COVID-19 News from Around the Web

A potential exodus of older educators susceptible to the coronavirus and those with existing health problems may fuel already high turnover. A full third of teachers told Education Week they were somewhat or very likely to leave their job this year – compared with just 8% who leave the profession in a typical year. Many substitutes also may quit. Now, new restrictions on foreign visas will make it harder for some states to import teachers from other countries to work in already hard-to-staff positions.

The COVID-19 vaccine may become available before the end of the year — a long awaited milestone in the coronavirus pandemic for some, and a source of worry for others. More than a third of Americans, 35%, said they wouldn’t get a free U.S. government-approved vaccine if it were ready today, according to a recent Gallup survey. Previous polls found many people who were reluctant to get immunized worried about the safety of a vaccine that’s being developed with unprecedented speed.

The federal government has told states to prepare for a coronavirus vaccine to be ready to distribute by Nov. 1. The timeline raised concern among public health experts about an “October surprise” — a vaccine approval driven by political considerations ahead of a presidential election, rather than science. In a letter to governors dated Aug. 27, Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said states “in the near future” will receive permit applications from McKesson Corp., which has contracted with CDC to distribute vaccines to places including state and local health departments and hospitals.

Is it safe to vote in person on election day 2020? Or should you choose early voting or a mail-in ballot? Experts say the answer depends on a variety of factors unique to you -- your personal risk, the degree of Covid-19 transmission in your local area and your willingness to plan and execute personal safety precautions while casting your vote. "Make a voting plan. Make that voting plan early and have a backup plan for your plan," advised Hannah Klain, an Equal Justice Works fellow in the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City.

Ahead of Labor Day weekend, Dr. Anthony Fauci wants the public to know that precautions to prevent COVID-19 are just as important as ever. The nation's leading infectious disease expert stressed that after previous holidays during the pandemic, especially Fourth of July and Memorial Day, "we saw ... a surge in cases." "Wear a mask, keep social distancing, avoid crowds," Fauci emphasized about behavior this weekend. "You can avoid those kind of surges. The doctor also spoke about the possibility of a twindemic, should cases of the flu and COVID-19 both rise in the fall and winter.

There is growing concern that the Food and Drug Administration, under political pressure, could approve a Covid-19 vaccine before it has robust safety and efficacy data. The consequences of such a decision could be significant, particularly if the vaccine is ultimately shown to be less effective than early data suggest. But an approval before the completion of large, Phase 3 trials does not have to be problematic. Experts aren’t ruling out the possibility that a vaccine could be cleared this fall if it is very effective.

In June, a single large study of more than 6,200 patients found that corticosteroids, a class of drugs that reduce inflammation, could prevent at least some cases of coronavirus-related ARDS and the resulting deaths. Now, the WHO confirmed that preliminary report, announcing a new policy, based on a study published in JAMA, calling for the administration of steroids to all patients in the “severe and critical” category. The new conclusions were reached through a meta-analysis of seven different studies, each exploring the efficacy of corticosteroids in the most serious cases of COVID-19. The combined sample group from all seven studies included 1,703 severely ill patients, 678 of whom were administered steroids and 1,025 who received ordinary care (which did not include steroids) or a placebo. All of the patients were hospitalized and most were on ventilators. Over the course of 28 days, the death rate was 34% lower among the steroid-treated patients than among those in the control group.

The epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic is a moving target. In the spring, it was New York City. Then Florida, Texas and California became hotspots. And now, with fall approaching, the outbreak has a new locus: the Midwest. It is the country’s only region where daily case counts are rising in nearly every state—and in some in the area, like the Dakotas and Iowa, they’re increasing dramatically.

The University of South Carolina has reported more than 1,000 students who have tested positive for the virus and are currently active cases. The figures, made available on the university’s Covid-19 dashboard, include a nearly 28 percent positive test rate for students between Aug. 28 and 31. The university, which has about 35,000 students, took action earlier this week against more than a dozen of them as well as several Greek life organizations that administrators said recently hosted parties or large gatherings.

Oxford researchers, in partnership with AstraZeneca, started dosing the first volunteers in Florida on Friday, and 31 Americans received either the vaccine or a placebo throughout the weekend, as part of the clinical trial. "Look at the amount of lives that we lost. And I just don't want that to keep occurring," 23-year-old trial volunteer Jacob Serrano told CBS News chief medical contributor Dr. Jon LaPook. As the first American to be dosed with either the vaccine or its placebo from Oxford and AstraZeneca, Serrano has already lost seven family members to COVID-19 and says he wants to be part of the solution to save lives, no matter the cost. "I know there was a risk because it's like — it's a trial," Serrano said. "But I'd rather have us one step closer, no matter what it takes."

Sickle cell disease, which causes Covid-like symptoms — clotting, strokes, and severe oxygen deprivation — is one of the medical conditions that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says puts people at higher risk for severe illness from the coronavirus. Now, a research team is trying to determine whether the several million people who merely carry one copy of the sickle cell mutation — but do not have the disease itself — could be more vulnerable to Covid-19, and whether that might be one reason the virus is disproportionately sickening and killing Black Americans.