The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is now publishing key coronavirus data weekly instead of daily andit comes at a time when a new variant is spreading, and more data is needed, according to one local doctor.
The BA.5 variant is more contagious and can evade immunity. It is contributing to a new surge in cases and hospitalizations.
Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, infectious disease physician with Boston Medical Center, said that considering the new variant is circulating, it is not the time to have less frequent data reports from the state.
"At a time when we have a subvariant that we know is more transmissible and more immune-evasive, I would have personally liked to have access to more data," Assoumou told Jim Braude on Greater Boston.
It remains unclear if the variant causes more severe disease, and Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of Brigham and Womens Hospital infectious disease division, said intensive care units are not filling up with COVID patients.
"The dominant effect on disease severity is how much prior immunity the population has, and our population now has lots of prior immunity," Sax said.
Sax and Assoumou said it's important to remain vigilant in the face of the new variant by getting a booster shot, hosting gatherings outside in the nice summer weather and testing if you have symptoms.
Watch: New coronavirus variant is the most contagious yet. What can you do to protect yourself?
Independent Newsmedia
The Arizona Department of Health Services on July 13 reported the number of coronavirus cases in Queen Creek and San Tan Valley at 54,667 in ZIP codes 85140, 85142 and 85143.
That is an increase of 327 new cases from one week ago.
Last week, cases stood at 54,340, an increase of 369 from the week before.
85140 ZIP code:
85142 ZIP code:
85143 ZIP code:
The current number of vaccinated people in these ZIP codes stands at 88,588 or 56.1% of the population.
For most people, the new coronavirus can lead to COVID-19 that can have mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some especially older adults and people with existing health problems it can cause a more severe illness and even death.
To see full numbers across the state, clickhere.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rush hour riders of the Staten Island Ferry can expect to see reduced service during their upcoming commute.
On Wednesday, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that the Staten Island Ferry will provide reduced service every 20 minutes during the morning (6 to 9 a.m.) and afternoon (4 to 8 p.m.) rush hours for the next two weeks.
From St. George, the Staten Island Ferry would typically provide service every 15 minutes from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
From Whitehall, the Staten Island Ferry would typically provide service every 15 minutes from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Staten Island Ferry will continue to run every 30 minutes throughout the rest of the day, though the department advised that some overnight cancellations may occur.
A DOT representative said that the service changes are a result of an uptick in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases among Staten Island Ferry crew, but was unable to provide a specific number of workers who are currently out sick.
New York Citys seven-day average coronavirus positivity rate has been steadily increasing over the past month, nearly doubling from 7.98% on June 13 to 15.1% on July 13, according to city data.
During that time, the seven-day average number of daily coronavirus cases increased from 2,931 per day on June 13 to 4,049 per day on July 13.
In the advisory, the department reminded Staten Island Ferry passengers that face masks are required at all times when within the terminals and onboard the boats, despite the federal mask mandate for public transportation being voided in April.
In recent months, the DOT has been forced to run modified service numerous times, particularly during afternoon and overnight hours, due to personnel issues limiting the departments ability to adequately staff the boats.
The spread of drug-resistant infections surged during the coronavirus pandemic, killing nearly 30,000 people in 2020 and upending much of the recent progress made in containing the spread of so-called superbugs, according to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deaths caused by infections impervious to antibiotics and antifungal medications rose 15 percent during the first year of the pandemic compared to 2019, federal health officials found. Much of the increase was tied to the chaos wrought by the coronavirus as doctors and nurses struggled to treat waves of grievously sick patients whose illness they did not fully understand, before vaccines and treatments were widely available.
About 40 percent of the deaths were among hospitalized patients, with the remainder occurring in nursing homes and other health care settings, the C.D.C. report found. Early on, many frontline hospital workers mistakenly administered antibiotics for viral lung infections that did not respond to such drugs, according to the study. Many of the sickest patients spent weeks or months in intensive care units, increasing the chances for drug-resistant bugs to enter their bodies through intravenous lines, catheters and ventilator tubes.
