Staff Reporter

Oak Valley Health opens new Interventional Radiology Suite with first in Canada, innovative GE Healthcare technology

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

GE Healthcare Allia IGS 7 system

New Interventional Radiology (IR) Suite at Oak Valley Health

Toronto, Canada, April 08, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As part of their commitment to provide an exceptional patient experience, Oak Valley Health has completed construction on a new innovative 2,465 sq. ft. interventional radiology (IR) suite with the first in Canada GE Healthcare Allia™ IGS 7 system giving patients even more access to leading-edge treatments and procedures.

“We are excited to be able to offer our patients from Markham, Stouffville and Uxbridge communities and beyond, the latest technology that was designed to be minimally invasive, efficient, and reduce patient anxiety,” says Jo-anne Marr, President and CEO at Oak Valley Health. “Our community will continue to receive the highest quality of care in a comfortable, spacious and modern environment, close to home.”

Using highly advanced imaging guidance, the Allia IGS 7 will allow interventional radiologists to diagnose and treat complex and intricate cases using minimally invasive procedures.

“Oak Valley Health has leading diagnostic services and medical/surgical care focused on meeting the needs of a rapidly growing community,” says Dr. Mitesh Mehta “IR offers patients a less painful procedure with less blood loss, lower risk of infection, and faster recovery time. With this new technology, it will allow us to see more than 2,000 patients a year, up from 1,218 patients in the past.”

As part of the IR suite redevelopment, an ultraviolet light sterilization system was installed within the ductwork, in addition to the already stringent air filtration systems found in modern hospitals. Also a first in Ontario is the use of a UV Room Disinfector, mounted at ceiling level, using smart sensors to disinfect the room after every use. The disinfector in combination with effective cleaning protocols increases confidence that we are eliminating the spread of hospital acquired infections while conducting invasive procedures.

The centrepiece of the new IR Suite is the Allia™ IGS 7 image guided therapy system developed by GE Healthcare. With its laser-guided mobile robotic gantry, the Allia imaging system enables patients to be precisely positioned for minimally invasive techniques. The system is ergonomic and easy to use since it can be personalized for the physician’s clinical needs, even in the most complex working positions.

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“The backlog in non-urgent patient care, combined with today’s growing disease burden demands new solutions to help clinicians manage today’s evolving needs,” says Heather Chalmers, President & CEO, GE Canada. “Powered by GE Healthcare’s Edison™ intelligence platform, the Allia imaging system offers the first AI-driven imaging chain that may reduce radiation dose and contrast forinterventional procedures. Ultimately, this will enable the team at Oak Valley Health to increase patient access and surgical capacity for the York, Durham regions.”

“Implementation of an innovative IR suite with the Allia at its core can transform the delivery of minimally invasive procedures,” says Jim Rapp, Vice President and General Manager, Interventional Imaging, North America, GE Healthcare. “The combination of advanced imaging technology with precision robotics in the hands of Oak Valley Health’s interventional radiologists means more diagnostic capabilities and added patient comfort with robust software that is designed to simplify complex procedures to optimize outcomes for patients and providers.”

The expansion to the IR suite at Oak Valley Health was made possible thanks to the gratitude and generosity of the Miller family and the important work of the Markham Stouffville Hospital Foundation.

“This is fantastic news for the residents of Markham-Stouffville,” said Paul Calandra, MPP for Markham-Stouffville. “This investment towards a new facility and cutting-edge technology will allow Oak Valley Health to serve 60% more diagnostic imaging patients each year, reducing patient wait times, and alleviating the burden on our hard-working health care professionals.”

About GE Healthcare

As a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions innovator, GE Healthcare enables clinicians to make faster, more informed decisions through intelligent devices, data analytics, applications, and services, supported by its Edison intelligence platform. We are committed to fostering an inclusive culture of respect, transparency, and unyielding integrity.

About Oak Valley Health

Oak Valley Health is one of Ontario’s leading community health systems. Across our two hospitals, Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) and Uxbridge Hospital (UXB), as well as our Reactivation Care Centre (RCC), we provide high quality, patient-centred care to more than 474,000 patients each year. We offer diagnostic and emergency services and deliver clinical programs in acute care medicine and surgery, addictions and mental health, and childbirth and children’s services. We are proud to be part of the Eastern York Region North Durham Ontario Health Team (EYRND OHT). Our 489 physicians, 28 midwives, over 2,900 staff and over 1,000 volunteers serve patients and families with an honoured to care mindset and are focused on delivering an extraordinary patient experience to the residents of Markham, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Uxbridge, and beyond.

