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Category Archives: Corona Virus

Opinion | We Study Virus Evolution. Here’s Where We Think the Coronavirus Is Going. – The New York Times

Posted: March 31, 2022 at 2:39 am

By Sarah Cobey, Jesse Bloom, Tyler Starr and Nathaniel Lash

Dr. Cobey studies the interaction of immunity, virus evolution and transmission at the University of Chicago. Dr. Bloom and Dr. Starr study virus evolution at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Mr. Lash is a graphics editor for Opinion.

As scientists who study how viruses evolve, we are often asked about the future of the coronavirus. Will it go away? Get worse? Fade into the background of our lives? Become seasonal like the flu?

Heres what we know: The viruss Omicron variant was significantly more infectious and more resistant to vaccines than the original strain that first emerged in Wuhan, China. Theres no reason, at least biologically, that the virus wont continue to evolve. The coronavirus variants that have emerged thus far sample only a fraction of the genetic space that is most likely available for evolutionary exploration.

A virus like SARS-CoV-2 faces one overriding pressure: to become better at spreading. Viruses that cause more infections will be more successful. The virus can do this by becoming more contagious and by skirting the immune system. This coronavirus has undergone several adaptations that make it better at spreading in humans.

But although many scientists, including us, expected SARS-CoV-2 would be under evolutionary pressure to transmit better, its been remarkable just how well the virus has responded to that pressure. Recent variants like Omicron and Delta are several times more transmissible than the strain that first spread around the globe in early 2020. Thats a huge increase, and makes SARS-CoV-2 more contagious than many other human respiratory viruses. These big jumps in contagiousness have played a major role in driving the pandemic so far.

Chart showing properties of certain SARS-CoV-2 variants. Along the X axis, reductions in antibody effectiveness for variants is shown. Along the Y axis are figures on how much more contagious the variant is compared to the original SARS-CoV-2.

How the coronavirus has changed

Comparing coronavirus variants to early 2020 strains.

Antibodies are

less effective

Estimated reduction in antibody effectiveness

How the coronavirus has mutated

Comparing coronavirus variants to early 2020 strains.

Antibodies are

less effective

Estimated reduction in antibody effectiveness

How the coronavirus has changed

Comparing coronavirus variants to early 2020 strains.

Antibodies are

less effective

Estimated reduction in antibody effectiveness

How much more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 can become is an open question, but there are limits. Even evolution is constrained: a cheetah cant evolve to be infinitely fast, and SARS-CoV-2 wont become infinitely transmissible.

Other viruses have reached plateaus in their ability to spread. Some respiratory viruses such as measles are more contagious than todays SARS-CoV-2. Others, such as influenza, are generally not as contagious as SARS-CoV-2. We dont know when this coronavirus will hit its transmissibility plateau, but it will happen eventually.

Viruses such as this one can also spread better by escaping immunity to prior variants. Early in the pandemic, few people had immunity to SARS-CoV-2. But now much of the world has antibodies from vaccination or prior infection. Because these antibodies can block infection, variants with mutations that skirt them have an increasing advantage.

The importance of immune escape has become apparent with Omicron. Prior variants like Delta were only modestly able to sidestep antibodies, but Omicron has many mutations that reduce the ability of antibodies to recognize it. This, coupled with how contagious Omicron is, has enabled it to cause a huge wave of infections.

The fact that the virus developed the ability to infect people who had been vaccinated or previously infected shouldnt have been a surprise, but how it happened with Omicron certainly was. Evolution often proceeds stepwise, with new successful variants descended from recent successful ones. Thats why six months ago many scientists, including us, thought the next variant would descend from Delta, which was dominant at the time. But evolution defied our expectations, and we got Omicron, which has a huge number of mutations and isnt descended from Delta. Its not known exactly how the virus made the big evolutionary jump that led to Omicron, although many scientists (including us) suspect the variant may have emerged from someone who couldnt fight off the virus well, allowing it time to mutate.

Its impossible to say whether future variants will have more big Omicron-like jumps or more typical stepwise changes, but we are confident SARS-CoV-2 will continue to evolve to escape immunity.

While transmissibility of viruses does plateau at a certain point, other human viruses that escape immunity keep doing so. The influenza vaccine has been updated annually for decades to chase viral evolution, and some influenza viruses show no sign of slowing down. Immune escape is an endless evolutionary arms race, because the immune system can always make new antibodies and the virus has a vast set of mutations to explore in response. For instance, Omicron has just a tiny fraction of the many mutations that have been observed in SARS-CoV-2 or related bat viruses, which are in turn just a small fraction of what lab experiments suggest the virus could potentially explore.

