Coronavirus Weekend News Brief – May 26: California Faces Early Summer Covid Wave, Covid Positive Lady Gaga Risked Health of Crew and Fans

A sign at a medical practice 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 1,537th day.
In news we cover today ,  California appears to be in for an earlier-than-expected summer Covid wave, performer Lady Gaga endangered fans and her crew by performing while Covid positive, and a World Health Organization report shows that the pandemic devastated life expectancy figures across the globe.
THE LEDE
Got the Sniffles? How to Tell if It Is Covid, an Allergy, or the Common Cold
It’s late May, the birds are singing and the flowers are in bloom… and you have a sneezy, stuffy nose. Is it allergies, a cold, or – perish the thought – SARS-CoV-2.
Nowadays it can be downright difficult – even for a physician –  to distinguish between seasonal allergy symptoms, early signs of Covid-19, or the common cold.
On the off chance that it is Covid – odd because we still appear to be in a lull between waves – the easiest way to determine this is by taking an at-home Covid test.  Like the taglines in commercials for Golden Blossom Honey say, those test kits are back there somewhere in your cupboard.
If you don’t have a test kit available, here are some clues to watch out for.
People with allergy symptoms rarely develop high fevers so consult your physician if your body temperature goes above 100.4° F (38° C).  That could indicate it’s SARS-CoV-2 or that something else is going on in your body. The same thing goes for severe gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
In addition, individuals with Covid often develop body aches, something that sometimes accompanies colds but almost never accompanies allergies.
What people who are suffering do frequently develop, however, is itchiness.  If a person’s eyes, nose, or throat are itchy, or is scratching his ears a bit, and there are no other symptoms besides the stuffy nose, it likely is allergies. (Just as I write this, somehow, perhaps magically, our in-house corporate counsel rang and told me I need to remind readers that I am not a physician and nothing I say should be construed as either the practice of medicine or giving of patient advice.)
Regardless of what these sniffles may be, to safeguard those around you, consider donning an N95 or equivalent face mask when symptomatic. An ounce of masking is worth a pound of Paxlovid.
TODAY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COVID HISTORY
On May 25 and 26, 2020, the United States reached a milestone in that all 50 states had begun to reopen in some fashion over the preceding six to seven days, although there were dramatic differences between what measures have been relaxed in one state compared to another.
Both the United Kingdom and France separately said each would require travelers arriving from other countries to self-isolate for 14 days starting June 8, 2020. Medical workers, truck drivers, and seasonal farm workers wereexempt as were travelers arriving in the United Kingdom from Ireland. In addition, travelers arriving in France from Spain were required to immediately self-isolate starting the following day.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of “aggressive” rats that have been left hungry thanks to the shutdown of restaurants across the country and the subsequent lack of debris. The rats were not attacking humans but rather each other in the battle for food.
Finally, the number of coronavirus cases across the globe stood at 5.43 million, of which 2.32 million hadrecovered, based on data compiled by the Coronavirus Morning News Brief.  The global death toll stood at 347,437.
In the United States and its territories, the number of confirmed cases stood at 1.69 million, while the death toll stood at 99,407.
UNITED STATES
California may be facing an earlier-than-normal start to the summer Covid season , health officials are warning. The amount of coronavirus virus in wastewater  rising in some areas along with the statewide positivity rate.
The increase this year is due to the new FLiRT family of subvariants that are now prevalent in the United States.
FLiRT is short for their mutations, one of which includes the letters “F” and “L,” and another that includes the letters “R” and “T.” They are distant relations of the omicron variant and they stem from JN.1, the sublineage behind the surge in cases this past winter.
GLOBAL NEWS
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, who performs under the stage name “Lady Gaga,” speaking at the launch of her new concert film, confessed that she had performed five of her “Chromatica Ball” tour shows while positive for SARS-CoV-2. The stadiums were packed and sold out, according to contemporary media reports in the affected cities.
The performer said this occurred because it was “such a special time” because they were on tour “during a time that people didn’t think you could tour” due to pandemic restrictions. She also stated that she didn’t want to cancel and disappoint tens of thousands of fans and, ostensibly, also be required to refund their ticket prices.
A new report published on Friday suggests that the coronavirus pandemic undid a decade of life expectancy gains at birth and healthy life expectancy gains, known as HALE, with global expectancy levels now matching those last seen in 2012.
“Not only has the pandemic set back healthy longevity worldwide by years, it also reversed the previous trends of shifting disease burden to noncommunicable diseases,” the report, entitled “Covid-19 Eliminated a Decade of Progress in Global Level of Life Expectancy,” said.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending May 18, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on May 24 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.4%, and the trend in test positivity is -0.2% 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 +7%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 is no longer being reported as of the end of May. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 0.6%, a figure that is unchanged over the past week.
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, 13.58 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 10,894 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.8% 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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Paul Riegler  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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