NORTHWEST PRESS Your Community Press newspaper serving Colerain Township, Green Township, Sharonville, Springdale, Wyoming and other Northwest Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2020 | BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
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COVID-19: Rising resident, worker cases put strain on nursing homes Terry DeMio and Cole Behrens Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Katelyn Evans, 16, is the fi rst local teenager to take part in Children’s Hospital clinical trial of the Pfi zer COVID-19 vaccine, Oct. 14. Participants receive either the immunization or a placebo. PROVIDED/CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
‘A way to be helpful’ Teen in COVID-19 vaccine trial is fi rst adolescent to be injected Terry DeMio Cincinnati Enquirer
The rise in Ohio nursing homes’ weekly cases from mid-September through mid-November was 216%. The rise among Ohio’s nursing home workers was even sharper at 387%.
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USA TODAY NETWORK
ike any other teenager living through a pandemic, Katelyn Evans, 16, knows the drill: Mask up before leaving home, stay at least 6 feet apart from friends, wash hands a lot, take your temperature frequently. h She and her mom keep a close eye on whether she gets even the slightest of symptoms of COVID-19. h The answer has been no, no, no. Day after day. What’s diff erent from most teens about Kate- Dr. Robert Frenck, vaccine testing expert heading lyn’s COVID-19 watch is that she is taking part in a the Pfi zer COVID-19 trials at Cincinnati Children's two-year, Pfi zer COVID-19 vaccine trial at Cincin- Hospital Medical Center, said a trial for children is nati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Kateyln important so that they, too, can be safe from was the fi rst adolescent to be injected, on Oct. 14, COVID-19 and not pass it to others. PROVIDED with either the vaccine or a placebo in the local trial that the FDA approved for kids just two days before. “They need to do this sort of thing on teenagers,” encing,” Frenck said. For the COVID-19 vaccine she said from her Green Township home. “I thought trials, he said, “We also give everyone a list of sympit would be a way to be helpful.” toms that may be associated with COVID. If a parKatelyn, her brother, Andrew, and their mom, ticipant were to have any of those symptoms, we Laurie Evans, decided to sign up for the trials at ask that they contact us so we can talk with them Cincinnati Children’s in May, just after Cincinnati and determine if we need to test them for COVID.” Children’s started its COVID-19 vaccine trial for Katelyn has clicked no to every symptom on an adults. Andrew is 20, and he’d heard about it fi rst, app that delivers information to the trial team. No his sister said. But only Katelyn fever, no redness at the injecwas asked to take part, and not tion sites (she’s been through until October, as part of the kids’ the second of two injections), study. nothing, she said. “The worst “The more people that The team at Cincinnati Chilpart of it was giving blood.” dren’s has been “very upfront” participate in things like That’s a prerequisite, to help about every aspect of the trial doctors ensure that prospective this, the sooner we can and every safety risk, said Lauparticipants are OK to take part. get a vaccine.” rie Evans. Even before the FDA ap“They explained it really well Katelyn Evans proved the trial, Frenck was a to us ahead of time,” Evans said. proponent of expanding the They explained it again when COVID-19 vaccine trial to inthey got to the hospital. The risks are minimal, Ev- clude children, both to protect kids from the virus ans said. And Katelyn has 24-7 access to medical and to help protect others. Children are less suscepprofessionals if she or her mom have any questions tible to hospitalization for COVID-19, but they still about her health get it, he argued. Also, they may have it without “We knew we would be well supported if any- knowing, because some are asymptomatic – and a thing did come up,” her mother said. risk for others. “My concern is that children will spread the in‘The worst part of it was giving blood’ fection to ... parents, grandparents, school teachers, coaches because the children won’t know they Those who take part in any vaccine trial are have COVID,” Frenck said. “So, by immunizing and closely monitored, said Dr. Robert Frenck, principal preventing infection in the children, we can have a investigator of the National Institutes of Health- huge indirect eff ect if the children don’t spread (it) sponsored Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit to others,” he told The Enquirer in October. and director of the Gamble Vaccine Research CenFrenck said he thinks it is likely that Cincinnati ter. He’s leading the COVID-19 vaccine trials at Cin- Children’s will look at who received placebos cinnati Children’s. should the government approve public use of the “For the week after vaccination we have everyone keep a diary of any symptoms they are experi- See VACCINE, Page 2A
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Nursing home patients and their caregivers are caught in spiraling COVID-19 infections and deaths as the novel coronavirus pandemic rages across America. In Ohio, it’s no diff erent, with vulnerable patients and their nurses and nurse aides facing a pandemic of historic proportions. The plight of nursing homes was highlighted Tuesday, when a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory panel group recommended that some of the fi rst vaccines for COVID-19 go to nursing home residents as well as front-line health care workers. The recommendation came on the same day that a trade group representing 14,000 nursing homes released a report stating cases of the novel coronavirus in nursing homes was at an alltime high in the Midwest. The region has seen more than a 400% increase in weekly COVID cases in nursing homes since mid-September, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living report says.
The rise in Ohio nursing homes’ weekly cases from mid-September through mid-November was 216%, an Enquirer analysis of federal data shows. The rise among Ohio’s nursing home workers was even sharper at 387%, the analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data shows. The state’s nursing homes roughly had as many workers with COVID-19 as residents in the week of Nov. 15, the most recent data available. Rising cases among employees potentially threaten nursing homes with the same staff shortages and burnout issues now growing at hospitals, including those in the Cincinnati region. Meanwhile, COVID-19 deaths at Ohio nursing homes now are at the highest level since the federal database was created in late May. Nursing home patients and assisted living residents are among the most vulnerable to the virus, since most of them are over age 65 and many have other health problems. And those watching the long-term care facilities’ COVID-19 spread are convinced that is See NURSING HOMES, Page 2A
Cottingham Retirement assisted living in Sharonville is one of the area nursing homes hit by COVID-19 with 10 current cases among residents and nine among staff as of Nov. 25, according to health officials. THE ENQUIRER
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