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Tag: United States

Topic: cardiovascular diseaseView all posts for the topic: cardiovascular disease

Healthy runner’s stroke followed a bad bout of COVID-19

Published February 27, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: American Heart Association
Published on:
By Diane Daniel

On a ride to high school one morning, Shelley Marshall asked her daughter how things were going with her field hockey team.

At least, that’s what she intended to say. The words came out so garbled that her daughter said, “Mom, what is going on? Are you having a stroke or something? Look at me.”

Marshall looked fine. Although slurred speech is a classic stroke symptom, she didn’t have a droopy face or arm weakness. In a clear voice, she told her daughter not to worry.

Marshall, though, was concerned.

Two days earlier, she noticed that she’d slurred her own name. Her blood pressure had recently been slightly elevated. And she was still recovering from a serious bout of COVID-19, her third. All of this was unusual for Marshall, then 47 and in excellent health, thanks in part to running nearly every day.

Continue readingHealthy runner’s stroke followed a bad bout of COVID-19
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Millions of Americans suffer from long COVID. Why do treatments remain out of reach?

Published February 26, 2024

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Published by: USA Today
Published on:
By Eduardo Cuevas, Karen Weintraub

More than a year after catching COVID-19, Sawyer Blatz still can’t practice his weekly rituals: running for miles in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park or biking around his adopted hometown.

In many ways, the pandemic isn’t over for the 27-year-old and millions of other Americans. It may never be.

They have long COVID, a condition characterized by any combination of 200 different lingering symptoms, some of which, like loss of taste and smell are familiar from initial infections and some totally alien, like the utter exhaustion that makes it impossible for Blatz to walk much more than a block.

Continue readingMillions of Americans suffer from long COVID. Why do treatments remain out of reach?
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Solving the puzzle of Long Covid

Published February 22, 2024

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Published by: Science
Published on:
By Ziyad Al-Aly, Eric Topol

Preventing infections and reinfections is the best way to prevent Long Covid and should remain the foundation of public health policy. A greater commitment to nonpharmaceutical interventions, which include masking, especially in high-risk settings, and improved air quality through filtration and ventilation, are requisite. Updating building codes to require mitigation against airborne pathogens and ensure safer indoor air should be treated with the same seriousness afforded to mitigation of risks from earthquakes and other natural hazards. Reducing the risk of serious outcomes after COVID-19 and some prevention of Long Covid can be attained with vaccination of a wider spectrum of the population.

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Topic: PaxlovidView all posts for the topic: Paxlovid

Paxlovid use tied to 84% lower risk of hospital care

Published February 21, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill investigators report today that COVID-19 hospitalization risk was reduced by 84% among Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) recipients in a large, diverse healthcare system during January to August 2022, when the Omicron strain was dominant.

The study appears in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Paxlovid is authorized for use in US patients 12 years and older at risk for developing severe outcomes from COVID-19 infections. In early clinical trials, the use of the antiviral drug was associated with a relative risk reduction of 89% of disease progression to severe illness.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Study shows 43% to 58% lower prevalence of long COVID among vaccinated people

Published February 20, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Stephanie Soucheray

A new study based on 4,605 participants in the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study shows that the prevalence of long COVID symptoms at 30 and 90 days post-infection was 43% to 58% lower among adults who were fully vaccinated before infection.

The study appeared yesterday in the Annals of Epidemiology.

The 30- and 90-day timeframes were meant to compare two different definitions of long COVID. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the condition as new or persistent symptoms 4 weeks after infection, while the World Health Organization definition defines it as 12 or more weeks after infection.

Continue readingStudy shows 43% to 58% lower prevalence of long COVID among vaccinated people
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Long COVID rates vary significantly by state. See where California ranks

Published February 16, 2024

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Published by: San Francisco Chronicle
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By Aidin Vaziri

About a quarter of U.S. adults who had COVID-19 during the past four years endured persistent symptoms lasting at least three months following their infection. But the prevalence of long COVID varied significantly by state, with California having a relatively low incidence compared to the national average, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Long COVID encompasses over 200 symptoms that can last for months or even years after a coronavirus infection, including extreme fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, sexual dysfunction or digestive disorders.

The CDC’s breakdown of long COVID hotspots revealed a clear correlation between areas with higher rates of persistent symptoms and those with the greatest skepticism about the pandemic, per research from the National Institutes of Health.

Continue readingLong COVID rates vary significantly by state. See where California ranks
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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

Researchers report COVID home tests as accurate as the same tests given by a clinician

Published February 14, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Mary Van Beusekom

A single-center study conducted at a free community testing site in Maryland suggests that patient-administered BinaxNow COVID-19 rapid antigen tests (RATs) have similar accuracy as those performed by a clinician, although the results can be misinterpreted or falsely negative.

Researchers from the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital and Johns Hopkins University and their collaborators compared the sensitivity and specificity of Abbott’s BinaxNOW home RAT with those administered by a healthcare provider and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from February to July 2022, a period of Omicron variant predominance.

