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☆ Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 maturing - state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas PeterBEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 as a serious contagious disease improving as the coronavirus weakens, state media outlet Yicai reported, among the first to float the idea. Category A diseases in China include bubonic plague and cholera, while SARS, AIDS and anthrax fall under Category B. Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 that have strong pathogenicity, a high fatality rate and strong infectivity are classified as Class A or Class B but managed as Class A. COVID-19 could be downgraded to Category B management or even Category C, the expert told Yicai. Any adjustment to the management of infectious diseases by the National Health Commission, China's top health authority, requires the approval of the State Council, or cabinet.

But agency veterans, outside public health officials, and workplace organization experts said the current workplace structure could be a major barrier to that goal. As of early 2020, much of the workforce of the FDA and the National Institutes of Health was working remotely. Today, the NIH is mostly back in the office, but the FDA said many of its employees continue to work remotely when possible. Many people have fled the U.S. public health workforce in recent years, burned out from the covid-19 response. Benjamin said the CDC would likely have made its pandemic stumbles even if staffers hadn’t been working remotely.

☆ Flu brought nearly twice as many people to the hospital last week as the week before, updated CDC data show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

There have been nearly 17 flu hospitalizations for every 100,000 people, rates typically seen in December or January. The cumulative hospitalization rate hasn’t been this high at this point in the season in more than a decade. Less than two months in, the RSV hospitalization rate this season is already nearing the total RSV hospitalization rate from the entire 2018-19 season. With the holiday season – and flu season – underway, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned this week of the potential for an emergency situation. “When you have very little wiggle room of intensive care beds, when you have like almost all the intensive care beds that are occupied, it’s bad for the children who have RSV and need intensive care.

☆ Fauci says China has done a bad job of vaccinating the elderly and their shots are not very effective against Covid
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the U.S., criticized China's Covid lockdowns as "draconian" and said the Beijing government should focus on vaccinating the elderly. Fauci said lockdowns are only justifiable as a temporary measure to serve a larger public health goal that will make society safer when it reopens. But China's strict Covid controls don't seem to have any endgame, he said. Rare protests broke out across China over the weekend against Covid lockdowns and strict quarantine procedures. "The efficacy of the China-made vaccines are not at the level of the vaccines that have been used in the United States, particularly the mRNA vaccines of Moderna and Pfizer," Fauci said.

☆ RSV, flu and colds: How to tell when your child is too sick for school
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Almost all children catch RSV at some point before they turn 2, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Here’s how to assess when to keep your child home from school and when to visit the pediatrician, according to experts. Ideally, public health professionals would like it if no child showing symptoms were sent to school or day care, where they could potentially spread infections Schaffner said. Again, here is where schools may have different policies and it becomes important to check with written information, a school administrator or school nurse, Wen said. “Parents should know that treating RSV and other respiratory infections is the bread and butter of pediatricians and emergency physicians,” Wen said.

☆ Fauci called China's 'zero-COVID' policy 'draconian' and says lockdowns 'should always be a temporary phenomenon'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that China's approach has been "rather draconian." On CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Fauci said lockdowns should be temporary. "Their approach has been very, very severe and rather draconian in the kinds of shutdowns without a seeming purpose," Fauci said in an interview on Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd. On CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper," Fauci reiterated on Monday that China needs to communicate a clear reason to the population for having lockdowns. Part of China's so-called "zero-COVID" strategy is to completely eradicate infection cases in areas where even a small number of coronavirus cases are found by implementing stringent lockdowns.

So far this season, an estimated 6.2 million flu illnesses have been logged, according to the latest CDC data. Of the samples reported to the CDC this season, about 76% are the H3N2 strain of influenza A. With the early start to the flu season this year, many people were infected before they had a chance to get vaccinated, making it easier for the virus to spread. “It’s a pretty safe bet that flu activity is going to continue on for several more weeks or months,” said Brammer. “Then the floodgates opened.”Now, 30% to 40% of Rice’s patients in need of the most intensive care have the flu.

☆ Flu season continues to intensify in the US, and holiday gatherings could make it worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

And the CDC estimates that there have been at least 6.2 million illnesses, 53,000 hospitalizations and 2,900 deaths from influenza this season. Less than two months in, the RSV hospitalization rate this season is already nearing the total RSV hospitalization rate from the entire 2018-19 season. The latest surveillance data does not capture Thanksgiving week or the effects of holiday gatherings. Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths reached record high levels during last year’s holiday season – and this holiday season could also bring a rise in spread. Flu shots are lagging, too, with millions fewer vaccinations at this point in the season than in the past two years.

☆ The U.S. is 'certainly' still in a Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Fauci says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical advisor, speaks during a briefing on COVID-19 at the White House on November 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said the U.S. is "certainly" still in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic and he is "very troubled" by the divisive state of American politics. "I don't care if you're a far-right Republican or a far-left Democrat, everybody deserves to have the safety of good public health and that's not happening." The 81-year-old became a household name during the Covid-19 pandemic, battling back against misinformation — sometimes from the highest levels of government. White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Sunday he knows it has been a long two years for Americans, but that it is still "incredibly important" to get vaccinated ahead of the holiday season.

