HealthDay -
March 19, 2021
Children not receiving in-person school instruction and their parents have worse mental, emotional, and physical health outcomes, according to research published in the March 19 issue of the CDC MMWR. … The researchers found that 45.7. 30.9, and 23.4 percent of the 1,290 respondents with a child enrolled in public or private school reported that their child received virtual instruction, in-person instruction, and combined instruction, respectively.
Reuters -
March 19, 2021
Reuters surveyed school districts nationwide in February to assess the mental health impacts of full or partial school shutdowns. … Of the 74 districts that responded, 74% reported multiple indicators of increased mental health stresses among students. More than half reported rises in mental health referrals and counseling. Nearly 90% of responding districts cited higher rates of absenteeism or disengagement, metrics commonly used to gauge student emotional health. … 57% of responding districts reported an increase in teachers and support staff seeking assistance.
Yahoo! Finance -
March 19, 2021
U.S. new weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose last week even amid a wave of abating social distancing restrictions and improving weather. … Though initial unemployment claims held below 800,000 for a fourth consecutive week, they unexpectedly rose by 45,000, whereas consensus economists had anticipated new claims to fall to a fresh pandemic-era low of 700,000.
Reuters -
March 19, 2021
France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course. … His prime minister, Jean Castex, said France was in the grip of a third wave, with the virulent variant first detected in Britain now accounting for some 75% of cases. Intensive care wards are under severe strain, notably in Paris…
ABC News -
March 18, 2021
A study in Denmark has found that people who were infected during the first surge of COVID-19 were unlikely to be reinfected during the second surge, but the risk of reinfection was higher for people older than 65. … Ethelberg and his colleagues found that out of nearly 17,000 people who were infected during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic from March to May, only 72 people (about 0.7%) were reinfected during the second surge from September to December.
The Atlantic -
March 18, 2021
The CDC does not grant membership to the “fully vaccinated” club until at least two weeks after the final dose in a vaccine regimen—a time that roughly corresponds to when most people are thought to acquire enough immunity to defend against a symptomatic case of COVID-19. Only then, the agency announced last week, can vaccinees start to carefully change their behavior, mingling maskless in small groups indoors, visiting the unvaccinated on a limited basis, and skipping postexposure quarantines.
CBS News -
March 18, 2021
At 36 weeks pregnant, a South Florida frontline health care worker received her first shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. She gave birth three weeks later to a healthy baby girl — with COVID-19 antibodies. Doctors believe the newborn marks the first known case of a baby born with coronavirus antibodies in the U.S., which may offer her some protection against the virus.
PEOPLE -
March 18, 2021
New COVID-19 infections are again on the rise in parts of the U.S., as the weary country moves past the one-year anniversary of the pandemic and waits to be vaccinated. In 14 states across the country, cases have risen by more than 10% this week compared to the week prior, CNN reported. The increases are primarily happening in the upper Midwest, the New York area and the Mid-Atlantic, reversing the downward trend that has been happening since mid-January. Michigan is seeing the largest jump, with cases increasing 50% over the last two weeks.
NPR -
March 18, 2021
The funds will come from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Biden signed last week. … Allocations for each state were announced, ranging from $17 million for Wyoming to nearly $888 million for California. The District of Columbia and U.S. territories will receive funding, as will New York City, Los Angeles County, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia.
BBC -
March 18, 2021
People who walk slowly may be nearly four times more likely to die from Covid-19, a new study has found. Health researchers based in Leicester concluded slow walkers with a "normal" weight were 3.75 times more likely to die from the virus than brisk walkers. The project used data collected from more than 400,000 middle-aged people.
PEW Research -
March 17, 2021
One year into the societal convulsions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, about a fifth of U.S. adults (21%) are experiencing high levels of psychological distress, including nearly three-in-ten (28%) among those who say the outbreak has changed their lives in “a major way.” The share of the public experiencing psychological distress has edged down slightly since March 2020 but remains elevated among some groups in the population.
Washington Post -
March 17, 2021
Some people who have spent months suffering from long-haul covid-19 are taking to social media to report their delight at seeing their symptoms disappear after their vaccinations, leaving experts chasing yet another puzzling clinical development surrounding the disease caused by the coronavirus. “The only thing that we can safely assume is that an unknown proportion of people who acquire SARS-CoV-2 have long-term symptoms,” said Steven Deeks, an infectious-disease physician at the University of California at San Francisco. “We know the questions. We have no answers. Hard stop.”
CBS News -
March 17, 2021
The acting head of FEMA told lawmakers on Tuesday that less than 6% of COVID-19 tests for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border have come back positive, a lower percentage than the overall positivity rate in the state of Texas. … However, the rate of infection among migrants tested at the border is lower than that of the state overall. As of Tuesday, the seven-day average of the state's positivity rate stood at 7.4%, according to Johns Hopkins University.
AP -
March 17, 2021
The European Union’s drug regulator insisted Tuesday that there is “no indication” the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots as governments around the world faced the grimmest of dilemmas: push on with a vaccine known to save lives or suspend its use over reports of clotting in some recipients. The European Medicines Agency urged governments not to halt use of the vaccine at a time when the pandemic is still taking thousands of lives each day.
CBS News -
March 17, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic that opened the door to working from home for millions of workers as a way to keep them safe also appears to have created enduring demand for remote jobs. The number of U.S. job postings on Indeed.com that mention "remote work," "telecommute" or "working from home" has more than doubled over the last year, from 2.9% in January 2020 to 6.9% last month ... Most of those remote positions are in finance, law, therapy and technology, especially tech support and software development.
NBC News -
March 17, 2021
More than a year into the pandemic, many families who have been stuck at home are itching to go on a vacation. But don’t pack your bags quite yet, experts say. While more adults are getting vaccinated against the coronavirus every day, children, particularly younger ones, are not expected to get the vaccines for months. In the meantime, once all the adults in your family have been vaccinated, does that mean it’s now safe to take that long-delayed trip?