By Barrington Salmon and Hazel Trice Edney, The Seattle Medium
When the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the United States in March 2020, it cut a wide and deadly swathe across the country. It overwhelmed medical infrastructures in major cities as well as towns, hamlets and villages in between. And as usual people of color were the hardest hit.
In that regard, King County, Washington (Seattle) became nationally known as Americas epicenter of COVID-19, largely because it had the first known COVID-19 case and the first large outbreak, prompting King County officials to lead the way in calls that resulted in national restrictions to help contain the virus. Also, observing the rapid spread and the racial disparities in sickness and death, King Countys public health officials agreed with outcries from the community and declared that Racism is a Public Health Crisis, an initiative by several other cities across the nation that was declared and started in King County in June 2020.
In 2022, the Racism is A Public Health Crisis Initiative will embark on a community-led process, called the Gathering Collaborative, to equitably allocate $25 million to start to undo the harms of racism compounded by the pandemic, influence the countys 2023-24 budget cycle to prioritize and reflect anti-racism and pro-equity investments, and form a multi-generational vision for King County to become an anti-racist government, KingCounty.gov explained on its Equity, Racial and Social Justice page.
Three years after the COVID pandemic started, a King County Recovery Plan posted on KingCounty.gov, reports that by the end of 2022, the county had received more than $2 billion in federal funding in response to the pandemic of which $437 million were flexible funds to help with public health, economic recovery, community resiliency, homelessness and housing, jobs, and county operations.
King County has received over $2 billion in federal funding in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding streams include FEMA emergency funding and several waves of funding provided through federal legislation. The county has utilized the funding based on the federal program requirements and according to local priorities, the Recovery Plan states.
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In an emailed response to a reporters questions, Public Health Seattle King County spokeswoman Kate Cole stated that, so far, nearing the final week of 2023, nearly $364 million 18 percent of that $2 billion had been spent by Public Health Seattle King County. Public Health Seattle King County is described on KingCounty.gov as the department that works to protect and improve the health and well-being of all people in King County.
Weve spent nearly $364M responding to the COVID pandemic from 2020 to-date, with most of this funding coming from federal COVID assistance funds, Cole wrote in an email. Among the variety of funding pots was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act that was divided between states around the nation.
In deciding how to allocate and spend this money (as well as other department funds, including those not for COVID) weve worked to reduce health disparities by race and place, Cole wrote in the email. So, for example, when deciding where to cite COVID vaccine and testing sites, we intentionally chose parts of the county with the largest BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, People of Color] populations, highest rates of COVID, lowest vaccination rates, and lowest concentrations of vaccination providers.
To execute the Countys plan, the Office of Equity and Social Justice (OESJ) worked closely with the Budget Office and has launched an array of funding and contracting opportunities available to community. Officials said the direct investments came from federal money provided by the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CLFR) which is part of the AmericanRescue Plan.
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According to King County Executive Dow Constantine, the goal was to tie grants with priorities identified by various communities with the goal being an equitable recovery and strategically position these resources to meet the urgent needs of our communities.
Some of the programs are the Digital Equity Grants which allocated $2 million in grants to 29 local groups and organizations focused on promoting digital equity and provide services to communities that were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and which also have traditionally faced racial and other barriers which has blocked their access to digital services such as internet connectivity, digital literacy and tech devices.
King County directed $1.75 million in its Strategic Communications Campaign to equitably increase awareness of and access to its Revive and Thrive programs, grants, contracts, and support services available. The county hired community-based media outlets and organizations to conceptualize, plan and implement a mix-media campaign intended to reach communities most impacted by COVID-19 and racism.
The following is a breakdown, listed in the King County Recovery Plan, telling how King County used much of the COVID money:
Homelessness response $97 million forprograms including hotel/motel leases, COVID-19 shelter de-intensification, permanent supportive housing, behavioral health services, homeless outreach and shelter procurement, enhanced shelter, and sanitation.
