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Tag: APP Coronavirus

  • How to address speech delays in ‘COVID kindergartners’

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Most children born during the COVID pandemic are now in their first year of school, often being referred to as “COVID kindergartners.”

    Research from the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that experiences in early childhood can have long-term impacts on development and growth.

    What You Need To Know

    • The “COVID kindergartener” class refers to children born around the time of the pandemic who are now about halfway done with their first year of school

    • The Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center conducts around 2,500 speech screenings each year across the Carolina region

    • In 2025, in the Charlotte area alone, the failure rate was around 35%, compared to20% prior to the pandemic. A 15% increase just five years later

    • They just launched “Tools for Transformation,” which is a campaign to raise money for essential tools needed to help these kids with their therapy


    Jack, 6, was born right before the start of the pandemic and is part of that “COVID kindergarten” class, which are students now almost halfway done with their first year of school.

    Jack’s mom said that since the pandemic was a huge part of his early years of life, it had impacts on his speech development. 

    “You know, he only saw people outside of the house. When his sister was born, we kind of, like, locked down again, because she was born in 2021, so it was still shaky ground as far as seeing people. Even though I can’t say this is the specific way that he was affected by it, like there’s no way that it didn’t,” said Maggie Patterson, Jack’s mother.

    Seeing speech and language delays in children born around the time of the pandemic isn’t uncommon.

    The Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center conducts around 2,500 speech screenings each year across the Carolina region. In 2025, in the Charlotte area alone, the failure rate was around 35% and before the pandemic, it was 20%. That’s a 15% increase in only five years.

    “We were so shut down that children did not have that exposure to language stimulation they normally would have. Then, on top of that, everyone was wearing a mask. So that’s an important piece for children to develop language is to actually read lips,” said Shannon Tucker, executive director of the Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center.

    The center helps kids from across North Carolina and just launched its “Tools for Transformation” campaign to raise money for essential items needed to help these kids with their therapy.

    “A couple of examples of tools is, tools to build vocabulary. That can even be apps on an iPad that we have to pay for, that can be specialized books that help develop certain types of vocabulary. That could be oral motor tools to stimulate the development of the muscles of the mouth. Those are very specialized tools and are very expensive,” Tucker said.

    Tucker also has some everyday advice for parents to help children with speech development.

    “Read and have a lot of two-way conversation. So, reading a book is great. What’s even better than reading a book is asking questions about that book, engaging in dialog about what you’re seeing. If you don’t have books, you can do it on the bus, on the way to the grocery store. Just talking and talking, we tell all of our parents to be a radio announcer. Just talk about everything you can see and everything you do, and that child’s brain will just soak that up,” Tucker said.

    Jack’s mom says even though he’s still working on communicating, it’s nice to see her son improving. 

    “If it was “R” or “L” heavy, he really had a hard time getting his point across, and as a 5-year-old, that’s infuriating. So it’s just nice to see him be able to communicate what he wants,” Patterson said.

    For more information about the Charlotte Speech and Hearing Center and resources it provides, visit its website here.

    Follow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.

    Arin Cotel-Altman

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  • Fired CDC director testifies about ultimatum over vaccine recommendations

    WASHINGTON –– Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez has begun her testimony before a congressional committee Wednesday morning — three weeks after she was fired by the Trump administration.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez has begun her testimony before a congressional committee Wednesday morning — three weeks after she was fired by the Trump administration

    • Monarez told lawmakers that she was given an ultimatum by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign or be terminated after she refused to “preapprove” vaccine recommendations of an advisory panel

    • That panel — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — is expected to vote on new vaccine recommendations this week

    • Former Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who later resigned after Monarez was fired, joined the former CDC director on Capitol Hill for the hearing

    Monarez told lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that she was given an ultimatum by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. if she refused to “commit in advance to approving” vaccine recommendations and “dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause.”

    “On the morning of Aug. 25, Secretary Kennedy demanded two things of me that were inconsistent with my oath of office and the ethics required of a public official,” she told the committee.

    Her remarks Wednesday echoed a chain of events she described in a Wall Street Journal op-ed — that she “was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.”

