Tag: hospitalization

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Health

WHO says some information suggests elevated danger of hospitalization

WHO says some data suggests increased risk of hospitalization

Maria Van Kerkhove, Head of the Emerging Diseases and Zoonosis Division of the World Health Organization, speaks during a press conference following a meeting of the Emergency Committee on the new coronavirus in Geneva on January 22, 2020.

Pierre Albouy | AFP | Getty Images

A senior World Health Organization official said Tuesday that data from some countries may suggest that the Delta variant puts those infected at increased risk of hospitalization, but doesn’t necessarily kill more people than other strains.

“In terms of severity, we’ve seen some countries suggest an increased risk of hospitalization for people with a Delta variant. We haven’t seen this lead to an increased death rate, ”said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director on Covid-19. People infected with the Delta variant “didn’t die more often than the other strains,” she said.

Health officials have been grappling with the question for months, waiting for real data in countries where the delta variant is widespread. Van Kerkhove said WHO officials meet daily to discuss the rapidly spreading variant.

Like other strains, the Delta variant is especially dangerous for people with underlying conditions like obesity, diabetes, or heart disease, say WHO officials. However, it is far more contagious than other varieties, so it infects more people and puts a strain on global health systems.

“The risk factors for serious illness and death are the same,” said Van Kerkhove. “If you have underlying illnesses, regardless of your age, you have an increased risk of hospitalization.”

The Delta variant also quickly overtakes all other variants wherever it is recognized, she said.

“The prevalence of the lambda variant is falling … and the delta variant is increasing,” said Van Kerhove. “The delta variant quickly replaces other variants that are in circulation wherever it is identified.”

It is spreading in Central and South American countries and is quickly overtaking the lambda variant that is currently predominant there.

“We still don’t know exactly what impact the delta will have on Latin American countries,” said Dr. Sylvain Aldighieri, Incident Manager for the Pan American Health Organization, at a briefing last week.

The delta variant, first discovered by scientists in India in October, has so far spread to at least 142 countries. Found only a few months ago in the US, it now accounts for more than 90% of all sequenced cases, according to the CDC.

The most at risk in the US have been fully vaccinated, with booster doses approved on Friday for people with compromised immune systems and available immediately for administration.

There are currently discussions about opening booster doses to the general population, a move that would violate WHO’s strict recommendations to share doses with the rest of the world before booster doses are given to people who have already received their first vaccinations .

More than 200 million people worldwide have contracted Covid since the pandemic began, doubling from 100 million cases in the past six months. With the more transferable Delta variant spreading rapidly, the number could easily hit 300 million early next year, WHO officials said last week.

“Whether we reach 300 million and how quickly we get there depends on all of us,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.

– CNBC’s Robert Towey contributed to this report.

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Health

Delta Variant Not Driving Hospitalization Surge in England, Information Reveals

Delta Variant Not Driving Hospitalization Surge in England, Data Shows

The Delta variant, which is now responsible for most coronavirus infections in England, is not driving a surge in the rate of hospitalizations there, according to data released by Public Health England on Thursday.

Although the number of coronavirus infections has risen sharply in recent weeks, hospitalization rates remain low. Between June 21 and June 27, the weekly hospitalization rate was 1.9 per 100,000 people, the same as it was the previous week.

The hospitalization rate has increased slightly over the past month, rising from 1.1 admissions per 100,000 people in early June, according to the agency’s data. But it remains considerably lower than during England’s surge last winter, when the hospitalization rate peaked at more than 35 admissions per 100,000 people.

The data suggest that countries with high vaccination rates are unlikely to see major surges in hospitalization rates from Delta. Nearly 75 percent of adults in England — including 95 percent of those who are 80 or older — have had at least one shot, according to the agency’s numbers.

Earlier this month, England had delayed its plans to reopen after Delta caused a spike in new cases.

Case rates are highest among young adults, who are the least likely to be vaccinated, Public Health England reported. (Among those under 40, just 34 percent have been at least partially vaccinated.) Young people are less likely to develop severe Covid-19, which could explain why the spread of Delta has not resulted in a wave of hospitalizations.

Breakthrough infections, or those that occur in people who are fully vaccinated, tend to cause mild or no symptoms.

At a separate news conference on Thursday, the European Medicines Agency noted that vaccination should provide good protection against Delta.

“We are aware of the concerns that are caused by the rapid spread of the Delta variant and all the variants,” Marco Cavaleri, the head of biological health threats and vaccine strategy at the agency, said at the briefing. Given the research that has been done so far, the four vaccines that are approved in the European Union — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Jonson — all seem to protect against the Delta variant, he said.

In one recent study, for instance, researchers found that the Pfizer vaccine was 88 percent effective at protecting against symptomatic disease caused by Delta, a performance that nearly matches its 95 percent effectiveness against the original version of the virus. A single dose of the vaccine, however, is much less effective.

“Expediting vaccination and maintaining public health measures remain very important tools to fight the pandemic,” Dr. Cavaleri said. “In particular, making sure that vulnerable and elderly people complete their vaccination course as soon as possible is paramount.”

