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Covid News Watch

Sep 01, 2023

COVID Is Back. A Fruitless National Freakout Shouldn’t Come With It. + More

COVID Is Back. A Fruitless National Freakout Shouldn’t Come With It.

The Washington Post reported:

The current coronavirus numbers are still much lower than previous peaks. Yet even if the numbers rise considerably, the public is not going to accept restrictive coronavirus mitigation measures again, regardless of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other public health authorities say.

The primacy of individuals’ voluntary decisions is what makes the credibility of public health authorities so important. Even when their guidance is sound, its effectiveness depends on its persuasiveness. And we have reason to believe that the public will give such guidance a more skeptical hearing now than it did in 2020. Trust in the CDC fell during the pandemic, judging from multiple polls.

You don’t have to be anti-vaccination or think that COVID was a hoax (it has killed more than 1.1 million Americans) to believe that the CDC earned that decline. Its guidance on social distancing — first six feet, then threewas arbitrary. It exaggerated the likelihood of outdoor transmission of the virus. Its guidance on masking lagged behind the evidence.

And its approach to COVID generally reflected a degree of risk aversion that not all reasonably health-conscious people share: the same risk aversion that leads the CDC to recommend against consuming rare and medium-rare steak. No matter how low caseloads have fallen, the CDC has never quit recommending masking on planes, trains, buses and subways.

COVID: Brussels Approves Adapted Pfizer’s Vaccine to Combat Omicron Subvariants

Euronews reported:

The European Commission on Friday approved the adaptation of BioNTech-Pfizer‘s COVID-19 vaccine against the new Omicron XBB.1 coronavirus subvariant.

“The vaccine is licensed for adults, children and infants older than 6 months … this vaccine is another important milestone in the fight against the disease,” the EU executive said in a statement, recalling that this is the third update of the prophylactic. The update of the vaccine used under the trade name Comirnaty is also expected to “increase the breadth of immunity” against current dominant and emerging variants.

Following guidelines from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), adults and children aged 5 years and older who require vaccination “should receive a single dose, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination history,” the Commission added.

The modification of the contract with BioNTech-Pfizer signed in May 2023 ensures that member states will continue to have access to vaccines adapted to the new COVID-19 variants in the coming years, the European executive said in a statement.

CDC Updates BA.2.86 Assessment as Countries Report More Sequences

CIDRAP reported:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday updated its initial assessment of the highly mutated BA.2.86 SARS-CoV-2 variant, which said sporadic detections continue to be reported at the global level, including in the United States, where it has been picked up by three different genomic monitoring systems.

In other new developments, France and Scotland reported their first detections and additional sequences were reported from South Africa and the United States.

The CDC said BA.2.86 made up less than 1% of circulating viruses over the past 2 weeks in the United States and emphasized that the country’s rise in COVID hospitalizations is likely fueled by XBB viruses that are similar to the lineage included in the updated vaccine, which it said will be available in mid-September.

The virus has been detected in either patient samples or wastewater from four states: Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, and New York.

Costs Divide Rich, Poor Countries Ahead of WHO Pandemic Treaty Talks

Reuters reported:

Health officials from around the world, as they gather to discuss a treaty addressing pandemic prevention next week, are struggling to agree on funding for developing countries and measures to thwart jumps by pathogens from animals into humans.

The meeting, starting in Geneva on Monday, is part of ongoing negotiations by the decision-making body of the World Health Organization to tackle pandemic threats in a legally binding accord. Representatives from as many as 194 member countries could take part.

Since early in the COVID-19 pandemic, global health officials have sought to create a “pandemic treaty” to better prepare for future outbreaks. The governing body of the World Health Organization, or WHO chose delegates from each of its six administrative regions worldwide to lead the negotiations. The delegates have met periodically with representatives of member countries and are tasked with forging an agreement by May 2024.

Clotting Proteins Linked to Long COVID’s Brain Fog

Science reported:

Along with physical fatigue, “brain fog” has become one of the best-known manifestations of the condition known as Long COVID. Yet it’s still unclear why some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop cognitive problems — which can include trouble concentrating and remembering — and others don’t. Now, a large study of people hospitalized with COVID-19 early in the pandemic has identified two proteins involved in blood clotting, fibrinogen and D-dimer, that are associated with cognitive deficits up to 1-year post-infection.

The findings, published today in Nature Medicine, are an “important advance” for scientists’ understanding of how Long COVID develops, says Steven Deeks, a physician-scientist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) who was not involved in the work.

