We are using the power of our diplomacy to better protect the U.S. and the world from health threats.
The @StateDept's new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is leading the charge so the world is prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases. pic.twitter.com/YprRLv0wYd
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) November 13, 2023
Weekly U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 162,568 est.
– Average: 171,297 (-2,213)
– States reporting: 50/50
– In hospital: 12,820 (-133)
– In ICU: 1,526 (-16)
– New deaths: 1,214
– Average: 1,407 (-93)1/5
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) November 14, 2023
US COVID markers show declines or stable trends
Levels of the HV.1 subvariant, part of the Omicron EG.5 family, were most common and continue to rise.https://t.co/C5hNHw9cxb
Photo: NIAID/Flickr cc pic.twitter.com/5pjLRPASqK
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) November 13, 2023

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FDA has cleared its 1st OTC home antigen test for #Covid. No, really, this is the 1st. The agency granted full bona fide clearance to a test called Flowflex. Since 2020, FDA has granted only *emergency use* approvals to multiple antigen-based Covid tests https://t.co/c1zbLSxNCu pic.twitter.com/dw7eKWaWMI
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) November 12, 2023
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Study says mass #vaccination programs cut #COVID19 cases in #Japan by 65%. Mass vaccination campaigns directly prevented 640,000 COVID-19 cases during the sixth wave, & indirectly prevented as many as 8.5 million infections.https://t.co/YHU14L3t1j
andhttps://t.co/nnrTRC2b23— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) November 6, 2023
Australia/New Zealand: Health experts recommend people wear masks amid a new COVID-19 wave.
They also recommend celebrating Christmas outdoors.https://t.co/C1hgt6GP7V report:https://t.co/feoyqgdXTr
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) November 11, 2023
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Paywall removed via https://t.co/hiVdBVW0qG https://t.co/OtAQaIiGVF
— Phil Jeffcock 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 🐳🆔=🐘🆔[email protected] (@PJeffcock) November 12, 2023
Here's the latest variant picture for Iceland.
Iceland is the first country where BA.2.86.* "Pirola" has become dominant.
BA.2.86.* "Pirola" (74%) has risen rapidly, from 10% to 70% frequency in just 2 weeks.
EG.5.* "Eris" (18%) fell sharply.
🧵 pic.twitter.com/xzckiTgQpE— Mike Honey (@Mike_Honey_) November 11, 2023
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Sweden: Covid-19 report
"The recent increasing spread of infection continued during week 44, increases in both confirmed cases, inpatient occupancy, new ICU patients and deaths with Covid-19."https://t.co/c64WmIwt0phttps://t.co/mrVXZqYn5o pic.twitter.com/ZvFddR5Ix3
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) November 12, 2023
Lancet: The level of criminal incompetence exposed by recent witnesses to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry has proven that many, if not most, of over 230,000 deaths were preventable.
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) November 10, 2023
Canada: Mask mandate imposed for all long-term care home staff in Ontario.
5,459 COVID-19 cases among LTC residents. 181 people hospitalized Aug-Oct 2023.
106 deaths.https://t.co/XO6eje4D4o report:https://t.co/VT2eNFqxdF— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) November 11, 2023
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Trust in science plummeted during the #Covid pandemic, a @pewresearch poll reveals, with 27% presently saying they little or no confidence in science, down from 12% in April 2020.
Wrong lesson learned. Covid would have been much worse without science. https://t.co/k2TrDI1YsF— Helen Branswell 🇺🇦 (@HelenBranswell) November 14, 2023
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Men are living shorter than ever versus women. Top reason? #COVID19.
Men are less likely to vaccinate, less likely to mask, less willing/slow to see doctors, and also higher biological risk of severe #COVID.
The last one is biological, but others are maybe toxic masculinity. pic.twitter.com/PZ40CM5Yw8
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 14, 2023
Study: Persistent CNS immune activation not main driver of neurologic long #COVID
The researchers found no evidence of neuroinflammation.https://t.co/B4KR8sFwPL pic.twitter.com/qCDjl0HLxF
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) November 10, 2023
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Long COVID linked to allergies in new study https://t.co/ooRGBzRsdz via @CIDRAP
— Paloma Franceschi (@DocpalFrancesc2) November 10, 2023
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What to know about #SARSCoV2 variant JN.1: It's a descendant of BA.2.86 & has a known immune-evasive mutation. You may recall BA.2.86 as the "Pirola" variant that never took off. Now we have JN.1, its next of kin, which may be even more immune-evasive https://t.co/1ZLIF1gVI1 pic.twitter.com/Il4XbzqWdU
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) November 11, 2023
"Many chronic illnesses have been largely ignored, dismissed, and ridiculed. Long COVID has taught the world that these diseases are real, there is a biological basis for them, and we need to study them."