☆ Fact Check-Graph of unverified data is not evidence of increased miscarriage risk with COVID vaccination
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The graph image has been circulated with remarks including, “THIS IS INSANE…4070% increase in VAERS miscarriage reports from 2019 to 2021. In contrast, VAERS shows 38 miscarriage reports in 2019 with 15 reported stillbirths, for a total of 53. VAERS data is unverified, and reporting rates are known to fluctuate, influenced by a variety of factors, including media attention to a particular illness or a new vaccine. Multiple studies around the world have found no increased risk of miscarriage or stillbirths associated with COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Reuters has previously fact-checked claims that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with greater risk of pregnancy loss (here), (here), (here), (here), (here).

☆ In final White House briefing, Fauci urges Americans to get updated Covid booster
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Lauren-Egan-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Lauren Egan | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared Tuesday at his final White House press briefing, as he prepares to leave government next month following a half-century on the front lines of the world's gravest public health crises. “The idea that this may be very likely the last time I’m in that press briefing room is kind of sad. Things can’t go on forever," Fauci said in an interview earlier in the day with NBC News. Before he announced his plans to leave government, Fauci said he would not serve under another Trump administration. "What I would like to do is encourage and perhaps inspire younger people to get involved in science, medicine and public health," Fauci said.

☆ Fauci says he 'will cooperate fully' with GOP oversight hearings even though he's leaving the government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci said he's ready to testify before US lawmakers under the new Congress. "I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress if asked," Fauci told reporters during the White House press briefing. In the months leading up to the election, Republicans vowed to hold congressional oversight hearings with Fauci even after he leaves government. During Tuesday's press briefing, reporter Diana Glebova of conservative news outlet the Daily Caller tried to ask Fauci what he did to investigate the origins of COVID-19. Fauci left the briefing after taking questions from reporters for roughly 30 minutes.

☆ Dr. Anthony Fauci to give likely final Covid briefing as top White House health official
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci addresses the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, January 21, 2021. Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday will give what is expected to be his last public briefing on the Covid-19 pandemic as the White House chief medical advisor. He will give an update alongside Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force. They are expected to encourage people to get their Covid boosters and flu shots as soon as possible. Public health officials have repeatedly warned that the U.S. will likely face another wave of Covid this winter as people travel and gather for the holidays.

☆ Updated boosters add limited protection against Covid-19 illness, first real-world study shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The new study found that the updated boosters work about like the original boosters. Compared with people who were unvaccinated, adults 18 to 49 who had gotten bivalent boosters were 43% less likely to get sick with a Covid-19 infection. The relative vaccine effectiveness showed the added protection people might expect on top of whatever protection they had left after previous vaccine doses. So overall, the updated boosters got them to around 50% effectiveness against symptomatic infection. According to CDC data, roughly two-thirds of Americans have completed at least their primary series of Covid-19 vaccines.

☆ Anthony Fauci says he will cooperate fully with possible House Republican investigation into Covid origins
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus during the White House press briefing on Tuesday, November 22, 2022. White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that he will fully cooperate with House Republicans if they launch an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic. GOP lawmakers vowed in August to open such a probe and call on Fauci to testify if they won a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. "If there are oversight hearings I absolutely will cooperate fully and testify before the Congress" Fauci told reporters Tuesday during a briefing at the White House. Fauci has maintained that it is much more likely that the virus spilled from animals into people.

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. health official celebrated and vilified as the face of the country's COVID-19 pandemic response, used his final White House briefing on Tuesday to denounce division and promote vaccines. True to form, Fauci used his final press briefing to strongly encourage Americans to get COVID vaccines and booster shots, and touted the effectiveness of masks, all of which became partisan totems in the United States. NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci joins White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. November 22, 2022. He made his first appearance at the White House press briefing in 2001, according to the broadcaster C-SPAN. Democrats accused Trump of presiding over a disjointed response to the pandemic and of disregarding advice from public health experts including Fauci.

☆ Fauci says he never imagined Covid would kill a million Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday reflected on the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic in what was likely his last public briefing as the nation's top infectious disease expert. Nearly three years after Covid-19 first arrived on America's shores, Fauci said he never imagined the pandemic would last so long and take so many lives. "I did not imagine and I don't think any of my colleagues imagined that we would see a three-year saga of suffering and death and a million Americans losing their lives," Fauci, 81, told reporters during a Covid update at the White House. Fauci is stepping down in December as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases after nearly 40 years at the helm, and as White House chief medical advisor. He said the most disturbing feature of Covid was the evolution of multiple variants over time.

