Featured Headlines

Global covid-19 death toll tops 6 million, another grim milestone in the pandemic – Washington Post

Worldwide deaths from covid-19 surpassed 6 million on Monday, a grim reminder of the coronavirus’s lethality as many countries relax mask-wearing and vaccination requirements.

How did this Many Deaths Become Normal? – The Atlantic

The U.S. is nearing 1 million recorded COVID-19 deaths without the social reckoning that such a tragedy should provoke. Why? The united states reported more deaths from COVID-19 last Friday than deaths from Hurricane Katrina, more on any two recent weekdays than deaths during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more last month than deaths from flu in a bad season, and more in two years than deaths from HIV during the four decades of the AIDS epidemic. At least 953,000 Americans have died from COVID, and the true toll is likely even higher because many deaths went uncounted. COVID is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., after only heart disease and cancer, which are both catchall terms for many distinct diseases. The sheer scale of the tragedy strains the moral imagination. On May 24, 2020, as the United States passed 100,000 recorded deaths, The New York Times filled its front page with the names of the dead, describing their loss as “incalculable.” Now the nation hurtles toward a milestone of 1 million. What is 10 times incalculable?

The Best and Worst Places to Be as the Omicron Threat Fades – Bloomberg

The omicron wave is abating, with more countries accelerating their shift this month to living with the virus, a key differentiator among the best and worst places to be during the Covid era.

Exiting Covid Zero Risks Inundating China’s Unprepared Hospitals – Bloomberg

When Covid-19 flared in the northern Chinese border region of Ejin late last year, it revealed a key impediment to the country charting an exit from its zero-tolerance pandemic strategy. Related: Hong Kong’s Covid Isolation Plan Crumbles as Infections Soar

Omicron subvariants BA.1 vs. BA.2: What the latest data say – MedNewsToday

The BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, or the “stealth” variant, has been outcompeting the previously dominant BA.1 subvariant in several countries. Recent studies suggest that BA.2 has a competitive advantage over BA.1, mostly due to its increased transmissibility. The BA.2 variant may also be slightly better at evading immunity than BA.1, which could be contributing to its rapid spread. Although BA.2 is more contagious than BA.1, clinical data do not suggest a significant difference in disease severity.

New Zealand changes its tack on surging COVID-19 cases – NPR

Back in August, New Zealand’s government put the entire nation on lockdown after a single community case of the coronavirus was detected. On Tuesday, when new daily cases hit a record of nearly 24,000, officials told hospital workers they could help out on understaffed COVID-19 wards even if they were mildly sick themselves.

How Can the U.S. Preserve Its Medical Supply Chain? – MedPageToday

Onshoring medical manufacturing is part of a strategy to shore up the nation’s medical supply chain, but it can’t be the entire strategy, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). “If you are thinking about onshoring the entire global supply chain, that would be a daunting logistical task, and associated with a huge price tag as well,” said Ozlem Ergun, PhD, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University in Boston. “Onshoring can be part of a cost-effective strategy for increasing resiliency of our medical product supply chains — however, it should be treated as part of a resiliency strategy, but not the one [and only] solution.”

Striking new evidence points to Wuhan seafood market as the pandemic’s origin point – NPR

Was it a few raccoon dogs, inside a metal cage and stacked on top of a chicken coop? Or perhaps a lone red fox, curled up in the corner of its cage. Could one of these wild animals have triggered the entire COVID-19 pandemic late in 2019?

Opinion: Why Do Some People Never Get Covid? – NYT

As an intensive care unit doctor, I often find myself thinking about the apparent randomness of infectious disease. Two people go out to dinner and have the same meal; one ends up in the emergency room with food poisoning, but the other does not. The seasonal flu runs through an entire family, except for one individual who remains healthy. A case of mono can be a bad memory for one person and turn into a death sentence for another. Doctors look for the vulnerabilities that we can see to explain these outcomes, like age, vaccination status and underlying conditions, but we are often left without answers.

