Live updates: CDC reverses controversial guidance, saying tests are for anyone who contacts someone with covid-19
The change took place after the agency was directed last month by the White House Coronavirus Task Force to shift its testing guidance. The Task Force-directed guidance said those without symptoms "do not necessarily need a test.”
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CDC reverses heavily criticized guidance on coronavirus testing
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday reversed a heavily criticized guidance it issued in August about whom should be tested for the novel coronavirus.
The agency updated its recommendation to call for testing anyone — including people without symptoms — who has been in close contact with someone diagnosed with covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The change took place after the agency was directed last month by the White House coronavirus task force to shift its testing guidance. The task force-directed guidance said those without symptoms “do not necessarily need a test.”
Last month’s change alarmed public health and medical professionals who raised an outcry because they feared it would add to public confusion and impede contact tracing needed to control the spread of the virus. Administration officials said the push to limit testing was driven by the task force and other federal health officials involved in testing.
Testing of people without symptoms is critical because the CDC estimates that up to 40 percent of people infected with the coronavirus never show symptoms and may be highly infectious and spread the virus to other people.
The guidance posted Friday essentially reverts to the CDC’s original recommendation that all people who have had close contact with a person with documented coronavirus infection need to be tested.
In addition to the outcry from outside public health groups, scientists at the CDC raised concerns that “what had happened was wrong, and it was not good public health practice,” according to one federal health official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.
The updated recommendation says: “Due to the significance of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, this guidance further reinforces the need to test asymptomatic persons, including close contacts of a person with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
Medical journal suggests that up to half the population may have some protection against the coronavirus
A new editorial published in the BMJ medical journal points to at least half a dozen small studies that suggest that up to 50 percent of people may have some preexisting immunity against the novel coronavirus.
Peter Doshi, associate editor at the journal, wrote that the global public health response to the pandemic has been based on the assumption that the novel coronavirus “entered the human population with no preexisting immunity before the pandemic.”
But he writes that numerous studies that have assessed the reactivity of T cells, specialized white blood cells that remember viruses, to the coronavirus in individuals who have not been exposed to it are “raising questions about just how new the pandemic virus really is, with many implications.”
At least six studies, Doshi writes, have reported T-cell reactivity against the virus in 20 to 50 percent of people with no known exposure to it.
One study of blood specimens obtained in the United States between 2015 and 2018 found that 50 percent had T cells reactive to the novel coronavirus, Doshi writes. Another study of blood specimens from the Netherlands found T-cell reactivity in 2 out of 10 people.
Doshi also describes two other studies in Germany and Singapore in which researchers detected reactive T cells in people with no known exposure to the virus, and he noted other research in the United Kingdom and Sweden that found such reactivity.
“Though these studies are small and do not yet provide precise estimates of preexisting immunological responses to SARS-CoV-2, they are hard to dismiss,” Doshi writes.
The Washington Post reported last month about a flurry of recent research fueling the surprising hypothesis that some of the world’s population may be partially protected against the novel coronavirus as a result of previous encounters with other coronaviruses, such as ones that cause the common cold.
In the editorial, Doshi points to emerging research that suggests that this immune response may be a result of encounters with closely related pathogens. He quotes the senior author of another paper, published in the journal Science, who said, “We have really shown that this is a true immune memory and it is derived in part from common cold viruses.”
Iranian official warns of ‘red alert’ as cases and deaths surge again
Iran reported 3,049 new cases of covid-19 infection on Friday, the highest daily increase recorded since early June, as a senior official warned that the whole country should be under “red alert.”
The number of new daily cases was the highest since June 4, when Iran recorded a record 3,574 cases in a second wave of infections.
Iranian officials also announced 144 new deaths on Friday, while deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi warned that the entire country needed to be on its highest level of alert.
“The color classification doesn’t make sense anymore. We no longer have orange and yellow. The entire country is red,” Harirchi said on state television, according to Reuters.
“If the current course continues, the death toll will reach 45,000,” Harirchi added.
Iran was one of the first countries to be overwhelmed by the novel coronavirus earlier this year. So far, it has reported 416,198 cases of covid-19 and 23,952 deaths, although analysts believe that the country has not recorded the full extent of its outbreak in official figures
Hawaii will reopen to tourists Oct. 15
Travelers can finally return to Hawaii starting next month.
