Amid Confusing CDC Guidance About Vaccines, Study Highlights New Risk of COVID-19 During Pregnancy
A Harvard study found that the children of women who contracted COVID-19 while pregnant may be at an increased risk for autism and other diagnoses, raising new concerns about the CDC’s decision to stop recommending the vaccine to pregnant women.
It took the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until August 2021, eight months after the first vaccine was administered, to formally recommend the COVID-19 shot for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The CDC had found that pregnant women with COVID-19 faced a 70% increased risk of dying, compared with those who weren’t. They also faced an increased risk of being admitted to the intensive care unit, needing a form of life support reserved for the sickest patients, and delivering a stillborn baby. In recommending the vaccine, the CDC assured them that the shot was safe and did not cause fertility problems.
ProPublica found that though unvaccinated women faced devastating risks, the COVID-19 vaccine had been commandeered by disinformation and doubt. Pharmaceutical companies and government officials had not ensured that pregnant women were included in the early development of the vaccine, despite federal guidance on how to safely include pregnant and breastfeeding people in biomedical research.
This Physicist Says We Don’t Take COVID Seriously Enough
We downplay the virus at our peril, warns Yaneer Bar-Yam. And children are more at risk than we thought.
“Health-related absences from work continued to track COVID-19 circulation and were 12.9 per cent higher in the post-pandemic period compared with before the pandemic (140,000 monthly absences).” Absences were highest in occupations with the greatest exposure to the public.
New Covid virus found in wild Brazilian bats
The discovery of a ‘furin cleavage site’ suggests the mutation which helps the virus adapt to humans is naturally occurring
Genetic sequencing of the virus – which was not isolated but studied digitally – shows it carries a furin cleavage site similar to that found in Sars-Cov-2.
Covid in pregnancy tied to autism, developmental issues, study says
A study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology analyzed more than 18,100 births in Massachusetts of children born to women who contracted the virus starting in the early months of the pandemic through some of 2021.
The study’s authors emphasized that, as an observational study, the findings do not prove that covid-19 causes the conditions diagnosed in children, but rather signal an association between maternal infection and these outcomes. And the risk of such a diagnosis, even while elevated for women, remains extremely low, said Andrea G. Edlow, a physician scientist at Mass General Hospital and an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School.
Annual COVID Vaccines Protect People against Severe Disease, Even with Prior Immunity
A new study shows that receiving an updated COVID vaccine reduced people’s risk of severe disease and death in all age groups, regardless of immunity from prior infection or vaccination
Getting a COVID booster could save your life, even if you’ve had multiple prior infections and vaccinations.
A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent. Of the nearly 300,000 U.S. participants in the study, 35 percent received the Pfizer vaccine (COMIRNATY), and 64 percent received the Moderna vaccine (Spikevax). According to the study’s authors, COVID vaccination was effective in all age groups and “in persons with or without major chronic conditions.”
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The new research also “calls into question the idea that younger individuals and those without risk factors don’t need the vaccine,” Viswanathan says. Instead the data show that, while the shot is most effective for older
Covid Shots Protect Pregnant Women, but Getting Them Now Can Be Hard
Getting a COVID booster could save your life, even if you’ve had multiple prior infections and vaccinations.
A study, published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that last season’s 2024–2025 mRNA COVID vaccines reduced people’s risk of emergency department visits by 29 percent, their risk of hospitalizations by 39 percent and their risk of death by 64 percent. Of the nearly 300,000 U.S. participants in the study, 35 percent received the Pfizer vaccine (COMIRNATY), and 64 percent received the Moderna vaccine (Spikevax). According to the study’s authors, COVID vaccination was effective in all age groups and “in persons with or without major chronic conditions.”
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The new research also “calls into question the idea that younger individuals and those without risk factors don’t need the vaccine,” Viswanathan says. Instead the data show that, while the shot is most effective for older
Welcome to the New Era of Covid Vaccine Tourism
Trump and RFK Jr.'s anti-vax crackdown is driving Americans across state lines—and making some pay out of pocket.
