Personic Health Care Rapid Testing in Loudoun VA

01/17/2022

10/07/2021

Loudoun County employees required to get vaccinated or COVID-19 tested weekly

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. (WDVM) — The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is requiring county employees to now get vaccinated or COVID-19 tested weekly.

The board voted on the measure with an 8 to 1 vote on Wednesday during the board’s business meeting. Constitutional officers will have the option to subject their employees to the proposed policy, according to the motion.

The proposed policy will include medical and religious exemptions.

10/06/2021

Ha Noi, 14 September 2021 – Viet Nam received today 672,000 doses of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Government of France and 812,060 doses of Astra Zeneca COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Government of Italy, both through the COVAX Facility.

“With this donation, France is demonstrating its solidarity with Viet Nam through these difficult times: we stand together with the people of Viet Nam, as the country is facing a severe epidemic wave, by supporting vaccination efforts launched by the authorities” said Ambassador of France, Nicolas Warnery. "This support is in line with the longstanding and successful cooperation between France and Viet Nam in the medical field”.

Ambassador Nicolas Warnery added that "vaccination is the only way out of this crisis. That is why France is committed to share 60 million doses in 2021, in addition to its financial contributions to the COVAX program, in order to accelerate vaccination efforts worldwide. More broadly, France has been a major supporter to the ACT-A initiative which provides universal access to tests and treatments to fight COVID 19”.

“In the spirit of the strategic partnership and sincere friendship that links Italy and Viet Nam”, said Ambassador of Italy, Antonio Alessandro, “Italy stands close to the Vietnamese Government and people in the fight against Covid-19”.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic”, he added, “Italy has been among the first countries to support the importance of equal and universal access to vaccines, treatments and tests for COVID-19, based on a principle of international solidarity according to which no one will be safe until everyone is safe. For these reasons, Italy supported the creation of ACT-Accelerator and the Global COVAX Facility, of which is one of its largest financial donors. Furthermore, on the occasion of the Global Health Summit promoted by the Italian G20 Presidency, Italy committed to donate 15 million doses to low and middle income countries, starting from those most in need, including Vietnam”.

French and Italian contributions add to the (European Union and its Member States) support to help Viet Nam fight the pandemic: is the 2nd biggest donor to COVAX, with USD 2,8 billion. An EU budget support grant of EUR 19 million was transferred in 2020 to the State Treasury of Viet Nam to provide additional fiscal space to implement relief policies. Many other EU and bilateral programs, including from Italy and France, are dedicated to support Public Health and Medical Research & Innovation in Viet Nam.

10/05/2021

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, Loudoun’s Makersmiths organization made headlines by cranking out high-quality protective equipment for first responders. Now, with COVID restrictions lifted and enthusiasm for DIY surging, Makersmiths is experiencing a boom in interest and working to build membership in its collaborative workshops.

And the benefits go way beyond getting to use super cool tools most of us don’t have in our basements. It’s also about forging connections.

“Community is a big part of what we do,” said Scott Newman, the organization’s membership chairman and an incoming board member. “We’re going to continue on our mission to serve the community and to grow the technical arts.”

Makersmiths is an independent, membership-based nonprofit with locations in downtown Leesburg and Purcellville. The Leesburg location, located in a historic building on Royal Street, is chock full of hobbyist-level tools and high-tech equipment, including 3D printers, laser cutters and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) printers, along with wood and metal shops. The organization is turning the basement at the Leesburg location into a cosplay space in response to member demand, with sewing machines, a green screen, a ventilated painting area and possibly a vacuum-former to help cosplayers young and old create new looks.

09/22/2021

The U.S. will ease travel restrictions for international visitors who are vaccinated against Covid-19 in November, including those from the U.K. and EU, the White House said Monday.

Noncitizens visiting the United States will have to show proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test taken within three days of departure, said Jeff Zients, who is leading the nation’s Covid response efforts for the White House.

The changes will take effect in early November, which the airline industry expects will spur holiday bookings.

“They must show proof of vaccination prior to boarding a U.S.-bound airplane,” Zients said during a press briefing.

Airlines and other travel industry groups have clamored for the U.S. to lift the restrictions for months. The Trump administration had first issued the rules, which now apply to more than 30 countries, in March 2020. President Joe Biden upheld those rules in January, shortly after taking office.

The Biden administration is also tightening rules for unvaccinated U.S. citizens returning home. They will need to test one day before departure and test again after returning.

European and British officials have lifted entry bans for U.S. and other visitors since vaccines became widely available this spring, but the Biden administration hadn’t reciprocated.

09/20/2021

The Fairfax Health District has hit a key milestone in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign, even as concerns about the spreading Delta variant of the novel coronavirus keep the area on edge.

According to the Fairfax County Health Department’s vaccine data dashboard, 70% of district residents 18 and older are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they have received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Overall, 692,049 Fairfax Health District residents — 58.5% of the total population — are fully vaccinated. The district includes the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church as well as Fairfax County.

