COVID19 - How it's affecting you

So, according to the science wonks, who are estimating from wastewater and general hospital stats (which is all they can do because there is no systemic surveillance in place in the USA of actual cases)  we are in the second highest wave of the entire pandemic.  Something like roughly 1 in 20 people are now infected.

There is blessed little press about it.  We are losing 2,000 people a week and it's not news. Jeez.

I just returned from a trip to the West Coast. After being on five different airplanes (it was "an adventure" of a trip....) I believe I saw a total three other masked persons onboard all those five flights. Although I could have missed some. There were a good number of people hacking and coughing as if they were going to hock up a lung, though.  I have returned to upstate NY to hear that most of the people I have spoken with recently here have had either Covid or a "really weird cold that they just couldn't get rid of but no they didn't test for Covid" while I was away. Most of these folks are over 50 and some are now really quite ill. I, personally, would hate to have to contemplate having Covid and Influenza, or Covid and RSV, or all three, simultaneously. But that's not out of the realm of possibility. Covid alone is bad enough. My daughter says the kids are calling it "Boomer Remover". Nice. 

Amazing. No masks. No precautions. WTF?!!!  Fingers are crossed that not taking the masks off while onboard those flights has saved me again. From any of it.

I hope it's better over there, but I'd be surprised if it was.

So, according to the science wonks, who are estimating from wastewater and general hospital stats (which is all they can do because there is no systemic surveillance in place in the USA of actual cases)  we are in the second highest wave of the entire pandemic.  Something like roughly 1 in 20 people are now infected.

There is blessed little press about it.  We are losing 2,000 people a week and it's not news. Jeez.

I just returned from a trip to the West Coast. After being on five different airplanes (it was "an adventure" of a trip....) I believe I saw a total three other masked persons onboard all those five flights. Although I could have missed some. There were a good number of people hacking and coughing as if they were going to hock up a lung, though.  I have returned to upstate NY to hear that most of the people I have spoken with recently here have had either Covid or a "really weird cold that they just couldn't get rid of but no they didn't test for Covid" while I was away. Most of these folks are over 50 and some are now really quite ill. I, personally, would hate to have to contemplate having Covid and Influenza, or Covid and RSV, or all three, simultaneously. But that's not out of the realm of possibility. Covid alone is bad enough. My daughter says the kids are calling it "Boomer Remover". Nice. 

Amazing. No masks. No precautions. WTF?!!!  Fingers are crossed that not taking the masks off while onboard those flights has saved me again. From any of it.

I hope it's better over there, but I'd be surprised if it was.

It's really incredibly frustrating. I'm the only person among the group of disabled people in my chronic pain group still taking any precautions and one of them nearly died from it after Xmas. Another friend has been ill since Xmas and "it definitely wasn't COVID" (but a prevalent variant at that time was causing severe sore throats heh). I really do not want to lose more friends but it is feeling inevitable because no one will do a single thing to minimise transmission via some combination of air filtration, ventilation, and masking.

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Yeah, I hear ya.  I'm pretty much a recluse now. The Daughter's friends will mask when around her, which is good, but apparently not elsewhere. One of them just came down with Covid for, I think, the fourth time. The damage they are doing to themselves is incalculable.

The more studies I read, the more I accept that being a recluse is my only option and will be for the foreseeable future, because the virus is running rampant and mutating as it goes. Since people were unwilling to do what was necessary, when it first arose, to stop it from propagating, and as they still are unwilling to help curtail it so that the risk of a more malignant variant (or even the current one) is diminished, they leave me no choice. I am thankful that I am a retired person and do not have to interact face-to-face with others to ensure a livelihood. I feel very sorry for those who are still in that position.

I am especially sad about the children, many of whom are going to have to go through life with lasting disabilities from this that could have been mitigated. What kind of parent allows that to happen to their own offspring?

We have been in the USA losing 2,000 - 2,500 (give or take) souls a week from Covid or Covid's impact on an existing illness and roughly 1,000 a week from influenza over the last several weeks.  It''s not in the news, except rarely and obliquely. 