Public health response $68 million for equity in vaccinations; tests; testing sites; testing site personnel; mask access;
Equitable economic recovery $60 millionfor providing support to businesses, the creative economy, and the tourism sector, as well as workforce development programs.
Community resiliency $56 million for community resources; especially for communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities, people experiencing homelessness, and refugee/immigrant communities.
Jobs and Housing $33 million
County operations $154 million
Despite the multi-millions of dollars that have already been spent, a 23-year King County employee who helped to pioneer the countys long-time struggle to bring racial health equity, now says the COVID funds are on course for possible budget cuts with hopes that the scalpel will cut only programs that hurt rather than help the fight against racism as a public health crisis.
We are faced with some budget challenges right now as we speak and having to also make some cuts, said Matas Valenzuela, Phd, director of the Office of Equity and Community Partnerships, Public Health Seattle & King County, in an interview. So, we are not going to have that same level.
With his longevity in dealing with issues of racism long before COVID, Valenzuela explained the vision and concept behind racism as a public health crisis as being like a chain affect.
We see it in the data, we see it in the numbers, which communities get most impacted in terms of where we see the deaths, where we see the hospitalizations, where we see the cases, he said. So, why are certain people being hospitalized at greater levels?
He said the answer is sometimes underlying conditions and chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease. But drivers for those diseases are often because many people live in food deserts, where they dont have healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. The lack of healthy meals increases their chances of having chronic diseases.
We also know the toxic impact that racism has on peoples health. It produces the constant stress; it produces cortisol in the body that has a negative impact in our system and is more likely to lead to chronic diseases such as diabetes, Valenzuela said.
And then there are the things that happen in societies that dictate that someone who lives in this community, in this zip code which is heavily Black and brown is going to have more disease, is going to die earlier; and the things, including having less access to education; having less access to good-paying jobs. All those things contribute to having worse outcomes,he said.
Valenzuela says its already a real challenge in King Countys public health system and nationally to administer public health on the level that is necessary.
Its kind of boom and bust for us right now when there are periods when we can have resources to really respond to an issue and then we go to periods in which we dont have the level of resources to respond to something like COVID.
He said anti-racism will be the overarching driver for his departments next strategic plan. He listed key issues such as climate and health; homelessness; over-dose prevention; and gun violence as being among the priorities. He said the plan will aim to make sure were using a racial equity approach as we do all of that work even if we may be doing it with limited funds.
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Reports of respiratory illness have now reached "high" or "very high" levels across at least 16 state or big city health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, as trends of COVID-19 and influenza have accelerated in many parts of the country. And while a fast-growing new COVID variant called JN.1 is estimated to be driving a large share of the current winter wave of infections, officials say there have so far been no signs of new or unusual symptoms caused by the virus.
Here's the latest about what we know about this winter's wave so far.
click to expand
Experts caution that teasing out subtle changes to the symptoms being caused by different COVID-19 variants has proven tricky, given the now wide-ranging variety of antibodies that people have from either vaccinations, prior infections by different variants, or both.
"The types of symptoms and how severe they are usually depend more on a person's immunity and overall health rather than which variant causes the infection," the CDC said in a report on Dec. 8 discussing the JN.1 strain.
New survey data from the United Kingdom's health authorities, where COVID-19 and influenza trends are also on the rise, suggest common symptoms being reported from this winter's onslaught of respiratory infections, among all surveyed residents, include:
How those symptoms differ depending on whether people are specifically testing positive for COVID-19 versus other infections is not yet clear, though the U.K. Health Security Agency's Jonathon Mellor said Thursday that those more detailed analyses could come once their sample size grows.
Research through last winter, co-authored by health authorities in the U.K., found symptoms were similar for COVID-19 and other germs that often drive respiratory illnesses during the winter.
