Nearly two years after revealing her stiff person syndrome diagnosis, Dion belted Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour” (“Hymn to Love”) as the finale of the roughly four-hour spectacle. Her appearance had been teased for weeks, but organizers and Dion’s representatives had refused to confirm whether she was performing.
On a page dedicated to Dior’s contributions to the opening ceremony, the media guide referred to “a world star, for a purely grandiose, superbly scintillating finale.”
This photo released by the Olympic Broadcasting Services shows Canadian Singer Celine Dion performing at the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Friday, July 26, 2024. (Olympic Broadcasting Services via AP)
Dion had been absent from the stage since 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of her tour to 2022. That tour was eventually suspended in the wake of her diagnosis.
The rare neurological disorder causes rigid muscles and painful muscle spasms, which were affecting Dion’s ability to walk and sing. In June, at the premiere of the documentary “I Am: Celine Dion,” she told The Associated Press that returning required therapy, “physically, mentally, emotionally, vocally.”
“So that’s why it takes a while. But absolutely why we’re doing this because I’m already a little bit back,” she said then.
Even before the documentary’s release, Dion had taken steps toward a comeback. In February, she made another surprise appearance, at the Grammy Awards, where she presented the final award of the night to a standing ovation.
For Friday’s performance, Dion’s pearl outfit was indeed designed by Dior. Speaking on French television, the Paris organizing committee’s director of design and costume for ceremonies, Daphné Bürki, recalled Dion’s enthusiasm for the opportunity.
“When we called Celine Dion one year ago she said yes straight away,” Bürki said.
Dion is not actually French — the French Canadian is from Quebec — but she has a strong connection to the country and the Olympics. Dion’s first language is French, and she has dominated the charts in France and other French-speaking countries. (She also won the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with a French-language song … representing Switzerland.) And early in her English-language career — even before “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic” — she was tapped to perform “The Power of The Dream,” the theme song for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Dion’s song choice also evoked a sports connection: Piaf wrote it about her lover, boxer Marcel Cerdan. Cerdan died soon after she wrote the song, in a plane crash.
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Associated Press reporters Sylvie Corbet, Jerome Pugmire and Samuel Petrequin contributed.
Studies suggest that COVID-19 is associated with possibly long-lasting changes to the brain, potentially contributing to cognitive problems like brain fog, mental fatigue, and memory loss, as well as neurological and mental-health issues. The virus seems able to damage blood vessels and support cells in the brain and may kickstart changes to the immune system that also affect brain function, says Dr. Wes Ely, co-director of the Center for Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Many people of all ages recover just fine, mentally and physically, after a COVID-19 case. But lingering cognitive effects are a real risk, particularly for older people, Ely says. Older adults are more likely to experience severe COVID-19, which has long been linked to a higher risk of long-term complications. And they may have had preexisting cognitive issues that become worse after infection.
“They don’t have as far to fall before they experience a clinical awareness that they’re having problems,” Ely says. Research has shown that a COVID-19 case can accelerate mental decline in older adults with dementia.
The virus may also raise the chances of developing dementia for the first time, suggests a research review of 11 previous studies that was posted online in February before being peer-reviewed. Adults older than 60 who survived COVID-19 had a significantly higher risk of developing dementia a year later, compared to similar-aged people who hadn’t had a respiratory infection. Cognitive impairment was almost twice as likely among people who’d had COVID-19 compared to an uninfected control group.
Dan Shan, co-author of the study and a former junior researcher at Columbia University, wrote in an email that more research is required to confirm whether the virus is directly causing dementia, but his team is “pretty confident” there’s a connection.
This link may not be unique to the virus that causes COVID-19. “Numerous studies have shown that respiratory infections like the flu can lead to greater risks of cognitive deficits or dementia,” Shan wrote. “However, these findings haven’t captured public attention as much as COVID-19.”
Age may be an important risk factor for cognitive issues, but younger people shouldn’t feel immune from COVID-19’s effects, either. Ely says there are “people in their 30s and 40s [who] have neurocognitive deficits that look like mild dementia.”
A large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February backs up that warning. It suggests that COVID-19 can hinder cognitive performance among adults of all ages, even those who ostensibly recover fully.
In that study, more than 100,000 adults in the U.K. took tests meant to measure cognitive skills. When the researchers compared people who’d had COVID-19 with demographically similar people who’d never had a confirmed case, they found that the COVID-19 survivors, on average, performed worse “across the board, but particularly on measures of memory function, executive function—for example your ability to decision-make and plan—and reasoning,” says study co-author Adam Hampshire, a professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at King’s College London.
The study didn’t measure differences in individual participants’ performance pre- and post-COVID, and the results don’t necessarily mean that every single person who catches COVID-19 will experience cognitive decline, Hampshire says. But, when looking at the study group as a whole, there were clear differences between those who’d had COVID-19 and those who hadn’t. The results equated to about a three-IQ-point deficit among people who recovered completely from COVID-19 versus those who’d never had it. Among people with unresolved Long COVID symptoms and those who’d been admitted to the ICU, the deficits jumped to six and nine IQ points, respectively.
But there are some reasons for optimism. In the study, cognitive differences were not as pronounced among people who’d gotten vaccinated multiple times, nor those who got COVID-19 later in the pandemic—which suggests risks may be lower now than they were in 2020.
The researchers also didn’t find a dramatic difference between people who’d been infected once versus multiple times. (Other studies, however, have found that repeat infections carry compounding risks of brain complications, as well as other serious health problems.) And people who had Long COVID symptoms but eventually got better “performed at the same [cognitive] level as people who had shorter-duration symptoms,” which suggests some effects of Long COVID may be reversible, Hampshire says.
The data on COVID-19 and cognition are worrying, but more research is required to fully assess the virus’ long-term effects. “These relationships need to be observed over a longer period, potentially 5-10 years, to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on the development of new-onset dementia, a condition that progresses slowly,” Shan wrote.
Research on if and how COVID-related brain damage can be reversed is ongoing and provides reason for hope, Ely says. But for now, the cognitive risks of COVID-19 are yet another reason to stay up-to-date on vaccines and avoid infection if at all possible.
Washington (CNN) — As President Joe Biden isolates at his Delaware beach home after testing positive for Covid-19, he is growing increasingly isolated from many corners of his Democratic Party as he faces deepening questions about whether he should continue his reelection campaign.
The announcement of Biden’s positive test on Wednesday came as calls from his party for him to step aside in the 2024 race are growing louder. CNN reported that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told the president that polling shows Biden cannot defeat former President Donald Trump in November and that continuing his run for the presidency could destroy Democrats’ chance to take back the House.
Following Biden’s campaign-changing performance in last month’s presidential debate, his age and health — which have long been his biggest political weakness, dating back to his third run for the presidency starting in 2019 — have been under the microscope. In the last week, multiple incidents have been held up as signs that Biden is not sharp enough to convince voters that he could defeat Trump, let alone serve another four years as commander-in-chief.
An interview with BET that taped on Tuesday and aired in full late Wednesday night is the latest moment that’s being scrutinized by nervous Democrats. In that interview, Biden said that only a “medical condition” would convince him to leave the race — a statement made just one day before he tested positive for Covid.
He stumbled while referring to Black members of his administration, describing Lloyd Austin as the secretary of defense rather than saying his name.
“For example, look at the heat I’m getting because I named a, uh … the — secretary of defense, a Black man. I named Ketanji Brown, because of the people I’ve named,” Biden said, also referring to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom he appointed to the high court.
The White House said Wednesday the president had “upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general malaise” as a result of his Covid infection. Video of the president leaving Las Vegas showed him slowly walking up the steps to enter Air Force One, including pausing on the second step to gather himself before continuing into the plane.
Biden on Thursday is experiencing “mild upper respiratory symptoms” and is continuing to receive Paxlovid, according to a note from his physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor. O’Connor notes that Biden does not have a fever and his vitals remain “normal.”
Additional video shot by pool reporters who met Biden in Delaware late Wednesday also shows the president appearing to have difficulty getting situated in his SUV for the drive to his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, home, where he is planning to isolate. The video shows Biden taking half a minute to get into the SUV and requiring the assistance of Secret Service agents to get situated in the car. The president was not wearing a face mask while he was interacting with the agents, despite having Covid. He eventually did put on a mask.
Earlier on Wednesday, while visiting a local restaurant, the president appeared to mistake Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford for the state’s governor. While speaking to a guest, Biden pointed to Ford and asked, “You know the gov?” Individuals nearby laughed at the statement, but it was unclear whether Biden was joking.
CNN has reached out to the Biden campaign and White House for comment on the moment in Nevada and the president’s arrival in Delaware. Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks on Thursday said the campaign is “not working through any scenarios” where Biden is not the presidential nominee.
“The vice president is a part of the Biden-Harris ticket. Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not the top of the ticket. He is and will be the Democratic nominee,” he said during a DNC news conference in Milwaukee when asked if the campaign was working on any plans should Vice President Kamala Harris take the lead.
Asked if Biden’s receptive to conversations about leaving the race, Fulks replied, “The president has said it several times, he’s staying in this race.”
“The president is in this race. He’s going to and we look forward to him accepting the delegates in Chicago and continuing with this race to talk about what’s at stake,” he added.
Polling shows a problem
As calls for Biden to reconsider his candidacy are poised to grow even louder on Thursday, some of the reasons why are coming into sharper focus: Not only is Biden falling short to Trump, but Democratic candidates are afraid voters could see their own defenses of Biden as dishonest.
