… For the first time, preliminary figures from the CDC totalled just 8,256 COVID-19 hospitalizations for the past week, marking a record low for this key remaining indicator to track the threat posed by the virus.
The CDC’s data, updated late Thursday, has never before fallen below 9,000 weekly admissions of COVID-19 patients, since it first began tracking this metric over the summer of 2020, early during the pandemic.
COVID-19 hospital admissions are one of the few remaining metrics the CDC is relying on to track the spread of the virus and make recommendations, in the wake of the public health emergency’s end earlier this month.
Hospitals are still required to report a slimmed down list of COVID-19 metrics at least weekly to the CDC until April 2024, though recent changes in hospital testing practices recommendations mean fewer infections might be counted by some health care systems.
When COVID-19 hospital admissions reach “high” levels in a county, the agency still plans to urge residents to don masks and take other precautions to curb a surge…
The Biden administration is trying to protect $5 billion in funding for the next generation of coronavirus vaccines and treatments. They are also looking to preserve more than $1 billion to offer free covid shots to uninsured Americans. https://t.co/xMU5s8vMTC
— NYT Science (@NYTScience) May 28, 2023
COVID-19, with all its waves and variants, won’t be our last major coronavirus pandemic. Another is probably on its way, writes @PeterHotez https://t.co/zS6JNxyxjW
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) May 30, 2023
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Source and full picture: https://t.co/FzD8xAFIRu
— Philip Schellekens (@fibke) May 29, 2023
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We looked, but didn’t find anything {shrug}. At this point, a definitive answer will not be made public until many years in the future, if one ever is. (I’m still betting on the wet market theory, because Occam’s razor.)
A top Chinese scientist has said China investigated whether Covid-19 might have originated in a Wuhan laboratory — the first admission from a senior official that Beijing took the so-called lab leak theory seriously after years of heated denials.
Professor George Gao, former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told a BBC Radio 4 podcast that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was checked by experts to see whether the facility could have been the source of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The government organised something,” he said in the BBC interview. “That lab was double-checked by the experts in the field,” though they were not from his department, he said…
The issue of whether Covid originated in a leak from the Wuhan lab or was transmitted to humans directly from infected animals has divided scientists. Proponents of the lab leak theory may claim support for their argument in Gao’s statement that the Chinese government took that possibility seriously, but his comments were not likely to change many experts’ minds.
“Genomics cannot distinguish whether the virus transmitted to humans via traded wildlife in [Wuhan’s] Huanan Seafood Market or through a laboratory accident, where a laboratory worker was inadvertently infected from a sample they were processing,” said Professor James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge.
“In reality, it may never be possible to know with confidence how the Covid-19 virus entered the human population,” Wood added. “What is important is that lessons are learned and that live wildlife trade is reduced or banned and that laboratory safety is properly regulated.”…
No one could have foreseen this.https://t.co/DM4mNU7Db2
— T. Ryan Gregory (@TRyanGregory) May 29, 2023
Positive tests jumped 15 per cent in Victoria, where 10,642 cases and nine deaths were recorded.
South Australian cases climbed 28 per cent to 4012 – up 1338 from the week before.
Source:https://t.co/m23Co8GMI5
— SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) (@COVID19_disease) May 28, 2023
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United Kingdom:
Millions of Brits are struggling, to one degree or another, with #LongCovid . pic.twitter.com/imAlwfChgA
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 26, 2023
Ireland:
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“I get that people want to move on from the pandemic, but the virus is still out there, people are getting infected, and there’s the possibility of developing long Covid. I’m still wearing masks and following preventive practices as much as possible.” https://t.co/lKgSMCCO8w
— Philip Schellekens (@fibke) May 28, 2023
Worth reading the whole thing (it’s not that long!):
According to the most recent estimates, more than 65 million people worldwide may be living with some form of long Covid, a startling number that will only continue to increase, given the lack of available treatment options.
One of the scientists leading the race to try to unravel the complexities of long Covid is Akiko Iwasaki, an immunology professor at Yale School of Medicine. Iwasaki has been at the forefront of numerous research breakthroughs throughout the course of the pandemic, from understanding why men were more vulnerable to the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the autoimmunity that made some people unexpectedly susceptible, and why a small minority have experienced heart inflammation in response to the Covid-19 vaccines. Most recently, Iwasaki has been awarded the prestigious Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research, worth €2.5m (£2.2m), in part due to her ongoing work on long Covid.
Are we getting closer to understanding some of the causes of long Covid?
Long Covid is a blanket term that likely describes multiple diseases with different causes. We still don’t have the answers, but there are some hypotheses that are becoming more likely and others less likely. There’s more evidence now showing either viral proteins or viral RNA in various tissues, months after infection. The hypothesis that long Covid symptoms could be caused by the reactivation of latent viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus is also gaining momentum. The other idea is that changes can occur due to the inflammation from an acute Sars-CoV-2 infection, both at the site of infection, and in distal organs such as the brain. We have a paper that we published last year which demonstrates that even a mild Sars-CoV-2 respiratory infection can result in long term changes in the brain…You’re a prolific tweeter, with more than 200,000 Twitter followers. How important a platform is it for scientific communication?