The median age of the 953 participants was 34 years, 60.6% were women, 58.6% were White, 98.2% were English-speaking, and 34.1% had at least one COVID-19 symptom. Hospital staff administered both a RAT and an RT-PCR test to participants, who then self-tested with a RAT, the results of which were both self-reported and reviewed by the researchers.

Continue readingResearchers report COVID home tests as accurate as the same tests given by a clinician
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Topic: seniorsView all posts for the topic: seniors

Thousands of seniors are still dying of Covid-19. Do we not care anymore?

Published February 8, 2024

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Published by: CNN
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By Judith Graham

The Covid-19 pandemic would be a wake-up call for America, advocates for the elderly predicted: incontrovertible proof that the nation wasn’t doing enough to care for vulnerable older adults.

The death toll was shocking, as were reports of chaos in nursing homes and seniors suffering from isolation, depression, untreated illness, and neglect. Around 900,000 older adults have died of Covid-19 to date, accounting for 3 of every 4 Americans who have perished in the pandemic.

But decisive actions that advocates had hoped for haven’t materialized. Today, most people — and government officials — appear to accept Covid as a part of ordinary life. Many seniors at high risk aren’t getting antiviral therapies for Covid, and most older adults in nursing homes aren’t getting updated vaccines. Efforts to strengthen care quality in nursing homes and assisted living centers have stalled amid debate over costs and the availability of staff. And only a small percentage of people are masking or taking other precautions in public despite a new wave of covid, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus infections hospitalizing and killing seniors.

Continue readingThousands of seniors are still dying of Covid-19. Do we not care anymore?
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Topic: New JerseyView all posts for the topic: New Jersey

Not wearing a mask during COVID-19 health emergency isn’t a free speech right, appeals court says

Published February 6, 2024

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Published by: The Associated Press
Published on:
By Mike Catalini

A federal appeals court shot down claims Monday that New Jersey residents’ refusal to wear face masks at school board meetings during the COVID-19 outbreak constituted protected speech under the First Amendment.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in two related cases stemming from lawsuits against officials in Freehold and Cranford, New Jersey.

The suits revolved around claims that the plaintiffs were retaliated against by school boards because they refused to wear masks during public meetings. In one of the suits, the court sent the case back to a lower court for consideration. In the other, it said the plaintiff failed to show she was retaliated against.

Continue readingNot wearing a mask during COVID-19 health emergency isn’t a free speech right, appeals court says
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Topic: United StatesView all posts for the topic: United States

New Analysis Reveals Many Excess Deaths Attributed to Natural Causes Are Actually Uncounted COVID-19 Deaths

Published February 6, 2024

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Published by: Boston University
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By Jillian McKoy

Nearly 1,170,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the United States according to official federal counts, but multiple excess mortality studies suggest that these totals are vastly undercounted. While excess mortality provides an estimation of deaths that likely would not have occurred under normal, non-pandemic conditions, there is still little evidence into whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus contributed to these additional deaths, or whether these deaths were caused by other factors such as healthcare disruptions or socioeconomic challenges.

Now, a new study led by the School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) provides the first concrete data showing that many of these excess deaths were indeed uncounted COVID-19 deaths.

Continue readingNew Analysis Reveals Many Excess Deaths Attributed to Natural Causes Are Actually Uncounted COVID-19 Deaths
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Topic: air samplersView all posts for the topic: air samplers

Air sampling in Dane County schools tracks flu, COVID-19

Published February 4, 2024

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Published by: Wisconsin State Journal
Published on:
By David Wahlberg

Air sampling in Dane County schools is helping health officials track flu and COVID-19, similar to how wastewater is increasingly monitored around the country for the coronavirus to gauge activity as fewer people get tested for COVID-19.

Since the beginning of the school year, flu and COVID-19 data from 16 air monitors at 15 schools in or near the county has been reported on Public Health Madison and Dane County’s respiratory illness dashboard. The devices, roughly the size of microwave ovens, are placed in communal spaces such as cafeterias. They suck air, including airborne viruses, into spongy material that is analyzed for viral genetic material.

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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Bernie Sanders: US is turning its back on long COVID. We’ll pay the price if we don’t act.

Published January 26, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: USA Today
Published on:
By Bernie Sanders

As all of us know, the COVID-19 pandemic was the worst public health crisis in more than a century. Since the first cases four years ago, well more than 100 million Americans have gotten the virus, more than 6.7 million Americans have been hospitalized and more than 1 million Americans have died.

More Americans have died from COVID-19 than were killed during World War II.

The pandemic created the most painful economic downturn since the Great Depression, disrupted the education of our young people and increased isolation, anxiety and mental illness.

I am more than aware that many Americans are tired of hearing about COVID-19 and would like to sweep it under the rug. Unfortunately, the virus is not done with us.