“Defending Biden’s fitness for office is an untenable position for down-ballot Democrats,” according to a memo a leading Democratic research firm released Wednesday. It details that voters are “likely to see other Democrats’ defense of him as fit as dishonest” by a wide margin.
CNN obtained a polling memo from Blue Rose Research, which is distributed daily to operatives and officials across the Democratic Party. Pelosi is among those who pore over the details and findings in documents like this that are rarely shared.
The memo dated Wednesday shines a brighter light on the reasons behind the calls for Biden to step aside.
“Concerns about President Biden’s fitness for office are pervasive,” the memo says, pointing to polling data that shows a remarkable low number of voters — even those who supported Biden in 2020 — who believe he is capable of serving a second term.
While partisan polling does not meet CNN standards, the 16-page document has value because it offers a window into the panic and alarm across the Democratic Party.
An AP-NORC poll released Wednesday found 14% of all Americans are extremely or very confident that Biden has the “mental capacity to be an effective president.” Among Democrats, that number is 27%.
The internal polling data shows an expanding battleground in the presidential race, with New Hampshire, Minnesota, New Mexico, Virginia and Maine becoming highly competitive in the race between Biden and Trump, in addition to the seven current top battleground states.
Worrying moments for Democrats
The president has had several moments over the last week that have worried Democrats even more about whether he can effectively continue to campaign.
On July 11, the president had back-to-back slip-ups on the last day of the NATO summit in Washington, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” before correcting himself at one event and then referring to Harris as “Vice President Trump” in a press conference, a mistake he did not correct or acknowledge.
In that same press conference, Biden also appeared to back away from his previous assertion that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to leave the race, saying he would not leave the race “unless they came back and said there’s no way you can win.”
Several calls with key groups of lawmakers on Friday and Saturday also did not seem to convince skeptical lawmakers that Biden was able to win. CNN reported Wednesday night that a Democratic lawmaker told CNN that Biden’s full court press in recent days following Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump has only exacerbated the panic inside the party. “Getting worse” is how the member put it.
Another House Democrat who watched Biden’s interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Monday described feeling “profound sadness watching an admirable man tread water instead of leading us through it.”
While the assassination attempt on Trump eased the political pressure on Biden for a few days, that pressure has kicked up again over the last several days as CNN and others reported that some Biden allies were making a quiet push for the Democratic National Committee to speed up Biden’s virtual nomination process — with the hope of beginning the roll call vote as soon as next week.
Concerned Democrats bought themselves a little more time by convincing the DNC to not move up the timeline — voting will not begin before August 1, CNN reported. The delay stopped a draft letter circulating among House Democrats that, if made formal, would have exposed further cracks in the party. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both pushed the DNC to delay the process, multiple sources told CNN.
“The private conversations with the Hill are continuing,” a senior Democratic adviser told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid alienating the campaign and the White House. “He’s being receptive. Not as defiant as he is publicly.”
“He’s gone from saying, ‘Kamala can’t win,’ to ‘Do you think Kamala can win?’“ the adviser said. “It’s still unclear where he’s going to land but seems to be listening.”
The Biden campaign, which is also facing a growing outcry from Democratic donors, dismissed the suggestion the president was rethinking his candidacy.
“If the facts matter — and they should — here is one: President Biden is the Democratic nominee and he is going to win this November,” Kevin Munoz, a Biden spokesman, told CNN.
Biden on defense
Biden has been growing increasingly defensive over his political standing in recent days. CNN has reported that calls over the weekend with groups of Democratic lawmakers did not go well when the president was confronted with polling data that lawmakers said showed his standing in the race had fallen dramatically.
On Wednesday night, CNN reported Pelosi had told Biden within the last week that the polling data showed he could not win reelection. The president responded by pushing back, telling Pelosi he has seen polls that indicate he can win, one source said. Another one of the sources described Biden as getting defensive about the polls. None of the sources indicated whether Pelosi told Biden in this conversation that she believes the president should drop out of the 2024 race.
When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates did not respond to the details of CNN’s reporting on the recent Pelosi-Biden call. “President Biden is the nominee of the party. He plans to win and looks forward to working with congressional Democrats to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families,” Bates said.
NEW ORLEANS – While the ESSENCE Festival of Culture is known for fun times, great food, and link-ups with friends. However, it is a time for poignant conversation. Dr. Adrelia Allen is the Executive Director of Clinical Trial Patient Diversity at Merck, Inc. Merck is a global biopharmaceutical company. Before she spoke at the Global Black Economic Forum, Allen discussed how the lack of representation in the research of new treatments can impact our lives.
First and foremost, clinical trials are research studies that test a medical, surgical, or behavioral intervention in people. These trials are the primary way that researchers determine if a new form of treatment or prevention, such as a new drug, diet, or medical device (for example, a pacemaker), is safe and effective in people.
“We know that there are differences in how drugs work in different races,” Allen explained. “And for African Americans, knowing that we have the highest mortality of many diseases and cancers, we cannot wait. So it was definitely imperative for Merck to be here. And when we think about who’s attending ESSENCE, and knowing that [the audience is largely] Black women. When you educate a man, you educate an individual. But when you educate a woman, you educate the entire community.”
How does historical traumas affect participation in clinical trials?
According to a 2021 study by Johns Hopkins Medicine, 75% of research participants are White. Even though White Americans make up 60% of the United States population. By comparison, 8% of research participants are African-American/Black. Currently, African-American/Black people are 13% of people in the U.S. There are a lot of historical prejudices, and those traumas do get passed down. Reports and those stories were amplified during the COVID-19 era, when people would bring up the Tuskegee experiment relative to the vaccine.
Allen acknowledged the existence of those traumas. However, there is no solution that directly fits all experiences and conditions. Most Americans are distrustful of medicine. This is not a Black problem. COVID-19 and the anti-vax sentiment that we all ran up against to tell us enough that it’s not about the skin we’re in. it’s about the conditions, the systems, and the processes of care that failed to speak to the wounds.
Dr. Adrelia Allen, the Executive Director of Clinical Trial Patient Diversity at Merck, Inc., poses for photographs outside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center during the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture on Saturday, July 6, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo: Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice)
She described a moment in which her father, while being diagnosed with prostate cancer, refused to take an MRI. Why? Because it was a trigger for him because of the Tuskegee experiment. He believed that he would be treated as a guinea pig. But, Allen says, the key is building trust.
“Educating and making sure that we’re talking in communities working with trusted voices, because we can’t go in and simply start talking,” Allen explains. “Helping them understand so that they can be the relay for their communities and talking about clinical trials and in that means we are, keeping patients at the center of what we’re doing. And, we make sure we have community advisory boards that we bring and share recruitment materials, protocols, even procedures that are involved with the clinical trial.”
Other Barriers to Entry
Trust is also the vehicle that allows for the doctor-patient relationship to flourish. The doctors will know what trials will be relevant as long as the patient is willing to disclose family histories and so on.
In addition to race, disability and socioeconomic status are factors that play a role in lack of participation. To that end, Congress has passed the Diverse and Equitable Participation in Clinical Trials Act (also known as the DEPICT ACT) in 2022. Allen says the Federal Drug Administration’s guidance is pending. However, she’s looking forward to building Merck’s action plans.
Allen says Merck is working to operate clinical trials at the four historically Black medical schools. Included is Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. These trials will be conducted by investigators and managers of color with participants from underrepresented populations. Additionally, Allen says Merck is also removing financial barriers to reimburse out-of-pocket travel costs for trial participants and providing a solution to ease transportation barriers.
“Although the finalization of the FDA Diversity Action Plan guidance is pending, we are working across our clinical trial sites to implement mandatory, multi-pronged diversity action plans for all late-stage clinical trials,” Allen said. “We are taking concrete steps to help historically underrepresented communities access our clinical trials.”
What’s Next
In the end, every medicine that resides in the medicine cabinet, there must be more African-Americans to ensure that drug is going to be safe for us.
“We want to be a part of that,” Allen said while describing the clinical trial process. “The scientific medical innovations that are occurring today are the differences between life and death. Having access to that information is powerful, and we want to have that information before having to make the critical decision.”
As new reports show the number of COVID-19 cases doubled within a month in Los Angeles County and across California, an outdated vaccine may be to blame.
People should check whether their last vaccine was the latest one, according to nurse practitioner Alice Benjamin, because the older version of the vaccine may not protect them from the new FLiRT variant.
“If you got it in October and later, that’s generally the updated vaccine,” Benjamin said. “If you got it prior to October, double check because if you did get the bivalent which has not been phased out, we recommend you do get an updated vaccine.”
Specifically, Benjamin said that people need to look out for whether they have received the monovalent vaccine offered by Pfizer and Moderna.
The nurse practitioner added a few other summertime factors may be driving up the COVID numbers.
“People aren’t necessarily wearing masks; they’re not required to in certain places,” Benjamin said. “We’re traveling, we’re getting out for the summer. We also do have some reduced immunity. The vaccines will wane overtime.
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, after more than 118,000 cases and 4,291 deaths were registered.
For high risk populations, Benjamin emphasizes that two vaccines are recommended, with a second dose at least four months after the first.
“Per CDC recommendations, anyone 6 months or older should have at least one of the updated COVID vaccines,” Benjamin said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended updated vaccines for the fall to protect against common respiratory diseases. Among the changes: people age 75 and older should get vaccinated against RSV, the COVID-19 vaccine will target a new strain of the virus, and the updated flu shot will include only three strains instead of the four in last year’s shot. It made these changes after a committee that advises the CDC recommended them.
“Our top recommendation for protecting yourself and your loved ones from respiratory illness is to get vaccinated,” said CDC director Dr. Mandy Cohen in a statement supporting the new advice.
