Good evening. Im Karen Kaplan, and its Tuesday, March 15. Heres the latest on whats happening with the coronavirus in California and beyond.
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Everyone is eager for the pandemic to be over. But what about the nations public health emergency?
They sound like interchangeable terms, but theyre not the same thing.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a global outbreak of a novel infectious disease. In the United States, the public health emergency is a declaration by the government that our well-being is endangered by COVID-19 and the coronavirus that causes it.
Alex Azar, who served as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Trump, declared the public health emergency way back on Jan. 31, 2020, and made it retroactive to Jan. 27. That was mere weeks after the Chinese government informed the World Health Organization about a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia in Wuhan. The disease did not yet have a name, and the coronavirus was not yet known as SARS-CoV-2. It took about six more weeks for the WHO to label the outbreak a pandemic.
By declaring a public health emergency, Azar established a legal foundation for an array of government actions designed to respond to and ideally contain the virus. The initial declaration expired after 90 days and has been renewed continuously ever since. It will be up for renewal again April 15.
The public health emergency has one thing going for it that the pandemic doesnt: It can be ended with the stroke of a pen.
Lots of Americans say theyre ready to see that happen. Among them are 76 Republicans in Congress who sent a letter to President Biden and Xavier Becerra, Azars successor, demanding that they begin the process of unwinding the public health emergency as soon as possible so our country can get back to normal.
Thats not likely to happen as soon as the lawmakers want. Even if it did, life wouldnt exactly go back to the way things were in 2019, because the coronavirus is still among us.
But some things would go away, my colleague Melissa Healy reports.
For instance, the Biden administration would lose the clear legal authority to invoke the Defense Production Act to make companies produce pandemic necessities such as personal protective equipment. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would give up its power to require that face masks be worn on airplanes, buses and other forms of public transit.
You might not lose much sleep over those things. You might even be happy to see them go.
But what about Paxlovid? Thats the new pill from Pfizer that can reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 by as much as 89%. The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the pill in December, clearing the way for doctors to prescribe it to newly diagnosed patients.
Heres the thing about emergency use authorizations: Theyre only good while a public health emergency is in effect. When the emergency is over, the only drugs and medical devices that will still be available will be those that cleared the FDAs usual and lengthy approval process.
Two COVID-19 vaccines are FDA-approved, but Comirnaty (the one made by Pfizer and BioNTech) is approved only for people 16 and older, and SpikeVax (the one made by Moderna) is approved only for adults. As things now stand, if the public health emergency ended tomorrow, no one under 16 would be able to get vaccinated.
Likewise, the only COVID-19 drug with full FDA approval so far is Veklury (aka remdesivir).
A grocery store offers N95 respirator masks provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
(Rogelio V. Solis / Associated Press)
The public health emergency also makes COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments free to the public, because the government either picks up the tab or makes health insurance companies do so. Once the emergency is over, you may find yourself paying for things youre used to getting for free.
Telemedicine took off during the pandemic, and when health insurance companies balked at paying for it, the government ordered them to cover virtual visits as if they had taken place in person. That was possible because of the public health emergency.
And while the declaration is in place, its much more difficult for states to remove people from their Medicaid rolls. If the health emergency is not renewed next month, nearly 13 million Americans are likely to lose their health coverage, according to an analysis from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.
People have been wishing for back to normal, but you should be careful what you wish for, said Georgetown Universitys Lawrence Gostin, an expert in public health law. Thisll be a whole new world.
California cases and deaths as of 6:04 p.m. on March 15, 2022:
Track Californias coronavirus spread and vaccination efforts including the latest numbers and how they break down with our graphics.
In California, the number of new coronavirus cases reported each day has plunged 70% over the past two weeks, and daily COVID-19 deaths have fallen nearly 50% during the same period. Hopefully both trends will continue even as we ease up on mask mandates, vaccination requirements and other precautions.
But if they dont, how will we know?
Los Angeles County health officials have a plan. Theyve devised a list of nine things to watch for an early indication of trouble, should it arise. They include:
New coronavirus cases: Unless all L.A. County residents are periodically screened for coronavirus infections, we cant know exactly how many cases there are. But if a new outbreak gets underway, a signal should appear in the case data.
COVID-19 hospitalizations: This tells us whether a new outbreak is causing serious illnesses. If it does, the urgency to respond will be greater.
Emergency room visits: Officials want to know what percentage of ER visits involve COVID-19 patients. As long as its below 5% over the course of a week, their level of concern is low; if it rises above 10%, their level of concern will be high.
Viral variants: A portion of the coronavirus specimens collected from patients is selected for genetic sequencing. If a variant of concern arrives on the scene and is sequenced, health officials will be able to spot it. The countys plan says if 5% or more of the specimens sent for sequencing turn out to be variants of concern (as designated by the WHO), it could portend a new surge. And if that figure exceeds 10%, its particularly worrisome.
Low-income areas: Health officials arent just interested in countywide metrics; they also want to keep tabs on the neighborhoods that have been hit hardest throughout the pandemic. Ideally, there will be fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 residents of low-income areas. If there are more than 200 cases per 100,000 residents, that would trigger high concern.
The four remaining indicators are specific settings where health officials are on the lookout for new outbreaks.
Schools: This includes elementary and secondary schools throughout the county. The goal is to see no more than three coronavirus outbreaks per week. If there are 10 are more, the level of concern would be high.
Skilled nursing facilities: The target for these places is no more than 10 outbreaks per week. If the number exceeds 20, health officials would be highly concerned.
Homeless shelters: The targets for these are the same as for skilled nursing facilities.
Work sites: Authorities would like to see fewer than 100 outbreaks each week. If there are more than 300, theyd be in highly concerned territory.
So how are we doing? According to the most recent data available, L.A. County is doing quite well, my colleagues Rong-Gong Lin II and Luke Money report.
As of Sunday, the only category that isnt in the realm of low concern is schools. K-12 schools reported four outbreaks in the most recent week, just enough to generate a moderate level of concern. But looking on the bright side, those four outbreaks represent an improvement over the previous week, when there were seven.
A first-grader gets her nose swabbed for a coronavirus test at Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Most of the other indicators are safely in the low-concern category. But a couple are somewhat close to the boundary with moderate concern. Last week, 4.3% of emergency room visits were coronavirus-related; as mentioned, the goal is to stay below 5%. Also, officials counted eight outbreaks in homeless shelters; the goal is not to exceed 10.
