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Delta variant: Five things to know about the surging coronavirus strain

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With the CDC estimating that the delta variant accounts for more than 90% of new COVID cases in the U.S., scientists are still learning more about what makes this variant different from prior versions of the virus.

There are dozens of COVID-19 variants. Some emerge and quickly fade away. Others emerge and sweep the globe. The delta variant first emerged in India in December 2020 and quickly became the dominant strain there and then in the United Kingdom.

It was first detected in the United States in March 2021 and proved so dominant it supplanted the prior strain, called the alpha variant, within a few short weeks.

Now, experts say there’s good news and bad news when it comes to this new variant.

Here’s what we know now:

1. The delta variant is more contagious than earlier strains of COVID

Delta is more contagious because it “sheds more virus into the air, making it easier to reach other people,” said Dr. Loren Miller, associate chief of infectious disease at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Researcher at Lundquist Institute in Torrance, CA .

“There is also some evidence that the virus can more easily attach to human cells in the respiratory tract,” Miller said. This means that “smaller amounts of virus [particles] are needed to cause infection compared to the original strain.”

2. It could cause more serious illness in unvaccinated persons, but scientists don’t know for sure.

Scientists are racing to study the severity of the delta variant in real time. Until more studies are verified by a panel of scientific experts or gain “peer-approval,” public health officials cannot definitively say for sure that it does cause more serious illness.

Here is what we know so far:

One peer-reviewed study in Scotland looked at over 19,000 confirmed COVID cases between April to June 2021. Scientists were able to differentiate between the delta variant and the alpha variant by molecular testing for one of multiple mutated genes known as the S gene.

About 7,800 COVID cases and 130 hospitalized patients had the delta strain confirmed by presence of the gene. Scientists noted that there was an increased risk for hospitalization in patients with delta when adjusting for common factors such as age, sex, underlying health conditions, and time of disease.

Another recent study awaiting peer approval in Singapore, noted that the delta variant was significantly associated with increased need for oxygenation, admission to an intensive care unit, and death when compared to the alpha variant.

Similarly, a Canadian study awaiting peer approval looked at over 200,000 confirmed COVID cases and found that the delta variant was more likely to cause hospitalization, ICU admission and death.

It’s hard to know whether delta is in fact making people sicker or if it is just affecting more vulnerable, unvaccinated populations with high case numbers and overburdened healthcare systems.

3. Delta is now the dominant variant in the US and around the globe.

COVID cases are skyrocketing again in the U.S., particularly where vaccination uptake has been particularly slow.

According to the CDC, more than 90% of COVID cases in the U.S. are currently caused by the delta variant. We know that “there is a lot of Delta out there … from the public health authorities who regularly survey for delta [and other strains] using special tests called molecular typing” said Miller.

4. COVID vaccines still work against the delta variant.

The “majority of currently hospitalized COVID patients are unvaccinated,” said Dr. Abir “Abby” Hussein, clinical infectious disease assistant professor and associate medical director for infection prevention and control at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Wash.

Studies show that vaccines still dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, though the delta variant may be more likely than prior variants to cause asymptomatic or mild illness among vaccinated people.

Still, even amid the delta surge, this is still a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Although there are rare cases of severe breakthrough infections that require hospitalization that can occur in persons with a “weakened immune system,” Miller said. This comes in time for the new guidelines for booster COVID shots in immunocompromised patients.

5. The delta variant surge is hitting younger, unvaccinated people harder

More COVID cases are being reported in teens, young and middle-age adults. That’s not because delta is inherently more dangerous for younger people — but rather, because younger people are less likely to be fully vaccinated.

Hussein explains that this is likely due to early vaccination efforts to vaccinate older high-risk people, particularly those who live in nursing homes. According to the CDC, more than 80% of adults over the age of 65 have been fully vaccinated and more than 90% of adults over 65 have had one dose (of a two-dose vaccine).

“Unfortunately, many younger adults have not been vaccinated, resulting in this shift to younger hospitalized patients,” Hussein said.

Collectively, experts agree that the delta variant poses a new threat. Stopping transmission is the key to controlling all variants, not just delta. The best way for everyone to protect themselves against delta includes tools that are already at our disposal — vaccination, masking, social distance and hand washing.