The death toll is likely much higher, federal health officials said, because the public health labs that normally track drug-resistant infections have been swamped during the pandemic, leading to significant gaps in data for many of the most dangerous pathogens.
The C.D.C. said the outbreaks of drug-resistant infections were likely abetted by a nationwide shortage of face masks, gloves and gowns the vital armor that protects health workers and helps limit the spread of pathogens as they travel from room to room. Because of staff shortages and overwhelmed wards at many hospitals, infection control specialists were often reassigned to provide basic patient care rather than carry out their usual duties of promoting the appropriate use of antibiotics, hand washing and other safety measures, the report said.
These setbacks can and must be temporary, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the C.D.C., said in a statement accompanying the report. The Covid-19 pandemic has made it clear prevention is preparedness. We must prepare our public health systems to fight multiple threats simultaneously.
Federal officials were especially concerned about the increased spread of some of the most dangerous pathogens. They found a 78 percent spike in infections of Acinetobacter, a bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotic carbapenem and that often spreads among intensive care patients, and a 60 percent rise in Candida auris, a deadly fungus that often stalks nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
The analysis highlights what public health experts have long described as a slow-moving pandemic. More than 700,000 people across the world die each year from infections that no longer respond to antimicrobial drugs, and health experts warn that the death toll could climb to 10 million by 2050 without a concerted effort to reduce the overuse of antibiotics and to develop new medications.
Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria and fungi mutate to outsmart the drugs that have been designed to vanquish them. This evolutionary process is inevitable, but the more these medications are given to people and farm animals, the more likely the resistance will occur.
Nearly a third of all antibiotics are mistakenly prescribed, according to the C.D.C., oftentimes for respiratory ailments like colds that are caused by viruses. The problem appears to have grown during the pandemic: Eighty percent of hospitalized Covid patients received antibiotics between March and October 2020, the agency noted.
The C.D.C.s findings are a marked contrast to previous reports that had charted slow but steady progress in combating the hospital-acquired infections that kill 35,000 Americans a year and sicken 2.8 million. Between 2012 and 2019, drug-resistant infections dropped by 18 percent, according to the agencys 2019 report, which found that the improvements were tied to greater investment in programs to reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics at hospitals.
The most recent report confirmed what many health care workers and public health experts had suspected based on anecdotal reports and a handful of previous studies.
The magnitude of how much worse its gotten is really alarming, said David Hyun, the director of the Antibiotic Resistance Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nongovernmental organization. It also underscores the urgency that we need to really focus and reinvest in the efforts to address this public health issue.
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a number of technological innovations beyond vaccines and treatments and some of them came from the Capital Region.
New ultraviolet lamps to kill coronavirus, low-cost ventilators, locally made disinfectants and phone apps to help people avoid crowds were some of the innovations coming from Capital Region businesses and universities.
And some are still in use.
Its still active. Its still going on, Kristin Bennett said of the Study Safe app that her students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute developed two years ago.
Bennett is a math and computer science professor at the Troy university, and she worked with her students to develop the app, which identifies the least crowded spots on campus.
Those are presumably the safest locations for studying during a pandemic.While it hasnt been commercialized, Bennett said students still use it. And more importantly, it provided a hands-on lesson about building smartphone applications.We learned a lot about dealing with real-time data, she said.
That experience was doubly helpful since it was done remotely. While challenging, the exercise filled in what might have otherwise been a gap when in-person work was suspended due to the pandemic.
RPI students have since built apps and databases in other areas.
One group is building a system for tracking the amount of energy produced at a new solar farm in the nearby city of Cohoes.
Other areas include data systems to match genetic makeup with the best foods for individuals. Another is for tracking the way loans, including mortgages, are collateralized with cryptocurrency.
