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The post Updated CDC guidance acknowledges coronavirus can spread through the air appeared first on Virus Reports.
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]]>The post CDC says quarantine guidance does not imply immunity to coronavirus for 3 months appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>A pedestrian wearing a protective face mask walks past the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, March 14, 2020.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg via Getty Images
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clarified on Friday that its updated quarantine guidance does not imply people who are infected with the coronavirus are immune to reinfection in the following three months, contradicting reports that said the agency’s guidance suggests otherwise.
On Friday, it was reported that CDC guidelines on quarantining, which were updated on Aug. 3, indicate that people who are infected with the coronavirus are protected from reinfection for at least three months afterward.
The guidance says that people in close contact with someone with Covid-19 should quarantine, “excluding people who have had COVID-19 within the past 3 months.” It also says “people who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to 3 months as long as they do not develop symptoms again.”
The guidance is based “on studies that found that, after three months, there was no evidence of people getting re-infected after recovering,” NBC News reported Friday citing a CDC official.
However, the CDC later clarified in a statement that the updated guidance does not suggest someone who was once infected with the coronavirus is protected from reinfection for the following three months.
“Contrary to media reporting today, this science does not imply a person is immune to reinfection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the 3 months following infection,” the CDC said in a statement.
Instead, the agency “simply suggests” that retesting someone in the following three months after their initial infection is unnecessary unless that person shows symptoms that can’t be associated with another illness, according to the CDC statement.
That’s because someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 can still test positive again for up to three months after diagnosis but not be infectious to others, a CDC official told CNN.
Research has found that the amount of virus that can infect other people drops significantly after people develop symptoms, the CDC said. Most people are no longer infectious 10 days after their symptoms begin and 20 days for people with severe illness or those who are immunocompromised, the CDC added.
Global health experts have acknowledged that it’s unknown how long someone who’s infected with the coronavirus and recovered might be protected from reinfection, though it’s believed there is some level of immune response.
World Health Organization officials said in July that studies suggest immunity in patients who recovered from Covid-19 may wane after a few months. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said that while scientists don’t have a complete answer, patients “do mount some level of an immune response.”
“What we don’t know is how strong that protection is and for how long that protection will last,” she said at a news conference at the organization’s Geneva headquarters. “So there are a number of studies under way that are trying to answer these questions.”
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]]>The post New CDC guidance says Covid-19 rates in children ‘steadily increasing’ appeared first on Virus Reports.
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The post New CDC guidance says Covid-19 rates in children ‘steadily increasing’ appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The post CDC School Guidance Won’t Be Released This Week, NPR Has Learned : Coronavirus Live Updates appeared first on Virus Reports.
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A locker sits open in April at Kent Middle School in Kentfield, Calif. Schools and parents are grappling with whether — and how — to reopen in the fall.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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A locker sits open in April at Kent Middle School in Kentfield, Calif. Schools and parents are grappling with whether — and how — to reopen in the fall.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not release a set of documents this week aimed at giving schools advice on how to reopen to students after coronavirus shutdowns, NPR has learned. Instead, the full set will be published before the end of the month, a CDC spokesperson says.
“These science and evidence-based resources and tools will provide additional information for administrators, teachers and staff, parents, caregivers and guardians, as together we work towards the public health-oriented goal of safely opening schools this fall,” the spokesperson said.
President Trump has emphasized that he wants to see schools reopen their classrooms in the fall, but many teachers and parents have balked, concerned that children would spread the virus and get sick themselves. Trump complained on Twitter that the CDC’s existing guidance was “too tough.”
Vice President Pence had said as recently as Tuesday he anticipated guidance would be released later this week to help parents and schools grapple with whether — and how — to open this fall. Pence had said the CDC would release five new documents, including recommendations on screening for COVID-19 symptoms. The guidance was aimed at augmenting advice the agency released in March about social distancing and preventive measures in schools.
But Pence, who heads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield have also stressed they don’t want the guidance to be used as a reason for keeping schools closed.
“To be very clear,” Pence said Tuesday, “we don’t want CDC guidance to be a reason why people don’t reopen their schools. We’re going to respect whatever decisions are made.”
Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have sought to tie potential new funding for education in an upcoming coronavirus aid package to reopening schools, though the mechanics of such a move have not been made clear.
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]]>The post WHO changes guidance on airborne transmission of coronavirus appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>ST PAUL, Minn. — The World Health Organization now recognizes the potential for airborne spread of the coronavirus through microscopic particles that remain in poorly ventilated air for hours.
The change comes after 239 scientists from around the world issued an open letter saying recent studies have shown “… beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation,” and that they can pose a risk of exposure at distances beyond two meters.
The letter has convinced the WHO to now consider the possibility of airborne spread of the virus, but the WHO has not gone as far to say the virus travels on droplets solely through breathing, as oppose to just coughing, singing, sneezing or loudly talking.
In the WHO’s update on the potential for aerosol transmission of the virus, outside the healthcare setting, it says, “There have been reported outbreaks of COVID-19 in some closed settings, such as restaurants, nightclubs, places of worship or places of work where people may be shouting, talking, or singing. In these outbreaks, aerosol transmission, particularly in these indoor locations where there are crowded and inadequately ventilated spaces where infected persons spend long periods of time with others, cannot be ruled out. More studies are urgently needed to investigate such instances and assess their significance for transmission of COVID-19.”
“The [scientists’] document lays out exactly that answer and why the WHO has to look at the aerosol transmission as being an important part of the transmission of the SARS-COV-2 virus,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.
Friday, leaders with the Minnesota Department of Health said they will not be changing any safety guidelines yet until further evidence of airborne transmission warrants changes.
Kris Ehresmann, director the Minnesota Department of Health infectious disease division, said that mask wearing and, in particular, six feet of social distancing are still the best practices even with the little we know about possible airborne transmission.
“The data that has looked at the impact of social distancing does show that when you are social distancing it makes a difference in reducing transmission,” said Ehresmann.
KARE 11’s coverage of the coronavirus is rooted in Facts, not Fear. Visit kare11.com/coronavirus for comprehensive coverage, find out what you need to know about the Midwest specifically, learn more about the symptoms, and see what businesses are open as the state slowly lifts restrictions. Have a question? Text it to us at 763-797-7215. And get the latest coronavirus updates sent right to your inbox every morning. Subscribe to the KARE 11 Sunrise newsletter here. Help local families in need: www.kare11.com/give11.
The state of Minnesota has set up a data portal online at mn.gov/covid19.
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]]>The post WHO guidance: Healthy people should wear masks only when ‘taking care of’ coronavirus patients appeared first on Virus Reports.
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The World Health Organization is recommending healthy people, including those who don’t exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, only wear masks when taking care of someone infected with the contagion, a sharp contrast from the advice given by American public health officials who recommend everyone wear a mask in public.
“If you do not have any repository symptoms such as fever, cough or runny nose, you do not need to wear a mask,” Dr. April Baller, a public health specialist for the WHO, says in a video on the world health body’s website posted in March. “Masks should only be used by health care workers, caretakers or by people who are sick with symptoms of fever and cough.”
The recommendation has not changed and differs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which urges individuals to wear a mask or face covering in public settings, regardless of infection or not, to limit the spread of the virus.
CORONAVIRUS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
“We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (‘asymptomatic’) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (‘pre-symptomatic’) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms,” the CDC mask guidance says. “In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”
Baller noted that masks can give people a “false feeling of protection” and noted that sick individuals should wear one to prevent transmitting the virus to others.
Messages to the WHO from Fox News were not immediately returned.
The CDC recommended last month that people wear nonsurgical face coverings when out in public after previously advising only health care workers and people exhibiting symptoms to do so. A new study suggests that wearing masks could cut COVID-19 cases by 80 percent if people heeded the advice.
“Universal masking at 80 [percent] adoption flattens the curve significantly more than maintaining a strict lockdown,” a group of international researchers wrote in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.
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The authors noted that countries and regions — Macau, Beijing, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan — with histories of wearing masks have seen huge reductions in the number of coronavirus cases after reaching their peak.
