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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 1,447th day.
In news we cover today, New York City is getting a new genome sequencing lab for Covid, Albert Einstein Medical College will go tuition free after a $1 billion donation, and there’s more progress in Long Covid-related research.
LONG COVID
In Switzerland, scientists have identified abnormalities in the immune systems of patients with Long Covid that could unlock some mysteries of the condition.
The researchers tested for 6,500 blood proteins in 300 Long Covid patients. They found important differences between those who had fully recovered from SARS-CoV-2 and those who had Long Covid and these differences potentially could be used as biomarkers to diagnose Long Covid.
The study, Persistent Complement Dysregulation with Signs of Thromboinflammation in Active Long Covid, was published in the journal Science and led by Carlo Cervia-Hasler from the University of Zürich, whose research interests include immunology, biomarker discovery, data analysis, and Long Covid. It found that dysfunctional complement system proteins might be able to explain the fatigue and inflammation that Long Covid patients experience.
UNITED STATES
In New York City, the Department of Health awarded Neochromosome, a biological engineering company in Long Island City, a $57 million contract for whole-genome sequencing on Covid-19 patient blood samples in order to provide the city with as much information as possible about how SARS-CoV-2 is changing in the city.
The Supreme Court turned down an appeal from Marjorie Taylor Greene and two other Republican congressmen over a suit against the mask mandate in the House of Representatives. The three – which included Tom Massie and Ralph Norman – had been fined thousands of dollars, which was then deducted from their pay checks, for flouting the mandate. They then filed suit against then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
Lawyers for the current House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, agreed with that decision, telling the Supreme Court, “this case is not about the wisdom of the rule or whether it was based on sound science.”
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
A bid by television network ABC to dismiss the coronavirus vaccination wrongful termination suit filed by a father and son team who ran the construction and special effects department for the television show “General Hospital” was denied by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Goorvitch.
The two are accusing the network of religious discrimination in firing them for refusing to get inoculated against the virus.
The court rejected the network’s assertion of doubt that the Wahls’ objection to the vaccine was based in firm religious beliefs. ABC argued that the pair’s roles were such that they could not receive an exemption the need to comply with the industry-wide restrictions that were imposed during the first two years of the pandemic in order to allow TV and film production to resume.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
Medical students at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the B ronx had something to cheer about after hearing a speech by the college’s chairman of the board of trustees on Monday, after it was revealed that the medical school had received a $1 billion donation to make it tuition free. The donation came from the speaker herself, Ruth Gottesman, widow of David Gottesman, a banker and businessman who was the founder of First Manhattan, a wealth management firm. This was not the first gift from the Gottesman family to Albert Einstein, however. In 2008, they gave $25 million to establish the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.
The gift was one of the largest donations ever to an educational institution in the United States. Ruth Gottesman holds a doctorate in education in human cognition. The mother of David Gottesman, Esther (née Garfunkel), actively supported the creation of the Jewish state, and played a major role in acquiring the Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem, according to her obituary in the New York Times in 1997.
Meanwhile, new research shows that omalizumab, a widely used drug in the treatment of chronic severe asthma, also significantly reduces reactions to many common food allergies.
The study, Omalizumab for the Treatment of Multiple Food Allergies, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Sunday. The drug, marketed as Xolair, is the first preventive treatment that can protect users from accidentally life-threatening episodes. It is composed of antibodies that bind and deactivate immuglobulin E, which would otherwise trigger the immune system when certain allergens are present.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Monday, February 26.
As of Monday, at press time, the world has recorded 703.67 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.1 million in the last 24 hours, and 6.99 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 674.41 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.01 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 Monday at press time is 22,277,552, an increase of 454 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,241,884, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,668, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 18 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Monday, recorded 111.44 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 533,478.
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, 709,963, has recorded 38.45 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 26.72 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.9 million, and Russia, with 23.96 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending February 10, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on February 16, 2024 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 1.1%, and the trend in test positivity is -1.3% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 1.7%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -12.4%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 18,977, a figure that is down 5.7% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 2.4%, a figure that is down 11.1% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Monday, 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 3,685 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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