While we all want to return to a state of normal, Miller said “sticking to these basic messages is a very powerful way to prevent COVID transmission and protect yourself.”

Field hospital opens in parking garage as Mississippi sees ‘skyrocketing’ crush of COVID patients

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(JACKSON, Miss.) — As Mississippi faces a “skyrocketing” surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations — its highest increase on record — health officials are sounding the alarm about a state hospital system on the brink of collapse.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center, in partnership with state officials, will reopen a surge facility Friday in the medical center’s parking lot, with help from the federal government.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists will be deployed to work at the field hospital for at least the next 14 days.

“Unfortunately, we were standing in a tent again. None of us wanted to come back to this point, but it’s gotten to the point where we’re just not able to care for the patients at UMMC, and in the state of Mississippi, that need the care with COVID,” Dr. Alan Jones, associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said at a press conference on Thursday. “I think when you’re seeing a field hospital at a major academic medical center, we’re pretty much at a collapse-like system.”

The arrival of federal assistance comes as the state faces an influx of coronavirus patients, with more than 1,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state, marking the highest number of patients receiving care since the onset of the pandemic.

The bed capacity is “extremely tight,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “Our ICUs today are full. Our patient beds are full.”

Prior to the field hospital’s opening, ABC News received an inside look as federal teams worked to set up the facility Thursday afternoon.

“I feel like we’re beyond disaster. … It really should be a scary time for everybody because it means that we feel like we have no capacity to deal with the things that we should be able to take care of,” Jones told ABC News correspondent Elwyn Lopez. “It really needs to be a wake-up call for those people.”

Although the facility will give the hospital a buffer to help manage the surge, Jones said, ultimately, “it’s just a Band-Aid,” or a temporary fix, for the problem.

The surge facility will give the hospital system a bit of relief, officials said, in managing both COVID-19 patients and other patients, as the number of hospitalizations continues to increase.

“We do not believe that we’re at a point where we’ve hit the peak or we’re turning the corner. In fact, we think we’re still on that upward climb,” Woodward said.

On Thursday, Mississippi reported more than 4,400 new cases, according to State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, almost 1,000 more than the state’s previous record, he said, which will inevitably result in more hospitalizations and deaths.

“That means we’re gonna have about 93 more deaths, just for today. It means we’re gonna see over 300 new hospitalizations, just from the day. And that’s on top of a system that is already overtaxed. Let us be very clear that the vast majority of cases, and hospitalizations, and deaths are unvaccinated,” Dobbs continued.

Officials reported that they continue to see a rise in “relatively healthy” younger patients, the vast majority of them unvaccinated, in need of care. Similar to the uptick seen nationally, UMMC, which is the state’s only children’s hospital, has seen a concerning increase in pediatric patients.

“A large proportion, much larger than we’ve ever seen before, proportion of children being hospitalized, or hospitalized in the ICU, and these are not chronically ill children, these are healthy children that are being hospitalized,” Jones said.

Despite a recent bump in the state’s vaccination rate overall, Mississippi continues to struggle with its vaccine rollout, with just 35% of residents fully vaccinated — the second-lowest inoculation rate in the country.

It is of critical importance that people get the information about vaccines from reputable sources, Dobbs stressed.

“We should not be here, y’all. This is not necessary,” said Dobbs. “Too many people are getting information from wrong sources. … These Facebook conspiratorial lists are going to spread and run, and have no accountability for the people who are dying, and we’re here, picking up the mess.”

Activists push to disband Minneapolis police in upcoming vote

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MINNEAPOLIS) — More than a year after the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the city is putting its issues with police brutality in the spotlight once again.

This time, the power is in the hands of voters, who will take to the ballot box in November to decide whether to replace the existing Minneapolis Police Department.

The vote would be on whether to change the city charter and implement a department of public safety instead, which activists say would take on a public-health approach to policing — opting for social workers and violence interrupters over the police-only model that the city has now.

