Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
17 Million Americans Likely Had Covid In Early 2020 And Didn't Know It
CIDRAP: US COVID-19 Cases In First Pandemic Wave May Have Been 5 Times Higher
During the first US wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, there may have been almost 17 million undiagnosed COVID-19 infections in addition to the known 3 million cases, or about five times more than officially reported, according to a study in Science Translational Medicine yesterday. The researchers conducted enzyme-linked immunoassay serologic tests for COVID-19 antibodies on 8,058 undiagnosed US adults from May 10 to Jul 31, 2020, and found that 304 (4.6%) had COVID-19 antibodies. This indicates that there were 4.8 undiagnosed infections for every diagnosed case during this period, the researchers say, adding about 16.8 million infections to the country's total. (6/23)
ABC News: US Had Nearly 17 Million Undiagnosed COVID-19 Cases In Early Months Of Pandemic: Study
There may have been nearly 17 million undiagnosed COVID-19 cases in the United States in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new National Institutes of Health study. The study suggests that the prevalence of COVID-19 in the spring and summer of 2020 "far exceeded" the number of confirmed cases -- especially in people who were asymptomatic. (Delios, 6/23)
In other news about the spread of the coronavirus —
CNN: These Are The Two Key Groups Now Being Hit Hardest By Covid-19
Covid-19 deaths have been falling dramatically in the US, but -- with many people still unvaccinated -- the number of daily deaths remains in the hundreds. And the groups most at risk are increasingly younger people and Black Americans. Throughout the pandemic, Black people have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19, accounting for about 12.5% of the population but more than 15% of total deaths, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In May, that percentage went up to 19%. Recently, the average age of people dying from the virus also shifted younger. Adults under the age of 40 represented about 3% of Covid-19 deaths in May, more than double their share of total deaths since the pandemic began. (Holcombe, 6/24)
Des Moines Register: Iowa's COVID-19 Hospitalizations Reach Lowest Point Since March 2020 As Cases, Deaths Drop
Earlier this week, Iowa reported its lowest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since March 2020, the month when the novel coronavirus was first reported in Iowa. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations reported Monday — 54 — has since ticked back up slightly, to 69. But that's still lower than it had been the previous week. New reported cases and deaths also decreased over the past seven days. The Iowa Department of Public Health on Wednesday, June 23, was reporting a total of 373,310 coronavirus cases in Iowa since the start of the pandemic, an increase of 490 over the previous week. In the past seven days, Iowa has reported an average of 70 new cases each day. (Webber, 6/23)
In news about long covid —
CIDRAP: Young Adults With Mild Acute Infection May Be At Risk For Long COVID
More than 60% of 312 COVID-19 patients had symptoms persisting after 6 months, including 52% of older teens and young adults with mild acute infections, according to a Nature Medicine study today. The cohort consisted of 312 patients from Bergen, Norway, identified from Feb 28 to Apr 4, 2020, or about 82% of the city's total cases. About 80% were outpatients and the remaining were hospitalized; the median age was 46 years. Those hospitalized tended to be older, have a higher body mass index, and have more comorbidities. (6/23)
Axios: With Kids And Long COVID, There Are More Questions Than Answers
Children, like adults, are at risk of developing "long COVID." But experts are still struggling to understand what, exactly, that risk level is. As the work to determine how common certain coronavirus vaccine side effects are in children, it's important to balance these risks against the risk of children remaining unvaccinated — which includes their risk of long-term health issues if they get infected. (Owens, 6/23)
CNN: Nick Guthe's Wife Died By Suicide After A 13-Month Battle With Long-Haul Covid. He Hopes Help Is On The Way For Others
Filmmaker Nick Guthe says in the months before his wife, Heidi Ferrer, died by suicide, she suffered debilitating long-haul Covid symptoms. It started last summer, with "excruciating, unexplained" pain in her feet, Guthe told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Wednesday. Digestive problems followed. She suffered body aches and her heart would race every time she got out of bed. And several weeks before her death last month, neurological tremors began that wouldn't let her sleep for more than an hour at a time, Guthe said. (Maxouris, 6/23)
