Coronavirus Weekend News Brief – Dec. 10: ‘I Was Really Sick,’ Said George Clooney; New Study Explains Rare Clotting Effect of Some Early Vaccines

A pop-up coronavirus testing site in New York City’s Theater District

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,369th day of the pandemic

In news we report today, George Clooney recounts directly a movie remotely while isolating with SARS-CoV-2,

a study shows that the current, or 2023, coronavirus vaccine continues to be effective against new omicron subvariants, hospitalizations are highest for the youngest and oldest in the United States, and antimicrobial-resistant bacterial infections are spreading unchecked in Ukraine

UNITED STATES

A new study reports that the 2023 coronavirus vaccine can generate a strong immune response and antibodies that can neutralize the newest subvariants including HV.1 and HK.3. in addition to the XBB subvariant for which it was originally designed. HV.1 currently accounts for 31% of new cases in the United States and HK.3 contributes to 50% of new infections in Asia and 7% in the United States.

The study, published on the preprint server bioRxiv, was conducted by scientists led by Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Columbia University.

While the fact that hospitalizations continue to rise is not news, what is newsworthy is that they are highest for the youngest and oldest Americans. Children under 4, senior citizens, and middle-aged adults are leading the climb.

GLOBAL

New research suggests that vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia may have been the result of two out-of-control immune reactions happening at once. One of the reactions was already well known but the second was the result of the research, led by scientists at the University of Birmingham, and published in the October 26 issue of the journal Blood.

VITT was a rare reaction to adenovirus-based vaccines for the coronavirus such as the Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine and the Astra-Zeneca vaccine. In such cases, the body would make antibodies to PF4, a chemical signal released by platelets. The antibodies would latch onto PF4 and form clumps.

The new study found that PF4, , the blood cells that form clots. also activates a second set of receptors that cause platelets to accumulate and the researchers believe this was the second cause of the rare blood clotting.

Over 25% of people injected with mRNA coronavirus vaccines suffered an unintended immune response created by a glitch in the way the vaccine was read by the body, a study suggests.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council Toxicology Unit, have at least partially figured this out.

Recipients of the mRNA vaccine suffered no adverse effects, data show, but scientists found such vaccines were not perfect and sometimes led to “nonsense” proteins being made instead of the desired Covid spike protein, which mimics infection and leads to the production of antibodies.

ENTERTAINMENT

In 2022, while filming the historical drama “The Boys in the Boat,” the film’s director, George Clooney, contracted SARS-CoV-2 thanks to an outbreak on set.  As a result, he had to direct the movie remotely for one week using an iPad, he told People magazine. “I was really sick,” he told the publication..”

GLOBAL STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Sunday, December 10.

As of Sunday morning, the world has recorded 699.23 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.23 million from Friday, and 6.95 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, just over 669.13 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, a decrease of 0.08 million.

The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls as well as the occasional downward or upward adjustment as corrections to case figures warrant.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Sunday at press time is 23,141,088, an increase of 144,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 23,105,380, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 35,708, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 14 months.

Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Sunday, recorded 109.74 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.19 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45 million, and a reported death toll of 533,305.

The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July 2022, 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 40.14 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.69 million total cases.

Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 708,021, has recorded 38.11 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.

The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 34.57 million cases, as number six; Japan, with 33.8 million cases placing it in the number seven slot; and Italy, with 26.48 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.81 million, and Russia, with 23.43 million, as nine and ten respectively.

CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE

In the United States, in the week ending November 25, 2023, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on December 4 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 10%, and the trend in test positivity is +1.2% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 1.7%, and the trend in emergency department visits is +10.6%.

The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 19,444, a figure that is up 10% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 2.5%, a figure that was unchanged over the past week.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

Some 70.6% 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, 13.53 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 4,640 doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 32.9% 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 beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number.

Paul Riegler contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)