Advocates have said that many cases in which police are called can often be resolved by others. Detractors say the move will undermine public safety. In either case, police reform has been a fraught issue, especially in the wake of Floyd’s death, with deep divisions forming over whether to “defund” the police or change the way departments operate.

“We want to do something different, to actually make real concrete changes, so that we don’t have to revisit this feeling of powerlessness, hopelessness, helplessness — so that we don’t have to continue to bury people year after year,” said JaNaé Bates, the communications director at Yes 4 Minneapolis, a leading coalition of activists in the effort to replace the police department.

The charter change would also put the city council in charge of the department, instead of the mayor, and remove requirements to hire police based on the city’s population size.

Activists say this effort is inspired by other policies and practices from across the country — and that they’ve taken into consideration what has worked and what has failed.

Local opponents believe the charter change has the potential to rid the city of police altogether, due to language that says police officers will respond to calls “when necessary.”

“These are trojan horses backed by radicals to achieve their goal of police defunding and abolition,” said a statement on the Operation Safety Now website. Operation Safety Now is a local pro-police political advocacy group.

The organization stated: “We are against police defunding — and the “police-less society” envisioned by some council members and their radical supporters. We need more cops, not fewer.”

Mayor Jacob Frey, a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, also rejects the effort. In a statement to the press, his office said he “appreciates the careful work and thorough analysis done by city staff to prepare fair and accurate language for voters to consider this fall,” but will not be signing onto the proposal.

Frey believes that id the city council is in charge of the department, it could lead to a major setback for “accountability and good governance.”

Residents like Bates and city council members like Steve Fletcher say that Minneapolis has struggled with racist policing for decades.

The Mayor’s office did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that in the past 20 years, more than 200 people have been killed in “a physical confrontation with law enforcement” in Minnesota. Only 7% of Minnesotans are Black, but Black victims accounted for 26% of these deaths.

At least 36 of these deaths occurred in Minneapolis. And last year, Black youths were disproportionately incarcerated — making up 55% of the youth incarceration population.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department also opened a pattern or practice investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department earlier this year.

“We have had a long history of producing racially unjust outcomes in our overall system and policing,” Fletcher said. “We can’t continue to operate this way.”

Minneapolis police chief Medaria Arradondo was among several other Black officers who sued MPD for racial discrimination in 2007, MPR News reported, which was settled for almost $1 million.

To solve these issues, community leaders involved in Yes 4 Minneapolis have adopted the tactics to amend the charter in ways that have proven to work.

One of the programs that inspired this public health approach was the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program in Oregon, which started in 1969. The program sends out two-person teams, including a medic and a crisis worker with training in the mental health field, to crises involving mental illness, homelessness, and addiction instead of policing.

Out of roughly 24,000 CAHOOTS calls in 2019, police backup was requested only 150 times, according to the organization’s website.

The Support Team Assisted Response program in Denver started in 2020, and it similarly sends pairs of mental health and medical professionals to respond to low-level calls instead of sending law enforcement.

And disbanding efforts are nothing new either — Camden, New Jersey successfully disbanded its police department in 2013 and rebuilt the police department from the ground up, with new trainings, new officers, and a new department culture against brutality.

“We’re integrating our police officers with other services that we know, allow qualified professionals to handle things that they’re prepared and trained to handle,” Bates said. “Having mental health responders, social workers, violence interrupters different interventions for folks experiencing homelessness, and drug crisis — those things are things that should be happening within fully integrated departments that include police.”

More than 20,000 signatures gave the proposed Minneapolis charter change measure a spot on the ballot, according to Bates, and roughly $1 million was raised for the effort.

Like many states, cities, and counties across the nation, some reform efforts have already been in the works in Minneapolis — like banning chokeholds and neck restraints and requiring officers to intervene in excessive uses of force.

The city council also cut $8 million from the mayor’s proposed police budget and diverted to mental health and violence prevention units in the department.

Shortly after Floyd’s murder, City Council members tried to implement the charter change, but the council failed to meet the deadlines necessary to get it on the November 2020 ballot.

Now, they hope to set an example for policing efforts nationwide, as the country continues to confront police brutality.

