DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Kevin McCarthy's oversight agenda will be 'a recurring skit on SNL' if he makes MAGA cheerleaders Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert investigators: GOP strategists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert want in on the GOP oversight blitz. the Oversight Committee member said of the need to keep congressional probes above board. McCarthy's office has repeatedly told Insider that the House GOP steering committee, which McCarthy leads, will handle assignments for the next Congress "at the appropriate time." Aaron Cutler, a former House GOP leadership aide and now partner at Hogan Lovells, urged House Republicans to avoid "focusing on the wrong things," and to cut bait if needed. Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty ImagesGiven that some sort of spectacle is probably unavoidable at this point, Roe urged House Republicans to tread carefully.

☆ Face masks come back to forefront amid triple threat of Covid-19, flu, RSV
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Local officials mulling over masksThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers specific guidance on when masking is recommended based on its Covid-19 community levels. The agency says that people may choose to wear masks at any time but that a “high-quality mask or respirator” is recommended for everyone when a county has a “high” Covid-19 community level. As of Thursday, about 5.66% of US counties have high community levels, including some places in Arizona, Wyoming, Oregon and the Dakotas. Even without a mandate, she emphasized community efforts like wearing masks inside when possible and getting Covid-19 vaccines or boosters. “We do know that 5% of the population is living in places with a high Covid-19 community level.

☆ As Covid cases rise, it's yes to masks, no to mandates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The current rise in Covid-19 cases is one leg of a triple threat – a “tridemic,” a “tripledemic” or a “trifecta,” as some news organizations are calling it – along with a bad flu season and an RSV outbreak hitting mainly children. People at higher risk of getting sick should wear masks when there is medium spread, such as in Los Angeles County. “You can count masking, vaccines, boosting, testing – all of that is part of the spectrum of protecting yourself and your family,” Fauci said. But if Covid-19 cases were to increase, a little less than two-thirds of Americans, 65%, said they would wear a mask. This will be the conundrum for public health officials if Covid-19 cases continue along with this “tripledemic” – how to get people to wear masks without trying to make them do it.

☆ Fauci criticizes 'extreme' ideological divide that has led to disproportionate Covid deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Anthony Fauci, the federal government's top infectious disease expert and a chief proponent of Covid vaccines, sharply criticized the "extreme" ideological divide that he said has led to a disproportionate amount of coronavirus deaths among Republicans compared to Democrats. In an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt scheduled to air Wednesday night, Fauci said he thought political viewpoints had a measurable effect on the number of people who could have been saved by the coronavirus vaccine. It’s part of our democracy, part of what makes our country great. But when they get so extreme that it prevents you from doing something that’s life saving, that is really awful," he said. Watch the full interview on “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT.Several studies have found that Covid deaths are unevenly distributed among Republicans and Democrats.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ Fauci shares lessons from pandemic, criticism of China’s zero-Covid policy ahead of his departure from government
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katherine Dillinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Covid-19 pandemic has carried a key lesson for public health officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday: When talking to Americans, be clear that science is often a moving target. “Hopefully, we could have been more on top of appreciating the dynamic nature of how things change, thinking that it wasn’t aerosol spread in the beginning, and then you find out it is aerosol spread. Experts agree that the virus almost certainly jumped into humans from an animal market in China but that they may never know for sure. “It’s possible that there was a lab leak,” Fauci said. Fauci criticized China’s controversial zero-Covid policy, saying shutdowns “should always be a temporary phenomenon, not a long-range strategy,” and should be done with an end point in mind, such as buying time to secure PPE or provide vaccinations.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

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.

☆ U.S. CDC director experiences COVID rebound after taking Pfizer's Paxlovid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 31 (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, experienced a COVID-19 rebound after completing a course of Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) COVID-19 pill, the agency said on Monday. Walensky had experienced mild COVID-19 symptoms less than ten days ago. After completing a course of Pfizer's Paxlovid, and a period of isolation, she had tested negative for the virus, but on Sunday, she tested positive again, CDC added. Some people who took the antiviral drug have suffered from a relapse or a rebound that occurred days after the five-day treatment course had ended, studies have shown. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Pfizer to test the effects of an additional course of its antiviral Paxlovid among people who had experienced a rebound in COVID-19 after treatment.

☆ Top U.S. official urges caution with RSV, vaccine in development
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. officials are working on a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, but until one is available people should exercise caution, especially seniors and parents of young children, the nation's top infectious disease official said. A vaccine for the infectious respiratory disease will hopefully come within the next year or two, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci told MSNBC in an interview. RSV is not a new virus but it is a leading cause of pneumonia in toddlers and the elderly and can lead to hospitalization or death. While there is a higher concentration of RSV impacting U.S. children at the moment, it can also be a serious disease for older adults, he added. "If you're an elderly person, you are vulnerable to the serious consequences of RSV," Fauci told MSNBC.

☆ Quick and stealthy new Covid-19 variants are poised to drive a winter surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —A flurry of new Covid-19 variants appears to be gaining traction globally, raising fears of a winter surge. As the US moves into the fall, Covid-19 cases are dropping. But virus experts fear that the downward trend may soon reverse itself, thanks to this gaggle of new variants. Lumped together, the variants accounted for almost 1 in 3 new Covid-19 infections nationwide last week, according to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The updated bivalent booster vaccines and antiviral drugs like Paxlovid are expected to continue to be protective against severe outcomes from Covid-19 infections caused by the new variants.

As an outbreak of Ebola spreads in Uganda, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remain confident that the virus can be contained. The people most at risk, therefore, are household contacts and health care workers treating Ebola patients. In 2019, a vaccine was approved for the Ebola virus that caused the 2014 outbreak. The current Ebola outbreak, however, is caused by a different species of the virus, and no vaccines or direct treatments are available. The Ebola virus causes hemorrhagic fever, leading to problems with how the body clots blood.

☆ Covid-19 boosters could prevent about 90,000 US deaths this winter, but only if more people get them, analysis suggests
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Covid-19 vaccinations could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars this winter. A new analysis suggests that if more people in the United States get their booster by the end of the year, about 90,000 Covid-19 deaths could be prevented this fall and winter. But if booster vaccinations continue at their current pace, the nation could see a peak of more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths per day this winter, according to the study, published Wednesday by The Commonwealth Fund. There are now more than 400 daily Covid-19 deaths, on average, in the United States. Federal health officials have said that Americans may need to get a single updated Covid-19 vaccination every year.

☆ In an age of 'quiet-quitting,' some money-hungry politicians are glorifying 7-day work weeks, sleepless nights, and burn-it-on-both-ends hustle culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Marco Rubio, John Fetterman, and several other politicians have sent out fundraising emails that tout sleepless nights and no days off. But in an age of "quiet quitting" — rejecting hustle culture and subtly dialing it back at work — several politicians have sent out fundraising emails that talk about all-night work and "not taking days off," effectively glorifying working oneself to death. "We have less than 7 weeks to ensure I defeat Dr. freakin' Oz AND this race could literally make or break our Democratic Senate Majority. The latest fundraising email from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said his campaign manager, Mark Morgan, hasn't slept in days. "Failure is not an option," Herschel said in his fundraising email, in all caps.

Search resuls for: "National Institute of Allergy"

25 mentions found