Taking all this together, we expect SARS-CoV-2 will continue to cause new epidemics, but they will increasingly be driven by the ability to skirt the immune system. In this sense, the future may look something like the seasonal flu, where new variants cause waves of cases each year. If this happens, which we expect it will, vaccines may need to be updated regularly similar to the flu vaccines unless we develop broader variant-proof vaccines.

And of course, how much all this matters for public health depends on how sick the virus makes us. That is the hardest prediction to make, because evolution selects for viruses that spread well, and whether that makes disease severity go up or down is mostly a matter of luck. But we do know that immunity reduces disease severity even when it doesnt fully block infections and spread, and immunity gained from vaccination and prior infections has helped blunt the impact of the Omicron wave in many countries. Updated or improved vaccines and other measures that slow transmission remain our best strategies for handling an uncertain evolutionary future.

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WHO urges countries to keep up COVID-19 testing and surveillance as the viral outbreak remains a global pandemic – MarketWatch

Posted: at 2:38 am

The World Health Organization said Wednesday its increasingly concerned at the reduction in COVID-19 testing, surveillance and overall monitoring among its member countries, reminding the public that the coronavirus is still circulating at high levels.

COVID-19 remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and it is too early to reduce the quality of surveillance, the agency said in its weekly epidemiological update.

Data are becoming progressively less representative, less timely and less robust, as many countries start to behave as if the pandemic has reached an endemic phase, where the virus is still present but is no longer infecting so many people that its overwhelming healthcare systems.

Until we reach the end of the acute phase of the pandemic, countries must maintain sufficient epidemiologic surveillance to inform evidence-based operational decision-making on crucial parameters, including vaccination strategies, vaccine composition, use of therapeutics, and tailored and appropriate public health and social measures, said the update.

The global tally of new cases fell in the week through March 27, a welcome trend after it rose in the two preceding weeks. But global deaths climbed to more than 45,000, up 43% from a week earlier, although that might be due to changes in how they are defined in some countries in the Americas and Asia.

The WHO also offered another update on some of the recombinant variants of the virus, includingone that has been unofficially named deltacronbecause it combines features of the delta and omicron variants.

Just last week, the agency assigned that variant Pango lineage designation XD under the system used to name and track variants as they emerge. It reiterated that, for now, there is no new evidence to suggest XD is associated with higher transmissibility or more severe outcomes but said it would continue to keep close tabs on that and other variants.

See: U.S. average daily deaths from COVID fall below 800 to lowest level since mid-August, and FDA allows second booster shot for people 50 and older

The news comes a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the BA.2 subvariant of omicron accounted for 55% of new U.S. cases in the week through Saturday. The subvariant is more infectious than the original omicron but appears to be no more lethal.

The average number of deaths in the U.S. fell again after dipping below 800 on Tuesday for the first time since omicron took hold,according to a New York Times tracker.

The seven-day average death tally stands at 716, down 42% from two weeks ago.

New cases are averaging 29,253, down 9% from two weeks ago, and hospitalizations are down 34% at an average of 17,464.

But cases have started to climb again in states in the Northeast and South, and the pace of improvement in places where they are falling has slowed.

Other COVID-19 news you should know about:

President Joe Biden was scheduled to deliver remarks later Wednesday on the rollout of a new website to offer Americans help in accessing vaccines, tests, treatments and masks, according to a White House official. Biden will outline the infrastructure and tools and the systems the government has put in place to help the country battle COVID.Biden is also expected to urge Congress to allocate the funding needed for the next part of the program and to highlight the risks if lawmakers fail to act.

See: Biden to receive second COVID vaccine booster shot: White House

A sharp rise in COVID deaths during Hong Kongs fifth wave has led to a shortage of coffins, the South China Morning Post reported. In some instances, coffins are understood to have been stolen or the subject of mix-ups in funeral homes.

Adagio Therapeutics Inc. ADGI, +30.39% said its experimental COVID-19 monoclonal antibody worked as a treatment and for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis in a Phase 2/3 clinical trial. Adagio said it plans to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration in the second quarter of this year. The drug, adintrevimab, was put into clinical trials before the emergence of the omicron variant, the company said; however, Adagio noted that it then conducted a pre-specified exploratory analysis among a group of participants in the pre-exposure cohort, and when compared to placebo, a clinically meaningful reduction in cases of symptomatic COVID-19 was reported.