Having one indicator in the moderate range is something to keep an eye on. If two indicators enter that territory, well conduct an in-depth review of contributing factors and consider changes to community-prevention strategies, said Barbara Ferrer, L.A. Countys director of public health.
In a worst-case scenario, such as the arrival of a new variant thats impervious to the immunity weve received through vaccines and past infections, universal mask mandates and other rules could be reinstated.
See the latest on Californias vaccination progress with our tracker.
At schools across California, students arrived Monday with the freedom to do something that hasnt been possible all year: go without a face mask the entire day.
Not every school exercised its option to let students go mask-free. Los Angeles Unified, the largest district in the state, still has its mask mandate in place under a deal with the teachers union. And students in San Diego Unified have to keep their masks on until they return from spring break on April 4.
But for those who had a choice, the milestone day brought feelings of joy, relief, caution and uncertainty.
Giselle Frisby, a senior at Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, was somewhat distressed to find that only one of the four teachers she had Monday chose to wear a mask. Yes, they were optional, but state and county health officials strongly recommend that people continue to wear them. Giselle wore a surgical mask to protect herself from her unvaccinated classmates and for the sake of her dad, who has a medical condition.
Her classmate Jake Hatakeyama hates wearing a mask, especially while playing sports. He went mostly mask-free except for when he was near one of his teachers, who has a newborn at home.
More freedoms may be coming soon. Members of the Los Angeles City Council have taken the first steps toward lifting COVID-19 vaccine verification requirements for restaurants, salons, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses that are now required to confirm patrons vaccination status before serving them indoors.
Council members unanimously voted to draft an ordinance that would make vaccine verification voluntary instead of mandatory. The change would apply to operators of major outdoor events as well. Once the new ordinance is written, it will need to be approved in a future council meeting before it goes into effect.
Rules are being relaxed in other states as well. The governor of Hawaii announced plans to drop the nations last statewide indoor mask mandate by March 26.
And in April, the CDC will stop requiring everyone to wear a mask while taking any form of public transit or while in a transportation hub, such as an airport or a subway station. That broad mandate will be replaced with more targeted policies, officials said.
The U.S. is looking more and more like Europe, where countries have been dropping pandemic restrictions for weeks. France joined them Monday by doing away with the need for masks in most settings and allowing people to dine out, ride trains, go to theaters and attend sporting events without having to flash a vaccine pass.
Frances move came even though the number of new infections there is once again on the rise. The country is averaging more than 60,000 new cases per day over the past week, up from about 50,000 a week earlier. The United Kingdom and other European nations are also seeing their cases rise.
That has some health experts fearing the same will happen in the U.S. this spring.
As we have seen throughout the pandemic, the U.S. [has] followed Europe by several weeks in our waves of cases. That may happen again here, Andy Slavitt, a former senior adviser to President Bidens pandemic response team, wrote on Twitter.
Slavitt attributed the rise in European cases to BA.2, a sublineage of Omicron that spreads about 30% faster than the still-dominant BA.1. According to the CDCs most recent estimate, BA.2 accounts for about 23% of coronavirus specimens in the U.S., up from about 14% the week before and just 7% the week before that.
Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, said waning immunity and a relaxation of safety rules also factored into Europes rising caseload. If so, thats even more ominous for the U.S.
Speaking of waning immunity, Pfizer is expected to ask the FDA to authorize a second COVID-19 booster dose for senior citizens, according to a person familiar with the matter. Among all age groups, seniors have experienced the highest COVID-19 death rates by far, especially people who are 75 and older. If the FDA authorizes another booster, the CDC would have to sign off as well.
On a related note, L.A. County has launched the test to treat COVID-19 program introduced by President Biden during his recent State of the Union address. People who test positive for a coronavirus infection at a participating CVS health clinic can get one of two types of anti-COVID pills either Paxlovid or a less-effective drug made by Merck & Co. called molnupiravir for free. Both pills work best when taken as soon after possible after an infection. More information about the program is available online or by calling (833) 540-0473.
On to Asia, where the pandemic picture looks very different than it does here. The latest update from the WHO says the Western Pacific region saw coronavirus cases jump 46% week-to-week, even as infections dropped 5% for the planet as a whole. In addition, while global COVID-19 deaths fell 8%, deaths in the Western Pacific rose 29%.
China, the largest country in the region, said it recorded 3,507 new cases on Tuesday. Thats more than double the 1,337 new cases it tallied on Monday. Altogether, the country has announced more than 10,000 cases so far in March, making it Chinas biggest outbreak by far since the initial days of the pandemic.
Nearby, South Korea experienced its deadliest day of the pandemic on Tuesday, with 293 casualties. An additional 1,196 COVID-19 patients are in serious or critical condition. Health officials there expect the situation to get worse.
COVID-19 isnt done with Americans, either. In just the past few days, both former President Obama and Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive for coronavirus infections.
Todays question comes from readers who want to know: What is Deltacron, and do I need to worry about it?
Deltacron is the nickname of a new version of the coronavirus thats a mishmash of the Delta and Omicron variants.
Although these strains were responsible for the last two surges, officials say the hybrid is nothing to worry about right now.
Only a handful of Deltacron infections have been documented nationwide, Dr. Erica Pan, the state epidemiologist, told the California Medical Assn. At least one of those cases was in the Golden State, she said.
As of Friday, the combo variant had not been detected in L.A. County, Ferrer said. In fact, she added, its too scarce to get a handle on whether its resistant to existing vaccines and treatments.
California health officials arent the only ones taking Deltacron in stride. Neither the CDC nor the WHO has seen fit to designate it a variant of concern, or even a variant of interest. To qualify for one of those labels, Deltacron would need to be causing clusters of infections in multiple countries. It would also need to have genetic mutations that make it behave (or are suspected to make it behave) in a way thats distinct from its predecessors.
We want to hear from you. Email us your coronavirus questions, and well do our best to answer them. Wondering if your questions already been answered? Check out our archive here.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Id like to give a shoutout to the enterprising folks in the photo above.
Socorro Juarez is the one on the left, dressed as a syringe. Rosa Cardona is on the right, dressed as a coronavirus. My colleague Robert Gauthier spotted them a few weeks ago in San Juan Capistrano.
