Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Sept. 15: End of Pandemic May Be ‘In Sight,’ Says WHO, New Study Looks at Bivalent Jabs

An Air New Zealand in Los Angeles before the pandemic

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 889th day of the pandemic.

“It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.”

This phrase apparently had its origins decades ago, although I had always imagined it was something Groucho Marx had said.  Now the World Health Organization is saying that the end of the pandemic is “in sight,” after releasing data showing that weekly deaths from the virus around the world were at the lowest level since March 2020.

This is not to be confused, however, with what Yogi Berra famously said, namely “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”

But the pandemic isn’t quite over yet and any predictions of its demise are premature.

“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic – we are not there yet, but the end is in sight,” said WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus late last week.

Still, over 400 people in the United States alone are dying daily, on average a figure that is lower than 500 per day in the spring but still not good enough. The global death toll for the first eight months of 2022, however, is over one million and climbing, and that figure alone comprises 16% of the total deaths over the course of the pandemic.

Someone should remind Ghebreyesus that one should not presume to know the outcome of an event which is still in progress.  Doing so is foolhardy, to say the least, and the pandemic has tricked us before, just witness President Joseph Biden’s plans for a proclamation of pandemic independence for the Fourth of July holiday last year.

In other news we cover today, a new study using mice sheds light on the latest bivalent coronavirus vaccines, those over 65 are at great risk for dementia after contracting Covid, and New Zealand ends all travel restrictions.

Here’s a look at what has taken place over the past 24 hours.

UNITED STATES

A study conducted by Moderna and researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, using mice as subjects, found that the new BA.5-targeting bivalent booster that was made available in the country after Labor Day did an equally good job at thwarting the BA.5 sublineage of the omicron variant as an earlier bivalent booster that targeted the older BA.1 sublineage.

The mice had previously been inoculated with the original vaccine.

The preprint study reported that the two bivalent vaccines increased mouse neutralizing antibodies against BA.1 and BA.5 significantly more than a third shot of the original vaccine.

A woman in Southern California used the names of prisoners to steal $515,000 in pandemic aid.  Cynthia Ann Hernandez was arrested Wednesday on a seven-count federal grand jury indictment that alleges she filed at least 29 fraudulent applications for pandemic-related unemployment insurance benefits.  She reportedly impersonated people incarcerated in California’s state prisons to gain access to their benefits, filing numerous fraudulent unemployment applications with the California Employment Development Department.

Meanwhile, a new report published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that individuals over the age of 65 who contracted the coronavirus are at a very high risk for Alzheimer’s.  The study of six million senior citizens found that the subjects were 50% to 80% more susceptible to debilitating forms of dementia within a year after their coronavirus diagnosis.  The highest risk was found to be in women 85 and older.

TRAVEL

New Zealand ended all travel restrictions at the start of the week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced, citing low case figures and a “well-vaccinated population.” Health officials are still encouraging people to test for Covid on the day of travel and five days after arrival.  If someone tests positive, he “should report that result, seek a PCR test, and tell testing staff they have recently been overseas,” in accordance with guidelines from the country’s Ministry of Health.  A seven-day isolation period is mandatory if the positive result is confirmed.

TODAY’S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Thursday, September 15.

As of Thursday morning, the world has recorded 615.7 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.7 million cases, and over 6.5 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 594.8 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.7 million.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Thursday is 14,308,683, a decrease of 79,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 14,267,630, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 41,053, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.

The United States reported 115,402 new coronavirus infections on Thursday for the previous day, compared to 61,511 on Wednesday, 87,002 on Tuesday, and 11,464 on Monday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate is now 63,080.  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 62,832, a 30% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 470, a decrease of 6% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 33,552, an 11% decrease.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Thursday, recorded 97.3 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.08 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.5 million, and a reported death toll of 528,250.

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 reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, 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, over 34.8 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 685,179, and has recorded 34.6 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.

Germany is in the number five slot with 32.6 million cases.

The other four countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 24.26 million cases, the United Kingdom, with 23.55 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with almost 22.1 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with 20.4 million, and Russia, with over 20.2 million.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, over 263.1 million people in the United States – or 79.2% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.6%, or 224.4 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 610 million. Breaking this down further, 90.2% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.9 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.4% of the same group – or 199.7 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 51.7% of that population, or 103.2 million people, has already received a third, or booster, dose of vaccine.

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 67.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Thursday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 12.66 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 4.02 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 22.4% 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 in the single digits, if not lower.

In addition, North Korea and Eritrea are now the only two countries in the world that have not administered vaccines.

Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)