A sign advising of a park closure in the Northport (Long Island) Nautical Mile
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 1,465th day.
In news we cover today, there has been a startling rise in the number of people with Long Covid, a Long Covid patient trial for Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction has begun, and about the same number of people (more or less) who have never heard of Long Covid also believe tap water is sterile and contains no living organisms or bacteria.
THE LEDE
The Pandemic, by the Numbers
This past Monday marked the four-year anniversary of the declaration by the World Health Organization that the Covid-19 outbreak was a pandemic. It was also the day that headlines carried the story of a Broadway usher who worked front-of-house at two Broadway theaters who had tested positive for Covid. That usher, who was not identified, had worked at both the Booth Theatre, where “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe” was being performed, and at the Brooks Atkinson, where the hit musical “Six” was about to open.
The following day, New York City, which would see its first two deaths from the virus later in the week, announced a restriction on gatherings of 500 people or more, a figure chosen to allow the closure of Broadway theaters, a move that also put off the opening night of “Six” for more than a year.
As the fourth anniversary was marked, there had been 15,141 weekly new hospital admissions for Covid according to the CDC, a figure far lower than the peak of 150,650 weekly hospitalizations that had been recorded in the week of January 22, 2022, at the height of the omicron wave.
Since the virus first emerged, over six million Americans have been hospitalized from it.
A staggering 1.18 million people in the United States have died from Covid, and 17.6% of the population has had Long Covid in one form or another.
THIS DAY IN COVID HISTORY
On March 15, 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended against any gathering of 50 or more people in order to contain the spread of the then novel coronavirus.
The following day, March 16, 2020, New York City closed its public schools and moved to a remote instruction model. The Board of Education said at the time that schools would reopen following Spring Recess on April 20, 2020. In the interim, grab-and-go meals would be made available to students for the duration of the shutdown.
At of the 16th, there had been 329 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in New York City and 5 fatalities attributed to the virus.
LONG COVID
The number of people living with Long Covid is going up, not down, according to recent data from a survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The startling increase comes to light as the agency has relaxed Covid isolation recommendations.
That means an estimated 17.6 million Americans could now be living with long Covid.
The National Institutes of Health in the United States announced the start of two phase 2 clinical trials to test the safety and effectiveness of three treatments for adults with autonomic nervous system dysfunction from Long Covid.
Symptoms related to the autonomic nervous system, which regulates bodily functions including heart rate, digestion, and respiratory rate. have been among those that many Long Covid patients present with.
A new survey indicates that fear of SARS-CoV-2 is continuing to fade. A Pew Research Center report published late last week found that only 20% of respondents now consider the virus a significant threat to the health of the U.S. population, a substantial decline from significantly higher figures just four years ago. Moreover, just 10% expressed deep concern over the prospect of contracting the virus and then being hospitalized.
In addition, 21% of those responding to the survey said they believe that it’s somewhat important for the medical field to address Long Covid, while 6% said it was not important or not very important. A rather surprising 22% indicated they had never heard of Long Covid.
UNITED STATES
A Las Vegas man who stole over $40,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program that was part of the nation’s pandemic relief efforts will spend two years in federal prison, the office of the U.S. attorney of Nevada announced Friday.
Arian Anthony Bailey defrauded the program by obtaining $40,000 under false pretenses, according to a copy of his plea agreement. The 34-year-old fraudster pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced this month to 30 months in prison followed by three years of probation, according to the agreement. He must also pay back $46,731.39, which includes $5,000 the government spent processing the applications.
Bailey had tried to obtain over $500,000 in relief funds but his applications, which were all made while on supervised release for felony drug and gun convictions, were turned down.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
A new study shows why one should not use tap water for nasal irrigation. The study, published on Wednesday in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, examined ten cases where patients had developed life-threatening amoeba infections after rinsing their sinuses, in many cases with tap water using either a neti pot or a squirt bottle.
While such infections are relatively rare, what isn’t rare is the percentage of people in the United States who believe tap water is sterile. That figure, according to a survey published in February 2023 in the same journal, is 33%. That cohort believed that the water contained no living bacteria or other germs. Moreover, 62% thought it was safe to use tap water for rinsing sinuses, 50% thought it was safe to use tap water for rinsing contact lenses, and 42% thought that the water coming out of the tap was safe for cleaning respiratory devices.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, March 15.
As of Friday, at press time, the world has recorded 704.24 million Covid-19 cases, a figure that has increased by 0.01 million in the last 24 hours, and 7.01 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 675.11 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.04 million in the last 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 22,121,550, a decrease of 20,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,086,274, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,276, 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 Friday, recorded 111.68 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 the world’s fourth highest death toll, 533,513.
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, 710,427, has recorded 38.59 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 24.03 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending March 9, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on March 15 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 5.2%, and the trend in test positivity is -1.5% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 1%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -24%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 13,391, a figure that is down 13.5% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 2%, a figure that is down 4.8% 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 3,742 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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