2021)

Posted on July 19, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

Atlanta, Ga- New covid-19 cases have spiked almost 70 percent in the U.S. over the past week, while 8 states are seeing rapidly rising infections. A new CBS news poll shows that a majority of Americans are worried about the more contagious Delta Variant. It’s the fully vaccinated who are more concerned than the unvaccinated.

Joplin, Mo- Authorities say they’ve identified a body found Friday, July 16, evening in Shoal Creek in Joplin. The Joplin Police Department says it was 46-year-old, Brandon Vickers, of Joplin, Missouri. Saturday rescue crews from Joplin, Neosho and Redings Mill recover Vickers body from Shoal Creek near McIndoe Park after kayakers spotted the body around 5:30 Friday evening. Officials say detectives are conducting an active death investigation.

Oswego, Ks- 4-State summer rains can sometimes result in flooded parks, and that was certainly the case for our friends in Oswego, Kansas over the weekend. The situation at Danny Elliot Park, but that didn’t keep a handful of people from coming down and checking out the watery scene. One park visitor who brought his son to see the water in their usual play area , he tells KOAM that he estimates, the Danny Elliot Park floods like this two or three times per summer.

Neosho, Mo- The City of Neosho announced Sunday, July 18 that there will be two road closures in town starting today. Hill Street will be closed to all traffic from Neosho Boulevard to Oak Ridge Drive. This is to allow work to be done to realign the street for the new construction of the Neosho school district’s performing arts center. Sherman Street will also be closed from Oak Ridge Drive to Highland Place, it will be open only to residents. These streets will be closed until further notice.

News to Know (07/14/2021)

Posted on July 14, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

Washington, D.C.- President Biden is vowing to do whatever he can to protect voting rights. The president denounced the Republican-led efforts to enact restrictive state election laws as being “un-American” and an assault on democracy.

Pittsburg, Ks- Crawford County Health and Ascension Via Christi Hospital Officials held a press conference at Pitt State. Officials say the county is seeing its fourth major spike in Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. The vast majority of those new cases, along with every recent death, are people who have not been vaccinated. Health officials reiterated that the vaccines are safe and recommended. Just under 50% of the counties population has received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Carthage, Mo- Area school officials consider how they’ll respond to CDC guidance for students return to school this fall. Last week’s guidance from the CDC falls in line with their previous advice on masking for vaccinated adults. It says that fully vaccinated students do not need to wear masks in classrooms. The Jasper County Health Department says how Covid cases and vaccination rates look closer to the school year, will dictate how schools operate. The Health Department says the best way to reduce spread is by getting vaccinated.

Joplin, Mo- A number of Joplin area businesses say they’re committed to creating a “more diverse, welcoming and inclusive community”. The Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce and its equity, diversity and inclusion work group formally announced the launch of their Joplin Leadership Pledge. Dozens of companies and groups have already signed the pledge. The EDI group says the goal is ensure that companies and individuals create cultures that welcome and support everyone.

News to Know (05/17/2021)

Posted on May 17, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

WASHINGTON – Schools should keep using masks until the end of the school year. That’s the latest guidance from the CDC. The agency released updated guidance on Saturday. all students won’t be fully vaccinated by the end of the academic year. Children under the age of 12 aren’t yet eligible to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in the United States. The recommendation comes after the CDC said on Thursday that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances.

COLUMBIA, Mo – Law enforcement agencies say they rescued 9 human trafficking victims and 2 children during an operation at a Missouri hotel. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office said in a news release Saturday that the operation Friday night at the Holiday Inn East Hotel in Columbia resulted in two suspects also being detained. Participating agencies included the Columbia Police Department, Boone County Sheriff’s Office, The Missouri State Highway Patrol, among others. Law enforcement authorities released few details, citing the ongoing investigation.

WEBB CITY, Mo – The Circus is back in Webb City, but not everyone is excited about it. While lots of people lined up to check the Tarzan Zirbini Circus out, some animal rights activists are opposed to the circus having these animals. Animal rights activists protested outside the event to try to spread their message to Circus-goers. in response to the protest, the Circus Ringleader says the belief that the animals are harmed or treated poorly in anyway is a misconception.

WASHINGTON – A new CBS news poll shows a large majority of Republican voters still back Former President Trump. The poll finds most GOP voters believe Trump’s widespread false claims that the election was stolen from him. With two-thirds saying President Biden was not the legitimate winner.

Govt eases up guidance on indoor mask-wearing

Posted on May 13, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

By ZEKE MILLER and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move to send the country back toward pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday moved to ease indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places.

The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools, and other venues — even removing the need for masks or social distancing for those who are fully vaccinated.

