Tag: Covid

Categories
Health

U.S. ‘flying blindly’ with regards to new Covid variant, says physician

U.S. ‘flying blindly’ when it comes to new Covid variant, says doctor

Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, warned in “The News with Shepard Smith” that the US is “flying blind” and “guessing” when it comes to a highly transmissible new variant of coronavirus in the country.

“We don’t know because we don’t do genomic sequencing of the virus the way we do in the UK and other countries,” Jha said. “We have a lot of capacity for sequencing, it’s not that we can’t. We just don’t have it and we have to pull ourselves together and start so we know if there is another variant around.” our country.”

The CDC issued a statement saying that unlike variants in the UK and South Africa, no highly contagious new US variant of the coronavirus had emerged. However, it has been found that there are likely many variants around the world.

Jha’s statements follow reports from the White House coronavirus task force. According to the report, there could be a new variant of Covid that has evolved within the US that is 50% more transferable and is driving proliferation, according to a document obtained from NBC News.

According to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data, the US recorded 4,085 deaths on Wednesday, the first time the country exceeded 4,000 deaths. Jha told host Shepard Smith it was “mind-boggling” why the US had not done large-scale genome sequencing of people infected with Covid, but noted that he was not “surprised” by the White House leadership.

“A White House that is not engaging, not interested and not really helpful really hampers the national response,” Jha said in an interview on Friday evening. “Some states are starting to fill the void, but it turns out to be a pandemic that having the federal government is really useful.”

President-elect Joe Biden announced a significant shift in the country’s fight against Covid in a new call to free almost all vaccine supplies after he took office.

In a statement to NBC News, a spokesman for Biden’s transition wrote: “The president-elect believes we need to speed up vaccine distribution … and believes the government should stop holding back vaccine supplies so we can get more shots at Americans can get.” Arms now. “

It’s a strategy reversal. Under the Trump administration, the federal government stocked up cans to ensure people could get a second shot. The Pfizer vaccine requires two shots 21 days apart and the Moderna vaccine requires two shots 28 days apart.

To date, states have received more than 22 million doses, but about 70% of those doses are on shelves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jha said he “fully supports the move by the Biden team” to release the Covid vaccine doses.

“We are in the middle of a terrible crisis,” said Jha. “We have to get people vaccinated, and it’s important that the first shot is shot in people’s arms and then making sure the second shot comes relatively soon after that I think is doable.”

Categories
Health

U.S. stories greater than 4,000 Covid deaths for first time as outbreak worsens

U.S. reports more than 4,000 Covid deaths for first time as outbreak worsens

Vice Mayor Alix Desulme, of North Miami City, raises his arm during a prayer for the local lives lost to COVID-19 as a memorial to the lost is unveiled at Griffing Park in North Miami, Florida on October 28, 2020.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

More than 4,000 people died of Covid-19 for the first time in one day in the US on Thursday as the country reports record numbers and the outbreak grows worse day by day.

The US has reported a record daily death toll for five of the last 10 days, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over the past week, the US has reported an average of more than 2,700 deaths per day, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins data, up 16% from a week ago.

In January alone, almost 20,000 people died of Covid in the country. That set the pace for a month that will likely keep pace with December for the pandemic’s deadliest month yet.

Senior health officials including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, warn that the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better.

“We believe the situation will get worse in January,” said Fauci in an interview with NPR on Thursday. He said Americans could still “moderate” that acceleration if they strictly adhere to public health measures like wearing masks and social distancing.

As of Thursday, cases continued to rise rapidly, a sign that more deaths will follow as people are diagnosed, get sick and enter hospitals, many of which are overwhelmed by the flood of Covid patients. The U.S. reported more than 274,700 new cases Thursday, taking the seven-day average to a new all-time high of 228,400, according to Johns Hopkins.

New cases are increasing almost everywhere every day. In 44 states and the District of Columbia, the average number of new cases every day is increasing by at least 5%. New deaths are growing particularly rapidly in Southern California, where healthcare workers are rationing supplemental oxygen and asking ambulances to wait hours before dropping patients off.

In Arizona, too, cases and hospital stays are increasing rapidly, according to Johns Hopkins data, a sign that new deaths may be catching up every day. The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it will be setting up an infusion center to help administer Covid antibody treatments, which have shown promise in preventing hospital stays if used early on in an infection.