A separate study released earlier this month divided scientists on the effectiveness of wearing masks.
Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Revised CDC guidance: Coronavirus travels more through crowded spaces than dirty surfaces appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>CLEVELAND, Ohio — Wiping surfaces is less important than avoiding crowded indoor gatherings to stop the spread of coronavirus, according to revised guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The updated CDC website now states that touching surfaces or objects is “not thought to be” among the main ways the coronavirus spreads.
“It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes,” the CDC states. “This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus.”
The virus mainly travels through the droplets a person produces when talking or coughing. An individual can spread the virus even if he or she doesn’t feel sick or show any symptoms.
Aside from contaminated surfaces, other low-risk ways of spreading the coronavirus are from animals to people, and people to animals, the CDC said.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts emphasized curtailing transmission of the virus from surfaces, said Dr. Keith Armitage, medical director of the University Hospitals Roe Green Center for Travel Medicine & Global Health.
CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said the revisions were the product of an internal review. “Our transmission language has not changed,” Nordlund said, according to news reports. “COVID-19 spreads mainly through close contact from person to person.”
The CDC made the change because researchers analyzed contact tracing data from infected persons to learn more about how they were exposed to the coronavirus, which has killed more than 1,800 Ohioans, UH’s Armitage said.
Efforts to sanitize high-touch public surfaces, such as doorknobs and elevator buttons, should continue, Armitage said. “We should still be cautious because the potential for infection is still there,” he said.
But it’s more important to avoid indoor gatherings, where an asymptomatic person could easily spread the virus, he said.
When the CDC revises its message, that isn’t proof that science is untrustworthy, Armitage said. Scientists make recommendations based on the best evidence available at that time.
The CDC’s recommendations on wearing face masks also has changed. During the pandemic’s early days, people were told that non-medical masks weren’t helpful. Now researchers say that widespread use of face coverings helps curb the spread of the virus.
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]]>The post Reopening guidance for churches delayed after White House and CDC disagree appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>Guidance for reopening houses of worship amid the coronavirus pandemic has been put on hold after a battle between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House, which was resistant to putting limits on religious institutions, according to administration officials.
The CDC this week issued a detailed road map for reopening schools, child-care facilities, restaurants and mass transit. On Tuesday night, the agency issued additional guidance in the form of “health considerations” for summer camps, including overnight camps, and youth sports organizations and colleges.
But there are currently no plans to issue guidance for religious institutions, according to three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said President Trump and “all Americans want to see their churches safely open again. Not only is it good for the community, it’s their right under the Constitution to worship freely without government intrusion. The Trump administration will always protect that right and continue to partner with states to ensure congregations are properly protected as restrictions are responsibly eased.”
A coronavirus outbreak at an Arkansas church that killed three and infected dozens, as well as recent church closures in states at the forefront of reopening efforts, are already challenging the wisdom of the CDC not issuing guidance, experts said.
The Arkansas outbreak, detailed in a CDC report this week, began after a pastor at the church and his wife attended church events over six days in early March and spread the virus to others. At least 34 of 92 attendees at church events became infected, including the three who died, all over the age of 65. An additional 26 infections and one death in the community were probably linked to contact with people infected at the church events, according to the report.
Public health experts said the lack of reopening guidance for religious institutions puts some of the most vulnerable at risk for contracting covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Worshipers tend to be older than the population at large and are among the most at risk from the virus, said Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology at Kent State University.
“You’re talking about that group that is really vulnerable to this virus, and those are the ones you don’t have guidelines for and that you need to protect,” she said.
Smith is helping a Cleveland-area church navigate the safest way to reopen. She and a graduate student have gone over every aspect of the church service, from “what the priests are doing, to getting people into the church, to taking the host,” she said.
But “it should not be our responsibility” to guide the church if there are existing federal recommendations, Smith said. Any guidelines would be voluntary and intended to “keep people safe,” she said. “You think that would be the responsibility of the government. Churches could choose what to implement. . . . It just is really frustrating to me that these have not been released.”