See now: BioNTech reports soaring earnings, revenue on COVID vaccine, plans $1.5 billion in buybacks

CureVac CVAC, +0.52% said it dosed the first participant in a Phase 1 clinical trial for the new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine its developing with GlaxoSmithKline GSK, +0.95% GSK, +1.18%. The study is being conducted in the U.S. and is set to enroll 210 adults. The company said it expects to have data in the second half of this year. Continued innovation and progress in the development of mRNA-based vaccines is a critical prerequisite to combat the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Klaus Edvardsen, CureVacs chief development officer, said in a news release.

Heres what the numbers say

The global tally of confirmed cases of COVID-19 topped 485.8 million on Tuesday, while the death toll rose above 6.13 million,according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. leads the world with 80 million cases and 978,842 fatalities.

TheCenters for Disease Control and Preventions trackershows that 217.5 million people living in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, equal to 65.5% of the population. But just 97.4 million are boosted, equal to 44.8% of the vaccinated population.

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COVID-19 and Sex: What Men Need to Know – Everyday Health

Posted: at 2:38 am

Just over two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, experts are still unraveling the mysterious impacts the coronavirus has on almost every part of the body from the heart, lungs, and brain to the eyes, skin, and reproductive organs.

While most studies on COVID-19s effect on fertility have focused on women, emerging research on men is starting to show that the infection may lead to a temporary dip in male fertility and sexual function.

A study published in November 2021 in the Journal of Endocrinological Investigation found that men whod had COVID-19 were over 3 times more likely to experience erectile dysfunction than men whod not had COVID-19. Still, this accounted for less than 5 percent of people in the study whod been infected.

According to Kevin Chu, MD, an andrology fellow at the University of Miami, the discovery of the coronavirus in penile and testicular tissue raised questions that required answers.

Finding virus in this tissue is what first drove researchers to look at certain parts of the body that werent initially looked at, says Dr. Chu. There is still so much we dont know.

For astudy published in February 2022 in the journal Sexual Medicine, Chu and his coauthors hypothesized that because COVID-19 can result in the constriction of blood vessels around the heart, it might affect a mans ability to have an erection.

You need good blood flow into the penis to get good erections, and if thats impacted, that could cause erectile dysfunction, says Chu.

He and his team reviewed electronic medical records of millions of patients in the United States, identifying over 230,000 adult men who had COVID-19 and comparing them with a similar number of men who were not infected. Their conclusion: COVID-19 can be linked to erectile dysfunction.

According to Chu, experts should continue to review new data as it comes out.

Looking for associations is an important first step, but we need to then identify these cause-and-effect correlations, he says.

Its important to note that erections are not purely biological. They require psychosocial factors and that needs to be looked at, too, Chu says, explaining that the mental strain from being sick or even the stress of the pandemic might come into play.

Scientists have long documented the toll that stress takes on libido and sexual function, but the research on how pandemic-related stress is affecting peoples sex lives has produced mixed results.

A meta-analysis published in January 2022 in the journal BMC Public Health looked at 26 studies involving nearly 2,500 women and 3,800 men. Overall, the researchers found that there was an association between the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced sexual activity, especially in women, and that fear of contracting or transmitting COVID-19 had the greatest impact on the occurrence of sexual dysfunction.

But a small study published in February 2021 in the journal Sexual Medicine, which included 76 male cannabis users, found that the pandemic didnt appear to influence sexual function and actually increased sexual activity.

The research on how COVID-19 may impact male fertility is also new, but a growing body of evidence suggests it might have a negative effect, at least in the short term.

A study of 120 men published in February 2022 in the journal Fertility and Sterility found that 60 percent of those whod had COVID-19 experienced reduced sperm motility (referring to sperms ability to move) in the month following infection, even though the virus was not detected in the sperm itself.

Because the research is still new, its not clear how long this drop in fertility lasts, though the authors estimated around three months.

A separate study, published in January 2022 in the American Journal of Epidemiology, included more than 2,100 couples. Researchers found that while COVID-19 in women didnt appear to impair their ability to get pregnant, COVID-19 in men did seem to reduce fertility. Compared with males who did not have COVID-19 within the last 60 days, men who did were almost 20 percent less likely to conceive during that time frame.

