Tag: California

Categories
Health

Inflatable Costume Could Be Behind Outbreak at California Hospital

Inflatable Costume May Be Behind Outbreak at California Hospital

An air-powered, inflatable costume that a worker wears for Christmas to spread the Christmas cheer could be responsible for a coronavirus outbreak that infected dozen of workers at a San Jose, Calif. Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

An employee wore the costume “briefly” in the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, spokeswoman Irene Chavez said in a statement. The hospital opened an investigation after 44 employees tested positive for the coronavirus between December 27 and Friday.

Inflatable costumes are usually powered by a battery-powered fan that draws air into the suit and helps it keep its shape. T. rex and sumo wrestler models are among the most popular. Some costumes cover the wearer’s face, others leave it exposed.

Ms. Chavez declined to say what type of air suit the hospital worker was wearing, but she described it as a “vacation theme”. As part of its response to the outbreak, she said, the hospital was investigating “whether the costume, which had a fan, contributed”. Air-powered costumes have been banned, she said.

It was unclear how long the staff member had been wearing the costume in the emergency room. The hospital declined to say if patients were infected.

It was also unclear whether any of the infected employees had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but experts have said it will take at least a couple of weeks for the vaccine’s protective effects to kick in. 40,000 Kaiser employees in Northern California received the first dose of the vaccine.

“Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite random as the person had no Covid symptoms and was just trying to lift the spirits of those around them during a very stressful time,” Ms. Chavez said of the costumed man Workers.

The emergency room will be thoroughly cleaned, Ms. Chavez said, and in addition to the protocols already in place, staff will be offered free weekly tests.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the coronavirus is mainly spread via respiratory droplets and can be spread “sometimes by airborne transmission” of both larger droplets and smaller aerosols when people “cough, sneeze, sing, speak or breathe” .

Dr. Jose-Luis Jimenez, aerosol expert and professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder, helped investigate the Skagit County choir breakout, which resulted in at least 53 infections and two deaths from a singing practice in Washington state. In an interview on Sunday, he said the outbreak among staff at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center was most likely due to airborne transmission.

“It’s like a choir,” said Dr. Jiminez. “There is no way you can infect 43 people while wearing a costume, except through airborne transmission or aerosols, since you are in a costume and cannot touch objects or infect people through surfaces.”

The hospital is located in Santa Clara County, California, which has confirmed 73,493 coronavirus cases, according to a New York Times database. 2,397,923 cases have been confirmed across California.

According to the Times database, more than 21,000 people were hospitalized in California as of January 1, a 26 percent increase from two weeks earlier.

Categories
Health

Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists

Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists

“I would expect a similar trend,” said Trevor Bedford, evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The variant is currently likely to make up less than 1 percent of cases, but it could make up the majority of cases by March.

The variant has 23 mutations compared to the original virus that was discovered in Wuhan, China. Seventeen mutations have occurred since the virus strayed from its youngest ancestor, said Muge Cevik, an infectious disease expert at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and a scientific advisor to the UK government.

The speed at which the virus took on so many changes worries scientists who expected the coronavirus to evolve much more slowly.

Current vaccine candidates should continue to protect people from disease, several experts said. However, the appearance of the new variant, which contains at least one mutation that weakens the body’s immune protection, makes it likely that vaccines will need regular adjustments, much like they do in order to remain effective against the influenza virus.

Scientists still aren’t sure how much more easily the mutant spreads. Initial estimates were around 70 percent higher transferability, but since then the number has been revised to 56 percent and could drop even further, said Dr. Cevik.

But with each new person it infects, the coronavirus also has more chances of mutating and therefore more chances of showing up with mutations that give it an advantage – by making it more transmissible or less susceptible to the immune system, for example.

“When you’ve had enough of huge amounts of viral replications around the world, you’re going to get lots of different varieties,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

Categories
Health

California has recognized first case of recent Covid pressure recognized in UK, Newsom says

California has identified first case of new Covid strain identified in UK, Newsom says

In this file photo dated June 30, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom removes his face mask before giving an update during a visit to Pittsburg, California.

Rich Pedroncelli | AP

California health officials have identified the state’s first case of a new and contagious strain of Covid-19 that was originally discovered in the UK.

The patient is a 30-year-old male from San Diego county who showed symptoms on Sunday, San Diego county officials confirmed on Wednesday.

“I don’t think Californians should feel like this is anything strange. This is expected,” said White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Wednesday during a live Q&A session with California Governor Gavin Newsom. Fauci said other states are likely to identify their own cases of the new strain soon.

Nathan Fletcher, a supervisor for San Diego County, said the patient was tested for Covid-19 Tuesday morning. Because he had not traveled, state officials believe there are other cases of the new strain in the county, Fletcher said at a press conference after Newsom announced the case.

Fletcher urged residents to follow public health instructions over the next few days to prevent further strain on the county’s hospitals, which are “under tremendous stress” from an onslaught of Covid-19 patients.

