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CDC Changes Rules for Counting Breakthrough Cases, as More Fully Vaccinated People Test Positive
As more reports surface of breakthrough COVID cases, in and outside the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said it will change how breakthrough cases are reported, effective May 14.
According to a statement on the CDC’s website, the agency said to help “maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance” it will stop reporting weekly COVID breakthrough infections unless they result in hospitalization or death.
The news followed another change, announced late last month, in how PCR tests should be administered to the fully vaccinated.
Both changes will result in lower overall numbers of reports of breakthrough cases in the U.S.
A breakthrough case is recorded if a person tests positive for SARS-Cov-2 two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shot or completing the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccination.
Why the changes matter
In April, the CDC issued new guidance to laboratories recommending reducing the RT-PCR CT value to 28 cycles — but only for those fully vaccinated individuals being tested for COVID.
In an RT-PCR test — the gold standard for detecting SARS-CoV-2 — RNA is extracted from the swab collected from the patient. It is then converted into DNA, which is then amplified.
CT, or cycle threshold, is a value that emerges during RT-PCR tests. A CT value refers to the number of cycles needed to amplify viral RNA to reach a detectable level.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a patient is considered positive for COVID if the CT value is below 35. In other words, if the virus is detectable after 35 cycles or earlier, then the patient is considered positive.
Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends a CT value of 35. Globally, the accepted cut-off for CT value for COVID ranges between 35 and 40, depending on instructions from manufacturers of testing equipment.
“If the benchmark were to be lowered to 24 it would mean that CT values in the range 25-34 would not be considered positive,” according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, as reported by The Indian Express. “A benchmark of 35, therefore, means that more patients would be considered positive than we would get if the benchmark were 24.”
In other words, lowering CT threshold parameter may lead to missing infectious persons.
CDC won’t report new breakthrough numbers this week
Because the change in how the CDC will report breakthrough cases is still being implemented and won’t take effect until May 14, the CDC did not report new numbers this week . . .
Woman In Mali Expecting Seven Babies Gives Birth To Nine
A Malian woman gave birth to nine babies after only expecting seven, the Ministry of Health of Mali announced Wednesday.
Halima Cisse, 25, gave birth to the babies Tuesday by cesarean section in a hospital in Casablanca, Morocco, according to the Associated Press. The nonuplets were born prematurely at 30 weeks, but all five girls, four boys and the mother are “doing well,” the health minister of Mali said in a statement.
Hundreds Of Children Were Shot In 2020 and Into 2021. Many Of Their Assailants Have Not Been Caught
Children have continued to be victims of shootings in 2021 after a record-breaking year for gun-violence deaths in 2020
Across the country, children as young as one year old were shot, sometimes fatally, while simply being children — playing outside with friends, or even playing inside their own homes.
Seven-year-old Reagan Grimes was shot Saturday during a spray of gunfire in Washington, D.C. while she was playing with a new friend, according to Fox 5. She is reportedly expected to make a full recovery. No arrests were yet reported.
Nearly 300 children were shot and killed in 2020, a 50% increase from 2019, and more than 5,100 children aged 17 and younger were killed or injured last year, Gun Violence archive data showed, according to the Washington Post.
In many of these cases, investigators were still searching for the person or people responsible for the shootings. While some suspects turned themselves in, or were eventually arrested in connection to the shooting of children, many remained at large. In Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported that only 18% of the shootings involving child victims resulted in an arrest. . .
Exclusive—Josh Hawley Keeps His Children off Social Media: ‘Their Business Model Is Addiction’
Appearing Friday on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily with host Alex Marlow, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), author of The Tyranny of Big Tech, explained how he and his wife do not allow their young children to utilize social media due to concern over what he described as the platforms’ addictive features.
Rutgers to enroll 200 kids to take part in Pfizer COVID vaccine trial
New Jersey’s Rutgers University will enroll as many as 200 children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years to take part in a COVID-19 vaccine trial for Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.
The college announced Thursday it has been selected as a clinical trial site for Pfizer-BioNTech’s global research study “to evaluate the efficacy” of the companies’ two-dose COVID-19 vaccine in children.
The Pediatric Clinical Research Center at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick is one of several clinical trial sites for the pediatric study and the only trial site in the Garden State.
Rutgers said it will enroll up to 100 children ages 5 to 12, 50 children ages 2 to 5 and 50 kids ages 6 months to 2 years in the trial.
In total, 4,644 children are slated to take part in the program worldwide, according to the university.
Trial participants will be randomly selected to receive two doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine or a placebo.
Six months after the second dose, participants will be “unblinded” and “the vaccine will be offered to those who received the placebo,” the school said.
Apparently, Only Americans Are To Be Stalked By U.S. Government ‘Leaders’ | “Biden Order Rescinds Trump Plan to Collect Facial Scans, DNA From Immigrants”
President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday rescinded a Trump-era plan to collect facial scans and DNA from immigrants when they apply to enter the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has “withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded department authorities and requirements for collecting biometrics by removing age restrictions; requiring submission of biometrics for every applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or other individual filing for or associated with any immigration or naturalization benefit or request unless DHS waives or exempts the biometrics requirement.”
Former President Donald Trump last year proposed the expansion of collecting facial scans, eye scans, and voice data for individuals seeking entry, which would then be used to verify people who had left the country. The rule would have also allowed the federal government to collect information from younger children, including DNA and scans.
