Category: COVID
The quiet cost of covid: A million people missing work each month
(Washington Post) Some 1.5 million people missed work because of an illness last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The month before that, it was 1.6 million. In October, 1.3 million and in September 1.2 million. In fact, the last time there were fewer than a million Americans missing work because of an illness […]
Jan 17, 2023
Pregnant people with COVID-19 are 7 times more likely to die in childbirth
(Popular Science) The study of over 13,000 pregnancies across 12 countries found that those infected with COVID-19 were seven times as likely to die during childbirth and are more than three times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit during during pregnancy, compared to COVID-free pregnant people. About 2,000 patients had a […]
Jan 17, 2023
COVID was the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 for 3rd year in a row: Report
(CBS News) COVID-19 remained the leading cause of law enforcement deaths in 2022 despite the number attributed to the virus dramatically declining. A new report released Wednesday by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund looked at preliminary data and found that 226 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officers died last year while in the line of […]
Jan 17, 2023
China is finally divulging covid data. The WHO says there’s more to the story.
(Washington Post) The World Health Organization is ramping up pressure on China to share key data on its latest coronavirus outbreak, using public statements and behind-the-scenes meetings to push Beijing as it tries to map the largest surge of the pandemic — even if it risks the government’s wrath. It is a stark contrast with the WHO’s […]
Jan 17, 2023
Airplane lavatories deliver new hope for the CDC’s variant hunt
(Politico) The cramped, damp and poorly lit airplane toilet is among the scourges of air travel, a source of dread for young and old alike. But the deafening “swoosh” of the airplane lavatory may have finally found a higher calling: helping government scientists detect deadly viruses entering the United States. As Covid-19 cases explode in […]
Jan 17, 2023
FAQ on COVID-19 subvariant XBB.1.5: What is it? Where is it prevalent? How does it differ from Omicron? Does it cause serious illness?
(The Conversation) Despite intensive public health efforts to grind the COVID-19 pandemic to a halt, the recent emergence of the highly transmissible, extensively drug-resistant and profoundly immune system-evading XBB.1.5 SARS-CoV-2 subvariant is putting the global community on edge. What is XBB.1.5? In the naming convention for SARS-CoV-2 lineages, the prefix “X” denotes a pedigree that arose […]
Jan 17, 2023
Long COVID Rehab Program Shows “Impressive” Results
(SciTechDaily) A rehabilitation program that helps people with long COVID reduce their symptoms and increase activity levels has shown “impressive” results. The program is based on a gradual or paced increase in a patient’s physical activity. The findings showed that before the start of the program, patients were reporting an average of three “crashes” a […]
Jan 17, 2023
A Better Covid Winter
(NYT) Some of the worst days of Covid in the U.S. have come as winters have settled in, and surges led hospitals to overflow and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. A comparable surge has yet to materialize on a similar timeline this winter. By now, hospitalizations in particular would have started to sharply rise. […]
Jan 17, 2023
Can you use an expired at-home COVID-19 test?
(NBC) Many of us may have stored extra at-home COVID-19 tests in case they are needed in the future, but what should you do if the kit is past its expiration date? According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a COVID-19 testing kit should not be used if it is expired since the parts […]
Jan 17, 2023
Pregnant Women With Covid-19 Are Eight Times More Likely To Die Than Uninfected Counterparts
(Forbes) A new BMJ Global Health study warns that getting infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus at any point during pregnancy increases the mother’s risk of death by nearly eight times compared to those who remain uninfected. A group of researchers screened 137 studies and analyzed 12 studies conducted in Sweden Italy, Spain, the United States of America, […]
Jan 17, 2023