Masked theatergoers at a recent performance of Meredith Wilson’s “The Music Man” in 2022
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,061st day of the pandemic.
A new study in the journal Nature found that individuals who had Covid were more likely, a year after infection, to suffer from gastrointestinal issues than those who did not contract the virus.
The study, “Long-Term Gastrointestinal Outcomes of Covid-19,”which looked at patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 early in the pandemic found that they were much more likely to suffer from reflux, constipation, stomach pain, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal issues as a result.
The researchers at the Veterans Administration Saint Louis Health Care System compared the medical records of 154,068 Covid patients in the Veterans Health Administration system with about 5.6 million patients of similar age and other characteristics who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Patients who had had Covid were 36% more likely to suffer from long-term gastrointestinal problems that they did not have prior to their infection. Some 9,605 of them reported issues affecting the digestive system, intestines, pancreas, or liver.
The most common diagnoses were acid-related disorders such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly referred to GERD, and peptic ulcer disease. The two were identified in more than 2,600 patients.
In other news we cover today, a so-called social-media influencer with only 34,000 followers stole over $1 million to fund a lavish lifestyle that tens of people apparently saw on Instagram, parents tend to lie about their children’s SARS-CoV-2 positivity, a survey found, and a device using nasal photodisinfection may kill the coronavirus.
UNITED STATES
Almost 25% of parents have lied to others about their child’s SARS-CoV-2 positivity status during the pandemic, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. In a national survey in December 2021, researchers asked parents if they had ever engaged in seven types of misrepresentation and nonadherence behaviors regarding pandemic-related public health measures for their children: 1 in 4 told researchers that they had been dishonest about their child’s health or vaccination status, while 1 in 5 said they allowed their child to break quarantine rules at the height of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Tyson Foods is being sued by 34 employees, former employees, and family members of employees who contend that Tyson failed to take appropriate safety measures early in the pandemic.
Finally, Danielle Miller, a so-called social-media influencer, stole more than $1 million in pandemic aid to fund her lavish online lifestyle. The Miami resident used the identities of over ten people and several fake business names to obtain economic disaster loans as well as pandemic unemployment payments. She pled guilty this week to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court.
Miller, who had a mere 34,000 followers, booked private jet charter flights, stayed at a luxury hotel using the name of one of her victims, and used the identity of another victim to rent a luxury flat in Florida.
GLOBAL
A study prepared by Finnish researchers that has not yet been peer reviewed shows that the protection from new bivalent boosters protection against death and hospitalization begins to fade after as little as two months in older adults.
Researchers looked at patient records between September 2022 to January 2023, when omicron variants were dominant, drew on hospitalizations and death data for nearly 1.2 million patients 65 and older, and 444,683 chronically ill individuals between 18 and 64. They found, while the updated shots from Moderna and Pfizer effectively reduced the worst outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 in the older group, their effectiveness quickly waned. The boosters did not cut the risks for the chronically ill.
The study was published as a preprint in the server MedRxiv.
“Because we found signs of waning already after 60 days since bivalent vaccination, additional boosters for the elderly could be an option at some time point in the future,” the authors wrote. “However, the need for further boosting should also be considered in the light of the epidemic situation and economic analyses.”
Meanwhile, Steriwave, a little known treatment from Ondine Biomedical, a Vancouver-based biomedical company, is being used to kill the coronavirus in the nasal cavity with great success. Members of the rock band Kiss said that they relied on the treatment during the band’s farewell world tour, the group’s manager, Doc McGhee, who is not a medical doctor, told a press conference on Monday in Toronto. Last week, a study showed that Steriwave’s “nasal photodisinfection” reduced the length of patient stays and readmissions at Ottawa Hospital. The treatment has been used to reduce infections in surgery patients at Vancouver General Hospital for more than a decade.
ENTERTAINMENT
The off-Broadway production of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” which was originally set to run in the 2019-20 season but was postponed by pandemic-influenced theater closures around the world, has now been indefinitely postponed. The play was to be directed by Sam Gold starring Oscar Isaac and Greta Gerwig.
“Unfortunately, new scheduling conflicts have arisen for the production’s in-demand artists, which proved to be insurmountable in bringing the production to life during the 2022-23 season,” the producers said in a statement on Tuesday.
FINANCE
With Inflation and the end of pandemic unemployment payments, some borrowers with low credit ratings are reportedly falling behind on their car loan payments. A new report from Cox Automotive found 1.89% of auto loans in January were “severely delinquent” and at least 60 days behind payment, the highest rate since 2006.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Tuesday, March 7.
As of Tuesday morning, the world has recorded 680.8 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.1 million cases, and 6.81 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 653.7 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.1 million.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday at press time is 20,293,591, a decrease of 30,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,252,903, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 40,688, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past three months.
The United States reported 14,774, new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for the previous day, compared to 1,567 on Monday, 1,671 on Sunday, 69,509 on Saturday, 62,111 on Friday, and 89,261 on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 38,178. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 33,126, a figure down 7% over the past 14 days, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 521, an increase of 38% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 25,693, a decrease of 11%. In addition, the number of patients in ICUs was 3,351, a decrease of 10% and the test positivity rate is now 8.3%, a figure that is down by 14% over the same period.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Tuesday, recorded 105.4 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.15 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.7 million, and a reported death toll of 530,775.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, 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 39.6 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.2 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 699,276, has recorded 37.1 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are Japan, with 33.3 million cases, South Korea, with 30.6 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 25.6 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.4 million, and Russia, with just under 22.4 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, 269.6 million people in the United States – or 81.2% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.3%, or 230.1 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 672.1 million. Breaking this down further, 92.1% of the population over the age of 18 – or 237.8 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 79% of the same group – or just under 204 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 19.6% of the same population, or 50.5 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine, while 22.7 million people over the age of 65, or 41.4% of that population have also received the bivalent booster.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 69.7% 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, 13.32 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 757,225 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 27.9% 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 start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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