COVID: how worried should we be about the new AY.4.2 lineage of the coronavirus? – The Conversation

No sooner than you thought all the talk of new COVID variants was over, there’s news of yet another one: AY.4.2. But what is it, where did it come from, and should we be concerned?

New Virus Cases Hitting Faster Than Ever Challenge China’s Covid-Zero Strategy – Bloomberg

China has driven Covid-19 cases back to zero three times over the past five months, but outbreaks are flaring more frequently than ever before, raising questions about how long the nation can persist with a strategy that’s leaving it increasingly isolated.

Breakthrough Infections Occur in Those with Lower Antibody Levels, Israeli Study Shows – NIH Director’s Blog

To see how COVID-19 vaccines are working in the real world, Israel has provided particularly compelling data. The fact that Israel is relatively small, keeps comprehensive medical records, and has a high vaccination rate with a single vaccine (Pfizer) has contributed to its robust data collection. Now, a new Israeli study offers some insight into those relatively uncommon breakthrough infections. It confirms that breakthrough cases, as might be expected, arise most often in individuals with lower levels of neutralizing antibodies.

How Public Health Took Part in Its Own Downfall – The Atlantic

here was a time, at the start of the 20th century, when the field of public health was stronger and more ambitious. A mixed group of physicians, scientists, industrialists, and social activists all saw themselves “as part of this giant social-reform effort that was going to transform the health of the nation,” David Rosner, a public-health historian at Columbia University, told me. They were united by a simple yet radical notion: that some people were more susceptible to disease because of social problems. And they worked to address those foundational ills—dilapidated neighborhoods, crowded housing, unsafe working conditions, poor sanitation—with a “moral certainty regarding the need to act,” Rosner and his colleagues wrote in a 2010 paper.

China Expects New Covid Outbreak to Worsen in Coming Days – Bloomberg

China’s new Covid-19 infections will increase in coming days and the areas affected by the epidemic may continue to expand, a health official said. The current outbreak in China is caused by the delta variant from overseas, Wu Liangyou, an official at the National Health Commission, said at a briefing in Beijing Sunday.

Delta ‘Plus’ Covid variant may be more transmissible – BBC

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has moved it up into the “variant under investigation” category, to reflect this possible risk. There is no evidence yet that it causes worse illness. And scientists are confident that existing vaccines should still work well to protect people.

Arizona’s pandemic outlook worries experts as mask and vaccine mandate battles rage – Washington Post

Arizona has caught up to New York when it comes to reported deaths per capita — even though the latter was ravaged by the coronavirus early in the pandemic before treatments or vaccines were developed.

Cruises will no longer be required to follow CDC rules starting in January – Washington Post

The public health rules that dictate how cruise ships can operate in U.S. waters during the pandemic will become recommendations in mid-January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday.

Cryptic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the first COVID-19 wave – Nature

Considerable uncertainty surrounds the timeline of introductions and onsets of local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 globally1–7. Although a limited number of SARS-CoV-2 introductions were reported in January and February 20208,9, the narrowness of the initial testing criteria, combined with a slow growth in testing capacity and porous travel screening10, left many countries vulnerable to unmitigated, cryptic transmission.

Endemic Covid-19 Has Arrived in Portugal. This Is What It Looks Like. – WSJ

In this soccer-crazed capital of a soccer-obsessed nation, the stadiums are full again. Portugal, a country ravaged earlier in the year by the Delta variant of the coronavirus, now has the highest Covid-19 vaccination rate in Europe and offers a glimpse of a country trying to come to grips with what is increasingly looking like an endemic virus.

Vaccine Headlines

Moderna says new data supports its COVID vaccine for kids 6 to 11 – NPR

Moderna says a study in kids 6 to 11 found two doses of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine given 28 days apart produced a strong antibody response. The study, conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, used shots containing a 50 microgram dose of the vaccine, half the dose of the Moderna shots authorized for adults. More than 4,700 children ages 5 to 11 took part in the study.

China Giving Covid Shots to Three-Year-Olds as Outbreak Persists – Bloomberg

China started giving Covid-19 vaccines to children as young as three, as the country grapples with the return of the delta variant and more frequent virus outbreaks.

Vaccine study links virus to rare neurological illness – BBC

Doctors say the landmark UK study provides further reassurance that being vaccinated offers the best protection for overall health.

Recipients of Johnson & Johnson shot rush to get boosters – Washington Post

Jennifer Lopez, 58, had jumped at the chance to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last March but soon began feeling regret when data showed it might be less effective than other coronavirus vaccines.

The investigators examined the NHS records of 32 million adults in England to assess any rare adverse events linked to Covid vaccines – BBC

Doctors say the landmark UK study provides further reassurance that being vaccinated offers the best protection for overall health.

Can I get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot? Latest guidelines for recipients of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson – CBS News Video

Up to 99 million Americans are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week signed off on sweeping new booster recommendations for recipients of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines.

AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine brings rare but heightened risk of nerve syndrome – Washington Post

Clinical Considerations

The neurocognitive impact of long COVID – Medical News Today

For many people, long COVID has associations with serious neurological and neurocognitive impairments, a phenomenon sometimes known as neuro-COVID. Why does this happen, and who is most at risk? In this Special Feature and podcast, we speak to two researchers and a person with lived experience of neuro-COVID to find out more.

Sudden Psychosis, Abnormal CSF in Three Teens With COVID – MedPageToday

Sudden, rapidly progressing neuropsychiatric symptoms ranging from severe anxiety to delusional psychosis caused three teenage patients with recent COVID-19 to be hospitalized, researchers reported.

Severe COVID-19 Hallmark Found in Untimely Production of TGFβ – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News

The cytokine Transforming Growth Factor β (TGFβ) has potent immune-modulatory effects, playing a role in downregulating the body’s immune response once a pathogen has been successfully controlled. For this reason, its production is normally timed to coincide with the end of an infection. Now, a new study finds a different situation with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. A Berlin-based team of researchers has revealed that patients with severe disease show an increase in the production of TGFβ as early as the first week of infection.

Official Reporting for October 26, 2021