Coronavirus Morning News Brief – July 24: Europe’s Cases Treble, Tests Utilizing Nasal and Throat Swabs Are More Accurate, Says New Research

The skyline of lower Manhattan

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 836th day of the pandemic.

If your city or town is at high risk for community transmission of Covid, you are no alone,

The number of U.S. counties meeting the CDC’s high-risk threshold for Covid spread rose another 18% over the last week and is up 102% over the last two.  The figure has moreover seen a four-fold increase in the past month.

Looking at one of the first major epicenters of the pandemic, New York City’s five counties are now listed at high-risk status as are neighboring Nassau and Suffolk counties, located to the east of the Big Apple on Long Island.   North of the city, Westchester and Rockland counties are also at high-risk for community transmission of Covid. Nearby Putnam County, however, moved down to the CDC’s medium category.

All but three counties in neighboring New Jersey are at a high risk for transmission as well.

While the continued good news is that the high level of hospitalizations that accompanied the omicron wave at the start of the year haven’t materialized, the current dominant subvariant, known as BA.5, is more likely to reinfect individuals who have already had Covid and it is also able to evade the protection afforded by vaccines, although the vaccines will still protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death.

In news we cover today, Europe is deep in a wave of Covid, President Biden has new symptoms but continues to improve from his coronavirus infection, and research shows that a combination of nasal and throat swabs will provide far better test results than a nasal swab alone.

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

UNITED STATES

Two research papers suggests that combining nasal and throat testing swabs would detect more coronavirus infections.

The two papers, which have not yet been published in scientific journals, argue that coronavirus tests that analyze both nasal and throat swabs would provide more accurate results, which better reflect an individual’s positive or negative status than tests that just rely on a nasal swab.

The research looked at 228 people from 56 households in the Los Angeles area in the period November 23, 2021 through March 1, 2022, during the period when the omicron variant was spreading rapidly.

Such dual-swab tests are common in many other countries but have not yet been adopted in the United States.

Meanwhile, President Joseph Biden’s condition continues to improve as he continues his course of the antiviral Paxlovid, one of the primary treatments for SARS-CoV-2.  He has developed a sore throat and body aches but is tolerating the Paxlovid well

“His primary symptoms, though less troublesome, now include sore throat, rhinorrhea, loose cough and body aches,” the presidential physician said.

GLOBAL

The number of coronavirus cases in Europe have trebled in just six weeks, according to data from the World Health Organization.  The latest figures from the WHO show that nearly 3 million new individuals contracted the virus in the period from July 11 through July 17.  The figure comprises close to half of all of the world’s new cases in that period.

TODAY’S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Sunday, July 24.

As of Sunday morning, the world has recorded 574.8 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.6 million cases, and 6.4 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 543.8 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 900,000.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Sunday is 24,021,995, an increase of 65,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 23,976,973, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 45,022, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical is unchanged over the pat 24 hours.

The United States reported 24,251 new coronavirus infections on Sunday for the previous day, compared to 165,180  on Saturday, 153,030  on Friday, and 203,255  on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate continues to be over 100,000 and is now 128,777.  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 127,788, an 18% increase, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 445, an increase of 38% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 42,993, a 16% increase.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Sunday, recorded almost 92.2 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.05 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 43.9 million, and a reported death toll of 526,033.

New data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed at the end of May that the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 812,890, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, after the United States.  Rosstat reported that 11,583 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in April, down from 35,584 in March and from 43,543 in February.

Meanwhile, Brazil now has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 676,979, and has recorded over 33.5 million cases.

France continues to occupy the number four position in total cases with over 33.5 million cases, and Germany is in the number five slot with over 30.3 million.

The other two countries with total case figures over the 20,000 mark are currently United Kingdom, with 23.2 million cases, in sixth position, and Italy, with over 20.6 million, in the number seven slot.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Sunday, over 261.2 million people in the United States – or 78.7% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 67.2%, or 222.9 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 601.5 million. Breaking this down further, 89.9% of the population over the age of 18 – or 232.1 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77% of the same group – or 198.9 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 51.4% of that population, or 102.3 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 it on Sundays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.

Over 66.9% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Sunday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 12.29 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 6.15 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 19.6% 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.

Paul Riegler contributed to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)