Now, in an increasingly anti-vaccine public health regime, Americans are subject to a patchwork of state rules on who qualifies for the Covid vaccine and under what circumstances, as right-wing legislators and governors like Florida’s Ron DeSantis race to outdo one another in reducing access not only to Covid shots but vaccination in general.
For a growing share of people in the US, that leaves crossing state lines as the best option to get the updated vaccine: a new era of interstate vaccine tourism.
Pfizer says this season’s COVID shot boosts immune responses fourfold
Positive results come as Americans face confusing access rules that vary by state.
In Pfizer and BioNTech’s latest trial, the companies limited enrollment to these groups. The phase 3 trial included 100 people total, 50 people age 65 or older and 50 people age 18 to 64 with an underlying condition. Those conditions included asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, HIV, mental health conditions, Parkinson’s disease, obesity, or smoking. All participants had gotten last season’s COVID shot at least six months prior to the trial and had not gotten any other COVID-19 vaccines or a COVID-19 infection since then.
Florida’s surgeon general said he didn’t calculate the costs of ending vaccine mandates in the state. But scientists have.
Florida’s surgeon general said Sunday that he had not weighed the cost – in terms of infections, hospitalizations or deaths – of ending vaccine mandates in the state. But scientists who have done those calculations say those costs may be high.
Another analysis, modeled by researchers at the University of Florida’s Center for Statistics and Quantitative Infectious Diseases last week after Ladapo’s announcement, suggests that even a small drop in measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine coverage among kindergartners in Florida – from the current rate of about 89% down to 85% – could raise the risk of measles spread and the size of outbreaks in the state.
COVID-19 outbreak forces Kansas City school to close until next week
Leaders at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic School in Kansas City, Kansas, confirmed that classes are canceled until Tuesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak at the school.
“But we’ve all heard for the past few weeks either anecdotes of people who’ve been ill, or people in our community, or just specific communities who are having increasing numbers of COVID as well. I think this is one good example of that.”
He said the public should consider reviving some forms of pandemic-era precautions, such as proper hand hygiene and avoiding unnecessary touching of the hands and eyes.
COVID-19 Is Surging Again — And These Regions Are Facing The Sharpest Spikes
While everyone should take precautions to stay well, folks in certain states should be extra careful.
“We’re seeing COVID increase in many communities across the United States, particularly severe, at least according to our current data tracking, in the West and in the South,” said Dr. Sarah Whitley Coles, a founding member of Those Nerdy Girls, an online organization that’s dedicated to sharing accurate health and science information.
Why COVID keeps roaring back every summer, even as pandemic fades from public view
The summer season continues to see spikes in COVID-19 activity. The latest jump is being fueled by the subvariant XFG, nicknamed 'Stratus.'
The rate at which COVID tests in California came back positive was 11.59% for the week ending Aug. 16. That’s up from a positive test rate of 5.69% for the week ending July 19, according to the California Department of Public Health.
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COVID-19 is also increasingly a reason why people are seeking urgent medical care. For the week ending Aug. 17, COVID diagnosis was the reason why 4.04% of children in California up to age 11 were in the emergency room — up from 1.02% during the last week in June.
Long COVID is more than fatigue. Our new study suggests its impact is similar to a stroke or Parkinson’s
Long COVID isn’t just a bunch of lingering symptoms. A new study shows it can stop peoole doing what they want to do, and need to do.
People with long COVID reported worse disability than 98% of the general Australian population. A total of 86% of those with long COVID met the threshold for serious disability compared with 9% of Australians overall.
On average, people had trouble with daily activities on about 27 days a month and were unable to function on about 18 days.
Tasks such as eating or dressing were less affected, but more complex areas – housework and socialising – were badly impacted. People could often meet basic needs, but their ability to contribute to their homes, workplaces and communities was limited.
