Young people have suffered less under the COVID-19 virus than older people medically, but experts say the gap has narrowed, and so-called superspreading among the young is a factor.“The FILE – A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Sept. 30, 2014.A woman wearing face mask walks on a street in Hong Kong, Feb. 18, 2020. COVID-19 viral illness has sickened millions of people in China since December.In December 2019, as COVID-19 was emerging in China, colleges and universities worldwide released hundreds of thousands of students home for winter break. Many of the more than 360,000 Chinese students who study in the U.S. returned to China for the holiday.A month later, they and other international students returned to their campuses in the U.S. and around the world as COVID-19 was gaining speed.In March, U.S. colleges and universities began their spring breaks, times when students traditionally head to warm beach destinations, such as in Florida, Texas and Mexico, to blow off steam after studying for midterms.Dr. Sean O’Leary, associate professor of pediatrics-infectious diseases at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, told VOA that in response to the wave of COVID-19 cases in the U.S., many universities shut down their campuses, sent students home or asked them to return from spring break to clean out their rooms, and then put them on airplanes for points around the country.“From the perspective of the U.S. as a country, was that the best choice?” O’Leary asked. Campuses were “one place where we knew there was widespread transmission.”Lauterbach said the disease is insidious in younger people because they typically show only mild or no symptoms, and scientists now believe that 80% of COVID-19 transmission occurs among those who don’t seem ill.Kids ride their bikes at Las Heras park after lockdown measures to fight the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic were relaxed, in Buenos Aires, on July 21, 2020.A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics looked at more than 2,000 youths ages 18 and younger in China.Doctors from Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine wrote that where the virus first emerged, in Hubei province, 13% of confirmed cases had asymptomatic infection, a rate that “almost certainly understates the true rate of asymptomatic infection, since many asymptomatic children are unlikely to be tested.”Research published Aug. 6 by JAMA Internal Medicinefound that many COVID-19 patients remained asymptomatic for a prolonged period, and the viral load was similar to that of symptomatic patients. Older children have also been shown to transmit the coronavirus as much as adults, according to a large study from South Korea. The study, which analyzed nearly 65,000 people in South Korea, found that children younger than 10 were around half as likely to spread the virus as adults. However, young people ages 10 to 19 years old are more likely than other age groups to disperse COVID-19 into households.Of 10,592 household contacts, 11.8% had COVID-19, with 18.6% being index patients ages 10 to 19. It was 1.9% for the 48,481 non-household contacts.“We should make it clear to younger people that if they behave in a careless fashion, that they are not only putting themselves, their peers, older people and peers [with underlying conditions] at risk,” Lauterbach said, “but they put themselves at risk and their best friends. So, we need to convey a message that this is a serious disease for all age groups.”“It is quite clear that not many young people die from the disease,” Lauterbach said.“But it is astonishing that we see very, let’s say, remarkable numbers of younger people in the ICU and also often on ventilator support,” he said.“Currently, we do not know whether they will fully recover their lung function or not. We definitely do not know that for certain. So, we have to take this way more seriously than we did in the past.” Kathleen Struck contributed to this report.
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Day: October 8, 2020
The National Football League reported Thursday yet another Tennessee Titans football player has tested positive for COVID-19, raising questions about their game scheduled for Sunday in Nashville.The latest positive test brings the total to 23 positive COVID-19 tests among players and staff for the Tennessee franchise, and 21 of those positive cases have come since Sept. 29, two days after the Titans game with the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis. The team facility has been closed since that time.The team had gone two consecutive days without a positive test before two more tests came back positive Wednesday. A third day would have allowed them to return to their team facility in Nashville, under league rules.The outbreak has already led to the postponement of the Titans’ scheduled game last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers to the seventh week of the season. NFL sources say their game Sunday with the Buffalo Bills in Nashville is currently is being evaluated.Some current and former players took to social media Thursday calling for the Titans to be forced to forfeit a game as punishment for their “irresponsible” behavior in allowing the virus to spread.On Wednesday, the New England Patriots had to cancel practice at the team’s headquarters in Foxborough, Massachusetts, after defensive player Stephen Gilmore became the third player on that team to test positive for COVID-19.Quarterback Cam Newton tested positive Saturday and is on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and the Patriots placed a defensive tackle from the practice squad on that list Tuesday. The NFL says the Patriots have reported no new cases as of Thursday.Gilmore, last year’s NFL defensive player of the year, participated in a game Monday between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City. The Chiefs reported no positive cases since that game and have been allowed to practice.Under NFL protocols, players are required to wear protective equipment, including the mandatory use of masks and other gear during practice.