DHS, meanwhile, said that its move to rescind the proposal is designed “to reduce barriers and undue burdens in the immigration system,” adding that “DHS will continue to require submission of biometrics where appropriate and remains committed to national security, identity management, fraud prevention, and program integrity.”
Krista Kafer: Will vaccine requirements set precedent we will regret?
Can a university, business, or school require staff and customers to receive a COVID-19 vaccination? Should they? The answer to both of these questions is not clear.
Let’s start with higher education. Normally, universities can require certain vaccinations. Under Colorado state law, students attending Colorado colleges and universities must be vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella unless they take a personal, medical or religious exemption. Vaccination against meningitis is also required for new students in student housing unless they sign a waiver.
Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Northern Colorado and Metropolitan State University just announced that they will require students, faculty, and staff to receive COVID-19 vaccinations before attending this fall joining the University of Denver, Fort Lewis College, and Colorado College, which made similar announcements earlier in the year. Individuals will have the option to request an exemption.
That seems simple enough. Not so fast. Since all three available COVID-19 vaccines are authorized by the Food and Drug Administration under “emergency use authorization” (EUA) people must be notified “of the option to accept or refuse administration of the product.” If people have the right under federal law to refuse a provisionally authorized vaccine, can an institution of higher education require it?
What about primary and secondary schools? The state currently requires entering students to have been vaccinated against several communicable diseases. As with higher education, medical, personal, and religious exemptions are available. Currently the Pfizer COVID vaccine is approved for people 16 years and older and will soon be available for children as young as 12. It’s only a matter of time before lawmakers consider K-12 mandates. But again, the vaccines’ EUA status complicates the legality of such a potential obligation.
What about other employers? According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, employers can mandate COVID vaccinations with medical and religious exemptions but “the employer must show that an unvaccinated employee would pose a direct threat due to a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the individual or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by reasonable accommodation.” Once again, how does the EUA status of the vaccines impact the requirement? It would seem that until full FDA approval, any such requirement would have to be a strongly worded recommendation. . .
In-person school should be ‘mandatory’ for CPS students in the fall, CPS CEO says (Chicago)
Mayor Lori Lightfoot also expressed confidence in the way the pandemic is headed — particularly with vaccines expected to be approved for some children soon.
Students should be required to attend full-time, in-person school in the fall as long as they don’t have medical conditions that make them vulnerable to COVID-19, outgoing Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson said this week.
Speaking at a virtual parent town hall alongside Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Jackson was asked what she expects next school year to look like and whether parents will have the option to keep their kids remote.
“Given where we are with vaccinations and guidance from the CDC, and our desire just to see our kids back in school knowing that this last year has taken a toll on some of our students academically, we want a return to full daily instruction in our schools,” Jackson said at the event Thursday. “We want to move away from the hybrid. And so that’s what we’re focused on and that’s what we’re marching towards.
WATCH: Michelle Obama Claims That Black Lives Matter is ‘Taking to the Streets Because They Have To’
Former first lady Michelle Obama told Gayle King on Friday’s episode of “CBS This Morning” that Black Lives Matter is “taking to the streets because they have to.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama told Gayle King on Friday’s episode of “CBS This Morning” that Black Lives Matter is “taking to the streets because they have to.”
Obama also claimed that she is afraid every time her daughters get into a vehicle.
Following the conviction of Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd, former President Barack and Michelle Obama said in a joint statement that “true justice is about much more than a single verdict in a single trial.”
During the interview on Friday, King asked Obama about the statement.
“The goal is to let leaders lead. But in certain times, people, you know, look to us often. ‘Well, what do you think? How do you feel?’ We know that while we’re all breathing a sigh of relief over the verdict, there’s still work to be done. And so we, we can’t sort of say, ‘Great. That happened. Let’s move on.’ I know that people in the Black community don’t feel that way because many of us still live in fear as we go to the grocery store, or walking our dogs, or allowing our children to get a license,” Obama said.
King responded by asking if Obama’s girls are driving.
“They’re driving, but every time they get in a car by themselves, I worry about what assumption is being made by somebody who doesn’t know everything about them,” Obama said. “The fact that they are good students and polite girls, but maybe they’re playing their music a little loud, maybe somebody sees the back in their head and makes an assumption. I, like so many parents of black kids, have to — the innocent act of getting a license puts fear in our hearts.”
She added, “So, I think we have to talk about it more, and we have to ask our fellow citizens to listen a bit more and to believe us and to know we don’t wanna be out there marching. I mean, all those Black Lives Matters kids, they’d rather not have to worry about this. They’re taking to the streets because they have to. They’re trying to have people understand that we’re real folks, and the fear that many have of so many of us is irrational, and it’s based on a history that is just — it’s sad, and it’s dark, and it’s time for us to move beyond that.”
The post WATCH: Michelle Obama Claims That Black Lives Matter is ‘Taking to the Streets Because They Have To’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
More than 2,100 migrant children abandoned relatives to cross border alone after Biden took office
More than 2,100 migrant children who were thrown out of the US with their families then abandoned their relatives to cross the border ALONE after Biden took office.
- The children were expelled with their families due to COVID rules
- More than 2,100 returned alone without their relatives
- Unaccompanied children, unlike adults, are not deported from the U.S.
- They are held in custody until relatives in the country can be located for care
- More than 400 migrant children continue to arrive at the border every day
- At the peak, in February, 16,000 unaccompanied migrants were being held