Amazon’s Coronavirus Testing of Workers Remains Rare Move By Employer

News this week that Amazon this summer has begun testing its workers for the coronavirus strain Covid-19 even in a pilot program is a rare move among U.S. employers, health benefits consultancy data shows.
Amazon says it has for weeks been looking at ways to test workers while “distributing masks to employees, using disinfectant spray and conducting employee temperature checks” at operations sites and grocery stores across the country. And CNBC was the first to report that the online retail giant plans “to test its fulfillment center workers for coronavirus after several outbreaks at its warehouses.”
Amazon confirmed Wednesday evening the “small scale pilot is currently taking place at a handful of sites in the U.S.”
“A next step might be regular testing of our employees, and we’ve started our first small-scale pilot,” Amazon spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said Wednesday evening. “We don’t know exactly yet how it’s going to shape up, but we continue to believe it’s worth trying.”

What Amazon is piloting is more than most other employers are planning even as the country prepares to re-open for business amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month, the human resources consultancy Mercer said just 4% of those responding to a “return to the workplace” questionnaire say they are planning to conduct serology screening for antibodies to the Coronavirus strain COVID-19. And just 3% of employers say they plan to “screen for the presence of the virus.”
The Mercer survey is considered a snapshot into the thinking of employers as they grapple with myriad workplace issues as “shelter in place” orders end this month in several states and employers weigh whether to allow workers to return to their job sites.

The CNBC report said Amazon’s goal “is to test the bulk of the company’s warehouse workers every two weeks,” the story said. “Workers would test themselves with nasal swabs, using a video for guidance, with a clinical professional supervising.”
Any testing effort done by employers would be costly, which is why some analysts say companies are unwilling to begin testing their workers or are slow to implement such diagnostic testing strategies.
The cost of swabbing and testing all Americans for the coronavirus strain Covid-19 plus the price tag for testing them for virus antibodies could be as much as $44 billion a year, a new analysis released Wednesday said.
“Diagnostic testing would cost between $6 billion and $25 billion a year, and antibody testing would cost between $5 billion and $19 billion a year,” the report from the Wakely Consulting Group, funded by the health insurance lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), says. “These estimates include both the cost of the tests, as well as affiliated health care services (e.g., provider visit, urgent care visit) for administering the tests.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2020/06/10/amazons-coronavirus-testing-for-workers-remains-rare-move-by-an-employer/#6c9a279839b8

3 stages to COVID-19 brain damage identified by neurologists

The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has just published a paper with a comprehensive review of the COVID-19’s effect on the nervous system which classifies brain damage caused by COVID-19 into three stages. One of the authors, nationally-recognized neurologist Dr. Majid Fotuhi, MD, Ph.D., who is the medical director of NeuroGrow Brain Fitness Center in Northern Virginia and an affiliate staff at Johns Hopkins Medicine, encourages the adoption of this three-stage classification, calls for more research on COVID’s long-term effects on the brain, and stresses the need for patients to receive a brain MRI before leaving the hospital.

“We are learning that a significant number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients have various degrees of brain impairment. As a medical community, we need to monitor these patients over time as some of them may develop cognitive decline, attention deficit, brain fog, or Alzheimer’s disease in the future. There is a lot we can do to promote brain healing in COVID-19 patients, but first we must understand the nature and severity of their neurological deficits. At the patient level, getting a baseline MRI before leaving the hospital is imperative so that we have a starting point to evaluate and treat them,” explained Fotuhi.
In the just published paper, Dr. Fotuhi and his colleagues warn about neurological issues in patients who suffer from COVID-19, including stroke, seizures, confusion, dizziness, paralysis, and/or coma. Already, two dozen case reports are revealing the impact of COVID-19 on the brains of patients. In fact, one study from Wuhan, China, showed that 45% of patients with severe COVID-19 illness experience marked neurological deficits. Another study from France showed 84% of ICU patients with COVID-19 have positive abnormalities on their neurological examination, and that 15% of patients who leave the ICU have residual “dysexecutive function,” which involves poor attention and difficulty with decision-making and controlling behavior.
The paper proposes the adoption of a three stage “NeuroCovid” classification scheme to provide a basis from which to build on future hypotheses and investigations regarding SARS-Cov2 and the nervous system. These stages include:

• NeuroCovid Stage I: The virus damage is limited to epithelial cells of nose and mouth and the main symptoms include transient loss of smell and taste.
• NeuroCovid Stage II: The virus triggers a flood of inflammation, called cytokine storm, which begins in the lungs and travels in the blood vessels throughout all body organs. This cytokine storm leads to the formation of blood clots which cause small or large strokes in the brain.
• NeuroCovid Stage III: An explosive level of cytokine storm damages the blood brain barrier, the protective insulation layer in blood vessels of the brain. As a result, blood content, inflammatory markers, and virus particles invade the brain and patients develop seizures, confusion, coma, or encephalopathy.

