(CNN)Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned Sunday that the “window is closing” for the United States to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, as confirmed cases are surging in a majority of the country and some states are dealing with record numbers of hospitalizations. “Things are very different from two months ago… So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control,” Azar told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” He suggested that the US is better positioned to handled the pandemic than before, pointing to increased testing, contact tracing, hospital capacity, reserves of personal protective equipment, and advancement toward therapeutics and potential vaccines for the virus. The top health official’s message differs from that of President Donald Trump, who seems ready to move on from the still-raging pandemic, and Vice President Mike Pence. With no course correction in sight, Trump risks defeat At a Friday press briefing by the White House’s coronavirus task force, the first in nearly two months, Pence declared that the US had “flattened the curve,” painting a rosy picture at odds with reality. Thirty-six states are reporting a rise in positive coronavirus cases, and only two are reporting a decline in cases compared to last week. On Friday, the US reported the highest number of new cases in a single day, with at least 40,173 new infections. The previous daily high was reported on Thursday. Several states, including Texas and Washington state, and localities have paused their reopening plans or reimposed some restrictions in hopes of curbing the spread of the virus. Azar denied that reopening too quickly was tied to the rise in cases, but instead “inappropriate individual behavior” that has enabled the spread of the virus. “That’s not so much about what the law says on the reopening as what our behaviors are within that,” he told Tapper. He cautioned that if Americans “act irresponsibly, if we don’t socially distance, if we don’t use face coverings in settings where we can’t social distance, if we don’t practice appropriate personal hygiene, we’re going to see spread of disease.” Trump’s effort to dismantle Obamacare during the pandemic might be his riskiest move yet Asked about the Trump’s administration’s request to the Supreme Court on Thursday to invalidate the Affordable Care Act amid a pandemic, Azar said that they will work with Congress on a replacement plan. “We have made very clear that the Supreme Court strikes down all or a large part of Obamacare, because it is constitutionally or statutorily infirm, we will work with Congress to create a program that genuinely protects individuals with pre-existing conditions,” Azar said, adding that the exact details will be dependent on the court’s decision and makeup of Congress. Former US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden cautioned on Fox News Sunday that while the US is doing more testing and our hospitals are better prepared, “this virus still has the upper hand.” When asked whether the Trump administration’s claims of rising case numbers was the result of more testing being done, Frieden dismissed it, saying, “As a doctor, a scientist, an epidemiologist, I can tell you with 100% certainty that in most states where you’re seeing an increase, it is a real increase. “It is not more tests, it is more spread of the virus,” Frieden said.
‘Window is closing’ for US to get coronavirus under control, Trump’s HHS secretary warns
(CNN)Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar warned Sunday that the “window is closing” for the United States to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, as confirmed cases are surging in a majority of the country and some states are dealing with record numbers of hospitalizations. “Things are very different from two months ago… So it is a very different situation, but this is a very, very serious situation and the window is closing for us to take action and get this under control,” Azar told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” He suggested that the US is better positioned to handled the pandemic than before, pointing to increased testing, contact tracing, hospital capacity, reserves of personal protective equipment, and advancement toward therapeutics and potential vaccines for the virus. The top health official’s message differs from that of President Donald Trump, who seems ready to move on from the still-raging pandemic, and Vice President Mike Pence. At a Friday press briefing by the White House’s coronavirus task force, the first in nearly two months, Pence declared that the US had “flattened the curve,” painting a rosy picture at odds with reality.
Thirty-six states are reporting a rise in positive coronavirus cases, and only two are reporting a decline in cases compared to last week.
On Friday, the US reported the highest number of new cases in a single day, with at least 40,173 new infections. The previous daily high was reported on Thursday. Continue reading “‘Window is closing’ for US to get coronavirus under control, Trump’s HHS secretary warns”
US ‘likely’ to see shortage of pharmaceutical drugs if coronavirus outbreak continues, intelligence report finds
With coronavirus outbreaks continuing to spread across the world, the United States is “likely” to see a shortage of generic pharmaceutical drugs, according to a new federal intelligence report obtained by ABC News. The report, prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and distributed Thursday to law enforcement and government agencies around the country, warned that the U.S. is already seeing shortages of more than 200 drugs and medical supplies due to strains on the supply chain caused by international shutdowns early on in the pandemic.
