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Biden Talks of Pandemic Timeline & Immigration at Town Hall Meeting

President Biden on Tuesday said Americans might return by early next year to the routines and lives they remember before COVID-19, but he conceded less than a month into his presidency that “we don’t know.”

Speaking for the first time as president during a town hall event hosted by CNN in Milwaukee, Wis., Biden said he would like to see schools reopen for in-person instruction by summer, urged Americans to do everything possible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and said he empathizes with public confusion and fear about everything from byzantine online vaccine appointment systems to shifting scientific predictions about the impact of coronavirus mutations (The Hill).

“If you’re eligible and it’s available, get the vaccine,” he said, adding “thus far there is no evidence” that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t offer protection against new strains of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.

Apologizing that his answers were lengthy and at times meandering, Biden digressed with quotes he attributed to his parents, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. while reviving his campaign themes of honest talk, decency in governance and fact-based solutions to intractable problems.

COVID-19 is at the top of his list. “Look what we inherited,” he said about the Trump administration’s approach to the pandemic response. “We wasted so much time.”

Biden told CNN’s Anderson Cooper and audience members who asked questions that he has not retreated from his plan to enact $1.9 trillion in coronavirus relief legislation and he voiced unwavering support for a $15 per hour federal minimum wage, a benchmark goal among progressives. Biden also said he “guaranteed” mom and pop small businesses that federal loan money included in his plan would benefit them rather than the large companies that qualified for Paycheck Protection Program funds last year.

During the 75-minute discussion, Biden tried without complete success to avoid mentioning former President Trump, calling him at one point “the former guy.” The president said it was time to talk about the American people and not his predecessor.

“For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump. The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people. I’m tired of talking about Trump,” Biden said when asked about Trump’s weekend impeachment acquittal (The Hill).

Asked about other pending legislation, Biden dove into the tricky waters of immigration, hinting that he would embrace a piecemeal approach to reform. He told Cooper that he would sign a bill even if a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers is not included, but added that the provision remains a priority for his administration.

On the world stage, Biden said the United States “must speak up on human rights” and declared that there will “be repercussions for China” regarding human rights abuses. The president said he raised human rights during his recent two-hour phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, Biden also noted the complexity of the issue, saying that, “I shouldn’t try to talk China policy in 10 minutes on television.”

Tuesday’s Wisconsin event took place in a community concerned about the Jacob Blake police shooting last year, prompting questions about how police departments — especially within minority communities — can be reformed. Biden said the answer is not to defund the police, but rather to improve police departments and to improve judicial sentencing.

Biden also waded into the issue of student debt, reiterating his support to forgive up to $10,000 in repayments. When pressed by one woman who insisted that the forgiveness level needs to rise to $50,000, Biden flatly told her, “I will not make that happen,” pointing to his inability to do that via executive action. The $50,000 figure is one frequently floated by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) (The Hill).

Biden was candid before flying back to the White House from a city that helped him defeat Trump in November that living his life as president is a lot different than he expected. He described the White House as “like a gilded cage” staffed by attentive residence professionals who are present at every turn, which he said takes some getting used to. He surprised Cooper by saying he’d never been in the private quarters of the White House during his career as a senator and vice president.

Biden added that he’s been president for just weeks, “but sometimes it feels like four years because there’s so much happening.”

“It’s the greatest honor an American can be given, from my perspective,” the president continued. “I literally pray that I have the capacity to do for the country what you all deserve should be done.”

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Victoria exits third lockdown amid warnings, celebration

Victorians are rejoicing to have ended their third lockdown, re-emerging from the toughest of their restrictions at the stroke of midnight.

There was relief yesterday when Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed the "short, sharp circuit-breaker" lockdown would end after five days as planned.

Some bars planned to open as soon as the clock struck 11.59pm on Wednesday, while tennis fans prepared to flock back to Melbourne Park from later today for the final days of the Australian Open.

Despite the breakthrough after an outbreak of the UK strain of COVID-19 last week, some restrictions will remain in place and cross-border travel is still limited.

Here's what Victorians need to know about the changes:

READ MORE: Top doc warns delaying COVID jab will delay 'return to normal'

What's changing

From 12.01am, people will be able to leave their house for any reason rather than just for the "essential four" of work, caregiving, shopping and fitness.

There will also be no travel distance limit in place for people headed out to exercise or hit the store.

However, when out of doors, Victorians will need to carry a mask.

Masks are mandatory indoors, and outdoors when social distancing is impossible, such as at shopping centres, on transport, or in crowds.