Doctors' group recommends Covid-19 shots for kids
The American Academy of Pediatrics released its updated recommendations for vaccines on Tuesday, including Covid-19 shots for infants and young children – a break from the current US for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations.
The AAP recommendations are more explicit [than the CDC]. It says that all children ages 6 through 23 months should receive a Covid-19 vaccine unless they have known allergies to the vaccine or its ingredients. It also recommends a single dose of the vaccine for children ages 2 through 18 years if they are at high risk of Covid-19, residents of long-term care facilities, have never been vaccinated against Covid-19, or live in a household with people who are high risk for Covid-19. It also says that the vaccine should be available for this age group even if they are not in these risk groups.
Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2
“Immunity debt,” a theory to explain the global surge in non-covid infections since pandemic restrictions were lifted, is increasingly being challenged by emerging evidence. Nick Tsergas reportsMycoplasma pneumoniae is a bacterial infection not known to cause widespread hospital admissions. “I can count on my two hands the number of times I’d ever seen mycoplasma pneumoniae before 2023,” says Samira Jeimy, clinical immunologist at the University of Western Ontario. “All of a sudden I feel like everybody has it.”1Over the past three years similar reports have circulated of rising bacterial infections, flare-ups of old viruses becoming more common, and children landing in hospital with diseases not usually seen in young, healthy people. One explanation offered by public health leaders has been “immunity debt”2—the idea that precautions taken in the covid pandemic suppressed routine exposures to circulating pathogens, leaving people more vulnerable to them when restrictions were lifted.The theory landed in the public consciousness at the right moment. A simple idea that sounded like science, it soothed a public seeking answers just as the world was returning to a semblance of normality. And it served a policy function, allowing governments to focus on economic recovery.But its explanatory power has faded as the number of non-covid infections has kept rising each year. A 2024 analysis by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention3 found that invasive group A strep infections saw their most dramatic year-on-year increase from 2021 to 2022, well after most precautions had been lifted in the US. Rates have been abnormally high since then, raising questions about what might be behind the trend.A growing number of scientists believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may instead be subtly altering our immune systems. If correct, their hypothesis will change how we understand everything …
A growing number of scientists believe that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may instead be subtly altering our immune systems. If correct, their hypothesis will change how we understand everything from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to shingles to sepsis.
Revenge of the Covid Conspiracy Theorists
After years of GOP attacks on US health agencies, Trump appointees are poised to bring Covid-19 conspiracies to their leadership of US agencies. Federal workers are scared of what comes next.
The new administration has explicitly said that it intends to curtail research on infectious diseases, ban a wide swath of virological work, and perhaps even prosecute those who, it believes, created the Covid-19 pandemic. As one former CDC staffer describes it to WIRED, “There is a vendetta.”
Now offline: Government resources about Long COVID as a disability
Several government resources about accommodations for people with Long COVID have become unavailable in the last week, following purges of government websites and datasets under the Trump administration. These pages offered crucial information about rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for people with Long COVID and their employers.
Several government resources about accommodations for people with Long COVID have become unavailable in the last week, following purges of government websites and datasets under the Trump administration. These pages offered crucial information about rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for people with Long COVID and their employers.
Proposed bill would ban administration of mRNA vaccines in Montana
Legislators heard a bill on Friday that would make Montana the first state to ban the use of mRNA vaccines.
According to Johns Hopkins, gene-based vaccines include those to protect against Covid-19, and vaccine manufacturers are developing mRNA vaccines to protect against other respiratory viruses.
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Opponents, including the state medical officer, say the bill includes inaccurate information, and that the vaccines can’t shed to others because they don’t include live viruses. They also argue the vaccines have undergone rigorous research and are an emerging and important factor in battling infectious diseases, and the state already provides easily available vaccine exemptions, including for schoolchildren.“The statement that mRNA vaccines can integrate into the human genome and be passed onto the next generation is false. There’s no evidence for that. Second, mRNA vaccines do not shed. Shedding occurs with attenuated live virus vaccines,” said state medical officer Douglas Harrington. “The mRNA technology and gene-based technology, the way the bill is written, is adding a massive impact on our ability to treat diseases that we have not been able to treat or prevent before. These are things like tuberculosis, malaria, zika, the rapidly mutating influenza viruses.”
