The updated boosters are cutting the risk that a person will get sick from Covid-19 by about half, even against infections caused by the rapidly spreading XBB.1.5 subvariant.
The studies, conducted by researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are one of the first looks at how the bivalent boosters have continued to work in the real world as the virus has evolved. The data shows that the boosters are continuing to offer substantial protection against currently circulating variants.
The near real-time data was collected by Increased Community Access To Testing program, which administers Covid-19 tests through pharmacies. It includes results for adults receiving tests at participating pharmacies from December 1, 2022 to January 13, 2023.
Out of nearly 30,000 test results included in the analysis, more than 13,000 (47%), were positive for Covid-19.
More people who tested negative had gotten an updated, bivalent booster compared with those who tested positive.
The study results show that the updated boosters are most effective for younger adults.
For adults between the ages of 18 and 49, the boosters cut the odds of getting a symptomatic infection caused by the BA.5 subvariant by 52%, and it cut the odds of getting an infection caused by XBB or XBB.1.5 by 49%. For adults ages 50 to 64, the new boosters cut the odds of getting sick with Covid-19 by 43% for BA.5 and 40% for XBB subvariants. For those age 65 and older, the boosters cut the odds of an infection with symptoms by 37% and 43% for BA.5 and XBB subvariants, respectively.
The study authors saw little evidence of waning effectiveness two to three months after people got their shots.
The study authors said that these are just estimates of how well the vaccines are protecting people against an infection that brings on symptoms like cough or fever. They are probably working even better against more severe outcomes like hospitalization and death.
“What we know from past experience is generally that the vaccines protect better against more severe disease. So these are estimates for symptomatic infection and we would expect that similar estimates for hospitalization and death would be higher,” lead study author Ruth Link-Gelles, a senior epidemiologist at the CDC, said in a news briefing on Wednesday.
Link-Gelles cautioned that these vaccine effectiveness numbers are averages. Because everyone is unique in terms of their underlying health, their past exposure to the virus, and other factors, these estimates of vaccine effectiveness may not apply on an individual level. She said it’s important to think of them on population level.
To hasten the study results to the public, the researchers used a shortcut to estimate which Covid-19 infections were caused by the BA.5 subvariant and which were caused by the newer XBB recombinant subvariant and its XBB.1.5 sublineage.
Test results use a series of probes, or markers, to identify a positive case. Some variants of the virus that causes Covid-19 have mutations in their spike protein that causes one of the test markers to fail. This is called an S-gene target failure.
In the study, test results that showed an S-gene target failure were considered to be an infection caused by a BA.5 subvariant. Those that were S-gene target positive, were considered to be caused by the XBB or XBB.1.5 sublineage.
Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.
Beijing CNN
—
China is bracing for an unprecedented wave of Covid-19 cases as it dismantles large parts of its repressive zero-Covid policy, with a leading expert warning Omicron variants were “spreading rapidly” and signs of an outbreak rattling the country’s capital.
Changes continued Monday as authorities announced a deactivation of the “mobile itinerary card” health tracking function planned for the following day.
The system, which is separate from the health code scanning system still required in a reduced number of places in China, had used people’s cell phone data to track their travel history in the past 14 days in an attempt to identify those who have been to a city with zone designated “high-risk” by authorities.
It had been a point of contention for many Chinese people, including due to concerns around data collection and its use by local governments to ban entry to those who have visited a city with a “high-risk zone,” even if they did not go to those areas within that city.
But as the scrapping of parts of the zero-Covid infrastructure come apace, there are questions about how the country’s health system will handle a mass outbreak.
Throughout the weekend, some businesses were closed in Beijing, and city streets were largely deserted, as residents either fell ill or feared catching the virus. The biggest public crowds seen were outside of pharmacies and Covid-19 testing booths.
Media outlet China Youth Daily documented hours-long lines at a clinic in central Beijing on Friday, and cited unnamed experts calling for residents not to visit hospitals unless necessary.
Health workers in the capital were also grappling with a surge in emergency calls, including from many Covid-positive residents with mild or no symptoms, with a hospital official on Saturday appealing to residents in such cases not to call the city’s 911-like emergency services line and tie up resources needed by the seriously ill.
The daily volume of emergency calls had surged from its usual 5,000 to more than 30,000 in recent days, Chen Zhi, chief physician of the Beijing Emergency Center said, according to official media.
Covid was “spreading rapidly” driven by highly transmissible Omicron variants in China, a top Covid-19 expert, Zhong Nanshan, said in an interview published by state media Saturday.