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CONTACT: Leslie Booth Xposure PR 416.427.1588 [email protected]
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Solar nanowire-nanotube filter can efficiently purify water

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Access to clean and safe drinking water is essential for life. However, water contamination due to environmental conditions and poor waste management in certain areas of the world represents a serious problem in accessing clean and safe drinking water. This problem is especially critical in electricity-poor regions, where advanced water purification methods are absent. The unsafe water supply is linked to the transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid.

Now, a team of scientists led by László Forró at EPFL has developed a new water purification filter that combines titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanowires and carbon nanotubes powered by nothing but sunlight to efficiently decontaminate water.

The TiO2 nanowires by themselves can efficiently purify water in the presence of sunlight. But interweaving the nanowires with carbon nanotubes forms a composite material that adds an extra layer of decontamination by pasteurizing the water, killing off human pathogens such as bacteria and large viruses.

The contaminated water enters via a tube at the top, passes through a multi-layered filter material sandwiched between two sheets of glass, and exits through a tube at the bottom. When ultraviolet light from the visible spectrum of sunlight hits the filter, it causes the composite to produce a group of molecules called Reactive Oxygen Species. These include hydrogen peroxide, hydroxide, and oxygen and are known to be effective pathogen killers.

The filter has already been successfully tested on water containing E. Coli, bacteria, the “gold standard” for bacterial survival studies. The results indicated that it should also have no problem eradicating other pathogens. The water filter is exceptionally adept at removing all the pathogens from water and shows promising results even for eliminating micropollutants, such as pesticides, drug residues, cosmetics, etc.

“In a close collaboration between chemists, physicists, and biologists, we have developed a very efficient water purification device, which does not need any energy source but sunlight,” says Forró. “Our prototype can supply clean drinking water even in remote places to small populations and could be easily scaled up. It is a great achievement, and an important “side-product” of this project is that it has attracted a large number of talented and motivated students who care for environmental issues, for sustainability.”

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A clean, green and convenient way to travel

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Holland Norway Lines has chartered Romantika to offer a new service between Eemshaven, Netherlands, and Kristiansand, Norway

Aircraft can get people where they want to go faster, but in the aftermath of a pandemic, air travel is not without its stresses – from muffling in a mask for the trip itself, to the bureaucracy and less than hygienic crushes in the queues for the various regulatory processes as they get on and off the plane.

However, in what he described as the “battle of the modes”, Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan said that ferries “ranked highly as a safe form of travel”, while his organisation’s recent surveys suggest that the public now have a “much more positive view” of this mode of transport.

It is perhaps not difficult to see the advantages of a less fraught and frenetic way of travelling, with passengers having access to more space, better onboard services, more opportunities for social distancing and access to fresh air on ferries. Consequently, there is clearly an opportunity for operators to capitalise on their advantages of ferry travel post pandemic, particularly with the growing pent-up demand for travel among a public largely confined for the past two years.

Ferries also offer the convenience factor, which might be seen in the emergence of new ferry routes that will help travellers to circumvent land borders which have become more onerous to pass since the pandemic and political changes in Europe. At the beginning of April 2022, for example, a new route will open up between Norway and the Netherlands as Holland Norway Lines begins its three weekly sailings between Eemshaven and Kristiansand.

The line’s cruise-ferry Romantika, chartered from Tallink, offers this convenience to the driver who otherwise would have been flogging down European Route 3 taking in Sweden, Denmark and Germany en route to Holland. Holland Norway Lines, which has big ambitions of evolving from a single ship start-up to an operator offering both passenger and freight space, also cites the rail connections at each end of the sea passage as an advantage. Certainly, freight will be crucial if it is to operate year-round services, but this avoidance of land borders and any sort of delay is a useful incentive.

This convenience factor has been the driver of several successful routes which have opened up between the Republic of Ireland and Europe post Brexit, allowing passengers to avoid any delays in the transit through UK. Direct sailings from the UK to North Spanish ports have also maintained their freight levels and forward bookings indicate strong passenger growth in the coming season.

