Emmi Explains: What is herd immunity?
Experts say that herd immunity is the key to ending the coronavirus pandemic. But what exactly is herd immunity and how do we get there? Yahoo News Producer Emmi Vélez explains.
President Biden’s chief medical adviser also said he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon issue updated guidelines on wearing masks outside.
PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czech President Milos Zeman said on Sunday the idea that Russian spies caused a 2014 ammunition dump explosion in the central European country was just one of two theories and the possibility it was an accident should not be ruled out. Zeman's statement came just over a week after the government sparked a row with Moscow by saying it suspected that two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were also behind the Czech 2014 explosion that killed two people. Moscow has denied any role in either event.
We're calling this award-inspired fashion trend *manifesting.*
This is part of a Yahoo News series honoring some of the American lives lost to COVID-19. Their stories are told by family and friends, who were left to deal with their often sudden and painful deaths. Alicia Arias, 79, of Buena Park, Calif., died on Jan. 13, 2021, after becoming ill with COVID-19. She is among the more than 569,000 Americans who have succumbed to the disease since the first known fatality in the United States in early 2020. Her daughter, Yolanda Arias, told Yahoo News that people gravitated to her mother because she was loving and accepting of others. “She loved just making everybody happy. Making everybody happy made her happy,” Arias said.
Humanity is in deep trouble if it is seriously considering building machines that scrub carbon dioxide from the air, when with less effort we could just save trees.
Kendall spoke out after her mom sparked pregnancy rumors last night.
Job Creators Network Foundation President Elaine Parker explains why her company is calling out MLB with a Times Square billboard
Over a year into the pandemic, you likely already know that recovering from a case of COVID typically confers some level of protection in the months following. Yet, as a team of French researchers from the Institut Pasteur and the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI) at University Paris-Est Créteil have pointed out, the exact nature of this protection has, until now, been "poorly characterized." They say that data has been especially lacking surrounding asymptomatic COVID cases, which they estimate may account for nearly half of all infections. Because of this, many patients who had mild COVID cases are in the dark as to whether they're protected after recovery.That's why the team set out to shed light on the level of protection following infections without symptoms, sharing their findings in the journal Cell Reports Medicine last week. They confirmed that asymptomatic infections leave behind an important type of antibody—a finding that could change how we understand immunity in asymptomatic cases. Read on to find out what they discovered, and for more on protection against COVID, This One Vaccine May Protect You Against All Variants, New Study Says. COVID infections leave behind "polyfunctional antibodies." According to the researchers, COVID infections leave "polyfunctional antibodies" in the body after recovery. They're called "polyfunctional" because they prevent reinfection using more than one method, explains Timothée Bruel, a co-author of the study and a scientist in the Institut Pasteur's Virus&Immunity Unit and at the VRI."This study demonstrated that individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 have antibodies that are capable of attacking the virus in different ways," Bruel shared in a statement. He explained that these antibodies render viral particles no longer infectious in two ways. First, they prevent the virus from entering healthy cells (a process known as "neutralization"). Second, they activate cells known as "Natural Killer" or "NK" cells, which kill infected cells. And for more up-to-date COVID news delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. These antibodies are present in both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Until recently, there was little data on whether or not asymptomatic COVID infections could produce strong neutralizing antibodies. However, the French study found that polyfunctional antibodies both blocked cell entry and also killed infected cells, even in asymptomatic cases. The team concluded that both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID cases "induce antibodies capable of killing infected cells regardless of the severity of the disease." And for more essential COVID news, You're More Likely to Get COVID After Vaccination If You're Over This Age. Asymptomatic patients get nearly the same level of protection. The team also compared the strength of protection following asymptomatic and symptomatic cases. They discovered that the polyfunctional antibody levels were only "slightly lower" in asymptomatic cases."The study reveals new mechanisms of action of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and suggests that the protection induced by an asymptomatic infection is very close to that observed after a symptomatic infection," explained Olivier Schwartz, a co-author of the study and scientist at the VRI, in a statement. You'll get even stronger protection against COVID from the vaccine. While the study's findings are undoubtedly good news for anyone who's had an asymptomatic case of COVID, experts still say you should plan on getting vaccinated for long-lasting protection against the virus.According to White House COVID Advisor Anthony Fauci, MD, becoming vaccinated after recovering from a natural infection will greatly increase the "durability" of protection. He emphasized that following a full regimen of either Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines can increase the level of neutralizing antibodies by tenfold upon the second dose. And for more on the vaccine, This Is the Only Way to Tell If Your COVID Vaccine Worked, Doctors Say.
Myanmar's medical workers are finding themselves torn between their patients and a military government.