Beginning Oct. 15, travelers can visit the islands if they take a coronavirus test, and test negative, within 72 hours before arriving in the state to avoid a 14-day quarantine once there, Gov. David Ige (D) said during a news conference this week.
Travelers who have taken the coronavirus test but have not received their results once they arrive in Hawaii will be need to remain in quarantine until they get the results, said Hawaii’s Lt. Gov. Josh Green during the news conference announcing plans for the pre-travel testing program.
Ige said pharmacy chain CVS and health care provider Kaiser Permanente will offer tests as part of an agreement with the state of Hawaii. In a news release, the state said only FDA-approved coronavirus tests known as nucleic acid amplification tests are approved as part of Hawaii’s travel program.
Travelers will also have their temperature checked upon arrival and will be required to complete a travel and health form. Green joined virtually because he recently tested positive for the disease and said he is isolating at home.
Green said the new travel program will be an economic boost for the state “when so many people are suffering.”
The state has been effectively closed to visitors amid the pandemic, which has had a devastating economic impact.
“I worry about the long-term impacts of economic distress and that impact it’s had on our people when they can’t afford their homes as easily or their groceries or their health care,” Green said. “So this is an important announcement the governor has made today.”
Hawaii last month delayed the reopening of the state to mainland travelers. The August postponement was the second time Hawaii delayed its reopening to out-of-state travelers in 2020.
U.S. Customs seizes more than 20,000 counterfeit N95 masks in Boston
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 20,000 counterfeit N95 masks in Boston earlier this month.
On Sept. 2, Customs officers detained a shipment of 43 boxes from Hong Kong that arrived in Boston’s International Cargo Port, according to a CBP release Thursday. The 20,400 counterfeit respirator masks, with the 3M label reprinted from the original maker, were determined to be worth $163,200.
“Counterfeit personal protective equipment puts frontline workers and the general public’s health at risk,” Michael Denning, director of field operations for CBP in Boston, said in the release. “CBP Officers and our trade teams are trained to identify and intercept these dangerous goods before they can do harm to our communities and the American consumer.”
As the United States has grappled with a skyrocketing need for personal protective equipment such as N95 masks during the coronavirus pandemic, front-line workers, hospitals and the Food and Drug Administration have said pressures on the medical supply chain have caused a shortage of masks.
The federal agency said it is monitoring imports and exports for counterfeiters who seek to exploit shortages by smuggling unapproved covid-19 test kits, medications, hygiene products and protective equipment without government approval. Earlier this week, officials said they seized 500,000 counterfeit N95 respirator masks at Chicago O’Hare International Airport that were shipped from China.
Philippines extends ‘state of calamity’ for another year
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has extended the declaration of a state of calamity for an entire year, with the new end date now Sept. 12, 2021.
Duterte signed the extension into law on Wednesday and it was announced on Friday:
Duterte had first declared the state of calamity on March 16 in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The provision allows the Philippines government to allocate funds to combat the virus, as well as control the price of basic goods.
Law enforcement agencies and the Philippines’ armed forces are also directed to undertake measures to “to ensure peace and order” during the crisis.
In his statement announcing the new extension, Duterte said that “the number of covid-19 positive cases and deaths continue to rise despite efforts and interventions to contain the same.”
The Philippines’ Department of Health announced on Friday that the country had a total of 279,526 covid-19 cases, including 4,830 deaths.
A Massachusetts teenager tested positive for the coronavirus. His parents sent him to school anyway.
Six students tested positive for the novel coronavirus days before Attleboro High School in Massachusetts reopened its doors for the first day of school this week. Only five of them stayed home, the city’s mayor told WJAR.
The parents of the sixth student who tested positive for the virus that causes covid-19 sent him to class anyway, the mayor said. Now, 28 students who were in close contact with the teenager have to quarantine for two weeks.
“It was a reckless action to send a child — a teenager — to school who was covid-positive,” Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux (D) told WHDH. “It was really poor judgment. If you know that your child has coronavirus, is covid-positive, you should not send your child to school under any circumstances.”