Here’s what to know about the shots you might need—and what’s different from past guidance.
RSV for some
Older adults and young babies are at highest risk for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and last year, vaccines became available for the former group for the first time. The advisory committee at the time recommended that anyone age 60 or older talk to their doctors about whether they should get an RSV shot. This year, it went further, saying that people 75 and older should get vaccinated.
Those who are 60 to 74 should get the vaccine only if they didn’t last year and are at higher risk of RSV, the committee decided. (The RSV shot is not currently an annual vaccination.)
But they didn’t recommend it for younger adults. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved GSK’s RSV vaccine for people 50 and up; however, the committee declined to recommend the shot for that age group, citing the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks nerves. While the incidence of the syndrome among those who are vaccinated is small, the risk of RSV complications in younger people is also low—so the risk-benefit calculations don’t obviously favor vaccination, at least for now.
H5N1? Not just yet
The committee discussed the current outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza (also known as bird flu) in dairy cattle. The risk of bird flu in people remains low, according to the CDC scientists presenting the latest data to the advisory committee, so no vaccination plans were adopted. The CDC is preparing, however, to make decisions about vaccination if cases start spreading among people.
As expected, the committee unanimously voted to recommend the seasonal flu vaccine for everyone age six months and older. The update targets three strains, including a new one, H3N2, that will likely circulate in coming months.
COVID-19 for most
The decision about whether to recommend COVID-19 vaccination for the upcoming season wasn’t as straightforward as it has been in previous years, when the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused more cases and fewer people had immunity against it. But now that almost every has either been exposed to the virus, vaccinated against it, or both, COVID-19 doesn’t have the same health impact on the population as it once did. Even though the virus is mutating into different variants, longer-lasting immunity based on T cells appears to be protecting most people from severe disease and death—which raises the question of how critical a yearly vaccine will continue to be.
However, the CDC provided data showing that the risk of severe COVID-19 remains significant for older people, especially those over 75, who account for most of the hospitalizations and deaths due to the disease. Among younger people, the risk is higher for those with underlying health conditions. But for other healthy adults, the risk-benefit calculations are shifting.
“We are not thinking here about whether the vaccine protects absolutely, as we did when we had a [COVID-19] naïve population,” said Ruth Link-Gelles, a CDC epidemiologist and its vaccine effectiveness program lead, at the committee meeting. “We are thinking, in a population that already has some immunity, what [protection] can we give beyond that?” She noted that even if the yearly vaccine will always lag behind the currently circulating strain of SARS-CoV-2 because the virus mutates so quickly, a vaccine that reduces the risk of severe disease by 40% to 50% among those at high risk of COVID-19 complications can be important. “It may not be the 95% [reduction] we were seeing in the early days, but we also don’t need that level of protection, because we are looking to increase protection in people who already have existing protection,” she said.
That’s important, since data show that every encounter with COVID-19 can increase the risk of developing Long COVID, and that people who are vaccinated can reduce their risk of Long COVID.
One option the group considered was making a recommendation for high-risk people, rather than a universal recommendation for everyone six months and older to get vaccinated. But committee members expressed concern that the potentially confusing guidance about who should get vaccinated may lead to even an lower immunization rate than the current one; only about 20% of eligible people received the updated COVID-19 vaccine in 2023. In data cited by the CDC from a survey conducted by the agency with University of Iowa and the RAND Corporation, nearly half of physicians surveyed said they did not bring up COVID-19 vaccinations at appointments because they felt their patients would not be interested in getting immunized.
“It can feel very frustrating,” says Dr. Jen Brull, president-elect of the American Academy of Family Physicians, who is not a committee member. “But I still think that family physicians everywhere feel that it’s our responsibility to offer important preventive and and other chronic health treatments.”
In the end, the committee voted unanimously to continue recommending a COVID-19 shot for everyone six months and older. The FDA recently recommended updating the shot to target a newer strain, JN.1—a move that the CDC also supports. For the coming season, two of the shots will be based on mRNA technology, from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, and one, from Novavax, will be protein-based and include a portion of the COVID-19 virus spike protein.
Today, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 decision that the plaintiffs who’d sued the US government for allegedly violating the First Amendment—by communicating with social media companies about misleading and harmful content on their platforms—did not present enough evidence to prove that they had standing to sue.
The case was brought by the attorneys general from Louisiana and Missouri, who alleged that government agencies have had undue influence on the content moderation practices of platforms and coerced the platforms into taking down conservative-leaning content, infringing on the First Amendment rights of their citizens. Specifically, the case alleged that government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) coerced social media companies into removing content, including posts that questioned the use of masks in preventing Covid-19 and the validity of the 2020 election.
In a May 2022 statement, Missouri attorney general Eric Schmitt alleged that members of the Biden administration “colluded with social media companies like Meta, Twitter, and YouTube to remove truthful information related to the lab-leak theory, the efficacy of masks, election integrity, and more.” Last year, a federal judge issued an injunction that barred the government from communicating with social media platforms.
Today, the court said that the plaintiffs could not prove that communications between the Biden administration and social media companies resulted in “direct censorship injuries.” In the majority opinion for Murthy v. Missouri, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that “the evidence indicates that the platforms had independent incentives to moderate content and often exercised their own judgment.”
While it is the government’s responsibility to make sure it refrains from jawboning—the practice in which governments and leaders appeal to the public in an effort to influence the behavior of private companies, and in ways that potentially violate free speech—Kate Ruane, director of the free expression project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, says that there are very valid reasons why government agencies might need to communicate with platforms.
“Communication between the government, social media platforms, and government entities is critical in providing information that social media companies can use to ensure social media users have authoritative information about where you’re supposed to go to vote, or what to do in an emergency, or all of those things,” she says. “It is very useful for the government to have partnerships with social media to get that accurate information out there.”
Google and Meta declined to comment on the case.
David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that the court’s decision earlier this cycle on a case called National Rifle Association v. Vullo was likely an indicator for how it would approach the Murthy decision. In the Vullo case, the NRA alleged that New York Department of Financial Services superintendent Maria Vullo pressured banks and insurance companies not to do business with the NRA by threatening “enforcement actions,” and suppressed the organization’s advocacy. In a 9–0 decision, the court ruled that the NRA had presented enough evidence that a case against Vullo could move forward. In the opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the NRA’s complaint “plausibly alleges that Vullo threatened to wield her power against those refusing to aid her campaign to punish the NRA’s gun-promotion advocacy.”
In Murthy, however, the justices found that the plaintiffs had not presented enough evidence to show that the government had used similar tactics to pressure platforms into making content moderation decisions.
“Other than that the facts involved are sort of politically motivated, the legal issue itself is not something that I think traditionally breaks down along partisan lines,” says Greene.
But Greene says that without clear guidelines, state, local, and federal government bodies—of all political leanings—could feel freer to contact platforms now. “We will see a lot more of that type of government involvement in these processes,” he says.
Paxlovid has long been a source of hope for those with Long COVID. Scientists don’t know exactly what causes Long COVID, but many have hypothesized that viral material lingers in the body, potentially causing long-lasting symptoms including fatigue, the inability to exercise, brain fog, and more. Given that theory, a drug like Paxlovid, which stops the virus from multiplying and reduces the amount of it in the body, seemed to many like a promising treatment.
But the new study, which was published June 7 in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that taking Paxlovid for 15 days was safe but did not improve key Long COVID symptoms better than a placebo.
“I would have loved to bring forward a paper that said, ‘Great benefit,’” says senior author Dr. Upinder Singh, a professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University. Even though that wasn’t the result, Singh says, the study adds to scientists’ collective understanding of Paxlovid and Long COVID, and does not rule out the possibility of more positive results in the future. “Science is generative,” she says. “Data sometimes changes.”
Singh and her colleagues enrolled 155 adults with Long COVID in the trial. All of them had previously tested positive for COVID-19, lived with Long COVID symptoms for at least 90 days, and currently experienced at least two of six major symptoms: fatigue, brain fog, body aches, cardiovascular issues, shortness of breath, and gastrointestinal issues. Most people in the study had been sick for longer than a year and almost all had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Three-quarters of participants were white and about 60% were female.
About 100 people were randomly assigned to receive the full Paxlovid regimen, which consists of two medications: the antiviral nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, which prevents nirmatrelvir from breaking down too quickly. The rest of the group took a placebo with ritonavir, which doesn’t work against the SARS-CoV-2 virus on its own. Ritonavir enhanced the placebo because it’s linked to a telltale side effect of Paxlovid—a bad aftertaste—so participants couldn’t necessarily guess whether they’d gotten the active treatment or not.
Both groups took their drugs twice a day for 15 days, three times longer than patients are currently prescribed Paxlovid. Researchers then tracked them for 15 weeks to assess safety and look for differences in Long COVID symptoms over time.
On the plus side, the researchers concluded that it’s generally safe to take Paxlovid for 15 days, although non-life-threatening side effects like diarrhea and bad aftertaste were common. That’s important to know, because some experts believe taking the drug for longer could help prevent outcomes like Paxlovid “rebound.” A longer course may also be more effective for some high-risk patients, Singh says.
But “we didn’t find an obvious benefit” to taking Paxlovid for symptom relief, Singh says. People in the Paxlovid group didn’t fare significantly better than those taking the placebo.
That said, people in both groups saw improvements in their symptom severity over the course of the study. Symptoms often get better over time, Singh says, but participants may also have had some expectation of feeling better simply because they were enrolled in a clinical trial. And, despite the relative improvement, moderate and severe symptoms were still common at the end of the study, which underscores the need for more research on treatments.
