Monthly Archives: May 2022

LONDON (AP) The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths are still falling globally after peaking in January, the World Health Organization said.

In its latest weekly assessment of the pandemic, the U.N. health agency said there were more than 3.7 million new infections and 9,000 deaths in the last week, drops of 3 percent and 11 percent respectively. COVID-19 cases rose in only two regions of the world: the Americas and the Western Pacific. Deaths increased by 30 percent in the Middle East, but were stable or decreased everywhere else.

WHO said it is tracking all omicron subvariants as variants of concern. It noted that countries which had a significant wave of disease caused by the omicron subvariant BA.2 appeared to be less affected by other subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5, which were responsible for the latest surge of disease in South Africa.

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Salim Abdool Karim, an infectious diseases expert at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said it appeared that South Africa had passed its most recent wave of COVID-19 caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants; the country has been on the forefront of the pandemic since first detecting the omicron variant last November.

Karim predicted that another mutated version of omicron might emerge in June, explaining that the large number of mutations in the variant meant there were more opportunities for it to evolve.

Meanwhile in Beijing, authorities in the Chinese capital ordered more workers and students to stay home and implemented additional mass testing Monday as cases of COVID-19 continue to rise. Numerous residential compounds in the city have restricted movement in and out, although lockdown conditions remain far less severe than in Shanghai, where millions of citizens have been under varying degrees of lockdown for two months.

China is vowing to stick to a zero-COVID policy despite the fact that the WHO describes the policy as unsustainable, given the infectious nature of omicron and its subvariants.

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WHO says COVID-19 cases are falling globally, except in the Americas - PBS NewsHour

San Diego Countys latest coronavirus numbers show that a persons chances of getting infected this Memorial Day weekend will be much greater than they were one year ago.

Daily case counts updated Thursday afternoon show that there were 1,897 new cases reported Wednesday, nearly 26 times the 73 reported on the same day in 2021. COVID-19-related hospitalizations are also increasing, though at a much slower pace than was the case during the Delta variant surge last summer.

Last year, the states reopening system was still in effect for what is traditionally seen as the start of the summer vacation season. Masks were still required, and some types of businesses and entertainment venues were still closed.

This year, its just the opposite. Everything is open, and masks are not required, even on planes and other forms of shared transportation.

The differences were an unspoken part of a coronavirus-themed news event Thursday organized by county Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and San Diego Councilmember Jennifer Campbell.

While many hours have been spent counseling the public to wear masks and avoid crowds over the last two and a half years of the pandemic, nobody reiterated those messages during Thursdays prepared remarks.

There seemed to be a tacit understanding among the politicians and health care experts who took the podium that the public is going to do what its going to do over the next few days. Those planning to attend parties are not likely to cancel their plans over coronavirus. Those who have remained concerned likely have already limited their social calendars and are already wearing masks when in public places.

But with coronavirus spreading as readily as it has been, it appears inevitable that further increases in new infections will be likely in the coming weeks and months, especially as new variants first spotted overseas appear on the West Coast.

Those who do end up getting sick, experts said, need to understand that they can significantly improve their odds of having a mild coronavirus encounter if they understand and seek out drugs shown to greatly reduces the chances of hospitalization and death if they are taken early enough in the course of illness.

County treatment centers currently offer two different medications capable of preventing the virus from replicating itself after it enters the body, greatly reducing the chances of severe COVID-19 consequences.

Paxlovid, an antiviral medication made by Pfizer, is in pill form and must be taken within five days of symptoms appearing while monoclonal antibody Bebtelovimab must be administered intravenously within seven days.

Treatment is effective and its available, said Dr. Jennifer Tuteur, the countys deputy chief medical officer. If youre at risk of getting severe complications from COVID, please access treatment for yourself and your loved ones.

These drugs remain available only to those said to be at an elevated risk of severe COVID-19 complications. Anyone age 65 years and older is eligible as is anyone with a compromised immune system or a chronic disease such as diabetes, chronic kidney, liver or heart disease, mental health disorders such as depression or schizophrenia, and neurologic conditions such as dementia.

