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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: August 20, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: August 20, 2024

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With the country experiencing a relatively large summer wave of COVID-19, the Food and Drug Administration is considering signing off on this year’s strain-matched COVID-19 vaccines as soon as this week, according to a report by CNN that cited unnamed officials familiar with the matter.

Last year, the FDA gave the green light for the 2023–2024 COVID shots on September 11, close to the peak of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in that year’s summer wave. This year, the summer wave began earlier and, by some metrics, is peaking at much higher levels than in previous years.

Currently, wastewater detection of SARS-CoV-2 shows “very high” virus levels in 32 states and the District of Columbia. An additional 11 states are listed as having “high” levels. Looking at trends, the southern and western regions of the country are currently reporting SARS-CoV-2 levels in wastewater that rival the 2022–2023 and 2023–2024 winter waves, which both peaked at the very end of December…

Test positivity—a metric that has weakened given the dramatic decline in testing—shows a weekly test positivity rate of 18.1 percent for mid-August (amid a test volume of roughly 43,000). Such a rate, if truly reflective of cases, has not been seen since the initial towering omicron wave of January 2022, which peaked at 30.5 percent (with a test volume of roughly 991,000)…

The good news is that given the substantial accumulation of protection from past infections and vaccinations, the two most serious metrics—emergency department visits and deaths—have not shown similar rises. The weekly percentage of emergency department visits with a COVID-19 diagnosis is low and similar to last year’s summer wave. Deaths are likewise low, though they are still only provisional counts for the most recent weeks…

The FDA has firmly embraced a strategy to offer annual COVID-19 vaccines in the run-up to winter waves, not summer waves. The agency’s thinking has always been to encourage Americans to get their flu and COVID-19 vaccines together between September and November, just before a mob of cold-weather respiratory illnesses strike together. The fresh vaccination boost can dull the levels of severe respiratory disease at a time when health care systems are most at risk of becoming overwhelmed.

But, while seasonal flu and some other respiratory viruses reliably surge almost exclusively in the winter, the seasonality of COVID-19 was never a given. And, so far, summer waves have arisen as consistently as winter ones, creating some awkwardness for the vaccine releases.

The other thing to consider is timing for maximum protection for the likely winter wave. For healthy people 5 years old and above, the CDC recommended getting only one shot last year. The shots offer peak protection for around four months. If you get your annual shot at the beginning of September, your protection may be on the decline if COVID-19 peaks again at the turn of the year, as it has the past two years.

According to the 2023–2024 guidance, people who are 65 and older can get a second COVID-19 booster four months after getting their first. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised may also get additional doses of the updated COVID-19 vaccine.

“Free to access” info from the Washington Post:

… The mRNA shots manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna designed to target the KP.2 variant can hit the market within days of approval by the Food and Drug Administration. A third protein-based vaccine made by Novavax, preferred by people who are cautious about mRNA vaccines or who have had bad reactions to them, will probably take longer to be approved and will be distributed in subsequent weeks, according to the federal health official.

Consumers should be able to start getting shots at pharmacies within a week after approval and at doctor’s offices soon after…

The timing of the release is too late for Americans who were looking to shore up their immunity before summer travel and the return of the school year, or for those who face heightened risk because of their age or underlying conditions. In recent weeks, some people weighed whether to get an outdated vaccine for partial protection more quickly or to hang on for the updated version. And those who didn’t want to wait discovered existing shots were no longer easy to find…

Manufacturers have stopped shipping existing coronavirus vaccines. A CDC vaccine finder website to help people locate pharmacies with coronavirus vaccines is down until newly formulated vaccines become widely available. Some CVS stores have run out while others have supplies, the company said. Walgreens is not offering coronavirus vaccines until the new versions arrive…

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    22Comments

    1. 1.

      WereBear

      Excellent point about the emergency room rate, though. That’s the wonder of vaccination, and the antivaxxers are further destroying themselves by refusing.

      Trump may go down in history for killing more of his own base than the “enemy.” And his administration aimed flights at both coasts. All of it was evil and purposeful.

      Every time I check these specific numbers, they go up.

      Reply
    2. 2.

      Sid

      The Iowa congressman who wants a “strategic initiative” to fight the spread of HPAI forgets that it’s his Republican Party- and the farmers who overwhelmingly support it- who’ve hampered efforts to contain H5N1 in dairy cows.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      TBone

      Some great news in the fight, possibly against all corona viruses.

      Using an advanced imaging technique called cryo-electron tomography, the experimental researchers at Yale captured detailed snapshots of the spike protein as it changes during the fusion process.
      They discovered antibodies targeting a specific part of the S2 domain, called the stem-helix, which can bind to the spike protein and stop it from refolding into a shape necessary for fusion. This prevents the virus from entering human cells.

      LFG!!!
      https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/new-insights-into-covid-19-spike-protein-offer-hope-for-universal-vaccines/ar-AA1oWJKL

      Reply
    5. 5.

      Matt McIrvin

      Test positivity—a metric that has weakened given the dramatic decline in testing—shows a weekly test positivity rate of 18.1 percent for mid-August (amid a test volume of roughly 43,000). Such a rate, if truly reflective of cases, has not been seen since the initial towering omicron wave of January 2022, which peaked at 30.5 percent (with a test volume of roughly 991,000)…

      It’s not, of course, due to the aforementioned dramatic decline in testing. Nobody is getting tested unless they’re sick and think they might have covid. And there’s surely massive underreporting of the results which means the ones that get reported are mostly the bad ones.

      Reply
    6. 6.

      mrmoshpotato

      @WereBear:

      And his administration aimed flights at both coasts. All of it was evil and purposeful.

