Featured Headlines
Heart-disease risk soars after COVID — even with a mild case – Nature
Massive study shows a long-term, substantial rise in risk of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, after a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Open Everything – The Atlantic
In march 2020, I wrote that America should “cancel everything” in response to the acute threat posed by COVID-19: Mass events should be postponed, companies should send employees home from the office, and schools should move classes online.
Infections and hospitalizations are falling in the U.S., but unevenly – NYT
The rate of new coronavirus infections nationally is dropping. Democratic leaders in New York, California and elsewhere are rolling back mask mandates. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci was quoted this week as saying the country was “certainly” heading out of “the full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19.”
Prince Charles tests positive, and had recent contact with the queen – NYT
Prince Charles has been reinfected with the coronavirus, and met recently with his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, raising questions about whether the 95-year-old monarch is at risk of contracting the virus.
Sweden declare pandemic over, despite warnings from scientists – Reuters
Sweden scrapped almost all of its few pandemic restrictions on Wednesday and stopped most testing for COVID-19, even as the pressure on the healthcare systems remained high and some scientists begged for more patience in fighting the disease.
Hong Kong Virus Cases Top 1,000 Again as Flight Ban Extended – Bloomberg
Hong Kong reported another record number of coronavirus cases, as well as two more deaths, with the worsening outbreak straining health-care resources and ramping up pressure on the government’s steadfast push for Covid Zero.
Eric Rubin is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal. Lindsey Baden is a Deputy Editor of the Journal. Clifford Rosen is head of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research at Maine Medical Center and an associate editor of the Journal. Stephen Morrissey, the interviewer, is the Executive Managing Editor of the Journal.
Household transmission: SARS-CoV-2 particles found outside of self-isolation rooms – MedNewsToday
Researchers investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 particles can be present beyond self-isolation rooms in household settings. They found that SARS-CoV-2 particles can be found in other settings beyond self-isolation rooms and may therefore explain household transmission. Further research is necessary to confirm whether SARS-CoV-2 can spread between individuals via airborne RNA fragments.
Vaccine Headlines
Nearly 3,000 N.Y.C. Workers Have a Day to Get Vaccinated or Be Fired – NYT
Mayor Eric Adams has embraced a vaccine mandate for city workers and warned that thousands would get fired this week if they were not vaccinated.
By now, the Omicron wave of the coronavirus has crested in much of the United States. But the size of the wave, which broke records for national cases and hospitalizations, has given regulators and scientists an opportunity to better assess vaccine efficacy in children ages 6 months to 4 years old, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said on Sunday.
Novavax Seeks to Clear Covid Shot for Teens After Successful Trial – Bloomberg
Novavax Inc. said it will ask global regulators to clear the first protein-based Covid-19 vaccine for use in teens ages 12 to 17 after a trial showed it prevented symptomatic cases.
Clinical Considerations
In unvaccinated pregnant women, Covid can cause deadly harm to babies – NBC News
Research published Thursday paints a startling picture of the destructive toll Covid-19 can take on pregnant women and their growing fetuses. The virus can attack and destroy the placenta, a vascular organ that serves as a fetus’s lifeline, leading to asphyxiation and stillbirth, according to the study in the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.
Could antihistamines help treat long COVID? – MedNewsToday
A recent paper describes the experiences of two individuals with long COVID whose symptoms improved after taking over-the-counter antihistamines. According to the study, both experienced “significant improvement in symptoms and ability to perform activities of daily living.” The authors hope that others will run larger studies to investigate further.
Official Reporting for February 11, 2022
World Health Organization
Weekly Epi Update Feb 8 (latest release)
New Cases: 2,473,605
Confirmed Cases: 404,910,528
Deaths: 5,783,776
Johns Hopkins
Confirmed Cases: 407,446,539
Deaths: 5,795,805
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Total cases: 77,179,255 (+202,001 New Cases)
Total deaths: 910,373 (+2,869 New Deaths)
Science and Tech
Novel antibody could reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission – Drug Target Review
Researchers at UC Davis Health have engineered an antibody that interferes with a critical cell mechanism to reduce transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 in lab tests.
We regret to inform you that we are now discussing subvariants – Vox
There’s yet another twist in the pandemic: The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, now has a “subvariant” that seems to spread more quickly than any other version of the coronavirus to date.
Unlocking the mystery of the “never COVID” cohort – Axios
Some people don’t get COVID despite being exposed to the virus — a mystery researchers are trying to unravel. Understanding the small cohort of “never COVID” people could lead to new vaccine targets or other protections as the world enters the third year of the pandemic.
Gilead Sciences, Inc. today released data demonstrating the in vitro activity of Veklury® (remdesivir) against ten SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron. Results of Gilead studies are consistent with other in vitro studies independently conducted by researchers from institutions in other countries, including Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, and the United States, which confirmed Veklury’s antiviral activity against multiple previously identified variants of SARS-CoV-2, including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron.
The C.D.C. describes medium-rare hamburgers as “undercooked” and dangerous. The agency also directs Americans to avoid raw cookie dough and not to eat more than a teaspoon or so of salt every day. And the C.D.C. tells sexually active women of childbearing age not to drink alcohol unless they are on birth control.
Lions in South Africa test positive for COVID-19 – NPR
Scientists at a zoo in South Africa have found that zookeepers have spread COVID-19 to lions. The infections raise concerns about the virus spreading into the wild.
Psychological and Sociological Impact
Covid fatigue is making the pandemic worse — and prolonging its end, experts say – CNBC
The United States reached a grim new milestone last week: More than 900,000 people across the country have now died from Covid-19. The daily death toll is at its highest level in about a year, rising 39% over the last two weeks, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Mental health damage from Covid could last a generation, professionals say – CNBC
Aside from the obvious physical impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, health professionals have told CNBC that many people are struggling with the immense emotional and societal changes it has brought. What’s more, they’re finding it hard to adapt to a “new normal” now that lockdowns are starting to ease.
Published Research
Placental Tissue Destruction and Insufficiency from COVID-19 Causes Stillbirth and Neonatal Death from Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury: A Study of 68 Cases with SARS-CoV-2 Placentitis from 12 Countries – Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Antihistamines for Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection – The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Conspiracy Theories
What a bottle of ivermectin reveals about the shadowy world of COVID telemedicine – NPR
Just before Christmas, a right-wing journalist named Ben Bergquam became seriously ill with COVID-19. “My Christmas gift was losing my [sense of] taste and smell and having a 105-degree fever, and just feeling like garbage,” Bergquam said in a Facebook video that he shot as he lay in a California hospital.
Coping with COVID
Three’s company: A man sticks out the pandemic with his ex-wife and his mother – NPR
A New Yorker sticks out a pandemic in a too-small apartment with his mother and ex-wife. Chaos ensues — or does it? It may sound like a pitch for a sitcom, but Neil Kramer is living it. Kramer has spent the past two years living with his mom and his ex-wife in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in Queens.