Analysis shows significant financial burden of long COVID in US
Approximately 93% to 95% of these costs come from productivity losses.
Managing long-COVID cases could cost US employers $1.99 billion to $6.49 billion annually, according to a new model published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The model estimates current and future financial burdens related to long COVID, which affects an estimated 44.7 million to 48.0 million Americans.
COVID 5 years later: Learning from a pandemic many are forgetting
Five years after SARS-CoV-2 surfaced, scientists reflect and look ahead to the next threat
Last month, at a 4-day meeting here on preventing future pandemics, WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove ticked off those figures with exasperation. “The world I live in right now, no one wants to talk about COVID-19,” she told the gathering. “Everyone is acting as though this pandemic didn’t really happen.”
Covid Pregnancies May Have Boosted Autism Risk, Study Shows
Exposure to the virus in utero may have affected children’s development, according to a UCLA study, adding to a list of health problems emerging in the wake of the global pandemic.
Later, during in-clinic assessments, the findings proved equally troubling. At 6-8 months old, 13 of 109 infants born to infected mothers — almost 12% — had failed to reach developmental milestones. In stark contrast, all infants in a control group born before the pandemic showed normal development.
As additional participants from LA and Rio were enrolled, more unsettling results emerged. Around 11.6% of toddlers born to mothers with lab-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy showed cognitive, motor, or language problems indicative of neurodevelopmental delays. By comparison, only two of 128 unexposed controls — 1.6% — showed such issues.
When the eldest of the Covid-exposed babies reached 28 months, the study found another concerning pattern: 23 of 211 children — almost 11% — screened positive for autism spectrum disorder. The finding, presented in May at a medical conference in Copenhagen, compared with an expected prevalence of 1-2% at that age, when some children begin showing signs of the condition. Around one in 36 or under 3% of children are eventually diagnosed with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There’s something really going on,” Nielsen says. “We don’t want to alarm the world, but that’s what our data are showing.”
The later findings, currently undergoing peer review ahead of publication, are a reminder that Covid’s long-term consequences, including higher risks for dementia and heart disease, continue to unravel almost five years after the pandemic began. While the virus is generally known to cause more severe symptoms in adults than in children, emerging research suggests that babies exposed to Covid in utero face elevated risks for preterm birth, congenital heart abnormalities and rare conditions, such as organs developing on the opposite side of the body.
A young Coloradan learning to live with long COVID turns to TikTok to educate about chronic illness
Now, Lilly Downs is living life outside the hospital’s walls, on her own for the first time, traveling with friends to Utah, and volunteering at a camp for chronically ill kids — and she’s sharing …
The steps Lilly took that October morning are necessary because her stomach stopped working properly following her first bout with COVID-19 four years ago. But her routine also served another purpose: It was content she filmed for a video that she later posted on TikTok, where she has amassed nearly 470,000 followers.
The COVID inquiry report is an excellent guide to preparing for the next pandemic – health cuts put that at risk
The major logistical barrier to implementing the recommendations of the COVID inquiry is the downsizing of key government agencies needed to do this work.
The report concludes that New Zealand’s adoption of an elimination strategy was highly successful, but had wide-ranging impacts on all aspects of life.
The strategy required early use of border controls, lockdowns and other restrictions which helped prevent widespread infection until most of the population was vaccinated. This response gave New Zealand one of the lowest COVID mortality rates globally.
Trump names COVID lockdown skeptic to lead NIH, another sign of shifts in key agencies
President-elect Trump selected a critic of COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates to lead the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is known for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration, a 2020 manifesto that advocated allowing COVID to spread in order to achieve herd immunity. It was widely criticized by top health officials. William Brangham discussed more with Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo.