Now the CDC is supposedly going to be telling people that if they no longer have a fever, even if they had tested initially positive for Covid, they can go back to work/school within 24 hours. Without any further testing requirements . No mention that they can still be contagious, or that a Covid test may not show positive for up to several days after they have been infected with the new variant. Precious little information has been messaged out that it's a freaking airborne virus that can be pretty reliably mitigated against by wearing properly-fitting high-grade masks (not surgical masks) and proper air purification.  When pressed by a  reputable journalist, a CDC affiliate said on-camera that this proposed policy is because they have to balance what people will actually do (as far as mitigation activities) with the economic impacts to the country balanced against  what they know of the disease. So the CDC's main interest is NOT in keeping the population of this country safe and well. It has devolved down to doing what damage control they can do, factoring in the politics of the day.  I am entirely confident something similar is happening in the UK. That scenario is something to keep in mind when deciding how one should manage life and risks during a pandemic. Expecting "the government" to do what is necessary or even tell you what is necessary to know for your own safety is not necessarily a realistic approach to life. [If it ever was.]

Gotta keep those workers working, after all, to keep the dollars rolling in. Even if you are lucky enough have sick leave with pay, if you are not running a fever and don't show up - well, I can see organizations firing people as having abandoned their positions. I've worked at many places that would have done that - even if they were testing positive for Covid, if they didn't have a fever. They'd say they were relying on federal (CDC) policy.  No consideration for the ill employee or anyone they might infect. It no longer "matters"... but for some people, it never did.

There was no mention in the interview (that I noted) of Long Covid's impact on people's lives or the economy when people are sidelined. No mention of the immunocompromised or vulnerable of all ages for which Covid can be everything except mild. Babies/young children have being infected at alarming rates - demographically some of the highest. (And it's hell on pregnant women.) What idiot thought it was a good idea to tell people that babies and children couldn't get Covid, an airborne viral disease? [Yes, they knew early on it was airborne.] I'd say that nobody could really have been stupid enough to believe that babies and children were immune, but I still run across people who do.  It's all not surprising, really, and it really does fit with the history of public policy in this country. And the wits of the general public, which never fails to amaze.

So, bottom line:  the UK is not the only entity slipping back into the Victorian Era, if that's of any comfort.

"At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge, ... it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."
"Are there no prisons?"
"Plenty of prisons..."
"And the Union workhouses." demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"
"Both very busy, sir..."
"Those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

God help us all.

19 Feb 2024   "So far this year, more than 2 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the U.S., causing 158,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths."  (BNO News, based in the Netherlands). Those are the reported cases. Death certifications can be delayed in reporting by weeks and/or months.  It's hard to know the numbers with any certainty as there are blessed few central repositories of data making it available now.

So if the Long Covid rate is 5% of all who are newly infected* that would mean that since January 1st 50,000 new people were hit or will be hit with Long Covid so far this year. That's larger than many small towns in the USA. In less than two full months. If the rate remains steady, over the course of a year that's....  an awful lot of lives interrupted.

I would assume the stats are equivalent or perhaps a bit worse, given the current issues with the NHS, in the UK.

And what is being done about it?**  Not a hell of a lot that I've heard about. It does look a lot like, for all intents, it's all just being swept under the rug.





*Using the bottom end of  numbers that seem to be being reported across several sources, although the CDC stated #s for Summer of 2023 was 6.9 percent.  UCLA states (also Summer 2023) from ten to thirty percent of people who have had Covid will develop Long Covid. The US Census Bureau has that figure as about 25% (Survey conducted between October 18–30, 2023.) [/size]


**Officially, to help the impacted. I know there's academic research going on. I don't get the impression it's being heavily funded.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0867

Article on Long Covid that might be of interest.

Or not.

Article on Covid's effect on the brain.

https://erictopol.substack.com/p/michelle-monje-the-brain-in-long?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=1ma7o3&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email (There's a podcast there as well.)

