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COVID-19 News from Around the Web

Pfizer launches COVID-19 vaccine trial in pregnant women
TODAY - February 19, 2021
The drugmaker aims to enroll about 4,000 pregnant women in the trials, which will include participants in the U.S. as well as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mozambique, South Africa, Spain and the U.K. Women over 18 and who are 24 to 34 weeks into their pregnancy will be eligible. The first doses will be administered in the U.S., Pfizer said.
The Good News of COVID-19 Is Sticking, for Now
The Atlantic - February 19, 2021
Weekly new cases have fallen from 1.7 million at the national peak in early January to fewer than 600,000 this week, and cases have declined in every state … case numbers are changing most quickly, with hospitalizations and deaths declining after a delay: Cases have been falling sharply for five weeks, hospitalizations for four, and deaths for two. In this week’s numbers from nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities, we are now seeing solid declines in deaths correlated with COVID-19 vaccinations in this most vulnerable population.
Experts warn against COVID-19 variants as states reopen
AP - February 19, 2021
Scientists widely agree that the U.S. simply doesn’t have enough of a handle on the variants to roll back public health measures and is at risk of fumbling yet another phase of the pandemic after letting the virus rage through the country over the last year and kill nearly 500,000 people.
No Evidence Coronavirus Spreads Through Food or Food Packaging: FDA
HealthDay - February 19, 2021
Of the more than 100 million cases of COVID-19 worldwide, there hasn't been any epidemiological evidence of food or food packaging as the source of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) transmission to humans, and national and international surveillance systems have found no signs of such transmission.
A Fifth of COVID Patients With Diabetes Die Within 1 Month of Hospitalization
HealthDay - February 19, 2021
The newer, updated results are from a larger number of patients -- close to 2,800 -- treated for COVID-19 at 68 hospitals across France. Their mean age was 70, nearly two-thirds were men, and many were overweight. About 40% were also experiencing various forms of complications from their diabetes. During the 28 days after their admission to a hospital, 21% of patients died, the French team reported Feb. 17 in the journal Diabetologia.
The level of Covid-19 among children reflects cases in the community, not whether schools were open
CNN - February 19, 2021
Covid-19 case rates among children track much more consistently with overall case rates in a state than with trends in in-person learning in K-12 schools, according to a CNN analysis of state-level data. The five states with the least Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents are also the five states with the lowest case rates among children … Similarly, four of the five states with the most Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents are also those with the highest case rates among children…
Nursing Home Workers Had One of the Deadliest Jobs of 2020
Scientific American - February 19, 2021
As COVID-19 swept across the world last year, death rates among nursing home staff ranked among the highest for any job in the U.S., based on a Scientific American analysis of data from [CMS and BLS]. But the CMS, which sets quality standards for skilled nursing facilities, only started requiring nursing homes to report such deaths in May 2020—just after last spring’s devastating peak in COVID deaths in parts of the country. So the calculated death rate is almost certainly an undercount…
Biden rolling out plan for $4 billion global vaccine effort
AP - February 19, 2021
Joe Biden will use his first big presidential moment on the global stage at Friday’s Group of Seven meeting of world leaders to announce that the U.S. will soon begin releasing $4 billion for an international effort to bolster the purchase and distribution of coronavirus vaccine to poor nations, White House officials said.
Africa reaches 100,000 known COVID-19 deaths as danger grows
AP - February 19, 2021
Africa has surpassed 100,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 as the continent praised for its early response to the pandemic now struggles with a dangerous resurgence and medical oxygen often runs desperately short. “We are more vulnerable than we thought,” the director of the Africa CDC, John Nkengasong, told AP…
U.S. life expectancy fell by a year in the first half of 2020, CDC report finds
STAT - February 18, 2021
Preliminary data from the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics released Thursday mark a reversal of incremental gains over the past few years. Life expectancy at birth for the total U.S. population declined from 78.8 years in 2019 to 77.8 years for January through June 2020. During that same time period, life expectancy for non-Hispanic Black people decreased by 2.7 years (74.7 to 72); for Hispanic individuals, 1.9 years (81.8 to 79.9); and for non-Hispanic white people, 0.8 years (78.8 to 78).
Pfizer says South African variant could significantly reduce vaccine protection
Reuters - February 18, 2021
A laboratory study suggests that the South African variant of the coronavirus may reduce antibody protection from the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE vaccine by two-thirds, and it is not clear if the shot will be effective against the mutation, the companies said on Wednesday. The study found the vaccine was still able to neutralize the virus and there is not yet evidence from trials in people that the variant reduces vaccine protection, the companies said.