We've come a long way since the pandemic began, but COVID is still a threat.
Stay up to date on your COVID vaccines to reduce your risk of severe illness and hospitalization from COVID.
Find free updated COVID vaccines at https://t.co/jDq2UIHFmT. #WeCanDoThis pic.twitter.com/CRXUuHMcae
— HHS.gov (@HHSGov) June 13, 2023
COVID-19 vaccines being developed and manufactured for the 2023-2024 campaign should target one of the currently dominant XBB variants, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) staff reviewers said on Monday. https://t.co/D3nrEBgcdU
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) June 12, 2023
Latest US #SARSCoV2 genomics indicates continued rise of XBB.1.16 and other XBB recombinants, without new variants showing up. Stable picture. pic.twitter.com/x00Vxm7MKY
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) June 9, 2023
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China’s Covid-positive test rate jumped to 40% last month
The proportion of people diagnosed with Covid at hospitals across China has risen more than five-fold since April.https://t.co/GUXXvRHLhd
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) June 12, 2023
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Health Ministry provides 4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses for free | Daily Express Online – more about one of our low-cost, patent-free Covid vaccine technology. This one is IndoVac for Indonesia, the other led to Corbevax for India https://t.co/H7Jv0PlU2n
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) June 13, 2023
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❗ Although the #COVID19 emergency has now ended, the pandemic has not.
Responding to the current situation, and looking to the future WHO/Europe launches its transition plan for COVID-19. 👇 https://t.co/remmTDx0Cu pic.twitter.com/ELB9lJBeIF
— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) June 12, 2023
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Previous summer waves in Britain have usually started in early June and peaked towards the end of July. It looks like this year will be no different. pic.twitter.com/8sPwmvtmTi
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) June 13, 2023
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The fast-spreading new #SARSCoV2 subvariant XBB is part of a ‘new class’ of #Omicron. It’s called XBB—or Gryphon—and there’s a chance it could overtake everything else out there https://t.co/sgfMQt0Wqs pic.twitter.com/ZlbORtlVk6
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) June 11, 2023
New and important report on vaccination prevention of #LongCovid across multiple cohorts, countries shows very consistent protection (16-45% reduction), more w/ Pfizer than Astra-Zeneca, especially noted in younger individuals https://t.co/zsUXecafiq pic.twitter.com/Zzk3Lhyyus
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) June 13, 2023
Common diabetes drug shown to prevent long COVID
The reduction in risk may warrant clinicians using metformin for #COVID19 patients sooner rather than laterhttps://t.co/GQMwawpDwY#LongCovid pic.twitter.com/FOm5RFaKzT
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) June 13, 2023
In the lab: A #Covid nasal vaccine being developed in Germany is undergoing further improvements. It's made of weakened but live #SARSCoV2. So far, it has been successfully tested in animals. Berlin scientists say the nasal vax produces stronger immunity https://t.co/K1JIxUReLm
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) June 13, 2023
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🆕 @LancetMicrobe
Rigorous tracking of #SARSCoV2 challenge study
—importance of the nose as the portal and airborne transmission
—recovery of viable virus on surfaces
—2 superspreader individuals emitted ~86% of airborne virushttps://t.co/E71XR3NrEd @wendybarclay11 + colleagues pic.twitter.com/U3vZ6Wv6Ye— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) June 10, 2023
Interesting new study from Japan shows how the airborne infection risk in a room can quickly be made visible with a CO2 monitor.
Check out the hospital outbreaks. They show once again how droplet precautions against SARS-CoV-2 are simply inadequate.
👉https://t.co/gJQwtEwcRG pic.twitter.com/sVFIv5YAB8
— Maarten De Cock (@mdc_martinus) June 13, 2023
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Reminder: just because most people have stopped taking precautions, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to get sick (or get someone else sick). We are in no sense “past this” https://t.co/V0ulYlzms4
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) June 11, 2023
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Here's where the crackpots have ended up: treating a message scrawled on a toilet stall door as a credible source of information. https://t.co/QloaovKRo1
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) June 6, 2023
Reader Interactions
39Comments
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raven
I had the booster yesterday and it’s kicking my ass.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
11 new cases on 06/07/23.
12 new cases on 06/08/23.
13 new cases on 06/09/23.
11 new cases on 06/10/23.
10 new cases on 06/11/23.
2 new cases on 06/12/23.
13 new cases on 06/13/23.
Deaths now at 2285, up 9 since last week.
One of my step-relatives and his wife caught COVID on a Disney cruise within the last month. I have no idea what their vaccination status is.
raven: I’ve tried both Moderna and Pfizer boosters and they both kicked my ass too. I guess I’m not one of those people who has no reaction to Pfizer.
Butch
We are both fully vaccinated and up to date on boosters and are currently on week 5 of recovering from Covid.
narya
I had tried to get another booster about a month ago, but was denied. I could get it in about four weeks, but I’m contemplating waiting until the new formulation is available. For one, sometimes they seem to want you to wait six months between doses, and that would delay my next one until January, and, second, the current booster wouldn’t protect me much more against the current circulating strain. Still masking on public transport and in stores and in public spaces in hotels–but not, e.g., when I went into the post office yesterday for less than a minute to drop off a letter.