As the outbreak grows worse, many Americans across the country are waiting to receive any of the approved vaccines that are now being distributed. Initial rollout has been sluggish, and the US failed to meet its target of vaccinating 20 million Americans by December, as federal officials aimed to achieve.

Federal officials, including Fauci and Dr. However, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have announced that the pace is expected to accelerate this month. The rollout has already shown some signs of a slow increase in speed.

The US fired more than 600,000 shots in a 24-hour period, the CDC reported Thursday. According to the agency, this is the highest value within a day to date. According to the data, more than 21.4 million doses have been given, but only 5.9 million have been given.

Amid criticism of a slow initial rollout, HHS officials are now urging states to move beyond the first level of prioritization. Healthcare workers and residents of long-term care facilities should receive the vaccine first, according to the CDC. But HHS Secretary Alex Azar said earlier this week that states should open up to older and more vulnerable Americans if that would accelerate the pace of rollout.

In addition to the pressure to vaccinate quickly, there is the arrival of a new strain of the virus. The new variant, known as B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the United Kingdom, has now been found in at least seven states. While it doesn’t seem to make people more sick, CDC officials believe it can spread more easily. That could make the outbreak worse and quickly overwhelm hospitals, CDC officials said last week.

Categories
Business

UK regulator approves Moderna Covid vaccine

AstraZeneca to work on vaccine with Russia's Gamaleya

CSL staff will be working in the laboratory on November 08, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia, where they will begin manufacturing the AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Darrian Traynor | Getty Images

The UK regulator has approved Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine for use in the country, the Ministry of Health said on Friday.

It is the third Covid shot approved for use in the UK following previous vaccine approvals from Pfizer and BioNTech, as well as Oxford and AstraZeneca universities.

In a press release, the department announced that the Moderna vaccine met the “stringent standards for safety, efficacy and quality” set by the drug and health product regulator.

It added that the UK had ordered an additional 10 million doses of the vaccine, bringing the total to 17 million. They are expected to be available from spring.

This is a developing story and will be updated shortly.

Categories
Health

EU broadcasts 300 million extra doses of Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine

EU announces 300 million more doses of Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen holds a press conference in Brussels, Belgium on December 13, 2020 after speaking to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the phone.

Olivier Hoslet | Reuters

LONDON – The European Union doubles its inventory of Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccines as concerns about adoption mount across 27 member states.

The vaccine developed with German biotechnology was the first to be approved by European regulatory authorities. It has been administered across the region since December 27th. However, the rollout was inconsistent and the European Commission was criticized for not buying more vaccine.

The Commission has argued that, at the request of Member States, it has a diversified portfolio of vaccination contracts, totaling up to 2.3 billion doses of “the most promising candidates”.

“As you know, we currently have access to 300 million doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. Now the good news is: we have now agreed with BioNTech-Pfizer to renew this contract. With the new agreement, we could buy more in total another 300 million cans, “said the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference on Friday.

This would mean the EU is on track to receive 600 million doses of this vaccine. Speaking to CNBC in December, Pfizer’s CEO pledged to produce a total of 1.3 billion cans in 2021, which would mean Europe would get almost half of its annual output.

75 million cans of the new order will be available in the second quarter of 2021. The rest will be delivered in the third and fourth quarters.

The Netherlands only started vaccinating its citizens this week and the bureaucracy has reportedly made France one of the biggest stragglers in distributing the shock.

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, more than 15 million cases of coronavirus have been reported in the region to date.

European regulators approved a second coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday. Moderna’s candidate is expected to be available to European citizens in the coming days.

“Europe will have more than enough vaccines within a reliable timeframe, and this shows that the path that we have taken in the European Union is the right one,” said von der Leyen on Friday, rejecting the criticism.

Categories
Business

Israel’s Covid vaccine rollout is the quickest on the earth

Israel's Covid vaccine rollout is the fastest in the world

A health care worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine at Clalit Health Services in the ultra-Orthodox Israeli city of Bnei Brak on January 6, 2021.

JACK GUEZ | AFP | Getty Images

As the US, UK and Europe try to speed up their own Covid vaccination campaigns, one country is surpassing them all: Israel.

Israel’s vaccination campaign began on December 19 with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first person to be vaccinated in the country. Priority will be given to people over 60, healthcare workers and all clinically vulnerable people – reportedly making up around a quarter of the 9 million population.