As the new academic year begins, schools nationwide have had to cope with students coming to school despite knowing that they have the highly infectious virus. In Oklahoma City, a student also attended the first day in class despite testing positive for the coronavirus. The parents of the student said they thought the quarantine was only for five days because the child was asymptomatic. As a result, 17 students had to quarantine. A student in Greenfield, Ind., meanwhile, tested positive on the first day of school after the parents sent the child while awaiting test results.
An Idaho ‘no-masker’ pastor prayed against a mask mandate. He’s now in intensive care for covid-19.
When coronavirus cases began increasing in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in late July, Pastor Paul Van Noy prayed with his congregation that the City Council would not pass a mask mandate.
“I don’t want to be told I have to wear a mask,” he said at the lectern. “We’re adults, and we don’t need the government to tell us what to do.”
A little over a month later, he and his wife contracted the virus, and he has landed in the hospital’s intensive care unit struggling to breathe, he said in a statement this week.
“I haven’t taken this Covid seriously enough,” his wife, Brenda Van Noy, said on Facebook on Sept. 4, shortly after her husband was admitted to the ICU.
A self-proclaimed “no-masker,” Van Noy told the worshipers gathered July 22 at Candlelight Christian Fellowship that his first inclination was to resist complying with a local mask ordinance. After some consideration, he said the congregation was bound by the Bible to follow any ordinance requiring masks passed by their local leaders — but he prayed it would not come to that.
China worries that Trump, facing a tough election, may provoke a new fight
BEIJING — With the U.S. election approaching and President Trump’s prospects hanging in the balance, China is increasingly worried that its adversary in the White House will try to provoke a confrontation — perhaps through military action — to boost his chances of reelection.
Trump’s hostility toward China, which began over trade but now encompasses technology, science, journalism and the novel coronavirus, has proved popular with his base.
Influential academics in Beijing fear he will turbocharge his attacks to generate support and distract from domestic problems, such as unemployment and the devastating coronavirus death toll that have highlighted Trump’s slow response to the pandemic.
Perspective: The Big Ten might save its football season, but the myth of college sports has been shattered
Here is how important college football is in this country: By Tuesday afternoon, the University of Wisconsin had 2,160 students who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and all classes were being held virtually. On Wednesday, Barry Alvarez, the school’s athletic director, said: “Our athletes will be able to start practice immediately.”
Here’s how important college football is in the Big Ten: At Michigan State, local authorities ordered that students in 30 large residences must quarantine for two weeks because coronavirus cases were dramatically spiking at the school. The county health officer said in a statement: “There is an outbreak centered on Michigan State University, and it is quickly becoming a crisis. The surge in cases we have seen over the past few weeks is alarming.” The Spartans will open their football season Oct. 23 or 24.
The coronavirus pandemic has completely laid bare the contemptible nature of college athletics.
German soccer team deliberately loses 37-0 because of virus concerns
BERLIN — A German soccer team deliberately lost a match 37-0 after its players socially distanced amid concerns over the novel coronavirus.
The social distancing maneuvers came after the lower-league team, SG Ripdorf/Molzen II, from the town of Uelzen in the state of Lower Saxony, had unsuccessfully tried to cancel or postpone a match with local opponent SV Holdenstedt II. Members of the latter team reportedly had brief contact with an individual who later tested positive for the virus.
“Multiple members of our team said they wanted to avoid contact with SV Holdenstedt players,” SG Ripdorf/Molzen II representative Patrick Ristow told Lower Saxony’s newspaper Altmark Zeitung.
SG Ripdorf/Molzen II said its efforts to postpone the match were declined, although SV Holdenstedt II has disputed that accusation, according to Germany’s public broadcaster.
Not showing up for the match would have resulted in a fine. With SG Ripdorf/Molzen II already reeling from the financial fallout of the pandemic, it opted to field seven volunteer players, instead of the usual 11.
“When the game kicked off, one of our players passed the ball to the opponent and our team walked to the sidelines,” Ristow recalled to ESPN. “The Holdenstedt players did not understand. But we did not want to risk anything. For the rest of the match, our players returned to the field, but they only stood on the pitch.”
