Welcome to Alcatraz.
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 1,428th day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today , three men were sentenced to prison in a $3.5 million pandemic funds fraud ring, a new study about Long Covid in children is raising concerns, and anti-maskers who sued to protect what they contended were their First Amendment rights to go maskless at school board meetings where masks were mandated found out that going maskless was not a protected form of free speech.
LONG COVID
A new study about Long Covid in children is raising concerns.
A large analysis of health data published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics points out the toll that Long Covid can take on the young. The condition can lead to neurological, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and behavioral symptoms following an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, similar to what adults experience.
While Long Covid is less prevalent amongst children than adults, it can still disrupt their schoolwork and social lives with abandon.
The report, entitled Postacute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 in Children and prepared by researchers with expertise in Long Covid in children across the United States , drew on numerous studies of Long Covid in children and demonstrates how the condition can effect multiple organ systems and it also suggests that somewhere between 10% to 20% of children who have had SARS-CoV-2 can develop Long Covid.
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.
UNITED STATES
A federal appeals court ruled earlier this week that New Jersey residents who refused to don face masks at school board meetings in the early period of the coronavirus pandemic did not engage in protected speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling Monday in two related cases in which lawsuits were brought against officials in Freehold and Cranford, New Jersey. The lawsuits were filed by George Falcone and Gwyneth Murray-Nolan. The plaintiffs claimed that they had faced retaliation by school board officials because they refused to wear masks during the public meetings.
“A question shadowing suits such as these is whether there is a First Amendment right to refuse to wear a protective mask as required by valid health and safety orders put in place during a recognized public health emergency,” the court said. “Like all courts to address this issue, we conclude there is not.”
Three people were sentenced on Tuesday for fraudulently having obtained federal Paycheck Protection Program loans for fictitious businesses in 2020 and 2021, as part of what the Department of Justice termed a “COVID-19 fraud ring.”
Eric J. O’Neil of Bethel, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison; Khadijah X. Chapman of Atlanta was given three years and ten months; and Daniel C. Labrum of South Jordan, Utah, was sentenced to two years in the clink.
“The defendants worked with co‑conspirators to falsify information and submitted fraudulent documents to financial institutions in Boise and elsewhere to collectively obtain approximately $3.5 million in relief funding intended for small businesses struggling with the economic impact of COVID-19,” the DOJ said in a statement.
A study from researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University reported that it’s possible to greatly increase your body’s immune response from vaccinations with a very simple maneuver: When being given a multi-dose vaccine, alternate arms from one to the other.
The researchers found “as much as a four-fold increase in immune response” using this method.
The study was published in the January 16 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Wednesday, February 7.
As of Wednesday morning, the world has recorded 702.86 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.1 million in the last 48 hours, and 6.98 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 673.76 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.09 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 Wednesday at press time is 22,120,205, an increase of 6,000 in the past 48 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,084,118, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 36,087, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 17 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Wednesday, recorded just over 110.94 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 533,457.
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 Wednesday, 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 5,333 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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