Walensky said "we are still seeing an uptick in cases in areas of low vaccination and in that situation, we are suggesting that policies be made at the local level."... Video

Read more: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/nati ... fb1c9abc8e

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Kim Jong-un: North Korea sees 'grave incident' after Covid lapses
Source: BBC


Published 6 hours ago

Kim Jong-un has berated top officials over lapses which caused a "grave incident" related to Covid-19, North Korean state media report.

It was a rare sign of the pandemic's severity in North Korea, which previously insisted it had no Covid cases - a claim doubted by experts.

The country has closed its borders to keep out the virus.

But coupled with international sanctions, this has led to food shortages and a worsening economy.

Mr Kim previously admitted there was a "tense" food situation and told citizens to prepare for the "worst-ever" outcome, invoking comparisons to the country's deadly 1990s famine.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57661653

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New Covid Wave Could Be Imminent As Delta Variant Sweeps Europe, WHO Says
Source: CNBC

A new wave of coronavirus cases could soon arrive in Europe, the World Health Organization warned Thursday, highlighting that a decline in the number of infections in the region has now come to an end.

“A 10-week decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in the 53 countries in the WHO European region has come to an end,” Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, warned in a press briefing. "Last week the number of cases rose by 10% driven by increased mixing, travel, gatherings and an easing of social restrictions," he said.

The rise in cases comes against a backdrop of a "rapidly evolving situation," Kluge said, given the new delta strain, which was dubbed a variant of concern by the WHO in May. Millions remain unvaccinated in Europe, Kluge warned, with protections against the delta variant provided, for the most part, by having two doses of the Covid vaccines on offer.

Kluge reiterated what the data has already shown, that the delta variant is far more transmissible than the alpha variant (which itself was more transmissible than previous strains). "By August, the WHO European Region will be 'delta dominant,'" he noted, adding that 63% of people are still waiting for their first shot, while restrictions on public life are likely to be lifted next month...

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/01/new-cov ... -says.html

[caltrek]

Japan Facing Vaccine Supply Crunch Already

by Tomohiro Osaki
July 1, 2021

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/ ... ly-crunch/

Introduction:

(Japan Times) For months now, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been working hard to accelerate Japan’s vaccine rollout, piling pressure on municipalities to administer as many shots as possible.

That strategy has worked — perhaps almost too well. Demand for vaccine doses is now outpacing supply in some municipalities, calling their rollout schedules into question and prompting the central government to warn that they may now need to slow down instead.

Surging demand for vaccinations at companies and universities is also at the heart of an ongoing supply crunch. Despite its much-hyped launch, the government was forced to stop accepting new applications for the workplace vaccination program last week — just days after it formally kicked off — amid an avalanche of requests from firms and universities that threatened to outpace its daily capacity to distribute Moderna Inc. doses.

On Wednesday, Suga announced that the suspension of new applications under that vaccination framework would continue for now, citing stronger-than-expected demand.

After a frustratingly slow start, Japan’s vaccine rollout has made progress in leaps and bounds over the past few weeks, thanks in part to a raft of initiatives and incentives unleashed by the Suga administration.

[Time_Traveller]

COVID-19: UK seeing 'COVID Mexican wave' as virus spreads from west to east, says expert

Friday 2 July 2021

The UK is seeing its "own form of a COVID Mexican wave" as infections move from the west of the country to the east, a leading symptoms researcher has said.

Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the ZOE COVID symptom study, said areas in the west which have been worst affected are now seeing lower rates, suggesting they have reached the peak of infections.

However, London, the South East, East Anglia and eastern parts of the country are seeing cases increase, according to data from his study.

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-uk- ... t-12346989

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Vaccines ‘outpaced by variants’, WHO warns, as Delta now in 98 countries

Proposals to extend Covid jabs to children in west would delay worldwide rollout, say experts, and allow deadly variants to develop elsewhere

Sat 3 Jul 2021 18.10 BST

Rich nations are sharing vaccines with low-income countries too slowly to prevent the spread of the Delta variant of Covid, risking millions of lives, the head of the World Health Organization has warned.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, said the sharing of vaccines was “only a trickle, which is being outpaced by variants”, after it emerged that the Delta variant is now present in at least 98 countries.

His warning came as Dame Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford professor who led the team behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, called for caution over proposals to vaccinate children in the UK. “We have to balance what we think about vaccinating children in high-income countries with vaccinating the rest of the world because we need to stop transmission of this virus globally,” she told the Observer.

“We’re not completely out of the woods. And that’s why I’m very worried about getting vaccines around the rest of the world because we need to stop the virus being transmitted and continuing to evolve. That could give us a new variant that is going to be really difficult to deal with.”

Ghebreyesus said world leaders must ensure that at least 10% of people in all countries should be vaccinated by the end of September, so that vulnerable people and health workers were protected.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... -countries

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Even mild COVID in young people often leads to long-term symptoms, study finds

Beth Mole - 6/25/2021, 11:02 PM

Even mild cases of COVID-19 in young people often lead to lingering symptoms and health complications that drag on for six months or longer, according to a small Norwegian study published this week in Nature Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Bergen carefully followed 312 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 for at least six months. Of those, 247 had mild to moderate illnesses and isolated at home, never becoming sick enough to be admitted to a hospital. Six months after testing positive, 136 of the 247 (55 percent) still had lingering symptoms. And those 136 weren’t only in the older age groups. In fact, in all the age groups between 16 and over 60 years old, between 50 percent and 60 percent of COVID patients reported persistent symptoms.

For instance, of those between 16 and 30 years old, 52 percent (32 of 61) still suffered COVID-19 symptoms after six months. The most common symptoms were disturbed taste and/or smell, fatigue, difficulty breathing, difficulty concentrating, and memory problems.

The study is small, and the exact percentages may not hold up in larger studies. However, it adds to a growing body of data finding that long-term symptoms from COVID-19 are common—even in young people and/or people who had mild or even asymptomatic disease.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/06 ... udy-finds/

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