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COVID-19 Open Online Briefings with Dr David Nabarro
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Friday, 26 November 2021, 17:30 – 18:30 CET
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Featured Headlines
CDC Hasn’t Updated COVID Vax Breakthrough Data – MedPageToday
In mid-October, the CDC started publishing cases and deaths by vaccination status on its COVID Data Tracker for the first time. But the information was only current as of September 4 — and the page hasn’t been updated since.
Austria is likely to order a lockdown for unvaccinated people, its chancellor warns – NYT
New lockdown restrictions for unvaccinated people in Austria are likely because new coronavirus cases in the country are rising rapidly, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Thursday.
Germany’s fourth Covid wave is ‘a pandemic of the unvaccinated.’ – NYT
The University Hospital of Giessen, one of Germany’s foremost clinics for pulmonary disease, is at capacity. The number of Covid-19 patients has tripled in recent weeks. Nearly half of them are on ventilators.
Beijing Cancels Events as Covid Cluster Hits 17-Month Record – Bloomberg
Beijing is hunkering down after experiencing more Covid infections in the current cluster than at any time in the past 17 months, with officials asking for events and activities to be moved online.
For many ICU survivors and their families, life is never the same – Washington Post
Physical, mental and cognitive problems can last years after covid-19 or other severe illness is conquered
Dutch face three-week, partial lockdown as COVID-19 cases soar – Reuters
Bars and restaurants will close early and sporting events will be held without audiences under a three-week, partial lockdown that is expected to be announced in the Netherlands on Friday evening.
After a Year With Vaccines, Do We Always Need Masks? – Bloomberg
There is one caveat to the no-mask thing: Unvaccinated adults still need to wear ‘em. Which leads us to the position of Bloomberg’s editorial board: Maybe Biden should just make the unvaccinated adults … get vaccinated!? Right now, less than 60% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Vaccine mandates are our only way out of this mess, and the president is right to keep pushing federal employees, large companies and health-care workers to get the jab. It’s how to make the next year much better.
France experiencing start of fifth wave of COVID epidemic -minister – Reuters
France is at the beginning of a fifth wave of the coronavirus epidemic, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday. “Several neighboring countries are already in a fifth wave of the COVID epidemic, what we are experiencing in France clearly looks like the beginning of a fifth wave,” Veran said on TF1 television, adding the circulation of the virus was accelerating.
When can kids take off their masks in school? Here’s what some experts say – NPR
When can kids safely take off their masks in school? About three-fourths of the nation’s largest districts required masks at the start of the school year. Recently the calls by some parents to unmask children have grown louder, especially now that there is a COVID-19 vaccine available with emergency authorization for children as young as 5 years old.
Israel Holds ‘War Games’ to Prepare for More Lethal Covid Strain – Bloomberg
Israel on Thursday began a nationwide drill to test its readiness in the event of an outbreak of a new, more lethal Covid-19 variant.
History As It Happens: Heading toward herd immunity – Washington Times
It has been about two years since the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 entered the human population, and the world has marked another grim milestone: The global death toll has surpassed more than 5 million people, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Vaccine Headlines
Vaccines protect from severe disease but do not stop all transmission – MedNewsToday
The COVID-19 vaccine effectively prevents severe illness and death.The Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of SARS-CoV-2 is spreading globally in populations with high vaccination rates.1 in 4 fully vaccinated people who have exposure to the Delta variant in the home are likely to get the infection.The peak viral load of the Delta virus does not differ between fully vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals.The elimination of the Delta strain of the virus takes place more quickly in vaccinated individuals.
Colorado’s governor says high risk to the virus makes all adults eligible for boosters – NYT
Citing the pervasive spread of the coronavirus across Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis said on Thursday that all adults would be eligible for a booster shot because of their high risk of exposure, assuming that enough time had passed since their initial doses.
Clinical Considerations
Sleep Apnea Tied to Risk for Severe COVID-19 – MedPageToday
Sleep-related hypoxia was associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients, a retrospective study found. In the case-control study involving patients in the Cleveland Clinic Health System, sleep-related hypoxia was linked with greater COVID-19-related hospitalization and mortality (adjusted HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.08-1.57, P=0.005), reported Reena Mehra, MD, MS, of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute in Ohio, and colleagues.
