August 9, 2021

The Pentagon announces that COVID-19 vaccination will be required across the U.S. military under a new plan, pushing mandates into an institution where refusal can end a career. Washington State orders its government and health care workers to get the shot the same day.

The moralizing around refusal sharpens. The Conversation runs an essay arguing that declining the vaccine is not merely immoral but ‘un-American,’ casting a personal medical decision as a civic betrayal.

Other questions draw less coverage. NPR reports that women describing lighter or heavier periods after vaccination are hard to study, because no one gathered the data up front, and doctors offer reassurance in place of answers.

COVID-19 During Pregnancy Associated with Preterm Birth

Individuals who contract COVID-19 while pregnant face a higher risk of having a very preterm birth, as well as any preterm birth.

UC San Francisco

More than 50 long-term effects of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis - Scientific Reports

Nature

‘This Is Really Scary’: Kids Struggle With Long Covid (Published 2021)

The New York Times

COVID vaccines to be required for military under new US plan

AP News

Young, Healthy Woman Suffers Brain Inflammation after Mild COVID-19 Infection

UC San Diego Health physicians describe first known case of young, healthy adult experiencing central nervous system inflammation due to COVID-19, but without cognitive impairment.

UC San Diego Health

Study Will Determine Rate of COVID Heart Inflammation Among Elite Athletes

DURHAM, N.C. – An innovative study at Duke Health aims to determine the prevalence of COVID-related heart inflammation among top-level athletes and establish the symptoms and clinical features to ensure they receive timely and accurate diagnoses.

Duke Health

Researchers urge prison policy changes to fight COVID

Researchers say policymakers should weigh decarceration for inmates at low risk of reoffending to combat COVID inside prisons.

Harvard Gazette

Unvaccinated adults are bringing Covid home to their kids. Pediatricians are overwhelmed.

“Absolutely household infections are the beginning of this pandemic, that is a major driving force in the spread of infections. We see it often within households, parents to children,” a pediatrician said.

NBC News

Progress of the COVID-19 vaccine effort: viruses, vaccines and variants versus efficacy, effectiveness and escape - Nature Reviews Immunology

This Progress article provides an update on the COVID-19 vaccine effort in the light of ongoing vaccine efficacy studies and real-world data on vaccine effectiveness, including the impact of virus variants of concern and challenges for global deployment.

Nature

Inflammasome activation at the crux of severe COVID-19 - Nature Reviews Immunology

This Progress article brings us up to date on the role of inflammasomes in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and COVID-19, describing how they may be activated during infection and contribute to the overexuberant inflammatory response in severe disease, and the efforts being taken to target them therapeutically.

Nature

The cytokines HGF and CXCL13 predict the severity and the mortality in COVID-19 patients - Nature Communications

Infection with SARS CoV2 results in the induction of multiple cytokine and inflammatory pathways. Here the authors demonstrate the association of HGF and CXCL13 production with increased severity and mortality in COVID-19 patients.

Nature

Why Reports Of Menstrual Changes After COVID Vaccine Are Tough To Study

Some people have reported getting a lighter or heavier period after getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Cause for concern? Doctors say no. Could it be a temporary side effect? That's harder to determine.

NPR

Predicted COVID-19 positive cases, hospitalisations, and deaths associated with the Delta variant of concern, June–July, 2021

The Lancet

Why I got my 13-year-old daughter vaccinated against COVID-19

After a COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use authorization in adolescents ages 12 to 15, Ann Klopp, M.D., Ph.D., was quick to get her 13-year-old daughter, Madeleine, vaccinated. Here's why she is glad she made the decision to do so.

MD Anderson Cancer Center

Explainable DCNN based chest X-ray image analysis and classification for COVID-19 pneumonia detection - Scientific Reports

Nature

It's complicated: COVID-19 and the return to school for K-12 students

As a new school year begins, Johns Hopkins education experts stress the high value of in-person learning balanced by mitigating community spread of the virus

Johns Hopkins University

Validating deep learning inference during chest X-ray classification for COVID-19 screening - Scientific Reports

Nature

Marketing the COVID-19 vaccine and the implications for public health

ScienceDirect.com

Use HIV’s lessons to help children orphaned by COVID-19

Young people who have lost parents to the pandemic need urgent support and long-term study to avert the cascade of adversity that can follow. Decades of research into the HIV epidemic provide a solid foundation.

Nature

As schools reopen, here’s what we know about kids and COVID-19 | Science News

Children do get COVID-19, and some become very sick and even die. But the disease’s long-term effects on kids remain uncertain.

Science News

Lamar Jackson, back after his second bout with coronavirus, remains unsure about vaccine

The Washington Post

‘Worrying’ numbers of pregnant women in intensive care with Covid

Doctors express concern that record figures reflect prevalence of virus and issue of vaccine hesitancy

The Guardian

Stories From the Great American Labor Shortage (Published 2021)

The New York Times

With records of ‘lab-created coronaviruses’ incidents, supervision loopholes and audacious germ researchers, what really happened in US’ UNC labs?

Global Times

Anti-vaccine protesters storm BBC HQ – years after it moved out

Group gain access to old Television Centre in west London, which is now mostly rented by ITV daytime shows

The Guardian

Is the coronavirus pandemic over at last?

As Scotland loosens most of its remaining restrictions, is the devastating pandemic finally at an end?

BBC

Covid in Scotland: 'Right moment' to lift restrictions, says Sturgeon

Physical distancing ends in most settings and nightclubs reopen as Scotland exits level zero.

BBC

Mask Wearing, Humility and Virtue

Recently, I shared this meme, only to be questioned as to whether it was an act of humility to wear a mask if one acknowledged one needed humility to wear

Patheos

Here's how often you should really be cleaning your face masks

How often, exactly, should you be washing cloth masks and coverings, and should you wash them by hand or in your washing machine?

USA Today

Washington State sets vaccine mandate for government and health care workers. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Why refusing the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t just immoral – it’s ‘un-American’

America’s founders accepted the reality of human selfishness. But, they also said people were capable of thinking for the good of the whole, which is necessary for a free society.

The Conversation

COVID-19 lab-leak theory: Gain-of-function is a hot topic, but a bad explanation

Lab leaks are scary. Gain of function can be scary. But that doesn't mean the two are intertwined.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Rightwing radio host and anti-vaxxer dies of Covid

Dick Farrel was a vociferous critic of Dr Anthony Fauci and urged people not to get vaccinated

The Guardian

Mike Rowe is right about the unvaccinated - Washington Examiner

Over the weekend, television host Mike Rowe responded to a user on Facebook who had asked him why he didn’t do more to encourage his viewers to get the coronavirus vaccines. Rowe’s response was one of the better I’ve seen: He said he had gotten vaccinated as soon as he was able, that he believed

Washington Examiner

Radio host Dick Farrel changed anti-vax stance before dying of COVID at 65

Friends of the conservative shock jock say he warned them to get the shot before he passed away.

New York Post

Has the pandemic changed the way we communicate? - BDJ In Practice

Nature

Depression and anxiety doubled in children, pandemic study says

CIDRAP

Top Military Medical Doctor Predicts Coronavirus Longevity

Health.mil

Canada Opens Its Land Border For Vaccinated American Visitors. The U.S. Stays Shut

U.S. citizens and legal residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 to get across one of the world's longest and busiest land borders to visit or shop in Canada.

NPR

August 9, 2021

Add content to this page

Add content to this page