At least once a week, the pair don their costumes in an effort to persuade fellow Latinos to get vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the Times tracker, 46% of Latinos in California arent fully vaccinated, including the 38% who have yet to receive their first shot.
Resources
Need a vaccine? Heres where to go: City of Los Angeles | Los Angeles County | Kern County | Orange County | Riverside County | San Bernardino County | San Diego County | San Luis Obispo County | Santa Barbara County | Ventura County
Practice social distancing using these tips, and wear a mask or two.
Watch for symptoms such as fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills, shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and loss of taste or smell. Heres what to look for and when.
Need to get a test? Testing in California is free, and you can find a site online or call (833) 422-4255.
Americans are hurting in various ways. We have advice for helping kids cope, as well as resources for people experiencing domestic abuse.
Weve answered hundreds of readers questions. Explore them in our archive here.
For our most up-to-date coverage, visit our homepage and our Health section, get our breaking news alerts, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
WASHINGTON Over the past 10 months, as tens of millions of children and teenagers received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the companies main rival, Moderna, sat on the sidelines, its shot limited to adults.
But Moderna may now be poised for a comeback at a critical juncture in the nations vaccination campaign. The company is expected to send federal officials initial data this week on how well its coronavirus vaccine works for the nations youngest children.
About 18 million children under the age of 5 are the only Americans not yet eligible for vaccination. And while uptake for older children has been slow, many parents are still anxiously awaiting the chance to protect their babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
Moderna is going head-to-head with Pfizer-BioNTech for the opportunity to vaccinate this group, hoping it has found what some scientists are calling the Goldilocks dose: strong enough to offer lasting protection, but not so strong that it causes widespread worrisome side effects, such as high fevers.
Moderna has opted for a regimen of two doses at a quarter the strength of its adult dose for children under 6. Pfizer is expected to seek authorization next month for a three-shot regimen for children under 5, with doses one-tenth as strong as those for people aged 12 and up.
Moderna is also expected to release data soon from its clinical trial on the next age group up: children aged 6 to 11.
Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a Stanford professor of pediatric infectious diseases and a lead investigator at the Stanford site of Pfizers pediatric vaccine trials, said new data from both Moderna and BioNTech in the coming weeks will offer critical insight into the effectiveness of their pediatric shots. She said researchers are watching carefully to see if Modernas stronger doses result in more robust immune responses than Pfizers shots have elicited in young children.
A series of new studies raising questions about how long Pfizers lower doses protect elementary-school-age children has piqued interest among federal scientists and vaccine experts in Modernas choices.
Dr. Ofer Levy, a pediatric expert at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Food and Drug Administrations independent vaccine advisory committee, said he thought Pfizer might have selected too low a dose for 5- to 11-year-olds in the understandable priority to maximize safety.
To date, Pfizer has been the only player in vaccinating younger Americans, winning authorization to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-olds last May, followed by 5- to 11-year-olds in October. Its authorization for adults also covers 16- and 17-year-olds.
Moderna sought authorization to vaccinate teenagers last June, but the F.D.A. delayed considering the request because of concerns about the risk of myocarditis, a condition involving inflammation of the heart that has been tied to both the Moderna and the Pfizer shots.
More than 22 million people in the United States under 18 are now fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, but uptake has been leveling off. Only roughly one in four children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, for example, even though shots have been offered to that group for more than four months.
But there is still a demand to protect the youngest children as more of the country unmasks, more parents return to workplaces and the summer travel season approaches.
Compared with adults, there is no question that in children the benefit of an effective vaccine is less, because fewer get really sick, said Dr. Eric Rubin, an infectious disease expert at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a member of an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration.
But it will benefit some individuals, he said. It will save some lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 336 children in the United States under the age of 5 have died of Covid since the start of the pandemic.
Hopes that the youngest children would soon be covered surged last month after regulators pressed Pfizer-BioNTech to submit preliminary results from its three-dose trial. The F.D.A. wanted to get the vaccination campaign underway with two doses while awaiting final results on three.
March 16, 2022, 4:45 p.m. ET
But that effort collapsed when new data from Pfizer that encompassed more of the Omicron surge showed convincingly that two doses failed to protect adequately against symptomatic infection.
Now, more detailed results from Pfizers and Modernas trials are materializing at roughly the same time. And while neither company knows yet whether its vaccines will prove effective enough for the youngest age group, but both say their research shows they are safe.
We have not seen anything untoward right now, so we feel confident in the safety profile, Dr. Paul Burton, Modernas chief medical officer, said in an interview.
Amy Rose, Pfizers spokeswoman, has said that after careful research, Pfizer-BioNTech chose the safest and most tolerable dose for young children. The companies have said they are hopeful that a three-shot regimen will provide strong protection for children under the age of 5. Pfizer is testing a 10-microgram dose for 5- to 11-year-olds, a third of the adult and teenage dosing; and 3 micrograms for children under 5.
Moderna is proposing substantially higher dosing than Pfizer in all three pediatric age groups: 100 micrograms, the full adult dose, for those ages 12 to 17; 50 micrograms in children 6 to 11, and 25 micrograms in those under 6. Regulators are considered likely to review the firms data for all three age groups simultaneously.
We really stand behind those doses, Dr. Burton said. Although federal officials say both Pfizer and Modernas vaccines wane in potency over time, some studies of adults have suggested that Modernas protection holds up longer. I think it comes down to dose, Dr. Burton said.
He said initial results showed a 50-microgram Moderna dose prompted a robust immune response in children 6 to 11. While the overall number of infections was small, researchers hope that trial will help reveal how well the vaccine prevents illness, not just how high it boosts antibody levels.
Dr. Philip Krause, who recently retired as a senior vaccine regulator at the F.D.A., said the agency spent significant time last year worrying about the safety of Modernas vaccine for those under 18, with some studies showing a higher risk of myocarditis from the companys shot than from Pfizers.
The question is always: What is the dose that gives rise to an immune response that we think is likely to be protective? he said. You couldnt actually test to figure out the rate of myocarditis since its rare, but you could ask, What are we sacrificing in immune response by lowering the dose, and do we think thats important?
Partly because of concerns about myocarditis, the C.D.C. recently encouraged some people 12 or older, particularly boys and men between 12 and 39, to wait eight weeks between their first and second Pfizer or Moderna shots. Studies have shown that teenage boys and young men are most at risk of developing the side effect.