Heart inflammation in cats and dogs: SARS-CoV-2 possible culprit – MedNewsToday
They found that the majority of pets studied had contracted SARS-CoV-2 shortly after it was either confirmed or suspected that their owners had the virus. The researchers conclude that pets can contract the B.1.1.7, or Alpha, variant of the virus. However, scientists will need to carry out more research to confirm how exactly it affects pets.
New clues to the biology of long COVID are starting to emerge – NPR
elly LaDue thought she was done with COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 after being tormented by the virus for a miserable couple of weeks.”And then I s tarted with really bad heart-racing with any exertion. It was weird,” says LaDue, 54, of Ontario, N.Y. “Walking up the stairs, I’d have to sit down and rest. And I was short of breath. I had to rest after everything I did.” A year later, LaDue still feels like a wreck. She gets bad headaches and wakes up with pain all over her body on more days than not. She also experiences a sudden high-pitched whistling in her ears, bizarre phantom smells and vibrations in her legs. Her brain is so foggy most of the time that she had to quit her job as a nurse and is afraid to drive.
Long COVID rare in college athletes – Reuters
College athletes who become infected with the coronavirus are very unlikely to have any lasting effects, a large U.S. study suggests. Researchers tracked more than 3,500 athletes from 44 colleges and universities and from more than 20 different sports who tested positive for the virus. Only 1.2% reported symptoms lasting more than three weeks, with 0.06% reporting symptoms lasting more than three months
Official Reporting for November 9, 2021
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update November 9th (latest release)
New Cases: 514,819
Confirmed Cases: 251,788,329
Deaths: 5,077,907
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 252,264,561
Deaths: 5,084,373
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 46,626,034 (+81,184 New Cases)
Total deaths: 755,201 (+1,561 New Deaths)
Science and Tech
Mutation Linked to Remdesivir Resistance Found in Covid Patient – Bloomberg
Resistance to Gilead Sciences Inc.’s antiviral remdesivir was found in coronavirus samples collected from an immune-compromised patient treated with the drug for a persistent Covid-19 infection, researchers said.
How Covid antiviral pills work and what that could mean for the pandemic – NBC
In the past six weeks, two drugmakers have announced promising clinical trial results for their experimental oral antiviral pills and will soon have their data evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
Caught in pandemic limbo? Here’s how to rebound from life’s interruptions – NPR
These days, a lot of people feel stuck in limbo. According to a recent poll from the American Psychological Association, nearly half of U.S. adults said the pandemic has made planning for their future feel impossible. It makes sense. We can’t go back to the lives we had before the coronavirus pandemic, but what lies ahead is murky. Many of us feel frozen, caught in a holding pattern — in the liminal space between what was and what will be.
Trip stacking took off during covid. Here’s why it’s risky. – Washington Post
Plenty of people who planned a trip during the pandemic have experienced the bummer of a last-minute cancellation. One solution? Trip stacking, the strategy of booking multiple trips over the same time period so travelers have a backup in case one doesn’t work out. Did your cruise get canceled because of the coronavirus? No problem — there’s a trip to Dubai waiting in the wings.
Published Research
Prevalence and clinical implications of persistent or exertional cardiopulmonary symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection in 3597 collegiate athletes: a study from the Outcomes Registry for Cardiac Conditions in Athletes (ORCCA) – BMJ
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
New Institute Has Ties to the Great Barrington Declaration – MedPageToday
The Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research aims to evaluate the “global crisis” stemming from the policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its stated mission is “constructively to come to terms with what happened, understand why, discover and explain alternative paths, and prevent such events from happening again.”
Covid vaccine holdouts are caving to mandates — then scrambling to ‘undo’ their shots – NBC News
In a TikTok video that has garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Dr. Carrie Madej outlined the ingredients for a bath she said will “detox the vaxx” for people who have given into Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The ingredients in the bath are mostly not harmful, although the supposed benefits attached to them are entirely fictional. Baking soda and epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a “radiation detox” to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine. Bentonite clay will add a “major pull of poison,” she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies.
Coping with COVID