The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. The announcement comes as the CDC and the Biden administration have faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people — people who are two weeks past their last required COVID-19 vaccine dose — in part to highlight the benefits of getting the shot.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, announced the new guidance on Thursday afternoon at a White House briefing, saying the long-awaited change is thanks to millions of people getting vaccinated — and based on the latest science about how well those shots are working.

The new guidance comes as the aggressive U.S. vaccination campaign begins to pay off. U.S. virus cases are at their lowest rate since September, deaths are at their lowest point since last April and the test positivity rate is at the lowest point since the pandemic began.

To date about 154 million Americans, more than 46% of the population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines and more than 117 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks, but with the authorization Wednesday of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12-15, a new burst of doses is expected in the coming days.

Just two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people continue to wear masks indoors in all settings and outdoors in large crowds.

During a virtual meeting Tuesday on vaccinations with a bipartisan group of governors, President Joe Biden appeared to acknowledge that his administration had to do more to model the benefits of vaccination.

“I would like to say that we have fully vaccinated people; we should start acting like it,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, told Biden. “And that’s a big motivation get the unvaccinated to want to to get vaccinated.”

“Good point,” Biden responded. He added, “we’re going to be moving on that in the next little bit.”

The easing guidance could open the door to confusion, as there is no surefire way for businesses or others to distinguish between those fully vaccinated and those who are not.

Walensky said the evidence from the U.S. and Israel shows the vaccines are as strongly protective in real-world use as they were in earlier studies, and that so far they continue to work even though some worrying mutated versions of the virus are spreading.

The more people continue to get vaccinated, the faster infections will drop — and the harder it will be for the virus to mutate enough to escape vaccines, she stressed, urging everyone 12 and older who’s not yet vaccinated to sign up.

And while some people still get COVID-19 despite vaccination, Walensky said that’s rare and cited evidence that those infections tend to be milder, shorter and harder to spread to others. If someone who’s vaccinated does develop COVID-19 symptoms, they should immediately re-mask and get tested, she said.

There are some caveats. Walensky encouraged people who have weak immune systems, such as from organ transplants or cancer treatment, to talk with their doctors before shedding their masks. That’s because of continued uncertainty about whether the vaccines can rev up a weakened immune system as well as they do normal, healthy ones.

—

AP medical writer Lauran Neergaard contributed.

Kansas State changing mask policy, cites CDC guidance

Posted on May 10, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Kansas State University is altering its mask policy for outdoor settings, citing updated guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WIBW-TV reports that starting May 17, those who are fully vaccinated can participate in campus outdoor activities and recreation without a mask, except in crowded settings and venues. Those exceptions may include live performances, parades and sporting events.

The university says masks will still be required in all indoor spaces on university property.

The CDC announced the new guidance in late April, saying fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers.

CDC says many Americans can now go outside without a mask

Posted on April 27, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. health officials say fully vaccinated Americans don’t need to wear masks outdoors anymore unless they are in a big crowd of strangers, and those who are unvaccinated can go without a face covering outside in some cases, too.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the updated guidance Tuesday in yet another carefully calibrated step on the road back to normal from the coronavirus outbreak that has killed over 570,000 people in U.S.

For most of the past year, the CDC had been advising Americans to wear masks outdoors if they are within 6 feet of each other.

The change comes as more than half of U.S. adults have gotten at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, and more than a third have been fully vaccinated.

“It’s the return of freedom,” said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who welcomed the change. “It’s the return of us being able to do normal activities again. We’re not there yet, but we’re on the exit ramp. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

More people need to be vaccinated, and concerns persist about variants and other possible shifts in the epidemic. But Saag said the new guidance is a sensible reward following the development and distribution of effective vaccines and about 140 million Americans stepping forward to get their shots.

The CDC, which has been cautious in its guidance during the crisis, essentially endorsed what many Americans have already been doing over the past several weeks.

The CDC guidance says that fully vaccinated or not, people do not have to wear masks outdoors when they walk, bike or run alone or with members of their household. They also can go maskless in small outdoor gatherings with fully vaccinated people.

But from there, the CDC has differing guidance for people who are fully vaccinated and those who are not.

Unvaccinated people – defined by the CDC as those who have yet to receive both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson formula – should wear masks at outdoor gatherings that include other unvaccinated people. They also should keep using masks at outdoor restaurants.

Fully vaccinated people do not need to cover up in those situations, the CDC says.

However, everyone should keep wearing masks at crowded outdoor events such as concerts or sporting events, the CDC says.

The agency continues to recommend masks at indoor public places, such as hair salons, restaurants, shopping centers, museums and movie theaters.

Dr. Babak Javid, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, said the new CDC guidance is sensible.

“In the vast majority of outdoor scenarios, transmission risk is low,” Javid said.

Javid has favored outdoor mask-wearing requirements because he believes they increase indoor mask-wearing, but he said Americans can understand the relative risks and make good decisions.

“The key thing is to make sure people wear masks indoors” while in public spaces, he said.