I didn’t plan to have so many followers! I now have to be even more careful what I say, and how I say things because it is very easy to be misinterpreted. But Twitter has been an incredible platform. Within seconds, people can read about the latest scientific findings, and what they mean. I also often learn from people who are posting their symptoms and what has helped them. I think it’s still very important for me to keep tweeting fact-based scientific content – there’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there…
The new Covid vaccines in September will most likely not contain the ancestral strain👍https://t.co/WlQGxUyeYs @ScienceMagazine by @jcouzin pic.twitter.com/GQwk1w3elr
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 25, 2023
A T-cell-inducing mRNA #Covid vaccine improves effectiveness, a new lab study shows. The approach was needed because #SARSCoV2 mutates frequently & evades T cell immunity because of spike-based vaccines. Now, a lipid nanoparticle mRNA T-cell-inducing vax https://t.co/7DZKuGGIy2
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) May 30, 2023
Latest US #SARSCoV2 genomics indicates continued rise of recombinant XBB variants, led by XBB.1.16, which will likely be the target of the updated vaccine for Septemberhttps://t.co/jjl2AnOYb5 pic.twitter.com/phxcJgDnfu
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 26, 2023
Extracts from a long thread, with the whole thing ‘unrolled’ below:
@kroFlies Halo! the unroll you asked for: https://t.co/H3xkJHosrr Enjoy :) 🤖
— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) May 25, 2023
COVID-19 vaccination reduces mortality in critically ill patients https://t.co/W5SWr871RO via @medical_xpress
— Judy Stone (@DrJudyStone) May 27, 2023
I'll just leave this here… With thanks to @drclairetaylor https://t.co/BYPjc9SUhE pic.twitter.com/z5gXP7BJid
— David Joffe PhD, FRACP 🇦🇺 (@DavidJoffe64) May 28, 2023
They contended that children were at no risk. Tell that to 1600+ children who have died, 14,000+ hospitalized, 9,000+ with MIS-C, and the mounting number of children experiencing post- and long-covid effects. And don't forget the 245,000+ who lost parents.https://t.co/GtRGvxg0qb
— Noha Aboelata, MD (@NohaAboelataMD) May 29, 2023
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When a recent CDC conference is a superspreader eventhttps://t.co/pbVNp0tG90 pic.twitter.com/ni3cbTNSBH
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 27, 2023
The tragedy of being anti vaccine;
Approx 40'000 lives lost due to covid-19 vaccine refusal in Texas.
40,000 of the over 94'000 COVID-19 deaths in Texas occurred after May 1, 2021, when the COVID vaccine was available to Texanshttps://t.co/bMr9e1KcGP
By @PeterHotez— Irene Tosetti, MD MBA MPH (@itosettiMD_MBA) May 28, 2023
Reader Interactions
21Comments
Comments are closed.
OzarkHillbilly
Thank you, Anne.
AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team
Thank you so much, this is a super helpful summary. I still mask every time I’m indoors with strangers.
rikyrah
Good to see you, AL🤗
YY_Sima Qian
I meant to share this Twitter thread from Richard Cao (of Peking Univ.) earlier:
Here is the link to the pre-print:
Repeated Omicron infection alleviates SARS-CoV-2 immune imprinting
Tl-DR: Immuno-imprinting from exposure to the Wuhan strain or vaccines based on the Wuhan strain suppresses the production of variant specific antibodies in face of Omicron infection or vaccine shot(s) based on Omicron variants. Therefore, at this point of the pandemic, one should not be boosted by vaccines that include antigen compositions targeted for earlier variants. One should probably only take boosters targeting XBB lineages, & more than one if one has not been infected by an Omicron variant, yet.
New Deal democrat
Although current data on COVID is getting harder and harder to find, here is the latest out there:
Biobot updated yesterday, showing 206 particles per mL, the lowest reading since March of last year, and otherwise lower than at any other time except for the June 2021 lull. The decline includes all 4 Census regions, although the South and Northeast are not quite at 6 month lows.
There have been no updates whatsoever as to confirmed cases since May 10 that I am able to find.
Hospital admissions made an all time low of 8071 on the 26th, before rising to 8184 as of the 29th.
Deaths as of the end of April were at an all time low of 949 for the week. Preliminarily they continued to decline through May 20 to 247.
The CDC is now only updating its variant data once every two weeks. As of last Friday’s updates, XBB and its subvariants continued to account for 98% of all cases, with XBB.1.5&.1.16 having the greatest shares. A new subvariant, XBB.2.3, has appeared worldwide and in the US, but there is no indication so far that it has ignited any new wave – although I suspect it will become the dominant variant this summer.
