Health

(NEW YORK) — A highly contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was initially identified in India now accounts for about 58% of all COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data updated by the CDC on Tuesday evening shows the so-called delta variant, also known as B.1.617.2, was estimated to be responsible for 57.6% of newly confirmed cases nationwide from June 20 through July 3. The proportion was estimated at just 31.1% for the two weeks prior.

In late May, the delta variant was estimated to account for approximately 3% of new cases in the U.S, according to CDC data.

After being initially identified in India in October, the delta variant has since been reported in at least 104 countries around the globe and is expected to soon be the dominant coronavirus variant circulating worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. The variant was first detected in the U.S. in March and is now present in all 50 states.

“The delta variant is ripping around the world at a scorching pace, driving a new spike in cases and death,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus said during a COVID-19 press briefing on Monday.

Last week marked the fourth consecutive week that the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased globally. Deaths are also on the rise again after 10 weeks of decline, according to Tedros, who noted that the WHO has received reports from all regions of the world about hospitals reaching capacity.

“In places with high vaccination coverage, Delta is spreading quickly; especially infecting unprotected and vulnerable people and steadily putting pressure back on health systems,” he said. “In countries with low vaccine coverage, the situation is particularly bad.”

The WHO declared delta a “variant of concern” in May, and the CDC upgraded its classification of the strain in June from “variant of interest” to a “variant of concern.” Both the WHO and the CDC say that variants of concern have shown to be both more infectious and more virulent than other strains.

The delta variant has shown to be particularly dangerous to those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against COVID-19, and preliminary data indicates it may increase the risk of hospitalization.

However, current evidence suggests that the full dosage of a COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in preventing hospitalizations and serious illness. Instances where a fully vaccinated individual becomes infected with COVID-19, known as breakthrough cases, are exceedingly rare. And while early laboratory studies indicated the vaccines seem to produce far fewer virus-fighting antibodies against some of the newer variants, real-world experience tells a different story as researchers across the globe learn that the vaccines still mostly work — even when those antibodies fail to show up in great numbers — thanks to other crucial parts of the body’s immune system.

Still, there is very little known about the mutating virus and it remains unclear exactly how long immunity from the vaccines will last and whether booster shots will be needed to maintain protection.

As delta and other highly transmissible variants spur “catastrophic waves” of COVID-19 infections, the WHO director-general is urging vaccine manufacturers to prioritize supplying doses to poorer countries with low vaccination rates rather than giving booster shots to wealthier nations with relatively high coverage.

“The global gap in vaccine supply is hugely uneven and inequitable,” Tedros said Monday. “Some countries and regions are actually ordering millions of booster doses, before other countries have had supplies to vaccinate their health workers and most vulnerable.”

Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. has reported more than 33.9 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 607,000 deaths from the disease, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has recorded the highest death toll, while India has the highest total case count.

More than 184 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including over 159 million — 48.1% of the population — who are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.

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(JACKSON, Miss.) — As the delta variant spreads rapidly across the country, Mississippi officials are warning that a dozen children are hospitalized throughout the state with severe cases of COVID-19.

Of the 12 children currently in the intensive care unit due to COVID-19, 10 are on ventilators, according to State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs.

“Delta Surge – be careful,” Dobbs said in a terse tweet Tuesday, while sharing the updates on the latest hospitalizations.

Children are less likely than adults to have serious COVID-19 infections. Most have mild symptoms, if any, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though in rare instances, they have developed severe cases that led to hospitalization or death.

It is not clear what the ages of the 12 children are, if they were eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine or if any have underlying health conditions that would put them at greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19. ABC News has reached out to the Mississippi Department of Health for more information on the cases.

Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told ABC affiliate WAPT in Jackson, Mississippi, that his facility is currently treating four pediatric COVID-19 patients, two of whom are on ventilators.

“We have had more pediatric admissions than we had early in the pandemic,” Jones told the station.

The state has been seeing a “pretty alarming” increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Dobbs said during a press briefing last Friday, as the highly contagious delta variant, which was initially identified in India, has quickly become the dominant variant in the state.

“We have seen pretty much an entire takeover of the delta variant for our transmission,” Dobbs said during the briefing, noting that the current cases in the state are “pretty much all delta.”