We assume that the effects wont be permanent but we dont know that yet, says Chas Easley, PhD, an associate professor of environmental health science at the University of Georgia School of Public Health in Athens, who was not involved with the research.

According to Dr. Easley, all viruses target different receptors, or proteins, to gain entry into cells. The coronavirus behind COVID-19 targets two proteins: ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Easley and some other experts hypothesize that organs that contain both these proteins are particularly susceptible to infection by the COVID-19 virus. The testes, which are the organs responsible for making sperm, contain both.

Sertoli cells, a type of cell in the testes, also contain these proteins. These cells form a physical barrier that separates blood vessels from the testes, called the blood-testis barrier. When the virus latches onto these proteins, it disrupts the function of Sertoli cells in multiple ways.

If you screw up the Sertoli cells, you lose the ability to promote the spermiogenesis required to create real sperm, says Easley.

He advises people whove had COVID-19 and are having difficulty conceiving to consider testing to evaluate sperm count and sperm motility.

According to Easley, none of the COVID-19 vaccines reduce male fertility. The vaccine cant cause infertility but the virus can, he says.

The study published in January 2022 in the American Journal of Epidemiology found no difference in male or female fertility among uninfected people who were vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines compared with uninfected people who were not vaccinated.

The new study backs up prior research on mRNA vaccines. An investigation published in June 2021 in JAMA, which included 45 men who received two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, found that the vaccine did not lower sperm counts. In fact, sperm counts increased, from a median count of 26 million per milliliter at baseline to 30 million per milliliter after the second shot.

According to Easley, getting vaccinated against COVID-19 is an important way for men to protect their fertility.

"Even mild cases of COVID can lead to decreased sperm counts, lower sperm motility, and increased DNA fragmentation in sperm, and we predict that vaccines will prevent this damage," he says.

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Need a COVID test in Utah? Be prepared to pay the price – Deseret News

Posted: at 2:38 am

Starting Friday, most Utahns will no longer have access to free COVID-19 testing and theres no limit on how much the companies hired by the state to run testing sites can start charging patients, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Prices for testing are set by the market, Nate Checketts, the departments executive director, told reporters Wednesday during a virtual news conference on Utahs move to a steady state pandemic response announced earlier this month by Gov. Spencer Cox.

Utahns are encouraged to check between multiple companies to find the one thats the best fit for an individual, and that may include the cost of the services provided because they can vary, just as they might for other medical services, he said.

When it comes to COVID-19 tests, the price tag to get testing needed for travel ranges from $60 to $350, depending on the type of test required before a trip and the company providing it, the state health department says on its coronavirus.utah.gov website, pointing out that insurance may not be accepted.

Checketts said signs and other materials should be posted at sites that are transitioning to for-profit testing to alert Utahns that when April starts, it will be a company seeking to make money rather than the state vendor offering the service.

But its not clear which sites will be privately run after the governors Thursday deadline for shifting COVID-19 testing and treatment to private providers, or whether there will be new for-profit locations opened, although Checketts said he doesnt expect new companies to start offering testing in Utah.

We dont know that, state health department spokeswoman Jenny Johnson told the Deseret News, since the vendors Nomi Health, Mako Medical and TourHealth have not provided lists of sites theyll operate privately after Thursday. When they do, those sites will be included on the state website, Johnson said.

She said the agreements for the remaining testing sites were with the state, so companies that wanted to continue for-profit testing in the same location would have to secure new agreements with the property owners on their own.

Orem-based Nomi Health will continue offering COVID-19 testing at the Provo Towne Center and in the next few days, more sites will be announced, spokeswoman Jenny Olson said. She said state sites operated by the company in Logan and Ogden are set to remain open at least until April 15, as for-profit sites.

The Nomi Health sites will be requesting insurance for both rapid antigen and PCR tests, but wont turn any patients away, Olson said. She did not know what insurers would be billed for those tests. Rapid PCR tests widely used for travel will be offered for $179, Olson said, and an invoice provided so patients can seek reimbursement.

A marketing company associated with TourHealth, which provides testing at sites in South Carolina and in mobile vans in Utah, did not respond to questions. A spokeswoman for MAKO Medical in North Carolina, Heather Matthews, said, At this time, MAKO will not be offering for-profit testing in Utah.

