A Colorado county is closing its doors to tourists amid the
coronavirus outbreak, threatening anyone who violates a new public
health order with up 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Gunnison County officials issued a public health order Friday barring
non-residents and tourists from staying in the central Colorado
community or to request a waiver to explain why they should be allowed
to stay, according to the order.
“The public health director finds that non-residents, visitors and
non-resident homeowners from lower altitudes are at a greater risk for
complications from COVID-19 infection than residents, who are
acclimatized to the high altitude environment of Gunnison County,” the
order states.
Anyone who doesn’t live in the county is further “imposing
unnecessary burdens” on health care, food supplies, first responders and
other essential public services, the new directive reads.
“Accordingly, the presence of non-residents and visitors, including
non-resident homeowners, is no longer permitted in Gunnison County in
order to maintain public health and safety and to continue to address
the COVID-19 pandemic,” it reads.
The public health order makes Gunnison County the first jurisdiction
in the state to impose criminal charges for violating Colorado’s
stay-at-home order, KREX reports.
“Our goal is to maintain the health and safety of our residents and
the integrity of our health care system,” Gunnison County Emergency
Operations Center spokesman Daniel Kreykeys told the outlet. “To that
end, there’s some language in that health care order that allows for
folks to apply for an exemption. We realize there are certain things
going on with out residents that may require that. We want to give
people that option, if needed.”
It’s unclear exactly how the order will be enforced, KREX reports.
County officials alerted residents to the new guidance on Facebook
Thursday, telling would-be visitors and those with second homes to stay
home.
“Help Gunnison County begin to sink the spike of positive COVID-19 tests by simply not visiting Gunnison County,” the post read.
“We miss you. We value you. We can’t wait to see you again. Just
please. Not until we begin to reverse the aggressive trend of this
global pandemic in our neck of the woods.” https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/colorado-county-shuts-door-to-tourists-amid-coronavirus-crisis
As many as 4,000 seriously ill coronavirus patients in New York are
being treated with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, state
health officials say.
President Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential life-saver, although there is no widespread scientific evidence to date showing it helps battle COVID-19.
But Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month said
health care providers in the state would be using the drug in
combination with the antibiotic Zithromax, or azithromycin, for some
last-ditch cases, based on potentially promising research.
“Time is of the essence,’’ Albany University Public Health Dean David
Holtgrave, who is on the state’s research team, said in a statement.
A state Health Department official said the DOH has shipped doses of
hydroxychloroquine to 56 hospitals across New York, distributing enough
“to treat 4,000 patients to date.”
Patients have received doses as part of four- or 10-day regimens, officials said.
The University of Albany’s School of Public Health is observing the
drug’s impact on the patients, and its preliminary study could come back
in weeks instead of the usual months, officials said.
There are also clinical trials being conducted to see whether the drug can help block transmission.
NYU Langone Medical School is conducting a random trial with a $9.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Currently, there is no proven way to prevent COVID-19 after being
exposed,” said Anna Bershteyn, an assistant professor with the
Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and the study’s
co-principal investigator.
“If hydroxychloroquine provides protection, then it could be an
essential tool for fighting this pandemic. If it doesn’t, then people
should avoid unnecessary risks from taking the drug.”
The drug has long been used to treat malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Its potential side effects include everything from fatal heart
arrhythmia to vision loss, ear-ringing, vomiting, mood changes, skin
rashes and hair loss.
Health officials are treading cautiously, saying they don’t
anticipate hydroxychloroquine will be a “miracle drug” against the
coronavirus — but the studies are worth the gamble.
In terms of the NYU clinical trial regarding prevention, researchers are enrolling 2,000 adult volunteers at six sites.
They are recruiting people who lack any COVID-19 symptoms but have
been in close contact with others who have a confirmed or pending
diagnosis.
On a random basis, the trial participants will receive either
hydroxychloroquine or a placebo pill — vitamin C — every day for two
weeks.
Each day during the 14-day period and then again on Day 28, the
participants will swab their nasal passages and send the samples to
researchers to detect potential COVID-19 infection.