Germany’s top soccer league, the Bundesliga, was among the first major sports competitions to resume earlier this year. But safety concerns have lingered, as soccer at its core is a team sport in which close body contact is mostly unavoidable.
Before the season resumed, the Bundesliga announced stringent rules for testing, quarantines, and limiting contact among players and coaches. But the top soccer league’s safety protocols have been harder to implement at smaller, local clubs, which often rely on amateur players with day jobs who cannot easily self-isolate between matches.
Task force says nursing homes need more aid. Critics say industry should step up.
The Trump administration convened a panel of nursing home operators and administrators, academics, and state health officials to recommend ways to step up protections for nursing home residents amid the covid-19 pandemic, and this week it received the advice: more money for testing, personal protective equipment, registered nurses, infection-control training and staff salary increases.
The report, commissioned by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), noted that nursing homes have borne the brunt of the pandemic — with more than 50,000 residents and staff dead so far — and argued that public resources to deal with the disease have been lacking.
Nonetheless, Seema Verma, head of the CMS, called the report a “resounding vindication of our overall approach to date.”
However, one member of the panel differed with Verma’s assessment in a tweet.
Puppy prices doubled during Britain’s lockdown
LONDON — The cost of a puppy in Britain more than doubled to almost $2,500 during the nationwide lockdown as people rushed to buy pets, with some paying more than 3,000 pounds (about $4,000) for a new dog, the BBC reported Friday.
The most popular breeds include cocker spaniels, Jack Russell terriers and cockapoos — a cavalier spaniel and poodle crossbreed.
The Dogs Trust, an animal welfare charity, said on its website that the stay-at-home order sparked a huge increase in people searching for a furry companion. It noted, however, that high demand was also providing a sinister opportunity for “cruel” illegal puppy farms and smugglers to make money. Such facilities are known for poor breeding practices and substandard living conditions.
“Through the crisis we’ve continued to see puppies being illegally imported into the U.K. and being sold via online adverts. These little puppies are often very poorly treated,” the charity’s covid-19 appeal states, calling the global health crisis a “booming business for smugglers.”
The trust estimates that the total street value of smuggled puppies saved since lockdown is almost $104,000 and that up to 40,000 dogs in the country may need help.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warned that staff were being “stretched to their limit” amid the pandemic and expressed concern that with so many people now spending more time at home, dogs are likely to face behavioral issues such as separation anxiety when owners eventually return to work.
A survey conducted by the Dogs Trust found that 41 percent of owners reported their dog had displayed increased clingy behavior or following people around the house during lockdown, while more than 80 percent said their animals were whining or barking when someone was busy.
Florida, Texas and Nevada take steps toward reopening — for the second time
Several states that moved quickly to lift lockdown restrictions this summer — only to slam the brakes as coronavirus infections began surging — are once again moving ahead with reopening.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Thursday that restaurants, retail stores and gyms in most parts of the state could resume operating at 75 percent occupancy, the limit that was in place in June before Abbott reversed course and imposed new restrictions. Bars, however, will remain closed. The state is also resuming elective surgeries in most hospital districts, with exceptions for parts of the Rio Grande Valley that are still seeing high numbers of hospitalizations.
In Nevada, a state coronavirus task force authorized reopening bars in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, for the first time since July. Shutdowns were also lifted for Elko County, which had been the only other county where bars remained closed because of a failure to meet key testing metrics.
Florida also plowed ahead with reopening this week, allowing bars statewide to welcome back patrons at 50 percent capacity. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) initially closed bars when outbreaks began appearing in March, but allowed them to reopen in early June, a move that was followed by a steep uptick in cases. Later that month, state liquor regulators intervened and shut down bars for a second time.
According to Politico Florida, contact tracing teams determined that many of the summer outbreaks were spawned by a handful of bars that flouted social distancing and capacity regulations. Halsey Beshears, the secretary of the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said in a statement last week that he believed bars and breweries would do better the second time around.
“It’s vital that we start moving forward with this sector of our hospitality industry who have endured one of the toughest paths for sustaining a business during this pandemic,” he said.
DeSantis also said last week that he expects to soon lift a restriction limiting indoor dining to 50 percent capacity, according to Politico.
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