Covid vaccination reduces the risk of developing long Covid, while current sufferers may experience an improvement in symptoms after getting jabbed, a comprehensive review by the UK Health Security Agency suggests.
The rapid evidence briefing drew together data from 15 UK and international studies, about half of which examined whether Covid vaccination protected against developing long Covid if someone had never been infected, while the rest looked at the impact of vaccination among people who already had long Covid.
It found that, as well as any benefit obtained by not catching the virus in the first place, those who do catch it are less likely to develop long Covid if they have received one or two doses of vaccine compared with unvaccinated individuals.
According to the two studies that measured individual long Covid symptoms, the fully vaccinated were less likely than unvaccinated people to develop medium- or long-term symptoms such as fatigue, headache, weakness in the arms and legs, persistent muscle pain, hair loss, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of smell or scarring of the lungs.
There is also evidence that unvaccinated people with long Covid who were subsequently vaccinated had, on average, reduced long Covid symptoms, or fewer long Covid symptoms than those who remained unvaccinated, the review said.
There were, however, some people who reported worsened symptoms after vaccination, it added.
Deborah Dunn-Walters, chair of the British Society for Immunology Covid-19 taskforce and a professor of immunology at the University of Surrey, said there was not yet enough information to explain why vaccination should lead to an improvement in peoples symptoms. The term long Covid covers a wide range of post-Covid conditions and so we dont yet fully understand all the processes involved, she said.
One theory is that it may help clear up remaining reservoirs of virus in the body, or fragments of virus that are triggering ongoing inflammation. Another possibility is that vaccination rebalances the immune response in individuals whose symptoms are being driven by autoimmune-like processes this may also explain why a few people report worse symptoms after vaccination, Dunn-Walters added.
She said: This review re-emphasises the importance of everyone, no matter their age, getting vaccinated against Covid-19. Although there has been a high uptake of the vaccines in the UK so far, a significant number of people still need to come forward for a first or second dose. We must continue to make every effort to reach these people and encourage them to come forward for Covid-19 vaccination.
Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director of NHS England, said: With more than 10,000 people in hospital with Covid [in the UK], this study is a timely and important reminder that vaccines remain our best protection against the virus, reducing the chances of becoming seriously unwell as well as the effects of long Covid.
Bars, restaurants and nightclubs will go back to pre-pandemic opening hours and face masks will not be mandatory in most places, says health minister.
The Netherlands will lift almost all its restrictions against COVID-19 by February 25 as cases and hospitalisations fall, the health minister has said.
Bars, restaurants and nightclubs will go back to pre-pandemic opening hours and social distancing and face masks will no longer be obligatory in most places.
However, visitors will need to show proof of either vaccination, a recent recovery from COVID-19 or a negative coronavirus test.
The Dutch government had imposed some of Europes toughest restrictions in December after a surge in Omicron cases but has since been lifting them in stages.
The country will open again, Health Minister Ernst Kuipers told a news conference on Tuesday.
We will go back to normal closing times we had before corona, you dont have to keep 1.5 metres away any more, he added.
Masks are obligatory only on public transport and in the airport. Keeping your distance and wearing a mask remain sensible, but there is no obligation, he also said.
Kuipers warned however that the pandemic was not over and that vulnerable people still had to take care.
We have just passed the peak [of new cases], that is why we insist we all should remain careful, he said.
The health minister took office as part of Prime Minister Mark Ruttes new government in January and quickly signalled that he wanted to start getting society back to normal.
The Netherlands suffered two spates of rioting in 2021 over coronavirus restrictions, with police shooting and injuring several protesters in Rotterdam in November.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 411.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths has now passed 5.81 million. More than 10.35 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.
Singapore's Health Sciences Authority says it has granted interim authorization for Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine.
South Korea is set to begin giving out fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of February. The country will also supply millions of additional home test kits.
China's medical products regulator has given conditional approval for Pfizer's COVID-19 drug Paxlovid. The move makes Paxlovid the first oral pill specifically developed to treat the disease to be cleared in the country.
A US decision on the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in children aged from six months to four years has been delayed for at least two months after the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it needed more data.
Viet Nam is set to end COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights from 15 February.
The Cook Islands, the South Pacific nation that has not experienced COVID-19 in its community, is preparing for its first cases after an infected traveller visited, Prime Minister Mark Brown, said yesterday.
The US FDA has authorized Eli Lilly's COVID-19 antibody drug for people aged 12 and older who are at risk of severe illness.
Norway is set to scrap nearly all its remaining COVID-19 lockdown measures, as high levels of infections are unlikely to put health services at risk, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre said on Saturday.
Belgium has also announced further easing of its COVID-19 restrictions, with nightclubs reopening and concerts allowed with a standing audience.
And in France, people will no longer have to wear masks indoors in public places where entry is subject to the COVID-19 vaccine pass.
Hong Kong SAR, China, is being overwhelmed by an "onslaught" of COVID-19 infections, leader Carrie Lam has warned.
Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in selected countries.
Image: Our World in Data
The COVID Response Alliance to Social Entrepreneurs - soon to continue its work as the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship - was launched in April 2020 in response to the devastating effects of the pandemic. Co-founded by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship together with Ashoka, Echoing Green, GHR Foundation, Skoll Foundation, and Yunus Social Business.