Current and former smokers are also included as is anyone with a body mass index of 30 or greater (180 pounds for a person who is five feet, five inches tall). A full list of qualifying conditions is available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though Tuteur urges anyone who thinks they might qualify to discuss the situation with their doctor first.

Appointments are available seven days per week by calling 619-685-2500 or visiting coronavirus-SD.com.

Campbell said she recently became quite ill with a coronavirus infection and received a monoclonal treatment, avoiding progression of the disease.

Whether you have been infected after you were vaccinated and boosted, or whether you were not vaccinated, it doesnt matter, you can still come in and get treatment, Campbell said.

Overall, daily new-case totals have remained over 1,000 in six of the past seven days, according to county records, falling from the 1,578 new cases reported on Tuesday, May 18, to only 917 Tuesday before jumping back up to 1,897 Wednesday.

Total local hospitalizations fell below 100 on May 1 but have gradually risen over the past month, reaching 180 Wednesday.

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COVID-19 numbers 26 times higher than going into last Memorial Day weekend - The San Diego Union-Tribune

COVID-19 transmission in Connecticut appears to be slowing, state numbers show, following several months of steady increase.

As of Thursday, the state averaged 1,137 daily cases over the past week, down from nearly 1,600 at one point earlier this month, though still much higher than immediately before the current wave. The states seven-day positivity rate, meanwhile, has decreased from 14.2 percent last week to 11.8 percent as of Thursday.

Though both case counts and test positivity rate are likely skewed by the popularity of at-home tests, most of which are never reported to authorities, experts say the metrics can still be useful in assessing broad trends.

Additionally, traces of COVID-19 in New Haven wastewater appear to have plateaued or even decreased slightly, data from Yale researchers shows, offering another sign that transmission in Connecticut has reached a peak, at least for now.

As of Thursday, Connecticut had 379 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, down slightly from Wednesday, when hospitalizations hit their highest level since February. Hospitalizations have continued to increase in recent days but not as sharply as earlier this month.

Over the last two weeks, weve seen at least some stabilization in terms of COVID hospitalizations, which we can track, and community transmission, which we can roughly estimate with the current data, said Dr. David Banach, hospital epidemiologist at UConn Health. So Im optimistic, with some caution, for the coming weeks.

Since March, Connecticut has been mired in a COVID-19 spike, which experts have attributed to the BA.2 subvariant. What was initially expected to be a relatively small uptick has instead caused a substantial increase in cases and hospitalizations, lasting more than two months.

Coronavirus-linked deaths have not particularly spiked during the recent wave, which may owe to the fact that deaths lag cases and hospitalizations but may also be a product of vaccine protection, strains of virus that are somewhat less deadly, and improved treatment protocols, including antiviral pills.

Connecticut on Thursday reported 19 COVID-19 deaths over the past week, bringing its total during the pandemic to 10,941.

In terms of severity of the hospitalized patients, we are seeing a smaller number with an intensive-care level of illness, Banach said. I think thats encouraging.

Still, even as Connecticuts case count and positivity rate have dipped slightly in recent days, transmission in Connecticut remains high, with tens of thousands of new infections (both reported and unreported) likely occurring each week.

Dr. Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford HealthCare, said Thursday that hes not yet ready to celebrate any improvement in the state numbers.

We are at a place where we shouldnt be at all, Wu said. Whether its 383 [hospitalizations] yesterday or 379 today, both numbers are equally bad.

Connecticuts recent COVID-19 uptick, which came almost immediately on the heels of the states devastating omicron-driven winter surge, has led some infectious disease experts to fear the state will see high levels of transmission indefinitely, with new variants emerging one after another.

Already, the state has identified several cases of BA.4 and BA.5, subvariants that caused a dramatic COVID-19 uptick in South Africa.

Wu said recent trends in Connecticuts numbers have not changed his relatively pessimistic outlook about the months to come. As he sees it, Connecticut could return to lower viral levels by the end of June but could also see cases rise again at any time.

With a population that has apathy and doesnt care, whats going to happen is were going to see wave after wave after wave, Wu said. We are going to see a downturn at some point, but it really depends how prolonged that downturn is and then what is the depth of that downturn.

