Month: February 2021

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's number of COVID-19 cases increased by 1,201 on Tuesday, with 17 more deaths reported, according to the Utah Department of Health. Six of those deaths occurred before January 13 but were still being investigated by the state medical examiner's office, according to the health department. The health department estimates there are now 36,747 active COVID-19 cases in Utah. The rolling seven-day average number of positive cases per day is now at 1,394, according to the health department. The positive test rate per day for that time period is now 16.6%. There are 396 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Utah, including 130 in intensive care, state data shows. About 76% of all intensive care unit beds are occupied in Utah as of Tuesday, including about 79% of ICU be...

By Estelle Shirbon and Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - The UK variant of the coronavirus has developed a new, concerning mutation in a small number of cases, which scientists said makes it similar to the South African and Brazilian variants and could reduce the efficacy of vaccines. The emergence of the mutation to the variant first discovered in Britain highlights how complicated exiting COVID-19 lockdown will be even once vaccines are rolled out. Public Health England said there had been 11 reports of the UK variant which feature the E484K mutation, mostly in south-west England. The E484K mutation, which occurs on the spike protein of the virus, is the same change as has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants that have caused international concern. "PHE is monitoring t...

OK. So what in the heck is going on with all these variants? Why is everyone so worried? And how do they work? To answer these questions, let's go back in time to January 2020, when we were all blissfully going about our lives, eating in restaurants, cramming into elevators at work and dancing at house parties on the weekends. Back then, the coronavirus looked a bit like this (well, not really, but if it was made of Legos, it would look like this). The virus is basically a ball with little "spikes" on the surface poking out. Now, our cells aren't stupid. They don't just let any virus inside willy-nilly. Not in the slightest. The cell...

America's top infectious disease expert said it's "possible" that federal health officials could soon recommend "double masking" in an effort to better prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.  Speaking to the Washington Post, Dr. Anthony Fauci reiterated that researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are looking into this matter, noting that more data is needed before a decision will be made.  "That’s possible," that the CDC could recommend two masks, Fauci said. "Just [in] discussions with my CDC colleagues yesterday ... the CDC is looking at doing a study of seeing whether or not two masks might be better than one, it makes common sense that you would think – and the reason they don’t recommend it right now it’s a science-based organization, [so] they...