MAKO, which ran state testing sites in Grand, San Juan and Sanpete counties, has been honored to serve the citizens of Utah and we stand ready to re-engage should state leaders request our assistance, Ryan Dienst, executive vice president of strategy and business development, said in a statement.

Our contract will remain in place, so we are able to re-engage and provide COVID-19 testing at any time, Dienst said.

Checketts said Utah is ready to ramp up services like testing again should there be another surge. But neither he nor state epidemiologist Dr. Leisha Nolen were able to spell out specifically what would have to happen to trigger a resumption of state testing and treatments for COVID-19.

Nolen said while there will certainly be future waves of the virus coming, ramping up is something to look at when we have severe disease that overwhelms the health care system. Going forward, the state will focus more on measures like emergency room visits for the virus and its presence in wastewater, she said.

The states coronavirus website will now update once a week, on Thursdays, rather than daily, Nolen said, and Utahns will need to look to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see what community transmission levels are in the state.

The changes come as so-called stealth omicron, a subvariant of omicron known as BA.2 by scientists thats even more highly transmissible, is now the dominant type of COVID-19 in the U.S. after driving up cases overseas, especially in Europe.

So far, Nolen said BA.2 has not caused an increase in cases in Utah. She said because so many Utahns were infected with the original omicron variant that sent cases skyrocketing to record levels in January, theres hope the state has enough immunity to stave off a surge from the subvariant.

The best way Utahns can protect themselves against COVID-19 is by getting a booster shot, including the second booster dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine that was authorized Tuesday by federal authorities. Studies have shown the shots greatly increase the effectiveness of the vaccine against hospitalization or death.

Free state testing, including at-home testing kits, will remain available in vulnerable communities, Checketts said, with more self-testing kiosks expected in the coming months. As for treatments, he said federal funding has been discontinued, and the states monoclonal antibody infusion site in Millcreek has already closed.

Asked about the stalemate between the White House and Congress over new COVID-19 funding, Checketts said many of the treatments are covered by insurance. For the uninsured, he said the state is considering expanding Medicaid coverage quickly to include vaccinations and treatments along with testing.

The state health department, which is set to merge in July with the Utah Department of Human Services, has some money available to restore COVID-19 services without a new appropriation from the Utah Legislature, but whether thats enough would really depend on how large a ramp-up would need to occur.

If COVID-19 explodes again in Utah like it did in January, when cases exceeded 13,000 in a single day compared to the 133 reported Wednesday, numbers so high the governor urged most Utahns to skip testing, Checketts said, that would mean a significant increase in testing that would likely require additional funding.

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Covid Updates: Glaxo Antibody Drug Is Restricted in the Northeast – The New York Times

Posted: March 26, 2022 at 6:35 am

Delivery workers passed food over a barrier at the edge of a locked-down Shanghai neighborhood on Wednesday.Credit...Aly Song/Reuters

The surge of Covid cases across China, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, is straining hospitals and prompting lockdowns of neighborhoods in Shanghai, which until recently had been held up as a crown jewel in the governments strategy for fighting the pandemic.

Shanghai, Chinas largest city, has seen few cases until recently. Now, it is reporting more than 1,500 a day, and many residents are expressing anguish and dismay over Chinas zero-tolerance approach to the virus.

On Friday, anger and grief welled up online after a Shanghai hospital confirmed reports that a nurse who worked there, Zhou Shengni, had died from an asthma attack after finding the doors of its emergency department shut because of Covid restrictions.

Due to pandemic prevention needs, the emergency department of our hospitals southern campus had been temporarily closed, Shanghai East Hospital said on its website. Ms. Zhous family rushed her to another hospital, but she died late Wednesday after attempts to save her failed, Shanghai East said.

Just think, this happened in Shanghai, and it was a medical worker treated like this, read one of many comments about Ms. Zhous death on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform. What about regular folks? Not just in Shanghai, but other parts too.

The outbreak has fanned a rising debate in China over whether the government should rethink its stringent zero Covid strategy of eliminating all infections with relentless force, rather than finding a way to cope with higher levels of infection, as most countries have.

But officials across China have given no indications that the government is reworking its strategy. Instead, they insist that any easing of restrictions could exacerbate the surge of infections and further strain the medical system.

We hope that everyone slows down their life at this time, cutting down on outings and moving around, Wu Jinglei, the director of the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, said at a news conference on Thursday. Pandemic prevention in our city has entered the most critical stage.

