HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

December 5,  2020 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Already had the coronavirus? You could get it again. (National Geographic)
• Explainer-When and how will COVID-19 vaccines become available? (Reuters)
• ‘They’ve been following the science’: How the Covid-19 pandemic has been curtailed in Cherokee Nation  (Stat News)
• FDA Grants Emergency Authorization For A 2nd COVID-19 Antibody Treatment (NPR)
• OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal charges (Reuters)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Virus-killing robot zaps airport viruses as pandemic travel picks up (Washington Post)
• E-scooters are getting computer vision to curb pedestrian collisions (Washington Post)
• Biden, top Democrats lay groundwork for multibillion-dollar push to boost U.S. broadband (Washington Post)
• Apple’s head of global security indicted on bribery charges (Washington Post)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Already had the coronavirus? You could get it again. (National Geographic)

Reinfection reports are still rare but steadily growing around the world, and they’re likely underreported.

Explainer-When and how will COVID-19 vaccines become available? (Reuters)

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will manage distribution in the United States, likely starting in mid-December with an initial release of 6.4 million doses nationwide....U.S. public health officials said vaccines will be generally available to most Americans in pharmacies, clinics and doctors offices starting in April so that anyone who wants a shot can have one by the end of June.

‘They’ve been following the science’: How the Covid-19 pandemic has been curtailed in Cherokee Nation  (Stat News)

While the United States flounders in its response to the coronavirus, another nation — one within our own borders — is faring much better. With a mask mandate in place since spring, free drive-through testing, hospitals well-stocked with PPE, and a small army of public health officers fully supported by their chief, the Cherokee Nation has been able to curtail its Covid-19 case and death rates even as those numbers surge in surrounding Oklahoma, where the White House coronavirus task force says spread is unyielding.

FDA Grants Emergency Authorization For A 2nd COVID-19 Antibody Treatment (NPR)

One of the experimental drugs that President Trump received while he was battling the coronavirus has been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration. The drug, made by the biotech company Regeneron, is the second antibody treatment to win emergency use approval from the FDA. The treatment combines two antibodies — casirivimab and imdevimab — and administers them together by IV...In its authorization on Saturday, the FDA made clear that the drug is only for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in people 12 years and older who are at high risk of developing more severe symptoms.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pleads guilty to criminal charges (Reuters)



Purdue Pharma LP pleaded guilty to criminal charges over the handling of its addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin, capping a deal with federal prosecutors to resolve an investigation into the drugmaker's role in the U.S. opioid crisis.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Virus-killing robot zaps airport viruses as pandemic travel picks up (Washington Post)

LightStrike is a germ-zapping robot at San Antonio International Airport in Texas. Other airports are considering whether to invest in the $125,000 device.

E-scooters are getting computer vision to curb pedestrian collisions (Washington Post)

E-scooter accidents were a big problem for metro areas before the pandemic. One company sees computer vision as a partial solution.

Biden, top Democrats lay groundwork for multibillion-dollar push to boost U.S. broadband (Washington Post)

President-elect Joe Biden and top congressional Democrats are laying the groundwork to seek a massive increase in federal broadband spending next year, hoping they can secure billions of dollars in new government aid to improve internet access and affordability -- and help people stay online during the pandemic.

Apple’s head of global security indicted on bribery charges (Washington Post)

Thomas Moyer, Apple's global head of security, was indicted on bribery charges. According to the Santa Clara County district attorney's office in California, Moyer promised Apple would donate $70,000 worth of iPads to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office in exchange for concealed weapons permits.