Beyond ~30 million excess deaths, "The COVID-19 pandemic caused the most severe drops in life expectancy seen in 50+ years."
https://healthdata.org/research-analysis/library/mortality-life-expectancy-and-population

https://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00476-8/fulltext

Four years ago today, 13 March, the US declared Covid a national emergency. We're still learning about #SARSCoV2 every day, and here's a recap of important stuff in the past week. In the new Ground Truths. Subscriptions are free.

https://erictopol.substack.com/p/covid-4-years-on

WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove understands why the combination of undiagnosed + clusters + kids with pneumonia + in China equalled "Oh God, not again." But what's happening in China isn't the next #Covid, she told @STAT in an interview today. https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/24/china-respiratory-illness-immunity-gap-who-maria-van-kerkhove/

Excellent Royal Society report concluding that a bundle of public health measures were very effective in controlling the pandemic, particularly when cases were still low.
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/impact-non-pharmaceutical-interventions-on-covid-19-transmission/

My comment in New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2388929-lockdowns-and-face-masks-really-did-help-to-control-covid-19/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=currents

Too soon to determine the threat posed by BA.2.86,
the CDC says. But Covid tests & antivirals appear to detect/work against the new subvariant.
And a vaccine update: fall boosters coming by mid-Sept. https://www.statnews.com/2023/08/23/covid-ba-2-86-subvariant-cdc/

Explanation of Flip variants and where we are headed while we await fate of BA.2.86
https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-virus-is-learning-new-tricks

Latest on the BA.2.86 variant
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/eris-ba286-do-i-need-worry-about-covid-again-2023-08-19/

We are — fingers crossed — heading into a new era in our fight with #RSV. Vaccines for older adults, a vaccine for pregnant people, a monoclonal antibody for infants — things are changing fast. FDA is expected to approve the maternal vaccine in the 2nd half of August.

The ~20% increased incidence of Type 1 diabetes and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) during the Covid pandemic among children and teens
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02322-0

Cognitive testing ~2 years post-Covid in a prospective study with uninfected controls: persistent deficits related to longer duration and ongoing symptoms, not seen in those recovered https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(23)00263-8/fulltext

@ct_bergstrom

The vaccines and, for perhaps 3/4 of the US population, prior infection, have held up remarkably well across variants.

I think this, along with increasing government neglect of public health, have contributed to the lack of booster campaigns.

"Across age groups, VE was generally similar against BA.5-related infections and XBB/XBB.1.5-related infections."

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7205e1.htm

@ct_bergstrom

The vaccines and, for perhaps 3/4 of the US population, prior infection, have held up remarkably well across variants.

I think this, along with increasing government neglect of public health, have contributed to the lack of booster campaigns.

"Across age groups, VE was generally similar against BA.5-related infections and XBB/XBB.1.5-related infections."

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7205e1.htm

Today a friend asked me what was up with #COVID vaccines. Why haven't we been encouraged to get further boosters?

The short answer is that there's a new version coming this fall that targets the now-prevalent XBB.1.5 strain that was not included in previous formulations.

My guess is that this will be made available, but not necessarily recommended, to all US adults. I will be getting it if it is available to me.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2807145

i wake up to find threads is now exclusively brands talking to each other

@ct_bergstrom scathing 🤣

"Elon Musk promptly ruining Twitter so badly that any alternative looks palatable, even one run by Mark “My other platform enabled a literal genocide” Zuckerberg"

So Jason Gilbert has Threads absolutely nailed.

https://jogblog.substack.com/p/facebooks-threads-is-so-depressing

To optimize performance of Covid rapid tests, if negative 👇
Asymptomatic—3 times at 48 hr intervals
Symptomatic —2 times at 48 hr intervals
From a prospective study, largest to date, paired rapid tests and PCR https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-0385

"identified the first genome-wide significant association for Long COVID at the FOXP4 locus. FOXP4 has been previously associated with COVID-19 severity(6), lung function(8), and cancers(9), suggesting a broader role for lung function in the pathophysiology of Long COVID.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.06.29.23292056v1

#LongCovid #COVID19 #genetics

@RESONANCE
yes, nucleocapsid antibodies are only after Covid, not vaccine

A lot more people are Novids than you think.
At the end of 2022, about 1 in 4 Americans, according to serology from over 145,000 blood donors

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#nationwide-blood-donor-seroprevalence-2022