Those shortages would only be made worse should unchecked outbreaks force yet another round of widespread shutdowns, the analysts concluded, further straining the system in a way that many U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies would be “unable to quickly offset.” “Chinese factories that produce raw ingredients for common antibiotics closed for weeks as of March and India’s lockdown extended until the end of May,” the report said, citing news reports. “France, Germany, and China have also considered re-imposing lockdown measures as COVID-19 cases have begun to re-emerge.” The warning comes as officials in some states have already halted some reopening plans or closed back down as coronavirus cases rise in at least 29 states, according to an ABC News analysis. Florida reported just under 9,000 new cases on Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, made what he called a “plea” to the country on Friday to understand that the outbreaks, which are mainly in the South and West, could potentially spread to the entire country. Continue reading “US ‘likely’ to see shortage of pharmaceutical drugs if coronavirus outbreak continues, intelligence report finds”
A Second Wave of the Virus Is Threatening U.S. Oil Demand Again
(Bloomberg) — After months of empty roads, lockdowns were easing and people were getting behind the wheel again.Then the coronavirus struck again — in a fierce way. Californians, Floridians and Texans are back in hiding, and the recovery in driving that had restored highway travel nationwide back to 85% of last year’s levels is looking more fragile than ever. As lockdowns eased and parts of the world reopened for business, driving emerged as the transportation mode of choice and offered some relief for the oil market just two months off of its worst collapse in history. But the fresh resurgence of the virus in the three states with the country’s biggest gasoline markets is threatening to take American drivers off the road and stymie what has been a remarkable recovery for oil. Demand has been flatlining over the past few days at fuel stations across the country with concern over the surge in virus cases making it hard to predict what’s to come, according to one major operator of gasoline stations in the U.S. Houston freeways that were starting to jam up earlier in June as businesses reopened and commuters returned to offices have emptied out again. The county declared its highest level of emergency Friday after area intensive care units reached maximum capacity. Texas Governor Greg Abbott halted plans to reopen the economy further and is rolling back the opening of bars. Road congestion was stable at below-normal levels in the U.S. Thursday, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF. Rush hour commutes in Los Angeles last week took about 30% longer than they would have on empty roads, while a year ago the same drive averaged almost 90% longer that it would have. Movement over time by geography across retail and recreation, grocery stores, parks, and workplaces, were markedly down in Florida and Texas as of June 22 compared to a baseline take from Jan. 3 to Feb. 6, data from Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports show. In California, mobility was also well-below the baseline in every area but parks, which was 8% higher than the winter.
“Now, we have much lower employment and many companies are telling people don’t come to work right now,” said Robert Campbell, head of oil-products research at Energy Aspects Ltd. “It’s inconceivable that gasoline demand is going to be higher this summer.”
Even though the four-week average for gasoline supplied, a demand indicator, climbed for the last eight straight weeks, according to the Energy Information Administration, it is at the lowest level for this time of year since 1996. “If Florida, California and Texas react to this by issuing shelter-in-place or adding new restrictions on movements, this certainly could be detrimental to gasoline demand,” said Patrick DeHaan, an analyst at GasBuddy. “If you do see a resurgence continue in these states, that’s going to spell doom for demand this summer.”
US daily virus cases rise to new record of 48,940
The data published by John Hopkins University revealed that the number of daily COVID-19 cases in the United States reached a new record in the past 24 hours to land at 48,940. The infections in the country now count 2,467,510. The number of fatalities, on the other hand, decreased significantly compared to yesterday’s figures to 690, bringing the death toll since the virus outbreak to 125,045. Earlier in the day, Florida hit a new record in daily infections, while Texas and the city of San Francisco postponed reopening as the number of infections rose. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said the recent surge in cases represents a “serious situation,” which Vice President Mike Pence dismissed as a result of increased testing.
Coronavirus Detailed Explanation Video
Research reveals gene role in both dementia and severe Covid-19
The study is the latest to suggest genetics may play a role in why some people are more vulnerable to the coronavirus than others.
People with a genetic mutation that increases the risk of dementia also have a greater chance of having severe Covid-19, researchers have revealed. The study is the latest to suggest genetics may play a role in why some people are more vulnerable to the coronavirus than others, and could help explain why people with dementia have been hard hit: dementia is one of the most common underlying health conditions among those who have died from Covid-19 in England and Wales. “It is not just age: this is an example of a specific gene variant causing vulnerability in some people,” said David Melzer, a professor of epidemiology and public health at Exeter University and a co-author of the study. Writing in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, Melzer and colleagues report how they analysed data from the UK Biobank, a research endeavour that has collected genetic and health data on 500,000 volunteers aged between 48 and 86. The team focused on a gene called ApoE – this gives rise to proteins involved in carrying fats around the body, and can exist in several forms. One such variant, called “e4”, is known to affect cholesterol levels and processes involved in inflammation, as well as increasing the risk of heart disease and dementia. The researchers found 9,022 of almost 383,000 Biobank participants of European ancestry studied had two copies of the e4 variant, while more than 223,000 had two copies of a variant called “e3”. The former, the team add, have a risk of dementia up to 14-fold higher than the latter. The team then looked at positive tests for Covid-19 between 16 March and 26 April when testing for the coronavirus was largely carried out in hospitals, suggesting the cases were severe.