The study doesn’t establish exactly how the proteins might be causing damage, although Maxime Taquet, a clinical psychiatrist at the University of Oxford, speculates that fibrinogen could be forming blood clots that disrupt circulation in the brain or may even directly interact with receptors in the nervous system. D-dimer may be more likely to reflect clotting in the lungs, he says — which could help explain its link to breathing problems.

Aug 28, 2023

Biden to Fund New COVID Vaccine ‘for Everybody … Whether They’ve Gotten It Before or Not’ + More

Biden to Fund New COVID Vaccine ‘for Everybody … Whether They’ve Gotten It Before or Not’

ZeroHedge reported:

President Joe Biden on Friday told reporters that he’s planning to request more money from Congress to develop a new coronavirus vaccine. “I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is ne- — necessary — that works,” the official White House transcript reads.

“Tentatively, it is recommended that — it will likely be recommended that everybody get it no matter whether they’ve gotten it before or not.”

The announcement follows a recorded rise in COVID-19 cases in some regions, which has been accompanied by the return of mask mandates and canceled classes by some colleges and businesses. Maybe this time it will actually be safe and effective?

Americans’ Spending on Mental Health Services Rose 53% Since Pandemic Began

U.S. News & World Report reported:

When the pandemic began, spending on mental health services skyrocketed and it continues to rise even as the use of telehealth services leveled off.

That’s the key takeaway from a new study published Aug. 25 in JAMA Health Forum.

Some rules for expanded payment for telehealth services have now expired, so it’s not known whether this level of spending will continue, according to researchers at the RAND Corporation and Castlight Health.

Lead author Jonathan Cantor, a policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization, and his colleagues found that spending on mental health services rose 53.7% between March 2020 and August 2022 in a large group of people with employer-provided insurance.

Use of mental health services increased by nearly 39%, according to the research, which used claims data from about 7 million commercially insured adults. The analysis included anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and PTSD.

Moderna Serves Up Fresh U.S. Open Ad, Highlighting ‘Changemaker’ Arthur Ashe Ahead of Vaccine Season

Fierce Pharma reported:

Moderna has returned for a second set at the U.S. Open. One year after partnering with Billie Jean King for a brand awareness campaign, the mRNA specialist is kicking off a new push focused on another of the changemakers of tennis: the late Arthur Ashe.

Echoing a classic Apple campaign, Moderna’s spots are based on the line “Here’s to the changemakers.” King and Ashe have impeccable credentials as changemakers. While both players were stars on the court, they are now known as much for their broader impact on the sport and society. Ashe, a pioneering Black tennis player, helped break down racial barriers and later, after suffering a heart attack and contracting HIV from a blood transfusion, became a health advocate.

Moderna had a lot to cram into its ad. The desire to encourage people to take up the new COVID-19 vaccines and stay up to date with flu shots underpins Moderna’s decision to sponsor the U.S. Open. “It’s the only truly global sporting event in this time period where we can stay front and center and remind people to stay up to date with their vaccines. The timing is good. It’s a global event. It gets a lot of media attention as well,” Kate Cronin, chief brand officer at Moderna, said.

COVID Virus Is Evolving Three Times Faster in Deer Versus Humans

U.S. News & World Report reported:

COVID-19 variants are evolving three times faster in white-tailed deer than in humans, according to a new study. Deer serve as virus reservoirs, places where a virus thrives and multiplies, making them the perfect host for ongoing mutation.

The virus also appears to be passing between humans and deer, where genomic analysis showed at least 30 infections in deer were introduced by humans. How this jump is happening remains a mystery to experts.

The study was published Aug. 28 in Nature Communications. This work was supported by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Ohio State’s Infectious Diseases Institute.

CDC Removes COVID Vaccine Adverse Event Reports From Website: Report

The Daily Wire reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website appeared to have quietly stopped collecting COVID-19 vaccine adverse events on the federal agency’s V-safe website earlier this summer. “Thank you for your participation. Data collection for COVID-19 vaccines concluded on June 30, 2023,” the V-safe website reads.

Instead of displaying data collected from the mRNA vaccine, the CDC website redirects users to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) website for adverse event reporting. Dr. David Gortler, a Brownstone Institute Fellow who formerly served as a senior official and advisor for the FDA, first reported the change in the CDC’s website, questioning why the federal agency removed the data.

Since mRNA injections hit the market in 2021, Gortler cited the FDA’s VAERS database that allegedly names the vaccines as the number one cause of more than 1.5 million adverse event reports, including heart attacks and cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in the U.S.