What credibility the CDC had to me is now gone. They are telling people it's ok to go back out in public the day after they no longer have a fever. Since they can be contagious long after that (or may not have HAD a fever), telling them it's just fine to go out and infect others is... beyond reprehensible. They're not telling people they should test negative. Just after the fever is gone and they start "feeling better".  [Keyrist on a pogostick!]

I've lost track of what the UK Health Authorities are telling you folks. I hope it's saner.





source:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00822-w

My husband and I are both support workers for adults with additional support needs.

My husband was just off work with Covid however he tested against current advice. We are not to test unless we have symptoms AND have a treatment letter from the GP. If you don't have the letter, you only need to stay at home until you no longer have a fever. But since he tested (again, against advice and our works policy) he couldn't return to work until after he had 2 negative tests in a row.

He said to me, "Of course I'm going to test. I have a right to know the status of my health."

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God, that's nuts! (Not your husband, he's doing the right thing. Bless him.)  I hope he's feeling well soon.

Telling people to NOT check to see if they actually still have Covid so that they are in the position of carrying an active infection and dumping it on ANYONE else - that's unforgivable. At least he has to get a negative test before he can return.  They're not even mentioning testing here - it's "24 hours after you haven't got a fever and are feeling better". What the hell not having a fever has to do with anything - JN.1 doesn't always even present with a fever.

[EDIT:  The full guidance from the CDC does include:  "When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.  Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick, even if you are feeling better. You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were. If you develop a fever or you start to feel worse after you have gone back to normal activities, stay home and away from others again until, for at least 24 hours, both are true: your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Then take added precaution for the next 5 days."  Unfortunately the media are not sharing that part of the information release, nor are they pointing out the the JN.1 can take several days longer than prior strains to actually tick a test over to "positive".  Given people aren't doing any of this now - it's rare to see a properly fitted mask ANYWHERE, even in a medical setting - my infallible opinion is that a goodly percentage of all people are going to ignore this part of the advice - IF they even hear it. I would bet money on this. ]

"Likely to be less contagious..."  Ok, I know. The CDC's stated purpose is to "align" the advice with RSV and Flu advice, so that people might start following some of it. (Speaking broadly here:) People really haven't been following CDC advice in the past, but I don't see that re-writing the advice to something more convenient is going to change that. That decision is, of course, also nuts, because Covid is NOT RSV or Flu. We are still losing over 200 people a day to Covid, and then there's the unseen damage it's doing with every subsequent infection, plus the very real Long Covid issue that is the elephant in the room - people are being denied disability insurance claims because "Long Covid" isn't a recognized and approved "disabling" condition. Just shoot me now.

And on an even more cheery note:


Medical News in Brief
February 28, 2024
CDC Tracking BA.2.87.1, New Omicron Subvariant With Potential to Evade Immunity
Emily Harris
Article Information
JAMA. Published online February 28, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.1115

Experts detected a strain of SARS-CoV-2 with more than 30 changes in its spike protein compared with Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. The newer Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2.87.1, has infected at least 9 people in South Africa since September 2023. No cases have been reported in the US or outside South Africa, the CDC noted in its update. The large number of changes in spike proteins raises the possibility that the new strain could escape the immunity people have acquired from vaccines or infection. Still, the relatively few cases suggest the variant is not highly transmissible right now.  Although the CDC is carefully monitoring the new strain, the agency expects that current vaccines and treatments will continue to be effective.

Published Online: February 28, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.1115


Unfortunately, as of yesterday, it's been reported that this variant has been found in a handful of cases in Southeast Asia. [Or, rather, it's in the wastewater in several locations. Indicating somebody's shedding it - at least one person - in those locations.] It is still, apparently, not spreading widely there that they know of. One can hope it will be a dud.

The CDC is now recommending anyone over 65 and/or immunocompromised should get  ~ another ~  jab of the new monovalent vaccination for Covid if it's been more than 4 months. Four months being about how long the strongest part of any immunity one gets from the vaccine lasts before dropping off down to/below 40% effective against hospitalization.*    I have had conversations with people who still think that if they had the first set of jabs (against the original virus) they have immunity against the current strains circulating and/or that if they had one of the boosters at some point a year or two back they're still protected.  "Protected" is a slippery term, really.... but they are not protected in any substantial way, if at all.  CDC (et.al.) are not doing a good job explaining to the general public how these vaccines work. Or the concept of "mutation"....