Dr. Burton said that overall the research had proved reassuring, including recent British data that showed myocarditis was very rare and typically mild in both Pfizer and Moderna recipients.
But Dr. Walid F. Gellad, a drug safety expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said it remained unclear whether Modernas higher dosing might elevate the risk of myocarditis in young children. The companys pediatric studies are most likely much too small to identify the risk of the side effect, he and other experts said.
Modernas new push also comes after several studies raised questions about the protection that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTechs vaccine provide for children 5 to 11. Researchers in New York States health department recently found that protection against infection from two doses faded significantly within weeks.
C.D.C. researchers separately found that during the Omicron wave, the effectiveness of two doses of the Pfizer shot against moderate forms of the disease in children ages 5 to 11 dropped significantly.
The studies have kindled a debate among vaccine experts about whether a stronger dose would have been better or whether those children need third doses. Booster shots are now authorized for everyone 12 and up. Pfizer expects results from its study of a three-dose regimen for the younger children next month.
Dr. Gellad said it was possible the Pfizer dose for 5- to 11-year-olds may have been too weak, but that scientists could not yet be certain. He said he expected regulators would be especially careful in considering higher doses for young children given the comparatively low risks of them catching Covid now and getting severely ill.
Amid all the questions, one thing is clear: The back and forth over which vaccine will be better for young children could discourage uptake.
Alison M. Buttenheim, a behavioral health expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said those considering vaccination found comfort in certainty. Otherwise, thats just going to pave the way to say, Im going to hold off, she said. A lot of people are uncomfortable with evolving science.
COVID-19 cases and deaths have been falling across the U.S. for several weeks as the omicron wave recedes. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a new subvariant of omicron is beginning to spread BA.2, also known as "stealth omicron."
The CDC said Tuesday that the BA.2 subvariant now represents 23% of newly-reported COVID-19 cases across the country. The subvariant is also spreading rapidly in China where officials are re-instituting lockdown measures and in Europe, where some countries are seeing a second omicron wave.
So, what is "stealth omicron," and how is it different? And will it lead to another wave of cases in the U.S.?
What is stealth omicron?
According to the American Medical Association, BA.2 is a subvariant of the omicron variant of COVID-19. Scientists have referred to it as "stealth" omicron because it has "genetic mutations that could make it harder to distinguish from the delta variant using PCR tests as compared to the original version of omicron."
Why are scientists concerned?
Omicron itself is already more contagious than previous variant strains of COVID-19. However, the American Medical Association says that BA.2 is 1.5 times more infectious than the original omicron strain.
Does stealth omicron cause more severe disease?
There's conflicting research. According to ABC News, a study conducted by Japanese scientists studied the effects of BA.2 on hamsters and found the subvariant caused more severe infections than omicron. However, two separate studies from Denmark and South Africa showed that BA.2 presented similar risks for hospitalizations compared to the original omicron strain.
Do vaccines work against stealth omicron?
All indications indicate that COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against BA.2, particularly against severe disease and death, according to Vox.
Will there be another surge in cases?
Scientists are holding out hope that the U.S. will be spared from another omicron surge. They hope that the millions of Americans who had an omicron infection in recent months will have some protection against BA.2 and that immunity levels will only rise as more people seek out vaccines and boosters.
But other countries are seeing a resurgence in COVID-19, particularly in China, which is seeing its biggest outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan. CNBC reports that COVID-19 cases are also on the rise in France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands.
But even as "stealth omicron" is becoming more prevalent in the U.S., case rates, hospitalizations and deaths are still falling.
"Although BA.2 does seem to be growing as a proportion of sub-lineages in the United States, it's not nearly as quickly as we've seen in some other countries. The doubling time in the United States actually seems to be slowing down," Dr. Deborah Dowell, the CDC's chief medical officer for the agency's COVID-19 response, said Tuesday, according to CBS News.
PENNSYLVANIA (WHTM) As COVID-19 cases decline following the omicron spike and Pennsylvania health officials move toward a new phase of the pandemic, it feels like the coronavirus is getting close to shifting from pandemic to endemic.
Experts say there are certain signs that could indicate when the change may be near.
Endemic diseases occur regularly in a population and follow established patterns. One common example of an endemic disease is the flu.
I think were in the transition from this being pandemic to endemic. I dont think were there yet. What I do expect is most of the population gets at least some form of immunity, and probably by the summer this will become a very different disease, said Dr. John Goldman, Infectious Disease Specialist at UPMC.
So what signs will indicate the shift to endemicity?
Goldman said next winter, if COVID-19 hospitalizations look like a typical flu season rather than a previous COVID-19 peak, the disease may be moving into endemicity.
With positivity rates and case incidences down, Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health Chief of Infectious Diseases Dr. Joseph Kontra said, I think the trends that were seeing are certainly pointing in that (endemic) direction.
COVID-19, so far, has been fairly unpredictable, a trait of a pandemic disease rather than an endemic one. New variants like delta and omicron caused unexpected spikes in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Kontra said this may be changing, though.
Theres no indication at this point in any of the testing thats being done that a new variant has popped up yet, so if that continues to be the case, then I think well be in pretty good shape for the summer, Kontra said as of March 9.
Some places may reach the endemic stage sooner than others, Goldman said.
Id be looking at the U.S. to see if its nationally endemic or pandemic. I would also be looking locally because there are going to be states that, for example, have less vaccinations, which are going to go into the endemic stage more slowly than states like Pennsylvania that have higher rates of vaccination, explained Goldman.
Goldman said the shift to endemicity may come depending on what happens next winter. Kontra and Dr. Raghav Tirupathi, medical director of infection prevention at WellSpan Chambersburg and WellSpan Waynesboro Hospitals, said it may come even earlier if the COVID-19 situation stays consistent into the summer.
There is a possibility that COVID-19 infection could become endemic with steady rates of infection by summer, Tirupathi said in an email, but that again also comes with a certain mortality rate from this infection.
Tirupathi noted that just because a disease is endemic doesnt mean that its not also deadly, explaining malaria is endemic in several parts of the world but has killed about 600,000 people in 2020 and tuberculosis is endemic in several parts of the world and has killed about 1.5 million people in 2020.
Even a typical flu season causes tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, Goldman noted.