Whether Paxlovid, or another antiviral drug, ends up being a viable treatment remains to be seen. While the results from this study aren’t encouraging, other teams are also studying Paxlovid’s efficacy as a Long COVID treatment. It’s possible the drug could work better when taken for a longer length of time, among certain groups of Long COVID patients, or among those who haven’t been sick as long as the participants in the current study, Singh says.
Another outstanding question: can taking Paxlovid during a case of COVID-19 help prevent Long COVID from ever developing? Some data suggest it may, but other studies have found that it doesn’t work as a preventive measure.
The new study didn’t address that possibility, and more research is needed before anyone should take Paxlovid for that reason alone—but, Singh says, patients should take comfort in the fact that scientists are actively tackling these questions, recognizing the massive unmet need for therapies targeted toward Long COVID treatment and prevention.
“People are working on this,” she says. “People are motivated.”
The United States Department of Justice on Wednesday announced charges against a 35-year-old Chinese national, Yunhe Wang, accused of operating a massive botnet allegedly linked to billions of dollars in fraud, child exploitation, and bomb threats, among other crimes.
Wang, identified by numerous pseudonyms—Tom Long and Jack Wan, among others—was arrested on May 24 and is accused of distributing malware through various pop-up VPN services, such as “ProxyGate” and “MaskVPN,” and by embedding viruses in internet files distributed via peer-to-peer networks known as torrents.
The malware is said to have compromised computers located in nearly every country in the world, turning them into proxies through which criminals were able to hide their identities while committing countless crimes. According to prosecutors in the US, this included the theft of billions of dollars slated for Covid-19 pandemic relief—funds allegedly stolen by foreign actors posing as unemployed US citizens.
According to an indictment, the infected computers allegedly provided Wang’s customers with a persistent backdoor, allowing them to disguise themselves as any one of the victims of Wang’s malware. This illicit proxy service, known as “911 S5,” launched as early as 2014, the US government says.
“The 911 S5 Botnet infected computers in nearly 200 countries and facilitated a whole host of computer-enabled crimes, including financial frauds, identity theft, and child exploitation,” says FBI director Christopher Wray, who described the illicit service as “likely the world’s largest botnet ever.”
The US Treasury Department has also sanctioned Wang and two other individuals allegedly tied to 911 S5.
Wang is said to have amassed access to nearly 614,000 IP addresses in the US and more than 18 million others worldwide—collectively forming the botnet. 911 S5’s customers were able to filter the IPs geographically to choose where they’d like to appear to be located, down to a specific US zip code, the DOJ claims.
The indictment states that of the 150 dedicated servers used to manage the botnet, as many as 76 were leased by US-based service providers, including the one hosting 911 S5’s client interface, which allowed criminals overseas to purchase goods using stolen credit cards, in many cases for the alleged purpose of circumventing US export laws.
More than half a million fraudulent claims lodged with pandemic relief programs in the United States are allegedly tied to 911 S5. According to the indictment, nearly $6 billion in losses have been linked to IP addresses captured by 911 S5. Many of the IP addresses have been reportedly tied to more insidious crimes, including bomb threats and the trafficking of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM.
“Proxy services like 911 S5 are pervasive threats that shield criminals behind the compromised IP addresses of residential computers worldwide,” says Damien Diggs, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, where the charges against Wang were brought by a grand jury earlier this month.
Adds Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division: “These criminals used the hijacked computers to conceal their identities and commit a host of crimes, from fraud to cyberstalking.”
At the time of writing, it is unclear whether these virtual impersonations resulted in any criminal investigations or charges against US-based victims whose IP addresses were hijacked as part of the 911 S5 botnet. WIRED is awaiting a response from the Department of Justice regarding this concern.
According to the Justice Department, law enforcement agencies in Singapore, Thailand, and Germany collaborated with US authorities to effect Wang’s arrest.
Wang faces charges of conspiracy, computer fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to money laundering, with a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison. The US is also seeking to seize a mountain of luxury cars and goods allegedly owned by Wang, including a 2022 Ferrari Spider valued at roughly half a million dollars as well as a Patek Philippe watch worth potentially several times that amount.
There are growing signs of an uptick in COVID-19 in California thanks to the new FLiRT subvariants.
It’s far too early to know if FLiRT will be a major change in the COVID picture, and so far the impacts have been small.
But health officials are taking note and are urging Californians — especially those at risk — to be prepared.
Here’s rundown of what we know and how you can protect yourself.
What are FLiRT subvariants?
The FLiRT subvariants — officially known as KP.2, KP.3 and KP.1.1 — have overtaken the dominant winter variant, JN.1. For the two-week period that ended Saturday, they were estimated to account for a combined 50.4% of the nation’s coronavirus infections, up from 20% a month earlier.
Despite their increased transmissibility, the new mutations don’t appear to result in more severe disease. And the vaccine is expected to continue working well, given the new subvariants are only slightly different from the winter version.
“It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a new dominant variant in the U.S.,” Dr. David Bronstein, an infectious diseases specialist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California told The Times earlier this month. “With each of these variants that takes over from the one before it, we do see increased transmissibility — it’s easier to spread from person to person. So, that’s really the concern with FLiRT.”
What are officials seeing?
Doctors say they are not seeing a dramatic jump in severely ill people, and COVID levels still remain relatively low. But there are signs of a rise in infections that could lead to the summer coronavirus season beginning earlier than expected.
“COVID-19 concentrations in wastewater have suggested increases in several regions across California since early May. Test positivity for COVID-19 has been slowly increasing since May,” the state Department of Public Health said in a statement to The Times on Friday.
Over the seven-day period that ended Monday, about 3.8% of COVID-19 tests in California came back positive; in late April, that share was 1.9%. (Last summer’s peak test-positive rate was 12.8%, at the end of August.)
In San Francisco, infectious disease doctors are noticing more people in the hospital with COVID-caused pneumonia.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has also started to see a very small uptick in cases in recent days. And Kaiser Permanente Southern California is reporting a small increase in outpatient COVID-19 cases.
How can I protect myself?
Vaccines
Doctors urged people to consider getting up to date on their vaccinations — particularly if they are at higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19.
In California, just 36% of seniors ages 65 and older have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine that first became available in September. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged everyone ages 6 months and older to get one dose of the updated vaccine. A second dose is also recommended for those ages 65 and older, as long as at least four months have passed since their last shot.
It’s especially important that older people get at least one updated dose. Of the patients he has seen recently who had serious COVID, said UC San Francisco infectious diseases specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, all of them hadn’t gotten an updated vaccine since September, and were older or immunocompromised.
Behavior
Avoid sick people. Some sick people might pass off their symptoms as a “cold,” when it could be the start of a COVID-19 illness.
Testing
Test if you’re sick, and test daily. It’s sometimes taking longer after the onset of illness for a COVID-19 rapid test to show up as positive. Consider taking a rapid COVID test once a day for three to five consecutive days after the onset of cough-and-cold symptoms, said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Doing so can help the sickened person take measures to later isolate themselves and limit spread of the illness to others.
Planning
Have a plan to ask for Paxlovid if you become ill. Paxlovid is an antiviral drug that, when taken by people at risk for severe COVID-19 who have mild-to-moderate illness, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death.
Masks are much less common these days but can still be a handy tool to prevent infection. Wearing a mask on a crowded flight where there are coughing people nearby can help reduce the risk of infection.
How can I protect my family and friends?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently eased COVID isolation guidance, given that the health impacts of COVID-19 are lower than they once were, due to the availability of vaccines, anti-COVID medicines such as Paxlovid and increased population immunity.
There are fewer people getting hospitalized and dying, and fewer reports of complications such as multi-inflammatory syndrome in children.
Still, doctors say it remains prudent to take common sense steps to avoid illness and spreading the disease to others, given that COVID still causes significant health burdens that remain worse than the flu. Nationally, since the start of October, more than 43,000 people have died of COVID; by contrast, flu has resulted in an estimated 25,000 fatalities over the same time period.
While the prevalence of long COVID has been going down, long COVID can still be a risk any time someone gets COVID.
Here’s a guide on what to do if you get COVID-19:
Stay home and away from others while sick, plus a day after you’ve recovered
The CDC says people should stay home and away from others in their household until at least 24 hours after their respiratory viral symptoms are getting better overall, and they have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medicine). Previously, the CDC suggested people with COVID isolate for at least five days, and take additional precautions for a few more days.
In terms of deciding when symptoms are getting better overall, what’s most important is “the overall sense of feeling better and the ability to resume activities,” the CDC says. A lingering cough by itself can last beyond when someone is contagious, the CDC said.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also recommends testing yourself using a rapid test, and getting a negative result, before leaving isolation.
The agency also suggests staying away from the elderly and immunocompromised people for 10 days after you start to feel sick.
Take additional precautions after you recover in case you’re still contagious
People who have recovered from COVID-19 may still be contagious a few days after they have recovered. The CDC suggests taking added precautions for five days after they leave their household and resume spending time with others to keep others safe. They include:
Wearing a well-fitting mask;
Continuing to test for COVID-19. If positive, it’s likely you’re more likely to infect others, still;
Keeping distance from other people;
Increasing air circulation by opening windows, turning on air purifiers, gathering outdoors if meeting with people;
And sticking with enhanced hygiene: washing and sanitizing hands often, cleaning high-touch surfaces, and covering coughs and sneezes.
Masking for 10 days to protect others
The L.A. County Department of Public Health says people with COVID-19 need to wear a well-fitting mask for 10 days after starting to feel sick, even if signs of illness are improving, to reduce the chance that other people could get infected. Masks can be removed sooner if you have two consecutive negative test results at least one day apart, the agency says.