As best I can determine, my local area remains under my threshold for resuming normal activities including not wearing a mask in indoor public spaces (except eating indoors in crowded restaurants).
mrmoshpotato
Thanks again for these COVID posts.
mrmoshpotato
@AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team: Saw a comment by Aussie Shelia yesterday or the day before FYI.
mrmoshpotato
That French researcher reminds me of Dump’s hippie doctor.
Butch
We are both fully vaccinated and boostered and still on week 3 of horrible cases of Covid. It’s pretty discouraging to do everything you thought you were supposed to do and still get sick.
Albatrossity
These are much appreciated, Anne. I know that they are a lot of work, so you need to know that they are appreciated!
Soprano2
Our local wastewater Covid levels are the lowest they’ve been since they’ve been testing for it.
pajaro
Anne,
I appreciate these updates so much. I live in Maryland, and our hospitalization rates (particularly the number of ICU admissions) are as low as they have been since the first wave of the pandemic. Figuring out the precautions that make sense for me is still a challenge, and it would be hard for me to do it in a semi-intelligent way without information such as your posts, particularly as other sources cease reporting.
Ohio Mom
@Butch: That was Ohio Family last November. Ohio Dad and Son bounced back pretty quickly but it took me over a month to lose the fatigue.
Butch
@Ohio Mom: I’m still dealing with the fatigue; partner has no taste or smell and my “joke” about how he could finally enjoy my cooking was not appreciated.
Reboot
Thanks, Ann Laurie–your Covid posts have made all the difference in the precautions we’ve been taking. Very glad you’re continuing to stay on this beat!
Uncle Cosmo
@mrmoshpotato: You mean Doo-Doo ra-Who?? Those frogleg-mangeurs have a spare of Dr Guillotin’s cute little amuse-décapiter upon which his pseudoacademic escapades might be, c’est-â-dire, cut short?? Axeing ;^D for a fiend…
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 782 new Covid-19 cases on 27th May, for a cumulative reported total of 5,100,249 cases. 781 of these new cases were local infections; one new case was imported. It also reported one death, for an adjusted cumulative total of 37,087 deaths – 0.73% of the cumulative reported total, 0.73% of resolved cases.
8,940 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 27th May, with a positivity rate of 8.4%.
There were 18,510 active cases on 27th May, two more than the day before. 570 were in hospital. 30 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 24 confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 779 patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 5,044,652 patients recovered – 99.0% of the cumulative reported total.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 246 doses of vaccine on 29th May: 16 first doses, 26 second doses, 136 first booster doses, and 68 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 72,843,588 doses administered: 28,136,523 first doses, 27,550,124 second doses, 16,335,715 first booster doses, and 823,495 second booster doses. 86.2% of the population have received their first dose, 84.4% their second dose, 50.0% their first booster dose, and 2.5% their second booster dose.
StringOnAStick
My long Covid from a early March infection is finally resolving a bit. My functional medicine provider did some blood work recently and my T3 levels were below normal, but T4 is normal as it has always been. I’ve been taking the lowest possible dose of Armour thyroid (prescription) for over a decade because of slightly low T3; the most common medication for low thyroid function is Levothyroxin (Synthroid), which is just T4 so adding more T4 won’t fix my issue. You convert T4 into the active form, which is T3, and most of that happens in the gut. The solution is instead of just increasing T3 dose is to heal the gut, and I’m pretty sure Covid has bad gut biome effects and that is part of long Covid, plus a lot of us have low level gut dysfunction just as part of modern life and diets.
On my functional medicine practitioner’s recommendation, I started taking lions mane and cordycepts mushroom supplements and within 3 days I had the biggest increase in feeling better I’ve had since getting Covid. People can make fun of supplements all they want, but without access to things like Vitamin D I would be dead by now given that without them my Vitamin D level gets into heart attack territory pretty damned quickly and I’ve been completely debilitated and unable to work at one point in my life due to low D. I hesitated to even mention the mushrooms because I am sure someone will come after me here about it, but I figured I could handle some smack talk on the chance it might help someone else who reads this.
NeenerNeener
Having Monday off has messed up my day-of-the-week sense, so I forgot it’s COVID-19 reporting day today.
Monroe County, NY:
21 new cases on 05/24/23.
18 new cases on 05/25/23.
19 new cases on 05/26/23.
14 new cases on 05/27/23.
14 new cases on 05/28/23.
10 new cases on 05/29/23.
9 new cases on 05/30/23.
Deaths now at 2269, up 3 since last week.
I spent the whole holiday weekend buying plants and getting paint from Lowes, totally unmasked. It still feels kind of weird to be bare faced after 3 years of never stepping out of my car without a mask.
Jackie
It makes me wonder how much sicker those who are fully vaccinated and still get a bad case of Covid would be… Hospitalized? Ventilated? Dead?
Knock on wood I haven’t had Covid YET, but I’m counting on the vaccines and boosters to keep me out of the hospital 🤞🏻🤞🏻
Ang
Thank you so much for continuing these updates! I have found myself relying on them more and more as twitter becomes dominated by blue checks and the noise-to-signal ratio worsens.