Hospital systems are not currently overwhelmed, but Dobbs said there are “concerns about it going forward, as has been seen in other states” due to delta, which has become the dominant variant nationwide.

Mississippi’s daily COVID-19 case average has more than doubled in the last three weeks. Less than three weeks ago, there were under 100 patients receiving care for COVID-19 in Mississippi. As of July 11, there were nearly 200. Hospital admissions have also increased by 26.7% in the last week.

The state has seen an increase in COVID-19 outbreaks as well, particularly among youth, in summer activities and nursing homes, Dobbs said.

The delta variant is surging as Mississippi has the second-lowest vaccination rate in the country, with approximately one-third of the state’s total population fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. The “vast majority” of cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state now are in unvaccinated people, Dobbs said.

Due to the low vaccination rate, the state health department advised Friday that those who are ages 65 and older or have chronic medical conditions avoid mass indoor gatherings for several weeks.

“Our collective under-vaccination in the state has put us all at risk, especially the most vulnerable,” Dobbs said.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Health officials in Los Angeles County are warning that the delta variant’s spread among unvaccinated people is driving a spike in new COVID-19 infections in the county.

On Monday, the health department reported 1,059 new COVID-19 cases, a significant increase since June, when the department was consistently reporting a few hundred new infections each day. Officials are currently investigating 55 ongoing outbreaks, up 25% from the 44 outbreaks they were investigating last month.

Nearly all new cases are among people who haven’t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, according to officials.

“Over 99% of the COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths we are seeing are among unvaccinated individuals,” Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s director of public health, said in a statement Monday.

Young people are also contributing to the infection spike, according to Ferrer. “Of the cases reported today, nearly 87% were under 50 years old,” she said.

“The COVID-19 vaccines are the most effective and important tool to reduce COVID-19 transmission and the spread of variants like the highly transmissible delta variant,” she said. “Getting fully vaccinated is the way we protect you, your family and our community from COVID-19 and the delta variant.”

As a state, California’s vaccination rate is better than the national average. As of Monday, 63% of residents had received at least one dose, and 51% were fully vaccinated, compared with 56% of all Americans who’ve gotten at least one shot and 48% who are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Los Angeles County, 70% of residents 16 and older have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the health department. Nationally, 68% of Americans 18 and older have gotten at least one dose.

The delta variant, which was first detected in India and now has made up 51.7% of infections in the United States for the two weeks ending July 3, according to the CDC, is more transmissible than the original version of the virus and is especially dangerous for people who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, experts say.

In part because of fears over the variant, Los Angeles officials made waves when they reversed their guidance on masks less than a month after Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted COVID-19 restrictions in the state.

According to a statement issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on June 28, the department “strongly recommends everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.” The department acknowledged that “fully vaccinated people appear to be well protected from infections with delta variants.”

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(NEW YORK) — After more than a year, children are emerging from the COVID-19 quarantine.

Family gatherings are back, and so are germs and other viruses. For young children, getting sick is a rite of passage that’s often short-lived and helps build up future immunities.

What is uncommon now is the time of year viruses common in children are finding a foothold.

In some parts of the country, hospitals have been reporting an unseasonable rise in viral infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For children younger than age 2, the most frequent is a lung infection causing temporary inflammation in the airways, called bronchiolitis, which is most often caused by respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

Cases among kids typically crop up in the fall and winter, when school is back in session and germs are easily shared, but experts said they’re seeing these cases now.

“The number of RSV cases is about the same,” Dr. Allison Bartlett, pediatric infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago, told ABC News. “It’s the season that’s unusual.”

This period of time in summer is now being called “RSV season” because more than 1 out of 10 tests are positive for the virus, according to Bartlett.

Here’s what parents should know:

How to prevent RSV

For the general population, experts said kids can keep safe from RSV with the same health measures we’ve all been doing for more than a year during the COVID-19 pandemic: Masking, social distancing and following good hygiene.

Teaching kids to practice “respiratory etiquette” and handwashing can help, along with keeping infants away from others who may have a respiratory infection already, according to Bartlett.

