The United States has been facing a serious health crisis for months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The country has detected more than 5.5 million confirmed infections and has registered more than 173,500 deaths from COVID-19, according to the most recent statistics.
These are the main news for this Thursday, August 20, 2020:
- Health authorities authorize pharmacies to vaccinate children. Major association of pediatricians opposes
- FDA Authorizes Third Test to Quickly Diagnose Coronavirus
- Iowa Teachers Announce Lawsuit Against Governor For Forcing Them To Return To Classrooms
- With more than 50% of COVID-19 cases in the world, America exceeds 12 million cases
Health authorities authorize pharmacies to vaccinate children. Major association of pediatricians opposes
To prevent children from receiving fewer vaccinations during the pandemic, the country's health authorities have authorized pharmacies in all 50 states to vaccinate children.
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Aug. 19, 202001: 53The new directive is aimed at preventing future outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles.
The authorization allows state-licensed pharmacies to administer childhood immunizations without the need for a prescription. Pharmacists must first complete a training program.
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Currently 28 states allow pharmacists to vaccinate children and in 22, laws limit such vaccinations. Health Secretary Alex Azar announced Wednesday that the directive will temporarily replace restrictions in these 22 states starting this fall.
The American Academy of Pediatrics criticized the directive on Wednesday.
"Pediatrician's offices are open and safe. We have all necessary child and adolescent vaccines in stock with trained medical professionals who can deliver them," said the organization's president, Dr. Sally Goza.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that childhood vaccine orders from doctors' offices plummeted in late March and early April.
"Especially as we approach the school season, it is critical that children have easy access to pediatric vaccinations so they can return to school when they reopen," Azar said.
It is not very common for children to get vaccinated at pharmacies. In 2018, only about 7% of childhood flu vaccines were administered in pharmacies, according to CDC data.
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With information from AP.
FDA Authorizes Third Test to Quickly Diagnose Coronavirus
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday that it had authorized a new test to diagnose coronavirus infection.
According to the FDA, the British-made LumiraDx test allows you to analyze a sample in 12 minutes, unlike PCR tests, which take longer
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This is the third test of its kind to be authorized by the agency for emergency use. Such a test allows the rapid detection of protein fragments found in the virus, without the need for a laboratory, after analyzing samples collected from the nasal cavity of patients.
With information from CNN.
Iowa Teachers Announce Lawsuit Against Governor Over Her Back-to-School Management
The Iowa Teachers Union announced a lawsuit on Wednesday that questions the ability of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Trump supporter, to make decisions about the future of schools.
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Aug. 17, 202000: 28The Iowa City school council, which like many others had planned to start the year completely online, voted to join the lawsuit.
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States and local districts have set widely varying limits for school reopening, but Iowa's is one of the highest anywhere.
The governor established that districts where 15% or more of the coronavirus tests were positive in the last 14 days can request permission to go to online classes for the next two weeks.
By contrast, New York City says schools can reopen if positivity rates are less than 3%, while Arizona has put its rate at 7%.
Per capita cases in Iowa are the highest in the Midwest. The number of patients now in the hospital has risen to nearly 300, deaths topped 1,000 on Wednesday, and dozens of nursing homes are experiencing outbreaks. In addition, the governor has refused to order the use of masks throughout the state.
"They decided they wanted to open schools and then set the threshold, instead of deciding what's safe and meeting that goal. They did it the other way around," said Eli Perencevich, an infectious disease expert at the University of Iowa.
In this context, about half a million students are preparing to start school in the next few days.
And if that weren't enough, much of the data the state is using to calculate local positivity rates is wrong. The Fort Dodge district noted this week that its positivity rate was worse because a clinic did not report as many as 3,000 negative tests.
Reynolds' office also announced Wednesday that it is correcting a major data glitch that affected thousands of test results.
With information from AP.
With more than 50% of COVID-19 cases in the world, America exceeds 12 million infections
America surpassed 12 million infections due to coronavirus this Wednesday. The region most affected by the pandemic has almost 55% of the world's 22.2 million.
The region reached 12,008,410 cases, the list is still led by the United States (with more than 5.5 million), followed by Brazil (3.45 million).
While four other countries remain in the top 10 (between sixth and ninth place): Peru (549,321), Mexico (531,239), Colombia (502,178) and Chile (390,037), all above nations that were previously the epicenter of pandemic, like Spain and Italy, according to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins University.
With information from Efe.
