FDA approves plasma treatment against covid-19 9:54
(CNN) - The decline in the average number of daily deaths from covid-19 and new cases indicates that the wave of the virus during the summer in the United States is waning.
The seven-day average coronavirus deaths fell below 1,000 a day over the weekend for the first time since late July. Additionally, the average number of new cases fell to around 42,600 as of Sunday, well below its mid-July peak of around 67,000 daily cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Although trends are heading in the right direction, the United States remains the world leader in total cases and deaths. By comparison, the European Union is experiencing a worrisome rise in coronavirus: On Sunday, the 27 countries reported a seven-day total average of 17,000 new cases per day.
Will these declines continue in the United States? And how much will the totals go down?
The answers to these questions are complicated by the planned reopening of schools, which has already sparked outbreaks at universities in at least 19 states.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier this month that he wanted to see cases drop below where they were in the spring.
When you look at our curve, it is revealing. And that's what bothers me. We go up and down. We went down to a plateau of 20,000 cases per day. That is not a good baseline. We needed to go lower, ”Fauci said on August 5.
University campuses become new hot spots
Many outbreaks are linked to large group gatherings like parties, which has led some institutions to suspend students and organizations for breaking social distancing rules on and off campus.
The University of Notre Dame and the University of Alabama have seen increases in COVID-19 cases on their campuses. Notre Dame has moved to teaching online, according to its website. Meanwhile, University of Alabama local and university police will partner to monitor bars, restaurants and off-campus housing to ensure the city's covid-19 ordinances and university guidelines are followed, the university president said. , Stuart R. Bell.
"Violations of our health and safety protocols, both on and off campus, are subject to severe disciplinary action, which may include suspension from the University of Alabama," Bell wrote in a letter to the campus community Sunday.
The University of Kentucky began a second phase of testing on Sunday after recording a positivity rate of about 3% for COVID-19 among fraternities and sororities in initial testing, triple the positivity rate of about 1%. of the general student population. And Central Michigan University has threatened to fine or suspend students who host large gatherings.
Penn State suspended its second fraternity this week for violations of social distancing, according to a Sunday statement from the university.
Pi Kappa Alpha was suspended for "organizing a big social gathering" on Saturday, which included about 70 students, the university said. The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity was previously suspended from campus following an Aug. 18 meeting that violated school policy, the university said.
Despite the surge in cases, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto cautioned that students should not be blamed for the higher positivity rate on the school campus.
"Let me be clear: this is not an act to blame the students who reside in these facilities or who belong to these organizations," he wrote. "We believe that a number of factors associated with the common living spaces likely contributed to the high positivity rates in these residences," he explained.
Across the United States, there are 5.7 million cases of coronavirus and more than 176,000 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins University database.
Concerns and Questions About the New School Year
On the elementary and middle school front, school districts are still trying to figure out how to navigate the academic year during the pandemic.
Many schools across the country have put greater measures in place to protect students and staff from the virus, although researchers are still learning how the virus spreads among young children.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guide for schools on Friday, emphasizing the importance of keeping schools open if possible. A big change in the guidelines was how schools can handle a positive case.
The CDC encouraged schools to work closely with local and public health leaders if there is an infected person on campus. But rather than shutting everything down immediately for a long period of time, the guidelines say an initial short-term suspension of classes and cancellation of after-school events and activities is an option, so public health leaders can have the time it takes to determine how widespread the infection is.
If schools are using a pod system, keeping certain students together, administrators may only need to close certain parts of the building where an infected person has been.
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A school district in Michigan canceled all classes and after-school activities scheduled for Monday, its first day of school, after "receiving a threat" on Sunday, according to an alert on the district's website.
The Leslie Public School District did not provide details on the nature of the threat, but said it will work with police to assess it.
In Florida, a 6-year-old girl became the youngest person in the state to die from complications from the coronavirus. Health officials say they don't yet know if the girl contracted the virus from a known case or if the infection was related to travel.
Convalescent plasma for the treatment of covid-19
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an authorization for the emergency use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients on Sunday.
Convalescent plasma is created from the blood of people who have recovered from COVID-19 and has shown some success in two other deadly coronaviruses: MERS and SARS. It has also been used to treat the flu and Ebola.
The agency said it concluded that it may be effective in treating COVID-19 and that "the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product."
Some experts, however, say that there is not enough solid data to support the use of plasma.
"The problem is, we don't really have enough data to really understand how effective convalescent plasma is," Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University and a CNN medical analyst, said Sunday.
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Art Caplan, founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University School of Medicine, told CNN that he is concerned if there is a large enough supply of convalescent plasma, which is dependent on donations from covid survivors. -19.
"We are going to have a gold rush towards plasma, with patients demanding it and doctors demanding it for their patients," Caplan said.
Trump administration officials cited a study led by the Mayo Clinic that showed a 35% improvement in survival among people who received the highest doses of treatment early in their illness compared to those who were treated later.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn says studies have shown that convalescent plasma is safe and that the treatment has been given to patients with infectious diseases for more than a hundred years.
Covid-19 Deaths from covid-19