“Managing the COVID pandemic has reinforced for everyone the impact that masking, social distancing, school closure and staying home when you’re sick can have,” she said. “All of the actions we took to stop the spread of COVID effectively prevented RSV as well. Now that we have relaxed some of these strategies, RSV is back.”

Symptoms to watch for

Children with RSV may start to wheeze, develop a cough or congestion or spike a fever, the body’s natural response to fighting off a virus.

Parents may also notice their child has less of an appetite than usual, that they’re more tired and more irritable.

As parents and guardians monitor kids’ symptoms that can span several days, experts caution not to be alarmed if a child seems to worsen, even after starting to see mild improvements.

“Days four to seven of illness is really when the infection declares itself,” said Dr. Alisa McQueen, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the University of Chicago. “It’s common for many of the symptoms to almost resolve, and then suddenly come back.”

What to do if your child is sick

Most cases of bronchiolitis are very mild and can be managed at home with over-the-counter therapies and a little “TLC.”

Experts point out if a child is sick, but not in crisis, keeping them home, rather than seeking emergency medical care, may actually be safer and healthier for them and others. RSV is an extremely contagious virus that, after spreading by saliva and mucous droplets, can linger on surfaces far longer than many other viruses.

A several hours’ wait in the emergency department could expose a child to other, even more harmful pathogens, especially if their immune system is already weakened.

Many fevers will resolve without medication, but fever-reducing medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help.

If a child is having trouble blowing their nose and needs relief, cool mist humidifiers, manual suctioning devices, or thinning out the mucous with nasal saline drops will help o help drain easily from the nose, according to Dr. Tyree Winters, a New Jersey-based pediatrician.

But for a small number of infants and young children, RSV can be dangerous.

Approximately 1% to 2% of children who get RSV end up hospitalized. The virus accounts for around 58,000 hospitalizations each year for children under the age of 5 in the United States, according to the CDC.

If a child struggles with breathing beyond the point of congestion — episodes where they stop breathing, have faster breathing, use extra muscles to breath or start turning blue around the mouth — that’s a sign to seek medical attention.

The extra energy the body is using to fight the infection can often makes children sleepier and less active, but when a child is too tired to even drink, has stopped making diapers or cries without making any tears, these are all early signs of dehydration and might mean a child is too sick to fight this infection alone.

Gauging what level medical attention a child needs can be tricky, especially for an anxious parent, so when in doubt, seek help, experts say.

“If something doesn’t seem right, come in the emergency department and let us take a look,” said McQueen. “We’re here 24 hours a day for exactly this reason.”

In most cases, if a child is admitted to the hospital, the stay will only last a few days. These children are often placed on supplemental oxygen to make sure they are getting enough.

If a child has not been eating for several days already, the hospital can also help by giving them IV fluids until the child feels well enough to start eating and drinking normally again.

For infants at greater risk of severe illness, like those who were born premature, or those with chronic lung or congenital heart disease, a monthly antibody injection is available.

Chidimma J. Acholonu, M.D., MPH, a pediatric resident physician at University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(WASHINGTON) — Americans who are fully vaccinated don’t need another shot, top U.S. health officials said late Monday following a private meeting with top executives at Pfizer, which says it had new data showing a third vaccine dose could boost the body’s antibody response five- to ten-fold.

The statements appear to close the door – at least for now – on the suggestion that people who were among the first to be vaccinated more than six months ago would once again need to line up for a third shot. One factor that could change that calculus is the emergence of new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.

“At this time, fully vaccinated Americans do not need a booster shot,” the Department of Health and Human Sciences said in a statement following the meeting with Pfizer.

Pfizer called its meeting with government health officials “productive” and said it would publish more “definitive data” in a peer-reviewed journal soon.

“Both Pfizer and the U.S. government share a sense of urgency in staying ahead of the virus that causes COVID-19, and we also agree that the scientific data will dictate next steps in the rigorous regulatory process that we always follow,” the company said in a statement released Tuesday.

The question of whether and when Americans might need a third shot has been an open question for months, as health experts noted that a person’s detectible antibodies wane over time and as new variants of the virus have emerged. But there are other parts of a person’s immune system, including T-cells, that doctors believe also play a major role in helping prevent hospitalization or death.

