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Five states — Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Arkansas — have less than 10% left of their ICU bed capacity. (CNN)
The Florida Department of Health changed the way it reported mortality data to the CDC, creating an “artificial decline” in recent deaths. (Miami Herald)
Two top vaccine officials — Marion Gruber, PhD, director of the Office of Vaccines Research and Review, and Phil Krause, MD, her deputy director — will leave the FDA this fall, with both reportedly upset over the Biden administration’s announcement on COVID booster shots, citing a lack of data. (New York Times)
As of 8 a.m. EDT today, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. was 39,200,751 cases and 640,121 deaths, increases of 142,063 and 1,278, respectively, from the same time yesterday.
As COVID cases grow, so does the price of travel nurses, with some being offered as much as $8,000 a week. (Bloomberg)
An Illinois church camp that didn’t require vaccinations or masks was linked to as many as 180 COVID cases, the CDC said. (MMWR)
A review of U.S. hospital records found that COVID-19 infection increased the risk for myocarditis nearly 16-fold. (MMWR)
The EU reached its goal of fully vaccinating 70% of its adult population against COVID-19. (Reuters)
In the U.S., the latest CDC data show that 61.4% of the eligible population (12 and up) has been fully vaccinated, including 63.5% of adults.
About 14 million people in the U.S. received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in August, 4 million more than in July. (Reuters)
Novavax trial participants in the study arms are considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after they complete their shots, the CDC said.
New diagnoses of eight cancer types — including breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers — dropped below pre-pandemic levels again from November 2020 through March 2021. (JAMA Network Open)
A Connecticut doctor accused of trading fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions for cash allegedly tried to hire a Hells Angel to intimidate or kill a witness, federal prosecutors said. (Washington Post)
In the wake of a CDC Health Alert and a spike in poison control center calls, the FDA issued a letter to veterinarians and retailers to help stop animal ivermectin from being used to prevent or treat COVID-19 in humans.
Among the places pushing the deworming drug: Amazon. (CNBC)
Semorinemab, an investigational tau antibody drug, reduced cognitive decline but not functional decline in a phase II study of Alzheimer’s disease; drugmaker AC Immune cautioned about interpreting study results.
A New Jersey woman known as @AntiVaxMomma was charged in a conspiracy to sell hundreds of counterfeit coronavirus vaccination cards over Instagram, according to Manhattan prosecutors. (New York Times)
Anti-vax protesters shut down a mobile COVID vaccine clinic in Georgia. (Newsweek)
Wisconsin doctors pushed back against Sen. Ron Johnson (R), a vocal hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin advocate, saying he is “endangering our patients.” (Wisconsin Public Radio)
With no end in sight to the COVID staffing crunch, some hospitals find the lack of a vaccine mandate gives them a competitive recruitment advantage. (KHN)
Astellas voluntarily paused its investigational gene therapy trial for X-linked myotubular myopathy again after one participant showed abnormal liver function tests weeks after dosing.
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Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today, writing about brain aging, Alzheimer’s, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinson’s, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, and more. Follow
