Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Relief For Long-Haul Covid Patients May Come From Vaccines
NPR: COVID-19 Vaccine May Provide Relief For Long-Haulers
An estimated 10% to 30% of people who get COVID-19 suffer from lingering symptoms of the disease, or what's known as "long COVID. "Judy Dodd, who lives in New York City, is one of them. She spent nearly a year plagued by headaches, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and problems with smell, among other symptoms. She says she worried that this "slog through life" was going to be her new normal. Everything changed after she got her COVID-19 vaccine. (Stone, 3/31)
The New York Times: Virus Variants Can Infect Mice, Scientists Report
Bats, humans, monkeys, minks, big cats and big apes — the coronavirus can make a home in many different animals. But now the list of potential hosts has expanded to include mice, according to an unnerving new study. Infected rodents pose no immediate risk to people, even in cities like London and New York, where they are ubiquitous and unwelcome occupants of subway stations, basements and backyards. Still, the finding is worrying. Along with previous work, it suggests that new mutations are giving the virus the ability to replicate in a wider array of animal species, experts said. (Mandavilli, 3/31)
CIDRAP: Study Highlights Aerosols Generated By Exertional Respiratory Activity
New research published yesterday in Anaesthesia indicates that respiratory activities such as shouting, coughing, and deep breathing produce substantially more aerosols than non-invasive respiratory procedures, a finding the study authors say challenges current healthcare guidelines on protective equipment for COVID-19 and has implications beyond healthcare settings. In the study, researchers from Australia, Scotland, and England set out to measure the size, total number, and volume of all human aerosols exhaled during respiratory activities that mimic patterns during illness (including quiet breathing, talking, shouting, forced expirations, exercise, and coughing) and respiratory therapies commonly used in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 (high-flow nasal oxygen and non-invasive ventilation). To do so, they recruited 10 healthy volunteers to sit in a chamber with clean air and breathe directly into a cone. (3/31)
In other covid health news —
CNBC: How To Fly Home If You Test Positive For Covid
Even the most meticulously organized vacation can be derailed by a positive Covid test. Travelers may face unexpected quarantines — either in hotels or state-owned facilities — or substandard medical services. Others may be denied the ability to take commercial flights or, if negative tests are required to return, to get home at all. Travel insurance can help defray quarantine and medical costs incurred abroad. But for those who want to fly home fast, that isn’t good enough. (Buchanan Pitrelli, 4/1)
