A Western Gull near Monterey Bay in California
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 1,497th day.
In news we cover today, RFK Jr.’s non-scientist running mate is calling for a recall of Moderna coronavirus vaccines, California is reporting all-time lows in Covid hospitalizations and deaths, and congenital syphilis rose dramatically in New York State during the early years of the pandemic.
THE LEDE
Where Has All the Data Gone?
We regret to inform that, as of April 15, 2024, the Global Daily Statistics data in the Coronavirus Daily News Brief are no longer being updated. Over the past 15 months, as more and more politicians and governments sought to place SARS-CoV-2 in the rear-view mirror, data reporting sputtered out and we are now at the point where it is simply not feasible to provide statistically valid Covid case data on a global scale.
The Brief began to report global daily statistics in January 2020 in much the same format as it was prepared in the final report. The Brief along with the Center for Long Covid Research appears to be the last independent source to compile such data as other august data sources including Johns Hopkins ended most of its pandemic reporting in 2022 and some sections in March 2023 while the New York Times ceased offering pandemic data at the end of March 2023.
We recognize that such data has been crucial to understanding the spread and impact of Covid and trends in Long Covid but as people’s memories recede with a rear-view mirror view, it is reported by government sources less often if reported at all.
There continue to be at least 250,000 new Covid cases reported each week across the globe and many more go unreported. In addition, while the global death toll has been on the decline, over the past three months, the previous 28-day death toll ranged between 4,000 to 5,000.
We are developing potential new and authoritative sources that we will present once they have been properly vetted, so stay tuned to this space. In the meantime, our Long Covid and pandemic coverage will remain much the same.
TODAY IN COVID HISTORY
On April 16, 2020, Japan announced a nationwide state of emergency and called for increased measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus as a weeklong holiday period called Golden Week, which is a popular travel period, approached.
Great Britain extended its lockdown by three weeks. “The government has decided that the current measures must remain in place for at least the next three weeks,” said Dominic Raab, the country’s foreign secretary at the time.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would extend the state’s shutdown to May 15, in coordination with neighboring states. “What happens after then? I don’t know,” he said.
The number of coronavirus cases across the globe stood on this day in 2020 at 2.12 million, of which 535,513 have recovered, based on data compiled by the Coronavirus Morning News Brief at the time. The death toll stood at 141,971.
Put differently, Spain had 409 deaths per million members of the population while Italy had 358. Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland had 419, 263, 193, and 148 deaths per million respectively, while China, Germany, and the United States had reported two, 46, and 101 deaths per million respectively.
LONG COVID
A recently published study in the journal Clinics suggests that HDL-C and ferritin are linked to an increased severity in Long Covid and may be markers for same.
The study, entitled “Reduced HDL-Cholesterol in Long Covid-19: A Key Metabolic Risk Factor Tied to Disease Severity,” examined health data from 88 patients across varying degrees of initial disease severity ranging from mild to moderate to severe) compared to a control group comprising 29 healthy individuals. HDL-C and ferritin emerged as leading predictors of disease severity.
UNITED STATES
If you were hoping for a reduction in vaccine mis-information, don’t look at the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His running mate, Nicole Shanahan, whose most notable activity to date was marrying and then divorcing Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Shanahan has expressed support for Kennedy’s anti-vaccine advocacy while insisting she is not anti-vax herself.
That hasn’t stopped her from sowing doubt about some vaccines, however. In a social media post made on Tuesday, Shanahan, who has no background in medicine or science, opined about pined about the “devastating reality” of Moderna’s mRNA vaccine.
“It is not a safe vaccine, and must be recalled immediately. Many people are suffering who took it,” she wrote.
Health officials in California reported record lows in Covid hospitalization and death figures.
Hospitalizations due to Covid-19 were approximately 7 patients per 100,000 residents in early January, and have fallen to a historic low of 1.5 per 100,000 by March 30.
Congenital syphilis in New York rose by 24% in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic. The disease continues to increase faster than any other sexually transmitted infection in the state, a new report from the New York State health department said.
The number of congenital syphilis cases is now 75% higher than five years ago.
Congenital syphilis is a disease that occurs when a mother with syphilis passes the infection on to her baby during pregnancy.
The findings suggest dwindling prevention efforts and public health workforce shortages that began at the height of the pandemic.
A new study found that rural SARS-CoV-2 patients were 22% likelier to die after a hospital stay than their urban counterparts.
The study, conducted by the Mayo Clinic, found that such disparities persisted even after the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in early 2021.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
A not-yet-published study by researchers at UCLA and Lehigh University found that nursing homes hide on average 62.9% of profits by engaging in related party transactions. They tend to pay inflated fees to related parties, primarily for real estate and management services.
In “Tunneling and Hidden Profits in Health Care,” the authors, economists Ashvin Gandhi and Andrew Olenski, present a credible explanation as to why nursing homes always appear to be on the brink of bankruptcy but continue to stay in operation. Nursing home operators are protesting the Biden administration’s proposed bare-minimum staffing standards, saying they can’t possibly afford to do this, yet the care homes owned by private-equity companies nonetheless are able to enrich their masters.
The study is based on 24 years of nursing homes’ Medicaid cost reports in Illinois, which requires facilities to submit detailed information, including mandatory reporting of information about related parties.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 6, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on April 12 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.4%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.4% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.5%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -14.8%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 7,318, a figure that is down 9.8% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 1.1%, a figure that is down 8.3% 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 2,312 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
Finally, as of April 14, 2024, only Turkmenistan in Central Asia is only state that has not reported any cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections whatsoever, although it is strongly suspected that the virus is present there. Meanwhile, the last territory in the world to have its first ever SARS-CoV-2 infection was Tokelau, a dependency of New Zealand that reported its first five cases on December 21, 2022.
GLOBAL DAILY STATISTICS
Note to readers: As of April 15, 2024, the Global Daily Statistics data are no longer being updated. Over the past 15 months, as more and more politicians and governments sought to place SARS-CoV-2 in the rear-view mirror, even with data reporting sputtered out and we are now at the point where it is simply not feasible to provide statistically valid Covid case data on a global scale.
There continue to be at least 250,000 new Covid cases reported each week across the globe and many more go unreported. In addition, while the global death toll has been on the decline, over the past three months, the previous 28-day death toll ranged between 4,000 to 5,000.
As of the final report in this section, the world has recorded 704.75 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of less than 0.01 million in the last 24 hours, and 7.01 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 675.62 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of less than 0.01 million in the same period.
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 22,123,398, a figure that is unchanged in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,088,604, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 34,794, 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 Tuesday, recorded 111.82 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, 45.04 million, and the world’s fourth highest death toll, 533,570.
The last data made available by Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service in July 2022 showed that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in the country was 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat has not released any additional data on the death toll in Russia since then.
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 38.83 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 711,380, has recorded 38.74 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 24.91 million, and Russia, with 24.12 million, as nine and ten respectively.
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Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this issue.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
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