I am so tired of hearing how "well, the death toll isn't as bad as it was back in the original and then the Omicron waves". Yeah, well, it's kind of killed off the  1,184,134 people most vulnerable so far in the USA, it seems (CDC's own data, which is considered by several experts to be a serious under-count).    Yes, the vaccines do help until they wear off or the virus mutates again. "Isn't as bad as it was" doesn't mean it's not still a damned dangerous virus.

To use what may be an obscure reference:  I haven't heard the fat lady sing yet. (Covid may have killed her, so she'll never sing again.)

Stay safe, Tami.


  * Estimated efficacy rate in older people for the Moderna/Pfizer vaccines. Apparently Novovax is protective up to 65% out to a year's time. Or, the previous version of it was. Hasn't been long enough to know about the "new" XBB.1.5  vaccines from last fall, but from what I'm reading they seem to expect similar timelines. Since the CDC has now recommended it, Medicare plans must now provide it at no cost to the recipient, so I'm booked for a Novovax on Wednesday afternoon at CVS. I have no idea if people with only private insurance will have to pay for the jab or not.]

Four years ago today, March 11, 2020 ----  After more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Timeline for UK - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_Kingdom_(January%E2%80%93June_2020) (best easily available source.)   Timeline for the USA - https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html   CDC timeline excerpted heavily, below. It seems to stop with 2022. UK's goes to 2024. If Trump wins the election, the US version will probably disappear.


For the memories of those we have lost.....  excerpts from year one, USA.

December 31, 2019 - The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in China is informed of several cases of a pneumonia of unknown etiology (cause) with symptoms including shortness of breath and fever occurring in Wuhan, China.

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January 7, 2020 - Public health officials in China identify a novel coronavirus as the causative agent of the outbreak.

January 19, 2020 - Worldwide, 282 laboratory-confirmed cases of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus have been reported in four countries: China (278 cases), Thailand (2 cases), Japan (1 case) and the Republic of Korea (1 case).

January 21, 2020 - Chinese government officials confirm that human-to-human transmission is driving the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in China.
 
January 22, 2020 - WHO’s International Health Regulation Emergency Committee meets and decides to not declare the 2019 Novel Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Instead, the committee decides to monitor the situation and reconvene in 10 days to re-evaluate.

January 23, 2020 - Wuhan, China — a city of 11 million people — is placed under lockdown due to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

January 31, 2020 -  WHO’s International Health Regulation Emergency Committee reconvenes early to declare the 2019 Novel Coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

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February 4, 2020 - FDA approves the EUA [emergency use authorization] for the CDC developed SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test kit. ...The tests produce “untrustworthy results.”

February 10, 2020 - Worldwide deaths from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus reach 1,013. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has now killed more people than the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-1) outbreak, which claimed 774 lives globally from November 2002 to July 2003.

February 23, 2020 - As Italy becomes a global COVID-19 hotspot, the Italian government issues Decree-Law No. 6, containing urgent measures to contain and manage the epidemiological emergency caused by COVID-19, effectively locking down the country.

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March 11, 2020- After more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic.

March 13 - 15, 2020 -  US States begin to implement shutdowns in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

March 16, 2020 - New and old guidelines begin circulating among state health departments for who gets critical care in the event of ventilator shortages: Massachusetts and Pennsylvania use a point system prioritizing patients by likelihood of benefiting from ICU care, while New York’s 2015 plan relies on “exclusion criteria”— a list of medical conditions that would make a patient ineligible, like traumatic brain injury, severe burns, or cardiac arrest. Alabama’s exclusion criteria list, released in 2010 and since removed from publication, included both “severe or profound mental retardation” and “moderate to severe dementia.”

March 17, 2020 - Moderna Therapeutics begin the first human trials of a vaccine to protect against COVID-19 at a research facility in Seattle, Washington.

