Month: November 2020

United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL, -0.74% on Friday started operating charter flights to get doses of Pfizer Inc.'s PFE, +1.91% and BioNTech SE's BNTX, +4.79% COVID-19 vaccine ready for quick distribution if the vaccine candidate is approved by regulators, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited people familiar with the matter. Pfizer and BioNTech last Friday submitted an application for the vaccine trial's emergency use authorization, making their vaccine candidate the first in line with U.S. regulators. The companies have said the vaccine, called BNT162b2, had an efficacy rate of 95% in a late-stage clinical trial. Pfizer has been laying the groundwork to move quickly if it gets approval...

BROOME COUNTY (WBNG) -- The Broome County Health Department has learned two establishments were visited by people who have tested positive for COVID-19. The health department says if you have visited these establishments for 10 minutes or more on the respective dates of exposure to self-quarantine and monitor your symptoms for 14 days. Locations include: American Legion Post 974, 119th St in Whitney Point Nov. 21 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Octagon Inn, 3699 State Route 26 in Glen Aubrey Nov. 21 from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. The health department says if you experience symptoms you should contact your healthcare provider.

North Texas crossed a critical threshold in the number of hospital patients fighting COVID-19 that could trigger bar closings and lower occupancies at stores and restaurants if such cases don’t decrease within a week. With more than 2,300 patients testing positive for the coronavirus in the 19-county hospital region, 15.05% of all beds were occupied by a person with COVID-19, according to state data. Hospitals had been approaching the 15% red line — set by Gov. Greg Abbott in October — for several days before the Thanksgiving holiday as the state continued to report record-breaking numbers of new coronavirus cases. On Friday, Texas reported 2,473 new cases and 51 new deaths — a drastic drop compared to recent results likely due to labs being closed for the holiday. Currently, most busines...

A youth basketball tournament in Rocklin, Calif., has been identified as the source of a coronavirus outbreak that has infected dozens of people, say Placer County health officials. The county alleges that the owners of the Courtside Basketball Center refused to cancel tournaments and games, despite "being advised such operations are not allowed and with full knowledge that COVID-19 cases have been associated with activities at the facility." The tournament took place at the center at 1104 Tinker Road in unincorporated Rocklin, Calif., on Nov. 7 and 8. The county reports that 30 people from multiple counties have tested positive for the virus following that event. A director at Courtside, Olajuwon Jones, told the San F...

“It definitely will be an iterative process,” Howell said, as she multiplied those problems through jails, group homes and homeless shelters, wondering how not to waste precious doses if somebody doesn’t show up as expected for their second shot, leaving a precious vial in the refrigerator. “Do you use second doses for first doses?” Howell speculated. As the nation gears up to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans against the novel coronavirus, public health officials like her are facing novel dilemmas, driven by the urgency of the pandemic, the fact that only a small minority may have immunity from prior exposure and by the vaccine available at each site, with the differing intervals between shots depending on the manufacturer. They will need to keep track of people who have receive...

A proposed future society. Credit: Tohoku University The future could hold portable and wearable sensors for detecting viruses and bacteria in the surrounding environment. But we’re not there yet. Scientists at Tohoku University have been studying materials that can change mechanical into electrical or magnetic energy, and vice versa, for decades. Together with colleagues, they published a review in the journal Advanced Materials about the most recent endeavors into using these materials to fabricate functional biosensors. “Research on improving the performance of virus sensors has not progressed much in recent years,” says Tohoku University materials engineer Fumio Narita. “Our review aims to help young researchers and graduate students understand the latest progress to guide the...