It is ahead of other countries that have also started introducing vaccinations. To date, experts have said that around 1.5 million people in Israel received their first vaccine shot as a new lockdown came amid an increase in coronavirus cases.

According to Dr. Boaz Lev, chairman of the Disease Control and Coronavirus Vaccines Advisory Committee, has now vaccinated around 60% of the priority groups for the vaccine, although some of them are difficult to reach, such as those who only live at home by Israel’s Ministry of Health. The country is vaccinating around 150,000 people daily, he added, and intends to have vaccinated most of the country by April.

“The main goal of our vaccination program is to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” said Lev.

Lessons for the rest of the world

From logistics to public information campaigns, there are a number of lessons other countries could learn from trying to speed up their own vaccination campaigns.

“First of all … plan ahead. Be prepared, run a big information campaign and gain people’s trust, that’s on one side,” Lev told CNBC on Wednesday.

“Then you create a good flow of vaccines, a good flow of people … with a good administrative background so you can register them and let them know when to come for their next push. So there are a lot of things that which is basically about planning ahead and rolling it out to make it flow. “

In this aerial photo, taken in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday January 4, 2020, people are queuing outside a Covid-19 mass vaccination center in Rabin Sqaure. Israel plans to vaccinate 70% to 80% of its population by April or May. Health Minister Yuli Edelstein has said.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Israeli officials weren’t sure how many vaccinations the country ordered, but vaccine manufacturers reported that they received 8 million doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and 6 million doses of the Moderna vaccine (the first batch of which was due to it) Arrival Thursday). It was not disclosed how much Oxford University / AstraZeneca vaccine the country ordered.

All of these vaccines require that each have two doses; There are reports that Israel paid higher vaccine prices than it competed to supply larger countries.

Lev said Israel’s ambitious goal of vaccinating the majority of its population through its public hospitals and vaccination centers requires careful planning. “We have to set up the logistics for this, and that takes a huge effort,” he said.

“The next is to be in the correct order in vaccinating people. Unless we have an abundance of vaccines … we need to have a very orderly queue so we know who is being vaccinated, and that should be loud some Principles, “he added. “It should be safe, it should be flexible, it should be as simple as possible, but it should also follow the principle that those who are more vulnerable should get it first … to avoid mortality and morbidity (of the pandemic) . “

Logistics and sales

Public health experts told CNBC that there were a number of factors that made it possible for Israel to vaccinate so efficiently, including the small population and geography and the efficiency of its health system.

Israel has a public health system in which everyone has to belong to one of four health organizations (HMOs) that work a bit like the UK’s National Health Service. Vaccine supplies were distributed to these HMOs, who in turn distributed them to their respective members.

Ronit Calderon-Margalit, professor of epidemiology at Hadassah-Hebrew University’s Braun School of Public Health, told CNBC on Wednesday that the vaccination campaign exceeded their expectations. “It’s amazing, it’s way beyond my wildest dreams and I don’t get to say that often,” she said.

People will receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a Covid-19 mass vaccination center on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday January 4, 2020.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

She attributed part of this success to the efficiency of the four HMOs: Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet and Leumit or “Kupot Cholim” as they are collectively known.

“They all have vaccines from the government to vaccinate the population, and they are very good at the logistics of distributing services that vaccines,” she said. Experts told CNBC that at the end of the day, hospitals and clinics are also giving the vaccines to people outside of the priority groups so as not to waste supplies.

The Israeli health system is heavily digitized, so anyone who receives the vaccine is registered as such by the Ministry of Health.

Israel recorded 466,916 cases of the virus and 3,527 deaths as of Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University. As in other countries, there has been an increase in infections over the winter.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu blamed a new, more transmissible strain of virus, first identified in the UK (what he called the “British mutation”), responsible for an increase in cases in the country. Due to the wave of infections, Israel will enter a new strict lockdown for two weeks on Thursday at midnight.

In addition to vaccination centers and clinics, hospitals are of course at the forefront.

Yoel Har-Even is Director of International and Resource Development at Sheba Medical Center, the largest hospital in the Middle East (and by the way, where Netanyahu was vaccinated in December).

He told CNBC on Wednesday that his hospital had vaccinated around 45,000 people in the past two weeks.

These people range from the most at risk, including police officers and Holocaust survivors, an experience that Har-Even said was very moving, to teachers. He said everyone he met was happy to have received the vaccine (sentiment against vaccines is low in Israel) and the mainstream media of all political lines supported the vaccination campaign.