March 28, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA to allow hydroxychloroquine sulfate and chloroquine phosphate products to be added the Strategic National Stockpile for the treatment of COVID-19.CDC distributes a Health Alert Network (HAN) warning against using chloroquine phosphate without the recommendation of a doctor or pharmacy after one person is made seriously ill and a second dies from ingesting non-pharmaceutical chloroquine phosphate (a chemical aquariums use that is commercially available for purchase at stores or online) to prevent or treat COVID-19.

March 31, 2020 -  Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Brix announce that between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths in the U.S. are expected— even if social distancing and public health measures are perfectly enacted. The Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology reports that COVID-19 can be transmitted through the eye.

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April 4, 2020 - More than 1 million cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed worldwide, a more than ten-fold increase in less than a month.

April 10, 2020 - With over 18,600 confirmed deaths and more than 500,000 confirmed cases in under four months, the U.S. is the country with the most reported COVID-19 cases and deaths, surpassing Italy and Spain as a global hot-spot for the virus.  With 159,937 confirmed cases, New York State now has more reported cases of COVID-19 than Spain (153,000), Italy (143,000), or China (82,000). Amid critical hospital bed and ventilator shortages, aerial images emerge of workers in hazmat suits burying coffins in mass graves at Hart Island off the Bronx, an area used for over 150 years by New York City officials as a mass burial site for those with no next-of-kin or who cannot afford funerals.

April 13, 2020 - President Trump announces that the U.S. will cease contributing funding to the WHO, shaking the global public health community.

April 20, 2020 -  As the COVID-19 pandemic grows, shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) like gowns, eye shields, masks, and even body bags, become dire.

April 24, 2020 - Georgia, Alaska, and Oklahoma begin to partially reopen their states despite concerns from health experts saying it was too early to reopen.

April 26, 2020 - Clinicians in the U.S. and U.K. report clusters of children and adolescents requiring admission to intensive care units (ICUs) with a multisystem inflammatory condition that can lead to multiorgan failure— similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. This condition will become known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), a serious inflammatory condition that affects children with current or recent COVID-19 infections.

April 30, 2020 - The Trump Administration launches Operation Warp Speed, an initiative to produce a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus as quickly as possible.

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May 8, 2020 -  FDA authorizes the first COVID-19 test with the option of using home-collected saliva samples.

May 11, 2020 - President Trump holds a briefing in the White House Rose Garden to claim that anyone who wants to get a coronavirus test can get one and encourages businesses around the country to reopen. He does not wear a mask.

May 12, 2020 - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), testifies before the U.S. Senate that experts believe more people have died from COVID-19 than have been officially reported and warns against “re-opening” too quickly.

May 15, 2020 - New estimates from a University of Michigan study revise the survival rate for people with COVID-19 who are put on a ventilator from as low as 10% – 12% to between 25% – 50%.

May 21, 2020 - AstraZeneca receives more than $1 billion from the U.S. government in funding for the development of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine, with the first doses due to arrive in September 2020.

May 28, 2020 - The recorded death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. surpasses 100,000.

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June 10, 2020 - The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpasses 2 million.

June 16, 2020 - HHS announces that COVID-19 vaccines will be provided free of charge to older adults and other groups experiencing disproportionate impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine days later CDC expands the list of people at increased risk for severe COVID-19 illness by removing the specific age threshold, instead noting that risk increases with age. CDC also includes people experiencing chronic kidney disease, COPD, obesity, serious heart conditions, sickle cell disease, and type 2 diabetes, and those who are immunocompromised from solid organ transplants.

June 29, 2020 - Despite its development and clinical trials being supported by as much as $6.5 billion in public funds, Gilead Sciences sets the price of Remdesivir, an anti-viral used to treat COVID-19 that can shorten hospital stays and reduce the need for mechanical ventilation, at $3,120 for one typical treatment course ($520 per vial) for insured patients in the U.S.

June 30, 2020 - Dr. Anthony Fauci warns a Senate committee that the number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. could soon rise from 40,000 to 100,000 new infections every day, likely overwhelming an already burdened healthcare system.