Be aware of COVID rebound
COVID rebound can occur when people with COVID-19 feel better, but then start to feel sick two to eight days after they’ve recovered. Some people may also test positive again. COVID rebound can result in you becoming infectious again, capable of infecting those with whom you interact.
Rebound can happen whether or not you take Paxlovid.
Officials say if you feel sick again after having recovered from COVID, go back to following the same instructions to stay at home and away from other people during the first phase of the illness.
If you test positive but have no symptoms
The CDC says if you never had any symptoms, but test positive, take additional precautions for the next five days, such as masking up, testing, increasing air circulation, keeping distance and washing hands often.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health recommends wearing a well-fitting mask for 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19, and also avoiding contact with any high-risk people for 10 days after starting to feel sick, such as the elderly and immunocompromised people. You can remove your mask sooner if you have two consecutive negative tests at least one day apart.
L.A. County health officials recommend close contacts of people who have COVID-19 wear a well-fitting mask around other people for 10 days after their last exposure. They suggest getting tested three to five days after their last exposure.
Geneva — A global treaty to fight pandemics like COVID is going to have to wait: After more than two years of negotiations, rich and poor countries have failed — for now — to come up with a plan for how the world might respond to the next pandemic.
After COVID-19 triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. In 2021, member countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee negotiations to figure out how the world might better share scarce resources and stop future viruses from spreading globally.
On Friday, Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO’s negotiating board for the agreement, acknowledged that countries were unable to come up with a draft. WHO had hoped a final draft treaty could be agreed on at its yearly meeting of health ministers starting Monday in Geneva.
“We are not where we hoped we would be when we started this process,” he said, adding that finalizing an international agreement on how to respond to a pandemic was critical “for the sake of humanity.”
Driece said the World Health Assembly next week would take up lessons from its work and plot the way forward, urging participants to make “the right decisions to take this process forward” to one day reach a pandemic agreement “because we need it.”
The draft treaty had attempted to address the gap that occurred between COVID-19 vaccines in rich and poorer countries, which WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said amounted to “a catastrophic moral failure.”
Addressing a sullen final day of negotiations, the WHO chief insisted, “This is not a failure.”
“We will try everything — believing that anything is possible — and make this happen because the world still needs a pandemic treaty,” he said. “Because many of the challenges that caused a serious impact during COVID-19 still exist.”
The accord’s aim was to set guidelines for how the WHO’s 194 member countries might stop future pandemics and better share resources. But experts warned there were virtually no consequences for countries that don’t comply.
The co-chairs of the treaty-drafting process didn’t specify what caused the logjam, but diplomats have said vast differences remained over sharing of information about pathogens that emerge and the sharing of technologies to fight them.
The latest draft had proposed that WHO should get 20% of the production of pandemic-related products like tests, treatments and vaccines and urges countries to disclose their deals with private companies.
Earlier this month, U.S. Republican senators wrote to the Biden administration, arguing that the draft treaty focused on issues like “shredding intellectual property rights” and “supercharging the WHO.” They urged Biden not to sign off.
Britain’s department of health said it would only agree to an accord if it adhered to British national interest and sovereignty.
Meanwhile, many developing countries said it’s unfair that they might be expected to provide virus samples to help develop vaccines and treatments, but then be unable to afford them.
Precious Matsoso, the other co-chair of WHO’s negotiating board for the pandemic treaty, said there was still an opportunity to reach agreement and that efforts wouldn’t stop — despite the inability to reach a deal on Friday.
“We will make sure that this happens, because when the next pandemic hits, it will not spare us,” she said.
Tedros, the WHO chief, said there should be no regrets.
“What matters now is when do we learn from this and how can we reset things, recalibrate things, identify the main challenges, and then move on,” he said.
Rare but deadly blood clots tied to Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 shots were caused by an autoimmune reaction that some people are predisposed to, researchers found, a discovery that they say will shape development of future vaccines.
Adenovirus-based vaccines, like the J&J and AstraZeneca shots that were later pulled from the market, contain a component that, in genetically susceptible people, can trigger the production of unusually structured antibodies against a protein involved in blood clotting, scientists said Wednesday in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers plan to identify the culprit and then try to remove it using genetic engineering.
An extremely similar deleterious antibody response occurs in susceptible patients after infection with adenoviruses, which often infect the airways and lead to cold-like symptoms, the study found. It’s not known how many people may be susceptible to the complication, said Tom Gordon, head of immunology at Flinders University in South Australia, whose molecular sleuthing led to the finding.
The immune reaction linked to the shot is “a new disease,” he said in an interview. Hematologists and intensive care specialists are likely to spot more cases as they become familiar with it, he said.
“It’s a kind of autoimmunity where we know the trigger,” said immunologist James McCluskey, assistant vice chancellor of the University of Melbourne, who wasn’t involved in the research. “That’s unusual. In most cases we never get a handle on the trigger.”
Vaccines withdrawn
Out of more than 18 million people who received the single-dose J&J vaccine, 60 cases of the clotting disorder were reported and nine people died, according to the Yale School of Medicine.
A small number of clot-related deaths tied to the AstraZeneca vaccine led to its withdrawal or restriction in Denmark, Norway and other countries in 2021. The complication occurred in about 2-3 people per 100,000 vaccinated with the Astra shot under age 60 in Australia, where it hasn’t been available since March 2023. The European Commission withdrew the marketing authorization for the immunization in March 2024.
“AstraZeneca welcomes any further examination of the possible underlying mechanism of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), given that, despite extensive investigation, we do not yet understand the mechanism that can in very rare cases be a trigger for TTS,” a spokesperson for the company said.
J&J also said it supports research that helps guide development of safe and effective vaccines.
“More data are needed to fully understand potential factors that may be associated with this rare event, including its potential relationship with adeno- and other viruses, to draw appropriate conclusions about the underlying pathogenesis,” the company said in an email.
Both shots played an important role in vaccine programs during the early stages of the pandemic. One analysis found the Astra vaccine saved an estimated 6.3 million lives in 2021.
The mRNA vaccines made by the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership and Moderna Inc. were later found to be more effective at protecting against Covid and have been updated to tackle more recent virus variants.
A global pandemic robbed them of their senior proms. Now that they’re seniors again, these college students in Maryland thought it’s time they get their moment.
After three separate ticket drops, the event sold out before May 10.
(WTOP/Matt Kaufax)
WTOP/Matt Kaufax
Attendees wore their best prom night clothes.
(WTOP/Matt Kaufax)
WTOP/Matt Kaufax
University of Maryland seniors take photos outside of their make-up prom.
(WTOP/Matt Kaufax)
WTOP/Matt Kaufax
University of Maryland senior has photo taken at her make-up prom.
(WTOP/Matt Kaufax)
WTOP/Matt Kaufax
Senior council president Omoleye Adeyemi on stage at the prom on Friday night.
(left)
left
University of Maryland seniors dance the night away at the “prom they never had” after missing out on their high school proms due to the pandemic.
(WTOP/Matt Kaufax)
WTOP/Matt Kaufax
A global pandemic robbed them of their senior proms. Now that they’re seniors again, University of Maryland students thought it’s time they get their moment.
“We didn’t have graduation, we didn’t have prom, we didn’t have a lot of things. So we kind of wanted to backtrack and give students the opportunity … to have the prom they never had,” senior council president Omoleye Adeyemi told WTOP.
She said Friday night was all about taking their proms back from COVID-19.
“It’s kind of like that ‘finally’ feeling, because we finally get to have it,” Adeyemi said. “But it’s also nostalgic because it takes them back to high school.”
After three separate ticket drops, the event sold out before May 10. Seniors gathered for this unique farewell in the grand ballroom of the Stamp Student Union building in College Park, wearing their best prom night clothes.
“It’s really nice to know that the UMD community is thinking of seniors and what we missed out on four years ago,” said senior Peggy Mothershed. She attended with her best friend and fellow senior class member, Savanna Janney.
“We’re going to have a great time!” Savanna said enthusiastically. And that enthusiastic attitude was contagious.
“This is a school-sponsored event, so we’re going to keep it safe,” senior Chris Esmele joked. “But after this, as grown-ups, we’re able to really party in a way … to get that prom we never got.”
Esmele also said this prom feels even better, because of the closer bonds he has with some of his college friends.
“Whether you’re here with your partner or with friends, it feels more foundational in terms of relationships, and that’s what makes tonight special,” he said.
“It’s kind of a full circle moment tonight,” added Mothershed.
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This standard rates masks based on filtration, breathability, and an optional leakage ratio. The CDC has a list of masks here, and it tells which masks pass enough of these criteria to qualify for either of the Workplace Performance labels (as of writing, there are only three that earned the label), but this is all based on data reported by suppliers and manufacturers. If you can’t find N95 masks but don’t work in a high-risk setting, these are also decent masks to pick up.
Also, note that ASTM refers to the agency that classifies standards, but this workplace standard is not the only ASTM standard that governs masks. This standard is technically ASTM F3502-21, which only has the two Workplace Performance levels mentioned above. You may also see other masks that use labels like “ASTM Level 3,” which refer to different ASTM standards for medical masks. For our purposes, all of this means that if you’re looking for low-risk masks for the office, look for the Workplace Performance labels.
N95 Respirator Face Masks
The CDC has a giant list of approved N95 masks. Unfortunately, the supply of many brands is constantly fluctuating (even in 2024), so you may need to check back regularly to see which are in stock. Many stores also have regional stock based on in-store supply, so be sure to check your local zip code at different sites where applicable.