“We understand that this is a crucial time and everyone here agrees,” said Har-Even. “It reminds us a little of a time of war in Israel and when there is war there is unity.”

He added that people’s acceptance and willingness to receive the vaccine is a cause for great pride.

“You just have to see the lines and the queues of people standing still, there is no pushing or screaming,” he said. “The time of the corona means (the vaccination campaign) that it runs faster, quieter and with much, much more order and efficiency in the process.”

Categories
Health

WHO warns of tipping level in Covid pandemic

WHO warns of tipping point in Covid pandemic

A nurse is adjusting her PPE in the intensive care unit at St. George’s Hospital in Tooting, South West London, where the number of intensive care beds for the critically ill had to be increased from 60 to 120, the vast majority of them for coronavirus patients.

Victoria Jones – PA Pictures | PA Pictures | Getty Images

LONDON – The World Health Organization on Thursday warned of a turning point in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic amid mounting fears about more infectious variants of the virus, which have led to a rapid surge in infections.

Countries are trying to find two variants, found in the UK and South Africa, which are much more transferable. Public health experts are concerned about the potential impact on vaccination efforts.

While the variants spread more easily, there is no clear evidence that the mutated viruses are associated with more severe disease outcomes. However, being more communicable means more people can become infected, and that could mean more serious infections and more deaths.

In recent weeks, optimism about the mass rollout of Covid-19 vaccines appears to have been tempered by the resurgent rate of spread of the virus.

“We were prepared for a challenging start to 2021 and that was exactly what we were looking for,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, in an online press conference.

“This moment marks a turning point in the course of the pandemic where science, politics, technology and values ​​must form a united front to drive back this persistent and elusive virus.”

“We are right in the middle”

A year after the Health Department’s first report on Covid-19, Kluge reflected the fact that the WHO European Region had more than 26 million Covid cases and over 580,000 deaths in 2020.

Several countries in Europe have introduced national lockdown measures in the past few days. More are expected to follow in the coming week to ease pressure on already overburdened healthcare facilities.

View of an almost deserted city center on December 15, 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Niels Wenstedt | BSR agency | Getty Images News | Getty Images

As of Wednesday, nearly half of all countries and territories in Europe had a seven-day incidence of over 150 new cases per 100,000 population. The WHO estimated that more than 25% of them reported “very high” incidence rates and stressed health systems.

“I have to say that we are very right in the middle of it right now. We’re not just in the middle of it, we are probably in the most acute phase of transmission in the European region and we continue to see (a) a really big impact on clinics,” said Dr Catherine Smallwood, Senior Emergency Officer at WHO Europe, during the online briefing.

“To change any of this, we really need to reduce transmission and control the spread despite the introduction of vaccinations,” said Smallwood.

The European Commission on Wednesday issued final approval for the use of the Covid vaccine developed by the US company Moderna.

It was the second vaccine to be approved by the EU executive, with the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine having previously received the green light.

The EU, which launched its vaccination program on December 27, has been criticized for slowly introducing shocks across the bloc.

Attempts are being made to catch up with Israel and the US, where large numbers of people have already been vaccinated against the virus.

To date, according to the WHO, Europe has registered 27.5 million confirmed Covid cases and 603,563 deaths.

Categories
Health

Texas, Connecticut well being officers determine states’ first instances of latest Covid pressure present in UK

Texas, Connecticut health officials identify states' first cases of new Covid strain found in UK

Medical staff examine a patient with coronavirus in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas on November 16, 2020.

Go Nakamura | Getty Images

Public health officials in Texas announced Thursday that they had identified the state’s first case for a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus that was originally discovered in the United Kingdom.

The patient, a man between 30 and 40 years of age with no travel history, was discovered in Harris County, home of Houston, the county health department said in a statement. The man was isolated and in stable condition, and local infectious disease experts are following all of his contacts to find and monitor other people he may have exposed to the virus.

It’s likely the variant is already floating around in Texas as the man had no history, said Dr. John Hellerstedt, the Texas Department of Health commissioner, in a statement. He added that genetic variations in viruses “are the norm,” and it’s not surprising that the variant was discovered in Texas, given how quickly it spreads.

“This should get us all to double our commitment to the infection prevention methods we know: masks when you are around people you don’t live with, social distancing, and personal and environmental hygiene,” Hellerstedt said.