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The European Union on Thursday concluded a deal with an American drugmaker to supply up to 400 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine, bringing its total vaccine supply to 1.1 billion doses for the bloc’s 450 million people.To secure the vaccines, the EU made an undisclosed down payment to Johnson & Johnson, which confirmed the deal in a statement in which it reiterated plans to allocate up to 500 million additional doses to poorer countries. EU states plan to pay for those but the price and liability conditions remained confidential.This is the third COVID-19 purchasing deal the EU has closed as the world races to find and secure shots against the disease. The first two were with AstraZeneca and Sanofi.The announcement came in light of a fresh spike across Europe forcing countries to reintroduce previously relaxed COVID-19 restrictions, including the shutdown of bars, restaurants and gyms.The J&J deal follows supply contracts for 400 million doses of the potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and for 300 million doses of the shot being tested by a partnership between Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.The commission plans to ramp up its vaccine collection as it continues to pursue deals with manufacturers like Moderna , CureVac and a partnership between Pfizer and BioNTech. If confirmed, the EU’s total vaccine supply will be nearly 2 billion doses.A senior EU source told Reuters news agency last month that the EU is in talks with Novavax for a seventh vaccine. If it strikes seven deals, the EU would be ahead of Britain and the United States, which each have concluded six supply contracts so far.The J&J vaccine, which is being developed by its subsidiary, Janssen, is based on vector technology, the same used by AstraZeneca. Sanofi’s is a protein-based jab.
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Germany’s health officials said Thursday new COVID-19 cases are spreading at the fastest rate since April.Health Minister Jens Spahn joined Robert Kock Institute for Disease Control President Lothar Wieler at a news conference in Berlin, where they said the number of new cases of the coronavirus has been rising steadily in Germany since early September. Wieler told reporters, “In the last few days between 1,000 and today even more than 4,000 cases have been reported to the Robert Koch Institute every day.”Weiler said the first seven days of October had seen about twice as many cases as the same period in September. He said the current weekly nationwide average rate of COVID-19 incidence is 20.2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants; at the beginning of June it was three.German Health Minister Jens Spahn, right, and the president of the Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, left, address the media about the current developments of the new coronavirus outbreak in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 8, 2020.Wieler said the incidence of infection is increasing in almost all regions of Germany, and that worried him greatly. He said he was unsure of how it will develop in the coming weeks, and that it is possible Germany could see 10,000 cases a day and the virus could spread uncontrollably.The outlook is particularly alarming for a country considered to have had one of the most effective responses to the pandemic in Europe, if not the world. Spahn said Germany has coped with the crisis well, so far, with the health system able to handle the patient load and a generally high level of acceptance among citizens of COVID-19 restrictions.The health minister said a big part of the problem now is young people, who are getting the virus at a higher rate than earlier in the year. He said youth want to party and travel because they believe they are invulnerable. “They are not. A corona infection is and remains a serious illness,” he said.But Spahn said the virus is not out of control now, and if the nation pulls together and follows guidelines, it can rein it in again. “If 80 million people take part, the chances of the virus drop dramatically. This pandemic is also a character test, a test of character for us as a society,” he said.
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The world now has more than 36 million cases of the coronavirus. According to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracking program, 36,166,574 people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, including more than 1 million deaths. The United States leads in both categories with 7.5 million cases and nearly 212,000 deaths. India is a close second in the total number of cases with 6.8 million, while Brazil topped the 5 million mark Wednesday. Brazil is second in the total number of deaths with more than 148,000, with India third with over 105,000. Memorandum from White House physician Sean Conley to White House press secretary McEnany with information about President Trump receiving a dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail on Oct. 2 2020.Regeneron
U.S.-based biotechnology firm Regeneron says it has applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency approval of the experimental coronavirus antibody therapy that was given to President Donald Trump after he was hospitalized last week with COVID-19. The company says the therapy is a combination of two antibodies that are believed to boost a person’s immunity to the virus. Although the therapy is still in large-scale clinical trials, it has been available for so-called “compassionate use,” which the FDA must approve on an individual basis. Regeneron says there currently are enough doses for about 50,000 patients, but expects to have doses available for 300,000 patients “within the next few months,” which will be free to all Americans. EU vaccine deal
Meanwhile, the European Commission announced Wednesday it has reached a deal with U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Gilead to buy additional doses of the COVID-19 antiviral drug Remdesivir to treat about 3,400 patients. The drug, which has been approved by the World Health Organization to treat severely or critically ill coronavirus patients, has also been given to President Donald Trump after his treatment.Olivier Veran, France’s health minister, will announce a new set of restrictions Thursday to deal with the country’s surge of new COVID-19 cases. The Reuters news agency is reporting the government will put the cities of Lyon and Lille on maximum COVID-19 alert. Paris and Marseille were put on maximum alert earlier this week, resulting in the closure of bars in the French capital for two weeks. France reported upwards of 7,500 new coronavirus patients in hospital care Wednesday, out of a record-high 18,746 daily new infections.