    That panel — the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices –– is expected to vote on new vaccine recommendations this week.

    In the wake of Monarez’s ouster, several other agency leaders resigned in protest, and President Donald Trump picked Jim O’Neill, who had been serving as Kennedy’s deputy, to step in as interim CDC director. 

    Former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who quit after Monarez was fired, joined the former CDC director on Capitol Hill for the hearing, which was given the title “Reviewing Recent Events at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Implications for Children’s Health.”

    “I resigned because CDC leaders were reduced to rubber stamps, supporting policies not based in science and putting American lives at risk,” Houry told the committee.

    In a hearing earlier this month, Kennedy acknowledged that he had told Monarez to fire scientists at the agency. During his testimony, Kennedy had also addressed what he called “the recent shakeup” at the CDC.

    “We are the sickest country in the world,” Kennedy told lawmakers.
”That’s why we have to fire people at CDC. They did not do their job. This was their job to keep us healthy.”

    When asked about Monarez, Kennedy said, “I told her that she had to resign because I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ And she said, ‘No.’” 

    Monarez refuted Kennedy’s comments calling her “untrustworthy” during her opening statement Wednesday.

    Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who represents Louisiana and chairs the powerful Senate health committee, said during his opening remarks Wednesday that lawmakers were looking to find “all the facts, not a version of the facts that fits a certain narrative agenda.”

    “It may be impossible to learn who’s telling the truth, but this hearing is an initial step in trying to answer why the top leadership of the CDC was fired or resigned before they could be fired,” he said, adding, “Turmoil at the top of the nation’s top public health agency is not good for the health of the American people.”

    Christina Santucci

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  • Children and adolescents experience long COVID differently than adults

    Children and adolescents experience long COVID differently than adults

    Children and adolescents with long COVID experience different effects than adults, according to new research from the National Institutes of Health released Thursday.

    School-age children from 6 to 11 years old who had prolonged symptoms after an initial COVID infection were more likely to experience headaches, while adolescents reported more feelings of daytime sleepiness.

    What You Need To Know

    • School-age children from 6 to 11 years old who had prolonged symptoms after an initial COVID infection were more likely to experience headaches

    • Adolescents with long COVID reported more feelings of daytime sleepiness, according to new research from the National Institutes of Health

    • Long COVID, or persistent health problems after an initial infection, manifest in multiple ways and can last for weeks, months or years

    • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Household Pulse Survey found that 6.7% of U.S. adults were experiencing long COVID as of March


    “Most research characterizing long COVID symptoms is focused on adults, which can lead to the misperception that long COVID in children is rare or that their symptoms are like those of adults,” NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Division Director David Goff said in a statement. “Because the symptoms can vary from child to child or present in different patterns, without a proper characterization of symptoms across the life span, it’s difficult to know how to optimize care for affected children and adolescents.”

    Long COVID, or persistent health problems after an initial infection, manifest in multiple ways and can last for weeks, months or years. Affecting people of all ages from children to older adults, as well as people from different races and ethnicities, sexes and genders and with different health statuses, it is a “complex, multisystem disorder that affects nearly every organ system, including the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, the endocrine system, the immune system, the reproductive system and the gastrointestinal system,” according to the World Health Organization.

    The NIH study found that children aged 6 to 11 with long COVID were most likely to experience headaches (57%), trouble with memory or focusing (44%), trouble sleeping (44%) and stomach pain (43%). In adolescents, the most common symptoms were daytime tiredness/sleepiness or low energy (80%); body, muscle or joint pain (60%); headaches (55%) and trouble with memory or focusing (47%). 

    For its study, the NIH surveyed 3,860 children and adolescents infected with COVID between March 2022 and December 2023 and compared them with 1,516 children and adolescents who did not have a history of COVID infection. All participants were surveyved about symptoms they experienced for at least a month 90 days after getting COVID.

    In adults, the most common types of long COVID are brain fog, fatigue, tachycadia and post-exertional malaise, according to research published in Nature Medicine earlier this month. That study found the risk of long COVID varies by variant. Omicron, first detected in November 2021, had less long COVID risk than the Delta and pre-Delta variants that were most prevalent globally between June and November 2021. 

