Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Kids' Antibodies Start To Fade 7 Months After Covid Infections
CIDRAP: Study Highlights Durability Of Antibodies In Kids After SARS-CoV-2 Infection
The vast majority of children previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 developed natural circulating antibodies that lasted for at least 7 months, but they declined after that, according to a study today in Pediatrics involving 218 Texas children. Researchers from UTHealth Houston examined data from children across Texas aged 5 to 19 years who were enrolled in the Texas CARES survey, which began in October 2020 with the goal of assessing COVID-19 antibody status over time. They assessed the duration of the nucleocapsid antibody response— a measure of past infection rather than vaccination, which elicits antibodies to the virus's spike protein. (3/18)
In other news about the spread of the novel coronavirus —
The Boston Globe: A ‘Huge Anxiety Reducer’: Most COVID Patients Regain Consciousness Even After Weeks In A Coma, New Research Shows
Doctors and nurses say one of the toughest parts of their job is counseling anguished families about a loved one’s chances of waking up from a coma. Now a new study by Boston and New York researchers offers hope and some guideposts. It focuses on individuals who have come off of ventilators but still require life support. At that stage, patients remain hooked to machines that deliver life-saving medicine, food, and hydration as doctors regularly check their ability to respond to a voice command. If there isn’t a response in the first few days, families can start to lose hope. In the study, researchers found that most patients with severe COVID-19 regained consciousness even after spending weeks in a coma. (Lazar, 3/20)
AP: South Dakota Ends Daily COVID-19 Reporting
Health officials in South Dakota say COVID-19 case rates have dropped so dramatically they’ll no longer give daily updates. The Argus Leader reported that the state health department ended daily reports on Friday and will now give only weekly reports. The first is expected on Wednesday. (3/20)
AP: North Dakota To Shift To Weekly COVID-19 Case Reports
North Dakota health officials have shifted from daily to weekly COVID-19 reports as the disease continues to wane across the state. The Bismarck Tribune reported the state health department made the move on Friday. Department officials said updating their website daily was time-consuming and results from the growing use of at-home test kits aren’t required to be reported to the state, leading to increasing inaccuracy in state data. (3/20)
Bangor Daily News: Maine COVID Hospitalizations Are Below 100 For 1st Time Since August
The number of Mainers hospitalized with COVID-19 reached the lowest figure in seven months on Saturday. Ninety-four Mainers were hospitalized with the virus on Saturday, while the number of people in critical care dropped to 19 and the number of people on ventilators reached 7, according to data from the Maine Center for Disease Control. The last time the number of people hospitalized was below 100 came on Aug. 20, 2021, when 88 people were hospitalized with the virus. (Stockley, 3/19)
Chicago Tribune: New First Probable COVID Death In Illinois Uncovered — Woman Who Thought She Had A Cold
For two years, the first confirmed death from COVID-19 in Illinois was believed to be that of Patricia Frieson, a retired Black nurse from Chicago, on March 16, 2020. But new information uncovered by the Tribune shows that another woman, an office worker from Chicago, was the first probable fatal case in the state, six days earlier. Sixty-four-year-old Debra K. Smith had just moved into a high-rise apartment near Millennium Park in Chicago Feb. 28, where some of her boxes were still unpacked, and she was scheduled to start a new job March 9. But when she talked by phone to her brother on the West Coast, he recently told the Tribune, she told him she was sick with a flu or bad cold. (McCoppin, 3/20)
Politico: The South’s Health Care System Is Crumbling Under Covid-19. Enter Tennessee
By the time Covid-19 hit Haywood County, it was too late to prepare. The rural county in the Tennessee delta, near the Mississippi River, had its health care system ground down in the years leading up to the pandemic: Ever since the 84-year-old Haywood County Community Hospital closed its doors in 2014, the numbers of doctors and other health care professionals dwindled. Residents who once were on a first-name basis with their care professionals were left to book appointments at facilities miles from where they’d raised their families and grown older. (Payne, 3/19)
Chicago Tribune: Two Years. 33,000 Dead. Tracing The Pandemic’s Toll Across Illinois
It was the early weeks of the pandemic. A mystery illness was spreading across the Chicago area. And Dr. Sandra McGowan-Watts felt powerless. She was a family doctor but could do little as her husband and mother-in-law fell ill. Her mother-in-law soon died. Her husband clung to life for a week longer before the virus claimed him too, at age 51. “I’m a doctor,” she said last week, the pain fresh in her voice. “I’m supposed to be able to fix people and change things, and I can’t even help the person I love the most.” (Mahr and McCoppin, 3/20)
San Francisco Chronicle: Two Bay Area Futurists Predict We’ll Stop Talking About The Pandemic, And Have More Poop Surveillance
As we reconcile with the past, it’s worth wondering: What will the future look like in a world still suffering from the pandemic? Well, it’s probably going to be a time when we’re putting ourselves, and our society, back together. That’s a recurring theme in the forecasts from two Bay Area futurists — author Annalee Newitz and Marina Gorbis, executive director of the Institute for the Future. We asked each of them to offer thoughts on what life in the Bay Area will be like six, 12 and 24 months from now. They paint a picture to come of hope and denial, of struggle and celebration, of housing solutions and poop surveillance. (Morast, 3/19)
