The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director on Tuesday signed off on broad use of updated COVID-19 vaccines approved by the government – covering ages 6 months and up – as the country prepares to start a vaccination campaign within days.
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Topic: pandemic responseView all posts for the topic: pandemic response
Where Have All The Masks Gone? And Why Is The CDC Missing In Action?
Comments closedThe Biden administration has made a political choice—not a scientific or public health one—to downgrade the national response to COVID-19. Included in this is the reticence or outright avoidance of mentioning masking even as cases rise in the US. The CDC director, in talking about this late increase in COVID cases, bends over backward to mention hand-washing, but not N95s. Without question, N95s offer individuals protection against infection and leaving out that fact is a disservice and an abdication of duty.
Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California
COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise in San Diego County. Here’s what you need to know
Doctors and health officials are seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across San Diego County, and the latest set of subvariants is dominating the spread.
Experts say thanks to widespread vaccinations, COVID-19 is becoming less severe. But while the latest surge in cases isn’t resulting in as many deaths or hospitalizations as seen early on in the pandemic, the public should still be wary of one complication: long COVID.
Comments closedTopic: New YorkView all posts for the topic: New York
New York State sending masks, COVID-19 tests to schools for start of classes
New York State is sending masks and COVID-19 rapid tests to school districts that request them for the start of the 2023-24 school year.
Comments closedSo far, the National Institutes of Health’s progress has left patient advocates and some scientists underwhelmed. Accountability and oversight are needed.
Comments closedTopic: United StatesView all posts for the topic: United States
Welcome to the “You Do You” Pandemic
“While too many people who should know better are downplaying the ongoing public health risk from Covid, others are trying to signal the peril of our current moment. The New York Times recently reported on new estimates from researchers that Covid might lead to at least 45,000 deaths between September and April—and that’s the best-case scenario.”
Comments closedTopic: United StatesView all posts for the topic: United States
It seems like everyone has Covid-19. Here’s why this wave is probably worse than official data suggests
Weekly hospital admissions have nearly doubled over the past month, including a 19% bump in the most recent week, CDC data shows. And a sample of laboratories participating in a federal surveillance program show that test positivity rates have tripled in the past two months.
Comments closedTopic: indoor air qualityView all posts for the topic: indoor air quality
Covid Closed the Nation’s Schools. Cleaner Air Can Keep Them Open.
C.D.C. researchers have estimated that air purifiers may decrease the exposure to aerosols — tiny floating droplets that might contain virus — by up to 65 percent.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Long COVID is debilitating children. Doctors worry there aren’t enough centers to treat them
Last month, the National Institutes of Health updated its considerations for long COVID to say the burden of the condition in children “may be quite large.” Studies estimating its prevalence in pediatric populations are limited and conflicting, estimating up to 25% of children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus could go on to develop long COVID, though it’s more likely between 2% and 10%. Older children with existing chronic diseases or who had a more severe COVID-19 infection have an increased risk.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
Updated Covid-19 vaccines are coming mid-September, officials say
Covid-19 vaccines that have been tweaked to teach the body how to fend off the current crop of circulating variants are now expected to land in drugstores and clinics in mid-September, CDC and FDA officials said.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Opinion: Study shows ‘long COVID’ likely to cause mass misery if treatments can’t be developed
Given that 103 million Americans and 770 million people worldwide have been diagnosed as having contracted COVID-19, a future of misery could await a stunningly large cross-section of humanity.
Comments closedTopic: hospital-acquired infectionsView all posts for the topic: hospital-acquired infections
Hospitals are killing patients because they don’t feel like doing infection control
“Disabled, sick, immunocompromised and vulnerable people seeking care at a hospital, have the right not to be exposed to a virus that has killed 1.1 million Americans in 3.5 years. They have the right to seek care without having to fear that their care team will quite literally kill them with a preventable illness. Practitioners, on the other hand, have no right to compare the irritation of having to wear a mask at work with the moral injury of infecting vulnerable people who then go on to die at high rates.”
Comments closedTopic: PirolaView all posts for the topic: Pirola
CDC weighs risk of BA.2.86 COVID-19 lineage as 3 more nations report sequences
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today issued its initial risk assessment of the BA.2.86 SARS-CoV-2 lineage, which says tests and treatments will likely be effective and that updated vaccines will still be able to reduce severe disease and hospitalizations.
Comments closedTopic: PirolaView all posts for the topic: Pirola
Highly mutated COVID virus variant BA.2.86 showing up in multiple countries
“It is unusual for [this virus] to change so significantly and develop 30 new mutations. The last time we saw such a big change was when [Omicron] appeared.”
Comments closedTopic: researchView all posts for the topic: research
COVID-19 boosts risks of health problems 2 years later, giant study of veterans says
“In the 3 months postinfection, people who’d had COVID-19 had higher rates of death and many health conditions including heart failure, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression.”
Continue readingCOVID-19 boosts risks of health problems 2 years later, giant study of veterans says
Comments closed Topic: PirolaView all posts for the topic: Pirola
L’OMS et les États-Unis aux aguets avec un nouveau variant
The World Health Organization and US health authorities announced on Friday that they were closely monitoring a new variant of the COVID-19 virus, although “for the time being, the potential impact of the many mutations in BA.2.86 is unknown.”
Comments closedTopic: PirolaView all posts for the topic: Pirola
CDC tracking new COVID variant BA.2.86 after highly mutated strain reported in Michigan
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday it is tracking a recently discovered COVID-19 strain, BA.2.86, after a case of the highly mutated variant was discovered in Michigan.
Comments closedTopic: cardiovascular diseaseView all posts for the topic: cardiovascular disease
COVID-19 took a toll on heart health and doctors are still grappling with how to help
Heart attack-caused deaths rose during every virus surge. Worse, young people aren’t supposed to have heart attacks but Cheng’s research documented a nearly 30% increase in heart attack deaths among 25- to 44-year-olds in the pandemic’s first two years.
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