Gortler also cited an FDA-funded study out of Harvard that states VAERS reports represent less than 1% of vaccine adverse events that actually occur.

CDC Expects New COVID Vaccines From Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to Be Available in Mid-September

CNBC reported:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects updated COVID vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax to be available to the public in mid-September, an agency official told reporters Thursday.

That amounts to the most specific timeline to date. Federal officials have said the new shots could arrive around September. CDC Director Mandy Cohen had previously provided a later timeline, telling NPR that the vaccines could be available by the “early October time frame.”

Those shots still need approvals from the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC, which will set eligibility guidelines for the jabs. An independent panel of advisors to the CDC is meeting on Sept. 12 to vote on a recommendation for those guidelines.

Alnylam to Appeal COVID Vaccine Patent Ruling in Moderna Case

Fierce Pharma reported:

As Alnylam persists in its COVID-19 patent litigation, the RNAi specialist has been dealt a blow in one of its lawsuits against Moderna.

After the Delaware federal court issued a ruling on certain patent claims, Alnylam and Moderna agreed to a final judgment of non-infringement, Alnylam said in a recent statement. But Alnylam said it “respectfully disagrees” with the ruling and pledged to appeal.

Alnylam originally filed the lawsuit last March. It’s just one of several cases the company has brought against COVID-19 vaccine juggernauts Moderna and Pfizer. In the case, it seeks “reasonable compensation” for alleged patent infringement.

Specifically, Alnylam accused Moderna of utilizing its lipid nanoparticle delivery technology that the biotech created for its RNAi drug Onpattro, which treats the rare condition of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis.

New COVID Variant BA.2.86 Spreading in the U.S. in August 2023. Here Are Key Facts Experts Want You to Know.

CBS News reported:

Health authorities and scientists say they are now racing to study BA.2.86, a new strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 after the highly mutated variant was spotted spreading in multiple countries around the world and at least three different U.S. states.

For now, officials say they remain well-equipped to deal with the strain if it continues to spread. Early assessments suggest current treatments and tests, as well as upcoming vaccines to be rolled out next month, will not be rendered useless by BA.2.86.

But a number of questions remain about the variant, nicknamed “Pirola” on social media, whose mutations could amount to an evolutionary jump on par with the emergence of the Omicron variant in 2021.

Authorities still consider BA.2.86 technically a part of the Omicron variant family, though the WHO told reporters that this could change if the strain spreads more widely. More could be known soon about the impacts of the strain, from experiments done by scientists testing the strain’s mutations against antibodies for the virus.

Aug 23, 2023

AstraZeneca Facing Two London Lawsuits Over COVID Vaccines + More

AstraZeneca Facing Two London Lawsuits Over COVID Vaccines

Reuters reported:

AstraZeneca (AZN.L) is facing two London lawsuits, including one from the husband of a woman who died after receiving the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine, in the first of potentially dozens of cases brought in England.

Britain was the first country to roll out the at-cost AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021, although it later restricted the use of it among under-40s due to the small risk of blood clots.

Anish Tailor, whose wife Alpa died in March 2021 after receiving her first dose of the vaccine, filed a product liability claim against AstraZeneca at London’s High Court on Aug. 4, according to court records.

His lawyer Peter Todd, from the law firm Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, told Reuters that he has nearly 50 other clients who will formally sue AstraZeneca in the coming months.

AstraZeneca is facing a similar lawsuit from Jamie Scott, who was diagnosed with vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which can cause fatal blood clotting, after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

U.S. CDC Says New COVID Lineage Could Cause Infections in Vaccinated Individuals

Reuters reported:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines.

CDC said it was too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants. Due to the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there were concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said.

Scientists are keeping an eye on the BA.2.86 lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant. CDC, however, said virus samples are not yet broadly available for more reliable laboratory testing of antibodies.

The agency had earlier this month said it was tracking the highly mutated BA.2.86 lineage, which has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel.

HHS Awards $1.4 Billion in Grants to Develop Future COVID Tools

The Hill reported:

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced it is awarding $1.4 billion in grants through its coronavirus initiative to fund the development of “a new generation of tools and technologies to protect against COVID-19 for years to come.”

Through the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the grants to a collection of pharmaceutical companies, nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations. Part of the funding aims to develop longer-lasting coronavirus vaccines.

The awards are part of Project NextGen, an initiative led by ASPR that fosters public-private partnerships to develop the next generation of COVID-19 countermeasures. These are the first grants to be issued from NextGen, which has an initial investment of $5 billion. Officials said Tuesday they currently don’t anticipate the need for additional funds.