☆ What Covid taught scientists and the public about the flu
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Caroline Hopkins | Nbc News Contributor Caroline Hopkins Is A Health | Science Journalist Who Covers Cancer Treatment For Precision Oncology News. She Is A Graduate Of The Columbia University Graduate School Of Journalism. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

Flu transmission can be stoppedThe 2020-2021 flu season — the first full flu season of the Covid pandemic — defied Tedros’ message. ‘Nonpharmaceutical interventions’ workBefore Covid, experts put limited stock in so-called nonpharmaceutical — that is, nonvaccination — strategies for preventing flu transmission. Although the airline case study taught the research community about airborne flu transmission, she said the general public’s appreciation for these risks has increased because of Covid. In that study, the researchers compared mild Covid infections with mild flu infections in mice and humans and found that the brain effects were similar around seven days post-infection. Asymptomatic flu infections may be underappreciatedThe Covid pandemic put a spotlight on the extent and risk of asymptomatic infections.

“Embryo adoption is not a legal ‘adoption’ at all, at least in the sense of a traditional adoption which occurs after birth,” the National Embryo Donation Center says. Risks of multiplesSoutheastern Fertility, which partners with National Embryo Donation Center, thawed the embryos February 28. There’s about an 80% survival rate when thawing frozen embryos, experts say. I have to have them all.”Philip and Rachel Ridgeway had twins born from embryos that were frozen for about 30 years. Studies have found that 25% to 40% of frozen embryo transfers result in a live birth.

☆ Gabby Giffords still struggles to find words, but she hasn’t lost her voice
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Dr. Tara Narula | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Watch “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” at 9 p.m. ET/PT November 20 on CNN. One of those voices that has spoken up in her own unique way is Gabby Giffords. Video Ad Feedback Obama shares what he's learned from Gabby Giffords 00:58 - Source: CNNI met Gabby before the debut of the CNN documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down,” a detailed portrayal of the inner fire that helped her heal and pushes her to help others do the same. Gabby told me she feels optimistic, but she knows that she has a long road ahead. Gabby told them “rocking chairs”: a phrase to mean a long time from now, when they’re sitting on the porch in old, worn rocking chairs.

☆ Children’s health leaders call for emergency response as respiratory viruses continue to spread across the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Deidre Mcphillips | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

And health care systems nationwide continue to feel the strain of a respiratory virus season that has hit earlier and harder than usual. There have been about 8 flu hospitalizations for every 100,000 people this season – rates typically seen in December or January. While the Covid-19 emergency declaration remains in place, the federal government has not made a formal emergency declaration around children’s health care. HHS and the CDC are in regular contact with health care leaders and providers, actively monitoring situational needs and ready to provide assistance on a case-by-case basis, an HHS spokesperson told CNN. They also urge all those eligible to get their flu and Covid-19 vaccines, along with other routine vaccinations.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday sidestepped calls from pediatric groups who have been urging the government to declare a public health emergency in response to the surge in respiratory illnesses in children. As of Wednesday, 78% of pediatric hospital beds were full nationwide, with seven states reporting capacity levels above 90%, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Biden has encouraged people to get the flu shot and the updated Covid booster. “We’re already seeing a rise in the flu and RSV and other respiratory illnesses, especially among young children,” Biden said last month at the White House. We’ve made these updated vaccines easy to get and available for free at tens of thousands of convenient locations.”The Covid public health emergency, which has been extended several times since the pandemic first hit, is set to expire in January.

WASHINGTON — House Republicans' majority will be smaller than expected, but they're eager to use their new oversight powers and pass a spate of bills to draw contrasts with Democrats and give the Biden administration heartburn. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined by Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., left, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in Washington on July 21, 2021. A growing number of Republicans say they have their sights set on impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, bashing his handling of the border surge. LegislationDemocrats still occupy the White House, so any legislation Republicans pass on a partisan basis won’t be signed into law by Biden. But House Republicans say they will waste no time showing the parties’ stark differences as they battle for control of the White House in 2024.

☆ As measles outbreak sickens children in Ohio, local health officials seek help from CDC
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio, has sickened dozens of unvaccinated children and hospitalized nine of them, and local public health officials are seeking assistance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One child is 6 years old.”Health officials with Columbus Public Health and Franklin County Public Health have been investigating these cases and tracing any contacts who may have been exposed to the measles virus. In the 1950s, researchers isolated the measles virus in a patient’s blood, and in the 1960s, they were able to transform that virus into a vaccine. As of October 28, a total of 33 measles cases have been reported this year in five jurisdictions across the United States, according to the CDC. “So the possibility that someone carrying measles virus coming into the country could spread into an unvaccinated population is always there.”

☆ As Ebola outbreak grows in Uganda, US ramps up preparedness plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“All primary and secondary schools in Uganda are directed to close by November 25th, 2022 for third term holidays as a measure to contain Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country,” Museveni said in a statement. Major US cities get Ebola plans in placeThe CDC estimates that 20% of travelers from Uganda will arrive without a cell phone or US-based phone number. “CDPH continues to work with our hospitals to screen patients for travel history and be alert for symptoms of Ebola virus disease or, more likely, malaria or circulating respiratory viruses. ‘We need to be prepared’The Ebola virus is transmissible – but not as transmissible as some other infectious diseases, like Covid-19. “If we do see any cases in the United States, the hope is that they will be identified quickly before there is further spread,” Barouch said.

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