"Cough, sore throat, sneezing, fatigue and headache were all among the most commonly reported symptoms for each of the three infections, suggesting that discriminating between SARS-CoV-2, influenza and RSV based on symptoms alone may prove challenging," they wrote in a preprint, that has not been peer-reviewed, released in October.
That is also in line with other research from previous waves of COVID-19.
Research through 2022 from the CDC's nationwide household transmission study, released as a preprint in May, which has also not yet been peer-reviewed, found commonly reported symptoms among household contacts infected by the BA.5 variant were:
Prevalence of most COVID symptoms were not far off from those reported before even the Delta variant emerged in late 2020.
The exception to this is reports of change in taste or smell, which declined from 42% early in the pandemic. Unlike many other COVID-19 symptoms, researchers around the world have confirmed a steep decline in reports of loss of taste or smell a symptom that was much more common when COVID first swept the globe.
Other subtle changes that scientists have tracked to the virus is a gradual decline in the "incubation period," or length of time that it takes for people to get sick after being exposed to COVID-19.
Research published by the CDC from authors in Japan and Singapore earlier this year found this time may have shortened to as little as 2 to 3 days on average.
Data suggests long COVID rates may have declined since the beginning of the pandemic. Exact definitions vary, but the CDC generally considers long or "post-COVID" conditions to be symptoms that persist or emerge at least four weeks after otherwise recovering from the virus.
"Approximately 1 in 10 adults with previous COVID-19 were experiencing long COVID at the end of the study period, highlighting the ongoing importance of COVID-19 prevention actions, including vaccination," a CDC study of Census Bureau survey data said in August, noting that its prevalence among people who said they previously caught COVID-19 had not changed since January 2023.
In a separate CDC analysis of the same ongoing survey, 4.6% of American adults in October reported having limitations on their activities from long-term symptoms of the virus, down from 5.7% at the same time in 2022.
Another study, published in the medical journal JAMA in May, identified 12 symptoms most commonly associated with long COVID:
Other symptoms were reported by smaller numbers of patients, with the study noting 37 symptoms that were more common in those who'd had a COVID infection, after 6 months, than in people who hadn't been infected.
Guidance from U.S. authorities ontestingandtreatmentremain largely unchanged for this winter.
For most COVID-19 home tests, like the freerapid antigen kits that all American households can request from the Biden administration this winter, the FDA's guidance remains unchanged since last winter.
If you at first get a negative result from the antigen test, but have symptoms or think you were exposed to the virus, the FDA says you should swab your nose "again 48 hours after."
That was the result of studies the FDA and National Institutes of Health backed earlier during the pandemic which found the likelihood of false negative results from antigen tests was reduced after repeated testing.
These recommendations only apply to antigen tests, which the CDC says "are generally less sensitive" to picking up infections.
Home molecular tests for COVID-19, like the Lucira kit from Pfizer that in February was first greenlighted by the FDA to test for influenza as well, have yielded more accurate results. Among positive COVID-19 samples, 88.3% were correctly spotted in studies of the test.
Another method some have floated to try to improve the accuracy of COVID testing has been to swab inside the throat or mouth as well, similar to what is done for some tests in many countries overseas. So far, that approach hasn't been authorized by the FDA for use in home tests, in part over safety concerns, though the agency now says it is "open" to considering it.
"Although there are not currently any COVID-19 tests authorized by the FDA for self-collection of throat swabs, the FDA is open to reviewing tests with novel sample types," James McKinney, an FDA spokesperson, told CBS News in a statement.
A study published this month from Denmark found combining self-collected nose and throat swabs upped the sensitivity of testing by 15.5 percentage points.
"As with all devices, the FDA would evaluate them for both safety and effectiveness, including considering any possible safety concerns regarding self-collection of throat swabs. Self-collection of throat swabs is more complicated than nasal swabs and if done incorrectly, can potentially cause harm to the patient," said McKinney.
Alexander Tin is a digital reporter for CBS News based in the Washington, D.C. bureau. He covers the Biden administration's public health agencies, including the federal response to infectious disease outbreaks like COVID-19.