“Every city is facing some version of this,” Fletcher said about the efforts to reimagine policing. “I really believe that this Minneapolis is going to rise to the occasion and create a system that is far more compassionate, far more equitable, and far more effective than the old system of policing that we’ve inherited.”

Which states have reimposed mask mandates and which are resisting

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Several states have reinstated indoor mask mandates as the delta variant continues to rip across the country, but others have fiercely resisted and imposed bans on such rules.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a guidance update late July that vaccinated people may be able to spread COVID-19 and should resume wearing masks in public indoor settings in areas with high transmission levels, a reversal of May’s guidance that said they didn’t need to mask up. The unvaccinated are still urged to wear masks in public.

The guidance also called for universal masking in schools — a contentious issue that has triggered a slew of lawsuits.

Masking has long been a divisive issue, despite science indicating that face coverings are “critical” in the battle against transmitting the disease, according to the CDC. At the same time, misinformation about face coverings has proliferated and changing guidance has added to the confusion.

Currently, at least four states and Puerto Rico have indoor mask mandates for the vaccinated and unvaccinated: Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii, Louisiana.

Most states have not issued new mandates — focusing on vaccination instead — but a number, including California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, have recommended constituents follow the CDC’s guidance. Each state’s guidelines vary slightly.

On the other hand, the idea of masking up once again, has been met with resistance in some places.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, said the CDC guidance on masks “will unfortunately only diminish confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officials.” Other officials have argued against mask mandates, citing arguments like parental freedom.

Worry over delta variant

Concern is mounting over the surge of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations among children, now at their most dire level yet in the entire pandemic.

Nearly 94,000 new child COVID-19 cases were reported last week, with the worst numbers in Louisiana and Florida, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) reported.

Nationwide, COVID-19 has surged at an alarming rate in recent weeks. The daily COVID-19 case average in the U.S. has surged to more than 113,000, up by 24.3% in the last week, according to the latest federal data. Hospitalizations have also soared, hitting its highest point in six months with more than 75,000 patients currently hospitalized across the country with COVID-19.

So far, 59% of the US population over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. There is still no vaccine authorized for kids under the age of 12.

A number of states — Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington state — have also called for masking in schools.

But efforts to ban masks in schools in several states, such as Florida, Texas, South Carolina and Arkansas, have sparked bitter backlash and legal battles.

Kentucky and Arkansas

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, signed an executive order Tuesday requiring masks for all schools, a move immediately slammed by state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican.

Cameron filed a response to the mask mandate in schools on Wednesday with the Kentucky Supreme Court, arguing the governor’s order goes against laws passed in the General Assembly this year. He accused the governor of engaging “in an unlawful exercise of power by issuing his executive order,” in a statement.

Earlier this year lawmakers passed bills to restrict the governor’s power to mandate health restrictions like masks. He vetoed the legislation, but was overturned, and Beshear filed a lawsuit. Now the case is pending a Supreme Court decision, which has yet to hand down a ruling.

In a press conference Tuesday, Beshear cited grim COVID-19 numbers as the reason for the mandate, as the state reported 2,500 new COVID-19 cases, with 490 among individuals 18-years-old and younger, that day.

“We cannot keep our kids in school if we’re unwilling to put on a mask,” Beshear said. “It’s everywhere, and we all need to act like we’re in that red zone.”

In Arkansas, the state’s Department of Education recommended students wear masks in schools on Tuesday, in line with the CDC guidance, but didn’t mandate it.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said earlier this month that he regrets signing an April law banning mask mandates as virus infections surged among unvaccinated youth.

He called on lawmakers to consider rolling back the ban for schools but faced fierce opposition among his GOP peers. Last week, a judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing that law, saying it violates the state’s constitution, and several schools have since announced mask requirements, local ABC affiliate KATV reported.

Hutchinson said he supports the judge’s decision.

“It is conservative, reasonable and compassionate to allow local school districts to protect those students who are under 12 and not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said on masking in schools last week.

Texas

Meanwhile in Texas, at least two districts, Austin ISD and Dallas ISD, have defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s May executive order banning mask mandates.

The Southern Center for Child Advocacy, a nonprofit education group, filed a lawsuit Sunday night in Travis County against the ban, seeking to give power to local districts to decide for themselves. No response has been filed in that case yet.