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“Sesame Street” has always pressed for inclusion. Now in the wake of the national reckoning on race, it’s going further — teaching children to stand up against racism.
Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit, educational organization behind “Sesame Street” — will later this month air the half-hour anti-racist special “The Power of We” and hopes families will watch together.
The special defines racism for younger viewers and shows how it can be hurtful. It urges children who encounter racism or hear someone else be the victim of it to call it out. “When you see something that’s wrong, speak up and say, ‘That’s wrong’ and tell an adult,” 6-year-old Gabrielle the Muppet advises.
The special, composed of little skits and songs in a Zoom-like format, will stream on HBO Max and the PBS 24/7 streaming channel Oct. 15, and air on PBS Kids the same day.
In one animated skit, a Black Muppet is told by a white Muppet that he can’t dress up like a superhero because they’re only white. Though hurt, the Black Muppet nevertheless refuses to stop playing superheroes, saying they can come in all colors. The white Muppet soon apologizes. “Racism hurts and it’s wrong,” is the message.
In the song “How Do You Know?” racism is dealt with head-on. “Hey, Elmo, how would you feel if I said, ‘I don’t like you ’cause I don’t like the color red?'” sings Tamir, a Black, 8-year-old Muppet. Elmo responds: “Elmo wouldn’t care what you said ’cause Elmo is proud, proud to be red!” It concludes with the lines: “Speak up. Say something. Don’t give in.”
“We believe that this moment calls for a direct discussion about racism to help children grasp the issues and teach them that they are never too young to be ‘upstanders’ for themselves, one another, and their communities,” said Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of creative and production at Sesame Workshop, in a statement.
Current and former Sesame Street human cast members Alan, Charlie, Chris and Gordon take part in the special, alongside celebrity guests Yara Shahidi, the star of “grown-ish;” “Hamilton” star Christopher Jackson; and Grammy-nominated singer Andra Day.
Viewers are offered tips to help their communities unite, including chalk drawings, making positive signs and going to sing-a-longs. When outside, all the puppets wear masks, even the letter puppets. The special concludes with the slogan “Listen. Act. Unite.”
Sesame Workshop has included online resources for parents to help guide conversations with their child about race, including talking, singing and breathing together. “Sharing can help us feel better,” is one tip. There are also downloadable pictures to color and a certificate with a place to put the name of an upstander.
“Sesame Street,” which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary, has a history of explaining the world to children, tackling everything from foster care to substance abuse. The latest special comes on the heels of “Sesame Street” contributing to “Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism,” a CNN town hall special in June hosted by Van Jones and Erica Hill.
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American poet Louise Glück has won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature.The Swedish Academy praised Glück’s “unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”Glück has published 12 poetry collections, and her previous honors include the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.The literature prize is just one of a group given out this week. Each comes with a $1.1 million cash award.Friday brings the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize.The prize in chemistry was awarded to two scientists for developing a method of gene editing.Three scientists won the physics prize Wednesday for their discoveries related to black holes. Three scientists also shared the medicine prize for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
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An Iranian dissident has contracted the coronavirus at a prison in northern Iran, according to a knowledgeable source, highlighting what U.S. and U.N. officials say is a worsening pandemic threat facing Iran’s prisoners of conscience.In a message sent Tuesday to VOA Persian, an Iran-based source close to the family of dissident Farhad Meysami said Meysami tested positive for the virus at Rajaei Shahr prison in the city of Karaj and was transferred that morning from his ward to a so-called prison “safe room” for isolation. The source had no further details on the conditions of Meysami’s detention.The 50-year-old medical doctor and women’s rights activist has been imprisoned by Iran since his July 31, 2018, arrest. Security agents detained him at his Tehran home where they found him in possession of pins with the slogan “I am against compulsory hijab.”Meysami had been peacefully supporting a 2018 campaign by Iranian women who removed their hijabs in public to protest Islamist regulations requiring the headscarves. He was sentenced in January 2019 to five years in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda against the system” and “gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security,” a sentence that was upheld on appeal in August that year.Authorities initially incarcerated Meysami at Tehran’s Evin prison before moving him to Rajaei Shahr last November.A former Iranian political prisoner first reported Meysami’s coronavirus infection in a series of Monday tweets.#فرهادمیثمی در زندان رجائیشهر به کرونا مبتلا شده است؛امروز از زندان تماس گرفت و گفت که جواب تستش مثبت شده، اینکه در هفته گذشته احساس بیاشتهائی داشته ولی الان حالش خوب است.