Even as Connecticuts cases decrease, Wu said, they are unlikely to return to the lows recorded last summer.

Its like coming down from Everest to the Tibetan pleateau, he said. Youre still pretty frickin high up in the Tibetan plateau.

Banach offered a slightly more optimistic view, arguing that summer weather, which facilitates outdoor activity, should help Connecticut keep its numbers lower than they have been.

As he sees it, Connecticuts recent decrease in cases and positivity rate could be the start of a lower-risk period.

We still need to be aware that COVID is around us, but here in Connecticut warmer weather, spending more time outdoors is beneficial in reducing the risk of spread, he said. So I think we can maintain some cautious optimism for the next few weeks.

alex.putterman@hearstmediact.com

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At least for now, COVID-19 transmission in Connecticut appears to be slowing - CT Insider

"In a world ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic with rapidly mutating variants emerging ever so often, it is a race for the scientific community to develop new therapies in a timely manner."

"We are excited to announce that our research and development efforts have paid off at a fast pace with our single B cell technology that's shown neutralizing efficacy against the world's most common and deadly Omicron variant", shared Juz-Hsiang Chiu, M.D., AcadeMab CEO.

Despite high vaccination rates worldwide, vaccines are only part of the system of treatments to deal with the scourge of COVID-19.

The Omicron variant has been proven to show remarkable resistance to most of the earlier immunotherapies developed, such as Bamlanivimab developed by Eli Lilly and antibody cocktail of Casirivimab and Imdevimab developed by Regeneron pharmaceuticals.

As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked or limited the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for most therapeutic antibodies.

Studies conducted by AcadeMab have found high efficacy of their human monoclonal antibodies against the Omicron variant within 4 months.

In one of their studies, it was found that one human antibody showed the best neutralization ability (IC50 = 11.4 and 4.3 ng/ml) in both Omicron variants BA.1 and BA.2 respectively.

"We've also seen broad-spectrum activity in our treatment against multiple circulating variants of concern (VOCs) announced by the World Health Organisation."

"Aside from its neutralizing efficacy against Omicron, this means it shows great potential to be a therapy of choice for patients infected with other COVID-19 variants aside from Omicron", said Pao-Yin Chiang, Ph.D., the lead scientist of single B cell platform at AcadeMab.

The development of AcadeMab's cutting-edge technology using Single B cell technology will be of immense benefit to a segment of high-risk people who cannot benefit fully from mere vaccination alone.

They include those who are moderately to severely immunocompromised and lack adequate immunity responses despite COVID-19 vaccinations. It is estimated that about 2.7% of adults (or, 7 million) in the U.S population are immunocompromised.

This groundbreaking treatment will also be beneficial to those who have a documented history of severe adverse reactions to existing COVID-19 vaccines or their components, and as such, are unable to be vaccinated.

Parties interested in establishing partnership and learning more about AcadeMab's research may contact:

PR NAME: Miles Yeh, Ph.D., Director of Product DevelopmentCONTACT NUMBER: +886-2789-1212 ext. 810EMAIL: [emailprotected]

SOURCE AcadeMab Biomedical Inc.

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Taiwan's AcadeMab develops groundbreaking therapy for COVID-19 Omicron variant with potent neutralizing efficacy - PR Newswire

When telogen effluvium occurs, the hair loss is rapid. We all lose about 100 hairs per day on average, but in the case of telogen effluvium, youre suddenly losing way more than that, Dr. Bhanusali says. He adds that people tend to notice it when they see large clumps in their hands after washing their hair, see lots of hair in the shower drain, or notice that their brush or comb is filling up much faster than normal. This isnt a gradual type of hair loss or subtle hair thinningits an acute, intense, sudden shedding that can leave your hair feeling less full overall and often manifests as noticeable thinness and sparseness along the sides of the temples.5

Its unclear if hair loss after COVID-19 correlates with any other specific symptoms of the virus or how sick you get. The American Academy of Dermatology has a COVID-19 registry and we hope over time we will be able to extrapolate some data to find associations, but so far there are no clear relationships, Dr. Kuhn says. I have seen severe shedding following a mild case of COVID, and mild shedding following severe illness.

