August 30, 2021

Hurricane Ida slams into Louisiana and Mississippi, two states whose hospitals were already overwhelmed by the Delta surge. Governor John Bel Edwards puts the collision bluntly: many patients are on ventilators that do not work without electricity, and nearly a million customers lose power. The storm exposes how thin the margin had become after months of crisis.

The coercion around vaccination reaches into family court. The Washington Post reports a Chicago judge revoked a mother’s custody of her son after she said she was not vaccinated, a ruling that alarmed civil-liberties observers over how far mandate logic could travel. The U.S. Department of Education opens investigations into mask-mandate bans in five states, and Utah is placed under federal scrutiny on the theory that its ban discriminates against high-risk students.

Reuters reports New Zealand’s first death linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, tied to myocarditis, a rare acknowledgment of vaccine harm as officials pushed uptake. A Florida Atlantic University review urges doctors to stop prescribing hydroxychloroquine for COVID, and The Conversation examines how China’s pandemic surveillance tools could outlast the emergency that justified them.

COVID variants: we spoke to the experts designing a single vaccine to defeat them all

A universal vaccine has been described as the ‘holy grail’ – but how close are we to getting one?

The Conversation

Nearly 1 million customers without power as Hurricane Ida charges inland

The Washington Post

Understanding COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines

mRNA vaccines inject cells with instructions to generate a protein that is normally found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

National Human Genome Research Institute (.gov)

Item of Interest: NIH funds studies to assess potential effects of COVID-19 vaccination on menstruation

NIH has awarded one-year supplemental grants to five institutions to explore potential links between COVID-19 vaccination and menstrual changes.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (.gov)

Louisiana And Mississippi Were Overwhelmed By COVID-19 Cases. Then Ida Struck

The storm and pandemic pose a dual threat. "I hate to say it this way, but we have a lot of people on ventilators today and they don't work without electricity," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said.

NPR

COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide organ transplantation: a population-based study

The Lancet

What happens when the COVID-19 vaccines enter the body – a road map for kids and grown-ups

An infectious disease doctor explains the science behind COVID-19 vaccines at a level that children – and adults – of all ages can understand.

The Conversation

The COVID-19 pandemic as a pivot point for biological conservation - Nature Communications

The COVID-19 lockdown reduced human mobility and led to immediate insights into how humans impact nature. Yet the strongest ecological impacts are likely to come. As we emerge from the pandemic, governments should avoid prioritizing short-term economic gains that compromise ecosystems and the services they provide humanity. Instead, the pandemic can be a pivot point for societal transformation to value longer term ecosystem and economic sustainability.

Nature

Study: Ending an eviction moratorium increases Covid-19 hazard

Ending an eviction moratorium for renters makes people in a community significantly more likely to contract Covid-19, according to a study co-authored by MIT researchers.

MIT News

Monoclonal antibody treatment combo reduces hospitalization among high-risk patients with COVID-19

Mayo Clinic News Network

The Real Toll From Prison Covid Cases May Be Higher Than Reported (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Functional data analysis characterizes the shapes of the first COVID-19 epidemic wave in Italy - Scientific Reports

Nature

PCA-based unsupervised feature extraction for gene expression analysis of COVID-19 patients - Scientific Reports

Nature

COVID jabs needed for educators and kids to keep schools open: WHO, UNICEF

As the school year begins for millions of children in Europe and Central Asia, UN health and child experts on Monday issued a series of COVID-19 risk reduction measures to ensure that in-person lessons can go ahead, despite rising infection rates.

UN News

‘Stop Prescribing Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19’

Schmidt College of Medicine researchers reviewed the recent major randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trials for hydroxychloroquine, finding a lack of significant benefit and some suggestion of harm.

