Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Utah Is A Hot Spot For Covid Variant EU.1.1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now separately tracking several new COVID-19 variants, the agency announced Friday, adding more Omicron descendants to an increasingly complex list of new strains that are competing nationwide.聽Among the new variants now being tracked by the CDC is EU.1.1, a strain first designated by scientists earlier this year over its rapid ascent in some European countries.聽(Tin, 6/23)
The World Health Organization (WHO) posted its weekly epidemiologic update yesterday on聽 COVID-19, which shows decreases in new cases across all global regions. All regions, except Africa, also reported decreases in deaths from the virus. Globally, more than 1.2 million new cases and more than 7,100 deaths were reported in the past 28 days. The WHO cautioned, however, that the update is not an accurate reflection of virus activity, because of reduced testing and spotty case reporting. During this period, the WHO said, only 56% of countries and territories (133 of 234) reported one case. (Soucheray, 6/23)
Officials are no longer warning of scary new variants. Free tests are harder to come by. The White House covid team has disbanded, and the virus is increasingly erased from public conversation. After 2020鈥檚 summer of isolation followed by 2021鈥檚 鈥渉ot vax鈥 summer and last year鈥檚 summer of revenge travel, this summer, the fourth since covid arrived, marks a season of blissful ignorance 鈥 or begrudging acceptance that the rest of society is moving on. (Nirappil, Yarber and Regan, 6/25)
More on the spread of covid 鈥
U.S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some points raised by those who argue COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, instead reiterating that American spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began. The report was issued at the behest of Congress, which in March passed a bill giving U.S. intelligence 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Merchang, 6/23)
A University of Pennsylvania-led study estimates that 1,179,024 excess US deaths occurred in the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with excess mortality declining in metropolitan counties and rising in nonmetropolitan counties over the period. (Van Beusekom, 6/23)
Vaccine effectiveness (VE) among nursing home residents up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines is 31.2%, according to new research in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Soucheray, 6/23)
