The set of the recent Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Company”
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 1,507th day. On this day in 1970, the Stephen Sondheim musical “Company” opened on Broadway. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards and won six.
“Company” was one of the first book musicals to deal with contemporary themes such as dating, marriage, and divorce and it is also a notable example of a concept musical that lacks a linear plot. Instead, in a series of vignettes, the musical follows Bobby, a bachelor portrayed by Dean Jones, as he interacts with his married friends who throw him a 35th birthday party. In the brilliant 2021 revival, the central character was played by Katrina Lenk, albeit as “Bobbie.”
In news we cover today , the World Health Organization issued new guidelines for the next coronavirus vaccine, likely to be made available this fall; a Covid patient’s unusual symptoms that resulted in her hospitalization saved her life in the end, and the WHO expanded its definition of an airborne pathogen.
TODAY IN COVID HISTORY
On April 26, 2020, the number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus crossed the three million mark, as the known death toll surpassed 200,000.
The Centers for Disease Control, which had just three symptoms on its “Symptoms of Coronavirus” list, added six additional ones. The additional symptoms include chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and a loss of taste or smell and were added as researchers’ understanding of the disease evolves.
The CDC’s original list included fever, cough, and shortness of breath.
The number of coronavirus cases across the globe stood at 3.02 million, of which 888,543 have recovered, based on data compiled by the Coronavirus Morning News Brief. The death toll stood at 207,933.
LONG COVID
Two million people across England and Scotland are currently suffering from Long Covid, of whom 381,000 have had their day-to-day activities limited significantly, according to an official study published on Thursday.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics said 3.3% of people surveyed between February 6 and March 7 reported having Covid symptoms that had lasted more than four weeks since an initial infection and were not explained by another medical condition.
The data showed that 9.1% of those who were not working or looking for work reported Long Covid symptoms, nearly triple the rate among the population as a whole.
UNITED STATES
Four years ago, Vicki Dennis was hospitalized after developing unusual symptoms following a SARS-CoV-2 infection in 2020. She presented with itchy skin, yellowing skin, and dark urine. Once in hospital, she was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and primary biliary cholangitis and told she would need a liver transplant within five years.
Dennis, who was 27 at the time, just received a live liver transplant from a friend, Zoë Johnson, who turned out to be a perfect match. In December 2023 at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, a large section of Johnson’s liver was removed robotically, to minimize the size of the scar, and placed into Dennis. The liver, of course, is the only human body organ that can regenerate itself so both the donor and recipient should eventually have normal size livers.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was subpoenaed last month, has agreed to testify to Congress about a controversial nursing home policy during the early years of the pandemic that forbade nursing homes from rejecting a patient solely on the basis of a SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.
In Brooklyn, Green-Wood Cemetery unveiled a pandemic memorial. The 200’ (61 m) memorial offers a space for remembrance and will be on display through June 3.
GLOBAL NEWS
The World Health Organization issued an advisory about the next iteration of vaccines to combat Covid. The WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition said that vaccine makers should use a monovalent JN.1 lineage as the antigen in forthcoming formulations, given that SARS-CoV-2 is currently expected to evolve from that variant.
The WHO also issued a new report in which it sought to clarify what counts as a pathogen that can spread through the air. The WHO loosened the definition of airborne pathogens – which include SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and measles – to include when respiratory droplets spread through the air and when they land on a person, regardless of the size of the droplet.
The move was taken to cut down on the confusion around how to “describe the transmission of pathogens through the air that can potentially cause infection in humans,” it said.
According to the new report, the phrase “transmission through the air” can be used to describe when infectious respiratory particles become airborne and spread, and the subcategories of “airborne transmission” and “direct deposition” can both fall under this blanket phrase.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 20, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on April 26 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.0%, 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 0.4%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -17.9%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 5,615, a figure that is down 14.4 % over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 0.9%, a figure that is down 10% in the same period.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine at press time, 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 7,861 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.
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 politicians and governments sought to place SARS-CoV-2 in the rear-view mirror, pandemic data reporting sputtered out and we are now at the point where it is simply not feasible to provide statistically valid case data on a global scale.
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.
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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
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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