Good day. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,427th day of the pandemic.
THE LEDE
I See Something: The Unchecked Spread of SARS-CoV-2
Rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the fifth year of the pandemic is not only proof that the pandemic is not over but that it keeps regaining strength over and over again.
On a global basis, there were over 11,0000 report deaths from Covid in the period between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024. Over half were in the United States. Moreover, while a gross undercount, almost one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization on a global basis in the same period and a new omicron subvariant, JN.1, spread like wildfire in that period of time.
“I can’t believe it. Are you sure the war is over,” a puzzled and skeptical sounding Major Hochstetter (portrayed by Howard Caine) says to someone he believes is a German general but is really Corporal Peter Newkirk (Richard Dawson), in episode 83 of “Hogan’s Heroes,” entitled “War Takes a Holiday.” Newkirk is a prisoner in Stalag 13 who regularly intercepts the camp’s inbound and outbound communications. “Sure, I’m sure,” he says in an exaggerated German accent. “Don’t you think I know when the war is over?”
The prisoners of Stalag 13 may have been able to pull a fast one on their captors but, while many prefer to see the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, the pandemic is still ongoing. The WHO only declared an end to the public-health emergency last May, not the war nor the pandemic.
It may be briefly comforting to be able to say, à la Sergeant Hans Schultz (portrayed so brilliantly by the Austrian actor John Banner), “I see nothing! I hear nothing! I know nothing!,” but the virus is smarter than that. It sees a world full of hosts eager to offer temporary accommodations and unwilling, in most cases, to keep current with the inoculations required to keep severe illness hospitalization, Long Covid, and death away.
Sergeant Schultz may see nothing but another Austrian, namely me, who has been studying the virus and its spread since very late December 2019 and who has written over 1,500 editions of this Brief, knows that putting our collective heads in the sand won’t make it go away.
Now repeat after me: “Jawohl, Herr Oberfeldwebel!”
IN MEMORIAM
Dutch Writer With Severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Dies with Dignity at Age 28
[Editor’s note: This special In Memoriam is being republished in this issue due to the unusual topic and its potential significance to Covid and Long Covid sufferers. -BA]
Lauren Hoeve, A 28-year-old autistic Dutch woman, chose assisted suicide and died last Saturday rather than carry on with the torture that is severe chronic fatigue syndrome, known also as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME. She had had the condition since 2019.
Ms. Hoeve, who was also afflicted with ADHD, died with her parents and best friend by her side.
The former book blogger began to document her euthanasia application in 2022, opening up about how living with ME had affected her, while attempting to break the taboo surrounding conversations about dying.
Under Dutch law, according to a government website, any action intended to terminate life is in principle a criminal offence. It goes on to say that “[T]he only exemption from criminal liability is where a patient is experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement and the attending physician fulfils the statutory due care criteria.” Ms. Hoeve met their criteria.
She left behind a final entry in her aptly named blog, Brain Fog, sharing advice that she at one point or another would have liked someone to have offered her.
“Wees niet bang om kwetsbaar te zijn.” Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable.
“Het is helemaal oké om te zeggen dat je iets niet weet.” It’s ok to say you don’t know something.
“Investeer in een goed matras en hoofdkussen.“ Invest in a good mattress and pillow.
“Wanneer je een compliment of lief berichtje krijgt, schrijf of sla deze ergens op waar je het later.” If you receive a compliment, write it down so you can look at it later (perhaps at a moment when you are feeling down).
“Wees jezelf… Houd een dagboek bij…” and in a variation of carpe diem, “Stel het niet uit, leef!” Be yourself… Keep a diary… Don’t delay, live!.
Ironically, they are words to live by.
In other news we cover today , Oklahoma leads the nation in Long Covid cases, a Virginia man with Long Covid has the lungs of someone over twice his age, and the 2022 coronavirus vaccine booster shot did about as well as the flu shot for those in the age range of 5 through 17.
LONG COVID
A new study suggests that one in seven adults in New Jersey meet the criteria for Long Covid. While the Garden State’s Department of Health doesn’t collect data specific to Long Covid, the data was taken from a study undertaken by the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
A Virginia man who used to ride his bike to his job at the Virginia Department of Transportation where he was a planner for pedestrian and cyclist projects no longer rides his bike nor can he work. John Bolecek, who was diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 two years ago, had always anticipated he’d recover and feel better after contracting the virus. He hasn’t, and now his lungs resemble those of a 94-year-old.
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey shows that the state of Oklahoma leads the nation in the rate of incidence of Long Covid.
The survey found that 24% of Americans reported symptoms from SARS-CoV-2 lasting three months or longer. In Oklahoma, however, that figure was 34%, more than in any other state.
UNITED STATES
A new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the 2022 bivalent coronavirus vaccine booster dose was as good as an average flu shot at preventing SARS-CoV-2 in children ages 5 through 17.
The study, which looked at data for 3,000 people, was published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In a first for the Ivy League, Dartmouth is reinstating the requirement for applicants to sit for the SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test, as a requirement for the admissions process. The requirement was dropped in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. The school will also accept the ACT, or the American College Testing exam.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, February 6.
As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 702.76 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.03 million in the last 48 hours, and 6.98 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 673.67 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.04 million in the past 48 hours.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls as well as the occasional downward or upward adjustment as corrections to case figures warrant.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday at press time is 22,113,798, a decrease of 2,000 in the past 48 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,077,650, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 36,148, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 16 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded just over 110.86 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.2 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45.03 million, and a reported death toll of 533,455.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July 2022, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat last reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July 2022, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 40.14 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.81 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 709,407, has recorded 38.34 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 34.57 million cases, as number six; Japan, with 33.8 million cases placing it in the number seven slot; and Italy, with 26.71 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.89 million, and Russia, with 23.9 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending January 27, 2022, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on February 2, 2024 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 6.3%, and the trend in test positivity is -4.6% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 2%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -11%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 22,636, a figure that is down 10.9% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 3.6%, a figure is virtually unchanged over the past week.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Tuesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 10,010 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, 2023, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
If you have Long Covid and need to talk to someone, call the Long Covid Patient Peer Counseling Phone Line, or HOPELINE. The HOPELINE is our free, confidential support and information service.
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