Large vaccine trials begin in the U.S.
At 6:45 am today, a volunteer in Savannah, Georgia received an injection that started the first large-scale trial of the coronavirus vaccine in the United States. Results of the trial may be available by November, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The study will enroll 30,000 healthy people at approximately 89 sites across the country this summer to determine the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Half of the participants will receive two doses of the vaccine, 28 days apart, while the other half will receive a placebo.
The researchers will then track subjects for side effects and see if fewer vaccinated people get Covid-19. Because vaccines don’t always block an infection, researchers will also check to see if the vaccine, developed by the Modern biotechnology company and the National Institutes of Health, prevents serious illness or death.
Late Monday afternoon, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced that it will also begin a late-stage study of a coronavirus vaccine, with the first vaccines to be administered Tuesday. The test will also include 30,000 people, from 39 states in the United States, and from Brazil, Argentina and Germany.
Early tests of the Modern vaccine showed that it stimulated a strong immune response against Covid-19, with minor and temporary side effects such as arm pain, fatigue, aches, and fever. If the vaccine is shown to be safe and effective, Moderna said it should be able to deliver 500 million doses this year, and up to a billion a year starting in 2021.
Adults interested in participating in the Moderna trial can visit coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org.
Vaccine inside information: Bets on timely actions have generated huge profits for senior executives and board members of companies that develop vaccines and treatments for the virus.
Can masks work both ways?
Facial covers have been touted as one of the best ways to prevent people around you from contracting the coronavirus. Now, there is mounting evidence that masks also protect the people who wear them.
Different types of masks “block the virus to a different degree, but they all block the virus from entering,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Gandhi and her colleagues make this argument in an article to be published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. From animal experiments and observations of various events during the pandemic, they argue that people who wear face covers will take fewer coronavirus particles, which could make the disease less severe.
An animal study in China placed hamsters infected with the coronavirus along with healthy hamsters, some of whom were separated by a tampon of surgical masks. Many of the hamsters behind the masks were not infected, while those that did show milder symptoms.
But the masks remain deeply divisive in the United States. In Illinois on Saturday, the “Unmasked Million March” drew about 150 protesters to the capital to protest the state orientation that requires covering your face in schools this fall.
Masks as fashion: Japan is helping lead the way with innovative facial coatings. Designers have made masks with pearls and high-tech fabrics, wedding options, and punk-inspired styles with leather and nails. A start-up is even working on one that also serves as a walkie-talkie, personal secretary, and translator.
The coronavirus outbreak>
Frequent questions
Updated July 27, 2020
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Should I refinance my mortgage?
- It could be a good idea, because mortgage rates have never been lower. Refinancing applications have taken mortgage applications to some of the highest levels since 2008, so be ready to get online. But the defaults have increased, too, so if you’re thinking about buying a home, be aware that some lenders have tightened your standards.
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What will school be like in September?
- Many schools are unlikely to return to normal hours this fall, requiring the routine of online learning, impromptu child care, and delayed work days to continue. California’s two largest public school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, said July 13 that instruction will be remote only in the fall, citing concerns that increasing coronavirus infections in their areas pose too serious a risk to students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll about 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country so far to abandon plans for a partial physical return to classrooms when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution will not be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the country’s largest New York City, are devising hybrid plans that involve spending a few days in classrooms and other days online. There is no national policy on this yet, so check with your municipal school system regularly to see what’s happening in your community.
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Is the coronavirus in the air?
- Coronavirus can remain in the air for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, growing scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded interior spaces with poor ventilation, and may help explain overcast events reported in meat packing plants, churches, and restaurants. It is unclear how often the virus is transmitted through these tiny droplets or sprays, compared to larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or is transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, Linsey said. Marr, Virginia Tech aerosol expert. Aerosols are released even when a symptom-free person exhales, speaks or sings, according to Dr. Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have summarized the evidence in an open letter to the World Organization. Of the health.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
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Does Covid-19 transmit asymptomatic?
- So far, the evidence seems to show that it does. A widely cited article published in April suggests that people are most infectious approximately two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms, and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were the result of transmission from people who still had no symptoms. Recently, a senior expert from the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people without symptoms was “very rare,” but later withdrew that claim.
Resurgences
Here is a summary of the restrictions in the 50 states.
What else are we following?
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Republicans seek to cut the payments of tens of millions of jobless Americans to $ 200 a week in a $ 1 trillion recovery package. Democrats back a $ 3 trillion package that includes extending federal payments of $ 600 a week, due Friday through the end of the year.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said Saturday that he had been cured of the coronavirus, tweeting a photo of himself holding a box of the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine.
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Google will allow almost all of its 200,000 employees to work from home until at least next July, the first major corporation to announce such extended hours.
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Is deep cleaning a waste of time? The Atlantic argues that some companies are obsessed with risk reduction rituals that only make people feel more secure.
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Times photographer Tyler Hicks spent weeks traveling down the Amazon River, documenting how the virus is devastating remote cities.
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Group testing could allow the US to screen more people without needing more tests. Is that how it works.
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The wine market collapsed during the pandemic, prompting winemakers across France to make a painful decision: to convert unsold product into hand sanitizer.
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In this era of Zoom calls, The Times is acting as a celebrity bookshelf detective. See what books Colin Powell, Tom Hanks and Gwyneth Paltrow have in their video backgrounds.
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In New York City, tailors have seen a rebound in business as people struggling with the “Quarantine 15” application lengthened waistlines and wider jackets.
What are you doing
I’m having fun with my 11-year-old grandson, who is a budding artist, and a dozen friends. I email them an “art notice” at the beginning of each week and they return the artwork based on the notice on Friday. Then I create a PowerPoint gallery, which I return to you the next day.
– Joanna Hammond, Amesbury, Mass.
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