Shortly after Texas officials announced their first case, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said in a tweet that his state had identified two Covid-19 cases with the new variant B.1.1.7 in people aged 15-25 . Both patients had an out-of-state travel history – one to Ireland and the other to New York, Lamont said.

“As we said last week, given the speed of this new strain of virus and its identification in several states across the country, we assumed it was already in our state and that information confirms that fact this morning,” the governor said in a tweet .

The strain, which has also been found in California, Georgia, New York, Florida, and Colorado, is believed to be communicable but doesn’t appear to make people sicker or increase the risk of death from Covid-19, experts have said. Earlier Thursday, Pennsylvania health officials said they had identified their state’s first case with the new variant.

Harris County judge Lina Hidalgo, the county’s most elected official, said in a tweet Thursday that the discovery of the variant in the region was “worrying” given its already rapid spread.

As of Thursday, the district was still in its most serious threat level, “Level 1”. This means that testing and contact tracing efforts are strained and outbreaks are “present or worsening” according to the county’s website.

When the county is at this level, residents are advised to only leave their homes for essential purposes and to minimize contact with other people whenever possible.

Officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have stated that current vaccines should work against the new variant, although additional hospitalizations could occur if allowed to spread uncontrollably. Federal health officials are also on the lookout for a second separate new strain, first identified in South Africa.

The CDC does not yet know how widespread the new variant B.1.1.7 is in the USA. The agency now requires all passengers traveling from the UK to the US to provide evidence of a negative Covid-19 test before boarding, which was carried out no later than three days before their departure.

– CNBC’s Will Feuer contributed to this report.

Categories
Health

The Covid Balancing Act for Docs

The Covid Balancing Act for Doctors

My wife’s parents have been living a relatively monastic existence since around mid-March.

Both are in their eighties and live independently in rural Pennsylvania. They maintain a three hectare property for themselves. My father-in-law, the elder of the two, bypassed major medical problems despite decades of indiscriminate diet, testament to the triumph of genetics over lifestyle choices. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, had lupus, which flares up regularly and needs medication to suppress her immune system.

When Covid-19 hit we feared for their health, given their age and weakened immunity, and asked that they lock themselves up so we wouldn’t lose them to the pandemic.

And they did.

Where they used to shop for groceries at their local Giant Eagle grocery store (which they call “Big Bird”), they instead turned to Instacart for home delivery and shook off the random items that get their buyer wrong with a good mood would.

Where they went to church in person every Sunday, they saw the video highlights online when they became available on Monday morning.

We have arranged weekly Zoom calls with them to replace our frequent visits.

We used to say that their social life rivaled ours as they would meet up several times a week with friends they’d known since kindergarten (kindergarten!) To have dinner, drink, or put on shows. Instead, during the pandemic, they replaced those social events with cruises together in their blue ’55 Chevy Bel Air, content with the feel of a car they first drove as a teenager, the beautiful scenery and a wave of their friends who sat at a safe distance on their porches.

Our whole family was so proud of her that she burst. But in September, after six months, my father-in-law got nervous and did the unthinkable: he went to the hardware store, supposedly for a tool, but really to see his friends gather there.

He caught hell for his modest indiscretion, first from his wife and then mine. They explained to him that he could have ordered the piece online. They reminded him that his actions could affect my mother-in-law and her poor health. Finally he had enough.

“I’m 85 years old,” he said. “Eighty-five! I’m careful, I was wearing a mask. What do you expect me to do for the rest of my days in prison?”

That gave me a break – my wife too. At 85 he had done math. Despite his fortunate genetics, he probably didn’t have many years on earth and he didn’t want to spend one or two of them in isolation.

Shouldn’t he understand the risks and consequences of his actions and not be able to see his friends at the hardware store and maybe buy a tool while he’s there?

Updated

Jan. 7, 2021 at 12:26 p.m. ET

I thought about it from the perspective of my patients, many of whom don’t have much time on earth, and from the conversations we had in the clinic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was “Dr. No, ‘which forbids my patients, most of whom are immune system destroyed, from participating in their usual social activities. Where much of what we had all heard from government agencies about the transmission of Covid-19 was often contradicting, I wanted to offer specific advice.

Attending a family reunion to celebrate a birthday? No.

How about a high school graduation for a granddaughter? No.