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How long does hair loss after COVID-19 last?

Telogen effluvium, whether its caused by COVID-19 or another trigger, usually isnt permanent. Shedding can occur, however, for three to six months before it stops, Dr. Kuhn says. With telogen effluvium the hair growth cycle eventually normalizes and, because there is no damage to the scalp or hair follicles, all of the hair should grow back.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, your hair will likely regain normal fullness after telogen effluvium within six to nine months. Although Dr. Kuhn says, in her experience, it often takes even longeranywhere from one to two yearsfor someones hair to reach its pre-shed status.

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Have any of the COVID-19 vaccines been linked to hair loss?

Theres no research to indicate that the COVID vaccines trigger hair shedding, Dr. Kuhn says, adding that, in her experience, she hasnt seen any people dealing with hair loss postvaccine. Dr. Bhanusali underscores the fact that theres currently no direct data to connect the two.

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How to stop hair loss after COVID-19

Most importantly, be patient. Though losing hair can be scary, I always reassure patients that they wont go bald from COVID-related shedding, Dr. Kuhn says. Typically, the best thing to do is simply wait it out. In the meantime, practicing healthy hair habits is paramount.

You want to make sure that youre doing everything you can to minimize the risk of losing any more hair, Dr. Bhanusali notes. That means avoiding heat styling and/or using the lowest temperature whenever you do, minimizing intense chemical processes such as highlighting and straightening, and avoiding tight hairstyles that put tension on the hair.

You can also consider getting tested for nutrient deficiencies to ensure thats not exacerbating the situation. If you are, in fact, lacking in a certain vitamin or mineral thats associated with hair healthDr. Bhanusali notes that vitamin D and iron deficiencies are commontalk to your doctor about how to incorporate more of it into your diet and/or if youll need to try a supplement (and if so, what the dosage should be).

And while its always easier said than done, lowering your stress levels may also help. Practicing self-care and engaging in things such as meditation and breathing exercises can be helpful as you deal with COVID-related hair loss, Dr. Ziering suggests. Breaking long-term stress can be helpful in helping normal hair function resume more consistently. That said, lowering stress levels may feel nearly impossible given whats going on in the world or in your personal life, so if self-care isnt cutting it, consider talking to a therapist if youre able.

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Hair Loss After COVID-19: Why It Happens and How to Treat It - Self

Spallanzani infectious disease hospital Director Francesco Vaia talks to reporters at the end of a news conference Friday in Rome. Andrew Medichini/AP hide caption

Spallanzani infectious disease hospital Director Francesco Vaia talks to reporters at the end of a news conference Friday in Rome.

The recent headlines about a sudden emergence of an unusual disease, spreading case by case across countries and continents may, for some, evoke memories of early 2020.

But monkeypox is no COVID-19 in a good way.

Health officials worldwide have turned their attention to a new outbreak of monkeypox, a virus normally found in central and west Africa that has appeared across Europe and the U.S. in recent weeks even in people who have not traveled to Africa at all.

But experts say that, while it's important for public health officials to be on the lookout for monkeypox, the virus is extremely unlikely to spin out into an uncontrolled worldwide pandemic in the same way that COVID-19 did.

"Let's just say right off the top that monkeypox and COVID are not the same disease," said Dr. Rosamund Lewis, head of Smallpox Secretariat at the World Health Organization, at a public Q&A session on Monday.

For starters, monkeypox spreads much less easily than COVID-19. Scientists have been studying monkeypox since it was first discovered in humans more than 50 years ago. And its similarities to smallpox mean it can be combated in many of the same ways.

As a result, scientists are already familiar with how monkeypox spreads, how it presents, and how to treat and contain it giving health authorities a much bigger head start on containing it.

Here are some of the other ways the public health approach to monkeypox is different from COVID-19:

Monkeypox typically requires very close contact to spread most often skin-to-skin contact, or prolonged physical contact with clothes or bedding that was used by an infected person.