On Tuesday, Colorado health officials confirmed the first case of the B.1.1.7 variant of coronavirus. During a news conference Wednesday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said the state is investigating a possible second case of the new tribe.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier Wednesday that the new tribe could put pressure on the country’s hospitals, which are already overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

Dr. Henry Walke, the agency’s Covid Incident Manager, said the new variant appears to be spreading “easier and faster than other strains”, but it doesn’t seem to make people sick or increase their risk of death.

A particularly worrying aspect of the Colorado case was that the patient had not traveled, “suggesting this variant was transmitted person-to-person in the United States,” Walke told reporters on a conference call.

Some good news: The new variant doesn’t appear to affect the vaccines’ effectiveness or make diagnosis difficult with existing tests, Fauci told Newsom. The UK has also found that people who were already infected with previous strains of Covid-19 do not appear to be re-infected with this new variant.

Researchers have yet to determine whether the new strain may be resistant to monoclonal antibody treatment, which has successfully helped some patients recover from the disease, Fauci said. Unlike vaccines, which trigger an immune response that attacks different parts of the virus, monoclonal antibodies target a very specific component, according to the country’s leading infectious disease expert.

Monoclonal antibodies have shown promising benefits if the virus is detected early enough. President Donald Trump attributed Regeneron’s treatment for feeling better “immediately” when he was infected and finally hospitalized with Covid-19 in early October.

“We know that about it now, but we’re following this extremely carefully,” said Fauci, adding that they are studying the exposure at the National Institute of Health and a number of laboratories across the country.

– CNBC’s Will Feuer and Amanda Macias contributed to this report.

Categories
Business

California extends stay-at-home order for 2 areas

California extends stay-at-home order for two regions

Clinicians work in the former lobby of Providence St. Mary Medical Center, which was converted into a care area to treat suspicious COVID patients on December 23, 2020 in Apple Valley, California, Southern California.

Mario Tama | Getty Images

California will extend its home stay order for two regions of the state – Southern California and San Joaquin Valley – where intensive care capacity is being weighed down by a rush of Covid-19 patients, the state’s health minister. Dr. Mark Ghaly said on Tuesday.

The regional order, first announced by Governor Gavin Newsom on December 3 and due to expire on Monday, divides the state into five regions – the Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, Northern California, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California. If the remaining ICU capacity in any region drops below 15%, a three-week home stay order will be triggered, Newsom said.

Ordering requires the temporary closure of bars, wineries, personal services, hair salons and barber shops. Personal services are available to businesses like nail salons, tattoo parlors, and body waxing, according to the state’s website. The order also prohibits gatherings of any size and requires “100% masking and physical distancing”.

As of Tuesday, all but the Northern California area were under the stay home order, Ghaly said. In the future, however, both the San Joaquin Valley, which includes the central portion of the state, and the regions of Southern California will remain under order, he said.

These two regions will continue to be subject to restrictions until state projections show ICU capacity is at least 15%, he said. Ghaly added that the projections will be calculated and updated daily in the future. Just because the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California regions stay under order doesn’t mean they will be there for the full three weeks, he said.

According to a slide that Ghaly presented at a press conference, these two regions did not show any available ICU capacity. Four-week projections from state health officials have shown that intensive care capacity is not improving in these two regions, Ghaly said.

“We are essentially assuming that ICU capacity in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley will not improve and that demand will continue to exceed capacity,” Ghaly said at a press conference.

Categories
Health

California Journey Restrictions: What You Have to Know

California Travel Restrictions: What You Need to Know

Is it restricted to travel within California?

Travel is already restricted in some areas, with additional restrictions likely. Each California county is assigned a set of restrictions based on the frequency of new virus cases and positivity. Travelers can check which activities are allowed.

According to the latest regulation, if ICU capacity falls below 15 percent in any of the five regions, people must “stay at home or where they live, unless this is required for activities related to the operation, maintenance or use of critical infrastructure is. “There are some exceptions for activities such as outdoor worship and exercise.

So far, the Southern California, Greater Sacramento, and San Joaquin Valley regions have fallen below the 15 percent threshold of the five regions in order of stay at home. Some counties, including San Francisco and Santa Clara, implemented the restrictions before they hit the threshold.

The rest of the state must adhere to the November Limited Stay Ordinance, which generally prohibits non-essential work, movement, and gatherings between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. in counties with the highest rate of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.

Updated

Apr 10, 2020 at 8:38 am ET

Can I get a refund on a flight to California that has already been booked?

You’ll need to check with your airline about the restrictions on your specific ticket, but most airlines have retained the newly relaxed change and cancellation rules that they put in place during the pandemic.

If you don’t get a refund, you will likely receive credit for a future flight. United Airlines’ website provides information on situations where travel plans have been affected by Covid-19. Alaska Airlines has permanently removed change fees and also offers refunds or credits if travelers’ plans change.

What if I have already booked a vacation at a California hotel?

Currently, all California hotels and accommodations, including short term rentals such as Airbnb, are prohibited from accepting or honoring reservations outside of the state for non-essential travel unless the reservation is made for the minimum quarantine period required and the guest stays there until the required time runs from.