On Friday, Shanghais health commission reported that it had identified 1,609 Covid cases the previous day, 1,580 of which were asymptomatic. China has recorded over 29,000 cases so far in March. That represents a significant spike for the country, which has kept cases low since quashing the worlds first outbreak, which began in the city of Wuhan, in 2020.

The current outbreak has strained Shanghais medical system as hospitals and isolation hotels are crowded with patients, residents have said on social media. The city government has started issuing a daily list of hospital clinics that have suspended outpatient and elective treatments and surgeries in order to cope with the Covid cases.

Zhang Wenhong, one of Shanghais leading infectious disease experts, told residents on Thursday to be patient while the authorities worked to curb the outbreak.

All of a sudden medical resources are under strain in Shanghai, Dr. Zhang wrote in a long post on Weibo. If we dont counter its speed with our own, we wont have a chance to beat the Omicron race, he wrote, adding that the government would need to ramp up its vaccination campaign.

Beneath his post, many commenters insisted that China rethink its approach to the virus.

Exhausting social resources, degrading the quality of life and existence, dragging down economic development and urban vitality wheres the sense in this pandemic prevention, one commenter wrote. The zero-infection strategy needs thinking over.

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Small COVID-19 hospitalization bump forecast for spring in Oregon – OregonLive

Posted: at 6:35 am

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Oregon could climb to around 300 this spring due to a particularly infectious coronavirus subvariant and the states decision to lift mask requirements, a new Oregon Health & Science University forecast predicted Friday.

The projected bump in hospitalizations is minuscule compared to the peaks reached during the delta and omicron waves. About half of those in the hospital would be there to get treatment for a different condition but would test positive for COVID-19, according to the universitys estimates. Hospitalizations would then fall by around mid-June, according to the forecast.

Cases and hospitalizations have been dropping precipitously since the omicron surge peaked in January. Daily average cases are now as low as they were before the delta wave. Hospitalizations Friday were down to 157 occupied beds, 86% lower than the omicron peak.

Forecasting for the unpredictable coronavirus has been challenging throughout the pandemic, sometimes underestimating the likelihood of surges until they are in full swing and other times projecting dire situations that dont materialize.

Experts have previously said that the BA.2 omicron subvariant is unlikely to drive a major surge in cases, given existing levels of immunity. But officials have said they do expect some rise in cases from the subvariant, which is estimated to be about 50% to 60% more contagious than the original omicron.

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Weekly Covid cases in UK increase by 1m, figures show – The Guardian

Posted: at 6:35 am

The number of coronavirus infections across the UK rose by an estimated 1m compared with the previous week, with figures in Scotland at a record high, data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

According to the latest information from the ONS, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, an estimated 9% of the population in Scotland had Covid in the week ending 20 March, about one in 11 people. The figure is the highest recorded by the survey since it began looking at the situation in Scotland in October 2020.

Infection levels also increased in England and Wales, although they decreased slightly in Northern Ireland, with data revealing that about one in 16 people in England had Covid in the most recent week, compared with one in 20 the week before, a rise from about 2,653,200 to 3,485,700 people.

The figure is just shy of the all-time high for England, when about 1 in 15 were estimated to have Covid in the week between Christmas and New Years Eve last year, at the height of the Omicron wave.

Experts have suggested that the recent surge in infection levels in the UK is owing to a number of factors, including the lifting of Covid restrictions to various degrees across the UK, changes in behaviour, waning immunity after the booster programme and crucially the rise of the BA.2 variant, which appears to be more transmissible than the earlier form of Omicron.

The percentage of people with infections compatible with the Omicron BA.2 variant increased in England, Wales and Scotland and decreased in Northern Ireland, the ONS report states.

Previous ONS figures have suggested that Northern Ireland experienced a rise in BA.2 before other parts of the UK.

On Friday, the UK Health Security Agency reported that cases of the BA.2 Omicron variant were increasing 75% faster than the original variant, BA.1, and now made up almost 89% of Covid infections sequenced in England. There is no evidence that BA.2 causes a greater risk of hospitalisation.

The agency is also monitoring three recombinant forms of the coronavirus that can occur when a person is infected with two Covid variants at once. The first, a mix of Delta and BA.1, known as XF, caused a small cluster in the UK but has not been spotted since mid-February. The second, XE, is a combination of BA.1 and BA.2 and is spreading about 10% faster than BA.2 in the UK, with 637 cases identified as of 22 March.