“No matter how strong the prevention and control is, it will be difficult to completely cut off the transmission chain,” Zhong, who has been a key public voice since the earliest days of the pandemic in 2020, was quoted saying by Xinhua.
The rapid rollback of testing nationwide and the shift by many people to use antigen tests at home has also made it difficult to gauge the extent of the spread, with official data now appearing meaningless.
Authorities recorded 8,626 Covid-19 cases across China on Sunday, down from the previous day’s count of 10,597 and from the high of more than 40,000 daily cases late last month. CNN reporting from Beijing indicates the case count in the Chinese capital could be much higher than recorded.
One note seen on a residential building in Beijing is indicative of the larger situation, reading: “Due to the severe epidemic situation in recent days, the number of employees who can come to work is seriously insufficient, and the normal operation of the apartment has been greatly affected and challenged.”
The country is only days out from a major relaxation of its longstanding zero-Covid measures, which came as a head-spinning change for many Chinese living under the government’s stringent controls and fed a longstanding narrative about the deadliness of Covid-19.
Last Wednesday, top health officials made a sweeping rollback of the mass testing, centralized quarantine, and health code tracking rules that it had relied on to control viral spread. Some aspects of those measures, such as health code use in designated places and central quarantine of severe cases, as well as home isolation of cases, remain.
Outside experts have warned that China may be underprepared to handle the expected surge of cases, after the surprise move to lift its measures in the wake of nationwide protests against the policy, growing case numbers and rising economic costs.
While Omicron may cause relatively milder disease compared to earlier variants, even a small number of serious cases could have a significant impact on the health system in a country of 1.4 billion.
Zhong, in the state media interview, said the government’s top priority now should be booster shots, particularly for the elderly and others most at risk, especially with China’s Lunar New Year coming up next month – a peak travel time where urban residents visit elderly relatives and return to rural hometowns.
Health authorities on Sunday ordered improvements in medical capabilities in rural areas by the end of the month.
Measures to be undertaken include increasing ICU wards and beds, enhancing medical staff for intensive care and setting up more clinics for fevers, China’s National Health Commission said in a statement.
Meanwhile, experts have warned a lack of experience with the virus – and years of state media coverage focusing on its dangers and impact overseas, before a recent shift in tone – could push those who are not in critical need to seek medical care, further overwhelming systems.
Bob Li, a graduate student in Beijing, who tested positive for the virus on Friday said he wasn’t afraid of the virus, but his mother, who lives in the countryside, stayed up all night worrying about him. “She finds the virus a very, very scary thing,” Li said.
“I think most people in rural China may have some misunderstandings about the virus, which may come from the overhyping of this virus by the state in the past two years. This is one of the reasons why people are so afraid,” he said, adding that he still supports the government’s careful treatment of Covid-19 during the pandemic.
There are clear efforts to tamp down on public concern about Covid-19 – and its knock-on effects, like panic buying of medications.
China’s market watchdog said on Friday that there was a “temporary shortage” of some “hot-selling” drugs and vowed to crackdown on price gouging, while major online retailer JD.com last week said it was taking steps to ensure stable supplies after sales for certain medications surged 18 times that week over the same period in October.
A hashtag trending on China’s heavily moderated social media platform Weibo over the weekend featured a state media interview with a Beijing doctor saying people who tested positive for Covid-19 but had no or mild symptoms did not need to take medication to recover.
“People with asymptomatic inflections do not need medication at all. It is enough to rest at home, maintain a good mood and physical condition,” Li Tongzeng, chief infectious disease physician at Beijing You An Hospital, said in an interview linked to a hashtag viewed more than 370 million times since Friday.
RSV surges are coming earlier than usual this year in Utah and are reaching a record-setting number of cases in some hospitals around the country, according to a Primary Children’s Hospital doctor. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah doctors are bracing for a bad RSV season and Dr. Andrew Pavia says the respiratory syncytial virus is “here and increasing rapidly.”
The RSV outbreak is coming earlier than usual this year and is reaching record-setting levels in some hospitals around the country, according to Pavia, who specializes in infectious diseases at University of Utah Health and Primary Children’s Hospital.
He said there is typically an RSV outbreak in December and January that is considered “moderately severe” and brings some very sick children to the hospitals. This year, however, the RSV outbreak looks even more serious.
Concerns about RSV are compounded through what has been called a “tripledemic” — a term Pavia said was invented to describe three viruses hitting at once. In this case, those viruses are RSV, COVID-19 and the flu.
“When viruses hit at once, it can really overwhelm capacity that’s set up to handle the surge,” Pavia said.