There is also an increased willingness among ferry operators to look more constructively at new routes that have the potential to grow into something truly viable. Ports and local municipalities show greater interest in supporting new routes and are willing to assist with the business of promotion and the provision of shore facilities. New routes in the Baltic and North Sea are examples of a growing confidence in the ferry as a local growth multiplier.

In addition, the ferry sector has clearly identified a demand among its potential clientele for greater sustainability in their travel options, something which was reinforced by the COP26 climate change conference in November 2021. Pressure on ferry ports to provide electric power on the berth is increasing, from both the public, which is more conscious than ever of the need for clean air, and ship operators. It is no coincidence that the owners of many of the ferries that are now on order or coming into service loudly proclaim their green credentials to the public. Ferries like P&O’s new big double-enders for the Dover-Calais route between England and France will have batteries big enough to provide carbon-free operations when manoeuvring and berthed. The emergence of LNG or methanol as credible fuels for ferry operation, along with smaller hybrid ships are a positive sign that the sector is responding to public demand; and that matters.

This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2022 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.

Subscribe to Cruise & Ferry Review for FREE here to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox or your door.

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NMI in Covid-19 Community Level Low, health declaration forms no longer required for incoming domestic travelers | News

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

(CHCC) — The safety and health of the residents of the CNMI remain the top priorities of the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. With approximately 60% of those fully vaccinated having received a booster shot, declining Covid-19 cases, and the current Covid-19 Community Level, entry protocols will be updated.

With the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention metric, the CNMI is currently in Community Level Low.

A combination of three factors determines the Covid-19 Community Level:

1) New Covid-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days

2) The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by Covid-19 patients

3) Total new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days

The Covid-19 Community Level is determined by the higher of the new admissions and inpatient beds metrics, based on the current level of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days.

To date, cases are continuously detected via Community-Based Testing, CHCC testing, as well as at-home testing. As of April 4, 2022, a total of 11,158 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the CNMI, with 1 in 5 CNMI citizens estimated to have contracted the disease.

Recommendations for individual persons and households based on Covid-19 Community Level:

LOW (Current level as of April 6, 2022)

• Wear a mask based on your personal preference, informed by your personal level of risk b. If you are immunocompromised or have a high risk for severe disease

• Have a plan for rapid testing, if needed (e.g., having home tests or access to testing)

• Talk to your healthcare provider about whether you are a candidate for treatments like oral antivirals, PrEP, and monoclonal antibodies

• Stay up to date with Covid-19 vaccines and boosters

• Maintain improved ventilation throughout indoor spaces whenever possible

• Follow CDC recommendations for isolation and quarantine, including getting tested if you are exposed to Covid-19 or have symptoms of Covid-19.

Entry Procedure

Effective April 8, 2022, domestic travelers inbound via air or sea are not required to fill out the health declaration form.

All international travelers are required to fill out the health declaration form due to outbound testing requirements at least 72 hours prior to arrival at www.staysafecnmi.com

All travelers should continue to wear a well-fitted mask after arrival, if they must be around others, and if they develop symptoms, they should get tested at least 5 days after arrival.

All travelers wishing to avail of 5th-day testing must register at https://covidtesting.chcc.health

All travelers and residents are reminded to live Covid-19 safe: follow the 3 W’s (wear your mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance); avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces; cover coughs and sneezes; clean and disinfect high touch surfaces daily; be alert for symptoms daily; and get tested for Covid-19.

Community-Based Testing

The Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force and the CHCC will continue to ensure every individual in the CNMI has access to information about Covid-19, Covid-19 testing, and therapeutic treatments without barriers.

Individuals who are experiencing mild symptoms may get tested at designated testing sites, rather than in the CHCC Emergency Department. The CHCC Emergency Department is not a Covid-19 testing site. At-home test kits are available at local pharmacies or general stores. Free at-⁠home Covid-⁠19 test kits are available at www.covidtests.gov

Individuals can get tested at the Koblerville Covid-19 Community Center or KC3. The CBT schedule is available at https://covidtesting.chcc.health

The KC3 is open 7 days a week, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday and Sunday.

The Koblerville Covid-19 Community Center will operate during the following hours:

• Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 – 4 p.m.