He added: “I’m looking forward to mask-free existence.”

“The timing is right because we now have a fair amount of data about the scenarios where transmission occurs,” said Mercedes Carnethon, a professor and vice chair of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

What’s more, she said, “the additional freedoms may serve as a motivator” for people to get vaccinated.

News to Know (04/19/2021)

Posted on April 19, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

BALTIMORE, Md. — Doctor Anthony Fauci is indicating the government is likely to resume use of Johnson and Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine this week. The Center for Disease Control advisers plan to meet Friday to discuss the pause in the J & J shot after several women suffered rare blood clotting, with one dying. The CDC now says half of all American adults have received at least one Covid vaccine dose.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The prosecution and defense are set to deliver closing arguments today in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis. Then jurors will decide if Chauvin is guilty of murder for the death of George Floyd last May. During three weeks of testimony, the jury heard from 45 witnesses

NEVADA, Mo. — On Sunday a group of people in Nevada gathered at Earp park to protest recent lives lost after police encounters. The group wanted to bring attention to this issue to the local community, and says although these deaths did not occur in Missouri, they still hope to being awareness to the local community and spark conversations here.

JOPLIN, Mo. — Saturday evening Joplin for Justice hosted a rally at 7th and Rangeline to bring awareness to the death of Daunte Wright. Wright was the 20 year old man who was fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. Joplin for Justice says this local protest was meant to bring awareness to racial injustice in the country and show how Joplin can make changes locally.

Missouri pauses J&J COVID-19 vaccine administration

Posted on April 13, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri announced Tuesday that it is “pausing” administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine after federal health officials began an investigation into potentially dangerous blood clots.

Dr. Randall Williams, director of the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, said in a news release that Missouri was taking the step out of “an abundance of caution.” The move came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they were investigating unusual clots in six women that occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination

(Previous Story: US recommends ‘pause’ for J&J vaccine over clot reports)

US recommends ‘pause’ for J&J vaccine over clot reports

Posted on April 13, 2021 by KOAM TV 7

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. is recommending a “pause” in administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots.

In a joint statement Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said they were investigating clots in six women that occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. The clots were observed in the sinuses of the brain along with reduced platelet counts – making the usual treatment for blood clots, the blood thinner heparin, potentially “dangerous.”

More than 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the U.S., the vast majority with no or mild side effects.

U.S. federal distribution channels, including mass vaccination sites, will pause the use of the J&J shot, and states and other providers are expected to follow. The other two authorized vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, make up the vast share of COVID-19 shots administered in the U.S. and are not affected by the pause.

CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet Wednesday to discuss the cases and the FDA has also launched an investigation into the cause of the clots and low platelet counts.

“Until that process is complete, we are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, and Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a joint statement.

They are recommending that people who were given the J&J vaccine who are experiencing severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after receiving the shot contact their health care provider.

Officials say they also want to educate vaccine providers and health professionals about the “unique treatment” required for this type of clot.

Johnson & Johnson said it was aware of the reports of “thromboembolic events,” or blood clots, but that no link to its vaccine had been established.

“We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with Covid-19 vaccines,” said Johnson & Johnson in a statement. “At present, no clear causal relationship has been established between these rare events and the Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.”

The J&J vaccine received emergency use authorization from the FDA in late February with great fanfare, with hopes that its single-dose and relatively simple storage requirements would speed vaccinations across the country. Yet the shot only makes up a small fraction of the doses administered in the U.S. as J&J has been plagued by production delays and manufacturing errors at the Baltimore plant of a contractor.

Last week the drugmaker took over the facility to scale up production in hopes of meeting its commitment to the U.S. government of providing about 100 million doses by the end of May.

Only about 9 million of the company’s doses have been delivered to states and are awaiting administration, according to CDC data.

Until now concern about the unusual blood clots has centered on the vaccine from AstraZeneca, which has not yet received authorization in the U.S. Last week, European regulators said they found a possible link between the shots and a very rare type of blood clot that occurs together with low blood platelets, one that seems to occur more in younger people.

The European Medicines Agency stressed that the benefits of receiving the vaccine outweigh the risks for most people. But several countries have imposed limits on who can receive the vaccine; Britain recommended that people under 30 be offered alternatives.

But the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines are made with the same technology. Leading COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the spike protein that coats the outer surface of the coronavirus. But the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines use a cold virus, called an adenovirus, to carry the spike gene into the body. J&J uses a human adenovirus to create its vaccine while AstraZeneca uses a chimpanzee version.

The announcement hit U.S. stock markets immediately, with Dow futures falling almost 200 points just over two hours before the opening bell. Shares of Johnson & Johnson dropped almost 3%

aroundCarthage

Local News, History, and Info from around Carthage, Missouri

Tag Archives: cdc