Fotuhi points out that many patients with COVID-19 may have no noticeable neurological symptoms at first; but in some cases, patients may present with neurological symptoms even before they have fever, cough, or shortness of breath. In addition to having an MRI while at the hospital, he stresses that patients will need to be monitored in a few months after their hospitalization.
“Our experience with previous forms of coronaviruses suggest that in the long-term patients may develop depression, insomnia, Parkinson’s disease, memory loss, or accelerated aging in the brain,” elaborated Fotuhi. “For those recovering from COVID-19, I recommend regular exercise, eating a heart healthy diet, reducing stress, and improving sleep; these are critical ways patients can rejuvenate their brain and minimize having poor outcomes in the future.”
These interventions, along with targeted brain training and neurofeedback therapy, are the main features of Dr. Fotuhi’s 12-week Brain Fitness Program. As published in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease (2016), 84% of elderly with cognitive impairment who complete this brain rehabilitation program gain improvements in their brain function and many of them experience growth in the parts of their brain for learning and memory. These findings were similar for patients who gained recovery from their persistent post-concussion syndrome. The program will now be tailored for patients suffering from post-COVID neurological issues.
A Harvard- and Johns Hopkins-trained neurologist and neuroscientist, Dr. Fotuhi is widely regarded as an authority in the field of memory, Alzheimer’s Disease, concussion treatment, ADHD, and increasing brain vitality at any age.

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COVID-19 threatens the entire nervous system

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More information: Majid Fotuhi et al, Neurobiology of COVID-19, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2020). DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200581

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-stages-covid-brain-neurologists.html

Cold plasma against coronavirus

Many seriously ill COVID-19 patients must contend with more than just the coronavirus. Approximately half of the people who were mechanically ventilated yet still died had acquired additional infections in hospital. Cold plasma therapy could prevent these superinfections and reduce the risk of hospital staff becoming infected with coronavirus. Preliminary tests carried out by terraplasma medical GmbH, the subsidiary of the Max Planck spin-off terraplasma, suggest that cold atmospheric plasma (i.e. weakly ionized air) can render SARS-CoV-2 harmless in cell cultures. In order to clarify whether cold plasma can actually help treat COVID-19, investigations in both cell cultures and COVID-19 patients have been initiated together with various partners.

Plasma is the fuel of the stars. In a highly diluted cold variant, ionized gas—or more precisely, ionized air—inactivates bacteria in chronically infected wounds. As studies, conducted with various partners by Julia Zimmermann, CMO, have already shown in the past, atmospheric plasma can also inactivate viruses, like noro- and adenoviruses in solution. It could also help treat COVID-19 patients. “The initial tests suggest that cold atmospheric plasma kills corona viruses in solution,” says Jens Kirsch, CEO of terraplasma medical. “This is particularly interesting for us because the viruses are also found in fluids—for example, saliva—on mucous membranes.”
The researchers from terraplasma medical carried out the first investigations together with a team led by Albrecht von Brunn, a scientist at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. The preliminary results, which suggest that cold plasma can kill the coronavirus, have prompted terraplasma medical to conduct further studies. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, terraplasma medical will carry out comprehensive analyses how cold atmospheric plasma affects viruses in cell cultures. Terraplasma medical is also planning studies on patients together with hospitals of the University of Regensburg and the LMU. Because the researchers can build on previous investigations, the clinical trials are possible without the usual animal experiments. “We already know that cold plasmas do not damage the mucous membranes if we use the correct plasma design and the dose does not exceed certain limits,” says Gregor Morfill, former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, founder of terraplasma, and scientific consultant of terraplasma medical.
Can cold plasma also prevent the virus from spreading to the lungs?
By conducting the clinical trials, the researchers hope to answer various questions. They want to clarify whether treatment with cold plasma can prevent mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients from becoming infected with hospital germs (thus considerably improving the chances of a cure) as well as whether ionized air significantly reduces the viral load in the mouth, nose, and throat of these patients. This could additionally help to reduce the risk of infection for medical staff in intensive care units. “We hope that in the long term we will also be able to prevent the virus from spreading from the mouth, nose, and throat to the lower respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients whose lungs are still free of the virus,” says Kirsch. “We could thus reduce the number of COVID-19 patients requiring treatment in intensive care units or mechanical ventilation.”
In order to be able to use the cold plasma in the upper respiratory tract, terraplasma medical has converted a device used to treat chronically infected wounds. However, before doctors can treat the first COVID-19 patients, the clinical trials must first be approved by the respective ethics committee. “We expect the first results in six to seven months,” says Gregor Morfill.

