BY Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions – Rapid Test Center of NY

Rapid Test Center of New York
Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP

March 10, 2021

CoViD-19 News and Information you can trust. Welcome new readers from the Rapid Test Center.

Topics: Faint Light at the end of the tunnel is visible

Faint Light at the end of the tunnel Today was a very interesting and positive day which buoyed my increasingly optimistic view of life at the end of this summer. Let me tell you a little about why I am writing this. My day today illustrates what I am talking about. My day started early with a series of zoom conference calls with different clients all looking at the same questions. The questions that they are asking are in preparation for developing actual plans to resume our normal life over the next 6-8 months. Whether it was how to put on large road races or how to bring live audiences back to TV shows or how to put on a huge amazing charity benefit with a live audience, all of these clients were asking practical questions and developing real plans. Yesterday, I was on the phone with two clients talking about returning their employees to the worksite.  These conference calls had a different feel to them. People see some hope and light ahead of them. Operational teams are digging in to make practical plans. Then I watched President Biden announce that the US is planning to purchase an additional 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine by the end of the year. If you do the math, you will see that we may actually have a surplus of vaccine in this country. When the President was asked about that at a news conference today, he said that if we do have a surplus, we would help other countries vaccinate their populations. That was exactly the RIGHT ANSWER. Imagine that, America may actually help other less fortunate countries and take a leadership position. Amazing! Its the right answer because virus anywhere is virus everywhere. As I have written before, an escape variant can develop anywhere and prevent us from every ending this pandemic so the entire world must be vaccinated. I share in this cautious optimism because vaccines are working. One only has to look into the nursing home situation to see the effect. As you may recall, last fall, nursing homes were devastated by CoViD-19 infections. 1/3 of all deaths in the US have been in nursing homes or similar type facilities. This problem was identified and targeted and fixed. Nursing home deaths have plummeted since the roll out of targeted vaccines. Deaths and CoViD-19 cases in nursing homes have dropped much faster than in the general population. So much so that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the entity that issues guidance to nursing homes, issued a new 8 page set of guidelines that basically said that outdoor visits are still preferred but also encouraged nursing homes to permit indoor visits “at all times for al residents” except in a few circumstances. So the lonely isolation that many of our elderly Americans have experienced over this past year, may be coming slowly to an end. I ended my day visiting a community vaccination center in Brooklyn. New York City has asked my team to stand up a community vaccine center in an underserved area of New York City and we went to learn from a center that is already operational. I watched people quickly flow through the vaccination center and I saw the smiles and relief on their faces as they exited knowing that they were on the road back to a normal life.  Between the nursing home guidance today and the CDC guidance two days ago, we can see the mountaintop in the distance. We still have some rough terrain to traverse and I am not suggesting that we throw caution to the wind and rush into relaxing precautions too early. We still have the worrisome UK and South African variants circulating. We also have the P.1 Brazilian variant in our country and that particular variant is making Brazil a mess at the moment.  But if we stay the course a little bit longer, wear masks even when short sighted politicians prematurely relax their state’s mask mandates, and get vaccinated, there is a path back to a normal life.  I’m feeling good about our pandemic response now. We may have some set backs along the way but we have a plan that is sound and good people to implement it in place.  When you are eligible, get your self vaccinated so we can get through this together. . Dr. Stu Weiss

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COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY

Coronavirus update for March 10, 2021

World Wide Updates UNICEF’s education chief calls for schools to reopen safely 10 countries in Africa are now giving out coronavirus vaccines through COVAX, according to WHO Thailand invites you to bring your own yacht for a luxury quarantine Poland’s third wave of Covid-19 is “accelerating,” health minister says Ukraine approves China’s Sinovac vaccine North America sees drop in Covid-19 cases, while Brazil faces its deadliest day of the pandemic, PAHO says Newly published data suggests coronavirus variant first identified in UK appears to be more deadly South Korea will vaccinate Olympic athletes on priority for Tokyo 2020 Vaccine production of Sputnik V will begin this summer in Europe EU backs off claims of UK vaccine nationalism in ongoing spat Novavax expects to see results from its Phase 3 vaccine trial in the US and Mexico in April UK Covid-19 track and trace program under fire for having little impact Brazil reports nearly 2,000 Covid-19 deaths in highest daily toll of the pandemic Rich nations vaccinating 1 person per second, but most poorer ones haven’t given a single shot, watchdog says  Brazil suffers new highest daily death toll Five countries suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine Malta announces new lockdown after surge in cases New Covid cases in Turkey hit highest level this year after curbs ceased Nothing to suggest vaccine behind deaths in Austria, EMA says Daily cases in France above 30,000 for first time in two weeks Guatemala and Honduras receive their first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine doses via COVAX scheme this week Tanzania’s president, John Magufuli, critically ill in a hospital in Kenya after contracting coronavirus  Total Cases Worldwide: 118,570,058 Total Deaths Worldwide: 2,629,916 Total Recovered: 94,180,238 US Updates Biden says US is on track to have enough Covid-19 vaccines for every adult by end of May Covid-19 death rates were higher in Republican-led states in second half of 2020, study finds Health care workers suffer higher rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD during pandemic, study reveals Nearly 96 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the US Officer will be positioned outside Houston restaurant after threats over mask-wearing policy, owner says CDC is monitoring vaccinated pregnant women, Fauci says Variants first found in New York and UK account for more than half of NYC Covid-19, health officials say CDC’s ensemble forecast now projects up to 571,000 US Covid-19 deaths by April 3 Utah will lift its mask mandate on April 10 Biden thanks Johnson & Johnson and Merck for “putting patriotism and public health first” New recommendations mark first step toward a return to pre-pandemic life, CDC director and colleagues say A mask mandate could help this Texas restaurant owner keep his restaurant and his life in his battle with cancer Nashville, TN plans on vaccinating 10,000 to move city closer to herd immunity A safer time might be just months away, but experts say don’t abandon Covid-19 safety measure yet Biden announced plans to purchase 100 million more Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses NYC officials keep wary eye on COVID variants as more New Yorkers become eligible for vaccines Coronavirus vaccines coming for teens and children, Fauci says Alaska makes COVID vaccine available to all adults, being the first state to do so California college paying students not to travel in spring break Plasma treatment of COVID-19 shows promise FDA OKs new test that could be game changer for COVID-19 long haulers ‘Human error’ causes over 6K Californians to receive low COVID-19 vaccine dose alert Total US cases: 29,849,144 Total US deaths: 541,817 Total Recovered: 20,613,583 Total Tested in US: 367,015,805 Total cases in CA: 3,609,470 Total deaths in CA: 54,725 Total cases in TX: 2,711,068 Total deaths in TX: 46,001 Total cases in FL: 1,957,586 Total deaths in FL: 32,012 Total cases in NY: 1,751,628 Total deaths in NY: 48,810 Total cases in IL: 1,202,709 Total deaths in IL: 23,067 Total cases in GA: 1,028,432 Total death in GA: 18,036 Total Vaccines Administered in US: 95,721,290

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