The bulk of the grants — $1 billion — was awarded to four clinical trial partners of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. These partners are ICON Government and Public Health Solutions Inc., Pharm-Olam LLC, Technical Resources International Inc., and Rho Federal Systems Inc.

Another $326 million was awarded to Regeneron for the development of a monoclonal antibody to prevent COVID-19 infections. Regeneron developed the monoclonal antibody known as REGEN-COV during the early parts of the pandemic, at one point being the only treatment available for the virus. The efficacy of Regeneron’s first antibody diminished as newer variants arose. Johnson & Johnson Innovation was granted $10 million for its Blue Knight competition, which focuses on next-generation technologies that enhance preparedness for future infectious disease threats.

Construction, Food Preparation Workers More Likely to Die From Overdoses During Pandemic: CDC Data

The Hill reported:

Construction and food preparation workers were more likely than those in other professions to die from overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.

Researchers from the CDC found that among different industries, drug overdose death rates were highest in construction and extraction and food preparation in 2020. The researchers analyzed fatal drug overdose data from 46 states and New York City, largely focusing on different industries and occupations.

Construction had the highest drug overdose death rate across all the industries studied, with nearly 131 deaths per 100,000 workers. Accommodation and food services followed, with about 99 deaths per 100,000 workers.

The report noted those who sustained injuries while working and used prescription opioids were more likely to overdose.

COVID, a Disease With Tricks up Its Sleeve, Hasn’t Fallen Into a Seasonal Pattern — Yet

STAT News reported:

To most people on the planet, the COVID-19 pandemic is over. But for many scientists who have been tracking the largest global infectious disease event in the era of molecular biology, there is still a step that the virus that caused it, SARS-CoV-2, hasn’t yet taken. It has not fallen into a predictable seasonal pattern of the type most respiratory pathogens follow.

Influenza strikes — at least in temperate climates — in the winter months, with activity often peaking in January or February. In the pre-COVID times, that was also true for RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — and a number of other bugs that inflict cold- and flu-like illnesses. Some respiratory pathogens seem to prefer fall or spring. Even measles, when that disease circulated widely, had a seasonality in our part of the world, typically striking in late winter or early spring.

To be sure, you can contract these viruses at any time of the year. But transmission takes off during a particular pathogen’s season. (The COVID pandemic knocked a number of these bugs out of their regular orbits, though they may be heading back to more normal transmission patterns. The next few months should be telling.)

What You Need to Know About BA.2.86, a New ‘Highly Mutated’ COVID Variant

TODAY reported:

A new, highly mutated COVID-19 variant called BA.2.86 has been detected in several countries, including the United States.

Health officials and scientists are closely monitoring the variant, and research is underway to determine whether it could pose a greater threat, though there’s no need to panic yet, experts say.

Last week, the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that they were tracking BA.2.86, which has a large number of mutations compared to other COVID variants circulating.

BA.2.86, which some experts have nicknamed “Pirola” on social media, was first detected in late July and since then it has caused a handful of infections worldwide. It appears to have descended from the Omicron BA.2 sublineage, which caused surges of the virus in 2022, Dr. Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University, tells TODAY.com.

20% of Vaccinated Transplant Recipients Got COVID Amid Omicron, but Only 8% Severely

CIDRAP reported:

COVID-19 infections among 2,400 vaccinated transplant recipients were common (19.7%) during SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant predominance in the United States, but only 7.5% needed hospitalization, estimates a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers at New York University and Johns Hopkins University surveyed participants in a national cohort who reported receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose from January 2021 through December 2022. The team sent follow-up surveys in January and June 2022.

Among 2,461 transplant recipients, 19.7% reported a COVID-19 infection, including 15 reinfections. The case incidence per 1 million person-days was 90 before the Delta variant era (January to May 2021), 304 during Delta (June to December 2021), 1,292 during Omicron BA.1 (January to March 2022), and 1,051 during BA.2 (April to June 2022), and 1,066 amid BA.4, BA.5, and BQ.1 (July to December 2022).

Among 464 infected participants, 7.5% were hospitalized. Hospitalized participants more often reported receiving stronger immunosuppressive regimens (56.8% vs. 36.5%) and lung transplants (24.3% vs. 9.5%). Hospitalization rates per 100 infections ranged from 14.1 pre-Delta to 2.3 amid BA.2.