765,085 residents — 64.6% of the populace — have gotten at least one vaccine dose, including 76.8% of all adults.

Fairfax continues to see a higher vaccination rate than the state as a whole, which has fully vaccinated 65.7% of adults and 54.6% of its total population.

09/08/2021

To encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., posted a comparison between the cost of a hospital stay and the vaccine.

"The average hospital stay for a case of COVID-19 costs about $17,064. The vaccine is free," said Jayapal in her Aug. 30

It’s true that all three COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S. are free to recipients. We wanted to know if Jayapal was correct about the average cost for a hospital stay for COVID-19 patients.

Health policy and industry experts said the $17,064 figure sounds about right, based on available data. But they also noted that figuring out an "average" cost for a hospital stay is tricky due to varying factors among patients.

The cost of COVID-19 care can vary widely depending on someone’s age, location, length of stay at the hospital, the hospital where they receive care, severity of illness and comorbidities. Whether someone has no insurance, commercial health insurance, Medicaid or Medicare also plays a role.

"Pinning down an average is hard because for everyone who ended up on a ventilator for weeks, costing millions, there are also people who are in and out of (the) hospital in a day or two once they stabilize," said Niall Brennan, president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that compiles claims data and offers research on health care costs and utilization.

08/18/2021

COVID-19 Wales sees zero weekly deaths from coronavirus for first time since pandemic began

None of the 573 deaths registered in Wales in the week ending 18 June mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate.

Wales has reported a week with zero deaths from COVID-19 for the first time since the pandemic began, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.

08/16/2021

According to latest data from England, protection against symptomatic infection after two doses is 88% for Pfizer/BioNTech and 67% for AstraZeneca/Oxford. Despite an apparent drop in protecting against infections, vaccine effectiveness against severe COVID-19 remains very high (around 90%).

A cohort study in the US with 3975 health care and frontline workers detected SARS-CoV-2 infection in 204 participants (5%), of whom 5 were fully vaccinated, 11 partially vaccinated, and 156 were unvaccinated. Viral loads were 40% lower in vaccinated as compared to unvaccinated participants. In addition, the risk of febrile symptoms was 58% lower and the duration of illness was shorter.

A cluster of infections by the Gamma (P.1) variant among mine workers in French Guiana shows that half of the affected persons had been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. However, all breakthrough infections were asymptomatic or mild.

Vaccination prevented around 75% of hospitalizations in England's Delta wave, as determined by modelling by the FT. Without vaccines, hospitalizations would already be above the winter peak.

08/15/2021

New infections drop below 15,000 for first time since March 2020; vaccinated Americans get more travel freedom

The seven-day average of new, daily coronavirus cases dropped to 13,277, the first time it has fallen below 15,000 since the first weeks of the pandemic in March of 2020, top U.S. health officials said Tuesday.

The daily average has dropped to one-third the average number of cases seen just three weeks ago. Five months ago the U.S. was seeing 15,000 cases every 90 minutes.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said barely more than 10,000 new cases were reported Monday. She noted that deaths and hospitalizations related to COVID-19 also have continued their precipitous decline.

Walensky credited the 300 million-plus vaccination shots already administered across the nation for the encouraging numbers.

"It gives me so much hope," she said. "Each week there are more and more data to demonstrate the impact vaccination has on preventing this disease and moving us out of this pandemic."

08/14/2021

Nothing goes as expected. That’s been the theme for many of the high school graduates who belong to the Class of 2020.

Now college freshmen, they have arrived on campuses where dorm life is constricted, meals are taken out of the dining hall, and many classes are held via Zoom or with a mix of in-person and remote sessions.

But for 18-year-old Anna Kasun, a graduate of Tuscarora High School in Leesburg, Virginia, college life is conducted from home.

Kasun, a freshman at Columbia University in New York City, found out weeks before planning her move that classes would be held remotely. It was a disappointment, and not just for her. She said her mother felt badly, but they both came around to see “this time is really a gift.”

08/12/2021

Unvaccinated hospitalized patients say they regret not getting the shot

A year and a half into the pandemic, low vaccination rates and the rise of the delta variant threaten to cripple some hospital systems.

To describe Dr. Ryan Dare as frustrated would be a gross understatement.

Dare and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock are dealing with a surge in extremely ill Covid-19 patients — one that is "nearly 100 percent preventable."

That's because virtually all of their patients are unvaccinated. And now they wish they had gotten the shots when they had the chance.

"It is heart-wrenching to see unvaccinated individuals come into the hospital with regret," said Dare, an infectious diseases physician. They are patients who, "if they could do it all over again, would have had the vaccine in a second."

Arkansas has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with less than 35 percent of adults having been fully vaccinated. Now, the state's low vaccine uptake has crashed headlong into the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus, leaving some hospital systems once again teetering on the brink of collapse more than a year into the pandemic.