Continue readingBernie Sanders: US is turning its back on long COVID. We’ll pay the price if we don’t act.
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

New long COVID study uncovers high inflammation in patients as Senate calls for more research on ‘crisis’

Published January 24, 2024

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Published by: ABC News
Published on:
By Ashley Riegle

The burden of disease and disability from long COVID is on par with the burden of cancer and heart disease. We must develop sustainable solutions to prevent repeated infections with SARS-CoV-2 and long COVID that would be embraced by the public.

—Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly
Continue readingNew long COVID study uncovers high inflammation in patients as Senate calls for more research on ‘crisis’
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Topic: CaliforniaView all posts for the topic: California

California Drastically Cuts Isolation Guidelines For Covid-19

Published January 22, 2024

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Published by: Forbes
Published on:
By Judy Stone

Instead of relying on a test of your infectiousness from Covid-19 and symptoms to determine the need to isolate, California now is ignoring the test results.

California’s Department of Health recently made major changes to its isolation requirements, one based on symptoms alone.

Continue readingCalifornia Drastically Cuts Isolation Guidelines For Covid-19
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

“Living through a mass disabling event”: Will Congress finally take long COVID patients seriously?

Published January 20, 2024

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Published by: Salon
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By Nicole Karlis

Over the last four years, Angela Meriquez Vázquez has faced a long list of health scares and conditions, any of which could have had a profound impact on her life individually. From mini-strokes to brain swelling to seizures to painful heart palpitations — not to mention severe shortness of breath, extreme confusion and numbness in her face — Vasquez didn’t start to experience these events until after she got infected with COVID-19 in March 2020.

Prior to the infection, Vázquez was a healthy runner for nearly 20 years. Today, she is on 12 different prescription medications, including weekly IV treatments at the hospital. She has a “strict pacing regimen” that allows her to work from home, but not much else.

“I do not socialize, or enjoy my old hobbies, and I don’t really leave my home, especially now that I am now considered high-risk,” Vázquez said in a hearing with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, emphasizing that Congress needs to treat long-COVID like the crisis it is. “We are living through what is likely to be the largest mass disabling event in modern history.”

Vázquez was one of three long COVID patients who confronted Congress about the issue for the first time on Jan. 18 in Washington D.C.

Continue reading“Living through a mass disabling event”: Will Congress finally take long COVID patients seriously?
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Study: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022Lieutenant (junior grade) Kayla Marthy, from Long Island, New York (left), and Lieutenant (junior grade) Brianna Garcia, from St. Petersburg, Florida, treat a patient in the intensive care unit aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), on April 13, 2020. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan M. Breeden.
Topic: N95 respiratorsView all posts for the topic: N95 respirators

Study: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022

Published January 17, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
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By Mary Van Beusekom

Implementation of ventilation standards of at least five clean-air changes per hour, COVID-19 testing, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and universal wearing of respirators prevented most SARS-CoV-2 transmissions in a California healthcare system from 2020 to 2022, suggests a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

For the study, University of California (UC) researchers used electronic health records and movement data of patients and staff to conduct viral genomic and social network analyses to estimate COVID-19 spread in the UC–San Diego Health system. The team analyzed 12,933 viral genomes from 35,666 infected patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) (out of 1,303,622 tests [2.7%]) from November 2020 to January 2022.

Continue readingStudy: Infection-control measures stemmed COVID spread in hospitals from 2020 to 2022
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Topic: the pandemic is not overView all posts for the topic: the pandemic is not over

COVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life.

Published January 17, 2024

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Published by: Teen Vogue
Published on:
By Alice Wong

The answers lie in poop. Based on the latest national sample of wastewater taken on January 13, 2024, the concentration of the SARS-Cov-2 virus is 1,132 copies/mL of sewage, an alarming increase compared to 280 copies/mL six months ago. This is one sign that cases of COVID infections have been rising, resulting in more hospitalizations, deaths, and people developing long COVID.

Like millions of other high-risk people who are service workers, older, chronically ill, disabled, or immunocompromised, I have done everything I can to remain as safe as possible. Due to neuromuscular disability and respiratory failure, my chances of surviving an infection are slim to none. With the latest JN.1 variant likely even more contagious – or better practiced at evading immune system defenses – than previous ones, I wonder if this is the surge when I will become infected, which is terrifying.

Continue readingCOVID Isn’t Going Anywhere. Masking Up Could Save My Life.
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID

Study: COVID-19 vaccine tied to lower risk of long COVID in kids

Published January 16, 2024

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Published by: CIDRAP
Published on:
By Stephanie Soucheray

A study today in the journal Pediatrics from researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia suggests COVID-19 vaccines have a moderately protective effect in kids against long COVID.

The authors of the retrospective study mined electronic health records from 17 healthcare systems to assess whether the vaccine protected children from long COVID, which has been less common in kids than in adults. The study began in October 2022.

Continue readingStudy: COVID-19 vaccine tied to lower risk of long COVID in kids
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