• Saturday and Sunday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

For PCR test results, the CNMI Test Team may be reached at (670) 785-9968, 785-9969, 785- 9970, 785-9972, 785-9973, or 287-7571. For Travel Testing, call (670) 287-7571 or 785-9966.

Travel testing clearance will operate during the following hours at KC3:

• Monday – Friday: 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

• Saturday and Sunday: 8 a.m. – 12 p.m.

To obtain general information about the CNMI Covid-19 response, call the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force Infoline at (670) 488-0211, available every day, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., or visit www.staysafecnmi.com

Call CHCC contact tracers to get assessed for monoclonal antibody treatments if you test positive for Covid-19 at (670) 286-1710, 286-1711, 285- 1942, 287-1652, and 287-1683.

For mental health support and coping skills, call (670) 284-0843 or 284-0847, every day, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The CNMI is reminded to watch out for misinformation and to follow updates directly from the Governor’s Covid-19 Task Force and CHCC.

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Originally Appeared Here

NegOcc officials pledge a Water Secure Future

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN

Negros Occidental officials and stakeholders yesterday pledged to act for a Water Secure Future during the 2nd Provincial Water Summit, which was hosted by the provincial government in tandem with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.

They pledged to protect, conserve and manage the use of water resources sustainably to preserve the resource for future generations, as well as to provide adequate safe water supply and sanitation services to Negrenses.

Third District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, who was among the signatories, lauded the provincial government led by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson for the launching of the Provincial Integrated Water Security Plan.

Benitez stressed the importance of commitment of the provincial government to coordinate across local government unit lands, in order to properly manage water supply, access and use of water, all the way from its extraction, its replenishment in watershed areas and the ground water, all the way to the sanitation component.

He noted that access to water has been taken for granted for so long.

Soon, we might be heading toward a water stress scarcity situation because of the continuing deforestation of mountains and forest, particularly around the river tributaries, Benitez said.

Asked on the timeline of water stress in the province, Benitez said it will depend on the water extraction. He, however said consumption will increase as the population also rises, as greater and greater economic development occurs.

Gov. Lacson thanked the stakeholders for their commitment to the water summit, he stressed that a “water crisis is also a health crisis.”

Lacson reported that the availability of ground water is at eight percent.

Data presented during the water summit indicates that 3 of 10 Negrenses cannot access safe and clean drinking water.

Pollution, water-borne diseases, destruction of water sheds worsens the water situation in the province.

Deforested watershed areas were also reported in Bacolod City, Valladolid, San Enrique and Pulupandan, while the deforestation of water shed areas is also being expected in the next several years, if no action will be taken,in Escalante City, Ilog, Sagay, Cauayan, Isabela, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, Kabankalan City, Moises Padilla and Manapla.*

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How Musical ‘Earworms’ Can Improve Your Memory

April 8, 2022 by Staff Reporter

If you haven’t yet seen Disney’s latest film Encanto, I can’t recommend it enough. For viewers of literally any age, the story is fascinating, the animation beautiful and the messages about cross-generational love, survival and honesty—inspired.

And then there’s the music.

“Surface Pressure,” a song about the physical (and emotional) weight one character carries for her family, and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” about an estranged character whose prophecies are feared and misunderstood by the family, both broke the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in January. “Bruno” is the first number one Disney hit since the smash “Let It Go” from the 2013 movie Frozen.

The songs, by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, are the kind that one might wake up humming or suddenly be grooving to while doing the dishes. In other words, they’re grade-A “earworms.”

Rather than lamenting the way these and other songs get “stuck” in our heads, researchers are exploring some benefits of mentally repeating songs we love. A team from the University of California, Davis, recently published findings that showed a strong connection between familiar music and the ability to recall detailed memories from the past.

The experiment involved playing a familiar song while showing study participants a movie clip they had never seen before. Participants who replayed the music in their heads had a far better recall of the unfamiliar clip a week later, as compared to people who heard the music but didn’t get it “stuck” in their heads.

“Spontaneous, internally cued memory reactivation,” the authors wrote—that feeling when a song pops into your head for seemingly no reason and reminds you of something you saw, felt or experienced in the past—“is a naturally occurring memory process that improves retention of real-world event knowledge.”

In other words, earworms might be a key to helping people retain and access their memories. Future research will explore how this memory mechanism might open up new treatments for dementia and other cognitive issues.