    People who were vaccinated before becoming infected or who took antivirals while they were infected had a lower risk of long COVID, according to the Nature Medicine study. People who were reinfected with COVID, however, were more at risk. Cumulatively, two infections created a higher risk of long COVID than one infection and three infections created a higher risk than two infections. Reinfections can make existing long COVID symptoms worse.

    About 400 million people globally have had long COVID, the World Health Organization said earlier this month. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Household Pulse Survey found that 6.7% of U.S. adults were experiencing long COVID as of March.

    Susan Carpenter

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  • ‘Happy to hear’: Updated COVID-19 vaccines could be rolling out soon

    ‘Happy to hear’: Updated COVID-19 vaccines could be rolling out soon

    CARY, N.C. — Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting a spike in COVID-19 cases across most of the U.S. In North Carolina, we are seeing slightly more cases than this time last year, according to data from our state’s Department of Health and Human Services.

    What You Need To Know

    • The CDC is reporting a spike in COVID-19 cases across the country

    • Updated COVID-19 vaccines targeting more recent strains of the virus could help decrease the number of cases hospitals are seeing

    • The FDA may sign off on updated COVID-19 vaccines as soon as next week


    Updated COVID-19 vaccines targeting more recently spread strains of the virus could help decrease the number of cases hospitals are seeing. The Food and Drug Administration could sign off on those updated vaccines as soon as this week.

    In the meantime, as the FDA is waiting for the green light. Amanda Chay, who has lupus, said she’s happy to learn that new vaccines could be out sooner rather than later.

    “I’m happy to hear that there’s a new update because there have been surging COVID cases all around us,” Chay said. “And I will also of course listen to my rheumatologist as someone who is immuno-compromised because her guidance is what I follow.”

    Chay was new to being diagnosed with lupus when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit.

    Amanda Chay, a lupus advocate, is happy to hear that updated COVID-19 vaccines could be coming out soon. (Spectrum News 1/Anissa Lopez)

    “It was a very rough time for me physically, mentally, just dealing with this disease, diagnosis, and so, we added COVID to the mix, and people were dying all around, it was very frightening,” Chay said.

    Over the years, she’s learned the best safety precautions to take as someone who is immuno-compromised. While she isn’t as scared of the virus now, she does take extra measures every time there’s a surge in COVID-19 cases.

    “Wash our hands, if I need to be certainly within enclosed places like an airplane or I am going to a hospital I make sure to where a mask as well so I do what I can do,” Chay said.

    Right now, we are experiencing a COVID-19 surge in cases. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said hospital admissions for COVID-like illness is up 150% since June. Dr. David Weber, a distinguished professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill, said there’s a couple of reasons we are seeing this.

    “We have a new variant to the KP set of variants. They are most importantly the KP3 type variants we are seeing, and these do escape somewhat from natural immunity, meaning you’ve had COVID or from vaccine-induced immunity,” Weber said. “The second reason is waning of vaccine immunity; that is the vaccine coverage with the XBB monovalent vaccine, which is one we are currently using.”

    Weber said the University of Carolina Medical Center is seeing an increased number of patients and COVID-19 cases, having more than 25 patients on any given day in the last week. But with talks of an updated COVID-19 vaccine rolling out soon, Chay and Weber are optimistic that it will help decrease the number of cases we are seeing.

    “I’m happy to hear that there is something new out there because it’s been quite a while that I have heard about an update with the COVID vaccine,” Chay said.

    “I do think it will be very effective against the current variant and of course CDC does recommend that unless you have had a recent booster that anyone over six months of age should receive the new KP monovalent vaccine,” Weber said.

    Weber added that for people who are at high risk that develop respiratory symptoms, similar to COVID, they should get tested. 

    Anissa Lopez

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  • Study: COVID infections increase brain, gut and lung issues

    Study: COVID infections increase brain, gut and lung issues

    People infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of brain, gut and lung issues three years later, according to a study published in the medical journal Nature Medicine.

