Patient Returns Home After Being Hospitalized For 550 Days Due To Covid

KOB 4: Roswell Man Who Spent More Than 500 Days In Hospital For COVID Returns Home 
One New Mexican man spent 550 days in the hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19. After being away from his family for more than a year, Donnell Hunter was finally able to go home. It seemed the whole town of Roswell rolled out the red carpet for his return, he even got a police escort as he was driven in from Albuquerque. Signs of encouragement lined the road into Roswell Friday. All greeting Hunter as he came home, after more than a year in a hospital bed. (Schacht, 3/5)

In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Deer Can Spread COVID-19 To People, Study Suggests
The 11-year-old cat had been vomiting and lethargic for several days, and showed little interest in food. When the pet was examined at the University of Pennsylvania’s Ryan Veterinary Hospital in September, her owner mentioned a possible clue to the symptoms: Someone in the household had COVID-19. The animal’s nasal swab turned up negative. A fecal sample, on the other hand, told the tale. The shorthair feline was infected with the delta variant. Scientists have now found the coronavirus in 29 kinds of animals, a list that has been steadily growing almost since the start of the pandemic and includes cats, dogs, ferrets, hamsters, tigers, mice, otters, and hippos. In most cases, the animals have not been shown to transmit the virus back to humans. (Avril, 3/7)

Carolina Public Press: Should NC Worry About Omicron BA.2? 
In many North Carolina towns and cities, mask mandates are ending, and vaccination requirements are loosening, but questions remain about the next COVID-19 subvariant, omicron BA.2. The subvariant makes up roughly 8% of cases nationwide, according to data from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ending Feb. 26. “Just the fact that there is a new variant circulating doesn’t necessarily mean anything in terms of people’s risk or in terms of our trajectory with the pandemic,” said Dr. Zack Moore, North Carolina’s state epidemiologist. Instead, scientists look at whether a subvariant is more transmissible, causes more severe disease and evades vaccines, as well as how it responds to different treatment options, Moore said. (Lee, 3/5)

Detroit Free Press: Report: Michigan Improves COVID-19 Racial Disparities, More Needed
Michigan turned the tide after COVID-19 ravaged communities of color early in the pandemic, but Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist and a state task force recommended additional broader steps must be taken to ensure long-standing improvement in health outcomes. That includes better data collection, consistent funding for community health centers, and working to ensure more Michiganders have health insurance. (Boucher, 3/4)

NPR: How Common Are Cardiovascular Problems After COVID?
Robi Tamargo never worried much about her heart. The 61-year-old had started running competitively in middle school, played Division 1 sports in college and kept up her exercise routine throughout her life, working out regularly at her local gym before work. But that changed in the spring of 2020 — when she got COVID. Tamarago, a clinical psychologist who used to serve in the Navy, discovered a patient of hers was infected. Soon she was also sick, and it got bad quickly. She woke up one morning in early May to discover the left side of her face was numb. At the hospital, doctors found a blood clot in her brain and were able to treat it quickly enough to prevent her from experiencing a more serious stroke. (Stone, 3/5)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Drug Evusheld For Vulnerable People Can Be Hard To Get
Leanne Cook was glum but unsurprised when the tests confirmed what she and her doctors had expected: Even after three shots of a vaccine, she had no antibodies to protect her against COVID-19. Her immune system had been hampered by the drugs she takes for her condition, a rare disease affecting her kidneys. As other vaccinated people began to let down their guard last year, Cook continued to minimize trips outside her home in Mission Viejo. Then Cook heard about something that could plug those missing antibodies into her system — a preventive pair of injections called Evusheld. But health officials cautioned that there was only so much to go around. (Alpert Reyes, 3/6)

Tribune News Service: Why Planning Memorials Now Can Help Us Heal 
COVID-19 arrived quickly and devastatingly for Kelly Scannell. It was March 2020. She and her whole family were sick, but there were no tests or treatments available, so they isolated at home and waited for the novel virus to move on. A week and a half in, her otherwise healthy father, 69, had trouble breathing and was rushed to the hospital to be intubated. “It was crazy because they kept telling us updates with some hope,” Scannell said. “It sounded like he was going to get out of it.” But his organs shut down one by one, and on April 5, 2020, Wes Cline died. (Stevens, 3/4)

Also —

AP: Cruises Resume From Mobile, Alabama, After Pandemic Break 
Passenger ships are once again set to depart from the Alabama Cruise Terminal at Mobile following a nearly two-year break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the city’s future as a cruise port is hazy. The Carnival Ecstasy is scheduled to leave from Mobile Saturday afternoon for a five-day trip to Cozumel, and the Miami-based Carnival Corp. has said the roughly 2,000-passenger ship would continue vacation trips from the port through mid-October. (3/5)