He said there is always substantial flu activity in Utah. And although it is not yet at dangerous levels in the state this year, it is at dangerous levels in some southern states and doctors are concerned about a rapid increase over the next few weeks. Pavia said Utah has also seen a slight uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases, and although it is unpredictable, there is concern about cases rising during the winter season.
But Pavia says there are currently good vaccines available for both COVID-19 and the flu.
“People can still get infected after getting the vaccines, but it’s your best way of preventing you or your children (from) ending up in the hospital or ending up very sick,” he said.
RSV currently does not have any vaccines, so to combat RSV, Pavia said people should rely on “old-fashioned but effective preventative measures” like keeping infants away from sick people, wearing a mask, covering coughs or sneezes and washing hands.
“As we go into a season where we’re going to see a lot of viral disease — and some of it has the chance of being fairly severe — I think it’s important that parents remember that prevention is the tool that we’ve really got, and that you can use,” Pavia said.
Preventative measures can help keep infants and families healthy, especially since emergency departments and doctors can be overwhelmed by an influx of cases.
It’s important that parents remember that prevention is the tool that we’ve really got, and that you can use.
–Dr. Andrew Pavia, infectious disease specialist
Most children with RSV can be treated by a pediatrician, but Pavia said parents should look for signs of dehydration and difficulty breathing when considering whether to take a child to the emergency room. He said symptoms of RSV can prevent children from eating and drinking because of secretions in their small airways.
“You’ll notice fewer wet diapers and difficulty taking a bottle or eating food — and when that happens, it’s time to be seen by your physician. If a child’s lethargic, if they’re not urinating at all, you probably need to go straight to the emergency room,” Pavia said.
He said difficulty breathing in young children can be seen through fast breathing, signs that they are working hard to breathe, blueness in the lips or fingers or severe lethargy.
Pavia said doctors are on the verge of multiple effective preventative measures for RSV which could be available starting next year. Some examples include an RSV vaccine for elderly people who can also be hit hard by the virus, successful research into vaccinated mothers passing RSV protection onto their infants, and long-acting monoclonal antibodies which could protect children through the winter.
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Emily Ashcraft joined KSL.com as a reporter in 2021. She covers courts and legal affairs, as well as health, faith and religion news.
A major fuel supply and logistics company is raising a red flag on upcoming diesel foul shortages.
Mansfield Energy issued the alert Friday stating there was a developing diesel fuel shortage in the southeastern region of the United States. The company speculated that the shortage could be generated from “poor pipeline shipping economies” and a historically low supply of diesel reserves.
“Poor pipeline shipping economics and historically low diesel inventories are combining to cause shortages in various markets throughout the Southeast,” the company said. “These have been occurring sporadically, with areas like Tennessee seeing particularly acute challenges.”
EUROPE’S ENERGY CRISIS RAISES FIREWOOD PRICES, THEFT FEARS
Diesel and heating oil inventories are down for the Northeast from Maine to Maryland. (iStock / iStock)
States expected to experience serious affects of the shortage include Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The Biden administration says it is keeping a close watch on diesel inventories and working to boost supplies following news that reserves have been depleted and could run out in less than a month if not replenished, sparking fears of shortages and rising prices.
SAUDI ENERGY MINISTER SLAMS RELEASE OF OIL RESERVES AS ‘MECHANISM TO MANIPULATE MARKETS’
President Biden announces his administration’s plans to eliminate junk fees for consumers, Oct. 26, 2022, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file / AP Newsroom)
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week that, as of Oct. 14, the U.S. had only 25 days of reserve diesel supply, a low not seen since 2008. National Economic Council Director Brian Deese acknowledged to Bloomberg that the level is “unacceptably low,” and “all options are on the table” to address the situation.
“Because conditions are rapidly devolving and market economics are changing significantly each day, Mansfield is moving to Alert Level 4 to address market volatility,” Mansfield’s press statement said.
The company continued, “Mansfield is also moving the Southeast to Code Red, requesting 72 hour notice for deliveries when possible to ensure fuel and freight can be secured at economical levels.”
FILE PHOTO: Storage tanks are seen at Marathon Petroleum’s Los Angeles Refinery, which processes domestic & imported crude oil into California Air Resources Board (CARB), gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products, in Carson, Califor (REUTERS/Bing Guan / Reuters Photos)
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The Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (NEHHOR) holds roughly 1 million barrels of home heating oil, and House Democrats from New England are asking President Biden to release some of those reserves to help reduce home heating prices in the region leading into the winter months.
But experts say the developing home heating oil shortage is not going away anytime soon.