While the worst of the pandemic seems like a distant memory, Albany distiller Matthew Jager still has supplies of the hand sanitizer he made starting two years ago.
Its not something that Ive had to make in a while, said Jager, who operates the Capital Region's Yankee Distillers, a top-shelf line of whiskey.
I have a lot of regular retail customers who come in to buy it, Jager said of his Yankee Distillers Hand Sanitizer.
Those customers include private customers and businesses such as restaurants.
Some of the restaurateurs, he added, have also received the state-issued disinfectant that was made in prisons two years ago. But they have complained about the medicinal smell, compared to the scented Yankee Distillers line which is created by denaturing the alcohol.
They are still working through the prison stuff, Jager said of restaurants that had stocked up on state disinfectant.
These days, Jager said he donates the sanitizer to hospitals and medical facilities and sells it to others.At the current rate of sales and donations, he figures he has enough to run through the end of the year.
And while he could turn the sanitizer spout back on if he had to, he hopes that he doesnt need to do that.
Its something that Im very proud of to have been able to help people, he said. And its something that I wish to never have to make again for the rest of my life.
rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU
Dive Brief:
Congress approved three batches of emergency pandemic relief funding for higher ed since early 2020: the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021, and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The Ed Department distributed the money for colleges through grants under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, or HEERF.
The three bills allocated a total of more than $76 billion for HEERF. More than half of that money, about $40 billion, came from the American Rescue Plan, the first major package signed into law after President Joe Biden took office.
Most colleges must send about half of HEERF grants to students in need so they can pay for necessities like tuition, housing or food.
The American Rescue Plan allowed colleges to use HEERF's institutional funding to pay for debt forgiveness, essentially using the federal money to pay for debts students owed to institutions that bursars' offices were unlikely to ever collect in full.
The program hasn't been without controversy. Shortly after HEERF was created, several wealthy universities turned down HEERF dollars after former President Donald Trump criticized the program for allocating money to Harvard University, which has the country's largest endowment.
The relief funding is running dry, which will likely heap financial pressure on stressed colleges. Pandemic-related aid from the government averaged $13.2 million per college, S&P Global Ratings estimated in June. It accounted for more than 4% of adjusted operating revenue at nearly a third of colleges in the 2021 fiscal year.
When announcing the final $198 million in grants Wednesday, the Ed Department said money went to public and private nonprofit colleges with unmet needs, like community colleges, rural institutions, and colleges that have lost enrollment during the pandemic.
"This funding from the American Rescue Plan will help HBCUs, MSIs, community colleges, and other inclusive institutions better support their students, from investing in campus mental health, to providing financial relief, to meeting housing, transportation, and child care needs," U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. "When we invest in stronger supports for our students, we help remove barriers to their success so that they can stay on track with their studies, complete their degrees, and ultimately, build rewarding careers."
Government officials highlighted several colleges that have used HEERF money to reduce tuition, waive tuition, zero out student debt balances, pay for food pantries, finance student textbooks and fight the spread of the coronavirus.
The Ed Department promised to post a list of institutions newly receiving grants, but it was not immediately available Wednesday. It did post data breaking down HEERF funding by state. Higher Ed Dive has posted that data in a searchable list here.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports a delay in COVID-19 vaccine data. Local 5 News will update this when that data has been updated.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reported 1,537,316 total positive coronavirus test results in the state and 13,175 total COVID-19 deaths.
The number of known cases per variant is no longer tracked as The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has updated its website, deleting that section.
Unable to view the tables below?Click here.
The DHS announced an attempt to verify and ensure statistics are accurate, some numbers may be subject to change. The DHS is combing through current and past data to ensure accuracy.
Wisconsins hospitals are reporting, that the 7-day moving average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized was 419 patients. Of those,47 are in an ICU. ICU patients made up 10.8%of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports that 9,587,800 vaccine doses and 2,067,942 booster doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of July 12. (DELAYED)
Unable to view the tables below?Click here.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is using a new module to measure COVID-19 activity levels. They are now using the Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels. The map is measured by the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and health care systems in the communities.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that only one county in Wisconsin is experiencing high COVID-19 community levels. Florence County in northeast Wisconsin is that one county.