The third, XD, is another blend of Delta and BA.1. While it has not yet reached the UK, it has surfaced in France, Belgium and Denmark, and scientists are watching it closely because it is essentially the Delta variant with the Omicron spike protein.

The ONS figures also show that infection levels rose in all age groups in England. While the percentage of people testing positive was highest in children between two years old and school year 6, infection levels reached unprecedented levels in older adults: among those who are 70 or over, the figure hit an estimated 5.7% on 19 March.

While all regions of England experienced a rise, the highest levels of infection were in the south-east, with about 7.5% of people or one in 13 estimated to have had Covid during the week.

Sarah Crofts, the head of analytical outputs for the Covid-19 Infection Survey, said: Our latest data show infection levels have continued to increase in England, Wales and Scotland, driven by the rise of the Omicron BA.2 variant.

Northern Ireland was a few weeks ahead of the rest of the UK in this rising variant, where we now see a welcome decrease. Meanwhile, Scotland has now reached the highest level of any UK country seen in our survey.

Across England, infections have increased in all regions and age groups, notably the over-50s, who are at their highest levels since our survey began.

The figures come the week before free community testing ends for most people. After 1 April, most people in England will have to pay to take a Covid test, while advice to stay at home if someone has Covid symptoms is also set to be scrapped.

While vaccinations, improved treatments and a shift in variant severity have all helped to weaken the link between infections, hospitalisations and deaths, the recent surge in the number of people with Covid has nonetheless affected the NHS, with an uptick in hospitalisations including an increase in those primarily being treated for Covid increasing concerns about infections in vulnerable people and posing logistical challenges. Some hospitals have suspended visiting because of rising infection levels.

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Wyoming nursing homes hit hard by COVID-19 omicron variant – Wyoming Tribune

Posted: at 6:35 am

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Wyoming nursing homes hit hard by COVID-19 omicron variant - Wyoming Tribune

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Opinion | Congress Needs to Fund the Fight Against Covid-19 – The New York Times

Posted: at 6:35 am

The worst of the Covid-19 pandemic may be behind us, but pretending that it is over will not make it so. A new Omicron subvariant, BA.2, is driving up coronavirus case counts in Europe and Asia, and experts predict it soon will account for the majority of new cases in the United States. The impact is uncertain. On the one hand, many Americans have already been infected by a similar strain of the virus. On the other hand, BA.2 arrives as people increasingly are resuming prepandemic behaviors, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly one-third of Americans have not completed their initial round of vaccinations, and more than 70 percent have not received booster shots.

In the face of this uncertainty, it would be reckless for the government to reduce its efforts to minimize new cases and help those who fall ill. Yet that is exactly what is happening after Congress recently failed to approve $15.6 billion for tests, treatments and vaccines.

Denied the funding it needs, the Biden administration is curtailing its efforts to combat the virus. Last week, the administration said that it would reduce the distribution of highly effective monoclonal antibody treatments by more than 30 percent and that it would be forced to end shipments this spring. It also stopped accepting reimbursement claims for Covid-19 tests and treatments from uninsured Americans; vaccine reimbursements will be accepted only through April 5. And the government said that it lacked sufficient funds to place an order for enough doses of vaccines to ensure the availability of booster shots later this year.

Congress must approve more funding immediately. Ensuring that Covid tests, treatments and vaccines remain readily available is the best way to prevent new waves of infections and to preserve the progress so far toward the end of the pandemic.

Failing to maintain adequate public funding means Americans increasingly will have to rely on their own resources. In effect, the United States is reverting to its usual approach to health care: Those with money and insurance will be able to get tests and treatments; those without may not. The price for a dose of monoclonal antibody treatment can approach $2,000, and even the relatively modest cost of test kits or vaccinations can discourage people from taking the basic steps necessary to protect themselves and others.

A bill to fund the government, which passed this month, initially included $15.6 billion in Covid aid, which would have provided the administration with much of the $22.5 billion it has requested. But the funding was stripped because House Democrats were unable to resolve an internal squabble. The bill would have repurposed unused money from earlier rounds of Covid aid, but some Democrats resisted, insisting the government should provide new funding.

To pass a new bill, Democrats will need the support of at least 10 Senate Republicans, and those most amenable want to use money from prior appropriations.