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas contributed to this report.
Enlarge / Stoke Space tests 15 thrusters that will fly on the upper stage of a fully reusable rocket.
Stoke Space
Andy Lapsa went to the best aerospace engineering schools. He then worked very hard to help advance the development of some of the most advanced rocket engines in the world at Blue Origin. But in 2019, after a decade in the industry, he felt like the spaceflight future he was striving toward—rapidly reusable rockets—had not gotten much closer.
“It is the inevitable end state,” he said of low-cost rockets that can launch, land, and fly again the next day. “It’s gonna happen. It’s just a matter of who does it and when they do it.”
His vision for the future is not unique. It happens to be shared by two of the richest people in the world, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Lapsa worked for one of them, first helping Bezos develop the powerful BE-4 engine and then as director of Blue Origin’s BE-3 program.
“I love Jeff’s vision for space,” Lapsa said in an interview with Ars. “I worked closely with him for a while on different projects, and I’m basically 100 percent on board with the vision. Beyond that, I think I would just say that I will let their history of execution speak for itself, and I thought we could move faster.”
This is a polite way of saying that more than two decades after Bezos founded Blue Origin, the company has yet to reach orbit. So three years ago, Lapsa, who is in his late 30s, and Tom Feldman, another rocket scientist there who had just turned 30, began to look around for a place to make a difference faster. They were animated not so much by a midlife crisis but by a desire to bring forward the era of low-cost, regular access to space and the future that might unlock for humanity.
Looking around
The pair of propulsion engineers looked around the US industry, which consisted of dozens of rocket companies. One of their friends, a former Blue Origin engineer named Tim Ellis, co-founded a Los Angeles-based company called Relativity Space in 2016. They looked closely at Relativity, but at the time, the company had not fully committed to the Terran-R rocket, a fully reusable, medium-lift rocket. Lapsa and Feldman also weren’t as bullish on additive manufacturing or pushing the limits on 3D-printing an entire rocket.
“I think the additive manufacturing of a full rocket is novel, but you want to choose the tools for production that make sense, and you want to let the best answer win,” Lapsa said. “And I think their approach was a little bit too single-minded.”
Stoke Space
Finally, they considered SpaceX. Lapsa said he and Feldman were looking for three key ingredients in a company: rapid, reusable rockets; the right engineering team; and a history of “habitual execution.” SpaceX pretty much had it all, as the company’s primary focus was on the revolutionary, reusable Starship rocket. It possessed arguably the largest and most talented team of rocket engineers in the world, and no one flew more often or more dazzlingly.
And yet it wasn’t for them.
“They unquestionably have an amazing history of execution, of awe-inspiring stuff that has absolutely transformed our industry,” Lapsa said. “But I do think there’s room for a different style of company. We talk a lot with people who come out of SpaceX after three, five, 10, or 15 years, and they’re shells of their old selves. They’re burned out.”
So at the end of 2019, Lapsa and Feldman decided to found their own company, Stoke Space. Neither had experience raising money or running a business. They had no plan and no specific design for their rocket in mind. Rather, they had a strong conviction that the future they wanted wasn’t happening—but it was there for the taking.
“We took a leap of faith and jumped off a cliff,” Lapsa said.
Hurricane Ian was expected to continue strengthening into a major hurricane and pass over the western tip of Cuba on a track for the Gulf of Mexico, with Florida in its path. Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday in low-lying areas surrounding Tampa Bay, and officials asked others in the area to voluntarily evacuate, knowing it could take some time to move hundreds of thousands of people out of Ian’s path.
The Category 2 storm was forecast to become an even stronger Category 4 with top winds of 140 mph before striking Florida as early as Wednesday.
Tampa and St. Petersburg appeared to be among the most likely targets for their first direct hit by a major hurricane in a century. Even if Ian doesn’t directly hit the area, it could still feel the effects of the storm, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
“You’re still looking at really significant amount of rain, you’re looking at a lot of wind, you’re looking at a lot of storm surge, and so, yes, follow that track, but don’t think because that eye may or may not be in your area that you’re not going to see impacts,” DeSantis said during a Monday afternoon press conference. “You’re going to see significant impacts.”
Tracking Hurricane Ian as it bears down on Florida
01:03
The governor said the state has suspended tolls around the Tampa Bay area and mobilized 5,000 National Guard troops, with another 2,000 on standby in neighboring states.
“Please treat this storm seriously. It’s the real deal. This is not a drill,” Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said at a Monday news conference on storm preparations in Tampa, where some mandatory evacuations were ordered.
