Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lingering Covid Effects Show Up In Fitbit, Apple Watch Data
The New York Times: Fitbits Detect Lasting Changes After Covid-19
In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers studying Fitbit data reported that people who tested positive for Covid-19 displayed behavioral and physiological changes, including an elevated heart rate, that could last for weeks or months. These symptoms lasted longer in people with Covid than in those with other respiratory illnesses, the scientists found. (Anthes, 7/7)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Coronavirus Concentrations In Sewage Near Peak Level, Researchers Say
Concentrations of the coronavirus in wastewater in parts of the Las Vegas Valley are approaching levels last seen during the winter peak of the disease in Nevada, even though key COVID-19 metrics like new cases and hospitalizations remain far lower, researchers say. Two of the seven valley locations where wastewater samples are being regularly tested for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are showing virus concentrations close to the peak of the winter surge, according to Daniel Gerrity, principal research microbiologist for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. (Apgar, 7/7)
CIDRAP: Low Testosterone In Men Tied To Severe COVID-19
New data presented at the European Association of Urology congress this week show that men with low testosterone who were hospitalized for severe COVID-19 during the first wave of infections in Milan, Italy, were more likely to need intensive care and mechanical ventilation, and they had a sixfold increased risk of death. The findings come from San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan, where researchers compared 286 male COVID-19 patients who presented for emergency care, with 305 healthy controls who donated blood at the hospital from February to May 2020. Both groups had hormone testing, and low testosterone was defined as 9.2 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L). (7/7)
Also —
CNN: Coronavirus Almost Certainly Came From An Animal, Not A Lab Leak, Top Scientists Argue
The coronavirus pandemic almost certainly originated from an animal, probably at a wildlife market in China, and not from a laboratory leak, a group of virus experts said Wednesday. Theories about a lab leak are almost all based on coincidence, not hard evidence, the group of 20 top experts from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere said. They had been following discussions -- going all the way to the White House -- about the possibility of a laboratory origin of the virus, and worked together to analyze the evidence. (Fox, 7/7)
Bloomberg: Covid Origins Mirror SARS’s Genesis In Animals, Study Finds
Early Covid-19 cases traced to markets in Wuhan, China, mirror the initial spread of SARS 17 years earlier, scientists said in a paper that concludes that an animal contagion is the most likely explanation for the pandemic’s genesis. The epidemiological history of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is comparable to previous animal market-associated outbreaks of coronaviruses and offers a simple route for human exposure, Edward Holmes, Andrew Rambaut and 19 other researchers said in a review of the scientific evidence pertaining to the pandemic’s origins. (Gale, 7/7)