House Republicans have made inroads into unraveling some of the mysteries surrounding the origins of COVID-19 three years after the pandemic swept the world.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic was tasked with investigating the origins of COVID-19 in early January 2023 under the leadership of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Since then, Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) has overseen several developments in not only identifying the source of the pandemic but also strengthening mechanisms to prevent emergencies of a similar magnitude.
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Here are the most important moments from the COVID-19 origins investigation from 2023.
Wuhan lab report
In March 2023, Congress unanimously passed the COVID-19 Origin Act, which gave the Office of the Director of National Intelligence 90 days to declassify and release intelligence on the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the laboratory postulated to be the source of SARS-CoV-2.
Three days after the deadline set by Congress, the report was published, confirming that the intelligence community is divided on the precise origin of SARS-CoV-2.
The National Intelligence Council, along with four other agencies in the intelligence community, found that the initial infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an infected animal. However, the Department of Energy and the FBI assessed that "a laboratory-associated incident was the most likely cause of the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2," according to the report.
Most of the intelligence agencies are in agreement that the virus was not laboratory-adapted, and all agree that the virus was not developed as a bioweapon.
Suppression of the lab leak theory
The select subcommittee spent significant time this year investigating the writing and publication of the scientific paper, "The proximal origins of SARS-CoV-2," published in Nature Medicine in March 2020, that discredited the lab leak theory.
In June, the select subcommittee subpoenaed the paper's authors and produced a detailed report outlining the involvement of the National Institutes of Health in the initial research stages of the paper's publication.
Communications between the paper's authors in late January 2020 indicated they initially believed the virus came from a lab accident, but the authors quickly changed their perspective following a phone call with top NIH and World Health Organization officials on Feb. 1, 2020.
On the call was then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, then-NIH Director Francis Collins, then-NIH Ethics Director Lawrence Tabak, and World Health Organization Chief Medical Scientist Jeremy Farrar, then the director of the Wellcome Trust.
Kristian Andersen and Robert Garry, two of the authors of the paper, testified before the select subcommittee in July and denied any conspiracy to distort evidence to discredit the lab leak theory.
Following this testimony, the Department of Health and Human Services has persistently stonewalled congressional investigations into the origins of the virus, with staff claiming that the HHS does not have the manpower or technical resources to comply with information requests.
Bipartisan calls for strengthening biosafety
Strengthening domestic and international biosafety and biosecurity standards has emerged as a bipartisan priority from the origins investigation.
The theme began to take center stage in mid-October, when the subcommittee held a hearing to discuss strategies to increase oversight of dangerous pathogen research that has been an essential tool in predicting viral outbreaks and preventing pandemics.
Although members have floated possible reforms to domestic bioresearch safety, including stricter regulations of funding, reforms to the WHO's ability to enforce existing international rules have been a recent focus of the subcommittee.
Several witnesses in subcommittee hearings since October have testified that the WHO does not have enough enforcement power to hold nations accountable for violating agreed-to standards limiting the conduct of hazardous pathogen research.
Top priorities for 2024
Wenstrup announced on Nov. 9 that he would not be seeking reelection after serving 11 years in Congress, leaving the Republican leadership of the committee open with the start of the 119th Congress in 2025. But until then, the panel has several important tasks.
Fauci willingly agreed to transcribed interviews for Jan. 8 and 9, detailing his role in determining the origins of the virus and in advising Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Dates for a public hearing before the whole committee have not been made available.
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Wenstrup also intends to meet with WHO officials, including Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with the hopes of discussing ways to prevent the public health agency from being used as a geopolitical pawn by the Chinese Communist Party.
In the spring of 2024, the WHO will release to member states the final draft of the Pandemic Accords, an international agreement governing pandemic preparedness in the event of future global public health crises.
During the pandemic years, Americans trust in scientists fell, according to a recently released Pew poll.
