Top Three
Getting To and Sustaining the Next Normal: A Roadmap for Living with COVID: New report "that takes a comprehensive look at where we have been, where we are, and where we’re going." More via Stat and The Hill.
Contributions from 53 epidemiologists, pharmacologists, virologists, immunologists, and policy experts chaired by Biden Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board member Ezekiel J. Emanuel.
School section. A few recommendations:
"Collaborate with teachers’ unions and school boards to promote Covid and influenza vaccine uptake."
"Require schools and childcare centers to mandate Covid and influenza vaccines for teachers and staff."
"Provide financial support for school boards and systems to operate vaccination clinics for Covid, influenza, and other vaccines."
"Direct CDC to develop specific, tiered guidance for childcare facilities and school districts to guide future public health interventions (including masking, social distancing, quarantining, reduced class sizes, and outdoor learning), considering healthcare stress and vaccination rates."
"Establish and expand programs for students who fell behind, including summer school, individualized tutoring, after-school or extra-school programs."
"Direct the ED to require states to report on ventilation and filtration in schools and consider additional funding mechanisms to incentivize ventilation upgrades."
"Direct ED to develop a research agenda and award grants examining methods to improve remote learning and determine optimal virtual learning modalities for students of all grade levels and abilities, taking into account universal design for learning"
"Direct ED to research how schools can teach via alternative small-group arrangements, hybridizing teacher-led instruction with developed curricular software or materials to deliver more structured remote instruction."
COVID Impact On The Brain: New study in Nature.
"There is strong evidence for brain-related abnormalities in COVID-19."
"We investigated brain changes in 785 UK Biobank participants (aged 51–81) imaged twice, including 401 cases who tested positive for infection with SARS-CoV-2 between their two scans, with 141 days on average separating their diagnosis and second scan, and 384 controls. The availability of pre-infection imaging data reduces the likelihood of pre-existing risk factors being misinterpreted as disease effects."
"We identified significant longitudinal effects when comparing the two groups, including:
greater reduction in grey matter thickness and tissue-contrast in the orbitofrontal cortex and parahippocampal gyrus
greater changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally-connected to the primary olfactory cortex, and
greater reduction in global brain size."
"Whether this deleterious impact can be partially reversed, or whether these effects will persist in the long term, remains to be investigated with additional follow up."
NYT:
"With normal aging, people lose a tiny fraction of gray matter each year. For example, in regions related to memory, the typical annual loss is between 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, the researchers said.
"But Covid patients in the study — who underwent their second brain scan an average of four and a half months after their infection — lost more than noninfected participants, experiencing between 0.2 percent and 2 percent additional gray matter loss in different brain regions over the three years between scans. They also lost more overall brain volume and showed more tissue damage in certain areas."
Vaccine-Associated Myo/Pericarditis in Adolescents:A Stratified Risk-Benefit Analysis: Study from Allison Krug, Josh Stevenson, Tracy Beth Høeg.
"Our findings strongly support individualized pediatric COVID-19 vaccination strategies which weigh protection against severe disease vs. risks of vaccine-associated myo/pericarditis."
"Research is needed into the nature and implications of this adverse effect as well as immunization strategies which reduce harms in this overall low-risk cohort."
"For girls, the benefits of a second dose appear to outweigh the risks of myo/pericarditis during delta, but the protective effect of a second dose for any child during omicron is uncertain given the lower vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization (VEH) with dose two compared to dose one."
"For boys with a medical comorbidity, our analysis suggests that the benefits of a second dose may outweigh the risks depending on the VEH of the first and second doses and the severity of the variant."
"For boys without a medical comorbidity, our analysis suggests that the risks of a second dose exceed the benefits of additional hospitalizations prevented during both delta and omicron."
COVID-19 Research
COVIDTests.gov: Starting this week, every home in the U.S. will be able to order an additional set of 4 tests.
AMA Has Concerns With The Administration’s Test-to-Treat Plan: Statement which mostly argues about scope creep even though pharmacists understand drug interactions. "Establishing pharmacy-based clinics as one stop shopping for COVID-19 testing and treatments is extremely risky. "
Novavax’s Covid-19 Vaccine Moves Closer to FDA Authorization Decision: Via WSJ.
"Long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine is moving toward U.S. authorization after the company said it resolved manufacturing problems that had held up its application."
"Unlike the cutting-edge messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., Novavax’s jab uses a familiar technology, used for decades to inoculate babies against hepatitis B, which some hesitant people might find more appealing. Some people have also worried about how rapidly the mRNA shots were developed and their lack of long-term data."
FDA Declines Pediatric EUA for Ocugen's COVID Vaccine Covaxin: Via Reuters.
"The American pharmaceutical company Ocugen said on Friday that the FDA had rejected its application seeking emergency authorization for an India-made Covid vaccine for those ages 2 to 18."
"Covaxin, which is not cleared for any age group in the United States, is one of the two most widely used COVID vaccines in India and also has an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization."
Long COVID: Almost a third of people report at least one ongoing symptom between 6 and 12 months after their coronavirus infection, a survey of 152,000 people in Denmark has found. More via Reuters.
Immunity Against the Omicron Variant from Vaccination, Recovery or Both: Study from Monica Gandhi
"Although not a substitute for vaccination by itself, recovery from infection generates SARSCoV-2 immunity and protects against severe disease for many individuals."
"Requiring only one vaccine dose after recovery should provide short-term protection and might serve to increase trust in public health and heal divisiveness."