As many as 300,000 people may be evacuated from low-lying areas in the county alone, County Administrator Bonnie Wise said at a news conference. Schools and other locations were opened as shelters.
In Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, officials issued evacuation orders that start taking effect Monday evening. Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a briefing earlier no one will be forced to leave.
“What it means is, we’re not going to come help you. If you don’t do it, you’re on your own,” Gualtieri said.
“For all practical purposes, get out. Right now. Everybody needs to go,” Gualtieri added Monday.
The evacuation zone is all along Tampa Bay and the rivers that feed it, encompassing MacDill Air Force Base and well-known neighborhoods such as parts of Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Ybor City.
Ian becomes Category 1 hurricane
02:36
At 8 p.m. ET on Monday, Ian was moving north-northwest at 13 mph and was located about 130 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its maximum sustained winds increased to 100 mph.
A surge of up to 10 feet of ocean water and 10 inches of rain, with as much as 15 inches in isolated areas, was predicted for the Tampa Bay area. That’s enough water to inundate low-lying coastal communities.
A hurricane warning was in effect from Englewood, Florida, to the Anclote River, an area that includes Tampa.
Florida residents were getting ready, lining up for hours in Tampa to collect sandbags and clearing store shelves of bottled water.
“We are going to get these sandbags in front of the garage, the garage door, the front door… and pray we’re good,” Gabriel Alley, who moved to Clearwater from California, told CBS News.
Nervous anticipation led to long lines for gas, packed grocery stores and empty shelves, CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca reports from Clearwater, Florida.
“I tried to get water, but it’s no more, not too much at this moment,” a south Florida woman told CBS Miami.
Ian’s impending arrival also prompted NASA to haul its Artemis 1 rocket off its launch pad and back to the protection of the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building, likely ending any chance of launching the unpiloted moonshot before November.
“A lot of people on the Florida Peninsula and into the Florida Panhandle are at risk and need to be ready to take action quickly,” said Rick Knabb, a hurricane specialist with The Weather Channel, “and the slow motion that we expect from Ian means we could have wind, storm surge and rain-induced flooding.”
A hurricane warning was issued for Florida’s central western coast, including the Tampa Bay area, where Hillsborough County suspended classes through Thursday. With tropical storm force winds extending 115 miles from its center, watches were issued Monday from the Florida Keys to Lake Okeechobee.
On Monday night, HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital, located in St. Petersburg, announced that it was closed and would be transferring all patients. Tampa General Hospital, announced various locations, including radiation oncology and all clinics, would be closing early Tuesday and remain closed through at least Thursday.
DeSantis has declared a state of emergency throughout Florida and urged residents to prepare for the storm to lash large swaths of the state with heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.
“We’re going to keep monitoring the track of this storm. But it really is important to stress the degree of uncertainty that still exists,” DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday, cautioning that “even if you’re not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state.”
Hurricane Ian is seen in a satellite image at 3 p.m. ET on Sept. 26, 2022.
NOAA
Flash and urban flooding is possible in the Florida Keys and Florida Peninsula through midweek, and then heavy rainfall was possible for north Florida, the Florida Panhandle and the southeast United States later this week.
The hurricane center has advised Floridians to have hurricane plans in place and monitor updates of the storm’s evolving path.
President Biden also declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance to protect lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Tuesday trip to Florida because of the storm.
In Cuba, authorities evacuated 50,000 people in Pinar del Rio province, sent in medical and emergency personnel and took steps to protect food and other crops in warehouses, according to state media.
“Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane force winds, also life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall,” National Hurricane Center senior specialist Daniel Brown told The Associated Press.
The hurricane center predicted areas of Cuba’s western coast could see as much as 14 feet of storm surge Monday night or early Tuesday.
The center of the hurricane was passing to the west of the Cayman Islands, where Premier Wayne Panton said the government and its opposition were working together to keep the people as safe as possible. No major damage was reported there Monday, and residents were going back into the streets as the rain stopped and winds died down.
Hurricane Ian was growing stronger as it approached the western tip of Cuba on Monday, on a track to hit the west coast of Florida as a major hurricane as early as Wednesday. Ian was forecast to hit Cuba as a major hurricane and then become an even stronger Category 4 with top winds of 140 mph over warm Gulf of Mexico waters before striking Florida along a stretch of coast including the Tampa Bay area.
Tampa and St. Petersburg appeared to be among the most likely targets for their first direct hit by a major hurricane in a century. Even if Ian doesn’t directly hit the area, it could still feel the effects of the storm, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
“You’re still looking at really significant amount of rain, you’re looking at a lot of wind, you’re looking at a lot of storm surge, and so, yes, follow that track, but don’t think because that eye may or may not be in your area that you’re not going to see impacts,” DeSantis said during a Monday afternoon press conference. “You’re going to see significant impacts.”