U.K. Posts Initial COVID BA.2.86 Risk Assessment

CIDRAP reported:

The U.K. Health Security Agency (HSA) recently posted an initial risk assessment of the BA.2.86 Omicron subvariant, which said the rapid appearance in multiple countries in people without travel histories suggests established international transmission.

The newly identified variant has many genetic mutations and is distant from BA.2, its likely ancestor, and currently circulating XBB variants. The similarity of the sequences so far — six samples from four countries — suggests relatively recent emergence and rapid growth, but the HSA said it has low confidence in that assessment, pending the examination of further sequences.

Though predictions of the combined effect of such a large number of mutations would be unreliable now, there is enough information to expect antigenic change. The HSA also said there are mutations in the spike protein that may be associated with changes in other viral properties.

Aug 21, 2023

Michigan Teen’s Death Fueled Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric. We Got CDC’s Investigative Report. + More

Michigan Teen’s Death Fueled Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric. We Got CDC’s Investigative Report.

Detroit Free Press reported:

A 13-year-old Saginaw County boy, who died in his sleep three days after getting a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine had a systemic bacterial infection that caused his death, according to an investigation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Preliminary autopsy findings revealed that Jacob Clynick had myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle that can affect heart rhythm and its ability to pump. Three days before Jacob’s funeral, a CDC advisory committee acknowledged “a likely association” between the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines and a slight risk of heart problems in adolescents and young adults.

A CDC spokesperson told the Free Press on Friday that “the primary cause of the patient’s death was sepsis (bloodstream infection) due to the bacteria Clostridium septicum, a type of bacteria that produces a toxin that can cause inflammation and damage to the heart and other organs.”

That news was a surprise to Jacob’s father, Joseph Clynick. “I think it had to have something to do with the vaccine,” he said. “It doesn’t make any sense that it wouldn’t.” Clynick told the Free Press that he didn’t get any notification from federal, state or local health authorities about the outcome of the CDC investigation. His child’s autopsy report lists the cause of death as “myocarditis of unknown etiology.”

In addition, documents the Free Press obtained from the CDC under the Freedom of Information Act show tension over the official cause of death between federal health investigators and the medical examiner who signed the autopsy report in Jacob’s case.

Not All COVID ‘Misinformation’ Is Equal — or Even Misinformation

Bloomberg reported:

Published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study by six researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, started with a worthy goal: examining the role of doctors in spreading dangerous misinformation on social media. But the study undermines its own purpose by wrongly classifying value judgments and some scientifically valid points as misinformation.

For example, consider this statement, which a doctor posted on Facebook in February 2022: “It’s time to recognize natural immunity as at least as good as vaccinations and end the mandates.”

Paul Offit — who has decades of experience fighting anti-vaccine misinformation — called foul at the JAMA study author’s classification of this statement as misinformation. The first part about natural immunity is true, he said. And the call to end vaccine mandates was one view in a legitimate debate — a value judgment, not a fact.

The JAMA article also labeled as misinformation statements about the downsides of masking. But several studies concluded that having to wear a mask all day can impede the ability of children (and adults) to interact and communicate. It’s not “misinformation” to discuss the downsides of public health measures.

Moderna CEO Made $400 Million Last Year — 2,435x the Median Salary of Employees

Ars Technica reported:

The CEOs of more than 300 publicly traded healthcare companies collectively raked in $4 billion last year as Americans struggled under high inflation, according to an analysis by STAT News.

Topping the income chart is the CEO of Moderna, the company that developed one of the leading COVID-19 vaccines in the world — with significant support from U.S. taxpayers and federal scientists.

Moderna’s Stéphane Bancel made $398 million in 2022, which equaled the total pay for the next six highest-paid CEOs in the biotech and pharma sector, according to STAT’s analysis. It also put Bancel near the top of the income inequality chart, showing Bancel’s compensation was 2,435 times more than the median salary of Moderna employees last year.

Bancel’s haul was largely from pre-planned stock sales, and he has said that he will donate much of it to charity. Still, the pandemic made Bancel a billionaire; his net worth is estimated to be over $4 billion, and Moderna made roughly $36 billion in worldwide sales from the vaccine, its only product.

Biden Administration to Urge Americans Get New COVID Boosters

Reuters reported:

The Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a booster shot for the coronavirus this autumn to counter a new wave of infections, a White House official said on Sunday. The official said that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report an increase in infections and hospital admissions from the virus, overall levels remain low.

Moderna and other COVID-19 vaccine makers Novavax, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech SE have created versions of their shots aimed at the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

Pending approval from health regulators in the United States and Europe, the companies expect the updated shots to be available in the coming weeks for the autumn vaccination season.