Kimberly-Clark N95 Respirator Mask.
Photograph: Kimberly Clark
If you need a large number of N95s on the cheap, this pack from Kimberly-Clark is one of your best bets. While these are NIOSH-approved N95 respirators, they’re not intended for medical use. If that’s not an issue for you, then the horizontal-fold pouch and bendable nosepiece should provide a solid seal on your face, while still costing less than a dollar per mask.
This fold-style mask uses two over-the-head straps to keep the mask snug on your face, while still allowing a fair amount of breathing room in front of your mouth and nose. These are among the pricier masks on our list, but members of our team have used these and found them comfortable and sturdy.
3M Aura N95 Respirator Mask.
Photograph: 3M
3M’s N95 respirators are individually wrapped and have two horizontal folds that create a decent-sized cup in front of your nose and mouth. The masks come with two straps that go over your head and neck to keep a tight seal. This is one of the smaller packs on our list, but you may have an easier time finding it in stock at some stores.
Honeywell Safety DF300 N95 Mask.
Photograph: Honeywell
The DF300 N95 from Honeywell is a more affordable option on this list. With this mask, you’ll get multilayer absorption (including a humidity- and moisture-resistant filter), a soft inner lining, and latex-free head straps. The nose clip is also adjustable and hidden underneath the mask. It comes complete with a soft foam nose cushion as well, which should make it more comfortable to wear for longer periods of time.
KF94 Masks
Vida Adult KF94 Mask.
Photograph: VIDA
Vida’s KF94 mask is both protective and stylish. It’s FDA-listed, CE-certified (and manufactured in South Korea), and offers a 94 percent filtration efficiency. The four-layer mask comes in adorable colors including Blush, Seafoam, and Glacier Blue. It’s also available in a variety of pack sizes, from 10 to 10,000.
BOTN KF94 Mask.
Photograph: Amazon
The BOTN KF94 masks only come in large and extra-large for adults, so those with smaller faces should look into the youth size, which also comes in a variety of color options including beige, dark gray, pink, and yellow. The mask has ear loops and a nosepiece that are both adjustable, so it should help ensure a tight fit if you go for the bigger size. I (Brenda) prefer these when wearing makeup, because the nosepiece stays put and doesn’t ruin my foundation as much as other masks do.
LG Airwasher KF94 Mask.
Photograph: LG
This one dips in and out of stock. LG’s Airwasher mask is a standard KF94 with a three-dimensional design, four-ply fabric, an adjustable nose clip, and rounded ear loops. If you want a slightly more elevated option, it also comes in a Black Style design that’ll likely pair well with fancier outfits for more formal occasions.
KN95 Face Masks
Evolvetogether Rio de Janeiro
Photograph: EvolveTogether
Evolvetogether’s masks are trendy among celebrities because they’re both protective and stylish. The Rio De Janeiro is made of six-ply fabric (complete with activated charcoal to reduce odors), double filtration, and a water-resistant exterior. Each mask also has an adjustable nose bridge and gentle ear loops, making it ideal to wear for long periods of time. Of all the KN95s we’ve tested, this is our favorite one for smaller faces. While pricey, these masks are not only lightweight and comfortable but super durable as well.
This mask from Halidodo comes in several color sets—one of the options includes eye-catching orange—and is similarly affordable.
Wwdoll Foldable KN95 Masks.
Photograph: WWDoll
We’ve tested this mask and found that, while comfortable and super durable, the size is best for those with smaller faces.
Bona Fide KN95 Mask.
Photograph: Bona Fide Masks
The white Powecom masks come with a multi-filtration system and an adjustable metal nosepiece. You can also choose between the standard KN95 ear loops or the N95 headband style, depending on what you find more comfortable.
Masks for Kids
Once kids are over the age of 2, you can consider putting a face mask on them. We recommend anything they’ll actually wear. We have a suggestion below, and our Best Face Masks for Kids guide has more.
AirPop Kids Reusable Mask.
Photograph: AirPop
Kids’ masks are a bit more difficult since health agencies don’t regulate them in quite the same way, but this pack of KN95s is one of our favorites. It’s reusable and can be worn by children 3 to 12 years old. It comes in blue, white, or pink. It has been independently tested by several international product-testing and quality-assurance companies, and it is the mask that WIRED editor Adrienne So’s kids used for school.
Dr. Puri KF94 kids’ mask
Photograph: Getty Images
Our mask reviewer, Adrienne So, had her kids test these. She said they fit them well, and well-fitting masks for kids are hard to find. They come in three sizes, for different ages, and should provide protection similar to a KN95—more protection than a standard surgical-style mask. There’s frequently a coupon on the page you can clip to knock a few dollars off.
If You Can’t Find a Mask, Try Project N95
Project N95 isn’t a specific mask but rather a nonprofit devoted to connecting personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies with the people and health care organizations that need them. During the height of the pandemic, it offered the ability to browse the organization’s marketplace to find more masks and respirators as well as testing kits and other protective gear.
Now that the national and public health emergency has ended, Project 95 still offers access to previously vetted authentic and highly protective masks. But now each mask links to a third-party website (that isn’t controlled or operated by the nonprofit) to purchase them. The organization says these links are up to date as of January 31, 2024.
War, relationships, political news, work at home or office, all adding to the stress of life. For some, they can manage it and move forward, for others, it can be a pit of sadness…but most it seems experience anxiety and depression at some point. In a surprise, the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey finds half (50%) of adults ages 18-24 reported anxiety and depression symptoms. It can causes sleep deprivation, loss of energy, and high blood pressure and general uneasiness.
It is tough to deal with it while maintain your life. It is always good to talk to a trained medical professional and there are prescriptions, but can CBD oils help with anxiety & depression?
Photo by Anshu A via Unsplash
What Is CBD?
Cannabidiol(CBD) can be extracted from cannabis plants, marijuana leaves, and hemp flowers. CBD products act as a natural remedy. By consuming or using this product you will not get high or have any psychotic reaction. Numerous studies have been carried out on different products of CBD and a quality check has also been approved by the FDA.
Reports say that CBD has less than 0.3 % THC, which is very safe than a lot of other drugs and pills that are taken for mental health.
CBD products are now legally consumed and distributed in many states and countries. The list includes countries like German, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, The USA & The UK.
Just like different brands of marijuana, there are also various brands of CBD oils available.
In the USA you can only use CBD products for medical purposes. It has to be prescribed by a licensed doctor for you to buy and consume it.
If your state has legalized the sale and consumption of cannabis products then it will be easier to find CBD oils in some particular cannabis clinics, shops, and online stores like CBD Oil Uk.
The Difference Between Stress And Anxiety
Stress is a short-term ailment that can happen regularly or once in a while and does not cause any serious damages. Besides, it can be managed easily.
If you face problems like frustration, exhaustion, muscle pain, digestive issues, and difficulty sleeping frequently then it is likely you are dealing with stress.
Anxiety is more severe than stress. It can not be alleviated easily. Instead, it is considered as non-stop excessive worry and fear even when everything is perfectly fine in your life.
Anxiety leads to a set of symptoms that are almost identical to stress but very serious. These include insomnia, difficulty in concentration, fatigue, and muscle tension.
It is important to differentiate the signs of stress and anxiety. Stress is a common cause of anxiety and to avoid anxiety symptoms, it is important to catch them early.
Photo by Christin Hume via Unsplash
How CBD Products Can Help
Here are 4 ways CBD products can help reduce anxiety and depression-
1.CBD Improves Your Sleep Cycle
People suffering from anxiety often complain about the lack of sleep.
Excessive anxiety often interrupts your sleep cycle and lack of sleep can, in turn, result in more anxiety.
CBD has claimed to reduce anxiety levels. It has even shown positive results in clinical trials that is why the FDA has approved CBD in the first place.
CBD helps calm our minds and increases the chances of falling asleep naturally and without any disruption.
Also, studies have proven that little extra dosage of CBD creates a sedative effect on your body and helps to sleep and lets your brain rest. CBD products are now used to treat people with insomnia as well.
2.CBD Reduces Pain & Inflammation
Earlier we have discussed that stress and anxiety can cause muscle pain, headaches, and chronic inflammation.
CBD products are completely natural. The products have been proven to be a muscle relaxant and work better than any standard painkillers since it has no side effects.
CBD also works as anti-inflammatory drugs. It controls cytokine production which is generally responsible for various inflammatory diseases in our body.
This increased inflammation is also connected to higher levels of anxiety. Just like sleep and anxiety, this one is also a chain reaction.
Inflammatory diseases like psoriasis and arthritis can cause depression and anxiety in the long run. CBD oil helps to reduce inflammation and pain by reducing cytokine and affecting CB-2 receptors. This reduces pain and decreases the chance of getting an anxiety attack.
3. CBD improves mood
CBD is considered as a “Neuroprotective” material. “Neuroprotective” actually means it will protect nerve cells by keeping a safe functioning state of the nervous system.
Moreover, it decreases the oxidative stress of your brain.
By keeping your negative emotions in check, CBD helps you to improve your mood and keeps your brain calm and relaxed. It reduces unnecessary stress and anxiety.
4. CBD Helps Enhance Metabolism
If you have a poor digestive and metabolism system, it will affect your quality of life.
It will make you feel bloated and lethargic. Illness disrupts the natural functioning of your body and if it becomes more serious it causes stress and ultimately, leads to anxiety.
If you start consuming CBD regularly, it will improve your metabolism, burn unnecessary fat, and make you feel better.