That should not be a deal breaker. States have received more federal aid in the past two years than they know what to do with; some state coffers are overflowing. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia signed legislation this week that will send up to $500 to Georgia households to help with the rising cost of food, gas and other essentials. About a dozen other states, including California, are considering similar distributions of surplus cash. But while higher prices are a real challenge for many Americans, policymakers must also remain focused on preventing fresh outbreaks of Covid-19, which could be even more economically painful.

A chunk of the funding requested by the Biden administration, for example, was earmarked to help lower-income countries fight the coronavirus. The United States has a moral obligation to provide this humanitarian aid, and there are diplomatic benefits to helping other nations. In addition, it will help the whole world get closer to the end of the pandemic. Allowing the virus to continue to run rampant in some parts of the world increases the chances that new variants will continue to develop and spread.

It is worth underscoring that much of what the Biden administration is requesting should not require emergency funding. The United States ought to maintain funding for public health, including the resources to monitor infectious diseases and to develop new vaccines and treatments, in the same way that it maintains funding for other forms of national defense. The gaping holes in the nations public health infrastructure, which the pandemic exposed, were created by exactly the kind of shortsightedness now on display.

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Opinion | Congress Needs to Fund the Fight Against Covid-19 - The New York Times

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Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, tests positive for coronavirus. – The New York Times

Posted: March 23, 2022 at 6:12 pm

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday for the second time in five months, one day before she was scheduled to join President Biden on a diplomatic trip to Europe.

Ms. Psaki took a test for the virus on Tuesday morning and it came back positive, she said in a statement, adding that she would not join Mr. Biden and top officials at a NATO summit where the president will press allies to use more economic sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ms. Psaki said that she had two meetings with Mr. Biden on Monday that were socially distanced, and that she and the president were not considered to have been in close contact based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The C.D.C. defines close contact as being less than six feet away from an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more in a 24-hour period.

Mr. Biden tested negative for the virus on Tuesday, Ms. Psaki said in her statement.

Thanks to the vaccine, I have only experienced mild symptoms, she said. In alignment with White House Covid-19 protocols, I will work from home and plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of a five-day isolation period and a negative test.

Ms. Psakis positive case comes as the White House is grappling with the toll of an enduring two-year-old pandemic while also resuming the usual routine of the presidency, including overseas travel.

The administration has faced a series of positive cases in recent days. Last week, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive. Ms. Harris stood alongside Mr. Biden during a bill signing that same day. The vice president tested negative on Sunday, a spokeswoman for her, Sabrina Singh, said on Tuesday.

Mr. Biden also had to cancel face-to-face meetings with Prime Minister Micheal Martin of Ireland last week after the prime minister received a positive result. The president was with Mr. Martin at a gala the night before but was not in close contact with him, according to White House officials.

Congress has seen a flurry of recent cases as well. Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said on Tuesday that he had tested positive.

Hillary Clinton also announced a positive test result on Tuesday, writing on Twitter that she had some mild cold symptoms but was feeling fine. She said former President Bill Clinton had tested negative but was quarantining.

Movie recommendations appreciated! she wrote.

While virus cases in the United States have been on the decline, a highly transmissible Omicron subvariant known as BA.2 is spreading rapidly in parts of China and Europe. The spike in cases in Europe was caused in part because government officials relaxed precautions too quickly, a senior World Health Organization official in the region, Dr. Hans Kluge, said on Tuesday.

Still, White House officials have said they are focused on returning the United States to a place of prepandemic normalcy, and the White House has not reimposed mask-wearing mandates or capacity restrictions meant to mitigate the spread of the virus.

The C.D.C. issued guidelines last month that suggested that most Americans could stop wearing masks, and even before that, governors across the country had moved on their own to roll back pandemic restrictions.

The announcement of Ms. Psakis positive test came minutes after she was scheduled to deliver the daily press briefing with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser. She and Mr. Sullivan were not considered to have been in close contact on Tuesday, White House officials said.

Ms. Psaki did not meet with Mr. Biden on Tuesday, the officials said.

Chris Meagher, a deputy White House press secretary, filled in for Ms. Psaki at the briefing. He said that no members of the news media were considered to have been in close contact with Ms. Psaki during the daily press briefing on Monday.

The White House said Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary, would travel to Europe with Mr. Biden.

Ms. Psakis last positive test, in October, also came as the White House was preparing for international travel. She dropped out of a trip to Europe after learning that members of her family had contracted the virus. Her own positive test came days later.

Emily Cochrane contributed reporting.

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Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, tests positive for coronavirus. - The New York Times

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