The Alliance provides a trusted community for the worlds leading corporations, investors, governments, intermediaries, academics, and media who share a commitment to social entrepreneurship and innovation.
Since its inception, it has since grown to become the largest multi-stakeholder coalition in the social enterprise sector: its 90+ members collectively support over 100,000 social entrepreneurs across the world. These entrepreneurs, in turn, have a direct or indirect impact on the lives of an estimated 2 billion people.
Together, they work to (i) mobilize support for social entrepreneurs and their agendas; (ii) take action on urgent global agendas using the power of social entrepreneurship, and (iii) share insights from the sector so that social entrepreneurs can flourish and lead the way in shaping an inclusive, just and sustainable world.
The Alliance works closely together with member organizations Echoing Green and GHR Foundation, as well as the Centre for the New Economy and Society on the roll out of its 2022 roadmap (soon to be announced).
World Health Organization (WHO) Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Friday that the world is not yet at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as there will be more variants.
"We have seen the virus evolve, mutate ... so we know there will be more variants, more variants of concern, so we are not at the end of the pandemic," Swaminathan told reporters in South Africa, where she was visiting vaccine manufacturing facilities with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
During the same visit, Dr Tedros urged African nations to back efforts to create an African medicine regulator. Tedros said that continental institutions like the planned African Medicines Agency are important because they could cut costs and help fight counterfeit or poor-quality drugs.
Indonesia will urge the G20 group of leading economies to establish a global body that can dispense emergency funds during a health crisis, functioning in a similar way to international financial institutions, its health minister said on Friday.
Under the current system, countries are "basically on their own" if they need emergency funds, vaccines, therapeutics or diagnostics, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a news conference, adding that Indonesia will seek to change this during its G20 presidency this year.
"There is no global health institution that has enough power or money to jump in and help, you are basically on your own," he said.
The idea adds to a proposal by Indonesia and the US last year to create an international pandemic response system.
Written by
Joe Myers, Writer, Formative Content
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
The former captain of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt fired from command after sounding the alarm on an out-of-control coronavirus outbreak on board in 2020 will retire from the Navy next month, the Navy Times newspaper reported Monday.
Captain Brett Crozier, a 30-year-Navy veteran, was removed from command of the Roosevelt based in San Diego at the time following the leak of a letter he wrote to Pacific Fleet commanders in which he implored the Navy to do more to protect the crew as dozens of sailors began testing positive for COVID-19. The ship was just a couple of months into a scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific when the outbreak began. It was sidelined in Guam but sailors were still living in close quarters on board as the virus spread unabated.
Immediately after Croziers letter was made public, the Navy announced thousands of sailors would move off the ship. The next day, Crozier was fired from command.
Video of Croziers departure from the ship showed hundreds of sailors cheering their captain and chanting his name. Shortly after those videos went viral, the acting secretary of the Navy at the time, Thomas Modly, visited the ship and blasted Crozier over its public address system.
Audio of Modlys profane 15-minute speech also leaked. The acting secretary first apologized, then resigned.
Crozier was initially reassigned to a staff position at Naval Air Forces in San Diego. Crozier later told investigators he understood the risk to his career he took in writing the letter but did so to avoid a larger catastrophe.
The Roosevelt remained in Guam for two months before finishing its deployment and returning to San Diego. One Roosevelt sailor, Chief Petty Officer Thomas Thacker, died of the virus. He was the first of 92 service members 17 of them sailors to die from the virus throughout the pandemic.
Crozier is currently assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 154 in Lemoore, Calif. He flew his last flight in an F/A-18F Super Hornet on Feb. 2, Navy Times reported.
The Roosevelt left San Diego in July to begin an 18-month retrofit in Bremerton, Wash.
Most people who die of COVID-19 first spend time in an ICU.
Early in the pandemic, about one-third of COVID-19 patients treated in intensive care died. Those figures are far better now, thoughprecise numbers aren't available.
But what we do know is that most of the survivors don't bounce back quickly.A study recently found that among Dutch people treated for COVID-19 in an ICU, 74% still had physical symptoms a year later, including weakness and muscle and joint pain. More than a quarter reported lingering mental symptoms and 16% had cognitive problems.
Read more from reporter Karen Weintraub on the experiences of COVIDpatients in the ICU here.
It's Tuesday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the USA TODAY Network. Here's more news to know:
See our COVID-19 resource guide here. See total reported cases anddeaths here. On vaccinations: About 76% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 64% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Cady Stanton, USA TODAY digital editor fellow, @cady_stanton
A recent study carried out by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), based on data provided by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), estimates different timeframes for coronavirus contagion depending on the type of face mask a person is using. These range from 27 minutes for somebody wearing a cloth mask to up to 25 hours for someone wearing a perfectly adjusted N95 mask (the US equivalent of an FFP2 in Europe).
In a closed space, without ventilation and no masks, an infected person can pass the virus to another in 15 minutes.
A well-fitted N95 mask lets a maximum of 10% unfiltered air through. If two people are using them, infection is unlikely.
