Study: Death 40% More Likely From Omicron Than From Flu

Bloomberg: Covid Omicron Strain 40% Deadlier Than Seasonal Flu, Study Finds
The omicron strain of Covid-19 is at least 40% more lethal than seasonal flu, according Japanese scientists, underscoring the potential danger of lifting pandemic curbs too quickly and underestimating the virus’s ongoing health risks. The case fatality rate of omicron in Japan, based on cumulative excess deaths and the number of infections since January, was about 0.13%, according to an analysis by scientists who advise the country’s health minister. While that is significantly lower than the 4.25% case fatality rate from earlier in the outbreak, it’s still higher than the 0.006% to 0.09% seen with seasonal flu, they said. (Matsuyama, 3/3)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Los Angeles Times: Disparities Leave Parts Of L.A. County Hit Hard By COVID-19
Two years into the pandemic, wealth, poverty and race still dramatically affect the toll the coronavirus takes on people, with Latino and Black communities in L.A. County continuing to be significantly harder hit than wealthier white ones. Data analyzed by Los Angeles County public health officials showed disturbing inequities in the disproportionate toll COVID-19 was causing for Black and Latino residents, as well as people living in poorer neighborhoods. The findings underscore how much poorer and largely Black and Latino neighborhoods of L.A. County could suffer should the improvement in pandemic trends suddenly reverse as mask mandates ease, or the need for quick action comes if a new variant emerges. (Lin II and Money, 3/2)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Health District Investigating ‘Data Discrepancy’ With CDC
The Southern Nevada Health District is looking into a data discrepancy that shows Clark County in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “high” transmission tier, a health official said Wednesday. CDC data showed the county in the highest transmission tier on Tuesday because it had a case rate over 100 per 100,000 people. That number soared to over 200, but Cassius Lockett, director of disease surveillance and control for the health district, said at a Wednesday briefing that officials believe the CDC’s numbers are incorrect. “We are currently investigating the data discrepancy that shows that community transmission is high on the CDC website,” he said. “We have reached out to our state partners and we have reached out to CDC to explore this further.” (Dylan, 3/2)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Reports More Than 12,000 Confirmed COVID-19 Deaths
As COVID-19 continues to recede in Wisconsin, the state recorded its 12,000 death due to the virus, another grim reminder of the toll the two-year pandemic has taken. The state Department of Health Services reported 12,012 confirmed COVID-19 deaths Wednesday and another 1,386 are considered probable. Deaths are considered "probable" by health officials when the person who died was believed to have COVID-19 because of their symptoms or a listing on their death certificate, but there was no record of a positive test. (Bentley, 3/2)

CIDRAP: Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest 35% Lower In COVID-19 Patients 
Adult COVID-19 patients who had an in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) were 35% less likely to receive potentially life-saving defibrillation without delay and survive to hospital release, according to a study today in JAMA Network Open. University of Iowa at Iowa City researchers led the study of 24,915 patients with IHCA from 286 US hospitals, of whom 5,916 (23.7%) had COVID-19, from March to December 2020. (Van Beusekom, 3/2)

AP: Missouri Bill Would Allow Hospital Visitors During Pandemics
Missouri hospitals and nursing homes would have to allow visitors, even during a pandemic, under a bill advanced Wednesday in the Republican-led state House. Lawmakers gave the measure initial approval in a voice vote, meaning it needs another vote to move to the GOP-led Senate. (Ballentine, 3/3)

AP: Washington Residents Can Order More Free COVID-19 Tests 
Washington state is expanding its program to distribute free COVID-19 tests throughout the state. The Seattle Times reported that officials with the state Department of Health said that starting Wednesday, sayyescovidhometest.org — the site that allows people to order free tests to be delivered to their homes — will allow up to two orders per household every month while supplies last. (3/2)

Also —

CNN: A Highly Changed Coronavirus Variant Was Found In Deer After Nearly A Year In Hiding, Researchers Suggest 
An Omicron-like variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 -- one that appears to be highly divergent from circulating strains and sticks out on a long branch of the virus' family tree -- has been discovered in a population of white-tailed deer in Ontario, Canada, according to a new study. The same strain has also been found in a person from the same area who had confirmed contact with deer. The researchers who first characterized what they are calling the Ontario WTD clade say it's difficult to determine how this lineage evolved because it seems to have gone along unnoticed and unsampled in the background of the pandemic for almost a year. They speculate that it spilled over from humans to deer and then back to at least one human. (Goodman, 3/2)

The New York Times: How The Coronavirus Steals The Sense Of Smell 
Few of Covid-19’s peculiarities have piqued as much interest as anosmia, the abrupt loss of smell that has become a well-known hallmark of the disease. Covid patients lose this sense even without a stuffy nose; the loss can make food taste like cardboard and coffee smell noxious, occasionally persisting after other symptoms have resolved. Scientists are now beginning to unravel the biological mechanisms, which have been something of a mystery: The neurons that detect odors lack the receptors that the coronavirus uses to enter cells, prompting a long debate about whether they can be infected at all. (Rabin, 3/2)