Stanford University physician Jay Bhattacharya famously co-authored what's known as the Great Barrington Declaration, a 2020 manifesto that advocated allowing COVID to spread among most people in order to achieve herd immunity and focusing instead on protecting the elderly and other vulnerable groups. It was widely criticized by top public health officials at the time.
Comparing the COVID-19 Vaccines: How Are They Different?
Keeping up with COVID-19 vaccines can be a daunting task. To help people keep up, Yale Medicine mapped out a comparison of the most prominent ones.
COVID-19 is now in its fifth year, and the subvariants of the Omicron strain continue to drive infections in the United States. The good news is that vaccines, which have been updated each year since 2022, are still expected to be effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalization, and death from COVID.
OP-ED: Mask bans make NY less safe
When I was going to visit my 93-year-old grandfather earlier this summer, I donned my N95 mask in the grocery store and on public transit in the days leading up to the trip.
Earlier this month, the Nassau County legislature approved a bill banning people from wearing masks or face coverings in public. Violations could result in a $1,000 fine, up to a year in jail, or both. In May, a state legislator introduced a similar bill that would ban face coverings specifically at public gatherings, like protests. Governor Kathy Hochul has also expressed support for a mask ban on New York City’s subway.
COVID Pandemic Hastened Brain Aging in Teens
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated brain maturation in adolescents, particularly girls, with their brains aging by an average of 4.2 years.
Brain scans showed accelerated thinning of the cerebral cortex, a natural aging process, but at a faster rate. This early maturation could increase the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders, with females showing more pronounced changes than males.
Get the shot now, with the latest COVID outbreak sweeping the country, or hold it in reserve for the winter wave?
It's a COVID shot quandary: Get the new one now or wait until closer to the holidays and the inevitable winter wave? Here are some things to consider.
While the newly formulated vaccines are better targeted at the circulating COVID variants, uninsured and underinsured Americans may have to rush if they hope to get one for free. A CDC program that provided boosters to 1.5 million people over the last year ran out of money and is ending Aug. 31.
Nassau county banned masks, now disabled people are suing
In New York's Nassau County, you need a cop's permission to mask up.
“This mask ban poses a direct threat to public health and discriminates against people with disabilities,” said Timothy A. Clune, the group’s executive director, in a press release.
How A Gay Community Helped The CDC Spot A COVID Outbreak — And Learn More About Delta
When his friends started to get sick after a week of parties, Michael Donnelly started keeping track. His work — and his community's willingness to help — led the CDC to a major pandemic discovery.
A data scientist in New York City's tech sector, he started publishing his own coronavirus data reports early in the pandemic and launched a website, COVIDoutlook.info, with Drexel University epidemiologist Michael LeVasseur.
With New COVID Vaccines Arriving Soon, Brush up on Guidelines and Summer Surge Facts
We’re in a summer COVID surge, and updated vaccines are due soon. Here’s a quick update on what you need to know
Exact case counts are no longer being tracked, but current indicators show that COVID infections in the U.S. are widespread. In the week ending on August 10, nearly one in five COVID tests reported to health departments was positive, and one in 40 people who visited an emergency department was diagnosed with COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 2 percent of all deaths reported during that week were caused by the disease.
New Covid Vaccines Are Coming. Here’s What to Know.
The F.D.A. approved one vaccine from Pfizer and one from Moderna. Representatives from the drug companies said that their shots were ready to ship immediately after approval.
Both vaccines target KP.2, a strain of the coronavirus that started to spread widely this spring. The variants that are most prevalent in the United States right now are very similar to KP.2, and so the vaccines should protect against them.
The biotechnology company Novavax is waiting for the F.D.A. to authorize its retooled vaccine, which will target JN.1, a variant that is also close to the strains circulating widely now.
University of Houston researchers make nasal vaccine that prevents COVID from spreading
A team of researchers from the University of Houston have developed a new vaccine to treat and prevent the spread of flu and multiple coronavirus strains.