In 2019, only 13% of Americans were distrustful enough to say they werent confident in scientists to act in the publics best interest. Now that figure is 27% despite recent triumphs in astronomy, cancer research, genetics and other fields.
Its reasonable to assume the problem stems from COVID-era public health missteps. Some public health agencies took years to admit what had quickly become obvious: that the virus was airborne. Others suggested precautions, closing playgrounds and beaches, where any benefit would have been minimal. Some promoted policies, like sustained social isolation, that were hard to implement and endure even for the prominent epidemiologists promoting them.
The omicron coronavirus subvariant JN.1 now makes up 44.2% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.As of Friday, CDC data estimates indicate that the quickly spreading variant is now causing almost half of infections nationwide, when just days ago it was estimated that JN.1 caused only about 20% of infections.JN.1 makes up nearly 57% of new COVID-19 cases in the Northeast, according to the data. Earlier this week, the variant was already dominant in the region, causing about a third of new infections at the time.Globally, JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing. The World Health Organization named it a variant of interest on Tuesday because of its rapidly increasing spread but noted that the additional public health risk remains low.The CDC estimates that the prevalence of JN.1 more than doubled in the U.S. between late November and mid-December. It seems to be getting an assist from holiday travel and waning immunity.Variant trackers say they expect JN.1 to become the leading coronavirus variant around the world in a matter of weeks.Vaccine immunity is expected to remain cross-reactive to JN.1 a descendant of the variant BA.2.86 itself a subvariant that came to the worlds attention over the summer because of the large number of changes to its spike proteins.COVID-19 caused seven hospitalizations for every 100,000 people in the week ending on Dec. 9, accounting for a 3% increase, CDC data shows.More than three-quarters of U.S. hospital beds are currently in use, which is largely in line with trends over the past three years since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the CDC warns that rising respiratory virus hospitalizations could strain health care resources in the coming weeks.Overall, COVID-19 data shows weekly hospitalizations have been trending down in recent weeks.Meanwhile, flu hospitalizations are rising but remain steady compared with recent weeks, according to CDC data. Flu-like activity is very high in five states and high in 15 states.CNN Healths Brenda Goodman contributed to this report.
The omicron coronavirus subvariant JN.1 now makes up 44.2% of COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Friday, CDC data estimates indicate that the quickly spreading variant is now causing almost half of infections nationwide, when just days ago it was estimated that JN.1 caused only about 20% of infections.
JN.1 makes up nearly 57% of new COVID-19 cases in the Northeast, according to the data. Earlier this week, the variant was already dominant in the region, causing about a third of new infections at the time.
Globally, JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing. The World Health Organization named it a variant of interest on Tuesday because of its rapidly increasing spread but noted that the additional public health risk remains low.
The CDC estimates that the prevalence of JN.1 more than doubled in the U.S. between late November and mid-December. It seems to be getting an assist from holiday travel and waning immunity.
Variant trackers say they expect JN.1 to become the leading coronavirus variant around the world in a matter of weeks.
Vaccine immunity is expected to remain cross-reactive to JN.1 a descendant of the variant BA.2.86 itself a subvariant that came to the worlds attention over the summer because of the large number of changes to its spike proteins.
COVID-19 caused seven hospitalizations for every 100,000 people in the week ending on Dec. 9, accounting for a 3% increase, CDC data shows.
More than three-quarters of U.S. hospital beds are currently in use, which is largely in line with trends over the past three years since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the CDC warns that rising respiratory virus hospitalizations could strain health care resources in the coming weeks.
Overall, COVID-19 data shows weekly hospitalizations have been trending down in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, flu hospitalizations are rising but remain steady compared with recent weeks, according to CDC data. Flu-like activity is very high in five states and high in 15 states.