The first vaccine shots given in the U.S. were Pfizer doses to health care workers on Dec. 14 – some seven months ago.

But since then, ample real-world evidence has surfaced that vaccinated individuals are strongly protected from the virus and its currently known variants. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.5 percent of deaths from COVID-19 are among unvaccinated patients.

“Nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky last week.

On July 8, Pfizer announced it had “encouraging data” on the prospects of a third dose. The Pfizer vaccine is typically given in two doses, three weeks apart.

“Initial data from the study demonstrate that a booster dose given after 6 months of the second dose has a consistent tolerability profile while eliciting high neutralization titers, 5-10 times higher than after two primary doses” against variants of the virus, the company stated in an announcement.

“While protection against severe disease remained high across the full 6 months, the observed decline in efficacy against symptomatic disease over time and the continued emergence of variants are key factors driving our belief that a booster dose will likely be necessary to maintain highest levels of protection,” Pfizer said in its earlier statement.

After meeting with Pfizer officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Monday night that it’s possible the government will recommend boosters eventually, possibly starting with older Americans or people with underlying medical conditions.

But Fauci said he doesn’t think boosters are needed just yet.

“We heard their data. We made it very clear their data is a part of a much larger puzzle, and we will be gathering data as the weeks go by,” Fauci said.

Fauci also noted that if a decision on boosters is made, “it will be based on a comprehensive study, not on the announcement of a pharmaceutical company.”

Fauci’s statement was a nod to the public confusion about the effectiveness of the vaccine after Pfizer announced it would recommend boosters.

“I don’t mean that in a derogatory way because it was a very good meeting, very informative. We exchanged information, and I think it’s an important step in the right direction,” he added.

In attendance were Drs. Fauci and Walensky, as well as acting FDA Administrator Janet Woodcock; Peter Marks, who has been leading FDA regulatory efforts on the vaccine; Surgeon General Vivek Murthy; Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health; Biden COVID adviser David Kessler; and Rachel Levine, assistance secretary for Health at HHS.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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(DAYTON, Ohio) — A COVID-19 outbreak has been reported among attendees of a church retreat, officials announced.

At least 30 positive cases have been identified so far in people who took part in the weeklong event, health officials confirmed.

Dayton and Montgomery County Public Health said more than 800 people attended the Baptist Church retreat at Camp Chautauqua in Miamisburg, Ohio, from June 27 to July 3. Visitors came to the event from churches across Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana.

Dr. Michael Dohn, medical director for Dayton & Montgomery County Public Health, spoke out about his concern, stating: “Unvaccinated people, including children under 12 years of age, are up to 100 times more likely to get sick after exposure to COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated individuals.”

Dohn added: “the outbreak demonstrates that the COVID-19 virus is still circulating and continues to make people sick.”

The positive cases were so far identified in attendees from Ohio and Kentucky.

One person tested positive for COVID-19 during the final days of the retreat and was “immediately quarantined off campus,” Jason Harmeyer, President of the Chautauqua Camp and Conference Center said in a statement. Event organizers then proceeded to monitor individuals associated with that group for symptoms and conducted regular temperature checks.

Health officials investigating the outbreak said camp and event organizers had failed to provide contact information for attendees after the initial cases were recognized, so authorities were asking anyone who may have attended the retreat to contact them or their local health department.

The camp organizer said it was in regular contact with group leaders to take necessary precautions.

It is unknown how many attendees had received COVID-19 vaccinations.

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(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California issued a new rule on Monday banning unmasked students from school campuses but then rescinded it just hours later.

The California Department of Health published its COVID-19 public health guidance for K-12 schools in the Golden State for the 2021-2022 school year, including a new mandate that said students “are required” to wear face masks indoors, unless they are exempt due to a medical condition, and “schools must exclude students from campus” if they refuse to do so. The guidance, which was initially published on Monday afternoon and took immediate effect, noted that schools “should offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”

But later, officials backtracked on that rule. The California Department of Health took to Twitter on Monday evening to signal a change of direction, saying, “California’s school guidance will be clarified regarding masking enforcement, recognizing local schools’ experience in keeping students and educators safe while ensuring schools fully reopen for in-person instruction.”

