- Emergency Physicians and Advanced Practice Providers with … – Physician’s Weekly: This study sought to determine the prevalence of unknown COVID-19 infections among emergency physicians and Advanced Practitioner Providers (APPs) working in emergency departments (EDs). The results showed that the prevalence of unknown COVID-19 infection was low among the cohort of EPs and APPs. The authors concluded that the introduction of COVID-19 vaccinations had a positive effect on reducing the prevalence of unknown COVID-19 infections.
- CDC Launches Website to Help Consumers Find Free COVID-19 … – HSToday: Testing for COVID-19 is available at pharmacies, commercial laboratory sites, community sites, and retail locations. The CDC has launched a COVID-19 Testing Locator website to help consumers find free testing sites near them. Tests offered may include laboratory-based nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and rapid antigen point-of-care (POC) testing, with results typically provided within 1-3 days.
- FDA vaccine advisers vote to harmonize Covid-19 vaccines in the United States – CNN: The FDA’s independent expert panel voted unanimously to update all Covid-19 vaccines to contain the same ingredients as the two-strain shots used as booster doses. This would make young children and others who haven’t been vaccinated eligible for two-strain vaccines that more closely match the circulating viruses as their primary series. The FDA must approve the recommendation before it goes into effect.
- Disruption of the blood-brain barrier due to long COVID – News-Medical.Net: Studies have shown that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein can cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to cognitive impairment and inflammation. This has been observed in deceased SARS-CoV-2 patients, as well as in rodent models.
- ‘Microclots’ could help solve the long COVID puzzle – National Geographic UK: Physiologist Etheresia Pretorius and her colleagues at Stellenbosch University in South Africa have proposed that microclots, tiny blood clots caused by the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, may be linked to long COVID and its lingering symptoms. Their follow-up study showed that the body’s natural clot-busting process does not always effectively break down these clots.
- Long COVID: What Do the Latest Data Show? – KFF: CDC data shows that COVID cases, deaths, and hospitalizations have stabilized after a holiday surge. There is still uncertainty about long COVID and whether there will be increased cases following the holiday bump. Vaccines may reduce the likelihood of getting long COVID, or reduce its severity among those who already have it, but only 15% of the population has been vaccinated so far.
- FDA yanks EUA for AstraZeneca’s Evusheld as COVID variants … – MM+M Online: The FDA has revised the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, noting that the drug is not authorized for use in the U.S. until further notice due to the ongoing evolution of COVID-19 subvariants. Hospitals, health systems and healthcare providers should retain existing supplies of Evusheld in case future subvariants are found to be neutralized by the treatment.
- US moves to simplify Covid vaccines into yearly dose to target variants – The Guardian: The FDA is asking its scientific advisers to help develop a plan for switching to yearly Covid-19 booster shots for most Americans, in order to simplify the use of current vaccines and protect against the rapidly mutating virus. The advisory panel mostly agreed with the FDA’s approach.
Daily News Pulse for March 13, 2023
Summary: Princeton students have seen an overall improvement in course satisfaction since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Japan, many people are still wearing masks despite the government’s easing of guidelines.