CNN Healths Brenda Goodman contributed to this report.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across Maryland have increased as people travel and gather for the holidays.The Maryland Department of Health reports the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has more than doubled since the beginning of November. State data shows 208 people were hospitalized on Nov. 4 and 452 were hospitalized by Christmas Day.However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports hospital admission levels remain low across the Baltimore area.VACCINE: Pharmacies across the country are adding the new COVID-19 vaccine to their inventory. Here's what you need to know about the vaccine."We do have an increased volume of patients who are testing positive, especially after the holidays," said Nona Khutsishvili, a physician's assistant with ExpressCare Urgent Care in northwest Baltimore.Khutsishvili told 11 News that her urgent care facility is seeing about 100 positive cases of flu and COVID-19 every day.Also, COVID-19 is now impacting patients a little differently. Medical professionals told 11 News they're seeing more COVID-19 patients showing gastrointestinal symptoms, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and chills, which, without testing, makes it difficult to determine whether the patient is suffering from the flu or COVID-19."There's no way for us to know which virus you have because they all present with the same symptoms. Unless you test them, we will not know because body aches, nausea, vomit, they all feel like the same, whether you have COVID or the flu," Khutsishvili told 11 News.This coincides with findings from the Mayo Clinic, which reported data coming out of China shows about a third of COVID-19 patients are experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms without respiratory symptoms.Medical experts say whether people get tested or not, if it feels like flu or COVID-19 symptoms, stay away from other people and take precautions to prevent spreading the virus.
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across Maryland have increased as people travel and gather for the holidays.
The Maryland Department of Health reports the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has more than doubled since the beginning of November. State data shows 208 people were hospitalized on Nov. 4 and 452 were hospitalized by Christmas Day.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports hospital admission levels remain low across the Baltimore area.
"We do have an increased volume of patients who are testing positive, especially after the holidays," said Nona Khutsishvili, a physician's assistant with ExpressCare Urgent Care in northwest Baltimore.
Khutsishvili told 11 News that her urgent care facility is seeing about 100 positive cases of flu and COVID-19 every day.
Also, COVID-19 is now impacting patients a little differently. Medical professionals told 11 News they're seeing more COVID-19 patients showing gastrointestinal symptoms, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and chills, which, without testing, makes it difficult to determine whether the patient is suffering from the flu or COVID-19.
"There's no way for us to know which virus you have because they all present with the same symptoms. Unless you test them, we will not know because body aches, nausea, vomit, they all feel like the same, whether you have COVID or the flu," Khutsishvili told 11 News.
This coincides with findings from the Mayo Clinic, which reported data coming out of China shows about a third of COVID-19 patients are experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms without respiratory symptoms.
Medical experts say whether people get tested or not, if it feels like flu or COVID-19 symptoms, stay away from other people and take precautions to prevent spreading the virus.
With the holiday season and colder winter months looming in the northern hemisphere, tis the season for COVID. But then again, COVID never really left us.
The holiday season, marked by significant volumes of travel, is likely to be an additional determinant of transmission of COVID-19, said Rajib Dasgupta, an epidemiologist at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
The main variant of concern is now JN.1, a subvariant of Omicronone of the most prevalent forms of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID.
Rates of JN.1 are increasing in many countries around the world. But the overall risk to the public is assessed as low while existing vaccines continue to offer protection. Thats the line from the World Health Organization (WHO) at time of publication.
Germany has seen an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalisation rates related to the JN.1 subvariant. According to official statistics, 3,02,100 people in Germany were infected with JN.1 up to December 20, an increase from 1,10,000 on October 20 and 1,95,000 on November 20.
Dasgupta said India was also experiencing an uptick in cases, especially in the States of Kerala and Karnataka, where authorities have intensified disease surveillance and are advising people to take appropriate measures.
But its not only in Germany and India said Ziyad Al-Aly, an expert in public health who is based at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The situation is becoming more concerning. [JN.1] seems to be taking over nearly everywhere in the world, said Al-Aly. In Singapore, the numbers are really high. In the US, cases and hospitalisations are also rising.