Through two nasal sprays — an immune activating therapeutic treatment and a new vaccine — the team of UH researchers have not only broken ground on vaccinating against SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus, but also on creating a universal coronavirus vaccine.
COVID-19 making worrying comeback WHO warns
COVID-19 infections are surging worldwide - including at the Olympics - and are unlikely to decline anytime soon, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the percent of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 has been rising over several weeks,” she said. “Overall, test positivity is above 10 per cent, but this fluctuates per region. In Europe, percent positivity is above 20 per cent,” she added.
What’s different about this summer’s FLiRT COVID wave
COVID could be a staple of summer, experts say
COVID is the “two-humped camel.” Indeed, this isn’t the first time COVID has made a splash in summer. August 2021 marked the COVID comeback, as did a surge in summer 2022 and then there was 2023’s “hot COVID summer.”
Mask Bans Insult Disabled People, Endanger Our Health, and Threaten Our Ability to Protest
Mask bans in cities like LA and New York are a dangerous prospect, putting people’s health at risk and allowing cities to identify protesters who wish to remain anonymous.
In my opinion, the ableist, fascistic, and eugenic nature of proposed mask bans under consideration in New York City and Los Angeles is bleak. But what is happening now is not new or surprising; the hate is more explicit, that’s all.
COVID-19 is on the rise with wide-ranging symptoms
Interview: Epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera, Montclair State University
new variants of the coronavirus — called FLIRT variants — have found a way to evade immunity, affecting even people who have previously had COVID-19. And symptoms can be hard to spot
‘Playing COVID roulette’: Some infected by FLiRT variants report their most unpleasant symptoms yet
COVID cases and hospitalizations rise in L.A. County — and some of those recently reinfected with the FLiRT variants are finding the latest bout the worst yet.
“The dogma is that every time you get COVID, it’s milder. But I think we need to keep our minds open to the possibility that some people have worse symptoms,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert. [...]
anecdotally, including on social media sites, people are expressing shock at how sick they’ve become from the latest subvariants, which have been collectively nicknamed FLiRT.
NYC COVID cases up 250% in 2 months — and this variant's harder to duck
The increases is driven by the new FLiRT variant.
New York City data shows an average of 687 cases of COVID reported per day during the week ending on June 22, 250% higher than the amount reported two months prior. That same week, there was an average of 53 COVID-related hospitalizations each day
CDC finds that COVID-19 can surge throughout the year
COVID-19 peaks in the winter, like many other respiratory virus illnesses, but can also surge at oth
Many respiratory virus illnesses peak during the winter due to environmental conditions and human behaviors. COVID-19 has peaks in the winter and also at other times of the year, including the summer, driven by new variants and decreasing immunity from previous infections and vaccinations. You can protect yourself from serious illness by staying up to date with vaccinations, getting treated if you have medical conditions that make you more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, and using other strategies outlined in CDC's respiratory virus guidance.
A covid summer uptick is underway as FLiRT and LB.1 variants ascend
Covid infections are growing in nearly all states -- with the sharpest increases in the West, according to CDC data. The FLiRT and LB.1 variants are most common.
“We have consistently seen over the past three years that there is a winter surge and there is also a summer surge,” Marlene Wolfe, program director for WastewaterSCAN, a private initiative that tracks municipal wastewater data, and an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “Right now we are waiting to see whether we actually will see a downturn over the next couple of weeks and we’ve hit the peak here, or whether those levels will actually go up.”
Mask bans continue to spread but their impact on the health of the community is under-reported, even by leftist publications
Eugenics has been successfully mainstreamed by libertarian think tanks, yet many popular left-wing journalists look on indifferently.
Study finds all N95 masks effective for reducing an ill person's danger to others, especially duckbill masks
These results suggest that N95 respirators could be the standard of care in nursinghomes and healthcare settings when respiratory viral infections are prevalent in thecommunity and healthcare-associated transmission risk is elevated.