گفتم این خبر را توئیت بکنم، مخالفتی نکرد.گفتم آیا لازم است بگویم حالِ فعلیتان خوب است؟گفت: بله!۱/ pic.twitter.com/grFUJwI8Vv— Zia Nabavi (@ZiaNabavi1) October 5, 2020Zia Nabavi, who is based in Iran, tweeted that Meysami informed him of the diagnosis in a phone call from prison that day. Nabavi said Meysami reported feeling fine after being unwell last week.#فرهادمیثمی که دیروز تست کرونایش مثبت شده بود، صبح امروز به بند امن زندان رجائی شهر منتقل شد.بند امن سلولی انفرادی است بدون امکانات بند عمومی و فاقد هر گونه امکانات درمانی.چند روز پیش #فرهادفهندژ زندانی بهائی و هم اتاق دکتر میثمی هم بعد از ابتلا به کرونا این بند منتقل شده بود pic.twitter.com/84DpO792eu— Zia Nabavi (@ZiaNabavi1) October 6, 2020The former political prisoner followed up with a Tuesday tweet in which he also said Meysami had been transferred to a prison safe room that morning. Nabavi described the safe room as an individual cell without medical and other facilities available to inmates in the public wards.Meysami’s lawyer Mohammad Moghimi also tweeted about his client’s coronavirus diagnosis on Monday.موکلم دکتر فرهاد میثمی به کرونا مبتلاء شده و باید از مرخصی درمانی بهرهمند شود. بارها گفتهام، دوباره تاکید میکنم؛ زندانیان سیاسی باید بدون قید و شرط آزاد شوند و سلامتی زندانیان عادی نیز باید تضمین شود یا آنان نیز بصورت موقت یا مشروط آزاد شوند.#فرهادمیثمی#زندانی_سیاسی#کروناpic.twitter.com/6ljKYTbGqR— Mohammad Moghimi (@Moghimi_Lawyer) October 5, 2020“My client should be on medical leave,” Moghimi wrote. “I emphasize again: political prisoners must be released unconditionally, and the health of ordinary prisoners must be guaranteed. Otherwise, they must be released temporarily or conditionally.”Meysami’s infection got a mention in Iranian state media as well. Ensaf News published a Monday report quoting a friend of the dissident, medical book publisher Farhad Teimourzadeh, as saying he heard about the diagnosis from the dissident’s mother, Sedigheh Pishnamaz.The health risks facing prisoners of conscience in Iran have prompted international concern as the Islamist-ruled nation struggles to contain the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.The U.S. is concerned by the worsening COVID-19 situation in Iran and we reiterate our offer of assistance first made in February. We join @UNHumanRights’ call for Iranian authorities to release all political prisoners from their overcrowded and unsanitary prisons immediately.— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) October 6, 2020In a Tuesday tweet, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus called for Iranian authorities “to release all political prisoners from their overcrowded and unsanitary prisons immediately.”U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also issued a statement Tuesday saying poor conditions inside Iranian prisons have “led to the spread of the virus among detainees, reportedly resulting in a number of deaths.”“I call for [Iran’s] unconditional release of human rights defenders, lawyers, political prisoners, peaceful protesters and all other individuals deprived of their liberty for expressing their views or otherwise exercising their rights,” Bachelet said. “It is particularly important to rectify such injustices at a time when COVID-19 is coursing through Iran’s prisons.” This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. Lipin reported from Washington and Yazdiha from Istanbul. Click here for the original Persian version of the story.
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Zimbabwe, like other African countries, is trying a phased re-opening of schools after closing in March due to COVID-19.But many teachers like 33-year-old Munyaradzi Masiyiwa are refusing to return to class, pointing to low pay and unsafe conditions.Masiyiwa said he makes more money selling brooms than teaching at Cranborne Boys Government High School in Harare.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Paul Mavima, Zimbabwe public service minister (Harare, October 6, 2020) says teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all it can afford at the moment. (Columbus Mavhunga/ VOA)Public Service Minister Paul Mavima said teacher salaries, about $100 a month, including a $75 “COVID-19 allowance” is all the government can afford.”It is in this context that we are saying to civil servants please be realistic, exercise moderation in the manner in which you demand salary increases, we don’t want salary increases that will upset the stability that we have so far realized and further torpedo the economic recovery that we have started to see,” Mavima said.Without teachers in class, Zimbabwe’s school children are the ones left paying the price.Filda Rusheje, a parent of student, in Harare (October 7, 2020) wishes if the government can negotiate with the teachers on strike so that children can learn ahead of examinations. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)At Glen View High School, students said they only discuss lessons among themselves. Filda Rusheje is one of their parents. She is worried the children won’t learn enough to pass their exams.“The situation at schools is a tough one,” Rusheje said. “They are going to school but they are not learning. My daughter said they are just discussions among learners. They are not even sure if it’s making sense because teachers are not coming. I just wish if the government can negotiate with the teachers so that our children can learn. I want them to look after us in future.”Zimbabwe’s government has threatened to replace defiant teachers like Masiyiwa if they don’t soon return to the classrooms.
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