The true infection rates of COVID-19 are likely to be higher than those reported due to a lack of widespread testing. Most countries stopped systematic reporting of COVID-19 test results in late 2022 or early 2023, and fewer people are tested anyway. So, its difficult to know the true rates of COVID-19 around the world.
The primary source of data for COVID-19 rates is now wastewater surveillance. Its not an ideal method, but its a pretty decent indicator of how much virus is circulating around the community, said Al-Aly.
Wastewater surveillance cant test individual rates of COVID or indicate who has it, but public health experts can use this data to track viral load over time and predict a general level of risk.
Another way governments are tracking COVID-19 is through the number of hospitalisations due to the virusthat tracks the most severe cases. Tracking both wastewater and hospitalisation is quite informative. We saw an uptick in wastewater COVID several weeks ago and then saw higher rates of hospitalisation literally two weeks later. So, its working, said Al-Aly.
One of the most important things you can do, said Al-Aly, is to keep up with vaccinations. Its very important for people to get an updated vaccine, and also to get vaccinated for other infectious agents like flu and RSV if you qualify, Al-Aly told DW.
The good news, said Al-Aly, is that the latest generation of vaccines are effective against the JN.1 subvariant. However, boosters are not available everywhere around the world, said Dasgupta: India has discontinued the boosters. In fact, the coverage of the third booster dose has lagged far behind the first two doses.
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The WHO recommends wearing a mask in public spaces or skipping social gatherings if you feel illthat can help reduce the spread of the virus.
The first thing you should do is see if you qualify for antiviral medication if you test positive. We know antivirals also reduce the risk of severe disease that is to hospitalisation risk of death and also risk of long COVID, said Al-Aly.
Antiviral medication is particularly effective for people at risk of severe COVID infectionolder adults, immunocompromised individuals, and people with heart or lung diseases.
And, obviously, you know, isolate, Al-Aly said. You dont want to transmit it. So dont show up to that Christmas party. Work from home or dont work at all. Its the same common-sense procedures as when we first started [with the pandemic].
wear a mask in crowded, enclosed areas
cover up coughs and sneezes
wash your hands regularly
stay up to date with COVID and flu vaccinations, especially if vulnerable
stay home if ill
get tested if you have symptoms
Heart tissue created using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells is seen in a photo provided by Riken.
OSAKA -- After contracting COVID-19, patients may have higher risk of heart failure from persistent viral infection in their hearts, even without developing notable heart disease, according to study results announced by Japanese researchers on Dec. 23.
The team including researchers from Riken, Japan's largest scientific institute, pointed out the possibility of a "heart failure pandemic" in the near future, and is stressing the need for countermeasures.
Coronavirus infection occurs when a protruding spike protein on the surface of the virus latches onto ACE2 receptors on the surface of human cells. According to the team, the ACE2 receptor is very common in the heart than other organs. Some COVID patients have reportedly had reduced cardiac function, but the mechanism's details are not yet known.
The research team first created heart tissue using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. When a large amount of the virus was made to infect the tissue, cardiac function declined and did not recover. When 10% of the previous amount infected the tissue, a certain level of cardiac function remained, but the infection persisted for four weeks. Researchers say it's possible that some patients won't develop heart failure even if the infection persists.
Furthermore, when cardiac tissue was placed under hypoxic conditions to reduce cardiac function, uninfected cells recovered after a certain time, but cells that remained infected with a small amount of virus did not recover. It appears that their recovery ability was weakened by persistent infection.
Riken Research Leader Hidetoshi Masumoto, who is well versed in regenerative medicine, pointed out, "Some people infected with the coronavirus may have persistent viral infections in their hearts. A testing system and treatment methods must be established in preparation for a 'heart failure pandemic,' in which we will see a rapid increase in the number of heart failure patients."
The findings were published in the American science journal iScience.
(Japanese original by Mirai Nagira, Science & Environment News Department)