The ban has faced litigation from city and county officials in Dallas and Bexar counties. The Harris County Attorney also announced Tuesday plans to take legal action against Abbott’s ban on mask mandates, though but documents have not yet been filed.

“First responders and school leaders are speaking out and standing up as delta ravages our community. We have their back,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement Tuesday. “Protecting the community during an emergency is a duty, not an option for government leaders.”

On Tuesday two separate state district judges granted local authorities in those counties temporary power to issue mask mandates on Tuesday, the Texas Tribune reported. Both decisions are temporary and pending hearings later this month.

The following day the governor and state Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition to halt the judge’s order in Dallas County. “Any school district, public university, or local government official that decides to defy GA-38—which prohibits gov’t entities from mandating masks—will be taken to court,” Abbott said in a statement.

“Removing government mandates, however, does not end personal responsibility or the importance of caring for family members, friends, and your community,” Abbott said in response to the lawsuits to CBS affiliate KHOU-11. “Vaccines are the most effective defense against contracting COVID and becoming seriously ill, and we continue to urge all eligible Texans to get the vaccine.”

Florida

Florida is facing least three lawsuits against its ban on school mask mandates: one filed by a parent in Broward County, another by parents in several counties including Miami-Dade and Palm Beach and a third in Orange and Volusia counties.

In late July, Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order directing the state’s health and education departments to bar the use of face coverings in school. DeSantis said that move was meant to “protect parents’ freedom to choose whether their children wear masks.”

DeSantis said in a press conference last month Florida students shouldn’t be “muzzled” during the school year, adding, “We need them to be able to breathe.”

Despite the order, several school districts have announce masks will be mandatory for the 2021-22 school year.

Despite public outcry, many governors are doubling down in their refusal to reimpose masks.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said on the heels of the CDC guidance release, “State law now prohibits school administrators from requiring students to wear a mask…Shutting our state down, closing schools and mandating masks is not the answer. Personal responsibility is.”

State positions on masking are still changing. A number of states never created a mask mandate in the pandemic, including Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Idaho.

Tony Bennett cancels 2021 tour dates, is retiring from the road, says manager

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Tony Bennett has canceled his fall and winter 2021 tour dates, according to Variety.

The legendary crooner — who marked his 95th birthday last week by performing with Lady Gaga at two-sold out shows at New York’s Radio City Music Hall — has pulled out of concerts in New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Arizona, Oklahoma and Canada.

The tour — consisting of pre-pandemic show dates that had been rescheduled — was set to begin in September. Ticket holders should check with the local venues for information regarding refunds. The shows won’t be rescheduled, as Bennett is retiring from the road.

Bennett’s son and manager Danny Bennett tells Variety, “There won’t be any additional concerts. This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is, however, doctors’ orders. His continued health is the most important part of this, and when we heard the doctors — when Tony’s wife, Susan heard them — she said, ‘Absolutely not.’”

“He’ll be doing other things, but not those upcoming shows. It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling. Look, he gets tired. The decision is being made that doing concerts now is just too much for him,” Danny adds, noting, “We’re not worried about him being able to sing. We are worried, from a physical standpoint… about human nature. Tony’s 95.”

Bennett’s two shows with Gaga — a prequel for the pair’s second duets album, Love for Sale, due out October 1 — had been billed One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga and announced as the singer’s last NYC public performance.

Bennett’s family revealed back in February that he’d been battling Alzheimer’s disease for the past four years.

Short-staffed hospitals battling COVID surge after opting not to staff up

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Florida’s latest COVID-19 wave is making Bob Gortney, an intensive care nurse in Fort Myers, think twice about his two decades in medicine.

Gortney, who works at Gulf Coast Medical Center, recently came back from vacation and found the hospital full of COVID patients. “I never left the COVID battle from last year,” Gortney told ABC News Fort Myers affiliate WZVN-TV. “We went from having three or four COVID patients that weren’t really sick to now probably 20 to 30 patients [who are] actually on a ventilator that are very, very sick and unvaccinated.”