Whether you watch a musical film like Encanto or press “play” on another familiar song today, take a moment to thank your brain for the reminder of how rich the soundtrack of your life truly is.

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HEPA Air Purifiers | ACHR News

April 7, 2022 by Staff Reporter

HEPA Air Purifiers | ACHR News

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D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tests positive for coronavirus

April 7, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Coronavirus cases are ticking up across the region after a relative decline as the latest highly transmissible coronavirus variant sweeps the country and unmasked people resume gathering, emboldened by relaxed restrictions.

Public health experts and elected officials are hoping a seasonal change to outdoor events, built-up immunity and widespread vaccine and testing access will blunt the spread of omicron’s BA.2 subvariant, which so far has not driven spikes in severe sickness seen in previous surges.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Thursday that she is part of a modest increase in new cases and is experiencing mild symptoms. Experts say widespread testing access has helped tamp down the spread and, in combination with vaccinations and booster shots, enabled many people to live with the virus while regaining some sense of normalcy.

“We’re seeing a small increase in the number of weekly cases,” D.C. Health Director LaQuandra Nesbitt told reporters in a virtual briefing Thursday. “But again those cases do not suggest we are experiencing more severe illness for the broader population that’s being diagnosed right now or that we’re having more hospitalizations.”

Public health departments are beginning to monitor wastewater for signs of the coronavirus as an early warning system for future surges and looking for ways to address chronic illnesses that are risk factors for severe infections, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity, as well as asthma.

Friends – Yesterday, I tested positive for COVID. After experiencing allergy symptoms this week, I took an at-home test yesterday and a PCR test confirmed the positive result.

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) April 7, 2022

In D.C., infections are up 57 percent in the past week, compared with the previous week, with 144 new cases, but deaths are down to zero, according to The Washington Post tracker. In comparison, the seven-day average of new cases was more than 2,000 in early January, when there was a surge of cases tied to the omicron variant.

Maryland experienced a bump of nearly 400 new infections or an increase of 26 percent in the past seven days compared with the previous week, with only three deaths, a decrease of 40 percent, The Post reports.

Virginia reported a 17 percent increase in cases, which amounts to 808 new cases, and 19 new deaths, a 27 percent increase, data shows.

Bowser joins a list of high-profile leaders to announce positives in recent days, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and several other members of Congress, some of whom may have been directly or indirectly exposed via the Gridiron Club dinner, a gathering of hundreds of people, many without masks.

After Gridiron Dinner, a covid outbreak among Washington A-list guests

Public health experts underscored the importance of mask-wearing and other mitigation measures for staying safe and preventing transmission, which is likely to increase as people resume traveling and gathering amid a relative drop in cases.

Federal, state and local officials faced increased pressure as omicron cases began declining to make choices restoring the country to relative normalcy, lifting mandates and revisiting guidance that for years had thrust them into a thorny debate over personal freedom.

The D.C. area saw traffic disruptions for weeks last month with a convoy of truckers and others protesting vaccine mandates and airing right-wing grievances. Many criticized stringent mitigations measures previously in place across the District as they sought to draw attention to their demands.

The uncomfortable leader of an angry crowd: Brian Brase and the ‘People’s Convoy’

District officials have no plans to reinstate the indoor mask policy, which was lifted about five weeks ago, or a lapsed requirement that patrons show proof of vaccination to enter establishments. Yet Nesbitt emphasized that businesses and institutions can ask that patrons wear masks indoors, and many have continued to do so in the weeks since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instituted a new system for determining when masks are appropriate.

According to the CDC, community spread remains low in the District, all of Maryland and most of Virginia, except for the far southwestern part of the state and a handful of rural and suburban counties where community spread is considered medium.

According to the CDC, 73 percent of Virginia residents are fully vaccinated, meaning they have received both doses in the two doses of an mRNA vaccine or the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. In D.C., 73 percent of residents are fully vaccinated. Maryland leads the pack regionally with 75 percent of residents fully vaccinated.

Brooke Rossheim, a public health physician specialist in the Office of Epidemiology at the Virginia Department of Health, said while the two-dose series offers good immunity, a booster, which is recommended by state and federal public health experts, offers better protection, while people 50 and older may consider a second booster.