      Not just the coasts.  Dump basically made every blue state fight with the others over PPE.

      Oh, fLights.

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Matt McIrvin

      @WereBear: Since most people in the US never got any additional COVID shots past the first or maybe second one in 2021, I think the declining severity relative to previous waves is mostly from most Americans having prior immunity from being infected. Usually more than once.

      Reply
    8. 8.

      New Deal democrat

      The CDC’s variant update last Friday showed that the KP.x variants were over 75% of all new cases, with the LB.1 variant another 14%, a marked decline from previous weeks.

      While the most recent CDC wastewater update shows the summer wave may be peaking, BIobot’s does not. They say, as of the week of August 12: “ COVID-19 activity remains elevated and continues to increase across most of the country.” Current levels nationally are about 2/3’s of their level at last winter’s Holiday peak.
       
      The most recent update for deaths show that the final number of the week of July 10 was 566. The *first preliminary* number for the week of August 10 was 447. At their low point in June, the first preliminary number was 80 and the final tally was 283. Almost certainly the final number for deaths this week will be over 1000, and perhaps close to 1500.

      Reply
    9. 9.

      Marleedog

      Spousal unit is going on an aeroplane in a couple of weeks,  and we figured it is better to have some level of increased vaccine protection rather than none. We had to look around a bit, but were finally able to get shots at CVS.  We will re-up at the beginning of December with the new and improved.  Will have to stagger our flu shots, but that is only a minor inconvenience

       

      Thanks for keeping up with this, Anne Laurie.

      Reply
    10. 10.

      TBone

      Thank you for all of this again AL!!!

      The Med Express article you posted proves my point (a comment I made here somewhere last week):  long Covid should be a clinical, not a laboratory, diagnosis:

      https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-largest-kind-common-lab-reliable.html

      If a doc could see my swollen to almost unrecognizable face right now (it was normal yesterday), I’d be diagnosed immediately.  Inflammation comes and goes with a will of its own.  Lips are getting ready to swell and burn too…

      But we are in deep denial here.  It doesn’t exist…

      Reply
    13. 13.

      sab

      @TBone:I am not intending to get too personal, but is your medical issue long covid or lyme? We all need to know these symptoms because we are all at risk for both.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      Fair Economist

      Literally everybody I know who has taken a trip this summer has gotten COVID – my brother-in-law and his family, my husband and mother-in-law (on a separate trip), and two friends (separately).

      In spite of usually masking outside of the house I even caught a *very little* something – so mild I wasn’t even sure I was sick until I developed a persistent cough afterwards.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Fair Economist

      @Marleedog: It’s more important to mask on a plane. There are so many strains now vaccination can’t stop you from getting sick, although it reduces the chance somewhat and makes it milder. And, as the joke goes, when you fly you get to meet germs from all over the world! But a good KN95 mask or comparable cuts your chances of infection by 90% or so, more if you’re scrupulous. Boarding and deplaning are particularly important times to mask since they turn off the air filters planes use in the air, and you have a LOT of people in a very small area.

      Reply
    16. 16.

      VFX Lurker

      Thank you for these important posts, Anne Laurie.

      I’m on Day 11 of COVID-19. Pretty sure I caught one of the popular FLiRT variants flying around Los Angeles County. Also pretty sure my five vaccinations and Paxlovid kept me out of the hospital.

      Symptoms keep changing. It started with dry sinuses, chills and sweats, fatigue/weakness.  On Monday, my sinuses turned on the spigot and refused to turn off. I’m a bit better now, though I’m too sick to even work from home.

      I started rapid testing every day starting last Wednesday. My line got fainter and fainter until Sunday night, when it returned with a vengeance. The line hasn’t dimmed since. Rebound is real. Hoping to test negative soon.

      Folks, if you haven’t caught COVID this summer, hang in there until September for your shot. Way better to feel bad for a day than to feel bad for 10+ days. This virus is awful.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Aimai

      Oddly enough like Laua Garrett I, too, never caught Covid for four years and I just got it this week—along with my father and mother—on a long planned summer break on the Cape. Im isolating now hoping mr aimai and the two adult aimai daughters don’t catch it.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      VFX Lurker

      @Aimai: Oddly enough like Laua Garrett I, too, never caught Covid for four years and I just got it this week—along with my father and mother—on a long planned summer break on the Cape. Im isolating now hoping mr aimai and the two adult aimai daughters don’t catch it.

      Argh. If possible, and if you have not already done so, please consider scheduling a video visit with a doctor for a Paxlovid prescription. It helps.

      Wishing you lots of rest and a swift recovery.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      arrieve

      I caught Covid coming back from California in June (unplanned seven-hour layover in Austin–I wore a mask mostly but I had to eat and drink and the airport was very crowded.) Instead of Paxlovid, I took Legevrio. It’s less effective than Paxlovid, but my experience was very positive. The fever, hacking cough and nausea were mostly gone (or in the case of the cough, manageable) after 24 hours, and no nasty taste. Anecdotal evidence I know, but something to consider if you really hate Paxlovid.

      Reply
    21. 21.

      dnfree

      @Marleedog: We took two trips this year (February and May) that involved flights.  We masked on the planes, but from what we read, it’s also important to mask with good-quality masks in the airport (picture the TSA line, and the long wait in a crowded gate area), and especially before the plane takes off and when it’s landing (less air circulation).

      One of us, or both, got Covid following both trips, which involved mostly either outdoor locations or uncrowded churches/museums.  We think the infections came from fellow tour members, since we didn’t mask on the tour buses.

      Reply
    22. 22.

      Mart

      I visited three egg farms in the Midwest. In the early 00’s when the bird flu hit they sent 24 million birds to the landfill.

      Reply

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