Covid Cases Drop Dramatically In US, But Not Across All Parts

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Cases Drop By 40% In US 
The COVID-19 surge caused by the Omicron variant continues to recede in the United States, with the nation reporting a 7-day average of 175,492 new daily cases, with 2,458 daily deaths, according to the Washington Post tracker. New daily cases fell 42% in the past week, deaths fell 6%, and hospitalizations fell 19%. (Soucheray, 2/14)

AP: Virus Hospitalizations And Cases Still Falling Across State
The number of virus hospitalizations and cases continues to decline sharply across Nebraska giving hospitals some relief. But hospital officials said Monday that their facilities remain busy with non-COVID-19 patients, and they are dealing with ongoing staff shortages and a backlog of procedures that were delayed during last month’s surge driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. (2/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area COVID Cases Stop Falling Just As California Prepares To Roll Back Mask Mandate
After falling sharply over the past few weeks, the rate of new daily coronavirus cases in the Bay Area appears to be leveling off just as California and local health officials prepare to pull back several COVID-19 safety measures, including indoor mask mandates. The Bay Area is averaging 86 new cases a day per 100,000 residents, compared to 60 cases a day last Monday — marking the first time since early January that the number has ticked up at the start of the week during the omicron phase of the pandmic. San Francisco, San Mateo, Napa, and Solano are among the counties that are reporting the greatest new increases in cases. Statewide, the average is hovering around 65 daily cases per 100,000 residents, down slightly from 71 last week. (Vaziri, 2/14)

Bangor Daily News: Maine Will Report Inflated COVID-19 Counts This Week While Clearing Huge Backlog
Maine will use an automated system to power through a massive backlog of positive COVID-19 cases in a step that will correct long-flawed counts but lead to artificially inflated counts this week, state officials said Monday. The improved system for counting tests comes while several key metrics indicate the virus has begun to recede here after surging to record levels in January. But COVID-19 hospitalizations, one statistic used to measure the incidence of severe disease, still remained higher as of Monday than they were any time prior to November 2021. (Piper, 2/14)

In other news about covid and its treatment —

The Baltimore Sun: Two May Be Better Than One Drug To Treat COVID-19, University Of Maryland Study Finds 
Drug combinations, rather than any single antiviral medication, may be the key to effective treatment of COVID-19, new research suggests. The study found that when an experimental drug called brequinar was given with either of two medications that already had federal authorization — remdesivir or molnupiravir — it inhibited the growth of the virus in human lung cells and in mice. The findings, published Feb. 7 in the journal Nature, will have to be checked in human trials. But researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine found the mixtures to be far more potent and more likely to keep infections from becoming severe enough to require hospitalizations. (Cohn, 2/14)

CIDRAP: Scientists Propose Cause Of Symptoms, Treatment For Long COVID-19
Two studies to be presented at upcoming professional society meetings suggest that some long COVID-19 symptoms may be related to the effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the vagus nerve and that the use of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP)—which increases blood flow—can improve some of those symptoms, respectively. Long COVID may affect up to 15% of those who survive their infections, causing symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, and cognitive problems that linger for months. Neither study has been peer-reviewed, and the second one comes with the added caveat that it was conducted by an EECP provider. (Van Beusekom, 2/14)

The Washington Post: How An Unvaccinated Pregnant Mom Survived Covid, Three Strokes And A Heart Attack
Chris Crouch had had low expectations for online dating. He was a police officer in his 30s, almost a year out from a painful divorce, and, he said, the women he had met had been “playing games” in ways that left him dispirited. Then he met her. Diana Garcia Martinez was 24 and a busy single mom whose sister had set up her profile without her knowing. She was intelligent, empathetic and upfront, and by the third date, he was in love. “It was just a feeling. … I felt like I knew her my whole life,” he recalled explaining to his cousin Gilbert, knowing it was a cliche but also true. (Cha, 2/14)

In testing news —

AP: State Making 1.5 Million Free COVID-19 Test Kits Available
The North Dakota Department of Health said Monday it will make more than 1.5 million free at-home COVID-19 test kits available statewide. The kits will supplement the ongoing federal program that is making free tests available. The kits are being distributed statewide and will be available for pickup beginning Tuesday. (2/14)

AP: Insider Q&A: NIH Official On Testing For Infectiousness 
More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic the U.S. is still grappling with its coronavirus tests: how to improve them and how to make more of them. Dr. Bruce Tromberg of the National Institutes of Health is the top government scientist tasked with solving the nation’s testing woes. He’s in charge of $1.5 billion in congressional funding provided to scale up testing under the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics, or RadX, initiative. ... Tromberg says infectiousness is a complicated scientific question that goes beyond any single test result. His conversation with The Associated Press has been edited for length and clarity. (Perrone, 2/14)