*All infection times in this infographic have been calculated in an enclosed, unventilated space with a distance of two meters between the two people.
In a closed space, without ventilation and no masks, an infected person can pass the virus to another in 15 minutes.
A well-fitted N95 mask lets a maximum of 10% unfiltered air through. If two people are using them, infection is unlikely.
*All infection times in this infographic have been calculated in an enclosed, unventilated space with a distance of two meters between the two people.
In a closed space, without ventilation and no masks, an infected person can pass the virus to another in 15 minutes.
A well-fitted N95 mask lets a maximum of 10% unfiltered air through. If two people are using them, infection is unlikely.
*All infection times in this infographic have been calculated in an enclosed, unventilated space with a distance of two meters between the two people.
In a closed space, without ventilation and no masks, an infected person can pass the virus to another in 15 minutes.
A well-fitted N95 mask lets a maximum of 10% unfiltered air through. If two people are using them, infection is unlikely.
*All infection times in this infographic have been calculated in an enclosed, unventilated space with a distance of two meters between the two people.
These masks were in short supply in the early days of the pandemic, but now that they are commonplace, scientists and health authorities have been stressing the importance of using this kind of effective protection against coronavirus, pointing out that masks made of cloth and surgical masks are not equipped with a facial seal and are loose-fitting, thereby allowing a large quantity of aerosols to escape.
In the United States, the Joe Biden administration announced in January it would distribute 400 million N95 face masks to people across the country free of charge as part of the presidents strategy to combat the spread of the more-contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. Since December, anybody wishing to attend the theater or a concert or use public transport in Italy has been obliged to wear a face mask of this grade to be granted access. In Spain, sales of FFP2 and FFP3 masks rose by 642% between November 2021 and January 2022 according to medical material distributor Cofares, while some Spanish regions such as Andalusia and Catalonia have asked that the wearing of this type of mask be made obligatory on public transport and during visits to senior homes.
The lack of protection against Covid-19 afforded by surgical masks is due to their loose-fitting design. Masks of this type are used to contain splashes on both sides of the fabric. During a surgical procedure, for example, they prevent the patient from being contaminated by drops of saliva from the mouths of the surgeons when they are talking, while also protecting the medical personnel from blood and other fluids from the patient. Furthermore, the filters in these masks only trap particles of between three and seven microns in size. This means that bacteria and other large aerosols are retained by the mask, but other finer aerosols, such as those that transmit the coronavirus, are able to get through.
Their loose design allows for up to 50% of the air (and aerosols) that we breathe to enter and escape.
These are designed specifically to stop infectious droplets that we emit when we speak, cough and sneeze, but not to trap the air nor the possible infectious aerosols.
During their production and professional use, tests are not carried out on the fit, only on the filtering material.
*Micron: a thousandth of a millimeter
Most of the aerosols that we breathe are smaller than 3 microns. Surgical masks do not trap these, but well-fitted N95 masks do.
Their loose design allows for up to 50% of the air (and aerosols) that we breathe to enter and escape.
These are designed specifically to stop infectious droplets that we emit when we speak, cough and sneeze, but not to trap the air nor the possible infectious aerosols.
During their production and professional use, tests are not carried out on the fit, only on the filtering material.
*Micron: a thousandth of a millimeter
Most of the aerosols that we breathe are smaller than 3 microns. Surgical masks do not trap these, but well-fitted N95 masks do.
Their loose design allows for up to 50% of the air (and aerosols) that we breathe to enter and escape.
These are designed specifically to stop infectious droplets that we emit when we speak, cough and sneeze, but not to trap the air nor the possible infectious aerosols.
During their production and professional use, tests are not carried out on the fit, only on the filtering material.
Most of the aerosols that we breathe are smaller than 3 microns. Surgical masks do not trap these, but well-fitted N95 masks do.
*Micron: a thousandth of a millimeter
These are designed specifically to stop infectious droplets that we emit when we speak, cough and sneeze, but not to trap the air nor the possible infectious aerosols.
Their loose design allows for up to 50% of the air (and aerosols) that we breathe to enter and escape.
*Micron: a thousandth
of a millimeter
During their production and professional use, tests are not carried out on the fit, only on the filtering material.
Most of the aerosols that we breathe are smaller than 3 microns. Surgical masks do not trap these, but well-fitted N95 masks do.
The N95, which is considered a high-protection mask and used in the prevention of respiratory diseases, is designed to retain fine aerosols. To achieve this, such masks are better adjusted to the contours of the face and have a filter capable of trapping up to 95% of particles measuring three microns (94% in the case of the FFP2). For an FFP2 mask to meet all the regulations you have to perform 15 or 20 different tests. In the case of surgical masks, only four are carried out: filtration of bacteria, respirability, whether or not they contaminated and if they are splash-resistant, explains Jos Mara Lagarn, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
The fit of a mask and its seal are more important than the filtration efficacy of its component materials when it comes to reducing leakage on the inside of the fabric. Ensuring an optimal fit is also important with these masks, as a gap between mask and face equivalent to as little as 2% of the masks surface would allow up to 50% of air to pass through unfiltered.