“We will be encouraging all Americans to get those boosters in addition to flu shots and RSV shots,” the official said, referring to the Respiratory Syncytial Virus.

Local Governments Are Spending Billions of Pandemic Relief Funds, but Some Report Few Specifics

Associated Press reported:

Joplin officials say they have big plans for $13.8 million of pandemic relief funds the tornado-ravaged southwestern Missouri city received under a two-year-old federal law. Yet the latest federal records show none of the money has been spent — or even budgeted.

In fact, about 6,300 cities and counties — nearly 1 in 4 nationwide — reported no expenditures as of this spring, according to an Associated Press analysis of data released by the U.S. Treasury Department. About 5,100 of those listed have no projects — either planned or underway.

So what gives? Is the money not needed? Are cities just sitting on it?

Local and federal officials told the AP in interviews that the publicly available data is misleading — pockmarked by differing interpretations over exactly what must be reported, lagging in timeliness and failing to account for some preliminary planning. Critics contend it’s an indication of a flawed pandemic response.

Long COVID Cognitive Research Needs an Overhaul, Task Force Says — Expert Group Issues Recommendations for Future Studies

MedPage Today reported:

Long COVID cognitive research needs better studies, an international task force urged. The approach to assessing cognitive dysfunction after SARS-CoV-2 infection requires an overhaul to better understand long COVID prevalence, trajectory, mechanisms, phenotypes, and psychosocial factors, said experts from the NeuroCOVID International Neuropsychology Taskforce.

Long COVID cognitive dysfunction, including “brain fog,” can affect even relatively young people and can last for months. A modeling study based on 1.2 million COVID patients showed that 2.2% had cognitive problems lasting 3 months or longer after symptomatic infection. Moreover, data from patients with severe COVID suggested that SARS-CoV-2 infection may raise the risk of subsequent neurodegeneration.

The task force outlined three recommendations based on the initial guidelines the group proposed in 2021. The first calls for a rigorous assessment of post-COVID cognitive dysfunction. Studies relying on self-reported data early in the pandemic have skewed perceptions about the frequency of cognitive dysfunction, Weisenbach and co-authors pointed out, and objective and subjective findings often don’t align with each other. Comprehensive test batteries should be used, and studies should include control groups, diverse samples, and when possible, pre-pandemic and post-pandemic data, they argued.

The group’s second recommendation was for new research to identify clinical phenotypes. COVID severity, age, family history, and pre-existing cognitive or psychiatric disorders are factors to consider, the task force observed. Other phenotypes may be based on COVID-19 variants, vaccination status, or history of other viral illnesses or pre-existing autoimmune conditions.

COVID Boosts Risks of Health Problems 2 Years Later, Giant Study of Veterans Says

Science reported:

Three-and-a-half years since SARS-CoV-2 spread around the world, scientists are still documenting the virus’ myriad effects on human health. What’s clear already is that those effects can continue long beyond the original infection.

Now, researchers have attempted to quantify this long-term harm using a massive database of U.S. veterans’ health records. They found a dramatically increased risk of dozens of conditions including heart failure and fatigue, sometimes years postinfection. Overall, the team estimates, COVID-19’s public health impact is more than 50% greater than that of cancer or heart disease.

Other researchers say the conclusions broadly reflect what physicians have seen. However, several cite drawbacks in the study’s statistical analysis that could have led it to overestimate harm to the general population. “The authors have done a good job in doing the analysis, but there are some limitations and those limitations are not small,” says Maarten van Smeden, a medical statistician at the University Medical Center Utrecht. “You have to take this with a little grain of salt.”

COVID Linked With Higher Risk of High Blood Pressure, Study Finds

CNN Health reported:

When it comes to developing high blood pressure, COVID-19 might play an outsized role, a new study says.

The report, published Monday in the medical journal Hypertension, found that more than 1 in 5 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 — and over 1 in 10 who were not — had been diagnosed with high blood pressure six months later. Compared with people who had influenza, another upper respiratory virus, those hospitalized with COVID-19 were over twice as likely to develop hypertension.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death in the United States. Nearly half of the adults in the nation have hypertension, and in 2021, the CDC says, it caused nearly 700,000 deaths in the United States.

In the new study, the researchers looked at the medical records of over 45,000 COVID-19 patients and nearly 14,000 influenza patients in the Bronx borough of New York City between 2020 and 2022. Before their viral infection, none of the patients had a history of hypertension. At a six-month follow-up appointment, the researchers then tracked which ones had new diagnoses of the heart condition.