Iowa news
VA Central Iowa Health to hold virtual listening session this week
The VA Central Iowa Health Care System will hold a virtual listening session with stakeholders Wednesday, March 31, to hear veterans and the communities that the VA serves. It will be one of 50 public virtual listening sessions nationwide being held from March through June to hear from veterans on how to design a health care system of the future and increase services for veterans. (Business Record)
Hy-Vee partnering with 211 to host mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Des Moines April 3
Hy-Vee is partnering with the information system 211 Iowa to host a free community COVID-19 vaccination clinic for 3,500 Central Iowa residents in Des Moines. The first-dose clinic, to be held Saturday, April 3, at the Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center, will be Hy-Vee’s largest COVID-19 community vaccination clinic to date. The clinic is provided for people who have barriers to scheduling a vaccine appointment, who do not have internet access, or are 65 and older or 64 and younger with an underlying health condition as outlined by the CDC. (WeAreIowa)
What you need to know before vaccines are open to all
Iowa is on track to open up COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to all Iowa adults on Monday. The Iowa Department of Public Health says people should contact their health care provider, pharmacy or local public health agency to schedule an appointment. When there are more vaccines available, scheduling will open up further into the future. So far, with a limited supply, most providers have been scheduling only a week or so out at a time. (KCCI)
National news
CDC director warns of ‘impending doom’ as COVID-19 cases rise
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, warned Monday of “impending doom” as the US sees a steady rise in COVID-19 cases and gave an emotional plea for Americans to continue following mask-wearing and social-distancing guidelines. Walensky, who has been warning about troubling data on the number of new infections for weeks, said she fears the US could see another surge in cases similar to last summer and mirroring spikes that Europe is seeing. She attributed the rise in part to the spread of more contagious variants, increased travel, and governors lowering restrictions too quickly. She said she will urge governors again on Tuesday not to open up their states too quickly. (NBC News)
The coronavirus vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are proving highly effective at preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic infections under real-world conditions, federal health researchers reported on Monday. Consistent with clinical trial data, a two-dose regimen prevented 90% of infections by two weeks after the second shot. One dose prevented 80% of infections by two weeks after vaccination. (The New York Times)
WHO report: Wildlife farms, not market, likely source of coronavirus pandemic
The highly anticipated World Health Organization report about the origins of the coronavirus that sparked a global pandemic suggests that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was not the original source of the outbreak. The report also noted that “introduction through a laboratory incident” — a leak from the lab in Wuhan — “was considered to be an extremely unlikely pathway.” The report further suggests that animals in livestock farms in southeast Asia could be “linked to early human cases” and that further study on these farms is needed. (Iowa Public Radio)