Bowser, 49, is fully vaccinated and boosted. In several tweets, she shared that she tested positive using a home test Wednesday, which she confirmed through a PCR test.

“Prayerfully, my household will remain negative,” Bowser tweeted. “I continue to experience mild cold-like/allergy symptoms. I’m grateful that I can work at home while following isolation protocols.”

Nesbitt said the city reported a 37 percent increase in testing over the past week, which coincides with seasonal allergies, which share some of the symptoms associated with covid-19.

Additionally, the BA.2 variant makes up an increasing number of new infections. About 61 percent of virus circulating in the District is the subvariant of omicron. CDC modeling show BA.2 makes up about 72 percent of new infections in the United States and about 68 percent of the region that includes D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Preliminary studies show the subvariant is likely more transmissible than the base omicron strain, but does not cause more severe illness.

The lull gives local health departments like the one in Alexandria an opportunity to reflect on the past two years and focus on addressing inequities that meant the coronavirus has had a disproportionate impact on Black and Latino communities.

Natalie Talis, population health manager at the Alexandria Health Department, said community health workers who focused on nothing but the coronavirus for two years have been redeployed to treat people holistically.

They aim to help treat diabetes, heart disease, obesity and even poor indoor air quality — all risk factors for severe covid-19 — as well as the emotional and social barriers in accessing health care, Talis said.

“People are kind of over covid, but none of those other health concerns went away,” she said. “It’s really great to get back to some of that core public health work like assessing health inequities.”

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Reliabank Business Beat: Clean Air Sioux Falls

April 7, 2022 by Staff Reporter

By now, most of us have already grown weary of sanitizing our home against COVID-19 and other viruses. We’ve washed, wiped and worried about whether we have done enough to keep ourselves and our families safe from falling ill. What if we told you that there is a much simpler way to sanitize your home, or your office for that matter, that doesn’t involve harsh chemicals, mops and rags, or a lot of time on your part. As part of our Reliabank Business Beat, we sat down with Jon Sanders. He is the owner of a new business in Sioux Falls called Clean Air Sioux Falls and when you hear what they can do to keep your family, friends or employees stay safe, you’re going to be breathing a little easier.

Clean Air Sioux Falls provides their customers with peace of mind by sanitizing and disinfecting their businesses and homes. Why not contact them online to receive a free estimate? The website is cleanairsf.com. You can also reach them by phone at 605-956-7568.

Business Beat is brought to you by Reliabank. With 10 locations across South Dakota, Reliabank prides itself on being a partner in every community they serve. In Sioux Falls, you’ll find them at 608 West 86th Street. Want to know more about banking with Reliabank? Give them a call in Sioux Falls at 605-306-2000. You can also find the Reliabank nearest you by checking out their website at reliabank.com.

Jon Sanders and Brittany Kaye behind the scenes at Reliabank

Learn more about local businesses by watching more Reliabank Business Beats:

Reliabank Business Beat with Omorfia Designs Inc.

Reliabank Business Beat with Silverstar Car Wash

Reliabank Business Beat with Look’s Marketplace

Reliabank Business Beat: Home Equity Loans

Reliabank Business Beat: Pet Wants Sioux Falls

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UCSF Grand Rounds: Covid Data needs, investing in the future and what about that second booster

April 7, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of UCSF’s department of medicine, held Grand Rounds today with Dr. Caitlin Rivers, the founding associate director at the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, co-director of the Health Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. As you might have guessed, data, planning and health policy were front and center.

Leveraging data — if we can access it

Throughout the pandemic, we have become familiar with data models predicting how the virus would sweep across the nation, when surges would take place and more. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opened its own center to “use data and analytics and modeling to support outbreak response,” said Dr. Caitlin Rivers, the founding associate director at the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics.

When asked by Wachter why such a center hadn’t existed before, Rivers said that though the CDC has always used data and analytics to perform outbreak response, “when there’s a public health crisis, it’s really been the responsibility of academics to provide that surge capacity.” However, in recent years, she said, it has become apparent that the CDC needs to institutionalize that function.”

The lack of data and analytics from the United States in the pandemic was “glaring early on,” said Emanuel.. One of the biggest issues he sees is access to data, because the CDC can’t compel jurisdictions to report their data — a predicament Rivers called “a pinch point, especially in an emergency” and an opportunity for growth.

