While I'm not ready to commit to it, this may be my last covid entry. It's been six weeks since the last one, and the content is about equal to a week's worth at the pandemic's height.
Three years ago, we had just started a two-week shutdown; soon, it was extended to May 4. The goal was to "flatten the curve," but the curve proceeded to spike repeatedly. What a roller-coaster ride. Life is nearly back to what it was, although I still wear a mask when grocery shopping and in small spaces.
Covid is not gone, and chances are it never will be. It's not the killer it was in the beginning, though, at least for most people. I still can't believe Don and I have evaded it, since an estimated 94% of Americans have had it at this point; perhaps we had it and didn't know. And perhaps it will still catch up to us.
Mon., Feb. 6
- Early in the pandemic, before the advent of coronavirus vaccines, 622 more U.S. physicians died than would have been expected. However, no excess deaths occurred after April 2021, once the shots were broadly available, Stanford University researchers concluded in a research letter published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
- New York City, which once had some of the nation’s strictest coronavirus vaccination rules, would no longer require the shots for municipal employees starting Feb. 10, Mayor Eric Adams announced.
- The U.S. government may have paid out $191 billion in improper pandemic unemployment benefits, the Labor Department’s watchdog told Congress this week, as Washington continued its probe into waste, fraud and abuse targeting covid aid. The new estimate was a substantial increase from the $163 billion in questionable payments that the office identified last year, a significant portion of which officials said is attributable to fraud.
- Half of students across the country started the academic year below grade level in at least one subject, according to federal survey data. The results added to other research that suggests many students faced a halting climb back from the tumble of the pandemic.
- The U.S. government extended its partnership with the drugmaker Novavax, agreeing to purchase 1.5 million additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine and provide funds for the development of an updated shot for the fall. The protein-based shot uses technology commonly used in vaccines against viruses like influenza or shingles and provides another option for individuals who can’t or won’t get the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
- Republicans on the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic kicked off their first investigation into the origins of covid-19 by renewing calls for testimony and documents from top current and former Biden administration officials, including Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
- Coronavirus survivors are about 58 percent more likely to be diagnosed with new-onset diabetes compared to those who haven’t contracted the virus, according to a new study by Penn State College of Medicine that added to the growing mountain of evidence that covid patients are at an increased risk for metabolic and cardiovascular problems after infection.
- The National Institutes of Health launched a clinical trial to test whether an oral antiviral drug developed by Hokkaido University and Shionogi & Co. in Japan could benefit adult patients hospitalized with covid-19, as the number of effective treatments continued to decline as the virus mutated.
- China’s recent coronavirus surge may have killed between a million and 1.5 million people, according to new estimates that far exceeded Beijing’s official count of 83,150 deaths.
- Natural immunity acquired from a covid-19 infection cuts the risk of hospitalization or death from reinfection by roughly 90 percent for at least 10 months, a meta-analysis published in The Lancet suggested. That’s on par with the protection provided by two doses of an mRNA vaccine, although experts stressed that vaccination is the preferable route to immunity, given the risks of complications from covid.
- Moderna announced it would provide free coronavirus vaccines for millions of uninsured and underinsured individuals, pledging to ensure continued access to the shots once the government ends its public health emergency on May 11. The vaccine maker faced blowback last month after CEO Stephane Bancel told The Wall Street Journal that the company could charge between $110 and $130 per dose when it shifts from government contracts for the shots to commercial distribution. That’s more than quadruple the price the Biden administration paid for a bulk purchase of updated coronavirus boosters last summer, at about $26 per dose.
- A study, partly funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the journal JAMA Network Open, looked at more than 800 adults who were treated for the coronavirus between August 2020 and July 2021. It found that at the six-month mark, more than 70 percent of the participants reported continuing symptoms, such as coughing, rapid or irregular heartbeat and breathlessness. Notably, the study also found that many covid long-haulers develop additional health challenges as time goes on. Patients reported higher rates of heart and lung problems six months after coming home from the hospital, highlighting that new symptoms can develop long after the initial infection. In addition, researchers found that more than half of patients experience financial challenges up to six months after being discharged, with Hispanic and Black participants most likely to be affected. Among this group, about 30 percent said their family finances were moderately, severely, or extremely drained as a result of their hospitalization.
- Vaccine maker Moderna paid the National Institutes of Health $400 million for using a chemical technique developed by government and academic researchers in its mRNA-based coronavirus vaccine. The company made roughly $36 billion selling it during the pandemic.