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Image: Cold plasma tested on ISS

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Provided by Max Planck Society

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-cold-plasma-coronavirus.html

Houston on ‘Precipice of Disaster’ as Virus Cases Spread

Houston-area officials said they are “getting close” to reimposing a stay-at-home order and prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital established but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.
The announcement by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Thursday came a day after the Lone Star state recorded its highest one-day tally of new cases since the pandemic emerged.

“We may be approaching the precipice of a disaster,” said Hidalgo, the highest-ranking county executive. “It’s out of hand right now. The good news is it’s not severe out of hand.”
The warnings of a worsening outbreak reinforced alarms sounded by national health officials over the risk of a second wave of infections beyond the initial U.S. hot spots led by New York and New Jersey. Texas has been among the states pushing hardest to ease lockdowns imposed during the first wave of a disease that has killed more than 113,000 Americans.

President Donald Trump visited Dallas on Thursday for a meeting with religious leaders, business owners and law enforcement officials before attending a fundraiser.

Stadium Hospital

Harris County, which encompasses Houston and adjacent suburbs, also instituted what it called a public health threat level assessment that will alert residents if conditions worsen or improve. The level remains at the second-highest on the four-tier scale.
The ad hoc medical facility opened at NRG Stadium on the city’s south side will be reestablished if pressure on the local hospital system becomes “severe,” Hidalgo said in a meeting with reporters.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-11/houston-may-reopen-virus-hospital-at-stadium-as-cases-expand

FDA OKs Viela Bio’s inebilizumab for rare nervous system disorder

The FDA approves Viela Bio’s (NASDAQ:VIE) Uplizna (inebilizumab-cdon) for the treatment of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) in adults who harbor an antibody called anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4).

NMOSD is a rare autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the eye nerves and spinal cord and can lead to blindness and weakness or paralysis in the extremities or other problems linked to spinal cord damage. It can be associated with antibodies that bind to AQP4 which appears to activate the immune system causing inflammation and damage to the central nervous system.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3582469-fda-oks-viela-bios-inebilizumab-for-rare-nervous-system-disorder

AstraZeneca taps Emergent Biosolutions for COVID-19 vaccine production

AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) will work with Emergent Biosolutions (NYSE:EBS) to help produce the 300M doses of ADZ1222 that AZN has pledged to the U.S.

The candidate was the first to advance into Phase 2 development. Preliminary data should be available no later than next month.

Earlier today, EBS announced an $87M deal with AZN for development services, technology transfer, analytical testing, drug substance process and performance qualification as well as reserving large-scale production capacity through this year.

Last week, EBS inked a $628M contract with the U.S. government to accelerate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3582463-astrazeneca-taps-emergent-biosolutions-for-covidminus-19-vaccine-production

Food Prices Soar In May: What You Need To Know

Food prices as a whole rose at the fastest pace in 46 years in May, with some categories experiencing double-digit gains.
Food prices away from home were up 4.8% year-over-year in May. Beef prices were the most impacted in May, up 18.2% year-over-year, Fox Business’ Kristina Partsinevelos reported.
The surge is due to disruptions in the supply chain, as several meat processors were forced to go offline. Even though many processors are back online, production is still running behind.
The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs category was up 10%, followed by a 5.7% jump in dairy products. Cereal and flour prices were lower in May, in part due to consumer fatigue.
Consumers may have to deal with elevated grocery costs for some time, and perhaps even double-digit spikes, “The Supermarket Guru” Phil Lempert told Fox Business.
Grocery stores themselves are experiencing higher costs from health and safety upgrades and will pass that on to consumers, he said.
“We are going to see this year the highest food prices that we’ve seen in decades.”
Food companies are the obvious beneficiary from higher prices, along with grocers, CNBC’s Sara Eisen reported.
There are signs food prices are near a peak, especially as restaurants re-open and consumers are no longer hoarding as much food as they did a few months ago, Eisen said.
But this could change quickly, especially if there is a “second wave” of infections later on in the year.
https://www.benzinga.com/news/20/06/16236015/food-prices-soar-in-may-what-you-need-to-know