COVID-19 is surging throughout the United States, with daily case averages reaching more than 110,000, up 25.5% from last week. Hospitalizations, which tend to follow rising cases, particularly in areas with low vaccination rates, are now at their highest point in six months, with more more than 75,000 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized, according to updated data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“It’s disheartening,” Gortney said. “I know some nurses have walked away from it. Some have just picked up and said, ‘I can’t do this no more.'”

“It is a challenge to find experienced talent due to the national health care worker labor shortage,” said Mary Briggs, a spokesperson for Lee Health, the not-for-profit hospital system that owns Gulf Coast. Despite that challenge, Lee Health has made an effort to staff, Briggs explained, hiring 160 registered nurses in June and July and bringing in travel and contract nurses.

As hospitals across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi, scramble to meet the rising need, Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nursing union, pointed to a systemic health care issue that predates COVID-19. Similar to public health funding, hospitals follow a pattern of panic and neglect. They pour money into acute problems, like a COVID surge, then disband those efforts when the situation becomes anything less than a crisis. Preparation and prevention are afterthoughts.

“There was a failure to plan before the pandemic,” Ross said. “There was a failure to listen to us during it. And now that we’re experiencing another surge, once again, there is a failure to plan.”

In Ross’ estimation, hospitals were too frugal about staffing even before the pandemic, in order to maximize profits. COVID exacerbated that. Earlier in the year, when it looked like the virus was receding in the United States, and as hospitals were struggling financially after a year of canceled elective procedures and low patient volume, some hospitals cut costs by furloughing or laying of health workers, or reducing their pay, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. Many other hospitals closed altogether.

“Unfortunately, the national nurse staffing shortage is a difficult challenge for hospitals throughout the U.S. and is at critical levels for certain parts of the country,” said Jennifer McDonnell, director of public relations and communications at MountainView. “We are doing everything in our power to retain and recruit new nurses to our community, from shift bonuses to new grad programs.”

“I don’t necessarily feel like there is a nursing shortage in terms of actual people who are registered nurses,” said Nicole Taylor, a labor and delivery nurse at MountainView Hospital in Las Vegas and chief nurse representative for her hospital at National Nurses United. “There’s a shortage of people who are willing to work in unsafe conditions.”

Taylor is currently on maternity leave, but she said she speaks with nurses at the hospital every couple of days. When COVID surged in the area and the hospital had to start putting two patients in a room instead of one, nurses were expected to pick up the slack. “They can’t possibly hire people in a fast enough manner to accommodate that. That’s really unsafe.”

“I feel pretty confident,” she added, “that a majority of the units are running on bare minimum and just trying to survive.”

During the first wave of the pandemic, traveling nurses descended on New York City and other hotspots, then moved on as the virus did. This time around, much of the country is a hotspot. And adding traveling nurses can be costly.

“Travelers are expensive,” Ross said. “We have our nurses begging for them to get extra help. Some states I’m told that are hardest hit right now are finally looking to other states and asking for help, and asking for travelers.”

But even if hospitals have the budget, Ross added, securing travelers only gets harder as demand skyrockets “country-wide, even worldwide.”

Jessie J shares health update: “I cannot get through a full day without pain”

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Back in December, Jessie J revealed that she was treated for Ménière’s disease, a disorder affecting the inner ear that causes severe dizziness, ringing in the ear and hearing loss. Since then, she’s been dealing with a mystery throat ailment that makes it painful for her to sing. Thursday, she shared an update on her progress.

“Yesterday I tried to sing a song I can usually sing with ease, and I couldn’t. The issue I’m having isn’t my voice but is effecting [sic] my voice,” the 33-year-old British pop star wrote on Instagram, adding that she then “sobbed. For hours.”

“6 months in and I still cannot get through a full day without pain in my mid neck / throat,” she continued. “Some days are so much better than others.”

Jessie goes on to explain that “95% of the time I am good. Positive and strong. Which is what I portray on here mostly. But that 5% will grow if not acknowledged. So yes, sometimes like yesterday. I break. All hope disappears. I feel so lost and so alone in what’s going on.”

