Hospital Mask Mandates Come Back in California's Bay Area

 by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Multiple counties in California’s San Francisco Bay Area region reinstated mask mandates in health care settings starting Nov. 1, while other municipalities have recommended face coverings.

A health care professional prepares to enter a patient's room, in this file photo. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

Counties with mask requirements for employees include San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Napa, and San Mateo. But Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, and San Mateo County also require visitors and patients in those health care facilities to wear masks.

Those mandates, which were announced weeks or months ago, run from Nov. 1, 2024, until March 31, 2025. A similar mandate was imposed across the Bay Area during the 2023–24 winter and spring months.

Health Care Orders Issued

Santa Clara County announced it will require all people inside health care facilities, including visitors and patients, to wear masks from Nov. 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

The county said it is making exceptions for children under age 2 and for people with medical issues that make it difficult for them to breathe in a mask or to remove a mask without assistance.

“Preventive measures like wearing a mask in crowded indoor places and staying home when you are sick continue to add layers of protection against respiratory viruses,” the county said in a statement in September.

“Just like last year, the April 2023 health order will continue to require masks in all patient care areas of health care facilities starting November 1 and continuing through the winter respiratory virus period.”

In early October, San Mateo County mandated “health care personnel and visitors in patient care areas of skilled nursing facilities to wear face masks,” adding that the county health officer has the ability to “adjust the dates.”

Alameda County, which encompasses Oakland, issued an order in September that requires staff at health care facilities to wear masks throughout the rest of the year and the early spring.

“The fall and winter of 2023–2024 saw substantial waves of RSV, flu and COVID19, and a similar pattern is expected this year,” Alameda officials said in the order, adding that those respiratory infections “typically circulate and peak in Alameda County during the late fall and winter months.”

Authorities in Contra Costa County issued a similar health order on Sept. 26, mandating health care staff, but not patients, to wear masks until March 31 of next year.

“The masking of personnel in these facilities is necessary to provide a layer of protection to patients during the respiratory season when risk of exposure is highest,” the county said.

Napa County released a health order on Oct. 1 for a similar mandate, only requiring staff to wear masks in facilities.

California Hospital Reinstates Mandate

Aside from government mandates, a hospital system in Monterey, California, reinstated a mandate for patients, visitors, and staff.

In a statement issued on Oct. 29, Montage Health wrote that masks will be mandated “for everyone” who enters Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula patient care areas regardless of their vaccination status.

Other locations operated by Montage Health will only impose a mask recommendation, not a mandate, the company said.

NYC Offers Recommendation, but No Mandate

Earlier this week, New York City’s Department of Health suggested in a post on X that residents wear masks ahead of the flu season and to protect against COVID-19. The department suggested that people use respirator-style masks such as KN95s, KF94s, or N95s.

“Wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings can help protect you from viruses like COVID-19 and the flu this season. Masking up also protects others if you’re sick,” the department said in the Oct. 28 post.

Some studies have found that masking did not make much difference in reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic.

The Cochrane Institute, in a review issued in early 2023, found that “wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu‐like illness” or COVID-19.

However, studies cited by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that face masks and respirator-style masks “effectively filter virus-sized particles in laboratory settings” and that “use of respirators with higher filtration capacity was associated with the most protection, compared with no mask use.”

But, it added, “The real-world effectiveness of face coverings to prevent acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 infection has not been widely studied.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/hospital-mask-mandates-come-back-californias-bay-area-what-we-know

Verona 3rd Quarter 2024 Financial Results, Corporate Update

 Through October more than 2,200 unique prescribers and more than 5,000 prescriptions filled across a broad COPD population

Pipeline expansion continues: Phase 2 programs enrolling

Conference call today at 9:00 a.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. GMT

Verona Pharma will host an investment community webcast and conference call at 9:00 a.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. GMT on Monday, November 4, 2024, to discuss the third quarter 2024 financial results and provide a corporate update.