The guidance was ultimately revised, dropping the language about excluding unmasked students from classrooms statewide and instead allowing schools to decide how to deal with the issue.

“Consistent with guidance from the 2020-21 school year, schools must develop and implement local protocols to enforce the mask requirements,” the guidance now states. “Additionally, schools should offer alternative educational opportunities for students who are excluded from campus because they will not wear a face covering.”

The California Department of Health says the guidelines are “effective immediately and will be reviewed regularly.” The department further noted that it is operating within the updated recommendations released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which continues to advise schools to promote COVID-19 vaccination and implement indoor mask requirements and physical distancing for those who are not fully vaccinated. But the CDC’s guidelines also state that schools “should not exclude students from in-person learning to keep a minimum distance requirement.”

“Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 is a priority,” the CDC says.

Nevertheless, California’s COVID-19 measures are among the strictest of any U.S. state. Education and health officials alike are concerned about the so-called delta variant, a highly contagious version of the novel coronavirus, with infections on the rise as the new academic year draws closer.

As of July 7, there were 1,085 confirmed cases of the delta variant in California — a 71% rise from the previous week. Meanwhile, among the COVID-19 tests statewide that are genomically sequenced, the delta variant accounted for 43% on June 21 compared with just 5.8% on May 21, according to data from the California Department of Health.

Overall, California has reported more than 3.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 63,000 deaths from the disease. More than 42.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across to the state, which is home to some 39.5 million people, according to data from the California Department of Health.

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(NEW YORK) — While all adults in the United States are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, parents with young children find themselves in an uncomfortable limbo state. Fully vaccinated parents are protected against the virus, but their kids under 12 aren’t even eligible for a shot.

While children are less likely to have serious infection than in adults, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting that “most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all,” in rare instances, children have developed severe COVID-19 cases that led to hospitalization or death.

As of early June, 4,000 children nationwide had developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19. There’s also an element of uncertainty associated with any COVID-19 infection, since the long-term health consequences of having COVID-19 are not yet known.

Navigating kids and COVID is complicated. Come fall, vaccines are likely to be approved for children younger than 12, but until then, some parents are wondering how to keep their kids safe as guidelines about masks and social distancing loosen.

ABC News spoke with Dr. Judith Flores, a pediatrician and former chief of ambulatory care at NYC Health + Hospitals, who has been in practice for more than 30 years, about how parents can lower their kids’ COVID risk.

Q: My kid is going back to school in person this year. What do I need to know?

You should start planning and ask questions, Flores says.

“I would also inquire who is vaccinated at school and keep an eye on what their environmental controls are,” Flores said.

According to the CDC’s guidelines for K-12 schools, “consistent and correct use of face masks reduces the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and, with some exceptions, is recommended for use indoors among people aged 2 and older who are not fully vaccinated.” The CDC also recommends handwashing, improving ventilation, staying home if sick, social distancing and testing in schools to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Depending on school guidance and your risk tolerance as a parent, send your child to school with a mask. Flores noted that if she had a small child, she would have them wear a mask at school, especially in the beginning, while you determine whether or not the school is doing a good job of keeping the environment safe.

But ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that schools have been reasonably safe settings so far.

“It’s been well documented that kids get sicker when they’re home with family,” Flores said.

Despite that reality, some parents are rightfully nervous. Flores works with families that were hit hard by COVID-19’s initial wave in New York City. Some parents and children are anxious about returning in person, she explained, adding that behavioral and mental health support are critical, especially for kids who lost family members during the pandemic.

“It’s not just, ‘let’s make sure we have your supply list for the teacher this year,'” she said. “You really have to prepare your children mentally — and yourself,” she said.

Q: Is there anything I can do to lower my child’s COVID risk until they’re eligible for a vaccine?

“The best way to take care of your child is for you, your family and your community to be vaccinated,” Flores stressed. “Your kid’s risk goes up depending on the community you live in or go to school in. If your community has a low vaccination rate and high infection rate, there’s a greater risk your child will get sick.”

“If I were in Mississippi, I’d be very concerned, because the vaccination rate is low. So there, I’d keep a mask on my child and keep social distancing. If I lived in Massachusetts, I might breathe a little easier,” she said.