15 counties in Wisconsin are experiencing medium COVID-19 community levels. Three of them are located in northeast Wisconsin: Door, Marinette, and Oneida County.
Every other county in Wisconsin is experiencing low COVID-19 community levels.
For more information on how the data is collected, visit theCDCs COVID-19 Community Levels data page.
The new subvariant of Omicron, BA.5, shows how the virus continues to evolve around the best efforts of humanity to defeat it.
She explains how BA.5 is able to get around vaccine protections to infect people, although it has not yet produced a surge in the most serious cases that lead to ICU admissions and deaths in the US.
It is transmissible even to people who were recently infected with Covid-19 as well as those who are fully vaccinated.
In the latest example of the evolving science moving the goal posts for protection against severe cases of Covid-19, second boosters -- beyond full vaccination, an initial booster and previous infection -- are now the best protection for older Americans.
Get boosted. And if you can, get re-boosted
Public health officials are urging adults 50 and older to get second booster shots.
But many still aren't paying attention; only about a quarter of these eligible adults have received a second booster.
People under 50 are left to wonder when they will be able to get another dose.
But the White House argued Tuesday that BA.5 is not cause for alarm.
"The message that I want to get across to the American people is this: BA.5 is something we're closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it," said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House's Covid-19 response coordinator.
Protection is up to you
You can minimize your risk of infection if you take precautions, according to Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
But that's not everyone.
"On the other hand, many people may still prioritize not contracting Covid-19 because of the risk of long-haul symptoms," Wen said. "They may also have underlying medical conditions that predispose to more severe outcomes themselves, or they may live with others who are more vulnerable and want to reduce their risk to those around them."
Massive undercount
We may not know how extensive the BA.5 surge actually is since the official count could miss the vast majority of new infections, which could be as high as 1 million per day, according to CNN's reporting.
One contributing factor to the undercount: the increasing reliance on at-home Covid-19 tests, the results of which are hardly ever reported to health authorities.
"This is a full-on BA.5 wave, unfortunately, that we're experiencing in the summer, and it's actually looking worse in the Southern states. Guess what? Just like 2020, just like 2021."
He said the vaccines are really only effective against the new subvariant if you're boosted and, if eligible, double boosted.
"I think that's the game changer with this BA.5 subvariant. ... One dose, two doses is not enough. Being infected and recovered, especially with Omicron, is not enough. You have to get that booster, preferably two boosters if you're over the age of 50."
What about more boosters for those under 50?
Hotez pointed out that the boosters may not stop infections, but they will certainly be more effective against hospitalizations and death.
Vaccines for those under 5
While adults 50 and older are being asked to get a fourth dose, the youngest Americans, those under 5, are just recently eligible for their first two -- and the data suggests very slow going.
Covid-19 is not usually as dangerous for the youngest Americans, although there have been hundreds of deaths.
She gave three main reasons, excerpted below:
First, Covid-19 is an unpredictable illness. While most children have minor symptoms and recover well, many have landed in hospitals and emergency rooms, and to date, more than 400 children under the age of 5 have died from the illness in the United States alone, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...
Second ... the vaccine is in the body for a short period of time ... It instructs the body to make protective antibodies against Covid-19, and the body's own cellular mechanisms quickly break it down soon after. Because of this, there really is no plausible way it will interfere with my little William's development, something about which I am constantly thinking. ...
Lastly ... believing in the rigorous process the vaccines went through to obtain approval, I believe the US Food and Drug Administration and CDC recruited some of the most brilliant minds of our time to serve on the independent panels that reviewed the data and recommended giving the vaccines the green light.
Omicron subvariants account for majority of US COVID-19 infections
In the week ending July 2nd, the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants accounted for around 70% of the total cases of COVID-19 nationwide.