“If everything goes as planned, the eight-week trial could provide
answers by summer on whether a preventive dose of the drug is safe and
effective,’’ NYU Langone said in a release.
“If so, the strategy could give health officials a much needed boost in slowing person-to-person transmission.”
The federal Food and Drug Administration granted emergency-use
authorization to use hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 patients amid
the pandemic.
There has been anecdotal evidence — including from China — that the drug helps patients clear the virus sooner.
But Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, asked
recently whether the drug was considered a treatment for the novel
coronavirus, said, “The answer is no … The evidence that you’re talking
about … is anecdotal evidence.”
Meanwhile, Northwell Health facilities — including Lenox Hill, Long
Island Jewish and Staten Island University hospitals — and Maimonides
Medical Center are giving moderately to seriously ill coronavirus
patients certain antiviral drugs such as Sarilumab, an IL-6 inhibitor,
and Remdesivir, a drug that incorporates itself into the genome.
Northwell has recruited 143 patients for a Sarilumab trial.
Mount Sinai’s-Icahn School of Medicine also is one of 34 institutions
nationwide participating in the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma
Project. The program seeks blood-plasma donations from recovered
coronavirus patients that contain antibodies that can be used to fight
the virus in seriously ill patients. https://nypost.com/2020/04/05/ny-coronavirus-patients-being-treated-with-anti-malarial-drug/
Eli Lilly & Co. Tuesday unveiled a program offering $35 co-pays for its key insulin products during the coronavirus crisis.
The Indianapolis drug maker said the Lilly Insulin Value Program
allows anyone with commercial insurance and those without insurance to
fill their monthly prescriptions for $35.
Eli Lilly said the program covers most of its insulins, including all Humalog formulations.
The company in early March said it doesn’t expect any shortages of its insulin products during the pandemic.
AstraZeneca PLC and GlaxoSmithKline PLC have teamed up with the
University of Cambridge to combat shortages of Covid-19 tests, the
companies said Tuesday.
The British drug companies said they would set up a laboratory at the
university to develop “alternative chemical reagents for test kits in
order to help overcome current supply shortages.”
“While diagnostic testing is not part of either company’s core
business, we are moving as fast as we can to help where possible,” the
companies said.
In late March, GSK joined a coalition of drugmakers who agreed to
share their “proprietary libraries of molecular compounds” for screening
with the Covid-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, which was launched by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Inc. and U.K.-based
nonprofit Wellcome.
That effort could result in human or animal trials in as little as two months, the Gates Foundation said at the time.
Stark
statistics are coming to light only now and only in piecemeal fashion
showing that African Americans are disproportionately affected by
Covid-19. The racial divide in who gets infected, who gets tested, and
who dies from Covid-19 is emerging from the few cities and states whose
data are public.
African Americans in Illinois, for example, accounted for 29% of
confirmed cases and 41% of deaths as of Monday morning, yet they make up
only 15% of the state’s population, according to the Illinois
Department of Public Health, one of just a handful of government
agencies sharing information on who is hardest hit by the virus.
Michigan mirrors Illinois, with 34% of Covid-19 cases and 40% of deaths
striking African Americans, even though only 14% of Michigan’s
population is Black. The story is similar in Wisconsin, where Pro Publica
first reported that African Americans number nearly half of the 941
cases in Milwaukee County and 81% of its 27 deaths while the population
is 26% Black.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributes data on
age, gender, and location of Covid-19 patients but not their race or
ethnicity. (The CDC did not respond to a request for comment made on
Monday.) That posture has set off challenges from legal and medical
professionals to release that data so resources can be better allocated
to the people who need them the most.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
and nearly 400 medical professionals have demanded that the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services release daily racial and ethnic
demographic data on Covid-19 tests, cases, and outcomes. They cited both
the 1964 Civil Rights law and the Affordable Care Act, which prohibit
discrimination in health care services. The absence of data amounts to
denial of appropriate care, the group argues.
“We are deeply concerned that African American communities are being
hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and that racial bias may be
impacting the access they receive to testing and healthcare,” Kristen
Clarke, president and executive director of the committee, said in a
conference call with reporters on Monday.