Mississippi’s vaccination rate trails the national average. As of Monday, 37% of residents had received at least one dose, and 33% were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 71% of people in Massachusetts who’ve gotten at least one shot and 63% who are fully vaccinated.

Your child doesn’t need to wear a mask in most outdoor settings because the risk of transmission is low, Flores noted, but it’s a good idea to have them wear one in indoor public spaces, especially if ventilation is poor or if the space is crowded.

The same fundamental practices the CDC recommends for schools, like handwashing and social distancing, are useful for reducing kids’ risk in non-school settings. You can also model wearing a mask for your child, even if you’re vaccinated and don’t technically need one yourself. If you’re not going to wear a mask around your child, having a conversation as a family explaining why masks are important is key, Flores suggested.

“This is an added protection for you. Just like I would put a seatbelt on you, I would put a mask on you for this time,” she said. “Kids understand seatbelts.”

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(NEW YORK) — Amanda Hunt, a Florida native, said she grew up spending summer days at the beach as a child and using tanning beds as a young adult.

Now 39 years old, Hunt, of Titusville, Florida, is battling stage 4 metastatic melanoma and is speaking out about her experience in hopes of saving other lives.

“I want people to know the things that I didn’t know,” Hunt told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I can say for myself that having to fight for your life due to something so superficial as being tan, that’s a really tough pill to swallow at the end of the day.”

Hunt’s life changed last June when she discovered a lump in her breast. A biopsy of the lump came back as malignant melanoma. Hunt then learned the cancer had spread throughout her body, including her lungs.

“One day you wake up and your life is one way and the next day you wake up and your life is totally different,” she said. “I remember being shocked and confused and I got angry and thought, ‘How did my body fail me?'”

Hunt said she was even more shocked by her diagnosis because she had been going to annual skin checks since 2011, when she was successfully treated for basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

After undergoing treatment for her first skin cancer diagnosis, Hunt said she stopped using tanning beds but did not change her daily sun protection routine dramatically, knowing that she was being checked annually by her dermatologist.

“I got my annual skin checks so that was always in the back of my mind like a crutch,” she said. “But I learned in all of this that there is an occurrence where you do not have melanoma appear on the skin. I never knew that was even possible.”

Hunt’s diagnosis made her one of the approximately 3% of cases where the melanoma has already spread to a subcutaneous site when it is discovered, according to her doctor, Zeynep Eroglu, a medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

Because the spread of melanoma was already underway in Hunt’s body, she began treatment less than one month after being diagnosed. Since July 2020, Hunt has made the four-hour roundtrip drive from Titusville to Tampa to undergo immunotherapy treatments at Moffitt.

The treatments have been working but Hunt has suffered severe side effects from the immunotherapy, including being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes this March.

“It happens to less than 1% of [immunotherapy] patients,” she said of the diabetes diagnosis. “Everything in my case is rare and the exception.”

Hunt, an attorney, lost her job due to layoffs during the pandemic just two days before her diagnosis. Not long after, she said she started a blog, Love and Sunblock, about her battle with melanoma to educate and provide hope to others.

“When I was first diagnosed, I started searching the internet for information and all I could find were just grave statistics,” said Hunt, whose family and friends started a GoFundMe to help cover her medical expenses. “I started blogging about my journey because I wanted to be that person for someone else in the future, that person that I was desperately trying to find.”

Hunt said her diagnosis has made her reflect on the time she spent in the sun as a child, spending hours at the beach without reapplying sunscreen and spending hours in tanning beds to try to overcome her naturally pale skin.

“I even remember missing school because of sunburns,” she said. “I was on my way to becoming a melanoma statistic and had no idea.”

Now, Hunt said she covers herself from head to toe to even walk to the mailbox and is making sure her 14-year-old daughter learns important lessons about incorporating sun protection into her daily skin care routine.

“It’s almost always preventable,” Hunt said of skin cancer. “Sun protection has got to become a habit and it’s got to start with your kids.”

What to know about melanoma and sun protection

Melanoma is a rare form of skin cancer in which cancer cells form in melanocytes, the cells that color the skin, according to the National Cancer Institute.