“Please treat this storm seriously. It’s the real deal. This is not a drill,” Hillsborough County Emergency Management Director Timothy Dudley said at a Monday news conference on storm preparations in Tampa, where some mandatory evacuations were ordered.
As many as 300,000 people may be evacuated from low-lying areas in the county alone, County Administrator Bonnie Wise said at a news conference. Schools and other locations were being opened as shelters.
Bob Gualtieri, sheriff of Pinellas County, Florida, which includes St. Petersburg, said in a briefing that while no one will be forced to leave, mandatory evacuation orders are expected to begin Tuesday.
“What it means is, we’re not going to come help you. If you don’t do it, you’re on your own,” Gualtieri said.
The evacuation zone is all along Tampa Bay and the rivers that feed it, encompassing MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa International Airport and well-known neighborhoods such as parts of Hyde Park, Davis Islands and Ybor City.
Ian becomes Category 1 hurricane
02:36
At 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, Ian was moving north-northwest at 13 mph about 195 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its maximum sustained winds increased to 85 mph. The storm was about 375 miles south of Key West, DeSantis said Monday afternoon.
A surge of up to 10 feet of ocean water and 10 inches of rain, with as much as 15 inches in isolated areas, was predicted for the Tampa Bay area. That’s enough water to inundate low-lying coastal communities.
Florida residents were getting ready, lining up for hours in Tampa to collect sandbags and clearing store shelves of bottled water.
Nervous anticipation led to long lines for gas, packed grocery stores and empty shelves, CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca reports from Clearwater, Florida.
“I tried to get water, but it’s no more, not too much at this moment,” a south Florida woman told CBS station WFOR-TV.
Ian’s impending arrival also prompted NASA to haul its Artemis 1 rocket off its launch pad and back to the protection of the agency’s Vehicle Assembly Building, likely ending any chance of launching the unpiloted moonshot before November.
“A lot of people on the Florida Peninsula and into the Florida Panhandle are at risk and need to be ready to take action quickly,” said Rick Knabb, a hurricane specialist with The Weather Channel, “and the slow motion that we expect from Ian means we could have wind, storm surge and rain-induced flooding.”
A hurricane watch was issued for Florida’s central western coast, including the Tampa Bay area, where Hillsborough County suspended classes through Thursday. With tropical storm force winds extending 115 miles from its center, watches were issued Monday from the Florida Keys to Lake Okeechobee.
DeSantis has declared a state of emergency throughout Florida and urged residents to prepare for the storm to lash large swaths of the state with heavy rains, high winds and rising seas.
“We’re going to keep monitoring the track of this storm. But it really is important to stress the degree of uncertainty that still exists,” DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday, cautioning that “even if you’re not necessarily right in the eye of the path of the storm, there’s going to be pretty broad impacts throughout the state.”
Hurricane Ian is seen in a satellite image at 9:10 a.m. ET on Sept. 26, 2022.
NOAA
Flash and urban flooding is possible in the Florida Keys and Florida Peninsula through midweek, and then heavy rainfall was possible for north Florida, the Florida Panhandle and the southeast United States later this week.
The hurricane center has advised Floridians to have hurricane plans in place and monitor updates of the storm’s evolving path.
President Biden also declared an emergency, authorizing the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to coordinate disaster relief and provide assistance to protect lives and property. The president postponed a scheduled Tuesday trip to Florida because of the storm.
In Cuba, authorities suspended classes in Pinar del Rio province and planned evacuations Monday as Ian approached the island’s westernmost provinces. Cuba also was shutting down its train system ahead of the worst weather.
“Cuba is expecting extreme hurricane force winds, also life-threatening storm surge and heavy rainfall,” National Hurricane Center senior specialist Daniel Brown told The Associated Press.
The hurricane center said Ian was expected to pass near or west of the Cayman Islands on Monday and the storm should reach far-western Cuba late Monday or early Tuesday, hitting near the country’s most famed tobacco fields.
Cayman Islands Premier Wayne Panton said in a video posted Sunday that members of the government and opposition were working together “to ensure that our people are made as safe as possible — the supplies, plywood, in some cases sandbags, are distributed so that they can safely weather this storm … We must prepare for the worst and absolutely pray and hope for the best.”
