Tulane Outbreak – October 15, 2021

Data shows more children are getting sick and dying from Covid – NBC News

While young children made up a very small portion of Covid deaths, September had the most new cases and deaths for kids.

Thousands of Britons May Have Had False Negative Covid Results – Bloomberg

Around 43,000 people in the U.K. may have wrongly been told their coronavirus test was negative due to errors at a laboratory, the government said.

Australia’s PM Says Border Won’t Open Yet to Tourists, Despite Biggest State’s Reopening – Bloomberg

Australia’s protracted border ban looks set to remain in place for overseas tourists, international students and working visa holders, despite the leader of its most-populous state announcing travel restrictions would be lifted for vaccinated travelers from next month.

48 hours to live: An Oklahoma hospital’s rush to find an ICU bed for a covid patient – Washington Post

As covid surged in Oklahoma, a small hospital’s staff tried desperately to save one unvaccinated man

Vaccine Headlines

Experts recommend that FDA should authorize Moderna COVID vaccine booster – NPR

A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday unanimously recommended that the agency authorize a booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at least six months after completion of the initial two-dose regimen.

To Boost or Not to Boost After COVID? – MedPageToday

With a COVID-19 booster shot available for a segment of the U.S. population, an emerging group may wonder if they really need it — those with “hybrid immunity.” These are the people who are fully vaccinated but have also recovered from a case of COVID-19. Mounting evidence is clear: a bout with the virus does provide extra immunity, making a booster shot helpful but not necessary, experts say.

First U.S. ‘Mix and Match’ COVID Booster Data Are In – MedPageToday

A so-called “mix and match” COVID vaccine series using a different booster than the primary series was safe and produced an increase in immune response comparable to or greater than when the primary series and booster were the same vaccine, researchers found.

Burundi Gets First Covid-19 Vaccines in Donation From China – Bloomberg

Burundi received its first Covid-19 vaccines on Thursday, a Chinese donation of 500,000 Sinopharm doses valued at $3 million. “We have received these doses from the Chinese government as a grant,” Health Minister Thaddée Ndikumana said. More vaccines from Belgium, France, and the U.S. are expected, Ndikumana said, without giving more details.

An FDA panel of experts backs J&J COVID vaccine booster

Clinical Considerations

Official Reporting for October 15, 2021

World Health Organization

Weekly Epi Update October 5th(latest release)

New Cases: 422,625

Confirmed Cases: 239,437,517

Deaths: 4,879,235

Johns Hopkins

Confirmed Cases: 239,926,774
Deaths: 4,886,917

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Total cases: 44,709,010 (+87,870 New Cases)
Total deaths: 720,228(+1,393 New Deaths)

Science and Tech

The unvaccinated are at risk as evolution accelerates the covid-19 pandemic – The Economist

For much of 2020 the covid-19 virus was, in genetic terms, a little dull. Early in the pandemic a version of sars-cov-2 that was slightly different from the one originally sequenced in Wuhan, and spread a bit better, came to dominate the picture outside China. But after that it was just a case of a letter or two of genetic code changing here and there. Sometimes such mutations proved useful for working out where infections were coming from. But none of them seemed biologically relevant. By September Salim Abdool Karim, a South African epidemiologist, was beginning to find his monthly updates on new mutations “quite boring”. He considered dispensing with them altogether.

Psychological and Sociological Impact

Out-of-Practice Airline Pilots Are Making Errors Back in the Air – Bloomberg

Covid has meant months out of the cockpit. As countries begin to open up, mid-air mistakes are mounting.

How Fashion’s Megabrands Will Adapt to Post-Pandemic Customer Behavior – Bloomberg

The luxury industry is in the process of reinventing how it connects with customers, many of whom have spent the past year and a half shopping domestically rather than abroad as free-spending tourists.

A mom died of covid-19 before making a baby registry. A nurse — and strangers — pitched in. – Washington Post

Ashlee Schwartz noticed 23-year-old Eric Robison looking heartbroken, peering through the glass into his wife Emily’s hospital room.

Published Research

None Today

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories

Leaders of the Idaho Medical Association called for an investigation into the controversial pathologist Ryan Cole, MD, over his prescribing of ivermectin to COVID-19 patients, according to a report from KTVB.

Coping with COVID

Coronavirus FAQ: I’m vaccinated. Is it OK to sing into a karaoke mic again? – NPR

How Baltimore, Maryland gets vaccinated

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