Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Covid Symptoms To Watch Out For Now: Runny Nose, Headache, Cough, Sore Throat
The Hill: The Main COVID Symptoms Have Changed, Research Shows
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients have reported dozens of different symptoms, ranging from cold and flu-like symptoms to more unique ones, including “COVID tongue.” But like all viruses, the primary symptoms associated with COVID have changed and can vary based on your vaccination status, according to a new list released last week. (Bink and Nexstar, 10/23)
Miami Herald: The Most Common COVID Symptoms Have Changed, Study Says. Here’s What They Are
Four out of five top COVID-19 symptoms were the same for participants who received two vaccine doses, one vaccine dose and those unvaccinated, according to the research. These symptoms were headache, persistent cough, sore throat, and a runny nose. However, the top symptoms differed in how they ranked for each vaccination status group, the study found. Additionally, each group reported one different COVID-19 symptom that made the top five. (Marnin, 10/24)
Statin use and gender are studied —
CIDRAP: Statins May Reduce Risk Of Death And COVID-19 Severity
Commonly used cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins may reduce the risk of death and the severity of COVID-19 disease, according to a new study of more than 38,000 patients presented at the Anesthesiology annual meeting. (10/24)
The Wall Street Journal: Men Died From Covid-19 At Much Higher Rate Than Women During The First Year Of Pandemic
Men died of complications from Covid-19 at a higher rate than women in both rural and urban parts of the U.S. during the first year of the pandemic, according to a new federal report. The report, published Tuesday by the National Center for Health Statistics, examined Covid-19 deaths by sex and age group for 2020, when the virus became the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. and before vaccines against it became widely available. (Ansari and Calfas, 10/25)
More on the spread of covid —
NPR: Here's Why One SARS-CoV-2 Variant Still Reigns Supreme
"SARS-CoV-2 is continuing to evolve extremely rapidly," says Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist who studies the evolution of viruses at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. "There's no evidence that the evolution is slowing down." Instead, the most consequential evolutionary changes have stayed confined to the omicron family, rather than appearing in entirely new variants. (Stein, 10/25)
Bloomberg: Covid’s Heart Effects: Infections Raise Clotting, Death Risks In Large Study
Covid-19 at any level of severity is linked to an increased risk of dangerous blood clots that start in patients’ veins and travel to the heart, lungs and other parts of the body, according to a UK study that highlights the pandemic’s role in driving up rates of cardiovascular disease. (Gale, 10/24)
The Atlantic: Is Hand-Washing Still Important In The COVID-19 Pandemic?
Way back in the early, whirlwind days of the pandemic, surfaces were the thing to worry about. The prevailing scientific wisdom was that the coronavirus spread mainly via large droplets, which fell onto surfaces, which we then touched with our hands, with which we then touched our faces. (Stern, 10/24)