Visiting older parents in another state? Not safe for you or her.

A road trip to Montana with a friend (this from a man in his 80s with leukemia): Are you kidding me?

At the risk of sounding paternalistic, I feared for the health of my patients, as well as the health of my in-laws, and wanted to protect them.

But maybe because our understanding of the epidemiology of Covid-19 has improved over time; or with our realization that we may have to live with the pandemic for many months; or given my father-in-law’s perspective that people should do their own risk-benefit calculations at the end of their lives, my conversations have now become more nuanced.

I am more open to my patients who do not miss important life events when there may not be much life left for them, provided they take precautions to avoid endangering themselves or those around them, especially given the recent surge in Covid-19 -Cases.

A woman with leukemia received chemotherapy in early 2020 when her daughter miscarried. Can your daughter, who is eight months pregnant again, hold the baby at birth? Anyway, let’s talk about how to do it safely.

Another patient’s mother died. Can she attend the funeral? Yes, with reasonable distance, limited numbers and personal protective equipment. But skip the reception.

The road trip to Montana? I still wasn’t comfortable with it, but my patient and his friend left anyway, took their own food, slept in their truck and he returned with no Covid-19.

And my father-in-law? He leaves the house a little more than he used to, but not as much as he would like. On the rare occasions he does these days, he’s always masked and left outside, and both he and my mother-in-law remain Covid-19 free.

What I notice about the right balance.

Mikkael Sekeres (@mikkaelsekeres) is the director of the hematology department at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami and author of “When Blood Breaks: Lessons from the Life of Leukemia”.

Categories
Health

Covid kills somebody about each 15 minutes in LA County, forcing hospitals to make ‘powerful choices’

Covid kills someone about every 15 minutes in LA County, forcing hospitals to make 'tough decisions'

An ambulance crew waits with a patient outside the Coast Plaza Hospital emergency room during a surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Los Angeles, California on December 26, 2020.

David Swanson | Reuters

The Covid-19 outbreak is so severe in Los Angeles County that ambulances have to wait hours to drop patients off to emergency rooms.

Hospital beds are cluttered in souvenir shops, cafeterias, and conference rooms as hospitals struggle to find space for patients.

The Los Angeles County Emergency Services Department on Monday urged EMS workers to only administer supplemental oxygen when a patient’s saturation level drops below 90% in order to reduce oxygenation. Paramedics have also been advised not to transport adult heart attack patients to hospital unless they can restore “spontaneous circulation” in the field – to focus care on patients who are more likely to survive.

Los Angeles is facing an unprecedented surge in coronavirus patients that is marginalizing hospitals in the area. Public health officials warn that the already dire situation is likely to worsen in January.

“Many hospitals have reached a crisis point and are facing very difficult decisions about patient care,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, the district’s health manager, at a press conference on Monday. She urged residents to avoid the emergency room unless they need serious medical attention.

Hospitals have reached their limits since Decemer, when the region’s intensive care unit capacity quickly dropped to zero, according to state health officials. More than 8,000 people have now been hospitalized with the virus in the county, and 20% of those people are in intensive care units, data from the county health department shows. With the virus so prevalent, public health officials warn that conditions are likely to get worse before they improve.

Paramedics (EMTs) and health care workers treat patients outside the Huntington Park Community Hospital emergency room during a surge in positive coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Huntington Park, California, December 29, 2020.

Bing Guan | Reuters

Across California, approximately 370 people die from Covid-19 every day based on a weekly average – a nearly 46% increase compared to a week ago. This comes from a CNBC analysis of the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

In Los Angeles County, the coronavirus kills someone every 15 minutes on average, the county’s public health director Barbara Ferrer said during Monday’s briefing. The county exceeded a total of 11,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, 1,000 of which occurred in less than a week, the health department said in a statement.

Everyone in the area should assume they will be exposed to the disease if they leave their home, Ferrer said. One in five people tested for Covid-19 in Los Angeles County has the virus.

“We’re likely to see the worst of conditions in January facing the entire pandemic, and that’s hard to imagine,” Ferrer said. “The rise in cases is likely to continue for weeks due to holiday and New Year’s parties and returning travelers.”

The staff was stretched thin

Los Angeles County is still grappling with the Covid-19 spate that was sparked by the Thanksgiving holiday and has yet to see the cases that are likely to follow the holidays in late December, Ghaly said. Hospitals are now trying to “do everything they can to prepare”.

