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Low COVID Risk in K-12; Fauci as ‘Skunk at the Picnic’; A Less Pleasant Test?

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Risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among students attending in-person K-12 school was relatively low with masking and other precautions, according to a study of 17 rural Wisconsin schools published in MMWR; among 191 cases in students and staff, only 3.7% were linked to in-school transmission.

Putting moratoria on eviction and utility disconnection resulted in 8.2% lower rates of COVID infection, according to a study from National Bureau of Economic Research.

As of 8:00 a.m ET 0n Wednesday, the unofficial COVID-19 toll in the U.S. reached 25,445,241 cases and 425,250 deaths, increases of 146,836 and 4,011 respectively, since this time yesterday.

So far over 44 million vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., with 23 million doses administered, according to the CDC.

NIH has launched a database to collect reports of neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19, the agency announced.

Becton Dickinson, the world’s largest syringe maker, says it can’t immediately increase the supply of specialty syringes needed to get more doses out of each vial of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, is the highest-paid employee in the federal government, with a reported salary of more than $434,000 in 2020 — higher than then-president Trump, who made $400,000. (Business Insider)

Speaking of Fauci, he characterized his duties when working for Trump as being “the skunk at the picnic” who was willing to disagree with the president. (New York Times)

Appearing soon at your local testing site? More than 1 million Beijing residents have been given anal swab tests for COVID-19, which scientists there say are more accurate than other types of tests. (Newsweek)

Pfizer said it will be able to produce 200 million doses of its COVID vaccine for the U.S. by the end of May, 2 months earlier than expected, and rival Sanofi says it plans to help Pfizer with production for the EU. (Bloomberg)

Although there’s only a one in a billion chance that a COVID vaccination will cause a positive result on a drug test, some athletes will still refuse to get the vaccine, World Anti-Doping Agency scientists said. (Reuters)

Middlemen have sprung up in the COVID-19 supply chain, buying items from manufacturers and selling them to the government at a steep markup. (USA Today)

Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health ended its partnership with the group that runs its largest COVID vaccination site after discovering the group had become for-profit and changed its policies to allow for the potential sale of patient data. (Becker’s Health IT)

In other news:

  • Joyce Frieden oversees MedPage Today’s Washington coverage, including stories about Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, healthcare trade associations, and federal agencies. She has 35 years of experience covering health policy. Follow

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com