COVID-19

22Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS

For Thousands Of US Nonprofits Battered By COVID-19’s Early Costs Government Support Was Key

Government support was key for thousands of US nonprofits battered by COVID-19’s early costs − new research. Government funding helped keep U.S. charities afloat during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study I conducted with Stephanie Karol, a fellow economist. We found that charitable donations declined by more than an estimated 20% during that period – which preceded a sharp end-of-year upswing in giving in late 2020. But the government grants to nonprofits, which soared during those six months by over 65%, and the Paycheck Protection Program – a government-run loan program established to support employers as the pandemic upended the economy – enabled many charities to retain their employees. The pandemic hindered many donors’ ability to give, while also ...

Masks Are Still A Tried-And-True Way To Help Keep Yourself And Others Safe As Viral Infections Skyrocket

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

Masks Are Still A Tried-And-True Way To Help Keep Yourself And Others Safe As Viral Infections Skyrocket

The cold and flu season of 2022 has begun with a vengeance. Viruses that have been unusually scarce over the past three years are reappearing at remarkably high levels, sparking a “tripledemic” of COVID-19, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. This November’s national hospitalization levels for influenza were the highest in 10 years. We are infectious disease epidemiologists and researchers, and we have spent our careers focused on understanding how viruses spread and how best to stop them. To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we and our public health colleagues have had to quickly revive and apply decades of evidence on respiratory virus transmission to chart a path forward. Over the course of the pandemic, epidemiologists have established with new certainty the fact that ...

Twitter Lifted Its Ban On COVID Misinformation – Research Shows This Is A Grave Risk To Public Health

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Twitter Lifted Its Ban On COVID Misinformation – Research Shows This Is A Grave Risk To Public Health

Twitter’s decision to no longer enforce its COVID-19 misinformation policy, quietly posted on the site’s rules page and listed as effective Nov. 23, 2022, has researchers and experts in public health seriously concerned about the possible repercussions. Health misinformation is not new. A classic case is the misinformation about a purported but now disproven link between autism and the MMR vaccine based on a discredited study published in 1998. Such misinformation has severe consequences for public health. Countries that had stronger anti-vaccine movements against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccines faced a higher incidence of pertussis in the late-20th century, for example. As a researcher who studies social media, I believe that reducing content moderation is a significant step...

Racial Disparities In Booster Rates Persist – Low Vaccine Booster Rates Are Now A Key Factor In COVID-19 Deaths

2Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, VIDEO REELS

Racial Disparities In Booster Rates Persist – Low Vaccine Booster Rates Are Now A Key Factor In COVID-19 Deaths

More than 450 people are dying of COVID-19 in the U.S. each day as of late August 2022. When COVID-19 vaccines first became available, public officials, community organizations and policymakers mobilized to get shots into arms. These efforts included significant investments in making vaccines accessible to Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native populations. These groups experienced exceptionally high COVID-19 death rates early in the pandemic and had low initial vaccine rates. The efforts worked. As of August 2022, vaccination rates for the primary series – or required initial doses of COVID-19 vaccines – for Black and Hispanic people exceeded those of white Americans. But boosters are a different story. Comparable booster vaccine promotion efforts have been lacking. Confusi...

Will The New COVID-19 Variant BA.2, Cause Another Wave Of Infections In The US?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

Will The New COVID-19 Variant BA.2, Cause Another Wave Of Infections In The US?

A new omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2, is quickly becoming the predominant source of infections amid rising cases around the world. Immunologists Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti of the University of South Carolina explain what makes it different from previous variants, whether there will be another surge in the U.S. and how best to protect yourself. What is BA.2, and how is it related to omicron? BA.2 is the latest subvariant of omicron, the dominant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. While the origin of BA.2 is still unclear, it has quickly become the dominant strain in many countries, including India, Denmark and South Africa. It is continuing to spread in Europe, Asia and many parts of the world. The omicron variant, officially known...

More Questions Answered – Will New Vaccines Be Better At Fighting Coronavirus Variants?

4May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

By Listening To Other Black Mothers, As A Black Sociologist, And A Mom – I’ve Learned About Their Pandemic Struggles And Strengths

I spent the 2020 spring break week setting up to teach my college courses online while helping to care for my 14-month-old grandchild, whose daycare had closed. At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking, being the sociologist I am, of the devastating consequences of COVID-19 I saw for women like me, Black mothers, whom I have studied for over a decade. Social science research can influence policy. Sharing Black mothers’ stories in their own voices may ultimately lead to more compassionate policies. My work is part of a small body of descriptive research, mostly by researchers of color, countering negativity and victim-blaming in earlier studies of Black families. My research partner, sociologist BarBara Scott, lives in Chicago, where I grew up. In our studies of Black mothers there, we’...

An Epidemiologist Scoured The Latest Research And Has Some Answers To The Question – Do You Need A Second Booster Shot?

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

An Epidemiologist Scoured The Latest Research And Has Some Answers To The Question – Do You Need A Second Booster Shot?

In late March 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines for vulnerable populations in the U.S., a move that was soon after endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People ages 50 years and older and certain immunocompromised individuals who are at higher risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death are eligible four months after receiving the initial booster shot. A second booster shot is equivalent to a fourth dose for people who received a Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna mRNA series or a third dose for those who received the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In Israel, people in these same vulnerable categories began receiving fourth doses in January 2022. The U.K. recently started administering a four...

Widows Of COVID-19 Struggle To Get Benefits As Social Security Offices Remain Closed

1Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Widows Of COVID-19 Struggle To Get Benefits As Social Security Offices Remain Closed

The day after her husband’s funeral, Rondell Gulick called Social Security. Now alone with their nine children, the stay-at-home mom faced what would become a months-long process of claiming the benefits she was counting on to keep her family afloat. Gulick, like many people trying to access benefits, is at the mercy of phone calls. Across the country, Social Security Administration offices have been closed since the start of the pandemic and with nearly 900,000 additional deaths caused by coronavirus, there are thousands of people seeking Social Security survivors benefits, some who know little about the process. The majority of people seeking survivors benefits, by far, are women. In December 2021, the most recent month of data, about 92 percent of those seeking young survivors benef...

4 Essential Reads On Past Pandemics And What The Future Could Bring – When Will The COVID-19 Pandemic End?

26Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

4 Essential Reads On Past Pandemics And What The Future Could Bring – When Will The COVID-19 Pandemic End?

More than two years after the first cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed, people are exhausted by the coronavirus pandemic, ready for all this to end. When – if ever – is it realistic to expect SARS-CoV-2 will recede from the headlines and daily life? That’s the unspoken question beneath the surface of many of The Conversation’s articles about COVID-19. None of our authors can see the future, but many do have expertise that offers insights about what’s reasonable to expect. Here are four such stories from our archive. Written by historians and scientists, they each suggest a way to think about what’s at the end of the pandemic tunnel – and paths to get there. 1. Past pandemics are not a perfect prediction Almost as soon as it hit, people were trying to figure out how the COVID-19 pandemic wou...