Some coronavirus patients have to wait more than a day for a bed to be opened for them in the intensive care unit, shared Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer of the Los Angeles County University Medical Center’s Southern California Medical Center, emailed CNBC.

A health care worker examines patients in an oxygen tent outside the emergency room of Huntington Park Community Hospital during a surge in positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Huntington Park, California, December 29, 2020.

Bing Guan | Reuters

The hospital had to recruit some of its health care workers to handle the influx of ICU patients, meaning there is no time for elective surgery or other life-saving procedures like colonoscopies, Spellberg said.

Governor Gavin Newsom said during a news conference Monday that the state had sent medical aid teams to the Los Angeles area to ease the burden on hospitals. However, if there is another spike in Covid-19 cases after the December break, the extra staff won’t be enough, Spellberg said.

“Our staff are still very thin, especially in the intensive care unit. You can’t just get more nurses and doctors in the intensive care unit,” Spellberg said in an email, urging people to continue following public health guidelines such as wearing of masks, physical distancing and avoiding the crowds to follow.

“We get knocked down”

The increase is due to the fact that California, along with other states in the United States, began to administer the first shots of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.

The state has received just over 2 million doses of vaccines, but only 24% of those have been given, according to the state’s Department of Health’s database last updated Wednesday. Newsom said Monday the process is too slow and the state “wants to see things go much faster”.

Ravina Kullar, a Los Angeles-based infectious disease expert and a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, told CNBC in a telephone interview that she expects vaccinations to speed up in the coming weeks, even though the shots won’t work immediately. Immunity takes a few weeks to build and too few are given to develop herd immunity that would protect the wider population.

“I think we’re going to see some sort of stability that plateau and decrease in some cases, but it will only take time,” said Kullar. “I think it will be until spring, summer, before something really becomes noticeable there.”

Kullar, who works in long-term care facilities and nursing homes in Los Angeles, said every facility she works with is battling a Covid-19 outbreak. These residents, along with health care workers, will be the first to receive vaccination shots in California when they are introduced, Newsom said, adding that there are approximately 3 million people in the state’s early stages of vaccination.

“We’re getting down,” said Kullar. “We have very few staff. I am exhausted, my colleagues are exhausted. It’s a very difficult situation out here.”

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Categories
Business

‘Dangerous’ to delay second Covid vaccine photographs within the UK: ex-FDA director

'Risky' to delay second Covid vaccine shots in the UK: ex-FDA director

Postponing the second dose of Covid-19 vaccines is “very risky” because the efficacy data was based on a specific dosage schedule, a former FDA director told CNBC on Thursday.

His comments came after the UK’s decision to give a second shot of the coronavirus vaccine 12 weeks after the first dose, contrary to vaccine manufacturers’ recommendations. Germany is reportedly considering a similar move, while Denmark approves a six-week gap between doses.

The vaccines approved for use in the UK both require two doses.

American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech recommended giving the second dose of their vaccine 21 days after the first. British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said the vaccine, jointly developed with Oxford, requires two doses to be given one month apart. The UK initially said it would follow this timetable.

It’s a very risky endeavor because if it fails, you will be worse off.

Norman Baylor

Former FDA director

Any decision to change dosing schedules should be based on data, said Norman Baylor, a former director in the US Food and Drug Administration’s bureau of vaccine research and testing.

“It is very risky to try to extend [the gap between two doses] or give a dose if there is no data, “he told CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Thursday.

“I can see some reasons for this, but again, it’s not really data-driven,” said Baylor, who is also president and chief executive officer of Biologics Consulting. “It’s a very risky endeavor because if it fails, you will be worse.”

The UK’s controversial decision came as the country continued to grapple with a new strain of the coronavirus that is spreading faster, despite no evidence that it is more severe or deadly. 62,322 cases were reported on Wednesday, and more than 2.8 million people have tested positive for the virus to date, according to government figures.

A nurse prepares the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at Pontcae medical practice in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales on January 4, 2021.

Matthew Horwood | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Delaying the second dose of the vaccine means more people can get their first dose. However, Baylor said it was ideal to follow the dosing regimen from the vaccine’s effectiveness studies.

“If you don’t have the data, you are taking a risk there,” he said. “That is the point, the risk you are taking.”

Weigh vaccine manufacturers