The results reveal 37 people who tested positive for Covid-19 had two copies of the e4 variant of ApoE, while 401 had two copies of the e3 variant. After taking into account various factors, including age and sex, the team say people with two e4 variants had more than double the risk of severe Covid-19 than those with two e3 variants.
Melzer said the findings were not down to people with two e4 variants being more likely to be living in a care home – settings that have been hard hit by Covid-19 – since the association remained even when the team excluded participants with a diagnosis of dementia. None of the Covid-19 positive participants with two e4 variants of the ApoE gene had a dementia diagnosis. Fiona Carragher, a director of research and influencing at Alzheimer’s Society, said people with dementia and their families were desperately worried, adding the government must take urgent action to protect people with dementia. But, she said, more research was needed to delve into the possible link between the e4 variant of ApoE and severe Covid-19.
Mutation in new coronavirus increases chance of infection – study
https://youtu.be/gquoccgnZY0
A specific mutation in the new coronavirus can significantly increase its ability to infect cells, according to a study by US researchers. The research may explain why early outbreaks in some parts of the world did not end up overwhelming health systems as much as other outbreaks in New York and Italy, according to experts at Scripps Research.
The mutation, named D614G, increased the number of “spikes” on the coronavirus – which is the part that gives it its distinctive shape. Those spikes are what allow the virus to bind to and infect cells.
“The number — or density — of functional spikes on the virus is 4 or 5 times greater due to this mutation,” said Hyeryun Choe, one of the senior authors of the study. The researchers say that it is still unknown whether this small mutation affects the severity of symptoms of infected people, or increases mortality. The researchers conducting lab experiments say that more research, including controlled studies — widely considered a gold standard for clinical trials, needs to be done to confirm their findings from test tube experiments. Older research has showed that the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is mutating and evolving as it adapts to its human hosts. The D614G mutation in particular has been flagged as an urgent concern because it appeared to be emerging as a dominant mutation.
Virus crisis ‘sharpest and deepest’ recession ever – ECB’s Lagarde
https://youtu.be/pnIgskCajf0
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde insisted on Friday the:
coronavirus crisis represents the “sharpest and deepest” recession the world has seen apart from world wars.
However, Lagarde estimated that the lowest economic point has passed, but that a sever second coronavirus wave could happen. Commenting on the process of recovery, Lagarde said the restoration would go sequentially, geographically the same as the virus had spread across the globe moving from east to west. Speaking at the European Business Leaders Convention, Lagarde said the most decisive action amid the coronavirus pandemic was that the monetary and fiscal policy went “hand-in-hand,” helping the European economy to overcome the crisis. Lagarde stressed that the central bank has had to use “all available policy levers” both on monetary and fiscal fronts. Additionally, she said the ECB’s mandate continues to be the same, that is focusing on price stability across the continent.
Trump wants you to believe the virus is GONE! BULLSHIT!!!
President Donald Trump’s latest messages on the pandemic are almost indistinguishable from the one he was sending at the very beginning: Everything is under control.
“We’ve made every decision correctly,” Trump said in a rambling Rose Garden address. With hardly a mention of the virus and its ongoing devastation, he claimed, “We may have some embers or some ashes or we may have some flames coming, but we’ll put them out. We’ll stomp them out.” Days later, his reelection campaign announced the return of Trump’s massive rallies “This month,” declared a video tweeted out by his campaign’s spokeswoman, “we’re back.” The words loomed between footage of thousands of Trump supporters packed tightly into massive stadiums. There’s no mystery behind Trump’s eagerness to pretend the pandemic is all but over. His government’s response to the coronavirus, the ballooning economic crisis, and the waves of protests against police violence have sent Trump’s overall approval rating plummeting in every single group of likely voters.
A return to normal is grievously out of step with a pandemic that continues to infect roughly 20,000 new people in the United States every day and kill up to 1,000.
Continue reading “Trump wants you to believe the virus is GONE! BULLSHIT!!!”