“I guess I’m sharing this because people are always saying to me ‘how do you stay so positive all the time’ and truth is I don’t,” she admits. “I definitely don’t unpack and live in how I felt yesterday. But I don’t take pride in always pretending I’m ok. It’s not healthy.”

Notes Jessie, “That old line ‘it’s ok not to be ok’…I wrote it because it’s true and I still believe this platform is to inspire through truth.”

“To anyone else going through a testing time. I feel you. I see you. We will get through this,” she concludes.

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Is Shia LaBeouf eyeing a comeback?

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Months after reportedly taking a break from acting, Shia LaBeouf may be planning a comeback.

Filmmaker Abel Ferrara tells Variety that the Transformers actor has signed on for a role in his next film, which chronicles the younger years of Italian Saint Padre Pio. Ferrara’s frequent collaborator and close friend Willem Dafoe is also reportedly eyeing a role in the film.

“We’re doing a film about Padre Pio, he’s a monk from Puglia,” says Ferrara. “It’s set in Italy right after World War I. He’s now a saint, he had stigmata. He was also in the middle of a very heavy political period in world history. He was very young before he became a saint, so Shia LaBeouf is going to play the monk.”

The news comes eight months after LeBeouf’s former girlfriend, singer FKA Twigs, filed a lawsuit against him accusing the 35-year-old actor of physical abuse during their relationship. Two months later, sources told Variety that LaBeouf made the decision to take a break from acting.

LaBeouf, whose other films include Disturbia and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, recently starred in David Ayer’s action flick The Tax Collector. He was last seen in Pieces of a Woman, opposite Vanessa Kirby.

‘I can’t breathe’: Family speaks out after boy, 12, hospitalized with COVID-19

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(CHILTON COUNTY, Ala.) — An Alabama family’s life was turned upside down when their 12-year-old son, a healthy, strong athlete, caught COVID-19 and landed in the hospital struggling to breathe.

Brody Barnett, a seventh grader from Chilton County, and his family are speaking out to warn the public of the dangers of the delta variant.

His mother, GeriLynn Vowell, told ABC News that her son tested positive on Aug. 6 and suffered extreme symptoms, including coughing and trouble breathing, within a day.

“He’s told his friends, ‘This is the worst that I’ve ever been sick,'” she said.

He said being in the hospital was a “scary experience,” adding, “It ain’t nothing to joke with,” to local ABC Birmingham affiliate WBMA-LD.

Brody, who was not vaccinated, was first exposed at the beginning of last week after going to a friend’s home where someone later tested positive for the virus. After hearing news of that positive result his family bought at-home COVID-19 kits.

“I tested Brody and his test popped up positive immediately. Then we went to an actual testing site and it was the same result,” Vowell said.

Vowell explained that she had tested negative for the COVID-19 test but positive for antibodies.

“My husband nor I have been vaccinated because we were positive for antibodies previously. We had just gotten the original COVID a few months back. So, we had just kind of been waiting to be vaccinated,” she said. She says they’ll get the vaccine when they test negative for antibodies.

Health experts recommend people get vaccinated even if they have been exposed to the virus because the vaccines are known to provide more durable protection, including against the delta variant. A study released Aug. 6 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that people who were unvaccinated were more than twice as likely to be reinfected compared to people who were vaccinated.

The night Brody tested positive he got a runny nose and started coughing. The next day it progressed to the point that he couldn’t breathe and felt pain in his ribcage.

“He was like, ‘I cannot breathe, I cannot take a breath,'” she said. “He couldn’t raise his arms over his head and take a breath.”

Days later she took him to Children’s of Alabama hospital in Birmingham, where he spent one night. A doctor told them Brody had COVID pneumonia.

When COVID-19 pneumonia occurs it can be severe and the lungs are most affected. Airsacs in the lunges fill with fluid and limit their ability to take in oxygen, resulting in shortness of breath and cough, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

“It was scary. The doctors said there’s nothing we can do other than Tylenol or Motrin to treat symptoms,” Vowell said, noting the doctor said his symptoms were consistent with the delta variant.

He was treated in the COVID wing where there “were probably a dozen kids or more” being treated, she recalled.

Today, Brody is at home recuperating and is slowly recovering.