The term endemic has been used in a lax fashion. Endemic state does not mean stable state as it can still cause periodic surges and disruptions to daily life. The last thing we want is the public letting down guard against this nasty disease. Masking in high-risk situations, vaccination, early testing and treatment should continue to be cornerstones of prevention, Tirupathi said via email.
As for who officially designates COVID-19 as endemic, the Associated Press reported in January that most wealthy countries will probably make that decision themselves based on their individual situations, but they may watch for the WHO to switch COVID-19 away from its highest level of alert of global health emergency.
Asmita Koladiya, 29, a healthcare worker, carrying her eight-month-old daughter Jiyanshi Gaurang, prepares to give a dose of vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to a villager in Lodhida village in Rajkot district in the western state of Gujarat, India, February 1, 2022. Picture taken February 1, 2022. REUTERS/Amit Dave
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March 16 (Reuters) - The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
Omicron linked with croup in babies
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is causing a dramatic rise in cases of croup, a dangerous respiratory condition usually seen in babies and toddlers, new data suggest.
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Croup, which causes a distinctive barking-like cough and high-pitched sounds when patients inhale, happens when viruses cause swelling in the respiratory tract that makes it hard to breathe. From the start of the pandemic until mid-January 2022, emergency physicians at Boston Children's Hospital treated 75 children with croup, all but one of whom had COVID infections. Eighty percent of those cases occurred after Omicron began circulating in December 2021, they reported in Pediatrics. Most of the children were treated with steroids and sent home, but some required hospitalization. Overall, the children required more medication doses compared to children with croup caused by other viruses, the doctors found.
"There was a very clear delineation from when Omicron became the dominant variant to when we started seeing a rise in the number of croup patients," study leader Dr. Ryan Brewster said in a statement. While many viruses can cause croup, parents should be aware of the possibility that a child with croup has COVID-19 and consider having them and other family members tested, the researchers advised.
Tuberculosis vaccine improves immune response to coronavirus
New research sheds light on how a tuberculosis vaccine might help protect against COVID-19.
Early in the pandemic, studies began to suggest that people who received the so-called BCG vaccine as children had lower rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Research in hamsters now shows that animals vaccinated with BCG had less pneumonia due to COVID-19 and lower levels of the coronavirus in their lungs. Doctors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found important differences in lung cells between animals infected with SARS-CoV-2 who did or did not get the BCG vaccine, they reported on Tuesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. Upon infection with the coronavirus, for the BCG-treated animals, antibodies came to lung cells much faster, lung repair mechanisms got underway much more quickly, and tissue-damaging inflammation was blunted, said coauthor Dr. William Bishai. Earlier this month, researchers in India reported on the effects of BCG in recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca (AZN.L) in a small study. The 21 subjects who had received the TB vaccine showed significantly "more robust" antibody- and T-cell attacks against the coronavirus than the 13 people who had not, they reported on Research Square ahead of peer review. Combining BCG vaccines with COVID-19 vaccines "may offer synergistic protection," the Johns Hopkins team said. Clinical trials testing BCG vaccines for protection against COVID-19 are underway.
Critically ill COVID patients slow to wake after ventilator
Compared to how quickly an average patient "wakes up" after being taken off a mechanical ventilator, critically ill COVID-19 patients often take much longer to regain consciousness, researchers have found.
They reviewed data on 795 patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 at three medical centers during the first two surges of the pandemic. All were on mechanical ventilation for at least six days, during which they were comatose. After removal from respiratory support, 72% eventually regained consciousness, but 25% of them needed at least 10 days to wake up, and 10% needed 23 days or more to recover. Patients who had experienced the most episodes of oxygen deprivation took the longest to recover consciousness, the researchers reported in Annals of Neurology.
"Our findings suggest that for patients with severe COVID, the decision to withdraw life support shouldn't be based solely on prolonged periods of unconsciousness, as these patients may eventually recover," Dr. Jan Claassen of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center said in statement. "These findings provide us with more accurate information to guide families who are deciding whether to continue life-sustaining therapy in unconscious COVID-19 patients," Classen's colleague, Dr. Brian Edlow of the Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement.
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In 1985, the first HIV vaccine trial was launched with great fanfare. The previous year, Margaret Heckler, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, confidently declared that an HIV vaccine would be created within two years. But almost four decades after the initial discovery of the HIV virus, there is still no viable HIV/AIDS vaccine. That doesnt mean, though, that there is no cure. The grueling and largely thankless work of trialing an HIV/AIDS vaccine has continued steadily over the past four decades (the most recent one launched in January 2022, using Modernas mRNA technology), making it the longest-running modern pandemic.
But failure, in the hands of scientists, doesnt mean the end. Instead, it is a sturdy foundation for scientific discovery. Rather than giving up, the failure to create a viable HIV vaccine spurred scientists to develop a whole new strategy to end the AIDS pandemic. Without vaccines available to teach human immune systems to kill the virus, scientists were forced to find other ways to keep infections at bay. And heres where four decades of scientific failure was transformed into a radical approach to pandemic control, with direct implications for the future of the global effort to end COVID-19.
Without vaccines to stop new infections, HIV scientists pivoted to developing antiviral treatments to slow the replication of HIV in human hosts and thereby keep the tens of millions of HIV-infected people from becoming sick and dying. And this is where failure was transformed into unfettered success. The cocktail of HIV treatments known collectively as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is so effective at disrupting viral replication that it has transformed infection with that most deadly and protean virus, HIV, into a chronic condition. Whats more, HAART is so good at disrupting HIVs ability to replicate that it can reduce the amount of virus in a persons bloodstream to undetectable levels. That keeps people alive but it does something else as well: it makes it essentially impossible for a person living with HIV to transmit the virus to others. Treatment has become an unmatched strategy to prevent the spread the virus.
Thats a remarkable feat for a retrovirus like HIV, which has the highest recorded mutation rate of any biological entity. To overcome that innate advantage, the drugs in the HAART cocktail target multiple parts of the HIV virus. Simply put, the virus cant mutate its way out of the multiple attacks the drugs make on its ability to replicate. This multi-pronged strategy has made HAART a long-term solution that hasnt lost its effectiveness over time even as HIV has continued to evolve at a rapid clip. Its also where HIV prevention intersects neatly with the COVID-19 Test to Treat strategy that President Biden announced at the State of the Union. It could not come at a better time, as recent evidence suggests that a post-Omicron wave is steadily rising across Europe and Asiaand that the U.S. is at risk of a renewed surge.