To participate, please dial one of the following numbers and ask to join the Verona Pharma call:

• +1-833-816-1396 for callers in the United States
• +1-412-317-0489 for international callers

A live webcast will be available on the Events and Presentations link on the Investors page of the Company's website, www.veronapharma.com, and the audio replay will be available for 90 days. An electronic copy of the third quarter 2024 results press release will also b\\e made available today on the Company’s website.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/11/04/2973713/0/en/Verona-Pharma-Reports-Third-Quarter-2024-Financial-Results-and-Provides-Corporate-Update.html

‘No’ on Prop 1: NY’s trans-rights, pro-discrimination Trojan Horse ballot measure

 Vote “NO” on Proposition 1, the “Amendment to Protect Against Unequal Treatment”: It’s a total Trojan Horse that would write a license for discrimination into New York’s Constitution.

It’s backers pretend it’s about “equal rights” and protecting abortion: That’s two ginormous lies.

Abortion rights in New York aren’t remotely under threat: They were secured years before the Supreme Court delivered Roe v. Wade, and the state now has the strongest abortion law in the nation.

Just read the language on the ballot: If Prop 1 were about that, it’d be obvious.

No: The measure offers a long, confusing list of categories to be granted constitutional protection.

And its second part, not even spelled out on the ballot, explicitly licenses discrimination to serve the cause of “equity” — a go-ahead for lawmakers or courts to impose strict racial quotas by claiming it’s to rectify past injustice.

And the “protections” it grants on “gender identity” and “age” are an invitation for progressive-packed courts to mandate full chemical and surgical “transitions” for confused kids, no matter their parents’ objections.

And for every school to accept “trans” boys in girls’ sports and locker rooms.

Prop 1, in short, would write the most extreme elements of woke ideology into the state Constitution.

Most ballots are two-sided, with proposals on the back: Be sure to flip it over and vote “No” on Prop 1.

On the front, vote against all the Democratic candidates who support this grotesque deception.

https://nypost.com/2024/11/03/opinion/vote-no-on-prop-1-nys-trans-rights-pro-discrimination-trojan-horse-ballot-measure/

NYC voter bags perfect response to Biden trashing MAGA backers

 A Brit who says she became a US citizen to vote for Donald Trump was cheered when she wore a trash bag to the polls last week to protest President Biden calling MAGA supporters “garbage.’’

MAGA Manhattanite Sophie Sassoon, a former fashion-industry worker, donned a black garbage bag cinched by a blazing-red Hermes belt and accompanied by a matching red Chanel bag and red Louboutin shoes.

“I wanted to be a chic garbage bag – almost as an experiment to show that this is what garbage looks like,” Sassoon told The Post. “People were cheering, giving me the thumbs up and honking.”

5

MAGA-loving Manhattan fashionista Sophie Sassoon poses in her clever “trashy” polling-place ensemble.Obtained by the NY Post

Sassoon — who posed alongside approving sanitation and construction workers during her hour-long sartorial stunt on the Upper East Side — said her critics were few and far between.

“He’s one of the best presidents we ever had,” Sassoon crowed of Trump, adding that she supports the former president’s strong positions on the border, Iran and inflation.

The British native said she emigrated to New York 19 years ago and happily dwelled in the US with a green card until she became so inspired by Trump’s rhetoric ahead of the 2016 election that she officially became a citizen so she could vote for him.

“I didn’t need to be a citizen, but I decided I had to exercise my right as a voter. There was an urgency to do it then to vote for Trump,” Sassoon said.

5

Sassoon says her outfit’s reception was overwhelmingly positive.Obtained by the NY Post

5

The former fashion-industry worker struts her stuff while making a pointed political statement.Obtained by the NY Post

The woman explained that she meticulously fashioned her “trashy” conservative couture last week to make a point after Biden said in a campaign call with the Voto Latino group, “The only garbage I see floating out there is his [Trump’s] supporters.”

Biden was trying to be clever in referencing comic Tony Hinchcliffe making a “floating island of garbage” joke about Puerto Rico during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, but the president failed miserably.