CDC draft guidance on houses of worship was the subject of much internal debate at the White House last month. Some aides did not want any guidance for religious institutions. Others thought recommendations were too restrictive.
In the end, the decision to hold back reopening guidance for religious institutions came from some White House and coronavirus task force officials who did not want to alienate the faithful and believed that some of the proposals, such as limits on hymnals, the size of choirs or the passing of collection plates, were too restrictive, according to two administration officials.
Trump and Vice President Pence have maintained close ties to conservative religious leaders during the shutdown, scheduling private calls and asking for support as they try to reopen the nation, the officials said.
Officials in Pence’s office, the Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council raised concerns about the guidelines for religious institutions, the officials said.
There were conversations about scaling back the guidelines, but after weeks of discussion, they were left out entirely, one of these officials said. At one point, officials discussed various religious groups and even called pastors and other religious leaders to see if they could shape the guidelines in accordance with “faith traditions,” according to one senior administration official.
A draft CDC document that detailed reopening guidelines recommended that faith communities consider temporarily limiting community sharing of prayer books, hymnals and other worship materials; consider using a stationary collection box, the mail or electronic payment instead of shared collection trays or baskets; and avoid or consider suspending choir or musical ensembles during services.
About a third of Americans — 31 percent — attend religious services at least once a week, the Pew Research Center reported last fall, down from 37 percent a decade earlier.
Nancy Davidge, spokeswoman for the Episcopal Church, did not have immediate comment about the decision to hold back reopening guidance for congregations, or whether the denomination had lobbied the White House.
Chieko T. Noguchi, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the prelates have not discussed the CDC guidelines’ omission of churches. Asked whether the bishops had advocated a position on the guidelines with the White House, Noguchi declined to comment. The Catholic Church is the country’s largest faith group.
Other denominations are offering general suggestions to congregations about reopening. The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s second-largest faith group, issued a checklist May 7 through its public policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. Item No. 1: “Identify reliable, local sources of information. . . . Choices must be made based on objective data, not subjective impressions.”
lena.sun@washpost.com
josh.dawsey@washpost.com
michelle.boorstein@washpost.com
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]]>The post CDC Guidance For Reopening Schools, Child Care And Summer Camps Is Leaked appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>No field trips. No game rooms. No teddy bears. These are some of the CDC’s guidelines for reopening schools, childcare centers and day camps safely in places where coronavirus cases are on the decline.
The guidance, which also covers restaurants, churches and other public places, was obtained by The Associated Press, which reports that the White House tried to keep it from coming to light. The New York Times quoted Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, as being concerned that the guidelines were “overly prescriptive.”
The CDC does not have authority to enforce its guidance, which is intended for public information only; the actual policy decisions are up to state and local governments. Schools are closed through the end of the school year throughout much of the country, with the exception of Montana, which welcomed a handful of students back this week. Child care protocols are different in different states.
But millions of parents need child care so they can work, and socialization and stimulation for children who have been confined to home by lockdowns for weeks on end. This is the guidance that summer camps and day cares have been waiting for to make decisions about reopening safely.
The guidance says that where coronavirus is spreading rapidly, child care should only serve the children of essential workers. This is the case today in much of the country, which the guidelines refer to as “Phase 1”.
In Phase 2, programs can expand to serve all children with enhanced social distancing measures, and in Phase 3, with a lower risk, social distancing will continue.
Recommended measures include:
Handwashing;
Cloth masks for staff;
Regular disinfection of all surfaces;
Six-foot distance “if possible,” head-to-toe positioning with bedding;
As much outdoor air as possible — open windows, fans;
Restricting mixing of groups;
Restricting visitors, and staggering dropoffs and pickups to reduce contact among parents;
Limiting sharing of materials like art supplies or toys. Disinfecting them in between use.;
Avoiding soft toys that can’t be easily disinfected;
Not using common areas like dining halls or playgrounds if possible. If it is necessary, stagger visits and disinfect in between;
Adjust operations based on local health data;
Monitor absenteeism.
The guidelines also emphasize keeping attendance at such programs local, to limit children bringing the disease from high to low transmission areas.
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