A temporary limit on houseguests is also in place until Friday next week, with a maximum of five visitors allowed. Out of doors, 20 people can gather in public.

READ MORE: Daniel Andrews nominated for leadership award

Schools, universities and TAFE centres will all be allowed to open, though it will be up to individual institutions to determine how they approach the final days of the week.

Offices will also be open, though high-density workplaces will still be limited by the 50 per cent cap.

Funerals and weddings do not have a specific cap, but crowd numbers will be limited by the venue density limit.

Return to the Open

Crowds will return to the Australian Open from today, with a 50 per cent capacity limit enforced for the final four days of the tournament.

Tennis Australia and health authorities agreed to allow masked punters to return to Melbourne Park.

"The crowd will be capped at 7477 for each session, which is approximately 50 per cent capacity," Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said.

Thursday morning's clash between Naomi Osaki and Serena Williams will be played in front of a socially distanced crowd, the first at the Open in five days.

Businesses celebrate amid warnings

The retail and hospitality sectors will be permitted to reopen, with Victorians urged to dine out to support small businesses.

Vince Diaco, owner of Rebel Blue Greek restaurant in Windsor, said he was overjoyed to be able to open again, but insisted damaging lockdowns could not keep happening.

"We are very excited to be back to normal after what was a very rapid and disappointing decision to lock us down for the third time," he said.

"Businesses have been struggling for over a year now and yes we understand the strain of the situation but this cannot keep happening and needs to be managed in a more strategic way."

Mr Diaco said people dining at restaurants and cafes would make "the world of difference" to small businesses.

Borders begin to come down

South Australia has also dropped its border restrictions with regional Victoria.

"We will be keeping the greater metropolitan restrictions in place and they will remain until the 14 days since the community exposure is eclipsed and that will be the 25th, next Thursday," Premier Steven Marshall said.

Other states will keep their existing restrictions on Victorian entry in place for now.

What comes next

Mr Andrews said he would have "more to say" in coming days about support for businesses.

"We'll make announcements when we're in a position to do that," he said.

"We'll make sure we get payments and other supports out there as fast as we possibly can."

The reopening of the hospitality sector comes as the City of Melbourne announced it would extend its outdoor dining program until mid-2021 to support businesses.

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Europe In Recruitment Drive for Female and Disabled Astronauts

European Space Agency aims to take on 26 people for missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars

‘When it comes to space travel, we are all disabled,’ said Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
‘When it comes to space travel, we are all disabled,’ said Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. Photograph: Ivan Sekretarev/AP

 

European space chiefs have launched their first recruitment drive for new astronauts in 11 years, with particular emphasis on encouraging women and people with disabilities to join missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Tuesday that it was looking to boost the diversity of its crews as it cavassed for up to 26 permanent and reserve astronauts.

 

But the ESA warned that it expected a “very high number” of applications to come in during the eight-week recruitment drive from 31 March, and said candidates would have to endure a tough selection process lasting until October 2022.

“Candidates need to be mentally prepared for this process,” Lucy van der Tas, ESA head of talent acquisition, said at a media conference.

Adapting technology that enabled humans to be in space could open the opportunity for people with disabilities, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti said.

“When it comes to space travel, we are all disabled,” Cristoforetti added.

Requirements for an astronaut job at ESA include a master’s degree in natural sciences, engineering, mathematics or computer science and three years of post-graduate experience.

“I think it’s a great opportunity … It will be an opportunity to learn a lot about yourselves,” Cristoforetti said.

It comes as human space flight appeared set for a revival.

After years in which the only launch site for crewed flights to space was Baikonur in the steppes of Kazakhstan, cooperation with private companies such as SpaceX has raised prospects for more human missions.

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Another COVID Variant Found in UK, World Statistics

Scientists have identified another new coronavirus variant in the UK which has potentially concerning mutations.

B.1.525, the new variant, contains a genetic change called E484K which is also found in the Brazilian and South African variants.

Public Health England (PHE) has said there is no evidence that the mutations in the new variant make the virus more transmissible or cause severe disease.

Laboratory studies have shown that viruses with the E484K mutation can escape human defences, making them more efficient at evading natural and vaccine-triggered immunity.

PHE said 38 cases involving B.1.525 have been identified so far in the UK, after samples dating back to December were studied.

It is not clear where the cases in the UK were found.