Recommendations for a good fit
Beards can
impede a
good fit
The best filtration and facial seal are offered by an N95 mask (N95 in Europe) that is well fitted around the head and the neck.
A knot tied in the bands of the mask improves the fit and reduces the entry and exit of aerosols.
The best recommendation to ensure a good facial seal of a surgical mask is to use a silicone mask fitter.
Recommendations for a good fit
Beards can
impede a
good fit
The best filtration and facial seal are offered by an N95 mask (N95 in Europe) that is well fitted around the head and the neck.
A knot tied in the bands of the mask improves the fit and reduces the entry and exit of aerosols.
The best recommendation to ensure a good facial seal of a surgical mask is to use a silicone mask fitter.
Recommendations for a good fit
The best filtration and facial seal are offered by an N95 mask (N95 in Europe) that is well fitted around the head and the neck.
Beards can
impede a
good fit
A knot tied in the bands of the mask improves the fit and reduces the entry and exit of aerosols.
The best recommendation to ensure a good facial seal of a surgical mask is to use a silicone mask fitter.
Recommendations for a good fit
Beards can
impede a
good fit
A knot tied in the bands of the mask improves the fit and reduces the entry and exit of aerosols.
The best recommendation to ensure a good facial seal of a surgical mask is to use a silicone mask fitter.
The best filtration and facial seal are offered by an N95 mask (N95 in Europe) that is well fitted around the head and the neck.
Tests to measure the concentration of aerosols on the interior and exterior of masks establish the minimum fit factor required to provide effective protection at 100. A good FFP2 mask has a fit factor of over 200; a surgical mask can be as low as two, explains Santos Huertas, director of research and innovation at Spanish occupational accidents and diseases insurer Asepeyo.
The type of fastening a mask has, the researcher explains, is key to ensuring an optimal fit. Masks that fit around the ears have much lower fit factors than those that are attached around the nape of the neck and the crown of the head. However, the fit of masks that use ear supports can be improved by a cardboard or plastic hook that links both straps behind the head. Whichever type of fastening is employed, it is essential to ensure that the nose piece is correctly shaped to the wearers requirement and that the mask fits the overall shape of the users face.
N95 masks are more durable than surgical masks, which lose their efficacy after around four hours of use. A disposable mask has a useful life span of around eight hours, while reusable models can last for 30 hours. Between uses, it is important to ensure that the mask is allowed to dry out, while also checking that it is in good condition, has not been damaged in any way and that its fastenings retain their elasticity.
The maximum usage time for a reusable N95 mask is up to 40 hours, but according to the exposure to the virus, experts consulted say that they can last up to 20 days.
Low exposure to the virus
Ventilated spaces and
with few people.
* Provided that the mask remains dry
and is properly fitted.
High exposure to the virus
Hospitals and areas with high amounts
of people.
Tests carried out with high levels of virus showed that it can remain active up to 72 hours in an N95. Four N95 masks alternated every 72 hours could last up to 20 days.
The maximum usage time for a reusable N95 mask is up to 40 hours, but according to the exposure to the virus, experts consulted say that they can last up to 20 days.
Low exposure to the virus
Ventilated spaces and
with few people.
* Provided that the mask remains dry
and is properly fitted.
High exposure to the virus
Hospitals and areas with high amounts
of people.
Tests carried out with high levels of virus showed that it can remain active up to 72 hours in an N95. Four N95 masks alternated every 72 hours could last up to 20 days.
The maximum usage time for a reusable N95 mask is up to 40 hours, but according to the exposure to the virus, experts consulted say that they can last up to 20 days.
Low exposure to the virus
Ventilated spaces and
with few people.
* Provided that the mask remains dry
and is properly fitted.
High exposure to the virus
Hospitals and areas with high amounts of people.
Four N95 masks alternated every 72 hours could last up to 20 days.
Tests carried out with high levels of virus showed that it can remain active up to 72 hours in an N95.
Theres an important relationship among your nutritional status, immune health, risk of infection, and ability to recover from illness (1, 2, 3).
Poor nutrition is associated with inflammation and oxidative stress, which compromise immune health. Both inflammation and oxidative stress are elevated when you have COVID-19 (1, 2).
The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic in March 2020. The viruss full name is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), and the illness it causes is called COVID-19 (4).
COVID-19 negatively affects nutritional status because it decreases appetite and may limit your access to nutritious foods during confinement, yet it simultaneously increases your bodys need for nutrients, such as vitamin D (3, 5, 6).
Diet and nutrition can help support your immune health if you have COVID-19, especially if you consume foods with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties (1, 2, 5, 6, 7).
Its important to note that this is an emerging area of research. These foods wont prevent you from contracting the novel coronavirus or cure the disease, but they have been shown to support immune health.
This article lists key nutrients, foods, and nutrition practices that may be beneficial for people who have COVID-19 or are recovering from it.
Vitamin D is the most frequently discussed micronutrient among nutrition experts for the management of COVID-19 (5).
This fat-soluble vitamin and hormone exerts an anti-inflammatory effect by suppressing overactivity of the immune system, according to newer and older research (1, 5, 8, 9).
In the body, vitamin D acts on angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a protein receptor found in the lungs and fat tissue (1, 7).