Steve in the ATL
I know a lot of doctors and while all but one is a hardcore RWNJ, none would lower himself to writing graffiti in a public restroom.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 618 new Covid-19 cases on 10th June, for a cumulative reported total of 5,108,586 cases. 617 of these new cases were local infections; one new case was imported. It also reported one death, for an adjusted cumulative total of 37,110 deaths – 0.73% of the cumulative reported total, 0.73% of resolved cases.
7,708 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 10th June, with a positivity rate of 6.9%.
There were 18,147 active cases on 10th June, nine fewer than the day before. 483 were in hospital. 13 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, seven confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 626 patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 5,053,329 patients recovered – 99.0% of the cumulative reported total.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 152 doses of vaccine on 13h June: 13 first doses, five second doses, 106 first booster doses, and 28 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 72,851,099 doses administered: 28,137,865 first doses, 27,550,828 second doses, 16,337,571 first booster doses, and 824,835 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.
Scout211
The FDA has approved an RSV vaccination for age 60 and over.
Two manufacturers (Pfizer and GSK) have had their RSV vaccinations approved by the FDA. The next step is the CDC meeting on June 21. The vaccinations should be ready by the fall RSV season.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’m getting it this week too. I have yet to have a bad reaction. So far, so good.
Matt McIrvin
With five shots (and a January infection) in me, they won’t, I think, give me another booster until the new one comes out in the fall, so I’m kind of running naked at this point.
The data on the pandemic are definitely starting to erode to the point that I’m never quite confident about what’s going on, but there’s still wastewater collection around here. It seems like the exponential decay of the spring is over and we’re at a low constant simmer, with cases never entirely disappearing, and slightly more than 1 death per day in the state of Massachusetts. But the virus keeps diversifying into new XBB sub-sub-variants, pounding on the door. I’m not confident we won’t have a new wave pop up sometime in the summer.
I can’t say I’ve kept all COVID protocols in place but I still mask up on public transport and in some crowded spaces.
New Deal democrat
After a brief hiatus, Biobot updated yesterday, showing a further decline to 178 particles per mL. In the past 2 years, only June and July 2021 and March 2022 were lower. Only the Western census region remained steady vs. declining. This pattern is concordant with Canada, which is still tracking cases and is at a similar low.
Hospitalizations have declined to just over 7000 weekly, another new all-time low. Deaths have not been updated officially since May 13, showing 764 that week. Provisional data since then shows further declines.
As of last Friday, XBB and its subvariants still make up 99% of all US cases. There are no new variants of concern.
There is no sign of any summer wave yet this year. Last year it started in late May, but in 2020 and 2021 did not start until the 4th of July. Continuing to cross fingers that with XBB, COVID has evolved itself into a cul-de-sac.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I had an event yesterday where I was in a crowded space unmasked for the first time since COVID. We’ll see what happens.
Princess
I’m reluctant to get a, what? fifth booster. I’m not eligible to get one now anyway but my husband is and he’s dithering. It’s not clear to me it provides a real benefit beyond a very temporary protection from infection — that my old shots and infections are protecting me already from serious illness and death. The CDC language has been very much “you can” rather than “you should.” It would be different if I was in ill health. But I think I prefer to wait for a nasal vaccine or one designed for XBB.
HinTN
@Steve in the ATL: Agreed on the stall scrawling, not so much my experience on them being RWNJs. Also, although their handwriting is generally illegible most of them know how to spell.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: On our trip to Barcelona in the spring I spent most of my time on the plane masked, but almost nobody is wearing masks there at this point–fewer people than in the northeast US–and I eventually gave it up while riding the subway and such. Might have been a bad idea, but as it happens we didn’t get infected.
narya
@Baud: I find myself doing calculations . . . last week I was in a small space, unmasked, but the other occupants were older than I am (NOT common these days . . .) and some were masked, i.e., I figured that they were at greater risk than I am. And after the beer run I was near others, but it’s a huge space–large, three-story main space, as the brewing floor is visible from the bar. I’m just glad I’m not still working, because they were trying to get everyone back to the office, and THAT would not have felt safe.
smith
@HinTN: That’s the British spelling of “license,” so that’s not likely from the US. Also, we don’t yank the licenses of crackpot doctors, and actually sometimes reward them with high government positions.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
@narya:
The crowd I was in were all libs so I assume a very high vaccination rate amomg them.
glc
@Steve in the ATL: I’ve written graffiti in a public restroom (penultimate section of “The Garden of Proserpine”).
Got some positive feedback as well (also as graffiti).
Precursor of the comments section.
Baud
@glc:
We’ve gone downhill.
Another Scott
re the “unseasonal” flu outbreak in Japan – I caught influenza A in mid-May 2019 at a conference in Nara, Japan. I didn’t know it was the flu until it was too late to take Tamiflu. Yes, I had the flu vaccine the fall before…
Viruses are clever beasties, and these days one shouldn’t assume that it’s impossible to get the flu and similar things outside of their normal seasons.