Buzz60, Buzz60
There were more new COVID-19 cases reported in Iowa this week than any week since the start of March, according to data released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Public Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The state reported 5,187 new COVID-19 cases over the past seven days, the most since the tail end of last winter's omicron variant-fueled surge. That's an average of 741 new cases per dayand about 30% more than the relatively consistent case counts of the past month.
The increase is backed up by the most recent data from the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority, which shows that the effective COVID-19 concentration in the city's wastewater nearly doubled from the previous week. Rising virus concentration in sewage has historically been an indicator of rising case counts.
"We're in this constant sizzle," said Dr. Karen Brust, epidemiologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. "The pandemic is still here with us. We're still in high community transmission rates and levels, which means there's still a fair amount of people who are becoming infected out in the community."
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Iowaalso increased again this week, up to 229, according to the federal health and human services department. That's the highest that number has been in a weekly update since February.
Of those people hospitalized with COVID-19, 23 required intensive care for complications from the disease, an increase of nine from last week.
The increase in Iowa's new reported cases comes as the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants have become the dominant strains of the coronavirus in the U.S. Those two strains have made up about 70% of recent cases in the country. The state health department does not publish data about subvariants on its public dashboard, but data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows an increase in BA.5 prevalence over the past several weeks in the region that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.
"I think they've garnered some attention not just because of the frequency that they're being seen, but also because of the increased contagiousness and their ability to evade the immune system," Brust said about the subvariants.
More: Only Iowa college to require COVID-19 vaccines drops mandate after state law bans them
Symptoms of the subvariants are similar to those seen in other variants, and so far, illnesses do not appear to be more severe.
Brust said it was too soon to say how, specifically, BA.5 would affect Iowa in the coming months, but did note that herhospital was expecting to see higher numbers in the end of summer and early fall.
Previously: COVID-19 hospitalizations up, cases steady in Iowa in weekly coronavirus data update
The state health department reported 15 more COVID-19 deaths this week, the same number as the previous week. These deaths likely occurred earlier than last week, however, as it takes time for the health department to verify and publicly report COVID-19 deaths.
Iowa's death toll from the pandemic now stands at 9,718.
The state health department did not release new vaccination data this week, as it is now updating those figures in the first week of each month only. Brust noted that vaccination remains the best protection against COVID-19, as well as other well-established practices such as hand-washing, social distancing and wearing a mask while indoors.
That includes getting a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which offers additional protection against the omicron variant.
"The one thing that I've been reading about, and what I think has been consistently echoed across the nation, is if you're over 50 and you haven't been boosted since the beginning of 2022, it's time to get boosted," Brust said.
Previously: Iowa COVID-19 hospitalizations down while new reported cases maintain recent pace
The latest data, as of 12 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, compared to the previous Wednesday:
Data on the state vaccination rate is now being updated justonce a month on the state health department website. As of July 6, 59.1% of Iowans were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Note: Hospitalization data for COVID-19 is no longer available through the Iowa Department of Public Health. The data below is from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The number of patients on ventilators is no longer included.
Tim Webber is a data visualization specialist for the Register. Reach him at twebber@registermedia.com, 515-284-8532, and on Twitter at @HelloTimWebber.
Watch the AMA's COVID-19 Update, with insights from AMA leaders and experts about the pandemic.
Featured topic and speakers
In todays COVID-19 Update,the latest on Omicron subvariants, delays in state-by-state COVID-19 case reporting and more with AMA Director of Science, Medicine and Public Health Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH. American Medical Association Chief Experience Officer Todd Unger hosts.
Learn more at the AMA COVID-19 resource center.
Unger: Hello. This is the American Medical Association's COVID-19 Update video and podcast. Today, we have our weekly look at the numbers, trends and latest news about COVID-19 with the AMA's Director of Science, Medicine, and Public Health Andrea Garcia in Chicago. I'm Todd Unger, AMA's chief experience officer, also in Chicago. Andrea, before we get started, let's talk about one important number. This is the 400th episode of the COVID-19 Update. How do you like that?
