Reprieve Over: Covid Cases Marching Back Up, Fueled By Reinfections

Bloomberg: Can I Get Covid Twice? Covid Surges Again In US, With Reinfections Rising
As a stealth wave of Covid makes its way across the U.S., those who have so far evaded the virus are now falling ill — while others are catching Covid for a second, third or even fourth time. Several factors have conspired to make the state of the pandemic harder than ever to track. The rise of at-home tests, which rarely make it into official case numbers, have made keeping accurate count of positive cases impossible. Additionally, many U.S. states and jurisdictions are now reporting Covid data only sporadically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week, Washington, D.C., reported case data to the agency for the first time since April. (Muller, 5/13)

Stat: What The Current Spike In Covid-19 Cases Could Say About The Coronavirus’ Future
As the Omicron wave subsided in the United States earlier this year, many experts anticipated a sort of reprieve. We certainly weren’t done with Covid, but perhaps we would get a well-deserved rest. That break seems to be over. An increase in infections that began in places including the Northeast and Puerto Rico is now being seen in other parts of the country. Cases will rise and fall going forward, but more worryingly, hospitalizations have started to increase as well — up 20% over two weeks. The decline in deaths has bottomed out at some 350 a day. (Joseph, 5/12)

In related news about the spread of covid —

NBC News: Covid-19 Narrows Long-Standing Latino Mortality Advantage, Study Finds
Latinos have long had lower mortality rates compared to non-Hispanic whites, living more than three years longer in what many refer to as the Latino mortality paradox. That ended with the Covid-19 pandemic. Having killed more than 1 million people in the U.S., the coronavirus reshaped the nation's mortality patterns and the long-standing Latino mortality advantage, particularly among older Latinos, according to new research published Thursday by the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at Syracuse University. (Acevedo, 5/12)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Inflammation Tied To Increased Death Within 1 Year
The stronger the inflammation during the initial COVID-19 hospitalization, the greater the probability that the patient will die within a year of hospital discharge, but prescription steroids after discharge appear to lower the risk, according to a study today in Frontiers in Medicine. (5/12)

Fox News: COVID-19 Counterfeit Diagnostic At-Home Tests Threaten Public Health: FDA 
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants the public to be aware of counterfeit at-home over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 diagnostic tests circulating in the United States, according to a recent press release. "Counterfeit COVID-19 tests are tests that are not authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA for distribution or use in the United States, but are made to look like authorized tests so the users will think they are the real, FDA-authorized test," the administration said. "The performance of these counterfeit tests has not been adequately established and the FDA is concerned about the risk of false results when people use these unauthorized tests." (Sudhakar, 5/12)

AP: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Tests Positive For COVID, 'Feels Fine' 
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced Thursday. The governor took a test after developing a scratchy throat late Wednesday night, officials said in a statement. He plans to isolate for five days and wear a mask for 10 days. Cox said he’s been vaccinated and boosted. “So far, I feel fine,” he said in a statement. (5/12)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Navigate The Risks Of IV Contrast Shortage
Hospitals and imaging centers are monitoring patient safety concerns as they manage a global shortage of IV contrast fluids, a crisis some experts think might have been mitigated with earlier notice. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday reported deficits of iohexol and iodixanol, intravenous contrast media products made by GE Healthcare and used in computed tomography imaging. GE Healthcare, one of two major suppliers of contrast media in the U.S., first said it was rationing orders for iohexol products in an April letter to customers after a COVID-19 outbreak shut down its production facility in Shanghai for several weeks. Now, the company said doctors should expect an 80% reduction in supplies through June. (Devereaux, 5/12)

ABC News: Hospital Chaplain Finds Unique Strategy To Combat COVID Fatigue
The stress has been enormous for health care workers. The Rev. Hannah Rhiza at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Ray Hospital, south of Los Angeles, is trying to bring some comfort to an exhausted staff. Rhiza is the chaplain at Cedars-Sinai. ... The reverend and her team came up with the idea of the spiritual care cart. It is a rolling cart full of items to help staff relax. She wheels relaxation to them wherever they are in the hospital. “I kind of go by what season it is,” she said as she showed her cart to ABC News. “This is the spring cart right now.” (Stone, 5/13)

The CT Mirror: Retraction: Sema4 Did Not Breach Contract To Provide COVID Testing
A story published on May 11 about Sema4 and its COVID-19 testing contract with the state of Connecticut contained a number of errors. Sema4 was one of several contractors that responded to a request for proposals for COVID-19 testing that the state issued in June 2021. The master contract stated that testing could be needed through June 30, 2022. But the state Department of Public Health’s agreements for COVID-19 testing with Sema4 — as defined in “statements of work,” or “SOWs,” that were separate from the master contract — were set to expire at the end of December 2021, not in June 2022, as the CT Mirror incorrectly reported. (Hamilton, 5/11)