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July 6, 2020 - More than 200 scientists sign an open letter asking WHO to update its COVID-19 guidelines to include warnings about airborne transmission.

July 7, 2020 - The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpasses 3 million. The U.S. begins the process of withdrawing from WHO.

July 9, 2020 - WHO announces that the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air and is likely being spread by asymptomatic individuals.

July 15, 2020  - A mandate from the Trump Administration directs hospitals nationwide to stop sending critical information about COVID-19 hospitalization rates and equipment availability to CDC and instead report this data to a new system set up by HHS using a private contractor, raising concerns over the politicization of public health, data, and privacy.

July 22, 2020 -  The US Department of Defense (DOD) and HHS reach a deal with Pfizer BioNTech for the delivery and distribution of 100 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine candidate in December 2020, upon confirmation that the vaccine is safe and effective. Antibody data examined by CDC shows that there were about 10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections than first reported in March 2020 – May 2020 (depending on the region, there were 6 to 24 times more cases than were initially reported).

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August 11, 2020 - The Trump Administration agrees to pay $1.5 billion, or $15 per-dose, to Moderna for 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.

August 15, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA to the Yale School of Public Health for its rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 SalivaDirect. The test uses a new and more flexible method of containing and processing saliva samples when testing for COVID-19, allowing laboratories to increase capacity and efficiency in testing.

August 17, 2020 - COVID-19 becomes the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S. Deaths from COVID-19 now exceed 1,000 per day and nationwide cases exceed 5.4 million.

August 26, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA for Abbott’s BinaxNOW Covid-19 Test Kit— a rapid antigen test that can detect a COVID-19 infection in 15 minutes using the same technology as a flu test.

August 24, 2020 - The first documented case of COVID-19 reinfection is confirmed by the University of Hong Kong.

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September 1, 2020 - The U.S. and China decline to join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, or COVAX, a global program spearheaded by WHO that aims to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines worldwide— more than 170 other nations sign on.

September 3, 2020 - The Journal of the American Medical Association and WHO now recommend the use of steroids for the treatment of severe COVID-19 disease after multiple studies find that steroids like dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, and methylprednisolone— a group of cheap and widely available drugs that reduce inflammation and immune response— can reduce mortality in severe cases of COVID-19 by up to 36%.

September 21, 2020 - Johnson & Johnson begins phase 3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine with 60,000 participants. The J&J vaccine does not need to be frozen and may require just one shot.

September 22, 2020 - The reported death toll in the U.S from COVID-19 surpasses 200,000.

September 28, 2020 - The reported death toll from COVID-19 reaches more than 1 million worldwide— in just 10 months.

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November 4, 2020 -  One day after the presidential election, the U.S. reports 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours.

November 11, 2020 - The journal Nature releases a study showing that most COVID-19 cases originate at indoor gathering spaces— places of worship, restaurants, gyms, and grocery stores. Areas of lower socioeconomic status were found to be at much greater risk.

November 9, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA for Eli Lilly’s drug Bamlanivimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment that mimics the immune system’s response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and appears to protect patients at increased risk from a COVID-19 infection progressing to more severe forms of disease.

November 16, 2020 - Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is found to be 95.4% effective in its clinical trial.

November 18, 2020 - Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is found to be 95% effective in their 44,000-person trial.

November 23, 2020 - FDA grants an EUA for a COVID-19 antibody treatment manufactured by Regeneron. In a clinical trial of 800 people, the drug significantly reduced virus levels within days.
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December 11, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

December 14, 2020 - The recorded death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S surpasses 300,000. Sandra Lindsay, a nurse in New York, becomes the first American outside of clinical trials to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The U.K. announces the detection of a new and more contagious COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.7.

December 18, 2020 - FDA issues an EUA for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

December 24, 2020 - More than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S. in just 10 days

December 30, 2020 - The Oxford University / AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for emergency use in the U.K. Within a week, 530,000 doses are available for care-home residents, adults ages 80 years and older, and healthcare workers.