Florida Atlantic University

The impact of face masks on interpersonal trust in times of COVID-19 - Scientific Reports

Nature

A comparative recombination analysis of human coronaviruses and implications for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic - Scientific Reports

Nature

Nick Saban Tested Positive for Coronavirus. Will He Coach Alabama Against Georgia? (Published 2020)

The New York Times

Impact of Coronavirus-2019 On Pediatric and Adult Heart Transplantation Waitlist Activity and Mortality in The United States: A Descriptive Approach

The Lancet

Macron gambled on coronavirus immunity passport — and won

The French president stuck his neck out, banking that the public would support his plan. And so far, it’s been a success.

POLITICO.eu

Immunity To COVID-19 Could Last Longer Than You'd Think

New studies look at how the mRNA vaccines affect the cells in your body in the short run and the long run. The findings are a counterpoint to concerns about waning immunity.

NPR

A judge asked a mother if she got the coronavirus vaccine. She said no, and he revoked custody of her son.

The Washington Post

Canada election: Will declining consumer confidence hurt Trudeau?

Weakening sentiment among households could undermine what has been a big advantage for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Al Jazeera

Australian imports of ivermectin increase tenfold, prompting warning from TGA

The drug, used to deworm livestock, has been touted among rightwing media as a Covid treatment, prompting the US FDA to tweet ‘You are not a cow’

The Guardian

Unvaccinated U.S. visitors could soon face new restrictions on travel to Europe. (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Fact check: Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is FDA-approved; cigarettes are not

Social media users inaccurately claim cigarettes are FDA approved. The FDA doesn't approve tobacco products.

USA Today

Feds investigating Utah for ban on schools enacting mask mandates

Utah is now under federal investigation for its ban on schools enacting mask mandates — which the U.S. Department of Education believes is discriminatory toward students with disabilities or health conditions that make them more susceptible to COVID-19.

The Salt Lake Tribune

New Zealand reports first death linked to Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Reuters

U.S. opens investigations into bans on school mask mandates in 5 states

Reuters

Fact check: Posts falsely link Fauci's wife to FDA vaccine approval and testing

Dr. Anthony Fauci's wife is not involved with the testing or approval for COVID-19 vaccines, contrary to online claims.

USA Today

First, surges in Covid-19 infections led to shortages of hospital beds and staff. Now it’s oxygen | CNN

CNN

Isolated By Pandemic, Violinist Jennifer Koh Nurtured A New Community Online

Isolated by pandemic last year, violinist Jennifer Koh asked prominent composers to donate tiny pieces, and to nominate fellow up-and-coming composers to receive paid commissions.

NPR

The Pandemic Caused a Baby Bust, Not a Boom

Birth rates in many high-income countries declined in the months following the first wave, possibly because of economic uncertainty

Scientific American

Inside Pfizer’s labs, ‘variant hunters’ race to stay ahead of the pandemic’s next twist

At the Pearl River, N.Y., research center where the Pfizer vaccine was created, a team of “variant hunters” race to track changes in the fast-mutating SARS-CoV-2.

www.statnews.com

In This Remote American Outpost, Pandemic Recovery Is a Faraway Dream (Published 2021)

The New York Times

Why our 'pandemic of the unvaccinated' includes so many who are pregnant

Just 23% of pregnant people are vaccinated against COVID-19. That’s less than half the vaccination rate for adults in the United States.

Los Angeles Times

The Unemployed Epidemiologist Who Predicted the Pandemic

For years, Rob Wallace warned that industrial agriculture could cause deadly outbreaks at a global scale. It made him an exile in his field.

The Nation

China’s ‘surveillance creep’: how big data COVID monitoring could be used to control people post-pandemic

China has used big data collection systems to keep COVID under control. How the government plans to use these new capabilities in its national surveillance system has many concerned.

The Conversation

Death by a Thousand Words: COVID-19 and the Pandemic of Ableist Media

The COVID pandemic isn't the only threat; the ableist media is another pandemic putting everyone's lives in danger.

Refinery29

Is My Child Breathing Carbon Dioxide When Wearing a Mask?

University of Utah Health

Mission possible: getting affordable COVID-19 tests to those who need it most

How UNICEF is enabling access to COVID-19 diagnostics for low- and middle-income countries.

Unicef

August 30, 2021

Add content to this page

Add content to this page