Read More: Omicron Is Receding But the Pandemic Is Not Over
We now have three antivirals approved for use against COVID-19, all of which target regions of SARS-CoV-2 that are highly conserved, meaning they dont mutate very much at all. That makes them far more resilient to variants compared to the COVID-19 vaccines, all of which target the fast-mutating spike protein. And that gives us a fighting chance to end this pandemic using weapons we can be confident wont be obsolete in a years time. All we have to do is embrace the failure playbook.
Molnupiravir, Paxlovid, and Remdesivir, the three FDA-approved COVID-19 antivirals, target regions of SARS-CoV-2 critical to its ability to copy itself. At their most effective, they nullify the viruss basic programming feature: replication. Instead of an elegant entity made up of macromolecules spring-loaded to enter cells, unfurl, and produce progeny ad nauseam, the antivirals make sure that the viruses that enter human hosts are the last of their kind. And thats where effective treatment can become prevention: as the AIDS pandemic taught us, as long as you can stop a virus from replicating, you can stop it from spreadingboth through a persons body, ending their life, and across a population of transmissible hosts, ending an epidemic.
The Test to Treat plan is part of a larger containment strategy in which the role of COVID-19 antivirals is only going to become more critical. With Test to Treat, the Biden administration is looking to rapidly increase access to antivirals (specifically Pfizers Paxlovid, which reduces the risk of hospitalization for COVID by nearly 90%) for people who test positive for infection at pharmacies. Its a smart approach to reducing illness and death from COVID-19, and it may also set the stage for the end of this pandemic. Thats because, even if new variants find a way to escape the vaccines (the U.K. government estimates that a two-dose vaccine regimen is only 10% effective against Omicron), we can be confident that they wont elude the antivirals, at least not in the short term. Thats why Test to Treat should be the first step in a wholesale adoption of the failure playbook to end COVID-19.
Maintaining a supply of effective antivirals could allow them to be deployed strategically when outbreaks of new variants occur. That way, frontline healthcare workers, along with the families and close contacts of infected people, can be given doses to protect them from severe infections even before theyre infected, stamping out the next wave before it starts. Of course, that will only be possible with long-term funding for the initiative, something that is looking much more perilous after a congressional decision last week halted additional COVID-19 funding, causing the White House to announce that it would soon have to stop covering the costs of testing, vaccines, and antivirals and other treatments for uninsured people.
Read More: What to Know About the 4th COVID-19 Vaccine Dose
Thats shortsighted thinking, because whats perhaps most impressive about the failure playbook is that it might just spell the end of all coronavirus pandemics, now and forever. Thats because the regions that the antivirals target arent just similar across SARS-CoV-2 variants: they are remarkably conserved across every one of the hundreds of coronavirus strains discovered, as quintessentially a part of coronaviruses as prehensile hands are to human beings. To date, the antivirals have been tested against SARS-CoV-2, SARS (the first human pathogenic coronavirus ever discovered), MERS (Middle East Respiratory Symdrome), and many, many other coronaviruses; in every trial, they were effective at significantly reducing the capacity of the viruses to replicate.
And thats where the failure playbook, starting with Test and Treat, becomes truly great news for our speciess long conflict with coronaviruses. Regardless of whatever pathogenic coronavirus next emerges, it will also have those same genomic regions as the ones that came before, making it just as susceptible to the antiviral treatments developed to stop SARS-CoV-2. That should help blunt our understandable anxiety about a repeat of the last two years. Instead, as we look to the future, our species might for the first time in our history have something that has eluded us until now: a weapon to fight the future progeny of our ancient viral nemesis.
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Contact us at letters@time.com.
On the eve of the pandemics two-year anniversary, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released updated statistics on its efforts to combat COVID-19 related fraud and announced the appointment of a director of COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement. To date, DOJ has charged over 1,000 individuals with criminal offenses involving losses exceeding $1.1 billion; seized over $1 billion in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) proceeds; and conducted over 240 civil investigations into more than 1,800 individuals and entities for alleged misconduct in connection with pandemic relief loans totaling more than $6 billion.[1]
This client alert reviews the status of COVID-19 relief, explains recent enforcement trends against COVID-19 related fraud, and predicts future enforcement trends as the pandemic enters its third year. In short, the rush to implement pandemic relief created opportunities for confusion and outright fraud, driving the aggressive pursuit of COVID-19 related fraud. We predict continued scrutiny of COVID-19 relief loans, which may impact financial technology (fintech) firms and the healthcare industry.
Companies can prepare in two ways: (1) by remaining up to date with changes in the COVID-19 enforcement framework and (2) by investing in whistleblower policies and procedures. As to the first point, keeping apprised of how DOJ and its law enforcement partners pursue COVID-19 related fraud will enable companies to remain diligent in their compliance programs and maintain strong internal controls to combat misconduct and mitigate risks related to prior conduct.
As to the second point, companies should also continue investing in their whistleblower programs. Companies should investigate whistleblower claims in a timely and objective manner in order to avoid False Claims Act suits and DOJ action. If an investigation results in a finding of misconduct, a company should consult experienced counsel to weigh the advantage of self-reporting the misconduct and determine how their compliance efforts could potentially mitigate potential fines and other penalties.
The federal government has allocated over $4.5 trillion in COVID-19 relief over the last two yearsa figure that exceeds the entire 2019 federal budget.[2] Two bills provided most of this funding: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) and the American Rescue Plan Act.