The center’s $200 million in initial funding was “good, but not sufficient” in Emanuel’s eyes. “This is a several billion dollar a year effort, I think, if we’re going to get enough data and do the right surveillance,” he said.

Rivers acknowledged a need to grow the U.S. public health data infrastructure, but also called the $1 billion for the Data Modernization Initiative “a great start.”

In response to Wachter’s inquiry about the tension between prevention funding and the fact that the last global pandemic was 100 years ago, Rivers said that the United States needs to make investments in prevention because threats will arise.

“If you look at what happened in the twenty-first century, it’s been SARS, Zika, the anthrax attacks, Ebola, covid — it’s about every two years that we have these major health threats that actually threaten our national security,” she said. “We need to start looking at it not as something that comes around once every hundred years, but the way that we talk about hurricanes or the military.”

Emanuel found Wachter’s question amusing given that it came from someone sitting on an earthquake fault line. “Look, it’s going to happen sometime,” he said. Knowing the tendency to underinvest in prevention should encourage us to look to places like South Korea and Taiwan, which responded to the SARS epidemic by hiring more epidemiologists and improving their ability to collect data instead of rushing to put it in the back mirror.

“We are a big country,” he said. “We have a lot of resources.” He also noted that the $1 billion in data funding only equates to $3 per American. He recommended investing closer to $30 or $50 per person.

Monitoring the current state of the pandemic has also gotten more difficult as home testing affects reported case counts. Today, the primary metric of measuring the status of the pandemic is hospitalization and deaths because they are “what we have,” Rivers said. Even reporting those numbers will become voluntary as soon as the nation’s covid declaration of emergency is ended.

“That’s an under-explored element of how our ability to track the pandemic is shifting,” she said. Both Rivers and Emanuel said that wastewater monitoring will likely play an important role in future pandemic surveillance, though it too will require more investment.

Future variants and political divides

Both panelists see a potential new wave of cases in the future, especially given the recent rise in cases in the United Kingdom from an Omicron subvariant.

“Personally, I don’t foresee a large wave, which I take a little bit of comfort in,” she said. “But with this virus, it seems like you never know because things are always changing.”

The saving grace is that as the weather warms up, more people will be spending time outside which could “squash” the surge, Emanuel said. He predicted the likelihood of a new surge and variant this fall is between 25 and 50 percent, but fears people will be unwilling to adjust their behavior even if there is a new surge.

Emanuel felt the Biden administration “did fantastically well” in its first six months, but he remains concerned about the widening political divide that revealed itself during covid.

“This was a serious, serious threat, and yet it just divided us further,” he said. “That, I think, is a very, very ominous commentary on where we’re at.”

While there is some debate in Congress over how state and local jurisdictions spent covid funds, he said we still need to spend more money — he estimates $100 billion over the next few years — at the federal level to beef up surveillance, test different kinds of vaccines and therapeutics, and improve indoor air quality.

Boosters and therapeutics

Wachter also inquired about the necessity of a fourth shot, referencing an Israeli study that showed the benefits of a second booster against symptomatic infection “waned to zero” after two months. While Rivers said she recommended getting a fourth shot to the older people in her life, Emanuel expressed concern and said we don’t understand the long-term risks of immune exhaustion and long term protection.

“We have the world’s best immunologists right here in the United States, but it does seem like we haven’t prioritized understanding this in a deep way,” he said, noting that companies providing the booster can’t be relied upon because they have financial incentive to encourage boosters every six months. He also expressed the need to study long covid and its effects given how serious the issue appears to be.

“We need to think of research preparedness as part of our pandemic preparedness,” Rivers added.

Similarly, Emanuel pushed for more research into antivirals, as we currently only have two — one of which has lots of restrictions, such as not being viable for pregnant women. While he is enthusiastic about the antiviral Paxlovid, he is worried about breeding resistance in the future.

“We need to get a multi drug regimen that can be taken relatively quickly with a positive [test] and have a big effect,” he said. Such a regimen would “make a very big difference” for those who are immunocompromised, those who haven’t responded to the vaccine and those who experience breakthrough infections, to name a few.

Rivers expressed concern about equitable access to therapeutics, noting that “therapeutics are one of the tools in our toolbox, but they don’t replace the pandemic strategy.”

See our previous Grand Rounds coverage here.

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Originally Appeared Here