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How To Choose CBD Products
CBD has various types of products in the market including oil, tablets, edibles, beverages, creams, and vape. Although the overall vape sales slowed down during this year. Things are starting to look better.
But still, the CBD oils are the most popular ones by a large margin. Each of the types provides almost the same benefits with some unique advantages of their own. CBD oils have to be consumed daily and provide the most health benefits. They are also the most concentrated ones. CBD gummies are sweet and take a long time to take effect. CBD lotions are best for exterior physical discomfort.
Depending on your medical condition, you should consult with a healthcare professional who has experience with CBD to choose the right product.
For years, researchers have been working on vaccines that aim to prevent viral infections by strengthening immune defenses at viruses’ doorway to the body: the nose.
A small study recently published in PNAS presents a similar, if lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests.
The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an “extra layer” of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.S.’ leading nasal vaccine researchers.
The study builds upon some of Iwasaki’s prior research—which has shown that similar antibiotics can trigger potentially protective immune changes in the body—but it’s still preliminary, she cautions. For the new study, her team had 12 people apply Neosporin inside their nostrils twice a day for a week, while another seven people used Vaseline for comparison. At several points during the study, the researchers swabbed the participants’ noses and ran PCR tests to see what was going on inside.
They found that Neosporin—and specifically one of its active ingredients, the antibiotic neomycin sulfate—seems to stimulate receptors in the nose that “are fooled into thinking there’s a viral infection” and in turn create “a barrier that’s put up against any virus,” Iwasaki explains. In theory, she says, that means it could protect against a range of different infections.
Right now, though, that’s just a theory. For this study, Iwasaki’s team didn’t take the next step of testing whether that immune response actually prevents people from getting infected when they’re exposed to viruses—in part because it’s ethically questionable to intentionally expose people to pathogens for research. (They did, however, demonstrate that rodents whose noses were coated with neomycin were protected from the virus that causes COVID-19.)
On its website, the maker of Neosporin says that the product has not “been tested or formulated to prevent against COVID-19 or any other virus,” and also note that they do not advise putting the product inside the eyes, nose, or mouth.
Dr. James Crowe, who directs the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center and was not involved in the research, says the study is “intriguing,” but he’d need to see more human data before he gets excited. “I’m skeptical it would be strongly effective in people,” Crowe says. “If you have a modest effect on the virus, is that enough to really benefit you clinically?”
It is somewhat counterintuitive to think that an antibiotic, which kills bacteria, could do anything to protect people from viruses. It’s not that the antibiotic has a direct effect against viruses, Iwasaki explains. Instead, it seems that neomycin, when applied topically, provoke changes in the body that help it fight off viruses—essentially, triggering a natural antiviral effect.
So should you smear Neosporin in your nose next time a COVID-19 wave hits? Not so fast, says Dr. Benjamin Bleier, who specializes in nasal disorders at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and has studied nasal immunity.
Bleier, who was not involved in the new study, calls the research “very well done,” but says there are questions that need to be answered before it hits “clinical prime time.” First, could the body develop tolerance or resistance to neomycin if the antibiotic were regularly used in this way? (Antibiotic resistance is a growing concern, and overusing or inappropriately prescribing antibiotics is a contributor to the problem.) Second, could the average person apply neomycin deeply and thoroughly enough for meaningful protection? And finally, could this approach damage the delicate inner nose or have other side effects over time? (Even in the small study, one of the people who used intranasal Neosporin dropped out due to minor side effects, apparently related to a drug allergy.)
“It’s great science, but there’s still a long way to go before we should put it in our noses,” agrees Dr. Sean Liu, an infectious disease physician at New York’s Mount Sinai health system who was also not involved in the study.
Iwasaki agrees that more research is necessary. She says the next step is testing higher doses of neomycin, since Neosporin contains a fairly small amount that may not be enough to provide robust protection for humans. To gather more data, she says, researchers could track people going about their normal lives—except that some apply neomycin to their noses and some apply Vaseline—and see if one group gets sick less often than the other, though that would require a lot of time and people.
Despite the difficulties, Liu says there’s good reason for further study. Finding new uses for affordable, widely accessible medications is good for public health, and any progress toward neutralizing viruses is welcome. If the approach is proven to work, it could also be useful to have a tool that’s effective against a broad range of viruses and could potentially be paired with other drugs to strengthen its efficacy, Crowe adds.
Plus, Iwasaki says, additional disease-prevention tools could help people who are especially vulnerable to respiratory diseases—such as those who are immunocompromised—and need additional protection to feel safe. If further research proves promising, Iwasaki says, she could imagine neomycin serving as an additional disease-fighting tool when people are in particularly germy places, like a crowded party or an airport.
While the risks associated with COVID-19 generally have decreased over time due to prior exposure to the vaccines and the virus, some people remain at elevated risk, such as the elderly and immunocompromised. The updated COVID-19 vaccines and, in some cases, a new monoclonal antibody can provide increased protection for this group.
“At this point, many people have had multiple vaccines and we are seeing a lot less severe and life-threatening illness, especially in people who have had recent vaccination,”Dr. Camille Kotton, clinical director of Transplant and Immunocompromised Host Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, told us.“Nonetheless, we are still seeing significant severe disease, hospitalization, even life-threatening disease, especially in people over the age of 65 or who are immunocompromised.”
We spoke with Kotton, who is also a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, about the current state of affairs for people at elevated risk of severe disease from COVID-19 and the tools they can use to protect themselves.
For some people who are immunocompromised, a newly authorized monoclonal antibody, Pemgarda, or pemivibart, may provide an additional layer of protection, Kotton said. These antibodies may substitute for a person’s own antibodies and help block the coronavirus from entering a person’s cells.
Even so, Kotton emphasized the importance of getting this year’s updated COVID-19 vaccines. “The majority of immunocompromised patients have not had a first dose of the 2023/2024 vaccine,” she said. They, along with people age 65 and up, are eligible for multiple doses of the updated vaccines this year.
Who Remains at Increased Risk from COVID-19?
Last month, the CDC updated guidelines for people with COVID-19, removing the previous standard five days of isolation and replacing it with symptoms-based guidance. The move was part of a transition away from the emergency response phase of the pandemic to recovery and maintenance phases, the agency explained.
Rates of COVID-19-associated hospitalization have declined across adult age groups since early pandemic waves. There is also evidence that outcomes have improved for those who are immunocompromised. However, these groups remain at elevated risk from COVID-19, Kotton said.
As of the latest census, just around 17% of the U.S. population was age 65 or over. But between October 2023 and January 2024, around two-thirds of COVID-19 hospitalizations were among those 65 and older, according to data from the CDC. Older Americans make up an increasing proportion of those hospitalized for COVID-19, as outcomes have improved more markedly for younger people.
People who are immunocompromised also are hospitalized for COVID-19 and die from the disease at a relatively high rate. Between October 2022 and November 2023, 16% of all adult COVID-19 hospitalizations were among people with immunocompromising conditions, and 28% of in-hospital deaths occurred in this group.
People can be immunocompromised for a variety of reasons, and to varying degrees. Sometimes, a health condition itself alters a person’s immune system’s ability to respond to infection. These conditions can include certain blood cancers, advanced or untreated HIV, or primary immunodeficiency, a group of rare genetic diseases in which some portion of a person’s immune system is altered and doesn’t work properly.
At other times, the treatment for a disease weakens someone’s immune system. For instance, people are considered immunocompromised if they are receiving immunosuppressive treatments associated with transplant or various treatments for conditions such as autoimmune disease or cancer.
Recent estimates indicate around 7% of U.S. adults report having immunosuppression, up from around 3% in 2013.
The growing availability of advanced therapies for various diseases has likely contributed to the increasing percentage of immunocompromised Americans, Kotton said. Previously, for “many of those people, we did not have such successful treatments,” she said. “Unfortunately, now one of the side effects of all of those treatments can be a higher risk of infection.”
As is recommended for everyone 6 months and up, people who are elderly or immunocompromised should get an updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine if they haven’t yet, Kotton said. People who are immunocompromised or elderly are also eligible for additional vaccine doses. Protection from the vaccines wanes as time passes, particularly among these groups, she said.
People age 65 and up should get a second dose of the updated vaccines at least four months after their previous dose, according to the CDC. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised “may get additional updated COVID-19 vaccine doses” if it has been at least two months since their last COVID-19 vaccine, the agency says.
Despite these recommendations, just over 20% of American adults had gotten the updated vaccines as of February. Uptake was a bit better among adults 65 and older, with more than 40% having gotten the shots.
In a recent study of electronic health records through February, just 18% of immunocompromised people had gotten an updated shot. The same study showed that the vaccines reduced the risk of hospitalization in this group by 38% between seven and 59 days after getting the shot and 34% in the 60 days following that, compared with immunocompromised people who hadn’t received an updated vaccine.
“I actually believe that we should focus many of our efforts on really encouraging uptake of the 2023/2024 COVID-19 vaccine, and that everybody has a first dose and at least two or more months later get a second dose so that they remain well vaccinated,” Kotton said, referring to the population of people who are immunocompromised.
What Is Pemgarda and Who Might Benefit?
On March 22, a new potential tool for mitigating COVID-19 risk was authorized by the FDA. Pemgarda, the monoclonal antibody, received an emergency use authorization for people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised and who are unlikely to have a sufficient immune response to COVID-19 vaccination. It became available for purchase by wholesalers on April 4.
It is the first preventive antibody treatment to be authorized since a prior monoclonal antibody combination, called Evusheld, was taken off the market in January 2023, based on data indicating that it was unlikely to help protect against the latest viral variants that were circulating.