Less than two weeks after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Congress passed the CARES Act, which authorized the first Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for small businesses, as well as other types of relief. [3] As our recent client alert explained, PPP loans made to eligible borrowers qualify for forgiveness during the 8-to-24 week period following disbursement so long as employers have met and maintained certain program criteria.[4]
Businesses quickly depleted the first wave of PPP loans.[5] In late December 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, extended the PPP, but restricted the eligibility of qualifying businesses.[6] The PPP eventually stopped accepting new loan applications in May 2021 as vaccinations turned a new page in the pandemic.[7] Borrowers may still receive forgiveness of up to the full amount of the principal of their PPP loan, in addition to any interest for the eligible costs incurred.[8] A similar loan program called the COVID-19 EIDL program has also stopped accepting new loan applications.[9]
In March 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided several types of COVID-19 relief, including direct payments to individuals and more generous unemployment benefits.[10] As of September 2021, the federal government has paid out at least $872 billion in pandemic unemployment benefits.[11] Although numbers vary, a recent U.S. Department of Labor study estimates that at least $87 billion in unemployment benefits was lost to fraud.[12]
In the early days of the pandemic, federal law enforcement cracked down on individuals seeking to capitalize on the fears surrounding COVID-19 by marketing fake cures and treatments. For example, federal agencies enjoined the sale of products marketed to treat or prevent COVID-19, including industrial bleach and nano silver particles.[13] DOJs COVID-19 Hoarding and Price Gouging Task Force pursued price gouging of face masks and other personal protective equipment.[14] More recently, DOJ prosecuted individuals for selling COVID-19 vaccination cards issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[15]
The vast majority of DOJs enforcement efforts over the last two years has focused on individuals, organized groups, and companies taking advantage of COVID-19 loan relief programsnamely PPP and EIDL loans. And with good reason. Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service estimates that actors have diverted close to $100 billion in pandemic relief funds.[16] There are two, not mutually exclusive, ways for loan applicants to defraud COVID-19 relief programs: (1) by submitting false loan applications, and (2) by submitting false loan forgiveness applications after misappropriating loan proceeds. Across DOJ, approximately 500 defendants have been charged in over 340 cases with losses of over $700 million.
Federal law enforcement continues to target healthcare fraud. DOJ continues to focus its investigations on fraudulently billed telemedicine fees by healthcare providers in connection with the $180 billion Provider Relief Fund, which was part of the CARES Act.[17] Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged at least 10 biotech and other companies and individuals with making false and misleading statements to investors, including regarding their abilities to procure protective equipment and testing supplies.[18] Both investors and issuers continue to receive SEC subpoenas concerning COVID-19-related insider trading, although SEC has yet to bring an action in this area.[19]
As highlighted in recent client alerts, we expect to see more fraudand fraud enforcementwith respect to the loan forgiveness process.[20] DOJs recent appointment of a director of COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement is a strong indicator of enhanced enforcement. The new director emphasized continued reliance on data analytics to detect and disrupt fraud, as well as the creation of strike force teams with analysts and data scientists to review data, agents to investigate the cases, and prosecutors and trial attorneys to bring charges and try the cases.
Even companies with forgiven loans are not necessarily off the hook. DOJ and the Small Business Administration (SBA) retain a lingering right to review loan forgiveness applications up to six years from the date of forgiveness.[21] Indeed, a recent SBA report shows that SBAs automated system flagged almost 40% of all PPP loans in 2020 for potential noncompliance with program requirements and required a manual review of each of the flagged loans.[22] The threat of future enforcement action against noncompliance will remain, even after loan forgiveness.
The healthcare industry will likely be subject to additional False Claims Act cases as DOJ focuses on combatting healthcare and COVID-19 related fraud.[23] In general, 2021 was a record year for False Claims Act recoveries, and healthcare fraud was DOJs leading source of False Claims Act settlements and judgments.[24] DOJ also recently announced its first False Claims Act settlements in connection with the PPP this past year.[25] Although additional cases have been slow to unfold, we expect that to change. False Claims Act cases, like many others, take time to investigate and develop. But this steady pursuit suggests that civil enforcement against COVID-19 related fraud has already become a priority for DOJ.[26]
The pandemic has also heightened scrutiny of fintech companies. Fintech grew rapidly during 2020 as digital finance improved access to COVID-19 relief programs.[27] Many fintech lenders facilitated PPP loan applications alongside traditional big banks and community lenders. However, recent studies suggest that fintechs digital platforms may have been less vigorous in vetting loan applications than traditional lenders during the PPP process.[28] While this may not necessarily constitute misconduct, DOJ has begun investigating many fintech firms.[29]
[1] Justice Department Announces Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-director-covid-19-fraud-enforcement.
[2] How the $4 Trillion Flood of Covid Relief Is Funding the Future, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/24/magazine/pandemic-aid.html.
[3] $2 Trillion Coronavirus Stimulus Bill Is Signed Into Law, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/us/politics/coronavirus-house-voting.html.
[4] DOJ Enforcement Actions Involving COVID-19 Relief Fraud: An Update, available at https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/210310-doj-enforcement-actions-covid-19-relief-fraud-update.html#_ftn2.
[5] Paycheck Protection Program has run out of money for most borrowers, available at https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/05/ppp-has-run-out-of-money-for-most-borrowers-what-to-know.html.
[6] Text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-stat/graphics/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf.
[7] Paycheck Protection Program, available at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program.
[8] DOJ Enforcement Actions Involving COVID-19 Relief Fraud: An Update (September 2021), available at https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/210910-doj-enforcement-actions.html.
[9] COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan, available at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/covid-19-relief-options/eidl.
[10] Biden Outlines $1.9 Trillion Spending Package to Combat Virus and Downturn, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/business/economy/biden-economy.html.
[11] More than $87 billion in federal benefits siphoned from unemployment system, says Labor Department, available at https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/02/over-87-billion-in-federal-benefits-siphoned-from-unemployment-system.html.
[12] Id.
[13] See, e.g., Department Of Justice Acts To Stop Sale Of Nano Silver Product As Treatment For Covid-19, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-acts-stop-sale-nano-silver-product-treatment-covid-19; Justice Department Seeks to End Illegal Online Sale of Industrial Bleach Marketed as Miracle Treatment for COVID-19, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-seeks-end-illegal-online-sale-industrial-bleach-marketed-miracle-treatment.
[14] Combatting Hoarding and Price Gouging, available at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combattingpricegouginghoarding.
[15] Pharmacist Arrested for Selling COVID Vaccination Cards Online, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pharmacist-arrested-selling-covid-vaccination-cards-online.
[16] Criminals have stolen nearly $100 billion in Covid relief funds, Secret Service says, available at https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/criminals-have-stolen-nearly-100-billion-in-covid-relief-funds-secret-service.html.
[17] DOJ Announces Coordinated Law Enforcement Action to Combat Health Care Fraud Related to COVID-19, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-announces-coordinated-law-enforcement-action-combat-health-care-fraud-related-covid-19.
[18] See, e.g., SEC Charges Biotech Company and CEO With Fraud Concerning COVID-19 Blood Testing Device, available at https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-327; SEC Charges Companies and CEO for Misleading COVID-19 Claims, available at https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-111.
