N.Y., N.J. Unveil COVID Alert Apps with '6 Feet from Positive' Warning

New York, along with other states in the Northeast, are taking the tracking of coronavirus cases to a new level.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday the state has created a new tracing app that will notify residents when they have come in contact with someone who has tested positive.

The app, called COVID Alert NY, is free and is now available on Apple and Android devices.

The governor said Larry Schwartz, one of his former secretaries and currently a member of the state COVID-19 Task Force, worked with Bloomberg Philanthropies, Google, Apple, and other companies on the technology.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/10/01/coronavirus-covid-19-covid-alert-ny-app-andrew-cuomo/

La. House OKs plans to curb Gov.'s anti-coronavirus rules

The Republican-led Louisiana House on Friday easily approved eight proposals that would restrict or suspend Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' orders aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic.

One of the measures, House Concurrent Resolution 9 by House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, would temporarily suspend the governor's orders.

It won House approval 68-22 and next faces action in the Senate.

Others are aimed at allowing lawmakers, by majority votes in each chamber, to end executive orders or proclamations during the pandemic.

One of the bills approved, by Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, would give a legislative panel input on gubernatorial orders before they are extended, and require reasons for the renewal and action plans.

That measure, Senate Bill 29, cleared the House 65-27 and now returns to the Senate, which approved a similar version earlier this week.

Others glided through the House by similar margins, with virtually no debate and the votes generally breaking along party lines.

House leaders said afterwards they are not ready to get behind a single approach. They said approving multiple bills will give lawmakers ample opportunity to forge a consensus.

"We are on step one of the process," House Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, R-Houma said after the Friday session. "It is wide open right now."

The special session called by Republican leaders began Sept. 28 and can last until Oct. 27 at 6 p.m.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/article_ea6c55b2-044b-11eb-9844-4fd8be4d3a9f.html

Gov. has no authority to continue state of emergency: Mich. Supreme Court

The governor does not have authority under either of the state’s emergency statutes to continue the coronavirus state of emergency, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in questions related to a federal case on Friday.

Two laws -- the Emergency Management Act from 1976 and the Emergency Powers of the Governor Act from 1945 -- govern how states of emergency are declared and handled in Michigan.

Neither, the court found, gave Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the authority to continue declaring states of emergency or issuing unilateral orders under them past April 30, when her initial declaration would have expired.

“We conclude that the Governor lacked the authority to declare a ‘state of emergency’ or a ‘state of disaster’ under the EMA after April 30, 2020, on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, we conclude that the EPGA is in violation of the Constitution of our state because it purports to delegate to the executive branch the legislative powers of state government-- including its plenary police powers-- and to allow the exercise of such powers indefinitely," wrote Justice Stephen J. Markman in the majority opinion.

“As a consequence, the EPGA cannot continue to provide a basis for the Governor to exercise emergency powers.”

The court’s order comes at the behest of U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney, who found a federal case needed input from the state courts on whether Whitmer has the authority after April 30 to renew any executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether Michigan’s state of emergency laws are constitutional.

The underlying federal case was filed in May by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation on behalf of four west Michigan medical providers and a patient seeking a knee surgery. At the time, Whitmer’s orders banned elective procedures.

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/10/gov-has-no-authority-to-continue-state-of-emergency-michigan-supreme-court-rules.html

Exhaled aerosol increases with COVID-19 infection, risk factors of disease symptom severity

David A Edwards, Dennis Ausiello, Robert Langer, Jonathan Salzman, Tom Devlin, Brandon J. Beddingfield, Alyssa C. Fears, Lara A. Doyle-Meyers, Rachel K. Redmann, Stephanie Z. Killeen, NIcholas J. Maness, View ORCID ProfileCHAD J ROY

doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.30.20199828

This article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

PDF: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.30.20199828v1.full.pdf

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) transmits by droplets generated from surfaces of airway mucus during processes of respiration within hosts infected by severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. We studied respiratory droplet generation and exhalation in human and nonhuman primate subjects with and without COVID-19 infection to explore whether SARS-CoV-2 infection, and other changes in physiological state, translates into observable evolution of numbers and sizes of exhaled respiratory droplets in healthy and diseased subjects. In our observational cohort study of the exhaled breath particles of 74 healthy human subjects, and in our experimental infection study of eight nonhuman primates infected by aerosol with SARS-CoV-2, we found that exhaled aerosol particles increase one to three orders of magnitude with aging, high BMI, and COVID-19 infection. These variances appear to be related to changes in airway mucus surface composition and the propensity for mucus surfaces to breakup into small droplets during acts of breathing. We also observed that 20% of those participating in our human study accounted for 80% of the overall exhaled bioaerosol, reflecting a bioaerosol distribution analogous to a classical 20:80 super spreader distribution.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

Funding. The work at the Tulane National Primate Research Center was supported in part by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Contract No. HHSN272201700033I (CJR) and also supported in part by grant OD011104 from the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), Office of the Director, NIH.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.30.20199828v1

UK-based research tool provider Abcam files for a $100M US IPO

Abcam, which provides biological reagents and tools for research, drug discovery, and diagnostics, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering. The company is currently listed on the AIM under the symbol ABC.

Abcam identifies, develops, and distributes reagents and tools for life science research. Its product offerings include a portfolio of antibodies and related protein research tools. Its customers are primarily scientists and researchers in academic institutions, research institutes, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics companies. The company operates across 15 locations around the world.

The Cambridge, United Kingdom-based company was founded in 1998 and booked $335 million in revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2020. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ABCM. Abcam filed confidentially on July 23, 2020. Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, and SVB Leerink are joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

Relevant Profile: ABCM

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/71874/UK-based-research-tool-provider-Abcam-files-for-a-$100-million-US-IPO

Preclinical oncology biotech Foghorn Therapeutics files for $100M IPO

Foghorn Therapeutics, a preclinical biotech developing gene therapies for hematologic cancers and solid tumors, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.

Foghorn is developing a new class of medicines targeting genetically determined dependencies within the chromatin regulatory system through its proprietary Gene Traffic Control platform. The company's two most advanced candidates are FHD-286, a selective allosteric ATPase inhibitor, and FHD-609, a protein degrader. The candidates are being developed for hematologic cancers and solid tumors, and the company plans to file INDs for FHD-286 and FHD-609 in the 4Q20 and 1H21, respectively.

The Cambridge, MA-based company was founded in 2015 and plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol FHTX. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Cowen and Wedbush PacGrow are joint bookrunners on the deal. No pricing terms were disclosed.

Relevant Profile: FHTX

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/71865/Preclinical-oncology-biotech-Foghorn-Therapeutics-files-for-a-$100-million-

Trump to Walter Reed for ‘few days’ after COVID-19 diagnosis

President Trump on Friday was being taken to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, after contracting COVID-19.

Trump is expected to remain at the hospital “for the next few days,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

“Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of his physician and medical experts, the President will be working from the presidential offices at Walter Reed for the next few days. President Trump appreciates the outpouring of support for both he and the First Lady,” she said.

McEnany said Trump, 74, “remains in good spirts, has mild symptoms, and has been working throughout the day.”

Dr. Sean Conley, physician to the president, released Trump’s initial course of treatment Friday afternoon in a public memo following Trump’s early-morning disclosure on Twitter that he contracted the virus.

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Trump was administered “polyclonal antibodies” to help his body battle COVID-19 and is experiencing fatigue, his doctor said.

https://nypost.com/2020/10/02/trump-heads-to-walter-reed-hospital-after-covid-19-diagnosis/