Thanks as always, AL, and everyone for the information.
Cheers,
Scott.
narya
@Baud: Hah! Yeah, I do some of those calculations too. I’m not so sure about the beer runs–my older nephew is extremely fit (rock climbing, ice climbing, hiking, etc.) and has never been vaxxed–but one of the things that has stayed since the pandemic started is outdoor spaces at a lot of bars and restaurants.
Soprano2
@Scout211: I definitely want to get that once it’s available. That RSV is some nasty stuff.
I’m going to voice what’s a kind of unpopular opinion here – I’m TIRED of scolds like Katie Mack, just tired. I don’t mind at all if people want to keep wearing masks everywhere, just quit scolding everyone else who isn’t doing it as if we’re committing some kind of unforgivable sin. People are not going to wear face masks everywhere in public for the rest of their lives, and I think that’s what would be required for what she’s saying. What if they don’t find a treatment for long covid for the next 100 years? It’s not reasonable. JMHO.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: Our local wastewater testing shows the lowest levels EVER at our north plant, and extremely low levels at our larger south plant. So it’s extremely low around here.
Soprano2
@narya: That’s not because of Covid as much as it is that those spaces, if well-done, are popular in the summer! We have a great patio – people can bring their dogs and hang out. I hate it when it gets cold and people can’t sit out there anymore.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: …I did resume wearing masks outdoors a bit when there was a lot of smoke from the Canadian wildfires in the air.
Chris T.
Someone should add to the “doctor’s note” on the bathroom stall: “Instead, for a good time, call <number>” (867-5309?)
lowtechcyclist
In the last pre-pandemic years (2018, 2019), motor vehicle deaths were hovering around 100 per day. Which is where Covid deaths are now. Two years ago, I said I’d stop masking when I was less likely to die of Covid than in a car crash. I’m still masking in indoor public places.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Since vaccination, unless it’s within the past couple of months, doesn’t do a whole lot to impede COVID transmission, that’s less significant than it used to be.
(Though I’ve noticed that the power of recent boosting to do that is often underplayed in the media–it’s not a guarantee but it’s far from useless.)
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: What complicates that comparison is that the COVID pandemic made car crash deaths go up.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: I have been masking outdoors through pollen season and it really has helped. (Benedryl puts me to sleep and Claritin screws up my heart rate.)
smith
@lowtechcyclist: I think the current covid death rate is about what the flu death rate was in an average year pre-pandemic. Of course, there still is the matter of long covid — not sure what the rate of long flu might be.
Anyway
@Soprano2:
Yep, i didn’t find Katie Mack’s harangues very convincing either. Other than the doctor’s office I haven’t masked in over a year. I go to work, grocery store, restaurants, taken plane trips — hope to get to some concerts this summer. I use Biobot data as an indicator/reference.
Joy in FL
Thanks for this info, Annie Laurie. It’s easy for me to forgot about Covid, and this was a good reminder to make sure I do take appropriate precautions.
Cameron
That Miami Herald story about Puddinghands Pinochet rings true. President? Governor? This dude isn’t qualified to run the Rodent County Office of Animal Sex Crimes.
Matt McIrvin
Here’s the thing about scolding over long COVID: the most terrifying stat I’ve seen, from a couple of different sources, is that the probability of getting it from your next infection goes UP more or less linearly with repeated infection. If we just assume everyone is going to get COVID every year… it’s not too long before nearly everyone in the world will actually have some sort of long COVID. Within 5-10 years, probably.
The next question is precisely what that means. I don’t think it means debilitating CFS on the level of, say, what Dianna Cowern has, because if that were the case, given what they say the rate of long COVID is now, everyone would already know dozens of people laid low this way. I think it means “some kind of persistent extended symptoms”, and that does more or less match my experience of people I know.
But given those results, I think it’s pretty much inevitable that I’ll get long COVID someday, but I do want to put it off as long as I can.
terben
@smith: In most non-north american English speaking countries the noun is ‘licence’ while the verb is ‘license’
The ‘high point’ referred to in the tweet probably refers to a shopping mall in Melbourne, Australia.
In Australia, doctors are not licensed, but they are registered instead. Hence their licence cannot be lost or yanked, but they can be deregistered.
Just to be more infuriating for everyone, the noun/verb pair practice/practise also exists outside north america, where only practice exists
Central Planning
I was at my company’s annual user conference last week. Not many mask wearers. I wore mine on the plane trips but that was about it.
Sunday night I started to get a sore throat, yesterday woke up with a runny/stuffy nose. About the same today but the throat is getting better. My one covid test was negative, so I suspect/hope it is just a cold.
Rob
My wife and I got the latest booster. As usually happens, it kicked her butt for a day and a half, but it didn’t slow me down at all.
I wish more people would mask. I am still wearing N95 masks indoors at grocery stores etc. and normally don’t eat indoors at restaurants. As far as I know I’ve not contracted Covid, and I certainly don’t want to.
SteverinoCT
@Chris T.: For a good time, call 202-762-1401