Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
You Likely Can Give Coronavirus To Your Pet, 3 New Studies Suggest
CIDRAP: COVID-19 Likely Spreading From People To Animals—And Vice Versa
Three new studies suggest that high proportions of cats and dogs may have acquired COVID-19 from their owners and that the virus jumped back and forth between humans and minks on farms in the Netherlands. The first, a small, unpublished study from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, suggests that a large proportion of pet cats and dogs may have gotten COVID-19 from their owners, as evidenced by antibodies against the coronavirus in their blood. (Van Beusekom, 9/18)
In other scientific developments —
CIDRAP: Certain Underlying Conditions Stand Out As COVID-19 Hospitalization Risk Factors
Increased age, male sex, non-Hispanic black ethnicity, and certain underlying health conditions are associated with a greater risk of hospitalization from COVID-19, according to an analysis of data from more than 5,000 hospitalized adults. A group based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported its findings today in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (9/18)
Fox News: Coronavirus Causing 'Persistent Fatigue' In More Than Half Of Recovered Patients, Study Finds
As researchers work to understand both the short and long-term effects of the novel coronavirus, more than half of participants in a recent study who have recovered from COVID-19 are still experiencing “persistent fatigue” related to the disease. The study, conducted by Dr. Liam Townsend, St. James's Hospital and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, and others, found that fatigue was present in more than half of the patients studied “regardless of the seriousness of their infection,” according to a news release on the findings. (Farber, 9/19)
Reuters: Coronavirus Found On Imported Squid Packaging In China
Authorities in China’s northeastern Jilin province have found the novel coronavirus on the packaging of imported squid, health authorities in the city of Fuyu said on Sunday, urging anyone who may have bought it to get themselves tested. One of the packages had arrived in the city via the provincial capital Changchun, Fuyu city’s health office said on its official WeChat account on Sunday. (9/20)