Tropical Storm Ian is expected to “rapidly strengthen” this weekend and could hit Florida early next week as a major hurricane, according to forecasters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Tropical Storm Ian was moving across the central Caribbean Sea. By late Saturday night, it was located 395 miles southeast of Grand Cayman, moving west at 13 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
“Ian is expected to become a hurricane on Sunday and reach major hurricane strength by late Monday before it reaches western Cuba,” the NHC said.
A Publix store in Metrowest was nearly sold out of water on Sept. 24, 2022, in Orlando, Florida, as residents ready themselves ahead of Tropical Storm Ian, which is expected to make landfall in the state as a hurricane.
Ian was forecast to pass west of the Cayman Islands early Monday, and then near western Cuba Monday night, the NCH said. It could reach Florida by Tuesday, bringing the possibility of flash flooding to the Florida peninsula and the Florida Keys, the agency added.
“Additional flooding and rises on area streams and rivers across northern Florida and parts of the Southeast cannot be ruled out, especially in central Florida given already saturated antecedent conditions,” the NHC wrote in its Saturday night advisory.
John Cangialosi, a senior hurricane specialist with National Hurricane Center in Miami, said it is currently unclear exactly where Ian will hit hardest in Florida. He said residents should begin preparing for the storm, including gathering supplies for potential power outages.
“Too soon to say if it’s going to be a southeast Florida problem or a central Florida problem or just the entire state,” he said. “So at this point really the right message for those living in Florida is that you have to watch forecasts and get ready and prepare yourself for potential impact from this tropical system.”
In Pinellas Park, near Tampa, people were waiting in line at a Home Depot when it opened at 6 a.m., the Tampa Bay Times reported. Manager Wendy Macrini said the store had sold 600 cases of water by the early afternoon and ran out of generators.
People also were buying up plywood to put over their windows: “Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it,” Matt Beaver, of Pinellas Park, told the Times.
On Friday, DeSantis signed an executive order issuing a state of emergency for 24 Florida counties that could be in the storm’s path. On Saturday, the state of emergency was expanded to cover the entire state. The order also places the Florida National Guard on standby. On Saturday night, the White House announced that President Biden had approved a federal emergency declaration for the state, which authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate disaster relief efforts and provide assistance to protect lives and property.
The president postponed a scheduled Sept. 27 trip to Florida due to the storm.
The storm, forecast to make landfall along Florida’s West coast, poses risk of “dangerous storm surge, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, strong winds, hazardous seas, and isolated tornadic activity for Florida’s Peninsula and portions of the Florida Big Bend, North Florida, and Northeast Florida,” DeSantis said in his executive order Saturday.
He encouraged all Floridians “to make their preparations.”
Meanwhile, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands could receive anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of rain, the NHC forecasted. Cuba could see 4 to 8 inches, while southern Florida and the Florida could receive 2 to 4 inches.
High terrain areas in Jamaica and Cuba are at risk of flash flooding and mudslides, the NHC said. Cuba could see storm surges of 9 to 14 feet above normal when Ian hits Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
Tracking the Tropics: Tropical Storm Ian forms in the Caribbean
Tracking the Tropics: Tropical Storm Ian forms in the Caribbean
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Tropical Storm Ian is expected to “rapidly strengthen” this weekend and could approach Florida early next week as a major hurricane, according to forecasters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Tropical Storm Ian is moving across the central Caribbean Sea Saturday. By late morning, it was located 270 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, moving west at 15 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph — and is expected to become a hurricane on Sunday.
“Early next week, Ian is forecast to move near or over western Cuba as a strengthening hurricane and then approach the Florida peninsula at or near major hurricane strength, with the potential for significant impacts from storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall,” the National Hurricane Center said.
“Significant strengthening is forecast during the next few days,” it said.
On Friday, DeSantis signed an executive order issuing a state of emergency for 24 Florida counties which could be in the storm’s path. The order also places the Florida National Guard on standby. DeSantis also put in a request for a federal “pre-landfall emergency declaration.”
“This storm has the potential to strengthen into a major hurricane and we encourage all Floridians to make their preparations,” the governor said in a statement. “We are coordinating with all state and local government partners to track potential impacts of this storm.”
On Saturday, a hurricane watch was is in effect for the Cayman Islands and a tropical storm watch was in effect for Jamaica.
“On the forecast track, the center of Ian is forecast to move across the central Caribbean Sea today, pass southwest of Jamaica on Sunday, and pass near or over the Cayman Islands Sunday night and early Monday. Ian will then approach western Cuba late Monday and emerge over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday,” said the National Hurricane Center.