Rounds of heavy rainfall plagued the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe during the end of December and into January, bringing to light a growing environmental problem in countries hopeful to one day join the European Union. As is typical after storms from the Mediterranean Sea sweep across Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the rivers swelled with rainwater which pulls in waste from illegal and overfilled landfills located near the banks. Along the Drina River in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a floating barrier was built to keep the waste from floating farther down the river and slowing down the hydropower plants. According to Euronews, a second barrier was built to collect any trash that makes it past the first. Trucks and machines are stationed at power plants along the Drina River and across the region during heavy rain events to remove the trash that breaks past these floating barriers and collects at the hydropower dams. This was the case after the bouts of heavy rainfall during late December and January. A thick layer of trash accumulated on the Potpeć Lake in Serbia, with plastics, rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and reportedly a coffin littering the water, The Associated Press (AP) said. Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, received 8.26 inches (219 mm) of rain in December and 6.60 inches (168 mm) of rain in January. Normal rainfall amounts are 2.69 inches (68 mm) in December and 1.62 inches (41 mm) in January. In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, rainfall in December reached 1.61 inches (41 mm) and 4.27 inches (108 mm) in January. Normal rainfall amounts for each month are 1.82 inches (46 mm) and 1.72 inches (44 mm), respectively. Even when it isn't raining, piles of burning trash can be seen from the roads and plastic bags cling to tree branches. The buildup of this waste issue has been decades in the making with officials blaming it on neglect and a lack of efficient waste-management policies in Serbia and Bosnia, according to the AP. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP Many of the countries in the Balkan Peninsula are still recovering from a series and wars and crises that destabilized the region in the 1990s. As the countries try to build economies that lag far behind the rest of Europe, environmental issues are not considered the top priority. The burning of this excess trash also adds to the hazardous levels of air pollution many cities in the Balkans face. Environmentalists in the region warn that many landfills are leaking toxic materials into rivers due to poor management, which threatens ecosystems, wildlife and the health of the surrounding communities. The Drina River and one of its tributaries, the Lim River, are two major rivers in the Balkans, and trash flows were reported in each during the start of the year. During the summer months, adventures and rafters flock to these emerald-colored rivers to enjoy the winding waterways and seemingly pristine nature. Edita Slatina said she used to visit the Lim River with her parents on the weekend as a child, now she says it pains her to take her son there. "We need a solution as soon as possible," she told Euronews, adding that she would like for him to be able to go the Lim River to swim and catch fish with his grandfather. "I would like this place to be memorable for my son also." Jugoslav Jovanovic, from Serbia's state-run Srbijavode company that is in charge of the country's water system, stated that focusing on clearing the trash from the dams year after year, which only ends up back in the landfills, is not a real solution. "We must find common ground and solve this by joining forces," he stated in an interview with the AP. Authorities from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, have held meetings to discuss the ongoing issue, but as of early 2021, little progress has been made. Finding a way to efficiently manage the waste in Serbia and Bosnia is just one hurdle the countries face in an effort to join the European Union. The first step for a country to join the European Union is to meet the key criteria for accession, which includes stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and a functioning market economy that can cope with competition and market forces in the European Union. Additional conditions, mainly relating to regional cooperation and good neighborly relations, were added for the countries in the Western Balkans. According to Emerging Europe, accession negotiations are underway for Serbia and Montenegro, and Albania and North Macedonia were recognized as official candidates in 2020. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered a "potential candidate," with many changes required based on the complicated structure of the country's government. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier, Spectrum, FuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios.
Proponents of a wealth tax point to billionaires like Elon Musk, but in reality people who may be wealthy only because they live in Los Angeles could pay more.
Now that the coronavirus vaccine is available to all adult Americans, the Biden administration is working to make sure that everyone who wants a shot has access to it. But obstacles still remain for members of the disabled community and for those who are homebound. CBS News reporter Alex Tin joins CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss what's being done to reach these communities.
Leon Karaloucas, 34, left another motorist seriously injured when he crashed his white SEAT Leon Cupra after overtaking another car on a blind bend in Sussex.
An open letter signed by 22 experts urges MPs to allow people “to take back control of their own lives”.
Meghan's due date is this summer!
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, called the attack on Mr Ma ‘outrageous’
Demings is a former chief of the Orlando Police Department.
Israel's Health Ministry said on Sunday it is examining a small number of cases of heart inflammation in people who had received Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, though it has not yet drawn any conclusions. Pfizer said it has not observed a higher rate of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population.
Germany’s Green party has seen a 10-fold increase in membership applications as it shapes up to be a serious rival to Angela Merkel's CDU in elections later this year. The increase, which comes a week after it was announced that Annalena Baerbock will lead the party at the federal election in September, represented the most membership applications the party has ever received in a single week. "The wave of new applicants in the last few days is an absolute record in party history," Greens Federal Managing Director Michael Kellner told the German Press Agency on Sunday. “Things are going well for us and that puts me in a good mood.” Second in the polls, the Greens are considered to have a significant chance of taking Germany’s top job for the first time when Merkel’s 16-year reign ends this Autumn. The party showed a unified front after 40-year-old Baerbock’s surprise announcement over favourite Robert Habeck. The pair were selected as co-leaders three years ago, representing a victory for the party’s pragmatic bloc over its radical flank. In the week after Baerbock’s announcement, the Greens received 2,159 membership applications – roughly 10 times the usual number. It now has 107,300 members. Meanwhile, the rival CDU has been plagued by infighting in recent months. Once unassailable under Merkel’s leadership, the party has only just emerged from a bruising leadership battle which has seen their standing in the polls fall by 10 points since January. They now command just 27 per cent of popular support, slightly ahead of the Greens on 23 per cent. If the poll were held today, Baerbock’s Greens would be able to bring together a coalition of centre-left and left-leaning parties to form a government. The CDU's new leader Armin Laschet will take them to the vote after he was selected by party leadership ahead of the more popular Markus Söder, who is the leader of the CDU's sister party in Bavaria. While Laschet has managed to coalesce the party’s powerful leadership in his favour, Söder is far more popular among party members and the general public, with 77 per cent of CDU supporters saying in a poll this week they felt the party had chosen the wrong candidate. Despite the membership surge, the CDU for now maintains a much larger membership than the Greens, at just over 400,000.