Tag: COVID-19 mutations

Masks should fit better or be doubled up to protect against coronavirus variants, CDC says

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Making the seals tighter to prevent air leakage can reduce people’s exposure by more than 95 percent in laboratory tests.

Federal health officials Wednesday urged Americans to consider wearing two masks as one of several strategies to better protect themselves against the threat of more contagious variants of the coronavirus.

Two methods substantially boost fit and protection, according to a CDC reportand updated guidance on its website. One is wearing a cloth mask over a disposable surgical mask. The second is improving the fit of a single surgical mask by knotting the ear loops and tucking in the sides close to the face to prevent air from leaking out around the edges and to form a closer fit.

Both of those methods reduced exposure to potentially infectious aerosols by more than 95 percent in a laboratory experiment using dummies, the report said.

Novavax vaccine protects against coronavirus in variant hot spots but proved less effective against strain in South Africa

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A coronavirus vaccine made by Maryland biotech company Novavax proved effective at stopping symptomatic infections in global hot spots where concerning variants are dominant, the company announced Thursday. But warning signs lurked amid those findings: The protective effect of the vaccine was substantially muted in South Africa, where a worrisome virus variant is in wide circulation.

The data, presented by a company news release, is ominous news for other vaccine developers. They have been scrambling to determine whether current vaccines would remain effective against the variant found in South Africa and are designing new versions in case the virus can break through the protection provided by the shot. The data is the first, highly anticipated evidence of how well a vaccine performs against variants that have drawn global concern.

The company also noted that a third of the participants in its South African trial appeared to have already been infected with the original strain of coronavirus, based on antibodies in their blood when they were vaccinated. Some of those people became infected again, according to the company, suggesting natural immunity generated by an infection might not fully protect against the new variant. Continue reading.

COVID-19 cases drop, but variants point to dangers ahead

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The number of Americans testing positive for the coronavirus has dropped substantially from an early January zenith, easing the strain on hospitals across the nation that faced danger over the winter holidays.

But new and more transmissible strains of the coronavirus are circulating more widely across the world, and public health experts caution that, even with the beginnings of mass vaccination programs, the public must be more vigilant than ever in protecting themselves and reducing the spread.

“This is the calm before the real storm. I think the darkest days of the pandemic are just ahead of us,” said Michael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Prevention at the University of Minnesota.  Continue reading.

Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say

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Better face coverings are needed to curb more-transmissible strains as vaccine rollout is underway, they say

Wear your mask is becoming wear your masks.

The discovery of highly transmissible coronavirus variants in the United States has public health experts urging Americans to upgrade the simple cloth masks that have become a staple shield during the pandemic.

The change can be as simple as slapping a second mask over the one you already wear, or better yet, donning a fabric mask on top of a surgical mask. Some experts say it is time to buy the highest-quality KN95 or N95 masks that officials hoping to reserve supplies for health-care workers have long discouraged Americans from purchasing. Continue reading.

New coronavirus variants accelerate race to make sure vaccines keep up

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Moderna has begun developing a new vaccine against the South African variant as a precaution

The scientific and pharmaceutical race to keep coronavirus vaccines ahead of new virus variants escalated Monday, even as a highly transmissible variantfirst detected in people who had recently traveled to Brazil was discovered in Minnesota.

Moderna, the maker of one of the two authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States, announced it would develop and test a new vaccine tailored to block a similar mutation-riddled virus variant in case an updated shot becomes necessary.

The effort is a precautionary step. Evidence released Monday suggested that the Moderna vaccine will still work against two variants of concern that emerged in the United Kingdom and South Africa. The plan highlights that the scientists who responded with unprecedented speed and success to develop coronavirus vaccines are already moving to address new challenges. It also amplifies the urgency of getting as many people immunized with current vaccines as quickly as possible.