– Prof. @VirusesImmunity of @YaleMed & @YaleSPHhttps://t.co/dKUcONOfps
— Yale School of Public Health (@YaleSPH) November 8, 2023
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The number of US adults who say they're having "serious difficulty" w/ memory & decision-making has gone up considerably since the start of the pandemic. Adults in their 20s, 30s & 40s are driving the trend. Researchers point to #LongCovid as a major cause https://t.co/7Rvqx85gtd
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) November 13, 2023
For 40 years, from 1980 to 2020, Republicans argued that government should never tell private businesses what to do. Now they’re passing laws, from DeSantis with Disney to Abbott with doctors, telling private businesses what to do. They are a party of no principles. https://t.co/Nlr0oneqPT
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 11, 2023
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Reader Interactions
16Comments
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WereBear
Checking the planes is smart.
Lapassionara
Many thanks, AL, for gathering this information for us.
Scout211
Thanks, AL. Some great choices this morning.
My favorites:
Maybe?
No principles?
GOP bullies are only allowed to bully, they cannot be bullied. And they will pass laws to make that so. Those are their principles.
Somehow these two X/Tweets seem to go together. Hmmm.
WereBear
@Scout211: No maybes about it. I think the thing that chaps their saddle is how younger people prefer the life Democrats offer.
75% of our suicides are older white men. That is stark.
New Deal democrat
BIobot’s last update earlier this week shows a continued slight increase in wastewater particles to 444 per mL from 425 one week ago. The recent high from the end of August was 640 vs. the June low of 165. This is almost identical to one year ago, as we approached the Thanksgiving through New Year’s spike to 1,160 per mL. All 4 Census regions are showing the same general trend.
The CDC’s update from Monday shows a decrease to 14,800 hospitalizations, almost a 1/3rd decline from the early September peak of 20,700, vs. the June low of 6,300. One year ago the comparable number was 24,600.
Deaths for the week of October 14 were 1,200, down from their late September peak of 1,390, and vs, their early July low of 486. One year ago deaths were 2,150.
If we continue along the path of having 40% fewer hospitalizations and deaths this early winter season vs. last year, hospitalizations should peak at about 2,700 at the beginning of January, and deaths at about 2,300 shortly thereafter.
I did read yesterday that the new booster was effective against variant BA.2.86, and so is expected to give good protection against its new subvariant JN.1, if that becomes the dominant variant this winter. As of last week’s update, JN.1 wasn’t even included in the CDC’s menu of alphabet soup.
Overall I remain very impressed that between vaccinations and naturally acquired resistance, the pandemic continues to generally wane. Still, I will be masking in public places indoors for the winter, not just because of COVID, but because we have learned how effective it is against other infections like the flu.
rikyrah
Thank you, AL. For this beat.
Albatrossity
@Scout211: Actually, the “principle” governing the GOP re government regulations is to oppose anything that might protect human beings. Health and safety regulations, pollution regulations, etc. all are designed to keep PEOPLE safe. Vaccinations are also designed to keep PEOPLE safe.
Therefore, they are against both of those things.
RaflW
Wow. We left Australia (after visiting NZ first) eight days ago. A month total across the two countries, and yeah, we did not see much mask use at all. Not probably much different than in the US, and I don’t think we got much negativity directed at us as we did mask much more than the average person, but I did say to the BF at one point “the pandemic seems just as ‘over’ here as at home” (in terms of how ppl lived daily).
Part of our planning was that we went in mid-late spring so we could mostly dine outside. And that worked about 95% of the time, and we stayed healthy. I often just get routine, dumb sinus colds on trips with long flights. Not this time. I may always mask in TSA, gate areas, and until takeoff — longer if, as was the case SFO-MSP the other day, there’s a typhoid Marky coughing in my or an adjacent row. A KN95 for 4 hours (or even 8) is a tiny inconvenience compared to Covid, or even a week of run of the mill sniffles.
Marmot
27%, you say?
Also, edited for emphasis and English.
Marmot
@Scout211: Next you’ll be telling me they’re not the party of personal responsibility!
Wag
@Marmot: Thanks for
poi that out. Missed the first go round
Wag
@Wag: No. I did not mean “thanks for poi.” Poi is nasty.
thanks for pointing out the 27% rule.
Marmot
@Wag: My pleasure. Awfully strange, right?
dnfree
My brother and his wife went on a tour of New Zealand starting in mid-November. They were joined at the start of the tour by another group that had first toured Australia. The first day in Auckland, one of the Australia group tested positive for Covid. Both she and her roommate were required to isolate for five days. At the end of the five days, the original tourist was negative but the roommate was positive, so that required another five days of isolation. Effectively they missed the entire New Zealand tour. Presumably the first patient was exposed in Australia.
My brother and wife were originally scheduled to take this tour in 2020.
AlaskaReader
Still cogent.
Vax. Boost. Mask. Distance. Ventilate. Isolate. Quarantine.
Help yourself as you help others.
dnfree
If anyone missed this information, the expiration dates on many Covid home tests has been extended. Scroll to the bottom of this list and click on the type of tests you have to see the revised dates. Of the tests I have on hand, a few remain expired, but some are good until May 2024.
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/home-otc-covid-19-diagnostic-tests