About 6 to 10 percent of the pediatric population (birth to 16 years) are affected by non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Prenatal exposure to chemicals in consumer and industrial items is linked to rising liver disease in children.
Researchers from Mount Sinai University have discovered a link between prenatal exposure to various endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the rising prevalence of a potentially cancer-causing liver disease in children.
It is the first comprehensive study of the relationship between prenatal exposure to certain chemicals and chemical mixtures and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The researchers used cytokeratin-18 as a novel marker for the condition in children. The findings, which were recently published in JAMA Network Open, highlight the significance of comprehending prenatal exposure to environmental chemicals as a risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, a problem that is rapidly becoming more common among children and can result in severe chronic liver disease and liver cancer in adulthood.
“These findings can inform more efficient early-life prevention and intervention strategies to address the current non-alcoholic fatty liver disease epidemic,” said Vishal Midya, Ph.D., first author and postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health and a member of the Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Damaskini Valvi, MD, Ph.D., MPH, senior author, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, and a member of the Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomic Research at Icahn Mount Sinai, added, “We are all daily exposed to these chemicals through the food we eat, the water we drink, and the use of consumer products. This is a serious public health problem. These findings show that early life exposure to many endocrine-disrupting chemicals is a risk factor for pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and draw attention to additional investigation needed to elucidate how environmental chemical exposures may interact with genetic and lifestyle factors in the pathogenesis of liver disease.”
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, one of the most widespread liver conditions in the world, is increasingly diagnosed in children, affecting 6 to 10 percent of the pediatric population and around 34 percent of obese children. Numerous pesticides, plastics, flame retardants, hazardous metals, and other environmental pollutants fall under the category of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Examples include perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals” used in nonstick cookware and food packaging, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) used as flame retardants in furniture and infant products. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with hormone and metabolic systems in people. Several experimental studies have shown that exposures to these chemicals can lead to liver injury and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; however, until now, the potential effects of prenatal mixture exposures to these chemicals have not been studied in humans.
In this study, researchers measured 45 chemicals in the blood or urine of 1,108 pregnant women from 2003 to 2010. The chemicals included endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as PFAS, organochlorine, and organophosphate pesticides, plasticizers (phenols, phthalates), PBDEs, and parabens. When the children reached the ages of 6 to 11 years old, scientists measured the levels of enzymes and cytokeratin-18 that indicate risk for liver disease in the children’s blood, finding elevated levels of those biomarkers in children who had been more highly exposed to environmental chemicals during pregnancy.
“By understanding the environmental factors that accelerate fatty liver disease, we can reduce people’s risk by giving them actionable information to make informed choices that reduce the risk or impact of the disease,” said Robert Wright, MD, MPH, Ethel H. Wise Chair of the Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health and Co-Director of the Institute for Exposomic Research at Icahn Mount Sinai.
“Exposomics is the wave of the future because once you’ve sequenced the human genome, which has been done, there isn’t much more you can do in genomics alone. The missing piece of the puzzle for us to understand different diseases is to measure their environmental causes, and exposomics is a way to accelerate our knowledge of how the environment is affecting our health.”
Reference: “Association of Prenatal Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals With Liver Injury in Children” by Vishal Midya, Ph.D., MStat, Elena Colicino, Ph.D., David V. Conti, Ph.D., Kiros Berhane, Ph.D., Erika Garcia, Ph.D., Nikos Stratakis, Ph.D., Sandra Andrusaityte, Ph.D., Xavier Basagaña, Ph.D., Maribel Casas, Ph.D., Serena Fossati, MD, Ph.D., Regina Gražulevičienė, MD, Line Småstuen Haug, Ph.D., Barbara Heude, Ph.D., Léa Maitre, Ph.D., Rosemary McEachan, Ph.D., Eleni Papadopoulou, Ph.D., Theano Roumeliotaki, MPH, Claire Philippat, Ph.D., Cathrine Thomsen, Ph.D., Jose Urquiza, Ph.D., Marina Vafeiadi, Ph.D., Nerea Varo, Ph.D., Miriam B. Vos, MD, John Wright, MD, Rob McConnell, MD, Ph.D., Martine Vrijheid, Ph.D., Lida Chatzi, MD, PhD and Damaskini Valvi, MD, MPH, Ph.D., 6 July 2022, JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.20176
The study participants were enrolled in the Human Early-Life Exposome project, a collaborative network of six ongoing population-based prospective birth cohort studies from six European countries—France, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, and Britain. Limitations of this study include the inability to conduct a liver biopsy, considered the gold standard to establish a causal link with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, because of the risk and ethical limitations due to the children’s age.
This research was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) and the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.
