Life expectancy has only improved since these items were staples in some people’s diets.
Good afternoon. 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 its 1,434th day.
In news we cover today , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reportedly considering changes to its current isolation guidance for individuals who contract SARS-CoV-2, New York City’s Vital Statistics report indicates a modest improvement in life expectancy over 2021, and three men were convicted in stealing $7.8 million in U.S. pandemic loans.
LONG COVID
A new study on pregnant women and Long Covid found that one in ten pregnant women who contracted Covid-19 then found themselves suffering from Long Covid.
The results of the study, which was published under the title Development of Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) After Infection in Pregnancy: NIH Recover-Pregnancy Cohort, were presented Tuesday at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.
Of the 1,503 women who were pregnant in a subset of the National Institutes of Health’s Recover Initiative dataset, 9.3% reported having Long Covid symptoms six months or more after they were infected. The most common symptom was a feeling of being tired after light physical or mental activity. Some also reported dizziness.
UNITED STATES
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reportedly reviewing potential changes to its isolation recommendations for individuals testing positive for SARS-CoV and it apparently hasn’t ruled out reducing or altering the recommended number of days during which those with the virus should isolate, it is understood.
No final decision on whether to change the guidance has been made, and the review is part of a process to remain current with the risk and spread of disease, an officials said. The possibility of a guidance change was first reported by the Washington Post.
New York City officials said that life expectancy in the Big Apple had risen but acknowledged that it continued to remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.
The city’s Vital Statistics Report showed that people born in New York in 2021 would have an average life expectancy of 80.7 years, a figure higher than that of 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, when that number was 78.
Life expectancy in New York City continues to be limited by multiple diseases and quality of life issues, some preventable, the city’s health commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, said in releasing the report. Notably, the report showed an increase in drug abuse-related deaths. Vasan said that city officials aim to improve overall quality of life so that life expectancy will reach 83 years by the end of the current decade.
Three men who collected almost $8 million in fraudulent coronavirus pandemic federal relief payments now face 20 years of prison each. The three – Jacob Carter of Maryland, and Quadri Salahuddin and Anwar Salahuddin, both from Mount Vernon, New York – were each convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence.
The three had submitted over 1,000 fraudulent applications for U.S. Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, February 13.
As of Tuesday at press time, the world has recorded 703.15 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.15 million in the last 24 hours, and 6.98 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 673.99 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.09 million in the past 24 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 22,167,796, an increase of 43,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,131,819, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,977, 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 Tuesday, recorded 111.12 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 533,466.
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 38.82 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 709,601, has recorded 38.37 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 just under 23.93 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending February 2, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on February 9, 2024 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 10%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.6% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 1.8%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -10.8%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 20,772, a figure that is down 10% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 3.1%, a figure that is down 6.1% in the same period.
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 4,994 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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