Vaccine Outreach: Via CNN, "NIH needed help reaching communities of color about Covid-19, but grassroots groups say they were not paid properly."
The Air Investigator: "For Joseph Allen, the pandemic has made the connection between indoor air quality and human health clearer than ever." Good article in Science.
The Epidemic of Covid Complacency: Via Eric Topol.
"We are still averaging nearly 50,000 confirmed new cases a day, at a time when rapid tests are increasingly being used and not factored in. This is more than 3-fold the level of new cases, and 2-fold the number of Covid hospitalizations, than in June 2021. The metrics do not lend any support to the mission of containment accomplished."
"Notably, the United States ranks 55th in the world for booster shots and 67th for 2-shot vaccinated. It is remarkable that we are at the lowest rate of primary vaccinations and booster uptake since the beginning of their respective campaigns."
"Now is the wrong time to become complacent. Our vaccination and booster rates have left us in a highly vulnerable position, worse than many low and middle-income countries."
"The math for a more harmful version of the virus is unfavorable. Unwillingness to support a solid plan to be prepared—for the first time in the American pandemic—is looming. The United States has performed poorly relative to peer countries from the start of the pandemic. Not taking advantage of this moment to get ahead of the virus, instead of being entranced with a false sense of security, will just add to a big miss."
When Will The COVID-19 Pandemic End? Via McKinsey
"The link between cases and behavioral adjustments is largely broken. Data shows that more and more people have concluded that the health risks of COVID-19 are not significant enough for them to change their behavior, either because of their vaccination status, their youth, or a desire to move on from the pandemic."
"Third, and consistent with this trend, some governments have concluded that the total societal costs of lockdowns, restrictions on business, or masking outweigh the benefits at this phase of the pandemic."
"We might then expect to see a seasonality-driven wave of disease next fall and winter, but hospitalizations would likely peak well below the level of the wave we just experienced."
"Evidence suggests that both natural and vaccine-induced immunity wane over time, particularly against infection.16 While we don’t yet know the full extent of waning immunity for Omicron, new evidence indicates that those who have received three doses of vaccine may benefit from medium-term protection."
Mask Tracker: Via Burbio
3 Things to Know About Endemic COVID: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation hosted an event (video) with Dr. Matt Craven, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, and Dr. Francesca. Takeaways.
Case Closed? Scott Sumner with a good post on the two studies from last week that explored the origins of COIVD.
Who Should Get To Decide On Masks and Medicine: Economist/YouGov poll.
State
Alabama: Schools investing $434M in COVID aid on athletic complexes, weight rooms, ‘zen rooms’
California: Severe driver shortage leaves some kids waiting at the school bus stop.
DC: School mask mandates are easing in the D.C. area. Here are the latest rules.
Florida: Florida Surgeon General Dr Joseph Ladapo said the state will soon recommend against 'healthy' children receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. More via the NYT.
Illinois:
Gov. Pritzker shifts Illinois schools to normal operating procedures.
Chicago Teachers Union: "The decision ... to unilaterally remove the mask mandate starting March 14, 2022, is a clear violation of our January, 12, 2022, Memorandum of Agreement. Our union will immediately be filing an unfair labor practice charge."
Ohio: "Statewide, the Ohio Department of Education calculated the chronic absenteeism rate jumped to 24% in 2020-2021, up from 11% in 2019-2020."
Pennsylvania: PDE released results from the 2020-2021 school year administration of state-level assessments.
International
China: "The Chinese port city of Qingdao reported 88 new coronavirus cases for March 5, all of them of the Omicron variant, fueling China's highest number of daily locally transmitted cases so far this year."
"The Qingdao outbreak was mainly among middle school students in Laixi county, the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission said."
Economic Recovery
Rising Gas Prices: Via Heather Long, "The average US gas price is now over $4 a gallon, according to AAA. It's up ~60 cents in past month due largely to Russia's war."
Avg. for regular: $4.01
Price a week ago: $3.60
Price a month ago: $3.44
Price a year ago: $2.76
Record high was $4.11 in July 2008
Babysitting Rates Skyrocket: Via Axios, "The average hourly rate for a babysitter leapt 11% in 2021 to $20.57 an hour — far outpacing the 7% rate of inflation — as the labor shortage made child care providers harder to find."
Resources
Hidden Pain: COVID Collaborative has launched a platform to honor the stories of children that have lost a caregiver to COVID-19, and provide resources to help them and their families as they rebuild and look to the future.
"We’re bringing together community organizations, grief groups, government resources, and more to surround these families with a comprehensive network of support."
Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention: AAP and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), in collaboration with experts from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have created a comprehensive set of resources intended to support pediatric health clinicians in identifying strategies and partnerships to support children and teens at risk for suicide.
Governors Shift Away from COVID-19 in State of the State Addresses to Teacher Pay, Mental Health — & Culture War Issues: Analysis of state-of-the-state addresses by The 74.
Let It Go: Ukrainian girl singing "Let it go" in a shelter.
American Idol:
Alabama’s Lady K dedicates audition to brother who died by suicide. Moves judges to tears. And leaves them thank-you cards.
"It was hard to decide if paying for rent was going to come first or paying for a funeral because we don't have my brother anymore."
“I don't want my mom to only think about this. I know I don't want that to be the only significant thing in our life. I'm here to honor him and make my family proud."
West Virginia's Kelsie Dolin's first time singing for people and she makes Lionel Richie cry
"We are so emotional, we are so overcome because you've been sitting down in West Virginia and you have this pure, beautiful voice that's never been challenged, been pushed, that's never been lifted up and loved on."