The novel coronavirus binds to ACE2 at the beginning of an infection, potentially leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe illness in people with COVID-19 (10).
However, vitamin D interacts with the ACE2 receptors, potentially preventing the virus from binding to them, and reducing complications associated with COVID-19 (1, 10, 11).
Vitamin D may also play a protective role and support healing of damaged tissues, primarily in the lungs (10).
On average, people make approximately 80% of their vitamin D when their skin is exposed to sunlight (ultraviolet light) and get the remaining 20% from their diet (8).
As a result, taking vitamin D daily may be a good idea if youre in confinement due to COVID-19 and have little sunlight exposure (5).
However, some medications may interact with vitamin D supplements including blood thinners, which are common among people with COVID-19 as a result of the increased risk of blood clotting.
Thats why its best to speak with a healthcare professional before you start taking vitamin D supplements regularly.
Increasing your intake of vitamin D-rich foods while you have or are recovering from COVID-19 is a great way to reduce the risk of a vitamin D deficiency and potentially improve your immune response.
Here are seven foods rich in vitamin D, along with the amount of the vitamin each contains (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18):
Wild mushrooms are a vegetarian source of vitamin D. Their levels vary depending on the type of light they were exposed to as they were growing, according to older research (19).
Vitamin D may help protect your lungs during novel coronavirus infection by disrupting viral attachment in your body. Several foods are rich in vitamin D, including cod liver oil, salmon, herring, and some wild mushrooms.
Carotenoids are antioxidants as well as pigments (red, green, yellow, and orange). Theyre found in nature in some colorful algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, fruits, and vegetables, some of which you can include in your diet (20, 21).
Of the 700 carotenoids identified in nature, only about 30 have been found in the human body. One of these is vitamin A and its precursor, beta carotene (20, 22, 23).
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble antioxidant carotenoid. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and research has shown it may be beneficial for managing pneumonia and respiratory infections (1, 24, 25, 26).
In the case of COVID-19, studies indicate that vitamin A reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, enhances the immune response, and may decrease the severity of the disease (24, 25).
Researchers think it protects the ACE2 receptors, similarly to vitamin D, and may work on several other molecular targets to combat COVID-19 (24, 25).
Some people may develop vitamin A deficiency during infections such as COVID-19, and this may actually increase the severity of the disease. If this happens, you might need to take vitamin A supplements (25).
However, drug interactions are also possible if youre taking vitamin A supplements, so make sure you speak with a healthcare professional before taking them.
Dark green leafy vegetables and organ meats, particularly liver, are rich sources of vitamin A.
Here are eight foods rich in vitamin A, along with the % of the DV per 100 grams of each (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34):
Vitamin A is a carotenoid that may help provide powerful protection against infections, including COVID-19. Food sources include liver, dark green leafy vegetables, and pigmented vegetables such as sweet potatoes and carrots.
Zinc deficiency has been associated with an increased risk of infections and poorer outcomes in those with COVID-19 (1, 35).
Zinc is regarded as one of the most important minerals. Research has shown that its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties may reduce the risk of heart disease, may support eye health, and are essential for immune health (36, 37, 38, 39).
In COVID-19, zinc may reduce the risk of getting a bacterial infection at the same time and decrease activity of the ACE2 receptors, which are targets of the novel coronavirus (40).
It also protects the health of the lung tissue and may be a therapeutic additional treatment for COVID-19. Studies on this are now underway (41, 42, 43, 44).
If youve received a diagnosis of zinc deficiency, your doctor may have recommended that you take zinc supplements. However, be careful not to take too much, because zinc is toxic in excess amounts. Stick to the dose your doctor recommends (45).
Here are seven foods rich in zinc, along with the % of the DV per 100 grams of each (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52):
Zinc is an essential mineral with anti-inflammatory properties that may benefit people with COVID-19. Rich food sources include ground beef, cashews, and hemp seeds.
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are a category of fatty acids shown to have anti-inflammatory health benefits, including for brain health, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis (1, 9, 53, 54).
These omega-3 fats, specifically eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), may improve recovery in people with COVID-19 (55).
However, higher quality research in humans is needed before healthcare professionals may recommend taking it for this purpose.
Omega-3 fats reduce inflammation and the potential for the cytokine storm in COVID-19, which is hyperactivity of the immune system that causes negative symptoms.
Theyre thought to do this by becoming part of cell membranes of various tissues throughout the body and preventing the production of pro-inflammatory compounds (56).
Another potential benefit of omega-3 fats in treating those with or recovering from COVID-19 is their role in improving mood, anxiety, and depression all of which may be worsened by the novel coronavirus pandemic (57, 58).
Research is underway to determine the therapeutic role of omega-3 fats for COVID-19.
Here are eight foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, along with the amount of omega-3s found in each. Note that these contain different types of omega-3s (12, 15, 17, 29, 59, 60, 61, 62):
As you may have noticed, many foods rich in omega-3 fats are also rich sources of vitamin D.
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are known for their anti-inflammatory health benefits and may help treat COVID-19. Foods rich in omega-3 fats include salmon, sardines, and chia seeds.
Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin that supports immune health in people of all ages (63).
