Misleading CDC Report on COVID-19 Testing Combines “Apples and Elephants”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acknowledged last week that it had lumped genetic tests that identify people with current COVID-19 infections together with serology (blood) antibody tests that measure whether someone has had the viral infection in the past.1 Combining the tally of the two tests overstates the country’s ability to […]
CDC Reduces COVID-19 Fatality Rate to 0.26 Percent
In a new document providing guidance for public health officials on COVID-19, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the infection fatality rate (IFR) for the disease at 0.4 percent, or about half the nearly one percent fatality rate the CDC estimated in March 2020 when it was predicting up to 1.7 […]
Volunteer Describes His Serious Reaction in Moderna’s mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Trial
Of the 45 volunteers in biotechnology company Moderna, Inc.’s Phase 1 human clinical trial on its experimental mRNA-1273 vaccine for COVID-19, only the names of the first two participants have been widely publicized—Jennifer Haller of Seattle, Washington and Neal Browning of Bothell, Washington. The clinical trial began on Mar. 16, 2020 at Kaiser Permanente Washington […]
Contamination at CDC Lab Reportedly Led to Delay in Coronavirus Testing
As we start to see the introduction of in-home testing for the coronavirus, we’re also learning more about mistakes made at the CDC. According to a new report by The Washington Post, there were issues with cross-contamination. … This is particularly disturbing, I think, when many people think of the CDC it’s kind of like […]
Pfizer and BioNTech Begin Human Clinical Trials of COVID-19 Vaccine in U.S.
Pfizer, Inc. of New York and BioNTech SE of Mainz, Germany have announced that human clinical trials for an experimental COVID-19 vaccine they have co-developed, known as BNT162, have begun in the United States.1 As part of a global clinical development program, the first human subjects in the U.S. Phase I and Phase clinical II […]
New York Nursing Homes in Crisis During COVID-19 Pandemic
On Mar. 25, 2020, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to accept on an expedited basis all new or returning residents with confirmed or presumed COVID-19 who are discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed as medically stable. The order states: No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to […]