Garcia: I don't think we realized we would be doing 400 of these when we started.
Unger: I don't either. It's been longer than anticipated, but still a lot of news. So, let's start with the other numbers. What are we looking at in terms of cases?
Garcia: Well, if we look at The New York Times to give the virus report, I think that number of new known cases of COVID continues to look relatively stable. We're averaging around 100 and 117,000 cases per day. Of course, we talk about this pretty much every week.
The key word is known. Our numbers have always been an undercount, and that's low this week, of course, as we've talked about before due to the reporting delays from the holiday. I think the keys here really are the test positivity rate in the U.S. is rising. It's at about 18%. And then, of course, the new dominant BA.5 subvariant that is really growing and in places around the country and, of course, leading to new outbreaks. And so, even with that delayed reporting, more than half of states are seeing slightly higher cases now than two weeks ago.
Unger: And we're going to talk in more detail about subvariants here in a minute. You mentioned the word delay. Are we seeing delays in reporting?
Garcia: So yes, but I think the key here is more states have actually stopped giving daily data updates, and that's created a blurrier view of where we stand with cases overall. And as we see states report less frequency, changes in the trajectory of the virus become less apparent. Nearly every state, when earlier in the pandemic, reported new COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths five days a week or more. And now, we have about 23 states that are releasing that data only once a week.
Unger: Wow. So between that change in reporting and between, let's say, underreporting for home testing, that's got to have a pretty significant impact at this point on tracking where we stand, correct?
Garcia: It does, for sure.
Unger: Well, finally, other numbers. Any kind of issues on the hospitalization and deaths front?
Garcia: So hospitalizations have increased steadily in recent weeks. We're at about 37,000 people in the U.S. hospitalized with COVID on a given day. That's an increase of about 17% over the last two weeks, and it's the highest national average since early March. Deaths continue to remain stable. For now, that data, of course, is also in flux due to the holiday, but we really are seeing fewer than 400 deaths reported each day. That's, of course, down from the peak of 2,600 a day at the height of the surge.
Unger: Well, let's talk a little bit about what's driving that uptick. Reading a lot about different kinds of sub variants out there, let's first talk about the latest Omicron variant. What do we know about this newest one?
Garcia: The latest subvariant of possible concern is the BA.275. Time reported earlier this week that there are three cases of this subvariant reported in the U.S. so far, they're all in the west coast two in California and one in Washington state. On the global level, we know this this subvariant has been gaining some traction in India, and it's also been detected in 10 other countries.
It has a large number of mutations in areas of the spike protein, and that makes it concerning. And it could potentially be more adept at spreading quickly and evading antibody protection. Of course, we hear this concern about it being even more transmissible than the new BA.5 variant we discussed last week. It's something that we're keeping an eye on for sure, but it's really too soon to draw some conclusions around whether or not it will outpace BA.5 here in the U.S.
Unger: It's almost like a subvariant per week. Just last week, you said, we were talking about BA.5. Any change on that particular variant?
Garcia: Last week, we talked about BA.5 now being dominant. According to federal estimates this week, it is now making up 65% of cases together with BA.4, which is making up about 16% of cases. So over 80% between the two of them, this is really fueling the current outbreak of cases and hospitalizations that we're seeing.
We heard Eric Topol, who's a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, say in a recent New York Times article, I think there's an under-appreciation of what it's going to do in the country, and it's already exerting its effect. And while we know these subvariants can evade immunity from previous infections and vaccines, so far, the relatively low number of deaths suggests that the vaccines are still working to prevent the worst outcomes.
Unger: And there's been a lot of data just recently, again, talking about the effectiveness of vaccines. Tell us a little bit more about the newest research.
