Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Can You Get Coronavirus Twice? China Reports Reinfected Patient
International Business Times: Coronavirus Reinfection: Elderly Chinese Woman Tests Covid-19 Positive Again 6 Months After Recovery
An elderly Chinese woman who was diagnosed with COVID-19 in February but recovered fully has tested positive for the disease again six months after, posing new challenge to the medical fraternity. (Guha Majumder, 8/13)
Stat: Long After A Covid-19 Infection, Mental And Neurological Effects Smolder
Early on, patients with both mild and severe Covid-19 say they can’t breathe. Now, after recovering from the infection, some of them say they can’t think. Even people who were never sick enough to go to a hospital, much less lie in an ICU bed with a ventilator, report feeling something as ill-defined as “Covid fog” or as frightening as numbed limbs. They’re unable to carry on with their lives, exhausted by crossing the street, fumbling for words, or laid low by depression, anxiety, or PTSD. (Cooney, 8/12)
San Francisco Chronicle: Why Do Some People Get Sick From COVID-19 And Others Don’t? Stanford Study May Unravel The Mystery
Why do some people get extremely sick with COVID-19, while others suffer benign symptoms? Three key molecules appear to play a crucial role, new research revealed this week. These key indicators, all found in the bloodstreams of severely ill patients, can be characterized as specific cytokines, or hormone-like molecules produced by the immune cells in the body that can regulate immune response. When overproduced, cytokines accelerate inflammation and can induce severe results. (Moench, 8/12)
Also —
Los Angeles Times: Teenage Brothers Use 3D Printer To Make Worker Face Shields
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Zubin and Tenzing Carvalho were on high alert. The two brothers from Hemet, ages 14 and 12, come from a family of healthcare workers, many of them in New Jersey and New York, two of the hardest hit states at the time. Some relatives got COVID-19 and recovered, but their great-uncle and great-aunt, who were older and had underlying health conditions, didn’t make it. So the brothers decided to do something. (Wong, 8/12)