    While health problems resulting from a COVID-19 infection fell each year, they remained elevated for people who were hospitalized with a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

    What You Need To Know

    • People infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of brain, gut and lung issues three years later, according to a study published in the medical journal, Nature Medicine

    • Those who had been hospitalized for COVID had a higher death rate compared with those who had not been hospitalized or who had never contracted the virus

    • Hospitalized COVID patients were at higher risk for more health issues than those who had COVID but were not hospitalized, including cardiovascular and coagulation issues, as well as fatigue and mental problems

    • Health risks resulting from a COVID infection fell each year


    For their study, researchers looked at 135,161 U.S. veterans who had been infected with COVID-19 and compared them with more than 5 million patients in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs system who had not been infected. Of the enrollees who were infected with COVID, 15% had been hospitalized.

    All of the patients were enrolled in the study between March and December 2020, before COVID vaccines were available and when the first strain of COVID-19 was dominant. For the next three years, the patients were evaluated for death and disease risk.

    The researchers found those who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 had a higher death rate compared with those who had not been hospitalized or who had never contracted the virus three years later. But it also found that regardless of whether a person was hospitalized, those infected with COVID remained at higher risk for gastrointestinal, neurologic and pulmonary problems three years later.

    People who had been hospitalized were at higher risk for even more issues three years later, including cardiovascular and coagulation problems, as well as fatigue and mental issues.

    Those who had been hospitalized had 8.4 times more health loss compared with those who had COVID but didn’t need to go to the hospital.

    “The explanation may be related, in part, to the vulnerability of people who develop severe COVID-19 with respect to more co-existing medical conditions, immune system dysfunction or genetic predisposition,” the researchers said.

    They said other studies have found a link between severe COVID infections and persistent health risks in various tissues and organ systems, suggesting “that severity of acute infection is a key driver of the expression of long-term adverse health outcomes.”

    The researchers noted that longer-term studies will be necessary to learn how infected individuals’ health risk trajectories evolve.

    Susan Carpenter

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  • Study: COVID infections increase brain, gut and lung issues

    Study: COVID infections increase brain, gut and lung issues

    People infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of brain, gut and lung issues three years later, according to a study published in the medical journal Nature Medicine.

    While health problems resulting from a COVID-19 infection fell each year, they remained elevated for people who were hospitalized with a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

    What You Need To Know

    • People infected with COVID-19 have a higher risk of brain, gut and lung issues three years later, according to a study published in the medical journal, Nature Medicine

    • Those who had been hospitalized for COVID had a higher death rate compared with those who had not been hospitalized or who had never contracted the virus

    • Hospitalized COVID patients were at higher risk for more health issues than those who had COVID but were not hospitalized, including cardiovascular and coagulation issues, as well as fatigue and mental problems

    • Health risks resulting from a COVID infection fell each year


    For their study, researchers looked at 135,161 U.S. veterans who had been infected with COVID-19 and compared them with more than 5 million patients in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs system who had not been infected. Of the enrollees who were infected with COVID, 15% had been hospitalized.

    All of the patients were enrolled in the study between March and December 2020, before COVID vaccines were available and when the first strain of COVID-19 was dominant. For the next three years, the patients were evaluated for death and disease risk.

    The researchers found those who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 had a higher death rate compared with those who had not been hospitalized or who had never contracted the virus three years later. But it also found that regardless of whether a person was hospitalized, those infected with COVID remained at higher risk for gastrointestinal, neurologic and pulmonary problems three years later.

    People who had been hospitalized were at higher risk for even more issues three years later, including cardiovascular and coagulation problems, as well as fatigue and mental issues.

    Those who had been hospitalized had 8.4 times more health loss compared with those who had COVID but didn’t need to go to the hospital.

    “The explanation may be related, in part, to the vulnerability of people who develop severe COVID-19 with respect to more co-existing medical conditions, immune system dysfunction or genetic predisposition,” the researchers said.

    They said other studies have found a link between severe COVID infections and persistent health risks in various tissues and organ systems, suggesting “that severity of acute infection is a key driver of the expression of long-term adverse health outcomes.”

    The researchers noted that longer-term studies will be necessary to learn how infected individuals’ health risk trajectories evolve.

    Susan Carpenter

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