COVID-19 -Media, Maps, Videos, Timelines, CDC/WHO Resources, etc. ***NO DISCUSSION***

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1 week ago:

 

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Via @dixiegirl1035

Live at 5:30 pm eastern in case you want to subscribe online.


Join us for a memorial to remember and honor the lives lost to COVID-19 in cities and towns across the country. A Washington, D.C. ceremony will feature a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. We are inviting cities and towns around the country to join Washington, D.C. in illuminating buildings and ringing church bells at 5:30 p.m. in a national moment of unity and remembrance.

 

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Biden restores ties with the World Health Organization that were cut by Trump.

Experts from China and the World Health Organization at a hospital in Wuhan last week. A W.H.O. team is in China investigating how the virus jumped from animals to people.Credit...China Daily/Reuters

“The decision by a president who had already put the world on notice that he did not feel bound by longstanding U.S. commitments alarmed public health experts. And on Wednesday, his successor made clear that he views the organization as an ally — not an adversary.

“The W.H.O. plays a crucial role in the world’s fight against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic as well as countless other threats to global health and health security,” Mr. Biden said in a letter to António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations. “The United States will continue to be a full participant and a global leader in confronting such threats and advancing global health and health security.”“

 

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WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 22 January 2021
source

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.

Yesterday, the United States of America announced that it plans to retain its membership in WHO.

I want to thank my brother Dr Tony Fauci once again for addressing the Executive Board so early in his morning.

I was also honoured to speak with Vice-President Kamala Harris in the first hours of her first full work day. Thank you again, Madame Vice President.

The United States has long played a vital role in global health. The US was a founding member of WHO, and has been a leader in the fight against many diseases, from smallpox to polio, and malaria to HIV.

The US contributes an enormous amount to global health, but it also benefits from WHO’s work on a range of diseases, both infectious and non-communicable.

American public health professionals who work at WHO and in other global health agencies gain valuable experience and lessons to use at home.

And a healthier, safer world is a healthier, safer America.

So we welcome President Biden’s commitment not just to remaining part of the WHO family, but to working constructively with WHO, its Member States and the multilateral system to end the pandemic and address the many health challenges we face globally.

In that sense, we welcome the Biden administration’s commitment to protect women’s and girl’s sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights around the world.

It comes at a critical juncture - as the world prepares for the 25th anniversary of the landmark Beijing Declaration on women's rights – that helped shape gender equality and women’s movements globally.

We also welcome the United States’ commitment to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change, which will have major benefits for the health of our planet, and for human health.

We look forward to working with the United States and all Member States as we prepare for a successful COP-26 climate conference later this year.

And we welcome the United States’ commitment to support the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, and to join COVAX.

Vaccines are giving us all hope of ending the pandemic and getting the global economy on the road to recovery. But we can only end the pandemic anywhere if we end it everywhere.

And to do that, we need every Member State, every partner, and every vaccine producer on board.

That’s why today I’m glad to announce that COVAX has signed an agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech for up to 40 million doses of its vaccine.

Additionally, pending WHO emergency use listing, we expect almost 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine to be available for distribution by COVAX in the first quarter of this year.

Together, these announcements mean COVAX could begin delivering doses in February, provided we can finalize a supply agreement for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and emergency use listing for the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine.

COVAX is on track to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of this year.

This agreement also opens the door for countries who are willing to share doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to donate them to COVAX and support rapid rollout.

In my remarks to the WHO Executive Board on Monday, I called on the international community to work together as one global family to ensure the vaccination of health workers and older people is underway in all countries within the first 100 days of this year.

The commitment of the United States to join COVAX, together with this new agreement with Pfizer/BioNTech, mean that we are closer to fulfilling the promise of COVAX.

Today I’m pleased to be joined by Albert Bourla, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer.

Albert and I have had several conversations as we have worked together to make this agreement happen.

Albert, thank you for your partnership. You have the floor.

[MR BOURLA ADDRESSED THE MEDIA AND INTRODUCED DR SETH BERKLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF GAVI, WHO ALSO ADDRESSED THE MEDIA]

Thank you, Seth. As we have often said, it’s not vaccines on their own that will help to end the pandemic, it’s vaccination.

UNICEF is playing a vital role in preparing countries for the delivery and rollout of vaccines, and I’m pleased to welcome Henrietta Fore, the Executive Director of UNICEF.

Henrietta, thank you as always for your close partnership. You have the floor.

[ED FORE ADDRESSED THE MEDIA]

Thank you Henrietta, and thank you once again to Albert and Seth.

It’s important we all remember that vaccines will complement, but not replace, the proven public health measures that have been shown to suppress transmission and save lives.

We still have a lot of work to do, but the light at the end of the tunnel continues to grow brighter.

I thank you.

 

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US COVID-19 Cases Caused by Variants
Updated Jan. 28, 2021 / COVID-19 and Your Health
View a map showing the number of confirmed cases in each state / View Cases

“The emerging variants CDC is closely monitoring have mutations in the virus genome that alter the characteristics and cause the virus to act differently in ways that are significant to public health (e.g., causes more severe disease, spreads more easily between humans, requires different treatments, changes the effectiveness of current vaccines). It’s important to understand that genetic mutations are expected, and some variants can spread and become predominant while others subside.

*The cases identified above are based on a sampling of SARS-CoV-2-positive specimens and do not represent the total number of B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 lineage cases that may be circulating in the United States and may not match numbers reported by states, territories, tribes, and local officials.

†Numbers will be updated on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by 7:00 pm.”

 

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CDC
Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants
Updated Jan. 28, 2021
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

(Previous update / CDC / Dec. 29, 2020
Interim: Implications of the Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variant VOC 202012/01)


“Multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating globally. Several new variants emerged in the fall of 2020, most notably:

• In the United Kingdom (UK), a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (known as 20I/501Y.V1, VOC 202012/01, or B.1.1.7) emerged with a large number of mutations. This variant has since been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States (US). In January 2021, scientists from UK reported evidence[1] that suggests the B.1.1.7 variant may be associated with an increased risk of death compared with other variants. More studies are needed to confirm this finding. This variant was reported in the US at the end of December 2020.
  
  
• In South Africa, another variant of SARS-CoV-2 (known as 20H/501Y.V2 or B.1.351) emerged independently of B.1.1.7. This variant shares some mutations with B.1.1.7. Cases attributed to this variant have been detected in multiple countries outside of South Africa. This variant was reported in the US at the end of January 2021.
  
  
• In Brazil, a variant of SARS-CoV-2 (known as P.1) emerged that was first was identified in four travelers from Brazil, who were tested during routine screening at Haneda airport outside Tokyo, Japan. This variant has 17 unique mutations, including three in the receptor binding domain of the spike protein. This variant was detected in the US at the end of January 2021.“

 

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Episode #22 - Children & COVID-19 - WHO | World Health Organization
8 days ago — ... of COVID-19 different in children? Do the new variants impact children differently? What can parents do to keep children safe from COVID-19. WHO's Dr Maria Van Kerkhove explains in Science in 5.

 

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