Vaccine Headlines

4th shots and COVID-19 boosters: Why and when best to get it – MedNewsToday

Studies indicate that immunity conferred by a past Omicron infection is not enough to prevent reinfection or protect against other variants. Real-world data show that a third dose is needed for better protection against severe disease or hospitalization due to Omicron. A fourth dose may not be needed for everyone, but doctors strongly recommend it for at-risk groups. There is no global consensus about the timing of booster doses, but the minimum recommended interval is around 3–4 months.

6 Months of U.S. Data Support Safety of mRNA COVID Vaccines – MedPageToday

Nearly all local and systemic adverse events (AEs) reported after Pfizer or Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines were mild and transient, and only a fraction of individuals reported seeking medical care, according to data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and CDC’s v-safe tracker.

COVID-19 vaccines and blood clots: Two large studies investigate – MedNewsToday

Two large studies have found a small increase in the absolute risk of rare types of blood clot in the head following a first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. An increased risk of a type called intracranial venous thrombosis only applied to individuals under 70 years of age. The benefits of vaccination to protect against severe COVID-19 far outweigh the risks that the researchers identified. They found no evidence of increased risks following a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

FDA Begins Releasing Pfizer COVID Vax Documents – MedPageToday

The FDA turned over thousands of documents related to its review of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine last week, marking the first of several releases mandated by a court in Texas earlier this year.

Clinical Considerations

Long COVID’s cardiovascular implications – MedNewsToday

Millions of people worldwide live with long COVID, a condition characterized by symptoms of COVID-19 and other syndromes months after the initial illness has subsided. One aspect of particular concern is its cardiovascular implications, including a rise in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and increased cardiovascular disease risk. Our latest In Conversation episode delves into this topic.

Covid May Cause Changes in the Brain, New Study Finds – NYT

Brain scans before and after infection showed more loss of gray matter and tissue damage, mostly in areas related to smell, in people who had Covid than in those who did not.

Official Reporting for March 8, 2022

World Health Organization

Weekly Epi Update March 8, 2022 (latest release)

New Cases: 1,200,707

Confirmed Cases: 445,096,612

Deaths: 5,998,301

Johns Hopkins

Confirmed Cases: 448,294,865
Deaths: 6,009,755

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Total cases: 79,094,974 (+6,174 New Cases)
Total deaths: 955,958 (+95 New Deaths)

Science and Tech

High Demand for Drug to Prevent Covid in the Vulnerable, Yet Doses Go Unused – NYT

The treatment could be lifesaving for many who cannot get protection from the vaccine, but confusion about the drug has made some doctors slow to prescribe it.

Improving Ventilation Will Stop More Than Covid-19 – Bloomberg

All airborne pathogens — including viruses that cause colds and flu — spread quickly in buildings without proper air circulation and filtration. The White House’s roadmap for the next phase of the pandemic covers all the usual suspects, including Covid-19 surveillance, testing, vaccination and treatment. But there’s also a happy surprise tucked in there: a series of proposals to help improve indoor air quality.

Scientists identify new gene differences in severe COVID patients – Reuters

Scientists have pinpointed 16 new genetic variants in people who developed severe COVID-19 in a large study published on Monday that could help researchers develop treatments for very sick patients.

Psychological and Sociological Impact

Research on the pet-human bond has boomed in the pandemic. Here’s what studies found – CNN

Psst. Don’t tell my bosses, but I have a guilty pleasure. Every time a post pops up in the pet channel of our internal message system, I stop what I’m doing and look. Sometimes, it’s an image of a sweet face with doleful eyes staring up at the camera. Other times, it’s a silly expression or some contortionist pose by a fuzzy feline (or German shepherd!). Every now and then, it’s a home video of some goofy behavior that pet’s person can’t help but capture and share.

Published Research

Safety of mRNA vaccines administered during the initial 6 months of the US COVID-19 vaccination programme: an observational study of reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System and v-safe – The Lancet

Quantifying Environmental Mitigation of Aerosol Viral Load in a Controlled Chamber With Participants Diagnosed With Coronavirus Disease 2019 – Clinical Infectious Diseases

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories

Tolerating COVID Misinformation Is Better Than the Alternative – The Atlantic

The intriguing link between depression and misinformation – Mashable

How the “dark-colored glasses” of depression affect the way you see the world.

Coping with COVID