Animal and human studies have found that vitamin C may reduce oxidative stress, improve endothelial function to guard against heart disease, and support recovery from the common cold (64, 65, 66).
Emerging research demonstrates that giving vitamin C to people with COVID-19 may support recovery and improvement during the disease course (44, 66, 67).
Vitamin C has a potential role in the prevention and management of pneumonia and bacterial infections such as sepsis, although some in the scientific community question its use (66, 67).
Preliminary evidence suggests that taking vitamin C may help those with COVID-19, but more studies in humans are needed (68).
Here are eight foods naturally high in vitamin C, along with the % of the DV per 100 grams of each (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76):
Vitamin C is an antioxidant vitamin that supports immune health and is known to reduce the risk of pneumonia. This nutrient shows promise as a treatment for COVID-19, and more research is currently underway.
COVID-19 negatively affects nutritional status, and a healthy, functional immune system is paramount to reducing the risk of infection and supporting recovery.
Researchers are looking with great interest at vitamin D, carotenoids, vitamin A, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin C to determine their potential health benefits as complementary treatments for COVID-19.
There is currently no clinical evidence that a low histamine diet is beneficial to those with or recovering from COVID-19. More research in humans is needed.
A child wears a KN95 mask for kids in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. (Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Each week, we answer frequently asked questions about life during the coronavirus crisis. If you have a question youd like us to consider for a future post, email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line Weekly Coronavirus Questions. See an archive of our FAQs here.
Do kids really need masks if theyve been vaccinated and had COVID?
Most kids who were either recently infected or vaccinated should have a strong enough immune response to protect them from getting COVID for several weeks or longer, says Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University.
The combination of being vaccinated and having had COVID induces stronger immunity than just one or the other, he says in an email. Of course, if they are immunocompromised, [the decision not to mask] will be more complicated and parents should consult with their physicians.
In general, though, recent infection and vaccination makes the risk of getting COVID so low that the extra benefit of a mask is negligible, says Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who specializes in respiratory viruses with pandemic potential.
That could change over the next year if a new variant comes along that doesnt care very much about your recent omicron infection, says Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist and chief hospital epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine.
But for now, if your vaccinated kid has recently recovered from COVID, the choice of whether to mask is up to you and your child, as long as youre not violating any mandates.
Many parents in this situation choose to keep masking their children because its part of the social contract of all of us trying to get through this together, Lakdawala says. If one kid stops wearing a mask to school, another may decide to opt out as well, she points out, since keeping track of everyone who got COVID and who is vaccinated is not feasible.
If you and your child decide to forgo masking, make sure your child is not pressuring classmates to take theirs off.
If your kid is the only one not wearing a mask and theyre trying to push other kids to not wear masks, even though it may be best for them to [mask], she says, thats not OK. So its really important to talk with your kids in mask-optional settings about not trying to influence others and to be really tolerant of what they need.
So if I really dont want my elementary school-age kids to get COVID, whats the best way to protect them?
First, get your 5- to 12-year-old vaccinated, doctors and experts say. In a study published online Wednesday, scientists in Israel found that vaccinated children were half as likely to catch COVID as their unvaccinated peers. But this protection was short-term. After about five months, the rate of infection was almost the same for vaccinated and unvaccinated teenagers.
Even as case rates are plunging in some areas, multi-layered strategies are still necessary. Lakdawala compares the situation to a battlefield.
If were at war with the virus, the vaccine is our armor, she says. That helps us from getting badly beaten. But it doesnt help us win, so we also need a mask as a shield that helps us block the virus, and then other ways to fight back like ventilation and ways to clean the air as a sword.
Parents should check whether their schools are up-to-date on their ventilation and air cleaning systems. That could include opening doors and windows at certain times of the day when classrooms are busiest, according to Lakdawala, and using portable air cleaners or a built-in air filtration system. Teachers wearing masks can also make a dent in classroom transmission. According to a study from Germany published in December, teachers wearing masks at school was a more effective strategy at reducing transmission of the virus than students wearing masks.
Everyone wants kids to be in school and learning and interacting safely, Lakdawala says. So we need to continue to think about all of the ways to reduce risk in all environments.
And what about masks for the kids?
Many experts have recommended upgrading to high-filtration respirators during the omicron surge. Indeed, these respirators (N95s, KN95s, KF94s) may be the only masks that are helpful against omicron.
N95 masks arent available for children, but KN95 and KF94s are. Such masks could help kids in situations that call for added caution. If your kids environment includes spending time with anyone at higher risk of complications from COVID, for example, keep that person in mind when making decisions about masking, advises Landon.
If their best friend has Type 1 diabetes and has been battling some infections recently or has a primary immunodeficiency and has to take immunoglobulin infusions, then your kid should be [extra careful], she says. If your kid wants to keep being friends with that kid, they need to wear a mask all the time.
But for many families, KN95s or KF94s arent a viable option. They are much more expensive than cloth or surgical masks and less reusable than cloth masks. On top of that, a child needs to wear the mask consistently to make it effective.
Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She has written about COVID-19 for many publications, including The New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Medscape and The Washington Post. More at sheilaeldred.pressfolios.com. On Twitter: @milepostmedia.
