Nonprofit eyes Montgomery County for global pandemic prevention center
County considering $500,000 to help with project
January 20, 2021 | 9:53 pm
Logo from Connected DMV
A nonprofit is considering Montgomery County as the site of a global pandemic center that would focus on prevention, research and response.
The Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center would serve as the “world’s epicenter” for pandemic prevention and biodefense ecosystem coordination.
County Council Member Hans Riemer proposed a $500,000 special appropriation to help fund the strategy phase of the project, which began in December. The appropriation was introduced at the council’s meeting on Tuesday.
Connected DMV, the nonprofit, focuses on initiatives with government, private industry academia and community partners. The nonprofit and other partners are leading the effort to craft plans for the center.
Dolly Parton announces she s donating $1 million to help find a cure for the coronavirus; Director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center, Dr. James Crowe joins The Daily Briefing.
Randy Parton, a musician and youngest brother of country singer Dolly Parton, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 67.
Dolly announced the news of her brother s death on her Facebook page on Thursday. My brother Randy has lost his battle with cancer. The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time. We are a family of faith and we believe that he is safe with God and that he is joined by members of the family that have gone on before and have welcomed him with joy and open arms, she wrote.
Outwitting the foe: predicting evolved antibody escape in SARS-CoV-2
From the Bloom Lab (Basic Sciences Division) January 18, 2021 • By A Isabella
The Covid-19 pandemic has redefined normalcy in our lives. But humans are a resilient species, and we have, though not without much pain and heartache, admirably adjusted to this ‘new normal’ a mere year after the virus’s emergence on the world stage. Unfortunately, to compound the challenges, it seems that every time we get our feet beneath us, the pandemic presents a new challenge to throw us back into uncertainty. A second wave. Airborne spread. A third wave. A vaccine. And now: B.1.1.7.; 501.V2; B.1.1.248. This cryptic code represents the latest frightening development in the pandemic – from the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, reports of new and worrying mutant variants of the virus. So far, these variants appear to primarily affect virus transmissibility. But at a time when we are finally a