By contrast, COVID-19 spreads quickly and easily. Coronavirus can spread simply by talking with another person, or sharing a room, or in rare cases, being inside a room that an infected person had previously been in.

"Transmission is really happening from close physical contact, skin-to-skin contact. It's quite different from COVID in that sense," said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the WHO.

The classic symptom of monkeypox is a rash that often begins on the face, then spreads to a person's limbs or other parts of the body.

"The incubation from time of exposure to appearance of lesions is anywhere between five days to about 21 days, so can be quite long," said Dr. Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, an infectious disease physician and virologist at Emory University in Atlanta.

The current outbreak has seen some different patterns, experts say particularly, that the rash begins in the genital area first, and may not spread across the body.

Either way, experts say, it is typically through physical contact of that rash that the virus spreads.

"It's not a situation where if you're passing someone in the grocery store, they're going to be at risk for monkeypox," said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a briefing Monday.

The people most likely to be at risk are close personal contacts of an infected person, such as household members or health care workers who may have treated them, she said.

"We've seen over the years that often the best way to deal with cases is to keep those who are sick isolated so that they can't spread the virus to close family members and loved ones, and to follow up proactively with those that a patient has contact with so they can watch for symptoms," McQuiston said.

With this version of virus, people generally recover in two to four weeks, scientists find, and the death rate is less than 1%.

One factor that helped COVID-19 spread rapidly across the globe was the fact that it is very contagious. That's even more true of the variants that have emerged in the past year.

Epidemiologists point to a disease's R0 value the average number of people you'd expect an infected person to pass the disease along to.

For a disease outbreak to grow, the R0 must be higher than 1. For the original version of COVID-19, the number was somewhere between 2 and 3. For the omicron variant, that number is about 8, a recent study found.

Although the recent spread of monkeypox cases is alarming, the virus is far less contagious than COVID-19, according to Jo Walker, an epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health.

"Most estimates from earlier outbreaks have had an R0 of less than one. With that, you can have clusters of cases, even outbreaks, but they will eventually die out on their own," they said. "It could spread between humans, but not very efficiently in a way that could sustain itself onward without constantly being reintroduced from animal populations."

That's a big reason that public health authorities, including the WHO, are expressing confidence that cases of monkeypox will not suddenly skyrocket. "This is a containable situation," Van Kerkhove said Monday at the public session.

Monkeypox and smallpox are both members of the Orthopox family of viruses. Smallpox, which once killed millions of people every year, was eradicated in 1980 by a successful worldwide campaign of vaccines.

The smallpox vaccine is about 85% effective against monkeypox, the WHO says, although that effectiveness wanes over time.

"These viruses are closely related to each other, and now we have the benefit of all those years of research and diagnostics and treatments and in vaccines that will be brought to bear upon the situation now," said Lewis of the WHO.

Some countries, including the U.S., have held smallpox vaccines in strategic reserve in case the virus ever reemerged. Now, those can be used to contain a monkeypox outbreak.

The FDA has two vaccines already approved for use against smallpox.

One, a two-dose vaccine called Jynneos, is also approved for use against monkeypox. About a thousand doses are available in the Strategic National Stockpile, the CDC says, and the company will provide more in the coming months.

"We have already worked to secure sufficient supply of effective treatments and vaccines to prevent those exposed from contracting monkeypox and treating people who've been affected," said Dr. Raj Panjabi of the White House pandemic office, in an interview with NPR.

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Monkeypox and COVID-19 are different in a good way - NPR

The global excess mortality associated with COVID-19 was 14.91 million in the 24 months between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021, representing 9.49 million more deaths than those globally reported as directly attributable to COVID-19.

The impact of the pandemic has been over several waves with each characterized by unique regional distributions, mortality levels and drivers. Twenty countries, representing approximately 50% of the global population, account for over 80% of the estimatedglobal excess mortality for the January 2020 to December 2021 period. These countries are Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, the Russian Federation, South Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States of America (USA). We are able to observe the evolution of the pandemic over these 24 months as different regions and countries were impactedby and responded to the threat of COVID-19.

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Global excess deaths associated with COVID-19, January 2020 - December 2021 - World Health Organization