Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Suffering Severe Covid Linked To Higher Long Covid Risk: Study
CIDRAP: More Severe COVID-19 May Raise Risk Of Long COVID
A large study released today suggests that people who experience worse COVID-19 symptoms may be more likely to subsequently develop notable symptoms 12 weeks or more after the initial infection. Also, most patients went on to have long COVID, regardless of the severity of their original illness. (Soucheray, 10/31)
CNBC: Long Covid Is Affecting Women More Than Men, National Survey Finds
Long Covid is more common among women than men, according to federal data. More than 17% of women have had long Covid at some point during the pandemic, compared with 11% of men, according to data from U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics published this month. (Kimball, 10/31)
AP: CDC Director Tests Positive For COVID Again
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested positive again for COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky had mild symptoms Sunday and is isolating at her home in Massachusetts, the CDC said Monday. Walensky, 53, first tested positive on Oct. 21. She took a course of the antiviral pill Paxlovid, and later tested negative. But the symptoms returned and Walensky is again in isolation, working and holding virtual meetings, the CDC said. (Stobbe, 10/31)
The Washington Post: Covid Uses Our Proteins Against Us. A New Strategy Seeks To Block That
With the United States headed into its third full winter of the pandemic amid fears that new variants will evade immunity from vaccines and prior infections, some scientists are seeking ways to blunt the coronavirus’s slippery evolution by blocking the human proteins it uses against us. If the strategy works, it has the potential to address several shortcomings of current treatments and vaccines, including their inability to prevent infections and maintain effectiveness in the face of a changing virus. (Johnson, 10/31)
Nature: Could A Nose Spray A Day Keep COVID Away?
During the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Anne Moscona didn’t feel safe going to a restaurant or catching a flight. And she wished she could feel confident that she could see her immunocompromised relatives without inadvertently spreading the novel coronavirus to them. All this made her work personal: for the last decade, Moscona, a molecular virologist, had been hunting for compounds that could stop viruses in their tracks, before the pathogens infect even a single cell in a person’s body. Now Moscona, at Columbia University in New York City, and her colleagues have homed in on a compound that might foil SARS-CoV-2. Even better, it’s simply sprayed up the nose — no needle required. (Kozlov, 10/31)
Stat: Why Inaccuracies With Pulse Oximeters Were Ignored For So Long
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Tuesday will take up the issue of whether pulse oximeters, the ubiquitous medical devices that became a mainstay for assessing patient oxygen levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, need to be regulated differently — or even completely reconceived — based on research showing the devices are less accurate in people with darker skin. (McFarling, 11/1)
CIDRAP: Pandemic Didn't Change Infant Nerve Development, Study Finds
A meta-analysis of eight studies finds that the risk of overall infant neurodevelopment didn't change during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic but that those with gestational exposure to SARS-CoV-2 were at higher risk for impaired communication and fine motor skills. (Van Beusekom, 10/31)
The New York Times: The Pandemic Generation Goes To College. It Has Not Been Easy.
Colleges are now educating their first waves of students who experienced pandemic learning loss in high school. What they are seeing is sobering, especially because the latest dismal results from the national exam of fourth and eighth graders suggest that they could face year after year of incoming students struggling to catch up. ... In interviews across the country, undergraduates discussed how their disjointed high school experiences have trailed them in their first years of college; some professors talked about how grades are down, as well as standards. Many students are tentative and anxious. (Fawcett, 11/1)