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World News

Many States with Unhealthy Latest Outbreaks Present Instances and Hospitalization Drops

Many States with Bad Recent Outbreaks Show Cases and Hospitalization Drops

According to a database from the New York Times, many of the states that have seen the worst coronavirus outbreaks recently have seen significant decreases in both new cases and hospitalizations over the past two weeks.

For example, in Michigan, which has had one of the steepest declines in the country, the average number of daily cases fell 45 percent and hospital admissions fell 32 percent during that period as of Tuesday.

The average number of new cases in the past two weeks has decreased 30 percent in Minnesota, 38 percent in Pennsylvania, and 33 percent in Florida. In the same three states, hospital admissions are down 20 percent, 27 percent, and 11 percent.

Advances for states like Michigan, which recently began to recover from one of the worst sections of the pandemic, may suggest vaccinations are starting to curb the virus in the United States. Hospitalization dates can often lag behind case numbers for a number of reasons.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday that, although encouraged by the achievements against the pandemic, she urged Americans to remain vigilant about the threat from the virus around the world.

Ms. Walensky said a vaccine is the fastest way to end the pandemic.

“But even with this powerful tool, while we continue to have community transmission, we must adhere to public health measures that we know will prevent the spread of this virus, mask hygiene, hand hygiene and physical distancing “, she said.

Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said in an interview that the vaccines had been a major contributor to improving case numbers and hospitalizations, but that the virus behaved in surprising ways There remained aspects that experts had to learn more about.

As an example of the unpredictable ups and downs of the virus, Dr. Osterholm pointed to Indiana, which borders Michigan and has lower vaccination rates, but has not seen the same increase in case numbers recently as its northern neighbor.

“I don’t see any national upswing. We won’t be like India. I think the vaccine concentration has certainly helped us immensely in getting that off the table, ”said Dr. Osterholm. “But I think at the state level, where we have significant populations that need vaccination, we could still see significant activity.”

After reaching an average high of 3.38 million doses per day in mid-April, the pace of US vaccinations had slowed. Almost every state now has a spate of vaccine doses that could be quickly distributed to teenagers once the Pfizer BionTech vaccine is approved for 12-15 year olds.

President Biden is pursuing a strategy that focuses on local reach and expanded vaccine access to meet his goal of at least partially vaccinating 70 percent of Americans by Independence Day.

“When it’s available, when it’s close by, when it’s convenient, people get vaccinated,” Biden said at the White House on Wednesday, highlighting initiatives like the availability of walk-ins and free Uber and Lyft trips to vaccination sites .

The vaccination relief could appeal to the 30 million or so Americans who say they’ll get the shot but have not yet done so for a myriad of reasons. Local officials and private companies are also offering a wide range of different incentives, such as free subway rides, beer, baseball tickets, and cash withdrawals, to make Americans reluctant to get vaccinated.

The changes in the virus’ trajectory in the United States are due to other regions of the world, particularly India and Southeast Asia, being hit hard. A number of variants are also spreading around the world, and scientists told a US Congressional panel on Wednesday that variants will pose an ongoing threat to the nation.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said Monday that the world is seeing a plateau in known cases, “but it’s an unacceptably high plateau, with more than 5.4 million cases and nearly 90,000 deaths in the past week.”

He continued, “Any decline is welcome, but we’ve been here before. Over the past year, many countries have seen a downward trend in cases and deaths, public health and society policies too quickly eased, and individuals have disappointed their vigilance only for these hard-won gains are being lost. “

Bryan Pietsch contributed to the reporting.

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Health

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 94 % efficient at stopping hospitalization in older adults, a examine finds.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 94 percent effective at preventing hospitalization in older adults, a study finds.

Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines prevent 94 percent hospitalization of fully vaccinated adults aged 65 and over, according to a small study published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The results, which are in line with clinical trial results, are the first real evidence from the US that the vaccines protect against severe Covid-19. Older adults are at the highest risk of being hospitalized and dying from the disease. More than 573,000 people have died from the virus across the country, according to a New York Times database. As of Wednesday, 142.7 million people had received at least one dose of one of three federally approved vaccines, including about 98 million people who were fully vaccinated.

“These results are encouraging and welcome news for two-thirds of people 65 and older who are already fully vaccinated,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, in a statement. “Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective and these real world results confirm the benefits of clinical trials preventing hospitalizations among the most vulnerable.”

The study is based on data from 417 patients enrolled in 24 hospitals in 14 states between January 1 and March 26. About half were 75 years or older.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two shots three to four weeks apart. Older adults who were partially vaccinated – that is, received a dose of the vaccine more than two weeks earlier – were 64 percent less likely to be hospitalized with the coronavirus than unvaccinated seniors, the researchers reported.

The vaccines did not reduce hospitalization rates in people who received their first dose less than two weeks earlier. It takes time for the body to build an effective immune response, and people are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the last dose in the series.

“This also underscores the persistent risk of serious illness shortly after vaccination, before a protective immune response has been achieved, and increases the need for vaccinated adults to continue physical distancing and prevention behaviors,” the scientists wrote.