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The tweet has stuck with me for months now: a chart of cumulative COVID-19 deaths per capita in the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The U.S. and U.K. lines rise up like mountains relative to the valley of South Korea below. Even as Omicron-related deaths have increased in South Korea more recently, the picture hasnt changed much.
South Korea kept deaths 40 times lower all the way till 75% of population fully vaccinated, the physician Vincent Rajkumar marveled on Twitter in response to the chart. This is success.
A more apt word than success might be resilience. As I have previously argued, the COVID crisis has underscored that clout in the 21st centuryan era rife with systemic threats including climate change, cyberattacks, and economic criseswill depend on a countrys ability to anticipate and absorb large-scale shocks, adapt to their disruptions, and rapidly bounce back (or even forward) from them. It will depend on resilient power. And through its response to the coronavirus so far, South Korea has emerged as a paragon of resilience governance.
South Korea hasnt proved to be the only resilient power in this period; other standouts include New Zealand and the Nordic countries. Yet South Korea is unusual in that it has not only repeatedly suppressed the spread of the virus and kept deaths to relatively low levels, but also never instituted a full lockdown. As a result, it has experienced much less economic fallout from the crisis than most other major economies. In contrast to other countries that excelled at one stage of the pandemic but struggled at others, South Korea has somehow respectably navigated every stage. After a sluggish start to its vaccine campaign, it now has one of the worlds highest vaccination rates. South Korea has also amassed soft power and diplomatic influence by providing pandemic-related assistance to other countries and establishing itself as a widely perceived model for how democracies should contend with COVID-19.
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How did South Korea escape the pandemic relatively unaffected economically, with deaths at such low levels, while now vaccinating at such a high level that it has protected itself from future waves of illness and harsh lockdowns? the public-health expert Devi Sridhar recently inquired. Thats the question we should all be asking.
Below is my answer to that questionin the form of the broad lessons that other countries should learn from South Koreas achievements. These are the seven habits of highly resilient nations.
In 2015, an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), also caused by a coronavirus, tore through South Koreas hospitals and caught the government off guard. After initially failing to provide sufficient testing and transparent information about the crisis, however, officials eventually got the outbreak under control.
This history of lived resilience, as Michele Grossman, a resilience expert at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, once described it to me, gave the South Korean government and public confidence from the start of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, when others were either panicking or complacent, that they could prevent the virus from spiraling out of control. This might seem like an encouraging lesson: If resilience is born of the sort of trauma every country has experienced during this pandemic, then every country should now theoretically be primed to be more resilient in the future.
Adversity is not a sufficient condition for resilience, however. As The Atlantics Derek Thompson has written, what has set the South Korean government and people apart is their willingness to learn from that adversity and adapt their practices, policies, and institutions accordingly. South Koreas playbook for containing COVID-19rapid and widely accessible testing, sophisticated contact-tracing technology, and treatment measures such as compulsory isolation of serious casessprang from new legislation and government infrastructure developed as a direct result of MERS and other prior epidemics, such as a 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza.
As part of its dozens of post-MERS reforms, the government enhanced its data-collection methods and medical and laboratory facilities. It empowered the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA). It identified high-priority infectious diseases, stockpiled personal protective equipment and other medical essentials, crafted a plan to disseminate supplies across the country, and conducted drills. MERS also prompted the government to develop closer relationships with biotechnology companies, which paid dividends when the novel coronavirus hit, enabling the country to quickly acquire reagents for diagnostic tests.
A December study by Bertelsmann Stiftung, which examined 29 countries in the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, found that from the earliest days of the coronavirus outbreak, South Korea based its public-health interventions on scientific and socioeconomic expertise from a range of government entities. More broadly, according to the German foundation, countries that can speedily and successfully integrate expert advice into new policies, or adjust existing policies, tend to respond better to crises.
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South Koreas overall COVID strategy was shaped by deference to such expertise. As Sridhar, the public-health expert, has argued, the countrys short-term focus on maximum suppression helped buy time for scientists to find a sustainable exit from the crisis through the development and approval of vaccines in 2020 and therapeutics in 2021.
Resilience depends on governments responding early and decisively to fluid realities. That, in turn, requires a commitment to Follow the data as a beacon for policy and decision making, Grossman, of Deakin University, told me.
South Korea has advanced data infrastructureincluding a cutting-edge (if also problematic, from a privacy perspective) contact-tracing systemthat enabled authorities to swiftly collect and analyze various sorts of pandemic-related data as a means of detecting early warning signs and assessing the effects of government policies. Employing its sensitive, multilevel alert system for infectious-disease risks, the government shifted its focus to economic recovery when new COVID cases dropped and shifted back to virus mitigation when cases surged again.
South Korea was one of only several countries in the Bertelsmann Stiftung study that succeeded in regularly reviewing the effectiveness of their policies, and in adapting them on an ongoing basis to rapidly changing circumstances or new knowledge, the report notes.
That achievement should not be underestimated. Real-time learning [during a crisis] is very, very difficult in the majority of countries, including nearly all of the studys front-runners, Christof Schiller, a governance expert at Bertelsmann Stiftung and a co-author of its report, told me. Korea could be an exception there.