Pemgarda is given to people who do not have COVID-19 or a known exposure. It consists of an antibody shown to recognize a section of the spike protein, which is part of the virus that causes COVID-19. The product was authorized based on calculations indicating that receiving it should lead to sufficient antibodies in a person’s blood to protect against JN.1, the current dominant variant in the U.S.
Pemgarda may benefit a subset of immunocompromised people, Kotton said, but it is not a substitute for vaccination. People who are vaccinated “tend to develop multiple forms of immunity that seem more protective than just administration of a monoclonal antibody alone,” she said.
Vaccination should lead to both the production of antibodies and a cellular immune response, she explained. A drug like Pemgarda may help people who are not producing sufficient antibodies on their own in response to vaccination.
It is not cut and dried how well someone who is immunocompromised will respond to vaccination, however. “When we give immunocompromised people vaccines, some respond by developing an antibody, others develop a cellular immune response, and it’s not always predictable that if they develop one that they will develop the other,” Kotton said. “And so it’s been challenging to know who is actually well protected.”
It is clear that the people who are at risk of severe COVID-19 include those with recent bone marrow transplant, people with certain cancers such as multiple myeloma, or those taking certain drugs given for various cancers and autoimmune diseases. “We do think that those populations could potentially benefit” from Pemgarda, Kotton said.
These patients are not only at risk of severe disease, Kotton said, but of chronic infections. Distinct from long COVID, these long-term infections occur when a person is unable to clear an active infection.
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“Otherwise, it seems that it’s not clear that there will be widespread benefit to all immunocompromised populations, in the era of widespread, numerous vaccination doses,” Kotton said.
What Are the Obstacles to Getting Pemgarda?
Kotton emphasized the importance of practical considerations, such as cost and logistics, when considering COVID-19 prevention measures.
Evusheld, the previously available preventive treatment, was provided for free by the U.S. government, she said. The same is not true for Pemgarda. Its maker, Invivyd, announced a wholesale acquisition cost of nearly $6,000 per dose. This is the list price a manufacturer charges wholesalers, although it may not represent the price they actually pay after discounts. Costs to patients will vary depending on insurance coverage.
Preventive monoclonal antibodies are available without cost-sharing for people covered by Medicare, who make up a portion of those eligible for Pemgarda, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. However, the amount individuals with private insurance pay will depend on their insurance plans and whether the monoclonal antibody is covered.
While Evusheld was given as two injections, Pemgarda is an infused drug, Kotton added, increasing the logistical challenges for both patients and health care providers. Patients must sit for an hour-long infusion, followed by a two-hour observation period, for a drug that may be given every three months. “Already Evusheld was a very challenging rollout,” Kotton said. “We did not have staff or capacity.”
In contrast, the private sector cost of the COVID-19 vaccines for those 12 and older is between $115 and $130 per dose. And people in the U.S., including those without insurance, should be able to get COVID-19 vaccines for free.
As Pemgarda is rolled out, Kotton said, it will be important to push for equity in who receives it. “I think it’s important to think hard about how we would make the monoclonal antibody available to all severely immunocompromised people who would really benefit and not just people that might be able to pay for it,” she said.
Editor’s note: SciCheck’s articles providing accurate health information and correcting health misinformation are made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The foundation has no control over FactCheck.org’s editorial decisions, and the views expressed in our articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundation.
A Covid-19 patient with a weakened immune system incubated a highly mutated novel strain over 613 days before succumbing to an underlying illness, researchers in the Netherlands found.
The patient, a 72-year-old man with a blood disorder, failed to mount a strong immune response to multiple Covid shots before catching the omicron variant in February 2022. Detailed analysis of specimens collected from more than two dozen nose and throat swabs found the coronavirus developed resistance to sotrovimab, a Covid antibody treatment, within a few weeks, scientists at the University of Amsterdam’s Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine said. It later acquired over 50 mutations, including some that suggested an enhanced ability to evade immune defenses, they said.
The 20-month-long SARS-CoV-2 infection is the longest known, according to the researchers, who are presenting the case at a medical meeting in Barcelona next week. While his mutant virus wasn’t known to have infected other people, it highlights how prolonged infections enable the pandemic virus to accumulate genetic changes, potentially spawning new variants of concern.
“This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals,” the authors said. “We emphasize the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections.”
Scientists studying genomic data collected from wastewater samples have reported evidence of individuals in the community shedding heavily mutated coronaviruses for more than four years. Such persistent infections may also be causing patients to experience long Covid symptoms, research suggests.
Texas is entering into the spring season in a good spot in terms of the number of cases, emergency room visits, hospital admissions and deaths due to COVID-19, which are all steadily declining to some of the lowest numbers reported since the start of the pandemic over four years ago.
The statewide numbers reflect national trends shown in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent data for the first week of April, which shows the country recorded the lowest number of deaths within a week in years: 266.
“We expect it to continue to be like this for a few months,” said Dr. Luis Ostrosky, chief of infectious diseases and epidemiology at UTHealth Houston. “We have traditionally seen an uptick in probably late summer or early fall after everybody’s starting to come back from vacation and everything.”
Ostrosky said people have built up immunity from COVID-19 vaccines and previous infections to the current variant in circulation, JN.1, a relative of BA.2.86 and an omicron subvariant.
Currently, two kinds of immunizations are available: an mRNA vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and a protein subunit vaccine by Novavax. The primary difference between the two is that mRNA vaccines teach the body to create proteins needed to fend off the virus, while protein subunit vaccines already contain pieces of the virus.
However, the formula for all these vaccines was updated in September to a monovalent one based on XBB.1.5, another subvariant of the omicron family.
“We started to recommend these particular vaccines in September. I hope that most of the high-risk people would’ve gotten one [then],” Ostrosky said. “Then we heard recommendations from the CDC to consider a second dose if it had been at least four months since your vaccine, so that has already come and gone as well.”
According to Dr. Hana El Sahly, professor of Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, uptake for these updated COVID-19 vaccines is slow among the general population but higher in older populations and others that need it the most.
The CDC recommends that people over 65 receive two doses of the updated vaccines, and those five years and older receive at least one dose. However, due to their vaccination history, this can vary per person.
Ostrosky said medical professionals are not hearing any more recommendations for an additional dose before fall but that this is subject to change.
Ostrosky added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its advisers usually meet in May to determine what is in circulation in the Southern Hemisphere and use this information to formulate the flu vaccine for the next season.
They will use the same system to decide whether to modify the makeup of the COVID-19 vaccination. However, Ostrosky said it does not look like they will be making any changes to the current vaccine formula.
This is primarily because there are no emerging dominant variants. El Sahly noted that cases caused by JN.1’s subvariants, JN.1.13 and JN.1.18, have been slowly increasing over the past few weeks.
“We’ve learned to watch very closely what’s happening in South Africa and Europe,” Ostrosky said. When we start seeing activity there, or when we start seeing a particular variant emerging and taking over there, that’s our queue to prepare.”
“But, surveillance here in the United States has not shown any variant that’s predominantly taking over currently aside from JN.1,” Ostrosky added. “We’re in good shape as long as we don’t see the emergence of dramatically new variants.”
Those behind on getting their updated COVID-19 vaccine should be able to find it at their local CVS or Walgreens, depending on location and availability. These immunizations should be free for individuals enrolled in private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare Part B and Medicare Advantage Plans.
They should also be provided at these retail pharmacies at no cost to the uninsured or underinsured through the CDC’s Bridge Access Program. Although COVID-19 vaccines are supposed to come free of charge, administrative fees, such as appointment costs, are sometimes included.
Mostly, the same coverage guidelines apply outside of CVS and Walgreens. Medicaid will continue to cover the costs of COVID-19 vaccinations and treatments — such as Paxlovid — through September 30, 2024. After this, coverage may vary per state.
Depending on a person’s insurance, out-of-pocket expenses can add up for Paxlovid or other COVID-19 treatments like Molnupiravir, an antiviral medication used to treat early infection and prevent more severe symptoms of the virus.
If an individual’s health care insurance does not cover COVID-19 vaccines and they are unable to access these immunizations through a low- or no-cost service, they could pay more than $115 for one dose of these vaccines.
Ostrosky suggested strategically masking in crowded spaces as schools get out and early summer travel begins.
Another newer preventative measure is Pemgarda, a medication taken to prevent COVID-19. It is the only preventative medication currently available that blocks virus infection.
But, it is exclusively used for a small population of those at severe risk of illness from COVID-19, such as cancer patients or those who underwent a recent organ transplant.
“It is already FDA approved. Many health care systems in Houston are figuring out how to get it and where to use it,” Ostrosky added.
COVID-19 became the second leading cause of death globally in the year after it was declared a pandemic, according to a study published in the Lancet.
While heart disease remained the top killer, COVID “radically altered” the main five causes of death for the first time in 30 years, displacing stroke, the publication said. In 2021, 94 in every 100,000 people died from COVID, on an age-standardized basis.
Since 1990, global life expectancy increased by 6.2 years, mainly due to reductions in death from diarrhea and lower respiratory infections and better outcomes for people suffering from a stroke or ischemic heart disease.
“Our study presents a nuanced picture of the world’s health,” said Liane Ong, co-first author of the study and a lead research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. “On one hand, we see countries’ monumental achievements in preventing deaths from diarrhea and stroke. At the same time, we see how much the COVID-19 pandemic has set us back.”
From 2019 to 2021, progress was made in preventing deaths for most other top causes of death except for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and malaria.
The study is thought to be the first that compared deaths from COVID to deaths from other causes. It tracked 288 causes of death in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations.
