The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City
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 1,451st day as well as the first day of meteorological spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Things Started to Go from Bad to Worse Four Years Ago and We Still Have a Lot to Learn about Covid Before the Final Aria
Four years ago, when things started to go from bad to worse, we knew that what was then the novel coronavirus was spreading and we also knew that it was lethal in what seemed to be a disproportionate number of people. But I don’t believe that we had anywhere close to a full appreciation of how about it was… or how bad it was about to become.
We downplayed the danger: Then-President Donald Trump dismissed it as now worse than the flu (it almost killed him in October 2020) and he said that the pandemic would be over by Easter.
When a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged in late February 2020 that disruptions to daily life could become, “severe,” the agency was quickly muzzled and the president himself became the government’s main conduit for pandemic updates through his daily briefings. There was confusing and conflicting mask guidance and the United States did a poor initial job in isolating those who were known to have been exposed to the virus or who had traveled to a high-risk location.
Masks became politicized. Even after health experts reached a consensus on masking, Trump refused to set an example by donning one in public. Instead, he mocked people those who wore them, and many of his supporters rejected masks and followed his example in mocking those who did.
And let’s not forget that the phrase “hygiene theater” became a thing. Hotel chains and airlines competed with one another for the few travelers out there by sealing rooms after industrial-strength sterilization efforts and finding innovative ways to banish these nasty germs from planes.
Let’s fast forward today, the 1,451st day of the pandemic. And the pandemic is not and has not been declared over. Only the public emergency phase has come to an end.
The CDC on Friday unveiled what it termed “a unified approach to addressing risks from a range of common respiratory viral illnesses. This would include respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.
Each and every one of these alone can – at least in theory – cause significant health impacts and strain on hospitals and health care workers.
The agency said it chose to make the change now because the country is seeing far fewer hospitalizations and deaths from the current subvariants of the omicron variant than had previously been the case. It arrived one day after the 7 millionth recorded death from Covid-19 somewhere in the world had been recorded.
Before reviewing the changes, it’s important to note what hasn’t changed with Covid.
SARS-CoV-2 is still a disease that causes over 1,000 deaths per week, according to CDC data, and Long Covid – with often devastating symptoms that cause severe neurological and cognitive issues, severe fatigue, and other ailments – remains a risk for anyone contracting Covid as there is no magic bullet to prevent the onset of Long Covid at the present time.
In addition, the new relaxed guidelines do not apply to healthcare settings, hospitals, doctor’s practices, and nursing homes. The general populace will still need to be extra cautious around people who are at a higher risk from Covid, namely the elderly, the immunocompromised, and pregnant woman
Finally, the above groups should consult a doctor when feeling unwell in order to get tested and receive any appropriate therapies.
Going forward, the aforementioned notwithstanding, one should now follow the same precautions with Covid as one would take with the flu, more or less. This means that a recovering patient would stay home until one day without fever and once symptoms have started to dissipate. For the following five days, however, it’s important to don a face mask and limit close contact with others.
“Today’s announcement reflects the progress we have made in protecting against severe illness from Covid-19,” said the agency’s director, Dr. Mandy Cohen, who added that “we still must use the commonsense solutions we know work to protect ourselves and others from serious illness from respiratory viruses.”
The list she ticked off includes vaccination, treatment, and staying home when sick.
Over the past year, many schools and workplaces either laxly enforced or didn’t enforce at all the stricter CDC guidance, and several states already took steps similar to what the CDC announced on Friday.
These changes, however, don’t magically make Covid just like the flu, however.
With all this, it’s important that we don’t throw away the baby with the bath water and forget the lessons of the past four years. It’s still common sense to avoid crowded spaces, practice preventative medicine, continue good hygiene including frequent handwashing, stay out of poorly ventilated places, and spend more time outdoors.
It’s been a long time since people were wiping the mail and lettuce leaves with disinfectant and we’ve learnt quite a bit in interim.
the importance of prevention, urging vaccination, good hygiene practices and seeking clean air through ventilation or outdoor activities.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, March 1.
As of Friday, at press time, the world has recorded 703.85 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.35 million in the last 24 hours, and 7 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 674.65 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.03 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 Friday at press time is 22,197,361, a decrease of 25,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,161,877, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,484, 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 Friday, recorded 111.54 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.22 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45.03 million, and a reported death toll of 533,491.
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 23.98 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 7.4%, and the trend in test positivity is -1.1% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 1.5%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -14.6%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 17,310, a figure that is down 10.3% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 2.1%, a figure that is down 10.7% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Friday, 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 3,120 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
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