Author: Claudinne Miller
How the pandemic altered the restaurant industry forever
(Washington Post) Pandemic restaurant-going was like a series of twists on the old Yogi Berra quip about how nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded. First, restaurants stood cavernously empty by mandate as we pined for them. Then we got scared to be cheek-to-jowl with fellow customers. As patrons surged back, a dearth of […]
Jan 3, 2023
The Magic of mRNA Will Push Medical Advances for Everyone
(Wired) mRNA is one of the first molecules of life. While identified six decades ago as the carrier of the blueprint for proteins in living cells, its pharmaceutical potential was long underestimated. mRNA appeared unpromising—too unstable, too weak in potency, and too inflammatory. The successful development of the first mRNA vaccines against Covid-19 in 2020 was an […]
Dec 30, 2022
The Relationship Between Chronic Viral Infection and Long COVID
(NIH) In a small study supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), researchers found that chronic viral infections may influence the likelihood of someone developing Long COVID. They also found that different chronic infections were associated with the development of different Long COVID symptoms. Some viruses cause underlying chronic infections. These viruses […]
Dec 29, 2022
COVID Testing Company Missed Nearly All Positive Cases
(MedPageToday) Northshore Clinical Labs’ PCR test was ultimately found to have missed 96% of positive COVID-19 cases on a university campus in Nevada last year, but early concerns raised by state epidemiologists went unheeded as the company aggressively pursued government customers. When students from a Nevada school district began receiving conflicting test results from their […]
Dec 28, 2022
U.S. to impose new coronavirus testing requirements for travelers from China
(Washington Post) U.S. health officials Wednesday announced new testing requirements for travelers from China, a decision based in part on concerns about the lack of data coming out of that nation, which is lifting stringent zero-covid policies even as it reduces testing and reporting, making it harder for officials to identify new variants. The requirement […]
Dec 28, 2022
After years with little covid, videos show China is now getting hit hard
(Washington Post) [link to video here] Emergency departments are overflowing, with patients sleeping in hallways until they can be evaluatedor taken to a hospital room. In at least one hospital, half of doctors and nurses were absent because they had tested positive for covid. These and other alarming scenes in China’s medical facilities have been […]
Dec 27, 2022
Scientists have a theory on covid loss of smell: Damage to nasal cells
(Washington Post) Persistent loss of smell has left some covid-19 survivors yearning for the scent of their freshly bathed childor a waft of their once-favorite meal. It’s left others inured to the stink of garbage and accidentally drinking spoiled milk. “Anosmia,” as experts call it, is one of long covid’s strangest symptoms — and researchers may be one […]
Dec 27, 2022
HHS Increases Access to Tamiflu through the Strategic National Stockpile
(HHS) Tthe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), announced that they are making additional supply of Tamiflu available to jurisdictions to respond to an increased demand for the antiviral during this flu season, including through the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). Jurisdictions will work with […]
Dec 27, 2022
Growing vaccine hesitancy fuels measles, chickenpox resurgence in U.S.
(Washington Post) A rapidly growing measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio — largely involving unvaccinated children — is fueling concerns among health officials that more parent resistance to routine childhood immunizations will intensify aresurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. Most of the 82 children infected so far are old enough to get the shots, but their parents chose not to […]
Dec 27, 2022
Niger reports severe bird flu among poultry
(Zawaya) Niger has reported the highly contagious H5N1 strain of avian influenza, or bird flu, among poultry in a village in the south of the country, the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday. The outbreak in the south of the Tahoua region killed most of a 4,920-strong flock, with the remaining […]
Dec 27, 2022