Coronavirus Daily News Brief – May 6: New Vaccine Could Protect Against Future Coronaviruses, White House Vaccine Campaign Saved 50,000 Lives
A patient registering for Covid-19 testing at LaGuardia Airport in N.Y.
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 1,517th day.
In news we cover today, a public awareness campaign created by the Biden White House in 2021 saved over 50,000 lives, a new vaccine developed at the University of Cambridge can protect against future coronaviruses, and, four years ago to this day, then President Trump publicly blamed China for the pandemic, which he termed “the worst attack we’ve ever had on our country.”
TODAY IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COVID HISTORY
On May 6, 2020, the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “[]There can be no going back to business as usual” even when pandemic ends.”
In the United Kingdom, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his government would end its stay-at-home advice as part of the plan to gradually ease pandemic restrictions. The prime minister informed members of parliament earlier in the day of his plans.
In Washington, D.C. then President Trump said that China could have stopped the global coronavirus pandemic, and called the spread of the virus “the worst attack we’ve ever had on our country.”
Speaking from the Oval Office, the president went on to say, “This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Center. There’s never been an attack like this.”
Finally, the number of coronavirus cases across the globe stood at 3.76 million, of which 1.26 million hadrecovered, based on data compiled by the Coronavirus Morning News Brief. The death toll stood at 259,496. In the United States and its territories, the number of confirmed cases was 1.24 million, while the death toll stood at 72,381.
LONG COVID
At the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, which is taking place this weekend in New York City, there were two sessions focused on Long Covid. The first, entitled Assessment and Management of Long Covid in the Outpatient Setting: Clinical Recommendations From the APA Council on Consult-Liaison Psychiatry, the presenters covered a wide range of topics including education on the various neuropsychiatric presentations psychiatrists may see in an outpatient setting and recommended screening tools and interventions. They also reviewed figures and tables on screeners and treatments for each cluster of symptoms.
The second session, Long Covid and Longer Term Effects of Covid 19 : What Every Psychiatrist Should Know, will take place on Monday and is an interactive and interdisciplinary panel session that will attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the biopsychosocial aspects of Long Covid.
UNITED STATES
A new study found that a 2021 public awareness campaign launched by the Biden Administration in 2021 succeeded in saving more than 50,000 lives.
The study, published in the Journal of Health Communications, examined the April 2021 “We Can Do This” campaign designed to increase public confidence in coronavirus vaccines. The study also found that the campaign prevented hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and millions of additional SARS-CoV-2 cases, which also saved the United States hundreds of billions of dollars in less than one year.
As reported in our Pandemic Statistics section in this issue, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that just 5,098 individuals were hospitalized in the United States due to the SARS-CoV-2 in the week ending April 27, the most recent data available. That figure is far below the 150,650 who were hospitalized the week of January 15, 2022 during the peak of the omicron wave.
Razer, the company that sold a supposed N95 equivalent face mask in 2001 called the Zephyr, was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay customers over $1 million in refunds for falsely advertising its garish, bizarre-looking mask, as well as $100,000 in fines and penalties.
While the company advertised the Zephyr masks as N95-grade, it never submitted them for testing to the FDA or National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the masks were never certified as N95.
GLOBAL PANDEMIC NEWS
Scientists at Cambridge University have created a vaccine that has the potential to protect against a broad range of coronaviruses, including varieties that haven’t yet been discovered or don’t even exist yet.
The new vaccine i spart of a shift towards what virologists term “proactive vaccinology,” whereby vaccines are designed and readied for manufacture before a major virus emerges. It works by training the body’s immune system to target proteins that are shared across many different types of coronaviruses and works by attaching harmless proteins from these different coronaviruses to minuscule nanoparticles that are then injected to prime the body’s defenses to fight an invading virus.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
In California, Long Beach health officials declared a tuberculosis outbreak to be a public health emergency last week. The move came after one person died
and nine others were hospitalized due to the tuberculosis outbreak. The spread appears to have been contained to one single-room occupancy hotel.
A total of 14 people have thus far tested positive for TB, nine of which who have been hospitalized. An additional 170 are believed to have been exposed to the virus. Dr. Anissa Davis, the city’s health officer, said that the health department is working to stop the disease from spreading.
Tuberculosis, also known colloquially as the “white death” as well as “TB” and historically as consumption, is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. TB spreads through the air and particles are inhaled, but it takes long-term exposure to contract the virus. Symptoms can include a chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, chills, night sweats, and weight loss.
In Indonesia, Rakus had a facial wound and used Fibraurea tinctoria, also known as Akar Kuning, a plant with known medical properties, to help heal the wound. There’s nothing unusual about that except Rakus is a wild orangutang.
A paper published in the journal Scientific Reports last week indicates that Rakus knew exactly what he was doing and this appears to be the first report of an animal applying a plant known for healing properties to a wound in order to heal it.
PANDEMIC STATISTICS
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending April 27, 2024, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on May 3 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 3.0%, a figure that is unchanged from the previous 7-day period, and the trend in test positivity is -0.1% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 0.3%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -11%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 5,098, a figure that is down 11.1 % over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 0.8%, a figure that is essentially unchanged from the previous period.
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, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 5,644 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% 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
If you have Long Covid and need to talk to someone, call the Long Covid Patient Peer Counseling Phone Line, or HOPELINE. The HOPELINE is our free, confidential support and information service.
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