US coronavirus: Merck says pill cuts risk of Covid-19 hospitalization, death in half as many states see vaccinations increase

It would be the first oral antiviral for Covid-19 if approved for emergency approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“In the interim analysis, molnupiravir reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by approximately 50%,” Merck said in a press release. “7.3% of the patients who received molnupiravir were either hospitalized or died by day 29 after randomization (28/385) compared with 14.1% of the patients treated with placebo (53,377). Up to day 29, no deaths were reported in patients receiving molnupiravir. compared to 8 deaths in patients who received placebo. “

An antiviral drug has been approved to treat Covid. Remdesivir is given intravenously to sick patients in the hospital. It is not intended for early, widespread use.

Vaccinations are increasing in some states

As more states and health systems move towards mandatory vaccinations for certain workers, officials hope that the incentive to employ removes hesitation about vaccines – while a governor arranges emergency scenarios.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has directed the National Guard to prepare for staff shortages when a vaccine mandate and testing requirement goes into effect late Monday, he said. Government officials are required to provide evidence of vaccinations or undergo weekly tests on time, and those who fail to do so will be put on unpaid leave.

As of Thursday, more than 63% – 20,000 employees – were fully vaccinated while 12% of employees had started weekly testing, Lamont said. More than 8,000 non-compliant employees remain, but around 2,000 have updated their status in the past two days.

“We have given most government employees the opportunity to get tested weekly instead of getting vaccinated, which is more flexible than our neighbors. We have also given our employees a deadline to comply with the regulations. There’s no reason why not all of our employees should be in compliance, “said Lamont.

Connecticut is just one of several states being pushed back against mandating vaccinations for critical workers, a move highlighted by health experts as necessary to protect those at higher risk for Covid-19 but responding to strong opposition from a. met were a vocal minority who would like to remain both unvaccinated and in their current roles.

In Rhode Island, the Department of Health announced in August that “all employees, interns and volunteers at RIDOH-licensed healthcare facilities” must receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by Friday.

Care New England, one of the state’s largest hospital systems, reported Thursday that over 95% of its healthcare workers have been vaccinated. The vaccination of employees “continues to increase by the hour,” said the system’s CEO James E. Fanale.

In other federal states the deadline has already expired. California’s 2 million health care workers had to be vaccinated or risk losing their jobs by Thursday, with exceptions due to religious beliefs or qualified medical reasons.

Many hospitals that CNN surveyed had high staff vaccination rates, averaging over 90% in some of the state’s largest health systems.

In New York, none of the health facilities have closed due to worker vaccination regulations, Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday. Earlier this week, it was reported that 92% of nursing home staff, 89% of adult care facility staff, and 92% of hospital staff nationwide had received at least one dose.

“You will see that this number is increasing rapidly, because what we are finding is that this number will increase as more people are on leave or suspended,” said Hochul.

Some hospitals in the area had reported suspending staff without pay or temporarily suspending elective inpatient procedures due to shortages.

Vaccines for ages 5-11 may be available soon, but a survey shows that doubts remain

As the delta variant becomes more and more widespread, healthcare workers are by no means the only ones dealing with everyday risks in the job. The resumption of personal learning in schools has already been made difficult by Covid-19 outbreaks and the quarantine of exposed students and employees.

Despite evidence that vaccinations lower Covid-19 infections and severity in eligible age groups, parents and guardians are still reluctant to vaccinate children ages 5-11, according to a new survey.

According to the results of the Kaiser Family Foundation’s vaccine monitor published on Thursday, only about a third of parents of 5 to 11 year olds say they will have their child vaccinated as soon as a vaccine is available for that age group. A similar percentage, 32%, say they’ll wait and see how the vaccine works, and 24% say they definitely won’t get their 5-11 year olds vaccinated.

According to the report, 58% of parents said K-12 schools in school should require masks for all students and staff, 4% said masks should only be required for unvaccinated students and staff, and 35% said it should there should be no mask requirement.

According to the KFF, there is a split between vaccinated and unvaccinated parents, with 73% of vaccinated parents saying schools should require masks for all students and 63% of unvaccinated parents saying there should be no mask requirement.

The majority of the interviews, conducted September 13-22 with a sample of more than 1,500 adults, took place before Pfizer announced that clinical studies showed its Covid-19 vaccine is safe and in that age group elicits an immune response.

The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is approved for use by people aged 16 and over and has an emergency clearing for people ages 12 to 15. On Tuesday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that they had submitted data on children ages 5 to 11 to the FDA for initial review but had not yet applied for emergency clearance.

A formal application for EUA for the vaccine is expected to follow in the coming weeks, the companies said in a statement.

Among those already eligible for vaccines, the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that nearly 200 million U.S. adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Almost 67% of adults in the US are fully vaccinated.

Mortality rates in areas outside the metropolitan areas are higher, according to the study

Meanwhile, researchers are studying the impact of the pandemic on different parts of the nation.

According to an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data from the University of Iowa’s Center for Health Policy Analysis, there are now more than twice as many deaths from Covid-19 in metropolitan areas as there are deaths from Covid-19 in metropolitan areas.

After analyzing data on average Covid-19 death rates at the county level, it was found that in the two weeks to the 15th metropolitan areas had an average of half – 0.41 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 population.

Since the study began in April 2020, deaths in non-urban areas have consistently surpassed those in metropolitan areas, and the number of 15. However, the rate outside of metropolitan areas has not been double that in metropolitan areas since December 1, 2020.

The researchers used the US Department of Agriculture’s methodology to distinguish between metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas. Districts were recorded as metropolitan regions if they had an urban area with 50,000 or more inhabitants or were a remote district with strong economic ties to an urban center. All other counties in the study were coded as non-metropolitan areas.

CNN’s Virginia Langmaid, Naomi Thomas, Melanie Schuman, Augie Martin, Rosalina Nieves, Lauren Mascarenhas, Elizabeth Joseph, Melissa Alonso, Jamie Gumbrecht and Ben Tinker from CNN contributed to this report.

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/10/01/us-coronavirus-merck-says-pill-cuts-risk-of-covid-19-hospitalization-death-in-half-as-many-states-see-vaccinations-increase/