"All masks and respirators significantly reduced exhaled viral load, without fit tests or training. A duckbill N95 reduced exhaled viral load by 98% (95% CI: 97%–99%), and significantly outperformed a KN95 (p < 0.001) as well as cloth and surgical masks. Cloth masks outperformed a surgical mask (p = 0.027) and the tested KN95 (p = 0.014)."
During COVID the Pentagon ran a secret anti-vax campaign
The covert effort began under Trump and continued into Biden’s presidency, Reuters found. Health experts say it endangered lives for possible geopolitical gain.
During the peak of the pandemic the Pentagon ran anti-vax propaganda targeting the Philippines in order to undermine China. However, because the internet is global, it spread.
FLiRT and LB.1 Subvariants are responsible for thousands of deaths, with 44,000 in less than a year
Across California, COVID in wastewater has entered the high level, the first time since February.
COVID lulls aren't being earned by policy; they're being bought with infections and deaths
Celebrating a COVID lull years into the Biden Administration's utter abandonment is woefully out of touch with the science
Cases are low right now for one simple reason: most people have recently had COVID. If not during the massive winter JN.1 surge, which infected an estimated 100 million people, then in the previous variant-soup wave of late summer 2023. COVID infections confer a temporary immunity, meaning that after a big surge- when tens of millions of people are infected in a matter of months- the public has a transient “wall” of immunity that lowers transmission in the short-term. Celebrating lulls that were “bought” with a surge is celebrating the successful mass infection of the public, thousands of new Long COVID cases, overall worsened health of the public, and tens of thousands of dead people. That’s the cost of every lull that wasn’t earned with policy. [...]
75,603 deaths in one year makes COVID the infectious disease killing the most people in the US by far, and likely to remain so. [...]
There are a bunch of modern tools that could easily and quickly reduce infectious disease burden in the US, of both COVID and other airborne viruses (which, it turns out, is many of them). We could upgrade indoor ventilation and filtration standards, introduce Far UVC, provide guaranteed paid sick leave, adopt a new OSHA standard that penalizes employers for failing to mitigate airborne disease in indoor spaces, educate the public about which masks prevent airborne transmission most effectively, provide those masks and tests for free, stop stigmatizing masking and framing it as weird or crazy, help people understand why boosters are critical, stop privatizing tools like the vaccines and tests, push for higher durability vaccines and more accurate RATs, the list goes on.
Instead, we’re doing just one thing: telling people to get vaccinated, with a poor success rate.
Scientists theorize uptick in aggressive cancers may be tied to COVID
It’s not a new idea that viruses can cause or accelerate cancer. But it will probably be years before answers emerge about covid and cancer.
“We are completely under-investigating this virus,” said Douglas C. Wallace, a University of Pennsylvania geneticist and evolutionary biologist. “The effects of repeatedly getting this throughout our lives is going to be much more significant than people are thinking.”
As COVID precautions vanish, people with disabilities struggle with safety and isolation
The pace of COVID fatalities in the U.S. has slowed significantly, with the nation’s death toll standing at more than 1 million people. With precautions like mandatory masking no longer in place, it can seem as if worries about the virus are gone as well. But for many people with disabilities, the threat is still very real. We hear from people in the disability community about their concerns.
Up to 5.8 million kids have long COVID, study says
Amanda Goodhart says her 6-year old son Logan caught COVID multiple times. But even months later, his symptoms didn't get better.
The research also shows long COVID can raise the chances of a child developing type 1 diabetes. And it can even be deadly, leading to multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the syndrome as a "rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19 in which different body parts become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs."
Alarming rise in Americans with long Covid symptoms
CDC data shows nearly 18m people could be living with long Covid even as health agency relaxes isolation recommendations
Some 6.8% of American adults are currently experiencing long Covid symptoms, according to a new survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), revealing an “alarming” increase in recent months even as the health agency relaxes Covid isolation recommendations, experts say.