“One of the women checking me in said, ‘Oh, the garbage comment was days ago,’” Sassoon said of a poll worker at her polling place, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School, adding that she was able to fire off her own rejoinder: “Guess what? It still stinks.”

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The Manhattan woman cast her vote in the outfit.Obtained by the NY Post

The poll worker “couldn’t help herself – she was making fun of me,” said Sassoon, adding that the woman in her “50s or 60s” was “trivializing” Biden’s hurtful barb.

A lawyer assisting the RNC overseeing election integrity told The Post that the poll worker’s comment sounded “very inappropriate.”

“That worker clearly was expressing her own personal viewpoint onto a voter in the polling site,” the lawyer said.

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How The Post told the story of the Dem debacle.New York Post

Sassoon said that besides the poll worker’s comment, “I got way more love than hate.

“Passers-by thanked me for being brave,” she said.

“Only one woman screamed out, ‘You better not need an abortion.’ ” 

Sassoon said she shot back, “That’s in the hands of the state, not the president.”

https://nypost.com/2024/11/03/us-news/nyc-voter-bags-perfect-response-to-biden-trashing-maga-backers-people-were-cheering/

'Coordinated Effort' To Rig States - Rogan Exposes Dem Plan To Destroy American Democracy

 “Undeniably," admits Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman to podcaster Joe Rogan, "immigration is changing our nation."

 The two men spoke about a wide variety of political topics ranging from how Donald Trump won in 2016 to how immigration stands as a key issue in the election today.

Specifically, Fetterman played the Democratic Party card, claiming that Republicans in 2024 "had an opportunity to do a comprehensive border-bipartisan-and that went down because Trump, he declared that that's a bad deal after it was negotiated with the other side."

Rogan then brutally 'fact-checked' the stammering senator, pointing out the reality that that the deal made many concessions that Republicans concerned about the border found to be unacceptable.

"But, didn't that deal also involved amnesty," responded Rogan,"and didn't that deal also involve a significant number of illegal aliens being allowed into the country every year?" 

Silence from Fetterman.

Rogan continued:

"I think it was 2 million people. So still the same sort of situation. And their fear is exactly what I talked about, that these people will be moved to swing states and that that will be used to essentially rig those states and turn them blue forever."

Finally, the PA Senator responded

"I've never witnessed those kinds [illegals voting] of a thing... I don't think there's that level kinds of organization."

But Rogan once again would not allow the politician to 'lie' pointing out that "there is an organization that's moving these people [illegals] to swing states."

"There's a significant number of these people that are illegal immigrants that have made their way to swing states.

And then there's been calls for amnesty. There's been calls for allowing these people to have a pathway to citizenship and allow them to vote.

The fear that a lot of people have is that this is a coordinated effort to take these people that you're allowing to come into the country, then you're providing them with all sorts of services like food stamps and housing and setting them up and then providing a pathway to amnesty.

And then you would have voters that would be significantly voting towards the Democrats because they're the people that enabled them to come into the country in the first place, first place and provided them with those services.

This is a big fear that people have and that you're rigging this system and that this will turn all these states into essentially locked blue like California is."

Fetterman's responds:

"undeniably," adding that "immigration is changing our nation."

"I haven't spent a lot of time in Texas but it's very clear that immigration has remade Texas and I think it's generally, it's a good thing."

Watch the discussion on immigration below:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/coordinated-effort-rig-states-rogan-exposes-democrats-plan-destroy-american-democracy

Intra-Cellular Adjunctive Antipsychotic Helps Ease Symptoms of Depression

 Addition of the antipsychotic lumateperone (Caplyta) to an existing antidepressant improved symptoms of depression in a randomized, double-blind phase III trial.

Among 484 patients with major depressive disorder, those on adjunctive lumateperone had a significantly greater MADRS (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale) total score improvement from baseline to day 43 compared with placebo (least square mean difference -4.9, P<0.0001), reported Willie Earley, MD, of maker Intra-Cellular Therapies in New York City, at Psych Congressopens in a new tab or window in Boston.