New Zealand has been the worlds brightest star for crisis communications during the pandemic (its prime minister actually has a degree in communications), but South Korea has distinguished itself in this domain as well, consistently conveying a coherent containment strategy to its people.
As early as January 30, 2020, when the country had only five confirmed COVID cases, the government initiated twice-daily press briefings with public-health officials. It quickly issued press releases and web resources packed with data on the state of the outbreak and steps to counteract it, deployed a mobile-friendly emergency-alert system, established a 24-hour COVID hotline, and disseminated infographics on measures to avoid infection.
Here, too, the South Korean governments adherence to learning was key. The countrys Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, shaped by lessons from the H1N1 and MERS outbreaks, afforded the public a right to be informed about disease outbreaks and about government responses to them, note Thomas Kalinowski and Sang-young Rhyu, Bertelsmann Stiftungs South Korea experts. They explain that as a result, the government largely disclosed its actions and plans, and was transparent even about difficulties that threatened to increase public levels of frustration, such as the mask shortages in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak. In leveling with the public about these challenges, the government restored civic trust and encouraged the population to engage in a communal effort to prevent the spread of the virus.
That transparency also helped mobilize the private sector to boost South Koreas resilience by, for instance, developing mobile apps and websites that draw on government data to track mask inventories in stores or paths of viral transmission.
Writing for The Atlantic in 2020, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama argued that the most significant factor in national performance against the pandemic was whether citizens trust their leaders, and whether those leaders preside over a competent and effective state. Other scholars have since similarly discovered correlations between countries resilience to COVID-19 and their levels of trust in government and within society.
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The authors of one such study of 177 countries and territories recently estimated that if the citizens of every country trusted one another at the level evident in South Korea, which ranked in the 75th percentile for this metric in their survey, the first 21 months of the global coronavirus outbreak might have produced 40 percent fewer infections.
South Korea is not a paragon of public trust in government. Nevertheless, the South Korean public has generally been willing to follow the governments pandemic guidelines, perhaps because the countrys COVID-19 response has been largely expert-led and depoliticized. In the global survey on trust that it released last month, the public-relations firm Edelman found that South Koreans trust in scientists (70 percent) and national-health authorities (56 percent) remained high relative to trust in government leaders (35 percent). Koreans also tend to be more trusting of their civil service, which has a strong culture of performance and accountability assessments, than they are of appointed or elected officials.
The Bertelsmann Stiftung study notes that South Korea was one of several more centralized countries that topped their rankings in part because national coordination efforts proved sensitive to local concerns and were thus carried out with the least friction, by through local authorities empowered to find solutions that work at the local level.
By leveraging a centralized but flexible system, the government was able to establish regional centers for disease control and prevention and rush resources, health-care workers, and public-health officials to areas reeling from surges in cases. The governments Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquartersled by the prime minister and established in February 2020held daily high-level meetings during acute periods of the pandemic to coordinate disaster response across central-government ministries and 17 provinces and major cities.
Notably, many of the countries that have proved most resilient against COVID-19 have been small nations such as New Zealand and the Nordic countries or midsize ones such as South Korea. Maybe this elaborate interplay between national and local systems is easier to pull off in such countries than in larger, more complex, and more diverse ones like the United States. A study of 116 national responses to the pandemic by the Lowy Institute in Australia last year found that countries with populations of fewer than 10 million people proved more agile than the majority of their larger counterparts. Its just one example of how traditional measures of national powermilitary spending, population size, gross domestic productdont necessarily translate into resilience.
South Koreas commitment to continuous learning, scientific expertise, and following the data extended not just to assessments of its own performance during the pandemic but also to assimilating insights from other countries grappling with the same challenges.
Resilient countries dont go it alone, Grossman explained; instead, they navigate toward and share resources; understand that their own well-being is interdependent with, and contingent upon, the well-being of the rest of the world; and act to reinforce the reciprocal relations that underwrite this recognition.
South Korea has not been perfect on this score. Kalinowski and Rhyu write that the government has remained inward-looking during the pandemic, showing a willingness to promote South Koreas successes against COVID-19 to the world but less interest in coordinating actions with international partners.
Nevertheless, the government has established travel bubbles with nearby countries and shared its COVID-19 knowledge, testing kits, and anonymized patient data with other countries and international organizations, while launching the Group of Friends of Solidarity for Global Health Security at the United Nations as a platform for countries to exchange lessons from their responses to the virus and other public-health challenges.
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The specific factors that have enabled South Korea to be resilient to COVID-19its post-MERS crisis-management system, for instancemay not help it respond resiliently to other systemic threats; South Korea performed less well on Bertelsmann Stiftungs assessments of economic, welfare-state, and democratic resilience during the coronavirus crisis.
Now that the Omicron variant is generating a substantial wave of new COVID cases in South Korea, this might also seem like an odd time to be singling out the country as a model. But the government is once again adapting, for example by ditching its celebrated pandemic playbook for a new one that focuses resources on the most at-risk COVID patients.
And, crucially, resilience is not the absence of failure. It is, instead, failure with grace, followed by robust recovery. For two years weve sought out neat success stories in the struggle with COVID. The real trick is managing vulnerabilities to avoid surrendering to shock.
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