Cinderella Castle, inspired by the late 19th century Schloß Neuschwanstein, a castle commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and fireworks at Walt Disney World in Florida
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 1,453rd day.
In news we cover today, two new studies address the cognitive decline caused by Long Covid, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed the isolation guidance for individuals who contract SARS-CoV-2, and public health experts are concerned about the state of Florida’s refusal to follow well-established public health guidance to protect unvaccinated children.
LONG COVID
Two new studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine suggest that a bout of Long Covid can cause a drops in IQ and trouble with standard memory-related and cognitive tasks such as verbal reasoning and accurately defining words. Together, the two studies examined the cognitive abilities of nearly 200,000 Covid patients in England and Norway who then completed follow-up cognition and memory task assessments.
The British study findings suggest that the longer it takes someone with SARS-CoV-2 to recover from his symptoms, the more his measurable IQ would drop compared with individuals who never had never tested positive for Covid.
“We found [that] objectively measurable cognitive deficits that may persist for a year or more after Covid-19,” the authors of the British study wrote.
The findings of the Norwegian study are even more concerning.
The study had 134,000 participants who had SARs-CoV-2. Each regularly took a test called the Everyday Memory Questionnaire. Those who were admitted to an ICU or hospitalized, and those who hadn’t kept up with their Covid-19 vaccinations or were infected earlier in the pandemic, experienced a more serious cognitive decline at various points over more than 36 months.
UNITED STATES
The CDC on Sunday 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.
In New York State, lawmakers in Albany are frustrated over multiple delays in receiving a final report on the state’s response to the pandemic in the first two years and offer guidance in the event of future pandemics.
The report, which is being prepared by he Olson Group Ltd., based in Alexandria, Virginia, was to have been submitted at the end of 2023. Now lawmakers are calling for an independent and public study by a commission of experts, with subpoena power.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
Multiple public health researchers are coming out strongly against Florida’s current response to the measles outbreak, saying that it goes against well-established public health guidance.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases on the planet and has been around for well over a century, so best practices to fight infection are quite well established at this point.
The problem stems from the state’s controversial and apparently unqualified surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, who has not – in a move that flies in the face of common sense – told parents of unvaccinated children to either get their kids vaccinated or keep them out of school in quarantine during the outbreak. Instead, the good doctor left it to parents to decide what to do.
When individuals who have not been vaccinated against the measles or have prior immunity – including children – get exposed to the virus, nine out of ten will contract it according to data from the CDC
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Sunday, March 3.
As of Sunday, at press time, the world has recorded 703.87 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.02 million in the last 48 hours, and 7 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 674.79 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.14 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 Sunday at press time is 22,075,964, a decrease of 121,000 in the past 48 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,040,485, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,479, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 19 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Sunday, recorded 111.56 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 Sunday, 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 3,811 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.
Kurt Stolz 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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