"The efficacy was significant as early as day 8 and continued to the end of study at day 43," said Earley in a poster presentation.

Lumateperone was first approvedopens in a new tab or window by the FDA for adults with schizophrenia in December 2019. In December 2021, it gained an indicationopens in a new tab or window for bipolar I or II-related depressive episodes as monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy with lithium or valproate. The atypical antipsychotic has a novel mechanism of action, acting as a simultaneous modulator of serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate neurotransmission.

In the current study, adults, ages 18-65, were eligible if they had a DSM-5 diagnosis for major depressive disorder and had an inadequate response to one to two courses of a prior antidepressant. Inadequate treatment response was considered to be less than a 50% improvement with 6 weeks or longer of antidepressant monotherapy measured by the Antidepressant Treatment Response Questionnaire.

All also had to be currently experiencing a major depressive episode with a MADRS total score of ≥24 and a Quick Inventory of Depressive symptomatology-Self Report-16 item (QIDS-SR-16) score of ≥14. At baseline, average MADRS total score was 30.4 (ranges from 0-60) and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity scale (CGI-S) score was 4.7 (ranges from 1-7; 7 being the most extremely ill patients).

In the treatment arm, most participants were female (66%) and white (75%) with an average age of 45. Most were on an selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) versus an serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) during the study (65% vs 29%).

Half (n=241) were randomized to receive 42 mg of lumateperone and half received placebo. Both groups continued their baseline antidepressant.

In addition to MADRS improvement, patients on lumateperone also had significant improvements in CGI-S score (least square mean difference -0.7, P<0.0001), which was a key secondary endpoint. Lumateperone-treated patients also had a 2.4-point drop in QIDS-SR-16 total score from a baseline score of 18.1 (P<0.0001).

Around 58% of the lumateperone group experienced a treatment-emergent adverse event (TEAE) compared with 46.5% of placebo, and serious AEs were uncommon in both arms (0.4%). Reports of dry mouth, fatigue, and tremor occurred in ≥5% of lumateperone patients.

Despite some reports of tremor, there were "no notable changes" in extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) measured by the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale, and Simpson-Angus Scale. As measured by broad standard Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities query, EPS-related TEAEs occurred in 2.9% of placebo and 6.2% of the lumateperone arms.

No deaths occurred during the study. Also, no suicidal behavior was reported during the study, according to the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale, and emergent suicidal ideation was lower in the treatment arm (1.4% vs 3.5%).

Of note with an antipsychotic, weight and BMI remained stable in both groups throughout the study. As for cardiometabolic profiles, there were no clinically relevant mean increases in any of the following measures with lumateperone from baseline versus placebo:

• Total cholesterol: -10.3 mg/dL (baseline 197.7) vs -1.3 (baseline 199.1)

• HDL cholesterol: -0.4 mg/dL (54.7) vs -0.4 (57.5)

• LDL: -9.4: mg/dL (136) vs -0.9 (136.2)

• Triglycerides: -4.7 mg/dL (138.8) vs 1.7 (131.3)

• Glucose: 0.9 mg/dL (91.3) vs 0.8 (93.8)
• Insulin: -1.5 mIU/L (15.7) vs 1.4 (13.5)

• Prolactin: 1.6 ng/mL (11) vs 0.6 (9.6)

"These results suggest lumateperone 42 mg adjunctive to antidepressant therapy is a promising new treatment option for adults with major depressive disorder with inadequate response to prior antidepressant therapy," Earley and colleagues concluded.

Intra-Cellular Therapies said in a press release that a supplemental new drug application submissionopens in a new tab or window for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder is expected by the end of 2024.

Disclosures

The study was funded by Intra-Cellular Therapies. Earley and some co-authors are company employees.

Co-authors disclosed multiple relationships with industry including Intra-Cellular Therapies.