It can occur anywhere on the body, but in women is found most often on the arms and legs, according to NCI.

The main risk factors for melanoma include exposure to ultraviolet rays, which are found in tanning beds and sun lamps, a family history of melanoma, a personal history of melanoma or other skin cancers, a weakened immune system, moles and a complexion of fair skin, freckling and light hair, according to the American Cancer Society .

In the United States, the risk for melanoma varies by age. Before age 50, the risk for melanoma is higher for women; after age 50 the risk is higher in men, according to ACS.

In order to prevent the occurrence of melanoma, Hunt’s doctor, Eroglu, shared four tips:

1. Go to the dermatologist early and often: “With melanoma, every millimeter matters,” said Eroglu. “Time is really of the essence. If there is any concern, go and have it checked out.”

Eroglu also stressed persistence in seeking testing and a diagnosis if something on your skin continues to look abnormal to you.

2. Always wear sunscreen and reapply it often: Eroglu recommends using a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher and reapplying it often, especially when exposed to water.

A broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects you from UVA rays, which can prematurely age your skin, and UVB rays, which can burn your skin, is also recommended.

It matters less what type of sunscreen you use — spray or lotion or cream — and more that you choose a type of sunscreen you will use consistently and frequently, according to Eroglu.

“Even one bad sunburn from when you were a child can years later, decades later, develop into skin cancer,” she said.

3. Avoid the sun when it is at its strongest: The sun’s rays are at their peak from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. so it is best to avoid being exposed to the sun at that time, according to Eroglu.

People should also be extra vigilant with sun protection when near water, sand and snow because the sun’s rays are strengthened by the reflection off those surfaces.

People should also avoid using tanning beds, according to Eroglu, because of the intensity of their ultraviolet radiation.

4. Do regular skin checks on yourself: People should regularly lookout for new spots or a spot that is changing in size, shape or color on their skin, according to Eroglu.

The ABCDE rule is a guide people can follow to see if any spots have features that need to be flagged to a doctor.

Here is the rule, as described by the American Cancer Society.

A is for Asymmetry: One half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B is for Border: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C is for Color: The color is not the same all over and may include different shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue.
D is for Diameter: The spot is larger than 6 millimeters across (about 1/4 inch — the size of a pencil eraser), although melanomas can sometimes be smaller than this.
E is for Evolving: The mole is changing in size, shape, or color.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned of an increased risk of Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological disorder, following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after 100 preliminary cases of the syndrome were reported among the 12.5M doses administered.

The agency noted that 95 of the cases were serious and required hospitalization. There was one death.

While the FDA said it’s updating vaccination materials for health care providers and patients to note an “association” between the vaccine and a risk of GBS, the agency said the data are “insufficient to establish a causal relationship.” And, the agency added, it still recommends the vaccine to prevent the serious health risks posed by COVID-19.

“Importantly, the FDA has evaluated the available information for the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and continues to find the known and potential benefits clearly outweigh the known and potential risks,” the FDA stated.

Johnson and Johnson said it has discussed the reports with federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.

“The chance of having this occur is very low, and the rate of reported cases exceeds the background rate by a small degree,” the company said in a statement released Monday.

Similar issues have not been reported tied to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare disorder that occurs when a person’s immune system damages nerve cells and causes muscle weakness or paralysis.

Most people recover fully although some will report long-term nerve damage.

According to the CDC, the majority of people who develop GBS report the symptoms after having a respiratory illness, including the flu or getting sick with diarrhea. One common cause is a bacteria tied to eating uncooked poultry.

It’s also linked to vaccination, though rare, and is why the CDC monitors reports of GBS each flu season.

The CDC estimates there is one to two additional GBS cases per million doses of flu vaccine administered.

On the most recent cases tied to the J&J vaccine, the CDC said older men were mostly impacted.

“These cases have largely been reported about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in males, many aged 50 years and older,” the CDC said in a statement.

According to the FDA, patients should seek medical attention if they experience a weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, and that might worsen or spread to other parts of the body. Other symptoms might include difficulty walking or making facial movements; double vision or inability to move eyes; or difficulty with bladder control or bowel function.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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