Featured Headlines
Stories from a Past Pandemic – Scientific American
A recent Scientific American feature explores how the catastrophic 1918 influenza pandemic seemed to quickly slip from public discourse. The event killed more than 50 million people worldwide, yet it takes up comparatively little space in society’s “collective memory.” The article considers, by analogy, how the current COVID-19 pandemic might be remembered by future generations. Scientific American accompanied the feature with a call for letters telling the stories of families affected by the 1918 crisis. Below are some examples of what we received.
The variant that emerged in South Africa is reported in the U.S. for the first time – NYT
Health officials in South Carolina said on Thursday that they had detected two cases of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa. It was the first report of that variant being detected in the United States.
Neither person has a history of travel to countries where the variant has been confirmed, and there is no connection between the two people, South Carolina health officials said Thursday. That indicates there has been some local spread of the variant after it arrived in the United States. One case was found in South Carolina’s Pee Dee region, and one in the Lowcountry.
Why Scientists Are Very Worried About The Variant From Brazil – NPR
New coronavirus variants seem to be cropping up everywhere. There’s one from the U.K., which is more contagious and already circulating in the United States. There’s one from South Africa, which is forcing Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines and create “booster” shots, just to make sure the vaccines maintain their efficacies.
Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say – Washington Post
The discovery of highly transmissible coronavirus variants in the United States has public health experts urging Americans to upgrade the simple cloth masks that have become a staple shield during the pandemic.
SARS-CoV-2 Immunity: A Moving Target – Forbes
The ability of newly discovered variants to reinfect those who have recovered from earlier Covid-19 infection or those immunized with Covid vaccines is a hot topic. The two strains receiving the most attention are the SARS-CoV-2 variants from the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7) and South Africa (B.1.351). There is mounting evidence that they may be resistant to neutralization by antibodies directed against earlier stains. Definitive proof of resistance can be accomplished by measuring the neutralizing activity of antibodies in the sera from patients infected in the early months of 2020 against both the original and the variant viruses.
Vaccine Headlines
Novavax’s vaccine works well, except on the variant first found in South Africa – NYT
Novavax, a little-known company supported by the U.S. federal government’s Operation Warp Speed, said for the first time on Thursday that its Covid-19 vaccine offered robust protection against the virus. But it also found that the vaccine is not as effective against the fast-spreading variant first discovered in South Africa, another setback in the global race to end a pandemic that has already killed more than 2.1 million people.
Pregnant women receive conflicting advice on vaccines – NYT
The C.D.C.’s advisory committee urged pregnant women to consult with their doctors before rolling up their sleeves — a decision applauded by several women’s health organizations because it kept decision-making in the hands of the expecting mothers.
SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines and the Growing Threat of Viral Variants – JAMA
In November 2019, a bat coronavirus made its debut in the human population. Since that time, the virus has continued to adapt, resulting in a series of viral variants. The question that the world faces in early 2021 is whether these new variants will escape recognition by vaccine-induced immunity.
Clinical Considerations
‘Covid tongue’ may be another coronavirus symptom, British researcher suggests – NBC News
A British researcher who is helping to track Covid-19 warning signs is reporting more cases of infected people complaining of tongue discoloration, enlargement and other mouth problems.
Official Reporting for January 29, 2021
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update January 26, 2020
Confirmed Cases: 99 864 391
Deaths: 2 166 440
ECDC
Confirmed Cases: 99 727 853 (has not been updated since Friday)
Deaths: 2 036 713
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 101,402,676
Deaths: 2,188,745
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 25,456,670 (+155,504 New Cases)
Total deaths: 427,626 (+4,107 New Deaths)
Science and Tech
Yale scientists map the shape of the SARS-CoV-2 genome – Yale News
Much of the research emphasis has been on proteins — such as the “spike” proteins that cover the COVID-19 virus and attach themselves to human cells. Scientists continue to study how these proteins function and interact.
Insights from SARS-CoV-2 sequences – Science
As severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the globe, so have efforts to sequence its RNA genome. More than 260,000 sequences are now available in public databases, about a year after the viral genome was first sequenced (1). These sequences and their associated metadata have allowed researchers to estimate the timing of SARS-CoV-2 spillover into humans, characterize the spread of the virus, and gauge virus adaptation to its new host. Such analyses rely on interpreting patterns of nucleotide changes that have occurred in the virus population over time and are brought into focus through the reconstruction of genealogical relationships between sampled viruses that are depicted in phylogenetic trees.
Diagnostics
With many regions of the world seeing a rise in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases, borders, schools, and workplaces are partially or fully closed, and physical interactions are restricted. Although vaccine roll-out has begun in numerous countries,1
it will take many months to complete. Meanwhile, communities are reliant on diagnostic testing in conjunction with other public health measures to keep facilities open. Until now, testing for SARS-CoV-2 has been mostly limited to use for clinical confirmation and care, but some countries are now implementing widespread testing for public health use and risk management. However, there is little guidance available to policy makers on how to translate the scientific information on SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests into practical policies for widespread testing in non-clinical settings.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
None Today
Published Research
None Today
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
None Today
Coping in 2020 (and probably most of 2021)