The experts said the variant has alterations in its genetic material that make it similar to the Kent variant, which is the dominant virus in the UK

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Seven symptoms should trigger a Covid test, new evidence shows – so what are they

Most of the pupils have adapted quickly to the new weekly testing process

Four more symptoms of Covid should be added to the ‘classic’ cough, fever or loss of taste/smell that should prompt people to get a test, experts have concluded.

They say millions of coronavirus cases could be going undetected because people are only being told to have a test if they have the three most widely recognised signs.

Anyone who feels unwell has been urged to get a test by the researchers behind a new study which suggests that extending the list of symptoms to include fatigue, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea would help pick up around a third more Covid-19 cases.

The findings, published in the Journal of Infection, are based on data from 122,000 UK adults using the Zoe Covid Symptom Study app.

Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist on the Zoe app and professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London (KCL), said: “We’ve known since the beginning that just focusing testing on the classic triad of cough, fever and anosmia (loss of smell) misses a significant proportion of positive cases.

Surge testing has been carried out in various postcodes across England. Credit: PA

“We identified anosmia as a symptom back in May and our work led to the Government adding it to the list; it is now clear that we need to add more.

“By inviting any users who log any new symptoms to get a test, we confirmed that there are many more symptoms of Covid-19.

“This is especially important with new variants that may cause different symptoms.

“For us, the message for the public is clear: if you’re feeling newly unwell, it could be Covid and you should get a test.”

Scientists at KCL teamed up with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (Cepi) to analyse data from 122,000 people, 1,202 of whom reported receiving a positive coronavirus test within a week of first feeling ill.

They found that testing people with any of the three classic symptoms would have spotted 69% of symptomatic cases, with 46 people testing negative for every person testing positive.

But the researchers said that extending the list of symptoms to fatigue, headache, sore throat and diarrhoea in the first three days of illness would have detected 96% of symptomatic cases, with 95 testing negative for every positive test.

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A world-first ‘human challenge’ trial will infect healthy young people with coronavirus to study how it spreads and which vaccines work best

vaccine trial
A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country’s first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, June 24, 2020.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
  • A world-first study in the UK is infecting 90 healthy young people with coronavirus.
  • Scientists will figure out the smallest amount of virus needed to cause COVID-19.
  • They will also study how it spreads from person to person, and which vaccine works best.

A world-first study will infect young, healthy people with coronavirus in a controlled environment to learn more about its characteristics, UK officials announced Monday.

The so-called “human challenge” study has just received ethical approval, and will recruit 90 people between the ages of 18 and 30 who are at low risk of COVID-19 complications.

The study is backed by £33.6 million ($46.5 million) of UK government funding, and will begin within weeks, provided the hospitals with the secure facilities designed to contain the virus give the go-ahead, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said in a press release. 

The volunteers will be exposed to a lab-made coronavirus and monitored for 24 hours so that scientists can determine the smallest amount of virus that can cause infection. Researchers will also study how the virus spreads from person, and the volunteers’ immune responses.

The study will start with the original virus found in the UK in March 2020— that has shown to be low risk for young, healthy people — rather than the more contagious coronavirus variant now spreading in the UK and elsewhere, called B.1.1.7.

Challenge trials regularly play a role in the development of treatments for diseases, such as for cholera and flu, but this is the first human challenge trial for COVID-19.

In a second wave of the study, a small number of volunteers will receive a COVID-19 shot that has proven in clinical trials to be safe, and then be exposed to coronavirus, to help identify which vaccines are most effective.

“These human challenge studies will take place here in the UK and will help accelerate scientists’ knowledge of how coronavirus affects people and could eventually further the rapid development of vaccines,” Kwasi Kwarteng, the UK business secretary, said.

Dr. Chris Chiu, the study’s chief investigator, from Imperial College London, said that the researchers’ eventual aim was to establish which vaccines and treatments work best “in beating this disease.”

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Coronavirus Cases:

110,160,765

Deaths:

2,432,625

Recovered:

84,977,987
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

[back to top ↑]

January Timeline:

  • On January 31, the first 2 novel coronavirus cases in the UK, [18] the first 2 cases in Russia, [20] and the first case in Sweden and in Spain were reported. Canada reported its 4th case.
  • On Jan. 31, the United States
    • declared Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency
    • issued 14 days quarantine rules for US citizens entering the US from China (mandatory if entering from the Hubei province).
    • issued an order to deny entry to foreigners who have traveled to China within the past two weeks.
  • On January 30, the novel coronavirus total case count surpassed that for SARS (which affected 8,096 people worldwide).
  • On January 30, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a Global Public Health Emergency.
  • On January 30 CDC confirmed the first US case of human to human transmission[17].
  • Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States have reported cases in patients who didn’t personally visit China, but contracted the virus from someone else who had visited Wuhan, China[15]. These cases of human to human transmission are the most worrisome, according to the WHO[16].
  • Wuhan (the city where the virus originated) is the largest city in Central China, with a population of over 11 million people. The city, on January 23, shut down transport links. Following Wuhan lock down, the city of Huanggang was also placed in quarantine, and the city of Ezhou closed its train stations. This means than 18 million people have been placed in isolation. The World Health Organization (WHO) said cutting off a city as large as Wuhan is “unprecedented in public health history.”[12] and praised China for its incredible commitment to isolate the virus and minimize the spread to other countries.

How dangerous is the virus?

There are three parameters to understand in order to assess the magnitude of the risk posed by this novel coronavirus:

How contagious is the Wuhan Coronavirus? (Ro)

The attack rate or transmissibility (how rapidly the disease spreads) of a virus is indicated by its reproductive number (Ro, pronounced R-nought or r-zero), which represents the average number of people to which a single infected person will transmit the virus.

WHO’s estimated (on Jan. 23) Ro to be between 1.4 and 2.5. [13]

Other studies have estimated a Ro between 3.6 and 4.0, and between 2.24 to 3.58. [23].

Preliminary studies had estimated Ro to be between 1.5 and 3.5. [5][6][7]

An outbreak with a reproductive number of below 1 will gradually disappear.

For comparison, the Ro for the common flu is 1.3 and for SARS it was 2.0.

Fatality Rate (case fatality ratio or CFR) of the Wuhan Coronavirus

See full details: Coronavirus Fatality Rate

The novel coronavirus’ case fatality rate has been estimated at around 2%, in the WHO press conference held on January 29, 2020 [16] . However, it noted that, without knowing how many were infected, it was too early to be able to put a percentage on the mortality rate figure.

A prior estimate [9] had put that number at 3%.

Fatality rate can change as a virus can mutate, according to epidemiologists.

For comparison, the case fatality rate for SARS was 10%, and for MERS 34%.

Incubation Period (how long it takes for symptoms to appear)

See full details: COVID-19 Coronavirus Incubation Period

Symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 (estimated ranges vary from 2-10 days, 2-14 days, and 10-14 days, see details), during which the virus is contagious but the patient does not display any symptom (asymptomatic transmission).

Age and conditions of Coronavirus cases

 See latest findings: Age, Sex, Demographics of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths

According to early estimates by China’s National Health Commission (NHC), about 80% of those who died were over the age of 60 and 75% of them had pre-existing health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.[24]

According to the WHO Situation Report no. 7 issued on Jan. 27:

  • The median age of cases detected outside of China is 45 years, ranging from 2 to 74 years.
  • 71% of cases were male.

A study of 138 hospitalized patients with NCIP found that the median age was 56 years (interquartile range, 42-68; range, 22-92 years) and 75 (54.3%) were men.[25]

The WHO, in its Myth busters FAQs, addresses the question: “Does the new coronavirus affect older people, or are younger people also susceptible?” by answering that:

  • People of all ages can be infected by the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
  • Older people, and people with pre-existing medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease) appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the virus.

Patient who died in the Philippines was a 44-year old male

The patient who died in the Philippines on February 2, in what was the first death occurring outside of China, was a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan who was admitted on Jan. 25 after experiencing fever, cough, and sore throat, before developing severe pneumonia. In the last few days, “the patient was stable and showed signs of improvement, however, the condition of the patient deteriorated within his last 24 hours resulting in his demise.” according to the Philippine Department of Health.

Serious Cases of 30 year old patients in France

As of Jan. 29, according to French authorities, the conditions of the two earliest Paris cases had worsened and the patients were being treated in intensive care, according to French authorities. The patients have been described as a young couple aged 30 and 31 years old, both Chinese citizens from Wuhan who were asymptomatic when they arrived in Paris on January 18 [19].

Age and Sex of the first deaths as reported by the China National Health Commission (NHC)

The NHC reported the details of the first 17 deaths up to 24 pm on January 22, 2020. The deaths included 13 males and 4 females. The median age of the deaths was 75 (range 48-89) years.[21]

WHO Risk Assessment: Global Emergency

See full details: WHO coronavirus updates

On January 30, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a Global Public Health Emergency.

For more information from the WHO regarding novel coronavirus: WHO page on 

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