Primary Source

Psych Congress

Source Reference: opens in a new tab or windowDuraam S, et al "Lumateperone as adjunctive therapy in patients with major depressive disorder: results from a randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial" Psych Congress 2024; Poster 187.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/psychcongress/112718

Alzheimer's Progression May Be Slowed by Targeted Magnetic Pulses, Study Suggests

 Investigational transcranial magnetic stimulation that targeted a brain network involved in memory slowed progression in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease, data from a small phase II study suggested.

At 1 year, noninvasive personalized stimulation of the default mode network (DMN) led to an estimated mean change of 1.3 points on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB), compared with 2.4 points for sham treatment (P=0.038), reported Giacomo Koch, MD, PhD, of the University of Ferrara in Italy at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Diseaseopens in a new tab or window annual meeting in Madrid.

CDR-SB scores -- the primary outcome in this single-center study -- range from 0 to 18, with higher scores indicating greater impairment.

Repetitive stimulation also led to significantly better scores on a key secondary measure of activities of daily living compared with sham (P<0.001) at 1 year.

The findings confirm the potential of transcranial magnetic stimulation to enhance neuroplasticity, gamma activity, and network connectivity in the DMN, Koch said. "Personalized noninvasive brain stimulation of the DMN could represent a novel therapeutic approach in Alzheimer's disease patients," he stated.

The results add to prior 6-month evidenceopens in a new tab or window supporting neuromodulation to slow cognitive impairment and preserve activities of daily living, he added.

"I'm encouraged by consistency of the efficacy signals across endpoints in this 1-year monocentric placebo-controlled study," noted Jeffrey Cummings, MD, ScD, of University of Nevada in Las Vegas. "Given its lack of serious side effects, this precision medicine neuromodulation approach represents a promising new direction for treatment research in the field of Alzheimer's."

The DMN is responsible for memory and has preferential accumulation of amyloid-beta and tau versus other regions, Koch noted. The precuneus is a key DMN hub.

"We are targeting synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease," Koch said. "The synaptic dysfunction is the consequence of complex interactions between amyloid deposition, tau, and neuroinflammation that occurs during several years. And at some point, it progressively affects the communication with neurons and disrupts synaptic activity at different levels."

The studyopens in a new tab or window randomized 48 people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease to treatment or sham for 52 weeks. It included 31 patients from the previous 6-monthopens in a new tab or window randomized trial who extended therapy to 12 months; 17 new participants also received the identical protocol for 12 months. A number of people were lost to follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a total of 32 participants ultimately completed the 12-month study.

Personalization was established using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation concurrently with electroencephalography (EEG) and MRI data to define the best spot to engage connectivity. The therapy consisted of 20 Hz pulses and was delivered daily for 10 sessions during an induction phase, then in weekly 20-minute sessions for the next 50 weeks.

EEGs showed that transcranial magnetic stimulation increased functional connectivity within the DMN, which correlated with clinical outcomes, Koch said. The procedure was safe and well tolerated, he noted; adverse events included headache, scalp or skin discomfort, and neck pain or stiffness.

Study limitations include a small sample size and mixed enrollment methods. In an upcoming trial, treatment will be calibrated quarterly using transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG concurrently in combination with MRI-guided navigation.

Disclosures

Koch is a co-founder of Sinaptica Therapeutics, which developed the SinaptiStim system tested in this trial. He also reported relationships with Epitech, Roche, Novo Nordisk, and PIAM Farmaceutici, and filed for patents about targeted non-invasive brain stimulation and combination drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. He has received funding from Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation, European Commission Horizon 2020, Italian Ministry Of Health, Italian Ministry of Education, and Brightfocus Foundation.

Cummings disclosed numerous relationships with pharmaceutical companies and others.

Primary Source

Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease

Source Reference: opens in a new tab or windowKoch G "Results of a 52-week phase II trial of repetitive TMS of the default mode network in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease" CTAD 2024.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ctad/112719