Garcia: So a modeling study that was conducted by the CDC and published in JAMA last week really highlights that life-saving power that the vaccines have had. And that study looked at the period between December 1 of 2020 and September 30 of 2021 and estimated that COVID-19 vaccination prevented 27 million infections, 1.6 million COVID-associated hospitalizations, and 235,000 COVID-19 associated deaths. That's among vaccinated people 18 years and older.
We know that by September 30 of 2021, vaccination prevented an estimated 52% of expected infections, 56% of expected hospitalizations, and 58% of expected deaths. And so, these findings indicate that the COVID vaccination program prevented substantial morbidity and mortality through direct protection of vaccinated individuals, I would just note that. We, of course, still have a significant proportion of the population that has not been vaccinated. So there's still work to do to build that trust and confidence in these vaccines.
Unger: Well, those are big numbers. And I think off the extent of the impact is not, let's say, fully appreciated. But vaccines aren't the only tool that we've had, of course, that have saved lives. We've also had treatments that have helped bring those numbers down. And just last week, we heard about a drug that was originally developed to treat cancer that may be helpful against COVID. What do we know about that?
Garcia: Yeah, so there was a study published last Wednesday in the New England Journal, and it was on an experimental drug that was developed initially to fight cancer, but it ended up cutting the relative risk of death for people hospitalized with COVID by more than half. So it was a phase three clinical trial conducted in hospitalized patients with moderate to severe COVID, they were at high-risk for acute respiratory distress syndrome and death.
And so, the drug known as Sabizabulin, and the hope here is really that this is going to be a safe and effective treatment for severely ill COVID patients who are hospitalized. And while we have oral antivirals that are effective when administered early in the course of illness, we know that those options currently for hospitalized patients with severe COVID are limited.
So Veru is the company that developed this drug. They've applied for an EUA from the FDA. And if authorized, this is going to give physicians another option for this patient population. But the one caveat here is that the trial was relatively small, with just 134 patients receiving the drug.
Unger: Thats potentially exciting news. A couple of other key pieces of news in the last week from the AMA. Why don't we start by talking first about Paxlovid.
Garcia: Yeah, so we have a number of press releases this week, and the Paxlovid one came out in reaction to an FDA regulatory decision last Wednesday. It gave U.S.-based pharmacists the authority with certain limitations to prescribe Paxlovid, and we know that's Pfizer's oral antiviral COVID treatment. Prior to this, only doctors, nurses and TAs were allowed to prescribe Paxlovid.
While this move is aimed at making it easier for patients to get the drug, the AMA statement points out that prescribing it requires knowledge of a patient's medical history, requires clinical monitoring for side effects and follow-up care to determine whether a patient's improving, and those requirements are beyond pharmacists scope and training.
It goes on to explain that patients will get the best, most comprehensive care from physician-led teams, teams that include pharmacists. And to ensure the best possible care for COVID-19 patients, we urge people who test positive to discuss treatment options with their physicians if they have one.
Unger: Second press release has to do with vaccinations for young children. Let's talk a little bit about that.
Garcia: So that was an open letter from the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians, encouraging all parents and caregivers to talk with their physician about getting their children vaccinated against COVID. The letter says that doing so will help ensure your family is protected before this fall, when we know there may be another surge, as schools resume and people spend more time indoors.
It also explains how COVID is unpredictable, and we do not know which children will suffer severe, long term, or debilitating symptoms. And we know that children can become severely ill from COVID-19, be hospitalized, or even die. In addition to talking to a physician, the letter provides parents with helpful resources to answer their questions. Those include getvaccineanswers.org, healthychildren.org, and familydoctor.org/vaccines.
Unger: Andrea, thank you so much for the updates this week. We'll be back with another COVID-19 update next week. In the meantime, you can visit ama-assn.org/COVID-19 for all our resources on COVID. Thanks for joining us today, and please take care.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this video are those of the participants and/or do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the AMA.
