Coronavirus Daily News Brief – June 13: Taylor Swift Concerts Were Superspreaders, Covid Infection Left Man Close to Death from Guillain-Barre Syndrome

In addition to Taylor Swift’s superspreader concerts, there was also Lady Gaga, who famously kept her Covid diagnosis secret from fans and performed on stage in violation of local ordinances multiple times.
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 1,555th day.
In news we cover today , the Bay Area in California is seeing some of the highest ever levels of SARS-CoV-2 in its wastewater, Taylor Swift fans wallow in the glory of their Covid infections acquired at concerts, and a physician who contracted Covid found himself in a life-threatening scenario after he developed Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Quote of the Day : “Climate change is already ravaging the world. It’s not hypothetical. It’s not a hypothetical threat. It is destroying people’s lives and livelihoods, and doing it every single day.”—U.S. President Joe Biden
TODAY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COVID HISTORY
On June 13, 2020, then New York State Andrew Cuomo, reported the state’s lowest ever Covid-19 death toll since the start of the pandemic.
“We’ve done it, we have tamed the beast,” Cuomo told reporters, not knowing that the worst was yet to come.
Meanwhile, then President Donald Trump, also not knowing what was to come, told the 1,107 graduates of the West Point class of 2020 that “we will vanquish the virus, we will extinguish this plague.”
Finally, the number of coronavirus cases across the globe stood at 7.7 million, based on data compiled by the Coronavirus Morning News Brief, while the death toll was at least 425,000.
In the United States and its territories, the number of confirmed cases stood at 2.09 million, an increase of 2,329, while the death toll stood at 117,206.
UNITED STATES
Cases of SARS-CoV-2 are rising across the country and, in California, the number of new infections is highest in the Bay Area. The California Department of Public Health said that the region now has the most viral wastewater than anywhere else in the state.
“Currently we are seeing some of the highest concentrations we’ve ever measured” in that area, Amanda Bidwell, a wastewater researcher and data analyst at Stanford, told local reporters.
A simple case of Covid can lead to complications that can easily become life-threatening, as one doctor found. In North Carolina, Dr. William Dugal, a surgeon, became fully paralyzed within days of contracting SARS-CoV-2 in the fall of 2022.  It turned out that he had developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rapid-onset muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system.
Dugal became completely paralyzed and couldn’t even swallow or breathe unassisted, let alone blink or move his eyes.
The cause of Guillain-Barre syndrome remains unknown, but it most often occurs after bacterial or viral infections. The underlying mechanism involves an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves and damages their myelin insulation.  According to an interview with NBC News, at one point his condition had deteriorated to the point where he had been placed on an ECMO and was telling his wife to take good care of their children.
After two months of in-patient rehabilitation and months of home rehab and occupational therapy, he was finally able to return to work in the summer of 2023.
A co-defendant in t he trial of Senator Robert Menendez tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, causing the proceedings to be paused on Thursday. New Jersey real-estate developer Fred Daibes was heard one day earlier coughing loudly throughout the proceeding.
SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
While it sometimes may seem that the Brief needs a “deranged” or “demented” news category, nothing proves it more than the fact that thousands of Taylor Swift fans who contracted SARS-CoV-2 at one of her concerts during her so-called “Ezra Tour” are proudly calling the virus a souvenir.
The not-so-swift Swifties, as fans of the singer and superspreader operator are often called, are calling the virus a “gift” from “Mother.” A poll on social media indicates that over 3,700 people became ill as a result of attending one of her concerts that spread serious infection.
In August 2023, the Coronavirus Morning News Brief reported that health officials in California expressed concern that Taylor Swift concerts and other mega events could help fuel the current rise in cases of SARS-CoV2.
Apparently, they were more swift than the artist herself.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump visited the Hill on Wednesday and told Republicans that he was surprised that Taylor Swift did not endorse him. Trump told Congressman Ben Cline about how “he did sign legislation during his administration to help the songwriters, and that he was surprised that Taylor Swift didn’t – didn’t support him.”
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending June 1, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on June 7 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 4.45%, 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 +16.2%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 was 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 remains unchanged over the past three weeks.
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 7,392 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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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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