- Deaths in state and federal prisons increased nearly 50 percent during the first year of the pandemic, and in six states they more than doubled, researchers at the UCLA Law Behind Bars Data Project found. Altogether, at least 6,182 inmates died in American prisons in 2020 compared to 4,240 in 2019, despite a 10 percent drop in the U.S. prison population during the same time period.
- The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first combination test for the flu and coronavirus that is fully performed at home. The agency granted emergency use authorization to the Lucira Covid-19 & Flu Test, a single-use kit that provides results from a nasal swab in about 30 minutes. The test is for people with symptoms of a respiratory tract infection, and can be purchased without a prescription by anyone 14 or older.
- There wasn’t enough evidence to recommend more than one coronavirus shot per year for the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s panel of independent vaccine advisers said. The group supported an annual booster campaign, which would probably take place in the fall.
- A group of doctors calling themselves The Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance first championed ivermectin as a “miracle” coronavirus treatment. It failed to live up to the hype. Now, they were promoting the anti-parasitic drug to prevent and treat the flu and RSV despite lack of scientific evidence that it works.
- Debate about the origins of the pandemic returned to the news with the report of a new assessment by the Energy Department that concluded with “low confidence” that the virus was most likely spread by an accidental laboratory leak in China. The updated assessment, in a classified intelligence report first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was said to be based on new intelligence not yet disclosed by officials. U.S. intelligence agencies remained divided over the origins of the pandemic. The department joined the FBI in backing the lab-leak theory. Meanwhile, four other agencies and a national intelligence panel believed that the virus likely emerged through natural transmission. The CIA and another agency that officials wouldn’t name remained undecided.
- House Republicans overseeing pandemic probes expanded their investigation into the origins of covid-19. The House select subcommittee investigating the coronavirus response sent letters to the Energy Department, State Department and FBI, seeking an array of materials and interagency communications on the origins of the pandemic and government-funded research.
- Pandemic-related supplemental food benefits in place for the last three years ended. An average of $90/month in SNAP money went away.
- Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, sought emergency use authorization of their updated omicron-targeting coronavirus vaccine as a booster dose for children 6 months through 4 years of age.
- Coronavirus vaccine maker Novavax raised doubts about its ability to remain in business, citing serious financial challenges stemming from raw material shortages and manufacturing setbacks as it developed its shot during the pandemic.
- President Biden called on Congress to approve $1.6 billion to combat a “historic” level of fraud targeting the federal government’s coronavirus aid programs.
- The CDC's community transmission rate for Hampshire County was moderate, after being substantial or high since the rating's inception.
- New York Mayor Eric Adams (D) called on shop owners to require customers to briefly remove their face masks when entering stores to help law enforcement crack down on retail crime.
- The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic kicked off its investigation into the origin of the virus with a hearing that produced no new evidence but offered plenty of political theater.
- Air passengers would no longer need to get tested and show the negative COVID-19 test result, or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19, prior to boarding a flight to the U.S. from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
- The House voted unanimously to declassify all U.S. intelligence information on the origins of the coronavirus, sending the legislation to President Biden’s desk. If the bill was signed, the declassified information would have to be released within 90 days, although the measure did not establish a mechanism for enforcement.
- The Johns Hopkins covid site shut down. When the pandemic started, neither the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the World Health Organization was providing enough useful numbers in real time. So journalists and academic researchers at places like Johns Hopkins jumped in to fill the void.
- Three years ago today, the World Health Organization deemed the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
- Over 2,000 Americans were still dying each week as of the third anniversary of the pandemic lockdowns. At least 1.1 million people had died in the United States and 6.9 million worldwide.
- The FDA authorized the omicron-targeting coronavirus booster from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, for children who are 6 months to 4 years old.
- China reopened to tourists.
- Gov. Maura Healey announced that the COVID-19 health emergency would expire on May 11. The vaccine mandate for executive branch employees would also expire.
Fri., Mar. 17
- A sample taken in a Wuhan market in early 2020 showed genetic traces of both the coronavirus and a raccoon dog, according to scientists who analyzed newly obtained data from China. It boosted the theory that the pandemic started through natural spillover from animals rather than emerging from a laboratory, a theory favored by some researchers.
Mon., Mar. 20
- President Biden signed a bill into law that directs the federal government to declassify certain information about the origin of the coronavirus.
Tues., Mar. 21
- Data show that roughly nine months to a year after lockdowns started, a mini baby boom began. In 2021, for instance, roughly 51,000 more American babies were born than in 2020.
Wed., Mar. 22
- The White House will disband its covid response team after the public health emergency ends in May.
Fri., Mar. 24
- The Washington Post published its last Coronavirus Update, a regular email (three times a week at first, then twice a week) that supplied a lot of my bullets for this blog. If they think it's time to quit, so do I.
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