August 7 coronavirus news

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced that the Covid-19 data numbers posted today contain “a significant increase due to a data backlog from earlier in the week.”

The state reported 2,015 new cases Covid-19, but according to VDH, that number includes information that should have been reported on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, as well as the regular numbers for Friday.

Note: These numbers were released by the state’s public health agency and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project.

The chief adviser for Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, said Friday that coronavirus vaccine trials will be representative of those most impacted by the virus.

Slaoui also addressed plans to distribute a vaccine, once it is approved. 

“We are extremely cognizant of the importance of making sure that the vaccines, if and when they become available, are appropriately allocated in the population, on the basis of data…and on the basis of need,” he said.

More details: Slaoui said his team’s role in the operation is to deliver up to 300 million doses in the US, beginning January 2021 or earlier.

They hope to have completed that process by mid-2021. He added that they have an agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review all data “quickly, but totally independently.”

He said the aim is to receive full FDA approval of a vaccine, adding that it will be the FDA’s decision to grant emergency use authorization (EUA) of a vaccine, which would greenlight the vaccine for use before it receives full approval. The FDA has said that any vaccine that receives an EUA must meet efficacy requirements first.

The US response to Covid-19 ranks near the bottom of the list of countries assessed by Foreign Policy Magazine.

The magazine’s Covid-19 Global Response Index puts the US among the six worst-performing countries in the world, alongside Turkey, Iran, Mexico and Indonesia.

China ranked last, in part, for its failure to report reliable test data, its minimal financial response, and its failure to communicate clearly and honestly with the public. 

But, the US got the lowest score for “fact-based communication.”

Foreign Policy described the US government as “relatively weak” in this category, as “it has engaged in misinformation as much as any country in the Index.” 

Best on the list is New Zealand with a perfect score. Senegal came in second.

How the scoring works: The index assesses 36 countries for pandemic performance based on its public health and financial response, along with how well the country’s leaders communicate using facts and science. The US came in at 31.

Countries that scored higher in the index generally have a lower death and case rate and a lower number of positive test results. Countries that reacted quickly and had a targeted response tended to have better outcomes, the index showed.

The magazine singles out President Trump specifically for “amplifying misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus.”

It highlights his remarks during the July 4 celebration in which he claimed 99% of the cases are “harmless.”  

The US also got low marks for its lack of testing and for how little it has spent on emergency healthcare, compared to other countries.

The US’s financial response to the pandemic was just above the median. That score may not tell the whole story though, according to one of the authors of the index, Fouad Pervez. Just because the US has an unemployment system, doesn’t mean families can access that money, Pervez said. 

“Versus in a European country where they have the same policy, but the mechanism, it works, and people don’t lose their jobs or benefits, they just get less salary, but they get enough salary that they can put food on the table,” Pervez said. Pervez is the senior quantitative and policy analyst on the project.

A group of athletes at Ohio State University issue a letter to fans voicing their support of the health and safety protocols set by the institution ahead of their upcoming season. 

The letter, released on social media on Friday, was in response to the #BigTenUnited statement which called for more safety assurances from the conference.

The OSU athletes' letter showed support for their fellow conference athletes and their university, including Athletics Director Gene Smith. 

Big Ten student-athletes released a unity letter earlier this week calling for more details to be given surrounding safety precautions for the fall sports season. 

“We feel comfortable and trust that the decisions by Gene Smith (Athletic Director), Dr. Borchers (Head Physician), our coaches, and health and safety professionals are made in our best interest,” added the OSU athletes. 

Football captains Tuf Borland and Wyatt Davis among others posted the letter to their social media expressing their views on the matter at hand. 

“We respect that these thoughts about safety and protocols may not be shared by all student-athletes across the country, but as Ohio State Buckeyes, we stand with the decisions of our athletic department and conference,” the statement said.

Read the letter:

Major League Baseball announced that 13 people have tested positive for Covid-19 after one week of league testing. Seven of the positive results came from players, and six came from team staffers.

Here's how that breaks down:

Ireland Prime Minister Micheál Martin announced Friday that the government will introduce new coronavirus restrictions in three counties – Kildare, Laois and Offaly.

In these three counties, "everyone should restrict their movements to within their own county except for the purposes of work and for other essential journeys," he added.

Kildare is the county west of the Irish capital of Dublin. 

Some context: Over the past two weeks, at least 289 coronavirus cases have been reported in Kildare, Laois, and Offaly.

"These represent close to half of all cases detected in Ireland during that time," the Irish Department on Health said Friday in a statement.

The department said on Twitter that as of Thursday, at least 1,772 coronavirus-related deaths and approximately 26,470 total coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the country.

It has been about six months since the coronavirus pandemic began, and this time of uncertainty and anxiety can take a toll on your mental health.

Andrea Bonior, a clinical psychologist, said there are a few things you can do to make sure you are staying healthy.

First, she said it is important to break the stigma and encouraged people to "think about their mental health as they would their physical health"

Two things she says that can help with that: sleep and spending time outside.

"The data is there. These two things significantly can help us deal with crisis situations," Bonior said.

Next, she said you should think about controllability and predictability. When you wake up in the morning ask yourself, "What can I control today?" she said.

"Just because I don't know when this will end, doesn't mean that it won't end," Bonior said.

Connecting yourself to a sense of purpose and finding ways to connect to your personal values will also help with that anxiety, she said.

"When we can connect with a sense of purpose – what are our values here, what are we teaching our children or how are we helping our neighbors – that can help us rise above the stress and connect with that greater sense of purpose," she said.

Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick said in a statement on Friday that the upcoming fall semester, which is set to begin Aug. 24, will be fully online. 

“After consultation with our public health faculty experts, District of Columbia officials, University leadership, and monitoring the status of the COVID-19 pandemic locally, regionally and nationally, we have made the very difficult decision to move all undergraduate courses for the Fall 2020 semester fully online, and non-residential," the statement said.

Frederick said the decision was based on nationally rising Covid-19 cases in young people and the consideration of racial disparities.

Frederick said that a decision about the Spring 2021 semester will be made later this year. 

There has to be a long-term commitment to correct the "decades-old dilemma of the social determinants of health" that affect African Americans, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Friday.

Speaking with Dr. Ashish Jha during a virtual discussion hosted by the Brown School of Public Health, Fauci said the coronavirus pandemic could be a wake-up call for society to change this.

Fauci explained that Covid-19 has been a "double whammy" against communities of color.

As an example, Fauci explained said Black Americans are more likely to have jobs that are considered essential.

"Already from square one, you have a greater risk of getting infected than someone who can sit behind the computer and telework all day," he said.

He said this means making sure that resources – immediate testing and results and access to health care – are concentrated in African American communities and other demographics at higher risk of infection is one of the things that can be done to address racial disparities during the pandemic.

Fauci added the health disparities in the Black population that have come to light during the pandemic are maybe a "wake-up call" for society to change them.

"Take HIV. I've devoted most of my life to that. The African American community – 13% of the population is African American, 45% of the new infections are among African Americans. That's unacceptable. We've got to do things societally that change that. Maybe it'll be a wake-up call to society to change," he said.