“Our nights are still pretty rough. I feel like he’s feeling a little better now, we’re on Day 7. As far as walking outside, he gets winded very easily, his breathing isn’t where it should be and he still has lots of big coughing spells,” Vowell said.

Brody’s struggle with the virus has left the family shaken.

“It has scared him a lot. Our COVID units in our area had shut down pretty much and we didn’t hear about it this summer, we didn’t worry about the virus as much but now I think it’s definitely scared him to the point that he feels he is definitely more leery of it,” his mother said.

Brody and his family are speaking up to warn people that kids too can suffer greatly from the virus.

“Kids do get sick and [the virus] is real. We’re not out to condemn or condone or any of the political side of it,” Vowell said. “I just want to make other mommas and parents aware that it is real for kids and kids do get sick and it’s a scary thing when they do.”

COVID-19 infections among children has become a growing concern in the U.S.

Nearly 94,000 children’s virus cases were recorded for the week ending Aug. 5, which accounted for roughly 15% of all new cases reported across the nation, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. It’s a major jump from the week prior’s when 39,000 new child cases were reported.

As of Thursday there are 22 children at the Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham hospitalized with COVID-19.

How long will your COVID-19 vaccine last? And will you need a booster?

August 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected to greenlight booster shots for immune-compromised individuals this week, after mounting evidence reveals they may not reach full protection with their original vaccinations.

But this expanded authorization only will apply to this very narrow group. For the rest of Americans, currently available data suggests all three authorized vaccines are offering good protection at least six months after initial vaccination — likely even longer.

“We believe sooner or later you will need a booster for durability of protection,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, speaking at Thursday’s White House press briefing. “We do not believe that others, elderly or non-elderly, who are not immunocompromised, need a vaccine [booster] right at this moment.”

“We are evaluating this on a day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month basis,” Fauci added. “So, if the data shows us that, in fact, we do need to do that, we’ll be very ready to do it and do it expeditiously.”

Vaccine experts have said protection from current COVID-19 vaccines is expected to wane slightly over time. Meanwhile, the delta variant is expected to chip away slightly at overall vaccine effectiveness. Executives from both Moderna and Pfizer have said booster doses eventually will be needed.

But so far, vaccines are still holding up well, experts said. Some studies have indicated a slight dip in efficacy, but mostly when it comes to protection from symptomatic and mild illness. Data thus far indicates that vaccines are still extremely effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths.

Moderna and Pfizer both reported positive data from their ongoing phase 3 trials, which have continued to monitor volunteers at least six months after their initial shots. Moderna has said its vaccine remains more 93% effective against symptomatic illness after six months, while Pfizer reported a dip in efficacy to 84%, though both studies were conducted with slightly different criteria and prior to the emergence of the delta variant.

Although an independent study from the Mayo Clinic hinted that Pfizer immunity might wane faster than Moderna immunity, experts said it’s likely too soon to say that for sure.

Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, has yet to report six-month data for its single-shot vaccine. The company, however, has released promising laboratory data showing a strong immune system response up to eight months later. And a real-world study from South Africa showed good protection against delta.

That said, some Americans aren’t waiting for a formal recommendation to get an additional shot. According to an internal CDC briefing reported by ABC News, approximately 1.1 million already have taken booster shots.

Many doctors have cautioned against this. Booster doses are still being studied formally, and there could be still-unknown risks associated with getting them. Researchers are still evaluating side effects, proper dosages and the right time to get one.

“The main thing I really want to stress to everyone,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health and an ABC News contributor, “is that, right now, we are not recommending booster shots. However, that could change.”

Other doctors and public health specialists also said they’re also not rushing to recommend boosters for the general public. Not only are current vaccines proving to be overwhelmingly effective, but doctors are also still collecting data on the potential impacts of an additional shot. And vaccine producers are still researching whether lower dosages will suffice as potential boosters.

“Everyone wants to know — when is the timeline?” Wildes said.

Experts still aren’t sure.

“We don’t know how long immunity lasts,” said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “We don’t know what ‘waning’ means. We will clearly see that in the fall as we see a surge, and we’ll understand what delta or any future variant means for cases in the population.”

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