That means an estimated 17.6 million Americans could now be living with long Covid.
Research shows that even mild COVID-19 can lead to the equivalent of seven years of brain aging
Two new high-profile studies add to the increasingly worrisome picture of how even mild cases of COVID-19 can have detrimental effects on brain health.
there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can affect brain health in many ways.
In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.
"We’re still in a pandemic," says a lead COVID official with the World Health Organization
“We’re still in a pandemic,” says a lead COVID official with the World Health Organization
The virus is rampant. We’re still in a pandemic. There’s a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.
Lack of access to lifesaving tools such as diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines is still a problem. Demand for vaccination is very low around the world. The misinformation and disinformation that’s out there is hampering the ability to mount an effective response. So we feel there’s a lot more work to do, in the context of everything else—[we no longer have a] COVID lens only, of course, but using masks for respiratory pathogens that transmit through the air is a no-brainer—plus vaccination, plus distancing, plus improving ventilation.
Senate hearing highlights Long Covid crisis — but not Covid-19 prevention — while advocacy groups bring their demands to DC
On January 18, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) convened a hearing about Long Covid, discussing research priorities and healthcare challenges for the disease. Senators heard from people with Long Covid and scientists studying it in front of a packed room full of Long Covid advocates and allies, along with thousands watching online.
While advocates and scientists agreed the hearing was a milestone in the government’s response to this crisis, they also called out ways in which the event emulated challenges that people with Long Covid face: navigating spaces without precautions against SARS-CoV-2 infection, a lack of accessibility for people with severe symptoms, and insufficient support for accessing healthcare or other facets of daily life.
As cases continue to rise and more variants arrive on the scene, infectious-disease experts are warning that repeat infections could have cumulative, lasting effects.
Common as they are, reinfections may have lasting impacts.
Regardless of a person's health status, each COVID-19 infection can raise the risk of developing blood clots, which can travel to the brain or lungs. That’s why Smith believes anyone who is eligible for antiviral drugs such as Paxlovid should take them, since controlling the virus as quickly as possible can reduce any potential long-term or lingering effects an infection can have on the body.
Hydroxychloroquine could have caused 17,000 deaths during Covid, according to a study by French researchers
Former US President Donald Trump said: ‘What do you have to lose? Take it.’
Researchers from universities in Lyon, France, and Québec, Canada, used that figure to analyze hospitalization data for Covid in each of the six countries, exposure to hydroxychloroquine and the increase in the relative risk of death linked to the drug.
Can’t Think, Can’t Remember: More Americans Say They’re in a Cognitive Fog
Managing long-COVID cases could cost US employers $1.99 billion to $6.49 billion annually, according to a new model published yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. The model estimates current and future financial burdens related to long COVID, which affects an estimated 44.7 million to 48.0 million Americans.
How to Get the New COVID-19 Vaccine in New York City
The newest shot is not a booster, and it’s available at pharmacies at no cost. Here’s how to make your appointment for a jab.
How States Can Better Regulate Indoor Air Quality
We spend most of our lives indoors, so how can we ensure the air we breathe there is as safe as possible? A new model law could help.
COVID levels are so high, they’re hovering near 2020’s initial peak, as the WHO urges those at high risk to take any booster they can get their hands on
It’s yet another sign that while the official pandemic state may be over, the days of COVID are far from it.
Where Have All The Masks Gone?
Covid cases are rising. We know that there is aerosol transmission of the virus and masks prevent infection. Why is the CDC silent on this, pushing hand washing instead?
FDA could greenlight new Covid boosters as early as Friday
The Food and Drug Administration plans to greenlight updated versions of the Covid boosters, according to some familiar with the agency's plans. The cost of the shots will also no longer be covered by the federal government.
Don’t call it a booster: What NYC should know about COVID vaccines this year
If you’ve had COVID-19 before and didn’t feel too bad, that’s not necessarily what will happen the next time you get sick because of new variants.