[19] See, e.g., SEC Obtains Court Order to Enforce Investigative Subpoena for Testimony, available at https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2021/lr25261.htm.
[20] DOJ Enforcement Actions Involving COVID-19 Relief Fraud: An Update, available at https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/210310-doj-enforcement-actions-covid-19-relief-fraud-update.html; DOJ Enforcement Actions Involving COVID-19 Relief Fraud: An Update (September 2021), available at https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/210910-doj-enforcement-actions.html.
[21] Paycheck Protection Program, PPP Loan Forgiveness Application Form 3508S Revised January 19, 2021, available at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/PPP%20--%20Loan%20Forgiveness%20Application%20and%20Instructions%20--%20Form%203508S%20%281.19.2021%29.pdf.
[22] SBAs Paycheck Protection Program Loan Review Processes, available at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/SBA%20OIG%20Report%2022-09.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.
[23] Attorney General Announces Task Force to Combat COVID-19 Fraud, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-announces-task-force-combat-covid-19-fraud.
[24] Justice Departments False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $5.6 Billion in Fiscal Year 2021, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-s-false-claims-act-settlements-and-judgments-exceed-56-billion-fiscal-year.
[25] See, e.g., id.; Eastern District of California Obtains Nations First Civil Settlement for Fraud on Cares Act Paycheck Protection Program, available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/eastern-district-california-obtains-nation-s-first-civil-settlement-fraud-cares-act.
[26] Justice Departments False Claims Act Settlements and Judgments Exceed $5.6 Billion in Fiscal Year 2021, available at https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-s-false-claims-act-settlements-and-judgments-exceed-56-billion-fiscal-year.
[27] Coronavirus Drives 72% Rise In Use Of Fintech Apps, available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2020/03/30/coronavirus-drives-72-rise-in-use-of-fintech-apps/.
[28] See, e.g., PPP Loan Scammers Used Fintech Companies to Carry Out Fraud, available at https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-07/ppp-loans-scammers-used-fintech-companies-to-carry-out-fraud.
[29] See, e.g., U.S. Justice Department probing Kabbage, fintechs over PPP loan calculations sources, available at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-probe-idCAKBN2CP020.
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The Biden administration made a firm push for Congress to provide additional funding to fight COVID-19 on Tuesday after $15.6 billion was dropped from a spending bill, arguing that it needs to make sure there are enough doses on hand to provide fourth jabs for all Americans if such boosters are needed - or to provide variant-specific vaccines if those are needed. Without additional funding, the government does not have the ability to maintain the country's domestic testing capacity beyond June, another official said. Officials also warned that providers soon would no longer be able to submit claims for testing, treating and vaccinating uninsured people, and the government would face a reduced ability to rapidly identify and assess new strains of COVID.The U.S. COVID numbers continue to decline, and the nation is now averaging 32,094 new cases a day, according to a New York Times tracker, down 46% from two weeks ago. The average daily number of hospitalizations stands at 26,436, down 44% from two weeks ago. Deaths are averaging 1,226 a day, down 36% from two weeks ago, but still an undesirably high number. Globally, there have been 461.8 million confirmed cases, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University, and 6.05 million deaths. The U.S. leads the world with 79.6 million cases and 966,470 fatalities.
"It's a great thing": Red Cross resumes testing blood donations for coronavirus antibodies WACH.com
The thing I hate most during the day isn't traffic; it's not when Dunkin' makes my coffee order wrong or when your leg falls asleep from being on Instagram too long on the throne.
It's when I get a phone call. Like, legit, someone dialed my number instead of texting me.
I don't care if I'm lying on my bed using a large feather for a fan while eating grapes. If you call me, I will more than likely ignore your call and text back, "Can't talk, can text. What's up?"
I began to think about other things that fit these anti-social categories and realized that I've regressed in wanting to talk to people or hang out with them.
It wasn't that long ago that we would drive by our friends and family's homes, waving at them and giving air hugs. I remember bringing a bottle of Jack and sitting on the other side of the street while my buddies Dre and Sammy Lopez joined me for a drink but 200 feet away.
And funniest of all, I remember the surprise FaceTime calls. When that FT ring would pour out of my phone, I would get giddy and make sure I didn't have a boogie hanging from my nose, trying my best to look cute (hilariously enough, I looked like wolf-man jack because ain't nobody getting haircuts during the pandemic).
So why is it that when things open back up do I have this significant regression?
Two years ago, I just wanted to sit at a bar to drink and have a normal conversation about sports or something insane Kanye did. Now, as soon as I go out, I can't wait to get back home. I find myself unable to communicate with people in public again. When I look normal and do not have any issues, my anxiety level is through the roof, anticipating the end of whatever interaction I'm having.
I spoke to my friend Dr. Napoleon Wells,local-based clinical psychologist and author, about these feelings. I wondered if he's come across anyone else dealing with these feelings after dealing with COVID restrictions the past two years.
"We are seeing more studies emerging in and around what you have with the emotional and psychiatric correlates of having (lived) so long with Rona, he said. "I've just taken to calling it Coronaralized Anxiety Disorder and Ronaphrenia."
These comments were during a casual conversation with my bro, and it was an unofficial diagnosis with the term, but the ideals began to make sense as he further explained.
"It looks like anxiety in terms of engaging with other people but it also looks like depression in terms of day to day motivation and energy level. Sense of disconnection but wanting to be connected."
He also poses that our sense of reality has shifted when we ask, "What does it mean to be outside?"
The question also hits from a creative perspective. I make hip-hop music. One of the main genres that require crowd participation and energy. What happens when you're making music just in your home with no venue to perform it at or someone's car to bump it in and see that seductive head-nod?
The answer is simple: Own your feelings. My "Ronalized Anxiety Disorder," if you will.
During the past two years, I forced myself to create out of emotional survival and not commerce. I made music and hated 90% of it, but I could hear my emotions in real-time and hear the anguish I didn't know was there. I put some of those pieces, flawed and at times incomplete, in a project appropriately called the 'Rona Tape.'
After I put it out last week, someone called me, and in an out-of-the-norm moment, I answered the call. Funny enough, out of anguish, the project generated an hour-long conversation with my friend. It felt great. Now next time you call, there's a good chance I will answer.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Preach Jacobs is a musician, artist and activist and founder of Cola-Con and indie label Sounds Familiar Records. You can hear his podcasts and read more work at FightThePower.co.
