Covid 19

(CBS DETROIT) — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is providing 300,000 free COVID-19 tests to 60,000 households in at-risk communities. Through Project ACT, an expanded partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, eligible households will receive one kit with five tests. READ MORE: Annual Mackinac Bridge Walk Returns This Year: Here's What To Know Residents can request the tests once per month in July and August. “Testing remains both a critical and helpful tool in managing the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring our loved ones and neighbors don’t get infected,” Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive, said in a press release. READ MORE: Michigan Reports 13,102 New COVID-19 Cases, 64 Deaths Over The Last Week Anyone seeking to order tests can visit AccessCOVIDTests.org and input their zip code to see if they live in the qualifying area. Those without internet access can contact 211 to order. For more information about testing, visit … [Read more...] about Free COVID-19 Tests Available To 60K Michigan Households In At-Risk Communities

(CBS DETROIT) – The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced 13,102 coronavirus cases in the state and an additional 64 deaths this week. This brings the state total of COVID-19 cases to 2,619,533 and 36,982 deaths as of July 5. READ MORE: Annual Mackinac Bridge Walk Returns This Year: Here's What To Know READ MORE: Free COVID-19 Tests Available To 60K Michigan Households In At-Risk Communities Starting the week of June 19, the weekly Michigan COVID-19 dashboard update will move from Wednesdays to Tuesdays to accommodate an anticipated change in CDC data cadence. Due to the change in weekly reporting from Wednesdays to Tuesdays, today’s weekly data is representative of 6 days (Thursday-Tuesday). Here is how data is being updated: Case and death data will be updated once per week on Tuesdays. Case and death data will be inclusive of both confirmed and probable cases and deaths. The cumulative county COVID-19 case rate map … [Read more...] about Michigan Reports 13,102 New COVID-19 Cases, 64 Deaths Over The Last Week

A wily new omicron subvariant is in town, and UCSF's Dr. Bob Wachter offered insight into BA.5 in his latest Twitter update on the COVID-19 pandemic in California 's San Francisco Bay Area. BA.5, along with its close relative BA.4, is a subvariant of the omicron variant. But, according to Wachter, BA.5 has “enough alteration in the spike protein” that it’s even better than earlier versions at getting around so-called neutralizing antibodies, proteins that circulate in your body, grabbing onto and disabling virus particles before they can get into your cells. That means people exposed to the latest version of COVID-19 are more likely to catch it, even if they’ve been boosted or recently infected. “The die is now cast: BA.5 is destined to be our dominant virus,” Wachter tweeted this weekend. That may be why everyone you know seems to have COVID right now. In fact, according to data on laboratory-confirmed reinfections from the California Department of Public Health, … [Read more...] about UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter says COVID subvariant BA.5 ‘destined to be our dominant virus’

UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter called the BA.5 omicron subvariant “a different beast” compared to other mutations. The notion that “hybrid immunity” offers a high degree of protection has been thrown into doubt with the onset of the highly infectious infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. Latest updates: Overcrowding in old California prison structures helped drive COVID spread Overcrowding, sometimes in antiquated buildings, played a key role in the dramatic surge of COVID-19 in California prisons, a new report from UCSF and UC Berkeley found. The spread was compounded by the need for complex coordination, and the report said “extraordinary” efforts by corrections officials was not enough to prevent tens of thousands of COVID infections among inmates and prison staff. Employee illness led to severe staffing shortages, and prison staff may have inadvertently carried the virus in and out of the prisons and into their homes and communities, the report said. It said risks … [Read more...] about COVID in California: Getting COVID can trigger events leading to brain damage, research shows

In the shadow of Los Angeles’ Art Deco City Hall, musicians jammed, kids got their faces painted, and families picnicked. Amid the festivity, people waved flags, sported T-shirts and sold buttons emblazoned with a familiar slogan: “My body, my choice.” But this wasn’t an abortion rights rally, and it wasn’t a protest against the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted Roe vs. Wade. It was the “Defeat the Mandates” rally, a jubilant April gathering of antivaccine activists to protest the few remaining COVID-19 guidelines, such as mask mandates on mass transit and vaccination requirements for healthcare workers. Similar scenes have played out across the country. Armed with the language of the abortion rights movement, antivaccine forces have converged with right-leaning causes to protest pandemic precautions. They’re succeeding. Vaccine opponents have appropriated “My body, my choice,” a slogan that has been linked to reproductive rights for nearly half a century, to fight … [Read more...] about ‘My body, my choice’: How vaccine foes coopted an abortion rights rallying cry

President Joe Biden was criticized on Twitter for blaming the academic crisis on the pandemic rather than on teachers unions keeping schools closed down despite no substantial evidence showing children were at high risk for the coronavirus. Biden tweeted Tuesday that “due to the pandemic, kids are behind in math and reading. We know how to help bridge this gap.” “I’m calling on schools to use American Rescue Plan funds to expand tutoring, summer learning, and after school programs and to provide 250,000 more tutors and mentors for our kids.” Liz Wolfe, an editor at Reason, criticized Biden, saying that it was the teachers unions that kept kids out of school and stifled their education. “I can fix this for you. ‘Due to school closures, teachers unions’ unreasonable demands that were wrongly acquiesced to, and bad CDC mask policies, kids are behind in math and reading. Now we want to throw money at the problem w/o acknowledging the role we played in getting here.” I can … [Read more...] about ‘Due To The Pandemic’: Tweet Scorches Biden For Blaming Academic Crisis On COVID