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COVID-19 News from Around the Web

Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has COVID-19
AP - September 24, 2020
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, spokeswoman Kelli Jones said.
Houston study: More contagious coronavirus strain now dominates
Reuters - September 24, 2020
The first study to analyze the structure of the novel coronavirus from two waves of infection in a major city found that a more contagious strain dominates recent samples, researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital said on Wednesday. .... study has not yet been reviewed by outside experts … But they found little evidence that mutations in the virus have made it deadlier, noting that severity of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, was more strongly linked to patients’ underlying medical conditions and genetics.
Singing Without a Face Mask Can Spread COVID-19
HealthDay - September 24, 2020
If you sing indoors without a face mask, you run the risk of spreading COVID-19 through tiny airborne particles known as aerosols. That's the conclusion researchers reached after studying a choir practice. In Skagit Valley, Wash., one person with mild symptoms of COVID-19 attended a 2.5-hour-long indoor choir practice on March 10. Over the next several weeks, more than 50 others from the rehearsal got sick and two died.
How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine
FiveThirtyEight - September 24, 2020
I spoke with a handful of people who really know how vaccines, clinical trials and COVID-19 work to find out how to know when it’s a good idea to get the vaccine. They offered these four pieces of advice: Look for transparency in the data — even if you don’t go through it yourself … Listen to the independent reviews (with a caveat) … Be highly skeptical of anything released before the end of the year… Trust the experts who are being straight with you about the limitations above everyone else
‘Unfathomable’: US death toll from coronavirus hits 200,000
AP - September 23, 2020
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus topped 200,000 Tuesday, by far the highest in the world, hitting the once-unimaginable threshold six weeks before an election that is certain to be a referendum in part on President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis. … The number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 67 days. It is roughly equal to the population of Salt Lake City or Huntsville, Alabama. And it is still climbing. Deaths are running at close to 770 a day on average, and a widely cited model from the University of Washington predicts the U.S. toll will double to 400,000 by the end of the year as schools and colleges reopen and cold weather sets in. A vaccine is unlikely to become widely available until 2021.